Næringsminister Trond Giske er av -Dagens -Næringsliv i dag sitert på å ha sagt følgende:
- --Henry Ford sa at hvis du spør folk hva de vil ha sÃ¥ svarer de âen -større hestâ -- -
Det syntes jeg var en så merkelig ting for Henry Ford å si at jeg -sjekket litt rundt sitatet. Det Giske ser ut til å feilsitere, er et -sitat kreditert Henry Ford som lyder "If I had asked people what they -wanted, they would have said faster horses". Altså ikke større hest, -men raskere hester.
- -I følge -Patrick -Vlaskovits i en blogg i Stanford Business Review, har Henry Ford -aldri sagt dette, og den tidligste referansen han klarte å finne til -sitatet er en bok fra 2002. Jeg finner -andre kilder som også -hevder at det ikke er påvist at Henry Ford faktisk har uttalt at -kundene ville bedt om raskere hester .
- -Konklusjonen min blir at Trond Giske ikke har fakta på sin side når -det gjelder dette sitatet. Med forbehold om at journalisten i Dagens -Næringsliv skrev det som ble sagt, og ikke det journalisten hørte.
+ +Aftenposten melder i dag at selgerne av +gatemagasinet =Oslo er +irritert +pÃ¥ at det er kommet en konkurrent pÃ¥ banen fra organisasjonen +Folk er Folk, +som støtter ârumenerneâ, de mest uglesette av tiggerne i Norge. Min +første tanke da jeg leste nyheten er at slik mÃ¥ =Oslo-selgerne tÃ¥le +nÃ¥r de nekter "rumenerne" og andre utenlandske tiggere Ã¥ selge +gatemagasinet sitt. Det ble rapportert for noen Ã¥r siden at +utenlandske +tiggere ikke var velkomne som selgere, og Ã¥ opprette en konkurrent +virker da for meg som et rasjonelt alternativ. Og at "rumerene" +utelukkes gjelder visst ikke bare i Oslo. I Adresseavisen fant jeg en +artikkel om at selgerne av +gateavisen +Sorgenfri i Trondheim ogsÃ¥ +utelukker +utenlandske selgere.
+ +Men situasjonen er visst ikke så rett frem som opprinnelige +artikler kunne tyde på. Mens jeg søkte opp gamle artikler og +referanser om temaet, fant jeg et +leserbrev +fra en av stifterne av =Oslo, som protesterte på +påstander +fra likestillingsombudet om diskriminering og forteller at =Oslo +krever at de som selger magasinet skal kunne kommunisere med kundene +for å kunne representere magasinet utad, og at "rumererne" ikke +ekskluderes for å være utlendinger men pga. at de ikke kan snakke +norsk. Det er jo ikke urimelig å kreve at en selger skal kunne +kommunisere med kundene, men som kjøper har jeg ikke snakket så mye +med =Oslo-selgerne at det ville vært et problem for meg om selgeren +ikke kunne snakke norsk. Jeg er dermed i tvil om hvorvidt +argumentasjonen holder når effekten er at de mest uglesette tiggerne i +Norge ekskluderes.
+ +Uansett tror jeg ikke markedet for gatemagasiner i Oslo er mettet. +Personlig kunne jeg godt tenkte meg å kjøpe flere, men gidder ikke +kjøpe den samme utgaven av =Oslo flere ganger. En konkurrent som Folk +er Folk kan dermed ende opp med å gjøre markedet større i stedet for å +spise av markedsandelene til =Oslo.
The same Debian Edu developer that did the last screen cast I -published, Wolfgang Schweer, has created a new screen cast showing how -to set up Kmail in Debian Edu Squeze to authenticate using Kerberos, -allowing users to check their local email account without providing -any password. The video is embedded here in quarter size, -and also available from vimeo -and download as a -Ogg -Theora file. Check it out below.
- - -Den siste uka har det vært en del skriverier om hvor store -forskjeller det er mellom skolene når det gjelder digital kompetanse. -Et eksempel er -oppslaget -i Digi. Diskusjonen fikk meg til å bli litt nysgjerrig på om -Linux-skoler har større PC-tettet enn snittet i landet. Grunnlaget -for diskusjonen har vært undersøkelsen -Monitor -2011, som bruker informasjon fra -Grunnskolens Informasjonssystem -(GSI). GSI-data kan lastes ned fra web og jeg lastet ned en Excel-fil -(intet åpen standard-valg tilgjengelig) med navn på alle skoler, -hvilke kommune de befinner seg i og hvor mange elever pr. elev-PC de -har rapportert inn. For å få en ide om svaret trenger jeg deretter å -vite hvilke skoler i landet som bruker Linux, slik at jeg kan slå dem -opp i GSI og finne ut hvor stor PC-tetthet de har.
- -Jeg vet om skoler i Balsfjord, Flora, Harstad, Kongsvinger, Narvik, -Nittedal, Nord-Odal, Randaberg og Sunndal som bruker Skolelinux eller -andre Linux-varianter. Jeg tror det er flere enn de 56 skolene jeg -har klart å identifisere de siste dagene, men har ikke klart å få det -bekreftet med offentlige kilder.
- -Monitor 2011-rapporteres side 95 forteller at det "ifølge GSI -(20120-2011) er det 3,11 elever per datamaskin når vi tar med alle -grunnskoler (1.-10.trinn)". For de 56 Linux-skolene jeg har klart å -koble mot informasjon i GSI er det 2,28 elever per elevdatamaskin, -hvilket betyr at det er 36% høyere PC-tetthet på Linux-skoler enn -landsgjennomsnittet. Linux-skolen med høyest tettet blant de jeg har -notert -skole er Flora ungdomsskule i Flora kommune med 0.82 elev -pr. PC (482 elever, 588 elevdatamaskiner).
- -Skolelinux gir datamaskiner lengre levetid, og en kan dermed få -flere operative datamaskiner for samme budsjett, i tillegg til en -rekke andre fordeler. Kan det være forklaringen på forskjellen?
- -Tallene må tas med en liten klype, da GSI ser ut til å ha endel -feilføringer. Jeg synes i hvert fall en skole med 423 elever og 9 -elevmaskiner ser mistenkelig ut. Eller en skole med 346 elever, 0 -elevmaskiner, som er et annet ekstremt eksempel jeg fant.
- -Takk til Sturle Sunde, Klaus Ade Johnstad, Ole-Anders Andreassen og -Trond Mæhlum for innspill om skoler med Linux.
+ +Doffin er det offentlige Norges +portal for annonsering av anbudsutlysninger. Nettstedet er mye brukt, +men rådataene er ikke enkelt tilgjengelig for almenheten. For å bøte +på det har jeg som et NUUG-prosjekt +laget en Scraperwiki-skraper som +lager en +SQL-database +med nøkkelinformasjonen fra Doffin, slik at det er mulig å søke og +analysere Doffin-oppføringene. Det publiseres mellom 900-1500 anbud +hver måned via Doffin. Jeg har ingen konkrete planer for analyse, men +håper enklere tilgjengelighet gjør at flere griper sjansen. På sikt +håper jeg å bruke denne databasen som grunnlag for å lage en database +over anbudsdokumenter, som i dag ikke er tilgjengelig fra doffin, men +må bestilles fra hver enkelt utlyser.
+ +Jeg var litt usikker på om det var rettighetsproblemer knyttet til +skraping av informasjon fra Doffin, men ser i +vilkårene til +Doffin følgende:
+ ++ ++ +Opphavsrett mv
+ +Ved innleggig av kunngjøringer på Doffin aksepterer Oppdragsgiver +at opphavsrett og andre rettigheter til materialet overføres til +Fornyings- og administrasjonsdepartementet, eller den departementet +utnevner. Oppdragsgiver har imidlertid bruksrett til materialet, og +kan benytte det til de formål de måtte ønske.
+ +
Hvis informasjonen er vernet av opphavsrettsloven (hvilket jeg +tviler på, gitt lovens begrensninger om informasjon fra det +offentlige), så er det FAD som har de immaterielle rettighetene. FAD +er en del av staten, som opererer på vegne av folket, og enhver borger +skulle dermed ha rett til å videreformidle informasjonen. Ingen av +offentlighetslovens unntak kommer til anvendelse, i og med at +informasjonen allerede er publisert.
Debian Edu / Skolelinux -users are spread all across the globe. The second inteview after -the -Squeeze release was publised is with John Ingleby, a teacher and -long time Linux user in United Kingdom.
- -Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
- -I teach ICT part time at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings -Langley, near London, UK. Previously I worked as a technical -author/trainer while my children attended the school, and I also -contributed to the Schoolforge UK community with the aim of -encouraging UK schools to adopt free/open source software. Five or six -years ago we had about 50 schools interested in some way, but we -weren't able to convert many of them into sustainable -installations.
- -How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu -project?
- -Skolelinux had two representatives at an early Edubuntu meeting in -London which I attended. However at that time our school network had -just been installed using CentOS, LTSP 4 and GNOME. When LTSP 5 came -along we switched to Edubuntu thin client servers so now we have a -mixed environment which includes Windows PCs and student laptops, as -well as their MacBooks and iPads. However, the proprietary systems -have always been rather problematic, and we never built a GUI for the -LDAP server, so when I discovered Skolelinux is configured for all -these things we decided to try it.
- -What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?
- -By far the biggest advantage is the Debian Edu community. Apart -from that I have always believed in the same "sustainable computing" -goals that Skolelinux is built on: installing Linux on computers which -would otherwise be thrown away, to provide a reliable, secure and -low-cost IT environment for schools. From my own experience I know -that a part-time person can teach and manage a network of about 25 -Linux computers, but it would take much more of my time if we had -proprietary software everywhere.
- -What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu?
+ +During my work on +Debian Edu +based on Squeeze, I came across some issues that should be +addressed in the Wheezy release. I finally found time to wrap up my +notes and provide quick summary of what I found, with a bit +explanation.
+ +-
+
+
- We need to rewrite our package installation framework, as tasksel +changed from using tasksel tasks to using meta packages (aka packages +with dependencies like our education-* packages), and our installation +system depend on tasksel tasks in +/usr/share/tasksel/debian-edu-tasks.desc for package +installation. + +
- Enable Kerberos login for more services. Now with the Kerberos
+foundation in place, we should use it to get single sign on with more
+services, and avoiding unneeded password / login questions. We should
+at least try to enable it for these services:
+
-
-
- CUPS for admins to add/configure printers and users when using + quotas. +
- Nagios for admins checking the system status. +
- GOsa for admins updating LDAP and users changing their passwords. +
- LDAP for admins updating LDAP. +
- Squid for users when exam mode / filtering is active. +
- ssh for admins and users to save a password prompt. -
As a newcomer I'm just finding out who's who in the community and -how you're organised, and what your procedures are for dealing with -various things such as editing manual pages and so-on. The only -English language mailing list seems to be for developers as well as -users, so my inbox needs heavy pruning each day!
+Which free software do you use daily?
+
- - When we move GOsa to use Kerberos instead of LDAP bind to +authenticate users, we should try to block or at least limit access to +use LDAP bind for authentication, to ensure Kerberos is used when it +is intended, and nothing fall back to using the less safe LDAP bind + +
- Merge debian-edu-config and debian-edu-install. The split made +sense when d-e-install did a lot more, but these days it is just an +inconvenience when we update the debconf preseeding values. + +
- Fix partman-auto to allow us to abort the installation before +touching the disk if the disk is too small. This is +BTS report #653305 and the +d-i developers are fine with the patch and someone just need to apply +it and upload. After this is done we need to adjust +debian-edu-install to use this new hook. + +
- Adjust to new LTSP framework (boot time config instead of install +time config). LTSP changed its design, and our hooks to install +packages and update the configuration is most likely not going to work +in Wheezy. + +
- Consider switching to NBD instead of NFS for LTSP root, to allow +the Kernel to cache files in its normal file cache, possibly speeding +up KDE login on slow networks. + +
- Make it possible to create expired user passwords that need to +change on first login. This is useful when handing out password on +paper, to make sure only the user know the password. This require +fixes to the PAM handling of kdm and gdm. + +
- Make GUI for adding new machines automatically from sitesummary. +The current command line script is not very friendly to people most +familiar with GUIs. This should probably be integrated into GOsa to +have it available where the admin will be looking for it.. + +
- We should find way for Nagios to check that the DHCP service +actually is working (as in handling out IP addresses). None of the +Nagios checks I have found so far have been working for me. + +
- We should switch from libpam-nss-ldapd to sssd for all profiles +using LDAP, and not only on for roaming workstations, to have less +packages to configure and consistent setup across all profiles. + +
- We should configure Kerberos to update LDAP and Samba password +when changing password using the Kerberos protocol. The hook was +requested in BTS report +#588968 and is now available in Wheezy. We might need to write a +MIT Kerberos plugin in C to get this. + +
- We should clean up the set of applications installed by default.
+
-
-
- reduce the number of chemistry visualisers +
- consider dropping xpaint +
- and probably more? +
Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?
+
- - Some hardware need external firmware to work properly. This is +mostly the case for WiFi network cards, but there are some other +examples too. For popular laptops to work out of the box, such +firmware need to be installed from non-free, and we should provide +some GUI to do this. Ubuntu already have this implemented, and we +could consider using their packages. At the moment we have some +command line script to do this (one for the running system, another +for the LTSP chroot). + + +
- In Squeeze, we provide KDE, Gnome and LXDE as desktop options. We +should extend the list to Xfce and Sugar, and preferably find a way to +install several and allow the admin or the user to select which one to +use. + +
- The golearn tool from the goplay package make it easy to check out +interesting educational packages. We should work on the package +tagging in Debian to ensure it represent all the useful educational +packages, and extend the tool to allow it to use packagekit to install +new applications with a simple mouse click. + +
- The Squeeze version got half a exam solution already in place, +with the introduction of iptable based network blocking, but for it to +be a complete exam solution the Squid proxy need to enable +filtering/blocking as well when the exam mode is enabled. We should +implement a way to easily enable this for the schools that want it, +instead of the "it is documented" method of today. + +
- A feature used in several schools is the ability for a teacher to +"take over" the desktop of individual or all computers in the room. +There are at least three implementations, +italc, +controlaula og +epoptes and we should pick one of +them and make it trivial to set it up in a school. The challenges is +how to distribute crypto keys and how to group computers in one room +and how to set up which machine/user can control the machines in a +given room. + +
- Tablets and surf boards are getting more and more popular, and we +should look into providing a good solution for integrating these into +the Debian Edu network. Not quite sure how. Perhaps we should +provide a installation profile with better touch screen support for +them, or add some sync services to allow them to exchange +configuration and data with the central server. This should be +investigated. + +
Besides the software already mentioned at school we use Samba, -OpenLDAP, CUPS, Nagios and Dansguardian for the network, and on the -desktops we have LibreOffice, Firefox, GIMP and Inkscape. At home I -use Ubuntu and an Android 4 eePad Transformer (but I'm not sure if -that counts...)
+That's a tough question! For very many years UK schools installed -and taught only proprietary software, so that at the highest levels -the notion of "computer" means simply "proprietary office -applications". However, schools today are experiencing budget -constraints, and many are having to think hard about upgrading Windows -XP. At the same time, we have students showing teachers how to use -iPads, MacBooks and Android, so the choice of operating system is no -longer quite so automatic. What is more, our government at last -realised that we need people with programming skills, so they're -putting coding back in the curriculum! And it's encouraging that the -first 10,000 Raspberry Pi units sold out in 2 hours.
- -I don't really know what strategy is going to get UK schools to use -free software, but building an active community of Skolelinux/Debian -Edu users in this country has to be part of it.
+I guess we will discover more as we continue to work on the Wheezy +version.
Documentation in Debian Edu is provided in several languages, and -it is important to make it both easy to contribute and to keep the -translated versions in sync. To do this we have come up with what we -believe is a very efficient work flow.
- --
-
-
- The documentation is written in a -moinmoin wiki (see for example -the -Squeeze release manual) with support for exporting the content as -docbook XML. - -
- This docbook document is given to po4a to extract a gettext style -.pot file with the content, which in turn is used to create .po files -with the translated text. - -
- The .po files are given to translators, and they can always tell -which part of the original wiki document is new or changed. They can -use their normal translation tools like lokalize or poedit to write -the translation. There is even a system in place to handle translated -images. - -
- The translated .po files are combined with the original docbook -XML document using po4a to create a translated docbook document. - -
- The final step is to use all the generated docbook files and -create PDF and HTML version of the original and translated documents. - -
This setup work very well, but have a few issues. The biggest -issue is that the docbook support -we use in moinmoin is not actively maintained. The docbook -support is also buggy, and our build system contain workarounds to -make sure the generated docbook is usable despite these bugs.
- -If you want to have a look at our setup, it is all there in the -debian-edu-doc -package.
+ +De siste månedene har jeg sammen med andre i NUUG jobbet med å +gjøre det enklere å få innsyn i offentlige dokumenter, og dette +inkluderer å gjøre postjournaler enklere tilgjengelig for maskinell +analyse og søk. I den forbindelse tok jeg i dag å tittet litt på +Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal +(OEP), FAD/DIFIs fellesløsning for departementer og statlige +etater.
+ +Her er antall oppføringer pr. måned det siste året, +summert +opp ved hjelp av +en +Scraperwiki-database. Merk at denne Scraperwikien har +ytelsesproblemer pga. mengden data.
+ +MÃ¥ned | Antall |
---|---|
2011-07 | 164355 |
2011-08 | 153662 |
2011-09 | 173134 |
2011-10 | 170665 |
2011-11 | 198409 |
2011-12 | 175908 |
2012-01 | 206875 |
2012-02 | 202862 |
2012-03 | 204225 |
2012-04 | 207931 |
2012-05 | 223754 |
Det er også interessant å se hvor ofte ulike etater sender inn sine +journaloppføringer til OEP. OEP inneholder en liste med sist +innrapporteringsdato for alle som sender til OEP, og ved å se når og +hvor ofte det blir sendt inn fra etatene kan +frekvensen +beregnes. Her er bunnlista, dvs. de som leverer sjeldnere enn hver 10. +dag beregnet fra +en +Scraperwiki-database:
+ +Etat | Frekvens | Leveringer |
---|---|---|
Norges geologiske undersøkelse | 83.7527546296 | 1 |
Medietilsynet | 33.7527546296 | 1 |
Departementenes servicesenter | 23.8763773148 | 2 |
Kunnskapsdepartementet | 15.8763773148 | 2 |
Kompetansesenter for distriktsutvikling | 15.3763773148 | 2 |
Toll- og avgiftsdirektoratet | 15.3763773148 | 2 |
Fredskorpset | 12.5842515432 | 3 |
Statens legemiddelverk | 12.1881886574 | 4 |
Utlendingsnemnda | 11.5842515432 | 3 |
Politidirektoratet | 10.9175848765 | 3 |
Skattedirektoratet | 10.9175848765 | 3 |
Statens innkrevingssentral | 10.5842515432 | 3 |
Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratet | 10.2509182099 | 3 |
Kunst i offentlige rom | 10.2509182099 | 3 |
En kan beregne lignende frekvenser ved å sammenligne +journalføringsdato med publiseringsdato for hver enkelt oppføring i +OEP, men den lenken legger jeg ikke ved her for å unngå at +søkemotorroboter begynner å overbelaste Scraperwiki-databasen.
+ +Jeg har spurt Norges geologiske undersøkelse om hvorfor de leverer +så sjelden, og det kommer av at de har problemer etter oppgradering av +arkivsystemet sitt og jobber med å fikse det slik at de kan gå tilbake +til å levere hver uke. Har ikke undersøkt noen av de andre.
I dag presenterte jeg ny versjon av Skolelinux for NUUGs medlemmer. -Lysark -er tilgjengelige allerede og -video-opptak -kommer så snart videogruppa til NUUG får publisert den. Jeg kom på -endel punkter om nye ting i Squeeze-utgaven under veis som jeg burde -hatt med, og har sikkert skrevet noe tull på lysarkene som jeg ennå -ikke har oppdaget. Denne presentasjonen ble smurt ihop på veldig kort -tid, og jeg rakk ikke finpusse den. Håper den kan være lærerik -likevel.
+ +Slashdot got a story about Intel planning a +TV +with face recognition to recognise the viewer, and it occurred to +me that it would be more interesting to turn it around, and do face +recognition on the TV image itself. It could let the viewer know who +is present on the screen, and perhaps look up their credibility, +company affiliation, previous appearances etc for the viewer to better +evaluate what is being said and done. That would be a feature I would +be willing to pay for.
+ +I would not be willing to pay for a TV that point a camera on my +household, like the big brother feature apparently proposed by Intel. +It is the telescreen idea fetched straight out of the book +1984 by George +Orwell.
Første ut i serien med intervjuer av folk i -Skolelinux-miljøet etter at -ny -versjon av Skolelinux ble lansert i helga, er nylig valgte -styremedlem i foreningen -Fri programvare i -Skolen (FRiSK) som organiserer -Skolelinux-utviklingen og daglig leder i -Skolelinux Drift AS, selskapet -prosjektet opprettet som et tilbud til skoler som ønsket en -kommersiell samarbeidsparter. Det bør nevnes at jeg er styremedlem i -Skolelinux Drift AS og styreleder i selskapets hovedeier stiftelsen -SLX Debian Labs -som beskytter verdiene til Skolelinux-prosjektet, og kjenner Kåre den -veien.
- -Hvem er du, og hva driver du med til daglig?
- -Jeg har siden januar 2010 vært daglig leder i Skolelinux Drift AS, -som leverer support, installasjon, tilpasning, drift, og opplæring på -Debian Edu / Skolelinux. Fra 2012 er jeg valgt inn som styremedlem i -FRiSK. Min forrige jobb var som KAM i Redpill Linpro (som er en av -eierne i Skolelinux Drift). Før det var jeg daglig leder i et eget 7 -manns konsulent selskap som også startet med fri programvare mot -slutten.
- -Hvordan kom du i kontakt med Skolelinux-prosjektet?
- -Jeg hørte om det først når jeg jobbet i Redpill Linpro. Men jeg -har også en datter som går på en friskole, som også bruker Skolelinux. -Som kjent har ikke friskoler de samme økonomiske rammebetingelsene som -offentlige skoler, så for dem var det det absolutt beste alternativet. -De anser også Skolelinux som et stabilt system, som bare går og går (i -motsetning til det lille Windows-baserte nettverket de har på -admin-siden).
- -Hva er fordelene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?
- -Sentralisert drift av tynne og diskløse arbeidsstasjoner. Således -lydløse og raskere arbeidsstasjoner som er bedre i klasserommet. -Lengre levetid på PC'er. Store besparelser på maskinvare og drift. Og -så klart fjerning av alle lisenskostnader. Personlig synes jeg også at -mange av programmene er bedre enn alternativene. Men dette er ofte en -smakssak og avhengig om man må ha det man er vant til fra før.
- -Hva er ulempene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?
- -For lite kjentskap til løsningen. Noen ganger for dårlig -kompatibilitet med arbeidsstasjoners/bærbare maskiner sine -nettverksdrivere eller skjermkort. Men dette løser vi i skolene ved -standardisering. Ellers er det få, om nesten ingen, av de kjente -maskinvare / infrastruktur leverandørene til fylkes- / kommuner som -tilbyr denne plattformen. Skal dette endre seg så må kommunene selv -sette slike krav til leverandørene.
- -Hvilken fri programvare bruker du til daglig?
- -Har brukt OpenOffice.org siden starten (2001 ?), Kun Linux på -desktop siden 2005. Bruker i dag Kubuntu, Libreoffice og ymse annet -programvare til ulik kontorbruk som er lett å installere / teste via -alle programarkivene som finnes.
- -Hvilken strategi tror du er den rette å bruke for å få -skoler til å ta i bruk fri programvare?
- -Fortsette å presentere flere av de gode eksemplene hvor Debian Edu -/ Skolelinux brukes i kommuner og enkeltskoler. Vi må få bedre frem -at det er mulig tilknytte både Windows og Mac klienter på denne -plattformen (selv om det vil øke driftskostnadene). Dette gjøres -mange steder. Spesielt er det mange lærere som ønsker å bruke -Windows/Mac-bærbare, gjerne som sin private PC også. Det er også mulig -for kommunen å integrere med Active Directory i stedet for OpenLDAP -som kommer med ut av boksen (selv om også dette øker kostnadene). -Dette vil muligens bidra til å fjerne noe motstand hos noen -potensielle brukere / driftpersonell for å ta i bruk noe -nytt. Fremveksten av mobile brukere og nettbrett går i vår favør. -Brukerne blir kjent og vant til flere nye operativsystemer / -brukergrensesnitt. Så utviklerfellesskapet bør jobbe videre med å -integrere flere nye klienttyper, som ultra lav-kostklienter og -nettbrett (blant annet fri programvare-alternativet -Spark med -Mer OS og -KDE Active Plasma).
+ +A few days ago +I +reported how to get the support status out of Dell using an +unofficial and undocumented SOAP API, which I since have found out was +discovered +by Daniel De Marco in february. Combined with my web scraping +code for HP, Dell and IBM +from +2009, I got inspired and wrote +a +web service based on Scraperwiki to make it easy to look up the +support status and get a machine readable result back.
+ +This is what it look like at the moment when asking for the JSON +output: + +
+ ++% GET https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/computer-hardware-support-status/?format=json&vendor=Dell&servicetag=2v1xwn1 +supportstatus({"servicetag": "2v1xwn1", "warrantyend": "2013-11-24", "shipped": "2010-11-24", "scrapestamputc": "2012-06-06T20:26:56.965847", "scrapedurl": "http://143.166.84.118/services/assetservice.asmx?WSDL", "vendor": "Dell", "productid": ""}) +% +
It currently support Dell and HP, and I am hoping for help to add +support for other vendors. The python source is available on +Scraperwiki and I welcome help with adding more features.
This weekend we finally published the first stable release of -Skolelinux / Debian Edu based -on Debian/Squeeze. The full announcement is -available -from the project announcement list. Now is a good time to test if it -you have not done so already.
- -I plan to present the new version at -a NUUG -meeting on tuesday. I look forward to seeing you there if you are -in Oslo, Norway.
+ +Jeg oppdaget nylig en +artikkel +i Adresseavisa i Trondheim som nevner FiksGataMi, og der Trondheim +kommune ser ut til å fortelle at de ikke følger forvaltningslovens +krav ved mottak av meldinger sendt inn via FiksGataMi. La derfor +nettopp inn denne kommentaren til artikkelen:
+ +
+ ++ +Her er en liten faktaoppdatering om FiksGataMi-tjenesten, da noen +ser ut til å ha misforstått hvordan den fungerer.
+ +FiksGataMi er et privat initiativ opprettet og drevet av +medlemsforeningen NUUG. FiksGataMi tar imot meldinger om feil i +offentlig infrastruktur, og sender meldingen skriftlig videre på vegne +av innmelder til aktuell aktør i det offentlige, det være seg kommune, +fylke eller vegvesenregion. Offentlig etat blir valgt ut fra +geografisk plassering og kategori valgt av innsender. Offentlige +etater er i følge forvaltningsloven pliktig å følge opp og besvare +skriftlige henvendelser, og hvis noen av mottakerne ikke gjør dette +kan en klage på lovbrudd i det offentlige. FiksGataMi fungerer dermed +som en slags epostklient for innbyggerne der kopi av innsendte +meldinger gjøres tilgjengelig og knyttes til kartplassering for enkel +gjenfinning. à sende inn nye problemrapporter via FiksGataMi er +dermed ikke avhengig av at kommunen aktivt må følge med på meldinger +hos FiksGataMi, da de får dem tilsendt på sine offisielle +epostmottakspunkter. Hvorvidt noe blir fikset og om innbyggerne er +opp til mottaker av meldingene. For Trondheim kommune er +mottaksadressen bydrift.vegdrift@trondheim.kommune.no, en adresse jeg +inntil jeg leste denne artikkelen trodde ble håndtert i henhold til +forvaltningslovens krav.
+ +Kan ellers fortelle at 57 kommuner lenker til FiksGataMi fra sine +nettsider, og at 37 % (4182 av 11266 ) av problemrapportene sendt inn +via FiksGataMi er markert som løst i løsningen. Trondheim kommune har +fått tilbud om å få rapportene levert på datamaskinlesbart format i +stedet for epost, men har ikke takket ja så langt.
+ +Vennlig hilsen Petter Reinholdtsen, en av NUUG-folkene bak FiksGataMi.no
+ +
Det høres for meg ut som om innbyggerne i Trondheim burde klage på +kommunens potensielle lovbrudd.
Inspired by the -interview series conducted by Raphael, I started a Norwegian -interview series with people involved in the Debian Edu / Skolelinux -community. This was so popular that I believe it is time to move to a -more international audience.
- -While Debian Edu and -Skolelinux originated in France and Norway, and have most users in -Europe, there are users all around the globe. One of those far away -from me is Nigel Barker, a long time Debian Edu system administrator -and contributor. It is thanks to him that Debian Edu is adjusted to -work out of the box in Japan. I got him to answer a few questions, -and am happy to share the response with you. :) - +
+Back in 2010, Mike Gabriel showed up on the +Debian Edu and Skolelinux +mailing list. He quickly proved to be a valuable developer, and +thanks to his tireless effort we now have Kerberos integrated into the +Debian Edu +Squeeze version.
Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
-My name is Nigel Barker, and I am British. I am married to Yumiko, -and we have three lovely children, aged 15, 14 and 4(!) I am the IT -Coordinator at Hiroshima International School, Japan. I am also a -teacher, and in fact I spend most of my day teaching Mathematics, -Science, IT, and Chemistry. I was originally a Chemistry teacher, but -I have always had an interest in computers. Another teacher teaches -primary school IT, but apart from that I am the only computer person, -so that means I am the network manager, technician and webmaster, -also, and I help people with their computer problems. I teach python -to beginners in an after-school club. I am way too busy, so I really -appreciate the simplicity of Skolelinux.
+My name is Mike Gabriel, I am 38 years old and live near Kiel, +Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. I live together with a wonderful partner +(Angela FuÃ) and two own children and two bonus children (contributed +by Angela).
+ +During the day I am part-time employed as a system administrator +and part-time working as an IT consultant. The consultancy work +touches free software topics wherever and whenever possible. During +the nights I am a free software developer. In the gaps I also train in +becoming an osteopath.
+ +Starting in 2010 we (Andreas Buchholz, Angela FuÃ, Mike Gabriel) +have set up a free software project in the area of Kiel that aims at +introducing free software into schools. The project's name is +"IT-Zukunft Schule" (IT future for schools). The project links IT +skills with communication skills.
How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu project?
-In around 2004 or 5 I discovered the ltsp project, and set up a -server in the IT lab. I wanted some way to connect it to our central -samba server, which I was also quite poor at configuring. I discovered -Edubuntu when it came out, but it didn't really improve my setup. I -did various desperate searches for things like "school Linux server" -and ended up in a document called "Drift" something or other. Reading -there it became clear that Skolelinux was going to solve all my -problems in one go. I was very excited, but apprehensive, because my -previous attempts to install Debian had ended in failure (I used -Mandrake for everything - ltsp, samba, apache, mail, ns...). I -downloaded a beta version, had some problems, so subscribed to the -Debian Edu list for help. I have remained subscribed ever since, and -my school has run a Skolelinux network since Sarge.
+While preparing our own customised Linux distribution for +"IT-Zukunft Schule" we were repeatedly asked if we really wanted to +reinvent the wheel. What schools really need is already available, +people said. From this impulse we started evaluating other Linux +distributions that target being used for school networks.
+ +At the end we short-listed two approaches and compared them: a +commercial Linux distribution developed by a company in Bremen, +Germany, and Skolelinux / Debian Edu. Between 12/2010 and 03/2011 we +went to several events and met people being responsible for marketing +and development of either of the distributions. Skolelinux / Debian +Edu was by far much more convincing compared to the other product that +got short-listed beforehand--across the full spectrum. What was most +attractive for me personally: the perspective of collaboration within +the developmental branch of the Debian Edu project itself.
+ +In parallel with this, we talked to many local and not-so-local +people. People teaching at schools, headmasters, politicians, data +protection experts, other IT professionals.
+ +We came to two conclusions:
+ +First, a technical conclusion: What schools need is available in +bits and pieces here and there, and none of the solutions really fit +by 100%. Any school we have seen has a very individual IT setup +whereas most of each school's requirements could mapped by a standard +IT solution. The requirement to this IT solution is flexibility and +customisability, so that individual adaptations here and there are +possible. In terms of re-distributing and rolling out such a +standardised IT system for schools (a system that is still to some +degree customisable) there is still a lot of work to do here +locally. Debian Edu / Skolelinux has been our choice as the starting +point.
+ +Second, a holistic conclusion: What schools need does not exist at +all (or we missed it so far). There are several technical solutions +for handling IT at schools that tend to make a good impression. What +has been missing completely here in Germany, though, is the enrolment +of people into using IT and teaching with IT. "IT-Zukunft Schule" +tries to provide an approach for this.
+ +Only some schools have some sort of a media concept which explains, +defines and gives guidance on how to use IT in class. Most schools in +Northern Germany do not have an IT service provider, the school's IT +equipment is managed by one or (if the school is lucky) two (admin) +teachers, most of the workload these admin teachers get done in there +spare time.
+ +We were surprised that only a very few admin teachers were +networked with colleagues from other schools. Basically, every school +here around has its individual approach of providing IT equipment to +teachers and students and the exchange of ideas has been quasi +non-existent until 2010/2011.
+ +Quite some (non-admin) teachers try to avoid using IT technology in +class as a learning medium completely. Several reasons for this +avoidance do exist.
+ +We discovered that no-one has ever taken a closer look at this +social part of IT management in schools, so far. On our quest journey +for a technical IT solution for schools, we discussed this issue with +several teachers, headmasters, politicians, other IT professionals and +they all confirmed: a holistic approach of considering IT management +at schools, an approach that includes the people in place, will be new +and probably a gain for all.
What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?
-For me the integrated setup. This is not just the server, or the -workstation, or the ltsp. Its all of them, and its all configured -ready to go. I read somewhere in the early documentation that it is -designed to be setup and managed by the Maths or Science teacher, who -doesn't necessarily know much about computers, in a small Norwegian -school. That describes me perfectly if you replace Norway with -Japan.
+There is a list of advantages: international context, openness to +any kind of contributions, do-ocracy policy, the closeness to Debian, +the different installation scenarios possible (from stand-alone +workstation to complex multi-server sites), the transparency within +project communication, honest communication within the group of +developers, etc.
What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian Edu?
-The desktop is fairly plain. If you compare it with Edubuntu, who -have fun themes for children, or with distributions such as Mint, who -make the desktop beautiful. They create a good impression on people -who don't need to understand how to use any of it, but who might be -important to the school. School administrators or directors, for -instance, or parents. Even kids. Debian itself usually has ugly -default theme settings. It was my dream a few years back that some -kind of integration would allow Edubuntu to do the desktop stuff and -Debian Edu the servers, but now I realise how impossible that is. A -second disadvantage is that if something goes wrong, or you need to -customise something, then suddenly the level of expertise required -multiplies. For example, backup wasn't working properly in Lenny. It -took me ages to learn how to set up my own server to do rsync backups. -I am afraid of anything to do with ldap, but perhaps Gosa will -help.
+Every coin has two sides:
+ +Technically: BTS issue +#311188, tricky upgradability of a Debian Edu main server, network +client installations on top of a plain vanilla Debian installation +should become possible sometime in the near future, one could think +about splitting the very complex package debian-edu-config into +several portions (to make it easier for new developers to +contribute).
+ +Another issue I see is that we (as Debian Edu developers) should +find out more about the network of people who do the marketing for +Debian Edu / Skolelinux. There is a very active group in Germany +promoting Skolelinux on the bigger Linux Days within Germany. Are +there other groups like that in other countries? How can we bring +these marketing people together (marketing group A with group B and +all of them with the group of Debian Edu developers)? During the last +meeting of the German Skolelinux group, I got the impression of people +there being rather disconnected from the development department of +Debian Edu / Skolelinux.
Which free software do you use daily?
-Nowadays I only use Debian on my personal computers. I have one for -studio work (I play guitar and write songs), running AV Linux -(customised Debian) a netbook running Squeeze, and a bigger laptop -still running Skolelinux Lenny workstation. I have a Tjener in my -house, that's very useful for the family photos and music. At school -the students only use Skolelinux. (Some teachers and the office still -have windows). So that means we only use free software all day every -day. Open office, The GIMP, Firefox/Iceweasel, VLC and Audacity are -installed on every computer in school, irrespective of OS. We also -have Koha on Debian for the library, and Apache, Moodle, b2evolution -and Etomite on Debian for the www. The firewall is Untangle.
+For my daily business, I do not use commercial software at all.
+ +For normal stuff I use Iceweasel/Firefox, Libreoffice.org. For +serious text writing I prefer LaTeX. I use gimp, inkscape, scribus for +more artistic tasks. I run virtual machines in KVM and Virtualbox.
+ +I am one of the upstream developers of X2Go. In 2010 I started the +development of a Python based X2Go Client, called PyHoca-GUI. +PyHoca-GUI has brought forth a Python X2Go Client API that currently +is being integrated in Ubuntu's software center.
+ +For communications I have my own Kolab server running using Horde +as web-based groupware client. For IRC I love to use irssi, for Jabber +I have several clients that I use, mostly pidgin, though. I am also +the Debian maintainer of Coccinella, a Jabber-based interactive +whiteboard.
+ +My favourite terminal emulator is KDE's Yakuake.
Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to get schools to use free software?
-Current trends are in our favour. Open source is big in industry, -and ordinary people have heard of it. The spread of Android and the -popularity of Apple have helped to weaken the impression that you have -to have Microsoft on everything. People complain to me much less about -file formats and Word than they did 5 years ago. The Edu aspect is -also a selling point. This is all customised for schools. Where is the -Windows-edu, or the Mac-edu? But of course the main attraction is -budget.The trick is to convince people that the quality is not -compromised when you stop paying and use free software instead. That -is one reason why I say the desktop experience is a weakness. People -are not impressed when their USB drive doesn't work, or their browser -doesn't play flash, for example.
+Communicate, communicate, communicate. Enrol people, enrol people, +enrol people.
One of the Debian Edu developers, Wolfgang Schweer, just created a -screen cast documenting how to create a lot of new users in LDAP on -Debian Edu Squeeze. The video is embedded here in quarter size, and -also available from vimeo and -download as a -Ogg -Theora file. Check it out below.
- - + +A few years ago I wrote +how +to extract support status for your Dell and HP servers. Recently +I have learned from colleges here at the +University of Oslo that Dell have +made this even easier, by providing a SOAP based web service. Given +the service tag, one can now query the Dell servers and get machine +readable information about the support status. This perl code +demonstrate how to do it:
+ ++use strict; +use warnings; +use SOAP::Lite; +use Data::Dumper; +my $GUID = '11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111'; +my $App = 'test'; +my $servicetag = $ARGV[0] or die "Please supply a servicetag. $!\n"; +my ($deal, $latest, @dates); +my $s = SOAP::Lite + -> uri('http://support.dell.com/WebServices/') + -> on_action( sub { join '', @_ } ) + -> proxy('http://xserv.dell.com/services/assetservice.asmx') + ; +my $a = $s->GetAssetInformation( + SOAP::Data->name('guid')->value($GUID)->type(''), + SOAP::Data->name('applicationName')->value($App)->type(''), + SOAP::Data->name('serviceTags')->value($servicetag)->type(''), +); +print Dumper($a -> result) ; ++ +
The output can look like this:
+ ++$VAR1 = { + 'Asset' => { + 'Entitlements' => { + 'EntitlementData' => [ + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + }, + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2009-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + }, + { + 'EntitlementType' => 'Expired', + 'EndDate' => '2007-07-29T00:00:00', + 'Provider' => '', + 'StartDate' => '2006-07-29T00:00:00', + 'DaysLeft' => '0' + } + ] + }, + 'AssetHeaderData' => { + 'SystemModel' => 'GX620', + 'ServiceTag' => '8DSGD2J', + 'SystemShipDate' => '2006-07-29T19:00:00-05:00', + 'Buid' => '2323', + 'Region' => 'Europe', + 'SystemID' => 'PLX_GX620', + 'SystemType' => 'OptiPlex' + } + } + }; ++ +
I have not been able to find any documentation from Dell about this +service outside the +inline +documentation, and according to +one +comment it can have stability issues, but it is a lot better than +scraping HTML pages. :)
+ +Wonder if HP and other server vendors have a similar service. If +you know of one, drop me an email. :)
På onsdag rakk jeg såvidt innom +Oslo Open Data Forums +møte, og fikk lagt hendene mine på DIFIs helt nye veileder +"à pne data. Del og skap +verdier. Veileder i tilgjengeliggjøring av offentlig data" (også +tilgjengelig +som PDF fra DIFI).
+ +Veilederen er veldig bra, og nevner viktige problemstillinger og +skisserer f.eks. både verdiskapningspotensialet og formatmulighetene +som en bør ha i bakhodet når en publiserer offentlig informasjon på +maskinlesbart format. Kildekoden til veilederen er +tilgjengelig via +github, og en kan rapportere tilbakemeldinger og forslag til +forbedringer der (eller via epost og twitter for de som ønsker +det).
+ +Det eneste jeg virkelig savnet i veilederen var omtale av +w3cs +stjerneklassifisering av åpne datakilder, som jeg tror ville være +nyttige mentale knagger for de som vurderer å publisere sin +informasjon på som åpne data. Jeg har +rapportert +en github-bug om dette, så får vi se hvordan den blir behandlet.
+ +Det slo meg at det var veldig lite konkret i veilederen om valg av +bruksvilkår ved publisering (aka lisens), men jeg er ikke sikker på om +det hører hjemme der, da det er et vanskelig tema som kanskje heller +hører hjemme i sin egen veileder. Uansett, anbefaler alle å ta en +titt på veilederen og sikre at alle offentlige etater en har kontakt +med får en kopi.
+