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SSD configuration for openSUSE

February 6th, 2015 by

As you already know, there are mechanic disks and also SSD. There is the rumor that SSDs last for 5 years or up to 5 years. Read the openSUSE wiki page for more information about openSUSE and SSD.

Here I’ll describe what I did to my SSD.

RULE 1: Partitioning

The first step is creating the right partitions. First of all, create the root partition (about 15-20GB is enough). Then create the home partition (/home). Finally leave about 7% of the disk unallocated. This will help your disk during write process. The right filesystem is ext4.

If you have new computer, then you should have a partition /boot/efi. You don’t have to do any of the following configuration for that partition.

BE CAREFUL: Don’t create a swap partition. If you already have enough memory (4GB), you don’t need it. Swap memory is “destroying” your SSD. Finally, be careful of the file system, since openSUSE 13.2 uses BTRFS as default filesystem. Snapper will create snapshots, something that you don’t need.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in Systems Management | 4 Comments »

Linux audio library smackdown part3: SDL

February 5th, 2015 by

How many of you remember Loki Games/Entertaiment/Software? Hands up  now! I’m still waiting.. wuhuu hands up now! Loki.. Loki! Oh still no hands.. what a pity (Damn how old Am I?). Ok I Admit! It was before Steam, before Internet was this huge fast beast for watching videos, telling how you are doing right now and sharing photos.

Loki only shipped CD’s for installing your application and there wasn’t hot fixes waiting when you got CD from post or yes there where but I had to wait and wait for 200 MB blob to download for ages with my 57600 modem. All the time I thought that I’ll boot Windows for playing Castle Wolfestein. It was long before before Linux have any gaming community what so ever. There weren’t Firefox or Chrome available and Google was just starting to own our lifes.  So it was dark days of late ’90 (we had electricity thanks for asking).

Loki was founded on 1998 and  it got on bankruptcy on 2001 after IT bubble blowed. Loki changed Linux in good way. One thing that they left behind was called Simple Direct Layer (SDL1). SDL layer sits top on Xorg that makes creating games more ease. You can port your game to Windows and Mac OS X with little effort. Current version of SDL is SDL2.

Good thing about SDL is that it abstracts drawing to screen in Windows, Mac OS X and X-windows. SDL1 was all about pixel buffers but SDL2 is all about surfaces and acceleration. It support many more OSes but that’s not the what we are looking at today. So how do you playing audio out of SDL1/2?. Good thing is audio interface stayed same through conversion from SDL1 to SDL2. They only added few bugs and float point audio in SDL2.  SDL1 have recording but I didn’t manage to make it work so if anyone with more patience than me can lead me to correct path I would be happy puppy. Here is SDL Github location: https://github.com/illuusio/linux-audio-example/tree/master/sdl Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in lizards.openSUSE.org, Programming | 1 Comment »

Linux audio library smackdown part2: Pulseaudio

January 27th, 2015 by

Oh yes.. those were great times! Open Sound System was rocking my Linux based sound system and I was having a time of my life. Like we all know good doesn’t last long. Soon after happiness I find out that OSS couldn’t do recording and playing (full duplex) same time. Fiery same time this was working on Windows 98 very well. I was shocked how the heck my Linux box is so borked? Luckily times were changing and this time they formed only better. ALSA was about to take over OSS in Kernel version 2.6. Why I’m talking about ALSA and OSS when I should talk about Pulseaudio? Read further to find out why or go examples for Pulseaudio here: https://github.com/illuusio/linux-audio-example/tree/master/pulseaudio Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in lizards.openSUSE.org, Miscellaneous, Programming | 3 Comments »

Final Election Thoughts

January 22nd, 2015 by

As the openSUSE Board election quickly draws to a close, I take a moment to remind openSUSE Members to vote.

Elections and voting are a rather remarkable thing.  We take up or values, our beliefs, our interests, and briefly toss them in the air, letting the air flow somewhat disrupt them as they gently fall like leaves.  We think for a moment: What’s important to me?  Why is this important to me?  And does it really matter who I vote for?  Can a small Board of Directors really make a difference in the larger scheme of things?  Can the elected person really represent my interests?

In American politics, there is much apathy for and little trust in elections.  There are many reasons for this (and it’s a topic for discussion and reflection saved for a very different forum).  But as much analysis is done by professionals who analyze these things, they often conclude that each individual doesn’t think that one vote will matter.  “I’m just one person in an ocean of people; how will my vote matter?”  But for us, well, no one knows better about Freedom and Openness than an opensource community.  Voting — expressing one’s confidence in another person to serve as a representative of an ideal, a promise — is a hallmark of Freedom and Openness.  If only one vote is cast among many, then the ideal of only the one is expressed.  If your vote is not cast and the others of your community are, then your voice is diminished.  When a whole community votes, the full range voices is heard and discerned.

Vote.  Our community is strengthened when your vote is cast.  Whether or not you vote for me, please vote.

I believe it matters.

The election ends on Monday, 26 Jan 2015.

Posted in Board, Elections, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

oSC15 – 200, Why not packaging workshop like mini hack sprint

January 17th, 2015 by

welcomeHello Geekos.

I’m contacting you personally, as an openSUSE Board member.

You certainly already know that we want to have a kicking openSUSE conference next 1st-4th May 2015 at the Haag (NL).

Thus I’ve found that creating special workshop organized by development project could foster our beloved distribution.

oSC is the unique case in the year, where Geekos from all around the world meet together.
Let’s imagine you, meeting perhaps for the first time your fellows, having nice discussions, and hacking around the software you maintain.
There’s high level of chance to meet also your end users, and have constructive exchanges.

That’s why I invite you to propose a workshop directly to our event tools:
https://events.opensuse.org/conference/osc15/proposal

Having a workshop run like a mini-hack sprint, would help any of us in the distribution and the project.
Be it like learn people how to submit nice package, how to do maintenance, or how to do bug triage.
li1
I feel confident that you will have the creative approach to resolve your own problematic.
The event place has small rooms for unattended sessions and they could be used to extend your workshop to get some more work done.

Some practical aspects:
oSC website : https://events.opensuse.org/conference/oSC15

And soon the travel support program for oSC 15 will be opened to handle your request about getting financial support for going to oSC.
https://connect.opensuse.org/travel-support/

If you have any questions, thoughts or ideas, don’t hesitate to ask on -project mailing list
or ping me by reply.

A final note about the why you should do it? Well beside being one of our “heroes” even if nobody need them 🙂
You and your co-maintainers will be able to explain your “job” on the project.
Don’t you want to inspire new comers, lead them directly to the right direction, and share the load.
Meeting you there, will also help our “marketing” force to light up a bit the work done in the shadow.

I really will appreciate your presence, afterwards, it’s you that create our distribution.
The time has come for you to be warmly thank.

I’m looking forward to see you there.

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Posted in Build Service, Distribution, Events, Hackweek | Comments Off on oSC15 – 200, Why not packaging workshop like mini hack sprint

Linux audio library smackdown part1: Portaudio

January 16th, 2015 by

Common disinformation people tends to believe in is that Linux Audio is in bad shape. Actually it’s not. They are right ALSA is getting bit rusty and it’s not top of the notch but list of supported sound cards is long. There have been speak about next generation audio API for Linux but nothing is really happening (I’m happy if you prove me wrong!). Last year I had task to evaluate different Linux audio libraries for playing audio and recording. So these articles try to make some light to my journey and what did I found. inpatient can go to Github  https://github.com/illuusio/linux-audio-example/tree/master/portaudio. There is other library examples also but only Portaudio is currently updated to my last version. I wrote same very simple application to test every audio library. I’ll upgrade rest of the examples and add also Xiph libao and GStreamer. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted in lizards.openSUSE.org, Programming | 3 Comments »

Standing for Re-Election to the openSUSE Board

January 12th, 2015 by

Hi Fellow Geekos,

This post is a summary of my wish to continue to serve on your behalf on the openSUSE board.

My term has been a short one, as I was appointed to serve out the remainder of Vincent Untz’ term.

While I now work for SUSE (and it has been a fabulous experience), that does not change my view or efforts to contribute to openSUSE.  Prior to joining SUSE, as a part of the Sales Engineering team, I was elected to the board for a two year term. To avoid having too many SUSE employees, I had to step down.  A rule I completely support.

Having been an openSUSE member long before joining SUSE, I think I have a keen awareness of what the community is about and where we can improve together.

My take is we have an awesome group of contributors who want to see the community grow and prosper.  With things like Tumbleweed and OBS, among others, we have shown real innovation and technical leadership in the Linux world. We have arguably one the top distros available.  It is solid, polished and usable for a wide variety of use cases. We need to keep the openness and solid collaboration which enables everyone to participate and succeed.

My efforts within openSUSE have been mostly focused on the Open Build Server, maintaining several projects, as well as, being part of the Factory review team.

Going forward, I want to concentrate on reaching out beyond our community to build more awareness of what an awesome distro we have, along with a pretty friendly community. I see other, less compelling, distros getting more visibility than perhaps is deserved.

Along the same lines, my take is we as a community can take a more active role in bringing in new members, who might not be technical folks, but can help in the marketing and outreach. I’ve started a local SUSE group through meetup.com which is a different way to find new users and contributors.

One other reason I wish to remain on the board, is we have a solid working relationship and there is a lot of mutual respect and good collaboration.

No matter who is elected to the board, I am very pleased with the caliber of the folks running and know the community will be in good hands moving forward.

Thank you in advance for your vote!

Peter Linnell

Posted in Board, Build Service, Distribution, Elections, Factory, Marketing, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Standing for Re-Election to the openSUSE Board

Craig Gardner’s openSUSE Board campaign

January 8th, 2015 by

Hi openSUSE Team,

It’s campaign season, and time for me to make sure all voters know what I stand for regarding openSUSE, “The Finest Distro, Period.”  As I mentioned in my announcement, if elected to The Board, my intended involvement would focus on these three principle goals:

A) Improving the visibility of openSUSE among the huge variety of distro offerings that exist. Specifically, improving the amount of press and exposure of openSUSE to offset the over-represented exposure that other distros receive.  Since openSUSE is the The Finest Distro, Period (as I asserted above), we can do better to make it known.

B) Promote openQA, and make it the bedrock of quality assurance for openSUSE. Improve the confidence that the community and the public should have in the quality of our great product! The Quality of openSUSE — out of the box, and updated over the wire, over time — is dependent upon a battery of high quality testing. Perception is everything in this business. Great testing will give us great quality, great results, and great users.

C) Support the improvements that have been incrementally made over time by prior board members, building on their successes. There are too many accomplishments to enumerate here, but the project has come a long way under some great leadership. We don’t need huge changes in leadership or direction; we need to capitalize on our prior successes and press forward.

And I wish to add one more goal to my original list:

D) Continue to foster community involvement and attract new talent to the project through high quality openSUSE Conferences. Bringing together the best talent to oSC events does a great deal to build bridges of trust and move the project forward in a unified way. A high quality oSC improves the quality of the brand and the product.

But of course, the few members of the Board are just a small functioning part of a successful community. The real success of openSUSE is a result of the hard work, the passion, and commitment of the members. As a member of the board, I intend to be someone who brings out the best in others; to help you do what you do best; to bring good people together fo the strength of the project. openSUSE is “The Finest Distro, Period,” only because its contributors are The Finest. Period.

As the polls open in a few days, please vote for Craig Gardner (@ganglia). You’ll get a firmly committed member of the board, who wants to help you — the community — to find even greater success.  And don’t forget to have fun.

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Posted in Board, Elections | Comments Off on Craig Gardner’s openSUSE Board campaign

Testing Android in openQA

January 6th, 2015 by

The other day Richard described in his blog how how he used openQA to test drive Fedora. Around the same time I read about Android x86 and saw that they offer iso images for download. So I wondered how hard it would be to get that one tested in openQA.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Quality Assurance, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Testing Android in openQA

Standing for re-election: openSUSE Board Election Jan. 2015

December 27th, 2014 by

My name is Robert Schweikert, IRC handle robjo, and I am standing for re-election in the upcoming openSUSE Board election in January of 2015.

With the end of 2014 my first term on the openSUSE board is already coming to an end, time flies. During my first term we collectively have seen many changes to our project. Many of these changes were difficult and I would say we had a rough ride for a good chunk of th last 2 years. I think, and am hoping others agree, that I was able to help smooth some of the rough spots and help the project move into what could now be considered calmer waters. It was not easy, but I am glad I was able to contribute.

Since 2009 I work for SUSE in the ISV Engineering team. When I started I primarily worked with IBM on joint projects. I also worked with other ISVs helping them with questions regarding their application on top of SUSE Linux. In recent years my role has transitioned and I am now focused on Public Cloud work, working with our partners.

I have been using SUSE Linux, now known as the openSUSE distribution since the beginning, i.e. I still remember when SUSE Linux 10 was released. I have been contributing to the project for many years, not from the get go, it took me some time to move from user to contributor, by maintaining packages, more recently also maintaining and publishing openSUSE images in the public cloud, and helping with organization of events. For the past two years I also had the privilege to contribute to the project as a board member. I would very much enjoy being able to continue my contribution to the board for another 2 years.

Looking forward I see the need that an effort needs to be made to re-invigorate our project. As a whole the distribution “business” has lost some of its appeal and shine. Something that is certainly to be expected. Never the less even in a world that is getting more and more dominated by cloud services, containers, and whatever else, distributions are a necessity and the openSUSE distributions always stands out as one of the top notch community distributions. We have also proven that there is still plenty of innovation potential with the recent merge of Tumbleweed and Factory, turning what was previously a pure development stream into a usable rolling release. The credit for this of course goes to the Factory team, release team and many others that contributed to the new tools and backend infrastructure that make all this possible. Re-invigoration for me not only means being proud and excited about such major technical accomplishments but also means we need to be better organized when it comes the representation of our project at FOSS events. Although the new booth box material is great we have had a difficult time getting things organized and helping those that want to represent the project at events. I want to continue to push on this part and help make the distribution of material better. There is plenty of work to be done at the board level and I am asking for your vote in the upcoming election to allow me to continue what is already in the works and help start new initiatives to re-invigorate our project.

Posted in Board, Elections | Comments Off on Standing for re-election: openSUSE Board Election Jan. 2015

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