Mentoring for improving wiki pages?

Wed Jun 16 01:30:15 UTC 2010

I've been busy with 'other stuff' but did find a major issue I had with
iTALC.  In some previous attempt I had made the classroom setting persistent
as per the ubuntu wiki page.  And, thinking I had done a complete uninstall
and other excuses I can't think up at the moment I didn't think to go back
to this.  When I finally realized this, deleted the [path] line, my iTALC
worked normally again!  That was a relief and I think this problem affected
me more than 1 time over the last year.  I added this troubleshooting info
to the wiki: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/iTalc.

alkisg told me about a series of scripts that sound great that he uses
instead of iTALC so I'm going to give them a try.  I'll be writing
instructions on doing these tasks instead of iTALC unless I move back to
using iTALC.

Over the next few days I'm going to be working on setting up a Lucid LTSP
server.  I'll try and improve the wiki/edubuntu pages as I go through this
process.  I'll   I'll try and think like a beginner (shouldn't be too
hard).  I'll start another thread for these endeavors.

Again, I'll be working on these things and more:
>
> --LTSP install
> --Basic squid proxy setup
> --Localapps setup
> --Backup System
> --using flash
> --using java
> --setting up file-sharing systems for one's classes
>

David

On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 7:42 PM, David Groos <djgroos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Gavin and Simón thanks for your offers to help me write some good
> pages--I'll take you up on all of it, starting with the iTALC.  Also, thanks
> for the history--something which I think is important to include, briefly,
> in the wiki as well.  Hopefully, others in the community with additional
> knowledge, both from a programming and implementation-perspective, will
> chime in as needed.
>
>
> For starters, it would be a great time-saver on my part if people would
> direct me to good reference articles on iTALC for Ubuntu (I know it's used
> with Windows as well but I'm not focusing on that).  I of course could do a
> google search on iTALC (done it many times, actually), however, I don't know
> what is outdated or applies to the areas of interest.  The info I'm looking
> for is:
> --History of the project
> --Accuracy of the ubuntu page on italc (it says it is only good for Hardy)
> --Differences between versions for Hardy, Jaunty, Karmic, Lucid (I'll be
> focusing on Jaunty, Karmic, Lucid)
> --Successful applications of iTALC
> --CURRENT issues--limitations--with iTALC.
> --Theory on iTALC.
>
> Any favorite links or mini-lessons would be much appreciated!
>
> Thanks!
> David
>
> PS--Sounds like we need a tutorial on installing Edubuntu/LTSP from recent
> list-server e-mails--it's not that people are dumb, it's that wiki pages
> need improving!
>
>
>
> On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 9:34 AM, Simón Ruiz <simon.a.ruiz at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 5:37 PM, David Groos <djgroos at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hi All,
>> >
>> > I just turned in my final last night for my statistics class so can now
>> > dedicate some more time to edubuntu, again, and, teaching will be out
>> for
>> > the year in just about 4 weeks.  Like many users of edubuntu, I need
>> help to
>> > install/upgrade/troubleshoot/fix things.  One key resource for self-help
>> is
>> > the wiki.  People have been working hard to improve it as a whole.  I'm
>> > suggesting to choose maybe a dozen 'hot spots'--topics that are critical
>> to
>> > make edubuntu work in a school setting, and make great wiki pages on
>> them.
>> >
>> > A perfect example of what I'm talking about is the work of Gavin and his
>> > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/ThinClientHowtoNAT page.
>> While
>> > it is true that 3 other people have also improved that page, Gavin made
>> a
>> > big effort to make sure this critical task was CLEARLY and thoroughly
>> > explained.  There is no such thing as perfect but there is excellent and
>> > that page is.
>> >
>> > I've spent I don't know how many hours battling iTALC and alkisg has
>> spent
>> > at least 2 or 3 hours trying to help me.  He one time groaned when I
>> told
>> > him that I had followed the directions on the wiki.  These might have
>> been
>> > pretty good for Hardy, but I had Jaunty and just hoped it would work; it
>> > didn't, nor does it still.
>> >
>> > Here are some possible 'sticky points'.  There might be some good wiki
>> pages
>> > on them now, but when I first tackled these tasks, they were lacking.
>> They
>> > are critical to many school setups.
>> >
>> > --iTALC setup
>> > --Basic squid proxy setup
>> > --Localapps setup
>> > --Backup System
>> > --using flash
>> > --using java
>> > --setting up file-sharing systems for one's classes
>> >
>> > I need to understand iTALC and make it work.   I would be more than
>> happy to
>> > polish this iTALC wiki page.  I'll need mentoring, a lot at the start,
>> but a
>> > great wiki page saves time for everyone and helps edubuntu users feel
>> > confident.  Is there anyone who knows iTALC that would serve as my
>> technical
>> > mentor on this wiki page?  What would you add to or remove from the list
>> of
>> > sticky points?
>>
>> I had quite a bit of experience with iTALC back in 2006, in fact the
>> article I wrote back then on compiling iTALC from source for Dapper
>> <
>> http://indianalinux.blogspot.com/2007/02/howto-install-italc-from-source-on.html
>> >
>> is still, according to Google Analytics, the single most visited
>> article on my somewhat comatose blog.
>>
>> My big problem was simply that there weren't up to date iTALC packages
>> for Ubuntu, and building from source gave me that.
>>
>> I was working on just "normal" Desktops, though, so I have
>> *absolutely* no experience with iTALC on LTSP. (no experience with
>> LTSP yet, really)
>>
>> Still, I may be able to help if your questions are basically just
>> iTALC-related. What problems are you having?
>>
>> > David G
>>
>> Simón R
>>
>> P.S. Just in case you're unaware: iTALC 1.x development ground to a
>> halt as the developer (a college student who codes in his free time)
>> works on version 2.0. The latest version, 1.0.10, was just released
>> after a couple of years break, and it pretty much just includes bug
>> fixes.
>>
>
>
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