[00:18] <Falcon_> hi
[00:18] <Falcon_> anybody ?
[00:22] <Captain> now?
[00:23] <Captain> so hi
[06:15] <drlaptopkulim> t
[10:01] <calmpitbull> hello all
[12:24] <minix2004> h
[12:25] <minix2004> Hello everywhere
[12:26] <minix2004> I read about lessons today?
[12:27] <minix2004> Anybody like to talk?
[12:30] <dddd> testing
[12:31] <minix2004> testing what?
[12:34] <minix2004> redwiki, could you give me some interest infosß
[12:35] <minix2004> about ubuntu-classroom please
[12:38] <minix2004> Hello han?
[13:13] <Dc0d3r> hi everybody
[13:14] <redkiwi> minix2004: I just want to watch something :-)
[13:18] <ghogaru> hello
[13:18] <ghogaru> anybody home?
[13:18] <Dc0d3r> yah .. ghogaru
[13:19] <pleia2> hello folks, we'll be starting things in about 12 minutes :)
[13:19] <prism> ghogaru has quit dcoder
[13:19] <prism> yeah we r ready
[13:20] <ghogaru> Zzzzz
[13:20] <Dc0d3r> @@@@
[13:20] <meetingology> Dc0d3r: Error: "@@@" is not a valid command.
[13:20] <ghogaru> (.)(.)
[13:22] <ghogaru> hello
[13:22] <prism> hi ghogaru !!!
[13:22] <ghogaru> hi prism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[13:23] <ashickur-noor> hi
[13:23] <prism> noor bhai :)
[13:23] <ashickur-noor> prism: Who are you?
[13:23] <Dc0d3r> well come noor vai.
[13:24] <prism> just whois prism
[13:24] <prism> its me ashutosh das
[13:24] <prism> :D
[13:24] <ashickur-noor> :-D
[13:24] <ashickur-noor> so some know about IRC
[13:24] <ashickur-noor> huh I am glad
[13:26] <Dc0d3r> why everybody silent??
[13:27] <pleia2> Dc0d3r: it hasn't started yet :)
[13:27] <prism> DEcoder ;)
[13:27] <ghogaru> meaow
[13:27] <ghogaru> meaow
[13:29] <prism> 1 min
[13:36] <pleia2> alright, here we go!
[13:36] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[13:36] <pleia2> Hello everyone, and welcome to our Ubuntu User Day event! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays
[13:37] <pleia2> The User Days Team has been working hard these past few weeks in order to bring you these sessions.
[13:37] <pleia2> The other members of the User Days Team are nigelb and Penelope, so if you have questions during the day please direct them to one of us
[13:37] <pleia2> (I myself am heading to bed after this session, it's just after 5AM here!)
[13:37] <pleia2> Now, we have members from many teams in the Ubuntu community here today who have graciously volunteered to share their knowledge with all of us.
[13:37] <pleia2> Before we begin, we would like to get a quick feel for who is here. If you are here, please say your name and where you are from.
[13:37] <pleia2> s/Penelope/Pendulum
[13:37] <myohmy> myohmy, Linz, Austria :)
[13:38] <pleia2> (her IRC nick!)
[13:38] <pleia2> I'm Lyz from San Francisco :)
[13:38] <Muh> Nora, Germany
[13:38] <nigelb> Nigel, India
[13:38] <Dc0d3r> Dc0d3r , Bangladesh
[13:38] <Cliffeon> Cliffeon, Germany
[13:38] <DerKahle> DerKahle, Germany
[13:38] <prism> ashutosh,bangladesh
[13:38] <ashickur-noor> ashickur-noor: Bangladesh
[13:38] <grmls> grmls, Germany
[13:38] <m49> m43, sweden
[13:38] <redkiwi> redkiwi, Vorarlberg, Austria
[13:38] <C1sM0> Jose, US
[13:38] <Timurator> Timur, Netherlands
[13:39] <rat0ncit0> Fernando, Spain
[13:39] <peter_> peter, Germany
[13:39] <pleia2> ok, great!
[13:39] <pleia2> A few of you are probably wondering what User Days are all about.
[13:39] <oi_wtf> oi_wtf, Germany
[13:40] <pleia2> User Days were created to be sets of classes offered during a one day period to teach the beginning or intermediate Ubuntu user the basics in order to get them started using Ubuntu. This includes:
[13:40] <jokerdino> hope i didn't miss much yet. :D
[13:40] <pleia2> Launchpad and How to Use Restricted Drivers, Introduction to Ubuntu, Firewall Basics, Unity lenses, Installing Software, Unity, Accessibility in Unity ...
[13:40] <pleia2> ...and more! For our full schedule head over to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays
[13:40] <pleia2> User Days were born out of a discussion at the Ubuntu Developers Summit in November 2009 regarding Ubuntu Open Week not being targeted enough at users.
[13:40] <pleia2> Now for a quick rundown of how today will work:
[13:40] <pleia2> Each hour, an instructor will be giving a class in this channel, #ubuntu-classroom
[13:40] <pleia2> During the classes, #ubuntu-classroom will be moderated (+m). This means that only the instructor and hosts will be able to talk in the channel.
[13:41] <pleia2> (it's not moderated right now, since we wanted to give you a chance to say hello)
[13:41] <pleia2> Any discussion about the class should take place #ubuntu-classroom-chat
[13:41] <pleia2> If you have a question during the class, please ask in #ubuntu-classroom-chat. Be sure to prefix it with 'QUESTION:' to ensure that it gets noticed. For example:
[13:41] <pleia2> QUESTION: What are Ubuntu User Days?
[13:41] <pleia2> Anyone wanna give it a try? :)
[13:41] <ashickur-noor> will we question here?
[13:41] <ashickur-noor> or in the chat?
[13:41] <pleia2> ashickur-noor: in #ubuntu-classroom-chat
[13:41] <jokerdino> Ubuntu user days are a means of teaching users how to use Ubuntu.
[13:41] <ashickur-noor> hum
[13:43] <ClassBot> jokerdino asked: How to use Unity lens?
[13:44] <pleia2> You will be able to find out in davidcalle's class at 18:00 UTC!
[13:44] <pleia2> http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20120114T18
[13:44] <jokerdino> i was just testing the bot :)
[13:44] <pleia2> :)
[13:44] <pleia2> thanks!
[13:44] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: test question
[13:44] <pleia2> works!
[13:44] <prism> how to filter port in ubuntu 11.10
[13:45] <nigelb> After each session, our group of volunteers will post the IRC logs to the wiki as soon as possible.
[13:45] <pleia2> prism: join #ubuntu-classroom-chat, that's where questions are askde
[13:45] <nigelb> So if you miss a session or just want to review what you learned, be sure to check out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays for links to logs that our volunteers will put up as soon as they are able.
[13:45] <nigelb> If you can't wait, Logs will also be automatically posted on http://irclogs.ubuntu.com near the end of each hour.
[13:46] <jokerdino> heh :)
[13:46] <nigelb> Please be sure to remind all of your friends and family who might be interested in using Ubuntu that this event is taking place today. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDays/JoiningIn has some information about how they can participate.
[13:46] <jokerdino> one sec. let me fb, g+ and tweet it?
[13:47] <nigelb> Finally, before we move on to answering any more questions about Ubuntu User Days that you might have, I would like to give a big thanks to everyone who has helped make this day possible.
[13:47] <nigelb> jokerdino: go ahead!
[13:47] <DerKahle> >:o
[13:47] <nigelb> In particular thanks to the Ubuntu Beginners Team, we got most of our volunteers from there: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam
[13:47] <pleia2> classbot is on twitter and identica: https://twitter.com/#!/ubuntuclassroom http://identi.ca/ubuntuclassroom
[13:47] <nigelb> It simply would not have been possible to organize this event without all of their help :)
[13:48] <nigelb> Finally, at the end of the day, please take some time to fill out our survey! We will use the results to help make the next Ubuntu User Day event even better. http://goo.gl/vfVaK
[13:48] <nigelb> Now, does anyone have any general questions about the day?
[13:48] <nigelb> Please remember to reserve particular questions about Ubuntu to their particular sessions or ask in #ubuntu for support related questions.
[13:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[13:51] <jokerdino> ok done. please do start the class. I will help out if possible :)
[13:51] <ClassBot> Dc0d3r asked: Compiz not work on my u-11.10
[13:51] <Dc0d3r> yah
[13:51] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: will there be certificates downloadable for attending the classes ;-)
[13:52] <pleia2> unfortunately not :)
[13:52] <ClassBot> dcnoderunner-T43 asked: Does the classbot on identica/twitter repeat what is asked in here, or spit out everything it is saying in here?
[13:52] <pleia2> neither, it tweets/dents upcoming classes
[13:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[14:01] <ashickur-noor> Hi
[14:01] <ashickur-noor> I am ashickur-noor
[14:02] <ashickur-noor> I will instruct this session regarding Launchpad and restricted drivers
[14:02] <ashickur-noor> Launchpad is the central point where we gather all sorts of interactions around Ubuntu, Canonical and free software generally.
[14:03] <ashickur-noor> It is web based system.
[14:04] <ashickur-noor> Where any body can submit bug and patch of any bug regarding Ubuntu, can track the bug position
[14:04] <ashickur-noor> can hosting open source code and see other code and review
[14:04] <ashickur-noor>  Building Ubuntu packages and host them in there PPA (personal package archive)
[14:05] <ashickur-noor> can  translate string of Ubuntu and its variant like Kubuntu, Lubuntu
[14:05] <ashickur-noor>  and asking question and answer any question.
[14:06] <ashickur-noor> together it is a combine and centralize process to serve the community
[14:07] <ashickur-noor> This is about Launchpad
[14:07] <ashickur-noor> There is some other site like Launchpad
[14:07] <ashickur-noor> but why we use Launchpad?
[14:08] <ashickur-noor> one reason is
[14:08] <ashickur-noor> LP provide us a lot of feature in one place (describe above), it is rare to find such system which gives us this kind of facility
[14:09] <ashickur-noor> One more thing that LP provide it is : Open ID for all.
[14:09] <ashickur-noor> I am making Launchpad to short form by LP
[14:11] <ashickur-noor> Now it is important to open A launchpad account to have facilities
[14:13] <ClassBot> prism asked: is thr any LP alternative 4 ubuntu ? && what is open id? advantage ?
[14:15] <ashickur-noor> for alternative we can think in many ways as you want
[14:15] <ashickur-noor> from my site the answer is yes and no both
[14:16] <ashickur-noor> LP provides us those above services regarding ubuntu and its variant that on other site can
[14:16] <ashickur-noor> but still you can take support from other site
[14:16] <ashickur-noor> you can share your code in other site
[14:17] <ashickur-noor> but LP is the best and easy way for Ubuntu for me
[14:17] <ashickur-noor> there is some area where there is no alternative for LP
[14:17] <ashickur-noor> like translation
[14:18] <ashickur-noor> open id is a process and service by which you don't need to open another account in other site
[14:18] <ashickur-noor> I will discuss it latter
[14:19] <ashickur-noor> If you have a LP account then you don't need to create another one
[14:21] <ashickur-noor> If you have any account in ubuntu.com or in ubuntuforums.org then you don't need to open another account in LP
[14:21] <ashickur-noor> you can use those account for login in to LP
[14:21] <ashickur-noor> and this is a vice versa process
[14:22] <ashickur-noor> for those who don't have any of those sites account
[14:22] <ashickur-noor> go to http://tinyurl.com/lp-crtacc
[14:22] <ashickur-noor> Fill the text box and click continue button.
[14:23] <ashickur-noor> be careful for choosing a password. Your Password must be at least 8 characters long, and must contain at least one number and an upper case letter.
[14:23] <ashickur-noor> Fill your E-mail id correctly, it is needed to active your account and communicate with other fellow.
[14:24] <ashickur-noor> After clicking the continue button a confirmation code will be sent to your E-mail address with a url.
[14:24] <ashickur-noor> Just copy paste the code into the next page or open the url for next step.
[14:25] <ashickur-noor> In the next page read the notification that your name and E-mail address will be used
[14:25] <ashickur-noor> if you agree then click Yes, Sign me in button. Your LP account is ready to use.
[14:26] <ashickur-noor> if you don't agree then there is nothing to do :-S
[14:27] <ashickur-noor> you have to login to LP to do stuffs
[14:28] <ashickur-noor> to login goto this page tinyurl.com/6wpwwur
[14:28] <ashickur-noor> As I mention earlier if you have account in ubuntu,com or in Ubuntu forums then you don't need to open new account
[14:29] <ashickur-noor> just give your email ID and password of ubuntu.com or ubuntu forum
[14:29] <ashickur-noor> or give the email Id and password of your LP account
[14:30] <ashickur-noor> you are login in
[14:30] <ashickur-noor> It is natural that people can forget passwords of any sites
[14:31] <ashickur-noor> if you forget the password of LP it is easy to retrieve  it
[14:32] <ashickur-noor> to retrieve your LP password simple goto tinyurl.com/lp-rtpass this page and give your E-mail id and fill the image verification box and click continue button.
[14:33] <ashickur-noor> An E-mail will be send to you with a confirmation code and a url.
[14:33] <ashickur-noor> You can copy paste the code or click the url. Then you will be asked to give new password.
[14:34] <ashickur-noor> Give new password and click the continue button. Your pass word will be reset to new password.
[14:34] <ashickur-noor> it is too much easy
[14:34] <ashickur-noor> I mention early that LP has a facility to use your LP account as an Open ID
[14:35] <ashickur-noor> OpenID allows you to use an existing account to sign in to multiple websites, without needing to create new passwords.
[14:36] <ashickur-noor> like askubuntu.com
[14:37] <ashickur-noor> here you can use your LP account to create new user id but don't need new password
[14:37] <ashickur-noor> the site will collect your name, email from LP
[14:38] <ashickur-noor> if you are login in on LP then you will be arithmetically login in that site
[14:38] <ashickur-noor> if you are not then you have to login into your LP account first
[14:39] <ashickur-noor> then LP will ask you to share some information with that site
[14:39] <ashickur-noor> if you agree to share then you will be login in that sire with your provided information
[14:40] <ashickur-noor> To login in to that site again just goto the login page of that site
[14:40] <ashickur-noor> look for login with open ID
[14:41] <ashickur-noor> follow the instruction ther
[14:41] <ashickur-noor> how to use Open ID
[14:41] <ashickur-noor> to login
[14:42] <ashickur-noor> follow that
[14:42] <ashickur-noor> You will be login
[14:43] <ashickur-noor> It is all from my Launchpad
[14:43] <ashickur-noor> session
[14:43] <ashickur-noor> Now I will discuss about how to use restricted drivers
[14:44] <ashickur-noor> We know that Ubuntu ships with many preloaded driver with it like intel graphics
[14:44] <ashickur-noor> coz those hardware has open source and free drivers
[14:45] <ashickur-noor> so we can have those easily
[14:45] <ashickur-noor> but some hardware provider don't give free drivers
[14:46] <ashickur-noor> likes Nvidia and ATI
[14:46] <ashickur-noor> for those hardware we have to install there drivers manually
[14:46] <ashickur-noor> those drivers are called restricted drivers
[14:47] <Pendulum> win 31
[14:47] <ashickur-noor> there are two way to install those driver
[14:47] <ashickur-noor> one is from  the repo
[14:47] <ashickur-noor> other is download the driver for the vendor site
[14:47] <ashickur-noor> install it
[14:48] <ashickur-noor> to install drivers from repo first update your software source
[14:49] <ashickur-noor> then  goto additional drivers if you are Using Ubuntu 11.10
[14:49] <ashickur-noor> one window will appear
[14:49] <ashickur-noor> It will looks for hardware
[14:50] <ashickur-noor> if any restricted drivers are avail in the repo it will list there
[14:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[14:51] <ashickur-noor> recommended drivers are always recommended to use
[14:51] <ashickur-noor> to install
[14:51] <ashickur-noor> just select it from the list
[14:51] <ashickur-noor> then click the active button
[14:51] <ashickur-noor> restart your PC
[14:52] <ashickur-noor> your hardware will work fine and smooth
[14:52] <ashickur-noor> if there are no list there but you are confirm that your hardware is not working well
[14:52] <ashickur-noor> then goto the vendor site
[14:52] <ashickur-noor> search for your device driver
[14:53] <ashickur-noor> you may get binary or source of your dirver
[14:53] <ashickur-noor> *driver
[14:53] <ashickur-noor> download that
[14:54] <ashickur-noor> follow the instruction from that site to install the driver
[14:54] <ashickur-noor> restart your PC
[14:54] <ashickur-noor> your hardware will work fine and smooth
[14:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[14:55] <ashickur-noor> for any further help always look in  ubuntuforums.org for help
[14:55] <ashickur-noor> hope you will get help and discussion there
[14:56] <ashickur-noor> we are always helpful when it come to give support :-)
[14:58] <Pendulum> okay, thank you ashickur-noor
[14:58] <nigelb> The next session will be by holstein about "Introduction to Ubuntu".  He'll start in about 3 minutes :-)
[14:58] <Pendulum> Feel free to use this time as a bathroom break :)
[14:59] <nigelb> Remember to leave feedback at the end of the day at http://goo.gl/vfVaK
[15:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[15:01] <holstein> WELCOME!
[15:01] <holstein> i want to thank ashickur-noor for that great presentation
[15:01] <holstein> as ashickur-noor says, "we are always helpful when it comes to giving support"
[15:01] <holstein> when im talking to folks about why i use ubuntu, and why i would like to introduce them to ubuntu, thats what i talk about
[15:02] <holstein> the best thing, in my opinion, about Ubuntu is the community
[15:02] <holstein> that you and me, and everyone in the support channels, and everyone in the forums... email lists... LUGS
[15:02] <holstein> there is so much information for someone coming to Ubuntu to take advantage of
[15:03] <holstein> i know it didnt take me long to realize i wanted to be a part of that growing community, and give back as best i could
[15:03] <holstein> that for me, is not as a technical user, necessarily
[15:03] <holstein> a little backgroung on me...
[15:04] <holstein> i have been using ubuntu since around 8.10
[15:04] <holstein> i try and hang in IRC support channels and give help to new users whenever i can
[15:04] <holstein> i am not a coding contributor, and may never be
[15:04] <holstein> but, thats not all there is to contributing to Ubuntu
[15:05] <holstein> for me, i find our ecosystem so welcoming to *anyone*
[15:05] <holstein> and i like that... all our welcome!
[15:06] <holstein> for this hour, i will start with a general idea about how one might introduce Ubuntu to a new user
[15:06] <holstein> feel free and ask questions at any time over in #ubuntu-classroom-chat, just type QUESTION: your question here
[15:07] <holstein> i will try and keep an eye on them and make time for as many as possible
[15:08] <holstein> here's an interesting question... why are we *not* using Ubuntu?
[15:08] <holstein> most computers come with an operating system
[15:09] <holstein> and i find most users could care less about understanding what that operating system is, and how it works
[15:09] <holstein> and that is fine...
[15:09] <holstein> one thing that i feel would help new users when being introduced to Ubuntu would be to get a computer that already has Ubuntu on it
[15:10] <holstein> that is (and im glad to see this) more and more easy to find!
[15:11] <holstein> i feel like the new user in that situation will be more likely to be successful and not hit some of the pitfalls that the new user can when trying to obtain and install Ubuntu on their own
[15:11] <holstein> i will get into more of those later... let me look for a few questions...
[15:12] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: What is Ubuntu?
[15:12] <holstein> for me, Ubuntu is a community
[15:12] <holstein> Ubuntu is you and me, and we have a common interest
[15:13] <holstein> linux, and the Ubuntu operating system
[15:13] <holstein> the operating system is debian based and largely supported
[15:14] <ClassBot> calmpitbull asked: what and how much is done for Ubuntu promotion
[15:14] <holstein> i like this question
[15:14] <holstein> what can we do for Ubuntu promotion?
[15:14] <holstein> i can speak for what i do
[15:14] <holstein> i try and let people see Ubuntu in action
[15:14] <holstein> i try and give them live CD's
[15:15] <holstein> talk about it... share information and educate
[15:15] <holstein> we recently revived our local LUG (linux users group) and that is a great place to find enthusiasts to brainstorm with
[15:15] <holstein> there was the Ubuntu hour initiative, not sure how that is going
[15:16] <holstein> but the idea was to just show up and a coffee shop or where ever, and have Ubuntu shirts/stickers
[15:16] <holstein> whatever
[15:16] <holstein> and hopefully get folks interested, and asking questions...
[15:16] <holstein> we had a few here that went well
[15:17] <holstein> i noticed we had several new users "recruited" from those Ubuntu hour meetings that are coming the the LUG meetings still
[15:17] <holstein> for more information https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hour
[15:18] <holstein> !y
[15:18] <holstein> hehe... sorry...
[15:18] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: What does Ubuntu mean?
[15:18] <holstein> for me again, this mean community
[15:19] <holstein> i think it literally means "human-ness"
[15:20] <holstein> i think it is important for any group to identify the target audience
[15:21] <holstein> this audience may change or evolve over time
[15:21] <holstein> when i am finding a new user to bring to Ubuntu, i like to identify where they are coming from
[15:21] <holstein> there are users whe are using windows or mac
[15:21] <holstein> there are things we can do to ease that transition
[15:22] <holstein> we can find similar, if not the same applications, and install them in windows or OSX for them to get used to there
[15:23] <holstein> that means... if a windows user is using the internet explorer browser for example, and we can install firefox for them, then when they get to Ubuntu, they can have firefox
[15:23] <holstein> for me, this is the most challening set of users to deal with
[15:23] <holstein> they have a way that things work, and that they are comfortable with
[15:24] <holstein> and i personally think anything we can do as mentors, and helpers at that point to ease the transition... why not?
[15:24] <holstein> i like the users who maybe dont have computers
[15:24] <holstein> i like to use my mother for an exmaple
[15:24] <holstein> i put Ubuntu on a laptop for her... 9.10
[15:25] <holstein> she had very little computer experience
[15:25] <holstein> we litrerally set up an email account for her right then...
[15:25] <holstein> she had very little trouble finding things
[15:25] <holstein> saving documents... printing... whatever
[15:26] <holstein> it seems like sometimes it can be more challening to 'unlearn' what we have already learned and become comfortable with
[15:26] <holstein> also, what if this new user is a windows system administrator
[15:26] <holstein> you might want to find them someone how is savvy in the commandline to hang out with for a bit
[15:26] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: why should a new user of Ubuntu use the newest version and not the LTS version?
[15:27] <holstein> when im installing for new users, i typically go for the LTS version
[15:27] <holstein> what is an LTS version...
[15:27] <holstein> every 2 years there is whats called a "long term support" version
[15:28] <holstein> these are arguably more 'stable' potentially
[15:28] <holstein> maybe more predictable is a good word for it
[15:28] <holstein> regardless, they are supported longer, and that is a fact
[15:28] <holstein> for example, Ubuntu 10.04 is an LTS, and will be supported for 3 years (the desktop version)
[15:29] <holstein> Ubuntu 10.10 is supported for a year and a half
[15:29] <holstein> for me, i know i can install that Ubuntu system for a friend, and they will be able to use it confidently for 3+ years
[15:30] <holstein> now does that mean you shouldnt install the other "normal" releases?
[15:30] <holstein> i say, install for a friend or a newcomer what you are most comfortable in
[15:31] <holstein> what you can support
[15:31] <holstein> you will be the one they call when things arent working, and you dont want to let them down :)
[15:31] <holstein> !y
[15:31] <ClassBot> calmpitbull asked: As a new user I have noticed that most of Ubuntu users are professionals why is that?
[15:32] <holstein> this is great... again, going back to why we dong use Ubuntu.. it didnt come on my computer
[15:32] <holstein> how do you get it on your computer?
[15:32] <holstein> thats is the question
[15:32] <holstein> if you want to tell someone "soup to nuts" so they say, how to install and use Ubuntu
[15:33] <holstein> its going to quickly get at least somewhat technical
[15:33] <holstein> the idea of checking or entering the bios can be a foreign concept
[15:33] <holstein> and again.. i dont think thats a bad thing
[15:33] <holstein> i think there are lots of prefessionals using Ubuntu because of the positives they can take from the system
[15:34] <holstein> maybe its a system administrator that likes the user permissions
[15:34] <holstein> maybe its someone who needs to make custom images for a buisness
[15:34] <holstein> these are things you can do arguably more easily in linux, and things that would draw a professional to it
[15:35] <holstein> that doesnt mean that it cant be used for a desktop system
[15:35] <holstein> again, i think education is the key
[15:36] <holstein> showing folks how to do things, and why, and answering questions... maybe getting those proffessional users talking to the new user community
[15:36] <ClassBot> Maureen asked:  Will Ubuntu make it to the Desktop world or is the competition still too strong?
[15:37] <holstein> i say, it already has.. but we will have to see where things go.. who knows how popular and mainstream it can become
[15:38] <holstein> !y
[15:38] <ClassBot> hobgoblin asked: Would you be more inclined to get someone to use a virtual machine or add DE's to an existing install if they wanted to have a look?
[15:39] <holstein> i would do whatever it takes... i think it the idea of a virtual machine is not over the users head, why not?
[15:39] <holstein> i think virtual box is a great tool for experimenting
[15:40] <holstein> i know as a new user, i woul install the same OS i was running and test big updates, or things i was not comfortable with at the time
[15:41] <ClassBot> hobgoblin asked: as opposed to just trying from a livecd
[15:41] <holstein> i think the live CD performance can be questionable, but for me i thinkg its the best way to see how the *actual* hardware will be supported
[15:41] <holstein> questionable being, just slower than should be expected
[15:42] <ClassBot> Timurator_ asked: What about organisations, what to say about user training, cost of ownership, price per transaction, hardware, professional support etc.
[15:43] <holstein> thats a great question, and i think thats really up to the businesses in question
[15:43] <holstein> maybe they save in licensing?
[15:43] <holstein> maybe they can reuse hardware?
[15:47] <ClassBot> amithkk asked: What does a student do... (like me) when their syllabus includes use of windows-elusive programs.
[15:47] <holstein> this is tough
[15:47] <holstein> i have a cousin with the same issue
[15:47] <holstein> i put XP in virtualbox for him and that seems to be solving all the issues he has
[15:48] <holstein> theres not a good answer except let them know you are using linux and having issues, and (politely) suggest offering support
[15:48] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: what kind of computers in terms of age can i use for installing Ubuntu? Do I need to have the newest hardware available on the market?
[15:48] <holstein> i find that linux/Ubuntu can tend to support older hardware
[15:49] <holstein> if you go with one of the lighter variants such as lubuntu, which is LXDE + ubuntu, you might have an easier time with oder hardware
[15:49] <holstein> older*
[15:50] <holstein> !y
[15:50] <ClassBot> jokerdino asked: Would you consider Ubuntu a product of social enterprising ?
[15:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[15:50] <holstein> its definetly a community effort!
[15:50] <ClassBot> amithkk asked: According to you what is the best way of trying out ubuntu, WUBI, Vbox on Windows or dualboot
[15:50] <holstein> i still use live CD's
[15:51] <holstein> i think that performance can increase by using a live USB
[15:51] <holstein> if you want to install Ubuntu there are several ways
[15:51] <holstein> we have iso's... CD imagaes
[15:51] <holstein> you can download them and burn them to CD's
[15:52] <holstein> you can use programs built into Ubuntu to make bootable USB sticks
[15:52] <holstein> or programs like unetbootin
[15:52] <holstein> http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
[15:53] <holstein> the iso can be dd copied now to USB (which is a bit much to introduce at this stage int he presentation)
[15:54] <holstein> when im installing i like to see the desktop live
[15:54] <holstein> i like to see that the sound is working
[15:54] <holstein> i like to see about the network controller or controllers
[15:54] <holstein> i like to know what im getting into
[15:54] <holstein> most of the time *everything* is just supported out of the box
[15:55] <holstein> but when its not... that can be challening, and especially for the new user
[15:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[15:55] <ClassBot> calmpitbull asked: I would like to know if we can aspect Ubuntu mobile phone in 2012. I know many people would like to have ti :)?
[15:55] <holstein> im not sure of the time fram on that... but im looking fof that as well!
[15:56] <holstein> i wanted to convey that as a mentor, one thing i like to talk about with new users is GRUB
[15:56] <holstein> i like to at least mention it and link https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2
[15:56] <holstein> this would be what a new user could misunderstand
[15:57] <holstein> they could try and install ubuntu, or dualboot... misunderstand, and have a  really bad experience
[15:57] <holstein> i think education about what is happening when they are installing
[15:57] <holstein> OR, better yet
[15:57] <holstein> being there for them if you can be
[15:58] <holstein> we try and offer 'install fests' at our local LUG where we help with all of these beginning potential pitfalls
[15:58] <holstein> OK.. thats about it for me...
[15:58] <holstein> questions?
[15:58] <holstein> if not.. thanks *so* much for the opportunity to share with you
[15:58] <holstein> i cant believe how fast the time flies by :)
[16:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[16:00] <the_hydra> alright people, time to discuss about firewall :)
[16:01] <the_hydra> first, let me "fix" the understanding about firewall
[16:01] <the_hydra> they're not flaming bricks
[16:01] <the_hydra> it's a way to name a defense mechanism
[16:02] <the_hydra> what to defense? from bad network traffic, or should I say..."unwanted" ones
[16:02] <the_hydra> think firewall like soldiers guarding state borders
[16:03] <the_hydra> they will allow people who have legal passport or visa or whatever, and kick the rest
[16:03] <the_hydra> so far so good?
[16:03] <ClassBot> Maureen asked:  is it true that ubuntu comes with a preconfigured firewall?
[16:04] <the_hydra> Maureen: yes, but you need to activate it using ufw package
[16:04] <the_hydra> which we will discuss in this class
[16:05] <ClassBot> Cheesehead asked: What's the difference between my router's firewall and my laptop's firewall?
[16:05] <the_hydra> Cheesehead: they are the same :)
[16:05] <the_hydra> firewall refers to mechanism
[16:05] <the_hydra> not toward the hardware
[16:06] <the_hydra> everything that could filter network traffic, be it software, hardware or both, are considered as firewall
[16:06] <ClassBot> prism_ asked: how to filter port in ubuntu 11.10?details for newbie......
[16:06] <the_hydra> alright, that what I wanna explain :)
[16:06] <the_hydra> first, install ufw package
[16:06] <the_hydra> sudo aptitude install ufw
[16:07] <the_hydra> ufw --> uncomplicated firewall :)
[16:07] <the_hydra> but I find it still complicated :)
[16:07] <the_hydra> after it is installed, enable it first
[16:07] <the_hydra> "sudo ufw enable"
[16:08] <the_hydra> this is important, because without enabling it, it won't be active and it won't be started when your *buntu starts
[16:08] <the_hydra> as the backend, ufw is powered by so called iptables
[16:09] <the_hydra> so basically there are two ways to do firewalling, either using ufw or straight doing it via iptables rule
[16:10] <the_hydra> there is program called gufw...it's the graphical front end for ufw...in case later you find ufw scary
[16:10] <ClassBot> m49 asked: what is the diffrence between ufw and iptables then?
[16:10] <the_hydra> m49: they are the same actually....
[16:11] <the_hydra> ok, for the following examples, I assume you gonna protect your own laptop, which has IP <IP_ADDRESS>. Your laptop connects to Internet via some sort of ADSL
[16:12] <the_hydra> say you have local apache (web server), but you don't want anyone from the Internet access it since you just use it for local testing
[16:13] <the_hydra> to reject: sudo ufw reject 80
[16:14] <the_hydra> "reject" is the action
[16:14] <the_hydra> whereas 80 is the port
[16:14] <the_hydra> think port like numbered door
[16:15] <the_hydra> here's quick cheat sheet for port number: 80--> http, 25--> smtp, 110-> pop3
[16:15] <the_hydra> most likely that is what you need
[16:16] <the_hydra> on the other hand, if you want to allow people from the Internet to access your Apache, do:
[16:16] <the_hydra> sudo ufw acccept 80
[16:17] <the_hydra> sorry
[16:17] <the_hydra> sudo ufw allow 80
[16:17] <the_hydra> sometimes I am still confused between ufw's way and iptables' way
[16:17] <the_hydra> any question so far?
[16:18] <ClassBot> Maureen asked:  DO I need to configure ufw?
[16:18] <the_hydra> Maureen: yes, those are the initial examples above
[16:19] <the_hydra> if you find it difficult to remember port, instead of using number, you can use its name
[16:19] <the_hydra> sudo ufw allow http
[16:19] <the_hydra> always confirm with "sudo ufw status"
[16:19] <the_hydra> to make sure whether your new rule has kick in or not
[16:20] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: how do you specify in- or outbound traffic?
[16:21] <the_hydra> myohmy: nice question :)
[16:21] <the_hydra> the above command "ufw allow 80" actually works both way
[16:21] <the_hydra> that is for outgoing and incoming traffic
[16:21] <the_hydra> what we really need to do is filter incoming one..
[16:22] <the_hydra> the point of view here is your laptop :)
[16:22] <the_hydra> so when I say "incoming" that means data (packet) coming from Internet to your laptop
[16:22] <the_hydra> whereas outgoing is the other way around
[16:23] <the_hydra> back to command:
[16:23] <the_hydra> sudo ufw allow in 80
[16:23] <the_hydra> "in" means incoming
[16:23] <the_hydra> while "out" means outgoing
[16:24] <the_hydra> I forgot to mention that by default, ufw stops any traffic coming to your laptop...of course excepts ones that have relation with your initial request e.g traffic from your web browser
[16:24] <the_hydra> while ufw allow anything from your laptop toward Internet
[16:25] <ClassBot> prism_ asked: port filtering ?
[16:25] <the_hydra> prism_: the above is the exactly the example of port filtering
[16:26] <the_hydra> prism_: or maybe you still have confusion? feel free to follow up
[16:29] <ClassBot> oi_wtf asked: ist there something like profiles for ufw, so i can specify different rules, like "home" and "university", so i can allow or block different ports/protocols with as few commands possible?
[16:29] <the_hydra> oi_wtf: not sure, but man ufw mentions about application profile...that's something I never touch so far, so I suggest you to dig "man ufw"
[16:30] <the_hydra> oi_wtf: other than that, the alternative is to put your ufw command within a shell script
[16:30] <the_hydra> start it with "sudo ufw reset"
[16:31] <the_hydra> then follow it up with needed command
[16:31] <the_hydra> that way, to switch to different filtering rule, you simply run that script
[16:32] <ClassBot> padhu asked: Is there is an log for ufw?
[16:32] <the_hydra> padhu: yes, you need to run "sudo ufw logging on" to enable it
[16:33] <the_hydra> padhu: the log will end up in /var/log/messages
[16:34] <the_hydra> containing [UFW BLOCK] string
[16:35] <the_hydra> it will log source IP address/port, destination IP address/port, along with other TCP related info...but likely you will just need the first four info
[16:35] <ClassBot> Cheesehead asked: Can ufw commands be scripted? So I could, say, login to my router using ssh and execute a script to open and close ports?
[16:35] <the_hydra> Cheesehead: assuming your router is *buntu :)
[16:36] <the_hydra> Cheesehead: then yes
[16:36] <the_hydra> Cheesehead: so say you have "ufw.sh"
[16:36] <the_hydra> mark it as executable "chmod +x ufw.sh"
[16:37] <the_hydra> to make sure you start from scratch, then filter incoming data to port 80
[16:37] <the_hydra> sudo ufw reset
[16:37] <the_hydra> sudo ufw deny in 80
[16:37] <the_hydra> btw, there's deny and there's reject
[16:38] <the_hydra> deny is like you don't pick up phone call
[16:38] <the_hydra> reject is like when you play ping pong and smash the ball back to your opponent :)
[16:38] <ClassBot> padhu asked: instead of script, is there an GUI front end for ufw?
[16:38] <the_hydra> padhu: yes, gufw for example
[16:39] <the_hydra> padhu: but to be honest, so far I directly dabble with iptables
[16:39] <the_hydra> maybe i am too old fashioned :D
[16:40] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: let's assume we set all outbound traffic to "off" - and I just installed a new program - and that program needs to access the outside-world, how do I figure out which port the program is actually using so that I can open that specific port - and only that port?
[16:40] <the_hydra> nice myohmy
[16:40] <the_hydra> you need sniffer program
[16:40] <the_hydra> do you ever use wireshark?
[16:40] <the_hydra> or its command line counterpart tcpdump or tshark?
[16:41] <the_hydra> basically you just run wireshark...let it "sniff" your network interface..then run your application
[16:41] <the_hydra> soon, traffic will flow and wireshark will record it
[16:42] <the_hydra> then you can observe them , especially the destination port
[16:42] <the_hydra> the good thing about wireshark is that it understands major network protocols, so you won't have too much troubles deciphering them
[16:42] <ClassBot> padhu asked: is it possible to store and restore configurations?
[16:44] <the_hydra> padhu: if you mean to save current rules, then it's already done automatically
[16:44] <the_hydra> padhu: so if you do "ufw disable", firewall will be disabled but your rules are already saved
[16:44] <the_hydra> padhu: next time you do "ufw enable", they are all back
[16:45] <the_hydra> padhu: "ufw reset" clears them and make ufw back to its initial state
[16:45] <ClassBot> myohmy asked: can't I use the ufw logfile to see which port is used (assuming outbound traffic is allowed) and after that change the firewall to stop all outgoing traffic, then enabling just the needed port?
[16:47] <the_hydra> myohmy: to the best I know, ufw only blocks denied/rejected packets
[16:47] <the_hydra> myohmy: so in the case of allowed outboud (the default), you won't see anything
[16:48] <the_hydra> myohmy: better, stop outgoing (pretty brave), then see what is used
[16:48] <the_hydra> sudo ufw default reject outgoing
[16:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[16:50] <ClassBot> padhu asked: I like to backup the configuration before making some alteration. after my works, i need to restore it back. Is it possible without using reset?
[16:51] <the_hydra> padhu: interesting, when I do "--force reset", I saw the messages that they are saved somewhere...but sorry that's all I know
[16:52] <ClassBot> m49 asked: lets say you have a webserver, is it recomended to block all outgoing ports that you do not use, as you block the incomming that you not use?
[16:52] <the_hydra> m49: I usually follow the rule to block incoming by defauly
[16:52] <the_hydra> default
[16:53] <the_hydra> because "outgoing" inthe web server point of view means you're blocking reply
[16:54] <the_hydra> but if talk about Internet web server serving public content, it's hard to do filtering without really knowing which one to filter
[16:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[16:56] <the_hydra> you can use something like: ufw deny proto tcp from 222.111.333.44 to <IP_ADDRESS> port 80
[16:56] <the_hydra> so that IP address 222.111.333.44 can't block your web server
[16:56] <ClassBot> dcnoderunner-T43 asked: Why is ufw not installed & enabled by default? , considering new users would have no idea it is not.
[16:56] <the_hydra> dcnoderunner-T43: that I don't know...really
[16:57] <ClassBot> nitstorm asked:  What is the best ufw configuration possible for regular users in general?
[16:57] <the_hydra> nitstorm: default one is already great
[16:57] <the_hydra> nitstorm: i mean simply "ufw enable"
[16:57] <the_hydra> no additional rules
[16:57] <the_hydra> that's the one I use
[16:57] <the_hydra> the default one blocks incoming, and allow outgoing
[16:58] <the_hydra> and does rate limiting for certain protocols like ping
[16:58] <the_hydra> block incoming except ones related with outgoing ones...e.g traffic from your web browser
[16:58] <ClassBot> m49 asked: thx but i mean that I just allow 80 443 and 22 outgoing for example do that encrease the security?
[16:59] <the_hydra> m49: IMHO maybe it increase, but not much
[16:59] <the_hydra> m49: usually we care more about incoming, because that's where the threat it
[17:00] <ClassBot> shirgall asked: What listeners are installed by default on Ubuntu Desktop?
[17:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[17:00]  * Cheesehead taps the microphone
[17:01] <Cheesehead> Hello.
[17:01] <Cheesehead> the_hydra: Thanks for a great session on Firewalls. It's one of those topics that's *very* handy to know. People I know have firewall issues a few times each year...and often don't realize it. They just wonder why something doesn't work.
[17:01] <Cheesehead> I muck with firewall settings when distant relatives share their desktop so I can help them.
[17:01] <Cheesehead> Welcome to the session "I have an idea to improve Ubuntu - what should I do?"
[17:02] <Cheesehead> The answer is surprisingly easy: Get Involved with the team or project working on that subject.
[17:02] <Cheesehead> I have a couple quick paragraphs, then on to questions!
[17:03] <Cheesehead> When I say "Get Involved", The answer is surprisingly easy: Get Involved with the team or project working on that subject.
[17:03] <Cheesehead> Oops
[17:03] <Cheesehead> When I say "Get Involved", I don't mean to send them an e-mail and then consider your work done. Fire-and-forget ideas are everywhere...and are almost universally ignored (if you want to know why, ask!).
[17:04] <Cheesehead> I mean *join* that team for six months. The IRC channel. The mailing lists. The meetings. Make a few new friends. Help with the work. Ask a lot of questions!
[17:04] <Cheesehead> As a contributing member of the team, the whole team is a lot more likely to support your idea, work it into the future plans, and see it implemented.
[17:04] <Cheesehead> Obviously, if every idea means a six-month commitment, that's going to limit the number of ideas you can work on.
[17:04] <Cheesehead> That can be a good thing...it focuses you on the ideas that are worth exploring and implementing.
[17:05] <ClassBot> calmpitbull asked: What do i need to do to get into project?
[17:05] <Cheesehead> Be interested. Search engine the topic. Find and read up on the mailing list.
[17:06] <Cheesehead> Lurk in the IRC channel.
[17:06] <Cheesehead> Attend the meetings.
[17:06] <Cheesehead> Then speak up, add to the discussion, offer to take on some of the work.
[17:06] <Cheesehead> Showing up is the first step!
[17:07] <Cheesehead> Look for the team wiki page at http://wiki.ubuntu.com
[17:07] <Cheesehead> You'll find a lot of information there: Goals, agendas, people.
[17:07] <Cheesehead> The *best* part of participating is that you'll make a few new friends.
[17:08] <Cheesehead> .
[17:08] <Cheesehead> It will save a lot of time at the end if you ask all those questions you are saving now instead of holding them :)
[17:09] <ClassBot> calmpitbull asked: What is the best or most used programming lanaguage in Ubuntu community?
[17:09] <Cheesehead> That's a good question!
[17:09] <Cheesehead> The *best* langauage is the one you want to create in right now.
[17:10] <Cheesehead> Ubuntu supports them all.
[17:10] <Cheesehead> If you join a project, you probably need to use their chosen language.
[17:10] <Cheesehead> In that case, the best language is the one that best meets that project's needs.
[17:11] <Cheesehead> Personally, I use Python...but there are external reasons for that.
[17:11] <Cheesehead> I never met a language I didn't like
[17:12] <ClassBot> shirgall asked: Ok, I've gone to wiki.ubuntu.com and looked for "texlive"--a set of packages in universe I feel are out of date. Nothing comes up. Now what?
[17:12] <Cheesehead> Great question!
[17:12] <Cheesehead> It depends how far out of date, and why they became out of date.
[17:12] <Cheesehead> (that means a bit of research)
[17:13] <Cheesehead> For example, is is that nobody has packaged them?
[17:13] <Cheesehead> Or have the packages failed in REVU?
[17:13] <Cheesehead> Is it an upstream issue?
[17:13] <Cheesehead> Or an Ubuntu issue?
[17:13] <Cheesehead> Of course you don;t know any of the answers to these.
[17:14] <Cheesehead> Here's how you get involved: YOU become the detective.
[17:14] <Cheesehead> Ask questions. Do research. Find out.
[17:14] <Cheesehead> You appoint yourself to figure out the problem and solve it.
[17:14] <Cheesehead> It may be as easy as filing a bug report.
[17:15] <Cheesehead> Or sending an e-mail to an upstream maintaniner who simply dropped the ball. (That's okay, people do that)
[17:15] <Cheesehead> Or putting two people, each woth half the story, in contact.
[17:15] <Cheesehead> The key is to be polite but persistent.
[17:16] <Cheesehead> You're not asking a company to fix a flawed product.
[17:16] <Cheesehead> You're a community member investigating a problem by talking to other community members.
[17:17] <Cheesehead> You can also take the easy route and file a bug report in Launchpad.
[17:17] <Cheesehead> When you do that, you are hoping that some other community member will pick up your ball and run with it.
[17:17] <Cheesehead> It happens. It happens a lot.
[17:18] <Cheesehead> But the probablility is lower than if you take a trip down the rabbithole yourself.
[17:18] <Cheesehead> Who doesn't like adventure?
[17:18] <Cheesehead> .
[17:19] <Cheesehead> First stop for texlive: The terminal
[17:19] <Cheesehead> Try apt-cache <packagename>
[17:19] <Cheesehead> See who the upstream maintainer is.
[17:19] <Cheesehead> Second stop: Launchpad bugs
[17:19] <Cheesehead> See if this issue has already been reported
[17:20] <Cheesehead> Third stop: Upstream bug tracker or package page.
[17:21] <Cheesehead> Oops: That's 'apt-cache show <packagename>' (thanks, shirgall)
[17:22] <Cheesehead> Another stop is 'rmadison' script, included in the 'devscripts' package. It will tell you the version in all open releases - helpful to see if a package is stagnating. You can get the same info from Launchpad, too.
[17:24] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: is texlive for all
[17:25] <Cheesehead> Looking at rmadison, it looks like texlive in 12.04 is still stuck at a 2009 release.
[17:26] <Cheesehead> Another stop is your favorite search engine. "Why is texlive in Ubuntu not updated"?
[17:27] <Cheesehead> Ta-da. Answers answers answers.
[17:28] <Cheesehead> Answers about the workarounds to get texlive 2011, and somewhere in there I'm sure I saw the reason for the lag.
[17:28] <Cheesehead> .
[17:29] <Cheesehead> That's a great example of the difference bewteen making a suggestion to a company (as a customer) vs getting involved with Ubuntu.
[17:29] <Cheesehead> When you have idea in Ubuntu, you really do have all the information you need to get to a 90% solution in the first 10 minutes.
[17:31] <Cheesehead> Going back to texlive, I see that someone even filed a Brainstorm idea on the subject: http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/22450
[17:32] <Cheesehead> Looks like texlive historically lags about a year or two. Some texlive user should look into that!
[17:32] <Cheesehead> .
[17:32] <Cheesehead> Okay, next question:
[17:33] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: How I can involve other? I am already involve
[17:33] <Cheesehead> There are a couple ways to read the question.
[17:33] <Cheesehead> Foe example, how do I get others interested in my project or problem?
[17:33] <Cheesehead> Or how do I get others interested in Ubunut?
[17:34] <Cheesehead> I'll focus on the first - you have an issue and you want to get the word out.
[17:34] <Cheesehead> I've had this problem. I still have it from time to time.
[17:34] <Cheesehead> Since you Got Involved and made friends, start with them.
[17:35] <Cheesehead> Ask.
[17:35] <Cheesehead> "Hey, I'm working on this and could use some help."
[17:35] <Cheesehead> Blog about it. That gets it into the search engines.
[17:35] <Cheesehead> Subscribe to the relevant bugs.
[17:35] <Cheesehead> As people come across your issue, recruit them.
[17:36] <Cheesehead> If you become an Ubuntu Member, blog about it on Planet Ubuntu
[17:36] <Cheesehead> Send a press release to the Ubuntu Weekly News.
[17:36] <Cheesehead> All the ways *you* find out about Ubuntu stuff are the same ways you can recruit others to help you!
[17:38] <Cheesehead> If the help you need is just on one part or aspect. (like help translating, or help with documentation, or help with Upstart), feel free to drop by those teams and say "I'm working on this, and I could use some advice"
[17:38] <Cheesehead> In some cultures, asking for help is difficult.
[17:39] <Cheesehead> You can be oblique about it...but just recognize that others from different cultures may not understand exactly the way you intended.
[17:40] <Cheesehead> In my LoCo, I send around e-mail to the mailing list: "I'm working on this. Anyone want to help out?" Sometimes somebody says yes.
[17:41] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: We have a mailing list, but here all the talking are related to personal matter, not to community, in this position how I can invite people to join the community?
[17:42] <Cheesehead> Bring it up at the next community meeting. "Look, all the personal stuff is drowning out useful conversation about Ubuntu and overflowing my inbox. Can we find a solution?"
[17:43] <Cheesehead> If there is a dispute about a LoCo mailing list being poorly moderated, and the LoCo cannot solve the problem itself in a reasonable time, then escalate the problem through the community chain.
[17:45] <Cheesehead> But remember: Ubuntu is a community of mostly young people. Young people sometimes have trouble compromising or seeing the various points of view. Ubuntu, and all its LoCos MUST be inclusive. None of us will get exacly the LoCo we want...but we can all find ways to improve the LoCo we have
[17:46]  * Cheesehead sips from his water glass
[17:46] <Cheesehead> This seems like a good time to talk more about Brainstorm
[17:46] <Cheesehead> Ubuntu does have a "suggestion box", called Brainstorm: http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com
[17:46] <Cheesehead> It's *more* than a suggestion box. It's a way to get community input on your ideas, and for you to help other people refine their ideas.
[17:47] <Cheesehead> If you simply don't know which team or project is appropriate for an idea, we can find out for you.
[17:47] <Cheesehead> Some of the top-rated ideas get discussed at the twice-yearly developer summits, and/or passed to the appropriate development teams.
[17:47] <Cheesehead> But, really, you can do both of those already yourself by simply participating on the appropriate teams.
[17:47] <Cheesehead> At the same time, it's *not* a gurantee - the probability that somebody else will implement your idea for you through Brainstorm is low...even if your idea is very very good.
[17:48] <Cheesehead> There simply is no roomful of bored coding monkeys waiting to crank out Shakespearian apps.
[17:48] <Cheesehead> Ubuntu developers are mostly volunteers - and that means they work on the projects they want to work on. Paid Canonical staff work on what their boss (code name: SABDFL) wants them to work on. And SABDFL already has years of work planned for his paid staff. So you can't borrow them to write your code, sorry.
[17:49] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: I am very much unhappy about our LoCo,  our LoCo is not going rightly, do you have any suggestion regarding that? I am looking forward to make our LoCo work again
[17:49] <Cheesehead> You know, I had gathered that impression.
[17:49] <Cheesehead> There are a coupe answers.
[17:50] <Cheesehead> First, STAY INVOLVED
[17:50] <Cheesehead> You don't make a difference if you're not there.
[17:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[17:50] <Cheesehead> Second, YOU DON'T NEED TO ASK ANYBODY
[17:50] <Cheesehead> Start your own projects and recruit your own people.
[17:51] <Cheesehead> DON'T COMPETE with the LoCo.
[17:51] <Cheesehead> DON'T splinter off or form your own alterntive LoCo
[17:52] <Cheesehead> Finally, take over doing the work.
[17:52] <Cheesehead> And do it really well.
[17:52] <Cheesehead> Make sure when you do the monthly reporting for your LoCo, that it's excellent and truthful.
[17:53] <Cheesehead> Make sure when you interact with others in the community, that you're mature and professional.
[17:53] <Cheesehead> That's how you get credibility with your peers in the LoCo.
[17:53] <Cheesehead> That's how you get elected to a leadership position.
[17:54] <Cheesehead> The best way to improve your LoCo is to stay involved and improve your LoCo.
[17:54] <Cheesehead> I really don't have a better answer than that...
[17:54] <Cheesehead> (though I suspect a better answer is awaiting me in #chat)
[17:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[17:55] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: All the people ask me what do you get by Ubuntu, is it not like that, the company is making marketing by you free of cost, what can I answer?
[17:55] <Cheesehead> Ubuntu is not a company.
[17:55] <Cheesehead> The Ubuntu Project is a collaboration.
[17:56] <Cheesehead> Hang on...I have a couple paragraphs here on that...
[17:56] <Cheesehead> If you buy from a company, you expect a customer-vendor relationship. You ask for something, they provide it. If you have a suggestion for improvement, they thank you for it. Their goal is make you feel good about your purchase, whether it meets your needs or not.
[17:57] <Cheesehead> Companies monitor feedback trends, and have an interest in anticipating the market. If thousands of people tell a auto manufacturer that they want a car with giant tail fins, the company will research to see if they have overlooked a lucrative market.
[17:57] <Cheesehead> Ubuntu is not a vendor. You don't purchase the OS. New features come from contributions instead of suggestions. Nobody participating in Ubuntu has a goal of selling you Ubuntu, and nobody benefits from it. We feel good contributing to the community. You feel good because the OS is something you want.
[17:57] <Cheesehead> See the big difference between an open project and a company? When you act like a customer to somebody who doesn't see themself as a vendor, you're both going to be frustrated and angry by the experience. See the big difference between an open project and a company? When you act like a customer to somebody who doesn't see themself as a vendor, you're both going to be frustrated and angry by the experience.
[17:57] <Cheesehead> (Ignore the duplication)
[17:57] <Cheesehead> I hope that makes it more clear.
[17:58] <Cheesehead> We all participate becasue we want to. Ubuntu doesn't get any revenue from your actions.
[17:59] <Cheesehead> I just can't say it enough: Ubuntu is not a company.
[17:59] <Cheesehead> Thanks everybody!
[17:59] <Cheesehead> Fee free to drop by #brainstorm-moderators if you have any more questions
[17:59] <Cheesehead> EOF
[17:59]  * Cheesehead sips water, puts on his hat, and heads for the parking lot
[18:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[18:00]  * davidcalle is going to try to be as good as the previous instructor : it will be hard.
[18:01] <davidcalle> Hello everyone, I'm David Callé and I'm going to talk to you about a fantastic Ubuntu feature called Unity lenses.
[18:02] <davidcalle> Unity has introduced this new place on your computer, called the Dash.
[18:02] <davidcalle> And the Dash is where the lenses are.
[18:03] <davidcalle> So, what is a lens?
[18:03] <davidcalle> It's a search engine for a specific type of data.
[18:03] <davidcalle> Music lens, photos lens, etc.
[18:04] <davidcalle> Insides lenses, there are "scopes". Which are the actual search engines, dedicated to a specific source of data.
[18:04] <davidcalle> Flickr scope, Shotwell scope, Google Docs scope...
[18:05] <davidcalle> Which means, when you search in a lens, you search a lot of different sources at the same time.
[18:05] <davidcalle> The Flickr scope will search your photos on Flickr, at the same time as the Shotwell scope will search photos on your computer.
[18:06] <davidcalle> The idea is to aggregate data from both your computer and other sources, and give you an easy way to find, navigate and browse everything you want.
[18:06] <davidcalle> It’s even the core idea behind the whole Unity thing, the interface becomes a host for everything and tries to display it in a friendly, easy to navigate, way.
[18:07] <davidcalle> So, you might want to know why we just don't have a general Google lens and use it for everything.
[18:07] <davidcalle> Having scopes as very specialized search engines instead of a big Google one is interesting for three reasons :
[18:08] <davidcalle> - You don’t need everything all the time. A search engine already specialized in what you need at the moment you are using it is much more efficient.
[18:08] <davidcalle> - You don’t transmit everything you do and want to Google anymore. Specialized search engines allow you to pass to the web service only what it should be concerned about, only when you want it.
[18:09] <davidcalle> - It’s modular and you can install and uninstall each search engine.
[18:09] <davidcalle> For example, it’s nice to have an Amazon search engine, but it’s maybe even better to have a search engine for your city library.
[18:10] <davidcalle> Ubuntu comes with a few lenses by default :  App lens, Files & Folders lens and Music lens
[18:11] <davidcalle> But since Unity has been around a lot of other lenses have appeared : Calendar, Youtube, Torrents, Google Docs...
[18:12] <ClassBot> shirgall asked: Is there a concerted effort to generate a lot of lenses in place already? Is there a community we could join?
[18:13] <davidcalle> Yes shirgall. A few developers are making lenses and a project, called One Hundred Scopes is trying to produce three a week.
[18:14] <davidcalle> I am the founder of this project and we are trying to put most of these new lenses in the Software Center as soon as possible.
[18:15] <davidcalle> A nice feature in lenses is the ability to filter your search.
[18:16] <davidcalle> For example, in the Photos lens, you can search for pictures from you or your contacts on Flickr, or everything in Flickr. And filter by date.
[18:17] <davidcalle> One of the goals of lenses is also to give less importance to the place where your data is stored.
[18:18] <davidcalle> It doesn't really matter anymore if your document is in a folder or in Google Docs, for example. It's instantly here when you need it.
[18:19] <davidcalle> Now, let's see how to install them:
[18:20] <davidcalle> Currently, only non-default lens is in the Software Center.
[18:20] <davidcalle> It's the AskUbuntu lens, which is one of the main website to ask and answer questions about Ubuntu.
[18:22] <davidcalle> So, this one is simple to install, for the others, you can find instructions on this AskUbuntu page :
[18:22] <davidcalle> http://askubuntu.com/questions/38772/what-lenses-for-unity-are-available
[18:22] <davidcalle> For example, let's take the calendar lens:
[18:23] <davidcalle> You need to open a terminal and paste these three lines:
[18:23] <davidcalle>  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markjtully/ppa
[18:24] <davidcalle> # This first line adds gives you access to the software from Mark Tully, a lens developer.
[18:24] <davidcalle>  sudo apt-get update
[18:24] <davidcalle> # This one updates your availabale software with the new source.
[18:25] <davidcalle>  sudo apt-get install unity-calendar-lens
[18:25] <davidcalle> # Then, you install the lens.
[18:25] <ClassBot> stlsaint asked: Do lens also searched shared network drives or external drives that are connected to host?
[18:26] <davidcalle> stlsaint, I don't think any existing lens is doing it, but it would be a great addition. I keep it in mind.
[18:26] <ClassBot> ashickur-noor asked: Is lens is stable or still development?
[18:28] <davidcalle> ashickur-noor, lenses are a new technology and a lot of lenses are still on the experimental side of things. But you can use them without any fear for your data.
[18:29] <davidcalle> When the lens is installed, you need to log out of your session, and log in again, so please do it only after this classroom session. This is an issue being worked on by Unity developers.
[18:30] <davidcalle> When it's installed, you will see a new icon at the bottom of your Dash. It's the lens.
[18:31] <davidcalle> Some lenses are directly available from the Home Dash (the first thing you see when you open it)
[18:32] <davidcalle> Not all, because it wouldn't be useful to have every possible result displayed by default.
[18:35] <davidcalle> Some pretty big changes are coming for lenses in the next version of Ubuntu, they will be faster, with more interesting features, such as the ability to choose to only display results from a specific source. Let's say you are using the Files lens, you will be able to choose between results from your local files, Google Docs, or both at the same time. Currently, it's both.
[18:37] <davidcalle> If you want to have a peak at what's coming from the One Hundred Scopes project, you can have a look it here and guess by the names what we are working on https://code.launchpad.net/onehundredscopes
[18:38] <davidcalle> There is one more intersting feature in lenses:
[18:38] <davidcalle> they are not only search engines, they can also be tools.
[18:39] <davidcalle> For example, the Utilities lens has a calculator scope, which give you the ability to use the Dash as a calculator, the same way you would use Google as a calculator.
[18:40] <davidcalle> It also has a weather forecast scope, which when you type the name of a city, gives you the local time and the weather.
[18:41] <davidcalle> A frequent question is: why not apps instead of lenses?
[18:42] <davidcalle> For Youtube, there is this great app called Minitube, why would you need a Youtube lens?
[18:42] <davidcalle> The Youtube lens has a big advantage :
[18:43] <davidcalle> it's integrated, you don't need to manage it, to open it or close it : it's always available.
[18:44] <davidcalle> Lenses can also act as bridges between apps.
[18:45] <davidcalle> There is one called the Graphic Design lens, that you can use to search for icons, color palettes and brushes.
[18:46] <davidcalle> And what it does when you click, for example, a color palette result, is adding it automatically to all your graphic applications.
[18:47] <davidcalle> "All" = most of :-)
[18:47] <davidcalle> It support Gimp, Inkscape and Agave.
[18:48] <ClassBot> mhr3 asked: what's the next awesome thing coming from the one-hundred-scopes project?
[18:49] <davidcalle> mhr3, I don't know exactly what are working on the other developers of the project, but for myself, I'm going to release a lens to search and watch TV Shows. And a lens that will be a game (I won't say more about it).
[18:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[18:51] <davidcalle> The session is almost over, so I'm giving you again the link to the list of available lenses for Ubuntu 11.10:
[18:51] <davidcalle> http://askubuntu.com/questions/38772/what-lenses-for-unity-are-available
[18:52] <davidcalle> If you are interested in making lenses, I will be giving a session about it during the Ubuntu App Dev days. In two weeks.
[18:53] <davidcalle> You can attend it without knowing anything about code. Lenses are easy to make and in a friendly language : Python.
[18:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[18:55] <davidcalle> Any more questions?
[18:59] <davidcalle> Thank you all for attending this session. I'm giving the mic to stlsaint :)
[18:59] <pleia2> thank you davidcalle!
[19:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[19:00] <stlsaint> Hello everyone
[19:01] <stlsaint> Im stlsaint and for this session I will be covering the basics of installing software in ubuntu
[19:02] <stlsaint> I will talk about aptitude, apt-get and USC (Ubuntu software center)
[19:02] <stlsaint> First i will cover apt-get
[19:03] <stlsaint> Apt-get is a package management tool within debian
[19:03] <stlsaint> I will be referencing the Ubuntu wiki page here:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto
[19:04] <stlsaint> apt-get was the original tool used for pacakge handling used along side dpkg
[19:05] <stlsaint> apt-get is commonly used and referenced as the preferred way of installing from the command line within ubuntu
[19:05] <stlsaint> although within the greater debian community, aptitude is recommended as the package manager
[19:07] <stlsaint> apt-get is a suite of tools used with package handling that varies from uses for aptitude
[19:07] <stlsaint> see here for various examples: http://wiki.debian.org/PackageManagement/PkgTools
[19:08] <stlsaint> trying not to jump subjects back and forth, i will move into aptitude now
[19:09] <stlsaint> aptitude is newer to apt-get within debian and as stated earlier is the preferred package handler with the debian community
[19:10] <stlsaint> From the debian wiki:
[19:10] <stlsaint> Aptitude is an Ncurses based FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager. Since it is text based, it is run from a terminal or a CLI (command line interface).
[19:10] <stlsaint> Meaning if you open a terminal and simply enter: aptitude
[19:10] <stlsaint> you will be presended with a graphical, ncurses, interface
[19:11] <stlsaint> something being boasted with aptitude is its handling of dependencies better than apt-get and the options if gives when doing it
[19:11] <ClassBot> InHisName asked: if it is a rabbit trail then skip this>>   All the installers share a part that is corrupted on a not real important system. Can they be repaired or do I just need to give up, delete partition and start installing ubuntu fresh again ?   (If there is way to repair, then that'd be good skill to develop)
[19:14] <stlsaint> On the other hand aptitude does not have certain features that the apt-get suite does, e.g: apt-get source and compile features (IIRC)
[19:15] <stlsaint> now as both apt-get and aptitude are command line tools i will talk about some graphical ones
[19:15] <stlsaint> To name a few you have synaptic, gdebi and Ubuntu software center
[19:16] <stlsaint> dselect was used, (way back when), but is no longer supported nor recommended
[19:16] <stlsaint> i will only be talking about USC
[19:17] <stlsaint> USC==Ubuntu Software Center package name: software-center
[19:17] <stlsaint> USC is just a gui to browse, install and remove packages
[19:18] <stlsaint> It comes with the ability to add reviews, ensure the package is signed/trusted and breaks it down to seperate categories
[19:19] <stlsaint> side note, i meant to provide this earlier but its more on aptget:  http://wiki.debian.org/DebianPackageManagement
[19:20] <stlsaint> so essentialy, though apt-get has more options for handling aspects outside of the direct package handling, e.g: apt-add, apt-get source,, aptitude is still the recommended handler
[19:21] <stlsaint> both apt-get and aptitude provide logs as with any application
[19:22] <stlsaint> now it is very important to know that on both sides of the communtiy, ubuntu and debian, it is highly recommended not to run a mixture of apt-get and aptitude when handling a system
[19:22] <stlsaint> it comes down to how each handles dependencies differently
[19:22] <stlsaint> so no fancy commands such as: sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude --full-resolver safe-upgrade
[19:23] <stlsaint> i personally have seen and had machines flake when mixing apt-get and aptitude
[19:24] <stlsaint> there are some great options within apt-get though that better handle installing dependencies though, for instance the -f switch lets apt-get find ways to handle dependencies safely on its own during an installation
[19:26] <ClassBot> gaberlunzie22 asked:  why aren't different USC channels easily ID'd or grouped? Or at least commercial from non-commercial software distinguished?
[19:27] <stlsaint> gaberlunzie22: as i understand it, they are
[19:28] <stlsaint> also depends on what you have allowed within your "sources menu"
[19:29] <stlsaint> now even though both aptitude and apt stores logs i use a personal practice of log everytime i update/upgrade
[19:32] <stlsaint> i use the tee tool
[19:33] <stlsaint> e.g.: sudo apt-get install geany 2>&1 | tee ~/geany.log
[19:34] <stlsaint> this allows to see all the ouput into a log that you can quickly reference if something goes wrong after a reboot or update
[19:35] <stlsaint> also the manual page for apt-get is very useful and the same goes for aptitude
[19:35] <stlsaint> man apt will return just a reference to apt-get so be sure to use: man apt-get and man aptitude
[19:36] <stlsaint> a few nice features of apt include, apt-secure, apt-fast, apt-spy
[19:37] <stlsaint> also a very common error that comes across is the "lock" error
[19:37] <stlsaint> E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13 Permission denied)
[19:38] <stlsaint> this is caused when multiple package management processes are attempted at the same time
[19:38] <stlsaint> a lock is put in place to prevent errors and multiple processes trying to handle packages at the same time
[19:42] <stlsaint> a question is asked about commercial software not being obviously separated within USC
[19:42] <stlsaint> and really i guess that will really come down to the developers
[19:44] <stlsaint> so a recap, aptitude is newer over apt-get and is preferred within debian though apt-get is the most popular package manager within ubuntu
[19:44] <stlsaint> Ubuntu software center is just a graphical frontend to apt
[19:45] <stlsaint> (dpkg)
[19:45] <stlsaint> sorry
[19:47] <stlsaint> and remember that the two are not designed to be integrated and used in conjunction
[19:48] <ClassBot> gaberlunzie22 asked:  automated reinstallations can be done with installed software synched in the USC with Ubuntu One?
[19:49] <stlsaint> i do not think that feature is implemented as you are thinking
[19:50] <ClassBot> Ryuno-Ki asked: why does usc doesn't show dependencies when (un)installing software?
[19:50] <stlsaint> You can sync the listing of packages to Ubuntu One, but One cannot handle installing applications to a system
[19:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[19:50] <stlsaint> nor does it communicate to USC to sync and reinstall
[19:51] <stlsaint> yes that would be a very powerful ability and maybe it is in future works
[19:53] <stlsaint> another question asked...why does USC not show dependencies
[19:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[19:55] <stlsaint> if you install something and hit the "History" button within USC you will see dependencies that are installed along side the main package
[19:56] <stlsaint> QUESTION: admittedly it's a big *if* - but *if* you know what you're looking for isn'rt Synaptic a  better bet when  installing  [&removing [some] depencies]] if unistalling?
[19:56] <stlsaint> To this, i would not say that it is "better" because both USC and synaptic pull from the same sources so searching in synaptic would yield the same results in USC
[19:56] <stlsaint> and both will handle dependencies well
[19:57] <stlsaint> Thanks for the questions everyone
[19:57] <ClassBot> SuperEngineer asked: admittedly it's a big *if* - but *if* you know what you're looking for isn'rt Synaptic a  better bet when installing  [&removing [some] depencies]] if unistalling?
[19:57] <nigelb> bah
[19:57] <stlsaint> ha
[19:57] <nigelb> (sorry about that)
[19:58] <stlsaint> no prob
[19:58] <stlsaint> well there are two minutes left so i will say thank you for seeing the session and i hope i helped someone out
[19:58] <stlsaint> if you have further questions please visit: #ubuntu-beginners
[19:59] <stlsaint> with that i will turn things over to AlanBell up next
[19:59] <nigelb> Thanks stlsaint for that session :)
[19:59] <AlanBell> thanks stlsaint
[19:59] <stlsaint> Thanks for having me fellas
[19:59] <stlsaint> later folks
[20:00] <nigelb> Quick reminder, we have a feedback survey at http://goo.gl/vfVaK
[20:00] <nigelb> Please give us your feedback about user days
[20:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[20:00] <AlanBell> Hello everyone and welcome to this user days session on accessibility in the Unity desktop.
[20:01] <AlanBell> Firstly I would like to know if anyone is a user of our accessibility features and has any particular requests they would like me to cover
[20:02] <AlanBell> I am going to talk about the standard features we have built in to the Ubuntu CD, and maybe speculate a bit about what is coming up for those in the next release
[20:02] <AlanBell> We have in the repositories some additional tools which I am not planning on covering in depth unless someone wants me to, or we run out of other things to talk about!
[20:03] <AlanBell> First lets do a quick overview of the accessibility settings that are available
[20:03] <AlanBell> Then we will have a play with some of them, starting with some visual stuff, and then we will go eyes free for a bit of a demo :)
[20:04] <AlanBell> Starting from the desktop of a default install of Ubuntu 11.10 you should see in the unity launcher an icon of a cog and spanner, this launches the system settings dialog
[20:05] <AlanBell> http://people.ubuntu.com/~alanbell/a11y/systemsettings.png
[20:05] <AlanBell> should look like that
[20:05] <AlanBell> at the bottom there is the universal access setings
[20:06] <AlanBell> that little icon with the person spread out on the blue circle is a symbol for accessibility used by the GNOME accessibility team and the Apple stuff too
[20:07] <AlanBell> pressing that will take you into a tabbed dialog of different features arranged by need
[20:07] <AlanBell> it covers seeing, hearing, typing, pointing and clicking
[20:07] <AlanBell> http://people.ubuntu.com/~alanbell/a11y/seeing.png
[20:07] <AlanBell> first tab is seeing
[20:08] <AlanBell> here there are settings to help compensate for milder visual impairments, you can put the desktop into a high contrast mode or change the font sizes
[20:09] <AlanBell> if you have it in front of you now, do have a fiddle with these settings
[20:09] <AlanBell> the high contrast settings will be applied to most gnome applications, but don't affect the unity launcher/panel/dash
[20:10] <AlanBell> same for the text sizes
[20:10] <AlanBell> the zoom button is sadly non-functional at the moment, there is a good zoom plugin in compiz, but this is not bolted on to the desktop zoom button at the moment
[20:11] <AlanBell> the screen reader toggle will put the desktop into an accessibility mode by turning on the AT-SPI which means applications will expose more information about themselves
[20:12] <AlanBell> it also launches the Orca screenreader, which can use that information to give an audio commentary of what you are doing with the desktop
[20:12] <AlanBell> we will come back to orca in a minute
[20:12] <AlanBell> final option on that screen is to beep when caps and numlock are used
[20:13] <AlanBell> next tab is the hearing tab, http://people.ubuntu.com/~alanbell/a11y/hearing.png
[20:14] <AlanBell> sadly there isn't much on this, and what there is does not work brilliantly :(
[20:14] <AlanBell> if you turn on the visual alerts you can test the effect
[20:15] <AlanBell> I have not had it successfully flash the full screen, and the title bar flash is a little uninspiring
[20:15] <AlanBell> this is an area that we would like more contribution in
[20:16] <AlanBell> moving on to the typing tab now http://people.ubuntu.com/~alanbell/a11y/typing.png
[20:16] <AlanBell> these settings are really handy if you have permanent or temporary difficulty typing with one or more hands
[20:16] <AlanBell> the typing assistant launches the onboard on-screen keyboard
[20:16] <AlanBell> so you can use the mouse to type
[20:17] <AlanBell> it has no window title bar, but you can drag it about using the cross on the right of the keyboard
[20:18] <AlanBell> onboard can also provide click-free mouse, if you have control of a pointer and are unable to click you can hover over keys to press them
[20:20] <AlanBell> sticky keys, slow keys and bounce keys can be used to tune the keyboard settings for people who have difficulty pressing multiple keys at once (like alt+f1) or have shakey hands and sometimes double press keys
[20:21] <AlanBell> final tab is pointing and clicking http://people.ubuntu.com/~alanbell/a11y/pointingandclicking.png
[20:21] <AlanBell> there is some overlap between this functionality and the mouse features of onboard
[20:22] <AlanBell> any questions about this stuff? next we are going to have a play with orca
[20:23] <AlanBell> ok, this bit should be fun if it works :)
[20:24] <AlanBell> orca the screen reader inspects applicaions on the desktop and decides what it is going to say out loud
[20:24] <AlanBell> it isn't a speech synthesiser itself, it decides what to say and passes the text to the Ubuntu text to speech framework which is called Speech Dispatcher
[20:25] <AlanBell> Speech Dispatcher then passes the text into one of several speech synthesisers and you then hear the output
[20:26] <AlanBell> on a machine I have here I have made a speech dispatcher module that doesn't speak text out loud, it sends it to a file
[20:26] <AlanBell> and a little web server that serves up the file
[20:26] <AlanBell> so, all that means that if you go here http://alanbell.libertus.co.uk:8000/
[20:26] <AlanBell> you should see what orca would say
[20:27] <AlanBell> you should see it echoing character by character as I typed text
[20:28] <AlanBell> I just selected the text and it spoke it again as a phrase
[20:29] <AlanBell> you should have just seen me navigating about the universal access dialog
[20:32] <AlanBell> I now pressed super to open the unity dash
[20:32] <AlanBell> Dash filler
[20:32] <AlanBell> Search text.
[20:32] <AlanBell> is what it said
[20:32] <AlanBell> I can type the name of an application I want to launch or use the cursor keys to move down
[20:33] <AlanBell> so there I navigated all round the 8 buttons on the dash, then down to the 4 lens icons at the bottom
[20:33] <AlanBell> home, applications, files, music,
[20:34] <AlanBell> I am now in the applications search field
[20:34] <AlanBell> I moved down a few times on the applications lens, focus is now on a collapsed category of installed applications
[20:35] <AlanBell> now I have a big list of buttons I can navigate around
[20:36] <AlanBell> I found the solitaire button and hit return to launch it
[20:36] <AlanBell> Freecell Solitaire frame means I am on that window
[20:37] <AlanBell> and it would appear I have picked a bad example as I can't navigate down to the cards to play the game!
[20:38] <AlanBell> to put keyboard focus on the launcher without opening the dash, you can press alt+F1
[20:38] <AlanBell> Launcher tool bar
[20:38] <AlanBell> filler
[20:39] <AlanBell> quite a lot of the unity icons are labled "filler" in 11.10, this is being improved in 12.04 somewhat
[20:40] <ClassBot> grmls asked: why dont work the music filter (genre) ?
[20:41] <AlanBell> ok, I just navigated down the launcher bar and found most of the application icons that are pinned to the launcher are not running but system settings does have one window open
[20:41] <AlanBell> I can hit return on that to open it
[20:42] <AlanBell> I think shift+return will open a new window of an application by default
[20:42] <AlanBell> lets go and have a look at the music lens now
[20:43] <AlanBell> that seems navigable
[20:43] <AlanBell> so from "Search Music Collection"
[20:43] <AlanBell> I went right to get to the filter results button, and pressed it with return
[20:44] <AlanBell> then down past the decade selector (the first all tick box and old button)
[20:44] <AlanBell> then down to the all button for the genres and then around the genres and ticked funk
[20:44]  * AlanBell has no idea what funk sounds like
[20:46] <AlanBell> ok, next bit, global menus and the panel and indicators
[20:47] <AlanBell> f10 gets you into the top panel, and opens the first menu of an application (typically the file menu)
[20:47] <AlanBell> this *doesn't work* if the application has no menus
[20:47] <AlanBell> and a good example of an application with no menus that focus could well be on is orca!
[20:48] <AlanBell> so put focus on something that isn't orca and hit f10
[20:49] <ClassBot> Ryuno-Ki asked: I have some deaf friends. Apart from this I know the program "gally" - Are there any more accessibility programs in Ubuntu?
[20:49] <AlanBell> gally is a great tool for teaching sign language, I would love to see more lesson files in it
[20:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[20:50] <AlanBell> it would be great to organise a good photoshoot somewhen to generate more content for that, it would be a good LoCo activity or something to do at a conference
[20:51] <AlanBell> other than that there is not a massive amount relating to deafness and HoH
[20:51] <AlanBell> back to the top panel
[20:51] <AlanBell> F10 to get to the top panel, where the menus are
[20:51] <AlanBell> indicators are just like menus but to the right of the application menu
[20:53] <AlanBell> hmm, they don't appear to be talking for me now :(
[20:53] <AlanBell> most of the indicators are not very accessible, the top menu item is just "image" and some are hard to navigate around if you can work out what they are
[20:54] <AlanBell> the messageing indicator is probably the best at the moment
[20:54] <AlanBell> in 12.04 they are being improved, most will now name themselves correctly and offer better keyboard navigation
[20:55] <AlanBell> as well as going right past the application menu you can also go left from the file menu and the cursor will wrap around to the indicators
[20:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[20:55] <ClassBot> gaberlunzie22 asked:  any update on the status of Project SpeechControl?
[20:56] <AlanBell> there are some people investigating speech to text, I don't know the latest, it isn't an ubuntu project but some of the people looking at it work on other projects
[20:56] <AlanBell> there are two main speech to text engines
[20:56] <AlanBell> CMU Sphinx and Julius
[20:56] <AlanBell> neither is great at continuous multi-person untrained dictation
[20:57] <AlanBell> however both are reasonable at limited vocabulary command and control
[20:57] <AlanBell> the best application I have seen is simon-listens which uses Julius as a back end Speech to text engine
[20:58] <AlanBell> it is Qt based, but works really well on gnome Ubuntu
[20:58] <AlanBell> it isn't packaged in Debian yet, but I hope it will be at some point
[20:58] <AlanBell> any last minute questions?
[21:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[21:01] <bkerensa> Hello Everyone I'm bkerensa a Ubuntu Member, Team Lead for Ubuntu Oregon and OMG! Ubuntu! Writer you can find more information about me at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/bkerensa.
[21:01] <bkerensa> Today’s lecture is based on previous “Finding Help” lectures done by starcraftman who has put together some excellent information for me to work with and present to you today.
[21:01] <bkerensa> Today's topic is a very important topic which every Ubuntu User certainly has done at one point or another which is “Finding Help” but to be more specific this lecture today will try to teach you some best practices for “Finding Help Resources” in the Ubuntu Community.
[21:02] <bkerensa> I'll be referencing various resources from that section throughout the session today and it may be of use for you to bookmark some of these references if you have not done so already.
[21:02] <bkerensa> Please keep questions to #ubuntu-classroom-chat as with other sessions. I'd prefer if they were reserved for the end. You're free to ask them during and hopefully someone else can respond. In order to cover the large amount of information in a timely fashion it would best if I don't have to stop for questions.
[21:03] <bkerensa> If your question remains unanswered rest assured that I will answer them at the end and if for any reason you have to depart please do not hesitate to e-mail me a follow-up at bkerensa (at) ubuntu.com
[21:03] <bkerensa> When using Ubuntu you could be happily listening to a song on Rythmbox while writing an e-mail and for seemingly no reason at all one of your applications crashes or say you're trying to use a new application you just installed via Ubuntu Software Center and it fails to launch and you get an error.
[21:04] <bkerensa> In circumstances like these many users may not know where the best place to get help is and they panic. When encountering problems it can be frustrating but we need to remember to not panic and just use the best practices you will learn today to find help with your problem.
[21:04] <bkerensa> Section 1 -  Gathering Important Information for Helpers
[21:04] <bkerensa> In order to make your search for help efficient and timely it is important to be prepared by having enough information to help others help you.
[21:05] <bkerensa> You can be prepared by gathering screenshots if the problem is one that can be presented visually and it may be helpful to have some basic information about your hardware available in order to gather hardware information you can run  “sudo lshw > ~/Desktop/hardware.txt” from terminal and a file will be created on your desktop that has detailed information to help volunteers.
[21:05] <bkerensa> One last thing that will be of most importance is putting together in words what the problem you are encountering is and how it affects you and if it is reproducible then provide steps as to how to reproduce it.
[21:05] <bkerensa> You can gather all of the above by taking notes and then sharing it with volunteers in whatever medium you seek help.
[21:06] <bkerensa> Section 2 - Seeking help from your LoCo
[21:06] <bkerensa> Ubuntu LoCo’s are Local Community Groups composed of volunteers who advocate for Ubuntu and Free Open Source Software.
[21:06] <bkerensa> There are currently close to 200 LoCo’s around the world so the likelihood that your region, province, state or country having a LoCo that can assist you in your native language and in your timezone is very likely.
[21:07] <bkerensa> I also suggest people reach out to their LoCo’s before going on an extensive search because in most cases LoCo’s having mailing lists, an IRC channel and other mediums that you can reach out to them through and get a response to your problem in an expedient fashion.
[21:07] <bkerensa> A list of LoCo’s can be found here: http://loco.ubuntu.com/teams/
[21:08] <bkerensa> Lets move on to the next section
[21:08] <bkerensa> :)
[21:08] <bkerensa> Section 3 -  Power Searching with Google
[21:08] <bkerensa> So one important resource to find help is a search engine. I'll use Google for this example, any engine should work.
[21:08] <bkerensa> The reason to search is another rule If you're having a problem, 99.9% of the time someone else has had the same one and posted its solution.
[21:08] <bkerensa> At this point, if everyone can go to www.google.com that'd be great.
[21:09] <bkerensa> Or your local version. :)
[21:09] <bkerensa> Power searching is when you do more than simply type key words into Google. By default, each word is searched successively.
[21:09] <bkerensa> For example, do the following three searches separately in Google and see the difference:
[21:09] <bkerensa> DC Batman Robin Crusader
[21:09] <bkerensa> "Batman Robin Crusader"
[21:10] <bkerensa> DC OR Batman OR Robin OR Crusader
[21:10] <bkerensa> Copy them verbatim into Google and you'll see quite the difference in the results returned after pushing enter.
[21:10] <bkerensa> I'll wait a few seconds.
[21:11] <bkerensa> The first time (first search with no quotes) Google searches for DC and finds all pages with references to it, then cross-references with all pages with Batman.
[21:11] <bkerensa> The overlap becomes the new base and then further narrowed by overlap with Robin and Crusader. The search operation descends one word at a time, so the first word is most important and more general usually.
[21:11] <bkerensa> This means in the first case we narrow with every new term.
[21:11] <bkerensa> When searching in Google “DC Batman Robin Crusader” you humorously get 4 results (all in fact logs of this very speech :D), very different from before. In this instance, Google searched for the string (a computer science term referring to the quoted line) as a whole, the exact sequence of words in the order inside the quotes is simply never used (it is incoherent as a sentence after all). The last one returns well over a million r
[21:11] <bkerensa> esults.
[21:12] <bkerensa> The last one returned so many because we found every page that had "DC" or "Batman" etc..., a lot of pages on these :)
[21:12] <bkerensa> Now time to get to the meat of this. Everyone go to Google homepage and click “Advanced” on the right.
[21:12] <bkerensa> Here's the advanced search page, a lot of people don't know about it. It is very handy.
[21:12] <bkerensa> http://www.google.com/advanced_search
[21:12] <bkerensa> Immediately I'd like you to note the box at the top highlighted in blue stating “Use the form...”, here you will see the actual search string used when you enable all these advanced tricks. Look up every time you try something else.
[21:12] <bkerensa> This means that this is the actual search you could use alternatively in the standard Google Search box, you'll see what I mean as I go.
[21:13] <bkerensa> First two lines cover what I've already explained.
[21:13] <bkerensa> The third is the Boolean OR search. This means that rather than only take the overlap (or intersection) between DC and Batman, a search for DC OR Batman would include all results from the individual searches for DC and all results from Batman. Rather than narrow down this really widens a search with every new result, use carefully.
[21:13] <bkerensa> "Don't show these pages" does exactly what it says, put keywords here and all pages with them will be subtracted from the search. Excellent at excluding specific things.
[21:13] <bkerensa> "Search within site or domain" is another useful one. Your entire search is then confined to the site listed. You can also limit by domain, so .edu limits it to educational websites indexed by Google on the internet.
[21:13] <bkerensa> Take a moment and play around with these modifiers to search, take note of the top line that shows how the modifiers are used. You can combine many, like a site search, all these words and language.
[21:13] <bkerensa> "Filetype" does as it says and limits your search to an extension, say .pdf or .txt. Any extension is valid (though limited in the drop down, on a text search you specify what you want).
[21:14] <bkerensa> Language and results are self-explanatory.
[21:14] <bkerensa> Click on "Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more..." here you'll find even more advanced though less commonly used modifiers.
[21:14] <bkerensa> These are mostly obvious, you can check pages by date, search with numeric ranges (like price), confine it to a geographic region, search based on sites usage rights (click the link for more explanation on that, it’s outside my scope).
[21:14] <bkerensa> Page specific tools are interesting; first one lets you specify a page and Google will find something similar. Second lets you identify pages that link to page x.
[21:14] <bkerensa> One thing not here is wildcard modifier for search.
[21:14] <bkerensa> * is the wildcard. Say I knew part of a word, say.... nvidia but I only knew it started with nvid. Searching nvid* produces nvidia as top result. It isn't always most useful given there might be words that complete the wildcard that you maybe don't want included.
[21:15] <bkerensa> Careful with wildcards, they can be quite loose depending on how much of the word you put and Google’s ranking algorithm.
[21:15] <bkerensa> I don't have time to go into all of them.  The more you employ the less results will appear. Often just one or two of these modifiers makes the difference.
[21:15] <bkerensa> Say you have a video problem; you want to check whether other people have had trouble with it. It's an nvidia 8800GT. You know Ubuntu Forums usually has people posting about such things. You fill "ubuntuforums.org" in Site Search box, "nvidia 8800 GT" in all these words then search. Voila.
[21:15] <bkerensa> I don't have time to cover all the nuance of power searching. I will leave you with a good site for those interested. http://www.googleguide.com/ . See the section start now that best applies to you.
[21:16] <bkerensa> Another page to note is Ubuntu Search at http://search.ubuntu.com/
[21:16] <bkerensa> As it says on its homepage, by default it only searches Ubuntu related sites like the Wikis and Forums.
[21:16] <bkerensa> Though it doesn't have an advanced option per se, I'm pretty sure it supports most of the above function. You just have to do it manually via text modifiers.
[21:16] <bkerensa> And we will have another pause so people can catch up if needed.
[21:17] <bkerensa> Ok, lets move on to the next section
[21:17] <bkerensa> Section 3 –  System Documentation and Wiki
[21:17] <bkerensa> For this section we will cover Ubuntu's official documentation.
[21:17] <bkerensa> System Docs are the documentation that comes with any standard Ubuntu installation, these are accessible locally even without a net connection.
[21:18] <bkerensa> On the main panel, notice the blue question mark. Please click it. If you don't have it, see System > Help and Support (KDE users open up K Menu and search for help, first option). (For GNOME 2.x users)
[21:18] <bkerensa> For unity folks, open the menu and search for Help.
[21:19] <bkerensa> Notably since GNOME 2 is EOL in Ubuntu 11.10 you will use the menu and search for Help to find system documentation
[21:19] <bkerensa> Here you will find the documentation promised. It's a gem overlooked often by people in need of help. Feel free to click around.
[21:19] <bkerensa> On the main page at the right you'll see some common questions. At the left is most of the main sections covered like "New to Ubuntu?", go ahead and click it, new options appear, pick what you like. You can always go back to beginning with the Home button (the house) on the Toolbar at the top.
[21:20] <bkerensa> The documentation contains a lot of answers to common questions and introductory material you can read to understand Ubuntu.
[21:20] <bkerensa> Do a test search and scroll to the bottom. You'll see repeat this search online, click it. Presto, you're back at search.ubuntu.com, nifty. I only just found that one.
[21:20] <bkerensa> Feel free to explore later, need to continue.
[21:21] <bkerensa> Go back to homepage please (push home button as mentioned on the toolbar).
[21:21] <bkerensa> I'd like to note at the home page you can find the Free Support link, directing you to a lot of materials I'll talk about.
[21:21] <bkerensa> A newer project to mention quick is the manual project. It's a pdf that serves as a beginner’s tutorial, does offer explanations of many common things. While not a diagnostic tool per se it can be searched by contents and text search, see http://ubuntu-manual.org/ for more details.
[21:21] <bkerensa> Next is the Wikis, we have two.
[21:21] <bkerensa> The help wiki you'll be most interested in is at- https://help.ubuntu.com/ . The other site is https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ .
[21:22] <bkerensa> This second site I tell you to prevent confusion, it is primarily for organization of teams. Help.ubuntu.com as the name implies stores all the help documents. Use the first one, not the second.
[21:22] <bkerensa> People often don't understand, these are official sites. They aren't like a wikia, a spin-off by fans.
[21:22] <bkerensa> So take a moment and load up https://help.ubuntu.com/
[21:23] <bkerensa> Here you'll see listed the versions of Ubuntu still in support (i.e. 11.04, 11.10, these are links to their documentation). Clicking any of the versions will take you to an online version of the system pages, useful if you need it on the internet for reference.
[21:23] <bkerensa> Some people prefer the system docs in their browser, it's got a different feel. The content is to my knowledge exactly the same though.
[21:23] <bkerensa> At the bottom you'll see a link on upgrade notes, useful for upgrades.
[21:23] <bkerensa> More interesting is the community link, please click it https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ < to be clear.
[21:24] <bkerensa> This is the main wiki area it is maintained entirely by the community (folks like me) in an effort to document the software of Ubuntu and problems that arise. Browse all the information on the main page.
[21:24] <bkerensa> The bulk of documentation is in English, it is however translated into other languages where available.
[21:24] <bkerensa> You can of course probably use Google translate if you need a page in english to another.
[21:24] <bkerensa> See the "Getting Started with Ubuntu" section. Here is some beginner stuff you can read, there are also three subsequent sections underneath with useful links to stuff beginners need like Installation help and learning more information about their system.
[21:24] <bkerensa> This is all good reading material even if you don't have an immediate problem.
[21:25] <bkerensa> Next, have a look at the "Finding Your Way with Ubuntu" section.
[21:25] <bkerensa> Say hello to Signpost.
[21:25] <bkerensa> (Scroll down some to get to it fyi)
[21:25] <bkerensa> Its aim is simple, to start with the general and try to narrow down to the right information.
[21:25] <bkerensa> Click "get Help", and click around some. It's fairly easy. Different sections have different focus, some on help, filing bugs, some for programmers. See what you need.
[21:25] <bkerensa> Now lastly, search (top right). Say for example I'm having a video problem with my nvidia card. It won't display my maximum resolution. Do a quick search here for "video nvidia" and see what pops up. Or maybe I just want to learn a good way to back up my system... search for "backup system". Shameless plug,  top result is one of my pages. Good reading.
[21:26] <bkerensa> Search will present you with relevant pages, as long as you know what you're looking for. If you do the preparation at the beginning this shouldn't be a problem.
[21:26] <bkerensa> The community wiki is my preferred resource for a wide variety of problems. It's up to date and usually covers problems/software in a timely fashion.
[21:26] <bkerensa> About half way, hope this isn't too fast.
[21:26] <bkerensa> :)
[21:26] <bkerensa> Lets move on
[21:26] <bkerensa> Section 4 -  Ubuntu Forums
[21:26] <bkerensa> Next, www.ubuntuforums.org
[21:26] <bkerensa> An excellent site, when in doubt posting here is reasonably certain to get you a good answer. There's an art to posting though, as well as a wrong way to do it.
[21:27] <bkerensa> While I'm explaining, feel free to sign up, click Register at left.
[21:27] <bkerensa> Forums are openID enabled so if you know what that is, you can use it.
[21:27] <bkerensa> First let's look at the structure. The most relevant section is Absolute Beginners Talk. It's come to be a catch-all for new people and just problems in general, it gets the most eyeballs. If you post here with reasonable amount of information problem is usually resolved in one or two posts.
[21:27] <bkerensa> The next section is the Main Support Categories, it offers more specialized help for those with... more exotic problems. Advanced server configurations or some more obscure problems. It's less used by beginners and is less frequented by support people.
[21:28] <bkerensa> Going to pause for a second to let people catch up
[21:30] <bkerensa> I was just informed I got number wrong so this section is 5
[21:30] <bkerensa> ;)
[21:30] <bkerensa> Ok lets move on
[21:30] <bkerensa>  I'd encourage you to stick with ABT unless you've posted there and not gotten a reply in a reasonable time.
[21:30] <bkerensa> The remainder of the site is aimed less at support than discussion/development. You can peruse it at your own leisure.
[21:31] <bkerensa> Time to discuss posting etiquette on the forums, what to do/not do.
[21:32] <bkerensa> We have a full list of things you have to agree to at register I believe, this is just a rundown of pet peeves and things that really shouldn't happen.
[21:32] <bkerensa> Don't TYPE IN CAPS OR with LOTS of exclamations!!!!! CAPS usually infer yelling and exclamations excessively used are annoying.
[21:32] <bkerensa> Don't curse or insult other members offering help. If you wouldn't say it to someone standing next to you, it generally shouldn't be posted.
[21:32] <bkerensa> Don't demand help in the title/topic like "Fix this or I'm leaving Ubuntu". We aren't prone to offering better help when threatened. This is an unfortunate practice by people who get frustrated, it also gets attention quickly. It is incredibly rude and doesn't make things easier.
[21:32] <bkerensa> Don't post in the ABT, wait a minute then repost the same thread in different sections. This is annoying. Post in one section (I recommend ABT) and wait for response. It may take 10 minutes or 20, or more, no more than a few hours usually. If so, you can bump your forum post.
[21:33] <bkerensa> A bump of course is just you replying to the post and pushing it back to the top of cue of threads so it is noticed.
[21:33] <bkerensa> Now a few pointers to actual posting, you can click New Reply somewhere (doesn't matter where) to follow along (just don't submit please).
[21:33] <bkerensa> (You can follow this along, just remember don't push submit. Don't want the forum mods blaming me :) )
[21:33] <bkerensa> Oh and you'll need to be signed in to follow this part.
[21:33] <bkerensa> Do make your post title pertinent to your problem. If you don't have any internet on the machine then "I don't have internet" is better than "problem needs fixing". You don't need to convey too much information, just the general category of problem. Including the version of Ubuntu might also be good.
[21:33] <bkerensa> To the left of title you'll find prefix, please select your version of Ubuntu. When it's solved, edit your first post and change the prefix to Solved.
[21:34] <bkerensa> The solved tag is useful, it tells people searching the archives your problem was resolved. So they can rely on the proposed fix.
[21:34] <bkerensa> This is nice, also goes back to one of the rules.
[21:34] <bkerensa> I'd like to make a note here- to the right of the title is "Check if Already Posted". Please click this after writing in a title it will quickly search all previous posts for related information. Experiment with different titles.
[21:34] <bkerensa> Often your question has already been answered. Don't be afraid to detour and read some of these pages, you can always return to new post and submit it.
[21:34] <bkerensa> Just another way of preventing double posts, we get a lot of similar questions.
[21:34] <bkerensa> Goes back to the 99.9% of all problems have happened before :).
[21:35] <bkerensa> In your first post, try to put as much information as you can. Now is the time to consult that page we wrote earlier. Explain what you were doing, what went wrong, and what you have since learned (maybe from wiki).
[21:35] <bkerensa> Nothing's too small, at the same time, don't write pages.
[21:35] <bkerensa> Take a note of the GUI at top of the forum reply, there is # button.
[21:35] <bkerensa> (Bar ontop of the text box I mean)
[21:35] <bkerensa> This is for the code tag.
[21:35] <bkerensa> People will often use it responding, if you want to post the hardware.txt file output use these tags. It stops the page overflowing, puts an inline scrollbar instead.
[21:35] <bkerensa> Screenshots can be hosted at sites like http://www.imgur.com or as attachments to the post (scroll down on new post page, click Manage Attachments). These are very useful.
[21:36] <bkerensa> Images hosted on imgur you just copy the forum link and paste in the body of reply. The attachments way automates this. No preference to me, attachments do better integrate with site.
[21:36] <bkerensa> (Pictures really do help, post when possible and think it's pertinent)
[21:36] <bkerensa> When you're happy with your post, submit it (don't push now). Someone should get back to you with instructions in a timely and friendly fashion.
[21:36] <bkerensa> Some people ask how do I know the instructions will help? Or to trust the person giving? Well, there isn't a rule per se.
[21:36] <bkerensa> I for instance have a very large post count; does that imply a user should trust me? I guess. Though when I started posting I only had a post count of 1, my knowledge has improved since but my advice was still usually helpful based on what I knew.
[21:37] <bkerensa> The rule I'd say is, does it sound right and well explained? A person who knows their stuff should be able to convey relevant information and convince you it's the right thing to do.
[21:37] <bkerensa> (That said, there aren't any guarantees on the advice, it is a volunteer support forum)
[21:37] <bkerensa> A few closing comments on the forums.
[21:37] <bkerensa> It's a helpful resource; it harnesses the collective experience of thousands of geeks like me. Do remember we all volunteer for no pay.
[21:37] <bkerensa> Also, a few helpful links you might enjoy are- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1052065
[21:37] <bkerensa> A free beginners guide PDF to getting started.
[21:37] <bkerensa> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=801404
[21:37] <bkerensa> ^ A general launch point to many good forum guides written by people who know their stuff.
[21:38] <bkerensa> http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8920811&postcount=1 <-- You might also find this post useful for getting started
[21:38] <bkerensa> A small pause for people to catchup
[21:38] <bkerensa> Moving on to the next section now
[21:39] <bkerensa> Section 6  – AskUbuntu
[21:39] <bkerensa> So now a new interesting site. AskUbuntu. Please go to the following url: http://askubuntu.com/questions It's a Stack Overflow type site that some may be familiar with.
[21:39] <bkerensa> Basically, you can post questions on the site and tag them with certain keywords. Other users then look through the unanswered section and write answers. Answers are voted up or down based on other users thoughts and you can validate that the users answer is the best or not helpful at all.
[21:39] <bkerensa> To start using you can sign up if you want in top right (login). It isn't strictly required.
[21:39] <bkerensa> Use the Ask Question > button in the header to make a question and then wait a while until it gets an answer.
[21:39] <bkerensa> You'll also see a Tags section, where you can search based on sorted tags to find questions already asked.
[21:40] <bkerensa> Unanswered section like name implies sorts and lists questions that are still open and waiting an answer. Lastly, there is Users sections. Here you can see the history of a person's answers on the site, maybe you want to know if they have a good history of suggestions. You can also see their shiny badges I suppose.
[21:40] <bkerensa> That's about it, poke around and don't be shy to ask questions. :)
[21:41] <bkerensa> Section 7 – Ubuntu IRC
[21:41] <bkerensa> No session on IRC for this day, information about it can be found here (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/XChatHowto).  That page will get you started with XChat and you’ll understand the basics.
[21:41] <bkerensa> I only want to point out that IRC can be used for support. Channels such as #ubuntu, #kubuntu and #ubuntu-beginners are all good stops. A good run down of channels and getting help is available here- https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InternetRelayChat
[21:41] <bkerensa> (Notably please don't click on #links as they will open a new channel or perhaps IRC client instance)
[21:41] <bkerensa> Moving on
[21:41] <bkerensa> Section 8 -  Launchpad
[21:42] <bkerensa> I'm going to make this brief.
[21:42] <bkerensa> Launchpad is the place to go when all other resources fail.
[21:42] <bkerensa> You have two choices.
[21:42] <bkerensa> First is the answers section, see here- https://answers.launchpad.net/
[21:42] <bkerensa> Launchpad Answers is basically a section designed to let the people working on the projects answer your question.
[21:42] <bkerensa> Please note, you need to be signed up to use this site.
[21:43] <bkerensa> A nice plus, any launchpad account is automatically a openID, can be used on other sites supporting such login.
[21:43] <bkerensa> Say I have a problem with music playing in rhythmbox, so esoteric that none of the above helped.
[21:43] <bkerensa> (by above, I mean the other resources)
[21:43] <bkerensa> Go to answers home, click choose one project and type in rhythmbox. This takes you right to the project answer section. See if your problem is listed. If not, you can file a question here in much the same way as you would a bug (bug filing is last resort).
[21:43] <bkerensa> Click ask a new question and fill it out (don't submit again). Someone should get back to you in a reasonable time. (don't file a question at this time...)
[21:43] <bkerensa> People are very active in the Ubuntu project answering the Answers section, you might consider posting there more generally before in a specific project like rhythmbox.
[21:44] <bkerensa> Next is a quick bug filing run down. Click bugs section at the top of rhythmbox. At the right, on top of ask a question is now Report a Bug.
[21:44] <bkerensa> Click this only if you want to file a bug, please don't file them without being sure it's a bug and having searched existing bugs. Devs get a lot of duplicates that don't help.
[21:44] <bkerensa> There's a structure to filling reports.  It's important to put more not less info, as specific as you can so devs can reproduce bugs, test and fix.
[21:44] <bkerensa> Launchpad is a good service, though I'm more of a doc person so I guess I'm biased to recommend system then wiki docs.
[21:44] <bkerensa> thats all on LP
[21:44] <bkerensa> a small break and then the conclusion
[21:45] <bkerensa> Ok
[21:46] <bkerensa> I want to thank you all for coming and will open the floor to questions and I want to especially thank Starcraftman for making this lecture available to the community which I have presented today.
[21:48] <ClassBot> Ryuno-Ki asked: A few time ago (actually when I installed Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) there was a note on UbuntuOne that the account login will be merged with Launchpad. Maybe you want to say something about this ...
[21:49] <bkerensa> I think in the past there were seperate sign on systems perhaps for UbuntuOne and now they have made it easier to login via a unified single sign on with your launchpad id
[21:50] <bkerensa> Notably there are still some sites in the Ubuntu community that have seperate login systems like Ubuntu Brainstorm which is seperate
[21:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[21:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[22:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[22:00] <philipballew> Hey everyone, and welcome to a session on unity and customizing it.
[22:02] <philipballew> Here i will cover many things and give you a brief overview on parts of unity and an idea of how to customize. I will cover the parts of unity and what you can do. and also a few cool customizations In all reality though you all can be as creative as you want and expand on this session with your cool customizations.
[22:03] <philipballew> now before I get started let me say who i am
[22:03] <philipballew> I am Philip Ballew, a Ubuntu user and involved with the Ubuntu Power users group
[22:04] <philipballew> here is my wiki https://wiki.ubuntu.com/philipballew
[22:04] <philipballew> here is my launchpad https://launchpad.net/~philipballew
[22:05] <philipballew> and here is my twitter account https://twitter.com/#!/philipballew feel free to follow for ubuntu fun
[22:06] <philipballew> I will take questions as the came and somewhat at the end. I wont be able to answer really techniical questions as that can be boring to other people in the session, but general questions about unity I can try. Also if someone in the chat channel has the answer feel free to answer
[22:07] <philipballew> this here is from 11.04 so most is the same, however it talks about the parts of unity and what they are named http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements
[22:08] <philipballew> as you see all the parts have names and all these parts are what make unity
[22:09] <philipballew> in ask ubuntu a good question is asked how to configure unity http://askubuntu.com/questions/29553/how-can-i-configure-unity/62903#62903
[22:10] <philipballew> I have done several of these things here. All look fun and I would love to hear from anyone who has tried them
[22:11] <philipballew> some good customazation apps are Confity CCSM ubuntu Tweek and myunity
[22:11] <philipballew> some people say ccsm is a hard too to master and can destroy your gui in a second
[22:11] <philipballew> this is all true
[22:12] <philipballew> however, it can be very good in customizing your desktop
[22:13] <philipballew> in that link i just sent   you is a cool trick http://www.webupd8.org/2011/10/how-to-move-unity-launcher-to-bottom-of.html
[22:13] <philipballew> move your unity launcher (the side bar) to the bottom
[22:14] <philipballew> and you can probably play with the code to make it move elsewhere if you were wanting to
[22:14] <philipballew> Ubuntu Tweek is a nice tool
[22:15] <philipballew> the dev of this just had a new version released. there is a ppa avaible
[22:15] <philipballew> https://launchpad.net/~tualatrix/+archive/ppa
[22:16] <philipballew> it allows some fun items as well
[22:16] <philipballew> youll need to try it out to have some fun
[22:17] <philipballew> here is a good article on the shortcuts for unity
[22:17] <philipballew> http://askubuntu.com/questions/28086/what-are-unitys-keyboard-and-mouse-shortcuts
[22:18] <philipballew> I have gone here to learn things about shortcuts and stuff
[22:19] <philipballew> now to the lens
[22:20] <philipballew> what is a lens?
[22:20] <philipballew> lets find out!
[22:21] <philipballew> thankfully ask ubuntu has a good article discussing what a lens is http://askubuntu.com/questions/33710/what-exactly-is-a-lens
[22:22] <philipballew> Would you like to learn how to make a lens or just see all going behind your system when you run a lens?
[22:23] <philipballew> i know i do, that why i have this link here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses
[22:24] <philipballew> its a good read if you want to impress your friends at the next ubuntu hour or lug.
[22:25] <philipballew> you can use that I believe to make a lens. maybe land a article on omg or something like that.
[22:27] <philipballew> How many of you Love API's? I do. Thats why I always keep this link with me wherever I am so I can have a good read https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/LauncherAPI
[22:28] <philipballew> now I know what your All thinking...
[22:28] <philipballew> UNITY IS AWESOME!!!
[22:29] <philipballew> don’t be ashamed because others have felt this before
[22:29] <philipballew> Thankfully I have the solution for this feeling!
[22:30] <philipballew> Join the Ubuntu team and help with Customization or work on unity
[22:32] <philipballew> her we a few links for you people to read http://unity.ubuntu.com/getinvolved/
[22:32] <philipballew> heres building from source. Major geek cred if you do http://askubuntu.com/questions/28470/how-do-i-build-unity-from-source
[22:33] <philipballew> hers is a good article on coding style https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/CodingStyle
[22:34] <philipballew> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=Unity_Architecture.pdf
[22:35] <philipballew> this is a good pdf on the tecnical aspect of Unity as well. Its pretty awesome if you ask me.
[22:36] <ClassBot> d0gSol17ud3 asked: Can unity icons be animated? and can launch animations be changed with my own animations,if yes how?
[22:36] <philipballew> I am not entirely sure, however if anyone is chat knows feel free to answer otherwise find me after the session and we can find out
[22:37] <ClassBot> rogst asked: I installed an appliation but when I bring up the dash and enter the application name it does not come up, how I manually create a launcher so it shows in the dash when entering the name
[22:37] <philipballew> good question!! lets look at making a launcher
[22:38] <philipballew> I made a launcher via this link here http://askubuntu.com/questions/13758/how-can-i-edit-create-new-launcher-items-in-unity-by-hand it helped with what i needed to do
[22:39] <philipballew> if anyone has anymore questions feel free to ask away, otherwise I have finished my talk unless anyone else has anything I should add
[22:50] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
[22:55] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
[23:00] <ClassBot> Slides for Introduction to Firefox: http://people.ubuntu.com/~joseeantonior/Slides/Firefox.pdf
[23:00] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2012/01/14/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
[23:01] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 1] Hello everyone! I am José Antonio Rey, and today I'll be giving a class on Introduction to Firefox
[23:01] <JoseeAntonioR> As ClassBot said, you can check the slides at http://people.ubuntu.com/~joseeantonior/Slides/Firefox.pdf
[23:02] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 2] Today I'm going to cover different topics, including many How To and some tips.
[23:03] <JoseeAntonioR> So, let's get started. [slide 3] Firefox is a web browser that comes attached with Ubuntu. You can find it in the Unity Launcher, as well as in the Desktop. It is developed and distributed by Mozilla.
[23:03] <JoseeAntonioR> Many people ask theirselves in which language is it written. Well, it is a combination of C++, XUL, XBL and JavaScript.
[23:04] <JoseeAntonioR> It is open-source, so you can modify and redistribute it freely.
[23:05] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 4] The main use of Firefox is, as you know, browsing the web. As a consequence, you can bookmark your favorite webpages, download music, videos, documents, and files in general.
[23:05] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 5]
[23:05] <JoseeAntonioR> How To download files
[23:06] <JoseeAntonioR> Once you want to download a file, you can click on the link. A new window will pop-up. There, you can choose between opening it with a certain program, or saving it to a chosen destination.
[23:06] <JoseeAntonioR> If you choose to save it, the default location is /home/[username]/Downloads, where [username] is your actual username.
[23:07] <JoseeAntonioR> To edit this settings, just go to Edit>Preferences>General tab>Downloads.
[23:07] <JoseeAntonioR> There, you can choose to save files to a pre-chosen location, or to ask where to save your files.
[23:08] <JoseeAntonioR> Once you choose, that window will close, and a new window will be opened. It is named Downloads.
[23:08] <JoseeAntonioR> There, you can see your downloads, as well as the current download and its progression. You can close the window at any time, it won't cancel your download. You can press Ctrl+Shift+Y to open it again.
[23:09] <JoseeAntonioR> When your download finishes, a notification will be displayed.
[23:10] <ClassBot> benonsoftware asked: Are there any websites to help with Firefox dev?
[23:10] <JoseeAntonioR> Of course there are.
[23:10] <JoseeAntonioR> You can check https://developer.mozilla.org for more information.
[23:11] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 6]
[23:11] <JoseeAntonioR> How to see History
[23:12] <JoseeAntonioR> You can check all the pages that you have visited by pressing Ctrl+H
[23:13] <JoseeAntonioR> BTW, if you have any questions, just ask in #ubuntu-classroom-chat.
[23:13] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 7]
[23:13] <JoseeAntonioR> How to: tabbing
[23:14] <JoseeAntonioR> In this Firefox version, you are able to navigate in tabs.
[23:14] <JoseeAntonioR> It is like having several windows in just one. Tabs will appear above in the upper parte, belo the address bar.
[23:15] <JoseeAntonioR> Going back a little bit, let's answer a questin about History.
[23:15] <ClassBot> benonsoftware asked: Is it possible to clear the history
[23:16] <JoseeAntonioR> To clear the History, just go to Edit>Preferences>Privacy>History.
[23:16] <JoseeAntonioR> There is a link that says "clear your recent history".
[23:16] <JoseeAntonioR> Click it, and select the time range to clear. Then, click Clear Now.
[23:16] <ClassBot> benonsoftware asked: I am a bit confused with Firefox Aurora and Beta, what is the difference in the two?
[23:17] <JoseeAntonioR> That was also a little bit confusing for me, at the beggining.
[23:17] <JoseeAntonioR> Firefox Beta is the version that is close to being released. It has lots of bugs, as not all features have been tested.
[23:18] <JoseeAntonioR> Firefox Aurora is an alpha version. It will be released in some time, and it has more bugs than Firefox Beta.
[23:18] <JoseeAntonioR> When using one of those versions, you help Mozilla to develop a better browser.
[23:19] <JoseeAntonioR> The version that is included with Ubuntu 11.10 is the last stable version released.
[23:20] <JoseeAntonioR> Let's continue with the slides. [slide 8]
[23:20] <JoseeAntonioR> How to use App Tabs
[23:21] <JoseeAntonioR> App Tabs is a functionality that allows the user to transform the tab in just the image of it.
[23:21] <JoseeAntonioR> This tabs are special, they will remain opened on the first places.
[23:21] <JoseeAntonioR> Even if you quit Firefox, they will be opened again.
[23:21] <JoseeAntonioR> To notify you of any changes in the page they turn blue.
[23:22] <JoseeAntonioR> One of their advantages is that you won't be able to close them accidentally, as you can only do that by right-clicking the tab ans selecting "Close Tab".
[23:22] <JoseeAntonioR> To pin an App Tab, right click on the desired tab and click "Pin as App Tab".
[23:23] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 9]
[23:23] <JoseeAntonioR> How to ser your homepage.
[23:24] <JoseeAntonioR> First of all, you will need to choose your homepage. Once you have chosen it, click Edit>Preferences and type the address on the bar.
[23:25] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 10]
[23:25] <JoseeAntonioR> How to block Pop-Ups
[23:25] <JoseeAntonioR> The pop-ups blocker is activated by default. If you want to modify the setting, just go to Edit>Preferences>Content.
[23:26] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 11]
[23:26] <JoseeAntonioR> How to: Bookmarks
[23:27] <JoseeAntonioR> A Bookmark is one of your favorite pages, stored on your browser for an easy-access at any time.
[23:27] <JoseeAntonioR> You can Bookmark a page by pressing Ctrl+D or by clicking the star displayed on the address bar.
[23:27] <JoseeAntonioR> You can check your existing Bookmarks by pressing Ctrl+B
[23:28] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 12]
[23:29] <JoseeAntonioR> How to use Persona
[23:29] <JoseeAntonioR> "Persona" or "Personas" is a extension that you can use to change the appearance of your Firefox windows.
[23:30] <JoseeAntonioR> You can discover more about "Persona" by clicking the following link: http://a.joj.me/35
[23:31] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 13]
[23:31] <JoseeAntonioR> Basic Shortcuts
[23:31] <JoseeAntonioR> To open a new browser window, press Ctrl+N
[23:31] <JoseeAntonioR> To open a new Tab, press Ctrl+T
[23:33] <JoseeAntonioR> Please, don't confuse tabs with windows. A new tab will appear in the same window.
[23:34] <JoseeAntonioR> To open the last tab closed, press Ctrl+Shift+T
[23:34] <JoseeAntonioR> To open a file, press Ctrl+O
[23:34] <JoseeAntonioR> To close a tab in the browser, press Ctrl+W
[23:35] <JoseeAntonioR> To refresh the window or the tab, press Ctrl+R, or F5
[23:35] <JoseeAntonioR> To see your history, press Ctrl+H
[23:35] <JoseeAntonioR> To open the Downloads window, press Ctrl+Shift+Y
[23:35] <JoseeAntonioR> To open Panorama (I'll talk about it later) press Ctrl+Shift+E
[23:36] <JoseeAntonioR> To show your current Bookmarks, press Ctrl+B
[23:36] <JoseeAntonioR> To bookmark the current page, press Ctrl+D
[23:36] <JoseeAntonioR> And, finally, to quit Firefox, press. Ctrl+Q
[23:36] <JoseeAntonioR> I have a question in queue, and it's about Persona.
[23:36] <ClassBot> benonsoftware asked: How is it possinle to make a Persona and what skills are involved?
[23:37] <JoseeAntonioR> To make a Persona, you just need to have design skills, and creativity. You can check out more here: https://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/demo_create
[23:38] <JoseeAntonioR> [slide 14]
[23:38] <JoseeAntonioR> Panorama: Tabs Grouping