X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/564600cddf395f45ecd28a4a1bbb8cebc54b9626..ab4fc5f7f2c9e4a8b46375db0f5c948f4b71bd8e:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 591bccad0d..670b918380 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -19,6 +19,81 @@ +
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A word on bitcoin support in Debian
+
21st December 2012
+

It has been a while since I wrote about +bitcoin, the decentralised +peer-to-peer based crypto-currency, and the reason is simply that I +have been busy elsewhere. But two days ago, I started looking at the +state of bitcoin in +Debian again to try to recover my old bitcoin wallet. The package +is now maintained by a +team of +people, and the grunt work had already been done by this team. We +own a huge thank you to all these team members. :) +But I was sad to discover that the bitcoin client is missing in +Wheezy. It is only available in Sid (and a outdated client from +backports). The client had several RC bugs registered in BTS blocking +it from entering testing. To try to help the team and improve the +situation, I spent some time providing patches and triaging the bug +reports. I also had a look at the bitcoin package available from Matt +Corallo in a +PPA for +Ubuntu, and moved the useful pieces from that version into the +Debian package.

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After checking with the main package maintainer Jonas Smedegaard on +IRC, I pushed several patches into the collab-maint git repository to +improve the package. It now contain fixes for the RC issues (not from +me, but fixed by Scott Howard), build rules for a Qt GUI client +package, konqueror support for the bitcoin: URI and bash completion +setup. As I work on Debian Squeeze, I also created +a +patch to backport the latest version. Jonas is going to look at +it and try to integrate it into the git repository before uploading a +new version to unstable. + +

I would very much like bitcoin to succeed, to get rid of the +centralized control currently exercised in the monetary system. I +find it completely unacceptable that the USA government is collecting +transaction data for almost all international money transfers (most are done in USD and transaction logs shipped to the spooks), and +that the major credit card companies can block legal money +transactions to Wikileaks. But for bitcoin to succeed, more people +need to use bitcoins, and more people need to accept bitcoins when +they sell products and services. Improving the bitcoin support in +Debian is a small step in the right direction, but not enough. +Unfortunately the user experience when browsing the web and wanting to +pay with bitcoin is still not very good. The bitcoin: URI is a step +in the right direction, but need to work in most or every browser in +use. Also the bitcoin-qt client is too heavy to fire it up to do a +quick transaction. I believe there are other clients available, but +have not tested them.

+ +

My +experiment +with bitcoins showed that at least some of my readers use bitcoin. +I received 20.15 BTC so far on the address I provided in my blog two +years ago, as can be +seen +on the blockexploer service. Thank you everyone for your +donation. The blockexploer service demonstrate quite well that +bitcoin is not quite anonymous and untracked. :) I wonder if the +number of users have gone up since then. If you use bitcoin and want +to show your support of my activity, please send Bitcoin donations to +the same address as last time, +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

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+ + + Tags: bitcoin, debian, english. + + +
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Piratpartiet på opphavs-retrett?
19th December 2012
@@ -671,155 +746,6 @@ på både "min" offentlige og private nøkkel.

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Debian Edu interview: Angela Fuß
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14th November 2012
-

Here is another interview with one of the people in the Debian Edu and Skolelinux -community. I am running short on people willing to be interviewed, so -if you know about someone I should interview, Please send me an email. -After asking for many months, I finally managed to lure another one of -the people behind the German -"IT-Zukunft Schule" -project out from maternity leave to conduct an interview. Give a warm -welcome to Angela Fuß. :)

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Who are you, and how do you spend your days?

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I am a 39-year-old woman living in the very north of Germany near -Denmark. I live in a patchwork family with "my man" Mike Gabriel, my -two daughters, Mikes daughter and Mikes and my rather newborn son. - -

At the moment - because of our little baby - I am spending most of -the day by being a caring and organising mom for all the kids. -Besides that I am really involved into and occupied with several inner -growth processes: New born souls always bring the whole familiar -system into movement and that needs time and focus ;-). We are also -in the middle of buying a house and moving to it.

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In 2013 I will work again in my job in a German foundation for -nature conservation. I am doing public relation work there. Besides -that - and that is the connection to Skolelinux / Debian Edu - I am -working in our own school project "IT-Zukunft Schule" in North -Germany. I am responsible for the quality assurance, the customer -relationship management and the communication processes in the -project.

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Since 2001 I constantly have been training myself in communication -and leadership. Besides that I am a forester, a landscaping gardener -and a yoga teacher.

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How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu -project?

- -

I fell in love with Mike ;-).

- -

Very soon after getting to know him I was completely enrolled into -Free Software. At this time Mike did IT-services for one newly -founded school in Kiel. Other schools in Kiel needed concepts for -their IT environment. Often when Mike came home from working at the -newly founded school I found myself listening to his complaints about -several points where the communication with the schools head or the -teachers did not work. So we were clear that he would not work for -one more school if we did not set up a structure for communication -between him, the schools head, the teachers, the students and the -parents.

- -

Together with our friend and hardware supplier Andreas Buchholz we -started to get an overview of free software solutions suitable for -schools. One day before Christmas 2010 Mike and I had a date with Kurt -Gramlich in Gütersloh. As Kurt and I are really interested in building -networks of people and in being in communication we dived into -Skolelinux and brought it to the first grammar schools in Northern -Germany.

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For information about our school project you can read -the -interview with Mike Gabriel.

- -

What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?

- -

First I have to say: I cannot answer this question technically. My -answer comes rather from a social point of view.

- -

The biggest advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu I see is the large -and strong international community of Debian Developers in the -background which is very alive and connected over mailinglists, blogs -and meetings. My constant feeling for the Debian Community is: If -something does not work they will somehow fix it. All is well -;-). This is of course a user experience. What I also get as a big -advantage of Skolelinux / Debian Edu is that everybody who uses it and -works with it can also contribute to it - that includes students, -teachers, parents...

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What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?

- -

I will answer this question relating to the internal structure of -Skolelinux / Debian Edu.

- -

What I see as a major disadvantage is that there is a gap between -the group of developers for Debian Edu and the people who make the -marketing, that means the people that bring Skolelinux to the -schools. There is a lack of communication between these two groups and -I think that does not really work for Skolelinux / Debian Edu.

- -

Further I appreciate that Skolelinux / Debian Edu is known as a -do-ocracy. Nevertheless I keep asking myself if at some points a -democracy or some kind of hierarchical project structure would be good -and helpful. I am also missing some kind of contact between the -Skolelinux / Debian Edu communities in Europe or on an international -level. I think it would be good if there was more sharing between the -different countries using Skolelinux / Debian Edu.

- -

Which free software do you use daily?

- -

On my laptop I am still using an Ubuntu 10.04 with a Gnome Desktop -on. As applications I use Openoffice.org, Gedit, Firefox, Pidgin, -LaTeX and GnuCash. For mails I am using Horde. And I am really fond of -my N900 running with Maemo.

- -

Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?

- -

I am really convinced that in our school project "IT-Zukunft -Schule" we have developed (and keep developing) a great way to get -schools to use Free Software. We have written a detailed concept for -that so I cannot explain the whole thing here. But in a nutshell the -strategy has three crucial pillars:

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- - - Tags: debian edu, english, intervju. - - -
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