The ramblings of a mad man

Fedora Board Elections

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:53:17 GMT

Just wanted to extend my congratulations to Matt Domsch and Chris Tyler for their election to the Fedora Board. I know both of them will serve the Fedora Project well as we look towards F13 and beyond.

Steven

Fedora Elections

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:50:46 GMT

I voted, have you? Don't forget the elections for the Board, FESCO, and FAMSCO end on the 15th. With the infrastructure downtime this weekend if you can't connect keep trying.

Your vote will help determine Fedora's course over the next year.

Steven

FUDCon the Experience

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:55:41 GMT

Right now I am sitting in RDU International Airport, very tired and glad to be home. I am also sad that another great FUDCon is in the history books. We had 3 very productive days and I feel I got accomplished what I went to do.

I got to meet my fellow BugZappers Adam Williamson and Brennan Ashton and give what I think was a well received talk on filing good and effective bug reports.

I met Sebastian Dzillas of "Sugar on a Stick" fame. Bernie Innocenti and Peter Robinson who ar both volunteers for SugarLabs. We spent some time talking Sugar and plans to evolve Sebastian's SOAS and my "Fedora for the XO-1" projects from Fedora Remixes to actual Spins and the work that will be involved in doing so. Sebastian and I also gave a joint talk during BarCamp on both of the afore mentioned projects.

Sometimes you might feel as if the work we do here in Fedora goes mostly unnoticed outside our community, but it doesn't. People are watching and interested in what we are doing. When someone mentioned that a picture of me doing this talk was online, I thought it was on a planet post somewhere. little did I know that this is what they were referring to. I was shocked and pleased when I saw it.

On Sunday I met up with fellow KDE-SIG members Rex Dieter, Ben Boeckel, and all the way from Brno Jaroslav Reznik. We had a very productive day working on KDE in Fedora issues, and you can look forward to some exciting new releases from the Fedora KDE-SIG.

I want to extend a BIG THANK You to Chris Tyler (ctyler) for all the hard work he put into making this FUDCon the success that it was. Without his help on the ground in Toronto FUDCon would not have been the awesome event that it was.

Also many thanks to Mel Chua (mchua) for all her work on the budget and logistics for FUDCon Toronto. And thanks to Paul Frields (stickster) for leading the effort that brought another great FUDCon to us here in North America.

lastly if you attended this FUDCon and have any suggestions, comments, criticisms or questions please send them to our planning list at fudcon-planning@lists.fedoraproject.org

Hope to see you at the next FUDCon

Steven

A bit a helpful info for those attending FUDCon.

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:38:56 GMT

Are you at FUDCon and in need of some $ but can't find an ATM that will work with your card. Well you are in luck. If you go over to the RBC bank across from the hotel you will find a couple of ATMs in the lobby that work with U.S. bank cards. This will come in handy as you will need some $ today for lunch. We will be organizing a self funded lunch to help save time today.

Also for those who will be flying out of Toronto at the end of FUDCon I have updated the wiki with a rideshare section, just like we used for the trip in. So head over here. and add your information.

Steven

FUDCon Day 1

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:16:15 GMT

Its now about 730am Sunday morning. Been up since about six, and I am now working on my 3rd cup of coffee. FUDCon Day 2 starts at 10am this morning so I guess now is a good time to give a report on Day 1.

We had a record number of talks proposed for today's BarCamp. I pitched 2, Effective Bug Reporting and, Sugar, OLPC, and Sugar On A Stick, Oh My! with Sebastain Dziallas.

Something we did that was new this time was User Tracks. They were 2 predetermined tracks of 5 sessions each. 1 geared towards new users and one towards new contributors. This allowed us to include these tracks in our local FUDCon advertising to get more locals to come check us out. This worked out very well so I expect it will continue in future FUDCons.

Both talks went over very well. Having not presented to an audience since my TA days back in college in the 80's was a bit nervous, but all was well. I want to thank Adam Williamson (adamw) and Brennan Ashton (comphappy) for their contributions to the bug chat.

There were alot of interesting sessions planned and as always more you want to attend than you actually can. We are fortunate that Yaakov Nemoy organized IRC transcription of the vast majority of the sessions and you can find the IRC logs here.

At the end of the day we all got together for Paul's "State of Fedora" and learned that the next release will be code named "Goddard".

More on Day 2 later.

Steven

Have your plans changed?

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:10:43 GMT

We are at T-4 for Fudon Toronto, and it's shaping up to be a great event. If your plans have changed and you will no longer be able to attend we ask that you edit the wiki and remove your pre-registration. This will help give us a more accurate count. If you cannot attend we will have irc channels set up for the talks, and maybe even streaming audio and video, so even if you cannot be there in person you can still participate.

Steven

FUDCon rideshare from the airport

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:23:23 GMT

Are you flying into Toronto Pearson International? If so you have 2 options to get to the hotel.

[1] Take a bus - cheap but takes time, up to 2.5 hours
[2] Take a taxi - quick but costs 35.00CAD

So if you wan't to save some $$ and are willing to share a taxi, go here and add your info to the table. You can then check back later and find those who are arriving close to you and arrange to share a taxi.

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Steven

Looking for a few good presenters.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:36:30 GMT

December 5th is fast approaching and FUDCon is shaping up to be a great event. We have 2 proposed tracks one geared towards new users and one towards new contributors. We are looking for someone to lead the following sessions.

For the users track:

Configuring Fedora Networking
Sound in Fedora

For the contributors track:

How to participate in test days

If you are going to be attending FUDCon and would like to present one of these topics, or if you have a topic that you would like to present that can substituted for one of the above then head over to the wiki and sign up.

Steven

Are you planning on presenting at FUDCon Toronto?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:21:10 GMT

Yesterday I sent an email out to everyone who had registered to lead a session at FUDCon Toronto. It seems that for some this message may have been trapped by SPAM filters. Since this information would apply not only to those who have already registered to present, but to those who may be considering proposing a session as well, I decided to post it here.

With just over 2 weeks left before the big event I wanted to remind everyone
of a few important points.

[1] All the rooms are equipped with projectors so visual presentations should
be a breeze. To save time it is suggested you test your video out prior to
the event. If your laptop does not have a standard DB-15 VGA connector you
will need an adapter. Each room also has a dual boot Windows/SuSE system that
can be used if you do not have a laptop with video out.

[2] Sessions will be 50 minutes in length so adjust your presentation
accordingly.

[3] We are working to ensure that each session will be represented on IRC and
have someone doing live transcription. If you are doing a visual presentation
it is recommended to post it online that will make it easier for those who
cannot attend in person to follow along.

[4] The venue has unencrypted wifi access, and is working on wired access in
the rooms just in case someone needs the extra bandwidth.

[5] Even though we have over 40 presentations already proposed there will be
last minute pitches done Barcamp style Saturday morning and we will use a grid
to schedule sessions based on popularity. That means we don't have space to
accommodate everyone who wishes to present, so be prepared with a good pitch
for your session.

This is looking to be the best FUDCon yet, and I look forward to seeing you
all there.

Steven

FUDCon 2009 is almost here. Are you ready?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:27:59 GMT

Its just over 2 weeks until the start of FUDCon 2009 in the lovely city of Toronto. Here are a few bits of information to help make this a great event for all.

If you are coming from the U.S. and are flying in/out of Toronto you must have a valid passport to re-enter the U.S. For those driving across the border a valid passport card will suffice. You can find information on passports and passport cards at http://travel.state.gov Keep in mind with just over 2 weeks to go and Thanksgiving in there if you don't already have one of these 2 items the only way to get one will be to visit a passport office in person. You can find information of where these are located by visiting the previously mentioned site.

If you are flying DO NOT put your laptops, chargers, cell phones, cameras etc in your checked bags. Airlines assume no liabilty for these items in checked bags, carry them with you onboard. Along those same lines keep in mind bags do have a way of getting delayed, I would recommend carrying at least 1 change of clothes with you onboard just in case.

The average high temperature in December is 32 degrees Fahrenheit, with a low if 18 degrees, so dress warm.

This is shaping up to be a great event and I look forward to seeing you all there.

Steven

A new release of F11 for the XO-1 has hit the interwebs. Build 8 now available.

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:24:16 GMT

Today brings a new release of F11 for the XO-1. This build contains both the Gnome and Sugar desktops. The build which can be downloaded here, now uses Midori for web-browsing. If you still want to use Firefox all it takes is a "yum install firefox" from the command line.

This build also includes a new kernel, numerous package updates and a fix for the dreaded black box in Gnome.

With the release of this build I am moving to having twice monthly releases, on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Here are a few highlights of what to expect in the coming months:

- A switch from JFFS2 to UBIFS for all but the /boot partition. This should result is faster file system access.

- A XFCE Desktop based version

- A experimental F12 based version

Also continuing to look for fixes for both the battery monitor and camera issues.

Enjoy the new release.

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:27:51 GMT

Currently the builds of F11 I do for the OLPC XO-1 include Firefox. It has been suggested that due to system limitations Firefox might not be the best choice. So I decided to ask the users what they would prefer. So if you have an XO-1 please vote for your choice.

SMP

View Poll: F11 for the XO-1. Browser choice

SELF Videos

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:57:03 GMT

Did you miss the inaugural SouthEast Linux Fest? If,like me, you did, then I have some good news for you. Every talk was recorded, and I'm not talking just audio. No, they have video of each and every talk.

19 different talks are available, on a wide range of topics. Including talks from Greg DeKoenigsberg from RedHat on Open Source & Education, and Paul Frields, Leader of the Fedora Project. There is also a talk from Google's Open Source guru Chris DiBona.

All talks are in ogg video and can be downloaded from here.

SMP

A new release of F11 for the XO-1 is now available

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:35:02 GMT

It's that time again. Time for a new release of Fedora 11 for the XO-1. Lets take a look at whats under the hood.

- A new kernel plus over 30 more updated packages

- A custom Fedora-OLPC-Release. This allows you to now do a "yum update" without having to worry about the stock Fedora kernel being installed.

- Delta RPMs have been enabled, and will reduce the bandwidth required to download updates.

If you have an XO-1 and want to give it a spin please check it out here.

Steven

Announcing a new release of F11 for the XO-1

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:21:50 GMT

Today I have released Build 6 of F11 for the OLPC. This build which runs on the XO-1 contains an updated F11 release with both the Sugar and Gnome desktops.

For those who are not aware the OLPC project is now based on Fedora, and many Fedora contributors are active in development of Sugar which is the default desktop environment for the OLPC.

The OLPC folks are currently working on the testing the next generation hardware for the XO-1.5, and Fedora will be the default installation on it as well.

If you have an XO-1 and would like to test out this latest release you can read more about it here.

If you do not have an XO-1 but would like to try out the Sugar Desktop it is available in the Fedora repositories for both F-11 and Rawhide. You can install it by doing yum groupinstall "Sugar Desktop Environment"

Steven

What could be more fun than a bug hunt?

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:56:23 GMT

Looks like the KDE-SIG has gone and upset a few bugs...

As promised here is an update on where the KDE-SIG stands with squashing those pesky Rawhide (F11) bugs.

Currently tracked issues - 68

Which break down as follows.

25 currently open issues.
5 pending testing before release
38 sent to the upstream developers

And 19 of the upstream issues have been resolved and the fixes either already are in Fedora or soon will be.

Keep in mind before we can squash those bugs you need to help us find them.

SMP

Who needs a can of Raid?

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:11:41 GMT

The KDE-SIG is hard at work to bring you the best desktop experience in Fedora. The way you help us do that is by filing bugreports to let us know where the problems are.

So here is an quick update as to where we stand as of today June 1st in regards to F10(Cambridge).

Currently tracked issues - 103

Which break down as follows.

42 currently open issues.
2 pending testing before release
59 sent to the upstream developers

And 24 of the upstream issues have been resolved and the fixes either already are in Fedora or soon will be.

If you want to help improve Fedora, not just KDE, take a minute and get yourself an account setup on Bugzilla and let us know of any issues you have.

Remember you can't stomp the bugs you can't see.

SMP

PS. Tomorrow will have an update on F11 issues

Frields on FLOSS

Sun, 31 May 2009 22:51:15 GMT

My normal morning routine is to download some new podcasts to listen to on the commute into work. This morning a fresh copy of FLOSS Weekly was loaded up and ready for consumption. I enjoy several of Leo Laporte's podcasts, but none as much as FLOSS Weekly where he and Randal Schwartz interview people from the open source world. This weeks guest was none other than Fedora's Project Leader, our own Paul Frields. Paul did an excellent job of getting the point across that Fedora is more than just a Linux distribution. It's a growing, vibrant community of volunteers who contribute not only to Fedora the distro itself, but to the infrastructure that runs our servers, writes the documentation, triages the bugs, and packages the many applications that are available in Fedora's repos.

Fedora 11 is on the horizon, and who knows what the future holds for us, but we should all be very proud of our community. Fedora is not a bunch of bits, it's us.

Take some time and listen to the podcast here.

SMP

Quassel + KDE = IRC goodness

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:57:04 GMT

Quassel is a Qt based IRC client that has been in the Fedora repositories since F9. Now the developers have added KDE integration so that Quassel will now use the same style as all your other KDE apps. The new version with KDE integration enabled is currently in Rawhide and should land in updates-testing for F10 on the next push. Try it out and if you have any issues let me know via Bodhi or bugzilla.

Steven

An interesting week...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:09:49 GMT

Started off with my yearly visit to the eye doctor. After being triaged, yes thats what they call it, I was left in the exam room to await the Dr. Everything in this office is computerized, and I was surprised to see a familiar "K" staring at me from the taskbar. Found out that the entire office was running Red Hat 5 and KDE, not a single Windows box in the place.

Then I worked on a few package reviews, it's always a pleasure to help get new packages into Fedora, and this time I even got a chance to help shepherd a new contributor into Fedora. Welcome to Nucleo, thorough his efforts KNemo has made it back into Fedora.

And lastly thanks to rdieter, belated "Happy Birthday" btw, who completed a review for me, I've also got a new package in Fedora. Subtitle Commposer, which as the name applies is a tool to add subtitles to videos.

So it was a good week, Fedora got a new contributor and a few new packages; and to cap it off tonight is the finale of Battlestar Galactica.

Enjoy life its the only one you get.

SMP

So you thought Eclipse is just an IDE....

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:27:48 GMT

That's what I thought until this weekends FUDCon. Thanks to a presentation by Eclipse guru Andrew Overholt I learned that Eclipse is so much more, due to a large collection of available plug-ins. 2 plugins are currently available in the repos that can help with my daily Fedora duites.

The first is Mylyn which is a task based interface for Eclipse. One thing it provides is a bridge to RedHat's bugzilla, so now all the bugs I triage and work with are grouped in one place and I can monitor them for changes and even update them thru Eclipse with Mylyn. Now I can keep my inbox free of bugzilla updates.

There is also an RPM specfile plugin which provides code completion and inline rpmlint checking.

And lastly, but unfortunately still in development, is a Fedora packager plugin which will allow you maintain all your Fedora packages directly from Eclipse. You will be able to edit your specfiles, kick off builds, do bodhi updates etc.

Checkout the LinuxTools project for these and other plugins available for Eclipse.

Can't wait to see what they come up with next.

SMP

FUDCon desktop poll

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:34:39 GMT

If you attended FUDCon F11 please take a few seconds and complete this poll on which desktop you use.

SMP

View Poll: FUDCon attendees desktop poll

FUDCon Day 2 - Late report

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:08:30 GMT

Thought about posting this after FUDPub last night, but decided (alcohol + blog) = bad. So here we are Sunday morning, sober with a good cup of caffeine and post in my head.

Saturday was barcamp day. Lots of good sessions were proposed, unfortunately time did not permit me to attend all that I wanted to. I made it to a FESCO meeting as an observer. Then a session on Eclipse that I will post more on later. Suffice it to say it was very informative and Eclipse is not your ordinary IDE.

The Eclipse session was followed by Lunch catered by local favorite Rebecca's Cafe.

After lunch I triaged a couple dozed more bugs while listening to a presentation on Dracut and new system to replace initrd, followed by Stickster's introduction to git. The last session I attended was on Fedora Classroom, what it is, where its going and how to get it there.

The day ended with FUDPub at a local watering hole. A fun time was had by all, which explains this late post. -)

Herlo and his merry men did a great job recording audio and sometimes video for a good majority of these sessions, so if you were not able to attend FUDCon F11 you should find these recordings online soon.

The southbound leg of the East Coast Road trip begins later this afternoon, and will blog more from the road.

SMP

FUDCon report

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:34:46 GMT

1st official day of FUDCon.

Spent the morning with a group of RH people talking about the QA process, how to automate it and more importantly what can be done to ensure quality packages make it into the repos. They are looking at things such as: Auto reviews of koji buildlogs looking for anything unusual. Creating a GUI app to let the everyday (non poweruser) send feedback on individual apps, especially ones in updates-testing. And they also want to make sure that vital core apps are vetted before being let out into the world to prevent issues such as the recent DBUS problems.

After a quick lunch, I sat in on an Ambassador's talk and wiki talk. While listening to them I think I managed to give not only bugbot a headache but my fellow KDE SiGers one as I triaged about 100 bugs and filed up their email boxes with bugzilla spam.

Now to find a beer and a pillow and get ready for tomorrow's Bar Camps.

SMP

Man its cold outside...

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:54:49 GMT

Ok was supposed to be part of the Great East Coast Roadtrip up to Boston and FUDCon. Got home last night and wife says "Honey, something is wrong with my brakes, they make a grinding noise is that normal?" So instead of leaving for Boston last night I had to stay back in Raleigh and get her car fixed. $150 later she has new brakes and I was heading to Boston. Caught a flight up, took the metro to the hotel and I'm ready for FUDCon.

Haven't flown in quite a while and forgot just how gorgeous it is up at 30000 feet. Was really surprised how dingy and rundown Logan airport is.

Oh and yes it is cold outside and there is old dirty snow outside as well. Not like the 60 degrees it was in Raleigh yesterday.

SMP