Change the font, save the world (and save some money in the process)

26th March 2013

Would you like to help the environment and save money at the same -time, without much sacrifice? A small step could be to change the -font you use when printing.

- -

Three years ago, -Arts -Technica reported how the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay -changed their default front from -Arial to -Century -Gothic to save money. The Century Gothic font uses 30% less toner -than Arial to print the same text. In other word, you could cut your -toner costs by 30% (or actually, increase your toner supply life time -by 30%, by simply changing the default font used in your prints.

- -

But it is not quite obvious how much one will safe by switching. -The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay said it used $100,000 per year -on ink and toner cartridges, according to -a report from -TwinCities.com, and expected to save between $5,000 and $10,000 -per year by asking staff and students to use a different font. Not -all PDFs and documents are created internally, and those from external -sources will most likely still use a different font. Also, the -Century Gothic font is slightly wider than Arial, and thus might use -more sheets of paper to print the same text, so the total saving -depend on the documents printed.

- -

But it is definitely something to consider, if you want to reduce -the amount of trash, decrease the amount of toner used in the world -and save some money in the process.

Recipe to test the Freedombox project on amd64 or Raspberry Pi

10th September 2013

I was introduced to the +Freedombox project +in 2010, when Eben Moglen presented his vision about serving the need +of non-technical people to keep their personal information private and +within the legal protection of their own homes. The idea is to give +people back the power over their network and machines, and return +Internet back to its intended peer-to-peer architecture. Instead of +depending on a central service, the Freedombox will give everyone +control over their own basic infrastructure.

+ +

I've intended to join the effort since then, but other tasks have +taken priority. But this summers nasty news about the misuse of trust +and privilege exercised by the "western" intelligence gathering +communities increased my eagerness to contribute to a point where I +actually started working on the project a while back.

+ +

The initial +Debian initiative based on the vision from Eben Moglen, is to +create a simple and cheap Debian based appliance that anyone can hook +up in their home and get access to secure and private services and +communication. The initial deployment platform have been the +Dreamplug, +which is a piece of hardware I do not own. So to be able to test what +the current Freedombox setup, I had to come up with a way to install +it on some hardware I do got access to. I have rewritten the +freedom-maker +image build framework to use .deb packages instead of only copying +setup into the boot images, and thanks to this rewrite I am able to +set up any machine supported by Debian Wheezy as a Freedombox, using +the previously mentioned deb (and a few support debs for packages +missing in Debian).

+ +

The current Freedombox setup consist of a set of bootstrapping +scripts +(freedombox-setup), +and a administrative web interface +(plinth + exmachina + +withsqlite), as well as a privacy enhancing proxy based on +privoxy +(freedombox-privoxy). There is also a web/javascript based XMPP +client (jwchat) +trying (unsuccessfully so far) to talk to the XMPP server +(ejabberd). The +web interface is pluggable, and the goal is to use it to enable OpenID +services, mesh network connectivity, use of TOR, etc, etc. Not much of +this is really working yet, see +the +project TODO for links to GIT repositories. Most of the code is +on github at the moment. The HTTP proxy is operational out of the +box, and the admin web interface can be used to add/remove plinth +users. I've not been able to do anything else with it so far, but +know there are several branches spread around github and other places +with lots of half baked features.

+ +

Anyway, if you want to have a look at the current stat, the +following recipes should work to give you a test machine to poke +at.

+ +

Debian Wheezy amd64

+ +

Fetch normal Debian Wheezy installation ISO.
Boot from it, either as CD or USB stick.
Press [tab] on the boot prompt and add this as a boot argument +to the Debian installer:
+
```
url=http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/preseed-wheezy.dat
```
Answer the few language/region/password questions and pick disk to +install on.
When the installation is finished and the machine have rebooted a +few times, your Freedombox is ready for testing.

+ +

Raspberry Pi Raspbian

+ +

Fetch a Raspbian SD card image, create SD card.
Boot from SD card, extend file system to fill the card completely.

+deb http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox wheezy main
+

Run this as root:

+wget -O - http://www.reinholdtsen.name/freedombox/BE1A583D.asc | \
+   apt-key add -
+apt-get update
+apt-get install freedombox-setup
+/usr/lib/freedombox/setup
+

Reboot into your freshly created Freedombox.

+ +

You can test it on other architectures too, but because the +freedombox-privoxy package is binary, it will only work as intended on +the architectures where I have had time to build the binary and put it +in my APT repository. But do not let this stop you. It is only a +short "apt-get source -b freedombox-privoxy" away. :)

+ +

Note that by default Freedombox is a DHCP server on the +192.168.1.0/24 subnet, so if this is your subnet be careful and turn +off the DHCP server by running "update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server +disable" as root.

+ +

Please let me know if this work for you, or if you have any +problems. We gather on the IRC channel +#freedombox on +irc.debian.org and the +project +mailing list.

+ +

Once you get your freedombox operational, you can visit +http://your-host-name:8001/ to see the state of the plint +welcome screen (dead end - do not be surprised if you are unable to +get past it), and next visit http://your-host-name:8001/help/ +to look at the rest of plinth. The default user is 'admin' and the +default password is 'secret'.

- Tags: english. + Tags: debian, english, freedombox, sikkerhet, surveillance, web.

@@ -64,129 +156,283 @@ and save some money in the process.

Typesetting a short story using docbook for PDF, HTML and EPUB

24th March 2013

A few days ago, during a discussion in -EFN about interesting books to read -about copyright and the data retention directive, a suggestion to read -the 1968 short story KodÃ©mus by -Tore Ãge BringsvÃ¦rd -came up. The text was only available in old paper books, and thus not -easily available for current and future generations. Some of the -people participating in the discussion contacted the author, and -reported back 2013-03-19 that the author was OK with releasing the -short story using a Creative -Commons license. The text was quickly scanned and OCR-ed, and we -were ready to start on the editing and typesetting.

- -

As I already had some experience formatting text in my project to -provide a Norwegian version of the Free Culture book by Lawrence -Lessig, I chipped in and set up a -DocBook processing framework to -generate PDF, HTML and EPUB version of the short story. The tools to -transform DocBook to different formats are already in my Linux -distribution of choice, Debian, so -all I had to do was to use the -dblatex, -dbtoepub -and xmlto tools to do the -conversion. After a few days, we decided to replace dblatex with -xsltproc/fop (aka -docbook-xsl), -to get the copyright information to show up in the PDF and to get a -nicer <variablelist> typesetting, but that is just a minor -technical detail.

- -

There were a few challenges, of course. We want to typeset the -short story to look like the original, and that require fairly good -control over the layout. The original short story have three -parts/scenes separated by a single horizontally centred star (*), and -the paragraphs do not contain only flowing text, but dialogs and text -that started on a new line in the middle of the paragraph.

- -

I initially solved the first challenge by using a paragraph with a -single star in it, ie <para>*</para>, but it made sure a -placeholder indicated where the scene shifted. This did not look too -good without the centring. The next approach was to create a new -preprocessor directive <?newscene?>, mapping to "<hr/>" -for HTML and "<fo:block text-align="center"><fo:leader -leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/></fo:block>" -for FO/PDF output (did not try to implement this in dblatex, as we had -switched at this time). The HTML XSL file looked like this:

- -

-<?xml version='1.0'?> 
-<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'>
-  <xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')">
-    <hr/>
-  </xsl:template>
-</xsl:stylesheet> 
-

- -

And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:

- -

-<?xml version='1.0'?> 
-<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'>
-  <xsl:template match="processing-instruction('newscene')">
-    <fo:block text-align="center">
-      <fo:leader leader-pattern="rule" rule-thickness="0.5pt"/>
-    </fo:block>
-  </xsl:template>
-</xsl:stylesheet> 
-

- -

Finally, I came across the <bridgehead> tag, which seem to be -a good fit for the task at hand, and I replaced <?newscene?> -with <bridgehead>*</bridgehead>. It isn't centred, but we -can fix it with some XSL rule if the current visual layout isn't -enough.

- -

I did not find a good DocBook compliant way to solve the -linebreak/paragraph challenge, so I ended up creating a new processor -directive <?linebreak?>, mapping to <br/> in HTML, and -<fo:block/> in FO/PDF. I suspect there are better ways to do -this, and welcome ideas and patches on github. The HTML XSL file now -look like this:

- -

-<?xml version='1.0'?> 
-<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'>
-  <xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)">
-    <br/>
-  </xsl:template>
-</xsl:stylesheet> 
-

- -

And the FO/PDF XSL file looked like this:

- -

-<?xml version='1.0'?> 
-<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'
-  xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
-  <xsl:template match="processing-instruction('linebreak)">
-    <fo:block/>
-  </xsl:template>
-</xsl:stylesheet> 
-

- -

One unsolved challenge is our wish to expose different ISBN numbers -per publication format, while keeping all of them in some conditional -structure in the DocBook source. No idea how to do this, so we ended -up listing all the ISBN numbers next to their format in the colophon -page.

- -

If you want to check out the finished result, check out the -source repository at -github -(future/new/official -repository). We expect it to be ready and announced in a few -days.

Datalagringsdirektivet gjÃ¸r at Oslo HÃ¸yre og Arbeiderparti ikke fÃ¥r min stemme i Ã¥r

8th September 2013

I 2011 raderte et stortingsflertall bestÃ¥ende av HÃ¸yre og +Arbeiderpartiet vekk en betydelig del av privatsfÃ¦ren til det norske +folk. Det ble vedtatt at det skulle registreres og lagres i et halvt +Ã¥r hvor alle som bÃ¦rer pÃ¥ en mobiltelefon befinner seg, hvem de +snakker med og hvor lenge de snakket sammen. Det skal ogsÃ¥ +registreres hvem de sendte SMS-meldinger til, hvem en har sendt epost +til, og hvilke nett-tjenere en besÃ¸kte. Saken er kjent som +Datalagringsdirektivet +(DLD), og innebÃ¦rer at alle innbyggerne og andre innenfor Norges +grenser overvÃ¥kes dÃ¸gnet rundt. Det ble i praksis innfÃ¸rt brev og +besÃ¸kskontroll av hele befolkningen. Rapporter fra de landene som +allerede har innfÃ¸rt slik total lagring av borgernes +kommunikasjonsmÃ¸nstre forteller at det ikke hjelper i +kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. Den norske prislappen blir mange hundre +millioner, uten at det ser ut til Ã¥ bidra positivt til politiets +arbeide. Jeg synes flere hundre millioner i stedet burde vÃ¦rt brukt +pÃ¥ noe som kan dokumenteres Ã¥ ha effekt i kriminalitetsbekjempelsen. +Se mer pÃ¥ +Wikipedia +og Jon Wessel-Aas.

+ +

Hva er problemet, tenkter du kanskje? Et Ã¥penbart problem er at +medienes kildevern i praksis blir radert ut. Den innsamlede +informasjonen gjÃ¸r det mulig Ã¥ finne ut hvem som har snakket med +journalister pÃ¥ telefon, SMS og epost, og hvem som har vÃ¦rt i nÃ¦rheten +av journalister sÃ¥ sant begge bar med seg en telefon. Et annet er at +advokatvernet blir sterkt redusert, der politiet kan finne ut hvem +som har snakket med en advokat nÃ¥r, eller vÃ¦rt i mÃ¸ter en med advokat. +Et tredje er at svÃ¦rt personlig informasjon kan avledes fra hvilke +nettsteder en har besÃ¸kt. Har en besÃ¸kt hivnorge.no, +swingersnorge.com eller andre sider som kan brukes til avlede +interesser som hÃ¸rer til privatsfÃ¦ren, vil denne informasjonen vÃ¦re +tilgjengelig takket vÃ¦re datalagringsdirektivet.

+ +

De fleste partiene var mot, kun to partier stemte for. HÃ¸yre og +Arbeiderpartiet. Og bÃ¥de HÃ¸yre og Arbeiderpartiet i Oslo har +DLD-forkjempere pÃ¥ toppen av sine lister (har ikke sjekket de andre +fylkene). Det er dermed helt uaktuelt for meg Ã¥ stemme pÃ¥ disse +partiene. Her er oversikten over partienes valglister i Oslo, med +informasjon om hvem som stemte hva i fÃ¸rste DLD-votering i Stortinget, +basert pÃ¥ informasjon fra mine venner i +Holder de +Ord samt data.stortinget.no. +FÃ¸rst ut er stortingslista fra HÃ¸yre for Oslo:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

#	Navn, fÃ¸dselsÃ¥r og valgkrets	Stemme/kommentar
1.	Ine Marie Eriksen SÃ¸reide (1976), Gamle Oslo	Stemte for DLD
2.	Nikolai Astrup (1978), Frogner	Stemte mot DLD
3.	Michael Tetzschner (1954), Vestre Aker	Stemte mot DLD
4.	Kristin Vinje (1963), Nordre Aker	Ikke til stede
5.	Mudassar Hussain Kapur (1976), Nordstrand	Ikke til stede
6.	Stefan Magnus B. Heggelund (1984), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Ikke til stede
7.	Heidi Nordby Lunde (1973), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Ikke til stede
8.	Frode Helgerud (1950), Frogner	Ikke til stede
9.	Afshan Rafiq (1975), Stovner	Ikke til stede
10.	Astrid NÃ¸klebye Heiberg (1936), Frogner	Ikke til stede
11.	Camilla Strandskog (1984) St.Hanshaugen	Ikke til stede
12.	John Christian Elden (1967), Ullern	Ikke til stede
13.	Berit Solli (1972), Alna	Ikke til stede
14.	Ola Kvisgaard (1963), Frogner	Ikke til stede
15.	James Stove Lorentzen (1957), Vestre Aker	Ikke til stede
16.	GÃ¼lsÃ¼m Koc (1987), Stovner	Ikke til stede
17.	Jon Ole Whist (1976), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Ikke til stede
18.	Maren Eline Malthe-SÃ¸renssen (1971), Vestre Aker	Ikke til stede
19.	StÃ¥le Hagen (1968), SÃ¸ndre Nordstrand	Ikke til stede
20.	Kjell Omdal Erichsen (1978), Sagene	Ikke til stede
21.	Saida R. Begum (1987), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Ikke til stede
22.	Torkel Brekke (1970), Nordre Aker	Ikke til stede
23.	Sverre K. Seeberg (1950), Vestre Aker	Ikke til stede
24.	Julie Margrethe Brodtkorb (1974), Ullern	Ikke til stede
25.	Fabian Stang (1955), Frogner	Ikke til stede

+ +

Deretter har vi stortingslista fra Arbeiderpartiet for Oslo:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

#	Navn, fÃ¸dselsÃ¥r og valgkrets	Stemme/kommentar
1.	Jens Stoltenberg (1959), Frogner	Ikke til stede i Stortinget, leder av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget
2.	Hadia Tajik (1983), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Stemte for DLD
3.	Jonas Gahr StÃ¸re (1960), Vestre Aker	Ikke til stede i Stortinget, medlem av regjeringen som fremmet forslaget
4.	Marianne Marthinsen (1980), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Stemte for DLD
5.	Jan BÃ¸hler (1952), Alna	Stemte for DLD
6.	Marit Nybakk (1947), Frogner	Stemte for DLD
7.	Truls Wickholm (1978), Sagene	Stemte for DLD
8.	Prableen Kaur (1993), Grorud	Ikke til stede
9.	Vegard GrÃ¸slie Wennesland (1983), St.Hanshaugen	Ikke til stede
10.	Inger Helene Vaaten (1975), Grorud	Ikke til stede
11.	Ivar Leveraas (1939), Alna	Ikke til stede
12.	Grete Haugdal (1971), Gamle Oslo	Ikke til stede
13.	Olav TÃ¸nsberg (1948), Alna	Ikke til stede
14.	Khamshajiny Gunaratnam (1988), Grorud	Ikke til stede
15.	Fredrik Mellem (1969), Sagene	Ikke til stede
16.	Brit Axelsen (1945), Stovner	Ikke til stede
17.	Dag Bayegan-Harlem (1977), Ullern	Ikke til stede
18.	Kristin Sandaker (1963), ÃsteinsjÃ¸	Ikke til stede
19.	Bashe Musse (1965), GrÃ¼nerlÃ¸kka	Ikke til stede
20.	Torunn Kanutte Husvik (1983), St. Hanshaugen	Ikke til stede
21.	Steinar Andersen (1947), Nordstrand	Ikke til stede
22.	Anne Cathrine Berger (1972), Sagene	Ikke til stede
23.	Khalid Mahmood (1959), ÃstensjÃ¸	Ikke til stede
24.	Munir Jaber (1990), Alna	Ikke til stede
25.	Libe Solberg Rieber-Mohn (1965), Frogner	Ikke til stede

+ +

Hvilket parti fÃ¥r sÃ¥ min stemme i Ã¥r. Jeg tror det blir +Piratpartiet. Hvis de kan bidra +til at det kommer noen inn pÃ¥ Stortinget med teknisk peiling, sÃ¥ fÃ¥r +kanskje ikke overvÃ¥kningsgalskapen like fritt spillerom som det har +hatt sÃ¥ langt.

- Tags: docbook, english, freeculture, opphavsrett. + Tags: norsk, personvern, stortinget, surveillance, valg.

@@ -194,72 +440,138 @@ days.

Regjeringen, FAD og DIFI gÃ¥r inn for Ã¥ fjerne ODF som obligatorisk standard i det offentlige

18th March 2013

I -siste -hÃ¸ring om -referansekatalogen -for IT-standarder i offentlig sektor, med hÃ¸ringsfrist 2012-09-30 -(DIFI-sak 2012/498), ble det foreslÃ¥tt Ã¥ fjerne ODF som obligatorisk -standard nÃ¥r en publiserte dokumenter som skulle kunne redigeres -videre av mottaker. NUUG og andre protesterte pÃ¥ forslaget, som er et -langt steg tilbake nÃ¥r det gjelder Ã¥ sikre like rettigheter for alle -nÃ¥r en kommuniserer med det offentlige. For noen dager siden ble jeg -oppmerksom pÃ¥ at Direktoratet for forvaltning og IKT (DIFI) og -Fornyings-,administrasjons- og kirkedepartementet (FAD) har -konkludert, og oversendt forslag til regjeringen i saken. FADs -dokument -2012/2168-8, -Â«Utkast til endring av standardiseringsforskriftenÂ» datert 2013-02-06 -har fÃ¸lgende triste oppsummering fra hÃ¸ringen i saken:

- -

-Det kom noen innvendinger pÃ¥ forslaget om Ã¥ fjerne ODF som -obligatorisk standard for redigerbare dokumenter. Innvendingene har -ikke blitt ilagt avgjÃ¸rende vekt. -

- -

Ved Ã¥ fjerne ODF som obligatorisk format ved publisering av -redigerbare dokumenter setter en Norge tiÃ¥r tilbake. Det som vil skje -er at offentlige etater gÃ¥r tilbake til kun Ã¥ publisere dokumenter pÃ¥ -et av de mange formatene til Microsoft Office, og alle som ikke -aksepterer bruksvilkÃ¥rene til Microsoft eller ikke har rÃ¥d til Ã¥ bruke -penger pÃ¥ Ã¥ fÃ¥ tilgang til Microsoft Office mÃ¥ igjen basere seg pÃ¥ -verktÃ¸y fra utviklerne som er avhengig av Ã¥ reversutvikle disse -formatene. I og med at ISO-spesifikasjonen for OOXML ikke komplett og -korrekt spesifiserer formatene til MS Office (men er nyttige Ã¥ titte i -nÃ¥r en reversutvikler), er en tilbake til en situasjon der en ikke har -en -fri og Ã¥pen standard Ã¥ forholde seg til, men i stedet mÃ¥ springe -etter Microsoft. Alle andre leverandÃ¸rer enn Microsoft vil dermed ha -en seriÃ¸s ulempe. Det er som Ã¥ fjerne krav om bruk av meter som -mÃ¥leenhet, og heretter aksepterer alle mÃ¥leenheter som like gyldige, -nÃ¥r en vet at den mest brukte enheten vil vÃ¦re armlengden til Steve -Ballmer slik Microsoft mÃ¥ler den.

- -

Jeg er ikke sikker pÃ¥ om forslaget er vedtatt av regjeringen ennÃ¥. -Kristian Bergem hos DIFI nevnte pÃ¥ et mÃ¸te forrige tirsdag at han -trodde det var vedtatt i statsrÃ¥d 8. mars, men jeg har ikke klart Ã¥ -finne en skriftlig kilde pÃ¥ regjeringen.no som bekrefter dette. -Kanskje det ennÃ¥ ikke er for sent...

- -

Jeg ba i forrige uke om innsyn i dokument 6, 7 og 8 i FAD-saken, og -har i dag fÃ¥tt innsyn i dokument 7 og 8. Ble nektet innsyn i -dokumentet med tittelen Â«Oppsummering av hÃ¸ring om endringer i -forskrift om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltningÂ» med hjemmel i -off. lovens Â§15.1, sÃ¥ det er vanskelig Ã¥ vite hvordan argumentene fra -hÃ¸ringen ble mottatt og forstÃ¥tt av saksbehandleren hos DIFI. Lurer -pÃ¥ hvordan jeg kan klage pÃ¥ at jeg ikke fikk se oppsummeringen. Fikk -tre PDFer tilsendt fra FAD, -Endring av underversjon i EHF, -Bakgrunnsnotat knyttet til versjon av EHF standarden i Forskrift om IT-standarder i offentlig sektor og -Utkast til endring av standardiseringsforskriften, hvis du vil ta en titt.

Second beta release (beta 1) of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy

22nd August 2013

The second wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today, slightly delayed because of some bugs in the initial Windows +integration fixes . This is the release announcement:

+ +

New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b1 released 2013-08-22

+ +

These are the release notes for Debian Edu / Skolelinux +7.1+edu0~b1, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".

+ +

About Debian Edu and Skolelinux

+ +

Debian Edu, also known as +Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an +out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school +network. Immediately after installation a school server running all +services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users +and machines being added via GOsaÂ², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting +environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of +the main server from CD or USB stick all other machines can be +installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP +database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home +directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The +desktop contains +more +than 60 educational software packages and more are available from +the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE +and Xfce desktop environment.

+ +

This is the sixth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically this +is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the Squeeze +release.

+ +

ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the +versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta +release. Both alpha and beta0 based installations should reinstall or +deal with gosa.conf manually; there are two options: (1) Keep +gosa.conf and edit this file as outlined +on +the mailing list. (2) Accept the new version of gosa.conf and +replace both contained admin password placeholders with the password +hashes found in the old one (backup copy!). In both cases every user +need to change their their password to make sure a password is set for +CIFS access to their home directory.

+ +

Software updates

+ +

Added ssh askpass packages to default installation, to ensure ssh + work also without a attached tty.
Add the command-not-found package to the default installation to + make it easier to figure out where to find missing command line + tools. Please note, that the command 'update-command-not-found' + has to be run as root to actually make it useful (internet access + required).

+ +

Other changes

+ +

Adjusted the USB stick ISO image build to include every tool +needed for desktop=xfce installations.
Adjust thin-client-server task to work when installing from USB +stick ISO image.
Made new grub artwork (changed png from indexed to RGB format).
Minor cleanup in the CUPS setup.
Make sure that bootstrapping of the Samba domain really happens + during installation of the main server and adjust SID handling to + cope with this.
Make Samba passwords changeable (again) via GOsaÂ².
Fix generation of LM and NT password hashes via GOsaÂ² to avoid + empty password hashes.
Adapted Samba machine domain joining to latest change in the + smbldap-tools Perl package, fixing bugs blocking Windows machines + from joining the Samba domain.

+ +

Known issues

+ +

KDE fails to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to + not use the http proxy as it should.
Chromium also fails to use the proxy when using the KDE desktop + (using the KDE configuration).

+ +

Where to get it

+ +

To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use

+ +

ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso
http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-CD.iso .

+ +

The MD5SUM of this image is: 1e357f80b55e703523f2254adde6d78b +
The SHA1SUM of this image is: 7157f9be5fd27c7694d713c6ecfed61c3edda3b2

+ +

To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use

+ +

ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso
http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b1-USB.iso .

+ +

The MD5SUM of this image is: 7a8408ead59cf7e3cef25afb6e91590b +
The SHA1SUM of this image is: f1817c031f02790d5edb3bfa0dcf8451088ad119

+ + +

How to report bugs

+ +

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs

- Tags: digistan, norsk, standard. + Tags: debian edu, english.

@@ -267,64 +579,34 @@ tre PDFer tilsendt fra FAD,

Skolelinux 6 got a video review from Pcwizz

17th March 2013

Via -twitter -I just discovered that Pcwizz have -done a video -review on Youtube of Skolelinux -/ Debian Edu version 6. He installed the standalone profile and -the video show a walk-through of of the menu content, demonstration of -a few programs and his view of our distribution.

- -

There is also some really nice quotes (transcribed by me, might -have heard wrong). While looking thought the Graphics menu:

- -

-"Basically everything you ever need in a school environment." -

- -

And as a general evaluation of the entire distribution:

- -

-"So, yeah, a bit bloated. It kept all the Debian stuff in there, just -to keep it nice and GNU. So, I do not want to go on about it, but -lets give it 7 out of 10. I am not going to use it. That is because -I am not deploying a school network. There may be some mythical -feature to help you deploy Skolelinux on a school network." -

- -

To bad he did not test the server profile, and discovered the PXE -installation option. It make it possible to install only the main -server from CD, and the rest of the machines via the net, and might be -considered the mythical feature he talk about. :)

- -

While looking through the menus, there is also this funny comment -about the part of the K menu generated from the Debian menu subsystem: - -

-"[The K menu] have a special Debian section for software that no-one -is going to look at, because it contain lots of junky stuff that you -actually don't need in the education distribution, but have just been -included because it isn't stripped out for some reason." -

- -

I guess it is yet another argument for merging the Debian menu and -Gnome/KDE desktop menu entries into -one -consistent menu system instead of two incomplete and partly -inconsistent menu systems.

- -

The entire video is available below for those accepting iframe -embedding:

- - +

Intel 180 SSD disk with Lenovo firmware can not use Intel firmware

18th August 2013

Earlier, I reported about +my +problems using an Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB disk. Friday I was +told by IBM that the original disk should be thrown away. And as +there no longer was a problem if I bricked the firmware, I decided +today to try to install Intel firmware to replace the Lenovo firmware +currently on the disk.

+ +

I searched the Intel site for firmware, and found +issdfut_2.0.4.iso +(aka Intel SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool) which +according to the site should contain the latest firmware for SSD +disks. I inserted the broken disk in one of my spare laptops and +booted the ISO from a USB stick. The disk was recognized, but the +program claimed the newest firmware already were installed and refused +to insert any Intel firmware. So no change, and the disk is still +unable to handle write load. :( I guess the only way to get them +working would be if Lenovo releases new firmware. No idea how likely +that is. Anyway, just blogging about this test for completeness. I +got a working Samsung disk, and see no point in spending more time on +the broken disks.

- Tags: debian edu, english, video. + Tags: debian, english.

@@ -332,170 +614,57 @@ embedding:

Til frikanalens stÃ¸ttespillere - fra styret i Frikanalen

13th March 2013

Min venn Erik Vold har pÃ¥ vegne av styret i -Frikanalen sendt ut -fÃ¸lgende -epost til alle kanalens medlemmer og stÃ¸ttespillere, i et forsÃ¸k -pÃ¥ Ã¥ redde kanalen etter at kulturdepartementet kuttet all -finansiering i fjor hÃ¸st. Jeg fikk meldingen som -NUUG-styremedlem, og mener den -trenger et stÃ¸rre publikum. Jeg gjengir den derfor i sin helhet, -inkludert lenken til budsjett og regnskapsutkast, etter -avtale -med Erik.

- -

-
Til Frikanalens stÃ¸ttespillere
- -
Frivillighetens TV kanal har med minimal stÃ¸tte avviklet daglige -sendinger siden 2009 og til tross for at statsstÃ¸tten uteble i Ã¥r, er -vi nÃ¥ i full gang med Ã¥ utvikle et nytt TV system som foreningen selv -vil eie. Departementet fikk dessverre ikke med seg at nettet vil -berike TV sendingen fremfor Ã¥ gjÃ¸re den overflÃ¸dig. De har nÃ¥ overlatt -finansieringen av videre drift til frivilligheten og vi hÃ¥per derfor -pÃ¥ deres hjelp til Ã¥ sÃ¸ke om midler. PÃ¥ kjÃ¸pet fÃ¥r dere langt flere -muligheter til Ã¥ nÃ¥ ut med deres budskap og med utbyggingen av Hybrid -TV (nett pÃ¥ TV) kan vi sammen motbevise departementets pÃ¥stand.
- -
Kostnaden med denne utviklingen er svÃ¦rt lav ettersom de fleste -programmererne jobber gratis og alt er basert pÃ¥ Ã¥pen kildekode der -man deler hverandres bidrag til kringkastingsorienterte systemer. I -samarbeid med flere europeiske kanaler i EBU (SVT, BBC, NRK, ZDF, ARD, -France Televisions etc) Ã¸nsker vi Ã¥ bygge opp et nettverk for delt -support og Ã¥pen kildekode der Frikanalen er den eneste sandkassen hvor -ny teknologi kan testes pÃ¥ luft. Riks TV Ã¥pner for annonsering av -nettinnhold relatert til det du ser pÃ¥ TV (streamevents i HbbTV) -allerede i sommer. Med stÃ¸tte fra Media Netwerk som drifter Frikanalen -samt Sofia Digital som stiller med Hybrid TV server er vi & NRK sikret -en sentral rolle i utprÃ¸vingen. Det vil da bli mulig og streame -direkte til Riks TV sine nye mottakere (og nye IDTV'er) i HD samt at -TV'n kan annonsere en link til deres organisasjonssider, med -oppdaterte nyheter (RSS feeds), relaterte videoer etc., under -avviklingen av deres innslag.
- -
Vi tror sendingene pÃ¥ den nye nettstyrte TV-kanalen vil bli rikere enn -pÃ¥ den kommersielle plattformen vi har vÃ¦rt pÃ¥ sÃ¥ langt. Brukerne vil -nÃ¥ fÃ¥ en tettere integrasjon med sosiale medier samt at innholdet -etterhvert kommer ut pÃ¥ Hybrid TV og mobile enheter. Teknisk ansvarlig -i Frikanalen, Erik Vold, er sentral i utviklingen av streamingdelen -for tv.nrk.no (Ã¥rets produkt i PC World) og erfaringen NRK har gjort -pÃ¥ mobile enheter kan viderefÃ¸res til oss. Det er heller ingen tvil om -at Hybrid TV vil bli en suksess ogsÃ¥ i Norge. Erik sitter i Nordig som -har vedtatt en felles standard for de nordiske kringkasterne basert pÃ¥ -HbbTV. Denne standarden bruker web-protokoller som gjÃ¸r det like -enkelt og billig Ã¥ utvikle tjenester for Hybrid TV som Ã¥ lage en -nettside. Samtlige nye TV apparater solgt i Norden vil ha stÃ¸tte for -HbbTV og med det tror vi oppslutningen vil bli like stor som ellers i -Europa (Tyskland og Frankrike tredoblet antall HbbTV-brukere i -fjor). Vi forventer ogsÃ¥ mye d rahjelp fra disse foregangslandene. VÃ¥r -utvikler Tore Sinding Bekkedal er i skriv ende stund pÃ¥ en HbbTV -workshop med EBU-medlemmer hos IRT i MÃ¼nchen der han pÃ¥ vegne av NRK -tester og utvikler ny stremingteknologi (MPEG- DASH) for -mobile enheter og hybrid TV.
- -
Frikanalen har forÃ¸vrig flyttet inn i nye kostnadsfrie lokaler pÃ¥ -Chateau Neuf. Med massiv hjelp fra frivillige fÃ¥r vi der en -flerkameraregi i egnede lokaler. Dette Ã¥pner for debatter, konserter, -events og mye spennende innhold i samarbeid med Student TV'ene.
- -
Med hjelp fra NUUG har ogsÃ¥ streamingdelen av systemet fÃ¥tt plass pÃ¥ -Uninett (Forskningsparken) og dermed er vi pÃ¥ Norges beste -internettlinjer. Vi Ã¥pner med dette for live mottak fra samtlige -medlemmer og pÃ¥ sikt kan vi tilby HD pÃ¥ hybrid TV og PC / MAC / mobil.
- -
Avvikling pÃ¥ luft skjer allerede med egenutviklede lÃ¸sninger i Ã¥pen -kildekode (playout og live-koding). Det er ogsÃ¥ mulig Ã¥ se fÃ¸rste -byggetrinn med programoversikt og videoer pÃ¥ nett, men forelÃ¸pig kun -for nettleserne Opera, Chrome og Firefox: -http://beta.frikanalen.tv/guide/ -og -http://beta.frikanalen.tv/video/. Kom -gjerne med Ã¸nsker og tilbakemeldinger til vÃ¥r hovedutvikler Benjamin -Bruheim: grolgh (at) gmail.com
- -
Med en tettere tilknytning til Akademia og NRK, er det god grunn til Ã¥ -tro at utviklingen vil skyte fart og at vi raskere kommer ut med -dagsaktuelt innhold.
- -
Vi sender i dag pÃ¥ Riks TV og Altibox, men ikke lenger pÃ¥ TV8. Det er -viktig for vÃ¥re brukere igjen Ã¥ komme ut pÃ¥ Get og Canal Digital, -dermed er det svÃ¦rt heldig at vi nÃ¥ har formidlingsplikt pÃ¥ kabel. Til -tross for at det tar noe tid Ã¥ fÃ¥ nye avtaler pÃ¥ plass, med frivillig -juridisk bistand, vil vi sannsynligvis komme bedre ut i andre enden -ogsÃ¥ her. Formidlingsplikten gjelder samtlige kabeldistribusjoner i -Norge, ikke bare de regionene TV8 hadde avtale med.
- -
Om alt dette skal se dagens lys er vi avhengig av en -grunnfinansiering. Deres medlemsavgifter er i sÃ¥ mÃ¥te et svÃ¦rt viktig -bidrag som vi er veldig takknemlige for. Vi ser oss likevel nÃ¸dt til -Ã¥ be dere om Ã¥ delta i arbeidet med Ã¥ dekke de resterende -driftskostnader. Frikanalen sin arbeidskapasitet er betydelig redusert -etter at foreningen ikke lenger kunne finansiere en daglig leder, men -allmÃ¸tet kan Ã¥pne for at flere bidrar til inntjening (EkstraordinÃ¦r -generalforsamling foreslo Ã¥ tillate sponsorplakater pÃ¥ sendeflaten og -deler av disse inntektene kan tilfalle kanalen). HÃ¥per alle -medlemmene kan hjelpe oss med Ã¥ skrive sÃ¸knader og skaffe sponsorer, -eller i det minste komme med gode forslag til inntjening. Det er ikke -mye som skal til for Ã¥ klare videre drift, kun 0,5 mill. pr Ã¥r.
- -
Med en stÃ¸tte som tilsvarer en norsk kortfilm vil vi kunne redde -sendearkivet for flere tusen videoer bygget opp av frivilligheten -gjennom 5 Ã¥r og vi dobler kapasiteten for Ã¥ ta imot nye (De som -leverer HD vil for Ã¸vrig kunne fÃ¥ HD pÃ¥ nett, mobil og hybrid TV).
- -
Vi vil ogsÃ¥ kunne viderefÃ¸re konsesjonen pÃ¥ Riks TV og realisere en -formidlingsplikt pÃ¥ kabel som har en Ã¥rlig verdi pÃ¥ ca. 5 millioner -kroner (nÃ¥r over 2/3 av Norges befolkning).
- -
Uten stÃ¸tte stÃ¥r verdens eneste nasjonale nettstyrte Ã¥pne TV kanal i -fare for Ã¥ forsvinne. En konkursbegjÃ¦ring vil gjÃ¸re at utstyrsparken -gÃ¥r til advokatsalÃ¦rer i behandling av boet og kreditorene vil ikke -kunne fÃ¥ dekket sine krav. Det mener vi ikke bare er urett ovenfor -lÃ¥ngiverne, men det er urett mot alle de som har bidratt med Ã¥ bygge -opp frivillighetens eneste sendearkiv og ikke minst alle de som i dag -jobber frivillig med Ã¥ videreutvikle TV-systemet.
- -
HÃ¥per dere i likhet med styret ser verdien i videre drift og kan melde -tilbake innen Ã¥rsmÃ¸tet (Kontaktinformasjon til styret og frivillige -utviklere er i kopifeltet).
- -
Vennligst fyll ut det blÃ¥ feltet i regnearket under med det dere tror -er mulig Ã¥ fÃ¥ inn. Det dere skriver her er ikke bindende, men gir -styret en indikasjon pÃ¥ om videre drift er mulig. Det blir tatt -stilling til av generalforsamlingen medio mars. Setter derfor pris pÃ¥ -om alle kan bidra med forslag til stÃ¸tte eller antatte verdier fra -sÃ¸knad/spons innen det.
- -
ForhÃ¥pentligvis nÃ¥r vi ogsÃ¥ Ã¸nsket budsjett pÃ¥ 1 mill. pr Ã¥r. Med det -kan vi nedbetale gjelden raskere og sÃ¸rge for en bedre -tilgjengelighet, samt raskere utvikling:
- -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AouVL_e9_H1QdDgyX01kbElvcWI0UjFQbVNGbFIyUmc&usp=sharing#gid=0
- -
Med vennlig hilsen -
Styret i Frikanalen
-

- -

Jeg hÃ¥per noen av mine lesere med dette ser verdien av Frikanalen -og melder seg inn for Ã¥ sende sine videoer ut pÃ¥ TV til RiksTV og -Altibox-seerne. Det haster. ÃrsmÃ¸tet i foreningen Frikanalen skal -straks avholdes, og innen den tid mÃ¥ en redningsplan vÃ¦re pÃ¥ plass. -NUUG bidrar allerede litt ved Ã¥ organisere utviklersamlinger og -finansiere litt mat og drikke til de frivillige som stiller opp pÃ¥ -dugnadsbasis for Ã¥ utvikle den tekniske lÃ¸sningen. Det er ikke nok -til Ã¥ redde kanalen, men gir et lite steg i riktig retning.

- -

Update 2013-03-13 13:00: Epostlistelenkene -fungerer ikke lenger, da epostarkivet nÃ¥ ikke lenger er tilgjengelig -for ikke-abonnenter. Korrigerte teksten fra styret litt etter -oppfordring fra Frikanalen-styret.

90 percent done with the Norwegian draft translation of Free Culture

2nd August 2013

It has been a while since my last update. Since last summer, I +have worked on a Norwegian +docbook version of the 2004 book +Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, +to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with the copyright +law. Yesterday, I finally broken the 90% mark, when counting the +number of strings to translate. Due to real life constraints, I have +not had time to work on it since March, but when the summer broke out, +I found time to work on it again. Still lots of work left, but the +first draft is nearing completion. I created a graph to show the +progress of the translation:

+ +

When the first draft is done, the translated text need to be +proof read, and the remaining formatting problems with images and SVG +drawings need to be fixed. There are probably also some index entries +missing that need to be added. This can be done by comparing the +index entries listed in the SiSU version of the book, or comparing the +English docbook version with the paper version. Last, the colophon +page with ISBN numbers etc need to be wrapped up before the release is +done. I should also figure out how to get correct Norwegian sorting +of the index pages. All docbook tools I have tried so far (xmlto, +docbook-xsl, dblatex) get the order of symbols and the special +Norwegian letters ÃÃÃ wrong.

+ +

There is still need for translators and people with docbook +knowledge, to be able to get a good looking book (I still struggle +with dblatex, xmlto and docbook-xsl) as well as to do the draft +translation and proof reading. And I would like the figures to be +redrawn as SVGs to make it easy to translate them. Any SVG master +around? There are also some legal terms that are unfamiliar to me. +If you want to help, please get in touch with me, and check out the +project files currently available from +github.

+ +

If you are curious what the translated book currently look like, +the updated +PDF +and +EPUB +are published on github. The HTML version is published as well, but +github hand it out with MIME type text/plain, confusing browsers, so I +saw no point in linking to that version.

- Tags: frikanalen, norsk, nuug, video. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.

@@ -503,40 +672,137 @@ oppfordring fra Frikanalen-styret.

Osloskolen bryter loven nÃ¥r de sender politihunder inn i klasserom med elever

10th March 2013

Om noen Ã¥r skal mine barn antagelig begynne pÃ¥ skolen i Oslo. Der -skal de blant annet lÃ¦re seg Ã¥ verdsette og hÃ¥ndheve sine egne grenser -og beskytte sin personlige integritet og privatsfÃ¦re. Det blir ikke -enkelt nÃ¥r ledelsen i Osloskolen med vitende og vilje legger opp til Ã¥ -krenke elevenes privatsfÃ¦re ved Ã¥ la politiet ransake elevene med -narkohund i klasserommet. Jon Wessel-Aas har publisert noen -interessante kommentarer om hvorfor dette er ulovlig. +

First beta release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy

27th July 2013

The first wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today. This is the release announcement:

+ +

New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b0 released +2013-07-27

+ +

These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux +7.1+edu0~b0, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".

+ +

About Debian Edu and Skolelinux

+ +

Debian Edu, also known as +Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on Debian providing an +out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school +network. Immediately after installation a school server running all +services needed for a school network is set up just waiting for users +and machines being added via GOsaÂ², a comfortable Web-UI. A netbooting +environment is prepared using PXE, so after initial installation of +the main server from CD, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be +installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP +database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home +directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The +desktop contains +more +than 60 educational software packages and more are available from +the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE +and Xfce desktop environment.

+ +

This is the fifth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically +this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the +Squeeze release.

+ +

ALERT: Alpha based installations should reinstall or downgrade the +versions of gosa and libpam-mklocaluser to the ones used in this beta +release.

+ +

Software updates

+ +

Switched roaming workstation profiles from wicd to network-manager + for network configuration, as wicd didn't work any more.
Changed version numbers of patched gosa and libpam-mklocaluser + packages to make sure our locally patched versions will be replaced + by the official packages when they are released from Debian. Those + installing alpha version need to reinstall or manually downgrade gosa + and libpam-mklocaluser.
Added bluetooth tools to the default desktop (bluedevil, blueman).
Added tools for sharing the desktop on KDE (krdc, krfb).
Added valgrind to the default installation for easier debugging of + crash bugs.

+ +

Other changes

+ +

Fixed artwork package to work with gnome, no longer break + desktop=gnome installations.
Adjusted installer to now work when forced to use a proxy with the + netinst CD.
Fixed code detecting and setting/loading hardware specific + setup/firmware to work more robust out of the box.
Adjusted Kerberos setup to detect realm and server settings at + install time instead of dynamically at run time. This avoid a crash + with krb5-auth-dialog on diskless workstations without a DNS name.
Worked around misfeature in network-manager not calling the dhclient + exit hooks, causing automatic proxy configuration and automatic host + name setting at run time to work again.
Fixed feature setting the default Iceweasel start page from URL + fetched from LDAP, to allow schools to set the global default by + updating the dc=skole,dc=skolelinux,dc=no LDAP object.
Changed default host name on all networked machines to be unique + (generated from MAC or reverse DNS) after boot.
Adjusted partition sizes to make sure they are big enough.

+ +

Known issues

+ +

Grub is missing the new artwork.
KDE fail to understand the wpad.dat file provided, causing it to + not use the http proxy as it should.
Chromium also fail to use the proxy.

+ +

Where to get it

+ +

To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use

Bruk av narkohund i - klasserom â fra vondt til verre (2013-03-09)
ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso
http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-CD.iso .

+ +

The MD5SUM of this image is: 55d5de9765b6dccd5d9ec33cf1a07109 +
The SHA1SUM of this image is: 996a1d9517740e4d627d100de2d12b23dd545a3f

+ +

To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use

+ +

Ulovlig og - menneskerettsstridig bruk av narkohund i klasserom - (2012-03-12)
ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso
http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso
rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b0-USB.iso .

Jeg er veldig glad for at han bidrar med argumenter og forklaringer -vi foreldre kan ta med oss nÃ¥r vi skal protestere pÃ¥ og fÃ¥ en slutt pÃ¥ -denne forkastelige praksisen. Narkotikaproblemet mÃ¥ adresseres pÃ¥ -andre mÃ¥ter som ikke krenker barn og ungdoms integritet. Jeg Ã¸nsker -ikke at mine barn skal lÃ¦res opp til Ã¥ akseptere radering av -privatlivets fred, men heller at de skal lÃ¦res opp til Ã¥ sloss imot -den innfÃ¸ringen av stadig mer totalitÃ¦r overvÃ¥kning som har pÃ¥gÃ¥tt -over mange Ã¥r i Norge.

The MD5SUM of this image is: d8f0818c51a78d357de794066f289f69 +
The SHA1SUM of this image is: 49185ca354e8d0543240423746924f76a6cee733

+ + +

How to report bugs

+ +

http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs

- Tags: norsk, personvern. + Tags: debian edu, english.

@@ -544,102 +810,112 @@ over mange Ã¥r i Norge.

First Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze update released

8th March 2013

Last Sunday, 2013-03-03,, Holger Levsen announced the first update -of Skolelinux / Debian Edu -based on Debian Squeeze. This is the first update since -the -initial release 2012-03-11. This is the -release -announcement email from Holger:

- -

Hi,
- -
it's my pleasure to announce the immediate availability of Debian -Edu 6.0.7+r1 ("Debian Edu Squeeze").
- -
Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 is an incremental update to Debian Edu -6.0.4+r0, containing all the changes between Debian 6.0.4 and 6.0.7 as -well Debian Edu specific bugfixes and enhancements. See below (in this -mail) for the full list of (edu) changes. Please see -http://www.debian.org/News/2012/20120311 -for more information on "Debian Edu Squeeze".
- -
Images are available for download at -http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/
- -
md5sums: -
1fe79eb4f0f9ae1c58fc318e26cc1e2e debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso -
a6ddd924a8bd9a1b5ca122e8fe1c34ec debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso -
ac6c72cd7925ccec51bfbf58e2a7c69c debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso
- -
sha1sums: -
a4b58233b672a99c7df8dc24fb6de3327654a5c3 debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-CD.iso -
9b524915e0ff2aa793f13d93123e5bd2bab2dbaa debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-DVD.iso -
43997614893fc5e9e59ad6ce066b05d07fd836fa debian-edu-6.0.7+r1-source-DVD.iso
- -
These images are suitable for amd64+i386.
- -
Changes for Debian Edu 6.0.7+r1 Codename "Squeeze", released -2013-03-03:
+
How to fix a Thinkpad X230 with a broken 180 GB SSD disk
+
17th July 2013
+
Today I switched to +my +new laptop. I've previously written about the problems I had with +my new Thinkpad X230, which was delivered with an +180 +GB Intel SSD disk with Lenovo firmware that did not handle +sustained writes. My hardware supplier have been very forthcoming in +trying to find a solution, and after first trying with another +identical 180 GB disks they decided to send me a 256 GB Samsung SSD +disk instead to fix it once and for all. The Samsung disk survived +the installation of Debian with encrypted disks (filling the disk with +random data during installation killed the first two), and I thus +decided to trust it with my data. I have installed it as a Debian Edu +Wheezy roaming workstation hooked up with my Debian Edu Squeeze main +server at home using Kerberos and LDAP, and will use it as my work +station from now on.
+ +
As this is a solid state disk with no moving parts, I believe the +Debian Wheezy default installation need to be tuned a bit to increase +performance and increase life time of the disk. The Linux kernel and +user space applications do not yet adjust automatically to such +environment. To make it easier for my self, I created a draft Debian +package ssd-setup to handle this tuning. The +source +for the ssd-setup package is available from collab-maint, and it +is set up to adjust the setup of the machine by just installing the +package. If there is any non-SSD disk in the machine, the package +will refuse to install, as I did not try to write any logic to sort +file systems in SSD and non-SSD file systems.
+ +
I consider the package a draft, as I am a bit unsure how to best +set up Debian Wheezy with an SSD. It is adjusted to my use case, +where I set up the machine with one large encrypted partition (in +addition to /boot), put LVM on top of this and set up partitions on +top of this again. See the README file in the package source for the +references I used to pick the settings. At the moment these +parameters are tuned:

-
sitesummary was updated from 0.1.3 to 0.1.8 -
-
Make Nagios configuration more robust and efficient
-
Comply with 3.X kernel
-
-
debian-edu-doc from 1.4~20120310~6.0.4+r0 to 1.4~20130228~6.0.7+r1 -
-
Minor updates from the wiki
-
Danish translation now complete
-
-
debian-edu-config from 1.453 to 1.455 -
-
Fix /etc/hosts for LTSP diskless workstations. Closes: #699880
-
Make ltsp_local_mount script work for multiple devices.
-
Correct Kerberos user policy: don't expire password after 2 days. - Closes: #664596
-
Handle '#' characters in the root or first users password. - Closes: #664976
-
Fixes for gosa-sync: -
-
Don't fail if password contains "
-
Don't disclose new password string in syslog
-
-
Fixes for gosa-create: -
-
Invalidate libnss cache before applying changes
-
Multiple failures during mass user import into GOsaÂ²
-
gosa-netgroups plugin: don't erase entries of attribute type - "memberNisNetgroup". Closes: #687256
-
First user now uses the same Kerberos policy as all other users
-
-
Add Danish web page
-
-
debian-edu-install from 1.528 to 1.530 -
-
Improve preseeding support and documentation
-
-
- -
End-user documentation in English is available at -http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze/ -- translations to French, Italian, Danish and German are available in -the debian-edu-doc package. (Other languages could use your help!)
-
If you want to contribute to Debian Edu, please join our -mailinglist -debian-edu@lists.debian.org! -

Set up cryptsetup to pass TRIM commands to the physical disk + (adding discard to /etc/crypttab)

+ +

Set up LVM to pass on TRIM commands to the underlying device (in + this case a cryptsetup partition) by changing issue_discards from + 0 to 1 in /etc/lvm/lvm.conf.

I am very happy to see the fruits of a year of hard work. :)

Set relatime as a file system option for ext3 and ext4 file + systems.

+ +

Tell swap to use TRIM commands by adding 'discard' to + /etc/fstab.

+ +

Change I/O scheduler from cfq to deadline using a udev rule.

+ +

Run fstrim on every ext3 and ext4 file system every night (from + cron.daily).

+ +

Adjust sysctl values vm.swappiness to 1 and vm.vfs_cache_pressure + to 50 to reduce the kernel eagerness to swap out processes.

+ + + +

During installation, I cancelled the part where the installer fill +the disk with random data, as this would kill the SSD performance for +little gain. My goal with the encrypted file system is to ensure +those stealing my laptop end up with a brick and not a working +computer. I have no hope in keeping the really resourceful people +from getting the data on the disk (see +XKCD #538 for an explanation why). +Thus I concluded that adding the discard option to crypttab is the +right thing to do.

+ +

I considered using the noop I/O scheduler, as several recommended +it for SSD, but others recommended deadline and a benchmark I found +indicated that deadline might be better for interactive use.

+ +

I also considered using the 'discard' file system option for ext3 +and ext4, but read that it would give a performance hit ever time a +file is removed, and thought it best to that that slowdown once a day +instead of during my work.

+ +

My package do not set up tmpfs on /var/run, /var/lock and /tmp, as +this is already done by Debian Edu.

+ +

I have not yet started on the user space tuning. I expect +iceweasel need some tuning, and perhaps other applications too, but +have not yet had time to investigate those parts.

+ +

The package should work on Ubuntu too, but I have not yet tested it +there.

+ +

As for the answer to the question in the title of this blog post, +as far as I know, the only solution I know about is to replace the +disk. It might be possible to flash it with Intel firmware instead of +the Lenovo firmware. But I have not tried and did not want to do so +without approval from Lenovo as I wanted to keep the warranty on the +disk until a solution was found and they wanted the broken disks +back.

- Tags: debian edu, english. + Tags: debian, english.

@@ -647,58 +923,54 @@ mailinglist

Frikanalen - Complete TV station organised using the web

3rd March 2013

Do you want to set up your own TV station, schedule videos and -broadcast them on the air? Using free software? With video on demand -support using -free and -open standards? Included a web based video stream as well? And -administrate it all in your web browser from anywhere in the world? A -few years now the Norwegian public access TV-channel -Frikanalen have been building a -system to do just this. The source code for the solution is licensed -using the GNU LGPL, and -available from github.

- -

The idea is simple. You upload a video file over the web, and -attach meta information to the file. You select a time slot in the -program schedule, and when the time come it is played on the air and -in the web stream. It is also made available in a video on demand -solution for anyone to see it also outside its scheduled time. All -you need to run a TV station - using your web browser.

- -

There are several parts to this web based solution. I'll mention -the three most important ones. The first part is the database of -videos and the schedule. This is written in Django and include a REST -API. The current database is SQLite, but the plan is to migrate it to -PostgreSQL. At the moment this system can be tested on -beta.frikanalen.tv. The -second part is the video playout, taking the schedule information from -the database and providing a video stream to broadcast. This is done -using CasparCG from SVT and -Media Lovin' Toolkit. Video -signal distribution is handled using -Open Broadcast Encoder. The -third part is the converter, handling the transformation of uploaded -video files to a format useful for broadcasting, streaming and video -on demand. It is still very much work in progress, so it is not yet -decided what it will end up using. Note that the source of the latter -two parts are not yet pushed to github. The lead author want to clean -them up a bit more first.

- -

The development is coordinated on the -#frikanalen IRC -channel (irc.freenode.net), and discussed on -the -frikanalen mailing list. The lead developer is Benjamin Bruheim -(phed on IRC). Anyone is welcome to participate in the -development.

Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes

10th July 2013

A few days ago, I wrote about +the +problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk, which +was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with +sustained write. My supplier is in contact with +Lenovo, and they wanted to send a +replacement disk to try to fix the problem. They decided to send an +identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.

+ +

Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install +Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it. The new disk have the +same firmware version as the original. This time my hope raised +slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to +die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept +going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%. But around 60%, the disk +died again and I was back on square one. I still do not have a new +laptop with a disk I can trust. I can not live with a disk that might +lock up when I download a new +Debian Edu / Skolelinux ISO or +other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with +the next proposal from Lenovo.

+ +

The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, +11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW: +LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, +Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model: +SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU +P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.

+ +

The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, +11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW: +LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, +Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model: +SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU +P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.

+ +

The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN, +SA, date and WNPP values. Mentioning all the details here in case +someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the +failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually +exist).

- Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video. + Tags: debian, english.

@@ -706,35 +978,26 @@ development.

Dr. Richard Stallman, founder of Free Software Foundation, give a talk in Oslo March 1st 2013

27th February 2013

Dr. Richard Stallman, -founder of Free Software Foundation, -is giving a -talk in Oslo March 1st 2013 17:00 to 19:00. The event is public -and organised by Norwegian Unix Users Group (NUUG) -(where I am the chair of the board) and -The Norwegian Open Source Competence -Center. The title of the talk is Â«The Free Software Movement and -GNUÂ», with this description: - -

-The Free Software Movement campaigns for computer users' freedom to -cooperate and control their own computing. The Free Software Movement -developed the GNU operating system, typically used together with the -kernel Linux, specifically to make these freedoms possible. -

- -

The meeting is open for everyone. Due to space limitations, the -doors opens for NUUG members at 16:15, and everyone else at 16:45. I -am really curious how many will show up. See -the event -page for the location details.

July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo

9th July 2013

The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined +Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing +party in Oslo. It is organised by the +member assosiation NUUG and +the Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project together with the hack space +Bitraf.

+ +

It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening. Everyone is +welcome, and there is no fee to participate. There is on the other +hand limited space, and only room for 30 people. Please put your name +on the event +wiki page if you plan to join us.

- Tags: english, opphavsrett, personvern, sikkerhet, surveillance. + Tags: debian, debian edu, english, nuug.

@@ -742,91 +1005,79 @@ page for the location details.

Skolelinux-intervju: Helge Tore HÃ¸yland

22nd February 2013

Etter en lang pause og travle uker har jeg endelig klart Ã¥ fÃ¥ -samlet et nytt intervju med en av folkene i -Skolelinux-miljÃ¸et. -Denne gang er det Helge Tore HÃ¸yland, en mangeÃ¥rig bidragsyter pÃ¥ -epostlistene og ellers i prosjektet.

- -

Hvem er du, og hva driver du med til daglig?

- -

Eg er IT-konsulent/teknikker hjÃ¥ eit firma i Steinkjer med navn -Uno IT. Uno IT er eit lite firma som -drifter nettverk og maskiner for smÃ¥ og mellomstore firma -Steinkjer-omrÃ¥det. Per dags dato er me 2 ansatte. Min faglege bakgrunn -er Fagbrev som it-teknikker, samt nokre fag innen nettverk- og -server-drift frÃ¥ HiST og NTNU. Dagleg arbeid bestÃ¥r i oppsett av nye -maskiner og hjelp til sluttbrukere, samt oppsett og vedlikehold av eit -vidt spekter av fagsystemer ute hjÃ¥ kunder. Erfaring med Skolelinux -har eg hatt i forbindelse med drifting av -BjÃ¸rkly skule, ein privat -grunnskule i Namsos-omrÃ¥det. I dag har skulen 65 elever, 15 lÃ¦rere, 1 -hovedserver og ca 60 klienter som kjÃ¸rer halvtjukt. Eg har bygd og -driftet systemet sidan summaren 2006.

- -

Hvordan kom du i kontakt med Skolelinux-prosjektet?

- -

Eg kom i kontakt med Skolelinux-prosjektet via ein artikkel i eit -fagblad, som eg ikkje lenger hugsar namnet pÃ¥. I og med at eg allereie -hadde pusla med nettverk for ein annan skule, fatta eg straks -interesse for prosjektet.

- -

Hva er fordelene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?

- -

Fordelane med Skolelinux er sentralisert administrasjon og svÃ¦rt -mange gode verktÃ¸y Â«ut av boksenÂ». Veldig kjekt Ã¥ kunne drifte 60 -klientar med berre Ã¥ Â«bryÂ» seg med ein server. Levetid for systemets -hardware er og ein veldig fin effekt. I tillegg kjem fordelar som Ã¸kt -sikkerhet og mindre lisenskostnader. Etter min erfaring er det og -mykje mindre driftskostnader med eit slikt system enn konkurrerande -system, pga enkelhet med sentralisert administrasjon. PÃ¥ grunn av at -Skolelinux er basert pÃ¥ Debian er det Ã²g svÃ¦rt stabilt.

- -

Hva er ulempene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?

- -

Ulemper er mangel pÃ¥ vilje til Ã¥ fÃ¸lge standarer ute i markedet, -som fÃ¸rer til mangel pÃ¥ stÃ¸tte til nokre mykje brukte ting. Flash og -Java er typiske eksempel. Sidan Debian satsar pÃ¥ stabilitet framfor Ã¥ -ha nyeste pakke av eit program, kan ein i nokre tilfeller kome borti -at program vert Â«for gamleÂ». Det er spesielt nettlesaren som er -utsett. Mangel pÃ¥ vilje til Ã¥ utvikle pedagogisk programvare, i Noreg, -for Â«alleÂ» platformer fÃ¸rer Ã²g til noko hovudbry.

- -

Hvilken fri programvare bruker du til daglig?

- -

Til dagleg bruker eg svÃ¦rt mange forskjellige Â«fri programvareÂ» -program. Firefox, Thunderbird, Freecommander, ImgBurn, Clonezilla, -OCS inventory, Icinga, Skolelinux, SystemRescueCD og mykje meir.

- -

Hvilken strategi tror du er den rette Ã¥ bruke for Ã¥ fÃ¥ -skoler til Ã¥ ta i bruk fri programvare?

- -

Strategisk mÃ¥ ein fokusere pÃ¥ at sluttbruker eigentleg ikkje er sÃ¥ -fokusert pÃ¥ at det er fri programvare men at det skal Â«berre fungereÂ». -Gjer det enkelt Ã¥ bruker og ikkje minst Ã¥ administrere. For Skolelinux -sin del mÃ¥ ein fÃ¥ eit betre fokus pÃ¥ overganger. Utbytting av servere -mÃ¥ gÃ¥ meir automatisk, import og eksport av brukerbase og maskinbase -med meir mÃ¥ kunne gÃ¥ enkelt og oppgradering til neste versjon mÃ¥ bli -mykje meir automatisk og gjennomtesta. Ein mÃ¥ unngÃ¥ at ein mÃ¥ sette -opp frÃ¥ start nÃ¥r ein byter ut ein server eller oppgraderer til neste -versjon. For Ã¥ fÃ¥ Skolelinux til Ã¥ bli eit betre alternativ for skular -mÃ¥ ein ha fokus pÃ¥ nettlesaren. Denne mÃ¥ bli Â«up to dateÂ» og stÃ¸tte -dei protokollar og tillegg som vert brukt av forlag med meir. Etter -kvart som meir og meir blir flytta ut i Â«skyaÂ» vert dette viktigare og -viktigare. Ein kunne ynskje og jobbe for at forlag med fleire tar i -bruk opne standarer, men inntil det skjer, mÃ¥ systemet kunne brukast -mot desse fagsystema.

- -

For meg har prosjektet med Skolelinux vore ein svÃ¦rt artig og -lÃ¦rerik prosess. MiljÃ¸et rundt er ikkje enormt stort, dog stort nok, -men det er svÃ¦rt hjelpevillig og engasjert.

The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230?

5th July 2013

Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a +replacement +for my trusty old Thinkpad X41. Unfortunately I did not have much +time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe +will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived. I +ended up picking a +Thinkpad X230 +with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as +a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly. But my +second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful. More +on that below.

+ +

I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most +important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never +listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search +feature at Prisjakt, which +allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other +requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according +to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of +disks from my search parameters. I also asked around among friends to +get their impression on keyboards and robustness.

+ +

So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the +X41. I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is +significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my +hand a lot more to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly +good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope +I will get used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really +needed a new laptop now. :)

+ +

Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick +visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.

+ +

But there is a fatal problem with the laptop. The 180 GB SSD disk +lock up during load. And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy +with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data. +I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I +reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by +default in Ubuntu). And the bug with is already known. It was +reported to Debian as BTS +report #691427 2012-10-25 (journal commit I/O error on brand-new +Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD). It is also reported to the Linux +kernel developers as +Kernel bugzilla +report #51861 2012-12-20 (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load +(SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the +Lenovo forums, both for +T430 +2012-11-10 and for +X230 +03-20-2013. The problem do not only affect installation. The +reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done +on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation +problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment. +There is even a +small C program +available that will lock up the hard drive after running a few +minutes by writing to a file.

+ +

I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after +contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support +requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk +firmware. Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from +Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i). I +hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be +fixed. :)

- Tags: debian edu, intervju, norsk. + Tags: debian, english.

@@ -848,7 +1099,19 @@ men det er svÃ¦rt hjelpevillig og engasjert.

+ +

+ +

+ +

+ +