2004.12_Projects on the Move-Free Software and Its Makers.pdf

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Free Software Projects

Projects on the Move

Free software includes such a diverse range applications that it can be hard to

find the perfect tool. In this column, we pick the best of the bunch. This month

you’ll learn about Debian’s Sarge cluster, Kalyxo, Linux on handheld computers,

and the Debian-Women project. BY MARTIN LOSCHWITZ

replace Windows Mobile just as you can

replace a desktop Windows system.

The Sharp Zaurus is the first Linux

PDA worldwide to be officially devel-

oped for and sold with Linux as the

factory default. The Zaurus has state-of-

the-art hardware, but the high selling

price puts many people off. This may

explain why, in Europe, Sharp itself is

not marketing the current versions of the

Zaurus. The most popular Zauraus PDA

dealer in Germany is Trisoft [3].

The latest Zaurus models have a 400

MHz Xscale CPU, 64MBytes of RAM, up

to 128MBytes of flash ROM, Bluetooth,

and WLAN. The display has a standard

resolution of 480x640 pixels that allows

users to run most PC-capable applica-

tions on the Zaurus.

If you can do without some of the con-

venience the Zaurus provides, there are a

few low-budget alternatives that can also

put Linux in your hand. For example,

you could consider one of the older

Hewlett-Packard iPAQ models, which

have a StrongARM CPU.

tant to the Debian project. As

part of the QA process, Debian

compiles all the packets in the main-

stream distribution on all supported

architectures. If you’re wondering how

they handle the compilation of these

thousands of packages, the answer is

that they use lots of hardware.

Debian developers took advantage of

the KDE developer conference, aKademy,

to set up a compiler network made up of

a variety of laptops and Pentium 4 desk-

top systems. The cluster took just two

days to compile the complete Sarge

distribution. The test demonstrated

that five percent of the packages in

Sarge will not compile without modi-

fications. And that means there is

still plenty to do.

Complete Environment

There is a collection of programs for

installing Linux on a 3xxx series iPAQ at

[4]. Familiar Linux from [5] is the recom-

mended distribution.

The installation requires a serial con-

nection between your desktop computer

and the iPAQ. There is an alternative

approach that uses a Compact Flash

card.

Familiar Linux includes an X server

with render extension for quick graphics

and font anti aliasing. Familiar is also

compatible to the Debian GNU/Linux

ARM Port, which means that you can

install any of the many thousands of

Debian packages. The Familiar iPKG

package manager allows you to manage

the installed software.

The GUIs GPE [6] and Opie [7] both

run on Familiar. GPE (the GPE Palmtop

Linux in Your Hand

In previous issues, Projects on the

Move has looked at a variety of

devices that can run Linux, including

Apple’s I-Pod [1] and the D-Box 2

[2]. Linux often adds value in com-

parison to the proprietary system

preinstalled on a handheld. However,

with the exception of Palm devices,

most PDAs come with Windows

Mobile. The good news is you can

Figure 1: This HP/Compaq

iPAQ runs Linux now instead

of the preinstalled version of

Windows Mobile.

Figure 2: The Open Palmtop Integrated Environment, also known as Opie,

is a PDA-optimized GUI based on Trolltech’s QTopia.

December 2004

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Figure 3: The new Kalyxo project aims to improve Debian’s integration of KDE. To achieve this aim, the

members have decided to add their own extensions.

Kalyxo is actually designed to interact

with user systems at a lower level. The

developers aim to bridge the gap

between the operating system and the

user – that is, between what the user

sees and what is hiding under the hood.

This involves running Qt and GTK appli-

cations simultaneously on the desktop

without the user noticing the difference.

Kalyxo is half way there, but many

aspects still do not perform reliably.

It is important for the Kalyxo project to

stay true to its KDE roots and to achieve

its future goals in cooperation with KDE.

So-called KDE I/O slaves are a big help,

giving Konqueror-based access to a vari-

ety of filesystems and device types. But

I/O slaves are due to be replaced by a

transparent network protocol layer in the

near future. The protocol layer will allow

programs such as GIMP to edit files

across a network. This said, developers

will need to modify the underlying

libraries and not just KDE.

Environment) is based on XFree86 and

GTK 2.2; Opie (Open Palmtop Integrated

Environment) uses QTopia.

Synce performs as expected. Once you

have Synce talking to your PDA, you can

add a Multisync [11] plug-in to provide a

GUI-based synchronization front-end.

Public Work

Kalyxo is not a Debian sub-project in the

traditional sense, although there is no

denying that the developers will con-

tribute to the general goal of improving

Debian with their programs and patches.

In the long term, the developers want

users to recognize Kalyxo as an indepen-

dent project. Of course, the Debian

statutes may be to blame for this; after

all, they do make it difficult for people to

join a project.

Getting There

If you do not happen to own an iPAQ

model from the previously mentioned

series but have a more modern handheld

computer, such as a H19xx or H22xx

series device, you may need to wait until

support for your iPAQ has been com-

pleted. Projects for porting the Linux

kernel to newer machines do exist, but

they have not reached anything like the

status of the H3xxx port.

Development for the H22xx series is a

lot more advanced than for the H19xx.

Sadly, the project for Linux on the H19xx

is practically defunct. If you feel like giv-

ing the developers a helping hand, you

can check out the project websites at [8]

and [9] and join in with the discussions

on the corresponding mailing lists.

If you are forced to use Windows on

your PDA for any reason, at least you

can sync to a Linux machine. ActiveSync

gives you PDA-to-Windows synchroniza-

tion. The program uses a proprietary

format and it does not come with an offi-

cial Linux client.

The Synce project [10] sets the balance

right. The developers have implemented

a Linux version of the ActiveSync proto-

col. Although the program is quite tricky

to set up (you need a kernel patch),

Kalyxo

A few years ago, the Debian project

announced that it would be cooperating

with the KDE developers and Corel.

Unfortunately, this cooperation did not

bear fruit. On the contrary, the complete

KDE environment was missing from

Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 (also known as

Potato), forcing users to resort to

workarounds. Potato may

be history by now, but

KDE integration is still not

one of Debian’s more

prominent features.

Enter the Kalyxo project

[12], which made its first

public appearance at the

KDE Akademy confer-

ence. The people behind

Kalyxo are developers

who contribute to the

KDE project and use

Debian on their private

machines. They were con-

cerned about the low

level of KDE integration in

Debian, and they set up

the Kalyxo project to

strengthen the link bet-

ween KDE and Debian.

Figure 4: The Amarok audio player is one of the more prominent

entries in the Kalyxo software directory.

www.linux-magazine.com December 2004

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Free Software Projects

Kalyxo is a competitor to Userlinux,

which is also based on Debian GNU/

Linux. UserLinux is targeted at providing

a desktop for the enterprise sector,

among other things. In contrast to

Kalyxo, Userlinux is based on Gnome.

And this is exactly what made the distri-

bution unattractive to the current Kalyxo

members. Also, Bruce Peren’s decision

to found Userlinux was quite controver-

sial at the time.

In contrast to the KDE/Corel/Debian

cooperation, there is more behind Kalyxo

than a statement of intent. Users can

check out the Kalyxo website for a col-

lection of software that has been

modified to run with the Debian distrib-

ution.

What Kalyxo really needs most is more

developers. Anyone interested in sup-

porting the project can check out the

website at [12] for more details. What

seems certain at present is that Kalyxo is

poised to go through major changes that

will culminate in a separate Debian-

based distribution shortly.

Spertus’ advice, one example being the

“Committee on the Status of Women in

Computing Research,” or CRA for short.

This committee continually investigates

the status of women in the world of com-

puting and tries to help wherever help is

needed and possible. The committee’s

membership list includes staff from IBM,

AT&T, and MIT.

Last month’s issue of Projects on the

Move[2] contained a note on the Debian

Women project. The members of Debian

Women aim to involve more women in

Debian development. The project’s ini-

tiator is Erinn Clark, who is not a Debian

developer herself at present, although

she has made a number of past contribu-

tions to the distribution. Amaya Rodrigo

Sastre, who is an official Debian devel-

oper, is also actively involved with the

group.

The project is still quite new, which

explains why it currently has just a web-

site and a mailing list to show for all the

work the organizers have put in. The

website is at [14] and includes an FAQ

page where female developers can

explain their motives for founding their

own projects. The project founders are

keen to point out that Debian Women is

not a completely independent institution

but a Debian sub-project.

Debian Women wants to make a big

splash. Their major focus is getting

women more involved in Debian by

offering workshops and presentations on

the Debian infrastructure (including the

Debian Bug Tracking and Package Track-

ing systems). Debian Women intends to

cooperate with other Debian sub-pro-

jects, and women’s projects, to help

wherever help is really needed.

Debian Women is open to anyone,

even to men. Most activities are cur-

rently focused around the mailing list –

and there are a few male contributors.

There is always IRC chat. The website

gives you more details on these options.

That’s All Folks…

… for this month at least, but we do

have one request before we go: If you

can recommend a program that you

would like to see featured in Projects on

the Move, why not mail me with your

suggestion [15]? I look forward to your

comments!

■

INFO

[1] Martin Loschwitz,“Projects on the Move”:

Linux Magazine #42, p. 86

[2] Martin Loschwitz,“Projects on the Move”:

Linux Magazine #48, p. 88

[3] Trisoft:

http://www.trisoft.de/en_index.html

[4] Linux on handhelds:

http://www.handhelds.org

[5] Familiar Linux:

http://familiar.handhelds.org

[6] GPE for Ipaq Linux:

http://gpe.handhelds.org

[7] Opie for Ipaq Linux:

http://opie.handhelds.org

[8] Linux on H19xx I-Paqs:

http://handhelds.org/projects/h1900/

[9] Linux on H22xx I-Paqs:

http://www.handhelds.org/projects/

h2200/

[10] SynCE for ActiveSync based synchroni-

zation: http://synce.sf.net/

[11] MultiSync, a free synchronization tool:

http://multisync.sourceforge.net/

[12] Kalyxo website:

http://www.kalyxo.org

[13] NX:

http://www.nomachine.com

[14] Debian Women project homepage:

http://women.alioth.debian.org/

[15] Tips and suggestions:

projects@linux-magazine.com

The Debian Women Project

It is taking time to get more women

involved with the Open Source commu-

nity. One typical example is the Debian

project, which has fewer than five

women among its officially registered

developers. Way back in 1991, Ellen

Spertus published a white paper at the

renowned Massachusetts Institute of

Technology discussing the reasons for

low female participation figures in Com-

puter Science courses at Universities.

She is convinced that jokes about

women, which many

men consider harm-

less, cause many

women distress. Also,

technical documents

typically use mascu-

line terminology (such

as “he” rather than

“he or she”). One

approach that Ellen

Spertus suggested was

for women to organize

their activities and

exchange experiences

in groups.

In the open source

world, some women

have followed Ellen

Figure 5: The Debian Women project aims to involve more women in

Debian development and will be offering courses to further this aim.

Martin Loschwitz is from a small Ger-

man town called Niederkrüchten and

a developer for Debian GNU/Linux.

Martin’s leisure time is mainly pre-

occupied with activities in the Debian

or GNU community.

December 2004

www.linux-magazine.com

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