I recently returned to using Linux as my primary laptop operating system. Over the summer I purchased an Hewlett-Packard MFP M281 fdw and while that works flawlessly with MacOS I had been having some printing issues with Linux. I got HPLIP working on Fedora, but after installing Pop!_OS and most recently Ubuntu 18.10 I was not able to use my printer to it’s full advantage. I was willing to live with it until I could find a solution. The remedy came today and I wanted to share it with anyone else who has had similar difficulties. I found that using Google Cloud Print Connector I could easily get full us of the MFP M281. If you have a cloud print capable printer then this is a solution for you too. I did an APT install of Google Cloud Print and then followed the directions for easily setting up my printer. Here is a link to Google’s cloud printing service. Besides printing from Chrome I can now print from all my other desktop applications using this service.
An invitation to read the “The Open School House.”
If you’re looking for a fresh educational perspective and an invitation to build a school educational program that’s the embodiment of the maker culture then you ought to read “The Open Schoolhouse: Building a Technology Program to Transform Learning and Empower Students.” Recently written and published by Charlie Reisinger who is the technology director at Penn Manor School District in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
There is also a deeper ethical problem: reliance on closed source proprietary software teaches students a lesson of dependence on secret technology they are powerless to examine, study, share, and improve upon. If the social mission of schools is to amplify student potential, disseminate knowledge, and prepare students to have an impact on the world, then schools have a duty to help kids be free thinkers and self-reliant architects of their futures.
Reisinger, Charlie (2016-09-29). The Open Schoolhouse: Building a Technology Program to Transform Learning and Empower Students (Kindle Locations 304-307). Kindle Edition.
This book is a real invitation to think differently about how we educate our students and how you can use open source software and open source principles to invite student participation in the educational process.
The Road to Raleigh and All Things Open 2015
In a few days I’ll be boarding a flight that will take me to Raleigh-Durham International and eventually to the All Things Open Conference which is next week. As I was driving home tonight I thought of the journey that began nearly twenty years ago that brought me to this point. I thought of my experiences with Linux and open source software and the many servers and desktops I’ve built and rebuilt over the years that foreordained this trip. On Sunday I’ll be attending a meeting of community-moderators of Opensource.com in Red Hat Tower. None of this was on my radar in the days when I used to piece together old computers in storage closets at my place of employment and install a variety of Linux distributions on them. I thought of my efforts to have Red Hat Linux approved as a software standard for use in public schools of Western New York State almost eleven years ago. I’m thrilled at the prospect of meeting others from all over the world who also believe that the present and future hold unlimited potential for those individuals and entities who use open source software. When I retired from public education a couple of years ago I thought I had reached the limit of my endeavors with Linux and open source software.
Emerson once said, every wall is a door,” and my retirement opened a door to unimagined possibilities. One of those possibilities has been my participation in the wonderful enterprise of Opensource.com as a community moderator. In the past ten months I’ve learned a lot about writing, interviewing and participation. I’ve learned about more than software and hardware. I’ve learned about being a part of a wonderful open organization. I’ve been welcomed, empowered and encouraged by a unique team of individuals who have helped me to realize that I still have much to give.
Simple Screen Recorder – Easy Screencasting on Linux
In my spare time I volunteer as a digital literacy trainer in our local library. Recently I put together a training wiki that featured a number of YouTube videos on a variety of topics including word processing. I could not find exactly what I wanted to introduce my students to LibreOffice so I decided I would create my own. I considered a number of options for doing that but finally setttled on “Simple Screen Recorder” which is an open source software released on the GPL3 license. I liked it because unlike the other programs I had considered it had a very simple interface but produced high quality video files which I could easily upload to YouTube and then share in my wiki. “SimpleScreenRecorder” allows a user to capture the whole screen or just a self selected rectangle. Files can be saved as Matroska, Ogg, WebM and MP4.
I liked “SimpleScreenRecorder” because it was so easy to use and it provided exactly what I was looking for. I have used other proprietary screen capture programs which cost a hundred dollars and more while not providing a more intuitive interface. “Simple Screen Recorder” has a number of features that I liked including: graphical interface; the ability to record an entire screen or just a portion of it; synchronization of audio and video; pause and resume and the use of hot-keys for starting and ending recordings.
I installed it using instructions provided on their website. They provide instructions for Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Slackware, OpenSuse and others. I also found RPMs that allow it to be installed on Fedora. Once installed the user opens a terminal and enters “simplescreenrecorder” on the command line and the program starts. After a welcome screen the user is presented with some very simple choices about area to be recorded. I chose a rectangle and could easily select it with a “cross-hair” type selection tool. At the next screen I was presented with choices of the name of my recorded file along with the format. I chose MP4 for video and MP3 for audio and then I began my recording. The source code for Simple Screen Recorder can be found at, https://github.com/MaartenBaert/ssr.
Here is a short YouTube video I created with “Simple Screen Recorder” to demonstrate how easy the program is to use. You can report bugs and submit feature requests on GitHub: https://github.com/MaartenBaert/ssr/issues or if you don’t have a GitHub account you can send requests directly to Maarten Baert via email.
Two Years
It’s been two years since I retired or almost that long and in that space of time I’ve found time to do as much or more than I ever did before. Since January I have been writing for Opensource.com and today I found out that two of my interviews made it to the top ten interviews on the site for the first six months of the year. That’s gratifying but also humbling too. I remember praying a few years ago about finding a job where I could research and write and that is exactly what I am doing. Add to that I am part of a much larger whole. I am part of a team of selfless souls who make the community of moderators and content managers at Opensource.com.
In addition to my recent work with Opensource.com I’ve found lots of other ways to give back to the community. I’ve recently become involved in a local food pantry which is operated by Catholic Charities of Buffalo. The patrons come from around the Franklinville area and it too is an answered prayer although one of a more recent nature. My prayer life has deepened and I’m more relaxed most of the time than I ever have been. The open source community of which I am a part invites the humanitarian, compassionate and contemplative within me and I see it’s application everywhere. Recently I was given a chance to refurbish two ten year old computers and I installed Lubuntu, which is a version of Ubuntu Linux on them. Yesterday I was thinking that there might be an opportunity to help some lower income members of the community with these two older computers. Exactly how they might be deployed I’m not sure yet but there is an opportunity to give back in yet another way.
I’m grateful for each day. Peace.
Once a teacher, always a teacher
I am preparing once again to teach class next Wednesday night at the Blount Library in Franklinville, New York. My first class of three adults met a couple of weeks ago and our topic was introduction to computers. The next class will be an extension of that same topic. I was fortunate to be asked to teach this group. I was thinking earlier today of my first student, my brother, whom I taught when we were in primary grades. I would make up tests for him with my Dad’s typewriter. Later as a member of the United States Navy I was called on to educate members of my company in recruit training at Great Lakes, Illinois. Though I recently retired from public education, teaching is something I enjoy. My students on Wednesday night will learn more about Google Drive and Microsoft Office. I’m going to teach them how to attach documents to an email and how to collaborate with others. I enjoy blogging and using social media and soon I hope to teach a class on that topic too. I was thinking too of teaching a course on introduction to Linux and open source software. Though iPads and tablets in general are very popular there are still computer users who enjoy tinkering and that group would enjoy a class on open source software like Ubuntu Linux or creating your own podcasts with Audacity. Linux is like a software erector set. There is almost no limit to what you could teach a class about Linux. Linux skills are in demand in the marketplace too according to a recent article in PC World.
Does cost really matter?
Earlier today I read a tweet from Phil Shapiro that suggested that the massive iPad initiative in Los Angeles Schools was in trouble. I did some “googling” and it does seem that the project is over budget. According to what I read the original estimates of cost per iPad were actually one-hundred dollars less than what the school district actually paid for the iPads. How long will these iPads last and what is the replacement cost? Along with those thoughts are some of my own. I’ve been volunteering in the local library and there they have ten Dell computers which are now five years old. I spoke with the librarian about upgrading them which would cost about $629 each on New York State Contract. Can the Blount Library afford that? Perhaps, but what will become of the units that are being replaced. Can they be refurbished and used elsewhere in the library? Yes, they could be and they might even serve as part of a “maker space.” In one of Phil Shapiro’s tweets yesterday he stated that libraries could become local centers for the “Maker Movement.” This do-it-yourself revolutions which is sweeping across the country is gathering momentum and it’s one more purpose for today’s libraries.
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Inkpad for iPad
Just today I received a tweet from Phil Shapiro (@philshapiro) about an open source program for the iPad. It’s called InkPad and it’s the equivalent of Inkscape for the iPad. I was determined to use it and produce a graphic that I could share back to Phil. My mission is accomplished but more than that I can recommend InkPad to any of you iPad users who are interested in producing scalable vector graphics on your iPad. It’s very easy to use and the “Help” section of the application is very complete and easy to use. I’d give it five stars and I’m using it on an iPad 3 running iOS 7.
I’m blogging today on Ubuntu 12.04 Linux which is running on a four year old Dell Vostro 1520. Ageing technology given new life by Ubuntu Linux.
Open Source of Course
I have been an advocate for open source software for a number of years. Until I bought a MacBook Pro four years ago I used Ubuntu as my primary platform. Ubuntu and other Linux distributions provide a reasonable alternative desktop. The library I’ve been volunteering in the past couple of months has aging Dell Optiplex 755 desktop computers that struggle a bit to run Windows 7 with 4 gigabytes of RAM. I know these same units using a Ubuntu desktop would still be quite responsive. I have an older Dell Vostro laptop that came with Windows XP Professional on it four years ago. With the end of support for XP I’m tempted to install Ubuntu on it. I could put more memory in the computer and run Windows 7 on it but that’s going to cost about two-hundred dollars. In addition to that I’m going to have to install sometime of antivirus client. With Ubuntu or some other Linux distribution I need none of that and I get a host of other free software programs to install on this older laptop. Open source operating systems like Fedora or Ubuntu provide reasonable alternatives to Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh platform.
Got to give it up
Ending ISTE 2011 listening to Steve Hargadon speak on open source brought me home. Steve said 20 years ago at ISTE teachers used to swap disks and programs because that’s the way it was. I remember those days well. That was the day of Al Rogers, FredWriter, Apple II & IIe. There was an altruism among teachers and tech coordinators. That’s been supplanted in many cases by vendors hawking their wares. There are still some like Apple, Microsoft, & Google who provide free services but for most vendors schools are markets to be monetized.
That is why I find open source so refreshing. I’m an entrepreneur and enjoy the fruits of success but I try to put people first. I do a lot of pro bono work and open source figures into that model well. I regularly use open source and recommend it. Why not use Open Office? I wrote all my papers in a recently completed masters degree with OpenOffice.org. I blog on WordPress, teach students using Moodle, build other websites with Drupal. I use Ubuntu and recommend it to my students. It has so many free tools and as Steve Hargaddon said in his talk ISTE a student can get a job right out of high school with a working knowledge of PHP, MySQL & Apache. I saw a billboard advertisement yesterday from Hostgator.com looking for people with Linux experience. Just sayin.