The new shiny Smolt client

It has been a long since I last blogged (last dating from January)... I haven't blogged since then mostly because I'm not that good when it comes to write more than 5 lines of text and also because I've been busy with my studies/exams which have finished 2 weeks ago. So... what I've been up to in these last 2 weeks?! Well, first week was dedicated to random useless stuffs like catching up on new movies, going out with friends (lots of drinks involved, obviously!) and, most of all, sleeping (yesterday when I woke up and looked at the clock it was 4pm!) - it fells so good sleeping with nothing to worry you about, doesn't it?!

Since end of last week I restarted working on my Smolt Qt Client, which was born during first semester exams (nothing to do in that boring and meaningless period, right?). But before I continue, let me quote what the Smolt project is all about:

Smolt is, very simply, a hardware reporting tool for Linux based systems. It was originally written for Fedora and now also supports SuSE, Debian and Ubuntu. It gathers information from users, and stores them in a queryable database with a web frontend that produces statistics.

More information about Smolt here. The original Smolt client was written in GTK but the Smolt maintainer decided to replace it by mine - "With great power comes great responsibility".
The client is quite a straightforward port of the GTK one as you can see:

Smolt GTK client

Smolt Qt client

Noticed the new "Distribution" tab? In a near future it will provides distribution specific information such as installed packages. It has been developed by Sebastian Pipping as a Google Summer of Code 2009 project to support Gentoo, though support for other distributions are currently under development (openSUSE/SUSE Linux, Fedora and Debian):


I will be fixing last bugs found to then push a new release version out late this week, so before openSUSE 11.2 feature/version freeze. In the meantime if you want to try it and even report bugs, checkout my home:cgoncalves:playground repository for the smolt-snapshot package:

openSUSE 11.1:
# zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/cgoncalves:/playground/openSUSE_11.1/ home:cgoncalves:playground
openSUSE Factory:
# zypper ar http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/cgoncalves:/playground/openSUSE_Factory/ home:cgoncalves:playground

# zypper ref home:cgoncalves:playground
# zypper in smolt-snapshot

Please, give us feedback! We want to know your opinion about Smolt!

openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 - torrents and final thanks

Torrents are now available:

• openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live CD: i686 (md5, sha1), x86_64 (md5, sha1)
• openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live USB: i686 (md5, sha1), x86_64 (md5, sha1) (instructions)

Thanks to...

• ... Benjamin Weber, Masim Sugianto, Andre Duffeck and Magnus Boman for have mirrored openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live CDs and USBs.
• ... Marcus Rueckert for have created torrents, and Andreas Jaeger (you know why ;-) )
• ... Stephan Kulow for the useful tips given on how to create the ISOs.
• ... Stephan Binner for patches, suggestions, and feedback.
• ... Joe Brockmeier for the release announcement.
• ... you (!) for the time spent reading this crap of blog :-P
  

Finalizing, even though I strongly encourage users to upgrade to KDE 4 not only for how awesome it is (KDE 4.1.3 on openSUSE 11.1 is solid as rock!), but also because KDE 3 will be officially unsupported and thus not included on openSUSE 11.2 and later versions, I would like to hear what's in users mind about a possibility of having KDE 3 and openSUSE 11.1+ KDE3 Live CDs maintained and released by the community - any volunteers?

(Yes, I use KDE 4 and hell not stepping back to KDE 3! heh)

openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 - urgent mirroring (updated)

Update: Situation is again under control. Benji Weber, Masim Sugianto and Andre Duffeck have setup mirrors (THANKS!) - see MIRRORS file. Temporarily the Live CDs (not the USBs) will be automatically redirected to Benji's.

---

Since the release announcement of the Unofficial KDE 3.5 Live CD for openSUSE 11.1 the server where the ISOs are hosted at has been running out of bandwidth due to the huge amount of requests for downloading those files, and since the server also host other important client accounts, the sysadmin offered me two choices:

1. disable the account
2. get mirrors around
   

In the meantime I was forced to move the files away and wait for some mirrors to fight back all the download requests. So, whoever can provide mirroring of these files please contact me (comment, email or IRC)! Torrents are also allowed and recommended!

My apologies for any inconvenience caused...

P.S.: I didn't expected all this traffic around the ISOs... the openSUSE 11.0 KDE3 Live CDs didn't get that many attention. Well, it's a good sign though ;-)

Unofficial KDE 3.5 Live CD for openSUSE 11.1

Quoting "Unofficial KDE 3.5 Live CD for openSUSE 11.1" story from openSUSE News:

Want classic KDE on openSUSE, without the full DVD download? Carlos Goncalves has you covered. openSUSE 11.1 Live CDs and USB images featuring KDE 3.5 are now available for download.

Created by openSUSE community member Carlos Goncalves, the KDE 3.5 Live CD and USB images contain openSUSE 11.1 plus several key updates.

In addition to KDE 3.5, the Live CD offers OpenOffice.org 3.0, Smolt, Amarok 1.4.10, KDEPIM3, Firefox 3.0.4, K3b, and many other useful applications. You can see the entire package list here: package-lists-openSUSE

And, of course, openSUSE has the current KDE releases covered as well. You can download the official openSUSE 11.1 KDE4 Live CDs based on KDE 4.1.3, or if you want to follow KDE development, Stephan Binner has created a KDE Four Live CD featuring KDE 4.2 Beta 2.

Note that the KDE 3.5 live CD is an "unofficial" release. Even though it's not a formal release, we're excited by the work Carlos has put into supporting KDE 3.5 and showing what can be done with the build service. Want to create your own Live CD featuring openSUSE? See Carlos Build Service Live CD project on creating a Live CD here: home:cgoncalves:LiveCD, and Masim's "How to Make openSUSE 11.1 KDE 3.5 LiveCD or LiveDVD" article.

Download

openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live CD and USB are available for i686 and x86_64 architectures:

• openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live CD: i686 (md5, sha1), x86_64 (md5, sha1)
• openSUSE 11.1 KDE3 Live USB: i686 (md5, sha1), x86_64 (md5, sha1) (instructions)

If you want to report any bug found use Novell's Bugzilla for better tracking. Feedback can be sent via email, IRC and comment in here.

A huge thanks to Stephan 'Beineri' Binner, Stephan 'coolo' Kulow, and Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier for their assistance and effort!

We hope that the openSUSE community will find it useful and have a lot of fun with KDE 3.5!

Mirrors administrators around the world, I think I will need your help! Please mirror these files and let me know the URL so I can point people out to your mirrors instead ;-)

openSUSE 11.1 has been released!

openSUSE 11.1 just got released a few seconds ago!

The openSUSE Project is proud to announce the release of openSUSE 11.1. The openSUSE 11.1 release includes more than 230 new features, improvements to YaST, major updates to GNOME, KDE, OpenOffice.org, and more freedom with a brand new license, Liberation fonts, and openJDK. This is also the first release built entirely in the openSUSE Build Service.

Get a copy of it by downloading via http://software.opensuse.org, or if you want an original copy order the openSUSE 11.1 Retail Box for only 59.95 EUR/USD. With the supported version of openSUSE you not only get a complete end-user documentation, installable media for x86 and x86 64-bit systems, plus 90 days of end-user installation support, but you also will be contributing by giving some money to the openSUSE project itself!

Read the full announcement: openSUSE 11.1 Released!

Digg it: http://digg.com/linux_unix/openSUSE_11_1_Released

openSUSE KDE Bug Squashing Days (20-21 September)

The openSUSE KDE team wants to dedicate some time on KDE bugs before openSUSE 11.1 gets released, focusing on reported KDE bugs on bugzilla.novell.com inviting the community to take part of it.

Let's stamp out bugs in KDE for openSUSE 11.1! The openSUSE KDE team is holding a Bug Squashing event to work the KDE bugs reported in bugzilla.novell.com. You can be a part of a bug-free KDE!

The openSUSE KDE Bug Squashing event is scheduled September 20 through September 21 (right after openSUSE 11.1 Beta1 release), and the main goal is to have zero bugs!

In order of priority, we have the following list:

• Find duplicated bugs, and obviously close then as DUPLICATE;


• Non openSUSE KDE bugs (KDE upstream bugs) should be:
• Reported on bugs.kde.org (if not yet);
• Added the upstream bug URL to the URL field on bugzilla.novell.com;
• Closed as UPSTREAM (resolution field).


• Filter KDE 4.0 bug reports and try to reproduce them on KDE 4.1:
• If you can't reproduce close them as WORKSFORME and leave a comment as it was most probably fixed on KDE 4.1;
• If you still can reproduce them, try to investigate why/how that happens (eg: step-by-step on how to reproduce) and state it's still reproducible;


• Same as above but for KDE 4.1 - taking in consideration the quicklydevelopment of KDE4 it's really easy that those bugs reported have beenfixed meanwhile.


• Help providing info for bugs marked as NEEDINFO


• Set priority for bugs with Priority = P5(None).


• Explore KDE3 and KDE 4.1 looking for bugs. See if KDE3 ones are fixed for KDE4. Bug report them.

Note: Bug squashers should start from higher severity/priority bug reports to lower ones.

To successfully achieve all these tasks, the openSUSE KDE team needs as many people as possible. All you need to help is one (or more) of the following to help us with debugging:

• An updated openSUSE 11.0 or openSUSE 11.1 system
• KDE 3.5.10 installed from KDE:KDE3 OBS repository
• KDE 4.1 installed from KDE:KDE4:Factory:Desktop OBS repository

During the event the community will be in the #opensuse-kde channel on irc.freenode.org to help you out in whatever you might need. The openSUSE KDE mailing list is also a great way to communicate with the KDE community.

See the openSUSE KDE Bug Squashing Days page for more and updated information at http://en.opensuse.org/KDE/Bug_Slashing/20080920


Have a lot of... openSUSE KDE Bug Squashing Days! ;-)

ENOS 2008: a quick review

As announced on openSUSE News, ENOS 2008 took place this Saturday, September 6th at ISEP, Porto, Portugal. The event started at 10:00 am (local time) and during 1h:30m people had the opportunity to meet each other in a non formal environment, and at the same time I gave away openSUSE t-shirts, caps, lots of stickers and PromoDVDs (thanks Novell, specially to Martin Lasarsch!) to them. At 11:30 we started the two scheduled morning presentations:

• "The openSUSE 11.0 News" (Carlos Gonçalves, PDF) - as the name says, I presented the news of openSUSE 11.0, but also took the opportunity to do an overview of the openSUSE project since many of the attendance wasn't openSUSE users, and at the end random slides including information on how to get involved, how to communicate, openSUSE 11.1 roadmap, etc.


• "Migrating from Windows to Linux" (Lívio Cipriano, PDF) - a great talk by Lívio on how to migrate from Windows to Linux with good points of view and tips to easily migrate even in enterprises environments, eg: start using cross-platform software such as OpenOffice.org, Firefox, and Thunderbird and later migrate to Linux - users won't notice much difference indeed.

At 13:00 we headed to a shopping nearby to lunch and continue the informal conversation we were having before. Hot topics: openSUSE, Ubuntu, KDE, GNOME, Novell, community. Back from lunch, we had scheduled interesting and full afternoon talks:

• "YaST - a programming platform. PackgeKit and PolicyKit" (Ricardo Cruz) - it was mainly a technical talk about YaST. Ricardo showed us how simply is to create a "Hello World!" windows, buttons and some widgets. He also introduced PackageKit and PolicyKit.
  


• "Oxygen, a pillar of KDE4" (Nuno Pinheiro, PDF) - Pinheiro's main goal with this presentation was to demonstrate that Oxygen is not a KDE icons theme, but rather much more stuff than that.
  

(Coffee Break, free cookies!)

• "Qtractor, an Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer" (Rui Capela, PDF) - Linux Audio hacker on his spare time Rui spoke about his audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer Qtractor application, gave audio demos using it, and highlighted some Linux Kernel Real Time 2.6.{26,27} issues as for example the time lag problem kernel-rt is facing at the moment.
  


• "Mono - introducing Mono and its features" (Andreia Gaita) - what can I say... awesome talk! Andreia presented Mono and MonoLight, what made them, developers, develop such technology, what we can do with it, etc. This talk was indeed one of the reasons to people have attended ENOS 2008.
  

After these talks we went into several discussions while some participants were doing the LPI exams and raffled (no money involved obviously) the biggest Tux I had ever seen sent kindly by Novell. Later around 19:15 many said goodbye and drove back home and a few others stayed for a bit longer where we moved to a restaurant to have dinner.

Gallery

See the rest of the photo gallery

ENOS 2009:

ENOS 2009 already has place, Castelo Branco, and it will be organized by Associação de Informática de Castelo Branco. Anyone interested in helping us is highly welcome. I hope see you next year! ;-)

The Community:

• Mailing list: opensuse-pt@opensuse.org (subscribe)
• IRC: #opensuse-pt on irc.freenode.net
• Web: http://opensusept.org/

Big thanks to Porto Linux, ISEP, and Novell for the support!

Thanks to all attendees for participating!


P.S.: there are two presentation PDFs missing. I will add them as soon as possible.