English

English posts.

ubuntu-tn in the Software Freedom Day Tunisia 2009

Nizar Kerkeni
SFD Tunisia 2009
SFD Tunisia 2009

For the third consecutive time our LoCo was present, on October 31th 2009, in the biggest celebration of free software  in Tunisia, the  Software Freedom Day 2009. This year our LoCo was directly involved in organizing this event as our friends Wajih and Mohamed were active members in the organizing committee.

SFD Tunisia 2009
SFD Tunisia 2009

As usual our LoCo took the opportunity to speak about the ubuntu distribution, about our community and to distribute dozens of ubuntu 9.04  CDs and disk images of the latest ubuntu 9.10. Two members of our LoCo ensured the animation of two workshops. The first workshop, led by Rached, was a presentation of free CMS Drupal. The second workshop, led by Mohamed, took place around a presentation of WaveMaker tool.

Atelier WaveMaker
WaveMaker workshop.
Atelier Drupal
Drupal workshop.
Les membres de la LoCo en action
LoCo members in action.

When visiting the different workshops and booths of FOSS clubs, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of members PC run with ubuntu. To these people I offered, on behalf of the LoCo, the stickers « Powred by ubuntu » to replace another obsolete sticker ;).

During this day two competitions was held for Tunisian FOSS clubs and communities. The first contest for « the best work of promoting FOSS in Tunisia » and the second for « the best idea for promoting FOSS in Tunisia ». At the last minute the organizing committee decided to cancel the first contest as  our LoCo was the unique candidate. But we won, brilliantly, the first prize in the second competition with our idea that we have implemented since our approval in 2008 which is: visiting academic and educational institutions in different Tunisian cities to promote FOSS  alternatives and provide assitance for migration projects like the one we made at the Engineers National School of Sfax.

Photo de famille.
Family photo.

The photo album: http://ubuntu.nizarus.tn/v/sfd09/

Write it in your language

Nizar Kerkeni

Today is October 20th and 5 years ago the first ubuntu version was shipped so let’s celebrate it all over the world and wish it a Happy Birthday.

In Arabic we write :

عيـــد ميــلاد سعيـــد أوبونتــو

Birthday_cake_ubuntu-tn
Happy Birthday Cake from ubuntu-tn LoCo (1)

The list of ubuntu versions :

  1. Warty Warthog (4.10) released 10/20/2004.
  2. Hoary Hedgehog (5.04) released 04/08/2005.
  3. Breezy Badger (5.10) released 10/13/2005.
  4. Dapper Drake (6.06 LTS) released 06/01/2006.
  5. Edgy Eft (6.10) released 10/26/2006 -> My first ubuntu 🙂
  6. Feisty Fawn (7.04) released 04/19/2007.
  7. Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) released 10/18/2007.
  8. Hardy Heron (8.04 LTS) released 04/24/2008.
  9. Intrepid Ibex (8.10) released 10/30/2008.
  10. Jaunty Jackalope (9.04) released 04/23/2009.
  11. Karmic Koala (9.10)  to be released 10/29/2009.
  12. Lucid Lynx (10.04 LTS) planned for April 2010.
  13. M…. M…. (10.10)

And here is the ubuntu museum.

(1) Original image from openclipart.org. Adapted image in SVG here.

Ubuntu Global Jam – Tunisian LoCo

Nizar Kerkeni

ugj09_banner_EN

What?
Tunisian LoCo’s First Global Jam

When?
Sunday, October 4th, 2009 from 10:00AM (10h00) until 7:00PM (19h00)

Where?
Salon International de l’Informatique, Bureautique et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication « SIB – IT 2009 »
Parc des expositions – Le Kram – Tunis – Tunisia

Why?
To learn about Ubuntu, how to work with Ubuntu and how to contribute to Ubuntu.

Who?
All visitors of the SIB-IT 2009 and the Ubuntu Tunisian LoCo Team.

Schedule

Are you a 100% free user ?

Nizar Kerkeni

Who’s better than Richard Stallman to answer this question 🙂 Ok, it’s not RMS him self but the virtual RMS and here is the result with my ubuntu 9.04:

nizarus@dell:~$ vrms
Non-free packages installed on dell

fglrx-modaliases Identifiers supported by the ATI graphics driver
linux Generic complete Linux kernel.
linux-generic Complete Generic Linux kernel
linux-restricted-modules Generic Linux restricted modules.
linux-restricted-modules- Non-free Linux 2.6.28 modules helper script
linux-restricted-modules- Restricted Linux modules for generic kernels
nvidia-173-modaliases Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org driver
nvidia-180-modaliases Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org driver
nvidia-71-modaliases Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org driver
nvidia-96-modaliases Modaliases for the NVIDIA binary X.Org driver
tangerine-icon-theme Tangerine Icon theme
unrar Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version)
Reason: Modifications problematic

12 non-free packages, 0.6% of 1848 installed packages.

So I’m at 99.4% can I do better ?

I can’t remove linux packages, we can’t get an operating system without a kernel. tangerine-icon-theme package is in direct dependency with ubuntu-desktop so I prefer to keep it for future updates. Some times I have to manipulate rar archives  so I have to keep unrar package too. The modaliases packages are installed to find the sweetest proprietary driver for the graphic card, and In my case I don’t need them as my ATI X1300 Pro works as a charm with the free driver.

My final result :

7 non-free packages, 0.4% of 1843 installed packages.

So Mr RMS what do you think ?

ubuntu Tunisian LoCo ready for reapproval

Nizar Kerkeni

Last year on 22th July, 2008 our Tunisian Team was approved as an official LoCo team and  began the first Arabic approved LoCo Team and the second on Africa. Based on the yearly review process, and thanks to the work of our LoCo members, we are now ready for reapproval.

During this first year we focused our efforts on the presentation and promotion of ubuntu in schools and universities. Our LoCo visited different Tunisian cities to present and to talk about ubuntu and free softwares in general. At each visit we distribute many ubuntu CD , give talks about ubuntu and we animate install party for participants. One of our pilot project was the migration of the computing center of the ENIS (National Engineering School of Sfax), where we have installed ubuntu on 150 PC (10 class rooms). Thus the majority of practical work will be done with ubuntu and with free software equivalent to proprietary software used before this migration.

This last year 13 events was held in 5 towns, 8 high schools, 1 international event etc… All our events with reports usually in French and in English (the complete report or an abstract) are grouped here : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TunisianTeam/Events. Our talks and presentation, manly in French some of them are translated in English, given by our LoCo members are grouped here : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TunisianTeam/Presentations. There is 22 presentations given by 11 ubuntu-tn members where 4 of them are ubuntu members.

Also, the number of members subscribed to our online resources has increased. Actually there is 182 members subscribed to the ubuntu-tn launchpad group, on July 2008 we was 63 (+288%). In the mailing list there is now 376 subscribed member and last year we was 108 (+348%). To be closer to Tunisian people we have also created a group on facebook to promote our LoCo activity and 560 Tunisian facebook uses joined this group.

For more informations about our activity and our future road map, visit our approval application wiki page. And here is a photo album with a little collection of photos taken during our past events.

ubuntu Tunisia new management committee

Nizar Kerkeni
One year after the election of the ubuntu Tunisia LoCo team first management committee an irc meeting was held on June 19th to elect the new management committee (MC). Our MC is composed by 7 groups, each group have a particular task and it’s managed by a coordinator and an assistant.

Here is the composition of the new MC :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first goal of this team is to get ready for the review of our LoCo approval application planned next month.

ubuntu day @ ISET of Sidi Bouzid

Nizar Kerkeni
Our LoCo Team Ubuntu-tn continues to cross all around Tunisia and visit various Tunisian cities to present Ubuntu and free software. This time we stopped by Sidi Bouzid town, and more specifically at the Higher Institute of Technological Studies of Sidi Bouzid (ISET) in response to an invitation received from the Computer Science Department.

As usual, a number of our LoCo Team members volunteered to make the journey to Sidi Bouzid and participate in the event. Thanks to the efforts and contribution of our friend Chaker Zaafouri – an Ubuntu-tn member and a citizen originating from the city- we arranged the necessary preparation and even the accommodations (it was very hectic for him to pick up members on the way out and bring them back home on his own expenses, without forgetting the fact that they’ve been hosted at his home throughout the weekend).
The day began by a series of lectures and presentations (in French) to students and teachers in the amphitheatre (more than 100 persons).

  • Presentation of Ubuntu: the OS, its features and variants.
  • Ubuntu: The first steps towards the daily use.
  • Migrating from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org.
  • Virtualization with VirtualBox in Ubuntu.
  • Economic model of SS2L.
  • Ubuntu Server in SMEs.

Many of these presentations are available on our presentations wiki page.




Obviously each presentation was followed by an open discussion between ubuntu-tn LoCo members and attendees.



In the afternoon, a mini install party of Ubuntu 8.10 was assured by Ubuntu-tn members to twenty students who remained at the institute despite the bad weather and the lack of transport for back home once the day reached its end.


On Sunday, April 5th of 2009, and in order to combine business with pleasure, the day organisers invited our LoCo members for a hiking session to Aïn Rabaw stream where we have drawn on our artistic talents to mark the passage our LoCo in such magnificent place.





To all the attendees and the day organisers: a big THANK YOU.

—-
Credits :
1 – French version of the report : here.
2 – Translated by me, and reviewed by Hanen & Rached.