Category: Uncategorized

Debian package for TWiki LDAP contrib adapter (a bit outdated though)

Currently considering my intention of becoming maintainer of some Debian packages, I realized I had not blogged about the packaging I made for TWikiLdapContrib, an adapter for users and groups management in TWiki based on a LDAP directory.

See https://picoforge.int-evry.fr/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Picoforge/Web/TwikiLdapcontribDeb for more details on this package made for PicoForge.

I should add that it’s a bit outdated wrt the upstream package… but it seems to work for our use in PicoForge 😉

Update 20071005 :

I’ve issued a RFS for version 1.11 of the package, which is the current version advertised on twiki.org.

I’m also working on packaging the future 2.0 version provided by the author.

All details in the link above in Picoforge’s wiki.

Selecting from multiple X configurations (layouts) automatically at GDM startup or at boot

I’m trying to use different configurations on my laptop :

  • standard linux kernel with proprietary nvidia driver
  • and Xen to allow developping/testing in a hosted dom-U Debian distro, in which case I switch back to the libre nv driver

When using the proprietary nvidia driver, I may use two kind of configurations :

  • having several screens in “clone” mode, i.e. replicated view on screen and beamer, for instance (classical use of Fn+F8 clone display)
  • or having both screens assembled into one to use twinview with dualhead, which provides (through Xinerama) and being able to switch windows from one to the other

This means I configured several layouts in the same xorg.conf file, which will describe each a different Xorg configuration.

Update 2008/02/10 : reorganized that post to be able to manage kernel-passed LAYOUT variable
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TwinView on NVidia video card : 2 displays for my laptop

I configured the nvidia (proprietary, shame, shame) driver on my Dell Latitude D820 laptop so that my video card can display on 2 physical screens at the same time (ideal for beamer overhead display in conferences, or with a spare LCD display on the desk, etc.).

I had only tested the clone mode until now, which is usually used to display the same thing on the flat pannel of the laptop and the VGA output (on a beamer, for instance).

I got a bit further and tested the twinview settings, so that I can have the best resolution on either screen : 1680×1050 on internal display or the laptop (DFP, Digital Flat Panel), and 1280×1024 on the external LCD display (recognized as a CRT by the card). Both screens can then be “assembled” to form one large screen of 2960×1050 known by Xinerama ! And guess what, the window manager manages that in a user-friendly way (more or less) : windows can be transfered from one screen to the other, and magnification only sets them to cover the full of the current screen only.
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Making A0 posters on GNU/Linux and previewing printout

We’re going to present PicoForge at the JRES 2007 congress, with an A0 poster.

I’ve been trying to make one with GNU/Linux of course, but it’s not been an easy task.

My main concern was to be able to preview the future results in real dimensions, i.e. being able to print various A4 sheets, then assemble them together to see a real size representation of the future poster. This would help notice readability issues that wouldn’t be obvious on the lower scale representation on-screen.

There’s a nice tool called poster which can be used to convert an EPS A0 (for instance) document into a multi-page A4 document (16 pages for A0) which will have cutting marks, and partial overlap of borders so that it’s easy to cut and assemble the sheets to form a full size poster.

I’ve also tried and follow the rules of our institution communication department to keep with their graphic charter. I tried and reuse their PPT example presentations.

The obvious path meant using OpenOffice, then… but the problem is that OpenOffice Impress (at least in the 2.0 version I used on my Debian lenny system) would not produce a EPS result that poster would understand 🙁

Believe me, these tests on several hundreds of megs (or a couple of gigs) documents were quite long 🙁

After several hours lost in testing, I changed my mind and tried Scribus. And guess what ? It will export nice PDF or EPS that can be converted with poster to what I need to preview my poster !

Of course, Scribus was designed to create the kinds of documents, more than OpenOffice Impress module 😉

So my advice is :

  • make an A0 document with Scribus
  • export to EPS
  • convert the EPS to PS with poster. Something like : poster -v -iA0 -mA4 -pA0 -o poster-multisheet.ps poster-A0.eps
  • check the results with a little bit of cut and paste, in full size

Now, I have to check the last steps : generate a 600 DPI PDF and try and have it printed on A0 by some printing shop… Hopefully it’s OK. I’ll keep you informed of the results.

Update 2007/11/27 : the poster was printed by the JRES organisers, and renders quite nice. More details here.

Article “Le logiciel libre en voie de reconnaissance mondiale” dans la banque des savoirs de l’Essonne

Le logiciel libre en voie de reconnaissance mondiale, est le titre de l’article de La banque des savoirs de l’Essonne, à la Une en ce moment, pour lequel j’ai contribué en tant qu’expert du sujet.

La banque des savoirs de l’Essonne est un site de vulgarisation scientifique, qui s’appuie notamment sur l’expertise des enseignants et chercheurs qui travaillent en Éssonne.

Plus de détails sur la première page de l’article.

P.S.: une mention de PicoForge, sur laquelle nous travaillons au mileu de quelques références prestigieuses de l’actualité du Libre, c’est bien, mais je n’y suis pour rien ;)… enfin, si ça nous fait un peu connaître, je ne me plaindrai pas 😉