X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/af24adfa744cfef43b9764366459fb11ca5f8cbb..105f9e180ef3a74846475820bfcd7a63a4061808:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index b6b11dce03..09c9ccd44f 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,767 +7,709 @@ - Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB with Lenovo firmware still lock up from sustained writes - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Intel_SSD_520_Series_180_GB_with_Lenovo_firmware_still_lock_up_from_sustained_writes.html - Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:30:00 +0200 - <p>A few days ago, I wrote about -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html">the -problems I experienced with my new X230 and its SSD disk</a>, which -was dying during installation because it is unable to cope with -sustained write. My supplier is in contact with -<a href="http://www.lenovo.com/">Lenovo</a>, and they wanted to send a -replacement disk to try to fix the problem. They decided to send an -identical model, so my hopes for a permanent fix was slim.</p> - -<p>Anyway, today I got the replacement disk and tried to install -Debian Edu Wheezy with encrypted disk on it. The new disk have the -same firmware version as the original. This time my hope raised -slightly as the installation progressed, as the original disk used to -die after 4-7% of the disk was written to, while this time it kept -going past 10%, 20%, 40% and even past 50%. But around 60%, the disk -died again and I was back on square one. I still do not have a new -laptop with a disk I can trust. I can not live with a disk that might -lock up when I download a new -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> ISO or -other large files. I look forward to hearing from my supplier with -the next proposal from Lenovo.</p> - -<p>The original disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNME35X1TR, ISN: CVCV321407HB180EGN, SA: G57560302, FW: -LF1i, 29MAY2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40002756C4, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The replacement disk is marked Intel SSD 520 Series 180 GB, -11S0C38722Z1ZNDE34N0L0, ISN: CVCV315306RK180EGN, SA: G57560-302, FW: -LF1i, 22APR2013, PBA: G39779-300, LBA 351,651,888, LI P/N: 0C38722, -Pb-free 2LI, LC P/N: 16-200366, WWN: 55CD2E40000AB69E, Model: -SSDSC2BW180A3L 2.5" 6Gb/s SATA SSD 180G 5V 1A, ASM P/N 0C38732, FRU -P/N 45N8295, P0C38732.</p> - -<p>The only difference is in the first number (serial number?), ISN, -SA, date and WNPP values. Mentioning all the details here in case -someone is able to use the information to find a way to identify the -failing disk among working ones (if any such working disk actually -exist).</p> - - - - - July 13th: Debian/Ubuntu BSP and Skolelinux/Debian Edu developer gathering in Oslo - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/July_13th__Debian_Ubuntu_BSP_and_Skolelinux_Debian_Edu_developer_gathering_in_Oslo.html - Tue, 9 Jul 2013 10:40:00 +0200 - <p>The upcoming Saturday, 2013-07-13, we are organising a combined -Debian Edu developer gathering and Debian and Ubuntu bug squashing -party in Oslo. It is organised by <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">the -member assosiation NUUG</a> and -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">the Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project</a> together with <a href="http://bitraf.no/">the hack space -Bitraf</a>.</p> - -<p>It starts 10:00 and continue until late evening. Everyone is -welcome, and there is no fee to participate. There is on the other -hand limited space, and only room for 30 people. Please put your name -on <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BSP/2013/07/13/no/Oslo">the event -wiki page</a> if you plan to join us.</p> + Debian init.d boot script example for rsyslog + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_init_d_boot_script_example_for_rsyslog.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_init_d_boot_script_example_for_rsyslog.html + Sat, 2 Nov 2013 22:40:00 +0100 + <p>If one of the points of switching to a new init system in Debian is +<a href="http://thomas.goirand.fr/blog/?p=147">to get rid of huge +init.d scripts</a>, I doubt we need to switch away from sysvinit and +init.d scripts at all. Here is an example init.d script, ie a rewrite +of /etc/init.d/rsyslog:</p> + +<p><pre> +#!/lib/init/init-d-script +### BEGIN INIT INFO +# Provides: rsyslog +# Required-Start: $remote_fs $time +# Required-Stop: umountnfs $time +# X-Stop-After: sendsigs +# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5 +# Default-Stop: 0 1 6 +# Short-Description: enhanced syslogd +# Description: Rsyslog is an enhanced multi-threaded syslogd. +# It is quite compatible to stock sysklogd and can be +# used as a drop-in replacement. +### END INIT INFO +DESC="enhanced syslogd" +DAEMON=/usr/sbin/rsyslogd +</pre></p> + +<p>Pretty minimalistic to me... For the record, the original sysv-rc +script was 137 lines, and the above is just 15 lines, most of it meta +info/comments.</p> + +<p>How to do this, you ask? Well, one create a new script +/lib/init/init-d-script looking something like this: + +<p><pre> +#!/bin/sh + +# Define LSB log_* functions. +# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.2-14) to ensure that this file is present +# and status_of_proc is working. +. /lib/lsb/init-functions + +# +# Function that starts the daemon/service + +# +do_start() +{ + # Return + # 0 if daemon has been started + # 1 if daemon was already running + # 2 if daemon could not be started + start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \ + || return 1 + start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON -- \ + $DAEMON_ARGS \ + || return 2 + # Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready + # to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend + # on this one. As a last resort, sleep for some time. +} + +# +# Function that stops the daemon/service +# +do_stop() +{ + # Return + # 0 if daemon has been stopped + # 1 if daemon was already stopped + # 2 if daemon could not be stopped + # other if a failure occurred + start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME + RETVAL="$?" + [ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2 + # Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks + # and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript. + # If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code + # that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be + # needed by services started subsequently. A last resort is to + # sleep for some time. + start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON + [ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2 + # Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit. + rm -f $PIDFILE + return "$RETVAL" +} + +# +# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service +# +do_reload() { + # + # If the daemon can reload its configuration without + # restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP), + # then implement that here. + # + start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME + return 0 +} + +SCRIPTNAME=$1 +scriptbasename="$(basename $1)" +echo "SN: $scriptbasename" +if [ "$scriptbasename" != "init-d-library" ] ; then + script="$1" + shift + . $script +else + exit 0 +fi + +NAME=$(basename $DAEMON) +PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid + +# Exit if the package is not installed +#[ -x "$DAEMON" ] || exit 0 + +# Read configuration variable file if it is present +[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME + +# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables +. /lib/init/vars.sh + +case "$1" in + start) + [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME" + do_start + case "$?" in + 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;; + 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;; + esac + ;; + stop) + [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME" + do_stop + case "$?" in + 0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;; + 2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;; + esac + ;; + status) + status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $? + ;; + #reload|force-reload) + # + # If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out + # and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'. + # + #log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME" + #do_reload + #log_end_msg $? + #;; + restart|force-reload) + # + # If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the + # 'force-reload' alias + # + log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME" + do_stop + case "$?" in + 0|1) + do_start + case "$?" in + 0) log_end_msg 0 ;; + 1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running + *) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start + esac + ;; + *) + # Failed to stop + log_end_msg 1 + ;; + esac + ;; + *) + echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2 + exit 3 + ;; +esac + +: +</pre></p> + +<p>It is based on /etc/init.d/skeleton, and could be improved quite a +lot. I did not really polish the approach, so it might not always +work out of the box, but you get the idea. I did not try very hard to +optimize it nor make it more robust either.</p> + +<p>A better argument for switching init system in Debian than reducing +the size of init scripts (which is a good thing to do anyway), is to +get boot system that is able to handle the kernel events sensibly and +robustly, and do not depend on the boot to run sequentially. The boot +and the kernel have not behaved sequentially in years.</p> - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230_.html - Fri, 5 Jul 2013 08:30:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Thank_you_Thinkpad_X41__for_your_long_and_trustworthy_service.html">replacement -for my trusty old Thinkpad X41</a>. Unfortunately I did not have much -time to spend on it, and it took a while to find a model I believe -will do the job, but two days ago the replacement finally arrived. I -ended up picking a -<a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad X230</a> -with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu Wheezy as -a roaming workstation, and it seemed to work flawlessly. But my -second installation with encrypted disk was not as successful. More -on that below.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <a href="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks according -to that search interface, so I had to drop specifying the number of -disks from my search parameters. I also asked around among friends to -get their impression on keyboards and robustness.</p> - -<p>So the new laptop arrived, and it is quite a lot wider than the -X41. I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is -significantly wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my -hand a lot more to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly -good and the individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope -I will get used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really -needed a new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>Turning off the touch pad was simple. All it took was a quick -visit to the BIOS during boot it disable it.</p> - -<p>But there is a fatal problem with the laptop. The 180 GB SSD disk -lock up during load. And this happen when installing Debian Wheezy -with encrypted disk, while the disk is being filled with random data. -I also tested to install Ubuntu Raring, and it happen there too if I -reenable the code to fill the disk with random data (it is disabled by -default in Ubuntu). And the bug with is already known. It was -reported to Debian as <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/691427">BTS -report #691427 2012-10-25</a> (journal commit I/O error on brand-new -Thinkpad T430s ext4 on lvm on SSD). It is also reported to the Linux -kernel developers as -<a href="https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51861">Kernel bugzilla -report #51861 2012-12-20</a> (Intel SSD 520 stops working under load -(SSDSC2BW180A3L in Lenovo ThinkPad T430s)). It is also reported on the -Lenovo forums, both for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/T430s-Intel-SSD-520-180GB-issue/m-p/1070549">T430 -2012-11-10</a> and for -<a href="http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/x230-SATA-errors-with-180GB-Intel-520-SSD-under-heavy-write-load/m-p/1068147">X230 -03-20-2013</a>. The problem do not only affect installation. The -reports state that the disk lock up during use if many writes are done -on the disk, so it is much no use to work around the installation -problem and end up with a computer that can lock up at any moment. -There is even a -<a href="https://git.efficios.com/?p=test-ssd.git">small C program -available</a> that will lock up the hard drive after running a few -minutes by writing to a file.</p> - -<p>I've contacted my supplier and asked how to handle this, and after -contacting PCHELP Norway (request 01D1FDP) which handle support -requests for Lenovo, his first suggestion was to upgrade the disk -firmware. Unfortunately there is no newer firmware available from -Lenovo, as my disk already have the most recent one (version LF1i). I -hope to hear more from him today and hope the problem can be -fixed. :)</p> + Browser plugin for SPICE (spice-xpi) uploaded to Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Browser_plugin_for_SPICE__spice_xpi__uploaded_to_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Browser_plugin_for_SPICE__spice_xpi__uploaded_to_Debian.html + Fri, 1 Nov 2013 11:00:00 +0100 + <p><a href="http://www.spice-space.org/">The SPICE protocol</a> for +remote display access is the preferred solution with oVirt and RedHat +Enterprise Virtualization, and I was sad to discover the other day +that the browser plugin needed to use these systems seamlessly was +missing in Debian. The <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/668284">request +for a package</a> was from 2012-04-10 with no progress since +2013-04-01, so I decided to wrap up a package based on the great work +from Cajus Pollmeier and put it in a collab-maint maintained git +repository to get a package I could use. I would very much like +others to help me maintain the package (or just take over, I do not +mind), but as no-one had volunteered so far, I just uploaded it to +NEW. I hope it will be available in Debian in a few days.</p> + +<p>The source is now available from +<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary">http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/spice-xpi.git;a=summary</a>.</p> - The Thinkpad is dead, long live the Thinkpad X230 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_Thinkpad_is_dead__long_live_the_Thinkpad_X230.html - Thu, 4 Jul 2013 09:20:00 +0200 - <p>Half a year ago, I reported that I had to find a replacement for my -trusty old Thinkpad X41. Unfortunately I did not have much time to -spend on it, but today the replacement finally arrived. I ended up -picking a <a href="http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_thinkpad_x230">Thinkpad -X230</a> with SSD disk (NZDAJMN). I first test installed Debian Edu -Wheezy as a roaming workstation, and it worked flawlessly. As I write -this, it is installing what I hope will be a more final installation, -with a encrypted hard drive to ensure any dope head stealing it end up -with an expencive door stop.</p> - -<p>I had a hard time trying to track down a good laptop, as my most -important requirements (robust and with a good keyboard) are never -listed in the feature list. But I did get good help from the search -feature at <ahref="http://www.prisjakt.no/">Prisjakt</a>, which -allowed me to limit the list of interesting laptops based on my other -requirements. A bit surprising that SSD disk are not disks, so I had -to drop number of disks from my search parameters.</p> - -<p>I am not quite convinced about the keyboard, as it is significantly -wider than my old keyboard, and I have to stretch my hand a lot more -to reach the edges. But the key response is fairly good and the -individual key shape is fairly easy to handle, so I hope I will get -used to it. My old X40 was starting to fail, and I really needed a -new laptop now. :)</p> - -<p>I look forward to figuring out how to turn off the touch pad.</p> + Teaching vmdebootstrap to create Raspberry Pi SD card images + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Teaching_vmdebootstrap_to_create_Raspberry_Pi_SD_card_images.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Teaching_vmdebootstrap_to_create_Raspberry_Pi_SD_card_images.html + Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:00:00 +0100 + <p>The +<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/v/vmdebootstrap.html">vmdebootstrap</a> +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 +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi">Raspberry Pi</a>, as part +of a plan to simplify the build system for +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the FreedomBox +project</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html">Debian +Jessie based mesh node images for the Raspberry Pi</a>. First, the +<tt>--foreign /path/to/binfm_handler</tt> 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 <tt>--bootsize size</tt> and <tt>--boottype +fstype</tt> 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 <tt>--variant +variant</tt> option to allow me to create smaller images without the +Debian base system packages installed. Finally, I added an option +<tt>--no-extlinux</tt> 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 +<a href="http://git.liw.fi/cgi-bin/cgit/cgit.cgi/vmdebootstrap/">the +upstream project page</a>.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p><pre> +#!/bin/sh +set -e # Exit on first error +rootdir="$1" +cd "$rootdir" +cat &lt;&lt;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 +</pre></p> + +<p>Next, fetch the latest vmdebootstrap script and call it like this +to build the image:</p> + +<pre> +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 +</pre></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <a href="http://www.raspbian.org/">Raspbian</a> based images.</p> - Fourth alpha release of Debian Edu/Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fourth_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu_Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html - Wed, 3 Jul 2013 14:00:00 +0200 - <p>The fourth wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up -today. This is the release announcement:</p> - -<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.1+edu0~alpha3 released -2013-07-03</strong></p> - -<p>These are the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux -7.1+edu0~alpha3, based on Debian with codename "Wheezy".</p> - -<p><strong>About Debian Edu and Skolelinux</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu, also known as -Skolelinux</a>, 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, DVD or USB stick all other machines can be -installed via the network. The provided school server provides LDAP -database and Kerberos authentication service, centralized home -directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other services. The -desktop contains -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Educational_applications_included_in_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux__the_screenshot_collection____.html">more -than 60 educational software packages</a> and more are available from -the Debian archive, and schools can choose between KDE, Gnome, LXDE -and Xfce desktop environment.</p> - -<p>This is the fourth test release based on Debian Wheezy. Basically -this is an updated and slightly improved version compared to the -Squeeze release.</p> - -<p><strong>Software updates</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Dropped ispell dictionaries from our default installation.</li> - <li>Dropped menu-xdg from the KDE desktop option, to drop the Debian - submenu. It was not included with Gnome, LXDE or Xfce, so this - brings KDE in line with the others.</li> - <li>Dropped xdrawchem, xjig and xsok from our default installation as - they don't have a desktop menu entry and thus won't show up in the - menu now that menu-xdg was removed.</li> - <li>Removed the killer system to kill left behind processes on - multi-user machines, as it was no longer able to understand when a - X display was in use and killed the processes of the active users - too.</li> - <li>Dropped the golearn (from goplay) package as the debtags in wheezy - are too few to make the package useful.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>Updated artwork matching http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/Joy - <li>Multi-arch i386/amd64 USB stick ISO available.</li> - <li>Got rid of ispell/wordlist related debconf questions that showed - up for some language options.</li> - <li>Switched to using http.debian.net as APT source by default.</li> - <li>Fixed proxy configuration on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Changed LTSP setup to ask dpkg to use force-unsafe-io the same way - d-i is doing it.</li> - <li>Made sure root and user passwords were not left behind in the - debconf database after installation on Main Server installations.</li> - <li>Made Roaming Workstation dynamic setup more robust and added draft - script setup-ad-client to hook a Roaming Workstation up to a - Active Directory server instead of a Debian Edu Main Server.</li> - <li>Update system to install needed firmware packages during - installation, to work properly in Wheezy.</li> - <li>Update system to handle hardware quirks (debian-edu-hwsetup).</li> - <li>Corrected PXE installation setup to properly pass selected desktop - and keymap settings to PXE installation clients.</li> - <li>LTSP diskless workstations use sshfs by default, allowing them to - work without adding them to DNS and NIS netgroups for NFS access.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> -<ul> - <li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) - available yet (698840).</li> - <li>Artwork not enabled for all desktops.</li> -</ul> -<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> - -<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> -<ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-CD.iso .</li> -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8</p> - -<p>To download the multiarch USB stick ISO release you can use</p> -<ul> - <li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso</a></li> - <li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.1+edu0~a3-USB.iso .</li> -</ul> - -<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 25e808e403a4c15dbef1d13c37d572ac -<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 15ecfc93eb6b4f453b7eb0bc04b6a279262d9721</p> - -<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> - -<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a></p> + Det er jo makta som er mest sårbar ved massiv overvåkning av Internett + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Det_er_jo_makta_som_er_mest_s_rbar_ved_massiv_overv_kning_av_Internett.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Det_er_jo_makta_som_er_mest_s_rbar_ved_massiv_overv_kning_av_Internett.html + Sat, 26 Oct 2013 20:30:00 +0200 + <p>De siste måneders eksponering av +<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/Her-er-Edvard-Snowdens-mest-omtalte-avsloringer-7351734.html">den +totale overvåkningen som foregår i den vestlige verden dokumenterer +hvor sårbare vi er</a>. 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.</p> + +<p>For å ta et lite eksempel: Stortingets nettsted, +<a href="http://www.stortinget.no/">www.stortinget.no</a> (og +forsåvidt også +<a href="http://data.stortinget.no/">data.stortinget.no</a>), +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 +<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics">Google +Analytics</a>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> - Automatically locate and install required firmware packages on Debian (Isenkram 0.4) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatically_locate_and_install_required_firmware_packages_on_Debian__Isenkram_0_4_.html - Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:50:00 +0200 - <p>It annoys me when the computer fail to do automatically what it is -perfectly capable of, and I have to do it manually to get things -working. One such task is to find out what firmware packages are -needed to get the hardware on my computer working. Most often this -affect the wifi card, but some times it even affect the RAID -controller or the ethernet card. Today I pushed version 0.4 of the -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">Isenkram package</a> -including a new script isenkram-autoinstall-firmware handling the -process of asking all the loaded kernel modules what firmware files -they want, find debian packages providing these files and install the -debian packages. Here is a test run on my laptop:</p> - -<p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: kernel drivers requested extra firmware: ipw2200-bss.fw ipw2200-ibss.fw ipw2200-sniffer.fw -info: fetching http://http.debian.net/debian/dists/squeeze/Contents-i386.gz -info: locating packages with the requested firmware files -info: Updating APT sources after adding non-free APT source -info: trying to install firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -firmware-ipw2x00 -Preconfiguring packages ... -Selecting previously deselected package firmware-ipw2x00. -(Reading database ... 259727 files and directories currently installed.) -Unpacking firmware-ipw2x00 (from .../firmware-ipw2x00_0.28+squeeze1_all.deb) ... -Setting up firmware-ipw2x00 (0.28+squeeze1) ... -# -</pre></p> - -<p>When all the requested firmware is present, a simple message is -printed instead:</p> + A Raspberry Pi based batman-adv Mesh network node + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Raspberry_Pi_based_batman_adv_Mesh_network_node.html + Mon, 21 Oct 2013 11:40:00 +0200 + <p>The last few days I have been experimenting with +<a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki">the +batman-adv mesh technology</a>. I want to gain some experience to see +if it will fit <a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the +Freedombox project</a>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a>, 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 <a href="http://servalproject.org/">the Serval +Project</a> 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.</p> + +<p>To get this working, I've created a debian package +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node">meshfx-node</a> +and a script +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/build-rpi-mesh-node">build-rpi-mesh-node</a> +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.</p> + +<p>To create an image, run the following with a sudo enabled user +after inserting the target SD card into the build machine:</p> <p><pre> -# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware -info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules. exiting -# +% 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 +% </pre></p> -<p>It could use some polish, but it is already working well and saving -me some time when setting up new machines. :)</p> - -<p>So, how does it work? It look at the set of currently loaded -kernel modules, and look up each one of them using modinfo, to find -the firmware files listed in the module meta-information. Next, it -download the Contents file from a nearby APT mirror, and search for -the firmware files in this file to locate the package with the -requested firmware file. If the package is in the non-free section, a -non-free APT source is added and the package is installed using -<tt>apt-get install</tt>. The end result is a slightly better working -machine.</p> - -<p>I hope someone find time to implement a more polished version of -this script as part of the hw-detect debian-installer module, to -finally fix <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/655507">BTS report -#655507</a>. There really is no need to insert USB sticks with -firmware during a PXE install when the packages already are available -from the nearby Debian mirror.</p> +<p>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 +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html">an +earlier blog post about this mesh testing</a>.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p><table> + +<tr><th>Supplier</th><th>Model</th><th>NOK</th></tr> +<tr><td>Teknikkmagasinet</td><td>Raspberry Pi model B</td><td>349.90</td></tr> +<tr><td>Teknikkmagasinet</td><td>Raspberry Pi type B case</td><td>99.90</td></tr> +<tr><td>Lefdal</td><td>Jensen Air:Link 25150</td><td>295.-</td></tr> +<tr><td>Clas Ohlson</td><td>Kingston 16 GB SD card</td><td>199.-</td></tr> +<tr><td>Total cost</td><td></td><td>943.80</td></tr> + +</table></p> + +<p>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. :)</p> - The value of a good distro wide test suite... - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_value_of_a_good_distro_wide_test_suite___.html - Sat, 22 Jun 2013 07:00:00 +0200 - <p>In the <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / -Skolelinux</a> project, we include a post-installation test suite, -which check that services are running, working, and return the -expected results. It runs automatically just after the first boot on -test installations (using test ISOs), but not on production -installations (using non-test ISOs). It test that the LDAP service is -operating, Kerberos is responding, DNS is replying, file systems are -online resizable, etc, etc. And it check that the PXE service is -configured, which is the topic of this post.</p> - -<p>The last week I've fixed the DVD and USB stick ISOs for our Debian -Edu Wheezy release. These ISOs are supposed to be able to install a -complete system without any Internet connection, but for that to -happen all the needed packages need to be on them. Thanks to our test -suite, I discovered that we had forgotten to adjust our PXE setup to -cope with the new names and paths used by the netboot d-i packages. -When Internet connectivity was available, the installer fall back to -using wget to fetch d-i boot images, but when offline it require -working packages to get it working. And ad the packages changed name -from debian-installer-6.0-netboot-$arch to -debian-installer-7.0-netboot-$arch, we no longer pulled in the -packages during installation. Without our test suite, I suspect we -would never have discovered this before release. Now it is fixed -right after we got the ISOs operational.</p> - -<p>Another by-product of the test suite is that we can ask system -administrators with problems getting Debian Edu to work, to run the -test suite using <tt>/usr/sbin/debian-edu-test-install</tt> and see if -any errors are detected. This usually pinpoint the subsystem causing -the problem.</p> - -<p>If you want to help us help kids learn how to share and create, -please join us on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on -irc.debian.org</a> and the -<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/">debian-edu@</a> mailing -list.</p> + Perl library to control the Spykee robot moved to github + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Perl_library_to_control_the_Spykee_robot_moved_to_github.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Perl_library_to_control_the_Spykee_robot_moved_to_github.html + Sat, 19 Oct 2013 10:20:00 +0200 + <p>Back in 2010, I created a Perl library to talk to +<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spykee">the Spykee robot</a> +(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 +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/libspykee-perl">the +libspykee-perl github repository</a>.</p> - Debian Edu interview: Victor Nițu - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Victor_Ni_u.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Victor_Ni_u.html - Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:50:00 +0200 - <p>The <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and -Skolelinux</a> distribution have users and contributors all around the -globe. And a while back, an enterprising young man showed up on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">our IRC channel -#debian-edu</a> and started asking questions about how Debian Edu -worked. We answered as good as we could, and even convinced him to -help us with translations. And today I managed to get an interview -with him, to learn more about him.</p> - -<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> - -<p>I'm a 25 year old free software enthusiast, living in Romania, -which is also my country of origin. Back in 2009, at a New Year's Eve -party, I had a very nice <strike>beer</strike> discussion with a -friend, when we realized we have no organised Debian community in our -country. A few days later, we put together the infrastructure for such -community and even gathered a nice Debian-ish crowd. Since then, I -began my quest as a free software hacker and activist and I am -constantly trying to cover as much ground as possible on that -field.</p> - -<p>A few years ago I founded a small web development company, which -provided me the flexible schedule I needed so much for my -activities. For the last 13 months, I have been the Technical Director -of <a href="http://ceata.org/">Fundația Ceata</a>, which is a free -software activist organisation endorsed by the FSF and the FSFE, and -the only one we have in our country.</p> - -<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu -project?</strong></p> - -<p>The idea of participating in the Debian Edu project was a surprise -even to me, since I never used it before I began getting involved in -it. This year I had a great opportunity to deliver a talk on -educational software, and I knew immediately where to look. It was a -love at first sight, since I was previously involved with some of the -technologies the project incorporates, and I rapidly found a lot of -ways to contribute.</p> - -<p>My first contributions consisted in translating the installer and -configuration dialogs, then I found some bugs to squash (I still -haven't fixed them yet though), and I even got my eyes on some other -areas where I can prove myself helpful. Since the appetite for free -software in my country is pretty low, I'll be happy to be the first -one around here advocating for the project's adoption in educational -environments, and maybe even get my hands dirty in creating a flavour -for our own needs. I am not used to make very advanced plannings, so -from now on, time will tell what I'll be doing next, but I think I -have a pretty consistent starting point.</p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p>Not a long time ago, I was in the position of configuring and -maintaining a LDAP server on some Debian derivative, and I must say it -took me a while. A long time ago, I was maintaining a bigger -Samba-powered infrastructure, and I must say I spent quite a lot of -time on it. I have similar stories about many of the services included -with Skolelinux, and the main advantage I see about it is the -out-of-the box availability of them, making it quite competitive when -it comes to managing a school's network, for example.</p> - -<p>Of course, there is more to say about Skolelinux than the -availability of the software included, its flexibility in various -scenarios is something I can't wait to experiment "into the wild" (I -only played with virtual machines so far). And I am sure there is a -lot more I haven't discovered yet about it, being so new within the -project.</p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p>As usual, when it comes to Debian Blends, I see as the biggest -disadvantage the lack of a numerous team dedicated to the -project. Every day I see the same names in the changelogs, and I have -a constantly fear of the bus factor in this story. I'd like to see -Debian Edu advertised more as an entry point into the Debian -ecosystem, especially amongst newcomers and students. IMHO there are a -lot low-hanging fruits in terms of bug squashing, and enough -opportunities to get the feeling of the Debian Project's dynamics. Not -to mention it's a very fun blend to work on!</p> - -<p>Derived from the previous statement, is the delay in catching up -with the main Debian release and documentation. This is common though -to all blends and derivatives, but it's an issue we can all work -on.</p> - -<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> - -<p>I can hardly imagine myself spending a day without Vim, since my -daily routine covers writing code and hacking configuration files. I -am a fan of the Awesome window manager (but I also like the -Enlightenment project a lot!), -<a href="http://www.claws-mail.org/‎">Claws Mail</a> due to its ease of -use and very configurable behaviour. Recently I fell in love with -<a href="https://launchpad.net/redshift">Redshift</a>, which helps me -get through the night without headaches. Of course, there is much more -stuff in this bag, but I'll need a blog on my own for doing this!</p> - -<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?</strong></p> - -<p>Well, on this field, I cannot do much more than experiment right -now. So, being far from having a recipe for success, I can only assume -that:</p> - -<ul> - -<li>schools would like to get rid of proprietary software</li> - -<li>students will love the openness of the system, and will want to - experiment with it - maybe we need to harvest the native curiosity - of teenagers more?</li> - -<li>there is no "right one" when it comes to strategies, but it would - be useful to have some success stories published somewhere, so - other can get some inspiration from them (I know I'd promote - them!)</li> - -<li>more active promotion - talks, conferences, even small school - lectures can do magical things if they encounter at least one - person interested. Who knows who that person might be? ;-)</li> - -</ul> - -<p>I also see some problems in getting Skolelinux into schools; for -example, in our country we have a great deal of corruption issues, so -it might be hard(er) to fight against proprietary solutions. Also, -people who relied on commercial software for all their lives, would be -very hard to convert against their will.</p> + Good causes: Debian Outreach Program for Women, EFF documenting the spying and Open access in Norway + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_causes__Debian_Outreach_Program_for_Women__EFF_documenting_the_spying_and_Open_access_in_Norway.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Good_causes__Debian_Outreach_Program_for_Women__EFF_documenting_the_spying_and_Open_access_in_Norway.html + Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:30:00 +0200 + <p>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. :)</p> + +<p>Via <a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2013/18/">Debian +Project News for 2013-10-14</a> 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 <a href="http://debian.ch/opw2013">any donation done to Debian +earmarked</a> for this initiative. I donated a few minutes ago, and +hope you will to. :)</p> + +<p>And the Electronic Frontier Foundation just announced plans to +create <a href="https://supporters.eff.org/donate/nsa-videos">video +documentaries about the excessive spying</a> on every Internet user that +take place these days, and their need to fund the work. I've already +donated. Are you next?</p> + +<p>For my Norwegian audience, the organisation Studentenes og +Akademikernes Internasjonale Hjelpefond is collecting signatures for a +statement under the heading +<a href="http://saih.no/Bloggers_United/">Bloggers United for Open +Access</a> 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.</p> - Debian Edu interview: Jonathan Carter - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Jonathan_Carter.html - Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:50:00 +0200 - <p>There is a certain cross-over between the -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux -project</a> and <a href="http://www.edubuntu.org/">the Edubuntu -project</a>, and for example the LTSP packages in Debian are a joint -effort between the projects. One person with a foot in both camps is -Jonathan Carter, which I am now happy to present to you.</p> - -<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> - -<p>I'm a South-African free software geek who lives in Cape Town. My -days vary quite a bit since I'm involved in too many things. As I'm -getting older I'm learning how to focus a bit more :)</p> - -<p>I'm also an Edubuntu contributor and I love when there are -opportunities for the Edubuntu and Debian Edu projects to benefit from -each other.</p> - -<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu -project?</strong></p> - -<p>I've been somewhat familiar with the project before, but I think my -first direct exposure to the project was when I met Petter -[Reinholdtsen] and Knut [Yrvin] at the Edubuntu summit in 2005 in -London. They provided great feedback that helped the bootstrapping of -Edubuntu. Back then Edubuntu (and even Ubuntu) was still very new and -it was great getting input from people who have been around longer. I -was also still very excitable and said yes to everything and to this -day I have a big todo list backlog that I'm catching up with. I think -over the years the relationship between Edubuntu and Debian-Edu has -been gradually improving, although I think there's a lot that we could -still improve on in terms of working together on packages. I'm sure -we'll get there one day.</p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p>Debian itself already has so many advantages. I could go on about -it for pages, but in essence I love that it's a very honest project -that puts its users first with no hidden agendas and also produces -very high quality work.</p> - -<p>I think the advantage of Debian Edu is that it makes many common -set-up tasks simpler so that administrators can get up and running -with a lot less effort and frustration. At the same time I think it -helps to standardise installations in schools so that it's easier for -community members and commercial suppliers to support.</p> - -<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?</strong></p> - -<p>I had to re-type this one a few times because I'm trying to -separate "disadvantages" from "areas that need improvement" (which is -what I originally rambled on about)</p> - -<p>The biggest disadvantage I can think of is lack of manpower. The -project could do so much more if there were more good contributors. I -think some of the problems are external too. Free software and free -content in education is a no-brainer but it takes some time to catch -on. When you've been working with the same proprietary eco-system for -years and have gotten used to it, it can be hard to adjust to some -concepts in the free software world. It would be nice if there were -more Debian Edu consultants across the world. I'd love to be one -myself but I'm already so over-committed that it's just not possible -currently.</p> - -<p>I think the best short-term solution to that large-scale problem is -for schools to be pro-active and share their experiences and grow -their skills in-house. I'm often saddened to see how much money -educational institutions spend on 3rd party solutions that they don't -have access to after the service has ended and they could've gotten so -much more value otherwise by being more self-sustainable and -autonomous.</p> - -<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> - -<p>My main laptop dual-boots between Debian and Windows 7. I was -Windows free for years but started dual-booting again last year for -some games which help me focus and relax (Starcraft II in -particular). Gaming support on Linux is improving in leaps and bounds -so I suppose I'll soon be able to regain that disk space :)</p> - -<p>Besides that I rely on Icedove, Chromium, Terminator, Byobu, irssi, -git, Tomboy, KVM, VLC and LibreOffice. Recently I've been torn on -which desktop environment I like and I'm taking some refuge in Xfce -while I figure that out. I like tools that keep things simple. I enjoy -Python and shell scripting. I went to an Arduino workshop recently and -it was awesome seeing how easy and simple the IDE software was to get -up and running in Debian compared to the users running Windows and OS -X.</p> - -<p>I also use mc which some people frown upon slightly. I got used to -using Norton Commander in the early 90's and it stuck (I think the -people who sneer at it is just jealous that they don't know how to use -it :p) - -<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?</strong></p> - -<p>I think trying to force it is unproductive. I also think that in -many cases it's appropriate for schools to use non-free systems and I -don't think that there's any particular moral or ethical problem with -that.</p> - -<p>I do think though that free software can already solve so so many -problems in educational institutions and it's just a shame not taking -advantage of that.</p> - -<p>I also think that some curricula need serious review. For example, -some areas of the world rely heavily on very specific versions of MS -Office, teaching students to parrot menu items instead of learning the -general concepts. I think that's very unproductive because firstly, MS -Office's interface changes drastically every few years and on top of -that it also locks in a generation to a product that might not be the -best solution for them.</p> - -<p>To answer your question, I believe that the right strategy is to -educate and inform, giving someone the information they require to -make a decision that would work for them.</p> + Oslo community mesh network - with NUUG and Hackeriet at Hausmania + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oslo_community_mesh_network___with_NUUG_and_Hackeriet_at_Hausmania.html + Fri, 11 Oct 2013 14:10:00 +0200 + <p>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 +<a href="http://www.freifunk.net/">Freifunk</a> and +<a href="http://www.awmn.net/">Athens Wireless Metropolitan Network</a> +(see +<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_community_networks_by_region#Greece">wikipedia +for a large list</a>) 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 +<a href="http://freifunk.in-kiel.de/ffmap/nodes.html">dynamically +updated node graph and map</a>, 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.</p> + +<p>I've wanted to check out mesh networks for a while now, and hoped +to do it as part of my involvement with the <a +href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG member organisation</a> community, and +my recent involvement in +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox">the Freedombox project</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a href="http://hackeriet.no/">Hackeriet</a> at Husmania. They seem to +have started with some Freifunk based effort using OLSR, called +<a href="http://oslo.freifunk.net/index.php?title=Main_Page">the Oslo +Freifunk project</a>, but that effort is now dead and the people +behind it have moved on to a batman-adv based system called +<a href="http://meshfx.org/trac">meshfx</a>. 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 +<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Kd7CLkhSY">youtube</a>):</p> + +<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N2Kd7CLkhSY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> + +<p>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 +<a href="http://www.servalproject.org/">Serval project in Australia</a> +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 +<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30qNfzJCQOA">youtube</a>):</p> + +<p><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/30qNfzJCQOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> + +<p>According to the wikipedia page on +<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_mesh_network">Wireless +mesh network</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a href="http://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki/Quick-start-guide">good +introduction</a> is available from the Open Mesh project. These are +the key settings needed to join the Oslo meshfx network:</p> + +<p><table> +<tr><th>Setting</th><th>Value</th></tr> +<tr><td>Protocol / kernel module</td><td>batman-adv</td></tr> +<tr><td>ESSID</td><td>meshfx@hackeriet</td></tr> +<td>Channel / Frequency</td><td>11 / 2462</td></tr> +<td>Cell ID</td><td>02:BA:00:00:00:01</td> +</table></p> + +<p>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 +"<a href="http://tiebing.blogspot.no/2009/12/ad-hoc-cell-splitting-re-post-original.html">Information +about cell-id splitting, stuck beacons, and failed IBSS merges!</a> +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. :)</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>If you find this project interesting and want to join, please join +us on IRC, either channel +<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#oslohackerspace">#oslohackerspace</a> +or <a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/#nuug">#nuug</a> on +irc.freenode.net.</p> + +<p>While investigating mesh networks in Oslo, I came across an old +research paper from the university of Stavanger and Telenor Research +and Innovation called +<a href="http://folk.uio.no/paalee/publications/netrel-egeland-iswcs-2008.pdf">The +reliability of wireless backhaul mesh networks</a> 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?</p> + +<p><strong>Update 2013-10-12</strong>: I was just +<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/2013-October/005900.html">told +by the Serval project developers</a> that they no longer use +batman-adv (but are compatible with it), but their own crypto based +mesh system.</p> - Fixing the Linux black screen of death on machines with Intel HD video - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_the_Linux_black_screen_of_death_on_machines_with_Intel_HD_video.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fixing_the_Linux_black_screen_of_death_on_machines_with_Intel_HD_video.html - Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:00:00 +0200 - <p>When installing RedHat, Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu on some machines, -the screen just turn black when Linux boot, either during installation -or on first boot from the hard disk. I've seen it once in a while the -last few years, but only recently understood the cause. I've seen it -on HP laptops, and on my latest acquaintance the Packard Bell laptop. -The reason seem to be in the wiring of some laptops. The system to -control the screen background light is inverted, so when Linux try to -turn the brightness fully on, it end up turning it off instead. I do -not know which Linux drivers are affected, but this post is about the -i915 driver used by the -<a href="http://www.linlap.com/packard_bell_easynote_lv">Packard Bell -EasyNote LV</a>, Thinkpad X40 and many other laptops.</p> - -<p>The problem can be worked around two ways. Either by adding -i915.invert_brightness=1 as a kernel option, or by adding a file in -/etc/modprobe.d/ to tell modprobe to add the invert_brightness=1 -option when it load the i915 kernel module. On Debian and Ubuntu, it -can be done by running these commands as root:</p> - -<pre> -echo options i915 invert_brightness=1 | tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf -update-initramfs -u -k all -</pre> - -<p>Since March 2012 there is -<a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=4dca20efb1a9c2efefc28ad2867e5d6c3f5e1955">a -mechanism in the Linux kernel</a> to tell the i915 driver which -hardware have this problem, and get the driver to invert the -brightness setting automatically. To use it, one need to add a row in -<a href="http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c">the -intel_quirks array</a> in the driver source -<tt>drivers/gpu/drm/i915/intel_display.c</tt> (look for "<tt>static -struct intel_quirk intel_quirks</tt>"), specifying the PCI device -number (vendor number 8086 is assumed) and subdevice vendor and device -number.</p> - -<p>My Packard Bell EasyNote LV got this output from <tt>lspci --vvnn</tt> for the video card in question:</p> - -<p><pre> -00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation \ - 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller [8086:0156] \ - (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) - Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0688] - Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- \ - ParErr- Stepping- SE RR- FastB2B- DisINTx+ - Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- \ - <TAbort- <MAbort->SERR- <PERR- INTx- - Latency: 0 - Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 42 - Region 0: Memory at c2000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M] - Region 2: Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] - Region 4: I/O ports at 4000 [size=64] - Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled] - Capabilities: <access denied> - Kernel driver in use: i915 -</pre></p> - -<p>The resulting intel_quirks entry would then look like this:</p> - -<p><pre> -struct intel_quirk intel_quirks[] = { - ... - /* Packard Bell EasyNote LV11HC needs invert brightness quirk */ - { 0x0156, 0x1025, 0x0688, quirk_invert_brightness }, - ... -} -</pre></p> - -<p>According to the kernel module instructions (as seen using -<tt>modinfo i915</tt>), information about hardware needing the -invert_brightness flag should be sent to the -<a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/dri-devel">dri-devel -(at) lists.freedesktop.org</a> mailing list to reach the kernel -developers. But my email about the laptop sent 2013-06-03 have not -yet shown up in -<a href="http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2013-June/thread.html">the -web archive for the mailing list</a>, so I suspect they do not accept -emails from non-subscribers. Because of this, I sent my patch also to -the Debian bug tracking system instead as -<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/710938">BTS report #710938</a>, to make -sure the patch is not lost.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, it is not enough to fix the kernel to get Laptops -with this problem working properly with Linux. If you use Gnome, your -worries should be over at this point. But if you use KDE, there is -something in KDE ignoring the invert_brightness setting and turning on -the screen during login. I've reported it to Debian as -<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/711237">BTS report #711237</a>, and -have no idea yet how to figure out exactly what subsystem is doing -this. Perhaps you can help? Perhaps you know what the Gnome -developers did to handle this, and this can give a clue to the KDE -developers? Or you know where in KDE the screen brightness is changed -during login? If so, please update the BTS report (or get in touch if -you do not know how to update BTS).</p> + Skolelinux / Debian Edu 7.1 install and overview video from Marcelo Salvador + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_7_1_install_and_overview_video_from_Marcelo_Salvador.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_7_1_install_and_overview_video_from_Marcelo_Salvador.html + Tue, 8 Oct 2013 17:10:00 +0200 + <p>The other day I was pleased and surprised to discover that Marcelo +Salvador had published a +<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-GgpdqgLFc">video on +Youtube</a> 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 <a href="http://www.zygotebody.com/">Zygote Body 3D model +of the human body</a>, 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 +<a href="http://www.ltsp.org/">LTSP server</a>.</p> + +<p>Anyway, check out the video, embedded below and linked to above:</p> + +<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/w-GgpdqgLFc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> + +<p>Are there other nice videos demonstrating Skolelinux? Please let +me know. :)</p> + + + + + Finally, Debian Edu Wheezy is released today! + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Finally__Debian_Edu_Wheezy_is_released_today_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Finally__Debian_Edu_Wheezy_is_released_today_.html + Sun, 29 Sep 2013 10:20:00 +0200 + <p>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 +<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130928">the Debian News +section</a>, translated to several languages. Please check it out.</p> + +<p>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).</p>