## page was renamed from Edubuntu/WikiSite/Meeting/Logs/2007-06-13 ## page was renamed from MeetingLogs/Edubuntu_2007-06-13 #title Edubuntu Meeting Log 2007-06-13 <> = Meeting June 13, 2007 = {{{ 02:35 RichEd right kicking off with TECHNICAL 02:36 ogra we released tribe1 on last thursday 02:37 ogra since then i have redone much of the ltsp architecture, it doesnt ues nfs anymre but nbd and uses a squashfs image instead of a plain failesystem over the network 02:37 ogra all in all its booting about twice as fast now 02:37 RichEd ogra: for all LTSP or just the classmate 02:37 highvoltage ogra: that sounds weird (but extremely wonderful) 02:37 ogra (boottime was our biggest concdern this release) 02:37 RichEd good news on the half speed boot :) 02:37 RichEd sorry double speed / half time :) 02:38 highvoltage ogra: I never liked NFS 02:38 ogra RichEd, thats ltsp only, but much of the code i write for this overlaps with the classmate 02:38 highvoltage ogra: so tribe 1 already supports the nbd LTSP? 02:38 ogra highvoltage, sbalneav measures 73sec vs 140sec yesterday with the first implementation 02:38 ogra thats still not the end of speedups 02:39 ogra we'll get to a minute or below 02:39 highvoltage can you encrypt the filesystem? 02:39 ogra yes 02:39 highvoltage oh great 02:39 ogra but thats not supported yet 02:39 ogra needs initramfs support 02:39 highvoltage well, just that it's technically possible is great 02:39 ogra beyond that, we now support swapping over the network from initrmfs 02:40 ogra it detects if you have less than 48M and automatically adds swapspace from the server 02:40 ogra so its actually possible to boot 28M clients 02:40 highvoltage geez. ltsp is maturing very fast. 02:40 ogra as long as you make nbdswapd create the swapfiles in a tmpfs 02:40 ogra i'll write a howto for that after or for the gutsy release 02:41 ogra all the changes are *not* in tribe 1 02:41 ogra they are my work of the past week ... started all right after tribe1 was out 02:41 highvoltage aah. so best would be to update my sources.list to gutsy, install new ltsp-server, then do a ltsp-build-client? 02:41 ogra so make sure to haave ltsp-server and ltsp-server-standalone 5.0.16 at least 02:41 highvoltage righto 02:42 ogra (.16 is just building, but i'd suggest to wait for it) 02:42 highvoltage I'll test it and make some noise about it. this is fantastic progres indeed. 02:42 ogra yeah 02:42 ogra together with sbalneavs rewrite of ldm we'll have the best and fastets ltsp ever :) 02:43 ogra did i mention that ldm can do unencrypted X transport now ? 02:43 highvoltage and no one will ever have to use ltsp 4.2 any more 02:43 highvoltage no you didn't 02:43 highvoltage sbalneav mentioned that he was working on it before the summit 02:43 ogra the password handling goes still through ssh, but all X traffic is unencrypted if you set LDM_DIRECTX=True 02:43 ogra nah, thats from Gadi and a totally new idea 02:44 ogra instead f calling ssh -X we set DISPLAY=clientip:dpy 02:44 ogra so all features (localdev, sound) persist, and you have some password security bu the same speed for X as XDMCP had 02:45 ogra so nobody can complain or has to use XDMCP anymore 02:45 highvoltage uhm... what does that leave then? 02:45 ogra anyway, thats it so far from tech 02:46 highvoltage it seems that LTSP will be just about complete 02:46 ogra highvoltage, yes, if we have the gui maintenance tools we can just lean back and tunr a screw here and there for a while 02:47 highvoltage then the authentication team must just get going, so that we can have local apps too. 02:47 ogra the nice thing is that the squashfs/unionfs/nbd setup opens a ton of new opportuities 02:47 ogra starting from just using a liveCD squashfs instead of the client built one ... so you have a desktop kiosk ;) 02:47 highvoltage yeah, you could mount over a set of applications on another nbd mount over a union based on machine 02:48 ogra or instead of a tmpfs you can use a second ext2 writeable image on the server and have persistent workstations 02:48 ogra there are millions of new options we can gnerate products on :) 02:49 ogra i was eager to make that switch since ages but never had the balls :) 02:49 ogra this time i did and t seems it turns out very well 02:49 ogra so thats it about tech ... any questions ? 02:50 ogra RichEd, btw, classmate is still waiting for the wlan driver from Ben 02:50 RichEd ogra: has he got it working and waiting to get it to you, or still busy ? 02:50 ogra i had some apology mails from him and he knows its urgent but didnt send me anything yet 02:51 ogra i dont know to be honest 02:51 ogra i hope to get something soon 02:51 RichEd okay ... on a related note, willvdl and I met with some Intel people today in Cape Town ... they are here for the WEF 02:51 ogra nice 02:51 RichEd It was (Sir) John Davies who heads up the sales side of Willie's development. 02:52 ogra ah, very cool 02:52 RichEd He is also head of the Intel World Ahead programme that is looking at "the next billion PC users" 02:52 RichEd So they do the Classmate, and some other low spec, low energy rugged devices 02:52 ogra "canonical ... the company that does business with knights" :) 02:53 RichEd Another link in the Intel chain, so they will introduce me to various people on the ground. 02:54 RichEd Move on to Artwork then ... 02:54 ogra do we have anything for art? 02:54 highvoltage ogra: I'll ask you questions when I test, there's bound to be some then 02:54 ogra highvoltage, right 02:56 RichEd Pete is not around for art ... anyone else have anthing to raise / say ? 02:56 ogra i also need to document the new stuff i guess :) 02:56 highvoltage is aliasvegas still around? I haven't heard from her in a long time 02:56 ogra nope, i dont think so 02:56 RichEd cx33 is in and out ... not as much as usual 02:56 ogra and pete wanted to cut his participation time a bit 02:56 RichEd I'll clear up his and her commitment when I see him next time in #edubuntu 02:56 highvoltage we didn't really have an artwork bof at the uds, did we? perhaps that is something we should re-visit at some stage. 02:56 highvoltage RichEd: ok 02:56 ogra well, we'Re supposed to get easy changeable artwork from ubuntu, dont we ? 02:56 RichEd ken wimer has agreed to help out ... 02:56 RichEd to take any suggestions or examples from us, and then make them professional for the product 02:56 ogra so that would be the ubuntu art stuff with changed colors and different logo 02:56 ogra i know ken is working on an easy procedure for derivatives here 02:57 RichEd ogra: yes, we can vary it, but keep it within the general flavour theme 02:57 ogra right 02:57 ogra only ldm is a bit different, but i'll care for that and do a gdm ripoff for the art 02:57 RichEd ogra: cool ... you can hack it if you want, and ken will polish the idea 02:58 ogra right 02:58 Hobbsee ogra: edubuntu wouldnt have use for an edubuntu-restricted-extras as ubuntu & kubuntu has, would it? (not the manager, just a metapackage of all the extra packages for codecs, etc). If so, the ubuntu-restricted-manager is now done sanely for multiple flavours. === Hobbsee has only just remembered, sorry 02:58 ogra Hobbsee, edubuntu uses ubuntu as a base ... 02:59 ogra so an ubuntu-restricted-somethig will be used 02:59 ogra we dont need extra packages for this 02:59 Hobbsee ogra: fair enough. wasnt sure if there were specific needs for edubuntu. 02:59 ogra Hobbsee, there is an edubuntu-kde metapackage planned ... that should indeed depend on the KDE variant ;) 03:00 Hobbsee that'd be cool 03:00 ogra well i'm all for it, but am waiting for someone to take up the maintenance of that 03:00 ogra we dont have many KDE peoplein edubuntu so it should be someone from the kubuntu crowd who maintais the seeds for it 03:01 RichEd anything more in art then ? 03:02 ogra doesnt look like 03:02 RichEd Moving on to Documentation ... 03:02 RichEd willvdl has some stuff to add here but he does not seem to be online atm ... 03:02 RichEd ogra: has sbalneav done any more LTSP doc stuff ? 03:02 ogra nope 03:03 RichEd and anyone else with a doc topic ? 03:03 ogra and i'm more happy having him coding on the new ldm than having him writing docs 03:03 RichEd :) 03:03 ogra docs are something we *can* fix out of sync ... code needs to be tested early in a release cycle 03:04 RichEd okay ... 03:04 ogra so dot drag him away from the code ;) 03:04 ogra *dont 03:04 jsgotangco +1 03:08 RichEd Web Sites then ... 03:08 RichEd again will has some updates ... but he is not here as above 03:08 ogra pips1 and him discussed some website stuff last week iirc 03:08 ogra but i wasnt following closely 03:08 RichEd From my side, I am working with Gerry (the new PRO & marketing guy in Canonical) to put some generic edubuntu & ubuntu education stuff on the ubuntu.com web site 03:08 ogra great 03:08 RichEd Also, sort of related, I did an interview with THE Journal last week ... Technology in Higher Education 03:08 RichEd Circulation of 90,000 in the US 03:08 RichEd And an online version. 03:08 ogra wow 03:08 RichEd Also: Hello, 03:08 RichEd We're reviewing Edubuntu in our next issue. So two things 03:08 highvoltage there's some problem with the server atm, it needs a bit of a software update for drupal 5 03:08 RichEd Kathy Ishizuka 03:08 RichEd Technology Editor 03:08 RichEd School Library Journal 03:08 highvoltage I've been meaning to ping the sysadmins about that, will do so today/tomorrow 03:08 RichEd and 03:08 RichEd . Also, our reviewer is so enthusiastic about the product that we'd like to provide CDs at the American Association of School Librarians conference this October, where he will be featuring his top tech picks. 03:08 RichEd 03:08 RichEd So edubuntu is making some nice waves in the US ... === ogra got a thank you mail tday from an ubuntustudio user who runs it over ltsp :) 03:09 ogra "But WOW!! What a terrific system we now have, and what a terrific job 03:09 ogra you guys have done!! UbuntuStudio's desktop is what win vista should 03:09 ogra have been - brilliant and elegant. 03:09 ogra " 03:09 RichEd cool :) 03:09 ogra "UbuntuStudio running 03:09 ogra on a dual-quad xeon (8 cpu's) Intel server motherboard with 6 gb ram, 6 03:09 ogra removable SATA hard disks, as an ltsp server. The ltsp software was 03:09 ogra installed following the guidance in the UbuntuLTSP/LTSPQuickInstall. The 03:09 ogra server is driving six high-res Neoware terminals, and I had the Rolling 03:09 ogra Stones playing on the speakers at my terminal where I took the 03:09 ogra screenshot. " 03:09 ogra :) 03:09 RichEd And this from a Canonical Partner: 03:09 RichEd >>> Right now we are looking to place a server w/20 Edubuntu (for the 03:09 RichEd >>> extras it provides) clients. The ultimate goal is to add 200 thin 03:09 RichEd >>> clients thoughout the school. 03:10 ogra wow 03:10 RichEd So a good week for PRO 03:10 ogra that will need a little server farm 03:10 RichEd ogra: they do low spec devices specifically for Open Source, and want to put a sales bundle together for: 03:11 RichEd It looks like we could set up a fairly standard package like this for 03:11 RichEd schools, municipalities, internet cafes, etc. 03:11 RichEd We should put a bundle together! 03:11 ogra yeah 03:11 RichEd http://projects.powerdeveloper.org/project/efika/338 03:11 ogra well, it would be nice if i could get one of the devices in advance 03:11 RichEd Okay ... Community 03:11 ogra to find any possible drawbacks 03:11 RichEd (ogra: I'll ask them for one) 03:11 ogra great, thanks 03:12 RichEd pips1 is busy with the community site, and has some people contributing (like David Trask) 03:12 ogra or at least they should tell me the specs, i have a ton of thin clients around here, its likely i have the one or a similar one they want to use 03:12 RichEd ogra: they build the devices ... you can see specs here: 03:12 ogra oh, right, i still havent pulled off the pic of my camera 03:13 ogra pics 03:13 RichEd http://www.genesippc.com/openclient.php 03:13 ogra urgh 03:13 RichEd Specifications are as follows: 03:13 RichEd * Freescale MPC5200B PowerPC SoC up to 400MHz 03:13 RichEd * 128MB 266MHz DDR RAM 03:13 RichEd * 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet 03:13 RichEd * 2x USB ports 03:13 RichEd * 1x RS232 Serial port 03:13 ogra we dont support ppc anymore 03:13 RichEd * Stereo Audio out, Microphone and Line-input 03:13 RichEd * RoHS Compliant 03:13 RichEd :( 03:13 ogra since edgy 03:14 RichEd they put projects together to achieve aims, so perhaps they can look at this with some partners 03:14 ogra we still have a ppc build but no officially supported one 03:14 RichEd well we can test their device and help them iron out kinks - hopefully 03:14 ogra the specs look great though 03:14 ogra would make a nice ltsp setup 03:15 ogra but we wouldnt be able to officially support it 03:15 RichEd indeed :) looks quite neat as well 03:15 ogra unless our marketing strategy changes 03:15 RichEd Well they are a partner ... so maybe we can bend over a bit 03:15 ogra indeed 03:16 RichEd Okay last topic, Management: 03:16 ogra but we dont give support for the pcc packages 03:16 ogra thats the main prob 03:16 RichEd From my side: I must get some projects going to help build community, as soon as I have finished the planning exercise we are busy with. 03:16 RichEd I've asked people to comment on the first draft of the objectives which are here: 03:16 RichEd https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Education/Objectives 03:16 RichEd Feel free to mail me comments / suggestions. 03:17 RichEd Note that I will need to relate the objectives back to the company strategy (i.e. the ones that the paid people will commit to) ... 03:17 RichEd But ideas for community goals are welcome ... 03:22 ogra LaserJock old me he wanted to work on the addonCD enhancements over the weekend 03:22 ogra he seemed to have some concrete ideas about grouping the app install entries 03:22 ogra but he hasnt come back to me yet 03:23 RichEd okay ... hopefully he will share them with us for comment 03:24 RichEd anything else ? 03:24 ogra nope 03:24 RichEd okay ... lets wrap it up ... and let ogra make plans for sweden :) }}}