ltsp local apps + nat + ....

[Scott Balneaves]

On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 11:55:12AM -1000, R. Scott Belford wrote:
> The most successful and easy-to-use K12 gnu/linux distro with LTSP
> integration was the K12LTSP, and the bug process was the mailing list.
>  The kind and wonderful people like Jim McQuillan and Eric Harrison,
> among others, listened to the input from the *USER* list and acted
> accordingly.  This spirit and opportunity has been lost and even
> discouraged on this *USER* mailing list.  It is hard to come forward
> and say, 'hey, I know this is supposed to be easy, and I see that all
> you smart people make it look that way, bu I feel stupid asking for
> help, but, help?...."

Several things of note here:

1) Neither Jim, nor Eric, are actively involved with LTSP anymore.  In fact,
the simple reason *why* Jim and I originally came up with the idea of LTSP5
(muekow) was because the old model was unsustainable.  For about 2.5 years,
during the LTSP 4.2 days, even though I was paid full time as a sysadmin at
Legal Aid, I was pretty much doing *nothing* but LTSP.  Why?  Simply because
we, as you point out, answered every question, implemented every idea, wrote
all the code.  Jim McQuillan implemented the original cut of LTSP in summer
1999, and I became involved in Fall 1999, and for the next 6+ years, it was
just the two of us working on it.  No one else got involved, because, hey, no
one else *needed* to get involved.  Jim and I did it all.

Until we got tired of doing it all.

GNU/Linux has grown beyond the days of a few kind souls doing it all: it's HAD
to.  Simply because as users wanted more and more features, the same few people
couldn't keep up.

And since when have we ever *discouraged* people from asking questions.  The
only thing I seek to discourage people from thinking is that Edubuntu is some
huge project with a massive paid staff that's supposed to be fixing all it's
problems.

https://edge.launchpad.net/~edubuntu-members/+members#active

There's 9 Edubuntu members, and 3 of them have been inactive for a while now.

All I'm trying to point out to everyone here is: if people want things to
progress faster, we *need* people to get involved.

Heck: Gavin, who answers more questions on this list than anyone, isn't even a
member!  Gavin!  What's up with that, dude? :)

> Please note, and this has always confused me, Canonical provides us
> with an edubuntu-devel mailing list for developers interested in
> making the magic.  Why is it not the place for discussion, and why is
> this list not mined for *trends* that clearly need attention?  The
> description of the devel list is here:

With the exception of LaserJock, stgraber, and myself, we have almost no other
"full time" developers.  And we *are* mining for trends: handbook and sabayon
are our two biggest needs right now, and we're frantically working on them.

I know I keep sounding like a broken record, and a whiney one at that, but...
".... why is this list not mined for *trends* that clearly need attention?"

Once again the implicit "you" is in there.  Why aren't "you guys" doing this?
The reason why is, currently, the "you guys" is so vanishingly small that
our plates are full just keeping the bus on the road.

In some golden tomorrow when there's 100 developers, and 10 or 12 people who
make it their task to answer all questions, then yeah, "we" will be able to
handle things better.  But right now, there's no "we" without "you" becoming
involved.

<snip marketing speach about what the devel list is supposed to be>

> Edubuntu aims to be an Ubuntu variant...

Aims.  I'd say we're missing the mark right now.  If you agree, then there's
one, and only one, solution.  Get involved.

> I'll be on the Users mailing list if anyone wants to hear from me/us.

We've been listening.  And we're pedalling as fast as we can.  But from me, at
least, this is the plaintive cry: If we're not going fast enough for you, I
understand.  But I, and the others, can't pedal any faster.

We're just going to have more pedallers.

Remember: Edubuntu is spelled Ed*you*buntu.

Cheers,
Scott

-- 
Scott L. Balneaves | Life may have no meaning... or even worse,
Systems Department | it may have a meaning of which I disapprove.
Legal Aid Manitoba |     -- Ashleigh Brilliant