nixternal

Right now I am working with the members of the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo team on creating a solid proposal for developing “Ubuntu Development Courses” that members of the Chicago community will lead. Right now we are looking for those that are in the Chicago land are that may be interested in such events. As it stands, I have come up with a basic, college-like, course layout.

Ubuntu Development 101 - Familiarization of Ubuntu development tools
This session will provide the attendees with a breakdown and brief run-through of the tools involved with Ubuntu development. These tools would include: Launchpad, mailing lists, IRC, development applications and scripts, and more.

Ubuntu Development 102 - Bug Triage
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to help triage Ubuntu bugs. Attendees will learn the basics as well as some of the advanced topics with triaging bugs on Launchpad.

Ubuntu Development 103 - Packaging I
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to build their very own package. Topics covered will include development applications, scripts, setting up development environments, creating the package, and more.

Ubuntu Development 104 - Packaging II
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to merge, sync, and request merges/syncs for Debian packages into Ubuntu’s latest development cycle. Topics covered will include those mentioned as well as proper utilizing of certain development scripts as well as how to properly fill out a request, create a debdiff, and more.

Ubuntu Development 105 - Packaging III
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to work with Debian on patches, request backports properly, how to do Stable Release Update requests, and anything else not covered by Packaging I or II.

Obviously none of this is set in stone at this time, as we are working on getting an infrastructure in place. One thing I would like to do, is keep these away from local LUG meetings as to not a) disturb the meeting process, or b) have our session disturbed due to socializing. We are currently looking for an ideal venue for this that will a) be easy to access, b) be free, c) have a projector, and d) have Internet. There are many places in the Chicago land area that fits this bill, so now we are just looking for the best place.

We figure that each event would take anywhere between 4 to 6 hours per session and may possibly be separated into mini-sessions. If we get this off the ground and have enough interest, we could keep it going and turn it into its own little BuntuCamp (BarCamp style) just for Ubuntu!

The reasoning behind this is not only teach interested individuals Ubuntu development, but also provide them the tools necessary to properly advocate the use of Ubuntu and its partner projects. I think once our members understand as many of the aspects involved with the development of Ubuntu, they will be able to better portray to future users the importance of Ubuntu and free software. Also, you get to learn Ubuntu hacking, what could be more fun?

If you are interested in such an event, I urge you to track the Ubuntu Chicago mailing list and let us know. If other LoCo teams are interested, feel free to contact me at nixternal - kubuntu - org.

This weekend, April 4^th and 5^th, is the annual Flourish Conference, a decent sized free software conference held at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This years guest speakers include Bruce Perens, John ‘Maddog’ Hall, James Bottomley, Brian Fitzpatrick, Ben Collins-Sussman, and me of course, plus many more. Some of the events being held include a mini-BarCamp, a Hack-A-Thon, and a Web Framework battle. If you are in or around Chicago, I hope to see you there! I will be giving a talk on the KDE community as well as KDE 4.

Lighter side of things, I updated my Vista box to SP1 this past week. I haven’t been attacked by the driver issues and what not, but I am getting killed every time I let the computer fall asleep. I can click my mouse button to wake the computer up, but upon wakeup, neither the keyboard or the mouse work. I was going to file a bug report, however I was unable to find their bug tracker

I see we are now a few weeks away from the 8.04 release. That is pretty groovy. Is it me or did this release cycle seem to go on forever? Dapper was 9 months yet seemed faster. Edgy was 3 months and was really fast. Feisty and Gutsy flew by, but Hardy, heck we still have a few weeks to go. What a busy cycle. I am excited with a lot of the new features with our beloved Kubuntu release. Thus far, Kubuntu Hardy with KDE 4 has been rock solid. The only issue I had during this entire cycle was the libc6 issue. Remember that one? That was fun

My blog was recently updated to Wordpress 2.5. I am not sure yet if I really like the whole new admin interface just yet. It seems a bit slower than the previous releases, but it does look a tad bit better in most ways. I didn’t have any problems either. Gotta love those one-click installs that Dreamhost provides. All I had to do was just update the database and rock on. None of the problems like with the previous 2.2.x releases that drove many of us up a wall.

Oh well, here’s to you and hoping that I see you at Flourish! Take care!

https://wiki.kubuntu.org/ChicagoTeam/PackagingJam

Sunday, December 16^th from 10am until 4pm, the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo team will be holding its first ever Packaging Jam in order to teach users how to correctly package for Ubuntu. Tomorrow will be an introduction to get new packagers familiar with the tools and operations of the MOTU and Ubuntu packaging in general. If you would like to make it out, check out the link above for more information as well as complete the instructions located on our mailing list in this post. Hope to see you there tomorrow!

This Sunday, December 16^th, 2007 from 10am until 4pm, Central Standard Time, myself and the Ubuntu Chicago group, as well as help from the College of DuPage Linux Users’ Group, will be holding our first ever “Packaging Jam.”

What exactly is a packaging jam? It will be an all day session in which a couple of Ubuntu MOTUs, myself and Mario (superm1) will teach the essence of packaging for Ubuntu in order to get new packages into the repositories, how to merge, how to submit patches, and then some. Mario will be traveling the day prior, so we are hoping that he will be there, if not, then you have to look at my ugly mug all day

The location of this packaging jam will be at the College of DuPage main campus in Glen Ellyn. Here is the address:

College of DuPage
427 Fawell Blvd.
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

You can find directions HERE. The room is in the Student Resource Center, the big white building, and is in room 1544.

There is a train to Glen Ellyn from the city, so if you need a ride, pop into #ubuntu-chicago on irc.freenode.net or send an email to our list at ubuntu-us-chicago AT lists DOT ubuntu DOT com.

Hope to see you there!

HERE are some pictures from yesterday’s (Sunday) Ubuntu 7.10 Release Party and Install Fest. It was a good time, and probably the busiest yet. We were interviewed for the local paper and plus I did an interview on Saturday with another news paper. It seems our event was posted in either the Chicago Sun Times or the Daily Herald, as 2 people showed up saying that is how they found out about it. Good to see nobody still reads them papers

If so, then make your way to the Ubuntu Chicago and College of DuPage Gutsy Release Party and Install Fest. It is now midnight here in Chicago and I have just finished burning a set of CDs for tomorrow. I used some LightScribe love on them, however I rushed the job. I used an Ubuntu label image I found online, but the Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Edubuntu ones I made. The Xubuntu one isn’t the greatest, only because I couldn’t do the logo like the rest, because of that pesky mouse in the middle, and the last time I checked, a CD was like a donut, it has a hole in the middle

Anyways, tomorrow from 10am until 4pm (CST) at the College of DuPage. 425 Fawell Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137. We will be in room SRC 1544, and as long as I don’t forget, I will put up some signage at the 2 main entrances. So if you don’t see a sign, you are in the wrong place, unless it is the roundish looking white building, then you are in the right place. Just come on down to the first floor and have some fun!

HERE are what the CDs look like after LightScribing them. Not the best, but they work