After not adding much in the way of new programs in a while, adding seventeen completely new programs^I was at least ambitious, if not foolhardy. Fortunately volunteers pulled together nearly all of the data required, including the ever-troubling screenshots^II which only left forming the text up to fit the format and to hunt down a few logos. A big thanks to all the regulars and everybody else who suggested, tested and contributed to the wiki and made it possible to get such a huge increase of new software onto 09.12.

Thanks to Forrest Walter for the shiny new Audacity logo. I spotted his work after thinking there was no way the old logo was still in use, and googling for the new logo led me to the new one, or so I thought. Turns out he had the same impression of their logo and took it upon himself to redesign it, but sadly the developers declined and stuck with the original for their own reasons.^III Forrest was kind enough to let us use his version to make Audacity more presentable for users, so his work wasn’t for naught.

Two new FLOSSManuals also grace 09.12 (newcomers Avidemux and Miro) as well as an expanded and updated manual for Firefox. Here’s hoping more people contribute to make manuals, as the existing selection (although limited) is well written and a huge boost for useability of the programs covered.

Now, there aren’t many rules for programs to make the cut and appear on OpenDisc, but I’ve made the choice to break one for Infrarecorder. It’s now the only program featured that isn’t cross-platform. There’s a couple reasons, the main being we recommend using it to burn copies of OpenDisc on the site so it’s hypocritical to recommend it for use without including it on the disc itself. Secondly, there just isn’t a cross-platform open source solution out there, not even on the horizon^IV with the same capabilities.

Two other releases were slated for 09.12 but were yanked at the 11th hour, simply because there aren’t any official installers. One is the FPS Nexiuz^V and the other is KompoZer, the replacement for the long-abandoned Nvu. If people look hard enough chances are they’ll find community-made installers, but for security reasons we only take it straight from the horses mouth. As program selection widens, we’ll have to look at managing our own installers for these programs, which sadly adds to the workload.

There’s a laundry list of things I’d like to have ready for this release ((New screenshots and disc/cover art top that list) but the slew of new programs put those back into the 2010 pile. At least the new site design slid in nicely between releases without a hiccup.

We’ve got two big things planned for 2010 so far, so be sure to keep an eye out early in the new year. OpenDisc 09.12 comes in at around 1.2GB and as always is available from www.theopendisc.com.

1. And games, which welcomely fills that section out nicely.
2. More on that later though!
3. Something about merchandise IIRC, which is fair enough as his design was unsolicited.
4. Happy to be proven wrong.
5. The developer explained that it’s easier for them just to provide one zip for all three platforms, something I can’t argue with.

This really struck a chord with me, as the existing backend was (almost amazingly) closed source software. Not that it was intended to be, merely that over the development of TheOpenCD the source files for the backend were completely lost. It felt like a terrible cheat to be promoting OSS when the software back-end was effectively orphan freeware.^I

From there Yann helped shape the foundations of our Kiwix browser, spending odd hours with myself swapping files backward and forward ironing out the littany of quirks that unfolded as we got closer. Every time it seemed to be finished we’d find something else, so luckily by this time I’d contacted Emmanuel Engelhart (developer of Kiwix) who systematically identified and solved every single problem left. OpenDisc owes a lot to both Yann and Emmanuel, as it really couldn’t have been done this well and this soon without them.

During all of this, updates for OpenDisc still had to be developed, and subsequently they were more disparate than I’d really hoped for. At times it felt a bit like the delays from TheOpenCD era, but hopefully now that’s a thing of the past.

I’d really like to thank Yann for having the original idea and helping shape it all in the beginning; Emmanuel for offering the expert advice that only a developer can give; and not to forget the others that helped out at throughout, like David Bolton, Peter Kemp, and especially everybody who downloaded and tested our original “Kiwix Test Release” to provide feedback when we thought we were almost complete.

Patrick Patience throughout this has helped keep the forums active and held the fort when I’ve been away with work. Although I’m sure he’s as busy as the rest of us, he’s agreed to take on a new role; Patrick’s now solely responsible for the selection of new programs on OpenDisc. With our plan to rapidly expand the disc now able to proceed at full-steam, Patrick will be keeping a keen eye on both nominations and OSS in the wild for new programs to fill the enormous amount of free space on the disc,^II and help steer the future of the project.

The only rough edges that we didn’t fix before release is the slightly wonky screenshot viewer, which hopefully can improve for the next version, and the barebones homepage which will hopfully be more cohesive next time around. I didn’t think this version should have waited for everything to be perfect, as most of our returning visitors I’m sure would have soon been tired of updates about Kiwix.

There really is a littany of small changes to the disc, most of which will go unnoticed – we’ve even managed to replace the old common icons with Tango Project equivalents, which really finish off the new design.

With the hurdle of Kiwix behind us, I’m looking forward to seeing where we are six and twelve months from now.

1. Now we can move toward making everything GPL, a fact you’ll notice already on the footer of the browser.
2. Which is currently under 850MB of a possible 4.3GB

With version creeping for almost every program (except FileZilla, strangely) the size was at tipping point, so rather than try to begin to decide which program(s) to delete, we made the jump to DVD. It’s quite a small DVD (not even 50MB over a CD) but when we switch to Kiwix we should be able to expand that out healthily. The poll we held had around 15% of people unhappy about switching, and with media prices at low levels now there really isn’t as much of a problem as there would have been a year ago when the idea germinated.

We’ve been toying with the idea of physical media for a long time, and get the odd offer to provide copies of OpenDisc to people, but you can never really tell what kind of quality people are receiving and in nearly every case none of the money spent makes it back to the project – not that we’re by any means money-grubbing, but people should be able to receive OpenDisc while supporting the project. The only way that’s possible is to offer and supply copies directly.

The main problem that I forsaw is that people might get the wrong idea about us “selling” open source software – I know of at least two cases of developers themselves getting upset at people eBaying their software (whilst legal under the GPL it’s not always completely moral) and pocketing the profits for their hard work.

It’s a fine line between profiteering and supporting development, so we worked out an unusual and different way for people to get copies of OpenDisc while still supporting an open source project.

We’ve accepted monetary donations since the move from TheOpenCD, and although few and far between each donation is greatly appreciated, and has not only paid for operating costs but also this new venture into physical media. So as an added thank you we’re sending out copies of OpenDisc to anybody who donates $15 or above. Why $15? It covers the media, printing, mailer and postage (airmail), with the remainder going to continued development and operating costs.

Hopefully the reception for this isn’t negative – it’s the most neutral way we could think of to provide physical media, but I can see it might be taken the wrong way. Time will certainly tell.

1. The Kiwix delays are a little tiresome, although David Bolton has done a huge amount of work to get it almost ready.

It’s a shame, because in the rush there’s none of the planned new additions with 08.07^I, and because of increasing file size we actually had to remove one program prematurely, HealthMonitor, to shave enough excess space from the disc for it to fit on a CDR. Originally we were waiting to replace HealthMonitor (the developers gave it up and new versions are closed-source) but unfortunately none was available at the time. The disc image is now a mere 18KB from capacity, so the next version may well be the first DVDR sized image.

Thanks to Peter Kemp we’ve got the subversion server going over at Sourceforge, and the Kiwix disc will be uploaded soon so that the community can help shape it up, so hopefully 08.07 will be the last version under the complicated K-Meleon system that we’ve been stuck with since TheOpenCD.

Along with expanding the selection of programs on the disc, we’d also anticipated to launch the multi-lingual disc around this time, but because of everything else the release has snowballed back. If we get Kiwix working perfectly early enough, we’ll have a look at getting a few finished languages in for the first release.

The latest download links can be found at www.theopendisc.com

1. Aside from Firefox 3.

I was chuffed when the first day recorded 263 completed downloads, considering the disc is around 580MB. The next day it really took off with 1197 grabs. Considering the traffic of those two days (some 846GB) an official torrent is now my top priority. SourceForge carries statistics about the project downloads if you’re interested.

It’s great to have proper forums again, and it really shows in how quick people have taken up using them. It cuts down my email pile tremendously too, so hopefully I won’t have to spend so much time replying to duplicate questions/suggestions now.

I’m not typically a name dropper, but Mark Shuttleworth posted a comment on my previous post^I warning me about including VLC. I was expecting both sides of feedback on it’s inclusion, but I still stand by my reasoning; if there’s mirrors in the USA^II hosting it for download (not to mention OpenDisc), that can’t be any different from somebody physically selling or giving away either project to someone on the street. However, Mark says that’s illegal and that people could be sent to jail for doing so. Somewhat surprisingly he’s the only person to react strongly about VLC thus far. I’m checking further into it in any case.
The translation project (aiming to reach the 80% non-English speaking Earth) has already got under way, with some of the existing translators being joined by new volunteers. Hopefully in the near future we’ll have a multi-lingual OpenDisc.

Looking through the inbound traffic, StumbleUpon hits overpass all others, with more than 6500 visits in twenty four hours^III. The majority of other traffic is from non-English blogs talking about OpenDisc, and although it’s hard for my mono-lingual brain to understand what they’re saying about the project, it all seems to be positive.

Thanks again to everybody that visited, commented, blogged, dugg, stumbledupon and downloaded OpenDisc.

1. “Mutiny Aboard the good ship TheOpenCD“
2. Which is where libdvdcss is particularly troublesome.
3. It didn’t seem to be stumbled upon until the second day.

Around two years ago I stumbled upon TheOpenCD site and thought (like many) that it was a great idea. I sent an email off to the project founder Henrik Nilsen Omma^III, saying that I could help out whereever needed. Although there wasn’t a great deal for me to help out with, being that the disc was a one man job at that point, he said I could at least help moderating the forums. A new version was being prepared, and most time was spent between Henrik and a few others (Matt Oquist stands out in memory) creating a mini Ubuntu live cd that would let users boot into Linux with TheOpenCD, as well as further development of DiscTree^IV. During that time I basically sat by the sideline, kept the forums active and helped out where I could.

The Ubuntu disc had a fair share of supporters but overall wasn’t as great a success as they’d hoped, and a lot of time went by – so much so that a lot of people started asking the same question, “when is the next version out?”. From what I can remember it was about nine months since the last disc, and over the course of that I’d emailed Henrik more than a few times about helping him work on the next version.

Four Point Zero

A few months later a fellow supporter, Robert Schumann, offered his help at much the same time as I did and ended up helming the much awaited 4.0, which had the dubious honour of not including the Ubuntu LiveCD of the previous TheOpenCD. The strange thing about 4.0 was the huge momentum it had right up until it was due for release, where unexpectantly it stalled and didn’t materialise. I found later (after a few more emails) that both Robert and Henrik had moved (one another city; one another country) and even though it was completed, it sat for over a month unreleased. Even stranger was that it had been uploaded, but nobody had got around to letting the mirrors know that it was available.

By the time Henrik let me take over as project lead^V I had to download the finished 4.0 image and update nearly every program with a new version. Only after that did TheOpenCD 4.0 hit the streets.

Shortly afterward I was given access to the sole email account (admin@) via GMail. I was shocked by the volume of mail coming in daily from people offering help, suggestions or with general questions about the project. I can only wonder what happened before I had access to answer the email; I certainly never saw anybody else offer help to the project nor any of the program suggestions make it through to the disc.

Over the eighteen months I’ve been the sole developer, email answerer and general caretaker for TheOpenCD. There have been some good moments, but for the most part it’s been fraught with problems. I’ve expanded on the main ones I encountered, because they’re essentially the reason why I decided to start OpenDisc:

Unacceptable software

TheOpenCD is sponsored^VI by Canonical^VII and thus all the software restrictions that were present in Ubuntu also counted for TheOpenCD as well. The single most requested addition to the disc was VLC, but soon after taking over I was forewarned that it was not to be included because it was risky software. It included decss libdvdcss, a famous^VIII DVD-Video copy-protection stripping code that allowed you to play DVDs on any platform.^IX For that reason I could never include an otherwise perfect candidate on TheOpenCD. After deliberating on the old forum, the answer was to request a special version to be made especially for us that didn’t include libdvdcss; something I’m sure the developers had a chuckle over, if they ever got the request at all.

Likewise I couldn’t include other decoders/converters or anything that would jeopardise the neutrality of Canonical and TheOpenCD project.

With OpenDisc I’m free from any company rules that stop inclusion of specific open source software. At the end of the day, users don’t care if somebody thinks certain software is risky, they just want stuff that works.

Forums

As already noted, when I’d first found the project and offered my help I was given the task to moderate the forums. As far as I remember they were either Mambo or bbphp forums, and for the most part they were always active and of little trouble. I noted that some older users complained that the threads of the previous forum were gone, and wondered why they weren’t migrated or at least mirrored for future.

The original forums that disappeared when MoinMoin replaced the old site.
The only trace of them I could find was this screen capture of TightVNC on the disc.

It was decided at some stage that the current site would be changed to wiki software, called MoinMoin. This was the same software that ran other Canonical sites, so naturally it was favoured over anything else and accepted without much hurrah or discussion. The forums disappeared, instead to be hosted by the wiki as well. Again, I couldn’t find any trace of them for preservation.

It was quickly discovered MoinMoin wasn’t a great solution for forums at all. There was however somebody designing a plugin for us to improve the state of things, but I never had contact with them and it was soon abandoned. After six months of trawling through all-but-ignored threads (and endless spam) I closed the forums and began deleting what was left of them, as the great majority were either spam or of questionable legitimacy.^X

The MoinMoin ”forums” which were just a basic wiki hack.
Users could even edit other users comments or delete whole topics.

I’ve ensured the new OpenDisc forums are easy to navigate and post on, and once users are registered with either the project or the forum they won’t have to register for the other. And if I ever change the forum software, the old discussions won’t be left behind.

Pushing Out

Contrary to what some might imagine, TheOpenCD was assembled, packaged and made into an image locally, and not dynamically online. It’s then uploaded to a private server, then moved from that onto the mirrors. The image itself has to then be moved onto TheOpenCD server, after which the mirrors are notified.

I handled everything up to uploading the image. Once that was done, I’d send an email off and would have to wait until I got the word back that everything had been done. Obviously I didn’t work for Canonical so I had no access to their servers, but the channels I had to go through almost always meant a delay in getting a new version out. A new release depended on every party being able and active at the time of release, with just one link out of the proverbial chain missing and the release was stranded until they returned.

Now I can simply upload new versions of OpenDisc to SourceForge and point to it on the site; no fuss, delay or people to go through to push a new version out. Expect to see OpenDisc release more often than was possible with TheOpenCD.

More Unacceptable Software

I’d raised my concerns to Henrik about the unsuitability of MoinMoin, and to my surprise he agreed that it didn’t really suit the purpose too much. I suggested a simple WordPress installation, which would handle everything the project required sans forums. bbPress could handle that, and linked in with WordPress so that users wouldn’t have to register twice on the site to post comments or forum threads.

TheOpenCD’s website, including the year-old logo which I had no access to update.

I got a reply saying that WordPress was probably on the list of okay software to run on the servers, but that bbpress most likely wasn’t. Now I realise that Canonical had to be careful what software they ran considering what traffic they got with the other projects, but I couldn’t see the sense in the well-developed, open source and highly supported bbpress.

It was suggested instead that Drupal be installed (again, it was being used on other Canonical sites), so I reluctantly obliged and we settled on the proposed Drupal installation. I was given the email address and was cc’d to the person responsible to install it, but even after a couple more direct emails I never got a single reply. Looking back this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Once I’d decided to start OpenDisc, I secured hosting and got to work on developing the project’s new home. Free to install anything I liked, with WordPress/bbPress I quickly got to the point where I was happy with both the design and flexibility where I could launch the project publicly. I also organised a SourceForge account to host the large files the project releases.

OpenDisc website, which hopefully looks a lot more pleasing and is certainly easier to use.

Derivatives and Translations

At least once a fortnight I was contacted by somebody making a derivative^XI or localised translation for non-English speakers.

Since I had no way to host and nurture major derivatives, they often released once then faded away into the obscurity of old versions and a total lack of availability. The same unfortunately is to be said about translations; often after the first version was released there was never another translated update available, so non-English users were left with dodgy old software.

With OpenDisc I can now look after major derivatives better. OpenEducationCD (created by Peter Kemp) has flourished and received some great exposure throughout UK and the greater educational world. Where I couldn’t do much for it before^XII I can now host a web site and organise file hosting, providing a fuss-free operation for somebody already burdened enough by keeping the project up and running in their spare time.

I’ve also started a translation project for OpenDisc where anybody fluent in English and another language can contribute to present and future versions of the disc.

Server problems

On the 15th August 2007 the Ubuntu community servers were hacked^XIII – I’d read it at the time but hadn’t twigged that it meant the file hosting for TheOpenCD was included on one of them. When I came to release 07.09 I found out through Henrik that it was indeed so. In the mean time I was told I’d have to find somewhere else to upload the image, providing it could be transfered later from there via ssh to another server for release.

As I described above, you can appreciate that TheOpenCD really didn’t need another layer of complexity in the method of releasing new versions, so I decided to push out a torrent early for those starved of a release and leave it at that for the time being. Henrik did ask initially to meet me on freenode to work out a plan, but by the time (I was away for a few days) I’d returned I was determined to start OpenDisc.

It wasn’t all bad though…

I got to add some worthwhile features to the disc, like Tux, in aid of starting a stronger way to educate users of Linux. Aside from that and the disc artwork changes (and the origami cover I designed) the largest thing I think I brought to the project was the release cycle. Even so, it was only five releases in those eighteen months, something that will be improving with OpenDisc.

If you made it through the entire post you’ve done quite well. Finally, hello and thanks to all the users, developers and distributors that I’ve talked to during my time at TheOpenCD, and here’s to seeing you again soon at OpenDisc.

1. And there’s the last pirate pun I’ll use this post.
2. I know, I know, again with the pirate puns.
3. Who I have nothing but kind things to say about; my decision wasn’t based on any argument or impass between us personally.
4. Which is a whole other story, and unfortunately for those who spent time developing it, not one with a great ending either.
5. Robert had just finished his PhD. from what I remember and was swamped with RL commitments
6. Only the hosting and domain costs were covered.
7. If you aren’t sure, the parent company of Ubuntu.
8. or infamous, depending on which side of the moral fence you live.
9. Which incidentally is more important for Linux, but still included in the Windows version.
10. “Please send copies to my PO Box in Nigeria, Thank You Sir!”
11. what we termed as a version of TheOpenCD customised in some way for a specific event or group, like Software Freedom Day.
12. except for a quick news post
13. Digg.com carried the story – http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_Servers_HACKED.