Revolution Linux's Blog

Archive and Record Management for the Nuxeo Platform : Online video of the presentation !

Patrice Albaret — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Our Nuxeo World 2011 talk presenting the ongoing development of Archive and Record Management for the Nuxeo Platform is online !

You can watch it online here : Video

Please forgive our acccent and focus on the content, this is what ECM is about after all ;-) !

You can of course also visit the complete Nuxeo TV channel : Nuxeo TV on Youtube

We hope to see you at Nuxeo World 2012 and in the meantime if you are interested in our Nuxeo-related services please contact us and visit our website at : http://www.rlnx.com/ECM-Nuxeo

CETPA 2011 : November 8 - November 11, 2011

Patrice Albaret — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:11:00 +0000

For the third year, we will have the pleasure to present several Open Source related talks at the CETPA conference in California ! As usual, we're sure we'll find there a motivated and very involved crowd of IT professionals interested in enabling technologies for their districts and the classroom.

This year we are giving 3 talks :

If you are attending the CETPA conference, come visit us in the Hands-On-Lab room 308 ! See you there !

CETPA official website : http://www.cetpa-k12.org/

CETPA is California's most influential and highly respected, visionary educational technology association that inspires innovation and provides leadership to the educational community and policy/decision makers, where individuals and organizations turn for educational technology leadership.

Revolution Linux : Gold Sponsor for Nuxeo World in Paris October 20-21

Patrice Albaret — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:44:00 +0000

Nuxeo World 2011 is the second edition of the international conference around Nuxeo technology and solutions.

Nuxeo users, customers, partners and developers are gathering to share experiences, use cases, new developments and best practices in the ECM field.

It's in this context that we are giving a talk about a ongoing development : Archive Management for the Nuxeo Platform.

Come visit us October 20th and 21st In Paris ( Théâtre des Variétés, 7 boulevard Montmartre, 75002 Paris) !

Inscription and agenda : NuxeoWorld.com

July 2011 : Revolution Linux main Free Software services provider for the Société de Transport de Montréal !

Patrice Albaret — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:44:00 +0000

Revolution Linux today proudly annouces its selection as main Free Software services provider for the Société de Transport de Montréal (Montréal transport agency) !

Our teams have won the "Free Software" category of the public RFP (AO-4009) and will be put to use and carry out the numerous projects involving Open Source technologies at the STM for the next 3 years.

This qualification confirms the recognition of Revolution Linux as the partner of choice in Free Software services for large companies and public or parapublic agencies in Quebec.

Contact for more information about our services : info@rlnx.com
Revolution Linux website : http://www.rlnx.com

June 28th 2011 : Inauguration of the new premises

Patrice Albaret — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Revolution Linux continues to grow ! Our headquarters were moved to a larger and more spacious building to accomodate our growing teams !

The new headquarters address in Sherbrooke, QC : 2171 King West - Office 2 Sherbrooke (Quebec) J1J 2G1 CANADA

Take a look at our new premises in the pictures below, and feel free to take a leap if you are nearby !

The Revolution Linux team

Pictures to come

Automated Account Provisioning and Data Consolidation with Open Source presentation in St Louis, MO : Wednesday June 22nd, 2011, 09:00AM EDT

Patrice Albaret — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Imagine a world where records, accounts, e-mail addresses, storage, relationships and resources are provisioned across different databases... AUTOMATICALLY Based on logic YOU CONTROL!

Whitfield School invites you to join them for a brief presentation and conversation about Data consolidation and Automation.

See the linked'in Event for details and venue information.

Meet Bruno Lambert Account Provisioning Specialist Revolution Linux

and

Kevin McGuire Director of Technology Michigan City Area Schools A National School Board Association “20 to Watch” recipient

Come see what Whitfield and other schools and districts across the globe are doing to save time and money. In 2010, Whitfield consolidated their IS, Google Apps, Active Directory, iFolder, Sage MIP, and Sage FR50. Now, when a student becomes nrolled, their SIS account, AD account, Google Account, iFolder account and storage, and billing account are automatically created in milliseconds. Parent accounts are also automatically created and tied to students and siblings through relationship logic. Usernames and passwords are managed across all accounts seamlessly with a simple web interface. The best part is that the software to do this is FREE. Schools only pay for the planning and labor.

RSVP to Alex Inman 314-415-1298 or alex.inman@whitfieldschool.org

March 17th - 18th : We're moving !

Patrice Albaret — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 13:54:00 +0000

March 17th and 18th 2011 - Moving days

Revolution Linux headquarters are moving to new offices, located at:

2171 King Ouest - Bureau 2 Sherbrooke (Quebec) J1J 2G1

During those days, our phone access could experience hiccups for external reasons.

You will be able to reach us by email at all times.

Thanks for your understanding.

The Revolution Linux Team

Glimpse into our new offices :

Come meet us and discover the open source hands-on lab @CETPA 2010 !

Patrice Albaret — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:23:00 +0000

More than 12 sessions will be given in the open source hands-on lab at the CETPA conference !

Revolution Linux will give a part of them , and will be ready to answer all your questions about how open source can make your District achieve great projects within its budgets !

For the complete agenda go on the CETPA website !

See you there !

How to get started with open-source in K-12 : THE Journal articles

Patrice Albaret — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:39:00 +0000

THE Journal is having an excellent set of up-to-date articles about how to get started with open source in K-12 :

If you are looking for best practices and case studies about K-12 open source implementations, they have some really interesting content for you :

How to get started with Open Source in K-12

4 Tips for adopting Open source in K12

Prepare for Open Source impact

Come meet us @ ISTE 2010 !

Patrice Albaret — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:29:00 +0000

We will be @ISTE2010 holding the Open Source lab and giving already crowded (70 to 120 people for each of them) sessions about Open Source in Education !

- 10 common pitfalls on the road to open source

- Anywhere Computing: Enabling Scalable 1-to-1 with Open Source

- 60 Open Source Programs in 60 Minutes

- Linux in a 1-to-1 Mobile Environment

The complete program of the Open Source Lab is also available.

We hope to see you over there !

Revolution Linux Team

Webinar on" Open Source: A Guide for the School Districts Technology Leadership Team" Tuesday March 16th 2010

Benoit St-Andre — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:44:00 -0400

I will be giving this Webinar for NSBA TLN series on Tuesday March 16th, at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, 5pm GMT. It will be held on Elluminate, and I am pretty sure that it will be recorded and accessible after that for open viewing.

Hope to "see" you in the crowd !

Open Source: A Guide for the School Districts Technology Leadership Team

Because of the low costs associated with Open Source software. people install it easily at home and in the classroom with few problems. Additionally, because Open Source software is promoted by many enthusiasts, who communicate their enthusiasm very well, generalizing Open Source at the organizational level seems a no-brainer. The problem is that installing software on a computer isn’t the same as making it work on dozens or thousands of computers. There are challenges that you must consider before taking on a transition to Open Source. This webinar presentation is about getting to know what you could avoid in implementing Open Source in your organization.

Reserve your space by sending an email to Crissy O'Donnell at codonnell@nsba.org. Please include your name, district and title.

UPDATE: The Webinar was a success, with around 100 attendees ! You can have access to the complete session (webinar, audio , and slides) at Learn Central site.

Pictures from SCALE8x Try-It Lab

Benoit St-Andre — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:41:00 -0500

Thanks to folks from SCALE8x that did a tremendous job in making this conference possible. On our side, we tried to make the Try-It Lab as interesting as possible, showcasing LTSP-Cluster and its possibilities.

Here are a couple of pictures, taken by OSSIE Chairman Tim Fritchel, who was also responsible for the program in the lab (thanks Tim !). And as usual, thanks to our partner ASUS computers who makes this lab possible by providing the actual machines used as thin clients (as you can see in the pictures).

Try-It Lab, by Revolution Linux and ASUS !

Empty Try-It Lab

A packed room for my Open Source Social Networking Tools session

Even more people, for my Desktop in the Cloud with LTSP-Cluster session !

An EeeTop (all-in-one touchscreen) running as a Thin Client on LTSP-Cluster

An EeePC Netbook, running as a Thin Client on LTSP-Cluster.

Thanks everyone, we had a wonderful time there !

The Open Source Pavilion at CUE 2010 - March 4th to March 6th 2010

Benoit St-Andre — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:14:00 -0500

Once again , we will be at CUE Conference in Palm Springs this year. Last year was a success, I sure this year will be even better !

New things

Since CUE provides a handy schedule planner this year, I am going to do a couple of quick links here to this schedule. If you are attending CUE, you should at least take a look. Choosing sessions is quite easier with this tool.

A couple of new things this year

Like our other latest shows, we have the privilege to partner with ASUS computers. They provide us with all the EeeTop , EeeBox and EeePC that will be use as thin clients during CUE, for hands-on session and evaluations.
Opening hours of the Open Source Pavilion are extended.
The Pavilion will be in a room of its own, Oasis 4 - check the schedule of the Pavilion.; The evaluation survey will also be filled there in a space contiguous to the lab.

Our sessions

I will give three exciting sessions at CUE this year. You can see these sessions in the planner itself, but let me list them for you right here:

There is limited space in the lab, so be there early.

Come and meet us in Oasis 4 whenever you have a chance, and you will actually see physically what Open Source Thin Clients with LTSP and LTSP-Cluster look like.

See you there.

Meet us at South California Linux Expo 8x February 19-21

Benoit St-Andre — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:41:00 -0500

We will be at the next South California Linux Expo in the end of this week. Lots of things happening there for us:

The Try-It Lab , partnering with ASUS Computers

As you can read in this press release, we once again partner with ASUS computers to deliver a nice hands-on experience of Linux and LTSP-Cluster in the Try-It Lab. It will be possible to test drive Ubuntu in a thin client environment on all-in-one EeeTop, EeeBox mini desktops , and on EeePC netbooks.

OSSIE - Open Source In Education Day on Friday 19th

On Friday, there will be two tracks about Open Source in Education , one of them being held in the Try-It Lab. I will present there

1-to-1 : Scalable and Affordable Ubiquitous Computing using Open Source
Open Source Social Networking Tools in Education

This will be a great opportunity for educators to see and touch what Ubuntu Linux can look like in an educational environment, with most of Edubuntu applications installed on our lab setup.

And on Saturday and Sunday , meet us in the Try-It Lab or at our exhibitor booth #83

On Saturday and Sunday, we will be close to the Try-It Lab (I will give there a session on Desktop in the Cloud with LTSP-Cluster). You can also visit us in the exhibit hall, at booth #83.

This will be an exciting weekend !

Come and meet us at FETC 2010 in Orlando - January 13-15 2010

Benoit St-Andre — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:50:00 -0500

FETC is one of the largest educational technology conference in K-12 in the United States. We will be there next week for multiple sessions in the Open Source Center (room W313), where people will be able to experiment all sorts of Open Source applications running on LTSP-Cluster. This thin client environment will be using once again ASUS computers, that sponsors the Open Source Center together with us.

I will be presenting

Why Web 2.0, Open Source, and Open Content Matter so Much (with Randy Orwin, Steve Hargadon and Kevin McGuire)
10 Common Pitfalls on the Road to Using Open Source in Your Organization
The New 1 to 1: Scalable and Affordable Ubiquitous Computing
Panel Discussion: The State of Open Source in Education (with Steve Hargadon and Randy Orwin)
Everybody's Doing I: Open Source Social Networking Tools (with Randy Orwin).

I will certainly microblog about it during the event, using #fetc hashtag.

See you there !

Announcing K-12 Open Minds 2009 - Now Open and Free !

Benoit St-Andre — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:12:00 -0400

If you are in K-12 somewhere in the world and you are interested in Open Source in K-12 Education, you should come to K-12 Open Minds Conference that is going to be held in Michigan City on October 6th and 7th.

Big news is the conference is Open AND free, so there is no entry charge.

There is going to be a lot of various sessions regarding Leadership and Policy, Teaching and Learning, and on Technology and Infrastructure. There will also be some school visits where you will be able to see real classes using Open Source technologies in their daily lives.

We hope to see you there !

NECC 2009 - 10 common pitfalls on the road to Open Source in an organization

Benoit St-Andre — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:21:00 -0400

Even if it took a bit of time, here are the slides of my last week presentation on the 10 common pitfalls on the road to Open Source in an organization.

Enjoy !

Sneak peek at the Open Souce Lab in NECC

Benoit St-Andre — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:51:00 -0400

We just finished to setup the Open Source Thin Client Lab, and I can tell you it is beautiful, thanks to the wonderful machines of Asus, and the nice monitors that Michigan City Area Schools landed us.

We had many volunteers that helped us to put everything into place and have the perfect setup. Randy Orwin, Steve Hargadon and I would like to thank Kevin M, Mary, Paul, Kevin C, Mel, Mike L , Mike H, Lucie and her friend, Sugar Labs volunteers, and probably some other people that I don't remember theirs names.

So here is a sneak peek of what the lab looks like.

There is going to be a bunch of sessions going on there tomorrow. Come and meet us there if you are (well, sessions are full, but you could still enter if there is some space left 5 mins before the beginning of a session).

You also will want to see this if you still think that there is no multimedia and all this nice stuff on LTSP thin clients (there IS , even volunteers were surprised !).

You can also come and meet us at the Open Source Playground (and see the thin clients there too), just in front of room 152B (the Open Source Lab's room).

See you there tomorrow until Wednesday !

NECC 2009 in Washington, we'll be there !

Benoit St-Andre — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:32:00 -0400

Next week is the NECC 2009 annual conference, that will be held in Washington, DC from June 28th to July 1st.

I'll be there all week long, giving two sessions, which are

Great Open Source Programs You Can Start Using Right Away
10 Common Pitfalls on the Road to Open Source

Those sessions are going to be held in the Open Source Lab.

We are providing the infrastructure to run the lab, which will be an LTSP-Cluster installation (like the ones we do for school boards and school districts), with 60 Eee Box Mini Desktop, gladly provided by Asus, that will run as thin clients.

I'm looking forward to meet a lot of people there, and discuss with.

There will also be a lot of volunteers helping us in the lab and the Open Source Playground, that will be just in front of the lab itself. I know that folks from the Ubuntu DC Loco , OpenSuSE, Fedora are supposed to be there.

I think all this will be very fun.

I'll try to post here, and also on Laconica/Twitter.

UDS / Day 1 / EC2, next step for Karmic

Benoit des Ligneris — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Intro / Disclaimer

First of all, long day : Ottawa Marathon sunday morning, then travel during the night then two hours delay in Frankfurt then ... Barcelona and UDS. Anyway, please forgive my poor grammar and style !

EC2 (Amazon), Eucalyptus (FLOSS) are part of the Karmic grand scheme of things. This session goals were to ease the integration of "The Cloud" into Ubuntu by fixing major issues and address ... futur ones.

The blueprint is here : https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/server-karmic-ec2-next-steps

Things were already started and I was slow to catch so once again, those are my notes and reflexion, use at your own risk.

Image update

Images are not updated in the cloud and kernel change can only be done by Ubuntu (at least on EC2). (Later, some kexec possibility was invoked but ... it does not look very "clean" from an amazon viewpoint!). Thus, a mechanism has to be set up in order to have an inventory of the images used in the cloud. The usage of update-motd has been discussed as well as the eventual link with inventory systems and more advanced management systemes (Landscape).

Idea :

Notification of new kernel and new images for the user running
Exposing this information in landscape
Not just EC2 but more or less for every technology out there (landscape, etc.)

Faster Boot Time / Ubuntu-minimal-minimal

faster boot time and faster image initialization for ec2? (Removing non essential packages such as bluetooth and trimming the inits) -> Lots of useless packages where still deployed in the image (same need for any virtual machine : KVM, VZ, etc.) -> How do you plan to do it ? EC2 and UEC image should be _really_ minimal. -> Remove most of the "useless" packages

On a side note, this is true for every virtualization/container technology out there so I think that having a truly minimal (no sound, no USB, no udev, no kernel, etc.) will really help Ubuntu on the virtual side of server land !

AMI-tool and API-tool in sync

Keep in sync ami-tools and api-tools (Author: Neil XXX) (Amazon & Eucalyptus) when new released are published. -> Where should this stored : it has to be on "archive.ubuntu.com" so that it can be accessed/ installed from the EC2/Eucalyptus ?

Problem with amazon software/licence/break compatibility ?

Documentation

Amazon EC2 level of documentation ?

-> Very good -> Leverage this ?

Some differences :

-> root vs sudo -> take in charge of the differences

Idea :

-> One documentation with basic principles & co -> Then "EC2 and UEC" can be distinguished

Test & process :

-> Release the alpha & co ? Problem : noone is forced to update -> we can have to manage bug reports & support users that uses alpha releases in production.

Someone said this (sorry, missed the name) and it is an excellent and valid point : "We are certain to have _no_ testing if we don't release the images!"

As a consequence, we have to release the images ASAP and put a disclaimer "This is an alpha release, not intended for production use" This image will stop running the 20ab-cd-ef"

Some random ideas :

Have a special account on Amazon EC2 for alpha testing / alpha images : once the testing phase is over, let,s stop paying this account !

If "kexec/kboot" into the kernel available then it is possible to stop those AMI anytime. Lot's of people

mention that Amazon will certainly not be happy with this?

Desktop Image

We need a desktop image ?

Bigger / more expensive ?
The same kernel can be used
Someone mention that vnc is barely usable on EC2
NoX/Ulteo shoud be used as a way to remotely stream desktop (please see precedent post on Server Centric /Anywhere computing)
Testing can be much more better with desktop images :
- Testing testing testing, translation, bugfix, automatically generated images, etc.