DistroRecipe:

Base Distro - Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) with Gnome 2.18

From 20th March 2008 this distro is now the current distro used by Computerbank. We started putting this distro on pc's from cbv number #3537

Addition: KDE (3.5.6)

Display Manager: gdm (allows user to login with Gnome or KDE and a different language)

We changed the display manager to kdm as it integrated better with our KDE autologin set up, it also had a slightly faster load time too.

Basically we have taken our old system software choices + look and feel and built that with ubuntu. We have left a full working Gnome in too. There are plans to do some tweaking of the Gnome desktop but that is low priority for the moment.

TestingFeedback?

BugsAndGlitches?

Ubuntu uses 'sudo' - change to 'su' (see 'to su or sudo' section below)

The 'audiocd' ioslave in KDE 3.5.6 is broken. This is part of 'kdemultimedia-kio-plugins' and will not be installed. A side effect of this is that Konqueror will not be able to browse an audio CD. This is not a problem - ripping CDs with Konqueror to MP3 or OGG is extremely slow. It's better to use K3b for this.

If a user logs in to Gnome the KDE icons we created on the desktop come up and look crap. Cloud has suggested he can make a script to delete the icons, but stick them back if the user goes back into KDE. Neat.

Messages at shutdown about network manager.

Mohan here again.

1. To remove the NetworkManager? messages, uninstalled following packages: network-manager-gnome network-manager

2. To install ddcprobe, install package called xresprobe.

23/02/08 USB keys were behaving badly (folder icon on desktop, no safely remove option). Edited /etc/fstab and declared mount points - options the same as for floppy. Created directories /media/usb1 and media/usb2 as the root user. Tested and working.

23/02/08 Changed Tux Paint Description to Kids Drawing Program rather then Drawing Program in the three places we have it in the menu.

Speeding up Boot Time

MG to look at this in WFD next week. KD noted issues with nvidia drivers and also that the wacom services were starting up.

We started with a boot time of 56 secs for a p4 1.8 with 512 DDR RAM. OpenOffice? load time was 11.79 secs. We are hoping to shave 5 more seconds! :)

Update 16/01/08 - Boot time reduced down to 48secs after turning off services. Woohoo!

News

23/02/08: KD, EC and MG got together today and had a chat about scripts and more features. Also decided to use sudo rather than su. The scripts that we need to work on: adduser.sh, refresh_user.sh and update_skel.sh . We also need to include the ICEAuthority? fix (run level script) by John. We need to preserve firefox/iceweasel bookmarks in a refresh, passwords if possible too. We also thought some programs did not need to be included in the roll back because the tweaks were actually done at the KDE level (via menu commands). Kylie is to list the programs that do not need to be included.

We also discussed issues of licensing for certain apps - Sun Java, Macromendia Flash, Adobe PDF and Realplayer. The best way to handle this for visible apps (Adobe/Real) was to put them in their first run state. This invokes a license agreement box. However we have some tweaks that we make to Adobe and Real that we want users to have. If we delete the .blah files we lose our settings. We need to figure a way of allowing the lic to pop up and then putting the settings back. A lot more trickier for Java/Flash. Is it possible to use the ktips system or similar for java/flash? So on first login the users have to agree to licenses (we could even incorp Adobe/Real Lic as well). Currently we deal with licensing via paperwork.

Another area we discussed was ensuring that the system went out in a clean state. That is no web cache, history, openoffice recent docs, chat records, and more. Doing this would be incorporated into quality assurance.

Jan 08: Sorry there have been no updates, KD has been taking a break. She'll be back after the 14th of Jan. In the meantime, MG is working on refining his working grub cloning script, speeding up boot time, and getting the ubuntu splash reinstated (nice one MG). He will also document his progress on the wiki. Some WFD participants will begin to test the system and report bugs on here too.

Issue Tracker: http://vic.computerbank.org.au/wiki/FrontPage/issuetracker?category:list=Computerbank%20Ubuntu%20Distro&sort_on=status_index

MG here.

Get rid of nvidia lines at startup

Removed the following packages:

-linux-restrcited-modules-2.6.20.16-generic -linux-restricted-modules-common -linux-restricted-modules-generic

Display Artwork boot splash at Startup

Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and edit the kernel line to:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=UUID=... quiet splash vga=791

My updated clone script does this.

Worth noting that the black dells have some bug that prevents them from displaying a graphical splash. Works on clone.

Black Dells usually have only 1M video RAM with on-board card. (BK)

Speed Up Boot Time

Installed sysv-rc-conf to see which services can be disabled to speed boot time. Disabled anacron, atd, cron, timidity, hplip Turned off bluetooth Turned off and removed wacom driver

Change Ugly Console Fonts

[Rob's request]? Fix involved adding default fonts from old distro and putting them in /usr/share/consolefonts and editing /root/.bashrc and adding line 'consolechars -d' to load default font.

Changevid Alias

[Allan's request]? Create an alias like in the old distro to edit xorg.conf. Also done in /root/.bashrc

Testing To Do

Webcamera - logitech - test in all relevants - camorama, gyache - Yay it works.

Printer - USB and parallell - Test - Yay it works.

Scanner - Test - USB and parallel. Xsane. Yay it works.

Camera - USB. Yay it works.

Thanks Mohan. :)

Functionality

Add NTFS support for reading USB keys

Add handler for skype for firefox/iceweasel (maybe in about:plugins or something)

Scripts

Old Distro:

stopnet.sh startnet.sh, adduser.sh, update_skel.sh, network_change.sh, sshstart.sh, video.sh, poff.sh, pon.sh, clone_disk_multi.sh, refresh_user.sh and modem_detect.c

New Distro:

Working: video.sh, update_skel.sh, grub based cloning script (yay MG!!)

Required: refresh_user.sh, adduser (special)

Probably not needed: poff.sh, pon.sh (handled by new gnome-ppp util), modem_detect.c, sshstart

Not sure: stopnet.sh, startnet.sh, network_change.sh - It seems easy enough to use the GUI tools. KDE Kcontrol centre network module as root or the gnome network tools.

MG here.

1. Scripts are in /root/Scripts

2. Root Login to Desktop - KDE is default

3. Tweaked menu in root account to look like old distro - remove app menus

4. Place scripts like adduser, refreshuser in menus

5. Add Accounts Tools menu

6. Test from root account - refresh user

7. Change fonts to 13 serif for root account

8. Added toolbar links in firefox for root account

9. Found bug in my refresh_user script in that the Home icon is pointing to /home/user instead of

   /home/$username

UPDATE 1. Re-installed kdm and allowed for root logins and automatic login. The config file is in

/etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc

To su or sudo

After much discussion we have decided to stick with sudo rather than use su as we've done in the past. This means we'll probably set the same default passwords on all the boxes. Users can change their passwords (user and root) and add users to the system. If they do this and forget it their passwords, short of hacking their box we won't generally be able to help with user support. In most cases our users stick with the passwords we set them.

Home Stretch - Last Things

Fix logs as per Barry's suggestion, check logrotate.conf settings

Go through Menu items and change sudo/root to kdesu.

Check languages render on the web: Chinese, Greek, Arabic, other

apt-get clean or apt-get auto-clean apt-get autoremove - done

update image name with date

set user password

set new root password

Clean out caches/histories

Prototype model not turning off - check is this is a prob with other boxes.

Delete broken and inappropriate amarok streams

Delete stuff from /etc/skel as discussed

Lock panels (no menu edit mode)

run an update of /etc/skel

Final Testing

Boot and Load Times

For P3 600 256 RAM 8.4G HDD

Boot: 1.13-1.14 (with old bios error)

OpenOffice? load time: 15-16secs

Firefox load: 11-12 secs

For other boxes (to do)

Software Usability

We discovered that somehow VLC reverted to no video output. We changed it back to X11 and all works fine.

There is a slight issue with amarok shoutcast streams, we need to be able to delete streams to ship. Some don't work for eg.

Final Comments - To Do / Outstanding Wishlist

• Some Amarok shoutcast streams need deleting - need a patch from DrKnark? irc #amarok
• Ed's restore from Grub
• Preserve Bookmarks in a roll over
• Licensing issues
• One button log deleting for users (in root account tools)
• One button 'back up all my files and email' utility
• Method for deleting history rather than having to use apps (internal use)
• Burn in Test software
• Naming / Credits File
• Update userguide - Kylie doing atm
• Script to delete KDE icons we stuck on the desktop when logging into Gnome and also to put them back when going into KDE (looks ugly).
• Tweak GNOME Desktop ? (it is okay as is for now)
• Installer/LIVE DVD

Distro Maintenance

• Always remember to lock the panel after editing menus
• Always remember to check if software additions make it to the menu system and are in alphabetical order with reasonable descriptions. Always check the menu after an upgrade.
• If a program has a full screen option (eg games) remember to enable it
• Never close off a dialog box, eg 'don't show tips anymore', we want the user to decide.
• Always run update-skel.sh after changes, making sure you have cleared the cache/history for net items and locked the panel.
• Always update /etc/issue
• Always write changes in a changelog / on the wiki
• If significant changes are made to a non-KDE app remember to put the settings config in /etc/skel
• Run regular software updates and upgrade software as required
• Test software after major upgrades.
• Always read the notes during an upgrade, especially the ones about keeping or overwriting config files, you may overwrite some special settings.
• Check logs for errors
• Always delete logs that are unnecessary, 1 week is just fine.
• Keep an eye on boot time and OpenOffice? load time to see if changes have slowed things done or sped them up