DoctorMo's Blog

This weekend we were attending PiCon once again, a wonderfully smaller SciFi and geeky event in the middle of CT near the MA border. I’d like to thank Jonathan Prigot and Penelopy (Pendulum) for personing our desk with me and proving excellent help and support to all that came seeking out Ubuntu.

Here are some Photos:

We didn’t have enough 10.04 disks so we were pushing to get rid of some 9.10s we had left over. Our LoCo isn’t official any more so I don’t know how easy it will be to get more. But it should be simple enough to sort out for our next event, esp since it’s an LTS.

Reaction was very positive, we had people we saw last time who wanted an upgrade, some people who wanted to try it out and lots of questions. The thing that is always interesting to me is how much more geeks need to be convinced of something before they’ll take the plunge. Interestingly I think this points to the responsibility we have in our authoritative positions as keepers of know-how on Ubuntu how e look to non-geeks who maybe trust what we say implicitly.

I guess that’s why we have Martin Guidelines which state to not over-play features and down-play gaps in functionality.

Recently I’ve found myself having to balance more precariously how I approach local community based activities. Say if I’m going to be teaching Free Software use, then should I be putting to one side my obvious and oblique “Ubuntu is easy” agenda and just go with what is already there?

Even if I know that other people are using events to promote other focuses of interest. If I think the event is worthwhile in it’s own right then I think I ort to be involved and help out where I can.

I know I’ve looked more like an Ubuntu only fan but personally it’s much more about getting the best and quickest Free Desktop in front of as many people as possible, whatever that turns out to be. Making sure that users have tools that work and are respectful of their rights as users under the Free Software definition. That is perhaps my agenda, perhaps trying to spread principles is part of it too?

So long as it’s an event to promote Free and Open Source, I can’t see a reason why I shouldn’t be involved if needed. Weather it’s Debian, Fedora or Firefox.

Thoughts?

I wanted to post this to the planet because we rarely get to think about the kernel in the Ubuntu world, and when we do get kernel related posts they’re usually fairly dry and require some background skill to read.

This is a commentary piece.

Getting the community involved in testing

There is not enough testing of RC kernels. Most people who attended thought the level of testing in Linux was bad.

Testing would be much easier if there was the possibility of safely testing a kernel by selecting installed RC kernels on boot in Ubuntu and letting it run through an automated set of regression tests which could automate a potential report for time and regression and then perhaps reset (if possible). Such a test suite could expand the number of users who would be willing and able to test the kernel without background skill in kernel development.

I feel that not enough time has been spent on coding the boring part (tests) and too much emphasis is put on the exciting features development. Of course the rationale is that users will just test out the bugs. But if the user-base is shifting then users won’t be able to carry the burden of testing for all regressions forever.

Increasing invisibility of the Kernel

The kernel ecosystem is concerned with the lack of visibility and the unattractive nature of working on the Linux Kernel. The pressure is to increase the visibility to end users to make the brand glamorous to work with. The licensing of the kernel doesn’t require any sort of attribution upon the distribution of a product using the Linux kernel, it’s not well known that the Linux kernel (with busybox in toe) runs the majority of embeded consumer devices as well as some of the most popular phones but isn’t well known.

Perhaps another problem with the Linux kernel is that it fails to control it’s brand in such a way as to make it clear that you are not working on Linux _unless_ you are working on the kernel project. This is a failure of the project to correctly market itself as a kernel and not a whole operating system stack which seems to be the current problem. The attempt of the kernel project to hijack the branding of the standard distro space has caused a lot of confusion and head scratching.

Ubuntu is not Linux, in the same way that an Ice cream isn’t a waffle cone.

Playing with Branches, New Version?

Does strict release cycles put new developers off from playing with the Linux kernel code base. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that we should be having a play-with branch set which doesn’t need to be versioned as 2.6.7 or 2.6.9 in such a way that it could potentially lead contributors to believe that they are working on code which is the future of a Linux release. Which is not the intent of a highly experimental space. For a play branch it just needs some educational type of person to manage a playground kernel branch specifically for the weird and wacky as well as perhaps educating new users. Perhaps some educational grants could be put towards paying someone to run such a program.

Getting Patches Into Linux

Security is a fairly hard area of kernel development where scrutiny over patches is very high. If there is a developer that is finding it hard to get patches into the Linux Kernel mainline then it’s advisable for the to separate their changes into manageable chunks. From these chunks it’s possible that some chunks would be acceptable and merged in on their own merits, while other chunks/patches would remain in discussion.

For google to get their wait lock Android patches in, they’ve basically got a small team which is trying very hard to upstream the code. Of course the technical solution chosen isn’t quite good enough yet for the kernel team to accept just yet and the solution does need the costly and extensive discussion for the appropriate way forward to be selected. This of course does create a cost barrier to google and the team that works on this functionality has found that it needs to work in non-work hours in order to both fulfil the requirements of releasing a solid Android release and at the same time attempt this much more idealistic technical feat of getting the right solution unto the mainline kernel.

I don’t have any thoughts on this issue, it seems like everyone is one the same page.

Ever wanted to not have to fill in your team’s calendars in multiple places? Well now you don’t have to!

Just enter your team’s events as usual in the loco directory and subscribe your calendar software to the new per team >ical interface.

I’ve subscribed using google calendars and evolution to make sure it works, now we have the opportunity to clean up wiki’s full of event dates and customised google team calendars.

Also available is a global events ical feed so you can keep up to date on what’s going on as well as a an all teams feed for keeping up to date with everyone’s activities.

There is a bit of a bug in Ubuntu where it doesn’t recognise the ical mime type and open it up in evolution, so remember to copy the url and paste it in when you go to add a new calendar in evolution or google calendar.

Sorry to people at DebConf about Saturday, I fled back to Boston under a cloud of a rotten cold to be in my nice warm and self medicatable home. Still under the weather and such but not as bad as earlier in the week.

DebConf was actually very enjoyable (apart from getting rottenly sick) I learned a great deal and I have lots of ideas. Thanks to everyone who ran DebConf and to Kings College, New York *ahem* I mean Columbia. Good show and all that.

If you thought DebConf was all about programming and art was all about being a loner huddled over a computer with a stylus in one hand and a cappuccino in the other, then think again! This was a collaborative art session I ran this evening at DebConf using inkscape and my Wacom Intuos 3. Involved in drawing were myself of the Ubuntu community, Ian Molton of Debian from the UK and Paul Liu of the Canonical OEM team from Taiwan. Each person did a a part of the process and we learned together how we each did out part:

A number of people were influenced to try out inkscape and their pressure sensitive input devices. So I deem this collaborative art a success!

I’m starting to get ready to go to DebConf in New York next week and I’m certainly excited to be given the opportunity to meet more of the Debian community. Because I don’t do much packaging I’ve not managed to get to know enough Debian people and I feel like projects such as http://art.debian.org/ are interesting and I would love to find others who are involved in similar things in that section of our extended community.

Anyone have any suggestions of what I should keep my eyes open for next week?

I’m off to Maine to attend FOSSED, I hope to see some of you there if you can make it and if not maybe next time. I’m hoping I can be the voice of Ubuntu and Free Culture and I’m excited to see what opportunities are available here.

The Ubuntu-Artist’s deviantArt group now has a new gallery for all Free Culture Showcase submissions.

Subscribe to the RSS Feed and watch artwork come in as it comes in.

Anyone can post to the gallery so you don’t have to be a member of the ubuntu-artists group, but make sure that your :

I’m looking forward to seeing your submissions.