life at the end of the universe

GSoC info session in Karlsruhe

Lydia — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:07:03 +0000

Since Google Summer of Code is coming up again very soon Sven, Phil and I will be doing a short info session at the University of Karlsruhe on Thursday at 4pm in room HS -101 in building 50.34 (Infobau). We’ll be giving a short intro to GSoC and tell a bit about how GSoC works in KDE and Debian and of course answer lots of questions. If you’re planning to apply this year you should definitely show up Please drop me a short email if you want to attend at lydia at kde org.

If you’re not in Karlsruhe or anywhere near there are info sessions in other cities around the world listed in the GSoC calendar.

Showing some love for rockstars

Lydia — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:24:22 +0000

Right on time for for Valentine’s Day we’re releasing the beta version of Amarok 2.3. Check out the release notes and enjoy.

Oh and in case you should have missed this fantastic FSFE campaign:

looking for awesome GSoC ideas

Lydia — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:12:43 +0000

It’s that time of the year again when we need to start thinking about awesome ideas for GSoC. I just prepared a page on the community wiki to collect them. The list needs to be finished by March 8th. Got a great idea for a nice project a student could be working on for the summer? Add it! If you are unsure or have any questions ping me or the team of the app you have an idea for.

Let’s make some noise in Karlsruhe!

Lydia — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Right now there are 22 release parties all around the world on the wiki and of course there will be one in southern Germany as well. Previously we always did them in Stuttgart but it’s time all those Stuttgart people get to see Karlsruhe
So if you are in or around Karlsruhe on the 13th around 20:00 then feel free to join us for our release party at Vogelbräu. Please put your name on the wiki page or let me know by email by Monday latest if you are coming so we know how many people are coming.
If you are not anywhere near Karlsruhe check out the other release parties or organize one on your own

(special thanks to Lemma for taking care of the venue)

The mailman will love you!

Lydia — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:45:11 +0000

A lot of FLOSS mailinglists (including KDE’s) are run by a software called Mailman. Now Mailman is great and all but it isn’t exactly a dream to work with if you have to admin a mailinglist with it. And it gets worse if you have to admin more than one list with it.

Thankfully there is a great little program called listadmin that helps here. It is a command line tool that remembers the lists you moderate and their passwords and then just checks them for new emails or subscription requests you need to deal with.

This is what it looks like if there is a mail in moderation:

Of course I want to approve sebas’ email (how could I not? ) so I say “a” for approve and then “y” to submit all the changes for this list:

And done:

Not really hard, right? The only thing that’s not so easy is figuring out the correct format for the .listadmin.ini file with the preferences for your lists. For @kde.org lists it needs to look like below. All settings (username, password,… apply to everything following it until overwritten). Adapt for your needs

Hope it helps making admining Mailman lists a little easier for you. And now I’ll go investigate the Mailman patches the great folks at Systers have written to see if they are maybe suitable for KDE.

log “~/.listadmin.log”

username lydia@kde.org

adminurl https://mail.{domain}/mailman/admindb/{list}

password ******

amarok@kde.org

password ******

amarok-devel@kde.org

amarok-promo@kde.org

password ******

community-wg@kde.org

password ******

kde-press-announce@kde.org

password ******

kde-soc-mentor@kde.org

kde-soc@kde.org

password ******

kde-core-devel@kde.org

password ******

kde-kiosk@kde.org

help needed with kde.org relaunch

Lydia — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:51:37 +0000

We need a lot of help collecting data for the new www.kde.org that is being worked on and you can help! It is pretty easy but a lot to do. The more people help the better.

What needs to be done? Just find some simple data about KDE’s programs following a template and putting them on a wiki. We also need screenshots. The community wiki has more details. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know all the data for a certain program. Fill in as much as you know. Everything helps. If you have questions come to #kde-www on freenode or drop me an email at lydia at kde org.

Everyone who completes at least two programs gets hugs from me

It should all be done next weekend so get cracking!

This is the entry for Parley as an example:

Screenshot sent: no

Name: Parley

Description: [can be HTML or wiki markup]

Parley is a program to help you memorize things.
Parley supports many language specific features but can be used for other learning tasks just as well. It uses the spaced repetition learning method, also known as flash cards.
Creating new vocabulary collections with Parley is easy, but of course it is even better if you can use some of our premade files. Have a look at the KDE-Files.org page or use the \”Download New Collections\” feature directly.

Features (optional):

Different test types

Mixed Letters (order the letters, anagram like) to get to know new words

Multiple choice

Written tests – type the words (including clever correction mechanisms)

Example sentences can be used to create ‘fill in the gap’ tests

Article training

Comparison forms (adjectives and/or adverbs)

Conjugations

Synonym/Antonym/Paraphrase

Fast test setup with all options in one dialog

More than two languages (for example English, Chinese Traditional and Chinese Simplified)

Find words (also by word type) quickly

Easy lesson management

Premade vocabulary files ready to use

Share and download vocabulary using Get Hot New Stuff

Open XML file format (shared with KWordQuiz, Kanagram and KHangMan) that can be edited by hand and is easily usable with scripts

Homepage: http://edu.kde.org/parley
ID on kde-apps.org: 66741
Page on Userbase: [empty]
ID of subforum on forum.kde.org: 21
Link to handbook: http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdeedu/parley/index.html
IRC channel(s): #kde-edu
Mailing lists: kde-edu@kde.org, parley-devel@kde.org
Project name on cia.vc: kde/parley
Bugzilla component: parley

Where is the gold?

Lydia — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:07:03 +0000

Amarok 2.2.2 “Maya Gold” is released and it brings back the last two most requested features of 1.4.x: moodbar support and custom labels. We hope this brings some smiles to people’s faces

Download it now, enjoy and rediscover music with us!

KDE-Edu IRC meeting and release parties

Lydia — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:20:21 +0000

The KDE-Edu team will be having an open IRC meeting next Thursday at 8 PM UTC in #kde-edu on freenode. We’ll be discussing the results of the survey, the planned meeting in Switzerland and other stuff.
This meeting is open for everyone. So if you want to get involved just show up and have a look I’m sure we can find something for you together.

Oh and don’t forget: There will be a lot of release parties all over the world – one of them in Karlsruhe – join us for some fun! Details on exact place will follow soon. Please add yourself to the wiki if you plan to come so it is easier for me to plan.
BTW: I am still waiting for release parties in France, Great Britain, Spain and the Netherlands at least! Come on folks!

Let love light your way

Lydia — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:44:39 +0000

Happy holidays and a happy new year to all of you. I hope you get to spend it with people you love and care about. May the next year bring many exciting things and great opportunities.

The Amarok team will begin the new year with the release of Amarok 2.2.2 at the beginning of January and KDE will follow with KDE SC 4.4.0 in early February. Exciting times ahead …

Got a Tattoo?

Lydia — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:25:13 +0000

The first (and only?) beta release “Tattoo” of Amarok 2.2.2 is out!
Check the release announcement for all the nice features in it like moodbar support and help us with testing and bug reporting and fixing.