X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/f1abfe74b7fbcf52ac8c927b6ac453630235fd11..5daa5033ce63092fa30652ab9498b01d2d6cb984:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index b39ddf3b56..c30236f4f9 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,190 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + Skolelinux / Debian Edu Squeeze is out! + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux___Debian_Edu_Squeeze_is_out_.html + Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:00:00 +0100 + <p>This weekend we finally published the first stable release of +<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux / Debian Edu</a> based +on Debian/Squeeze. The full announcement is +<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/03/msg00001.html">available</a> +from the project announcement list. Now is a good time to test if it +you have not done so already.</p> + +<p>I plan to present the new version at +<a href="http://www.nuug.no/aktiviteter/20120313-skolelinux/">a NUUG +meeting</a> on tuesday. I look forward to seeing you there if you are +in Oslo, Norway.</p> + + + + + Debian Edu interview: Nigel Barker + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Nigel_Barker.html + Fri, 9 Mar 2012 11:30:00 +0100 + <p>Inspired by <a href="http://raphaelhertzog.com/tag/interview/">the +interview series</a> 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.</p> + +<p>While <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and +Skolelinux</a> 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. :) + + +<p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu +project?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian +Edu?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to +get schools to use free software?</strong></p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + + Debian Edu screencast: Mass creation of user accounts in Squeeze + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_screencast__Mass_creation_of_user_accounts_in_Squeeze.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_screencast__Mass_creation_of_user_accounts_in_Squeeze.html + Wed, 7 Mar 2012 13:40:00 +0100 + <!-- Video HTML based on http://www.diveintohtml5.net/video.html --> + +<p>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 <a href="http://vimeo.com/37675399">vimeo</a> and +download as a +<a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg +Theora</a> file. Check it out below.</p> + +<p><video id="gosa-mass-user-create-movie" width="256" height="184" preload controls> + <source src="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv" type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"' /> + <p>Download video as + <a href="http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux/press/screencasts/2012-02-29-debian_edu_mass_create_user_accounts.ogv">Ogg</a>.</p> +</video></p> + + + + + Hamar kommune imponerer i FiksGataMi-rapportert problem i dag + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hamar_kommune_imponerer_i_FiksGataMi_rapportert_problem_i_dag.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hamar_kommune_imponerer_i_FiksGataMi_rapportert_problem_i_dag.html + Mon, 5 Mar 2012 21:20:00 +0100 + <p>Tok nettopp en titt på listen over løste problemer i +<a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/">FiksGataMi</a> (hentet via +<a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/open311">Open311-søkegrensesnittet</a>), +og lot meg imponere over Hamar kommunes raske respons. Sjekk +<a href="http://www.fiksgatami.no/report/10791">rapport #10791</a>, der +Hamar kommune kl. 10:19 i dag får beskjed om at det er dårlig +brøyting, allerede 10:50 melder kommunen tilbake at de er på saken. +18:26 samme dag melder så innsender at problemet er løst. Hatten av +for folkene i Hamar kommune!</p> + +<p>Apropos bra respons. En bruker sendte for noen dager inn følgende +tilbakemelding til oss som står bak tjenesten.</p> + +<p><blockquote>Rapporterte inn slukte gatelys på Torsnesveien, og to +uker etterpå er lysene tilbake. Flott service!</blockquote></p> + +<p>Det er veldig hyggelig å høre at FiksGataMi fungerer bra for +innbyggerne. Måtte alle landets innbyggere få samme gode erfaring med +FiksGataMi og det offentlige. I dag er det 52 kommuner som har lenke +til FiksGataMi fra sine nettsider, og dermed indikerer at de liker vår +tjeneste. Måtte de få følge av resten av landets kommuner snart. :)</p> + + + Third release candidate of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Third_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html @@ -283,224 +467,5 @@ selges til kommuner.</p> - - First release candidate of Debian Edu / Skolelinux based on Squeeze - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_release_candidate_of_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux_based_on_Squeeze.html - Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:10:00 +0100 - <p>One week delayed due to DVD build problems, we managed today to -wrap up and publish the first release candidate for -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> based -on Squeeze. The full announcement is -<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-edu-announce/2012/02/msg00001.html">available</a> -on the project announcement list. Check it out if you need a software -solution for your school.</p> - - - - - Skolelinux-intervju: Olav Dahlum - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux_intervju__Olav_Dahlum.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Skolelinux_intervju__Olav_Dahlum.html - Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:40:00 +0100 - <p>I serien med intervjuer av folk i -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Skolelinux</a>-miljøet, får vi nå -høre fra et nyvalgt medlem i foreningen -<a href="http://www.friprogramvareiskolen.no/">Fri programvare i -Skolen</a>.</p> - -<p><strong>Hvem er du, og hva driver du med til daglig?</strong></p> - -<p>Jeg heter Olav Dahlum, og er frilans oversetter, tester, -prosjektleder og bruker av fri og åpen programvare som -LibreOffice. Jeg er også et av styremedlemmene i FRISK.</p> - -<p><strong>Hvordan kom du i kontakt med Skolelinux-prosjektet?</strong></p> - -<p>Jeg kom i kontakt med prosjektet i 2009, da jeg ble ansatt i -stiftelsen Åpne kontorprogram på norsk for å oversette og teste den -norske utgaven av OpenOffice.org. Arbeidet har hele tiden vært -koordinert sammen med Skolelinux, og mange av de samme menneskene er -involvert, så på den måten ble jeg en del av den utvidede -familien.</p> - -<p><strong>Hva er fordelene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?</strong></p> - -<p>Skolelinux handler i likhet med utdanningssektoren om å dele -kunnskap med andre, og det er dette som er hovedstyrken til -prosjektet. Selv om Skolelinux hovedsaklig er involvert i utvikling -av programvare, er det også et sted der man kan utfolde seg uavhengig -av bakgrunn og ferdigheter.</p> - -<p><strong>Hva er ulempene med Skolelinux slik du ser det?</strong></p> - -<p>Liten utbredelse og manglende støtte fra leverandører som leverer -pedagogisk programvare til skolebruk. Kunne kanskje hatt flere -verktøy som letter administrasjonen ytterligere, slik at også mindre -erfarne databrukere kan utføre lett vedlikehold og rutinejobber.</p> - -<p><strong>Hvilken fri programvare bruker du til daglig?</strong></p> - -<p>Jeg er nesten forpliktet til å si at jeg bruker LibreOffice... Jeg -bruker forøvrig frie og åpne operativsystemer basert på -operativsystemkjernen Linux, for tiden openSUSE 12,1 med KDE4. Men -hvis jeg skal dra fram noen flere eksempler så er nok Mozilla Firefox -og Thunderbird to av de jeg bruker mest. I tillegg er jeg en flittig -bruker av OpenSSH, Irssi, Midnight Commander, Git, Subversion, -Translation Toolkit og Super Maryo Chronicles (litt gøy skal man ha, -og med to håndkontroller liggende er det ikke til å unngå).</p> - -<p><strong>Hvilken strategi tror du er den rette å bruke for å få -skoler til å ta i bruk fri programvare?</strong></p> - -<p>Vi må få leverandører av pedagogisk programvare med på laget, men -også utvikle vår egen tilpasset det norske markedet. Det er også -mulig å involvere utdanningssektoren direkte i arbeidet, for eksempel -gjennom studentprosjekter der elevene selv er med å utforme -programvare direkte eller indirekte gjennom aktive bidrag. Dette gjør -ikke bare samarbeidet tettere, men fokuset på standarder og friheten -til å velge sin egen løsning vil kanskje stimulere interessen for -framtidig deltakelse i bransjen. Vi som driver med fri og åpen -programvare ønsker oss ikke rene konsumenter, men tenkende og -selvstendige individer som kan være med å skape sin egen fremtid.</p> - - - - - How to figure out which RAID disk to replace when it fail - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_figure_out_which_RAID_disk_to_replace_when_it_fail.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_figure_out_which_RAID_disk_to_replace_when_it_fail.html - Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:25:00 +0100 - <p>Once in a while my home server have disk problems. Thanks to Linux -Software RAID, I have not lost data yet (but -<a href="http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.raid/34532">I was -close</a> this summer :). But once a disk is starting to behave -funny, a practical problem present itself. How to get from the Linux -device name (like /dev/sdd) to something that can be used to identify -the disk when the computer is turned off? In my case I have SATA -disks with a unique ID printed on the label. All I need is a way to -figure out how to query the disk to get the ID out.</p> - -<p>After fumbling a bit, I -<a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-getting-scsi-ide-harddisk-information/">found -that hdparm -I</a> will report the disk serial number, which is -printed on the disk label. The following (almost) one-liner can be -used to look up the ID of all the failed disks:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -for d in $(cat /proc/mdstat |grep '(F)'|tr ' ' "\n"|grep '(F)'|cut -d\[ -f1|sort -u); -do - printf "Failed disk $d: " - hdparm -I /dev/$d |grep 'Serial Num' -done -</blockquote></pre> - -<p>Putting it here to make sure I do not have to search for it the -next time, and in case other find it useful.</p> - -<p>At the moment I have two failing disk. :(</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -Failed disk sdd1: Serial Number: WD-WCASJ1860823 -Failed disk sdd2: Serial Number: WD-WCASJ1860823 -Failed disk sde2: Serial Number: WD-WCASJ1840589 -</blockquote></pre> - -<p>The last time I had failing disks, I added the serial number on -labels I printed and stuck on the short sides of each disk, to be able -to figure out which disk to take out of the box without having to -remove each disk to look at the physical vendor label. The vendor -label is at the top of the disk, which is hidden when the disks are -mounted inside my box.</p> - -<p>I really wish the check_linux_raid Nagios plugin for checking Linux -Software RAID in the -<a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/n/nagios-plugins.html">nagios-plugins-standard</a> -debian package would look up this value automatically, as it would -make the plugin a lot more useful when my disks fail. At the moment -it only report a failure when there are no more spares left (it really -should warn as soon as a disk is failing), and it do not tell me which -disk(s) is failing when the RAID is running short on disks.</p> - - - - - Automatic proxy configuration with Debian Edu / Skolelinux - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Automatic_proxy_configuration_with_Debian_Edu___Skolelinux.html - Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:40:00 +0100 - <p>New in the Squeeze version of -<a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a> is the -ability for clients to automatically configure their proxy settings -based on their environment. We want all systems on the client to use -the WPAD based proxy definition fetched from <tt>http://wpad/wpad.dat</tt>, to -allow sites to control the proxy setting from a central place and make -sure clients do not have hard coded proxy settings. The schools can -change the global proxy setting by editing -<tt>tjener:/etc/debian-edu/www/wpad.dat</tt> and the change propagate -to all Debian Edu clients in the network.</p> - -<p>The problem is that some systems do not understand the WPAD system. -In other words, how do one get from a WPAD file like this (this is a -simple one, they can run arbitrary code):</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -function FindProxyForURL(url, host) -{ - if (!isResolvable(host) || - isPlainHostName(host) || - dnsDomainIs(host, ".intern")) - return "DIRECT"; - else - return "PROXY webcache:3128; DIRECT"; -} -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>to a proxy setting in the process environment looking like this:</p> - -<blockquote><pre> -http_proxy=http://webcache:3128/ -ftp_proxy=http://webcache:3128/ -</pre></blockquote> - -<p>To do this conversion I developed a perl script that will execute -the javascript fragment in the WPAD file and return the proxy that -would be used for -<tt><a href="http://www.debian.org/">http://www.debian.org/</a></tt>, -and insert this extracted proxy URL in <tt>/etc/environment</tt> and -<tt>/etc/apt/apt.conf</tt>. The perl script wpad-extract work just -fine in Squeeze, but in Wheezy the library it need to run the -javascript code is <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/631045">no longer -able to build</a> because the C library it depended on is now a C++ -library. I hope someone find a solution to that problem before Wheezy -is frozen. An alternative would be for us to rewrite wpad-extract to -use some other javascript library currently working in Wheezy, but no -known alternative is known at the moment.</p> - -<p>This automatic proxy system allow the roaming workstation (aka -laptop) setup in Debian Edu/Squeeze to use the proxy when the laptop -is connected to the backbone network in a Debian Edu setup, and to -automatically use any proxy present and announced using the WPAD -feature when it is connected to other networks. And if no proxy is -announced, direct connections will be used instead.</p> - -<p>Silently using a proxy announced on the network might be a privacy -or security problem. But those controlling DHCP and DNS on a network -could just as easily set up a transparent proxy, and force all HTTP -and FTP connections to use a proxy anyway, so I consider that -distinction to be academic. If you are afraid of using the wrong -proxy, you should avoid connecting to the network in question in the -first place. In Debian Edu, the proxy setup is updated using dhcp and -ifupdown hooks, to make sure the configuration is updated every time -the network setup changes.</p> - -<p>The WPAD system is documented in a -<a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-wrec-wpad-01">IETF -draft</a> and a -<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Proxy_Autodiscovery_Protocol">Wikipedia -page</a> for those that want to learn more.</p> - - -