My openSUSE 12 Journal - 4: Minor Frustrations
Boot 12.1 using the old System V init
In my first journal entry, I complained the lack of "chattiness" during boot since the adoption of Systemd. You can easily switch to the old System V init on boot. At the grub boot loader screen (usual 8 seconds delay) and before you hit Enter to boot, press the F5 button to switch from default to System V. Now, press Enter to boot and press the Esc key during the splash screen to see the familiar System V init messages.
init=/sbin/sysvinit
For example, in /boot/grub/menu.lst, at the end of the line starting with "kernel /boot/vmlinuz-3.1.0-1.2-desktop...", append the line above and save the file. On the next boot, you can verify the change in the Boot Options field. Press Enter and you will boot up 12.1 under the old System V init.
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marcus_openSUSE 12.1 KDE3 LiveCD
As KDE3 is again part of the official openSUSE 12.1 repositories (thanks to all who made this happen), I took the chance to create an installable livecd. Besides a preconfigured KDE3 desktop, it contains additional software like Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and LibreOffice. YaST2 is available for administrative tasks like system configuration or software management. The media does not contain all language packs due to size limitations, but they could be easily installed. The KDE3 language packages are named kde3-i18n-$LANG, e.g. kde3-i18n-eo.
In order to to emphasize the feeling of good old times, the artwork is based on SUSE 10.1. The kde3-gtk-qt-engine is included to give a unique experience over GTK and QT applications and KDE4 applications make use of the Plastique widget style and Plastik colors.
The x86_64 and the i686 iso images have been created using the kiwi tools. You can download the kiwi description and build your customized version. Just make sure you have kiwi and kiwi-config-openSUSE-12.1 installed and run create_livecd.sh from the archive. (You can adjust the image_arch variable within the script according to your build architecture)
If you got any further questions concerning KDE3 on openSUSE, please take a look at the openSUSE KDE3 wiki page and join the mailinglist.
PS: And please don’t forget to vote for me 
Air Video Server on openSUSE 12.1
Since the Air Video Server is written in Java and uses a customized version of FFMPEG, it would be possible to run it on Linux. The folks behind Air Video though supportive but are NOT offering official support for Linux.
I have been successful in making Air Video Server (AVS) work on openSUSE 11.3, 11.4 and 12.1. Here are the steps:
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H Βάλμιερα εξοικονομεί χρήμα και ενέργεια με open source
Το δημοτικό συμβούλιο της Βάλμιερα, πόλη της βόρειας Λετονίας, έχει “εφεύρει” τον τρόπο εξοικονόμησης χρημάτων και ενέργειας μέσω της μετατροπής των διακομιστών, από φυσικούς(physical) σε εικονικούς(virtual). Ο τρόπος αυτός επικεντρώνεται στο γεγονός της χρήσης εργαλείων εικονικοποίησης (virtualisation tools) ανοιχτού κώδικα. Σύμφωνα με τον Kaspars Urbāns, επικεφαλή του τμήματος τεχνολογίας πληροφοριών της πόλης, “ Θα εκπλαγείτε, ευχάριστα, όταν παρατηρήσετε τον λογαριασμό του ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος. Με τέτοιο ποσό που εξοικονομεί η Βάλμιερα, χρησιμοποιώντας τον συγκεκριμένο τρόπο, θα μπορούσε να αγοράζει έναν νέο διακομιστή κάθε έξι μήνες!”
“Η πόλη αυτή, που χαρακτηρίζεται ως πολιτιστικό και διοικητικό κέντρο της Vidzeme, κατέληξε σε αυτό το αποτέλεσμα με την μείωση του αριθμού των φυσικών διακομιστών από 8 σε 4. Η μείωση αυτή περιλαμβάνει και άλλα οφέλη, όπως το επίπεδο των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών για μετατροπή μέσω διαδικτύου, τη δημιουργία αντιγράφων ασφαλείας, τη διαχείριση των πόρων και την γρήγορη δημιουργία των εικονικών-πραγματικών περιβαλλόντων.”
Την Πέμπτη 17 Νοεμβρίου στην πόλη της Ρίγας, διοργανώθηκε ένα συνέδριο από τον Όμιλο Ελεύθερης Τεχνολογίας της Λετονίας(Latvian Open Technology Association), όπου ο Urbāns έκανε μια παρουσίαση σχετικά με τα εργαλεία αυτά και την χρήση τους στην Βάλμιερα. Τόνισε επίσης, ότι η εστίαση σε εργαλεία ανοιχτού κώδικα βοηθά την πόλη να παραμείνει ανεξάρτητη από τους πωλητές της εικονικοποίησης (virtualisation).
“Η εικονικοποίηση (virtualisation) υποβιβάζει την σημαντικότητα του ακριβού υλικού με την αντικατάστασή τής από πλεονάζοντα εξαρτήματα. Απλά με το λογισμικό γίνεται εφικτή η πολύ υψηλή διαθεσιμότητα.” Ανάλογα και με την διαμόρφωση, όπως λέει και ο Urbāns, πολλά επίπεδα περιορισμού των θέσεων εργασίας και διαθεσιμότητας είναι πιθανά, και μπορούν να υλοποιηθούν με τα διαθέσιμα εργαλεία ανοιχτού κώδικα. “Τουλάχιστον για έναν θεσμό τόσο ισχυρό όσο του δημοτικού συμβουλίου της Βάλμιερα.”
Ένας καλός συνδυασμός…
Σήμερα, η πόλη λειτουργεί περισσότερους από εβδομήντα εικονικοποιημένους διακομιστές. Τα KVM και OpenVZ, δύο εργαλεία εικονικοποίησης ανοιχτού κώδικα, σε συνδυασμό με το Proxmox, ένα project ανοιχτού κώδικα, αποτελούν τους διαχειριστές της πλειοψηφίας αυτών των διακομιστών. Αυτές οι δύο εικονικές μηχανές “τρέχουν” σε ιδιόκτητους και ανοιχτού κώδικα διακομιστές.
Ο Urbāns διαπίστωσε ότι οι δύο αυτές εικονικές μηχανές ελαφρύνουν τα καθήκοντα του τμήματος τεχνολογίας πληροφοριών. “Η μετατροπή ενός διακομιστή αποτελεί εύκολη υπόθεση, επειδή δεν υπάρχουν πλέον διαφορές στο υλικό. Η κλωνοποίηση μηχανών είναι μία ευκολότερη διαδικασία, η οποία βοηθά στην κατασκευή και αποκατάσταση των αντιγράφων ασφαλείας. Ουσιαστικά, είναι εύκολο να κάνεις δοκιμές και όλο αυτό μειώνει τον χρόνο που απαιτείται για την διάθεση των υπηρεσιών στην παραγωγή. Οι εικονικοποιημένοι διακομιστές μας “μεγαλώνουν” όπως τα μανιτάρια μετά την βροχή.”
πληροφορίες ελήφθησαν από άρθρο του site opensource news
MemberopenSUSE election platform 2011
Yep, I'm running for the privilege of being on the openSUSE board again. Lots of fine candidates this time, which is pretty cool in its own right.
I finally managed to fill out the remaining bits of my election platform page, so if you're interested, please have a read -- yes, I know, it's long ;)
The short summary:
- I care about the contributors, their environment, it must be a fun place where people feel comfortable, with friends
- I care a lot about the people aspects of the project, probably even more so than for the technical bits
- I believe that I have a few ideas on concrete things we (and specifically, but not only, the board) should get involved in
All that "I, I, I" comes quite tedious, to be honest, and I'm under the impression that I'm bragging around, which is something my inner beast is spanking me for, endlessly. But well, the whole purpose is specifically to explain what each candidate proposes so I guess it's fine.
So if you adhere to what I wrote there and/or if you trust me to do the right things, do vote for me -- don't think that oh well, I'll be elected anyway, if everybody thinks like that, I won't ;D
openSUSE ARM gains a new Sponsor
A dot in the map
Today though it's different, I am taking a break from a presentation it was supposed to be ready...Well...Yesterday, but I am still looking for the right kittens photos to complete this presentation(...don't ask...). Anyway normally I would just watch a movie or something but I am a bit in a mood to blog and latelly I had too much on my plate and had no time to do it, so here I am.
Anyway a friend of mine, Efstathios Chatzikyriakidis had this briliant and simple idea, to make a map where people around the world would state their possition in the map and the OS they use. Some of you might find this useless but I find interesting the fact that I could see the preferance of people around me on what Open Source or Free Software they use and some of you might too. The site is called OSHACKERS and it is licenced under the GNU GPLv3 and if you are curious I would suggest to give it a look and why no register...
Join The G(r)EEKOS Release Parties!!!
The openSUSE 12.1 distribution is released. After 8 months of hard work by the openSUSE community, the result could be something less than awesome. It is true that openSUSE 12.1 has received the best reviews of all famous open source sites and also has begun to gain many new members at the community, users and contributors.
Time to celebrate!
As is known the openSUSE community after the hard work done to release another great distribution, wants to celebrate it! And why not! Around the world communities, Linux groups and LUGs organize release parties.
The G(r)eekos Way!!!
openSUSE 12.1 is already installed on our machines by November 16. The Greek openSUSE community in collaboration with other communities, university Linux teams and LUGs invites you to come and celebrate the brand new release of openSUSE 12.1. Release parties are organized in many Greek cities! If you're near a city where a party is organized do not hesitate to meet us, attend an Install Fest or a presentation about openSUSE 12.1, drink lots of beers, talk with us and have fun!
We expect to meet you at one of the parties, as well as help you organize one in your town! Good company, beer and goodwill are the key ingredients of a successful Release party!
On Thursday 1 December we will celebrate in Larisa with a presentation and an Install Fest at 13:00 and afterward we will go at a local tsipouradiko. Moreover, on Saturday 3 December in Kastoria at 19:00 at Zaza bar. Furthermore, on Sunday 4 December we will celebrate in Thesaloniki at Bar Pierrot Le Fou at 22:00. Last but not least there will be 3 more parties that are going to be announcend the next few days.
Have a lot of fun!
On the road again: MYGOSSCON 2011
The title of my paper is "Key Trends: Challenges, Opportunities and Leverage for Linux/OSS Ecosystem". I look forward to the discussions it will generate. :)
Personally, I am looking forward to this with excitement as I have been granted the latitude in content creation. I will be approaching the topic from another angle and with, what I hope to be, a fresh perspective.
SOCKS proxy over SSH
SOCKS is an Internet protocol that routes network packets between a client and server through a proxy server. -- via WikipediaI'm certain as most, if not all, of our daily applications implement themselves some way of proxying (mostly HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS) or use the system-wide configured network proxy server. Now all we need is a remote and secure server to proxy and tunnel. This is the part where SSH enters:
Secure Shell (SSH) is a network protocol for secure data communication, remote shell services or command execution and other secure network services between two networked computers that it connects via a secure channel over an insecure network: a server and a client (running SSH server and SSH client programs, respectively). -- via Wikipedia
-D [bind_address:]portSpecifies a local ``dynamic'' application-level port forwarding. This works by allocat-ing a socket to listen to port on the local side, optionally bound to the specifiedbind_address. Whenever a connection is made to this port, the connection is forwardedover the secure channel, and the application protocol is then used to determine where toconnect to from the remote machine. Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are sup-ported, and ssh will act as a SOCKS server. Only root can forward privileged ports.Dynamic port forwardings can also be specified in the configuration file.
I will not provide the details of what each option features - run 'man ssh' and find by yourself. The result is a SOCKS proxy over SSH. Now let's wrap it in a bash script:ssh -C2qTnN -D <PORT> <USER>@<IP>
#!/bin/bash
if [[ `uname` == 'Darwin' ]]; then
trap " {
echo \"Setting SOCKS proxy down...\" ; \
networksetup -setsocksfirewallproxystate ethernet off ;
networksetup -setsocksfirewallproxystate wi-fi off;
exit 1;
}" ERR INT TERM EXIT
networksetup -setsocksfirewallproxystate ethernet on
networksetup -setsocksfirewallproxystate wi-fi on
fi
ssh -C2qTnN -D 9999 <USER>@<IP>