How it works?

There are just 4 things that you needed to care about: egalax_drv.so, the binary driver used by the X.Org server; eGalaxTouch, the utility for calibrating and setting preferences; TKCal, a lower level utility for setting options in the hardware; and script also add some information about new configuration to X.Org config-file (I changed it: package create the new config file called /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-egalax.conf).

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "EETI"
        Driver "egalax"
        Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS1"
        Option "Parameters" "/var/lib/eeti.param"
        Option "ScreenNo" "0"
EndSection

As you can see I use /dev/ttyS1. EGalaxTouch support S232, USB, PS2, and I2C controllers. So, if you use, for example, USB, you have to change device-string like this:

        Option "Device" "usbauto"

X -version

Here is also one important thing what you have to know: X.Org server and input drivers/modules should have same versions (support same API). EGalaxTouch driver contain modules for different X.Org versions. That means, that package have to check X.Org version during installation to know which input module should be used. I tested package on openSUSE 11.4/12.1 and Ubuntu 10.04 and it looks stable. Anyway, let me know if it will not works for you.

Don’t forget after installing the package and restarting X.Org Server also run eGalaxTouch and TKCal. This will let you calibrate the touchscreen. It takes a bit time to complete, but it increases the precision of the touch position.

Good luck and happy touching

<distribution vendor="openSUSE" version="12.1" id="opensuse-12.1">
 <name>openSUSE 12.1</name>
 <project>openSUSE.org:openSUSE:12.1</project>
 <reponame>openSUSE_12.1</reponame>
 <repository>standard</repository>
 <icon width="8" height="8" url="https://static.opensuse.org/distributions/logos/opensuse-12.1-8.png"/>
 <icon width="16" height="16" url="https://static.opensuse.org/distributions/logos/opensuse-12.1-16.png"/>
 <link>http://www.opensuse.org/</link>
</distribution>

and reboot OBS/MySQL/WebServer:

rclighttpd stop
rcobspublisher stop
rcobsdispatcher stop
rcobsworker stop
rcobsscheduler stop
rcobssrcserver stop
rcobsrepserver stop
rcmysql stop

rcmysql start
rcobsrepserver start
rcobssrcserver start
rcobsscheduler start
rcobsworker start
rcobsdispatcher start
rcobspublisher  start
rclighttpd start

So you can teach your OBS build packages for new distribution.

Of course a new OBS 2.2.96 (from Tools:/Unstable/openSUSE_11.4) has many sweet and interesting things which I also want to have at home. But at work, where stability is most important, I “update” OBS also like this.
Good luck and happy packaging

16th November at 19 o’clock just follow us in Nautibar (Theaterstraße 8, Göttingen).

Dark fresh beer, kicker and openSUSE 12.1 wait for you

So, what is release party about? Well… like usual: Linux geeks meet together, speak about features and news in SUSE and Free Software world, drink beer and… of course have a lot of fun
Right now I don’t know how many people will come and can’t say more about party (location, time… or something like this).

If some of us want to meet together, please contact me (so quick as possible).

As a new employee in xplace I suggested couple new ideas about xplace’s software development model. Actually it works very well, but my idea was to add Open Build Service like the most convenient and powerfull development platform. So, after some discussions I installed OBS and added some xplace’s projects there. On this week I builded new packages for all available distributions and made a small demostration/talk about OBS for xplace’s development team. I introduced how easy it works and how we can to upgrade our development model. We use Jenkins as well, so I wrote small python script, which synchronizes those systems: we get new packages via OBS after every stable build of Jenkins.

I think this initiative will attract new developers to use build.opensuse.org, learn about packaging and build packages for different distributions. And of course like developer and openSUSE member I want to use at work convenient Free Software development platform and… continue to promotion openSUSE project

On FTA’s page you can find free books (all of them are under a Free Copyleft license), which can be interesting for some of us, I guess.

Fluxbox requires less time for booting and uses considerably fewer system resources than, for example, KDE or GNOME. This suited for situations where system resources, especially memory, are very limited. I use Fluxbox on my ASUS EeePC 701: 900 MHz CPU, 512 Mb RAM and yes – only 4 Gb HDD :/

Installation openSUSE

If you want to have/install a new openSUSE with Fluxbox only, hit the “Other” button at the “Desktop Selection” screen and choose either Minimal X Window. It will install the base system, plus the X Window server with basic desktop environment – TWM.

Of course, If you want more control, then take the second text-mode option. In this case you will have to know exactly which packages do you need.

In my case I chose Minimal X Window and after installation I got TWM with the default X Window System display manager XDM. Now I have about 600 installed packages and all takes about 1.3 GB on HDD.
Now we can easily run XTerm, where is necessary to make still to steam of steps before we will enjoy stable and fast work Fluxbox. By the way, for configure your XTerm, just create a new file ~/XTerm with the settings.
For example, this is my ~/XTerm:

XTerm*foreground: darkgreen
XTerm*cursorColor: darkgreen
XTerm*background: black
XTerm*scrollBar: True
XTerm*saveLines: 1000
XTerm*font: 9x15

Be green!

Installation Fluxbox

For installation Fluxbox we need to add a new repo:

> sudo zypper ar -f \
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/windowmanagers/openSUSE_11.4 \
WindowManagers
> sudo zypper in fluxbox

And if you want to use another display-/login-manager, for example, slim:

> sudo zypper ar -f \
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/lxde/openSUSE_11.4 \
lxde
> sudo zypper in slim slim-themes

After that set/change your default window manager and display-/login-manager (if you want to)

# yast2 sysconfig set DEFAULT_WM=fluxbox
# yast2 sysconfig set DISPLAYMANAGER=slim

Or just change:
DEFAULT_WM=”twm” to DEFAULT_WM=”fluxbox” in file /etc/sysconfig/windowmanager
DISPLAYMANAGER=”xdm” to DISPLAYMANAGER=”slim” in file /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager.
Now restart the X session by logging out.

What’s next?

Fluxbox’s user interface has only a toolbar and menu, which is accessible by a right click on the work space. Its menu and configuration is done by simple files located in the user directory under the name ~/.fluxbox.
See the wiki page to get more information about Fluxbox’s configuration (wallpaper, menu, styles/themes, etc…)

Slim has “openSUSE” as a default theme (from suse repo), but I like more Lake. If you want to change default theme, just edit /etc/slim.conf:

#current_theme              openSUSE
current_theme              lake

“KDE is people, not software”
(c) Aaron Seigo

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a program for students across the world to hack on interesting Free Software projects and get paid for their work. Historically, the program has brought together over 4500 students with over 300 Open Source projects, to create millions of lines of code!
Of cource openSUSE hopes to participate in GSoC, while being mentored by experienced members of the community they are working in. We have many different ideas and looking for stundens. This is a good opportunity not only to help openSUSE and have a lot of fun working on interesting project, but also get 5000 $ if your project will be finished successful
Time for hacking is from May 23rd to August 22nd.

In my opinion one of the most interesting projects is the Build Service Plasma Widgets. It will be very useful, I guess.

To get in contact with us please join IRC channel #opensuse-project on freenode, or our project’s ML at opensuse-project@opensuse.org and don’t forget – we’re going to help you to start.

In this time we met not in the SUSE headquarters like usual, but in Bar Artefakt, which is in the historic district of Nuremberg. Live music and a lot of Old Toad have created a very pleasant atmosphere for communication and relaxing.

I would like to say thanks to Henne Vogel and Boosters team, who organized this party, and also to everybody, who help to develop and contribute to openSUSE project and thanks to whom openSUSE 11.4 turned out so good!