Re: [Server-devel] XS 0.7 CentOS boot hang
IMHO it might be worth looking at udoo - Linux machine made made up of arduino + 4 raspberry pis. I've signed up with them via rockstarter So I'll tell u guys about it. Also signed up for wig wag and portable 3d printer (kinda essential for onsight repairs - works wonders) that and much more Serius look into IP 6 and wimax. Just some quick observat On 21 Aug 2013 10:36, "David Leeming" wrote: > Thanks. > > That allowed me to establish that it's a HDD problem. > > David > > > -Original Message- > From: sv3...@gmail.com [mailto:sv3...@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Sameer Verma > Sent: Wednesday, 21 August 2013 6:42 a.m. > To: Samuel Greenfeld > Cc: David Leeming; XS Devel > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] XS 0.7 CentOS boot hang > > On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 9:59 AM, Samuel Greenfeld > wrote: > > Given the XS-0.7 does not run X Windows by default, this likely is not > the > > problem. > > > > You can try disabling the pseudo-graphical progress bar to get more > > information. > > I usually hit F2 to see when it slows down or hangs (like when it > doesn't get a dhcp lease on the WAN port). > > Sameer > > > > > On a system that hangs, choose to edit the default boot option before the > > countdown timer finishes. Delete the "rhgb" (Red Hat Graphical Boot) and > > "quiet" parameters, and then tell Grub to let the system boot to see if > the > > hang point becomes obvious. > > > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 2:36 AM, David Leeming > > wrote: > >> > >> Hi, > >> > >> > >> > >> Apologies if this has been covered before. > >> > >> > >> > >> I noticed that sometimes an XS 0.7 installation will hang in the boot > >> screen (the advancing white shaded bar bottom of screen). I have not > been > >> able to fix this other than by reinstalling. I read somewhere there is a > bug > >> involving X11 and the fix is to boot in single user mode and delete > >> xorg.conf. But tried that and it still hung but with scrolling boot text > on > >> the screen. > >> > >> > >> > >> David Leeming > >> > >> Solomon Islands Rural Link > >> P.O.Box 652 Honiara, Solomon Islands > >> > >> +677 7476396 (m) +677 24419 (h) > >> > >> www.rurallink.com.sb > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> ___ > >> Server-devel mailing list > >> Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > >> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > >> > > > > > > ___ > > Server-devel mailing list > > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Dextrose] Regarding my OLPC XS Wishlist
yeah I also had big problems with ejabberd in the beginning... It seems you have to really get rid of every thing related to it if you reinstall, make a mistake during setup... think thats the main issue... but using prosody wouldn't that make it quite different to the exisiting XS server? David Van Assche On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:31 AM, Bernie Innocenti wrote: > On Thu, 2011-06-02 at 11:57 -0400, Martin Langhoff wrote: > > On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Aleksey Lim > > wrote: > > >> Have you spent any time learning how to configure ejabberd? Diagnosing > > >> your problem? Discussing it on the ejabberd mailing list? > > > > > > Well, I assume OLPC people did it many times before me, I just reused > their > > > experience tryinhg to follow wiki.l.o docs and using native packages > from > > > fedora. > > > > Yes -- everytime we saw a perf problem we diagnosed. Right now we > > don't see performance problems when load testing the XS. > > What's the exact binary package of ejabberd and configuration that works > well? How many users has it been tested with? > > I've had similar an experience similar to Aleksey with all versions of > the ejabberd I tried, and so did the Collabora people I spoke with. I > tried tweaking the configuration a bit, but the impression I got is that > ejabberd is over-engineered for our needs (only 1 server, about 1000 > users). > > > > If you see perf problems in your specific setup, I can only suggest > > you diagnose -- perhaps with the help from the ejabberd developers via > > their mailing list. > > Thanks. Send me your public ssh key, I'll give you access to the machine > hosting jabber.sugarlabs.org. If you make it work, I'll buy you a green > beer at EduJam 2012 :-) > > -- > Bernie Innocenti > Sugar Labs Infrastructure Team > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Infrastructure_Team > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Regarding my OLPC XS Wishlist
There's OBS (build packages for multiple distros) and suse studio, the latter builds isos, and if I understand it correctly not just suse isos, its kind of a drag and drop tool where you choose what your iso should contain And I would hardly say openSUSE is a minor distro... next to Ubuntu and Fedora, probably the most known and used... though I guess much more so outside the US, seeing as its German in origin... kind regards, David Van Assche On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:20 AM, Aleksey Lim wrote: > On Thu, Jun 02, 2011 at 06:29:51PM +1000, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote: > > On 28 May 2011 08:31, Aleksey Lim wrote: > > > On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 11:39:54AM -0400, Bernie Innocenti wrote: > > >> On Fri, 2011-05-27 at 21:14 +0545, Abhishek Singh wrote: > > >> > Dear All, > > >> > I've put down my OLPC XS wishlist at > > >> > http://asingh.com.np/blog/olpc-xs-my-wishlist/ . Please comment > upon it. > > >> > > > >> > Thank You. > > >> > > >> Thank you! Forwarding this to the Dextrose list as well. > > > > > > I've also CCed guys who do XS work in .au > > > > > > Abhishek: thanks for sharing your wishlist. > > > > > > From my side, I see the whole picture in case of school server like > having: > > > > > > * sugar-server[1], the base of any school server. it doesn't provide > > > stuff like moodle (too complicated to be basic) or puppet (useless on > > > this level, since configuring sugar-server should be just install > > > packages/iso and do some automatic work, the higher levels might user > > > puppet or so) > > > * any additional services that might be useful in some deployments but > > > are not basic, eg, moodle or wiki. > > > sugar-server should provide needed info via reliable API for these > > > services. > > > in my mind, such services might be formed as separate projects (like > > > sugar-server-moodle) to make it possible to attach it on purpose > > > (there might be useful configuration tool that is being used in > > > sugar-server, mace[2]). > > > * final products that include components on purpose (but sugar-server > is > > > a required one). It is entirely depends on local needs. > > > > We are looking to make our XS-AU[0] more modular to suit different use > > cases. Our initial goal > > > (completed over a year ago) > If I got it right, it is still the same OLPC XS code base but w/ tweaks? > sugar-server in that case is a new project w/ more tough and localized > design. > > > work on a single interface to integrate well into existing networks. > > Installation is via USB and fully scriptable via kickstart files. > > > > The current XS is very monolithic and bureaucratic. It requires > > moderate sysadmin skills to install and maintain. Maintaining the > > presence service is cumbersome and impractical in our schools. The > > turnover of teachers and students is far too high to ensure that > > anything gets managed properly. > > > We're looking to slim down the XS-AU such that we can have a simple > > collaboration server (which we currently call "XS Lite") that is > > installable in a classroom as a drop-in appliance. > > ie, just having jabber server and somehow let students know where it is? > > > is an ejabberd. > > btw, I'm planing to use Prosody instead of ejabberd. I have really bad > experiance w/ ejabberd - on jabber.sugarlabs.org it eats too many > resources for regular 10-30 online users. Prosody is slim and light app > and it alsready works fine w/ sugar-0.88. > > > Registration, Moodle, Squid, backups and so on are > > unnecessary. Each teacher can run their own server for their own > > class. Conveniently, this could easily run on an XO (XS-on-XO). > > in other workds there is no need in sugar specific stuff at all - just > install jabber server from packages (maybe w/ sugar specific patches) and > write its url on studensts' boxes. > > > > My own running though your wishlist keeping in mind sugar-server plans: > > > > > > 1) Porting XS to new version of Fedora > > > sugar-server will be build on OBS[3] for distros that are being used > > > in the field (deb or/and rpm based). > > > So, downstream can just use these packages, add new one and create > > > the final product (there is an idea to teach OBS to create isos for > > > not only SUSE, obs is designed originally) > > > > You're using SuSE as a base? That soun
Re: [Server-devel] Dansguardian on XS
I''ll probabbly get flamed for this but here goes. These are some of the resons I dont see oppenDNS are as an alternative to aw filter: - It it usually to restricitive kids or admins can of courrse change this, but then this becomes pertty mu dansguardian. - Dansguardian uses Baysian logic to filter out of a lot of the seriously otherwise complex keywords/phrases - I can STILL be uesd with openDNS, to drive down traffic usage - It i constnantly bein upfated by no only th3 Christian Community agenda, but muslim and jewish too... - IT works absolutely fantastically as a standalone program that uses tinyproxy and firehol and is maintained by a nice small team of devs )8 at lasst cound)... The whole frontend works fast and efficiently on a number of netbooks we teeted at guadalnex.ed - It has a major set of pre-fabricated recipes which will save techers adn admins tim So--- of u want to use i with OPNDNS u can, an if u choose satnalone vie js je ehreason . On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 5:04 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > 2011/4/5 Xavier Carcelle : > > Sabes si algunas han installado el Dansguardian on un XO directamente > > para fitrar XO si no hay XS ? > > No, pero hay una tecnica alternativa: > > 1 - Instala tu propio servidor de DNS que "forwardea" a OpenDNS. Tiene > que tener una IP publica. > > 2 - Al armar la imagen en olpc-os-builder, agrega un script en > /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d que cuando se establece una conexion > de red, evalua si esta en la red de la escuela (en ese caso, confia en > el XS) o fuera de la escuela (en ese caso, ignora el servidor de DNS > provisto via dhcp y usa el servidor que has instalado en el paso #1 > https://launchpad.net/webcontentcontrol > > Puedo ayudarlos con el script del paso #2 :-) > > -- In English > > for those wanting to provide content filtering both in the school and > outside, there is a good technique based on running your own DNS > server... > > 1 - Install your own DNS server (configured with "forwarder" line to > OpenDNS). Must have a public IP address... > > Actually, the Gambas2 interface is pretty neat and allows u to put in as many utf8 lingos as u like, a la pootle... u just have to put a [ ] within the word to be tanslated... later, gambas actually auto does t for u, sor of > 2 - When building your OS image on olpc-os-builder, add a script in > /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d -- the script gets called when a > network connection is established. It must check whether it is in a > school network (in this case, it trusts the XS to filter) or outside > (in this case, it ignores the DNS server provided via DHCP, and uses > instead the DNS server configured in step #1). > > I can help with the script for #2... > > > Modern versions of XS seem to be moving to using something a little more hackable than bind might be wiorth taking into account... Kind regards, David Van Assche, Tech Specialist > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- Software Architect - OLPC > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Fwd: wwwoffle, patched squid+some form of dns
hmmm gmail must have clobbered it somehow... let me gztar it... :-) what am I talking about god it just feels like I somehow find complex ways of doing the simplest things sometimes link to patch :p http://web.archive.org/web/20030816133415/www.anthill.echidna.id.au/~dancer/patches/squid-tristate-offline-patch-1.0.txt On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 4:01 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > Hey David, > > have you _looked_ at the "patch" you attached? ;-) > > cheers, > > > m > > On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 12:28 PM, David Van Assche > wrote: > > > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- Software Architect - OLPC > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Populating the Moodle db with users
What I did is open openoffice DB, select the relevant feels as filter, and then like Martin said, import as cvs. kind regards, David Van Assche On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 3:05 AM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 8:25 PM, Ben T wrote: > > Thanks for the pointers in your reply, Martin. The doc on Moodle.org for > > And -- after answering your technical questions -- i'm very happy to > see you are working on this. Moodle performance is a topic very dear > to my heart. > > Once you have your moodle tricked to play well with jmeter, please do > post to moodle.org with the magic recipe. > > cheers, > > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Collaboration server for existing network
Just out of curiosity... could those patches be added to other distros? Its just a question... not trying to imply a switch or anything... kind regards, David On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 10:58 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 4:46 PM, David Van Assche > wrote: > > One can of course run just ejabberd on pretty much any distro, though I'm > > not sure if that is what he is looking for. > > Apples and oranges ;-) > > This is about idmanager, and whether it's buggy or not when reading > its configuration. > > And yes, most distros have ejabberd, but ours has important patches > nobody else has ;-) > > > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Collaboration server for existing network
One can of course run just ejabberd on pretty much any distro, though I'm not sure if that is what he is looking for. kind regards, David On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 10:17 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 2:14 PM, Martin Langhoff > wrote: > > On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 1:20 PM, Jerry Vonau wrote: > >> Just checked git, I had to touch also idmanager.py in order to have it > >> respect the variable in the config file. > >> /BIND_ADDRESS/#BIND_ADDRESS > > > > Ok. So you had to unset the default value... then the code block below > > that (Config.__init__()), which reads /etc/idmgr.conf to read in > > overrides is failing to override it. > > Actually, you may have had a misconfiguration. If you set BIND_ADDRESS > in /etc/idmgr.conf, there is no need to touch idmanager.py -- it reads > the value properly from the config file. > > I've just tested such override, and it worked correctlyfor me. No > patching (to idmanager code) needed. > > Of course the /etc/idmgr.conf we ship in xs-config is buggy, but the > program itself reads and obeys its configuration AFAICS... > > cheers, > > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] OLPC & Moodle use
I would also point users to linux-for-education.org, which tries to be a little broader in terms of all the learning materials available, and isn't olpc centric. It does, however, have more olpc/sugar based learning materials than any other moodle install I know of. Having set up the majority of schools.sugarlabs.org and linux-for-education.org, I really think the 2 installs should be mirrors with the same content, to make it easier for content creators to choose where to deploy. Both sites have been neglected for quite a while, the main reason being I am the only one really paying any attention to deploying new learning materials, and I've been off doing other things, for which there seems to be a little more of a spotlight, something necessary, regardless of how selflessly time and energy is given to these projects. Unfortunately, since people don't seem to see the benefit of helping with the creation of documentation style learning materials, this is an uphill battle with no rewards. But we need this stuff, and even if its going to be just me adding content, then so be it, at least there is a place people can go to grab free in the full sense of the word learning materials. The sites (with an emphasis on linux-for-education.org) should be growing quite dramatically soon, due to needing to scratch our own itches (myself and some fellow users are starting up an IT school and are in need of free and open learning materials, so we will have to create what is not already there, ourselves) We will be basing the materials on ECDL and ICDL (European and Internatiohnal computer drivers license) as with that in mind one can get a diploma that is recognised in most places in the world. The ECDL curriculum is quite standardised and visible on its website, but there is still no location where one can download or interactively use the learning materials necessary to finally end up with the suite of diplomas available from ECDL. We hope to change this soon... kind regards, David Van Assche On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 2:56 AM, Frederick Grose wrote: > On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 6:41 PM, David Leeming < > da...@leeming-consulting.com> wrote: > >> Is there an existing Wiki page where we can all add our contributions? >> This is a very good idea. I would suggest also some suggestions or >> approaches to training teachers to use it, i.e. a training curriculum >> introducing the features in a manageable way. For many of the teachers we >> deal with, the OLPC is their first experience with any type of computing. >> >> >> >> David Leeming >> > > One could demonstrate in the native format here, schools.sugarlabs.org/. > > That would remove a translation layer. There are, of course wikis > available at > http://wiki.laptop.org and http://wiki.sugarlabs.org where one could start > a new > page. > > --Fred > > > >> >> >> *From:* server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org [mailto: >> server-devel-boun...@lists.laptop.org] *On Behalf Of *Luuk Terbeek >> *Sent:* Saturday, 17 April 2010 6:40 a.m. >> *To:* server-devel@lists.laptop.org >> *Subject:* [Server-devel] OLPC & Moodle use >> >> >> >> Dear members of the server-devel@lists.laptop.org, >> >> >> >> Currently I'm preparing a presentation for the Dutch Moodle Moot. >> >> I hope to spread the word of the wonderful things that happen >> & possibilities regarding the use of Moodle related to the OLPC project. >> >> >> >> For that reason I try to create an overview of best practices regarding >> the use of Moodle in the OLPC project. >> >> >> >> All your comments and suggestions are warmly welcome! >> >> >> >> Thanks in advance! >> >> >> >> Best regards, >> >> >> >> Luuk Terbeek >> > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Moodle Integration Status - Was [IAEP] Where should we put Lesson Plans? Currwiki?
I believe Dennis Daniels has done a lot of work in this area, at least the screencasts part of it. I've forwarded this mail to him to so he can tell you what, if anything he's got, and if not, he'll probably be glad to create something. David On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > Hi David, > Thank you for this email. > > To the extent Moodle/Sugar integration works I want to use it! GPA has its > own private XS system, auto login is working fine. I am testing the file > backup today. > > One of the things > we need to solve is getting Teacher templates out to all the students and > student work in to teacher > efficiently. > > Is there documentation? Can you make me a screen cast? > > This may well be valuable enough that its worth helping the teachers and > students climb the UIs learning curve. > > > > On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 3:08 AM, David Van Assche wrote: > >> Actually, points 4.1 and 4.2 have been integrated into moodle for quite a >> while now. Perhaps its the flexibility which is making these possibilities >> hidden, that and their particular use of wording. Unfortunately, people tend >> to not use the full capaccity of its uses until they completly understand >> what they are doing, as moodle gives an almost infinte amount of ways to >> manipulate data. As Martin Langhoff has pointed out on numerous accassions, >> we need to drop funcinality until the User interface is easily understnadble >> by all, something he has gracefully offered to do over the next couple of >> moths, >> >> So, with a customised, simplifie versin of moodle and what it does (course >> management, which to me is very much linked with creating and presenting >> lesson plans is perfect for the job. >> >> I am of course interesting in what the lesson plan/ course will loook like >> if it is not based on the moodle infraastricture. >> >> What is absolutely needed is some extra volunteering ti totally simplify >> the UI, something that might take a while but was already started by Martin >> and co. >> >> n >> On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 4:58 PM, Caroline Meeks < >> carol...@solutiongrove.com> wrote: >> >>> Hi Chris, >>> I think the right answer is to put our materials on both your system and >>> Curriki for now and hopefully an automated interoperable system will emerge. >>> >>> I am very interested in collaborating with OLE and in making materials >>> accessible to schools without internet access. Please talk more about how >>> your system supports these environments. I have not yet reached out to the >>> Curriki people to try to create a partnership. Are you in communication >>> with them? >>> >> >> From what I understand of the OLE system, is that they will be doing >> something similar to both schools.s.o, and li-f-e.org, which is creating >> a library of moodle courses, the biggest challenge of which becomees, how to >> do this is in an easily undertandable format annd categoristaion of the so >> colled ' library of courses' This if of course the tip of the iceberg, and >> would be using about 5% of what moodle can do, but the transportability is >> key here. As ,mentioned, its easy enough to export a scorm elemnt, and then >> upload to something like curriki. Doing it the other way round looses all >> the funtinoality of Moodle itself to tailor and customise courses, as they >> are important as objects rather than real Moodle courses. >> >> Moodle advocates. I am a big Moodle fan. But I don't think its our right >> now solution for the work we are talking about doing. >> >>> >>> >>>1. Our target, elementary school teachers are not currently using >>>either Moodle or Sugar, adding both at once makes the learning curve even >>>harder. >>> >>> Remember that if u intend to use the XS server, moodle is actually >> integrated into Sugar, ie... its a part of the Sugar experience. >> >> >>> >>>1. We are focusing on lesson plans in the 1 hour and even 20-minute >>>groupwork time frames. Moodle is more focused on longer time frames. >>> >>> You can make a moodle course last 5 mintues - 50 hours if u like, its al >> about how u set it up. >> >> >>> >>>1. We are focusing on what the teacher will do and what the class >>>will do both online and offline during the lesson as well as learning >>> goals, >>>standards, help for the teacher in differentiating the lesson
Re: [Server-devel] [IAEP] Where should we put Lesson Plans? Currwiki?
Actually, points 4.1 and 4.2 have been integrated into moodle for quite a while now. Perhaps its the flexibility which is making these possibilities hidden, that and their particular use of wording. Unfortunately, people tend to not use the full capaccity of its uses until they completly understand what they are doing, as moodle gives an almost infinte amount of ways to manipulate data. As Martin Langhoff has pointed out on numerous accassions, we need to drop funcinality until the User interface is easily understnadble by all, something he has gracefully offered to do over the next couple of moths, So, with a customised, simplifie versin of moodle and what it does (course management, which to me is very much linked with creating and presenting lesson plans is perfect for the job. I am of course interesting in what the lesson plan/ course will loook like if it is not based on the moodle infraastricture. What is absolutely needed is some extra volunteering ti totally simplify the UI, something that might take a while but was already started by Martin and co. n On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 4:58 PM, Caroline Meeks wrote: > Hi Chris, > I think the right answer is to put our materials on both your system and > Curriki for now and hopefully an automated interoperable system will emerge. > > I am very interested in collaborating with OLE and in making materials > accessible to schools without internet access. Please talk more about how > your system supports these environments. I have not yet reached out to the > Curriki people to try to create a partnership. Are you in communication > with them? > >From what I understand of the OLE system, is that they will be doing something similar to both schools.s.o, and li-f-e.org, which is creating a library of moodle courses, the biggest challenge of which becomees, how to do this is in an easily undertandable format annd categoristaion of the so colled ' library of courses' This if of course the tip of the iceberg, and would be using about 5% of what moodle can do, but the transportability is key here. As ,mentioned, its easy enough to export a scorm elemnt, and then upload to something like curriki. Doing it the other way round looses all the funtinoality of Moodle itself to tailor and customise courses, as they are important as objects rather than real Moodle courses. Moodle advocates. I am a big Moodle fan. But I don't think its our right now solution for the work we are talking about doing. > > >1. Our target, elementary school teachers are not currently using >either Moodle or Sugar, adding both at once makes the learning curve even >harder. > > Remember that if u intend to use the XS server, moodle is actually integrated into Sugar, ie... its a part of the Sugar experience. > >1. We are focusing on lesson plans in the 1 hour and even 20-minute >groupwork time frames. Moodle is more focused on longer time frames. > > You can make a moodle course last 5 mintues - 50 hours if u like, its al about how u set it up. > >1. We are focusing on what the teacher will do and what the class will >do both online and offline during the lesson as well as learning goals, >standards, help for the teacher in differentiating the lesson etc. Think >the teachers guide for the text book. Moodle is more focused on what the >student is doing online. Its not a very natural fit. > > Quite the opposite... Moodle is focued on making it easier to contol and offer in an easy leeson plan format what the students can do/ wth the added benefit of being able to grade all the courses. > >1. Moodle has tremendous promise in terms of reducing teacher workload. > Here is an example of what I hope that in the future Moodle will be able >to: > 1. Provide a link that students click and they open a Write document > that is a template/scaffolding for a specific assignment, say writing a > scientific argument. > 2. When the document is saved it is automatically turned in as > Homework in Moodle allowing the teacher to review and comment on the > document from anywhere, even on days when the class does not see the > science > teacher > > The reason I pointed out the comment above > >1. . > > however, these features aren't there yet. Once they are there will be a > large payoff for teachers to learn Moodle. However, I still see Moodle as > just one format teachers will use. Other lessons and other teachers and > other contexts may still want to print out a pdf. Other times a teacher may > just be browsing for a sample lesson to be used as inspiration to create a > quite different lesson. > Actully, these features are there, as I have used them extensively in my own moodle coruses driven by student input.
[Server-devel] DB module for moodle in XS server serously coool and needed addittion
To create a easy reference for linux commands, the best way was to use the Moodle database module. You can create quite elaborate databases which are then easily edited and added to by users. There are only 4 entries in it right now, but the idea is for it to get filled up. So give it a go... http://www.linux-for-education.org/mod/data/view.php?id=2747 The idea is, that this approach can be used for making the incredibly powerful and simple to use dbs for XS moodle installs to contain important materials such as a testing DB, general equipment DB, commands DB, hell even a local apps DB that links ot applications.sugarlabs.org Anyway, I remember Marting Langhoff trying to grab people's attention to this great module, well above is an implementation example which not only works, but looks ok to.. kind regaards, David Van Assche linux-for-education.org -- www.nubae.com -- Stephen Leacock<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/stephen_leacock.html> - "I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is not so." ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] a sample moodle course
2 places to look: linux-for-education.org openlearn.open,ac.uk A whíle back I was working on converting some paper based math materials with Albert Calahan, but like so many of these things, time was not really on my side, and I kinda let Albert down. I hope I get some more time soon, so pick that back up, now that linux-for-education.org is up David On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 9:53 PM, Sameer Verma wrote: > Does anyone have a sample moodle course for say literacy or math that > can be used as an example on the school server? > > Sameer > -- > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Information Systems > San Francisco State University > San Francisco CA 94132 USA > http://verma.sfsu.edu/ > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] web file manager
Might be worth taking a look at ifolder... http://www.ifolder.com/ifolder Used to be an old netware project which novell has revived and thrown into opensource domain... totally cross platform too... kind regards, David Van Assche On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 6:44 PM, Rodolfo D. Arce S. wrote: > Hello: > > Just wanted to let you know that we are using a php file manager to > upload files to the schoolserver and later shared through the apache > web server.. we're using XS 0.5.2 > > The project is called phpajaxfilemanager, and is open source, we > placed in the /library/uploads directory in the schoolserver, don't > forget to change permissions so apache can access them > > http://sourceforge.net/projects/pafm/ > > We create to aliases in the webserver.. using a config file like > this.. we changed values for the php.ini file from this configuration, > and applied only to the alias, so no other aplications (like moodle) > would be affected by this changes > > # /etc/httpd/conf.d/002-uploader.conf > Alias /upload /library/uploads > > AllowOverride All > php_value upload_max_filesize 1000 > php_value post_max_size 1000 > Order allow,deny > Allow from all > > > Alias /files /library/uploads/files > > Options Indexes > Order allow,deny > Allow from all > > > With this two aliases.. the teachers can use the "upload" interface > wich has a very simple authentication.. and the children or other > teachers can access to the "files" aliases, without having to > authenticate, and they wont be able to erase anything, upload or > modify anything > > I'll admit that is not the safest way to share files using the > schoolserver, but it works fine for us.. do you think that are other > ways of doing this?? are other deployments using different methods?? > > cheers.. R > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [Sugar-devel] [IAEP] collaboration testing session
Yeah as stated, we will use the default jabber server which is the solutions grove one I guess... or are u talking about another one? David On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 4:38 PM, David Farning wrote: > David, > > Can you try to use the Solutions Groovy jabber server? Caroline and > Dave are putting some very helpful resources behind cleaning up the > server. > > david(The other one) > > On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Caroline Meeks > wrote: > > Hi David, > > > > Will you be using the server hosted by Solution Grove/Zill? We would be > > very happy if you did. > > > > We have seen mysterious spikes in resource usage that is not correlated > to > > the number of users connected. I am suspicious that some of the > activities > > use too many resources when they are shared. I'd like to set it up so > that > > someone on your team has access to what is going on on the server so you > can > > try to correlate any spikes to specific activities. > > > > Thanks, > > Caroline > > > > On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 12:09 AM, David Van Assche > > wrote: > >> > >> Hi folks, > >>We are having a collaborative sugar testing session next week > Wednesday > >> 10th June at 20:00 UTC (That is 4 pm EDT, 3pm EST, 2 pm CST, 1 pm MST, > and > >> 12 pm PST, most of Europe that will be 9 pm, 8 pm for the UK) > >> > >> So far we have 5 people signed up, but more are welcome as we really > want > >> to see how collaboration works on many activities where it isn't quite > >> obvious. We will be taking notes and storing log files of the sessions, > and > >> will suggest ways in which the activity in question might be more > >> collaborative, or may need less of it (who knows :-) > >> > >> We will be testing the activities that come preinstalled on the openSUSE > >> sugar images, but we'd like to test various distribution methods > (virtual > >> appliance, cd, usb, hd) and various distros (at least Fedora SoaS, > openSUSE > >> sugar, Mandriva or Caixa Magica) I dont believe 0.82 images are > compatible > >> with 0.84 for collaboration, so am afraid this is for 0.84 only... > Please > >> post your willingness to participate so we have an idea on who/how many > will > >> be collaborating. We also need a volunteer to take notes, and a > volunteer to > >> store logs files. There will of course be a transcript of the irc > session > >> too (we will meet at #sugar-collaboration) We forsee this taking between > 1 > >> and 2 hours... > >> > >> Here is the list of activities we will be testing, so make sure you have > >> them installed if you plan to take part (not all have collaborative > >> abilities, and for those that don't it can be a brainstorming session on > >> whether/how we can make them collaborative: > >> > >> sugar-finance > >> sugar-flipsticks-activity > >> sugar-freecell > >> sugar-imageviewer > >> sugar-implode > >> sugar-infoslicer > >> sugar-jigsaw-puzzle-activity > >> sugar-joke-machine-activity > >> sugar-jukebox > >> sugar-labyrinth > >> sugar-maze > >> sugar-memorize > >> sugar-moon > >> sugar-paint-activity > >> sugar-pippy > >> sugar-playgo > >> sugar-read > >> sugar-readetexts-activity > >> sugar-record > >> sugar-slider-puzzle-activity > >> sugar-speak > >> sugar-storybuilder > >> sugar-tamtam-common > >> sugar-tamtam-edit > >> sugar-tamtam-jam > >> sugar-tamtam-mini > >> sugar-tamtam-synthlab > >> sugar-analyze > >> sugar-turtleart > >> sugar-typing-turtle > >> sugar-viewslides > >> sugar-write > >> sugar-browse > >> sugar-irc > >> sugar-calculate > >> sugar-xomail (sugar-sweetmail) > >> sugar-cartoonbuilder > >> sugar-clock > >> sugar-colors > >> sugar-connect > >> sugar-drgeo-activity > >> xoEditor > >> sugar-evince > >> sugar-fiftytwo > >> sugar-chat > >> sugar-terminal > >> sugar-journal > >> sugar-physics > >> sugar-library > >> sugar-poll > >> sugar-tuxpaint > >> > >> kind Regards, > >> David (nubae) Van Assche > >> www.nubae.com > >> > >> > >> ___ > >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > >> i...@lists.sugarlabs.org > >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > > > > > > > > -- > > Caroline Meeks > > Solution Grove > > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > > > 617-500-3488 - Office > > 505-213-3268 - Fax > > > > ___ > > Sugar-devel mailing list > > sugar-de...@lists.sugarlabs.org > > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] ARM based XS ?
Actually, OpenSUSE's build service now properly builds ARM for Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu, and very very soon OpenSUSE too. Its worth taking a look at that method, as the router based arm products are almost all gonna be ipckg or opckg, which are very similar to dpckg, but just trimmed down with less policy stuff... kind Regards, David Van Assche On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 1:35 PM, Martin Langhoff wrote: > > > On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 3:11 AM, rihowa...@gmail.com > wrote: >> >> According to the http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM there is >> Fedora 8 and Fedora 10 port for ARM. The OpenRD comes with Fedora 8. >> I mentioned this at the OLPC-SF meeting this morning and we are adding it >> to our projects list. I have 1 or 2 people at the meeting volunteer to help >> me with this. As a result of the positive responses I am going to order >> the ARM machine to experiment with. I am not sure when the hardware will >> actually ship once I place the order. A shipping delay will give me time to >> read some of the documentation on building Fedora for ARM. > > Excellent news -- keep us posted on server-devel. If after some testing you > think it's viable, I'll get one of those boards too. > >> >> What size hard drive do you recommend for the XS? > > Right now the base install takes ~ 500MB. For a deployment machine, the > recommendation is that you budget for > > - 4GB for OS + data > - 2GB x user > > for a development machine / testing, at least 4GB is important so you can > rebuild kernels, etc. > > > m > -- > martin.langh...@gmail.com > mar...@laptop.org -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XS as virtual image
Is it possible to run the XS server as a virtual Image. The school where we have currently deployed XOs has a windows 2003 server that could carry a virtual image... Its not what I called Ideal, but I was wondering whether it would work... kind Regards, David Van Assche ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS - XO archiving and backup (was Re: [OLPC India] Issues on the ground )
One package to look at is Mahara, also from your neck of the woods (Martin) which you've probably heard of. I installed it along a Moodle install and took advantage of xmlrpc to do sharing of data and single sign on. Mahara is an e-portfolio system, that when set up looks a little like a personalised facebook, with resume, file areas, and many other user specific items. backups would fit in there perfectly. kind regards, David Van Assche On 11/10/08, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 9:08 AM, Bill Bogstad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I've personally used the version in XS 0.4 to verify that individual > > journal entries can be restored. > > > Good to hear that - great and thanks! > > > > However, you probably don't want to > > use this version in an actual deployment without changes. There is > > absolutely no security on access to backups. The web server lets > > anyone who can get an http connection to the schoolserver to download > > files from any users backup. My understanding is that there are plans > > to > > move access into Moodle and take advantage of access control there. > > > 100% correct. The backups right now offer no privacy - I had hoped to > address that for 0.5 - integrating the restore UI into Moodle - but it > proved to be a bit of a stretch. It is definitely a 0.6 goal. > > From 0.5 to 0.6 the upgrade will be easy - probably just a handful of > updated RPMs, so yum can do its magic. > > cheers, > > > > m > > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Fwd: [Ltsp-discuss] SolarNetOne solar-powered LTSP installation
This is very relevant to what's being done serverside for the XS... small form solar powered server that transmits networking up to 2 miles http://gnuveau.net/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi David -- Forwarded message -- From: Bjorn Helgaas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 11:23 PM Subject: [Ltsp-discuss] SolarNetOne solar-powered LTSP installation To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Interesting application of LTSP: http://gnuveau.net/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi >From the overview: The SolarNetOne ICT terminal network was conceived and designed to solve the challenging problem of how to provide Internet access and services to rural and developing areas where there is no existing power or communications infrastructure. This problem is solved by combining several powerful technologies: Photovoltaic solar electrical systems, GNU/Linux, 802.11a/b/g packet radio, commonly known as "wifi," Power over Ethernet, and the MIT X11 windowing system. It has been described as an "ISP in a box," for reasons detailed below. SERVER The SolarNetOne system incorporates a powerful server in a small form factor that acts as the core of the communications system. It provides mid to long range wireless internet coverage up to a 2 mile radius through its integrated high power 802.11a/b/g wireless access point and high gain omni-directional antenna. This configuration can be used to provide full internet access, including Voice over IP telephone service, to the immediate coverage area, which can be extended to longer ranges through the use of wireless repeater devices. Also integrated into the server is the capability for full end-to-end internet communications by means of its HTTP (web), SMTP (email), DNS (domain name system), and SSH (secure shell) server software. Additional internet services can easily be added to the network by use of the APT (advanced package tool) repositories of GNU/Linux software available worldwide. This is an integral part of the underlying Ubuntu operating system. APT automates the often difficult task of installing and updating software, making system administration tasks of installation and maintenance easy, particularly when critical updates effecting network security are concerned. The server itself can also be used as a network console for administration or day-to-day operator use through its integrated monitor, keyboard, and mouse. TERMINALS Another key feature of the SolarNetOne system is its network attached terminals, which provide traditional desktop services one would normally associate with using a computer, with several powerful, attractive, and popular desktop environments to choose from. It comes pre-installed with web browsing, email, office, multimedia, software development and web development applications, as well as a choice of over 15000 other applications to suit most any computing need that are free for download through the APT system. The terminals themselves connect to the system's Ethernet hub, which provides both network connection and electrical power to the terminals and their LCD monitors over a single CAT6 Ethernet wire. This eliminates wire clutter and the need for extra power wiring costs. They operate as "thin clients" with the majority of the workload being handled by the server's higher capacity processors, enabling superior performance per over than a standalone PC architecture and significantly lower maintenance workload than a similar solution of several personal computers. Also available is full sound support through integrated audio jacks, 104 key keyboard, laser scroll mouse and the ability to plug USB memory sticks into the terminals, allowing users to take their data with them round out the terminal's ability to provide a complete and rich user experience. SolarNetOne comes standard with 5 terminals, and can expand to as many as 48 terminals per server node. As an option in areas where allowed by law, an ATA phone adapter provides Voice over IP telephone service through a standard telephone handset. POWER SYSTEM The entire SolarNetOne system is powered by 12VDC electrical current supplied through the system's elegant solar power generation and storage subsystem. Using an array of photovoltaic solar panels, an advanced charge controller, ample battery storage, and a design focusing on safety, the power subsystem provides for all of the electrical needs associated with 24/7 server operation and 8 hours per day of terminal access. Integrated circuit breakers on every segment of the power sub-system provide the safest possible implementation. In addition to its excellent performance, the use of solar power means no fuel costs, no polluting emissions, and a long lifespan of up to 20 years of use at listed power ratings with proper maintenance. USER APPLICATIONS The SolarNetOne system comes pre-installed with a wide variety of user applications. For the user, these include: Mozilla Firefox suite for web browsing and email Evolution for email and
Re: [Server-devel] yummy moodle - xs-0.5
Hi Martin, Is there a list of the changes you made somewhere... from a standard moodle install...? Thanks, and good job... Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 7:11 AM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Grab a recent xs-0.5 and do > > yum --disablerepo=olpcxs --enablerepo=olpcxs-testing install > xs-config moodle-xs > /etc/init.d/moodle start > > Now you have a (basic!) Moodle as the index page of the XS. Most of > the work has gone into the infrastructure behind it. > > Some changes to moodle I've haven't merged yet into that package. Will > finish merging them tomorrow. This includes the user mgmt scheme, so > you'll have to login as the admin -- the generated password will be in > /etc/moodle/adminpw . > > cheers, > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] DansGuardian (was What's cooking in the XS pot this week, (2008-10--01))
You may want to look into SquidGuard... it may be an alternative to Dansguardian as it seems much lighterweight and more customizable in the way you've been doing the bash side of things on the XS to date: http://www.squidguard.org/ Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 1:01 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sun, Oct 5, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Martin Langhoff > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I'm still a bit ambivalent with regards to DG and how much of a good >> fit it is, so let's be clear - long term, what we want is a good >> quality content filter. > > Been ruminating on this a bit. The more I think about it, the more > clear it is that DG on the XS is not a good long term solution. > > - from reports, it seems to be fairly cpu and memory heavy > - and its content scanning is fairly primitive - not bayesian > > For DG to be effective, I'd like to do Bayesian filtering, with the > ability to train it. Or something in thesame family of strategies but > smarter. The problem is that the XS will not have enough cpu/mem to > handle this task. > > So it's a task better pushed to a proxy/filter "upstream" at the ISP > network -- for any large deployment, we should start advising the > local team to arrange with the ISP(s?) involved the co-location of 1 > server. This server gives us an opportunity to perform > > - filtering at one central place > = better scale up / scale out economies (making bayesian costs more > reasonable) > = larger "scoring" pool, so good/bad content gets flagged faster > and for everyone > = white/blacklisting is immediate and for everyone > = better bandwidth/traffic efficiency - unwanted content never > clogs the slow/limited school pipe > = unsure if DG is the tool of choice here > > - smart upstream proxing > = run an rproxy upstream or similar > = provide "seed" content for downstream proxies to pull > > - With this setup, laptops can be configured to attempt to use the > upstream proxy even when connected via a non-school AP. This way, the > protections extend to kids accessing internet outside of school. This > is somewhat hard to enforce - we are protecting kids that want to be > kids. Once a kid is at a cybercafe and has the intention to sidestep > the filter, the genie is out of the bottle: he/she could just use one > of the other machines anyway. > > On every XS I want to include blacklisting facilities so that teachers > can exert local control in a hurry, but that is simple, blunt, and > hardly needs DG :-) > > In any case, we can still think of DG as a "pilot deployment" filter. > > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] latest XS + ltsp
Hi there, We are doing a pilot with a bunch of xos and an XS server. I'd like to be able to add LTSP functionality to the same server, (must be FC9) so that it can do that for a couple static computers... do you see any problems mixing XS with LTSP, or should this not be too bad. I know LTSP quite well, and I can't for see too many issues, but perhaps I haven't thought about all of it... where can I download the very latest XS for FC9? Kind Regards, David Van Assche ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] offline moodle
Have to agree with Martin... the concept of offline moodle is to get a functioning offline version of moodle running locally... If then, the teacher directs students to download .xo bundles from a repo or something, sure why not, but no need to automate this into offline moodle. It complicates and goes against what offline moodle is supposed to be... Offline moodle is just a website... running locally instead of over the network, as much for the teacher as the student, they'll get all the content they need for the set period of time (this set period of time is something that needs to be worked out... is it a variable value, or what?) That said, there were positive comments concerning Tony's work to date by others, and the South American effort to make the offline moodle using gears. They want to move away from using air to using gears along lines of what's being done here. I shall link up Tony with them so you can work out some sort of plan. I believe right now, the South Americans are a bit close to getting their 'fin de curso' (end of course) work done, but they want this to be a project that is not just something for their school, but a global thing They are fighting hard to let us see the code :-) but their university is against that until they complete the project. Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 2:43 AM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 11:13 PM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> hey Tony, this is a good start. I have a somewhat different workflow in >> mind. Here is a narrative that describes what I am thinking >> >> User Story 1: Intermittent School attendance and School Server Outage > > Your user story is roughly what offline moodle is aiming for, except > that by the magic of using GG, step 5 'downloads' content (and JS > code) _to Browse_. Content that Browse can navigate locally, even if > the network server is not available. > > So instead of opening a dedicated 'activity', users go to Browse and > when they click on the 'Schoolserver' link Gears takes over (if the XS > is not reachable) and they can use offline moodle. > >> The key here is that we need to package each offline moodle course as >> an .XO Activity Bundle. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activity_bundles > > IMO that path would be a huge amount of work, and a bit of a dead end > WRT updates and such. Cant' really recommend it. It is also a bespoke > effort- nothing else supports activity bundles, so there's no > incentive for Moodle to remain compatible to it. > > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS Splashscreen / logo
Nice, except took me almost a minute to figure out that the central part of the X was an S... maybe I'm just slow I don't know.... David Van Assche 2008/9/1 Jeff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > I couldn't find any existing logo, so I came up with this concept: > http://www.wildcoast.com/node/402 > Comments, flames or suggestions welcome. > Also, some clue as to what should go on a splashscreen, plz. > -J > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Aternative setting for eth0 on servers that are not #1
Hi Martin, Having worked in both 1 and 2 nic situations, what I've found often happens, and it doesn't really matter what distro or release, is that eth0 and/or eth1 often get blocked somehow... almost always something happens kernel side to disable one of the nics... This of course then catapults either the interior lan or internet access to no-man's land and we are left trying to reset the nics via tricky kernel commands (I found no way, other than to restart with a different distro, let it catch the nics with its kernel, then restart, to fix this) I've now seen it happen multiple times on the Fedora based system we had at OLE Nepal... plus that, though it makes sense in most situations to make the nics dhcp, with a server setup, so you can be sure which of the nics is acting as dhcp server it doesn't (you definitely don't want 2 on the network.) I'd vote to make both nics static and have an option for one nic in cases where bandwidth/traffic shaping is no issue... so within the setup script, ask what is wanted, giving advantages/tribulations of both... I've never had any problems with a 1 nic setup, except issues of security and no bandwidth shaping, but its difficult to measure how those things really affect the network without breaches and excessive you-tube usage, which a centralised dansguardian is usually gonna block anyway... just my 2 or 3 cents... David Van Assche, Educaction IT Consultant On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 6:00 AM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Wad, > > now that I am revamping the networking setup, the 'secondary servers' > may only have eth0. It makes sense to set them with their main address > on eth0 rather than on eth1. > > Agree/disagree? What would you use eth0 for on those machines? > > We are talking about the multi-server scenario depicted in > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Configuration_Management#Large_School_Scenario > > [As a sidenote, I may also add an option for single-nic server 1 roles > where the sysadmin may want the only NIC available to be LAN. This is > relatively easy to do, shift the MAC addr in the udev rules file - > eth0 will fail to come up, but that does not affect any service. ] > > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] xs-rsync
Well I believe I've followed all the instructions but I'm getting some weird stuff happening... first rsync rsync://schoolserver tells me schoolserver doesnt resolve secondly still cannot get the command xs-refresh-xobuildlist --rebuildconfig to work without list it works, but not otherwise... and Ive pasted the version i have below... any ideas? On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 1:31 PM, David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Martin Langhoff > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 6:18 PM, David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> I've been playing around with this for a while but a couple of >>> questions have come up which I can't resolve: >>> >>> 1. In the XS-rsync document on the olpc wiki it mentions: >>> >>> ~ With a USB stick, for a headless XO ~ >>> >>> What is a headless XO? >> >> Ooops. Headless XS. It doesn't _have_ to be headless, but this model >> supports operation without any interaction via a terminal (tty or >> graphical)... > > ah now that makes more sense, I was starting to think there > was an XO without a screen specifically built for this purpose ;-) > >>> 2. Run `xs-refresh-xobuildlist --rebuildconfignot found... am I missing >>> something I should have installed? > >> Perhaps. What version of the xs-rsync have you got (try `rpm -qi >> xs-rsync`) ? Have you per` - when I try this >>> command on my XS, it tells me command formed the recommended >> >> yum --enablerepo=olpcwhatever install xs-rsync >> >> ? > > done... twice... tells me I've already got the latest version of > xs-rsync (0.5-1.xs7.noarch) > >>> 3. Does the latest olpc-update rpm include the patch already or do I >>> have to manually patch it? > >> You don't mention what rpm version you have, and my crystal ball is at >> the repair shop. Whatever olpc-update is in joyride-2301 has it. > > ok, cool, so ill rpm install that one then... > >>> 4. You mention: put the name in a file called xyz_jffs2.name, can this >>> name be called anything like joyride-2013? >> >> Yes. The xyz part has to match all the other files. Inside the file, >> put joyride-2013. So if you are getting >> "xo-1-olpc-stream-joyride-build-2270-20080807_2118-devel_jffs2.img" >> and its companion files, >> >> echo joyride-2270 > >> xo-1-olpc-stream-joyride-build-2270-20080807_2118-devel_jffs2 .name >> >> Initially I tried to write logic to guess the right name, but there >> are several "patterns", and I'm not into black magic really. Pick a >> name, put it there. I call mine "twiggy". > > twiggy k... any particular reason? > >> cheers, >> >> >> >> m >> -- >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect >> - ask interesting questions >> - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first >> - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff >> > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] xs-rsync
On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 6:18 PM, David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I've been playing around with this for a while but a couple of >> questions have come up which I can't resolve: >> >> 1. In the XS-rsync document on the olpc wiki it mentions: >> >> ~ With a USB stick, for a headless XO ~ >> >> What is a headless XO? > > Ooops. Headless XS. It doesn't _have_ to be headless, but this model > supports operation without any interaction via a terminal (tty or > graphical)... ah now that makes more sense, I was starting to think there was an XO without a screen specifically built for this purpose ;-) >> 2. Run `xs-refresh-xobuildlist --rebuildconfig` - when I try this >> command on my XS, it tells me command not found... am I missing >> something I should have installed? > Perhaps. What version of the xs-rsync have you got (try `rpm -qi > xs-rsync`) ? Have you performed the recommended > > yum --enablerepo=olpcwhatever install xs-rsync > > ? done... twice... tells me I've already got the latest version of xs-rsync (0.5-1.xs7.noarch) >> 3. Does the latest olpc-update rpm include the patch already or do I >> have to manually patch it? > You don't mention what rpm version you have, and my crystal ball is at > the repair shop. Whatever olpc-update is in joyride-2301 has it. ok, cool, so ill rpm install that one then... >> 4. You mention: put the name in a file called xyz_jffs2.name, can this >> name be called anything like joyride-2013? > > Yes. The xyz part has to match all the other files. Inside the file, > put joyride-2013. So if you are getting > "xo-1-olpc-stream-joyride-build-2270-20080807_2118-devel_jffs2.img" > and its companion files, > > echo joyride-2270 > > xo-1-olpc-stream-joyride-build-2270-20080807_2118-devel_jffs2 .name > > Initially I tried to write logic to guess the right name, but there > are several "patterns", and I'm not into black magic really. Pick a > name, put it there. I call mine "twiggy". twiggy k... any particular reason? > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] xs-rsync
I've been playing around with this for a while but a couple of questions have come up which I can't resolve: 1. In the XS-rsync document on the olpc wiki it mentions: ~ With a USB stick, for a headless XO ~ What is a headless XO? 2. Run `xs-refresh-xobuildlist --rebuildconfig` - when I try this command on my XS, it tells me command not found... am I missing something I should have installed? 3. Does the latest olpc-update rpm include the patch already or do I have to manually patch it? 4. You mention: put the name in a file called xyz_jffs2.name, can this name be called anything like joyride-2013? ok, think thats it... thanks David Van Assche OLE Nepal ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Ubuntu XS
You can count me in on that... I've been pushing for debian or ubuntu to be the XS platform for a while, and I know Martin Langhoff sort of feels the same way... but since so much work has already been done on Fedora, we should see how feasable it is to make 2 concurrent XS rollouts... but yeah it would be great, although in the end, the underlying mechanisms are so similar it might not be worth the effort... Kind Regards, David On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Sameer Verma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Pia Waugh wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I have a few projects I am helping support and was thinking about doing an >> Ubuntu based XS option. I wanted to find out whether anyone else was >> interested in this, and whether any work has been done. My reason for >> wanting to do an Ubuntu version is purely because it is a more familiar >> platform for me, and I though having easy to roll out XS deb packages might >> be useful to others. I'll also be doing a bunch of testing of the ds-backup >> packages and some additional functionality we need for some >> Australian/Pacific rollouts. I'll keep the list updated on our progress. >> >> Martin mentioned that there are apparently 6 packages for the Fedora based >> XS project, so I need to find those out to port to Ubuntu please :) >> >> Thanks all! >> >> Cheers, >> Pia >> >> > Hi Pia, > > Doing a Debian-based XS came up in one of the server meetings we had a > few months ago http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Conf_08_MAR_25_Notes. It > kinda came up here as well: > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Conf_08_AUG_07_Meeting > > A Ubuntu-based XS would be great. We've talked about it at SF State and > a couple of other groups around here for reasons of familiarity and it > being Debian based, etc. I'd be curious to see what it would take to get > the XS on a Ubuntu or Debian base. > > cheers, > Sameer > > -- > Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Information Systems > San Francisco State University > San Francisco CA 94132 USA > http://verma.sfsu.edu/ > http://opensource.sfsu.edu/ > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] mailserver+squirrelmail
If anyone is interested, I can post the procedure to get postfix+dovecot+sasl and squirrelmail working on the XS server ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Need help: mounting usb devices on headless machines
The LTSP version of Fedora does automounting of drives (usb, floppy, cd)... maybe take a look at the code used to implement it... David On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 3:04 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 6:37 PM, Martin Langhoff > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Option two - help me package & tweak usbmount for F7 and F9. The >> codebase is *tiny*, we can carry it. > ... >> I'll probably start chipping away at #2 tomorrow... > > FWIW, I've imported the history into git, made some minor changes and > it installs and works on F7. > > git > git://dev.laptop.org/users/martin/usbmount.git > > gitweb > http://dev.laptop.org/git?p=users/martin/usbmount.git;a=summary > > Now, about those beeps... > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] xs-rsync - now updating your XO
Can I test this with my local XS then? or does it only work with updates.laptop.org? Kind Regards, David Van Assche OLE Nepal On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 7:02 AM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've just published on the xs 'testing' repos > xs-rsync-0.3-1.xs7.noarch.rpm (make sure you get fakeroot 1.9.6 with > it) which can publish any files via rsync, and has special hooks to > publish the xo updates. > > Here is the README for the package http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS-rsync > > In terms of testing, it definitely updates my xo correctly :-) > > Scott has in his hands now a tiny patch to olpc-update that adds > support for naming the update server, so we can test it. Hopefully > it'll make it to joyride soon. > > I still have to read up on how the lease-activation->trigger-update > machinery supports update servers other than updates.laptop.org > > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] moodle and authentication
So... We've come to thinking about how to do the moodle authentication from the xos in the easiest way, but also a way that involves the teachers/administrators in some way. An idea we came up with is the following: -Modify the user database to include an extra field - lets call it mac address, but could be any unique xo identifier. - make a little script to check the xo mac address and pass it along to moodle to check in its user database and log on... The teacher would then check the mac address on the XO, while filling in the rest of the data in moodle for the student and put in the mac address what do u think? David Van Assche OLE Nepal ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] Fwd: XS server addons
Not drag this on too much longer :-) but just wanted to clarify/ask a couple things... On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 3:50 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 9:38 PM, David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> 1 - I'll incorporate them into xs-config :-) >>> 2 - don't have to hack the network startup scripts to remove the part >>> that reloads rules >>> 3 - you don't have to redo the in step 2 hack with every upgrade - as >>> xs-config updates will nuke your changes >> >> The main reason for shorewall is traffic shaping... its the only > > Get SW to spit out a nice traffic shaping ruleset, clean it up, and we > can see if it can be merged into network_config > >> Anyway, shorewall is already a done deal for us and works wonderfully... > > Reread my notes above - an XS update will probably kill it, and you > won't be around to help fix it. It's not that SW is not good - I've > used it myself quite happily - but that it is not a sustainable move. I fail to see how an update will kill it. Shorewall works independently from iptables allowing its rules to work along side it... All the config files are in /etc/shorewall, which Im sure xs-config wont touch... >> Would u care to elaborate on how to do this > > I've outlined two options. Pick one, yum install the packages and read > the man pages :-) I will try, but what takes you seconds to do, will take me days :-) > > Bad juju with openldap. Very bad. Ok, point taken, I'll forget about ldap... > It's not just Webmin: any "administration" program, web-based or not - > is *not* recommended on a XS. And by that I mean "the next yum update > very likely leave the machine in non-working state". > > xs-config is a bit nasty ATM, but even if we make it better, it wil > _never_ interact well with a webmin-type app. Sorry. Life is hard like > that. Ok, lets look at this a bit more closely. What I have in mind is using just a few of the webmin modules... By default, webmin will not touch or modify ANY configuration files. Unlike ebox which takes over the machine ruthlessly, webmin simply puts up a web based control panel from which u modify the very same files that u would manually modify in /etc. Now I understand that the XS has its configuration files in several different places, but it wouldn't be too hard to work with this and get just the webmin modules we need to work symbiotically. For instance, these modules will not affect xs-config as far as I can tell: - dansguardian - squid (or will it?) - users/groups - shorewall - disk usage Obviously, anything that shouldnt be touched like DNS, networking, etc, we simply don't even include... what do u think? Testing this hypothesis is also an option... ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Ugly JABBER problem
Has anyone else actually been able to register a new XO without specifying the jabber server? We have tried this now with 5 different XOs from Nepali changed images and fresh non-Nepali images with the same results... we have to do sugar-control-panel -s jabber or it will not connect to gabble... this has nothing to do with shorewall as it connects just fine if we do it through sugar-control-panel. I've also put exceptions to all the ejabberd ports even though this should be unecessary seeing as the XOs connect from within the non firewalled internal network. Am not sure what you mean with idmgr and dansguardian... we've not had any conflicts between the two... Registering from the UI doesn't work... but if someone else has managed to do this, then we'll look for some other images Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 4:45 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > \> There is a default value for the XS on the XO. I don't see how >> registering w/ the XS changes this value. Please enlighten me. > > Odd. There should be none. Take a freshly imaged XO, boot it, create > the user acct, and immediately after on a shell do > > cat .sugar/default/config (I think it's config, might be profile). It > won't say a thing about jabber. > >> I used sugar-control-panel -s jabber schoolserver then "Registered" w/ >> the XS. CTL+ALT+Delete No joy. reboot. No joy. > > Don't use sugar-control-panel. Register from the UI. > >> I don't think our Identity Manager is working. The service is running. >> but When I run /home/idmgr/list_registration, I get nothing. The values >> in /etc/idmgr.conf match our XS's fqdn > > a good idmgr.conf is good news. `ps ax | grep idmgr` should show idmgr > on port 8080. You did mention trouble between the dansgardian and > idmgr, and David is talking about Shorewall, so maybe something is in > the way. As long as you keep it simple, I can help... > >> Most of the vanilla XO images have a jabber fqdn server preset and are >> not set to "schoolserver" or even "" > > No - that would be a bug. I regularly re-image my laptops to test > registration and jabber integration. > > Are you building your own XO images perhaps? I seem to recall someone > getting instructions on how to build a local image using > save-nand/copy-nand... if that is the case, the fix is easy: delete > .sugar/default/config before doing the save-nand - and you might want > to nuke the datastore too. The sane thing might be to nuke all of > .sugar - it will preserve the activities which are in ~/Activities . > >>> > Our schoolservers will have unique fqdn's >>> >>> Not only fqdns - but also will be on their own subdomain. Please don't >>> change the domain naming scheme we ship the XS with! Yes do give each >>> school a different domain when you call domain_config - but don't >>> change how we have BIND setup. >> >> pls explain this part. Are you suggesting we use some variant of >> random.xs.laptop.org rather than something unique to Nepal? > > Actually, the sample domains you had in your earlier email looked > good. You just dont put the "schoolserver" part when you run > domain_configure - but I'm sure you know that already :-) > >> We haven't changed any part of BIND. We used the OLPC script to change >> the domain. > > Perfecto! For a moment it sounded like you were changing it and I > worried. There seems to be confusion on the state of new XO images. > >> Perhaps this was though out but pls point me out to the reasoning behind >> it. > > You are doing right, don't worry. > > The summary of why is that we need each school to be its own subdomain > so we can make "naked" dns calls that a local DNS server expands to a > fqdn. Specially important at registration time and at other "I don't > know where I am but need ot contact the xs" times like lease renewal. > > But none of that changes your situation. I think you have bad XO > images or a misunderstanding about registration. > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] recommended ip fw rules
So, even though we are using shorewall for now (it didnt break with an upgrade from 163 to 164, if it does at some point, we'll go back to using straight iptables) here are some recommended additions/changes: - change port 3128 to 8081 (if one installs dansguardian, which really should be integrated) - make an exception for local internal ip, otherwise moodle and other internal stuff is super slow - firewall everything but allow smtp, pop3 or imap, web, ejabberd (server 2 server) - traffic shape into 3 categories (low prio, normal and high prio) which would correspond to: high prio: ssh normal: everything except high and low low: p2p, ftp Not sure where ejabberd should go in there... probably normal... I havent added our rules as they will differ from what you would do with straight iptables... Kind Regards, David ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] XS server addons
On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 8:07 PM, David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> This is bound to be a controversial email, but its a path we have >> chosen to take in order to make the XS server more functional for a >> wider audience: > > I find it understandable, but see the notes below > >> 1. Install Dansguardian for content filtering > > Yup, expected. > >> 2. Install Shorewall for trafficshaping, routing and firewalling > > Instead of that, I suggest expanding on the fw rules that > /etc/sysconfig/olpc-scripts/network_config creates - they land in the > same directory and they are defaulting to just the NAT entries, so no > firewalling. > > If you add good sane fw rules on the WAN if there, then > > 1 - I'll incorporate them into xs-config :-) > 2 - don't have to hack the network startup scripts to remove the part > that reloads rules > 3 - you don't have to redo the in step 2 hack with every upgrade - as > xs-config updates will nuke your changes The main reason for shorewall is traffic shaping... its the only solution that makes using kernel tc easy. I can specify tcclasses for different types of traffic and that way really improve bandwidth management, where there is hardly any... here in Kathmandu we're lucky to get 30 kbit It could be overkill, but I know it well, and it works fine with the existing fw rules you set... or rule as there is only one :-) It also ties in well with webmin (and I'm not getting into a flame war about it. ubuntu just recently re-included it in their repos after reassessing it.) Anyway, shorewall is already a done deal for us and works wonderfully... >> 3. Install LDAP server (non encrypted) for centralized authentication > > I heavily recommend *against* it. I've done a ton of ldap work, I've > written and/or maintained the ldap plugins in moodle, and rest > assured, *no* LDAP will be part of the XS. There are far better ways > to do this - what do you want to achieve? > > If you want email + moodle to all dance in sync, pick which one is master, and > > - Moodle is master: it's easy to config postfix to read Pg database > tables or even views so it reads the live data from Moodle. And the > postfix-pg configuration is easier than the postfix-ldap > configuration, and SQL is infinitely more flexible. > > Note: postfix-pg documentation is nonexistent. Use the postfix-mysql > documentation, replacing mysql for pg liberally :-) > > - Postfix is master: configure moodle to use auth/imap or auth/pop3 - > easy as pie. > Would u care to elaborate on how to do this, and I'll gladly dump openldap in favour of this... openldap is the only way I know how to do this... + it integrates with webmin =) >> 4. Install postfix and courier for email > > And a webmail I guess? There are patches (by yours truly) to do SSO > between Squirrelmail and Moodle. coolness... yes squirrelmail for sure... >> 5. Install Webmin for overall (internal) gui manipulation of the server... > > Ugh! Not recommended and xs-config in its current incarnation is > lilkely to just make a mess of it all. I am not too proud of > xs-config, and Webmin is too horrible for words. Its a matter of opinion... webmin in no way touches the underlying config files, and in terms of security, we are using internally only... its not accessible to the outside interface... Webmin allows for easy pruning of modules so that we have just what we need... I have no idea what xs-config is... but I'll gladly take a look... >> 6. Install various server monitoring tools > > Install whatever tickles your fancy but do install sysstat and make > sure it's logging. If you need help, or can provide load stats, it > will be the sysstat logs that we'll want to look at. yeah, I think we've settled for Nagios... seems to be allround for what we need... Ill make sure to sysstat and post the logs... David > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] XS server addons
Hi there, This is bound to be a controversial email, but its a path we have chosen to take in order to make the XS server more functional for a wider audience: 1. Install Dansguardian for content filtering 2. Install Shorewall for trafficshaping, routing and firewalling 3. Install LDAP server (non encrypted) for centralised authentication to email and moodle + whatever else... 4. Install postfix and courier for email 5. Install Webmin for overall (internal) gui manipulation of the server... 6. Install various server monitoring tools The first 2 items are completed, and we are working on the others now... if there is any interest in us documenting the steps to do this stuff... please let us know. David Van Assche, OLE Nepal ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] volunteer for offline Moodle
So the Google Gears rpm is finished (good lesson for me on how to package for Fedora) and we are working on the final obstacle for Browse, which is finding where in God's name the chrome subdirs are supposed to go... when thats done, we can create the browse rpm too... > > So I have a slightly different plan :-) > This is great, but we should look for an interim solution to full blown Offline Moodle, something we can start using soonish... But maybe what you outline below is an interim solution... I guess we'll know when we start coding... > > First of all - you will need a good familiarity with Moodle, how it is > used, and how it works internally. I don't know how much you know > Moodle - my notes below assume a reasonable knowledge of the internal > APIs. > > The first stage of the plan is to work on the main "course" page - > look into the "topics" course format. The first step is to make that > course format AJAXy/Gears-y -- there is an AJAX version of it but I am > not sure if it is any good. The goal is to make it cacheable -- this > is the "lesson plan" that Bryan was talking about a few days ago. > Other good things may come with it (better ajaxy editing for teachers > for example) but that is candy on the side. The main thing that *must* > work well is being able to load that page when disconnected. > Remember that the Jolongo people have already done a lot of this work, so if we can get a hold of what they've done, it might help. That said, they've not responded to my mails in a while now... > > [I am not sure how to trigger that with GG - to hook into the browser > and say "if host X doesn't seem present, load up this HTML+JS we > cached here, under the privilege scope of the site.".] > > Together with the course format, we will want to make mod/resource > gears-cacheable. > >From all the Gears demos I've looked at, this has been the main focus of it so far... showing cached data locally and storing that into a sqlite database where necessary. The API seems straight forward enough, and even I can understand most of it (I'm not a born programmer...) > > That will give us 80% of the benefits for 20% of the effort - give or > take some % there :-) We will want to be extra careful to make it in > non-intrusive ways, so it is easy to incorporate upstream. 20% of the > effort is still quite a bit of work - there are lots of details to > work through. > > Once the above is done - we can tackle other modules, and perhaps some > blocks, with better knowledge of what works well with GG and what > doesn't. Some Moodle modules are a really bad fit for GG (mod/quiz), > others will take some effort, but work great (mod/forum). > > The general model - as you can see - is one of caching locally, which > simplifies things a lot. As you note, this will be a large long term > effort, so we want to make sure that our work is not OLPC-specific. We > might do things earlier than moodle.org but we sure want to have them > helping with it mid-to-long term. > Maybe we should talk to Moodle and make this official with them somehow? That might get some of the other projects to join our efforts.. It seems silly to have 3 forks of offline moodle, and from what I've seen so far the Gears method by far outweighs the benefits of the other methods... > > As we are caching stuff, and will only have small amounts of "local" > data we need to push up to the server (like action logs), the storage > economy is quite simple - we discard old stuff as we have to - we > might define a quota there, but I think GG sets that for us anyway. > For authentication, I am not sure at the moment - we'll cross that > bridge when we get to it :-) but for OLPC it is an easy bridge due to > the 1:1 and the related auto-login assumptions. > Authentication is one of the first things that need looking at, since a Moodle user must login in order to download anything... Some of the first course material should probably be related on how to use Moodle and Offline Moodle... we could use that to create some skeleton courses that work both online and offline... How do we split the next workload? Kind Regards, David > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] volunteer for offline Moodle
Pre-empting Martin, I've now moved the thread from sugar to the XS Devel list... On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 5:56 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 11:47 AM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Tony Anderson has contacted me to find out where Nepal could use the > > most help. I have informed him that offline moodle is where we could use > > the most assistance. Let's get this going > > Cool. Hi Tony! > Hello Tony > > > check out gears.google.com to learn about google gears > > and you can join the Sugar mailing list at > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar > > Yep. That's a start. To coordnate work on Moodle, let's move that part > of the conversation to server-devel@lists.laptop.org :-) Offline > moodle is a bit of a deep pool, so some familiarity with moodle is a > good starting point... > Indeed, and the deepest part of that pool will be to fully understand gears and how it can recreate what moodle already does in a smaller, faster, and localised fashion. There is a possibility that the Jolongo people join in here and move from AIR to gears, since their bubble was burst concerning AIR not being open source. Also, their code will be the best place for a starting point, I think. I've mailed them again today to ask if they can give us that code (which they claim is open source) and whether they are going to seriously join the coding efforts in the gears camp... otherwise there will be 3 independent offline moodles being built (seems a bit of a waste...) David Van Assche > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Content management in the XS
Hi David, Just out of curiosity, why do you think Moodle is not the answer? Kind Regards, David Van Assche 2008/7/6 David Leeming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Is there any CMS built into the XS, or is this up to us to install (i.e. > Moodle or whatever)? > > > > I have for some time been thinking of the Wikieducator as a tool to scale > up local content development for the XO. It has an IMS export facility and I > have tested this; one can create "collections" (collected wiki content) and > export them as PDF or IMS packages. The IMS packages can be extracted to the > /var/www/html folder of the XS and the XOs view them just fine – although > there is no cross linkage between html files. The collection I tried was > 750KB as a PDF but only 62KB as an IMS package – so it is obviously much > more efficient than using PDF files. > > > > With OLPC Oceania we are toying with the idea of using the Wikieducator as > a core tool to build community and resulting capacity/sharing of skills, as > a massively scalable repository for Oceania content, that can be adapted, > translated, pick and mixed, etc... and published for the XO with a few > clicks of the mouse... > > > > I am involved with both OLPC Oceania and the Learning4Content > (Wikieducator) workshops of COL, and can see that by linking these > programmes one can bring together a range of government, NGO and wider > community around a common focus, to the advantage of all. > > > > But some sort of CMS is needed on the XS. All the time one has to think of > simplicity. Moodle etc might not be the answer. I am sure that plenty of > thought has gone in to that – some pointers to that would be appreciated. > > > > *David Leeming* > > *Technical Advisor, People First Network* > > *Honiara, Solomon Islands, South Pacific* > > > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Wikiserver on XS
Moodle's integrated wiki is great, easy to set up and easy to use. I've used this with teachers and students without anyone having problems understanding how it works. Search functionality is also integrated from the start. The only thing is it is of course integrated in the Moodle package itself, but it is easy enough to add the wikis to the front page... that together with offline moodle seems to be an ideal solution. I'm currently testing both the offline moodfle plugin done by open university and intel, as well as the South American Jolongo developed using AIR, and both solutions seem promising for offline moodle. Both projects are still in BETA though, although the parties involved would be only too happy to get involved with something for OLPC... this provides an on and online wiki solution too (imho)... Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I tried setting up a Wiktionary server on a shared server that our > pilots have access to and it was a major pain in the ass. After 3 days I > couldn't get it to work. I had a lot of trouble downloading and > importing the images, perhaps Chris Ball's wikislices gets this right. I > will have to look at the code and ask him. > > The wikislices are alright but they don't allow for searching for > content which I think is an essential feature. > > > -- > > Message: 7 > Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:49:10 -0400 > From: "Martin Langhoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] Wikiserver on XS > To: "Philipp Kocher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: server-devel@lists.laptop.org > Message-ID: ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi Phillip, > > On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 9:31 PM, Philipp Kocher > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Is there a wikiserver installed on the XS? > > it's in the plan, but it's not there yet. The (drafty) plan is to have > > - a slightly customised mediawiki install for local (created in the > school) content and collab activities > - perhaps a 2nd mediawiki install to host editable wikislices OR > - non-editable install of a wikislice > > For the wikislices, have a look at the great wiork that cjb has done > for the Spanish wikislice that runs directly on the XO. > > If you install a vanilla mediawiki, chances are it will be reasonably > easy to migrate later (for someone with a bit of linux admin skills) > to what we deploy. Ah, note that we're working on PostgreSQL. > > cheers, > > > m > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] Open Admin for OLPC, was Re: XS SW
If looking at openadmin, it by be worth considering using ClaSS ( http://www.laex.org/class) It is basically the same as openadmin and its ilk, but seems a little easier to use and is more targeted to just the administration of the school, attendance, grading, reporting and general student management. It uses course/class matrix making it easy to define how courses and actual classes should be defined. It also ties in with Moodle and webmail (squirrelmail or something else) quite nicely, allowing for a unified experience. Ive installed this in several schools and though there is a learning curve for teachers, in the end they all end up using it. It comes with pre-existing course templates for the British school system, which was the big advantage from my perspective over open admin, which is more US centric. The main developer responsible seems to be quite active and would most certainly help tie it into XS. Kind Regards, David Van Assche On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 10:50 PM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Les R <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> - How much does it overlap with Moodle? > > > Yes, I have looked at it and have some solutions and have an > > integration approach. However, no integration code is available, yet. > > The main problem being that I try not to write software that nobody > > uses! If I get feedback that, yes, Moodle integration is something > > that folks want, then I'll write it! (grin) > > Pop your head in the moodle forums, there is plenty of discussion & > enquiries about sw that is complementary to moodle ;-) Moodle has a > sizable userbase, so it might be interesting for you. > > Moodle and complementary tools aren't in my immediate plans - this > means that I won't be hacking on this area in the next couple of > months. I will be working on it later in the year, definitely. Anyone > keen on moving things forward ahead of me is welcome to do so ;-) > > From the OLPC POV, I do wonder if we need something like OA (which I > am guessing is in the same space as CentreSIS) in the XS. I suspect > that not at this stage, but that we will get requests later on... > > cheers, > > > > m > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] progress on Moodle for the XS
> > - Single Sign On - Moodle will probably be the main SSO point, with > MediaWiki and other tools either reading the SSO credentials from > Moodle (via OpenID?) or directly off the client. > Surely it makes more sense to use LDAP for single sign on, as it is supported by moodle and many more applications (email, posix, etc) out of the box. If you are going to read against Moodle's mysql database it seems like you might have to create an abstraction layer for every piece of sofware you want to authenticate against. > > - User management for the school server will happen via an extended > version of the Moodle user management UI. The plan is to allow course > membership in Moodle to be visible in the Sugar groups UI widgets (so > you can share an activity with your course mates). > Again, user management should really be done by an external database (ldap) that then feeds these credentials into whatever program needs them (moodle, email, computer logon, fedora commons) > > - Of course, regional deployments are encouraged to include content > and sample courses within Moodle. > > - Some good discussions (for the Moodle.org site, login as "guest") > > Devel list: Moodle on the OLPC server > http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=73022 > > K-12 forum: Hints on K-12 usage - Moodle and younger kids > http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=89165 > > Further into the future: > > - Moodle is moving towards having a good repository model. I am > trying to help shape those efforts, and make the most in the XS. This > includes teachers in the local XS being able to "publish" > content/course materials for other teachers to use. > > - A mostly-disconnected Moodle client based on AJAX+GoogleGears or > something similar. > > cheers, > > > > martin > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > > > -- > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 14:47:30 +1200 > From: "Martin Langhoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Server-devel] Layout for the yum repo > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Cc: server-devel > Message-ID: ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi Dennis, > > I am working on preparing the "xs-0.3" milestone, has some relatively > simple changes (so far) and I am wondering how the repo layout should > be setup. What I want to do is to > > - Build the LiveCD preconfigured to look at 2 repos, or branches in > the existing repo: > -- a pristine F7 branch in the repo that holds all the F7 RPMs > -- an "XS packages" branch > > - For the xs packages branch, is should be looking at the "0.3" > branch. I may make "0.3.x" images with updated RPMs. > > Does that make sense? Our repo right now doesn't seem to be geared for > this, but I am a bit lost as to the best way of reconfiguring it. What > should we do? > > We don't have many (any?) legacy users in production that we need to > support with updates (yet). With 0.3 I'll start supporting users more > explicitly. In the meantime, we have a bit of freedom... > > cheers, > > > martin > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > > > -- > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 10:39:49 +0545 > From: Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Server-devel] setting up project tracking app for OLE Nepal >office > To: server-devel > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain > > This question isn't actually related to the XS, it is related to our > internal office IT for OLE Nepal. > > I am going to set up an internal office project management system for > the finance, sysadmin, and networking teams, primarily to track > procurement requests and trouble tickets for the office and the pilots. > Is there any reason I should use anything besides Trac? > > I have looked at www.redmine.org and it is quite pretty. However, I want > a nice stable solution. I assume Trac is more stable. Suggestions? > thanks > > Bryan > > > > -- > > Message: 4 > Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:18:36 -0700 > From: "Charles Merriam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [Server-devel] FAQ software > To: "John Watlington" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: server-devel , XO Laptop > Developers ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi John, > > A text file and raw HTML to the web page work very well if there is a > single FAQ maintainer. > > Charles > > > On Wed, Apr 23, 2008 at 12:21 PM, John Watlington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Any recommendations for software for Peru to build an FAQ site ? > > > > Yes, there ar
Re: [Server-devel] Network Provisioning
Hi, Although my current setup is not based with APs, but is wired with LTSP, I can saturate even our 1 GB switches with just 10 youtube feeds... will there be any video streaming on the XOs? And indeed, Squid does not bother bottlenecking any of that David On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 3:03 PM, John Watlington <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Apr 25, 2008, at 8:29 AM, Stefan Reitz wrote: > > > Hi Y'all, > > > > On Fri, 2008-04-25 at 14:57 +1200, Martin Langhoff wrote: > >> > >> On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 2:38 PM, John Watlington > >> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > > >> > Proposed change to the hardware spec: > >> > > >> > From one to four access points may use an simpler switch, > >> > connected to the server over a 100 Mb/s link. From five to seven > >> > access points will need a better switch, which provides a 1 GB/s > >> > link to the server. > >> > > >> > This means that a 1 GB/s interface should be specified for the > >> servers. > > > > I feel teleported back to my 3-19-08 mail: > > > > [...] > > (I am thinking server clusters - red hat cluster suite is offering > > some nice tools which I never got a chance to use / try - thinking > > 3 servers with fail-over and increased performance for clients > > (like two servers actually doing something...) would be a starting > > point) > > Birmingham is looking at 49 schools with a total 14,000+ students. > > [...] > > > >> > >> Theoretically, yes... but perhaps this is a bit over the top. For the > >> space we are aiming... > > > > please define our aim > > Martin was correct in that the aim of this discussion is rural > schools in > Peru. Birmingham, NYC, and others will require heftier servers. > > I do dispute any claim that 1Gb/s network interfaces are over the top at > this point in time. The cost difference on the manufacturing side is > around $2. > > >> - the XS services will bottleneck well before saturating 1Gb/s > >> traffic > >> - 'upstream' services that the XS is routing will bottleneck well > >> before 1Gb/s > >> > >> if we see a 7-AP setup, it will be there to support either a large > >> number of laptops or a location with obstacles that needs many > >> antennaes. In any case, it will support laptops mostly peering w > >> eachother. > > > > how about those 14 - 28 AP setups? > > > >> > >> If we are designing for a "client base" of laptops that we actually > >> expect to saturate 1Gb, then... we need to start recommending a > >> mid-range server cluster, perhaps a SAN, all costing a few megabucks > > --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_words > >> > >> ;-) > >> > > > > You get pretty decent off-the-shelf hardware for $500 (asus m2n, > > athlon x2 xx , 2GB RAM) + cost of storage space) per server. > > And considering not every deployment is a remote underelectrified > > mountain / desert / ... area, this should not be light heartedly > > dismissed. > > > >> cheers, > >> > >> m > > > > And I agree with Aaron Huslage that the nature of the AP is going > > to be another big hitter. But I really haven't seen the numbers on > > the budget yet. A decent (non-WRT54(...)) AP comes for $300 - 450 > > and is still worth considering. > > > Please define decent, and how it differs from "cheap". We have run > into APs that appeared to artificially cap the number of connections > to less than 30 (market segmentation ?), but have also tested $50 APs > which seem to support 50 users fine. > > Yes, centrally managed networks of APs are much better. > Is that the $300-$450 price you quoted, and does that include the > controller ? > > wad > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] possible browser option for the XOs
Hi, A very talented programmer on the ubuntu team coded this: http://people.ubuntu.com/~ogra/LightBrowser/ Its based on xulrunner and incredibly small, stable and fast... only uses between 15 and 20 megs of ram, vs 40 or 50 of current gecko browser... anyway, just thought I'd throw it out there as an option... ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] introduction...
At the moment I believe coping with fedora, would probably be more difficult than doing what you say you are already going go to do anyway. Why not let me start working on porting to debian, I will not be Nepal until June/July so have plenty of time. I believe, porting said packages to debian and running ebox is going to be easier than just looking at one of the existing builds, which might give me an idea of what XS does, but won't contribute in any way. David On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 2:03 AM, Martin Langhoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Welcome David! > > please use the XS images we are working on now, which are based on > Fedora. We are exploring a Debian move, and your experience will be > welcome there, but at the moment using Debian for the base of the XS > will mean that you will have to package independently > > - the kernel with custom drivers/patches > - ejabberd > - idmgr > - a lot of configuration settings > > We will package all of those in .debs soon, but it is a ton of complex > work for you if you want to do it on your own. Try build 161 or 162, > cope a bit with Fedora, and be part of the wider project here... > > > cheers, > > > > martin > > 2008/4/11 David Van Assche <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > Hi, I have recently applied for a volunteer position at OLE in > Nepal, > > and it was suggested I introduce myself here. So here goes. I have been > > involved in the Linux community for a while, but my experience lies very > > much in the Debian/Ubuntu field, which I feel is far friendlier and more > > logical than the other distros. I have run my own IT company for 5 > years, > > where we built bespoke programs, but mostly web solutions and > administering > > accounts. Since then I administered a medium sized school, building the > > entire system based on LTSP (an amazing system) which really allows for > the > > administration side to be a non-headache. I also taught IT for a year at > > this school. I've been following the list a little and I've taken a look > at > > sugar which is very intriguing, though obviously very young still. I've > been > > talking to Bryan Berry from OLENepal, and suggested installing a > prototype > > XS server based on ebox with ubuntu or debian under the hood. The main > > reason is my knowledge in this area and the fact that I'll need to teach > > this to other sysadmins/teachers in Nepal. I know you guys have some > ideas > > already, and you've already started on something, and I wouldn't want to > > just branch without synchronizing with the XS devel team. There are many > > aspects of the mesh networking aspect that I'm not to clear about, as > I've > > never worked with this, though it seems pretty clear. I have always > worked > > with webmin with my ltsp system without any problems, though I know how > > developers feel about its security and its internal workings, but lets > be > > clear here, we're working with schools, not banks so I don't see the > > fuss. Anyway, I do think ebox is a good full solution that would do a > better > > job than webmin in terms of security, and would be easily understood by > most > > admins... With your blessign, I'd like to go ahead and build a prototype > > based on debian or Ubuntu for Nepal... with whatever help is needed > from > > the XS devel team. > > > > Kind Regards, > > David Van Assche > > > > > > ___ > > Server-devel mailing list > > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > > > > > > > > -- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- School Server Architect > - ask interesting questions > - don't get distracted with shiny stuff - working code first > - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
Re: [Server-devel] [sugar] sugar roadmap
Hi Martijn, I believe we are talking about different things here. I totally agree with consctructivist teaching, but my point is that children don't necessarily want to be taught, and the idea of let the children learn what they want I think is a little irresponsible. Why not just disable all web filters then, etc. My point was, we need to feed the children knowledge in byte sized chunks... not let them fall into an ocean of bits which is what the Internet has become... Moodle lets you do it that and do it well... David On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 3:19 PM, Marten Vijn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Sat, 2008-04-12 at 14:42 +0200, David Van Assche wrote: > > Hi, > >I want to second the opinion that Moodle is definitely the right > > tool for content distribution, though a localised broken down > > wikipedia as a global reference to information is not a bad idea. > > Coming from a teaching perspective, children students need to be led, > > they need to be shown what to do. > > No really, kids i have given an XO from 3 Years open the XO faster than > adult from 30 years. And even switch it on faster. > > When we give childeren a ball, they quite capable of exploring the > possiblities of it. Even with evenout a handbook. They quite capable or > create rules to play and adjust to play better. > > We can learn a lot from our kids. > > please see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivist_teaching_methods > > and watch on youtube some movies of kid demoing thier XO's and reparing > them. > > Kind regards, > Marten > > > > > > > > > > It is not at all the same as at Universisty level where the student > > often takes in the informtation they are interested in. For example, > > not everyone likes mathematics at a school level, yet it is an > > essential teaching philosophy and must be pushed to the student, > > rather than pulled by the student. Moodle allows for this, and I have > > successfully used it in this enivornment for several years. It is > > extremely easy to create content and assignements of any nature, > > though they willl of course all be web based, but that doesn't mean > > you coudln't integrate a core moodle program centred around the sugar > > array of software and how to use it. > >Another thing I've noticed on this list is the insistence on > > recreating the wheel, and the amount of good FOSS that is already out > > there reallly makes this a waste of time. We should be talking about > > integrating existing tools rather than recreating new ones. Just my 2 > > cents... > > > > Here is a list of eductational FOSS compiled by an organisation in the > > US: http://www.osv.org.au/index.cgi?tid=155 > > > > David > > > > On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 12:58 PM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > Martin: I have cc'd you because I think Moodle is the right > > tool for > > relating activities in a logical narrative, i.e. a 'lesson' or > > a > > 'tutorial' > > > > > > 7. Need graphical activity manager for removing and > > adding > > activities > > >> > > >> Could you detail the requirements for this? Perhaps in the > > wiki? > > > > >This is a good point. The activity list in Home is intended > > to take > > >care of this. Tomeu, we should probably add little delete > > buttons at > > >the right of each entry in the list to make this a simple > > process. A > > >non-modal alert should appear to confirm the deletion, of > > course. > > >This should be relatively easy to add. > > > > Being able to remove activities w/ an option from the activity > > list is a > > good short term option. Long term we quite need a > > activity/package > > manager. Right now it is more important to have a good media > > player than > > a great activity/package manager. > > > > Ben Schwartz wrote: > > >They present a window saying "You are > > >downloading a file of type "PDF". Would you like to open it > > using > > >"Document Viewer"?" They also offer a drop-down list of > > alternative > > >applications. > > > > This sounds good to me. One problem kids will access file > >
Re: [Server-devel] [sugar] sugar roadmap
Hi, I want to second the opinion that Moodle is definitely the right tool for content distribution, though a localised broken down wikipedia as a global reference to information is not a bad idea. Coming from a teaching perspective, children students need to be led, they need to be shown what to do. It is not at all the same as at Universisty level where the student often takes in the informtation they are interested in. For example, not everyone likes mathematics at a school level, yet it is an essential teaching philosophy and must be pushed to the student, rather than pulled by the student. Moodle allows for this, and I have successfully used it in this enivornment for several years. It is extremely easy to create content and assignements of any nature, though they willl of course all be web based, but that doesn't mean you coudln't integrate a core moodle program centred around the sugar array of software and how to use it. Another thing I've noticed on this list is the insistence on recreating the wheel, and the amount of good FOSS that is already out there reallly makes this a waste of time. We should be talking about integrating existing tools rather than recreating new ones. Just my 2 cents... Here is a list of eductational FOSS compiled by an organisation in the US: http://www.osv.org.au/index.cgi?tid=155 David On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 12:58 PM, Bryan Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Martin: I have cc'd you because I think Moodle is the right tool for > relating activities in a logical narrative, i.e. a 'lesson' or a > 'tutorial' > > > > 7. Need graphical activity manager for removing and adding > activities > >> > >> Could you detail the requirements for this? Perhaps in the wiki? > > >This is a good point. The activity list in Home is intended to take > >care of this. Tomeu, we should probably add little delete buttons at > >the right of each entry in the list to make this a simple process. A > >non-modal alert should appear to confirm the deletion, of course. > >This should be relatively easy to add. > > Being able to remove activities w/ an option from the activity list is a > good short term option. Long term we quite need a activity/package > manager. Right now it is more important to have a good media player than > a great activity/package manager. > > Ben Schwartz wrote: > >They present a window saying "You are > >downloading a file of type "PDF". Would you like to open it using > >"Document Viewer"?" They also offer a drop-down list of alternative > >applications. > > This sounds good to me. One problem kids will access file types from > many sources, such as their local Moodle server or a regular Internet > site. It will be annoying if they have to confirm that they want to > launch an activity each time. It would be good if they could choose the > default action to launch activities from the local moodle server but > this decision shouldn't apply to files of the same type on non-trusted > servers -- ugh this could get complicated. > > > Another issue related to the Roadmap . . . > > ==The Problem of Building an Open-Source community around Sugar== > > I foresee problems building an open-source community around Sugar > because most successful open-source projects are ones that allow > programmers to "scratch their own itch" that is build or improve tools > they themselves use. Sugar will primarily be used kids and adults w/ low > literacy. I can't see programmers using it as their own desktop. A good > case in point is GCompris which addresses a critical need of millions > (basic math and English) but has very few contributors from what I can > tell. Contrast this w/ something like git or the gnu utilities. I > believe that Sugar will need longterm financial support to be viable. > Perhaps that could come from some of the more enlightened pilot > countries once they are heavily invested in Sugar. > > Another option would be to create a version of Sugar that appeals to > programmers. But I can't imagine creating such a version that wouldn't > require a lot of programming resources. > > ___ > Server-devel mailing list > Server-devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel > ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
[Server-devel] introduction...
Hi, I have recently applied for a volunteer position at OLE in Nepal, and it was suggested I introduce myself here. So here goes. I have been involved in the Linux community for a while, but my experience lies very much in the Debian/Ubuntu field, which I feel is far friendlier and more logical than the other distros. I have run my own IT company for 5 years, where we built bespoke programs, but mostly web solutions and administering accounts. Since then I administered a medium sized school, building the entire system based on LTSP (an amazing system) which really allows for the administration side to be a non-headache. I also taught IT for a year at this school. I've been following the list a little and I've taken a look at sugar which is very intriguing, though obviously very young still. I've been talking to Bryan Berry from OLENepal, and suggested installing a prototype XS server based on ebox with ubuntu or debian under the hood. The main reason is my knowledge in this area and the fact that I'll need to teach this to other sysadmins/teachers in Nepal. I know you guys have some ideas already, and you've already started on something, and I wouldn't want to just branch without synchronizing with the XS devel team. There are many aspects of the mesh networking aspect that I'm not to clear about, as I've never worked with this, though it seems pretty clear. I have always worked with webmin with my ltsp system without any problems, though I know how developers feel about its security and its internal workings, but lets be clear here, we're working with schools, not banks so I don't see the fuss. Anyway, I do think ebox is a good full solution that would do a better job than webmin in terms of security, and would be easily understood by most admins... With your blessign, I'd like to go ahead and build a prototype based on debian or Ubuntu for Nepal... with whatever help is needed from the XS devel team. Kind Regards, David Van Assche ___ Server-devel mailing list Server-devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
