X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/ef256a159965887f06bcf10fa8de1a679cf65e04..008e8a93d16efb112922aa70c1d17d6912e75b18:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index f830534451..3728590138 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,866 +7,946 @@ - How to find a browser plugin supporting a given MIME type - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_find_a_browser_plugin_supporting_a_given_MIME_type.html - Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:40:00 +0100 - <p>Some times I try to figure out which Iceweasel browser plugin to -install to get support for a given MIME type. Thanks to -<a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Plugins">specifications -done by Ubuntu</a> and Mozilla, it is possible to do this in Debian. -Unfortunately, not very many packages provide the needed meta -information, Anyway, here is a small script to look up all browser -plugin packages announcing ther MIME support using this specification:</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> -<pre> -#!/usr/bin/python -import sys -import apt -def pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype): - cache = apt.Cache() - cache.open(None) - thepkgs = [] - for pkg in cache: - version = pkg.candidate - if version is None: - version = pkg.installed - if version is None: - continue - record = version.record - if not record.has_key('Npp-MimeType'): - continue - mime_types = record['Npp-MimeType'].split(',') - for t in mime_types: - t = t.rstrip().strip() - if t == mimetype: - thepkgs.append(pkg.name) - return thepkgs -mimetype = "audio/ogg" -if 1 < len(sys.argv): - mimetype = sys.argv[1] -print "Browser plugin packages supporting %s:" % mimetype -for pkg in pkgs_handling_mimetype(mimetype): - print " %s" %pkg -</pre> +<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>It can be used like this to look up a given MIME type:</p> +<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 2b161a99d2a848c376d8d04e3854e30c +<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: 498922e9c508c0a7ee9dbe1dfe5bf830d779c3c8</p> -<pre> -% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype -Browser plugin packages supporting audio/ogg: - gecko-mediaplayer -% ./apt-find-browserplug-for-mimetype application/x-shockwave-flash -Browser plugin packages supporting application/x-shockwave-flash: - browser-plugin-gnash -% -</pre> +<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>In Ubuntu this mechanism is combined with support in the browser -itself to query for plugins and propose to install the needed -packages. It would be great if Debian supported such feature too. Is -anyone working on adding it?</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2013-01-18 14:20</strong></p>: The Debian BTS -request for icweasel support for this feature is -<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/484010">#484010</a> from 2008 (and -<a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698426">#698426</a> from today). Lack -of manpower and wish for a different design is the reason thus feature -is not yet in iceweasel from Debian.</p> +<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> - What is the most supported MIME type in Debian? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_most_supported_MIME_type_in_Debian_.html - Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:10:00 +0100 - <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/AppStreamDebianProposal">DEP-11 -proposal to add AppStream information to the Debian archive</a>, is a -proposal to make it possible for a Desktop application to propose to -the user some package to install to gain support for a given MIME -type, font, library etc. that is currently missing. With such -mechanism in place, it would be possible for the desktop to -automatically propose and install leocad if some LDraw file is -downloaded by the browser.</p> - -<p>To get some idea about the current content of the archive, I decided -to write a simple program to extract all .desktop files from the -Debian archive and look up the claimed MIME support there. The result -can be found on the -<a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/pub/AppStreamTest">Skolelinux FTP -site</a>. Using the collected information, it become possible to -answer the question in the title. Here are the 20 most supported MIME -types in Debian stable (Squeeze), testing (Wheezy) and unstable (Sid). -The complete list is available from the link above.</p> - -<p><strong>Debian Stable:</strong></p> - -<pre> - count MIME type - ----- ----------------------- - 32 text/plain - 30 audio/mpeg - 29 image/png - 28 image/jpeg - 27 application/ogg - 26 audio/x-mp3 - 25 image/tiff - 25 image/gif - 22 image/bmp - 22 audio/x-wav - 20 audio/x-flac - 19 audio/x-mpegurl - 18 video/x-ms-asf - 18 audio/x-musepack - 18 audio/x-mpeg - 18 application/x-ogg - 17 video/mpeg - 17 audio/x-scpls - 17 audio/ogg - 16 video/x-ms-wmv -</pre> - -<p><strong>Debian Testing:</strong></p> - -<pre> - count MIME type - ----- ----------------------- - 33 text/plain - 32 image/png - 32 image/jpeg - 29 audio/mpeg - 27 image/gif - 26 image/tiff - 26 application/ogg - 25 audio/x-mp3 - 22 image/bmp - 21 audio/x-wav - 19 audio/x-mpegurl - 19 audio/x-mpeg - 18 video/mpeg - 18 audio/x-scpls - 18 audio/x-flac - 18 application/x-ogg - 17 video/x-ms-asf - 17 text/html - 17 audio/x-musepack - 16 image/x-xbitmap -</pre> - -<p><strong>Debian Unstable:</strong></p> - -<pre> - count MIME type - ----- ----------------------- - 31 text/plain - 31 image/png - 31 image/jpeg - 29 audio/mpeg - 28 application/ogg - 27 image/gif - 26 image/tiff - 26 audio/x-mp3 - 23 audio/x-wav - 22 image/bmp - 21 audio/x-flac - 20 audio/x-mpegurl - 19 audio/x-mpeg - 18 video/x-ms-asf - 18 video/mpeg - 18 audio/x-scpls - 18 application/x-ogg - 17 audio/x-musepack - 16 video/x-ms-wmv - 16 video/x-msvideo -</pre> - -<p>I am told that PackageKit can provide an API to access the kind of -information mentioned in DEP-11. I have not yet had time to look at -it, but hope the PackageKit people in Debian are on top of these -issues.</p> - -<p><strong>Update 2013-01-16 13:35</strong>: Updated numbers after -discovering a typo in my script.</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> + +<p><pre> +# isenkram-autoinstall-firmware +info: did not find any firmware files requested by loaded kernel modules. exiting +# +</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> - Using modalias info to find packages handling my hardware - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_modalias_info_to_find_packages_handling_my_hardware.html - Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0100 - <p>Yesterday, I wrote about the -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html">modalias -values provided by the Linux kernel</a> following my hope for -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">better -dongle support in Debian</a>. Using this knowledge, I have tested how -modalias values attached to package names can be used to map packages -to hardware. This allow the system to look up and suggest relevant -packages when I plug in some new hardware into my machine, and replace -discover and discover-data as the database used to map hardware to -packages.</p> - -<p>I create a modaliases file with entries like the following, -containing package name, kernel module name (if relevant, otherwise -the package name) and globs matching the relevant hardware -modalias.</p> - -<p><blockquote> -Package: package-name -<br>Modaliases: module(modaliasglob, modaliasglob, modaliasglob)</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>It is fairly trivial to write code to find the relevant packages -for a given modalias value using this file.</p> - -<p>An entry like this would suggest the video and picture application -cheese for many USB web cameras (interface bus class 0E01):</p> - -<p><blockquote> -Package: cheese -<br>Modaliases: cheese(usb:v*p*d*dc*dsc*dp*ic0Eisc01ip*)</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>An entry like this would suggest the pcmciautils package when a -CardBus bridge (bus class 0607) PCI device is present:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -Package: pcmciautils -<br>Modaliases: pcmciautils(pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc06sc07i*) -</blockquote></p> - -<p>An entry like this would suggest the package colorhug-client when -plugging in a ColorHug with USB IDs 04D8:F8DA:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -Package: colorhug-client -<br>Modaliases: colorhug-client(usb:v04D8pF8DAd*)</p> -</blockquote></p> - -<p>I believe the format is compatible with the format of the Packages -file in the Debian archive. Ubuntu already uses their Packages file -to store their mappings from packages to hardware.</p> - -<p>By adding a XB-Modaliases: header in debian/control, any .deb can -announce the hardware it support in a way my prototype understand. -This allow those publishing packages in an APT source outside the -Debian archive as well as those backporting packages to make sure the -hardware mapping are included in the package meta information. I've -tested such header in the pymissile package, and its modalias mapping -is working as it should with my prototype. It even made it to Ubuntu -Raring.</p> - -<p>To test if it was possible to look up supported hardware using only -the shell tools available in the Debian installer, I wrote a shell -implementation of the lookup code. The idea is to create files for -each modalias and let the shell do the matching. Please check out and -try the -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/hw-support-lookup?view=co">hw-support-lookup</a> -shell script. It run without any extra dependencies and fetch the -hardware mappings from the Debian archive and the subversion -repository where I currently work on my prototype.</p> - -<p>When I use it on a machine with a yubikey inserted, it suggest to -install yubikey-personalization:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -% ./hw-support-lookup -<br>yubikey-personalization -<br>% -</blockquote></p> - -<p>When I run it on my Thinkpad X40 with a PCMCIA/CardBus slot, it -propose to install the pcmciautils package:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -% ./hw-support-lookup -<br>pcmciautils -<br>% -</blockquote></p> - -<p>If you know of any hardware-package mapping that should be added to -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/modaliases?view=co">my -database</a>, please tell me about it.</p> - -<p>It could be possible to generate several of the mappings between -packages and hardware. One source would be to look at packages with -kernel modules, ie packages with *.ko files in /lib/modules/, and -extract their modalias information. Another would be to look at -packages with udev rules, ie packages with files in -/lib/udev/rules.d/, and extract their vendor/model information to -generate a modalias matching rule. I have not tested any of these to -see if it work.</p> - -<p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what -packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian -machine, please send me an email or talk to me on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</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> - Modalias strings - a practical way to map "stuff" to hardware - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Modalias_strings___a_practical_way_to_map__stuff__to_hardware.html - Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:20:00 +0100 - <p>While looking into how to look up Debian packages based on hardware -information, to find the packages that support a given piece of -hardware, I refreshed my memory regarding modalias values, and decided -to document the details. Here are my findings so far, also available -in -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the -Debian Edu subversion repository</a>: - -<p><strong>Modalias decoded</strong></p> - -<p>This document try to explain what the different types of modalias -values stands for. It is in part based on information from -&lt;URL: <a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias">https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Modalias</a> &gt;, -&lt;URL: <a href="http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device">http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/26132/how-to-assign-usb-driver-to-device</a> &gt;, -&lt;URL: <a href="http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c">http://code.metager.de/source/history/linux/stable/scripts/mod/file2alias.c</a> &gt; and -&lt;URL: <a href="http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup">http://cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/dmidecode/dmidecode.c?root=dmidecode&view=markup</a> &gt;. - -<p>The modalias entries for a given Linux machine can be found using -this shell script:</p> - -<pre> -find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u -</pre> - -<p>The supported modalias globs for a given kernel module can be found -using modinfo:</p> - -<pre> -% /sbin/modinfo psmouse | grep alias: -alias: serio:ty05pr*id*ex* -alias: serio:ty01pr*id*ex* -% -</pre> - -<p><strong>PCI subtype</strong></p> - -<p>A typical PCI entry can look like this. This is an Intel Host -Bridge memory controller:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -pci:v00008086d00002770sv00001028sd000001ADbc06sc00i00 -</blockquote></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> -<p>This represent these values:</p> - -<pre> - v 00008086 (vendor) - d 00002770 (device) - sv 00001028 (subvendor) - sd 000001AD (subdevice) - bc 06 (bus class) - sc 00 (bus subclass) - i 00 (interface) -</pre> +<ul> -<p>The vendor/device values are the same values outputted from 'lspci --n' as 8086:2770. The bus class/subclass is also shown by lspci as -0600. The 0600 class is a host bridge. Other useful bus values are -0300 (VGA compatible card) and 0200 (Ethernet controller).</p> +<li>schools would like to get rid of proprietary software</li> -<p>Not sure how to figure out the interface value, nor what it -means.</p> +<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> -<p><strong>USB subtype</strong></p> +<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> -<p>Some typical USB entries can look like this. This is an internal -USB hub in a laptop:</p> +<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> -<p><blockquote> -usb:v1D6Bp0001d0206dc09dsc00dp00ic09isc00ip00 -</blockquote></p> +</ul> -<p>Here is the values included in this alias:</p> +<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> + + + + + 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> + + + + + 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> - v 1D6B (device vendor) - p 0001 (device product) - d 0206 (bcddevice) - dc 09 (device class) - dsc 00 (device subclass) - dp 00 (device protocol) - ic 09 (interface class) - isc 00 (interface subclass) - ip 00 (interface protocol) +echo options i915 invert_brightness=1 | tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915.conf +update-initramfs -u -k all </pre> -<p>The 0900 device class/subclass means hub. Some times the relevant -class is in the interface class section. For a simple USB web camera, -these alias entries show up:</p> - -<p><blockquote> -usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc01ip00 -<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic01isc02ip00 -<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc01ip00 -<br>usb:v0AC8p3420d5000dcEFdsc02dp01ic0Eisc02ip00 -</blockquote></p> +<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> + + + + + Third alpha release of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Debian Wheezy + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_alpha_release_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Debian_Wheezy.html + Mon, 10 Jun 2013 22:50:00 +0200 + <p>The third wheezy based alpha release of Debian Edu was wrapped up +today. This is the release announcement:</p> + +<p><strong>New features for Debian Edu 7.0.0 alpha2 released +2013-06-10</strong></p> + +<p>This is the release notes for for Debian Edu / Skolelinux 7.0.0 edu +alpha2, 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 third 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> -<p>Interface class 0E01 is video control, 0E02 is video streaming (aka -camera), 0101 is audio control device and 0102 is audio streaming (aka -microphone). Thus this is a camera with microphone included.</p> +<ul> -<p><strong>ACPI subtype</strong></p> +<li>Iceweasel was updated from 10 to 17. (DSA 2699-1) +<li>Updated libxv (DSA-2674), libxvmc (DSA-2675), libxfixes (DSA-2676), libxrender (DSA-2677), mesa (DSA-2678), xserver-xorg-video-openchrome (DSA-2679), libxt (DSA-2680), libxcursor (DSA-2681), libxext (DSA-2682), libxi (DSA-2683), libxrandr (DSA-2684), libxp (DSA-2685), libxcb (DSA-2686), libfs (DSA-2687), libxres (DSA-2688), libxtst (DSA-2689), libxxf86dga (DSA-2690), libxinerama (DSA-2691), libxxf86vm (DSA-2692), libx11 (DSA-2693), chromium-browser (DSA-2695), gnutls26 (DSA-2697), wireshark (DSA-2700), krb5 (DSA-2701), telepathy-gabble (DSA-2702) and subversion (DSA-2703). +<li>Switched xrdp on thin client servers to use tightvncserver instead of xvnc4. +<li>Now install software oscilloscope xoscope by default. +<li>Now install music tools gtick, lingot and pianobooster by default. -<p>The ACPI type is used for several non-PCI/USB stuff. This is an IR -receiver in a Thinkpad X40:</p> +</ul> -<p><blockquote> -acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511: -</blockquote></p> +<p><strong>Other changes</strong></p> -<p>The values between the colons are IDs.</p> +<ul> -<p><strong>DMI subtype</strong></p> +<li>The subnet-change script is now able to change all files needing a change on the main-server when changing the IP network used. +<li>Updated translation of the installation. +<li>New Romanian translation. +<li>Fix security problem causing root and first user password to no longer show up in /var/cache/debconf/templates.dat. +<li>Fix roaming workstation setup (Closed in libpam-mklocaluser/0.8, libpam-mklocaluser/0.8~deb7u1: #706753: libpam-mklocaluser: Fail to create local user during first login). +<li>Made roaming workstation setup more robust in non-Debian Edu environments. +<li>New script debian-edu-bless to transform a Debian installation to a Debian Edu profile. +<li>Adjust Iceweasel setup to improve performance when $HOME is on NFS. +<li>More testsuite tests. +<li>Make automatic proxy configuration more robust. +<li>Adjust GOsa² GUI configuration. -<p>The DMI table contain lots of information about the computer case -and model. This is an entry for a IBM Thinkpad X40, fetched from -/sys/devices/virtual/dmi/id/modalias:</p> +<li>Update thin client and diskless workstation setup to work with +LTSP in Wheezy.</li> -<p><blockquote> -dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1UETB6WW(1.66):bd06/15/2005:svnIBM:pn2371H4G:pvrThinkPadX40:rvnIBM:rn2371H4G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable: -</blockquote></p> +<li>Diskless workstations now run out of the box -- no need to set +them up with GOsa².</li> -<p>The values present are</p> +<li>Update IMAP server setup. </li> -<pre> - bvn IBM (BIOS vendor) - bvr 1UETB6WW(1.66) (BIOS version) - bd 06/15/2005 (BIOS date) - svn IBM (system vendor) - pn 2371H4G (product name) - pvr ThinkPadX40 (product version) - rvn IBM (board vendor) - rn 2371H4G (board name) - rvr NotAvailable (board version) - cvn IBM (chassis vendor) - ct 10 (chassis type) - cvr NotAvailable (chassis version) -</pre> +<li>Fix login into Skolelinux Backup Tool (Closed in +slbackup-php/0.4.4-1: #700257: slbackup-php: Fails to submit correctly +entered password). </li> -<p>The chassis type 10 is Notebook. Other interesting values can be -found in the dmidecode source:</p> +</ul> -<pre> - 3 Desktop - 4 Low Profile Desktop - 5 Pizza Box - 6 Mini Tower - 7 Tower - 8 Portable - 9 Laptop - 10 Notebook - 11 Hand Held - 12 Docking Station - 13 All In One - 14 Sub Notebook - 15 Space-saving - 16 Lunch Box - 17 Main Server Chassis - 18 Expansion Chassis - 19 Sub Chassis - 20 Bus Expansion Chassis - 21 Peripheral Chassis - 22 RAID Chassis - 23 Rack Mount Chassis - 24 Sealed-case PC - 25 Multi-system - 26 CompactPCI - 27 AdvancedTCA - 28 Blade - 29 Blade Enclosing -</pre> +<p><strong>Known issues</strong></p> -<p>The chassis type values are not always accurately set in the DMI -table. For example my home server is a tower, but the DMI modalias -claim it is a desktop.</p> +<ul> -<p><strong>SerIO subtype</strong></p> +<li>DVD binary and source images are not yet ready.</li> -<p>This type is used for PS/2 mouse plugs. One example is from my -test machine:</p> +<li>No mass import of user account data in GOsa (ldif or csv) +available yet (Open in gosa/2.7.4-4: #698840: gosa-plugin-ldapmanager: +missing import feature).</li> -<p><blockquote> -serio:ty01pr00id00ex00 -</blockquote></p> +<li>Missing artwork for the KDE desktop (and probably a few others). </li> -<p>The values present are</p> +<li>KDE Debian submenu lacks icons (Closed: #502192: menu-xdg: invents +own icon names instead of using existing). This will remain +unfixed.</li> -<pre> - ty 01 (type) - pr 00 (prototype) - id 00 (id) - ex 00 (extra) -</pre> +</ul> -<p>This type is supported by the psmouse driver. I am not sure what -the valid values are.</p> +<p><strong>Where to get it</strong></p> -<p><strong>Other subtypes</strong></p> +<p>To download the multiarch netinstall CD release you can use</p> -<p>There are heaps of other modalias subtypes according to -file2alias.c. There is the rest of the list from that source: amba, -ap, bcma, ccw, css, eisa, hid, i2c, ieee1394, input, ipack, isapnp, -mdio, of, parisc, pcmcia, platform, scsi, sdio, spi, ssb, vio, virtio, -vmbus, x86cpu and zorro. I did not spend time documenting all of -these, as they do not seem relevant for my intended use with mapping -hardware to packages when new stuff is inserted during run time.</p> +<ul> -<p><strong>Looking up kernel modules using modalias values</strong></p> +<li><a href="ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso">ftp://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso</a></li> -<p>To check which kernel modules provide support for a given modalias, -one can use the following shell script:</p> +<li><a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso">http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso</a></li> -<pre> - for id in $(find /sys -name modalias -print0 | xargs -0 cat | sort -u); do \ - echo "$id" ; \ - /sbin/modprobe --show-depends "$id"|sed 's/^/ /' ; \ - done -</pre> +<li>rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/wheezy/debian-edu-7.0+edu0~a2-CD.iso .</li> -<p>The output can look like this (only the first few entries as the -list is very long on my test machine):</p> +</ul> -<pre> - acpi:ACPI0003: - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/acpi/ac.ko - acpi:device: - FATAL: Module acpi:device: not found. - acpi:IBM0068: - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/char/nvram.ko - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/leds/led-class.ko - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/rfkill/rfkill.ko - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/thinkpad_acpi.ko - acpi:IBM0071:PNP0511: - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/lib/crc-ccitt.ko - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/net/irda/irda.ko - insmod /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/irda/nsc-ircc.ko - [...] -</pre> +<p>The MD5SUM of this image is: 27bbcace407743382f3c42c08dbe8178 +<br>The SHA1SUM of this image is: e35f7d7908566cd3075375b3721fa10ee420d419</p> -<p>If you want to help implementing a system to let us propose what -packages to install when new hardware is plugged into a Debian -machine, please send me an email or talk to me on -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-devel">#debian-devel</a>.</p> +<p><strong>How to report bugs</strong></p> -<p><strong>Update 2013-01-15:</strong> Rewrite "cat $(find ...)" to -"find ... -print0 | xargs -0 cat" to make sure it handle directories -in /sys/ with space in them.</p> +<p><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs</a> - Moved the pymissile Debian packaging to collab-maint - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Moved_the_pymissile_Debian_packaging_to_collab_maint.html - Thu, 10 Jan 2013 20:40:00 +0100 - <p>As part of my investigation on how to improve the support in Debian -for hardware dongles, I dug up my old Mark and Spencer USB Rocket -Launcher and updated the Debian package -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/pymissile">pymissile</a> to make -sure udev will fix the device permissions when it is plugged in. I -also added a "Modaliases" header to test it in the Debian archive and -hopefully make the package be proposed by jockey in Ubuntu when a user -plug in his rocket launcher. In the process I moved the source to a -git repository under collab-maint, to make it easier for any DD to -contribute. <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pymissile/">Upstream</a> -is not very active, but the software still work for me even after five -years of relative silence. The new git repository is not listed in -the uploaded package yet, because I want to test the other changes a -bit more before I upload the new version. If you want to check out -the new version with a .desktop file included, visit the -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=collab-maint/pymissile.git">gitweb -view</a> or use "<tt>git clone -git://anonscm.debian.org/collab-maint/pymissile.git</tt>".</p> + Is there a PHP expert in the building? Debian Edu need help! + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_there_a_PHP_expert_in_the_building___Debian_Edu_need_help_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Is_there_a_PHP_expert_in_the_building___Debian_Edu_need_help_.html + Wed, 5 Jun 2013 17:50:00 +0200 + <p>Here is a call for help from the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project. +We have two problems blocking the release of the Wheezy version we +hope to get released soon. The two problems require some with PHP +skills, and we seem to lack anyone with both time and PHP skills in +the project: + +<ol> + +<li>It is impossible to log into the slbackup web interface + (slbackup-php) using the root user and password. This is + <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/700257">BTS report #700257</a>. + This used to work, but stopped working some time since Squeeze. + Perhaps some obsolete PHP feature was used?</li> + +<li>It is not possible to "mass import" user lists in Gosa, neither + using ldif nor using CSV files. The feature was disabled after a + major rewrite of Gosa, and need to be ported to the new system. + This is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/698840">BTS report + #698840</a>.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>If you can help us, please join us on IRC +(<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu on +irc.debian.org</a>) and provide patches via the BTS.</p> - Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html - Wed, 9 Jan 2013 15:40:00 +0100 - <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in -general, is that there is a great package management system with the -ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them -from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically -install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my -machine. Even if the package to use it is easily available from the -Linux distribution. When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could -suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages -I need to talk to it. When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the -yubikey-personalization package. The information required to do this -is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.</p> - -<p>Some years ago, I proposed to -<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use -the discover subsystem to implement this</a>. The idea is fairly -simple: + Debian Edu interview: Cédric Boutillier + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__C_dric_Boutillier.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__C_dric_Boutillier.html + Tue, 4 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0200 + <p>It has been a while since my last English +<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and Skolelinux</a> +interview last November. But the developers and translators are still +pulling along to get the Wheezy based release out the door, and this +time I managed to get an interview from one of the French translators +in the project, Cédric Boutillier.</p> + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>I am 34 year old. I live near Paris, France. I am an assistant +professor in probability theory. I spend my daytime teaching +mathematics at the university and doing fundamental research in +probability in connexion with combinatorics and statistical physics.</p> + +<p>I have been involved in the Debian project for a couple of years +and became Debian Developer a few months ago. I am working on Ruby +packaging, publicity and translation.</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>I came to the Debian Edu project after a call for translation of +<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Manuals">the +Debian Edu manual</a> for the release of Debian Edu Squeeze. Since +then, I have been working on updating the French translation of the +manual. + +<p>I had the opportunity to make an installation of Debian Edu in a +virtual machine when I was preparing localised version of some screen +shots for the manual. I was amazed to see it worked out of the box and +how comprehensive the list of software installed by default was.</p> + +<p>What amazed me was the complete network infrastructure directly +ready to use, which can and the nice administration interface provided +by <a href="https://oss.gonicus.de/labs/gosa/">GOsa²</a>. What pleased +me also was the fact that among the software installed by default, +there were many "traditional" educative software to learn languages, +to count, to program... but also software to develop creativity and +artistic skills with music (<a href="http://ardour.org/">Ardour</a>, +<a href="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/">Audacity</a>) and +movies/animation (I was especially thinking of +<a href="http://linuxstopmotion.sourceforge.net/">Stopmotion</a>).</p> + +<p>I am following the development of Debian Edu and am hanging out on +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-edu">#debian-edu</a>. +Unfortunately, I don't much time to get more involved in this +beautiful project.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>For me, the main advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu are its +community of experts and its precise documentation, as well as the +fact that it provides a solution ready to use.</p> + +<p>I would add also the fact that it is based on the rock solid Debian +distribution, which ensures stability and provides a huge collection +of educational free software.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>Maybe the lack of manpower to do lobbying on the +project. Sometimes, people who need to take decisions concerning IT do +not have all the elements to evaluate properly free software +solutions. The fact that support by a company may be difficult to find +is probably a problem if the school does not have IT personnel.</p> + +<p>One can find support from a company by looking at +<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Help/ProfessionalHelp">the +wiki dokumentation</a>, where some countries already have a number of +companies providing support for Debian Edu, like Germany or +Norway. This list is easy to find readily from the manual. However, +for other countries, like France, the list is empty. I guess that +consultants proposing support for Debian would be able to provide some +support for Debian Edu as well.</p> + +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> + +<p>I am using the KDE Plasma Desktop. But the pieces of software I use +most runs in a terminal: Mutt and OfflineIMAP for emails, latex for +scientific documents, mpd for music. VIM is my editor of choice. I am +also using the mathematical software +<a href="http://www.scilab.org/en/scilab/about‎">Scilab</a> and +<a href="http://www.sagemath.org/index.html‎">Sage</a> (built from +source as not completely packaged for Debian, yet). + +<p><strong>Do you have any suggestions for teachers interested in +using the free software in Debian to teach mathematics and +statistics?</strong></p> + +<p>I do not have any "nice" recommendations for statistics. At our +university, we use both <a href="http://www.r-project.org/‎">R</a> and +Scilab to teach statistics and probabilistic simulations. For +geometry, there are nice programs:</p> <ul> -<li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program - starting when a user log in.</li> - -<li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new - hardware is inserted into the computer.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.drgeo.eu/">drgeo</a> and +<a href="http://edu.kde.org/applications/all/kig‎">kig</a> to do +constructions in planar geometry -<li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a - database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed - packages.</li> - -<li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered - package, and make it easy to install it.</li> +<li><a href="http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/software/download/kali.html">kali</a> +to discover symmetry groups (the so-called wallpapers and frieze +groups), although the interface looks a bit old.</li> </ul> -<p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my -initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the -discover database to find packages and -<a href="http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit</a> to install -packages.</p> - -<p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the -draft package is now checked into -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the -Debian Edu subversion repository</a>. In the process, I updated the -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data</a> -package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to -the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version -2.2013.01.09 to unstable. I also discovered that the current -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover</a> -package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because -/proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present. I ported it to use -libusb as a fall back option to get it working. The fixed package -version 2.1.2-6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable -because of the freeze).</p> - -<p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this -desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is -inserted):</p> - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p> - -<p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically -install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install -program(s)" button should to be implemented.</p> - -<p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it -happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings -from hardware to Debian packages. Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l' -list the package you would like to have installed when a given -hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using -reportbug if it isn't. Or, if you know of a better way to provide -such mapping, please let me know.</p> - -<p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that -should be considered before it is ready for production use. Is dbus -the correct way to detect new hardware? At the moment I look for HAL -dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see -on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop. Are there better events to use? -How should the user be notified? Is the desktop notification -mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a -popup instead? How should packages be installed? When should they -not be installed?</p> - -<p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian, -please send me an email. :)</p> - - - - - New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html - Wed, 2 Jan 2013 15:40:00 +0100 - <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for -<a href="http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm -NXT</a>. My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I -discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were -already in Debian Squeeze. If Debian support for LEGO is something -you care about, please join me on the IRC channel -<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> (server -irc.debian.org). There is a lot that could be done to improve the -Debian support for LEGO designers. For example both CAD software -and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)</p> - -<p>Update 2012-01-03: A -<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page</a> -including links to Lego related packages is now available.</p> - - - - - Lenker for 2013-01-01 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenker_for_2013_01_01.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenker_for_2013_01_01.html - Tue, 1 Jan 2013 09:20:00 +0100 - <p>Her er noen lenker til tekster jeg har satt pris på å lese den -siste måneden.</p> - -<ul> - -<li>2012-12-07 - <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article262047.ece">Myter og - FUD om fri programvare</a> av min venn Christer Gundersen som - kommenterer noen av de påstandene som er spredt via Computerworld - Norge de siste månedene.</li> - -<li>BankID er et opplegg der utsteder (dvs. banken eller dens - leverandør) sitter på alt som trengs for å bruke BankID, men har - lovet å ikke bruke den unntatt på oppdrag fra deg. Det er greit nok - for banktjenester, der banken allerede har full kontroll over - resultatet, men problematisk når det gjelder tilgang til - helseopplysninger og avtaleinngåelse med andre enn banken. Jeg - håper protestene brer om seg. - - <ul> +<p>I like also +<a href="http://edu.kde.org/applications/all/cantor">cantor</a>, which +provides a uniform interface to SciLab, Sage, +<a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Octave‎">Octave</a>, etc...</p> + +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> - <li>2012-12-11 <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/BankID-blottlegger-helseopplysninger-7067148.html">BankID - blottlegger helseopplysninger</a></li> +<p>My suggestions would be to</p> - <li>2012-12-07 <a href="http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.9695027">- - Helseopplysningene ikke sikre med Bank-ID</a></li> - - <li>2012-12-07 - <a href="https://www.bankid.no/Presse-og-nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2012/Papeker-alvorlige-men-kjente-utfordringer/">Påpeker - alvorlige, men kjente utfordringer</a> er den offisielle - holdningen til de som lager BankID.</li> - - <li>2012-12-08 - <a href="http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3419-ntnu-researcher-warns-against-security-of-bank-id-password">NTNU - Researcher Warns against Security of Bank ID Password</a> - - </ul> - -<li>2012-12-11 <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Norske-elever-er-darligst-i-Europa-pa-algebra-7066752.html">Norske elever er dårligst i Europa på algebra</a> +<ul> -<li>2012-12-11 - <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Realfagsdodaren-7067173.html">Realfagsdødaren</a> +<li>advertise the reduction of costs when free software is used.</li> -<li>2012-12-21 - <a href="http://www.bt.no/nyheter/innenriks/112/--Forventningene-er-for-hoye-2816450.html">- - Noen må bli skuffet</a> - Politiet i Bergen forteller hvor lavt de - prioriterer hverdagskriminalitet.</li> +<li>communicate about the quality of free software projects, using + well known examples like Firefox, ThunderBird and + OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice.</li> -<li>2012-05-03 - <a href="http://e24.no/jobb/kripos-ansatt-doemt-for-snoking-for-venn/20208585"> - Kripos-ansatt dømt for snoking for venn</A> - viser hvor svak - reaksjonen blir når politiet misbruker innsamlet informasjon. En - forvarsel på konsekvensene av nasjonal brev- og besøkskontroll - - ofte kalt Datalagringsdirektivet.</li> +<li>advertise the living and strong community around the project.</li> -<li>2012-12-14 - <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/12/14/kultur/debatt/kronikk/jul/ensomhet/24838541/">Å - smøre en forskjell</a> - om ensomhet og jul.</li> +<li>show that it is not more difficult to use than any other + system.</li> -<li>2012-12-18 - <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/n-krise-av-gangen_-takk-7072452.html">Én - krise av gangen, takk!</a> +</ul> + + + + + Åpent møte på onsdag om bruken av Microsoft Exchange ved Universitetet i Oslo + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_pent_m_te_p__onsdag_om_bruken_av_Microsoft_Exchange_ved_Universitetet_i_Oslo.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_pent_m_te_p__onsdag_om_bruken_av_Microsoft_Exchange_ved_Universitetet_i_Oslo.html + Mon, 3 Jun 2013 14:00:00 +0200 + <p>Jeg jobber til daglig ved <a href="http://www.uio.no/">Universitetet +i Oslo</a>, en institusjon som lenge har vektlagt verdien av åpne +standarder og fri programvare. Men noe har endret seg, og for en +liten stund tilbake annonserte USIT at dagens fungerende e-postsystemet +basert på fri programvare skulle byttes ut med Microsoft Exchange og +at Microsoft Outlook skulle bli den best fungerende men antagelig ikke +eneste støttede e-postklienten. Annonseringen har ført til flere +protester og <a href="http://folk.uio.no/dssantos/nooutlookatuio/">en +underskriftskampanje</a>, initiert av Diana Santos, der så langt 253 +personer har signert. Prosjektet +<a href="http://www.usit.uio.no/prosjekter/nike/">NIKE (Ny integrert +kalender/e-post)</a> ble initiert for å se på mulige løsninger med +utgangspunkt i at en kombinert epost/kalenderløsning var påkrevd, og +prosjektet +<a href="http://www.usit.uio.no/prosjekter/nike-implementasjon/">NIKE-implementasjon</a> +er igang med å rulle ut MS Exchange ved Universitetet i Oslo.</p> + +<p>For kun kort tid siden ble det annonsert at det blir et åpent møte +med ledelsen hos universitetet i Oslo med disse planene som tema:</p> + +<p>Tid: <strong>Onsdag 2013-06-05 kl. 10:00</strong> +<br>Sted: <strong>9. etasje i Lucy Smiths hus (admin-bygget)</strong></p> + +<p> Det kan være en god plass å stille opp hvis en som meg ikke tror +valget av Microsoft Exchange som sentral epostinfrastruktur er et +heldig valg for Norges ledende forskningsuniversitet, men at en er mer +tjent med å selv +<a href="http://nuug.no/dokumenter/kronikk-friprog-itsikkerhet.shtml">beholde +kontrollen over egen infrastruktur</a>.</p> + +<p>Saken har ført til endel presseoppslag så langt. Her er de jeg har +fått med meg:</p> +<ul> -<li>2012-12-17 - <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/NAV-Et-mangehodet-monster--7072165.html">NAV: - Et mangehodet monster</a></li> +<li>2013-05-29 + <a href="http://universitas.no/nyhet/58462/forsvarer-nytt-it-system">Forsvarer + nytt IT-system</a> - Universitas</li> -<li>2011-01-12 - <a href="http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/01/12/kultur/debatt/kronikk/personvern/15027203/">Pasienter - uten vern</a> - forteller litt om hvordan Norsk Pasientregister og - andre helseregister raderer bort pasienters privatsfære.</li> +<li>2013-05-23 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/nyheter/2013/05/uio-innforer-nytt-epost-og-kalendersystem.html">UiO + innfører nytt epost- og kalenderverktøy</a> - Uniforum</li> -<li>2012-12-19 - <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Hvorfor-er-barnefamilier-fattige-7073951.html">Hvorfor - er barnefamilier fattige?</a></li> +<li>2013-05-22 + <a href="http://universitas.no/nyhet/58424/protestgruppe-vil-stanse-it-system">Protestgruppe + vil stanse IT-system</a> - Universitas</li> -<li>2012-12-25 - <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/spaltister/Den-skjulte-minoriteten--konservative-kristne-i-Norge-7075518.html">Den - skjulte minoriteten – konservative kristne i Norge</a> - kronikk av - Bjørn Stærk fra aftenposten</li> -<li>2009-05-04 - <a href="http://deltemeninger.no/-/bulletin/show/303429_folkebiblioteket-2-0?ref=checkpoint">Folkebiblioteket - 2.0</a> - Min venn Sturle om opphavsrett og Internett, i debatt med - Olav Torvund.</li> +<li>2013-05-15 + <a href="http://www.uniforum.uio.no/leserbrev/2013/uio-ma-ha-kontroll-over-sitt-eget-epostsystem.html">UiO + må ha kontroll over sitt eget epostsystem</a> - Uniforum</li> </ul> -<p>Og et godt nytt år til dere alle!</p> - - - - - A Christmas present for Skolelinux / Debian Edu - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_Christmas_present_for_Skolelinux___Debian_Edu.html - Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:20:00 +0100 - <p>I was happy to discover a few days ago that the -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> -project also this year received a Christmas present from Another -Agency in Trondheim. NOK 1000,- showed up on our donation account -December 24th. I want to express our thanks for this very welcome -present. As the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is very short on -funding these days, and thus lack the money to do regular developer -gatherings, this donation was most welcome. One developer gathering -cost around NOK 15&nbsp;000,-, so we need quite a lot more to keep the -development pace we want. Thus, I hope their example this year is -followed by many others. :)</p> - -<p>The public list of donors can be found on -<a href="http://www.linuxiskolen.no/slxdebianlabs/donations.html">the -donation page</a> for the project, which also contain instructions if -you want to donate to the project.</p> - - - - - How to backport bitcoin-qt version 0.7.2-2 to Debian Squeeze - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_backport_bitcoin_qt_version_0_7_2_2_to_Debian_Squeeze.html - Tue, 25 Dec 2012 20:50:00 +0100 - <p>Let me start by wishing you all marry Christmas and a happy new -year! I hope next year will prove to be a good year.</p> - -<p><a href="http://www.bitcoin.org/">Bitcoin</a>, the digital -decentralised "currency" that allow people to transfer bitcoins -between each other with minimal overhead, is a very interesting -experiment. And as I wrote a few days ago, the bitcoin situation in -<a href="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> is about to improve a bit. -The <a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/bitcoin">new debian source -package</a> (version 0.7.2-2) was uploaded yesterday, and is waiting -in <a href="http://ftp-master.debian.org/new.html">the NEW queue</A> -for one of the ftpmasters to approve the new bitcoin-qt package -name.</p> - -<p>And thanks to the great work of Jonas and the rest of the bitcoin -team in Debian, you can easily test the package in Debian Squeeze -using the following steps to get a set of working packages:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -git clone git://git.debian.org/git/collab-maint/bitcoin -cd bitcoin -DEB_MAINTAINER_MODE=1 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp fakeroot debian/rules clean -DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=noupnp git-buildpackage --git-ignore-new -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>You might have to install some build dependencies as well. The -list of commands should give you two packages, bitcoind and -bitcoin-qt, ready for use in a Squeeze environment. Note that the -client will download the complete set of bitcoin "blocks", which need -around 5.6 GiB of data on my machine at the moment. Make sure your -~/.bitcoin/ directory have lots of spare room if you want to download -all the blocks. The client will warn if the disk is getting full, so -there is not really a problem if you got too little room, but you will -not be able to get all the features out of the client.</p> - -<p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my -activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> +