All finished

I’ve just submitted my thesis so after 2 years, my masters is all done and dusted.

Thesis: Free Lunch?

Project: free:dyne

Bad sectors

Bloody brilliant, now I’ve got bad sectors in the middle of ubuntu – why couldn’t it have been XP 🙁

Scarey times

Had a rough coupla days recently. Grub went bad on me and wouldn’t let me boot into ubuntu or windoze but i’ve managed to eventually sort that out and am now able to make isos again. And then overnight I get an email telling me that my site has been taken offline due to unusual activity. All I did was install WordPress for the supporting website to the project. Not sure if the unusual activity referred to the WordPress files or the fact that I was finally installing something new – bit cheeky if the latter! Anyways, got an apology from them and if you can read this then I’m still up and running.

Hmmmm

Trimming down the base distro is proving to be a bit of a pig coz everytime I remove something I need I have to do the full install. I don’t really want to have to suggest that users have to have a larger usb drive but I might not have much choice as time is running out. AND, despite it supporting wireless, it looks as though the computer needs to be connected up by a wire initially. Still, at least it ain’t raining 🙂

Size does matter

I’ve had some feedback and it’s not good although not completely bad. My distro won’t fit on a 4GB pen drive which is the smallest I was aiming for. Admittedly I haven’t really gone thru all of the base distro’s setup so it was a bit of a rush job. Guess I better get onto that pretty damn sharpish.

Test version unleased

So I’ve managed to make an image copy and have sent it to a small group of fellow geeks who have offered to help. I’ve asked them to be brutally honest……hopefully they won’t be too brutal 🙂

Quick update

Had a bit of a mini success and have managed to get a bootable version of Ubuntu onto a USB stick. I had a bit of a problem getting my laptop to boot from it but after a quick experiment with the boot options (see below) I managed to get it up and running. Now I just need to install all of the applications that I want and maybe customise the boot screen and that hopefully should be that.

Ubuntu it is

I’ve had a really positive response back about my choice of base distro for the project and the latest version Ubuntu is a clear winner although openSUSE got a mention so might be worth a look at least.

Plan of attack – part 1

I think the structure of my essay will be along these lines:

Introduction – briefly talk about gifts, the gift economy and open source development and distribution. Outline the structure of the rest of the chapters
Gifts – examine gift giving in other cultures as in the research by Mauss, blood donations and the gift as a tool for solidarity. Also look at how artists have to distinguish between the gift of their art and making a living.
Open source – brief explanation of its history, look at the rise of open source using linux and Netscape Navigator/Firefox as examples, the collaborative nature of working and the importance of the internet to it.
Project – describe the project, how it relates to gifts/giving and open source and document its progress.
Conclusion – go over relevant points and how they fit in with the suggestion that open source is a viable alternative to the market economy model of software development and distribution. Also on the success (or not) of the project.

For the project, I still need to decide which base distro to go for. I’m leaning towards Ubuntu but might have to bite the bullet and experiment with a few. I’m gonna have a chat with some linux gurus I know both online and in the real world and see what they suggest. Once I’ve sorted that out, will draw up a list of applications that I want to include and then make it…..and document it at the same time to help plan for the workshop. Talking of which, I need to speak to Caroline at PAC and see if there might be interest in doing one there. I need to get my head around how I’m gonna market/distribute it. I really like the idea of it “going solo” but I keep coming back to the idea of having some sort of affiliation as it would no doubt help to raise its profile. I think I need to ponder this some more.