Category: free software

Google Code-in: Second round – Go!

Yesterday we released the second wave of tasks for students for the Google Code-in contest. Code-in is a fantastic opportunity for high-school kids to get involved in Free Software, earn some money and maybe win a trip to Google’s headquarter in California (been there – it’s awesome :D). We’re already half-way through the program but if you or someone you know wants to take part: it is not too late yet. Start right now.

Some stats for the first half: The participants rocked and finished nearly 200 tasks. We had about 50 left. Yesterday we added more tasks and are now at nearly 200 open tasks that can be worked on until early January.

Students: What are you waiting for? Get cracking. Our mentors are awesome and don’t bite šŸ˜‰ This is your chance to rock.

KDE e.V. Quarterly Report Q3 2011 published

The Quarterly Report of KDE e.V. for Q3 2011 has been published. It gives an overview of all the important activities the e.V. supports like the Desktop Summit in Berlin and various sprints but also the annual general assembly and finances. It also contains an interview with me about why KDE rocks at mentoring. Check it out here:Ā http://ev.kde.org/reports/ev-quarterly-2011_Q3.pdf

Special thanks to Carl, Claudia, Inu and Rob and everyone who helped them for working on an awesome report.

You can help make everything mentioned in this report happen by supporting KDE e.V. financially. Become a supporting member today and Join the Game.

 

 

KDE is part of Google Code-in 2011

I’m excited that KDE has once again been given theĀ opportunityĀ to work with a number of really awesome kids as part of Google Code-in 2011. Find out more about Code-in and the other 17 accepted organisations in the announcement.

This time Valorie, Sandro, Annma, Akarsh and Roger are helping me with admin duties. We’re looking forward to the flood šŸ˜€

If you’re interested in taking part in Code-in as a student have a look at KDE’s preliminary task list. Those will be moved to the official place in the next days. The real fun starts on November 21st and then you can start working on the tasks. If you have ideas for tasks that you would like to work on but that are not on the list then please propose them either to a potential mentor or the admins. Be quick with this. We can’t add tasks again until Dez. 16th once the program started.Ā Please also carefully read the eligibility requirements.

KDE mentors: If you still have task ideas please add them to the wiki asap.

Should you have questions feel free to ask either on the kde-soc mailing list or in the IRC channel (#kde-soc on freenode).

moar tasks!

We’ve got quite a few tasks for Google Code-in now but still not enough on the wiki page:Ā http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/Ideas.Ā Please help fill it. It needs to have a lot of tasks (at least 5 in each area) on Nov. 1st (org application deadline). I’m sure there are a lot more of those “oh man I wish I had more time to get this done one day” tasks. This is your chance!

For more details check my initial announcement. There are also more task ideas in the comments there that are looking for a mentor in case you are not very creative today šŸ˜‰

If you have questions please find me in #kde-soc on freenode.

 

PS: Please only add tasks with a mentor.

I need your ideas for Google Code-in

It is time again to prepare for Google Code-in. We have 2 weeks to collect tasks that we’d like high-school students aged 13 to 17 to work on. Last year GCI was an amazing success and I hope we can take part again this year. Ā For this I need your help.

We need to fill this page with as many tasks as we can in the next 2 weeks:Ā http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/IdeasĀ  Unlike last year we will not be able to add more tasks for the students until the middle of the program so we really need to have as many as we can by the time the program starts.

We are again looking for tasks in the following areas (we need at least 5 in each of them):

  • Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
  • Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
  • Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
  • Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
  • Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
  • Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
  • Translation: Tasks related to localization
  • User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction

If you are unsure how tasks should look like:

http://community.kde.org/GoogleCodeIn/2011/IdeasĀ is waiting for your ideas. Go Go Go! šŸ˜€
PS: If you are a high-school student who wants to take part in GCI and have a task you’d like to work on: Get in touch with the team you want to work with and ask them to add the task for you now!

15 years of KDE

15 years ago today marks the beginning of what today is a large, worldwide, rocking team producing Free Software. We’re creating programs that are used by so many people all around the world – on their desktop, netbook, tablet, mobile phone and in the cloud – allowing them to be free.

I joined KDE around the time when 3.5.6 or so was hip – I was fascinated by the code and the people behind it. Boy, we’ve come a long way since then on so many levels. It’s been a joy to watch and be a part of. Just as Cornelius, I can say I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. I’ve made the best friends one could imagine, learned more than I could ever wish for, traveledĀ around the world, found love – all that while doing my small part in changing the world. Thanks KDE! I owe you.

But let’s not forget that the ride has just started! In the next years I want KDE to have a significant part in helping make people more free, allowing them to do amazing things that we can’t imagine today. And I want KDE to grow in numbers, scope and financially without losing its identity. It’ll be aĀ challengeĀ but we can make it happen. And you can be a part of it!

Help KDE e.V. secure funding for a sprint with just a few clicks

KDE e.V. needs your help to secure funding for one of our next sprints. All you have to do is click a few buttons. A German bank is giving away 1000 Euro each to the 1000 associations who can get the most votes. Everyone has 3 votes. Please do vote with all 3 for KDE. With just a few clicks you can make a difference!

Here’s what you have to do:
1) go to https://verein.ing-diba.de/sonstiges/10115/kde-ev and click “Stimme abgeben”
2) enter your email and the captcha it asks for and then click “absenden”
3) you’ll get an email to confirm your vote – click the link in the email
4) you’ll get to a website – click “Stimme abgeben”

You can do this 3 times in a row. If KDE is among the top 1000 associations we’ll get 1000 Euro.

Teaching the next Adas – join KDE for Ada Lovelace Day tutorials

October 7th is Ada Lovelace Day, a day where people write about women who influenced them in their science, technology, engineering or math career. KDE wants to celebrate the day a bit differently this year. We will help the next generations of Adas find their way in KDE and Qt. We’ll do this by holding a tutorial day for women and their friends (meaning women are the main focus of the event but everyone else who’s nice is welcome as well). The tutorials will be given by the excellent Myriam Schweingruber and Dario Freddi. Don’t forget to sign up.

  • How To Help With Bug Reports (5PM UTC)
    Coding in a Free Software project is a very important part, but by farĀ not the only one. One of the possible fields where non-coders can getĀ involved is bug triaging. This course will giveĀ an overview on bug triaging and testing. After the course theĀ participant should be able to pick their preferred application and startĀ helping in bug triaging. Myriam will talk about all the fine details of becoming a bugmaster from choosing the right project for yourself to figuring out what is missing in a bug report. This is probably one of the most valuable skills you can bring to KDE right now.
  • Building your own launcher (3PM UTC)
    In this tutorial, you will create a basic application launcher for KDE. Yes, a full-fledged one you can then have fun in turning into a real ā€œstart menuā€ with your new skills. While doing that, Dario will teach you the basics of KDE, Qt and QML, which will empower you to create your first shiny application.

    Requirements:

    • Basic knowledge of C++, mainly syntax-wise
    • Beginner knowledge of Qt could be preferred, but not a requirement
    • A Linux+KDE installation
    • A working KDE development environment (Show up early in the channel if you don’t have that set up yet so we can still do that together.)
    • KDevelop 4.2+ (preferred) or Qt Creator, or your IDE of choice šŸ™‚

    You will learn about:

    • Basic usage of CMake for building your project
    • Basic Qt paradigms
    • Some of KDEā€™s basic APIs such as KService, KIO, Solid
    • Basic QML programming
    • The Model/View paradigm and how to use it with Qt/KDE
    • Interaction between QML and C++
The tutorials will take place in #kde-tutorials on freenode. (You can use the webchat if you don’t already have a working IRC client.) Each course will last approximately 1 hour and will include a question and answer part.
Join us and spread the word to your friends šŸ™‚

Sign up for the tutorials!

Akademy 2012 Call for Hosts closing soon

This is a quick reminder that the Call for Hosts for Akademy 2012 is closing on October 1st. If you are planning to send in a bid please do not miss this deadline. You can find details in this pdfĀ and if you have questions you can email kde-ev-board@kde.org. I’m looking forward to reading your bids and a great Akademy 2012 for our community.