The -vmdebootstrap -program is a a very nice system to create virtual machine images. It -create a image file, add a partition table, mount it and run -debootstrap in the mounted directory to create a Debian system on a -stick. Yesterday, I decided to try to teach it how to make images for -Raspberry Pi, as part -of a plan to simplify the build system for -the FreedomBox -project. The FreedomBox project already uses vmdebootstrap for -the virtualbox images, but its current build system made multistrap -based system for Dreamplug images, and it is lacking support for -Raspberry Pi.
- -Armed with the knowledge on how to build "foreign" (aka non-native -architecture) chroots for Raspberry Pi, I dived into the vmdebootstrap -code and adjusted it to be able to build armel images on my amd64 -Debian laptop. I ended up giving vmdebootstrap five new options, -allowing me to replicate the image creation process I use to make -Debian -Jessie based mesh node images for the Raspberry Pi. First, the ---foreign /path/to/binfm_handler option tell vmdebootstrap to -call debootstrap with --foreign and to copy the handler into the -generated chroot before running the second stage. This allow -vmdebootstrap to create armel images on an amd64 host. Next I added -two new options --bootsize size and --boottype -fstype to teach it to create a separate /boot/ partition with the -given file system type, allowing me to create an image with a vfat -partition for the /boot/ stuff. I also added a --variant -variant option to allow me to create smaller images without the -Debian base system packages installed. Finally, I added an option ---no-extlinux to tell vmdebootstrap to not install extlinux -as a boot loader. It is not needed on the Raspberry Pi and probably -most other non-x86 architectures. The changes were accepted by the -upstream author of vmdebootstrap yesterday and today, and is now -available from -the -upstream project page.
- -To use it to build a Raspberry Pi image using Debian Jessie, first -create a small script (the customize script) to add the non-free -binary blob needed to boot the Raspberry Pi and the APT source -list:
- --#!/bin/sh -set -e # Exit on first error -rootdir="$1" -cd "$rootdir" -cat <<EOF > etc/apt/sources.list -deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free -EOF -# Install non-free binary blob needed to boot Raspberry Pi. This -# install a kernel somewhere too. -wget https://raw.github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update/master/rpi-update \ - -O $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update -chmod a+x $rootdir/usr/bin/rpi-update -mkdir -p $rootdir/lib/modules -touch $rootdir/boot/start.elf -chroot $rootdir rpi-update -- -
Next, fetch the latest vmdebootstrap script and call it like this -to build the image:
- --sudo ./vmdebootstrap \ - --variant minbase \ - --arch armel \ - --distribution jessie \ - --mirror http://http.debian.net/debian \ - --image test.img \ - --size 600M \ - --bootsize 64M \ - --boottype vfat \ - --log-level debug \ - --verbose \ - --no-kernel \ - --no-extlinux \ - --root-password raspberry \ - --hostname raspberrypi \ - --foreign /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static \ - --customize `pwd`/customize \ - --package netbase \ - --package git-core \ - --package binutils \ - --package ca-certificates \ - --package wget \ - --package kmod -- -
The list of packages being installed are the ones needed by -rpi-update to make the image bootable on the Raspberry Pi, with the -exception of netbase, which is needed by debootstrap to find -/etc/hosts with the minbase variant. I really wish there was a way to -set up an Raspberry Pi using only packages in the Debian archive, but -that is not possible as far as I know, because it boots from the GPU -using a non-free binary blob.
- -The build host need debootstrap, kpartx and qemu-user-static and -probably a few others installed. I have not checked the complete -build dependency list.
- -The resulting image will not use the hardware floating point unit -on the Raspberry PI, because the armel architecture in Debian is not -optimized for that use. So the images created will be a bit slower -than Raspbian based images.
+ +The lsdvd project +got a new set of developers a few weeks ago, after the original +developer decided to step down and pass the project to fresh blood. +This project is now maintained by Petter Reinholdtsen and Steve +Dibb.
+ +I just wrapped up +a +new lsdvd release, available in git or from +the +download page. This is the changelog dated 2014-10-03 for version +0.17.
+ +-
+
+
- Ignore 'phantom' audio, subtitle tracks +
- Check for garbage in the program chains, which indicate that a track is + non-existant, to work around additional copy protection +
- Fix displaying content type for audio tracks, subtitles +
- Fix pallete display of first entry +
- Fix include orders +
- Ignore read errors in titles that would not be displayed anyway +
- Fix the chapter count +
- Make sure the array size and the array limit used when initialising + the palette size is the same. +
- Fix array printing. +
- Correct subsecond calculations. +
- Add sector information to the output format. +
- Clean up code to be closer to ANSI C and compile without warnings + with more GCC compiler warnings. + +
This change bring together patches for lsdvd in use in various +Linux and Unix distributions, as well as patches submitted to the +project the last nine years. Please check it out. :)
De siste måneders eksponering av -den -totale overvåkningen som foregår i den vestlige verden dokumenterer -hvor sårbare vi er. Men det slår meg at de som er mest sårbare -for dette, myndighetspersoner på alle nivåer, neppe har innsett at de -selv er de mest interessante personene å lage profiler på, for å kunne -påvirke dem.
- -For å ta et lite eksempel: Stortingets nettsted, -www.stortinget.no (og -forsåvidt også -data.stortinget.no), -inneholder informasjon om det som foregår på Stortinget, og jeg antar -de største brukerne av informasjonen der er representanter og -rådgivere på Stortinget. Intet overraskende med det. Det som derimot -er mer skjult er at Stortingets nettsted bruker -Google -Analytics, hvilket gjør at enhver som besøker nettsidene der også -rapporterer om besøket via Internett-linjer som passerer Sverige, -England og videre til USA. Det betyr at informasjon om ethvert besøk -på stortingets nettsider kan snappes opp av svensk, britisk og USAs -etterretningsvesen. De kan dermed holde et øye med hvilke -Stortingssaker stortingsrepresentantene synes er interessante å sjekke -ut, og hvilke sider rådgivere og andre på stortinget synes er -interessant å besøke, når de gjør det og hvilke andre representanter -som sjekker de samme sidene omtrent samtidig. Stortingets bruk av -Google Analytics gjør det dermed enkelt for utenlands etteretning å -spore representantenes aktivitet og interesse. Hvis noen av -representantene bruker Google Mail eller noen andre tjenestene som -krever innlogging, så vil det være enda enklere å finne ut nøyaktig -hvilke personer som bruker hvilke nettlesere og dermed knytte -informasjonen opp til enkeltpersoner på Stortinget.
- -Og jo flere nettsteder som bruker Google Analytics, jo bedre -oversikt over stortingsrepresentantenes lesevaner og interesse blir -tilgjengelig for svensk, britisk og USAs etterretning. Hva de kan -bruke den informasjonen til overlater jeg til leseren å undres -over.
+ +The Debian Edu / Skolelinux +project provide a Linux solution for schools, including a +powerful desktop with education software, a central server providing +web pages, user database, user home directories, central login and PXE +boot of both clients without disk and the installation to install Debian +Edu on machines with disk (and a few other services perhaps to small +to mention here). We in the Debian Edu team are currently working on +the Jessie based version, trying to get everything in shape before the +freeze, to avoid having to maintain our own package repository in the +future. The +current +status can be seen on the Debian wiki, and there is still heaps of +work left. Some fatal problems block testing, breaking the installer, +but it is possible to work around these to get anyway. Here is a +recipe on how to get the installation limping along.
+ +First, download the test ISO via +ftp, +http +or rsync (use +ftp.skolelinux.org::cd-edu-testing-nolocal-netinst/debian-edu-amd64-i386-NETINST-1.iso). +The ISO build was broken on Tuesday, so we do not get a new ISO every +12 hours or so, but thankfully the ISO we already got we are able to +install with some tweaking.
+ +When you get to the Debian Edu profile question, go to tty2 +(use Alt-Ctrl-F2), run
+ ++ ++nano /usr/bin/edu-eatmydata-install +
and add 'exit 0' as the second line, disabling the eatmydata +optimization. Return to the installation, select the profile you want +and continue. Without this change, exim4-config will fail to install +due to a known bug in eatmydata.
+ +When you get the grub question at the end, answer /dev/sda (or if +this do not work, figure out what your correct value would be. All my +test machines need /dev/sda, so I have no advice if it do not fit +your need.
+ +If you installed a profile including a graphical desktop, log in as +root after the initial boot from hard drive, and install the +education-desktop-XXX metapackage. XXX can be kde, gnome, lxde, xfce +or mate. If you want several desktop options, install more than one +metapackage. Once this is done, reboot and you should have a working +graphical login screen. This workaround should no longer be needed +once the education-tasks package version 1.801 enter testing in two +days.
+ +I believe the ISO build will start working on two days when the new +tasksel package enter testing and Steve McIntyre get a chance to +update the debian-cd git repository. The eatmydata, grub and desktop +issues are already fixed in unstable and testing, and should show up +on the ISO as soon as the ISO build start working again. Well the +eatmydata optimization is really just disabled. The proper fix +require an upload by the eatmydata maintainer applying the patch +provided in bug #702711. +The rest have proper fixes in unstable.
+ +I hope this get you going with the installation testing, as we are +quickly running out of time trying to get our Jessie based +installation ready before the distribution freeze in a month.
The last few days I have been experimenting with -the -batman-adv mesh technology. I want to gain some experience to see -if it will fit the -Freedombox project, and together with my neighbors try to build a -mesh network around the park where I live. Batman-adv is a layer 2 -mesh system ("ethernet" in other words), where the mesh network appear -as if all the mesh clients are connected to the same switch.
- -My hardware of choice was the Linksys WRT54GL routers I had lying -around, but I've been unable to get them working with batman-adv. So -instead, I started playing with a -Raspberry Pi, and tried to -get it working as a mesh node. My idea is to use it to create a mesh -node which function as a switch port, where everything connected to -the Raspberry Pi ethernet plug is connected (bridged) to the mesh -network. This allow me to hook a wifi base station like the Linksys -WRT54GL to the mesh by plugging it into a Raspberry Pi, and allow -non-mesh clients to hook up to the mesh. This in turn is useful for -Android phones using the Serval -Project voip client, allowing every one around the playground to -phone and message each other for free. The reason is that Android -phones do not see ad-hoc wifi networks (they are filtered away from -the GUI view), and can not join the mesh without being rooted. But if -they are connected using a normal wifi base station, they can talk to -every client on the local network.
- -To get this working, I've created a debian package -meshfx-node -and a script -build-rpi-mesh-node -to create the Raspberry Pi boot image. I'm using Debian Jessie (and -not Raspbian), to get more control over the packages available. -Unfortunately a huge binary blob need to be inserted into the boot -image to get it booting, but I'll ignore that for now. Also, as -Debian lack support for the CPU features available in the Raspberry -Pi, the system do not use the hardware floating point unit. I hope -the routing performance isn't affected by the lack of hardware FPU -support.
- -To create an image, run the following with a sudo enabled user -after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:
- --% wget -O build-rpi-mesh-node \ - https://raw.github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/master/build-rpi-mesh-node -% sudo bash -x ./build-rpi-mesh-node > build.log 2>&1 -% dd if=/root/rpi/rpi_basic_jessie_$(date +%Y%m%d).img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M -% -- -
Booting with the resulting SD card on a Raspberry PI with a USB -wifi card inserted should give you a mesh node. At least it does for -me with a the wifi card I am using. The default mesh settings are the -ones used by the Oslo mesh project at Hackeriet, as I mentioned in -an -earlier blog post about this mesh testing.
- -The mesh node was not horribly expensive either. I bought -everything over the counter in shops nearby. If I had ordered online -from the lowest bidder, the price should be significantly lower:
- -Supplier | Model | NOK |
---|---|---|
Teknikkmagasinet | Raspberry Pi model B | 349.90 |
Teknikkmagasinet | Raspberry Pi type B case | 99.90 |
Lefdal | Jensen Air:Link 25150 | 295.- |
Clas Ohlson | Kingston 16 GB SD card | 199.- |
Total cost | 943.80 |
Now my mesh network at home consist of one laptop in the basement -connected to my production network, one Raspberry Pi node on the 1th -floor that can be seen by my neighbor across the park, and one -play-node I use to develop the image building script. And some times -I hook up my work horse laptop to the mesh to test it. I look forward -to figuring out what kind of latency the batman-adv setup will give, -and how much packet loss we will experience around the park. :)
+ +I use the lsdvd tool +to handle my fairly large DVD collection. It is a nice command line +tool to get details about a DVD, like title, tracks, track length, +etc, in XML, Perl or human readable format. But lsdvd have not seen +any new development since 2006 and had a few irritating bugs affecting +its use with some DVDs. Upstream seemed to be dead, and in January I +sent a small probe asking for a version control repository for the +project, without any reply. But I use it regularly and would like to +get an updated version +into Debian. So two weeks ago I tried harder to get in touch with +the project admin, and after getting a reply from him explaining that +he was no longer interested in the project, I asked if I could take +over. And yesterday, I became project admin.
+ +I've been in touch with a Gentoo developer and the Debian +maintainer interested in joining forces to maintain the upstream +project, and I hope we can get a new release out fairly quickly, +collecting the patches spread around on the internet into on place. +I've added the relevant Debian patches to the freshly created git +repository, and expect the Gentoo patches to make it too. If you got +a DVD collection and care about command line tools, check out +the git source and join +the project mailing +list. :)
Back in 2010, I created a Perl library to talk to -the Spykee robot -(with two belts, wifi, USB and Linux) and made it available from my -web page. Today I concluded that it should move to a site that is -easier to use to cooperate with others, and moved it to github. If -you got a Spykee robot, you might want to check out -the -libspykee-perl github repository.
+ +Rundt omkring i Oslo og ÃstlandsomrÃ¥det henger det bokser over +veiene som jeg har lurt pÃ¥ hva gjør. De har ut fra plassering og +vinkling sett ut som bokser som sniffer ut et eller annet fra +forbipasserende trafikk, men det har vært uklart for meg hva det er de +leser av. Her om dagen tok jeg bilde av en slik boks som henger under +ei +skibru pÃ¥ Sollihøgda:
+ +Boksen er tydelig merket «Kapsch >>>», logoen til +det sveitsiske selskapet Kapsch som +blant annet lager sensorsystemer for veitrafikk. Men de lager mye +forskjellig, og jeg kjente ikke igjen boksen på utseendet etter en +kjapp titt på produktlista til selskapet.
+ +I og med at boksen henger over veien E16, en riksvei vedlikeholdt +av Statens Vegvesen, så antok jeg at det burde være mulig å bruke +REST-API-et som gir tilgang til vegvesenets database over veier, +skilter og annet veirelatert til å finne ut hva i alle dager dette +kunne være. De har både +en +datakatalog og +et +søk, der en kan søke etter ulike typer oppføringer innen for et +gitt geografisk område. Jeg laget et enkelt shell-script for å hente +ut antall av en gitt type innenfor området skibrua dekker, og listet +opp navnet på typene som ble funnet. Orket ikke slå opp hvordan +URL-koding av aktuelle strenger kunne gjøres mer generisk, og brukte +en stygg sed-linje i stedet.
+ ++ +Aktuelt ID-område 1-874 var riktig i datakatalogen da jeg laget +scriptet. Det vil endre seg over tid. Skriptet listet så opp +aktuelle typer i og rundt skibrua: + ++#!/bin/sh +urlmap() { + sed \ + -e 's/ / /g' -e 's/{/%7B/g' \ + -e 's/}/%7D/g' -e 's/\[/%5B/g' \ + -e 's/\]/%5D/g' -e 's/ /%20/g' \ + -e 's/,/%2C/g' -e 's/\"/%22/g' \ + -e 's/:/%3A/g' +} + +lookup() { + url="$1" + curl -s -H 'Accept: application/vnd.vegvesen.nvdb-v1+xml' \ + "https://www.vegvesen.no/nvdb/api$url" | xmllint --format - +} + +for id in $(seq 1 874) ; do + search="{ + lokasjon: { + bbox: \"10.34425,59.96386,10.34458,59.96409\", + srid: \"WGS84\" + }, + objektTyper: [{ + id: $id, antall: 10 + }] +}" + + query=/sok?kriterie=$(echo $search | urlmap) + if lookup "$query" | + grep -q '<totaltAntallReturnert>0<' + then + : + else + echo $id + lookup "/datakatalog/objekttyper/$id" |grep '^ <navn>' + fi +done + +exit 0 +
+ ++5 + <navn>Rekkverk</navn> +14 + <navn>Rekkverksende</navn> +47 + <navn>Trafikklomme</navn> +49 + <navn>Trafikkøy</navn> +60 + <navn>Bru</navn> +79 + <navn>Stikkrenne/Kulvert</navn> +80 + <navn>Grøft, åpen</navn> +86 + <navn>Belysningsstrekning</navn> +95 + <navn>Skiltpunkt</navn> +96 + <navn>Skiltplate</navn> +98 + <navn>Referansestolpe</navn> +99 + <navn>Vegoppmerking, langsgående</navn> +105 + <navn>Fartsgrense</navn> +106 + <navn>Vinterdriftsstrategi</navn> +172 + <navn>Trafikkdeler</navn> +241 + <navn>Vegdekke</navn> +293 + <navn>Breddemåling</navn> +301 + <navn>Kantklippareal</navn> +318 + <navn>Snø-/isrydding</navn> +445 + <navn>Skred</navn> +446 + <navn>Dokumentasjon</navn> +452 + <navn>Undergang</navn> +528 + <navn>Tverrprofil</navn> +532 + <navn>Vegreferanse</navn> +534 + <navn>Region</navn> +535 + <navn>Fylke</navn> +536 + <navn>Kommune</navn> +538 + <navn>Gate</navn> +539 + <navn>Transportlenke</navn> +540 + <navn>Trafikkmengde</navn> +570 + <navn>Trafikkulykke</navn> +571 + <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert enhet</navn> +572 + <navn>Ulykkesinvolvert person</navn> +579 + <navn>Politidistrikt</navn> +583 + <navn>Vegbredde</navn> +591 + <navn>Høydebegrensning</navn> +592 + <navn>Nedbøyningsmåling</navn> +597 + <navn>Støy-luft, Strekningsdata</navn> +601 + <navn>Oppgravingsdata</navn> +602 + <navn>Oppgravingslag</navn> +603 + <navn>PMS-parsell</navn> +604 + <navn>Vegnormalstrekning</navn> +605 + <navn>Værrelatert strekning</navn> +616 + <navn>Feltstrekning</navn> +617 + <navn>Adressepunkt</navn> +626 + <navn>Friksjonsmåleserie</navn> +629 + <navn>Vegdekke, flatelapping</navn> +639 + <navn>Kurvatur, horisontalelement</navn> +640 + <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalelement</navn> +642 + <navn>Kurvatur, vertikalpunkt</navn> +643 + <navn>Statistikk, trafikkmengde</navn> +647 + <navn>Statistikk, vegbredde</navn> +774 + <navn>Nedbøyningsmåleserie</navn> +775 + <navn>ATK, influensstrekning</navn> +794 + <navn>Systemobjekt</navn> +810 + <navn>Vinterdriftsklasse</navn> +821 + <navn>Funksjonell vegklasse</navn> +825 + <navn>Kurvatur, stigning</navn> +838 + <navn>Vegbredde, beregnet</navn> +862 + <navn>Reisetidsregistreringspunkt</navn> +871 + <navn>Bruksklasse</navn> +
Av disse ser ID 775 og 862 mest relevant ut. ID 775 antar jeg +refererer til fotoboksen som stÃ¥r like ved brua, mens +«Reisetidsregistreringspunkt» kanskje kan være boksen som henger der. +Hvordan finner jeg sÃ¥ ut hva dette kan være for noe. En titt pÃ¥ +datakatalogsiden +for ID 862/Reisetidsregistreringspunkt viser at det er finnes 53 +slike mÃ¥lere i Norge, og hvor de er plassert, men gir ellers fÃ¥ +detaljer. Det er plassert 40 pÃ¥ østlandet og 13 i Trondheimsregionen. +Men siden nevner «AutoPASS», og hvis en slÃ¥r opp oppføringen pÃ¥ +Sollihøgda nevner den «Ciber AS» som ID for eksternt system. (Kan det +være snakk om +Ciber +Norge AS, et selskap eid av Ciber Europe Bv?) Et nettsøk pÃ¥ + «Ciber AS autopass» fører meg til en artikkel fra NRK Trøndelag i + 2013 med tittel +«Sjekk +dette hvis du vil unngÃ¥ kø». Artikkelen henviser til vegvesenets +nettside +reisetider.no +som har en +kartside +for Ãstlandet som viser at det mÃ¥les mellom Sandvika og Sollihøgda. +Det kan dermed se ut til at jeg har funnet ut hva boksene gjør.
+ +Hvis det stemmer, så er dette bokser som leser av AutoPASS-ID-en +til alle passerende biler med AutoPASS-brikke, og dermed gjør det mulig +for de som kontrollerer boksene å holde rede på hvor en gitt bil er +når den passerte et slikt målepunkt. NRK-artikkelen forteller at +denne informasjonen i dag kun brukes til å koble to +AutoPASS-brikkepasseringer passeringer sammen for å beregne +reisetiden, og at bruken er godkjent av Datatilsynet. Det er desverre +ikke mulig for en sjåfør som passerer under en slik boks å kontrollere +at AutoPASS-ID-en kun brukes til dette i dag og i fremtiden.
+ +I tillegg til denne type AutoPASS-sniffere vet jeg at det også +finnes mange automatiske stasjoner som tar betalt pr. passering (aka +bomstasjoner), og der lagres informasjon om tid, sted og bilnummer i +10 år. Finnes det andre slike sniffere plassert ut på veiene?
+ +Personlig har jeg valgt å ikke bruke AutoPASS-brikke, for å gjøre +det vanskeligere og mer kostbart for de som vil invadere privatsfæren +og holde rede på hvor bilen min beveger seg til enhver tid. Jeg håper +flere vil gjøre det samme, selv om det gir litt høyere private +utgifter (dyrere bompassering). Vern om privatsfæren koster i disse +dager.
+ +Takk til Jan Kristian Jensen i Statens Vegvesen for tips om +dokumentasjon på vegvesenets REST-API.
The last few days I came across a few good causes that should get -wider attention. I recommend signing and donating to each one of -these. :)
- -Via Debian -Project News for 2013-10-14 I came across the Outreach Program for -Women program which is a Google Summer of Code like initiative to get -more women involved in free software. One debian sponsor has offered -to match any donation done to Debian -earmarked for this initiative. I donated a few minutes ago, and -hope you will to. :)
- -And the Electronic Frontier Foundation just announced plans to -create video -documentaries about the excessive spying on every Internet user that -take place these days, and their need to fund the work. I've already -donated. Are you next?
- -For my Norwegian audience, the organisation Studentenes og -Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond is collecting signatures for a -statement under the heading -Bloggers United for Open -Access for those of us asking for more focus on open access in the -Norwegian government. So far 499 signatures. I hope you will sign it -too.
+ +The Debian installer could be +a lot quicker. When we install more than 2000 packages in +Skolelinux / Debian Edu using +tasksel in the installer, unpacking the binary packages take forever. +A part of the slow I/O issue was discussed in +bug #613428 about too +much file system sync-ing done by dpkg, which is the package +responsible for unpacking the binary packages. Other parts (like code +executed by postinst scripts) might also sync to disk during +installation. All this sync-ing to disk do not really make sense to +me. If the machine crash half-way through, I start over, I do not try +to salvage the half installed system. So the failure sync-ing is +supposed to protect against, hardware or system crash, is not really +relevant while the installer is running.
+ +A few days ago, I thought of a way to get rid of all the file +system sync()-ing in a fairly non-intrusive way, without the need to +change the code in several packages. The idea is not new, but I have +not heard anyone propose the approach using dpkg-divert before. It +depend on the small and clever package +eatmydata, which +uses LD_PRELOAD to replace the system functions for syncing data to +disk with functions doing nothing, thus allowing programs to live +dangerous while speeding up disk I/O significantly. Instead of +modifying the implementation of dpkg, apt and tasksel (which are the +packages responsible for selecting, fetching and installing packages), +it occurred to me that we could just divert the programs away, replace +them with a simple shell wrapper calling +"eatmydata $program $@", to get the same effect. +Two days ago I decided to test the idea, and wrapped up a simple +implementation for the Debian Edu udeb.
+ +The effect was stunning. In my first test it reduced the running +time of the pkgsel step (installing tasks) from 64 to less than 44 +minutes (20 minutes shaved off the installation) on an old Dell +Latitude D505 machine. I am not quite sure what the optimised time +would have been, as I messed up the testing a bit, causing the debconf +priority to get low enough for two questions to pop up during +installation. As soon as I saw the questions I moved the installation +along, but do not know how long the question were holding up the +installation. I did some more measurements using Debian Edu Jessie, +and got these results. The time measured is the time stamp in +/var/log/syslog between the "pkgsel: starting tasksel" and the +"pkgsel: finishing up" lines, if you want to do the same measurement +yourself. In Debian Edu, the tasksel dialog do not show up, and the +timing thus do not depend on how quickly the user handle the tasksel +dialog.
+ +Machine/setup | +Original tasksel | +Optimised tasksel | +Reduction | +
---|---|---|---|
Latitude D505 Main+LTSP LXDE | +64 min (07:46-08:50) | +<44 min (11:27-12:11) | +>20 min 18% | +
Latitude D505 Roaming LXDE | +57 min (08:48-09:45) | +34 min (07:43-08:17) | +23 min 40% | +
Latitude D505 Minimal | +22 min (10:37-10:59) | +11 min (11:16-11:27) | +11 min 50% | +
Thinkpad X200 Minimal | +6 min (08:19-08:25) | +4 min (08:04-08:08) | +2 min 33% | +
Thinkpad X200 Roaming KDE | +19 min (09:21-09:40) | +15 min (10:25-10:40) | +4 min 21% | +
The test is done using a netinst ISO on a USB stick, so some of the +time is spent downloading packages. The connection to the Internet +was 100Mbit/s during testing, so downloading should not be a +significant factor in the measurement. Download typically took a few +seconds to a few minutes, depending on the amount of packages being +installed.
+ +The speedup is implemented by using two hooks in +Debian +Installer, the pre-pkgsel.d hook to set up the diverts, and the +finish-install.d hook to remove the divert at the end of the +installation. I picked the pre-pkgsel.d hook instead of the +post-base-installer.d hook because I test using an ISO without the +eatmydata package included, and the post-base-installer.d hook in +Debian Edu can only operate on packages included in the ISO. The +negative effect of this is that I am unable to activate this +optimization for the kernel installation step in d-i. If the code is +moved to the post-base-installer.d hook, the speedup would be larger +for the entire installation.
+ +I've implemented this in the +debian-edu-install +git repository, and plan to provide the optimization as part of the +Debian Edu installation. If you want to test this yourself, you can +create two files in the installer (or in an udeb). One shell script +need do go into /usr/lib/pre-pkgsel.d/, with content like this:
+ ++ ++#!/bin/sh +set -e +. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule +info() { + logger -t my-pkgsel "info: $*" +} +error() { + logger -t my-pkgsel "error: $*" +} +override_install() { + apt-install eatmydata || true + if [ -x /target/usr/bin/eatmydata ] ; then + for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do + file=/usr/bin/$bin + # Test that the file exist and have not been diverted already. + if [ -f /target$file ] ; then + info "diverting $file using eatmydata" + printf "#!/bin/sh\neatmydata $bin.distrib \"\$@\"\n" \ + > /target$file.edu + chmod 755 /target$file.edu + in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \ + --rename --quiet --add $file + ln -sf ./$bin.edu /target$file + else + error "unable to divert $file, as it is missing." + fi + done + else + error "unable to find /usr/bin/eatmydata after installing the eatmydata pacage" + fi +} + +override_install +
To clean up, another shell script should go into +/usr/lib/finish-install.d/ with code like this: + +
+ ++#! /bin/sh -e +. /usr/share/debconf/confmodule +error() { + logger -t my-finish-install "error: $@" +} +remove_install_override() { + for bin in dpkg apt-get aptitude tasksel ; do + file=/usr/bin/$bin + if [ -x /target$file.edu ] ; then + rm /target$file + in-target dpkg-divert --package debian-edu-config \ + --rename --quiet --remove $file + rm /target$file.edu + else + error "Missing divert for $file." + fi + done + sync # Flush file buffers before continuing +} + +remove_install_override +
In Debian Edu, I placed both code fragments in a separate script +edu-eatmydata-install and call it from the pre-pkgsel.d and +finish-install.d scripts.
+ +By now you might ask if this change should get into the normal +Debian installer too? I suspect it should, but am not sure the +current debian-installer coordinators find it useful enough. It also +depend on the side effects of the change. I'm not aware of any, but I +guess we will see if the change is safe after some more testing. +Perhaps there is some package in Debian depending on sync() and +fsync() having effect? Perhaps it should go into its own udeb, to +allow those of us wanting to enable it to do so without affecting +everyone.
+ +Update 2014-09-24: Since a few days ago, enabling this optimization +will break installation of all programs using gnutls because of +bug #702711. An updated +eatmydata package in Debian will solve it.
Wireless mesh networks are self organising and self healing -networks that can be used to connect computers across small and large -areas, depending on the radio technology used. Normal wifi equipment -can be used to create home made radio networks, and there are several -successful examples like -Freifunk and -Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network -(see -wikipedia -for a large list) around the globe. To give you an idea how it -work, check out the nice overview of the Kiel Freifunk community which -can be seen from their -dynamically -updated node graph and map, where one can see how the mesh nodes -automatically handle routing and recover from nodes disappearing. -There is also a small community mesh network group in Oslo, Norway, -and that is the main topic of this blog post.
- -I've wanted to check out mesh networks for a while now, and hoped -to do it as part of my involvement with the NUUG member organisation community, and -my recent involvement in -the Freedombox project -finally lead me to give mesh networks some priority, as I suspect a -Freedombox should use mesh networks to connect neighbours and family -when possible, given that most communication between people are -between those nearby (as shown for example by research on Facebook -communication patterns). It also allow people to communicate without -any central hub to tap into for those that want to listen in on the -private communication of citizens, which have become more and more -important over the years.
- -So far I have only been able to find one group of people in Oslo -working on community mesh networks, over at the hack space -Hackeriet at Husmania. They seem to -have started with some Freifunk based effort using OLSR, called -the Oslo -Freifunk project, but that effort is now dead and the people -behind it have moved on to a batman-adv based system called -meshfx. Unfortunately the wiki -site for the Oslo Freifunk project is no longer possible to update to -reflect this fact, so the old project page can't be updated to point to -the new project. A while back, the people at Hackeriet invited people -from the Freifunk community to Oslo to talk about mesh networks. I -came across this video where Hans Jørgen Lysglimt interview the -speakers about this talk (from -youtube):
- - - -I mentioned OLSR and batman-adv, which are mesh routing protocols. -There are heaps of different protocols, and I am still struggling to -figure out which one would be "best" for some definitions of best, but -given that the community mesh group in Oslo is so small, I believe it -is best to hook up with the existing one instead of trying to create a -completely different setup, and thus I have decided to focus on -batman-adv for now. It sure help me to know that the very cool -Serval project in Australia -is using batman-adv as their meshing technology when it create a self -organizing and self healing telephony system for disaster areas and -less industrialized communities. Check out this cool video presenting -that project (from -youtube):
- - - -According to the wikipedia page on -Wireless -mesh network there are around 70 competing schemes for routing -packets across mesh networks, and OLSR, B.A.T.M.A.N. and -B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced are protocols used by several free software -based community mesh networks.
- -The batman-adv protocol is a bit special, as it provide layer 2 -(as in ethernet ) routing, allowing ipv4 and ipv6 to work on the same -network. One way to think about it is that it provide a mesh based -vlan you can bridge to or handle like any other vlan connected to your -computer. The required drivers are already in the Linux kernel at -least since Debian Wheezy, and it is fairly easy to set up. A -good -introduction is available from the Open Mesh project. These are -the key settings needed to join the Oslo meshfx network:
- -Setting | Value |
---|---|
Protocol / kernel module | batman-adv |
ESSID | meshfx@hackeriet | Channel / Frequency | 11 / 2462 | -Cell ID | 02:BA:00:00:00:01 | -
The reason for setting ad-hoc wifi Cell ID is to work around bugs -in firmware used in wifi card and wifi drivers. (See a nice post from -VillageTelco about -"Information -about cell-id splitting, stuck beacons, and failed IBSS merges! -for details.) When these settings are activated and you have some -other mesh node nearby, your computer will be connected to the mesh -network and can communicate with any mesh node that is connected to -any of the nodes in your network of nodes. :)
- -My initial plan was to reuse my old Linksys WRT54GL as a mesh node, -but that seem to be very hard, as I have not been able to locate a -firmware supporting batman-adv. If anyone know how to use that old -wifi access point with batman-adv these days, please let me know.
- -If you find this project interesting and want to join, please join -us on IRC, either channel -#oslohackerspace -or #nuug on -irc.freenode.net.
- -While investigating mesh networks in Oslo, I came across an old -research paper from the university of Stavanger and Telenor Research -and Innovation called -The -reliability of wireless backhaul mesh networks and elsewhere -learned that Telenor have been experimenting with mesh networks at -Grünerløkka in Oslo. So mesh networks are also interesting for -commercial companies, even though Telenor discovered that it was hard -to figure out a good business plan for mesh networking and as far as I -know have closed down the experiment. Perhaps Telenor or others would -be interested in a cooperation?
- -Update 2013-10-12: I was just -told -by the Serval project developers that they no longer use -batman-adv (but are compatible with it), but their own crypto based -mesh system.
+ +Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending a talk with the +Norwegian Unix User Group about +the +OpenPGP keyserver pool sks-keyservers.net, and was very happy to +learn that there is a large set of publicly available key servers to +use when looking for peoples public key. So far I have used +subkeys.pgp.net, and some times wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net when the former +were misbehaving, but those days are ended. The servers I have used +up until yesterday have been slow and some times unavailable. I hope +those problems are gone now.
+ +Behind the round robin DNS entry of the +sks-keyservers.net service +there is a pool of more than 100 keyservers which are checked every +day to ensure they are well connected and up to date. It must be +better than what I have used so far. :)
+ +Yesterdays speaker told me that the service is the default +keyserver provided by the default configuration in GnuPG, but this do +not seem to be used in Debian. Perhaps it should?
+ +Anyway, I've updated my ~/.gnupg/options file to now include this +line:
+ ++ ++keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net +
With GnuPG version 2 one can also locate the keyserver using SRV +entries in DNS. Just for fun, I did just that at work, so now every +user of GnuPG at the University of Oslo should find a OpenGPG +keyserver automatically should their need it:
+ ++ ++% host -t srv _pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no +_pgpkey-http._tcp.uio.no has SRV record 0 100 11371 pool.sks-keyservers.net. +% +
Now if only +the +HKP lookup protocol supported finding signature paths, I would be +very happy. It can look up a given key or search for a user ID, but I +normally do not want that, but to find a trust path from my key to +another key. Given a user ID or key ID, I would like to find (and +download) the keys representing a signature path from my key to the +key in question, to be able to get a trust path between the two keys. +This is as far as I can tell not possible today. Perhaps something +for a future version of the protocol?
The other day I was pleased and surprised to discover that Marcelo -Salvador had published a -video on -Youtube showing how to install the standalone Debian Edu / -Skolelinux profile. This is the profile intended for use at home or -on laptops that should not be integrated into the provided network -services (no central home directory, no Kerberos / LDAP directory etc, -in other word a single user machine). The result is 11 minutes long, -and show some user applications (seem to be rather randomly picked). -Missed a few of my favorites like celestia, planets and chromium -showing the Zygote Body 3D model -of the human body, but I guess he did not know about those or find -other programs more interesting. :) And the video do not show the -advantages I believe is one of the most valuable featuers in Debian -Edu, its central school server making it possible to run hundreds of -computers without hard drives by installing one central -LTSP server.
- -Anyway, check out the video, embedded below and linked to above:
- - - -Are there other nice videos demonstrating Skolelinux? Please let -me know. :)
+ +Two years later, I am still not sure if it is legal here in Norway +to use or publish a video in H.264 or MPEG4 format edited by the +commercially licensed video editors, without limiting the use to +create "personal" or "non-commercial" videos or get a license +agreement with MPEG LA. If one +want to publish and broadcast video in a non-personal or commercial +setting, it might be that those tools can not be used, or that video +format can not be used, without breaking their copyright license. I +am not sure. +Back +then, I found that the copyright license terms for Adobe Premiere +and Apple Final Cut Pro both specified that one could not use the +program to produce anything else without a patent license from MPEG +LA. The issue is not limited to those two products, though. Other +much used products like those from Avid and Sorenson Media have terms +of use are similar to those from Adobe and Apple. The complicating +factor making me unsure if those terms have effect in Norway or not is +that the patents in question are not valid in Norway, but copyright +licenses are.
+ +These are the terms for Avid Artist Suite, according to their +published +end user +license +text (converted to lower case text for easier reading):
+ +++ +18.2. MPEG-4. MPEG-4 technology may be included with the +software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:
+ +This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio +license for the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) +encoding video in compliance with the MPEG-4 visual standard (âMPEG-4 +videoâ) and/or (ii) decoding MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a +consumer engaged in a personal and non-commercial activity and/or was +obtained from a video provider licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 +video. No license is granted or shall be implied for any other +use. Additional information including that relating to promotional, +internal and commercial uses and licensing may be obtained from MPEG +LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com. This product is licensed under +the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license for encoding in compliance +with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except that an additional license +and payment of royalties are necessary for encoding in connection with +(i) data stored or replicated in physical media which is paid for on a +title by title basis and/or (ii) data which is paid for on a title by +title basis and is transmitted to an end user for permanent storage +and/or use, such additional license may be obtained from MPEG LA, +LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for additional details.
+ +18.3. H.264/AVC. H.264/AVC technology may be included with the +software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:
+ +This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for +the personal use of a consumer or other uses in which it does not +receive remuneration to (i) encode video in compliance with the AVC +standard (âAVC videoâ) and/or (ii) decode AVC video that was encoded +by a consumer engaged in a personal activity and/or was obtained from +a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No license is granted +or shall be implied for any other use. Additional information may be +obtained from MPEG LA, L.L.C. See http://www.mpegla.com.
+
Note the requirement that the videos created can only be used for +personal or non-commercial purposes.
+ +The Sorenson Media software have +similar terms:
+ ++ ++ +With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 Video +Decoders and/or Encoders: Any such product is licensed under the +MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio license for the personal and +non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) encoding video in compliance +with the MPEG-4 visual standard (âMPEG-4 videoâ) and/or (ii) decoding +MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a personal and +non-commercial activity and/or was obtained from a video provider +licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 video. No license is granted or +shall be implied for any other use. Additional information including +that relating to promotional, internal and commercial uses and +licensing may be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See +http://www.mpegla.com.
+ +With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 +Consumer Recorded Data Encoder, MPEG-4 Systems Internet Data Encoder, +MPEG-4 Mobile Data Encoder, and/or MPEG-4 Unique Use Encoder: Any such +product is licensed under the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license +for encoding in compliance with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except +that an additional license and payment of royalties are necessary for +encoding in connection with (i) data stored or replicated in physical +media which is paid for on a title by title basis and/or (ii) data +which is paid for on a title by title basis and is transmitted to an +end user for permanent storage and/or use. Such additional license may +be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for +additional details.
+ +
Some free software like +Handbrake and +FFMPEG uses GPL/LGPL licenses and do +not have any such terms included, so for those, there is no +requirement to limit the use to personal and non-commercial.
A few hours ago, the announcement for the first stable release of -Debian Edu Wheezy went out from the Debian publicity team. The -complete announcement text can be found at -the Debian News -section, translated to several languages. Please check it out.
- -There is one minor known problem that we will fix very soon. One -can not install a amd64 Thin Client Server using PXE, as the /var/ -partition is too small. A workaround is to extend the partition (use -lvresize + resize2fs in tty 2 while installing).
+ +Lenge siden jeg har hatt tid til å publisere lenker til skriverier +jeg har hatt glede og nytte av av å lese. Her er en liten norsk +lenkesamling.
+ +-
+
+
- Sjøslag +om fiskemilliardene (NRK Ytring 2014-03-03) - litt om hvordan de +norske felles matressurser røves fra felleskapet. + +
- Matkrisen +kan komme til Norge (Aftenposten 2014-4-01) - hvordan miljøendringene vil gjøre matproduksjonen i Norge mer sårbar. + +
- Norge +trenger kornlager (NRK Ytring 2014-06-07) Chr. Anton Smedshaug +forteller litt om Norges sårbare matsituasjon etter at Staten solgte +Norges kornlager. + +
- PST +vil overvåke datatastaturer (NRK 2014-03-04) - PST ønsker retten +til å bryte seg inn på private PC-er og legge inn spionprogrammer. +Hvilket nok vil gjøre Linux mer populært, men gjør at en i enda mindre +grad enn i dag kan stole på datamaskiner - neppe en god ide for +samfunnet totalt sett. + +
- «Ruter +fremstår som et pøbelvelde» (OsloBy 2014-03-05) - et eksempel på +hvordan kollektivtransportselskapet i Oslo håndterer sine kunder. + +
- Clear +Channel nektet å vise Greenpeace-reklame i Oslo (Dagbladet +2014-03-05) - forteller litt om hvordan hvilke budskap som når ut i +det offentlige rom kontrolleres i Norge. + +
- Svarte +ikke på kritikken (Dagbladet 2014-03-06) - innlegg fra Norsk +presseforbund der de nok en gang tar opp det forkastelige i at +politiet nå har full tilgang til å bedrive telefonkontroll av +advokater. + +
- «Putin +spiller poker, ikke sjakk. I sjakk har man regler.» (Aftenposten +2014-03-08) - sjakklegenden Kasparov forklarer litt om hvordan han ser +at Russlands politikk fungerer, blant annet i lys av started av +Ukraina-krisen. + +
- I +seng med fienden (Aftenposten 2014-03-10) - kronikk fra Eirik +H. Vinje om hvordan menn og kvinner settes opp mot hverandre i det +offentlige ordskiftet, kanskje på sviktende grunnlag. + +
- Fritt +frem for skulk (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - skildring av hvordan +norske elever i dag ikke lenger har rimelig krav om oppmøte på +skolen. + +
- «Datalagringsdirektiv» +avslørte abort, sykdom og våpenkjøp (Aftenposten 2014-03-14) - om +hvordan forskere har dokumentert hvordan innsamling av metadata om +telefoni og Internett-bruk kan være svært avslørende. + +
- Konsentrasjonssvikt +på pensum (Dagbladet 2014-03-14) - Kommentar om hvordan (feil) +bruk IKT i skolen kan ødelegge mer enn det bidrar til læring. + +
- Reservasjonsrettsstaten +(blogg fra Doremus 2014-02-09) - morsom beskrivelse om hvordan +regjeringens forslag til reservasjonsrett for leger kan utvides til å +gjelde alles samvittighet. + +
- Autoritær +gjøkunge (Aftenposten 2014-03-25) - Kronikk av Bjørn Stærk om +snurpenots-overvåkningen som varsleren Snowden dokumenterte. + +
- Leveransekrise +i Offentlig sektor â mener Mike Bracken, Executive Director of Digital +in the Cabinet Office (blogg fra Friprog-senteret 2014-03-26). + +
- Norge +må stanse avlyttingen (Dagbladet 2014-03-26) - leserinnlegg fra +Felix Horne der han ber om at Norge gjør en innsats for å få slutt på +overvåkning av innbyggerne som gjøres i Norge av Etiopiske +myndigheter. + +
- Demokrati +er ingen naturlig styreform (Aftenposten 2014-04-01) - kronikk av +Stein Ringen om hvordan demokrati som styreform går tapt når +innbyggerne tar det for gitt. + +
- Ytringsansvar +ere Enhver tilladte! (NRK Ytring 2014-04-01) - innspill fra Trygve +Svensson og Helge Svare om at hver enkelt av oss har et ansvar for å +ytre oss i den offentlige debatten. + +
- Jeg +er ingen god samfunnsborger (Aftenposten 2014-04-16), kronikk av +Simen Tveitereid om alternative måter å motiveres i samfunnet, uten å +hige etter mer penger og flere ting. + +
- DLD-dommen: +Avgjørelsen får umiddelbar virkning (Aftenposten 2014-04-10) - +kronikk av Høyres Michael Tetzschner, en partiutbryter i DLD-saken som +stemte nei til DLD i Stortinget i 2011. + +
- Datalagringsdirektivets +endelikt (blogg fra John Wessel-Aas 2014-04-11) - oppsummering +av hvordan direktivet ble funnet ugyldig i EU-domstolen. + +
- Kronikk: +Kapitulasjonspresidenten (VG 2014-04-22) - kronikk av Einar +Kr. Steffenak om hvordan Stortingspresidenten og regjeringen viser sin +prinsippløshet i møte med Kina. + +
- Innerst +inne er alle nordmenn (Aftenposten 2014-04-27) - kronikk fra Bjørn +Stærk om hvordan vi i Vesten i stor grad baserer oss på en fantasi om +at alle i verden bærer på en drøm om å bli som oss. + +
- Det +italienske senatet gav seg selv 134 milliarder euro i sluttpakke +(Aftenposten 2014-06-19) - forsker Simen Gaure forteller hvordan +løgner og fantasi fra nettkilder i stor grad blir akseptert som +sannhet - antagelig også av deg og meg. + +
- Et +forsvar for brÃ¥kmakerne (Dagbladet 2014-05-30) - kronikk av Dag +Ãystein Nome som beskriver hvordan dagens skole ikke fungerer sÃ¥ godt +for mange elever. + +
- Betalte +med slitt seddel - havnet i arresten (Osloby 2014-06-25)) - +dokumentasjon av Oslopolitiets angrep på vår alles rett til å ferdes +uten elektronisk sporing. Jeg bruker kontanter i så stor grad som +mulig da banken ikke har noe med hvor jeg er og hva jeg kjøper. Vi +som gjør dette risikerer som beskrevet overgrep som frihetsberøvelse +og registrering og lagring av fingeravtrykk og bilde i politiets +database over mistenkte. + +
- Fredsprisen +til Snowden (Aftenposten 2014-06-28) - leder som forklarer hvorfor +varsleren Snowden bør få fredsprisen. + +
- Strategi +for politistaten (Dagbladet 2014-08-01) - leder som advarer om +sterke krefter som bruker terrortrusselen til å lirke Norge nærmere å +bli en politistat. + +
- Vi +må tenke nytt om narkotika (NRK Ytring 2014-08-03) - Mark Lewis +forklarer hvorfor legalisering og offentlig kontroll av +narkotikamarkedet er mye bedre enn å overlate det til kriminelle. + + +
The Freedombox -project have been going on for a while, and have presented the -vision, ideas and solution several places. Here is a little -collection of videos of talks and presentation of the project.
- --
-
-
- FreedomBox - -2,5 minute marketing film (Youtube) - -
- Eben Moglen -discusses the Freedombox on CBS news 2011 (Youtube) - -
- Eben Moglen - -Freedom in the Cloud - Software Freedom, Privacy and and Security for -Web 2.0 and Cloud computing at ISOC-NY Public Meeting 2010 -(Youtube) - -
- Fosdem 2011 -Keynote by Eben Moglen presenting the Freedombox (Youtube) - -
- Presentation of -the Freedombox by James Vasile at Elevate in Gratz 2011 (Youtube) - -
- Freedombox - -Discovery, Identity, and Trust by Nick Daly at Freedombox Hackfest New -York City in 2012 (Youtube) - -
- Introduction -to the Freedombox at Freedombox Hackfest New York City in 2012 -(Youtube) - -
- Freedom, Out -of the Box! by Bdale Garbee at linux.conf.au Ballarat, 2012 (Youtube) - -
- Freedombox -1.0 by Eben Moglen and Bdale Garbee at Fosdem 2013 (FOSDEM) - -
- What is the -FreedomBox today by Bdale Garbee at Debconf13 in Vaumarcus -2013 (Youtube) - -
A larger list is available from -the -Freedombox Wiki.
- -On other news, I am happy to report that Freedombox based on Debian -Jessie is coming along quite well, and soon both Owncloud and using -Tor should be available for testers of the Freedombox solution. :) In -a few weeks I hope everything needed to test it is included in Debian. -The withsqlite package is already in Debian, and the plinth package is -pending in NEW. The third and vital part of that puzzle is the -metapackage/setup framework, which is still pending an upload. Join -us on IRC -(#freedombox on irc.debian.org) and -the -mailing list if you want to help make this vision come true.
+ +The complete and free âout of the boxâ software solution for +schools, Debian Edu / +Skolelinux, is used quite a lot in Germany, and one of the people +involved is Bernd Zeitzen, who show up on the project mailing lists +from time to time with interesting questions and tips on how to adjust +the setup. I managed to interview him this summer.
+ +Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
+ +My name is Bernd Zeitzen and I'm married with Hedda, a self +employed physiotherapist. My former profession is tool maker, but I +haven't worked for 30 years in this job. 30 years ago I started to +support my wife and become her officeworker and a few years later the +administrator for a small computer network, today based on Ubuntu +Server (Samba, OpenVPN). For her daily work she has to use Windows +Desktops because the software she needs to organize her business only +works with Windows . :-(
+ +In 1988 we started with one PC and DOS, then I learned to use +Windows 98, 2000, XP, â¦, 8, Ubuntu, MacOSX. Today we are running a +Linux server with 6 Windows clients and 10 persons (teacher of +children with special needs, speech therapist, occupational therapist, +psychologist and officeworkers) using our Samba shares via OpenVPN to +work with the documentations of our patients.
+ +How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?
+ +Two years ago a friend of mine asked me, if I want to get a job in +his school (Gymnasium +Harsewinkel). They started with Skolelinux / Debian Edu and they +were looking for people to give support to the teachers using the +software and the network and teaching the pupils increasing their +computer skills in optional lessons. I'm spending 4-6 hours a week +with this job.
+ +What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?
+ +The independence.
+ +First: Every person is allowed to use, share and develop the +software. Even if you are poor, you are allowed to use the software +included in Skolelinux/Debian Edu and all the other Free Software.
+ +Second: The software runs on old machines and this gives us the +possibility to recycle computers, weeded out from offices. The +servers and desktops are running for more than two years and they are +working reliable.
+ +We have two servers (one tjener and one terminal server), 45 +workstations in three classrooms and seven laptops as a mobile +solution for all classrooms. These machines are all booting from the +terminal server. In the moment we are installing 30 laptops as mobile +workstations. Then the pupils have the possibility to work with these +machines in their classrooms. Internet access is realized by a WLAN +router, connected to the schools network. This is all done without a +dedicated system administrator or a computer science teacher.
+ +What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?
+ +Teachers and pupils are Windows users. <Irony on> And Linux +isn't cool. It's software for freaks using the command line. <Irony +off> They don't realize the stability of the system.
+ +Which free software do you use daily?
+ +Firefox, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Ubuntu Server 12.04 (Samba, +Apache, MySQL, Joomla!, ⦠and Skolelinux / Debian Edu)
+ +Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?
+ +In Germany we have the situation: every school is free to decide +which software they want to use. This decision is influenced by +teachers who learned to use Windows and MS Office. They buy a PC with +Windows preinstalled and an additional testing version of MS +Office. They don't know about the possibility to use Free Software +instead. Another problem are the publisher of school books. They +develop their software, added to the school books, for Windows.
The third wheezy based beta release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement from Holger Levsen:
- --+ +Hi,
- -it is my pleasure to announce the third beta release (beta 2 for -short) of Debian Edu / -Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy!
- -Please test these images extensivly, if no new problems are found -we plan to do this final Debian Edu Wheezy release this coming -weekend. We are not aware of any major problems or blockers in beta2, -if you find something, please notify us immediately!
- -(More about the remaining steps for the Edu Wheezy release in -another mail to the edu list tonight or tomorrow...)
- -Noteworthy changes and software updates for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~b2 -compared to beta1:
- -- -
- -- The KDE proxy setup has been adjusted to use the provided wpad.dat. This -also gets Chromium to use this proxy.
-- Install kdepim-groupware with KDE desktops to make sure korganizer -understand ical/dav sources.
-- Increased default maximum size of /var/spool/squid and /skole/backup on the -main server.
-- A source DVD image containing all source packages is now available as well.
-- Updates for chromium (29.0.1547.57-1~deb7u1), imagemagick -(6.7.7.10-5+deb7u2), php5 (5.4.4-14+deb7u4), libmodplug -(0.8.8.4-3+deb7u1+git20130828), tiff (4.0.2-6+deb7u2), linux-image -(3.2.0-4-486_3.2.46-1+deb7u1).
- -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~b2-CD.iso
-- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso
-- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-CD.iso .
-The SHA1SUM of this image is: 3a1c89f4666df80eebcd46c5bf5fedb866f9472f
- -To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use -
-
- -- ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso
-- http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso
-- rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-USB.iso .
-The SHA1SUM of this image is: 702d1718548f401c74bfa6df9f032cc3ee16597e
- -The Source DVD image has the filename -debian-edu-7.1+edu0~b2-source-DVD.iso and the SHA1SUM -089eed8b3f962db47aae1f6a9685e9bb2fa30ca5 and is available the same way -as the other isos.
- -How to report bugs
- -For information how to report bugs please see -
- - -
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugsAbout 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 GOsa², 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 seventh test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.
- -Notes for upgrades from Alpha Prereleases
- -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 all users need to change their password -to make sure a password is set for CIFS access to their home -directory.
- - -cheers, -
-
Holger
This summer I finally had time to continue working on the Norwegian +docbook version of the 2004 book +Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig, +to get a Norwegian text explaining the problems with todays copyright +law. Yesterday, I finally completed translated the book text. There +are still some foot/end notes left to translate, the colophon page +need to be rewritten, and a few words and phrases still need to be +translated, but the Norwegian text is ready for the first proof +reading. :) More spell checking is needed, and several illustrations +need to be cleaned up. The work stopped up because I had to give +priority to other projects the last year, and the progress graph of +the translation show this very well:
+ +If you want to read the result, check out the +github +project pages and the +PDF, +EPUB +and HTML version available in the +archive +directory.
+ +Please report typos, bugs and improvements to the github project if +you find any.
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