You can help the defenders.For years, Red Hat Legal has given free services to the Fedora Project such as counsel on licensing and IP issues like patents and trademarks. Now they’re asking for help from us, the Fedora community. Here’s a brief snippet of what I wrote to the advisory-board list this morning: Red Hat Legal provides numerous services as counsel to the Fedora community, including defending Fedora trademarks against possible encroachment. Occasionally, people who have no connection to our community attempt to use the Fedora trademark to signify business efforts that have no connection to the Fedora Project, our distribution, or the Fedora community. Red Hat Legal is currently working on just such a defense. They’ve asked me to pass on a request for assistance in gathering physical evidence of our use of the Fedora logo worldwide prior to January 30, 2007. Please go read the full announcement to see what you can do to help. For example, there’s a specific issue of Linux Magazine from March 2006 that would be very helpful to have, or other magazines prior to January 30, 2007 that show our current Fedora logo in association with the Fedora Project or distribution. But there are other goods that would be helpful too. The announcement has a list of criteria, what Red Hat Legal specifically needs from you, and the addresses where you can send it. UPDATE: Check out this updated information about how you can help even more easily. It turns out that evidence of our using the word “Fedora” in conjunction with the distribution at any time earlier than January 30, 2007 is useful, whether our current logo (which we started using in late 2005/early 2006) appears there or not. |
Your money’s worth in “aha!” moments.
Not only that, but I’m joining amazing dignitaries in the Linux universe like Stormy Peters, Jon “maddog” Hall, and Red Hat’s own Christopher “Monty” Montgomery. (I can’t wait for Monty’s talk on codecs, but I’m hoping it’s not filled with math. Math is hard, I’m going shopping!*) I get to present a revision of my PyGTK for Beginners talk that I did at the Southeast Linux Fest in June. I’m planning to eliminate some of the introductory material, because if the SELF audience was any indication, the audience in Columbus will probably know some of the very basic concepts already. I’ll be spending less time on setting up tools, and more time on delving into the way that GTK works, and showing a specific, simple example of how it’s put to work using easy Python code. By the way, if you’re going to this event, and you plan to attend my talk, let me know what you would like to see there. I’ll be limited to about 40 or so minutes of speaking material so there’s time for questions and answers. But if there’s something specific on which you’re stuck as a novice (or wanna-be novice) PyGTK programmer, I want to help! If you’re an expert, you’re welcome too. I might have you answer a question or two though, maybe even mine. I like to think of community learning sessions as just that — of, by, and for the community. I may not have all the answers, but chances are someone does. And it’s far less important for me to look smart than for the audience to learn. I try to give good answers, but I don’t mind saying “I don’t know” or asking an experienced audience member if it helps. In one of my previous lives I was an instructor and I still enjoy teaching when I can. I often enjoy diving into deep water where I’m not an expert and just trying to get people over the same humps that baffled me when I started. I’ve learned enough to write some simple interfaces and code, and reaching that plateau has been a real eye-opener. A few short years ago, I would have told you it would never happen. But it can, and what I want to do in this talk is give people a couple “aha!” moments that will dispel all those fears and make it happen for you, too. Basically, if I get you even one step closer to the powerful belief below, I consider my trip a success: You can write free software too! If you care to see my earlier slides, they’re in my Fedora People space, available under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license here (OpenOffice.org Impress format). Be aware that these will change for Ohio Linux Fest, though, and “aha” moments aren’t always predictable from a raw slide deck. Hey, I’ve gotta have some hook, right? Whether I see you at my talk or not, though, don’t fail to register for the Ohio Linux Fest 2010! Let people know you’re coming, too — use the #ohiolinux hashtag on Identi.ca and Twitter, and tell a friend! * Lest anyone think that joke was at anyone’s expense other than mine… rest assured it wasn’t. |
Fedora 14 Alpha is go!As John posted last night, Fedora 14 Alpha was declared ready for release next week. Although there was a one-week slip to handle the fact that our blocker list wasn’t clear, Fedora developers and testers in the community have worked hard together both to resolve the remaining issues and make sure that our Alpha would pass the release criteria. There were a number of developers who hopped in to fix things quickly to yield package builds that would clear the runway, so thanks to all of you guys. I also wanted to take a moment to say how impressively the QA team has beefed up the definition of these criteria. Not only that, but the team continues to take opportunities to refine them whenever we hit a question that’s difficult to answer under the current criteria. We still can improve our effectiveness at turning the combination of the blocker bug list and the criteria into getting response from developers where needed, but that’s more of a shared issue. As with our criteria and our schedule, we continue to improve these processes in an iterative way, and openly to boot. Here’s one place where everyone will be able to pitch in — making sure that any common issues in the Alpha are properly noted. We have a wiki page for common Fedora 14 issues, and it’s very important for us to keep it updated for all those trying out the pre-releases. If you’re in doubt whether it’s a common issue, that’s OK. There are some notes on that wiki page on how to add your issue:
If in doubt, we’d rather see the issue than not. The Alpha release is meant for advanced users and Fedora participants to download and test. It’s not code-complete, meaning a few things may be broken. We want and need your help to identify, report, and resolve these problems. As always, the best way to do that is to file bugs! Random blog entries, tweets/dents, and mail may be interesting, but to track the problems to resolution, bugs are the right way to go. We look forward to your participation as always — if you’re not already installing from the pre-release tree, you’ll be able to pick up the official images next Tuesday, August 24. In summary, nice job to everyone involved, and I’m looking forward to switching a few systems here at home to F14 Alpha! |
FUDCon Tempe lodging update.Here’s some great news regarding lodging for the upcoming FUDCon in Tempe. We’ve secured a much better rate at a competing hotel nearby. The rate is around 60% of what we were originally expecting. That means it just got a lot more affordable for everyone to travel to FUDCon! We’re still working out the final bits with the hotel so we can make a detailed announcement, which you can expect in the near future. Of course, we continue to encourage anyone who’s interested in helping to join us on the FUDCon planning list. |
Droid X and Fedora.My wife and I were in the market for new phones and decided we were going to spring for something brand new. We were even prepared to switch carriers for late breaking technology if required. I’d been an iPhone owner since around the time I started at Red Hat. (Yes, I know it’s a software freedom nightmare. Honestly, I spent about the same amount of time picking a phone as picking out a belt, so I clearly reaped what I sowed.) Over the last year I got increasingly unhappy with its inability to do some of the basic things I wanted, and some minor design flaws became much more glaring when I hit them constantly. Some of these problems related directly to my use case since I’m on Fedora, a Linux distribution, and not an iTunes user. Therefore I wouldn’t expect Apple to care about or design for me. I’d heard really good things about the new generation Android phones, especially their playing nice with Linux hosts. So I decided it was high time I tried something new rather than simply queuing up for a new and spiffier prison cell (iPhone). Based on the reviews of service in Consumer Reports, Verizon was far and away the leader in customer satisfaction. I decided to concentrate on their offerings, and was thrilled to find the new Droid X (info: Flash site) was now shipping, albeit with a few weeks’ wait. Our local wholesale club had a decent offer underway where each phone got a $100 rebate, plus a $50 store debit card, plus a $30 rebate on a month’s service. Originally my wife had been adamant about having a real keyboard on her phone, but the large screen of the Droid X won her over too. This would be her first smartphone, so despite her trepidation she decided, “in for a dime, in for a dollar,” and we ended up buying a pair of them. My experience thus far has been exceptional. Not only could I find apps for everything I used to use on my iPhone, but what used to be touchy, like media exchange, is now simple and pain-free on the Droid X. Now granted, thanks to the libimobiledevice capability in Fedora 13, this was no longer a huge hassle with my iPhone. Using the phone with Rhythmbox and other Fedora apps, though, was often touchy — especially since the sync function required extra time to complete and the phone didn’t give very good feedback on when it was safe to disconnect. When I attach my new Droid X phone via the included USB cable to my Fedora system, though, it’s a much different story. I attach it as a simple mass storage device. Then I just drag and drop music into the phone, and when I’m done, remove the device just like I would any thumb drive. The phone automatically locates the new media and adds it to the library or gallery. The service integration is really good, especially with Google services (as one would expect). I also have the ability to copy media to and from my systems around the house that ask run Fedora, via SFTP. I will say the battery doesn’t go for more than a day right now but I expect that’s because I use the darn thing so heavily. The big, bright screen has got to be a power consumption monster, so I’m surprised a charge lasts a long as it does. And I love the Swype interface for text entry — I’m using it to write this blog and it’s almost as fast as keying on the touch screen directly. One niggle thus far: the phone doesn’t seem to turn off the keypad when the phone is raised up to speak, after I activate the keypad to accept a call via Google Voice, so I have to hide it to avoid sending tones on the line. Other than that, I don’t have any complaints after the first week. All in all I’m happy with the purchase. I hear that the new Android 2.2 “Froyo” update will soon be available for this phone and I’m looking forward to trying it out. |
FUDCon Tempe update.We have a FUDCon Planning issue tracker (Trac) that will help the organizational team for FUDCon Tempe 2011 stay on top of their to-do items. We are using the Trac to track our normal meeting agenda, and the meetings for FUDCon Tempe are held (at least for now) on Mondays at 1900 UTC (3pm US/Eastern, 12pm US/Pacific) in IRC Freenode #fudcon-planning. We will also be using the Trac to take funding requests for subsidizing people. We’re encouraging people to apply for subsidies if they need assistance to attend. We have a process for deciding on subsidy awards, and it’s documented on the wiki in the normal, transparent fashion. If you already pre-registered on the wiki, and indicated you need some travel assistance, please fill out a ticket. That will really help us keep track of the requests, so thanks in advance. (Don’t worry, we’ll contact those folks by email too, to make sure we catch their attention.) You can find more information on the Trac wiki. As part of my work helping the new FPL get situated, I’m helping with FUDCon planning for the next few months. Jared and I will also be teaming up to help the FUDCon Zurich team with their needs over the next few weeks until that event starts. We’re making sure to send a few engineers from Red Hat in the USA, and helping with some of the general bill-paying to keep things moving along. By the way, if you’re in one of these regions, you definitely don’t want to miss a FUDCon event. Make sure you pre-register on the wiki and let us know you’re coming! Here are the links:
Remember that FUDCon is open to everyone to attend and there is no registration fee. Happy Monday everyone! |
FUDCon Tempe 2011.Today Jared announced FUDCon Tempe 2011, which will be held January 29-31, 2011 — the next big North American FUDCon event. And as always, FUDCon is free and open to everyone to attend. Most importantly: the wiki page for FUDCon Tempe is now open for pre-registration! We’re offering a significant number of travel subsidies for contributors this year because we know the hotel is a little higher cost than at previous FUDCons. That happens because during the winter, obviously lots of people want to vacation in the Southwest, where it’s warmer. (That’s the same reason we’re going there, after all!) So demand for hotel rooms is higher, making prices rise somewhat. Despite the costs, we want to make sure that people can stay together in the FUDCon hotel because lots of the collaboration that happens there goes on after hours, when people get together to share ideas, hack on code, and plan for the future of Fedora. So we boosted the amount of funding this year for travel subsidies to compensate for higher costs. Because FUDCon is global, we have events all over the world. So just as most of the people we subsidize for a FUDCon in the EMEA region come from that region, we expect to subsidize mostly people from North America for this FUDCon. Of course, we’re always very mindful that people from around the world love coming to any FUDCon event, so we’ll consider all requests. We’ve made it easier to request funding this time around, by visiting our new FUDCon planning issue tracker. Instructions are on the issue tracker wiki — just look for the links on the front page. It’s worth noting that our location this year came about because some Fedora Project volunteers decided to help organize the event. We opened a bid process back in April to find our next location, to allow our contributors to work on the process of putting together FUDCon, just as we encourage them to get involved in other parts of Fedora. In fact, you might have seen the announcement on the mailing list, or this entry on my blog, talking about our open bid process back in April of this year. A couple of our contributors, Robyn Bergeron and Ryan Rix,have been doing a bunch of leg work to bid for FUDCon in Tempe. They also got help from friends at Arizona State University and ASULUG — much appreciated, folks! I think it’s great to see contributors stepping up to help in this way, and I hope that other contributors who want to see the North American FUDCon in another new location next year will feel empowered to do the same. We’re still finishing up some of the wiki page, but I encourage everyone to pre-register now — which will help us finalize details with the hotel. Please help us out by letting us know you’re coming! |
Emacs and ERC.Dear Lazyweb: I’m trying out Emacs as an IRC client (via ERC) and realize that I could probably use some tuning to make it work well. I’m wondering whether anyone in the Fedora community has a set of scripts they use to do some of the following:
OK, I haven’t done a ton of investigation yet, too much else on my plate so I have to get a Round Tuit when I can. If you have a set of goodies that work well for you, let me know. Comments such as “use another client” will be cheerfully deleted. |
