Guys,

After a great 13 months with Alan Pope at the helm, it’s time to choose a new Ubuntu UK PoC.

I’ve enjoyed Alan’s time as PoC, and have been able to work with him in his role on one project.  No doubt his contributions will continue even after he steps down as PoC.

There was discussion a while back, about what being a PoC is about.  In my opinion, a PoC defines his or her own role on the Community - but at the end of the day is seen as a figurehead for his or her Localised Community.

The Ubuntu UK community is a happy and well balanced one.  Under Alan’s tenure, we have held together end enjoyed some grand release parties.  With Canonical residing in our Locality too, we even got a visit of Mr Shuttleworth.  Alas, I have not yet been there (time for me to setup events to areas outside of London).

I seriously considered running for the post myself, however, I don’t feel like I have yet been active enough to consider a promise to be ‘more active’ to be anything more than use IRC _three_ times a day

However, I have a good relationship with one of the three runners, and am therefore going to endorse him running as Ubuntu UK PoC.

Dave Walker

I’m sure the other guys have a lot to offer too, but Daviey is someone who I’ve worked with in the past, and who I can see being a great walking advertisement for ubuntu (and that’s not just down to the extra real-estate available on his t-shirts)…

Please take time to vote, for whoever you wish here:

https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-uk/+poll/teamlead09/+vote-simple

Fantastic News.  The week before Christmas I’m hopefully heading out to India to help with a big Christmas Party for some kids in hospital.  It’s something that my Dad is organising.. so hopefully I can post more details once I know what I’m doing and where exactly it is I am going.  

As I’m an uber geek, I’ll work out which language these kids speak, and take my ubuntu laptop over there with that language pack installed.

Hopefully I can give these kids a great Christmas.  It’s something that I’ve been hoping to do for a while, (as was the gist of my post only a few days ago,) and I’ve got to thank my Dad for giving me this (potential) chance to go over there this Christmas and ‘Make a Difference.’

If anyone has got any more suggestions, or stuff they think would be useful to do out there, please let me know.  All I know at the moment is that I’ll be heading out for about a week before Christmas.. Once I know what the exact situation is, I’ll be able to ask for more specific suggestions!

Today I traveled from Macclesfield, Cheshire - to Harlow, Essex. Why? To watch the two teams do battle in the FA Cup, 1st round proper. It was a fairly interesting game to watch, Macc Town finishing 2-0 victors.

However, on the journey, I had my iPod in, and was listening to the #Ubuntu-UK Podcast, with Laura, Alan, Daviey and Tony. They began with a very long discussion on KDE.. and Alan saying that he was going to spend an entire development cycle using Kubuntu.. though he hadn’t got round to it yet.

Well…

I use Ubuntu on my work PC, home laptop, and private VPS(s). I love the OS and it works wonders for me. I used to run Xubuntu on my old laptop, but since upgrading I’ve been getting away with bog-standard Ubuntu.

So I’ve decided to follow Alan’s lead… though I think I may have beaten him to it. I intend to run Kubuntu for the entire intrepid release on my laptop. I’ve started today (9th Nov @ 00.00) and will be running Kubuntu for the foreseeable future. Hopefully I’ll be able to submit some bug reports .etc and help out the Kubuntu community in general.

I started in Linux using KDE.. and made the switch to gnome (on Gentoo) when I started my first job. Soon after I was googling for Linux distros that used gnome as default; found Ubuntu; and the rest (as they say) is history.

So here I go on my Kubuntu journey. I’ll need to switch stuff like mail over to K mail, Music over to amaroK.. but bear with me.. it could be an interesting ride

I don’t  know whether I can claim I’ve had an epiphany; that probably puts too much emphasis on the issue - but tonight I have found myself deep in thought regarding open source software, my job as an open source/open solutions development manager, - and (for want of want of a better phrase), the ‘Greater Good.’

I haven’t come into programming via a very orthodox route.  I didn’t program computers as a kid (though I did have a play on a ZX81 some Sunday afternoons if Dad felt like letting me), and I didn’t do IT at school past the age of 13.  Since the age of about 15, I’ve wanted to help people; that is, make a difference to them at a personal leve.  Unfortunately, I’m massively squemish, so couldn’t become a doctor.  Therefore I decided to look into psychology.  It was only when I started applying to University that I did in fact want to be a psychiatrist, rather than a psychologist, as to do that I’d need to have done biology and chemistry at A-Level, and then a degree in Medicine. (I guess there are no squemish psychiatrists then…)

Despite this, I continued down my path as a psychologist, by studying Psychology at University.   However, as I wasn’t 100% sure that this was the route for me, I supplemented my course with a Busines degree, coming out with a 2:2 from MMU Cheshire in June 2007.  I was fairly disappointed with my grade, to say the least.. but I do have to admit it’s an accurate representation of the time I spent studying… unfortunately much of the rest of my time was spent working with computers - or ‘faffing’ as my flatmate used to say.

Back in 2004, when I started University, by chance I made a good friend in ‘Dan.’  We shared quite a few interests, including a love of fairly heavy rock & metal, plus we were both ‘literate’ in IT.  There comes a time at University when you’ve blown your budget, and your waiting for the next payment to hit your account.  It happened to us all.  The first part of the month is spent with your head over a bin passing stuff from your stomach into the bin, and the second half is spent much the same way, with the fudamental difference that any edible scraps are now going in the opposite direction*.

I digress.

Well, on one such night, dan came up with the ingenious plan to install Linux on our computers.  I had an Acer Aspire Laptop.. 15…someting.. and Dan had his trusty old laptop.  I hadn’t got a clue what Linux was, but thought I’d go along with it anyway.  18 hours later and Dan had got debian nearly working on _some_ of his hardware.. and I’d managed to install gentoo within the first 30 minutes.. only to find myself at what I now know to be runlevel 3 without any instructions on how to go further.  Needless to say, this completely whetted my appetite for ‘Open Source’ - and I had ‘College Linux’ installed on my laptop within the next couple of weeks.. after getting through my supply of around 50 CDRs.

College Linux was fantastic… for my first taste of Linux it was just so ‘right’ for use at University.  I can’t remember now which exact packages it came with.. but it was usable, had OpenOffice.org 1.3 for wriitng my assignments, and plenty of other programs that I found useful.  It was tailor made for what I needed, and managed to get through the rest of my first term using it.

I was so impressed with the software, that I set up a website @ www.whatisfloss.co.uk.. which unfortunately is now no longer maintained.. and redirects to here.  However, the initial incarnation of the site was an introduction to Open Source, and my experiences with a few of the more ‘targetted’ packages, like PSPP (clone of SPSS) categorised in a way that would allow non-geek, non-FLOSS people be able to access them.  I had the site running for a just over a year, when I received an email of (someone I now know to be a very good) bloke, saying he liked the site, and wanted to work with me on my ‘mission’ in the future.  Having just been rejected last-minute from an internship, I bit his hand of and responded. “How about I work for you now..” three years later and I’ve not yet got the sack.

My main ‘role’ once I joined the company, was to help them manage their marketing.  There were a few new products coming out, and with the company being so new, we needed to find a way to push the products out to the masses.  We were providing a value-added service to our customers… yet did not at the time have the capacity to raise brand awareness without swamping ourselves with too many clients too fast.  However, the guys were obviously fairly clued up on this, as they’d decided to split my job between marketing for a few days, and configuring an ‘Open Source Office Server’ in the rest of my time.  With the experience and advice around me of people who actually knew about programming issues, and could guide me.. my knowledge increased exponentially.. and within a month I was working fulll time on the Office Server.

So that was where I’ve come from into Open Source Development Management.  Let me now tell you where I’d like to go.

This week, Microsoft announced they would slash the price of their software for companies started within the last 3 years with a turnover of less than £1,000,000.  It looks like a good deal from an uneducated viewpoint, and if your Directors insist “Let’s buy Microsoft as 99.99999% of the Business World use Microsoft”, then you’re in a happy (if not good) place.  This gets me thinking though…

For a short time, it looked like one of my closest friends was to become a Small Business Advisor for a UK Bank… it was a job he thought he’d like - helping Small Businesses get off the ground, and helping them out.  It sounded like a pretty good little job.  It improved even further when he said ‘I might recommend them use stuff like OpenOffice.org to save money.’  This is exactly the type of people who would grasp ‘Free Software’ with open arms should they fully understand it.  However, like many complicated technilogies - it currently requires too much ‘thinking’ before being useful.  With Microsoft, someone can go out and get it and worry about ‘thinking’ later… with Open Source Solutions, people are asked to think first, and plan ahead.. something that far too many people are unwilling to do (Credit Crunch.. anyone??).

However, Open Source software is maturing - and it’s now easier to use than ever.  With the advent of online applications, people are getting used to ‘change.’  People who would never moved from MS Word are using Google Docs, and realising that actually they don’t need MS Word any more.  No longer tied to MS Word, they even search for other Desktop software to use.. and the progress begins.  People are buying Mini-Laptops with Linux pre-installed and “loving the Mac-like interface on this!” (as heard in the Carphone Warehouse, Manchester, as a lucky punter played about on Ubunty on the Elonex Webbook.)

This makes me happy.  But what would make me happier is that if I could utilise all these tools to make bespoke applications for organisations that require them.  There are earthquakes, famines, refugees and wars all over the world at the moment, and whilst I don’t even being to pretend that Open Source Software can stop that.. it _can_ be a viable solution for organisations looking to organise their IT in ‘the field.’  Software is used already for so many complex things, that sometimes it’s use for recording simple things, like Medical Information.. refugee numbers .etc may be overlooked.

Nicolas Negroponte broke down barriers by releasing his XO laptop… that hardware in itself would be invaluable in a disaster zone.. a MESH network of beacons reporting on the wellbeing of thousands of people, making sure that help is getting to the right places the fastest. Allowing volunteers to have as much information as possible at their fingertips.. and giving the people who need it the best chance possible for survival.

One of the false ‘mantras’ of Open Source software is ‘Build it and they will come.’  This is not the case, and this is not what I intend to do.  What I’d like to do is generate some kind of dialog between the people that would require this software, and we, the Open Source community, that have the time and the expertise to provide it.  My reasoning lies in that there may even be just one organisation out there than either reads this, or happens to share my idea that they could help mobilise the Open Source Community to proactively help them.  If so.. then I will regard myself as having success.  However, I believe there are probably tens, if not hundreds of applications of software that organisations like the Red Cross, MSF, and other charities could think of which would make their charities more efficient and productive.  Sure, the disaster-area software may be the most ‘romantic’ in terms of philosophising, but there’s also the administrative software .etc that is invisible behind the scenes.

I’m sure there are more people out there who share my beliefs and opinions, and unless we get together to make this work the benefit to the people who need it most will be delayed.

* this is a slight exaggeration, but I liked the phrase.

In 2000, the world watched as George W. Bush showed flagrant disregard for the American Democratic system and was able to install himself as an unelected US President, with the help of a few cronies in the media, and some others strategically placed at different levels of the administration in the voting system.  The most worrying thing for me, was not the fact that George W. Bush attempted it, but the apathy shown since the election.   No man stood up strong enough on the day to stand in-front of the metaphorical tank to prevent George W. Bush, and the scenes at his inauguration were unprecedented (pelted with eggs, and a mad dash in a car to the White House front door).

Eight years later, and Obama has been elected US president, the first Black American President.  However, you’ll be pleased to know that this post isn’t about _that_ vote, it’s about the vote that’s been going on for the last few months, and finally coming to a head in Liverpool tonight, 6th Nov 2008.

Rick Astley has one the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the MTV awards, beating

• Britney Spears
• Christina Aguilera
• Green Day
• Rick Astley
• Tokio Day
• U2

(That’s actually the first time I’ve looked at the full line up… but I’ll continue with the blog anyway)

Voting for Rick Astley was skewed, not just by the ‘rickrolling’ that amused so many people in 2008, but by a nice easy bit of javascript, used to process around 1 vote every three seconds. Run it in the background during office hours, and there’s your winner.

With so many people using this ‘hack’ - Rick could be sure of winning.

So.. paper voting, and manual hand counting..

I’m never gonna give you up.

Writing howtos can be a great thing, or it can be a dangerous thing.  It’s nice for people to spell out the pitfalls and reasonings behind certain decisions in a pretty standard process, but it’s also a great was to fool onself that understanding a piece of software isn’t necessary in order to use it well.  Sure, you can get away with a simple text editor without reading the instructions (though please ignore vi/emacs .etc).. but for more advanced software packages, there’s nothing quite like reading the manual; and in some cases, people won’t offer to help you out until you’ve shown a certain level of understading in the first place.

I’ve been meaning to write more howtos, as they’re enjoyable to write, and very rewarding when people read them.  However, I want to be writing howtos that require a certain level of understanding on the part of the user, but also provide enough detail for ‘educated’ users to extend and improve.  That’s what open source is all about, right?

Well, luckily for me there’s a whole community of users also contributing.. hopefully when we pull together we’ll get some good content up… in the meantime I’ll put all posts up on the blog too

This has been bugging me and my boss for the last few days. I have this monitor, and at the top there’s a removable thing.  In the middle at the back.

Can someone please suggest what it is for?

Thanks!

I’m trying to write a league table for some sport results using django.  At the moment my model looks pretty basic:

class Scores(models.Model):
    matchnum = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    homeuser = models.ForeignKey(User, related_name="hmuser")
    hometeam = models.ForeignKey('teams', related_name="hmteam")
    homescore = models.IntegerField()
    wayuser = models.ForeignKey(User)
    awayteam = models.ForeignKey('teams')
    awayscore = models.IntegerField()
    pub_date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, editable=False)
    def __unicode__(self):
        id = str(self.matchnum)
        return id
    class Meta:
        verbose_name_plural="Scores"

class Teams(models.Model):
    teamname = models.CharField(max_length=40)
    def __unicode__(self):
        return self.teamname
    class Meta:
        verbose_name_plural = "Teams"

However, with the information in this simple model - I should be able to generate a league table, with the following fields:

So how to put this into a Django App? Well I need some advice, as my original method was to edit the save() function of the model to input fields into a new model - however, I should be editing things at the form level. I’d also like a ‘generate league’ method, rather than a method where a league is generated at the end of each score addition. The main advantages of this approach is that I can:

• Generate the League from existing score data.
• Future Users can generate the League from their data.
• Leagues can be generated at the end of each ‘gameweek’ - rather than just at the end of each game.

Django is a fantastic python framework that I’m immediately getting to grips with - but as this kind of application (simple as it is) - is one that’s scalable and may be useful to many other users.. I want to get it right from the start.

I’ll be tagging the posts with ‘djangoleague’ if you want to keep up with development - and if anyone wants to use the project/help me out with it - please post in the comments and I’ll get back to you.

Subtitle - Ubuntu ROCKS!!!

This morning I got my T-mobile HDSPA card back.  It’s a PCMCIA card which I use to connect to the internet.  I’ve had it for about two years now, and having finally found myself a stable base, have been using it less and less.

Since I last used it, I’ve got myself a new laptop - and it’s running Ubuntu Intrepid.  I was a bit concerned about setting up the datacard, as last time I set it up (circa 9 months ago) it was a bit of a struggle, and I could only use KPPP to connect to network, after entering some arbitary settings.

Today - I plugged in the card.  It was immediately recognised, and libnotify was used to let me know I could configure the card now.  I simply selected my network provider from a drop-down list, and clicked apply.  Thanks to the wonderfulness of Network-Manager applet - I can now simply click on the icon to switch between networks - including my new 3G connection.

It’s streamlining like this that is much harder to do with a proprietary system.  This is all about using the people at the end of the long tail to add their 2 pence worth.

Ubuntu ROCKS!

Paul Bradshaw just posted a blog posting the question as to whether it’s possible to define blogging without mentioning technology.

Is it possible?

No, I don’t think so.

As I mentioned in my previous post there are three types of technology:

Replacement technology - that which replaces a process we already have, but makes it easier.

Enabling technology - that which enables us to do things that were either not possible, or too time consuming to be worthwhile before the technology.

Ubitiquous technology - technology that becomes so widely used and pervasive that it becomes a part of the fabric of society, and is taken for granted.

Blogging, I think, has become an ubiquitous technology - not in terms of it’s pervasiveness across society (though I’m sure some would argue for that claim) - but in terms of it’s functionality.  Until blogging became popular, the only people who has access to a mass-audience were journalists.  Blogging has initiated a conversation between people, who are otherwise unconnected.  I don’t twitter to my friends, many of whom view the technology as pointless and ‘geeky’ - however, I do twitter to some folk, from whom I’ve been able to generate business leads, ideas, and other opportunities.  It’s not a pointless task.

So many things happened to allow blogging to take off as it has done.  The idea of ‘planets’ of bloggers give a sense of community, though not always known.  This blog has been submitted to planets with my blessing, and others have added it without my knowledge.  Pingbacks, and comments are the most powerful parts of blogging - the actual ‘blog’ itself is very rarely valuable in itself.  However, with links to other blogs, and a variety of opinions proposed by the readership, a blog can grow into more.

When we talk about ‘things we used to blog’ now appearing on twitter, identi.ca, facebook, flickr .etc - we’re not talking about the blog articles, but the comment and conversation generated from them.  We’ve removed the time-consuming layer of having to set out ones ideas before being able to discuss them.   We’re conversing live, we’re using sources and media - and we’re enjoying it.  As bandwidth increases, people are doing videoblogs, podcasts - all of which are extensions to blogging.  Blogging is a technological marvel - to remove the technology would mean a blog would become an individual’s diary.  In is the ‘interconnectivity of all blogs’ (Douglas Adams would love this) that gives them their value.