my-ubuntu-day

nullPointerException - it's not what you think

2011-11-06T07:29:00.000+02:00

I am a few days away from my practical exhibition for my Masters in Digital Art. The show is titled nullPointerException. Why am I posting this on my ubuntu blog? Because it was made in ubuntu using opensource software such as openframeworks and boodler. Because each work runs from a custom live USB disk running ubuntu. Because the concept is software related. The sensing devices are XBox Kinect and I am using the OpenNI and PrimeSense drivers to do the tracking I need.

Doing an technical installation in a gallery space poses some reliability problems. The pieces need to autoboot. If there is a power outage they need to startup again without intervention as the PCs are often hidden and out of reach. They need to run continuously for 3 weeks without intervention incase there isn't a power outage. In my case my budget didn't allow for 4 new pcs so I had to borrow what I could. This means boot from USB and don't touch the hard-drive. Initially I made lubuntu install disks but for the final set I customised a ubuntu oneiric desktop install image with UCK. Stripped out what I didn't need and installed kinect drivers and the artworks. It has the added advantage that I can give someone a flash disk and say "plug it into a pc, plug in the kinect, reboot and press F12, choose to boot from flash disk" and it works mostly depending on the pc the person chooses.

Oneiric Ocelot Release Party Cape Town.

2011-10-15T16:43:00.001+02:00

We are at Panzerotti's in Canal Walk.

Yes! we have a Oneiric Release Party

2011-10-13T08:10:00.000+02:00

Hmm, due to time constraints, multi-tasking and even a bit of attention thrashing, our organisational skills for this round were a bit oneiric but I am happy to say we have a release party for this cycle in the Western Cape.

The long and the short, we meet at Panarotti's in Canal Walk on Saturday 15 October at 15:30. More detail on the LoCo directory. Thanks to the guys at UCT who sorted this out for us.

May our next release party be precise.

2011 Software Freedom Day in Midrand, South Africa

2011-09-08T12:36:00.001+02:00

The people in Midrand have been busy, they made this poster and there is a Software Freedom day coming up. More news on the other Software Freedom day activities else where in the country to follow shortly.

Oneiric Global Jam in Cape Town

2011-09-05T13:22:00.000+02:00

Our small yet persistent group of bug fixers who sacrificed a Saturday to make Oneiric Ocelot better for everybody. Thanks to everybody who pitched in and helped.

ubuntu-za Regional Contacts get Natty CDs soon

2011-06-30T18:08:00.001+02:00

After some email to and fro and delays hoping for lifts for the CDs and waiting for addresses I finally sent the CDs. The parcels are in the mail and the post office said it would take 3 days. We have 12 regional contact people on the list, 2 are local so I hand delivered the CDs, one in Durban I got a lift some weeks ago already. 2 didn't send me an address and the remaining 7 will receive CDs in the next few days. So now I think there are 7 people all over the country that owe me a Cappucino and a muffin :) (that's roughly the price of the envelope and the postage) Also I am hoping I'll get some photos of people sharing the CDs.

June irc meeting and SULUG beer evening combo

2011-06-27T10:36:00.001+02:00

We didn't have many agenda items, it was a record meeting that lasted all of 15 minutes for official items but we spent some time discussing afterwards. What made this meeting especially fun was it was a combo IRC-realLife meeting because we had the SULUG beer evening at the same time at the Brazen head. Some people were logged in on their phones and some on laptops. Efficient Maaz tried to deciphers the commands I flung at her while mixing martini's and making coffee and keeping minutes. The details of the meeting can be found on the loco.ubuntu.com website.

Natty Release Party - Western Cape

2011-05-02T20:52:00.000+02:00

Alas I wasn't there and everybody had so much fun. Here are the pics to prove it. Hmmm mmm, I missed the chocolate cake with the orange Narwals on it (sigh). About 26 people, party started at 11:00 and ended at about 17:00. Thanks to everybody who helped make the repos accessible. A warm welcome to all the new people. A special big thanks to Dewald who organised the venue, figured out how to get the cake in the venue, updated the websites and got the word out. I am sure there are more people who need to be thanked but since I wasn't there I can't know who they are. I big thanks to everybody in the local community who contributed even if it is just coming to the party.

Natty Release Party poster ubuntu-za

2011-04-12T12:45:00.000+02:00

A little more tweaking and here it is. Now also on spreadubuntu. Remix as you like.

Natty Release Party poster draught

2011-04-11T17:43:00.002+02:00

Ubuntu Hour April

2011-04-10T17:34:00.000+02:00

We were counting the stickers inpreparation for the release party on 30 April. You recognize batman don't you?

march 2011 stellenboschubuntu hour

2011-03-06T21:26:00.000+02:00

first 2011 ubuntu hour

2011-02-03T17:56:00.003+02:00

Hello people, its 2011 and the first ubuntu-za ubuntu hour is happening in Stellenbosch this Sunday. As Dewald says: Gino's in Dorp Street, Stellenbosch on Sunday (6 Feb) at 12pm. Please come join us for a beer or cold drink...

http://ubuntu-za.org/news/2011/02/02/ubuntu-hour-stellenbosch-sunday-6-feb-2011-ginos

http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/team/666/detail/

Yay go Dewald!

Geeknic at kirstenbosch

2010-11-30T16:45:00.001+02:00

We had a relaxing ubuntu-za geeknic in kirstenbosch. People seem to prefer not being on photos. So here then a photo of the obnoxious, greedy guinea fowl that are prepared to steal chicken samosas off your lap.

Ubuntu Hour in Pretoria

2010-11-21T16:46:00.002+02:00

UbuntuHour Pretoria. Now everyone has cds and stickers.

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Ubuntu Hour in Pretoria Sunday

2010-11-17T23:25:00.000+02:00

Impromptu Ubuntu Hour in Pretoria. At the Vida e Caffe in Veale Street. It's neer the Brooklyn mall. The Vida on street level next to the Simply Asia. 16h00 UTC+2 Sunday 21 Nov. I will bring Maverick CDs.

Geeknic 2010 new date

2010-11-11T12:54:00.000+02:00

The ubuntu-za Geeknic is happening on 28 Nov 2010 (note the date change) at Kirstenbosch.
More info on loco.ubuntu.com
Meet at the main entrance at 10:00. Bring the kids. Bring what you want to eat and drink. Meet ubuntu people. Have fun.

Geeks love pizza part II: ubuntu hour stellenbosch

2010-11-06T18:12:00.001+02:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

Geeks love pizza part I: Oct Ubuntu Hour lunch at Ginos

2010-11-04T16:43:00.001+02:00

Thanks for the pics, Dewald. I couldn't make this one, but there will be another Ubuntu Hour at Gino's this coming Saturday. We meet at 12:30. See the even at http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/team/520/detail/

Geeknic 2010 flyer-poster

2010-10-27T22:45:00.003+02:00

I am starting to get things together for the Geeknic in November. Here is the ~~first~~ second pass flyer/poster. The idea is ubuntu people connecting in a outdoor environment. Also it is spring start of summer here so green seemed appropriate. I may just add an explanation line from the website "a picnic for geeks". The geeknic idea comes from http://geeknic.org

Cards and stickers

2010-10-18T13:02:00.002+02:00

The stickers from canonical are finally here. Also picked up ubuntu cards today.

More release 10.10.10 party pics

2010-10-14T21:43:00.003+02:00

Spot the pic where everyone is staring at the projected IRC channel

edit - finally got a pic of the cake too. It doesn't look it but it is chocolate inside.

Ubuntu release party 10.10.10

2010-10-10T16:31:00.002+02:00

Will these be finished in time for the Release Party?

2010-10-05T21:01:00.002+02:00

I hope so! They will be 5 cm in diameter and they will cost R8 or 2 for R15. If there are any left after the party, maybe I can mail some to the other areas if anybody is interested.

second Stellenbosch Saturday Ubuntu Hour

2010-09-04T16:42:00.002+02:00

Holiday for some but not others. again a good turn out especially since I could almost not make it. Not everyone is on the photos. It means there would have been an ubuntu hour even if I wasn't there. We had our laptops there but we ended up talking about release party possibilities and irc client preferences.

UGJ Aug 2010 part 2

2010-08-30T12:54:00.002+02:00

hello -c "hello superfly"

Cape Town GlobalJam Aug 2010

2010-08-30T12:37:00.002+02:00

There is more but one pic is a start. We jammed even though many of the regulars were running between the Jam and helping rooms full of kids to learn Python. Thanks to all who made it and helped out. The cooker of fly-lead spaghetti with socks proxy sauce especially.

By popular demand, Ubuntu Hour on a Saturday

2010-08-07T19:19:00.000+02:00

It looks like we will move the Stellenbosch Ubuntu Hour to a Saturday at eleven for the time being. This is due to the larger attendance we had today, 7 Aug, at the Java cafe. Maybe it's just left over excitement spilling over from the re-approval success of last Tuesday. We discussed T-shirts and things to do at the GlobalJam, how to get free CDs to distribute at the begining of student registration and a few other things (Hilton in a penguin suit? tin-foil hats?) while we waited and waited and waited for coffee. Yes another venue next time is a good idea. Watch the mailing list, irc or website for details.

Time flies, another GlobalJam coming soon

2010-08-06T22:50:00.001+02:00

The GlobalJam in Cape Town will be held 27 Aug 14:00 - 18:00 at the Shuttleworth Lab. More on what will be on the program as soon as I know. Hopefully there will be Jams elsewhere in the country.

Just some handy hints on how to find out what is happening in the ubuntu-za community:

You can go to the loco team page and find the handy links next to Upcoming events. There is an rss feed and an official ical feed which you can add to your favourite rss feed reader or calendar utility.

You can also subscribe to the mailing list or talk to us on IRC or ask in the forum. Then there is the ubuntu-za.org website which will have info on the home page. Then sometimes people twitter and identi.ca and there is another more detailed ical feed as well.

Almost any style of web communication is supported, so no more excuses. To paraphrase Dr Suess in his classic work, Marvin K. Mooney will you Please go now?

You can go on stilts.
You can go by fish.

You can go in a Crunk car if you wish.

Ubuntu Hour Feedback

2010-07-09T04:46:00.004+02:00

At the beginning of the year I decided to connect to more people and that it was ok to end up knowing more humans than computers. I wanted to do something about which I was passionate. I wanted to do something which I could sustain so that it wasn't just a transient blip. Ubuntu Hour was perfect.
Instructions from the website :

Head out to a public space like a coffee shop. (ok I already do that on some Fridays to hang out and read and surf)
Wear something with the Ubuntu logo or have a visible Ubuntu sticker on your laptop (if you bring one). (ok)
When/if you show up, you agree to the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. (ok already done that)
Anyone can start an Ubuntu Hour, anywhere, anytime. (ok that includes me, and you for that matter)
Remember this is a social event, be approachable! (Hmmm supress inner geek a bit, but being social was the point for starting this)

What has happened

Since the first event on 5 Feb there has been a total of 5 Ubuntu Hours. Only once did I not have company but that was good too because I had a long chat with the owner of the coffee shop. I have made great new friends in the Ubuntu Community and sortof got myself involved in a bit more than I thought I would be when I started.

Reflection

My inner geek wants to take over and optimise the activity, asking questions like:

How many people who didn't know about ubuntu before did I actually speak to? [insert pie chart here]
Wouldn't it be more efficient if I got a larger group at a time and more entertaining flashy activities? [insert a list of tasks with estimates here]

The short answer to this is it doesn't matter and no.

It's about doing something, anything, but committing to it and doing it regularly. If it were larger&/flashier, I'd have to carry around a projector an ask permission and become nervous about it and give up. That's not to say your Ubuntu Hour doesn't have to have projectors and permissions. For me though Ubuntu Hour isn't a substitute for having entertaining talks and get togethers, it has a different function. We can do all of that too, at a different forum eg Global Jam or Software Freedom day.

Notes to myself

There can definitely be, in fact should be, more than one. So if the time/place doesn't fit, make another one.
It was a good idea to pick something which I do already so it doesn't become a drag.
It is actually ok if no-one comes because perhaps I end up talking to a complete stranger about Ubuntu and if nothing else I can blog or update a page on Ubuntu-za.org or hang out in #ubuntu-za.
Since it's about talking to people, a laptop isn't essential.
Be flexible and keep it simple.

A big thank you to drubin who has been a consistent, albeit sometimes bleary-eyed, face so far.

Double Ubuntu Hour (4 June and 2 July)

2010-07-02T23:44:00.001+02:00

On 4 June we met at Java Cafe. Best turnout ever, even though the breakfast and the coffee wasn't necessarily the best. Various discussion on the closed sourceness and general monopoly of Deep Net academic texts and the new home of the Freedom Toaster. You can guess who took the pic on his android phone (it's the one who isn't in the photo). Can you tell it was freezing in Stellenbosch.

On 2 July we tried Vida e Cafe. Better coffee but breakfast was uhm simple as in plain croissant and muffin. I managed to hook up to the free hipzone webaccess. This time Cheese took the pic so no-one could be shy. We discussed long plans on how to setup a repository cache system to optimise the bandwidth usage of all the pc's who get ubuntu installs. I now have a todo list of instructions and a cool script to try. More about this later, once I have got it going and it's all tested and working.

pocket repo

2010-06-24T22:11:00.003+02:00

After my bandwidth witch hunt I did a quick check and realised that all those Ubuntu updates from netbooks, laptops and more really is a waste since it is duplicate data. So with the help of a external usb disk and a obliging geek from SULUG I now have a repo in my pocket. I changed all the ubuntu boxes in my immediate orbit to stop looking for updates on the internet so feverishly. I set the updates to manual and un-ticked all the other software sources. I added some lines to my software sources, see end of post.

Yes I know I won't get security updates so regularly, but my thinking is that if I get a refreshed mirror once a week or once every two weeks, I won't be all that much behind. More info on offline repos here.

Already a new install from CD and then some package updates from the disk was super quick/painless and non-bandwidth-intensive.

Nothing beats the feeling too, some-one asks me do you happen to have a nail file in your handbag to which I reply no but I have a complete Ubuntu repository. I am happy. Now how to stop my self from installing Ubuntu on those demo laptops in Hifi Corporation, aah the temptation ...

deb file:///media/SAMSUNG/mirror/ftp.sun.ac.za/ubuntu lucid main restricted universe multiverse

deb file:///media/SAMSUNG/mirror/ftp.sun.ac.za/ubuntu lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse

deb file:///media/SAMSUNG/mirror/ftp.sun.ac.za/ubuntu lucid-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb file:///media/SAMSUNG/mirror/ftp.sun.ac.za/ubuntu lucid-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb file:///media/SAMSUNG/mirror/ftp.sun.ac.za/ubuntu lucid-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

[edit added extra lines after reading website Hilton suggested in the comments]

Who's eating my bandwidth?

2010-06-12T19:51:00.005+02:00

No pictures, this is a low bandwidth post.

Recently my irc conversations were being minced up by lag. I ended up connecting with the 3G card and not the ADSL and then the little netbook sucked the 3G card dry. In this country where it is cheaper to buy a legitimate DVD rather than torrent a ripped copy I started to investigate.
All though the laptop didn't seem to be the hungry one, I started on the laptop, here are the tools I settled on.

First - find out how much I am using:
For the netbook and the laptop, a command line bandwith watcher - vnstat
You can monitor multiple interfaces and it will tally over days, weeks and months.
sudo apt-get install vnstat
and then in my case
vnstat -u -i eth0
vnstat -u -i wlan1
to check do the following.

Daily bandwidth report.
vnstat -i eth01 -d

Hourly bandwidth report.
vnstat -i eth0 -h

Monthly bandwidth report.
vnstat -i eth0 -m

Real time speed report.
vnstat -i eth0 -l

Next I started playing with Conky

From an overwhelming variety of links here's the two I found most useful, a blog entry with example, and the color chart.

In my .conkyrc file I have this command:

${execi 30 netstat -ept | grep ESTAB | awk '{print $9}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr}
which just does a netstat -ept and finds established connections and then does some formating and sorting showing a process ID and name something like this:

4 1728/beam.smp
4 1626/python
3 13962/chromium-brow
1 21097/python
1 2010/weechat-curses
1 1452/python

From this I see that chromium-browser and weechat-curses has the internet but also 3 python scripts and beam.smp. Possibly others but the were not on the top list. So who are these pythons who are also eating the bandwidth.

ps -ef |grep 1626
says ...
xxxx 1626 1384 0 18:32 ? 00:00:01 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/gwibber-service
repeat for 21097 and 1452
xxxx 21097 1 0 18:50 ? 00:00:07 /usr/bin/python /usr/lib/ubuntuone-client/ubuntuone-syncdaemon
xxxx 1452 1384 0 18:31 ? 00:00:08 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/gm-notify.py

AHA! so its gwibber and ubuntuone and my gmail notify scripts. Weird thing is I thought I disabled UbuntuOne and Gwibber startup tasks.

Now who is beam.smp? The Internet says ... something to do with couchdb ... my ps search confirms this and shows it was startup up by somthing related to erlang. Now who is interpreting Erlang on my pc and using couchdb and accessing the internet all the time? The mystery continues. From this bug it seems to be related to Gwibber and UbuntuOne. Hmmm...

Moral of this story
Backup on Flash not Cloud.

The Party

2010-05-01T22:40:00.001+02:00

The promised little surprises ...

Thanks for all the good ideas, inspiration, repositories, switches, kettle cords and fly leads. A good time was had by all. Thanks to the braai-masters and the fire-makers and the cleaning-helpers, the fire-fighters, beer-sharers and conversation-makers, curry-makers the shoppers and the cash-donators.

Lucid Release Party Day

2010-05-01T08:08:00.002+02:00

Today is the Lucid Release Party day for Stellenbosch and Cape Town. We will be installing and socialising from 10 till whenever. I have a few tiny surprises up my sleeve but you will have to wait and see.

This is what I want to do today:
* upgrade the Netbook to Lucid
* get the latest updates for the Laptop
* install Lucid on Kai's poxy windows box after I have backed up his Plants vs Zombie save states

but more important than this, hang out an have fun with other Ubuntu people.

Woohoo see you all soon!

nerdscore

2010-04-20T21:41:00.001+02:00

I'm shocked, is it possible?

25mm pin mockups

2010-04-14T22:00:00.001+02:00

In anticipation for the Lucid release for the end of the month, I made some pins. The svg can be found at spreadubuntu. The layout is to print on a A3 which is what my pin badge maker wants.

hopefully there is enough plain, enough aubergine, enough naartjie and enough furry for everyone.

The next version will be bigger badges with maybe some text, stay tuned. Of course if someone wants to remix these, be my guest.

Friday Ubuntu Hour in Stellenbosch

2010-04-13T21:56:00.001+02:00

I am planning on having an Ubuntu Hour at the Mill Street Coffee House in Stellenbosch again. This Friday 16 April at 9am. Join me!

Sunday is JamDay

2010-03-29T22:35:00.003+02:00

GlobalJam at the UCT Shuttleworth Lab. We had a healthy turnout. I counted at least 15 people, probably more. Most people stayed for most of the day too. Highlights were a talk and demo on bug reporting and triaging, a talk on translating and a whirlwind tour of packaging using hello as an example. Some people were already running Lucid and some people tried Lucid from flash disk or tried the upgrade. A few bugs were raised and a few bugs were confirmed. Some strings were translated to North-Sotho. Stickers were traded. Easter-eggs were eaten.

Most importantly though, it was great to meet everybody face to face.

Here's what drubin had to say about the day.

I hate to single out anyone because there were so many helpful people but Tumbleweed helped everyone, efficiently and with a smile. He hooked us up to the mirror and assisted almost everywhere, set the projector up, organised the coffee machine, made fly-leads, jammed pizza boxes into the recycle bins. At one point I was sure he had cloned himself. Maybe he just flips forward and back in time with a secret gadget.

On a smaller scale ,I managed to upgrade a laptop that has had upgrades from Intrepid->Jaunty->Karmic and now Lucid. No small feat as it also had a Xubuntu install. Luckily there were enough experts to help me over the speed bumps. Thank you Hilton and others. I made a Lucid Live Flash disk Netbook Release and tested my Samsung NC10. I am happy to report that almost everything worked out of the box. The list includes:

Wired Lan
Wireless Lan
Onboard 3G
Bluetooth file transfer
Bluetooth Device browse
Bluetooth PAN
speakers, mic,
webcam
USB flash disks
USB mouse

The brightness function keys don't work but this didn't surprise me, since they don't work on a vanilla Karmic install either and it is easy to fix with the excellent scripts from VoRia. I can't say I like the little battery icon on it's side on a netbook and I miss the volume scroll functionality but other than that it looks good.

GlobalJam Poster version 2_1 Afrikaans

2010-03-16T22:00:00.001+02:00

and an Afrikaans version.

GlobalJam Poster version 2_1

2010-03-16T21:33:00.001+02:00

Ok version 2.1 with icons, there is a penguin. My compromise since I'd rather code with pointers than collect soft toys. Hope it's more fun. I made the naartjie color match the icons.

GlobalJam Poster version 1

2010-03-16T21:00:00.000+02:00

Just for interest sake, the first aubergine attempt which got canned due to the Canonical-ness associated with aubergine.

Poster Cape Town GlobalJam March 2010

2010-03-16T14:13:00.000+02:00

I still need some icon pics in the small circles.

Cape Town Ubuntu GlobalJam venue and date decided

2010-03-12T13:47:00.002+02:00

Sunday 28 March from 10am to 5pm at the UCT Shuttleworth Lab

More detail to be found at the CLUG Wiki

Second Stellenbosch (unofficial) Ubuntu Hour

2010-03-07T23:28:00.001+02:00

This one held on 12 Feb 2010. Ankia's netbook was installed with Ubuntu shortly after the third cup of coffee.

First Stellenbosch Ubuntu Hour

2010-03-07T23:24:00.001+02:00

webcam pic of Ubuntu Hour 5 Feb 2010. David's netbook was converted.

Third Stellenbosch Ubuntu Hour

2010-03-07T22:59:00.001+02:00

5 March 2010 - A conversation with the Barista about Ubuntu and another conversation with the owner about Ubuntu Hour. We were overheard by at least 2 people. Small but steady.