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  13  <h1>
  14      <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/">Petter Reinholdtsen</a>
  15
  16  </h1>
  17
  18 </div>
  19
  20
  21
  22     <div class="entry">
  23       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Cutting_it_short___and_picking_the_right_tool_for_the_job.html">Cutting it short - and picking the right tool for the job</a></div>
  24       <div class="date">30th April 2012</div>
  25       <div class="body"><!-- IMG_5869.JPG -->
  26 <img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/panasonic-er-1611.jpeg">
  27
  28 <p>I normally cut my hair short, and my tool of choice has been a
  29 common hair/beard cutter, bought in a electrical shop here in Norway.
  30 But the last ones have not really been up to the task.  My last
  31 cutter, some model from Braun, could only cut a few of my hairs at the
  32 time, and cutting my head took forever.  And the one before that did
  33 not work very well either.  We have looked for something better for a
  34 while, but it was not until I ended up visiting a hair dresser that we
  35 discovered that there are indeed better tools available.  But these
  36 are not marketed and sold to "regular consumers".  The hair saloons
  37 can get them through their suppliers, but their suppliers only sell
  38 companies.  The models they sell, are very different from the ones
  39 available from Elkjøp and Lefdal.  The main difference is their
  40 efficiency.  It would cut my hair in 5 minutes, instead of the 30-40
  41 minutes required by my impotent Braun.  The hair dresser I visited had
  42 a Panasonic ER160, which unfortunately is no longer available from the
  43 producer.  But I found it had a successor, the Panasonic ER1611.</p>
  44
  45 <p>The next step was to find somewhere to buy it.  This was not
  46 straight forward.  The list of suppliers I got from the hair dresser
  47 did not want to sell anything to me.  But searching for the model on
  48 the web we found a supplier in Norway willing to sell it to us for
  49 around NOK 4000,-.  This was a bit much.  We kept searching and
  50 finally found a Danish supplier
  51 <a href="http://nicehair.dk/panasonic-er-1611-professionel-hartrimmer.html">selling
  52 it for around NOK 1800,-</a>.  We ordered one, and it arrived a few
  53 days ago.</p>
  54
  55 <p>The instructions said it had to charge for 8 hours when we started
  56 to use it, so we left it charging over night.  Normally it will only
  57 need one hour to charge.  The following evening we successfully tested
  58 it, and I can warmly recommend it to anyone looking for a real hair
  59 cutter.  The ones we have used until now have been hair cutter
  60 toys.</p>
  61 </div>
  62       <div class="tags">
  63
  64
  65         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
  66
  67
  68       </div>
  69     </div>
  70     <div class="padding"></div>
  71
  72     <div class="entry">
  73       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUGs_leverer_h_ringsuttalelse_om_v3_1_av_statens_referansekatalog.html">NUUGs leverer høringsuttalelse om v3.1 av statens referansekatalog</a></div>
  74       <div class="date">27th April 2012</div>
  75       <div class="body"><p>NUUG-styremedlem Hans-Petter Fjeld
  76 <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/110394259537201279374/posts/AGzRmAuFdW1">meldte
  77 nettopp</a> at han har sendt inn <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">NUUG</a>s
  78 høringsuttalelse angående Difi sin standardkatalog v3.1.  Jeg er veldig
  79 glad for at så mange bidro og sikret at vår stemme blir hørt i denne
  80 høringen.  Anbefaler alle å lese våre
  81 <a href="http://wiki.nuug.no/uttalelser/201204-standardkatalog-v3.1">to
  82 sider med innspill</a>.</p>
  83 </div>
  84       <div class="tags">
  85
  86
  87         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>.
  88
  89
  90       </div>
  91     </div>
  92     <div class="padding"></div>
  93
  94     <div class="entry">
  95       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/HTC_One_X___Your_video___What_do_you_mean_.html">HTC One X - Your video?  What do you mean?</a></div>
  96       <div class="date">26th April 2012</div>
  97       <div class="body"><p>In <a href="http://www.idg.no/computerworld/article243690.ece">an
  98 article today</a> published by Computerworld Norway, the photographer
  99 <a href="http://www.urke.com/eirik/">Eirik Helland Urke</a> reports
 100 that the video editor application included with
 101 <a href="http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one-x/#specs">HTC One
 102 X</a> have some quite surprising terms of use.  The article is mostly
 103 based on the twitter message from mister Urke, stating:
 104
 105 <p><blockquote>
 106 "<a href="http://twitter.com/urke/status/194062269724897280">Drøy
 107 brukeravtale: HTC kan bruke MINE redigerte videoer kommersielt. Selv
 108 kan jeg KUN bruke dem privat.</a>"
 109 </blockquote></p>
 110
 111 <p>I quickly translated it to this English message:</p>
 112
 113 <p><blockquote>
 114 "Arrogant user agreement: HTC can use MY edited videos
 115 commercially.  Although I can ONLY use them privately."
 116 </blockquote></p>
 117
 118 <p>I've been unable to find the text of the license term myself, but
 119 suspect it is a variation of the MPEG-LA terms I
 120 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Terms_of_use_for_video_produced_by_a_Canon_IXUS_130_digital_camera.html">discovered
 121 with my Canon IXUS 130</a>.  The HTC One X specification specifies that
 122 the recording format of the phone is .amr for audio and .mp3 for
 123 video.  AMR is
 124 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Multi-Rate_audio_codec#Licensing_and_patent_issues">Adaptive
 125 Multi-Rate audio codec</a> with patents which according to the
 126 Wikipedia article require an license agreement with
 127 <a href="http://www.voiceage.com/">VoiceAge</a>.  MP4 is
 128 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing">MPEG4 with
 129 H.264</a>, which according to Wikipedia require a licence agreement
 130 with <a href="http://www.mpegla.com/">MPEG-LA</a>.</p>
 131
 132 <p>I know why I prefer
 133 <a href="http://www.digistan.org/open-standard:definition">free and open
 134 standards</a> also for video.</p>
 135 </div>
 136       <div class="tags">
 137
 138
 139         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web</a>.
 140
 141
 142       </div>
 143     </div>
 144     <div class="padding"></div>
 145
 146     <div class="entry">
 147       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Holder_de_ord_og_NUUG_lanserer_testtjeneste_med_stortingsinformasjon.html">Holder de ord og NUUG lanserer testtjeneste med stortingsinformasjon</a></div>
 148       <div class="date">22nd April 2012</div>
 149       <div class="body"><p>I
 150 <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hva_har_mine_representanter_stemt_i_Storinget_.html">januar
 151 i fjor</a> startet vi i NUUG arbeid med å gjøre informasjon om hvem
 152 som har stemt hva på <a href="http://www.stortinget.no/">Stortinget</a>
 153 enklere tilgjengelig.  I løpet av få måneder fant vi sammen med
 154 organisasjonen <a href="http://www.holderdeord.no/">Holder de ord</a>
 155 som arbeidet mot et lignende mål.</p>
 156
 157 <p>Siden den gang har vi fått tak i maskinelt lesbart informasjon om
 158 hvem som stemte hva mellom 1990 og våren 2010, og tilgang til
 159 stortingets nye datatjeneste som har informasjon fra høsten 2011 til i
 160 dag.  Det gjenstår litt arbeid med det første datasettet, men
 161 datasettet fra høsten 2011 er klart til bruk.  Begge datasettene er
 162 tilgjengelig <a href="https://gitorious.org/nuug/folketingparser">via
 163 git</a>.</p>
 164
 165 <p>På
 166 <a href="http://www.goopen.no/holder-de-ord-datadrevet-oppfolging-av-politiske-lofter/">Go Open</a> i morgen lanserer
 167 NUUG sammen med Holder de ord <a href="http://beta.holderdeord.no/">en
 168 test-tjeneste</a> som viser hva som er og blir behandlet på Stortinget og
 169 hvem som har stemt hva siden oktober i fjor.  Du får herved mulighet
 170 til å ta en sniktitt.</p>
 171 </div>
 172       <div class="tags">
 173
 174
 175         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget</a>.
 176
 177
 178       </div>
 179     </div>
 180     <div class="padding"></div>
 181
 182     <div class="entry">
 183       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/RAND_terms___non_reasonable_and_discriminatory.html">RAND terms - non-reasonable and discriminatory</a></div>
 184       <div class="date">19th April 2012</div>
 185       <div class="body"><p>Here in Norway, the
 186 <a href="http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fad.html?id=339"> Ministry of
 187 Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs</a> is behind
 188 a <a href="http://standard.difi.no/forvaltningsstandarder">directory of
 189 standards</a> that are recommended or mandatory for use by the
 190 government.  When the directory was created, the people behind it made
 191 an effort to ensure that everyone would be able to implement the
 192 standards and compete on equal terms to supply software and solutions
 193 to the government.  Free software and non-free software could compete
 194 on the same level.</p>
 195
 196 <p>But recently, some standards with RAND
 197 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing">Reasonable
 198 And Non-Discriminatory</a>) terms have made their way into the
 199 directory.  And while this might not sound too bad, the fact is that
 200 standard specifications with RAND terms often block free software from
 201 implementing them.  The reasonable part of RAND mean that the cost per
 202 user/unit is low,and the non-discriminatory part mean that everyone
 203 willing to pay will get a license.  Both sound great in theory.  In
 204 practice, to get such license one need to be able to count users, and
 205 be able to pay a small amount of money per unit or user.  By
 206 definition, users of free software do not need to register their use.
 207 So counting users or units is not possible for free software projects.
 208 And given that people will use the software without handing any money
 209 to the author, it is not really economically possible for a free
 210 software author to pay a small amount of money to license the rights
 211 to implement a standard when the income available is zero.  The result
 212 in these situations is that free software are locked out from
 213 implementing standards with RAND terms.</p>
 214
 215 <p>Because of this, when I see someone claiming the terms of a
 216 standard is reasonable and non-discriminatory, all I can think of is
 217 how this really is non-reasonable and discriminatory.  Because free
 218 software developers are working in a global market, it does not really
 219 help to know that software patents are not supposed to be enforceable
 220 in Norway.  The patent regimes in other countries affect us even here.
 221 I really hope the people behind the standard directory will pay more
 222 attention to these issues in the future.</p>
 223
 224 <p>You can find more on the issues with RAND, FRAND and RAND-Z terms
 225 from Simon Phipps
 226 (<a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/11/rand-not-so-reasonable/">RAND:
 227 Not So Reasonable?</a>).</p>
 228
 229 <p>Update 2012-04-21: Just came across a
 230 <a href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2012/04/of-microsoft-netscape-patents-and-open-standards/index.htm">blog
 231 post from Glyn Moody</a> over at Computer World UK warning about the
 232 same issue, and urging people to speak out to the UK government.  I
 233 can only urge Norwegian users to do the same for
 234 <a href="http://www.standard.difi.no/hoyring/hoyring-om-nye-anbefalte-it-standarder">the
 235 hearing taking place at the moment</a> (respond before 2012-04-27).
 236 It proposes to require video conferencing standards including
 237 specifications with RAND terms.</p>
 238 </div>
 239       <div class="tags">
 240
 241
 242         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video</a>.
 243
 244
 245       </div>
 246     </div>
 247     <div class="padding"></div>
 248
 249     <div class="entry">
 250       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Forskning___GPL_gir_lokal_frihet_og_kontroll_gjennom_omfordeling_av_makt_fra_produsent_til_bruker_.html">Forskning: "GPL gir lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling av makt fra produsent til bruker"</a></div>
 251       <div class="date">15th April 2012</div>
 252       <div class="body"><p>Da jeg googlet etter noe annet kom jeg tilfeldigvis over
 253 <a href="http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/work.html?WORKID=58309">en
 254 hovedfagsoppgave</a> ved Universitetet i Oslo som diskuterer verdien
 255 av GPLs fire friheter for brukerne av IT-systemer.  Jeg ble fascinert
 256 over det som presenteres der.  Her er sammendraget:</p>
 257
 258 <p><blockquote>
 259
 260 <p>Motivasjonen til å skrive denne oppgaven er en personlig undring
 261 over hvorfor det primært, og ofte eksklusivt, fokuseres på det
 262 økonomiske aspektet ved utredninger om fri programvare er et godt valg
 263 for det offentlige. Fri og produsenteid programvare bygger på
 264 fundamentalt forskjellige ideologier som kan ha implikasjoner utover
 265 økonomiske kostnader. Kunnskapskulturen som er med på å definere fri
 266 programvare er basert på åpenhet, og er en verdi i seg selv.</p>
 267
 268 <p>Oppgavens tema er programvarelisensen GPL og frihet. GPL-lisensiert
 269 programvare gir visse friheter i forhold til produsenteid
 270 programvare. Mitt spørsmål er om, og eventuelt i hvilken utstrekning,
 271 disse frihetene blir benyttet av ulike brukere og hvordan de
 272 manifesterer seg for disse brukerne. Sentrale spørsmål i oppgaven
 273 er:</p>
 274
 275 <ul>
 276 <li>Hvordan fordeles handlekraft gjennom lisensieringen av programvaren?</li>
 277 <li>Hvilke konsekvenser har programvarelisensen for de ulike brukere? </li>
 278 </ul>
 279
 280 <p>Fri programvare gir blant annet brukeren mulighet til å studere og
 281 modifisere kildekoden. Denne formen for frihet erverves gjennom
 282 kunnskap og krever at brukeren også er en ekspert. Hva skjer med
 283 frihetene til GPL når sluttbrukeren er en annen? Dette diskuteres i
 284 dialog med informantene.</p>
 285
 286 <p>Jeg har i denne oppgaven samlet inn intervjudata fra IKT-ansvarlige
 287 ved grunnskolene i Nittedal kommune, driftsansvarlig og IKT-veilederen
 288 for skolene i kommunen, samt IKT-koordinator for utdanning i Akershus
 289 fylkeskommune og bokmåloversettere av OpenOffice.org. Den empiriske
 290 delen av oppgaven er delt inn i to seksjoner; den første omhandler
 291 operativsystemet Skolelinux, den andre kontorprogrampakken
 292 OpenOffice.org.</p>
 293
 294 <p>Som vi vil se gir GPL lokal frihet og kontroll gjennom omfordeling
 295 av makt fra produsent til bruker. Brukerens makt analyseres gjennom
 296 begrepene brukermedvirkning og handlingsfrihet. Det blir også lagt
 297 vekt på strukturelle forhold rundt bruken av teknologi, og spesielt de
 298 økonomiske begrepene nettverkseksternaliteter, innlåsing og
 299 stiavhengighet. Dette er begreper av spesiell nytte når objektet som
 300 omsettes eller distribueres er et kommunikasjonsprodukt, fordi verdien
 301 til et slikt gode for en potensiell bruker avhenger av antall
 302 eksisterende brukere av godet. I tilknytning til denne problematikken
 303 inneholder oppgaven også en diskusjon rundt åpne standarder og
 304 formater.</p>
 305
 306 <p>Oppgaven konkluderer med at de «fire frihetene» som GPL-lisensen er
 307 laget for å beskytte er av avgjørende betydning for bruken av
 308 OpenOffice.org og Skolelinux, i Akershus fylkeskommune såvel som i
 309 skolene i Nittedal. Distribusjonen av handlekraft er ikke helt
 310 symmetrisk. Det er først og fremst de profesjonelle utviklerne i
 311 Skolelinux som direkte kan nyttiggjøre seg friheten til å endre kode,
 312 mens en sluttbruker som Nittedal kommune nyttiggjør seg den økonomiske
 313 friheten til å kunne distribuere programmene. Det er imidlertid også
 314 slik at ingen aktør klarer seg uten alle disse «frihetene».</p>
 315 </blockquote></p>
 316
 317 <p>Jeg fant også en masteroppgave fra 2006, men der ligger ikke
 318 komplett oppgave tilgjengelig.  På tide å holde et øye med
 319 <a href="http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/search.html?q=skolelinux">Skolelinux-søket</a>
 320 til DUO...</p>
 321
 322 </div>
 323       <div class="tags">
 324
 325
 326         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>.
 327
 328
 329       </div>
 330     </div>
 331     <div class="padding"></div>
 332
 333     <div class="entry">
 334       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Andreas_Mundt.html">Debian Edu interview: Andreas Mundt</a></div>
 335       <div class="date">15th April 2012</div>
 336       <div class="body"><p>Behind <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu and
 337 Skolelinux</a> there are a lot of people doing the hard work of
 338 setting together all the pieces.  This time I present to you Andreas
 339 Mundt, who have been part of the technical development team several
 340 years.  He was also a key contributor in getting GOsa and Kerberos set
 341 up in the recently released
 342 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
 343 Edu Squeeze</a> version.</p>
 344
 345 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 346
 347 <p>My name is Andreas Mundt, I grew up in south Germany.  After
 348 studying Physics I spent several years at university doing research in
 349 Quantum Optics.  After that I worked some years in an optics company.
 350 Finally I decided to turn over a new leaf in my life and started
 351 teaching 10 to 19 years old kids at school.  I teach math, physics,
 352 information technology and science/technology.</p>
 353
 354 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 355 project?</strong></p>
 356
 357 <p>Already before I switched to teaching, I followed the Debian Edu
 358 project because of my interest in education and Debian.  Within the
 359 qualification/training period for the teaching, I started
 360 contributing.</p>
 361
 362 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 363 Edu?</strong></p>
 364
 365 <p>The advantages of Debian Edu are the well known name, the
 366 out-of-the-box philosophy and of course the great free software of the
 367 Debian Project!</p>
 368
 369 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 370 Edu?</strong></p>
 371
 372 <p>As every coin has two sides, the out-of-the-box philosophy has its
 373 downside, too.  In my opinion, it is hard to modify and tweak the
 374 setup, if you need or want that.  Further more, it is not easily
 375 possible to upgrade the system to a new release.  It takes much too
 376 long after a Debian release to prepare the -Edu release, perhaps
 377 because the number of developers working on the core of the code is
 378 rather small and often busy elsewhere.</p>
 379
 380 <p>The <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLAN">Debian LAN</a>
 381 project might fill the use case of a more flexible system.</p>
 382
 383 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 384
 385 <p>I am only using non-free software if I am forced to and run Debian
 386 on all my machines.  For documents I prefer LaTeX and PGF/TikZ, then
 387 mutt and iceweasel for email respectively web browsing.  At school I
 388 have Arduino and Fritzing in use for a micro controller project.</p>
 389
 390 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 391 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 392
 393 <p>One of the major problems is the vendor lock-in from top to bottom:
 394 Especially in combination with ignorant government employees and
 395 politicians, this works out great for the "market-leader".  The school
 396 administration here in Baden-Wuerttemberg is occupied by that vendor.
 397 Documents have to be prepared in non-free, proprietary formats.  Even
 398 free browsers do not work for the school administration.  Publishers
 399 of school books provide software only for proprietary platforms.</p>
 400
 401 <p>To change this, political work is very important.  Parts of the
 402 political spectrum have become aware of the problem in the last years.
 403 However it takes quite some time and courageous politicians to 'free'
 404 the system.  There is currently some discussion about "Open Data" and
 405 "Free/Open Standards".  I am not sure if all the involved parties have
 406 a clue about the potential of these ideas, and probably only a
 407 fraction takes them seriously.  However it might slowly make free
 408 software and the philosophy behind it more known and popular.</p>
 409 </div>
 410       <div class="tags">
 411
 412
 413         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
 414
 415
 416       </div>
 417     </div>
 418     <div class="padding"></div>
 419
 420     <div class="entry">
 421       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Jeg_skal_p__konferansen_Go_Open_2012.html">Jeg skal på konferansen Go Open 2012</a></div>
 422       <div class="date">13th April 2012</div>
 423       <div class="body"><p>Jeg har tenkt meg på konferansen <a href="http://www.goopen.no/">Go
 424 Open 2012</a> i Oslo 23. april.
 425 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Medlemsforeningen NUUG</a> deler ut
 426 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/prisen/">prisen for fremme av fri
 427 programvare i Norge</a> der i år.  Kommer du?</p>
 428 </div>
 429       <div class="tags">
 430
 431
 432         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug</a>.
 433
 434
 435       </div>
 436     </div>
 437     <div class="padding"></div>
 438
 439     <div class="entry">
 440       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_Edu_interview__Justin_B__Rye.html">Debian Edu interview: Justin B. Rye</a></div>
 441       <div class="date"> 8th April 2012</div>
 442       <div class="body"><p>It take all kind of contributions to create a Linux distribution
 443 like <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>,
 444 and this time I lend the ear to Justin B. Rye, who is listed as a big
 445 contributor to the
 446 <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Squeeze">Debian
 447 Edu Squeeze release manual</a>.
 448
 449 <p><strong>Who are you, and how do you spend your days?</strong></p>
 450
 451 <p>I'm a 44-year-old linguistics graduate living in Edinburgh who has
 452 occasionally been employed as a sysadmin.</p>
 453
 454 <p><strong>How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux/Debian Edu
 455 project?</strong></p>
 456
 457 <p>I'm neither a developer nor a Skolelinux/Debian Edu user!  The only
 458 reason my name's in the credits for the documentation is that I hang
 459 around on debian-l10n-english waiting for people to mention things
 460 they'd like a native English speaker to proofread...  So I did a sweep
 461 through the wiki for typos and Norglish and inconsistent spellings of
 462 "localisation".</p>
 463
 464 <p><strong>What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 465 Edu?</strong></p>
 466
 467 <p><strong>What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux/Debian
 468 Edu?</strong></p>
 469
 470 <p>These questions are too hard for me - I don't use it!  In fact I
 471 had hardly any contact with I.T. until long after I'd got out of the
 472 education system.</p>
 473
 474 <p>I can tell you the advantages of Debian for me though: it soaks up
 475 as much of my free time as I want and no more, and lets me do
 476 everything I want a computer for without ever forcing me to spend
 477 money on the latest hardware.</p>
 478
 479 <p><strong>Which free software do you use daily?</strong></p>
 480
 481 <p>I've been using Debian since Rex; popularity-contest says the
 482 software that I use most is xinit, xterm, and xulrunner (in other
 483 words, I use a distinctly retro sort of desktop).</p>
 484
 485 <p><strong>Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to
 486 get schools to use free software?</strong></p>
 487
 488 <p>Well, I don't know.  I suppose I'd be inclined to try reasoning
 489 with the people who make the decisions, but obviously if that worked
 490 you would hardly need a strategy.</p>
 491 </div>
 492       <div class="tags">
 493
 494
 495         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju</a>.
 496
 497
 498       </div>
 499     </div>
 500     <div class="padding"></div>
 501
 502     <div class="entry">
 503       <div class="title"><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Why_the_KDE_menu_is_slow_when__usr__is_NFS_mounted___and_a_workaround.html">Why the KDE menu is slow when /usr/ is NFS mounted - and a workaround</a></div>
 504       <div class="date"> 6th April 2012</div>
 505       <div class="body"><p>Recently I have spent time with
 506 <a href="http://www.slxdrift.no/">Skolelinux Drift AS</a> on speeding
 507 up a <a href="http://www.skolelinux.org/">Debian Edu / Skolelinux</a>
 508 Lenny installation using LTSP diskless workstations, and in the
 509 process I discovered something very surprising.  The reason the KDE
 510 menu was responding slow when using it for the first time, was mostly
 511 due to the way KDE find application icons.  I discovered that showing
 512 the Multimedia menu would cause more than 20 000 IP packages to be
 513 passed between the LTSP client and the NFS server.  Most of these were
 514
 515 NFS LOOKUP calls, resulting in a NFS3ERR_NOENT response.  Because the
 516 ping times between the client and the server were in the range 2-20
 517 ms, the menus would be very slow.  Looking at the strace of kicker in
 518 Lenny (or plasma-desktop i Squeeze - same problem there), I see that
 519 the source of these NFS calls are access(2) system calls for
 520 non-existing files.  KDE can do hundreds of access(2) calls to find
 521 one icon file.  In my example, just finding the mplayer icon required
 522 around 230 access(2) calls.</p>
 523
 524 <p>The KDE code seem to search for icons using a list of icon
 525 directories, and the list of possible directories is large.  In
 526 (almost) each directory, it look for files ending in .png, .svgz, .svg
 527 and .xpm.  The result is a very slow KDE menu when /usr/ is NFS
 528 mounted.  Showing a single sub menu may result in thousands of NFS
 529 requests.  I am not the first one to discover this.  I found a
 530 <a href="https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=211416">KDE bug report
 531 from 2009</a> about this problem, and it is still unsolved.</p>
 532
 533 <p>My solution to speed up the KDE menu was to create a package
 534 kde-icon-cache that upon installation will look at all .desktop files
 535 used to generate the KDE menu, find their icons, search the icon paths
 536 for the file that KDE will end up finding at run time, and copying the
 537 icon file to /var/lib/kde-icon-cache/.  Finally, I add symlinks to
 538 these icon files in one of the first directories where KDE will look
 539 for them.  This cut down the number of file accesses required to find
 540 one icon from several hundred to less than 5, and make the KDE menu
 541 almost instantaneous.  I'm not quite sure where to make the package
 542 publicly available, so for now it is only available on request.</p>
 543
 544 <p>The bug report mention that this do not only affect the KDE menu
 545 and icon handling, but also the login process.  Not quite sure how to
 546 speed up that part without replacing NFS with for example NBD, and
 547 that is not really an option at the moment.</p>
 548
 549 <p>If you got feedback on this issue, please let us know on debian-edu
 550 (at) lists.debian.org.</p>
 551 </div>
 552       <div class="tags">
 553
 554
 555         Tags: <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu</a>, <a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english</a>.
 556
 557
 558       </div>
 559     </div>
 560     <div class="padding"></div>
 561
 562     <p style="text-align: right;"><a href="index.rss"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/xml.gif" alt="RSS feed" width="36" height="14" /></a></p>
 563     <div id="sidebar">
 564
 565
 566
 567 <h2>Archive</h2>
 568 <ul>
 569
 570 <li>2012
 571 <ul>
 572
 573 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/01/">January (7)</a></li>
 574
 575 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/02/">February (10)</a></li>
 576
 577 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/03/">March (17)</a></li>
 578
 579 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2012/04/">April (12)</a></li>
 580
 581 </ul></li>
 582
 583 <li>2011
 584 <ul>
 585
 586 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/01/">January (16)</a></li>
 587
 588 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/02/">February (6)</a></li>
 589
 590 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/03/">March (6)</a></li>
 591
 592 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/04/">April (7)</a></li>
 593
 594 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/05/">May (3)</a></li>
 595
 596 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/06/">June (2)</a></li>
 597
 598 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/07/">July (7)</a></li>
 599
 600 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/08/">August (6)</a></li>
 601
 602 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/09/">September (4)</a></li>
 603
 604 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/10/">October (2)</a></li>
 605
 606 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/11/">November (3)</a></li>
 607
 608 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2011/12/">December (1)</a></li>
 609
 610 </ul></li>
 611
 612 <li>2010
 613 <ul>
 614
 615 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/01/">January (2)</a></li>
 616
 617 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/02/">February (1)</a></li>
 618
 619 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/03/">March (3)</a></li>
 620
 621 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/04/">April (3)</a></li>
 622
 623 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/05/">May (9)</a></li>
 624
 625 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/06/">June (14)</a></li>
 626
 627 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/07/">July (12)</a></li>
 628
 629 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/08/">August (13)</a></li>
 630
 631 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/09/">September (7)</a></li>
 632
 633 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/10/">October (9)</a></li>
 634
 635 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/11/">November (13)</a></li>
 636
 637 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2010/12/">December (12)</a></li>
 638
 639 </ul></li>
 640
 641 <li>2009
 642 <ul>
 643
 644 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/01/">January (8)</a></li>
 645
 646 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/02/">February (8)</a></li>
 647
 648 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/03/">March (12)</a></li>
 649
 650 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/04/">April (10)</a></li>
 651
 652 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/05/">May (9)</a></li>
 653
 654 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/06/">June (3)</a></li>
 655
 656 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/07/">July (4)</a></li>
 657
 658 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/08/">August (3)</a></li>
 659
 660 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/09/">September (1)</a></li>
 661
 662 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/10/">October (2)</a></li>
 663
 664 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/11/">November (3)</a></li>
 665
 666 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2009/12/">December (3)</a></li>
 667
 668 </ul></li>
 669
 670 <li>2008
 671 <ul>
 672
 673 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/11/">November (5)</a></li>
 674
 675 <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/archive/2008/12/">December (7)</a></li>
 676
 677 </ul></li>
 678
 679 </ul>
 680
 681
 682
 683 <h2>Tags</h2>
 684 <ul>
 685
 686  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/3d-printer">3d-printer (13)</a></li>
 687
 688  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/amiga">amiga (1)</a></li>
 689
 690  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/aros">aros (1)</a></li>
 691
 692  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bitcoin">bitcoin (2)</a></li>
 693
 694  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bootsystem">bootsystem (12)</a></li>
 695
 696  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/bsa">bsa (2)</a></li>
 697
 698  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian">debian (54)</a></li>
 699
 700  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/debian edu">debian edu (99)</a></li>
 701
 702  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/digistan">digistan (8)</a></li>
 703
 704  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/english">english (125)</a></li>
 705
 706  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fiksgatami">fiksgatami (15)</a></li>
 707
 708  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/fildeling">fildeling (12)</a></li>
 709
 710  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/intervju">intervju (23)</a></li>
 711
 712  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/kart">kart (15)</a></li>
 713
 714  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ldap">ldap (8)</a></li>
 715
 716  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/lenker">lenker (4)</a></li>
 717
 718  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ltsp">ltsp (1)</a></li>
 719
 720  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/multimedia">multimedia (16)</a></li>
 721
 722  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/norsk">norsk (160)</a></li>
 723
 724  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/nuug">nuug (124)</a></li>
 725
 726  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/open311">open311 (2)</a></li>
 727
 728  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/opphavsrett">opphavsrett (24)</a></li>
 729
 730  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/personvern">personvern (47)</a></li>
 731
 732  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/raid">raid (1)</a></li>
 733
 734  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/reprap">reprap (11)</a></li>
 735
 736  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rfid">rfid (2)</a></li>
 737
 738  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/robot">robot (4)</a></li>
 739
 740  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/rss">rss (1)</a></li>
 741
 742  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/ruter">ruter (4)</a></li>
 743
 744  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sikkerhet">sikkerhet (23)</a></li>
 745
 746  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/sitesummary">sitesummary (4)</a></li>
 747
 748  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/standard">standard (27)</a></li>
 749
 750  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stavekontroll">stavekontroll (1)</a></li>
 751
 752  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/stortinget">stortinget (4)</a></li>
 753
 754  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/surveillance">surveillance (9)</a></li>
 755
 756  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/valg">valg (6)</a></li>
 757
 758  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/video">video (25)</a></li>
 759
 760  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/vitenskap">vitenskap (1)</a></li>
 761
 762  <li><a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/web">web (19)</a></li>
 763
 764 </ul>
 765
 766
 767     </div>
 768     <p style="text-align: right">
 769  Created by <a href="http://steve.org.uk/Software/chronicle">Chronicle v4.4</a>
 770 </p>
 771
 772   </body>
 773 </html>