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dragotinownCloud BOF at Akademy 2012
Akademy 2012 isn’t far any more and I just registered for a BOF at this years Akademy in Tallin. It will take place in Room 419 on monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 10:30.
Subject of the BOF will be the integration between KDE and ownCloud. As onwCloud originated from the KDE project we should meet and think together again how we can provide useful integration for the users combining the power of both technologies.
After a short overview of where the ownCloud project is going and what the recent achievements are (if participants are interested) I think we should concentrate on the technical level.
There are a couple of rough ideas already how we can integrate on a technical level, such as
- Integration of the ownCloud data storage in the KDE user experience.
- KDE features for the ownCloud Desktop Client like KWallet integration or KDE SSL certificate management.
- Synchronisation of PIM data like contacts, addresses, bookmarks or RSS feeds
- a syncing API for application data to be synced in KDE applications.
- Syncing of KDE application configurations.
- Plasma integration of ownCloud/syncing client.
I am sure there will be more we can come up with. Let me know upfront if you want me to put it on the list or even better show up at the BOF in person.
Ferrocement: a brief, incomplete, and simple introduction
Ferrocement is a building technique that allows for very flexible forms to be made with concrete. You can make vaults, walls, round tanks or differently-shaped ones, cisterns...
For a normal concrete pour, you need some kind of formwork that is difficult to build and awkward to remove later. Ferrocement generally lets you avoid most or all of the formwork, as what is built can support itself even as the concrete is curing.
I am not an expert in ferrocement, but I've had had enough things in my house made with this technique that I can give a little introduction.
Building a bridge - a little example
For this example, we'll build a small bridge to cross a ditch in the ground - a Permaculture-style swale for water catchment. The bridge is not designed to sustain big loads, or for a great span; it is just a little example.
You form a rebar mesh into the shape you want, overlay it with hexagonal wire mesh, and tie it all together with wire. The more taut the hexagonal mesh, the better. You can make the wire ties with pliers, or with an L-shaped tool that builders use to twist wire elegantly.
Pour a little concrete base on each end of the bridge, on which to seat the wire mesh. The basic recipe is:
- Four 20-liter buckets of gravel.
- Four 20-liter buckets of sand.
- One 50 Kg bag of Portland cement.
Put the mesh over the concrete bases, seating it reasonably well.
Then you start pouring concrete over the bridge's mesh. Do the lower ends first, and climb up to the center. You have to spread the concrete mixture with a trowel, but without tamping it down - that would cause it to spill through the mesh. Something will spill, but it is generally only the most liquid part of the mixture, and not the majority of the material that clings to the gravel.
Continue up. The mixture at the bottom holds what goes at the top, and you go like that until you reach the center.
The next day, the bridge is strong enough to walk on. The concrete is not fully cured yet, but it is strong enough. Then you can coat it and smooth it with a flat trowel to refine the surface.
Ferrocement vaults
Some time ago, Christopher Alexander's book A Pattern Language inspired my wife and myself to expand our house, and to build concrete vaults instead of flat roofs. Vaults are easy to build, don't require expensive and wasteful formwork, drain automatically, give you tall ceilings, and make rooms quite special.
It was then that I found Flying Concrete, a fantastic web page of ferrocement construction, especially vaulted structures. The idea is to build catenary vaults. A catenary is the curve that results from hanging a chain from two points; when you turn it upside down, you get the most efficient vault possible. The church of the Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, by Antoni Gaudí, is a very tall structure built entirely out of catenary vaults and arches.
Ignore the light brown strips under the structure; originally I wanted to use flexible wooden strips instead of rebar, but got MDF by accident - and only later discovered that it got unusably soft when wet. Other than that, the structure of the vault is the same as for the little bridge: rebar and tied wire mesh.
First you can lay on a thin layer of concrete, let it harden a bit, and then lay a thicker layer on top of that. This prevents the mesh from sagging too much from the initial weight.
In the picture above you can see a larger vault alredy poured, and a similar vault in the process of being formed. The base of each of those is a square of about 4x4 meters, and the vault itself is under 1 meter tall. This requires no formwork at all; the rebar/mesh and concrete support themselves.
Free-form structures
Finally, let me show you two staircases. The vaulted arches on the first one, and the funny curve on the second one, are a thin ferrocement shell. Then the steps are poured on top of the hardened shell, each one with little wood to hold the concrete.
References
Flying Concrete is Steve Kornher's no-bullshit resource about practical construction with ferrocement. He builds vaults, staircases, and chimneys reminiscent of Antoni Gaudí's capricious forms. Last time I checked, he was experimenting with building an entire house with no "ferro" - no rebar at all, just a compression structure based on catenary curves. Based on his advice, I was able to build concrete vaults at my house.
Boxing ARM With Geekos
Participation in the second openSUSE Collaboration Summer Camp
Do you feel hot?
The time has come to arrange your summer getaways!
The 2nd openSUSE Collaboration Summer Camp has almost arrived this year in the familiar place (hotel Grand Platon in Katerini beach) at 20-22 July 2012!
Like last summer we will all meet together and we will combine our baths and beers by the pool with presentations and workshops (don’t forget to bring your laptop with you!)
The event is not only about openSUSE users!
The goal of the event is the collaboration between people who enjoy to contribute to FOSS and the acquaintance with the different ways they can do it.
We look forward to seeing all of you no matter the distro you use, to discuss, exchange opinions and of course we wait for your own presentations and/or workshops on the topics that interest you!
Like last summer there will be a variety of topics that are going to be presented, that will be interesting to everyone, even to the new and not so experienced users.
Everyone can actively contribute, attend the presentations and host their own workshops!
You have to know:
1.[CfP] Submission of presentations and workshops is open! We are looking forward for your ideas. Please fill the form , by clicking on the link below :
http://www.os-el.gr/content/submit-talk-collaboration-summer-camp-2012
2. Participation & room reservation : (It would be a good idea to do it as early as you can , so we can check the availability of the rooms with the hotel. Please send us an e-mail with your details at reservations@os-el.gr )
(In order to reserve a room you have to pay the 50 % of the total cost – You will receive more info about the bank deposit via e-mail.)
The cost for the rooms is (including breakfast & dinner):
* Single room – 35 euros/per night
* Double room – 45 euros/per night
* Triple room – 60 euros/per night
3. For more information & registration form:
— Send us an e-mail at : summercamp@os-el.gr
— Get into our IRC Channel #openSUSE-el in Freenode
4.Maps
Coordinates (Hotel): 40.249513,22.585809
Map (Directions from Thessaloniki) -> http://goo.gl/maps/HIGu
Map (Directions from Athens) -> http://goo.gl/maps/kxrN
Map (Directions from Railway station of Katerini to the Hotel)-> http://goo.gl/maps/TGkq
Because we love what we do, we are having fun contributing to FOSS and we hate doing it alone in our rooms during Summer time.
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL!
Participación en la segunda openSUSE Collaboration Summer Camp
¿Tenéis calor?
Ahora es el momento de organizar las excursiones de verano!
La segunda openSUSE Collaboration Summer Camp, se acerca rápidamente y tendrá lugar en el sitio ya conocido (Hotel Grand Platon – Playa de Katerini) , de 20 a 22 de julio del 2012.
Como el año pasado nos reunimos , disfrutamos de la playa , la piscina , la cerveza combinado con presentaciones y workshops (no te olvides de traer tu portatil!)
El evento no esta orientado solo para usuarios de openSUSE!
El objetivo es la colaboración entre las personas que aprovechan las ventajas de la contribución en FLOSS (Free Software / Open Source).
Los esperamos a todos (no nos importa cual distribución utilizais), para discutir, intercambiar puntos de vista y por supuesto esperamos sus presentaciones o/y workshops sobre los temas que les interesan!
Como el año pasado, habrá una variedad de temas,que serán presentados de forma que satisfaga a todos, incluso los nuevos y no tan experimentados usuarios.
Todo el mundo puede participar activamente, para asistir a las presentaciones y workshops! Además podéis presentar la presentación o/y workshop que os guste.
Teneís que saber:
1. [CfP] La submision de las presentaciones y workshops ya está abierto y esperamos sus sugerencias (solo en ingles)!
Todo lo que necesitas hacer es llenar el formulario: http://www.os-el.gr/content/submit-talk-collaboration-summer-camp-2012
2. Por formulario de inscripción y alojamiento (hacerlo en el tiempo indicado, para ayudarnos a mantener las habitaciones disponibles que serán necesarios en el hotel) enviar sus datos a reservations@os-el.gr
(Para reservar se requiere el 50% del coste – más información sobre el depósito, usted recibirá vía correo electrónico)
El costo de las habitaciones (incluye desayuno y cena):
* Habitación individual – 35 euros/noche
* Doble – 45 euros/noche
* Triple – 60 € /noche
3. Tenéis otras preguntas o dudas?
* Más información se puede encontrar en la página www.os-el.gr/summercamp/en/
* Para cualquier duda, póngase en contacto con nosotros a través del correo electrónico ya sea en(español,inglés): summercamp@os-el.gr
Porque amamos lo que hacemos y gastamos buena contribución a FS / OSS, incluso en verano.
4.Mapas
Coordenadas (Hotel): 40.249513,22.585809
Mapa (llegar desde Salònica) -> http://goo.gl/maps/HIGu
Mapa (llegar desde Aténas) -> http://goo.gl/maps/kxrN
Mapa (Mapa (llegar desde la estación del tren de Katerini hasta el Hotel)-> http://goo.gl/maps/TGkq
OS ESPERAMOS A TODOS ALLÍ!
Integration of Karma Plugin with Twitter
This is my report for the last week and a half(1st june - 11th june).
Firstly, the integration of Karma plugin with Twitter has been accomplished. It fetches tweets of Connect users and those which are intended towards promoting openSUSE are rewarded with Karma points.
Then I also finished off the integration of Planet openSUSE. For all those users whose blog feeds are aggregated on Planet openSUSE and who actively post are rewarded with karma points, provided they have specified their blog in their profiles on Connect.
Karma pluigns now has the ability to update user score and keeps track of when it last updated so as to avoid duplicacy when it again fetches user activities.
It also shows exactly how many bugs a user fixed, tweets and posts they had put up, for which they are being rewarded.
Now the problem that I am facing currently and on which I am going to work next is that tweeting and posting cannot be logically compared to bug fixing but can be compared to each other. So, there needs to be separate developer karma and marketing karma so that their is logical comparison of scores and appropriate badge distribution.
Also there are certain Connect users who haven't specified their blogs in their profile but their blog feeds are aggregated on openSUSE and openSUSE members who blog on Lizards blog also deserve to be rewarded.
Mercurial
Во-первых, нужно где-то разместить репозитории. Поскольку никаких других рекомендаций не поступало, по аналогии с cvs и svn будем класть все в /srv/hg/repos. Во-вторых, нужно обеспечить теперь доступ разным пользователям, которые счастливо существуют на компьютере и что-то там делают. Основная инструкция тут: http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/MultipleCommitters. Краткая инструкция: по аналогии с cvs и svn, создаем системную группу hg, системного пользователя hg, добавляем всех пользователей в группу hg.
Схема создания нового репозитория выглядит следующим образом:
cd repos/ mkdir test chown -R hg:hg test cd test/ hg init chown -R hg:hg .hg chmod -R g+w .hg chmod g+s .hg .hg/store .hg/store/data
Mercurial >1.0 сам, о чудо, разбирается с правами доступа и делает так, чтобы все кому надо могли туда писать. Вообще говоря, данный подход (пулить всем вместе в один репозиторий) полностью противоречит идеологии hg.
В-третьих, никак не обойтись без веб-интерфейса. В /usr/share/doc/packages/mercurial живет пример под названием hgweb.cgi. Кладем его в /srv/hg/bin/hgweb.fcgi и меняем примерно следующим образом (чтобы через FastCGI работал):
#!/usr/bin/python config = "/srv/hg/config" from mercurial import demandimport; demandimport.enable() from mercurial.hgweb import hgweb, wsgicgi from flup.server import fcgi application = hgweb(config) fcgi.WSGIServer(application).run()
Конфигурация для lighttpd (обычно кладется куда-нибудь в /etc/lighttpd/vhosts.d/hgweb.conf):
fastcgi.server += (
"/hg" => ((
"bin-path" => "/srv/hg/bin/hgweb.fcgi",
"socket" => socket_dir + "/hgweb.sock",
"max-procs" => 1,
"check-local" => "disable",
"fix-root-scriptname" => "enable",
))
)
Что писать в /srv/hg/config подсказывают в hg help hgweb:
[paths] / = /srv/hg/repos/* /home/user = /home/user/hg/**
Последняя строчка для того, чтобы пользователям было не обидно, там они хранят свои личные репозитории. Вот только . Поля "Description" и "Contact" настраиваются в .hg/hgrc персонально для каждого репозитория. Кроме того, теперь через http возможно анонимное клонирование.
В openSUSE перерабатывают страницу software.
Выглядит примерно так:
LibreOffice CorelDraw Import filter - text support hatches out
Uff, it is done!!!
We started to work on the text support inside libcdr already before the Libre Graphics Meeting in Vienna. We worked hard during the talks and the long evenings after having eaten some portions of Wienerschnitzl.
Now we are proud to announce that we managed to release yesterday libcdr-0.0.8 with "basic initial primitive [u]ncomplete" (further BIPU) text support. At the moment, we are supporting only a couple of parameters as a font face and font size and we are able to detect the encoding and produce a corresponding utf-8 string. Far from being perfect, it is nonetheless a milestone, because in the FOSS world, there was no support for CorelDraw text before.
We know that you prefer to look at nice pictures instead of reading bad text. So, this gives your heart's desires.
A simple document with text in CorelDraw 7:
The same document opened in a build of LibreOffice from yesterday:
At the moment, libcdr is able to convert text in CorelDraw documents from versions 7 to 16. Nonetheless, we know already roughly how to read it in files of lower versions and we will add the support for next release. In the same way, we will extend our support of other text properties, like font colour, transparency, effects, paragraph alignments, character positions, etc.
How can I test it? All this goodness will be part of LibreOffice 3.6.0 release. You will be able to test the text support in the 3.6.0 beta2 pre-release. For the brave, any of the daily builds that are built from a code checkout after June 11th also include libcdr-0.0.8 and thus the text support in CorelDraw files.
As usual, this is a free and open source software project and, as such, it delights in developers that want to help. So, if you feel the itch, patches can be sent to libreoffice-dev mailing list. And, do not forget to find a way to join the #libreoffice-dev channel at irc.freenode.net in order to meet other developers. We can promis you that you will feel at home in the LibreOffice community.
Warning: Do not update to the packages from KR48
Do not update to the packages in the KDE:Release:48 repo. The repo is currently broken.
See http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-kde/2012-06/msg00034.html and http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-core-devel&m=133931384906792&w=2.
UPDATE: Issues seem to be sorted out by now.