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6 <title>Petter Reinholdtsen: entries from January
2013</title>
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15 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen
</a>
22 <h3>Entries from January
2013.
</h3>
26 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_hardware_dongles_easier_to_use_in_Debian.html">Lets make hardware dongles easier to use in Debian
</a>
32 <p>One thing that annoys me with Debian and Linux distributions in
33 general, is that there is a great package management system with the
34 ability to automatically install software packages by downloading them
35 from the distribution mirrors, but no way to get it to automatically
36 install the packages I need to use the hardware I plug into my
37 machine. Even if the package to use it is easily available from the
38 Linux distribution. When I plug in a LEGO Mindstorms NXT, it could
39 suggest to automatically install the python-nxt, nbc and t2n packages
40 I need to talk to it. When I plug in a Yubikey, it could propose the
41 yubikey-personalization package. The information required to do this
42 is available, but no-one have pulled all the pieces together.
</p>
44 <p>Many years ago, I proposed to
45 <a href=
"http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2010/05/msg01206.html">use
46 the discover subsystem to implement this
</a>. The idea is fairly
51 <li>Add a desktop entry in /usr/share/autostart/ pointing to a program
52 starting when a user log in.
</li>
54 <li>Set this program up to listen for kernel events emitted when new
55 hardware is inserted into the computer.
</li>
57 <li>When new hardware is inserted, look up the hardware ID in a
58 database mapping to packages, and take note of any non-installed
61 <li>Show a message to the user proposing to install the discovered
62 package, and make it easy to install it.
</li>
66 <p>I am not sure what the best way to implement this is, but my
67 initial idea was to use dbus events to discover new hardware, the
68 discover database to find packages and
69 <a href=
"http://www.packagekit.org/">PackageKit
</a> to install
72 <p>Yesterday, I found time to try to implement this idea, and the
73 draft package is now checked into
74 <a href=
"http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/debian-edu/trunk/src/hw-support-handler/">the
75 Debian Edu subversion repository
</a>. In the process, I updated the
76 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover-data.html">discover-data
</a>
77 package to map the USB ids of LEGO Mindstorms and Yubikey devices to
78 the relevant packages in Debian, and uploaded a new version
79 2.2013.01.09 to unstable. I also discovered that the current
80 <a href=
"http://packages.qa.debian.org/d/discover.html">discover
</a>
81 package in Debian no longer discovered any USB devices, because
82 /proc/bus/usb/devices is no longer present. I ported it to use
83 libusb as a fall back option to get it working. The fixed package
84 version
2.1.2-
6 is now in experimental (didn't upload it to unstable
85 because of the freeze).
</p>
87 <p>With this prototype in place, I can insert my Yubikey, and get this
88 desktop notification to show up (only once, the first time it is
91 <p align=
"center"><img src=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2013-01-09-hw-autoinstall.png"></p>
93 <p>For this prototype to be really useful, some way to automatically
94 install the proposed packages by pressing the "Please install
95 program(s)" button should to be implemented.
</p>
97 <p>If this idea seem useful to you, and you want to help make it
98 happen, please help me update the discover-data database with mappings
99 from hardware to Debian packages. Check if 'discover-pkginstall -l'
100 list the package you would like to have installed when a given
101 hardware device is inserted into your computer, and report bugs using
102 reportbug if it isn't. Or, if you know of a better way to provide
103 such mapping, please let me know.
</p>
105 <p>This prototype need more work, and there are several questions that
106 should be considered before it is ready for production use. Is dbus
107 the correct way to detect new hardware? At the moment I look for HAL
108 dbus events on the system bus, because that is the events I could see
109 on my Debian Squeeze KDE desktop. Are there better events to use?
110 How should the user be notified? Is the desktop notification
111 mechanism the best option, or should the background daemon raise a
112 popup instead? How should packages be installed? When should they
113 not be installed?
</p>
115 <p>If you want to help getting such feature implemented in Debian,
116 please send me an email. :)
</p>
122 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>.
127 <div class=
"padding"></div>
131 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_IRC_channel_for_LEGO_designers_using_Debian.html">New IRC channel for LEGO designers using Debian
</a>
137 <p>During Christmas, I have worked a bit on the Debian support for
138 <a href=
"http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx">LEGO Mindstorm
139 NXT
</a>. My son and I have played a bit with my NXT set, and I
140 discovered I had to build all the tools myself because none were
141 already in Debian Squeeze. If Debian support for LEGO is something
142 you care about, please join me on the IRC channel
143 <a href=
"irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego
</a> (server
144 irc.debian.org). There is a lot that could be done to improve the
145 Debian support for LEGO designers. For example both CAD software
146 and Mindstorm compilers are missing. :)
</p>
148 <p>Update
2012-
01-
03: A
149 <a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">project page
</a>
150 including links to Lego related packages is now available.
</p>
156 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot
</a>.
161 <div class=
"padding"></div>
165 <a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lenker_for_2013_01_01.html">Lenker for
2013-
01-
01</a>
171 <p>Her er noen lenker til tekster jeg har satt pris på å lese den
177 <a href=
"http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article262047.ece">Myter og
178 FUD om fri programvare
</a> av min venn Christer Gundersen som
179 kommenterer noen av de påstandene som er spredt via Computerworld
180 Norge de siste månedene.
</li>
182 <li>BankID er et opplegg der utsteder (dvs. banken eller dens
183 leverandør) sitter på alt som trengs for å bruke BankID, men har
184 lovet å ikke bruke den unntatt på oppdrag fra deg. Det er greit nok
185 for banktjenester, der banken allerede har full kontroll over
186 resultatet, men problematisk når det gjelder tilgang til
187 helseopplysninger og avtaleinngåelse med andre enn banken. Jeg
188 håper protestene brer om seg.
192 <li>2012-
12-
11 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/BankID-blottlegger-helseopplysninger-7067148.html">BankID
193 blottlegger helseopplysninger
</a></li>
195 <li>2012-
12-
07 <a href=
"http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.9695027">-
196 Helseopplysningene ikke sikre med Bank-ID
</a></li>
199 <a href=
"https://www.bankid.no/Presse-og-nyheter/Nyhetsarkiv/2012/Papeker-alvorlige-men-kjente-utfordringer/">Påpeker
200 alvorlige, men kjente utfordringer
</a> er den offisielle
201 holdningen til de som lager BankID.
</li>
204 <a href=
"http://www.tnp.no/norway/panorama/3419-ntnu-researcher-warns-against-security-of-bank-id-password">NTNU
205 Researcher Warns against Security of Bank ID Password
</a>
209 <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>
212 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Realfagsdodaren-7067173.html">Realfagsdødaren
</a>
215 <a href=
"http://www.bt.no/nyheter/innenriks/112/--Forventningene-er-for-hoye-2816450.html">-
216 Noen må bli skuffet
</a> - Politiet i Bergen forteller hvor lavt de
217 prioriterer hverdagskriminalitet.
</li>
220 <a href=
"http://e24.no/jobb/kripos-ansatt-doemt-for-snoking-for-venn/20208585">
221 Kripos-ansatt dømt for snoking for venn
</A> - viser hvor svak
222 reaksjonen blir når politiet misbruker innsamlet informasjon. En
223 forvarsel på konsekvensene av nasjonal brev- og besøkskontroll -
224 ofte kalt Datalagringsdirektivet.
</li>
227 <a href=
"http://www.dagbladet.no/2012/12/14/kultur/debatt/kronikk/jul/ensomhet/24838541/">Å
228 smøre en forskjell
</a> - om ensomhet og jul.
</li>
231 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/n-krise-av-gangen_-takk-7072452.html">Én
232 krise av gangen, takk!
</a>
236 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/NAV-Et-mangehodet-monster--7072165.html">NAV:
237 Et mangehodet monster
</a></li>
240 <a href=
"http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/01/12/kultur/debatt/kronikk/personvern/15027203/">Pasienter
241 uten vern
</a> - forteller litt om hvordan Norsk Pasientregister og
242 andre helseregister raderer bort pasienters privatsfære.
</li>
246 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/Hvorfor-er-barnefamilier-fattige-7073951.html">Hvorfor
247 er barnefamilier fattige?
</a></li>
250 <a href=
"http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/spaltister/Den-skjulte-minoriteten--konservative-kristne-i-Norge-7075518.html">Den
251 skjulte minoriteten – konservative kristne i Norge
</a> - kronikk av
252 Bjørn Stærk fra aftenposten
</li>
255 <a href=
"http://deltemeninger.no/-/bulletin/show/303429_folkebiblioteket-2-0?ref=checkpoint">Folkebiblioteket
256 2.0</a> - Min venn Sturle om opphavsrett og Internett, i debatt med
261 <p>Og et godt nytt år til dere alle!
</p>
267 Tags:
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bankid">bankid
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett
</a>,
<a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern
</a>.
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</a></li>
499 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (
39)
</a></li>
501 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (
3)
</a></li>
503 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (
5)
</a></li>
505 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (
12)
</a></li>
507 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sysadmin">sysadmin (
1)
</a></li>
509 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (
7)
</a></li>
511 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (
35)
</a></li>
513 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (
4)
</a></li>
515 <li><a href=
"http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (
26)
</a></li>
521 <p style=
"text-align: right">
522 Created by
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