[Server-devel] The three step XSCE demo!

Wed Nov 20 05:45:00 EST 2013

On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 2:31 PM, David Farning <dfarning at activitycentral.com
> wrote:

> Can everybody sit back and have a tasty beverage of their choice to
> celebrate?
>
> On the surface, this email might seem simple. Below the surface this
> is a turning point in the project.
>
> "Actually I'm more interested in what a good dev environment would be
> in order to contribute."
>
> This is exactly what we have been targeting for that last year. A busy
> deployment support person who doesn't really can about the School
> Server or its technology. He just cares about how to build on XSCE to
> meet his specific deployment needs.
>
> If, and this is a very big if, we have done a good job designing the
> XSCE project and the XSCE product, Sebastian will find that it is more
> effective to do his work as an plug-in-service on XSCE rather than
> head off in his own.
>
> The open source theory behind this the notion of creating a modular
> and collaborative base which others use to solve their own specific
> problems.
>
> The business theory is that of Lead Users. (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_user ) As an upstream, we don't have
> a complete understanding of users needs and priorities. Working with
> lead users, enables us to understand and meet their individual needs
> while gather information to create abstract solutions which apply to
> other users as well.
>
> It looks like 0.5 is coming along nicely. There is a lot of green in
> the task matrix at
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/0.5/Ansible_Progress .
>
> While there are several interesting features at
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/Features for 0.6, there
> is no cohesive theme to 'unite' us together as a project. I would like
> to suggest that the theme for 0.6 is making XSCE as easy and desirable
> as possible for lead users like Sebastian.
>
> Much like the initial statement, "Actually I'm more interested in what
> a good dev environment would be in order to contribute." which seems
> simple, but is actually a tipping point for the project. Engaging lead
> users seems simple, yet is rather subtle. On first glace there is:
>

Welcome to the "we should make it simple and have awesome documentation"
pack :-)

While the hackers here crank out 0.5 (they have been writing crazy amounts
of code lately), lets try to figure out ways to do just what you mentioned,
by breaking into small actionable tasks and/or features. This process
actually started a few weeks ago (with the switch to github), but there's
tons more to do.

> 1. Documentation about the the project and it's technologies.
>

+1. I guess a wiki is the best place to do it, but we could think of more
interactive ways (like video tutorials etc. Miguel's github tutorial video
has already been viewed 27+ times http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEE85F3Zjcs
).

> 2. Simple ways to install,test, and develop XSCE.
>

1. There is some work being done here. Santi was working on a test script
that would run a battery of tests once the XSCE installs. I think that work
could resume post 0.5. Think of it as an automated commit-build-test env.
(I don't think there's a feature page for this yet).

2. Providing simple install images (VM appliances, XO images etc.) Again
could be worked upon post 0.5 (Again, don't think there is a feature page
yet).

3. Develop: It should already be easy to develop, thanks to ansible, save
for the documentation and the on-ramp part.

4. <Your idea here :-)>

> 3. Simple ways to interact with the community and transfer knowledge
> and technology.
>
>
1. End user documentation (I want to approach this more as a process that
results in end user documentation, than a concentrated effort, since this
is going to be an ongoing thing). It is going to take a kickstart though.

2. Refer you to the crazy-ideas section here
http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/server-devel/2013-October/006823.html :-)

3. <more crazy ideas welcome> :-P

> More subtly, there are decisions about encapsulation. What does a new
> developer need to know to get started? What complexity should be
> hidden and what should be exposed to new developers.... via best
> practices, APIs, and community processes.
>
> The challenge is to create an on-ramp to engage a broader audience at
> a pace which enables them to use XSCE to meet their needs while
> avoiding the tendency to create a wall between 'us' them 'them.'
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 11:24 PM, Sebastian Silva
> <sebastian at fuentelibre.org> wrote:
> > Thanks that will be simpler. Actually I'm more interested in what a good
> dev
> > environment would be in order to contribute.
> > Do I need to make a fedora chroot?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Sebastian
> >
> > El 19/11/13 09:51, Anish Mangal escribió:
> >
> > I tried uploading it to xsce.activitycentral.com, but I ran out of
> space in
> > my user dir. Normally the appliance is 1.3G, but this also has 400mb of
> IIAB
> > test dataset.
> >
> > I'll give it another shot in another area where there is some free space,
> > and get back.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 7:24 PM, Sebastian Silva <
> sebastian at fuentelibre.org>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi
> >> I tried this but google drive problematic to download from as it
> requires
> >> to download from a browser. Not adequate for 1.6gb. Let me know if I can
> >> pick it up from a regular download place. Why is it so big?
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Sebastian
> >>
> >> El 17/11/13 20:48, Anish Mangal escribió:
> >>
> >>> Download the XSCE Virtualbox appliance from here
> >>> https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3eW2YPe6koIVXRVbDhSR0xXQ1U (approx
> 1.6 GB)
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Server-devel mailing list
> > Server-devel at lists.laptop.org
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
> >
>
>
>
> --
> David Farning
> Activity Central: http://www.activitycentral.com
>
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