X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/99e51e203fece7a3cb038dc01074246e8686c448..7c23669cb919e0fa02024ca63ce913dd96d3f6b2:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index e0cea81abb..8eeb39b6d6 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,157 +20,54 @@
-
Debian Edu interview: Jürgen Leibner
-
13th May 2012
-

It has been a few busy weeks for me, but I am finally back to -publish another interview with the people behind -Debian Edu and Skolelinux. -This time it is one of our German developers, who have helped out over the -years to make sure both a lot of major but also a lot of the minor -details get right before release. - -

Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

- -

My name is Jürgen Leibner, I'm 49 years old and living in -Bielefeld, a town in northern Germany. I worked nearly 20 years as -certified engineer in the department for plant design and layout of an -international company for machinery and equipment. Since 2011 I'm a -certified technical writer (tekom e.V.) and doing technical -documentations for a steam turbine manufacturer. From April this year -I will manage the department of technical documentation at a -manufacturer of automation and assembly line engineering.

- -

My first contact with linux was around 1993. Since that time I used -it at work and at home repeatedly but not exclusively as I do now at -home since 2006.

- -

How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu -project?

- -

Once a day in the early year of 2001 when I wanted to fetch my -daughter from primary school, there was a teacher sitting in the -middle of 20 old computers trying to boot them and he failed. I helped -him to get them booting. That was seen by the school director and she -asked me if I would like to manage that the school gets all that old -computers in use. I answered: "Yes".

- -

Some weeks later every of the 10 classrooms had one computer -running Windows98. I began to collect old computers and equipment as -gifts and installed the first computer room with a peer-to-peer -network. I did my work at school without being payed in my spare time -and with a lot of fun. About one year later the school was connected -to Internet and a local area network was installed in the school -building. That was the time to have a server and I knew it must be a -Linux server to be able to fulfil all the wishes of the teachers and -being able to do this in a transparent and economic way, without extra -costs for things like licence and software. So I searched for a -school server system running under Linux and I found a couple of -people nearby who founded 'skolelinux.de'. It was the Skolelinux -prerelease 32 I first tried out for being used at the school. I -managed the IT of that school until the municipal authority took over -the IT management and centralised the services for all schools in -Bielefeld in December of 2006.

- -

What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?

- -

When I'm looking back to the beginning, there were other advantages -for me as today.

- -

In the past there were advantages like:

- -

- -

Today some of the advantages has been lost, changed or new ones -came up in this way:

- -

- -

What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?

- -

- -

Which free software do you use daily?

- -

I use Debian stable on my home server and on my little desktop -computer. On my laptop I use Debian testing/sid. The applications I -use on my laptop and my desktop are Open/Libre-office, Iceweasel, -KMail, DigiKam, Amarok, Dolphin, okular and all the other programs I -need from the KDE environment. On console I use newsbeuter, mutt, -screen, irssi and all the other famous and useful tools.

- -

My home server provides mail services with exim, dovecot, roundcube -and mutt over ssh on the console, file services with samba, NFS, -rsync, web services with apache, moinmoin-wiki, multimedia services -with gallery2 and mediatomb and database services with MySQL for me -and the whole family. I probably forgot something.

- -

Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?

- -

I believe, we should provide concepts for IT companies to integrate -Debian Edu into their product portfolio with use cases for different -countries and areas all over the world.

+
Gatemagasinet =Oslo får konkurrent fra Folk er Folk
+
19th June 2012
+

Aftenposten melder i dag at selgerne av +gatemagasinet =Oslo er +irritert +på at det er kommet en konkurrent på banen fra organisasjonen +Folk er Folk, +som støtter “rumenerne”, de mest uglesette av tiggerne i Norge. Min +første tanke da jeg leste nyheten er at slik må =Oslo-selgerne tåle +når de nekter "rumenerne" og andre utenlandske tiggere å selge +gatemagasinet sitt. Det ble rapportert for noen år siden at +utenlandske +tiggere ikke var velkomne som selgere, og å opprette en konkurrent +virker da for meg som et rasjonelt alternativ. Og at "rumerene" +utelukkes gjelder visst ikke bare i Oslo. I Adresseavisen fant jeg en +artikkel om at selgerne av +gateavisen +Sorgenfri i Trondheim også +utelukker +utenlandske selgere.

+ +

Men situasjonen er visst ikke så rett frem som opprinnelige +artikler kunne tyde på. Mens jeg søkte opp gamle artikler og +referanser om temaet, fant jeg et +leserbrev +fra en av stifterne av =Oslo, som protesterte på +påstander +fra likestillingsombudet om diskriminering og forteller at =Oslo +krever at de som selger magasinet skal kunne kommunisere med kundene +for å kunne representere magasinet utad, og at "rumererne" ikke +ekskluderes for å være utlendinger men pga. at de ikke kan snakke +norsk. Det er jo ikke urimelig å kreve at en selger skal kunne +kommunisere med kundene, men som kjøper har jeg ikke snakket så mye +med =Oslo-selgerne at det ville vært et problem for meg om selgeren +ikke kunne snakke norsk. Jeg er dermed i tvil om hvorvidt +argumentasjonen holder når effekten er at de mest uglesette tiggerne i +Norge ekskluderes.

+ +

Uansett tror jeg ikke markedet for gatemagasiner i Oslo er mettet. +Personlig kunne jeg godt tenkte meg å kjøpe flere, men gidder ikke +kjøpe den samme utgaven av =Oslo flere ganger. En konkurrent som Folk +er Folk kan dermed ende opp med å gjøre markedet større i stedet for å +spise av markedsandelene til =Oslo.

- Tags: debian edu, english, intervju. + Tags: norsk.
@@ -178,100 +75,52 @@ countries and areas all over the world.

-
Intervju med digi.no om Norge Digitalt og Openstreetmap
-
11th May 2012
-

I går ble jeg kontaktet på epost av -digi.nos Eirik Rossen som lurte på om -jeg hadde noen kommentarer til -kartverkets -pressemelding om Norges tetplassering når det gjelder -kart-tilgjengelighet. Jeg svarte følgende, som resulterte i noen -sitater i -Digis -dekning av kartverkets pressemelding.

+
SQL-database med anbud publisert på Doffin
+
15th June 2012
+

Doffin er det offentlige Norges +portal for annonsering av anbudsutlysninger. Nettstedet er mye brukt, +men rådataene er ikke enkelt tilgjengelig for almenheten. For å bøte +på det har jeg som et NUUG-prosjekt +laget en Scraperwiki-skraper som +lager en +SQL-database +med nøkkelinformasjonen fra Doffin, slik at det er mulig å søke og +analysere Doffin-oppføringene. Det publiseres mellom 900-1500 anbud +hver måned via Doffin. Jeg har ingen konkrete planer for analyse, men +håper enklere tilgjengelighet gjør at flere griper sjansen. På sikt +håper jeg å bruke denne databasen som grunnlag for å lage en database +over anbudsdokumenter, som i dag ikke er tilgjengelig fra doffin, men +må bestilles fra hver enkelt utlyser.

+ +

Jeg var litt usikker på om det var rettighetsproblemer knyttet til +skraping av informasjon fra Doffin, men ser i +vilkårene til +Doffin følgende:

-

Takk for muligheten til å kommentere.

- -

Pressemeldingen omhandler tilgjengeligheten av kart for aktører som er -medlem i kartellet Norge Digitalt. Det er ingen overraskelse for meg -at tilgjengeligheten til kart hos disse medlemmene er god. Men for -oss på utsiden av kartellet er tilgjengelighet av det som burde være -felleskapets og innbyggernes kart dårlig.

- -

Bruksvilkårene til kartene fra medlemmene i Norge Digital hindrer -nyskapning og selv om en er villig til å betale den ublu prisen som -forlanges får en fortsatt ikke tilgang til kartdata uten -bruksbegresninger. Derfor bruker jeg heller tid på å gjøre -fribrukskartet OpenStreetmap bedre. Der fremmer bruksvilkårene -nyskapning og lar meg skape nye tjenester uten å måtte søke om -tillatelse fra det offentlige.

- -

En annen problemstilling er jo sikkerhet til fjells og til sjøs. -Mon tro hvor mange ulykker på sjøen som kunne vært unngått hvis -sjøkartdata var tilgjengelig uten bruksbegrensninger, slik at enhver -med GPS eller kartplotter tilnærmet kostnadsfritt kunne sikre seg mest -mulig oppdaterte sjøkart? Det hjelper jo ikke at offentlige etater -har enkel tilgang til sjøkartene når det samme ikke gjelder hver -båtkaptein og småbåtfører. Jeg tror samfunnet som helhet hadde tjent -på å unngå kostnadene ved disse ulykkene ved å tvinge sjøkartverket -til å publisere sine kartdata på Internet uten bruksbegresninger.

+ +

Opphavsrett mv

+ +

Ved innleggig av kunngjøringer på Doffin aksepterer Oppdragsgiver +at opphavsrett og andre rettigheter til materialet overføres til +Fornyings- og administrasjonsdepartementet, eller den departementet +utnevner. Oppdragsgiver har imidlertid bruksrett til materialet, og +kan benytte det til de formål de måtte ønske.

+

+ +

Hvis informasjonen er vernet av opphavsrettsloven (hvilket jeg +tviler på, gitt lovens begrensninger om informasjon fra det +offentlige), så er det FAD som har de immaterielle rettighetene. FAD +er en del av staten, som opererer på vegne av folket, og enhver borger +skulle dermed ha rett til å videreformidle informasjonen. Ingen av +offentlighetslovens unntak kommer til anvendelse, i og med at +informasjonen allerede er publisert.

- Tags: kart, norsk. - - -
-
-
- -
-
Cutting it short - and picking the right tool for the job
-
30th April 2012
-

-

- -

I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a -common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway. -But the last ones have not really been up to the task. My last -cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the -time, and cutting my head took forever. And the one before that did -not work very well either. We have looked for something better for a -while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hairdresser that we -discovered that there are indeed better tools available. But these -are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers". The hair saloons -can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell -companies. The models they sell, are very different from the ones -available from Elkjøp and Lefdal. The main difference is their -efficiency. It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40 -minutes required by my impotent Braun. The hairdresser I visited had -a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the -producer. But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.

- -

The next step was to find somewhere to buy it. This was not -straight forward. The list of suppliers I got from the hairdresser -did not want to sell anything to me. But searching for the model on -the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for -around NOK 4000,-. This was a bit much. We kept searching and -finally found a Danish supplier -selling -it for around NOK 1800,-. We ordered one, and it arrived a few -days ago.

- -

The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started -to use it, so we left it charging over night. Normally it will only -need one hour to charge. The following evening we successfully tested -it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair -cutter. The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter -toys.

-
-
- - - Tags: english. + Tags: norsk, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -279,21 +128,153 @@ toys.

-
NUUGs leverer høringsuttalelse om v3.1 av statens referansekatalog
-
27th April 2012
-

NUUG-styremedlem Hans-Petter Fjeld -meldte -nettopp at han har sendt inn NUUGs -høringsuttalelse angående Difi sin standardkatalog v3.1. Jeg er veldig -glad for at så mange bidro og sikret at vår stemme blir hørt i denne -høringen. Anbefaler alle å lese våre -to -sider med innspill.

+
Debian Edu - some ideas for the future versions
+
11th June 2012
+

During my work on +Debian Edu +based on Squeeze, I came across some issues that should be +addressed in the Wheezy release. I finally found time to wrap up my +notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit +explanation.

+ +

    + +
  • We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel +changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages +with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation +system depend on tasksel tasks in +/usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package +installation.
    • + +
  • Enable Kerberos login for more services. Now with the Kerberos +foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more +services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions. We should +at least try to enable it for these services: +
      + +
    • CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using + quotas.
      • +
    • Nagios for admins checking the system status.
      • +
    • GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords.
      • +
    • LDAP for admins updating LDAP.
      • +
    • Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active.
      • +
    • ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt.
      • + +
    • + +
  • When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to +authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to +use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it +is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind
    • + +
  • Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install. The split made +sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an +inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values.
    • + +
  • Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before +touching the disk if the disk is too small. This is +BTS report #653305 and the +d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply +it and upload. After this is done we need to adjust +debian-edu-install to use this new hook.
    • + +
  • Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install +time config). LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install +packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work +in Wheezy. + +
  • Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow +the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding +up KDE login on slow networks.
    • + +
  • Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to +change on first login. This is useful when handing out password on +paper, to make sure only the user know the password. This require +fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm.
    • + +
  • Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary. +The current command line script is not very friendly to people most +familiar with GUIs. This should probably be integrated into GOsa to +have it available where the admin will be looking for it..
    • + +
  • We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service +actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses). None of the +Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me.
    • + +
  • We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles +using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less +packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles.
    • + +
  • We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password +when changing password using the Kerberos protocol. The hook was +requested in BTS report +#588968 and is now available in Wheezy. We might need to write a +MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this.
    • + +
  • We should clean up the set of applications installed by default. +
      + +
    • reduce the number of chemistry visualisers
      • +
    • consider dropping xpaint
      • +
    • and probably more?
      • +
    • + +
  • Some hardware need external firmware to work properly. This is +mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other +examples too. For popular laptops to work out of the box, such +firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide +some GUI to do this. Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we +could consider using their packages. At the moment we have some +command line script to do this (one for the running system, another +for the LTSP chroot).
    • + + +
  • In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options. We +should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to +install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to +use.
    • + +
  • The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out +interesting educational packages. We should work on the package +tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational +packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install +new applications with a simple mouse click.
    • + +
  • The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place, +with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to +be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable +filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled. We should +implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it, +instead of the "it is documented" method of today.
    • + +
  • A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to +"take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room. +There are at least three implementations, +italc, +controlaula og +epoptes and we should pick one of +them and make it trivial to set it up in a school. The challenges is +how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room +and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a +given room.
    • + +
  • Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we +should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into +the Debian Edu network. Not quite sure how. Perhaps we should +provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for +them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange +configuration and data with the central server. This should be +investigated.
    • + +

+ +

I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy +version.

- Tags: norsk, nuug, standard. + Tags: debian edu, english.
@@ -301,51 +282,82 @@ sider med innspill.

-
HTC One X - Your video? What do you mean?
-
26th April 2012
-

In an -article today published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer -Eirik Helland Urke reports -that the video editor application included with -HTC One -X have some quite surprising terms of use. The article is mostly -based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating: - -

-"Drøy -brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv -kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat." -

- -

I quickly translated it to this English message:

- -

-"Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos -commercially. Although I can ONLY use them privately." -

- -

I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but -suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I -discovered -with my Canon IXUS 130. The HTC One X specification specifies that -the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for -video. AMR is -Adaptive -Multi-Rate audio codec with patents which according to the -Wikipedia article require an license agreement with -VoiceAge. MP4 is -MPEG4 with -H.264, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement -with MPEG-LA.

- -

I know why I prefer -free and open -standards also for video.

+
Litt statistikk fra Offentlig Elektronisk postjournal
+
10th June 2012
+

De siste månedene har jeg sammen med andre i NUUG jobbet med å +gjøre det enklere å få innsyn i offentlige dokumenter, og dette +inkluderer å gjøre postjournaler enklere tilgjengelig for maskinell +analyse og søk. I den forbindelse tok jeg i dag å tittet litt på +Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal +(OEP), FAD/DIFIs fellesløsning for departementer og statlige +etater.

+ +

Her er antall oppføringer pr. måned det siste året, +summert +opp ved hjelp av +en +Scraperwiki-database. Merk at denne Scraperwikien har +ytelsesproblemer pga. mengden data.

+ +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +
MÃ¥nedAntall
2011-07164355
2011-08153662
2011-09173134
2011-10170665
2011-11198409
2011-12175908
2012-01206875
2012-02202862
2012-03204225
2012-04207931
2012-05223754

+ +

Det er også interessant å se hvor ofte ulike etater sender inn sine +journaloppføringer til OEP. OEP inneholder en liste med sist +innrapporteringsdato for alle som sender til OEP, og ved å se når og +hvor ofte det blir sendt inn fra etatene kan +frekvensen +beregnes. Her er bunnlista, dvs. de som leverer sjeldnere enn hver 10. +dag beregnet fra +en +Scraperwiki-database:

+ +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Etat Frekvens Leveringer
Norges geologiske undersøkelse 83.7527546296 1
Medietilsynet 33.7527546296 1
Departementenes servicesenter 23.8763773148 2
Kunnskapsdepartementet 15.8763773148 2
Kompetansesenter for distriktsutvikling 15.3763773148 2
Toll- og avgiftsdirektoratet 15.3763773148 2
Fredskorpset 12.5842515432 3
Statens legemiddelverk 12.1881886574 4
Utlendingsnemnda 11.5842515432 3
Politidirektoratet 10.9175848765 3
Skattedirektoratet 10.9175848765 3
Statens innkrevingssentral 10.5842515432 3
Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet 10.2509182099 3
Kunst i offentlige rom 10.2509182099 3

+ +

En kan beregne lignende frekvenser ved å sammenligne +journalføringsdato med publiseringsdato for hver enkelt oppføring i +OEP, men den lenken legger jeg ikke ved her for å unngå at +søkemotorroboter begynner å overbelaste Scraperwiki-databasen.

+ +

Jeg har spurt Norges geologiske undersøkelse om hvorfor de leverer +så sjelden, og det kommer av at de har problemer etter oppgradering av +arkivsystemet sitt og jobber med å fikse det slik at de kan gå tilbake +til å levere hver uke. Har ikke undersøkt noen av de andre.

- Tags: digistan, english, multimedia, personvern, standard, video, web. + Tags: norsk, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -353,35 +365,28 @@ standards also for video.

-
Holder de ord og NUUG lanserer testtjeneste med stortingsinformasjon
-
22nd April 2012
-

I -januar -i fjor startet vi i NUUG arbeid med å gjøre informasjon om hvem -som har stemt hva på Stortinget -enklere tilgjengelig. I løpet av få måneder fant vi sammen med -organisasjonen Holder de ord -som arbeidet mot et lignende mål.

- -

Siden den gang har vi fått tak i maskinelt lesbart informasjon om -hvem som stemte hva mellom 1990 og våren 2010, og tilgang til -stortingets nye datatjeneste som har informasjon fra høsten 2011 til i -dag. Det gjenstår litt arbeid med det første datasettet, men -datasettet fra høsten 2011 er klart til bruk. Begge datasettene er -tilgjengelig via -git.

- -

På -Go Open i morgen lanserer -NUUG sammen med Holder de ord en -test-tjeneste som viser hva som er og blir behandlet på Stortinget og -hvem som har stemt hva siden oktober i fjor. Du får herved mulighet -til å ta en sniktitt.

+
TV with face recognition, for improved viewer experience
+
9th June 2012
+

Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a +TV +with face recognition to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to +me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face +recognition on the TV image itself. It could let the viewer know who +is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility, +company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better +evaluate what is being said and done. That would be a feature I would +be willing to pay for.

+ +

I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my +household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel. +It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book +1984 by George +Orwell.

- Tags: norsk, nuug, stortinget. + Tags: english, surveillance.
@@ -389,66 +394,38 @@ til å ta en sniktitt.

-
RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory
-
19th April 2012
-

Here in Norway, the - Ministry of -Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs is behind -a directory of -standards that are recommended or mandatory for use by the -government. When the directory was created, the people behind it made -an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the -standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions -to the government. Free software and non-free software could compete -on the same level.

- -

But recently, some standards with RAND -(Reasonable -And Non-Discriminatory) terms have made their way into the -directory. And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that -standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from -implementing them. The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per -user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone -willing to pay will get a license. Both sound great in theory. In -practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and -be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user. By -definition, users of free software do not need to register their use. -So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects. -And given that people will use the software without handing any money -to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free -software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights -to implement a standard when the income available is zero. The result -in these situations is that free software are locked out from -implementing standards with RAND terms.

- -

Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a -standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is -how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory. Because free -software developers are working in a global market, it does not really -help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable -in Norway. The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here. -I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more -attention to these issues in the future.

- -

You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms -from Simon Phipps -(RAND: -Not So Reasonable?).

- -

Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a -blog -post from Glyn Moody over at Computer World UK warning about the -same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government. I -can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for -the -hearing taking place at the moment (respond before 2012-04-27). -It proposes to require video conferencing standards including -specifications with RAND terms.

+
Web service to look up HP and Dell computer hardware support status
+
6th June 2012
+

A few days ago +I +reported how to get the support status out of Dell using an +unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was +discovered +by Daniel De Marco in february. Combined with my web scraping +code for HP, Dell and IBM +from +2009, I got inspired and wrote +a +web service based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the +support status and get a machine readable result back.

+ +

This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON +output: + +

+% GET https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1
+supportstatus({"servicetag": "2v1xwn1", "warrantyend": "2013-11-24", "shipped": "2010-11-24", "scrapestamputc": "2012-06-06T20:26:56.965847", "scrapedurl": "http://143.166.84.118/services/assetservice.asmx?WSDL", "vendor": "Dell", "productid": ""})
+%
+
+ +

It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add +support for other vendors. The python source is available on +Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.

- Tags: english, multimedia, nuug, standard, video. + Tags: english, nuug.
@@ -456,83 +433,57 @@ specifications with RAND terms.

-
Forskning: "GPL gir lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling av makt fra produsent til bruker"
-
15th April 2012
-

Da jeg googlet etter noe annet kom jeg tilfeldigvis over -en -hovedfagsoppgave ved Universitetet i Oslo som diskuterer verdien -av GPLs fire friheter for brukerne av IT-systemer. Jeg ble fascinert -over det som presenteres der. Her er sammendraget:

+
Kommentar til artikkel i Adresseavisa som omtaler FiksGataMi
+
2nd June 2012
+

Jeg oppdaget nylig en +artikkel +i Adresseavisa i Trondheim som nevner FiksGataMi, og der Trondheim +kommune ser ut til å fortelle at de ikke følger forvaltningslovens +krav ved mottak av meldinger sendt inn via FiksGataMi. La derfor +nettopp inn denne kommentaren til artikkelen:

-

Motivasjonen til å skrive denne oppgaven er en personlig undring -over hvorfor det primært, og ofte eksklusivt, fokuseres på det -økonomiske aspektet ved utredninger om fri programvare er et godt valg -for det offentlige. Fri og produsenteid programvare bygger på -fundamentalt forskjellige ideologier som kan ha implikasjoner utover -økonomiske kostnader. Kunnskapskulturen som er med på å definere fri -programvare er basert på åpenhet, og er en verdi i seg selv.

- -

Oppgavens tema er programvarelisensen GPL og frihet. GPL-lisensiert -programvare gir visse friheter i forhold til produsenteid -programvare. Mitt spørsmål er om, og eventuelt i hvilken utstrekning, -disse frihetene blir benyttet av ulike brukere og hvordan de -manifesterer seg for disse brukerne. Sentrale spørsmål i oppgaven -er:

- -
    -
  • Hvordan fordeles handlekraft gjennom lisensieringen av programvaren?
    • -
  • Hvilke konsekvenser har programvarelisensen for de ulike brukere?
    • -
+

Her er en liten faktaoppdatering om FiksGataMi-tjenesten, da noen +ser ut til å ha misforstått hvordan den fungerer.

+ +

FiksGataMi er et privat initiativ opprettet og drevet av +medlemsforeningen NUUG. FiksGataMi tar imot meldinger om feil i +offentlig infrastruktur, og sender meldingen skriftlig videre på vegne +av innmelder til aktuell aktør i det offentlige, det være seg kommune, +fylke eller vegvesenregion. Offentlig etat blir valgt ut fra +geografisk plassering og kategori valgt av innsender. Offentlige +etater er i følge forvaltningsloven pliktig å følge opp og besvare +skriftlige henvendelser, og hvis noen av mottakerne ikke gjør dette +kan en klage på lovbrudd i det offentlige. FiksGataMi fungerer dermed +som en slags epostklient for innbyggerne der kopi av innsendte +meldinger gjøres tilgjengelig og knyttes til kartplassering for enkel +gjenfinning. Å sende inn nye problemrapporter via FiksGataMi er +dermed ikke avhengig av at kommunen aktivt må følge med på meldinger +hos FiksGataMi, da de får dem tilsendt på sine offisielle +epostmottakspunkter. Hvorvidt noe blir fikset og om innbyggerne er +opp til mottaker av meldingene. For Trondheim kommune er +mottaksadressen bydrift.vegdrift@trondheim.kommune.no, en adresse jeg +inntil jeg leste denne artikkelen trodde ble håndtert i henhold til +forvaltningslovens krav.

+ +

Kan ellers fortelle at 57 kommuner lenker til FiksGataMi fra sine +nettsider, og at 37 % (4182 av 11266 ) av problemrapportene sendt inn +via FiksGataMi er markert som løst i løsningen. Trondheim kommune har +fått tilbud om å få rapportene levert på datamaskinlesbart format i +stedet for epost, men har ikke takket ja så langt.

+ +

Vennlig hilsen Petter Reinholdtsen, en av NUUG-folkene bak FiksGataMi.no

-

Fri programvare gir blant annet brukeren mulighet til å studere og -modifisere kildekoden. Denne formen for frihet erverves gjennom -kunnskap og krever at brukeren også er en ekspert. Hva skjer med -frihetene til GPL når sluttbrukeren er en annen? Dette diskuteres i -dialog med informantene.

- -

Jeg har i denne oppgaven samlet inn intervjudata fra IKT-ansvarlige -ved grunnskolene i Nittedal kommune, driftsansvarlig og IKT-veilederen -for skolene i kommunen, samt IKT-koordinator for utdanning i Akershus -fylkeskommune og bokmåloversettere av OpenOffice.org. Den empiriske -delen av oppgaven er delt inn i to seksjoner; den første omhandler -operativsystemet Skolelinux, den andre kontorprogrampakken -OpenOffice.org.

- -

Som vi vil se gir GPL lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling -av makt fra produsent til bruker. Brukerens makt analyseres gjennom -begrepene brukermedvirkning og handlingsfrihet. Det blir også lagt -vekt på strukturelle forhold rundt bruken av teknologi, og spesielt de -økonomiske begrepene nettverkseksternaliteter, innlåsing og -stiavhengighet. Dette er begreper av spesiell nytte når objektet som -omsettes eller distribueres er et kommunikasjonsprodukt, fordi verdien -til et slikt gode for en potensiell bruker avhenger av antall -eksisterende brukere av godet. I tilknytning til denne problematikken -inneholder oppgaven også en diskusjon rundt åpne standarder og -formater.

- -

Oppgaven konkluderer med at de «fire frihetene» som GPL-lisensen er -laget for å beskytte er av avgjørende betydning for bruken av -OpenOffice.org og Skolelinux, i Akershus fylkeskommune såvel som i -skolene i Nittedal. Distribusjonen av handlekraft er ikke helt -symmetrisk. Det er først og fremst de profesjonelle utviklerne i -Skolelinux som direkte kan nyttiggjøre seg friheten til å endre kode, -mens en sluttbruker som Nittedal kommune nyttiggjør seg den økonomiske -friheten til å kunne distribuere programmene. Det er imidlertid også -slik at ingen aktør klarer seg uten alle disse «frihetene».

-

Jeg fant også en masteroppgave fra 2006, men der ligger ikke -komplett oppgave tilgjengelig. På tide å holde et øye med -Skolelinux-søket -til DUO...

- +

Det høres for meg ut som om innbyggerne i Trondheim burde klage på +kommunens potensielle lovbrudd.

- Tags: debian edu, norsk. + Tags: fiksgatami, norsk.
@@ -540,81 +491,163 @@ til DUO...

-
Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt
-
15th April 2012
-

Behind Debian Edu and -Skolelinux there are a lot of people doing the hard work of -setting together all the pieces. This time I present to you Andreas -Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several -years. He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set -up in the recently released -Debian -Edu Squeeze version.

+
Debian Edu interview: Mike Gabriel
+
2nd June 2012
+

Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the +Debian Edu and Skolelinux +mailing list. He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and +thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the +Debian Edu +Squeeze version.

Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

-

My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany. After -studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in -Quantum Optics. After that I worked some years in an optics company. -Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started -teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school. I teach math, physics, -information technology and science/technology.

+

My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel, +Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner +(Angela Fuß) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed +by Angela).

+ +

During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator +and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work +touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During +the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in +becoming an osteopath.

+ +

Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela Fuß, Mike Gabriel) +have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at +introducing free software into schools. The project's name is +"IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT +skills with communication skills.

How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project?

-

Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu -project because of my interest in education and Debian. Within the -qualification/training period for the teaching, I started -contributing.

+

While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for +"IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to +reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available, +people said. From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux +distributions that target being used for school networks.

+ +

At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a +commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen, +Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we +went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing +and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian +Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that +got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most +attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within +the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.

+ +

In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local +people. People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data +protection experts, other IT professionals.

+ +

We came to two conclusions:

+ +

First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in +bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit +by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup +whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard +IT solution. The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and +customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are +possible. In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a +standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some +degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here +locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting +point.

+ +

Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at +all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions +for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What +has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment +of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule" +tries to provide an approach for this.

+ +

Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains, +defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in +Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT +equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin) +teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there +spare time.

+ +

We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were +networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school +here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to +teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi +non-existent until 2010/2011.

+ +

Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in +class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this +avoidance do exist.

+ +

We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this +social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey +for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with +several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and +they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management +at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new +and probably a gain for all.

What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?

-

The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the -out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the -Debian Project!

+

There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to +any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian, +the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone +workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within +project communication, honest communication within the group of +developers, etc.

What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?

-

As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its -downside, too. In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the -setup, if you need or want that. Further more, it is not easily -possible to upgrade the system to a new release. It takes much too -long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps -because the number of developers working on the core of the code is -rather small and often busy elsewhere.

- -

The Debian LAN -project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.

+

Every coin has two sides:

+ +

Technically: BTS issue +#311188, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network +client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation +should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think +about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into +several portions (to make it easier for new developers to +contribute).

+ +

Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should +find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for +Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany +promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are +there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring +these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and +all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last +meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people +there being rather disconnected from the development department of +Debian Edu / Skolelinux.

Which free software do you use daily?

-

I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian -on all my machines. For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then -mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing. At school I -have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.

+

For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.

+ +

For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For +serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for +more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.

+ +

I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the +development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI. +PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently +is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.

+ +

For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde +as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber +I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also +the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive +whiteboard.

+ +

My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.

Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools to use free software?

-

One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom: -Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and -politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader". The school -administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor. -Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats. Even -free browsers do not work for the school administration. Publishers -of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.

- -

To change this, political work is very important. Parts of the -political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years. -However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free' -the system. There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and -"Free/Open Standards". I am not sure if all the involved parties have -a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a -fraction takes them seriously. However it might slowly make free -software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.

+

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people, +enrol people.

@@ -627,18 +660,143 @@ software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.

-
Jeg skal på konferansen Go Open 2012
-
13th April 2012
-

Jeg har tenkt meg på konferansen Go -Open 2012 i Oslo 23. april. -Medlemsforeningen NUUG deler ut -prisen for fremme av fri -programvare i Norge der i år. Kommer du?

+
SOAP based webservice from Dell to check server support status
+
1st June 2012
+

A few years ago I wrote +how +to extract support status for your Dell and HP servers. Recently +I have learned from colleges here at the +University of Oslo that Dell have +made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service. Given +the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine +readable information about the support status. This perl code +demonstrate how to do it:

+ +

+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use SOAP::Lite;
+use Data::Dumper;
+my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111';
+my $App = 'test';
+my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n";
+my ($deal, $latest, @dates);
+my $s = SOAP::Lite
+    -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/')
+    -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } )
+    -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx')
+    ;
+my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation(
+    SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''),
+    SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''),
+    SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''),
+);
+print Dumper($a -> result) ;
+

+ +

The output can look like this:

+ +

+$VAR1 = {
+          'Asset' => {
+                     'Entitlements' => {
+                                       'EntitlementData' => [
+                                                            {
+                                                              'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
+                                                              'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'Provider' => '',
+                                                              'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'DaysLeft' => '0'
+                                                            },
+                                                            {
+                                                              'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
+                                                              'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'Provider' => '',
+                                                              'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'DaysLeft' => '0'
+                                                            },
+                                                            {
+                                                              'EntitlementType' => 'Expired',
+                                                              'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'Provider' => '',
+                                                              'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00',
+                                                              'DaysLeft' => '0'
+                                                            }
+                                                          ]
+                                     },
+                     'AssetHeaderData' => {
+                                          'SystemModel' => 'GX620',
+                                          'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J',
+                                          'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00',
+                                          'Buid' => '2323',
+                                          'Region' => 'Europe',
+                                          'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620',
+                                          'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex'
+                                        }
+                   }
+        };
+

+ +

I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this +service outside the +inline +documentation, and according to +one +comment it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than +scraping HTML pages. :)

+ +

Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service. If +you know of one, drop me an email. :)

- Tags: norsk, nuug. + Tags: english, nuug. + + +
+
+
+ +
+
Veileder fra DIFI om publisering av offentlige data
+
1st June 2012
+

På onsdag rakk jeg såvidt innom +Oslo Open Data Forums +møte, og fikk lagt hendene mine på DIFIs helt nye veileder +"Åpne data. Del og skap +verdier. Veileder i tilgjengeliggjøring av offentlig data" (også +tilgjengelig +som PDF fra DIFI).

+ +

Veilederen er veldig bra, og nevner viktige problemstillinger og +skisserer f.eks. både verdiskapningspotensialet og formatmulighetene +som en bør ha i bakhodet når en publiserer offentlig informasjon på +maskinlesbart format. Kildekoden til veilederen er +tilgjengelig via +github, og en kan rapportere tilbakemeldinger og forslag til +forbedringer der (eller via epost og twitter for de som ønsker +det).

+ +

Det eneste jeg virkelig savnet i veilederen var omtale av +w3cs +stjerneklassifisering av åpne datakilder, som jeg tror ville være +nyttige mentale knagger for de som vurderer å publisere sin +informasjon på som åpne data. Jeg har +rapportert +en github-bug om dette, så får vi se hvordan den blir behandlet.

+ +

Det slo meg at det var veldig lite konkret i veilederen om valg av +bruksvilkår ved publisering (aka lisens), men jeg er ikke sikker på om +det hører hjemme der, da det er et vanskelig tema som kanskje heller +hører hjemme i sin egen veileder. Uansett, anbefaler alle å ta en +titt på veilederen og sikre at alle offentlige etater en har kontakt +med får en kopi.

+
+
+ + + Tags: norsk, opphavsrett, web.
@@ -664,7 +822,9 @@ programvare i Norge der i år. Kommer du?

  • April (12)
    • -
  • May (2)
    • +
  • May (12)
    • + +
  • June (10)
    • @@ -785,17 +945,19 @@ programvare i Norge der i Ã¥r. Kommer du?

  • debian (54)
    • -
  • debian edu (100)
    • +
  • debian edu (104)
  • digistan (8)
    • -
  • english (126)
    • +
  • drivstoffpriser (3)
    • -
  • fiksgatami (15)
    • +
  • english (135)
    • + +
  • fiksgatami (16)
  • fildeling (12)
    • -
  • intervju (24)
    • +
  • intervju (27)
  • kart (16)
    • @@ -807,13 +969,15 @@ programvare i Norge der i Ã¥r. Kommer du?

  • multimedia (16)
    • -
  • norsk (161)
    • +
  • norsk (172)
    • + +
  • nuug (131)
    • -
  • nuug (124)
    • +
  • offentlig innsyn (2)
  • open311 (2)
    • -
  • opphavsrett (24)
    • +
  • opphavsrett (25)
  • personvern (47)
    • @@ -829,17 +993,19 @@ programvare i Norge der i Ã¥r. Kommer du?

  • ruter (4)
    • +
  • scraperwiki (1)
    • +
  • sikkerhet (23)
  • sitesummary (4)
    • -
  • standard (27)
    • +
  • standard (29)
  • stavekontroll (1)
  • stortinget (4)
    • -
  • surveillance (9)
    • +
  • surveillance (10)
  • valg (6)
    • @@ -847,7 +1013,7 @@ programvare i Norge der i Ã¥r. Kommer du?

  • vitenskap (1)
    • -
  • web (19)
    • +
  • web (20)