A Conservative Techie

While I haven’t seen an official annoucement concerning the name of Ubuntu 8.10, I did recently receive my nomination to be included as part of UDS-Intrepid, the next Ubuntu Developer Summit in Prague Czech Republic.  As I can’t attend due to family reasons, I noticed the link for the next summit is up already.

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-Intrepid and also the Launchpad Spec page.

It appears the next Ubuntu, is the Intrepid Ibex.  Congrats team on the new release name

——–Updated —-

For some reason I didn’t get the email Mark sent out, it was linked in the comments and also sent out a part  of JOno’s blog post.

Anwways it looks like the key focus this time around will be connecting to the internet and staying online no matter where you are at.

Over the weekend while I was battling the flu, I performed an upgrade on my main home PC from Gutsy to Hardy.  I know Hardy isn’t stable yet and Feature Freeze just started but I decided to perform the upgrade to see what things are looking like.  And I have had nothing but problems.

When my computer restarts I get a nice notification that it cannot contact HAL.  I also cannot get into any of the system administration tasks to take care of the problem.  Network Manager does not let me access it saying I don’t have permission.  I am never prompted for my admin password.  I do not have any network configuration or IP address, so I can’t get out to the internet or run any other updates to resolve the problem

I posted to the Ubuntu Devel mailing list earlier today, but before I wipe and reload I’m posting this to see if any other suggestions could possibly work?

One thing I was suggested was to run sudo /usr/lib/hal/hald-generate-fdi-cache which I did and received no information back after running the program.

Any help? Also downloading the most current live cd to try and boot from that and then repair some how.

A new service I just started using and stumbled across is TripIt.  A great new service for those that travel a lot.  The best part about this service is that I just forward my confirmations from the various travel sites I use and tripit plans it for me… I don’t have to schedule a thing.  One of the great things about this, is when you print out the iternary you can also include directios from the various locations and to all your locations for the week.

One of the great things is if you have friends around it will show who is exactly near you.  If you know me and would like to follow my travel schedule send me an email.

Jonathan

Now that I am pretty much done with the chapter again.  Yay team right?  I can focus again on Kubuntu documentation and make sure things are right for string freeze.

The Doc team is hard at work again trying to make sure the system documentation is stellar and can help meet your needs.  Feel free to join us at #ubuntu-doc or at our mailing list:  ubuntu-doc@lists.ubuntu.com

I have “finished” the Kubuntu chapter for 8.04.  It was a rough for me to figure out the fine line between Kde3 and KDE4 and where to use what etc…

The focus on this version is on KDE4 and not KDE3, but still I’ve struggled with things, especially system settings and ended up use the KDE3 version on a lot things.  I don’t know if I am happy with this chapter, but we will see what the editors and the reviewers say.

Anyways need to re-proof it tonight, renumber screenshots and I should be done.

I have heard the term superdelgates thrown out a lot as controlling the actual nomination process of this year (200 presidential nomination and had no idea what exactly the term was.  In fact Windows Spell check does not think it is a valid word.

Here is the Wikipedia definition:

Superdelegates are delegates to a presidential nominating convention in the United States who are not legally bound by the decisions of party primaries or caucuses. Superdelegates often have secret identities as current elected officeholders and current party officials as well as former elected officeholders and former party officials. They are sometimes referred to as “unpledged delegates,” but some unpledged delegates are not superdelegates^{[citation needed]}. In addition, some elected officeholder delegates and party official delegates are pledged.

 

Very interesting, never heard of the term really in the previous elections, but the concern is that Mr. Obama could win the nomination via the primary and loose via the Superdeleagte vote.

And from the Democratic Convention website:

What are the types of delegates? How are they selected?

Pledged delegates differ from unpledged delegates in that they must openly commit to a candidate before the vote and are subject to review by that candidate. Unpledged delegates are sometimes referred to as “superdelegates.”

District-level delegates - These make up roughly half of delegates, and must file a statement of candidacy designating the presidential or uncommitted preference and a signed pledge of support for the presidential candidate the person favors, if any, with the state party by a date the state party specifies. They must run for election in the district they are registered to vote, and are subject to review by the candidate they support.

At-large delegates - Must also file a statement of candidacy designating the presidential or uncommitted preference and a signed pledge of support for the presidential candidate the person favors, if any, with the state party by a date the state party specifies. The state party determines how these delegates are selected, but they are often selected by the district-level delegates.

Party Leaders and Elected Official (PLEO) delegates - DNC Members, Democratic House and Senate members, Democratic governors, and former Democratic Party leaders are automatically confirmed to the state parties. In addition, these positions are considered according to the following priority: big city mayors and state-wide elected officials, state legislative leaders, state legislators, and other state, county and local elected officials and party leaders. These delegates can be chosen by a state convention, the State Party Committee, or by a committee consisting of a quorum of district-level delegates. There are both pledged and unpledged PLEO delegates.

Add-on delegates - May be selected by either the same selecting body that selects the state’s PLEO delegates or by the same selecting body which will select the state’s “at-large” delegates. They can be selected whether or not they previously filed a statement of candidacy for a delegate position or submitted a pledge of support for a presidential candidate. There are both pledged and unpledged add-on delegates.

As I would like to present both sides of this, I’m currently struggling to find the same information on the GOP websites.

For more information on tracking the Democratic Superdelagates and who they are voting for can be found here

My friend and hero, Riddell, on his blog posts a great article ‘Why Kubuntu is Good for KDE“

I think a lot of his points are great, and I won’t argue the accuracy of his statements, which is done in the comment section.  I will just argue the reason I feel Kubuntu is Good For KDE.

MORE USERS

That’s it, the more people use KDE, the better it gets.  The more people spend time reporting bugs, triaging those bugs, and solving those bugs, the better the system gets.

Let me give you a very simple example, myself.  Before Kubuntu showed up I had pretty much given up on Linux and all those distributions.  Why?  Cause none worked well for me.  I always had to tweak something to get it working correctly.  The other reason I had given up on Linux/OSS/whatever you want t call it, is what I viewed as an elitist community.  I wasn’t a developer, I don’t even pretend to play a developer on TV.  And this was an area that I struggled trying to “give back” to the community.  I had no opportunity, I didn’t know where to begin and couldn’t find a community that welcomed a non-coder/non-developer to help “give back.”  I found it in the Kubuntu world.

Currently I give back by working on documentation, helping the Kubuntu devels by triaging and being a nuisance  along with being a co-author of The Official Ubuntu book.  I have also started several manuals I will one day push “upstream” on Keep and Adept, along with maintaining the manual for Speedcrunch. 

While this is all a small role that I play in the KDE world, without Kubuntu and the community, I won’t be involved and those areas might still be lacking.

Thoughts?

Interesting article on the dot, in regards to KDE4 running on Windows, titled “Can KDE Save a Dying Windows Platform?“

It is an interesting preview of KDE4 on Linux, but yet nothing on it talks about how Windows is dying, why the platform is dying, etc.  It is nothing more then a review of KDE4 on Windows, nothing more then that, just the fact that KDE can run on Windows.

Can someone please explain why Windows is dying?  Why the Windows Platform is dying?  Is it because of slow adoption rates of Vista? Or is there something that is causing Windows to  die?  I’m not seeing it in the businesses I work with.  In fact I see almost no Linux implementations going on.  In fact as I travel across the country in various different airports I see hardly anything on the desktop that resembles Linux.  There is an increase in Apples that I see, but nothing that would show/tell me that Windows is dying.

In fact with SQL 2008 coming out soon, along with Windows Server 2008, I think there will not be the decrease or death of the Windows Platform.

Prove me wrong….

Been awhile since I’ve posted anything political here, but couldn’t pass this up.  Was reading PowerLine today and couldn’t agree more with what is going on.

The scenario is most young males don’t buy health insurance, or in fact need health insurance.  Which increases the amount of people who are uninsured in America.  An example the author sites tells the story of Pizza Hut who offered up health insurance to part-time employees and had less then 10% sign up for this insurance. 

Now Mrs. Clinton wants to punish those who don’t pay for health insurance, by taking money from their paychecks to pay for insurance they might not need. 

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to garnish the wages of workers who refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.

The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed on ABC’s “This Week,” she said: “I think there are a number of mechanisms” that are possible, including “going after people’s wages, automatic enrollment.”

Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms.

Why should people who live healthy lives not have to buy insurance they don’t need or don’t choose?  What else will we loose the ability to choose under Mrs. Clinton?

I hope she gets hammered for this.