B E A R 4 5 4

Linux Your Way with SUSE Studio @ LFNW

2011-05-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, or (suprisingly) wanted to see it again, here's my presentation from LinuxFest Northwest 2011.

"Slides", via Prezi

Linux Your Way with SUSE Studio on Prezi

Video, thanks to Jupiter Broadcasting

Apologies for the audio issues... :/

openSUSE isn't (just) a desktop OS

2011-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

openSUSE is an incredibly versatile OS, suitable for use on Mainframes, Servers, Virtual Appliances, Workstations, Desktops, Laptops, and Netbooks; no wonder it has a chameleon for a mascot.
In the past few years, most media coverage of Linux has become synonymous with Linux on the desktop, largely because of the huge market share of Linux in the server space and the popularity of Ubuntu Linux, which first and foremost, is desktop-oriented. We, as Linux distribution advocates, have contributed to this, by strongly focusing our marketing efforts on desktop advancements: the newest KDE, previews of GNOME 3, and before that, Compiz. Unfortunately, for new users, this creates a false perception that all Linux distributions are desktop Linux distributions. What we lose as a community in this argument which Linux distribution offers the best desktop experience is one of openSUSE's greatest strengths: its server experience, and the overall flexibility the distribution provides by being equally suited to both server and desktop tasks.
openSUSE grew out of S.u.S.E. Linux which, translated from the original German, is System and Software Development . S.u.S.E. Linux was designed for building systems: it was equal parts a system integrator's OS, and a developer's OS. The current openSUSE distribution carries those roots, but has lost the emphasis on them, in favor of the overall desktop experience. I'll be publishing a few of articles on news.opensuse.org that explain how easy it is to get started with openSUSE as a server and as a development environment, to try to rebuild some of that emphasis.

Update: "openSUSE servers with one click" is up on news.opensuse.org.

LFNW'10 :Making Rails Interesting

2010-04-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

#bhamruby, the Bellingham Ruby Users Group, put on a full-day track at LinuxFest Northwest on Saturday, April 24, 2010.

Here's my presentation slides:

Or if you prefer, you can download a PDF.

The openSUSE Ecosystem - Presentation Notes

2010-02-25T00:04:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's my presentation notes.

Cut to the Chase: Presenter's Notes & Links

Touring the openSUSE Ecosystem

openSUSE 11.2
openSUSE Users/Members
openFATE
openSUSE Build Service
SUSE Studio
Hermes
Gitorius
openSUSE 11.3

openSUSE Edu?
http://en.opensuse.org/Education
http://www.opensuse-education.org/
moblin/goblin?
http://moblin.org/
http://en.opensuse.org/Moblin
Goblin: moblin UI on openSUSE: http://en.opensuse.org/Goblin
kiwi?
http://en.opensuse.org/Kiwi
http://en.opensuse.org/Build_Service/KIWI/Cookbook
Mono/Monodevelop/Monotouch (iPhone) ? Asp.net?
http://en.opensuse.org/Mono
http://www.mono-project.com/Plans
http://monodevelop.com/Download/What%27s_new_in_MonoDevelop_2.2
http://monotouch.net/
ASP.net on SLES: http://www.novell.com/products/mono/
Feb 5
You:
openSUSE 11.2
http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_11.2
http://news.opensuse.org/2009/11/12/opensuse-11-2-released/
http://en.opensuse.org/Screenshots/11.2

KDE 4.3 as the “default” desktop. If you install from DVD without
changing anything, you’ll have the KDE desktop by default. However, we
still provide GNOME as an equal choice, and Xfce and other window
managers as alternative desktops http://en.opensuse.org/File:OS11.2RC2-install4.png
Live CDs (hybrid ISOs) for KDE 4.3 and Gnome 2.28 http://en.opensuse.org/Live_USB_stick
The usual upgrades: OOo 3.1, ext4 as default file system, Firefox 3.5 (now with blazing speed!), xorg autodetect/randr
New technical stuff: btrfs, desktop kernel, complete hdd encryption
Gnome 'Sonar' theme. http://en.opensuse.org/File:112m8GIMP.png
Social networking integration:
Choqok microblogging client (KDE) http://choqok.gnufolks.org/
Gwibber microblogging client (Gnome) https://launchpad.net/gwibber
Facebook chat for Pidgin, Kopete
KDE plasmoids for microblogs, openDesktop
webYaST preview - RESTful interface to YaST & client web app. Built in Ruby on Rails. http://en.opensuse.org/YaST/Web
Significant speed improvements to package dependency resolution. http://en.opensuse.org/Package_management/Sat_Solver
Select addon repositories: Nvidia, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, VLC, Mono, KDE & Gnome community, openSUSE Contrib...
Subscription script for the Nvidia repository autodetects the appropriate kernel driver for installation/subscription.

What's on the disc?
KDE Live, Gnome Live, DVD Installer, 64-bit on one side, 32-bit on the other. The label is opposite the data. Super handy!
Feb 2
You:
openSUSE Users/Members
https://users.opensuse.org/

openSUSE User: "I use openSUSE Linux"
10,963 Users, 4,221 support the Guiding Principles
User directory https://users.opensuse.org/users/browse
Guiding Principles: we are the openSUSE community; we want to create the best Linux distribution in the world; we value the ideals of free software; we are governed by the board of maintainers. https://users.opensuse.org/guidingprinciples
openSUSE Member: "I contribute to openSUSE Linux" http://en.opensuse.org/Members
395 Members
Member directory https://users.opensuse.org/membership/list
Users can request membership; membership is only granted by the board, for "continued and substantial contribution"
@opensuse.org email address, Freenode IRC cloak, PlanetSUSE syndication, Lizards blogging account
Board Elections http://en.opensuse.org/Board
Feb 4
You:
openFATE
http://features.opensuse.org
http://en.opensuse.org/OpenFATE

Feature planning for openSUSE and SLE
'dashboard' home page: top rated feature requests, recently updated feature requests, tag cloud.
sort & search for feature requests
follow feature status
discuss feature requests
Keeps bugs (bugzilla) and features separate.
Feb 4
You:
openSUSE Build Service
https://build.opensuse.org/
http://en.opensuse.org/Build_Service

Automated software packaging for all major distros:
RPMs for openSUSE, SLE, CentOS, Fedora, RHEL, Mandriva http://en.opensuse.org/Build_Service/cross_distribution_package_how_to
DEBs for Debian, *buntu
Upload source and build instructions (rpm spec/?), and your packages are automatically rebuilt when one of your uploads, dependencies, or target distros change.
For each project build, a clean VM is constructed, your source added, packaging performed, results & log extracted to download. , then VM destroyed.
Free hosting on download.opensuse.org, GUI at http://software.opensuse.org/search
Subscribe to projects using native packaging (YaST, zypp, rug, etc.)
Link a project, add a patch, publish.
Local tools for expedited packaging, links to SCM.
openSUSE 11.2 and all pre-release builds (Factory, Milestones, RCs) were built entirely on OBS!
Powered by Ruby on Rails, XEN, Kiwi
Feb 4
You:
SUSE Studio
http://susestudio.com/
http://en.opensuse.org/SUSE_Studio

Build SUSE-based appliances (custom-built distro images) on the web.
Select a base image
Modify package selections
Customize basic behavior
Overlay files onto the image
Build to HDD/USB disc image, Live ISO, VMWare, or XEN.
Test Drive: run the appliance on Studio servers, test, configure, add changes to the base image.
GUI interface through VNC Flash control
or turn on networking for ssh, http, https.
Powered by Ruby on Rails, XEN, Kiwi
Feb 4
You:
Hermes
https://hermes.opensuse.org/
http://en.opensuse.org/Hermes

Unified messaging dispatcher. (What?) http://en.opensuse.org/images/0/06/Hermes_arch.png
Users create preferences: what do I want to be notified about (openFATE feature changes, OBS status)
Resources send updates via REST
Relays check for updates applicable to users, and sends updates to Agents
User defines preferred Agent (Web, RSS, Email, Jabber)
Public feeds (Web, RSS, twitter http://twitter.com/OBSHermes )
Feb 4
You:
Gitorious
http://gitorious.org

Open-source Git hosting. What Github is to Ruby, Gitorius is to Linux.

Official host of:
openSUSE http://gitorious.org/opensuse
Maemo http://maemo.gitorious.org/
Qt http://gitorious.org/qt
WebKit http://gitorious.org/webkit
FreeBSD http://gitorious.org/freebsd
XBMC http://gitorious.org/xbmc
Amarok http://gitorious.org/amarok
...and over 5,500 others

Full source code (for running your own Gitorius server) at http://gitorious.org/gitorious
Feb 4
You:
openSUSE 11.3
http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_11.3
http://en.opensuse.org/Roadmap
http://news.opensuse.org/2010/02/01/download-nowits-here-opensuse-11-3-milestone-1/
Release date: Thursday, July 15, 2010

Gnome 2.29.5 ... heading for 2.30 http://mail.gnome.org/archives/devel-announce-list/2010-January/msg00002.html
KDE 4.4 RC1 ... heading for 4.4 final http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-4.4-rc1.php
LXDE moves into to tier 2 desktop list http://en.opensuse.org/Lxde
Mozilla updates: Firefox 3.6, Thunderbird 3.0.1 http://news.opensuse.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/firefox_personas.png
OpenOffice.org 3.2-beta4(3.1.99.4) ... heading for 3.2
VirtualBox 3.1.0 Beta1 (3.0.90) .. heading for 3.1
Amarok 2.2.2, digikam 1.0.0, ktorrent 3.3.2

kernel 2.6.32
zypper updates for more user-friendliness and more download options. http://news.opensuse.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/zypper1.png
clutter updates
Qt 4.6 w/multitouch & gesture recognition http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.6/qt4-6-intro.html

courier IMAP updates for Thunderbird
Nagios 3.2 w/ improved reporting
net-snmp now support IPv6
Samba 3.4.5 (lots-o-bugfixes)

GNU Debugger 7.0 w/ python support
Cmake 2.8 w/ a QT gui & support for Visual Studio 2010, Eclipse
KIWI 3.95, used in OBS & Studio

& lots-o-bugs!

Download Factory to keep on top of the developing version (if you dare). http://software.opensuse.org/developer

openSUSE 11.3 - Progress in Motion: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 7

2010-02-24T23:26:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's part seven of the written interpretation of my discussion.

openSUSE 11.3 Milestone 2 (Number Two Always Tries Harder)

11.3M2 released on February 17th, right on schedule. M2 includes final releases of many major projects that were in prerelease for M1: KDE 4.4, OpenOffice.org 3.2, and VirtualBox 3.1.4.

11.3 is shaping up to be an unusually large update on the desktop, with major updates to KDE and Gnome, as well as the addition of LXDE as a lightweight desktop. Empathy may finally supplant Pidgin as the default Gnome IM client, and Digikam and Evolution both have substantially improved new releases.

Under the hood, kernel 2.26.33 (which is now in RC8) is the working kernel, and hwinfo 16.12 adds new cpu feature detection.

Development tools are also getting a shakeup, with Monodevelop 2.2 (on Mono 2.6), Bootchart 2.0, and a host of updates to the Kiwi imaging system (which powers OBS, SUSE Studio, and openSUSE's LTSP implementation).

Current work is now focused on moving over to GCC 4.5 for the M3 release, scheduled for March 4.

You can always download the current development release at http://software.opensuse.org/developer

Hermes & Gitorious - Commication & Collaboration: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 6

2010-02-24T22:58:00.000-08:00

Hermes: They get the word out, you hear it your way. hermes.opensuse.org

Hermes is described as a "personal message dispatcher." (What?) In short, Hermes' administrators define 'resources' (sources of information that update Hermes when something noteworthy happens), and 'agents' (interfaces to communication systems: web pages, RSS feeds, emails, Jabber IM, Twitter). You, the end user, create 'preferences': what resources do I want to follow, and which agent should notify me? In the background, Hermes uses 'relays' (scalable scheduled processes) to find matches between your 'preferences' and incoming messages from 'resources', then route them to the appropriate 'agent'.

Still confused? Here are some examples:

I want to be emailed daily with the status of my projects from openSUSE Build Service.
I want an RSS feed of features I'm following in openFATE.
I want to follow a public twitter feed of all OBS activity ( @OBSHermes )

Hermes is an up-and-coming project, aimed at making it easy to keep up to date by any means you prefer. As more projects are added as resources, I expect it to become the standard for project status communication.

Git Git Git... Gitorious: gitorious.org

Gitorious is an open-source server for centralizing git (distributed version control system) repositories. Gitorious.org implements the gitorious server for hosting open-source applications. Its open nature and implementation quality have attracted some of the largest open-source

projects out there, including:

openSUSE
Maemo
Qt
WebKit
FreeBSD
XBMC
Amarok
...and over 5,500 others!

If you're looking for a safe place to host your open-source project, it will be in good company on Gitorious.

SUSE Studio - Rolling Your Own: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 5

2010-02-24T21:10:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's part five of the written interpretation of my discussion.

SUSE Studio: susestudio.com

One of the newest members of the SUSE ecosystem, Studio is drawing attention to the SUSE distributions by allowing end users to easily customize their own distribution, either in broad, user-friendly strokes, or down to the tiniest minutiae, all from the comfort of a web browser.

The results of SUSE Studio are commonly referred to as appliances, as the most common purpose of the customization is to create a single-purpose system, typically for deployment in a virtual environment.

Your appliance is only a few clicks away.

Studio jump-starts your efforts to build an appliance using a Base Image, a prebuilt foundation to work from. These are available both for graphical desktops (like KDE, Gnome and IceWM) as well as text-only and the Just Enough Operating System (think small) images, built on openSUSE 11.2, SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 & 11, for both 32 and 64-bit architectures. Recently, additional images starting becoming available, including a prebuilt LAMP stack, and openSUSE desktop images for the most recent releases of both KDE & Gnome.

After selecting a base image, you can subscribe your appliance to software repositiories, and add or remove RPMs from the base installation. Simple configuration forms allow you to customize some common options: adding users, setting network behavior, setting custom backgrounds, configuring postgres & mysql database servers, vmware and xen image attributes, and editing scripts that are run after creation or boot of the image. For more granular control, individual files (or tarballs) can be uploaded and included into the image at a selected path, with selected permissions. All along the way a sidebar summarizes recent activity on your appliance, as well as the overall size of the disc image, and a composite of the custom background & logo for easy recognition.

At any point along the way you can build your appliance to suit. Select a format (appliances can be built as LiveCD ISOs, disk or thumb-drive images, or vmware or xen virtual machines.) After selecting a version number, a background system assembles your appliance image, and compresses it for easy download.

Go ahead. Take it for a spin.

So you've added a some packages, done your configuration, maybe uploaded some config files, and built the image. Now what? Well, you could download the image and see what you missed, or you could try it out it in the Studio. When you click he Test Drive link on a built image, the image will be launched on a virtual machine, and you will be presented with it, via a flash-based VNC viewer. At this point you have an hour of live time with your appliance to try it out, or customize it directly. In addition to the VNC interface, you can see a real-time list of files modified in the appliance, and download them or install them as overlay files on the image for the next build. Test Drive also provides ssh and http access to your VM for more convenient administration or testing of web applications. When you're finished making changes, or testing things out, just close the tab and the VM will be shut down.

Just plain awesome.

Currntly, I'm using Studio to maintain an openSUSE desktop that runs comfortably on HP thin clients, and a SLES-based Ruby on Rails server used to standardize a virtual web farm. Two completely divergent solutions, both of which are handled gracefully in Studio. Why don't you give it a try and see what you come up with... Studio makes "what if" into a downloadable image in record time :)

openSUSE Build Service - Packages Gone Wild: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 4

2010-02-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's part four of the written interpretation of my discussion.

openSUSE Build Service, build.opensuse.org

OBS allows developers to automatically build, package, and distribute software for all major Linux distributions. OBS builds RPM packages for openSUSE, SLE, CentOS, Fedora, RHEL, Mandriva, and DEB packages for Debian and Ubuntu/Kubuntu/etc-buntu.

Developers utilize the service by uploading source code and build instructions to the service, and selecting a set of target distributions. Packages are automatically built when one of your uploads, dependencies, or target distros change. Packages are arranged in projects, which provide hooks for subscribing via variety of nativepackage handlers (such as YaST, zypp, rug, etc.)

For each project build, a new virtual machine is constructed from a distro image, dependencies installed, your source added, packaging performed, results & log extracted to download. opensuse.org, then then VM is destroyed. This ensure that build is always pristine, never subject to unknown/unrecognized changes to the build environment. Those packages are hosted for free download through the downloads.opensuse.org mirrors, and registered on the search interface at software.opensuse.org/search , protecting developers from potentially costly bandwidth fees.

OBS also provides tools to aid in contributing to a project. For example, a developer can link an existing project, upload patches, then build and publish that customized package. Local tools are also available for expediting builds outside of the build cluster, and for integrating with existing source control management systems, to further simplify the process of getting your changes into the service.

OBS is flexible and scalable, allowing developers to work on small independent projects, or large groups to collaborate asynchronously. openSUSE 11.2, the pre-releases before it, and the current Factory builds are all produced completely within OBS, along with over 90,000 other packages in over 10,000 projects, by over 20,000 users!

openFATE - New Features the openSUSE Way: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 3

2010-02-24T20:11:00.001-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's part three of the written interpretation of my discussion.

openFATE: features.opensuse.org

Well, the wiki puts it quite well:

openFATE is the openSUSE community interface to the Feature- and Requirements Management System of openSUSE and Novell's Linux Business. It opens the process of product planing and helps to:
get a sorted overview of features in upcoming products
follow and participate in the discussion by adding comments
work on the features for the next product generation (version) and help to make openSUSE an even better Linux distribution
The feature database is public, everyone can browse all openSUSE features without the need to log in. An openSUSE account is only needed to comment, change or vote for features.

In addition, a variety of tools have been put in place to make it easy for the community to manage new feature requests. A search engine is available for supported browsers; a dashboard provides ready access to both popular and new feature requests; mailing lists, RSS feeds, and integration with Hermes (I'll explain that in part 6).

The feature that most clearly distinguishes openFATE is also the obvious one: this is not for bugs! Bugs continue to be handled through Bugzilla, which does an excellent job. By distinguishing feature requests from bugs, contributers can more easily focus on the task at hand; the bug handling teams are relieved of the the load generated by feature requests, and true 'bugs', such as security issues, are prioritized over the addition of new features.

openSUSE Community: The openSUSE Ecosystem, Part 2

2010-02-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's part two of the written interpretation of my discussion.

The Structure of a Community

openSUSE is a free, open project. Although Novell sponsors it heavily, the project belongs to the openSUSE community. Things were not always this way; before Novell's acquisition of SuSE, SuSE internally managed the course of the distribution, with little input or participation from the user community. Novell's decision to split the SUSE product line into the free, open, community managed openSUSE project, and the Novell-owned SUSE Linux Enterprise projects, has allowed the community to embrace, extend, and direct SUSE in a way that was not possible before.

The openSUSE project is governed by a document of Guiding Principles, managed by a Board of Directors, elected by the Membership, who are appointed from the User community. I'll explain each group in a bit more detail.

There are users and there are Users

openSUSE allows for its users to officially recognize themselves, proclaiming "I am an openSUSE User!" via users.opensuse.org . As of today, there are over 11,000 registered users worldwide. As an openSUSE User, one is entitled access to the complete member directory, election results, and easy access to the other SSO-enabled openSUSE sites.

As a User, one has the opportunity to accept the Guiding Principles: the document that governs the community and the project, and defines its identity apart from, and in cooperation with Novell. In a nutshell, we are the openSUSE community; we want to create the best Linux distribution in the world; we value the ideals of free software; we are governed by the board of maintainers. So far, over 4,300 Users have accepted the Guiding Principles, establishing the legitimacy of the project as a a free, open software project.

The largest benefit to being a User, though, is the stepping stone it places before you. As a user, one can apply for openSUSE Membership. Members are, by the definition of the project, users who have made a "continued and substantial contribution" to the community.

Membership has its Privileges

Users can apply based on the merits of any contribution, but it is a request not a grant. Applications are reviewed individually (currently by the Board) and granted on a case-by-case basis. Given, most applicants are accepted, assuming they understand what they are applying for. Applying without contribution, over-embellishing, or flat out lying about your contribution is a sure-fire way to get yourself drummed out.

Members do receive some interesting benefits, most of which are only of interest to those who would want to contribute anyway: an @opensuse.org email alias, an openSUSE cloak on Freenode's IRC servers, syndication on Planet SUSE, a Lizards blog account, and most importantly, access to Board elections.

Membership requires contribution, because Members must be committed to the project. From the Members the Board is selected and elected, who make the day-to-day decisions about the direction of our distribution. It is a serious responsibility, and an important role in the community. As of today, there are nearly 400 openSUSE Members.

The Board of Maintainers

During an annual election, Members may run for a position on the Board, half of which is elected each year to server a two-year term. The Board consists always of both Novell employees, and non-employee Members. Only the chair is directly appointed by Novell. The Board provides guidance, and facilitates communication with Novell; they are the official channel between the community and the corporation, responsible for ensuring the success of the project.

Get into the Groove!

If you use openSUSE, I encourage you to sign onto users.opensuse.org, and (if you agree) register your support for the Guiding Principles. Each user that does so strengthens our community, and therefore ensures the endurance of our project. If you are giving back to the community, apply for Membership, so your contribution can be recognized, and the horizons for your participation expanded. Who knows... maybe you'll be on the Board next year ;)

The openSUSE Ecosystem

2010-02-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, February 4th I gave a talk for the Bellingham Linux Users Group (BLUG), 'touring' openSUSE 11.2 as a desktop OS, and giving a broad overview of the projects and community that culminates in the openSUSE Linux distribution. For those who missed it, here's a written interpretation of my discussion.

In this post, I'll cover the openSUSE 11.2 release. In my next few posts, I will cover the rest of my topics:

openSUSE Users & Members
openFATE
openSUSE Build Service
SUSE Studio
Hermes
Gitorius
and openSUSE 11.3

Additionally, my final post for those that just want to cut to the chase will be my abbreviated presentation notes covering the above, plus a few links to the following projects that I just couldn't squeeze in:

Additional openSUSE microcommunities (Edu, Medical, etc.)
Moblin & Goblin
Kiwi
and Mono

I hope you find this useful!

openSUSE 11.2

Released on Thursday, November 12th, 2009, 11.2 was the third of four releases of the openSUSE 11 line. In addition to a the typical incremental application upgrades, and the introduction of some exciting new technologies, 11.2 also included some dramatical political and process changes, dominated by the decision to make KDE the default desktop. openSUSE, is once again the premier KDE distribution, evidenced by KDE's top-billing of the KDE-Four-Live images on openSUSE.

KDE 4.3 provides a modern, efficient, connected desktop environment. Firefox and OpenOffice.org have been tightly integrated, using KDE file selectors, notifications, icon themes, etc. 4.3 provides the first complete revision of the 'standard' KDE apps, including updates to KNetworkManager, Amarok, Digikam, k3b, and Konversation, among others. All of this application integration is topped off with a polished graphical theme: Air.

Despite the decision to default to KDE, the Gnome desktop continues to be well supported, well integrated, and well polished. Jakub 'jimmac' Steiner brought out a clean, dark, green Sonar theme, used as the new default from grub's boot messages through to Gnome's desktop. Although Ubuntu 9.10 also shipped with some dark themes, Sonar differentiates itself by maintaining a light document area that more cleanly incorporates non-native applications, such as Qt/KDE apps, Java apps, and OpenOffice.org. Title bars and some configuration headers are adorned with jimmac's Fifth Leg font, which is a free font inspired by the font used for SUSE logos.

In addition to improvements to the desktop environments themselves, both KDE and Gnome include mature social networking applications. Choqok and Gwibber are microblogging apps (Twitter, Identica, Facebook, etc.) for KDE and Gnome, respectively. Both Pidgin and Kopete instant messenger clients include Facebook chat plugins. KDE's Plasma desktop includes plugins and widgets for integrating with microblogs and openDesktop.

Deeper down the stack, 11.2 includes some exciting new technologies. The desktop kernel is installed by default with the graphical desktops (the default kernel is preferred for server applications). Ext4 is now the default file system, but the upcoming btrfs is included as well. Also on the file system front, complete hard drives can now be encrypted during installation. Zypper & libzypp, the universal package management library, are faster than ever, more feature complete, and dependency resolution has been completely reworked with an algorithm called Sat Solver.

The community addon repositories have been refined, and include some intelligent scripting to ease use. Repositories are available for the current versions of all major desktops, or backports up Gnome and KDE applications to the currently shipped desktops. Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mono, VirtualBox, VLC, and Wine repositories are available, providing current releases and betas of their applications. Some development repositories are available as well, for revisions on Databases and PHP. If you are looking for a broader application library, both the Contrib and Packman repositories are available for subscription. Most helpful, in my opinion, is the Nvidia repository: subscribing to the repository automatically selects the appropriate driver for your Nvidia hardware, and the matching kernel module for your system. Updates to the kernel will be cooperatively updated through dependencies, ensuring that your kernel and proprietary driver stay in sync without ever having to build it. Access to these repositories is through YaST => Software Repositories => Add => Community Repositories.

A wide variety of options are available for both downloading and using openSUSE 11.2. New to the lineup are 'hybrid' live ISO images, which can be burned to CD for a typical live boot, or copied to a usb drive with the remaining space used for persistent storage. The live images are available for both Gnome and KDE desktops, as well as the full DVD install image, and a small network install image, all in both 32-bit and 64-bit x86 (PowerPC images are no longer provided) Additional CD images are available for extra language support, and non-free software. Downloads are available directly via FTP from a preferred mirror, by BitTorrent, Metalink, or you may select a specific mirror if you choose.

openSUSE Ambassadors, including myself, can provide the awesome 11.2 community DVD. This dual-layered double-sided disc is 32-bit on one side, 64-bit on the reverse, and will boot to Live Gnome, Live KDE, the DVD installer, or a set of utilities. Contact me if you'd like one!

Google follows 37Signals Lead, Gives IE6 the Finger

2010-02-02T08:21:00.001-08:00

16 Months after 37Signals made their move to curb IE6, Google announced today that it would do the same, for much the same reasons.

Here's the email I received from Google explaining the move:

Dear Google Apps admin,

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Apps product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

With Google Apps continuing to gain market share in government, corporate, and small business, this should help significantly in the efforts to rid the web of the one browser that makes web developers and designers cry.

Good riddance IE6!

Horn-tooting

2009-06-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

On the heels of my presentation at LFNW09 on Cloud-based web development, I was asked what my qualifications were to present on the topic.

Personally, I think education is the best teacher, but sometimes you need a piece of paper to prove your skills. So, in addition to my 14 years of web development experience, two and a half years working on Ruby on Rails, and two years on BungeeConnect, I do have some certificates to back it up.

I'm a BCDN Member, having completed Bungee Labs' BungeeConnect Core Curriculum in October 2008:

I graduated Sang Shin's Ruby/JRruby/Rails Programming with Passion course in January 2009:

LFNW09 - Developing in the Clouds

2009-04-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

I gave a talk at LFNW '09; I started with the question "can you create a web application, development to deployment, all in the browser?" I already knew the answer; yes, because of my experience with Bungee Labs' BungeeConnect project, and Heroku's HerokuGarden project.

A variety of solutions exist for creating web content in your browser, but most of them are exceptionally limited, or niche products. These include Yahoo Pipes, Google's Gadget Editor, and AppPad. Unfortunately, none of them provide an complete, robust development environment, leaving... wait for it... BungeeConnect and HerokuGarden. :-)

What the heck is BungeeConnect?

Bungee Connect, from Bungee Labs, is Object-Oriented Programming for the web. No HTML/JS/CSS required. Familiarity design patterns, on the other hand, is. But don't worry too much about it - there's a complete learning curriculum ( videos, sample code, even tests!) to get you up to speed.

The best way I know to demonstrate a programming language, though, is to dig in. So, here's 19-minute video showing the complete process of developing and deploying an app, from 0 to a published app.

Download native resolution video as OGG/Theora or AVI/h.264 (download link at the bottom).

You have what kind of garden?

In a fit of asexual reproduction, Heroku recently split their solution in two: heroku.com is now a paid service for hosting Ruby on Rails in the cloud; herokugarden.com continues to provide the service of my primary interest - web based development of live-deployed Ruby on Rails application. This is straight-up Ruby on Rails, no monkey business. You need to either know or be learning RoR, or this system will be useless to you. Thankfully, RoR has a robust community, so tools, tutorials and samples are never far away.

Again, I think its better to show than to talk, so here's the video: building an RoR app on HerokuGarden, in 12 minutes!

Download native resolution video as OGG/Theora or AVI/h.264 (download link at the bottom).

Small Note: Please don't judge my coding abilities in either environment, as a result of the samples. I do produce solid, well documented, tested code on a regular basis. Just not in the under-20-minutes category ;-)

Thanks to Brad at BungeeLabs for some visuals that help explain the BungeeConnect environment, and everyone who attended my presentation at LFNW. See you next year!

BungeeConnect Basecamp API version 0.1.4 "Green Bar" - Release Candidate

2009-02-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

I revved the BungeeConnect Basecamp API tonight, with the following improvements:

Time Entries have complete test coverage. Thanks to Yamato Engine Specialists for allowing testing of the API with their account.
Messages and Comments now have complete test coverage (and yes, the tests pass).
Todo-Items now update all recommended fields; v0.1.2 only updated the text of the todo-item.
Milestones update successfully; Milestone due-dates were incorrectly types as DateTime - they are now properly typed as Date.
An issue with properly identifying responsible parties for milestones, and todo-items was resolved.

The following issues are still outstanding:

There is currently no support for Attachments.

Prerequisites (unchanged):

A BungeeConnect account.
A Basecamp account. To use SSL and manage Time Entries, you need at least a Plus Account.

Just as a reminder, this code is released completely free to the BungeeConnect community; feel free to use and abuse it to your hearts content.

CampHappier Project

I'm also proud to announce that this code is also the first Release Candidate from the CampHappier Project: a group of code components arranged around the concept of making 37Signals' Basecamp Project Management app more feature rich via the API. Chime in on the Wiki or via GetSatisfaction.

Drop me a comment and let me know how you're using the code.

Google Mobile Apps Just Keep Getting Better

2009-02-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

This morning the GMail team blogged about a new feature for the Google Mobile Apps - a map view of your contact list... nice.

Although this has been seen before (I'm sure there's an iPhone commercial of something similar), Google will make it significantly more useful by not limiting it to a single platform: the app has runs on Android, Blackberry, S60, Windows Mobile at launch, and (eventually) will support the iPhone.

This just makes me miss my Blackberry even more...

Official Gmail Blog: See where your friends are with Google Latitude

BungeeConnect Basecamp API version 0.1.2

2009-01-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

I (finally) updated the BungeeConnect Basecamp API this morning, with the following improvements:

Milestones and Todo-Items no longer error out during the uncomplete function.
Getting archived messages correctly uses the AbbreviatedPost class, instead of the Post class.

The following issues are still outstanding:

TimeEntry methods are not well tested, as this is a premium feature. I've asked 37Signals for access to TimeEntries for testing & development.
Update methods are still failing out. BungeeLabs is working with me to resolve this issue.

Prerequisites (unchanged):

A BungeeConnect account.
A Basecamp account. To use SSL and manage Time Entries, you need at least a Plus Account.

Getting Started with Rails

2009-01-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

I've recently had a few inquiries about how to get started writing web apps with Ruby on Rails so, in order to repeat myself less, and in general, congeal my thoughts, I blog:

(1) Learn Ruby.

Unless you're a Smalltalk &/or Perl whiz, and instantly absorb unusual programming syntax, Rails will seem like black magic without a clear understanding of how Ruby works, and what it is capable of.

Ruby is a non-compiled (scripting) programming language. It's very plain-english in style, and, from what I read, draws upon some of the best practices of Smalltalk and Perl. Yes, Ruby comes from Japan. Yes, everything is a first-class object. Yes, Ruby is a scripting language. No, it doesn't compile. Yes, it really is cross-platform. And, yes, it does totally rock.

Go to the source and read a bit. Wow yourself. Then go buy a good book. I recommend the PickAxe book from Pragmatic Programmers.

(2) Pick a working environment.

A key to getting your work moving will be to develop a stable workflow. (I hesitate to use the term IDE, because I associate it with big clunky develop-crap-ware, like Visual Studio and Eclipse. Yuck.) Ruby is extremely flexible here, leaving you plenty of choices from which to select a good fit. So do so.

If you like to work online, Heroku/Heroku Garden are your workspaces. If you think GMail is a 1st class email client, Jungle Disk is the best removable media you've ever used, or subscribe to the Bungee Labs mantra 'Build the App, not the Crap', then Heroku is your new best friend. Heroku is built around a web application for developing and testing Rails applications. What about deployment? Get over it. It's waaaay easier than you think. BTW, your test app is publicly deployed, as you develop it, if you so choose. ;-)

If you like IDEs, and took serious offense to my prior parenthetic remark, please please download NetBeans w/Ruby. You'll do just fine. Or, if you're primary OS is Windows, NetBeans is for you, too, because command-line work in Windows still isn't any fun. NetBeans will let you run projects either on the built-in JRuby, or any other local Ruby install. If you plan to do something freakishly wacky, like run Rails apps on a Java App Server, this is also the place for you. Otherwise, install Ruby and switch the Netbeans default platform over to it.

If you worship Steve Jobs, then take out a withdrawl from your Mac Tax account and iBuy your iSelf a copy of Textmate. That's what all the cool iKids use.

What do I use? NetBeans on Linux. Until it annoys me, then I go back to gnome-terminal and gedit. I use a custom script (called grails - yes I do like to gname gthings on gnome) that launches gnome-terminal with 3 tabs (a web server in development mode, a ruby console in development mode, and bash in my project folder) as well as gedit with the folder view rooted on my project, with the database schema & the README open (one of these days I will read it...).

(3) Commit to learning Rails.

Don't even think about all the cool things your first Rails app could do. Stop drooling over how many plugins you could use. Get a book. Take a class. Run some demos. Write 50 Hello World apps. Learn how it works before you even think about making it do what you want. Think of it as investing in your Karma. If you go into your first Rails app thinking it will be anything useful, from an amazing .com startup to a little toy for your spouse, YOU WILL NEVER DEPLOY THE APP.

If you're going the NetBeans route, Sang Shin has a course that covers all the bases, and all the basics, and puts you through the Hello World wringer. Pay attention, stay on schedule, and turn in all your homework and you might just walk away with a Certificate in Rails for your Ego Wall.

If you're bookish, go get yourself a copy of The Rails Way, by Obie Fernandez. Kiss the cover. Sleep with it under your pillow and hope for osmosis. This book is awesome. Amazing. It will knock your socks off. And if you're wondering who this Obie guy is, he's serious. He's got a nice little company that walks in and builds production Rails apps from scratch in 3 days!

As strongly as I recommend TRW, I recommend avoiding Agile Web Development with Rails. This was my first Rails book. I thought it was pretty good, but that's only because I didn't know better. It misses many of the finer points of Rails completely, and although it does walk you through building a demo app, the implementation leaves much to be desired. Besides, the Depot App is included in NetBeans, for your study pleasure. In my opinion, covering SQL design in the MySQL console, instead of Migrations, is neither Agile nor Rails-ish.

(4) Continuous improvement requires continuous absorption.

Subscribe to blogs. And podcasts. Read wikis, and READMEs and newsgroup archives. Google 'Rails anything' and see what other people did. Someone smarter and more experienced than you probably wrote a tutorial on how to solve your Monolithic Problem with 3 lines of code.

In no particular order:

RailsCasts - also anything on Pragmatic.tv by Ryan Bates
Technoweenie
Why the Lucky Stiff
Has Many :through
Noob on Rails
#rubyonrails on irc.freenode.net
about a billion others that I just can't think of right now...

Also, when you're ready for some serious 'a-ha' moments, get yourself a copy of Design Patterns in Ruby by Russ Olsen. Imagine: you can learn design patterns in a OO language without having to wade through miles of C++ or Java code, and learn a few Ruby-only design patterns. Prepare to truly grok how Rails works for the first time.

(5) Teach your app cool tricks.

That problem that you're thinking about solving - the one you just filled the whiteboard sketching out - someone else solved three years ago. Yes, there's a plugin for that. Maybe a whole gem. Google 'Rails myproblem' and you'll find a million solutions. Afraid you're going to muck up your work? Copy the whole project to another folder, then install the goodies there.

(6) Get comfortable with a Revision System.

Subversion. Git. CVS. Mercurial (woot!). Whatever. Pick one. Use it. Again, if you're one of those 'living in the clouds' folks, you should have no problem finding a hosted revision system, especially if you're going to build an open-source app. Check out Github for Git, or Sourceforge or code.google.com for SVN.

(7) Deploy your app with robust resources.

Don't expect a $5/month hosting account to handle your app well, even if you're the only one using it. Starting up a Rails app is system-intensive. If you are using hosting, I'd recommend a VPS to start with. Or your own server if you've got one. Bandwidth is usually much less of an issue than available CPU cycles.

Slicehost offers solid VM hosting starting at $20/month, and it should do fine for your startup app. I default all my new app VMs to 256 megs of RAM and 1 CPU, and flex them up when there is demand.

If you're going to host yourself, check out Jumpbox's Ruby on Rails VM Appliance, configured excellently on a Ubuntu server.

If you decide to build from scratch, don't get hung up on old software, just because its there. I run all my production apps on mongrel, the same server I develop with. I use either pound (pure reverse proxy with an HTTPS wrapper) or nginx (if I need to serve a bunch of static content, and don't want to tie up my mongrel cluster doing it) as a reverse proxy, depending on the apps requirements. Both have super-low requirements, super-easy configs, active developers, and good behavior.

That's all, folks!

If I missed anything major, I'll do a follow-up. Feel free to add your own best practices in the comments!

24 Hours with openSUSE 11.1

2008-12-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas came a week early for openSUSE users!

Back in June I blogged about my first experiences with openSUSE 11.0. Although there were some groundbreaking improvements, the general tenor of my experience was negative. I did eventually move to 11.0, as I saw improvements appear from the community (such as a recipe for making Firefox3 use the system's Cairo library, thus enabling subpixel hinting.) I also suggested that 11.1 would fix all major issues introduced in 11.0, but not add any substantially new features. I stand corrected: 11.1 does fix the issues I whined about, but does also, amazingly, incorporate quite a bit of 'newness'.

I'm happy to say that both of my major gripes with 11.0 are completely resolved in 11.1, and then some.

Control and display for my integrated Intel wireless are working beautifully; the light works; the light blinks with traffic; pressing the button turns off wireless, and pressing it again turns it back on. Yay. Kudos to the NetworkManager team for moving past some blame issues with the wireless switches, and to Intel for getting the new driver in better working condition.

The default font configuration is easy-on-the-eyes, literally. The standard fonts are very well rendered, and appear consistent across, well, everything. From GTK apps, to Firefox (my other big complaint last time around), to OpenOffice.org, to Java apps, everything looks the same in the workspace, and a look under the magnifying glass proves it out. Also, out of the box, subpixel hinting can be enabled from the Appearance Control Panel app; gone are the days of installing someone else's freetype library. Big yay!

Fonts render consistently across applications, despite variances in design.

Don't be fooled; openSUSE 11.1 is more than a bugfix release; it incorporates a variety of new features and improvements.

I won't bother repeating the published improvements, you can read the openSUSE blog post for all that. But I've noticed some changes, (some big, some small) that aren't covered.

Sleep mode works. Finally. It may not work for you, but my Centrino-based HP Compaq 6710b sleeps. Hibernate has worked since 10.3, but sleep takes the ease-of-use way up. The only reason I can see to reboot now is for kernel updates.

X86-64. Finally. I've been itching to use a 64-bit OS. Not that I'm using more than 4GB of RAM, but more that I want the optimizations that come along with it (I cringe every time I see a .i386.rpm). With browser plug-ins finally making the leap (Flash & openJAVA both are avialable), so did I. And contrary to the horror stories I've heard in the past, everything, everything has been smooth, and just a bit faster, methinks.

GDM got the once-over. Gone are the full-screen themed-up days of Gnome Desktop Manager. GDM now sports a very desktop-ish look, complete with function tray icons, and drop-down menus for selecting auth points (like Active Directory domains), remote X servers, and Desktop Environments. I don't know if I like it as much as the smooth green & gray GDM theme from 11.0, which blended seamlessly with the Bootsplash, but I can see obvious improvement in access to the full range of GDM's feature set.

GDM on openSUSE 11.1

Fast, Easy mounting of remote filesystems. In openSUSE 10.3, opening a samba share in Nautilus took about 30 seconds. 11.0 cleared that up, most likely as a result of the new GVFS integration. 11.1 takes it up a notch, easily mounting anything I can throw at it, adding an icon to the desktop while its mounted, offering the option to bookmark it, and making the files accessible through a local mount, easing the pain of working with those files in programs that don't make good use of remote paths (*cough* OpenOffice.org *cough*). Oh yeah, there's a nifty little unmount button on Natilus' Places list,and tabs too (the Ubuntu guys have been bragging about this in their 8.10 release).

Injet Disc Printing. This has long been on my list of 'Reasons why I still have to use Windows (occasionally).' I use an Epson RX580 to print directly on CD-R & DVD-R printable media, via Epson's rather limited software. Now, I'm able to do the same with Gimp, Foomatic & Gutenprint. Apparently this isn't totally new, but its the first time I've been able to make it work. I think the best reason I have for keeping Windows around now is the shiny sticker they put on my laptop at the factory.

Direct label printing with GIMP.

KDE 4.2 Backports. Although I've gone Gnome, I still try to keep up with KDE. There's been a good bit of whining about KWin's compositing effects, namely the lack of a a 'desktop cube' effect, for which Compiz is so famous. KDE 4.2 will ship with a desktop cube; KDE 4.1 for openSUSE 11.1 ships with it as well, as the effects have been backported for the release. Nice work, guys!

OpenSUSE Build Service. If you build software, or just hack around a bit, you should have an OBS account. OBS uses virtualization to build software from your source for a variety of distros, including a spectrum of SUSE, Fedora, and Ubuntu targets, all at once. In addition, openSUSE 11.1 was built completely on OBS. One of the strongest side-benefits was that applicable patches automatically backported to prior releases. This is the first time I've seen a rash of updates to an old release the weeks leading up to a new release.

Of course, there are still some improvements I'd like to see.

SAX2, the X11 setup tool, still doesn't handle setup of xrandr well. In order to get good behavior out of xrandr, I have to tell SAX2 I'm using a monitor capable of handling any resolution I expect to see, otherwise the specified resolution will be used as a cap by xrandr. So, counterintuitively, I set my laptop's LCD to 1600x1200, which allows xrandr to set it at the native 1280x800, and any external display at a resolution up to 1600x1200.

Something's funky in Firefox; my mouse cursor disappears while if its over a page area thats still rendering. Something to do with Xulrunner and Cairo, I'm sure, but hopefully it goes away soon; having the cursor disappear in your browser is disconcerting.

The Intel video driver still prevents me from using Compiz on multiple monitors. Intel chipsets, starting with the i945, are capable of handling textures up to 8096x8096, earlier chipsets (down to the i810) has a max texture of 2048x2048. Despite the physical capability, and the presence of patches that prove it works, the intel driver still ships with the lower limit, which prevents Compiz from rendering a texture across my two 1200px-wide monitors. Sigh.

All in all, openSUSE 11.1 is an extremely well-polished release. If you've been waiting to give it a shot, now is a great time. If you're wondering what differentiates openSUSE from other distro's, here's a quick rundown of this capable, flexible OS:

Desktop Environment options. OpenSUSE is one of few, and the only major Linux distribution, to comprehensively integrate more than one DE. OpenSUSE 11.1 gives you a well-tended desktop experience in Gnome, KDE (4.1 & 3.5) and XFCE. Enlightenment, ICEWM, WindowMaker, and FVWM are also included, though not as well manicured as Gnome, KDE & XFCE. In contrast, Ubuntu ships only with Gnome, and leaves integration of other DEs to the community. Fedora Core 10 has received quite a bit of bad commentary for the poor integration of KDE 4.1.

Download how-you-want. Software.opensuse.org provides a simple path to downloads of both full DVDs, CD sets, live CDs, bittorent links, and network installs for x86, x86-64, PowerPC, for Gnome Live, or KDE 4.1 Live. Did I mention it's actually easy?

The desktop is the server. In addition to the great desktop integration, SUSE releases have always made excellent servers. Setting up a LAMP stack, for example, is a one-click affair during install. Same as 'games'. ;-)

A huge universe of software. The above-mentioned OBS allows developers to upload code, and the service compiles it for them, and optionally, publishes it for install. Any time the codebase changes, or a depency changes, the software is automatically rebuilt, and if you have subscribed to a package's repository, you'll get an automatic update.

OpenOffice.org Novell Edition. Retailing for $120 for Windows, OpenOffice.org Novell Edition includes a variety of enhancements that have not yet been included in the upstream OOo package, such as PDF Import, better Excel formula integration, and improved import of MS OOXML documents.

The OpenSUSE community. OpenSUSE is working aggressively to step up the role of community, which typically is the group of people posting in forums or chat. OpenSUSE recently held an election of a steering board, which will guide the principles and direction for OpenSUSE. Voting was open to 'members', contributing participants in the the various openSUSE projects; this is a subset of registered 'users'. In addition, you have the larger, official support interests. Since openSUSE feeds into Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise products, the documentation is well maintained, and installation support is still available with the boxed release.

Green is better than orange. Really, it is.

I use openSUSE Linux as my primary OS both at home & work, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server at work as well. If you've got questions about using SUSE at work, even in a mostly-Windows shop, feel free to email me at bear454 [at] opensuse [dot] org.

Basecamp API for BungeeConnect

2008-10-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

+ = ?

12 classes. 60 functions. 6 test applications. 30 unit test functions. One big fat API wrapper. BungeeConnect applications can now completely integrate with 37signals' Basecamp Project Management application.

Why?

Well, 37s are an arrogant group of developers; they even admit to it in their book. Ask them for a new feature and the answer is "no", or in my case "there's an API, build it yourself." So I am, in BungeeConnect, and you can too. (My own itch is moving todo-items from one project to another, something 37s has been reluctant to offer.)

Prerequisites.

A BungeeConnect account.
A Basecamp account. To use SSL and manage Time Entries, you need at least a Plus Account.

Getting Started.

Login to the Bungee Builder, and create a new Solution.
Modify the Solution's Depencies to include the Basecamp API
If you want to modify the API, Import it (you'll probably want to, as there aren't any inbuilt Adapters).
In a class in your TypeLib, add BasecampAPI as a field.
Before you can go to town, you'll have to setup the API. Now there's nothing stopping you!

Issues.
I've got two rather minor functions that are still throwing 404 errors - I'm working with 37s (via the forums) to get to the bottom of it, but again, they are minor, and I don't consider them showstoppers.

A bit larger, is an issue I found with BungeeConnect: their HTTP Utility doesn't properly auth PUTs, so none of the Update functions currently work. Bungee Labs has labeled this as Issue #7889 - hopefully it will be resolved sooner rather than later.

In Conclusion...

I'll be maintaining the BungeeConnect code until someone else steps up with better code, so drop me a line with any issues you encounter, or just let me know what cool tool you're building!

P.S. I'll be dropping another blog post soon about a new site I'm building for making Basecamp better using a variety of small tools.

37Signals says IE6 sucks

2008-09-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

In a recent blog post, 37 Signals, originators of Ruby on Rails, and a series of extremely popular web applications, reminded users of their intent to stop supporting Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.

Jason Fried, President of 37Signals blogged yesterday:

"We will not intentionally break IE 6 compatibility, but we will also not invest significant time or resources into making sure we are backward compatible with IE 6 after October 1, 2008."

What's a poor IE6 user to do?

"In order to continue using the products without any hiccups, Internet Explorer 6 users should upgrade to a newer browser..."

... like Firefox, or Safari, or maybe even Google Chrome (if you can work around their EULA).

Why drop support for a browser you've invested so much work in already?

"Continued support of IE 6 means that we can't optimize our interfaces or provide an enhanced customer experience in our apps. Supporting IE 6 means slower progress, less progress, and, in some places, no progress. We want to make sure the experience is the best it can be for the vast majority of our customers, and continuing to support IE 6 holds us back."

This reflects strongly on the culture of 37Signals and their customer base. In the original post, it was noted that, "..IE 6 usage has finally dipped below a small minority threshold of our customers...". This is contrary to browsers overall, as w3Counter still reports IE6 as the top browser in their August '08 stats, accounting for 29.91% of all browser hits. 37Signals is an amazingly successful, forward-thinking, and arrogant set of developers. Their customers, by reflection are mostly the same, and I'm proud to be counted among them. I just hope Firefox 2 isn't next on their hit list...

Of course, if you're using GNU/Linux or a Mac, this doesn't effect you anyway. ;-)

Silicon Mechanics: 'Wow'ing the Customer

2008-08-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Silicon Mechanics is building a new server for my company right now. They advertise 'Expert Included', implying you will receive top-notch support along with an excellent server. What that fails to imply is the amazing support you'll get before you order.

I submitted a quote through their web site, and requested the idle noise level of the server: something they're not currently publishing. Within 48 hours I got an email from Tim Groen, a member of their sales team, apologizing for the delay. In the meantime they had pulled a server, ordered a sound level meter, found a quiet room and tested the server. Wow #1.

Unfortunately, the server as quoted was louder than I was willing to tolerate (I work in the same room as our server rack). Tim asked a few questions about my priorities on the system, and what I would be willing to give up to get it quieter.

Shortly thereafter, I got another quote via email. Same system, but labeled 'quiet cousin'. Instead of chopping out any of my requested features, they opted to custom tune the system, with a guaranteed maximum SPL within my tolerances. Wow #2.

I got a call from Tim today, informing be the system was going to be a tad more expensive than originally quoted, as they were replacing the standard fans with something quieter. I approved the price change and got another email, which showed the fans they were including: maglev fans. Wow #3. I had no idea there were such things, but having experienced a maglev train I am expecting a rather quiet server.

Tim also told me to expect delivery next week; a full week ahead of their original estimate. Wow #4.

Update:

The server was delivered today, and unwrapped Christmas-morning-style. My co-hort and I bench-tested the server, and were very pleased with the noise level. Then the fans spun down after POST. I admit it; we giggled. The system is quieter than we expected, by far. Wow #5.

In the rack, compared to the rest of the noisemakers, I can't tell the server is running, save for a subtle low-frequency hum. Now to get openSUSE running on it, and start virtualizing (noisy boxes go first)!

Full disclosure: Silicon Mechanics sponsors my local Linux event, Linuxfest Northwest.

Freezing Rails 2.10 with MS SQL Server

2008-07-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm starting to catch up with a lot of the deployment improvements in Rails up to 2.1.0; I'm freezing Rails, and any associated gems. Some of my apps run against Microsoft SQL Server, so the activerecord-sqlserver-adapter is required. That's where I ran into trouble; trying to freeze that in... apparently a frozen instance of Rails expects the adapters to be frozen as well!

So, here's my recipe for freezing Rails into your app, with support for Microsoft SQL Server:

If you've already frozen rails, you'll need to unfreeze it:
rake rails:unfreeze
add the gem dependency to your environment.rb:
config.gem "activerecord-sqlserver-adapter",
:lib => "active_record/connection_adapters/sqlserver_adapter",
:source => "http://gems.rubyonrails.org"
Install your gem(s) if you haven't already:
rake gems:install
Freeze your gem(s):
rake gems:unpack
Refreeze Rails (I use my gems - you could do this from edge instead):
rake rails:freeze:gems

Viola! Your Rails app now includes the Rails version it runs against, and any requried gems, including ActiveRecord's SQL Server Adapter.

P.S. This would be easily adaptable for any external ActiveRecord adapter (Oracle, db2, etc.)

Ruby, JRuby, and Rails Application Development (with Passion!)

2008-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.javapassion.com/rubyonrails/

Starting July 15th, Sang Shin, a Java architect and evangelist from Sun Microsystems, will be leading an online course on developing Ruby on Rails applications, including the use of JRuby. The free course includes 20 weekly lessons (including homework - bah) starting with Ruby fundamentals and working through all the major Rails areas, closing with four complete Rails applications. Of course, Sang will focus the materials on using the free, open-source NetBeans IDE and JRuby runtime.

I'll be acting as an Advisor for the course (the open-source version of a T.A.) along with five other members of a very diverse group. With 998 members and counting, anyone should be able to find a study-group to help out; groups have already formed with cultural themes - Indians, Brazilians, Mexicans, Syrians, etc.

So, if you're interested in learning the nuts and bolts of building a Rails application, join the group by sending an email to ruby-on-rails-programming-with-passion-subscribe@googlegroups.com or visiting the group site.

Tango for Free!

2008-07-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Jimmac announced today on the Tango Mailing List that thanks to about a bazillion requests and the negotiation skills of Michael Meeks, the Tango Icon Library will be changing licenses from CCASA2.5 to Public Domain. Yes, folks, free as in free. Put those beautiful icons in any app you want; they're yours!

There are a few sticky issues that have to be resolved; the free icons will likely publish from a new repository, and only icons where the authors have explicitly approve the license change will appear there.

For me, this should mean better adoption in the BungeeConnect platform, where I maintain a set of the Tango Icons.

Here's the original post:

[Tango-artists] relicensing tango-icon-theme

Jakub Steiner Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 4:25 AM

To: Tango Artists List

Cc: Steven Garrity , Ulisse Perusin , Rodney Dawes

Hello fellow tango artists!

One of the most frequent debates here has been the licensing surrounding
the tango style's first implementation, the tango-icon-theme. Licensed
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.5, it has been problematic to
ship along with GPLed software and create derivative artwork for many
major software projects. The licensing has created a barrier where we
needed quick adoption.

A lot of time has been wasted recreating the same asset in
gnome-icon-theme and OpenOffice. So I'm relieved that after a _long_
debate with Novell legal and the open source review board, Novell is
agreeing to relicense its share of tango-icon-theme under a more liberal
license. The talk has been about CC-BY-SAv3, LGPL, but in the end the
license that is the least restricting and clear wrt to artwork (as
opposed to code) is giving up copyright and going Public Domain. This
will allow the assets to be used in free software regardless of the
projects' license as well as proprietary software. Huge thanks goes out
to Michael Meeks who has been the negotiator finally managing getting
this through.

I've done the majority of work on tango icon theme, but there is a lot
more contributors. I'd like to ask everyone to either approve or refuse
their work to be relicensed to public domain. I have cc:ed people listed
in the AUTHORS file. Luckily I have been mandating people to provide the
authorship metadata in the SVGs themself, so we can figure this out on a
per-icon basis.

One negative aspect of the theme may be that people are free to claim
authorship of your work. But realistically, people who do that, will do
it regardless of the license (as has been seen on many occasions in the
past). We can simply keep on kindly asking for people to give proper
credits to the tango project and linking to the website. Suggest rather
than mandate.

I don't know how this applies to the autotools scripts and
configurations. I would take this opportunity and suggest to start from
scratch on the new 'tango-icon-theme'[1]. Create a git repository on
freedesktop in place of the clumsy CVS, stop worrying about legacy
(icon-naming-utils), stop depending on a build system for an icon theme,
and simply use an artist-friendly workflow to edit icons in vector form.
I have been very happy using a one-canvas workflow I will follow up on.

Let's resurrect and scavenge the good that's left in tango icon theme!

cheers

[1] I actually have -- http://jimmac.musichall.cz/i.php?i=Tango-NG
--
Jakub Steiner <jimmac@novell.com>
Novell, Inc.

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