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Accelerating ERP/COTS implementations have been an elusive goal of vendors, implementation partners, and customers. For five years I worked for the #2 business software maker focusing on accelerating implementations. During those five years I chased the dream and learned many lessons along the way. Following are some of the key lessons I would like to share with you.
If you did a search on accelerated or rapid implementation you would most likely find the following enablers for rapid implementations:
- Software with built-in best practices
- Industry preconfigurations
- Implementation tools and templates (Needs Assessment, Fit/Gap summary)
- Deployment (ex. SaaS, Hosted)
Notice anything missing? It's interesting to note that these accelerators are software-focused. Not to say that the above tools/templates are not important, however, there are more important factors that can have a greater impact on accelerating implementations.
It's a known fact that the customer needs to provide the right resources (Business, IT) with deep knowledge and experience with the existing business solution. What I see lacking is guidance to customers regarding what they need to do to prepare for a rapid implementation. If the implementation partner and software vendor is serious about accelerating implementations then they will provide customers with a preparation checklist that enables the implementation partner to "hit the ground running" with the customer. At a minimum the customer should perform the following:
- Take all required software training BEFORE the implementation partner arrives. This activity will enable the customer to effectively and clearly communicate with the implementation partner.
- Document your existing business processes. For effective collaboration with the implementation partner the customer needs to EDUCATE the implementation partner on their current business solution. A picture is worth a thousand words and accelerates knowledge transfer!
Implementation Partner
Consultants that are successful at accelerating implementations are an elite group. These individuals are business solution experts that are both functional and technical. They have the ability to help the customer make both software and business decisions. At a minimum the consultant should understand how the ERP/COTS software supports an ENTIRE business process (Order to Cash), not just a specific business function (Expense Reporting).
Decision Making
The ability to make decisions quickly is one of the most overlooked aspects of accelerating implementations. Decisions move implementations forward. Following are the recommended methods you can use to speed up decisions:
- Conduct prototyping during the sales cycle to define core requirements, validate software results, and eliminate options. The more questions you can answer during the sales cycle the faster the implementation can move.
- A rapid implementation approach requires full-time dedication from business owners. Business owners will be the key decision-makers and must be empowered to make decisions within hours, not days or weeks.
- Need to have a clearly defined scope. This includes (a) what's in scope, (b) what's out of scope, (c) and who's doing what. Just as important to scope definition is to define constraints and assumptions.
At a minimum the ERP/COTS scope statement should contain the following sections:
- Packaged software features in scope (product scope). This also includes restrictions on software features in scope (example: only five customer types will be included in the rapid implementation).
- Packaged software features out of scope (product scope).
- Implementation activities and party responsible (project scope).
- A clearly defined scope allows the project team to focus on the activities that have a direct impact on the project objective(s) while filtering out "out of scope" work.
Methodology and Approach
I have observed two areas that slow down ERP/COTS implementations: customizations and evolving requirements (even with a predefined scope). From my experience my approach has been to minimize these areas by the following:
- Only implement the software functionality that supports the business activity the customer performs TODAY. New business activities typically result in evolving requirements because the customer has no detailed experiences or agreed-upon expectations.
- Take a solutions-driven approach to gathering requirements. Using a traditional requirements-driven approach will result in identifying more gaps (both value and non-value-add).
Not every project or customer is a candidate for a rapid implementation. Implementation partners and software providers should conduct an assessment to determine the FIT for a rapid implementation. One thing you can bet on is that there is no such thing as a STANDARD rapid implementation. Each instance is unique and requires an experienced implementation partner that understands rapid implementations.
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Discussion in 'Developers' Forum' started by Spum, Oct 25, 2005.
What's the current layout?
The current layout is, assumed we have the website with ID 1 and the domain www.mydomain.com and all webs are located uder /var/www:
Symlink: /var/www/www.mydomain.com => /var/www/web1/
The Symlink is created for easier navigation on the shell.
Inside the directory of the web we have the following folders:
logs/ Contains the logs of this website
user/ Contains the user directories
web/ contains the website data (HTML files)
cgi-bin/ CGI-Bin Directory
ssl/ SSL Certificates of this website
phptmp/ Temp directory if PHPSafemode is enabled
Inside the User directory are the homedirs of the users located, assumed we have a user named web1_admin:
Inside the userdirectory:
web/ In this web directory the user can put his personal homepage. The files can be accessed by www.mydomain.com/~web1_admin/
I'am not sure if we really need this userweb feature in new releases.
wouldn't it be easier to do something like this;
->usr/user_name/bin <-- for binary applications to run from (for those who want to offer, say IRCd hosting)
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/mail
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/web <-- base level of domain
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/ftp
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/log
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/ssl
---> usr/user_name/domain.com/cgi-bin
With user_name you mean the name of the client? Clients currently have no linux system users, but in a virtual setup where mailusers and ftpusers arent systemusers anymore we can change this.
I mean the user name you specify the client, or the client's name as a system user.
Yes, this makes sense. Then the client will have one FTP account (or more when they are virtual) for all his domains.
It will be nice if this user can be chrooted with an patched SSH then it will be possible to assign SSH accounts without opening the complete server.
Yeah, that would be a good idea, actually. But yeah, i'm pretty surte the layout i suggested would be better.
I can implement it in whatever to allow the user to specify which way user accounts should be made, /home/ or /usr/, or they can specify the location if they wish The great idea with this layout is that the folders can be made per user feature, so say a user only has FTP access and web to his or her domain, then that is the only folders they get!
Can I make a sugestion?
I see the folder layout / domains as a single issue which shouldn't be too hard to solve.
Now the domains are under a different tab and you can link domains to that folder (symbollic links) quick note: I would not put these in the same directory / file system eg: /home/user_name/website.tld -> /home/user_name/folder.
A nice way for this to work imo would be for a seperate folder to have all the symbollic links. I use /etc/httpd/vhlinks/ which maps the web address to a folder.
This brings me to the virtual hosts. I think a good feature would be to use mod_vhost_alias in apache. By using virtualhost "Templates" you would reduce your memory footprint, and also remove the need to restart the webserver every time you add a domain.
I am planning on implimenting mod_vhost_alias for my own network, and am happy to submit this code back, would be interested in hearing some feedback on what everyone thinks about what i've described there.
Hy all,
It seems good but what about the compatibility with current ISPconfig layout?
For users how have partitionned with a big /var partition, they have to rebuild all the server don't they?
Maybe you have a migration script for realise this easily.
Hi Tribal,
I dont think anyone was planning on changing the actual partition you want to use. This will still be settable in the config files. But from there on in it will be based on that structure.
I do not think its a good idea to continually change this structure, that is why I believe the most flexible method should be frozen and not altered too much in future releases. I think this code should be backwards compatible somehow with the current setup, as PHP websites often have paths set etc and changing structures around would totally mess with this.
Happy to read that !!
I am reassured
Separate names with a comma.

subset: commoncrawl


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Catholic Bishops: We Will Not Comply With the HHS Abortion Mandate
The nation's Catholic bishops have a message for President Barack Obama: They would rather pay fines, no matter how much they would be, before they comply with the HHS mandate that compels groups to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops today issued a "Special Message" at the conclusion of their fall General Assembly, November 13, in Baltimore. They unanimously passed the special message, which can only be issued as such meetings and strongly condemned the HHS mandate.
They said that, with its "coercive mandate," the Obama administration "is refusing to uphold its obligation to respect the rights of religious believers."
"Beginning in March 2012, in United for Religious Freedom, we identified three basic problems with the HHS mandate: it establishes a false architecture of religious liberty that excludes our ministries and so reduces freedom of religion to freedom of worship; it compels our ministries to participate in providing employees with abortifacient drugs and devices, sterilization, and contraception, which violates our deeply-held beliefs; and it compels our faithful people in business to act against our teachings, failing to provide them any exemption at all," they said.
"Despite our repeated efforts to work and dialogue toward a solution, those problems remain. Not only does the mandate undermine our ministries' ability to witness to our faith, which is their core mission, but the penalties it imposes also lay a great burden on those ministries, threatening their very ability to survive and to serve the many who rely on their care," the bishops added.
They continued: "The current impasse is all the more frustrating because the Catholic Church has long been a leading provider of, and advocate for, accessible, life-affirming health care. We would have preferred to spend these recent past years working toward this shared goal instead of resisting this intrusion into our religious liberty. We have been forced to devote time and resources to a conflict we did not start nor seek."
Ultimately, they promised to resist the mandate if it is not corrected or rescinded.
"As the government's implementation of the mandate against us approaches, we bishops stand united in our resolve to resist this heavy burden and protect our religious freedom," they said. "We will continue our efforts in Congress and especially with the promising initiatives in the courts to protect the religious freedom that ensures our ability to fulfill the Gospel by serving the common good."
What would that resistance look like?
Given a choice of paying millions of dollars in fines or complying with a government mandate he thinks is morally wrong, Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh testified in court this week that he would rather pay the fines. From a report on his appearance:
"I would not be able to live with myself knowing that we're contradicting what we believe," he said during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab.
Under the law's penalties, Catholic Charities would be subject to a daily fine of $100 per employee if Zubik doesn't sign, said Susan Rauscher, the nonprofit's executive director. That would total $2 million to $4 million a year for an organization with a $10 million operating budget, she said.
The Pittsburgh and Erie diocese are suing the government, claiming that the requirement violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. They're asking Schwab to temporarily block enforcement of the mandate on their nonprofits while the dioceses pursue the lawsuits.
Bishop Lawrence Persico, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie, testified that signing the document would cause the church to cooperate in the provision of "immoral" services.
"I don't see how we could do it," he said.
Rita Joyce, chief legal counsel for the Pittsburgh diocese, said the government ignored a ruling on the books more than 60 years when it decided the nonprofits aren't part of the diocese.
Since the 1940s, the government has agreed that any organization listed in the Catholic Directory is part of the church, she said. The regulations for the Affordable Care Act changed that, Joyce said.
Zubik said the change in the definition is driving the lawsuit, and if the government would agree that Catholic Charities is part of the diocese, "that solves the problem for us."


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What's New
Fairies Fly comes with even more Pixie Dust!
* New images have been added to the gallery!
* New double score feature, and more!
App Description
Fly with Disney Fairies in this sample version of what many have called "The best kids game for iPhone and iPod Touch!" Fairies Fly Lite lets you fly with Tinker Bell in one level of Beach Cove. The full game features five worlds, more than fifteen levels and all Tink's Fairy friends!
Full game description:
Fly with the Fairies and discover a world of adventure and fun. This magical game captures the excitement of the changing seasons in the heart of Never Land, in a place called Pixie Hollow.
—Fly with the water-talent Fairy, Silvermist, in the cool waters above Spring Valley.
—Iridessa, the light-talent Fairy could use some help to light fireflies in the Summer Glade.
—Help catch flower petals as they flutter in the breeze of the Autumn Forest with Rosetta, the garden-talent Fairy.
—Soar over the Winter Woods with Fawn, the animal-talent Fairy, as she gathers nuts and berries for all the animals preparing for winter.
—And let's not forget Tinker Bell! Fly with Tink to find lost things at the Beach Cove. You can even explore Tinker's Nook to see video trailers, images and collect exclusive wallpapers from the Disney Fairies movies!
Simply tilt your iPod or iPhone to guide your Fairy. As you fly, try to pick up items and collect Pixie Dust to score points and unlock new surprises. Watch out for birds, thistles and other hazards that might slow you down. With dazzling graphics and a beautiful orchestral score direct from the creators of the Disney Fairies movies, you'll soar to new heights with Fairies Fly!
Toy Story Mania, Phineas and Ferb Arcade, Disney Fairies Fly, Handy Manny Workshop, My Baby Einstein, Split/Second, Alice In Wonderland, JellyCar 3, and many more.
See all the Disney Apps at http://www.itunes.com/waltdisney


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Milled from a single piece of aluminum much like their Legend phone (only, with some plastic this time 'round), the Desire Z is as far removed from HTC's previous slide-out Android, the G1, as you could possibly hope.
When its first leaked shot appeared online, many doubted HTC would create a phone with only four rows of keys. Yet that's what keeps the phone so thin, with the spring-loaded mechanism "Z hinge" drawing the keys under that 3.7-inch touchscreen. Dedicated quick keys, which we first saw on the G2, make accessing favorite shortcuts even easier—though some will wish HTC hadn't removed the dedicated row of numbers (now, only available with a press of the "alt" key, or on the virtual keyboard).
HTC is swapping AMOLED screens for Super LCD panels, citing limited supplies from manufacturer Samsung, plus better battery performance as being the trigger behind their move. A capacitive touchscreen, the Desire Z has a WVGA 480 x 800 resolution.
Under the hood, an 800Mhz Snapdragon processor is ticking away, same as the US' T-Mobile G2, whose Snapdragon chip is clocked at 800Mhz too. 1.5GB of internal memory, and with a microSD card, the memory can be expanded to 32GB.
The 5MP camera isn't quite what we were hoping for after seeing the Desire HD's 8MP sensor, and it's also missing the Desire HD's dual-flash, favoring instead a single LED unit. But, you know, it's still fantastic—I guess we've just been spoiled after seeing what HTC can do with bigger, badder sensors. Mind you, it still shoots 720p video, which is most generous of HTC—you'd think they'd save it for their "HD"-branded phone.
Unlike the G2, the Desire Z will be loaded with Android 2.1 for now, with Froyo becoming available later through a firmware update.
The usual connections have been included, such as GPS, A-GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity, with the exclusive network being Vodafone in Europe (at the very least, for now).
The phone measures 119mm x 60.4mm x 14.16mm and weighs 180g. More details when we get 'em.
To see hands-on photos of the Desire 7, head on over here.
UPDATE: It will actually launch with Froyo. Hurrah!
HTC Sense integrates a variety of multimedia and location-based enhancements and introduces HTCSense.com, a series of new connected HTC services
LONDON, UK – September 15, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today unveiled a new HTC Sense experience with the new HTC Desire HDTM and HTC Desire ZTM Android-based smartphones. The new HTC Sense experience continues HTC's strong focus on the customer, placing people at the center by simply making its phones work in a more personal and natural way. HTC Sense introduces a number of key innovations including a series of connected services called HTCSense.com that enhance people's mobile experience on HTC phones.
"We're excited to be taking the HTC Sense experience beyond the phone to a whole new level with a series of connected HTC services we call HTCSense.com," said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. "Our customers will value the holistic approach we're taking to enhance their mobile experience. This customer-first philosophy has resonated with people buying HTC phones and this drives us to continue introducing new innovative smartphones like the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z."
"As a key Android partner and smartphone brand, HTC continues to bring new innovation to the platform," said Andy Rubin, VP engineering at Google. "Android is about choice and the new HTC smartphones continue to provide customers with powerful choices and flexibility."
HTC Sense
The new HTC Sense experience offers a variety of enhancements that improve how people capture, create, share and access multimedia content. With a newly created camera experience, people can record HD videos or capture and edit images with a variety of fun camera effects. With HTC Locations, a new differentiated online mapping experience, people have instant, on-demand mapping without download delays or incurring mobile roaming charges.
HTC Sense also includes a new integrated online e-reading experience utilizing a new e-book store powered by Kobo and a new, mobile-optimized e-reader that includes the ability to highlight, annotate and quickly search for definitions or translate unfamiliar terms.
With the new HTCSense.com service, people can simply manage their mobile phone experience from their HTC phone or personal computer. For example, people can easily locate a missing phone by triggering the handset to ring loudly, even if it is set to silent, or to flag its location on a map. If the phone's been lost or stolen, users can remotely lock the phone, forward calls and texts to another phone, send a message to the phone to arrange its return or even remotely wipe all personal data from it. HTCSense.com makes it easy to setup a new HTC phone or access archived mobile content such as contacts, text messages and call history from a PC browser. People can also customize their phones with exclusive HTC content like wallpapers, HTC scenes, sounds or plug-ins.
HTC Desire HD
HTC Desire HD showcases outstanding multimedia content with its bright 4.3" LCD display and Dolby Mobile and SRS virtual sound and is the first to be powered by the new 1GHz Qualcomm 8255 Snapdragon processor. The HTC Desire HD enables 720p HD video recording and includes an 8-megapixel camera with dual-flash. Building on the unibody heritage of the HTC Legend, the HTC Desire HD is sculpted from a block of solid aluminum and exudes the air of quality and strength that HTC has come to be known for. It also includes the new HTC Fast Boot that enables people to quickly make a call or check emails by shortening the time taken to complete the power-up sequence.
HTC Desire Z
For people constantly on the go, HTC Desire Z makes it quick and easy to stay connected with friends on Facebook and Twitter or with colleagues and customers at work. HTC Desire Z features a unique 'pop hinge' that opens to reveal a QWERTY keyboard for fast, convenient typing. HTC Desire Z's keyboard also includes a variety of keyboard shortcuts and two customizable keys for providing instant access to common functions without the need to open menus. HTC Desire Z also includes 720p HD video recording and a 5-megapixel camera with automatic flash. It is the first phone to utilize the new 800MHz Qualcomm 7230 processor for improved performance and battery life and also includes HTC Fast Boot.
The new HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z will be broadly available through mobile operators and retailers across major European and Asian markets from October 2010 with the HTC Desire Z shipping in North America later this year.
HTC Desire Z Specifications
800 MHz Operating System
AndroidTM 2.2 (FroYo) with HTC SenseTM Memory
Internal storage: 1.5 GB RAM: 512 MB
Expansion Slot microSDTM card Dimensions
Weight Display
119 x 60.4 x 14.16 mm 180 grams (6.34 ounces) with battery
3.7" WVGA resolution Super LCD Capacitive touch screen
Network HSPA/WCDMA (900/2100 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) Connectivity
Bluetooth® 2.1, A2DP, FTP, OPP, and PBAP Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n 3.5 mm stereo audio jack Standard micro-USB
5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flash 720p HD video recording
Removable and Rechargeable Lithium ion or Lithium-polymer battery, 1300 mAh AC adaptor AC input: 100 ~ 240V AC, 50/60 Hz
Sensors Motion G-sensor
Proximity Sensor Ambient Light Sensor


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BERLIN – Worcester County school officials yesterday resoundingly refuted a published report the Board of Education was seeking an exemption from the County Commissioners' request for all departments to cut their requested budgets for fiscal year 2010 by 3 percent, stating certain comments were taken out of context and blown out of proportion.
The Daily Times yesterday reported the Worcester County Board of Education was asking to be exempted from the requested 3-percent budget cut, which would mean reducing by $2 million the school board's spending plan. Faced with what will be a challenging budget year, the County Commissioners earlier this month requested each department, including the Board of Education, reduce their 2010 budget requests by 3 percent over the current year's allocation.
While school officials acknowledge the 3-percent cut will likely impact the quality of the local public school system and its programs, the Board of Education has not requested any exemption from the request. However, the article published yesterday suggested the school board was prepared to request an exemption, quoting Board of Education president Garry Mumford as saying, "I will not allow it."
Mumford said yesterday his comment was taken out of context, and that he merely meant to suggest he would not let the quality of the school system suffer regardless of the budget difficulties it faced. He said there has been no discussion at this point about seeking an exemption from the 3-percent cut.
"We haven't done anything with that yet," he said. "We're at the very beginning of this process and we haven't begun to formulate any plan to address the requested budget cuts. We certainly haven't given any inclination we plan to ask to be exempted from this."
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jon Andes also refuted the report the school board was seeking an exemption. Andes said the idea might have borne out of a public discussion of the individual schools' budget requests on Tuesday, during which he explained what the commissioners were requesting. However, seeking an exemption was never suggested during the meeting, he said.
"No one on Tuesday, or at any other time, has said anything in regards to the 3-percent budget reduction request from the County Commissioners," he said. "I explained to the people in the audience what the 3-percent reduction request meant, but there was never any talk of asking for an exemption."
Andes added, "None of the board members, or anyone on staff including myself, made any statements regarding our compliance with the request of the county commissioners," he said. "We're taking the month of December to review our entire existing budget to try to find ways to defer some expenditures for two years and to reduce other items altogether."
In his weekly-published column on Board of Education issues, Andes laid out the challenges facing the school board budget, suggesting the estimated $2 million budget cut could turn out to be more like $4 million when anticipated increases in certain areas are factored in.
"The end result will be a reduction far greater than 3 percent," he wrote. "…while we recognize this is a difficult economic time, we ask our state and county elected officials to simply maintain the excellent educational programs and services our community has worked so hard to put in place."
Andes said yesterday his comments should not be construed to mean the school board is asking the county to maintain the school system's current level of funding.
"We're at the very early stages of working on our budget," he said. Right now, we're pulling it apart to see where we can find potential savings."


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Report: Lakers to sign Brazilian, FC Barcelona point guard Marcelo Huertas to one-year deal
The Lakers will be giving the ball to their new point guard, No. 2 pick D'Angelo Russell, and letting the rookie learn on the job this year. They are high on his potential.
Backing him up there is some real talent — the Lakers already have Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson on the roster who can handle the ball. Oh, and that Kobe Bryant guy likely will want the ball in his hands a little.Now add to the mix a very good international point guard in Marcelo Huertas, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Free-agent guard Marcelo Huertas – one of the Euroleague's most accomplished playmakers – has agreed to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Huertas, 32, could give the Lakers an experienced pick-and-roll point guard to complement the development of No. 2 overall pick D'Angelo Russell.
If you've watched any of Huertas guiding Barcelona to the highest levels in Europe — three straight EuroLeague Final Fours during his six years there — you know the man is a playmaker. Specifically, he is a very strong pick-and-roll guard with fantastic court vision. Synergy Sports has the numbers to back that up:
Marcelinho Huertas created 870 PTS in the pick&roll over 80 GP for Barcelona; would have ranked 13th in NBA after adjusting for game length.— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) August 31, 2015
Where you probably have seen more of Huertas is leading Brazil against the USA at the Olympics and other international competitions. Coach K uses a high-pressure defensive system, wisely trying to take advantage of the USA's overwhelming athletic advantage over the rest of the world, but Huertas handled that pretty well and gave the USA some trouble (relatively).
Bottom line, he can come in off the bench in the NBA and run a team very well. Those guys have real value in the NBA.
This is a fantastic pickup for the Lakers. If Byron Scott uses him right. The Lakers have a nice backcourt to support Russell, and the team will be competitive this season with all its additions. That's a step in the right direction.


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Thank you, Chancellor Martin. It's a great pleasure and honor to be here today at the Kohl Center. But I admit to speaking with some trepidation. The truth is that the Badger Herald has set a high bar for my address.
Earlier this spring, the Badger Herald complained that, in recent decades, other Big Ten schools had landed big-name commencement speakers like Bill Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama.
The Herald then added that "for the first time in recent memory, UW will have a speaker who at least somewhat belongs in that list: Secretary of Education Arne Duncan."
Well, I'm somewhat sorry to disappoint. For the record, I would like to say that I am taller than both John McCain and Barack Obama. Also, I believe I have a better jump shot than John McCain… And I think I will stop there.
The truth is that I am delighted to be here–to offer my congratulations to each and every one of you, to your parents, the faculty, and Chancellor Martin on this momentous day. I don't think we celebrate success enough in education. And today is a day to celebrate.
Now, I've been forewarned that one should never start off the beginning of a speech at UW by in effect saying: "It is time to party". But frankly, I think Wisconsin's reputation as somewhat of a party school may be exaggerated. Sure, you have the Halloween Freak Fest and the Mifflin Block Party.
But only in Madison do students party with a purpose. Recall that the Mifflin Block party started as a Vietnam War protest. And where else do students cut a hole in a frozen lake to do the Polar Plunge, jumping into ice-cold water to raise money for charitable causes like the Special Olympics?
To the Class of 2010, I think we can all agree that this year marks a historic turning point. You saw the first day in decades where classes were cancelled due to snow. Of course, UW couldn't just let any old snowball fight break out. It had to have an epic snowball battle–all in an unsuccessful effort to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest snowball fight in history.
I joke in part. Yet the notion of having a passionate purpose is deeply ingrained in a UW education, whether it is in the classroom or the Polar Plunge in Lake Mendota. It's here in Madison that the Progressive tradition was born and nurtured. And it is here at UW that higher education's Progressive cousin, the Wisconsin Idea, came into being a century ago.
As many of you know, the Wisconsin Idea was first articulated at the turn of the last century by Charles Van Hise, then the university's president. The Wisconsin Idea holds that university scholars should work with government officials to both solve current problems and anticipate future ones. From opposite ends of State Street, the State Capital and the University–the twin domes of law and learning–are to communicate and assist each other.
It is no coincidence that Wisconsin's great educational champions, such as Governor Doyle, Senators Kohl and Feingold, Congressman Obey, and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin are all UW graduates. It is Congressman Obey who led the recovery effort in Congress that literally saved the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and helped millions of students across the country get a better education. It is Governor Doyle who has tripled state financial aid to students and created the Wisconsin Covenant to get students–from day one of high school–planning the classes they need for college and their role in the community.
The Wisconsin Idea, in other words, is the antithesis of the university as the Ivory Tower. Some critics claim that Madison's progressive politics have made the city "78 square miles surrounded by reality." But I want to suggest today that the university's mission is very much anchored in reality–and an educational progressivism of the best sort. It is not by accident that last year's graduating class produced the second highest number of Peace Corps volunteers of any university in the country. That is remarkable–service, in action.
I am honored to speak at a university that has had such an oversize impact on America—not just in medicine and the arts, but in agricultural and biological sciences, government, and higher education.
UW faculty or alumni have won 17 Nobel Prizes and 30 Pulitzer Prizes. More than 30 college presidents and chancellors earned their degrees at UW. You have awarded more than 30,000 doctorates. Your famous alumni include authors such as Eudora Welty, Joyce Carol Oates, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and historian Stephen Ambrose.
Frank Lloyd Wright went here–as did my colleague and friend Rocco Landesman, the chair of the National Endowment of the Arts. Alumnus Dale Chihuily's amazing blown-glass sculpture graces the front entrance of the Kohl Center. Seated among you are future luminaries and leaders who will go on to make their own indelible mark on America and the world in years to come. And I have a special spot in my heart for UW-Madison because my mother earned her M.A. in English here, and loved her time as part of this community.
So as I thought about my remarks today, I asked myself 'what could I say to these bright, accomplished students?' The truth is that, when I graduated, I didn't have a clue as to the unexpected twists and turns my life would soon take. I would have thought you were crazy if you told me that one day I might be the Secretary of Education.
Yet at the same time, I thought then– and I think now–that I received an excellent progressive education that equipped me to enter the world and succeed in the 21st century.
So, rather than tell you about the time-honored truths, I want to talk instead about skillfully managing uncertainty and serendipity as a defining element of a 21st century education. I don't need to tell you that it is a tough job market out there for college grads. The days of the Organization Man–when you came out of college and went on to work for one employer–are over. The graduates in the Class of 2010 will work for multiple employers–and many of you will pursue more than one career.
In the global economy of the 21st century, it is not just knowledge and subject mastery that are going to count, as important as they are. Your ability to adapt, to be creative, and pursue your passion are, in large measure, going to determine how you fare in the job market and in life.
Employers today are looking not just for strong academic skills but for the ability to analyze and solve problems, write succinctly, and communicate. They are looking for employees who work well in teams and know how to surround themselves with talented colleagues. All of those traits of critical thinking, entrepreneurship, cross-cultural competence, and team-building are hallmarks of a good progressive education and the Wisconsin Idea.
I learned firsthand the importance of adaptation, creativity, and pursuing your passion in my own zigzag career. I'll tell that story briefly here, not because it is unique—though many of the details inevitably are—but rather because the lessons I learned are so universal in the information age.
I played basketball in college. And when I graduated, I wanted to play for the Boston Celtics. I tried out and was promptly cut. But getting cut was a great stroke of luck. One of my college coaches, Tom Thibodeau, took pity on me. To get a coach in Australia to look at me, Tom told him that I was like the superstar Larry Bird "but better with the ball." So I landed on a pro basketball team in Australia. And every time I made a mistake, my coach in Australia would roll his eyes and repeat Tom's line like a parrot: "Like Larry Bird, but better with the ball."
I played for four years in Australia. And those four years changed the course of my life. I met my wife there, and we are now blessed with two wonderful children, an eight year-old daughter and a six-year old son. You might think that bumping around in Australia, playing basketball for teams with names like the Eastside Melbourne Spectres and the Launceston Ocelots, might not prepare you for the competitive rigors of the global economy. But that was not my experience.
In fact, on and off the court I had to learn to work both independently and in teams. I learned the importance of persistence, of taking responsibility, and the demands of leadership. I learned then, and in later years, how important it was to surround oneself not only with a great team but to learn from mentors. But most of all, I had the chance to pursue my passion–and experience the life-altering opportunity to find what you love and stick to it.
In 1992, we moved back to Chicago, where I got to pursue a second life passion in a totally different arena. I joined my sister in working at a foundation that provided the sixth grade class at a struggling inner-city school with the promise of a college scholarship for students who stayed in school. But the shift from the court to the classroom was not as unusual as one might think. In our family, the commitment to education was deeply rooted from our earliest years.
In 1961, my mother opened a free, after-school tutoring program in a church basement in a poor neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. And from the time we were born, my brother, my sister, and I all went to my mother's after-school program every day. That experience as absolutely formative for us–we have all tried to follow in her footsteps in various ways.
When we were little, the older students tutored us, and as we grew up, we tutored the younger students. Her philosophy was that everyone should be both teaching and being taught at the same time. After we were done with our studies and chores, we played basketball together.
From the corner of 46th and Greenwood, some remarkable success stories emerged. The teenager who tutored my group when we were growing up, Kerrie Holley, today is an IBM engineer. Kerrie was recently named one of the 50 most important black research scientists in the nation. Another student became a brain surgeon. Michael Clarke Duncan pursued his dream in Hollywood, when he starred in "The Green Mile." Ron Raglin eventually helped me manage the Chicago Public Schools.
Now, with the exception of my brother, my sister, and I, all the students in my mother's tutoring program were African-American. Despite the challenges they faced growing up in a violent, gang-plagued neighborhood, my fellow students in the tutoring program just wanted a chance to succeed. To see the extraordinary potential that every child has, no matter where they come from—that is what I learned from my mother's work—and that is what continues to drive me today.
Two years ago, after winning the D.C., Virginia, and Maryland primaries, then-Senator Obama stood here in the Kohl Center, made possible by Senator Kohl's generosity. He came here to talk about the power of change and the courage of commitment. The President said that hope was "not blind optimism… the politics of hope does not mean hoping things come easy." But the President could think of no better spot to affirm American ideals than in Wisconsin, the birthplace of the progressive moment, which was so "rooted in the principle that voices of the people can speak louder than special interests; [and] that citizens can be connected to their government and to one another."
To our graduates, it is true that you face a more competitive world today than ever before. But don't forget that the rise in global competition is matched by a rise in global interdependence. Combating disease and poverty, stabilizing world financial markets, reversing the effects of climate change, strengthening schools—these are all problems that do not stop at our borders. And neither must your education.
You got a topnotch, world-class education at UW. You are prepared—and you can lead. For all the challenges we face as a nation and across the globe, I am absolutely optimistic about our future because you and millions of other students graduating this year are a smart, passionate, and dedicated generation. Wherever you go, and whatever you do, I hope you will always remember that your knowledge and commitment can—and will—change the world.
So, how to sum up the meaning of a first-rate education in the 21st century? To paraphrase from the Bible, these three virtues–creativity, adaptation, and following one's passion—abide. But the greatest of these is to follow your passion. You received an education in the shadow of the dome of the State Capital and saw firsthand the value of civic involvement. When you leave here, run for office, or volunteer at a local school, tutor, or coach—even if it sometimes seems the tougher path to take. Find what you love, find your genius. Find what would you get up and do every day, even if you weren't getting a paycheck. And whatever that calling is, pursue it with all your heart.
I congratulate every one of you on your wonderful accomplishment today, and for reaching this moment of passage into careers and adulthood. That is success that richly deserves to be celebrated.
You have so much to be proud of. And I know that I join with everyone here today in saying that we look forward with great anticipation to the next stage of your journey.
The notion that life is a journey, not a destination, is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, a preeminent progressive. You, better than anyone, know the journey never ends–you created the wonderful tradition of the "fifth quarter" of the football game.
Today, I hope you celebrate your journey here. Tomorrow–and in the years ahead–I hope you continue that journey as lifelong learners. That, too, is in keeping with the Wisconsin Idea–with the understanding that education itself is a journey, not just a destination.
Congratulations—and thank you for allowing me to join in this wonderful celebration. And "On Wisconsin"!


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As fresh evidence continually emerges of Israel's destruction of civilian infrastructure during the latest USA-backed Israeli invasion of Gaza, Hamas yesterday confirmed it was providing cash relief worth nearly £40 million (over $50 million) to civilians who had lost family members, homes or businesses during the invasion.
Around 1,300 Gazans were killed during the three-week long bombardment and invasion, and more than 21,000 buildings and homes were either wholly or partly destroyed, including at least 219 major factories and several industrial sites, including food processing plants. Surveyors of the destruction have said that around £2 billion of damage was caused during the assault.
Mindful of the growing world-wide call from politicians and civilians alike for Israel to face war-crimes charges, its political leadership are insisting that the war was only against Hamas. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert yesterday said that his military had done "everything in order to avoid hitting civilians." "I do not know of any military that is more moral, fair and sensitive to civilians' lives than the IDF," he said.
However, Gaza's civilian infrastructure - already severely weakened by Israel's economic blockade over the past year and a half - has now been catastrophically damaged by open warfare, and has driven Gaza ever closer to complete aid dependency on its Israeli occupier.
"They are destroying the infrastructure of the economy," said Amr Hamad, head of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. "They want us to be dependent on their economy."
One of the most obvious civilian targets was the al-Badr flour mill in Sudaniya, in northern Gaza. Before the invasion - after Israel halted imports of flour into Gaza in early November 2008 - it was the largest flour mill in the Gaza Strip, being the last mill that had a large store of wheat.
Before dawn on the 10th January the mill's main production lines were completely destroyed by an Israeli air strike, and by shells from tanks and USA supplied Apache helicopters.
Rashad Hammada, 55, co-owns the factory with his brother. The Hammada brothers have personally lost at least $3m from the attack, and Rashad says that, even if new machinery could be imported, it would take six months to a year to build a new production line. Palestinian shops are now forced to import flour from Israel, at 50% higher cost.
"I'm really surprised with the Israelis. They encouraged us to build, and then they destroyed it," said Hammada.
Meanwhile, the BBC came under renewed pressure yesterday after it defied the pleas of charities, ministers, religious leaders, and 11,000 members of the public to become the only terrestrial broadcaster not to transmit an appeal on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee to raise aid for providing food, medicines and shelter to the civilian victims of the invasion.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which is an umbrella organisation for 13 globally respected humanitarian aid agencies, provides highly effective media-based appeals for aid relief in the case of emergencies across the world. Traditionally, the two main terrestrial television channels, the BBC and ITV, coordinate to provide free air time to the DEC for its periodic emergency appeals. However, the BBC's refusal has caused so much public anger that the two other terrestrial channels, Channel 4 and Five, have decided to join ITV in its decision to broadcast the appeal without agreement with the BBC. The three-channel wide appeal will be broadcast this evening.
This is the second time that the BBC has refused to allow the DEC air time for aid appeals in the region. The BBC also refused the DEC air time for its appeal for the victims of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, citing the same defence that airing such an appeal would breach its impartiality.
More than 50 MPs will today back a motion in the House of Commons, urging the BBC to reverse its decision. The government's international development secretary Douglas Alexander, communities secretary Hazel Blears, and health minister Ben Bradshaw, have all criticised the BBC decision, and justice minister Shahid Malik said he had not met anyone who supported it.
The BBC today acknowledged that, as of last night, it had received over a thousand telephone complaints, and over 11,000 complaints by email, over its refusal to show the aid appeal.
Over the weekend, thousands of people demonstrated against the decision outside the BBC's Broadcasting House in central London, and last night demonstrators staged a sit-in protest after occupying the BBC's Scottish headquarters in Glasgow. Speaking at the protest, Keith Boyd from the Stop the War Coalition, said that people there were putting three demands to the BBC. "First, we want the appeal broadcast on the BBC. Second, we want the director who made the decision not to show it to resign. And third, we want the BBC to show news coverage of this protest to show the depth of feeling their decision has provoked."
Yesterday also, Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, added his voice to those calling for the BBC to reconsider.
At a central London fund raiser last night, for the British aid agency Medical Aid for Palestinians, it was not hard to find attendees who were critical of the BBC. Actor and Oscar nominee Samantha Morton said she would never work for the BBC again if the corporation failed to show the emergency appeal. Former BBC journalist Rageh Omaar said he thought that the BBC's Director General had "panicked politically".
Separately, David Hind, the chief executive of the Charity Commission, said the BBC's refusal would have a direct impact on the money raised. "I can't see how members of the public will confuse a humanitarian appeal for people in desperate need in Gaza with unbalanced reporting," he said.
The head of the worldwide Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, has also urged the BBC to broadcast the appeal, and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, accused the BBC of "taking sides" in the conflict.
"This is not a row about impartiality, but rather about humanity. This situation is akin to that of British military hospitals who treat prisoners of war as a result of their duty under the Geneva convention. They do so because they identify need rather than cause. This is not an appeal by Hamas asking for arms, but by the Disasters Emergency Committee asking for relief. By declining their request, the BBC has already taken sides and forsaken impartiality," he said.


text:
RPi Distributions
Back to the Hub.
Software & Distributions:
Software - an overview.
Distributions - operating systems and development environments for the Raspberry Pi.
Kernel Compilation - advice on compiling a kernel.
Performance - measures of the Raspberry Pi's performance.
Programming - programming languages that might be used on the Raspberry Pi.
Available Distributions
What is armhf
The Debian Squeeze image originally issued by the Raspberry Pi foundation as the recommended distribution used "soft float" settings. The foundation found it necessary to use the existing Debian port for less capable ARM devices due to time and resource constraints during development of the Raspberry Pi. Therefore, it does not make use of the Pi's processor's floating point hardware - reducing the Pi's performance during floating point intensive applications - or the advanced instructions of the ARMv6 CPU.
The official Raspberry Pi distributions are now optimized for ARMV6 and for "hard float" which should have better performance on certain CPU intensive tasks.
There are some info on the news groups that "hard float" optimization can speed up floating point operating up to 10x, please read detailed discussion on the Raspberry Pi forums.
|Memory footprint
|default GUI
|Arch Linux ARM
|OSI GPLv2
|raw image
|2013-03-21 (beta)
|Bodhi Linux
|2013-01-25 (raspbian/wheezy)
|2012-06-12 (wheezy)
|Core: OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
(sudo su root/bodhilinux)
|Debian ARM
|2012-04-19 (Squeeze)
|2012-02-16 (Squeeze)
|Core: OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|raw image
|Fedora Remix
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|Fedora RPM: installer
Windows Zip: installer
Other Linux: Python script
|Gentoo Linux
|~23 MiB
|Wiki article Quick Install Guide
stage3 tarball
|2012-06-27 (2.11)
|2012-06-27 (2.11)
|Open Source
|~20 MiB
|raw image (404 error from their own website)
|Meego MER + XBMC
|2012-04-27 (0.2)
|2012-04-11 (0.1)
|Linux (embedded)
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|~34 MiB + XBMC
|~320 (core)
|2013-05-06 (1.1.0)
|2012-08-01 (1.0.0)
|~20 MiB
|Raw Image
|(core) + Raspbian Repositories
|root: raspi
|Linux 3.6.11
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|279 MiB (inc. X11)
|raw image
|icewm via startx
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|first login with telnet
set your SSH pw
|PiBang Linux
|Core: OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|Latest image
|(user created at first boot)
|2012-06-29 (Squeeze)
|2012-05-26 (Squeeze)
|GNU General Public License version 3.0
|2012-05-27 (0.2)
|2012-05-07 (0.1)
|qt 5 sdk + sdcard image
|2012-05-28 (Wheezy)
|Core: OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|~30 MiB w/o desktop
|pi image list
qemu image
|LXDE Openbox
|2013-03-25 (3.0.0)
|Linux 3.6.11 (embedded)
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|85 MiB (inc. XBMC)
|install instructions
build instructions - part 1
|~140 (+ 7 via xbmc)
(ssh only)
|XBian 1.0 Alpha 5
|OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|Windows installer
Latest images
Install instructions
|2012-06-30 (Squeeze)
|linux installer
windows installer
|2012-07-09 (5.19)
|Shared Source
|Latest official image
|(not applicable)
|2012-12-14 (cooking)
|2012-05-29 (4.0)
|Linux 3.2.27
|~10 MiB
|raw image
|Openbox ?
|Aros hosted on Raspbian Limited Demo
|Mixed Debian6 and Aros
|Mixed - GPLv2 and APL (MPL derivative)
|<~50 MiB
|Binaries and run ./where/ever/AEROS/boot/AROSbootstrap
|Aros Wanderer
|Plan 9
|raw image
|2013-02-19 [14.0]
|2013-02-19 [14.0]
|Linux 3.6.11+
|OSI mixed (GPLv2, GPLv3, BSD etc.)
BCL For Java SE
|Raw Image (Developer)
Raw Image (Minimal)
Manual Installer
Install Instructions (Windows/Linux)
(+ Official SlackwareARM 14.0 Packages)
, autostart into XBMC
|Core: OSI mixed (GPLv2 BSD etc)
|raw image
Discuss: Forum at raspberrypi.org
Fedora Remix
The Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix is a Linux software distribution for the Raspberry Pi computer. It contains software packages from the Fedora Project (specifically, the Fedora ARM secondary architecture project), packages which have been specifically written for or modified for the Raspberry Pi, and proprietary software provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation for device access.
Debian (Squeeze/6.x)
Debian was the default distribution on the Alpha boards. Boot time depends on width & speed of SD-card. Alpha board boot into Debian prompt (no GUI) was timed taking about 34 seconds.
The Debian distro for Raspberry Pi is the Cambridge reference filesystem, which is a fully functional Debian Squeeze installation containing LXDE (desktop) and Midori (browser); development tools; and sample code for accessing the multimedia functionality on the device.
Arch Linux ARM is based on Arch Linux, which aims for simplicity and full control to the end user. It provides a lightweight base structure that allows you to shape the system to your needs. For this reason, the Arch Linux ARM image for the Raspberry Pi does not come with a graphical user interface, though you can easily install one yourself. Please note that the Arch distribution may not be suitable for beginners.
Arch Linux ARM is on a rolling-release cycle that can be updated daily through small packages instead of huge updates every few months.
More information is available at http://archlinuxarm.org
Raspberry Pi + Debian = Raspbian. A project to create a hard float port of Debian Wheezy (7.x) armhf for the Raspberry Pi. The intent of Raspbian is to bring to the Raspberry Pi user 10,000s of pre-built Debian packages specifically tuned for optimal performance on the Raspberry Pi hardware. The project is still in it's early phases, but the major push to rebuild nearly all Debian packages for the Raspberry Pi is expected to be completed by early June, 2012 (only several hundred packages remain as of June 1st). After that, efforts will focus on making Raspbian the easiest to use, most stable and best performing Linux distribution available for the Raspberry Pi.
More information is available at http://www.raspbian.org
A very compact ARM HF debian based distribution, it fits in a 1Gb SD card, has autoresizing features to better adapt to your SD card size and uses Raspbian huge repositories for installing everything you need. A wise configuration and a small memory footprint are ideal for an headless machine or for interacting with real word I/O devices, take a look at Moebius Website
Raspbian Server Edition
It's a stripped version of Raspibian with some other packages
Red Sleeve Linux
Red Sleeve Linux is a Linux distribution that aims to bring the RHEL clone design to the ARM architecture. There are images for several ARM devices including the Raspberry Pi.
IPFire is an Open Source firewall distribution for x86 and ARM-based systems. It turns the Raspberry Pi computer into a small router for home networks and very small businesses. As the Raspberry Pi computer comes with only one NIC, it works perfectly as a 3G router without plugging in additional hardware.
The generally small system that provides essential services for networks can be enhanced by addons which add new features to IPFire. So the system can be turned into a file server and much more.
More information is available at http://www.ipfire.org
Raspberry Pi Thin Client
Thin Client project want to create a very low price thin client over Raspberry Pi board! Microsoft RDC, Citrix ICA & VMWare View
BerryTerminal is a minimal Linux distribution designed to turn the Raspberry Pi mini computer into a low-cost thin client.
It allows users to login to a central Edubuntu or other LTSP server, and run applications on the central server
GeeXboX ARM
GeeXboX is a free and Open Source Media-Center purposed Linux distribution for embedded devices and desktop computers. GeeXboX is not an application, it's a full-featured OS, that one can boot as a LiveCD, from a USB key, an SD/MMC card or install on its regular HDD. The GeeXboX distribution is lightweight and designed for one single goal: embed all major multimedia applications as to turn your computer into an HTPC.
None of the currently available solutions do a perfect job with running XBMC on the Pi, however OpenELEC comes by far the closest, in spite of its locked down nature.
This fork aims to remedy the very few flaws in its implementation and to focus 100% on the Pi, while also sticking to the upstream and incorporating its updates.
•Low idle CPU usage (< 15%) •Smoother and more responsive •Built in XBMC addons: iPlayer, custom fixed version of Demand 5, various unofficial repos •iPlayer, 4oD, Demand 5, ITV Player, SportsDevil all fully tested+working •Improved wifi connectivity •Added test-connman scripts for easy wifi setup •Added wireless_tools (iwconfig etc.) •Added rndis_wlan wifi driver (broadcom 4320 chipset) •Easy SD card installation script for building from source
OpenELEC is an embedded operating system built specifically to run XBMC, the open source entertainment media hub. The idea behind OpenELEC is to allow people to use their Home Theatre PC (HTPC) like any other device you might have attached to your TV, like a DVD player or Sky box. Instead of having to manage a full operating system, configure it and install the packages required to turn it into a hybrid media center, OpenELEC is designed to be simple to install, manage and use, making it more like running a set-top box than a full-blown computer.
- OpenELEC Mainsite
- In February 2012, OpenELEC.tv announced their ARM port for Raspberry Pi
- OpenELEC forum thread
- RaspberryPi forum thread
- Raspberry Pi build instructions for OpenELEC
Raspbmc is a minimal Linux distribution based on Debian that brings XBMC to your Raspberry Pi. This device has an excellent form factor and enough power to handle media playback, making it an ideal component in a low HTPC setup, yet delivering the same XBMC experience that can be enjoyed on much more costly platforms. Raspbmc is brought to you by the developer of the Crystalbuntu Linux Distribution, which brings XBMC and 1080p decoding to the 1st generation Apple TV.
XBian is a small, fast and lightweight media center distro for the Raspberry Pi, based on a minimal Raspbian image. It's slogan is "XBMC on raspberry pi, bleeding edge" and thus it's main focus is delivering the fastest XBMC solution for the Raspberry Pi. Thereby making most of the commercial media-center products obsolete...
- Fits on a 1GB SD card
- Low RAM usage and low CPU usage
- Very smooth UI
- Auto mount USB
- AFP support
- NFS support
- AirPlay support
- CEC support
- Lirc support
- PVR support
- Kernel 3.6.7 + a lot of modules
- Performance as the default governor
- Out of the box support for almost all wlan adapters
- User friendly configuration tool xbian-config
- Source code on git
- Large community
- Apt repo so updated was never easier!
What is RasPlex? RasPlex is an Entertainment Center Solution for Raspberry Pi Simply put, RasPlex lets you turn your TV into a Smart TV. Similar to the AppleTV, but completely free and open source, RasPlex is basically a set-top box. Once RasPlex is stable, it will have support for legacy console game emulation (NES, SNES, etc), as well as Plex Channels (Netflix, Crackle, Youtube, etc). RasPlex is a Plex Home Theater Client More technically stated, RasPlex is a complete port of Plex Home Theater (formerly Plex Media Center) for Raspberry Pi. RasPlex currently runs on OpenELEC for reasons of limited man power, but there is a working raspbian port that just needs some time to be brought up to speed. RasPlex was created on Gentoo linux, but that port has since been abandoned for performance reasons. We regularly merge in changes from Plex Home Theater and OpenELEC. Once things cool off a bit and we are more stable (or we get the man power), we will maintain a raspbian release as well. RasPlex is the Perfect Companion to a Plex Media Server Many people will use expensive computers as Plex Clients, or have to go through the inconvenient of plugging a computer in to their TV every time they want to use Plex. With RasPlex, just plug it in and you're media is always ready. Put one on every TV, and have your media everywhere! You can even put RasPlex on your friend's TV's, and watch your media remotely.
PwnPi is a Linux-based penetration testing dropbox distribution for the Raspberry Pi. It currently has 181 network security tools pre-installed to aid the penetration tester. It is built on the debian squeeze image from the raspberry pi foundation's website and uses Xfce as the window manager
Description This debian squeeze image created to perform "pwn plug" type of attacks using Raspberry pi. pleas look at the wiki for further details Wiki
Kali Linux Features
Kali is a complete re-build of BackTrack Linux, adhering completely to Debian development standards. All-new infrastructure has been put in place, all tools were reviewed and packaged, and we use Git for our VCS. •More than 300 penetration testing tools: After reviewing every tool that was included in BackTrack, we eliminated a great number of tools that either did not work or had other tools available that provided similar functionality. •Free and always will be: Kali Linux, like its predecessor, is completely free and always will be. You will never, ever have to pay for Kali Linux. •Open source Git tree: We are huge proponents of open source software and our development tree is available for all to see and all sources are available for those who wish to tweak and rebuild packages. •FHS compliant: Kali has been developed to adhere to the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard, allowing all Linux users to easily locate binaries, support files, libraries, etc. •Vast wireless device support: We have built Kali Linux to support as many wireless devices as we possibly can, allowing it to run properly on a wide variety of hardware and making it compatible with numerous USB and other wireless devices. •Custom kernel patched for injection: As penetration testers, the development team often needs to do wireless assessments so our kernel has the latest injection patches included. •Secure development environment: The Kali Linux team is made up of a small group of trusted individuals who can only commit packages and interact with the repositories while using multiple secure protocols. •GPG signed packages and repos: All Kali packages are signed by each individual developer when they are built and committed and the repositories subsequently sign the packages as well. •Multi-language: Although pentesting tools tend to be written in English, we have ensured that Kali has true multilingual support, allowing more users to operate in their native language and locate the tools they need for the job. •Completely customizable: We completely understand that not everyone will agree with our design decisions so we have made it as easy as possible for our more adventurous users to customize Kali Linux to their liking, all the way down to the kernel. •ARMEL and ARMHF support: Since ARM-based systems are becoming more and more prevalent and inexpensive, we knew that Kali's ARM support would need to be as robust as we could manage, resulting in working installations for both ARMEL and ARMHF systems. Kali Linux has ARM repositories integrated with the mainline distribution so tools for ARM will be updated in conjunction with the rest of the distribution. Kali is currently available for the following ARM devices: ◦rk3306 mk/ss808 ◦Raspberry Pi ◦ODROID U2/X2 ◦Samsung Chromebook
Kali is specifically tailored to penetration testing and therefore, all documentation on this site assumes prior knowledge of the Linux operating system. Install Download If all you want to do is to install Kali on your Raspberry Pi, follow these instructions:
- 1.Get a nice fast 8 GB (or more) SD card. Class 10 cards are highly recommended.
- 2.Download the Kali Linux Raspberry Pi image from our downloads area.
- 3.Use the dd utility to image this file to your SD card. In our example, we assume the storage device is located at /dev/sdb. Change this as needed. On windows you can use win32 disk imagier Guide how to usewin32 disk imagier
Alert! This process will wipe out your SD card. If you choose the wrong storage device, you may wipe out your computers hard disk.
This process can take a while depending on your USB storage device speed and image size. Once the dd operation is complete, boot up your Rasberry Pi with the SD card plugged in. You will be able to log in to Kali (root / toor) and startx. That's it, you're done!
i2pBerry is a Raspberry Pi distribution that comes preinstalled with the i2p darknet software. Once you write it to your SD card and boot it up you will be able to instantly connect to the i2p network. You will also be improving the network by adding some of your bandwidth to help users in countries with firewalls connect to the true internet. With the added benifit of torrenting without your ISP snooping on your downloads.
i2pBerry comes preconfigured with a SSH server for headless operation, it is based on Debian Squeeze and has over 20,000 packages ready to be installed.
Bodhi Linux is a small Linux distribution using the Enlightenment window manager and the ARM build is based on Debian.
If you hit any snags or find bugs with this image please let us know in the R_Pi section of our user forums so we can improve this release.
- ARMHF announced for Bodhi Linux on R_Pi
- Release Announcement from Bodhi Developer Blog
- Download from sourceforge
- what-about-the-raspberry-pi Forum thread
Alpha Release | Link Alpha Bodhi R_Pi) User/Password: bodhi/bodhi root/raspberry Beta Release | Link Beta Bodhi R_Pi User/Password: pi/bodhilinux Root: sudo su root/bodhilinux
Bodhi Linux moves ARM Branch to ARMHF Download newest Release from Sourcforge The R_Pi Bodhi build is built directly on top of Raspbian and incorporates all of their changes and improvements.
Gentoo Linux is a source based rolling-release distribution which emphasizes choice and flexibility. Gentoo ARM aims to be the most up to date and fastest ARM distribution available.
A Quick Start Guide exists how to install Gentoo on the Raspberry Pi.
Gentoo Section on the official Raspberry Pi forum.
Adafruit - Occidentalis v0.1
http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-raspberry-pi-educational-linux-distro/occidentalis-v0-dot-1 Occidentalis v0.1. Rubus occidentalis is the black raspberry. It is derived from Raspbian Wheezy July 15 Made a few key changes to make it more hardware-hacker friendly!
- I2C and hardware SPI support
- I2C/SPI modules initialized on boot
... Please keep in mind, adafruit is not full time linux distro maintainers - we will try to fix any bugs we find but this distro is not for beginners or people who are new to linux!
RISC OS is a fast and lightweight computer operating system designed in Cambridge, England by Acorn. First released in 1987, its origins can be traced back to the original team that developed the ARM microprocessor. RISC OS includes BBC BASIC which was primarily conceived to teach programming skills as part of the BBC computer literacy project.
- RISC OS Open (ROOL) has released the sources. Community members have ported the OS to the BeagleBoard and similar hardware
- In November 2011, RISCOScode.com announced that RISC OS will be available as an alternative OS for Raspberry Pi
from launch
- RaspberryPi forum thread
- ROOL forum thread
- http://www.pilearn.com/Pages/Page1001.html
A lot of issues come from people not knowing how to do it right, e.g. just dropping the img file onto an SD card. So I've customised a GParted LiveCD ISO and written up a custom script to *hopefully* install a distro straight onto an SD card. This is a very early iteration of this idea, but hopefully will develop into something useful.
At the moment, essentially what it will do is
- 1. Grab the list of Distros from the RPI Download page
- 2. Let the user select which distro he wants to install
- 3. Select the Disk device that he wants to install it onto
- 4. dd the image onto the disk device.
- 5. Flash OS from zip file on SD Card:
- 6. Reset SD Card: This will format an SD Card back to defaults, i.e. one vfat partition.
- Download
- Main site
PiBang Linux
PiBang linux is a Raspbian based distribution. PiBang is inspired by Crunchbang Linux, an i686 and x86_68 Debian based distribution. It comes preconfigured with many helpful scripts and pipemenus as well as a fork of Raspi-config with increases functions such as support for changing the user and hostname. PiBang is also one of the heavier Rasperry Pi distributions boasting a complete package set with favorites such as Abiword, OMXPlayer, GIMP, and VLC all pre-installed.
Plan 9
Plan 9 is a distributed operating system originally designed and implemented by Ken Thompson, Rob Pike, Dave Presotto, and Phil Winterbottom @ Bell Labs. It is a lean operating system that has been ported to super computers such as IBM's Blue Gene down to tiny boards such the RaspberryPi.
- Distribution disk image
- Plan9 subforum @ raspberryPi.org
- Acme editor tutorial
- Plan 9 Main page
- Plan 9 wiki
NetBSD is an operating system based off 4.3BSD and is geared towards embedded systems. There has been an unofficial public release here comments about the release here
Details of the FreeBSD port Dowload here
SlaXBMCRPi is a minimal Linux distribution based on Slackware ARM that brings a full featured XBMC solution to your Raspberry Pi. It allow the user to exit from XBMC to the Desktop should he need to perform typical desktop tasks (browsing, text editing etc.).
There are two pre-built images available:
Developer: It is 3.2GB and contain all development packages required to compile the Linux kernel, XBMC and other XBMC related (or not) packages
Minimal: It is 1.8GB and contain only the packages required to run XBMC. (Does not include firefox and other GUI apps)
- Main Site
- Developer Image
- Minimal Image
- Manual Installation Packages
- Source Code
- Installation Instructions (Windows/Linux)
Raspberry Pi distribution geared towards emulating video games. Maintained by Shea Silverman
Announced distributions
The following distributions have been announced and may have been publicly demonstrated but distributions are not generally available quite yet.
https://en.opensuse.org/Portal:ARM OpenSuSE Arm Port exist quite of many Years .
Since July 2012 it been avalible as well for The RPI.
The Image Status are currenty betta still , but works . The OpenSuSE RPi image are made Minimalistic , without Yast !!
Install required Software are quite simple with zypper , same as on x86.
Current Infomations gathered at the RPI Forum http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=87
Chromium OS
Details about the work Chromium OS is Google own version of linux os
Meego MER & XBMC
The MeeGo MER project provides a Linux-based, open source software platform for the next generation of computing devices. The MeeGo MER software platform is designed to give developers the broadest range of device segments to target for their applications, including netbooks, handheld computing and communications devices, in-vehicle infotainment devices, smart TVs, tablets and more – all using a uniform set of APIs based on Qt. XBMC is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. Meego TV 1.2 uses XBMC as a reference GUI (that is, a starting point for creating a custom GUI).
- http://www.madeo.co.uk/?p=783
- http://www.madeo.co.uk/?page_id=605
- http://wiki.meego.com/User:Vgrade#Raspberry_Pi
- http://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Community_Workspace/RaspberryPi
- https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc-rbp
Puppy Linux is designed to be a small tiny Linux distribution (<100MB). One distro version of Puppy for ARM is SAP6 Debian6 armel binaries and another PuppiPlan all under the Puppy initiative. Puppy Linux is going back to his roots. Designed to run from 256MB ram. Making every bit count. Join the Puppy geek adventure for 2012. Woof Woof
OpenWrt is described as a Linux distribution for embedded devices. The Rpi is now supported by the Attitude Adjustment (12.09-beta) release available here:
OpenWrt Wiki for R_pi http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/raspberry_pi
Related links:
- http://www.zoobab.com/raspberry-pi-openwrt
- http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.embedded.openwrt.devel/14815
- openWRT Thread about Raspberry Pi status
RPi-Buildroot is a set of Makefiles and patches that make it easy to generate a complete customized embedded Linux system for your Raspberry Pi. This distro is based on Buildroot so it's perfect for somebody looking to build a trimmed down or task-specific system.
Please note that this distro is intended for advanced users.
- More Information
- Git Repository
- Test-drive SD card images and toolchain
- Marshmallow Entertainment System
Aros Hosted on Linux
Aros is an open source Amiga like operating system (OS) at the api level. This version runs as a task under Linux to take advantage of the drivers available inside the GNU Linux OS core.
Related links
- http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=35843&forum=48
- http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/tag/aros
- Youtube videos
- http://www.amiga.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-62135.html
Other Distributions
These are other popular distributions that are often asked about for Raspberry Pi but are not available.
Ubuntu was initially planned to be the default distribution, but the current version of Ubuntu only supports ARMv7 onwards, not the ARMv6 architecture used by the Raspberry Pi's processor. Therefore Ubuntu does not work on Raspberry Pi, and there is no further information about this changing in the near future.
A bug report on this subject was submitted to Ubuntu's bug tracker. The responses to that bug include an unofficial viewpoint from a Canonical employee, outlining the amount of work required to support ARMv6 (and therefore, potentially, Raspberry Pi). See Bug 848154


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Putting fish before people -- Tom McClintock speaks to the California House of Representatives
May 9, 2014California Representative Tom McClintock recently took to the House floor to make citizens aware of the asinine policies of the Bureau of Reclamation; specifically, putting fish before people.
"We cannot demand that our people scrimp and save and stretch and ration every drop of water in their parched homes while at the same time, this government treats our remaining water supply so recklessly, so irresponsibly and so wastefully. This conduct utterly destroys the credibility of government demands for stringent conservation and sacrifice by our people, and it thoroughly undermines its moral authority to make these demands."
The full text of his speech:
California is suffering one of the worst droughts in its history. More than a half-million acres of the most fertile farmland in the nation have been devastated. Some Central Valley farmers have been notified that they will receive ZERO water allocations this year from the federal system. The owners of long-held water rights are being cut off.
In some communities, "water police" go from door to door to enforce water restrictions. Homeowners are forbidden to water their lawns except under the most rigid constraints. Sacramento offers an "app" so people can turn in neighbors to the water authorities.
And yet, knowing full well we are facing a devastating drought and that our dwindling water supply will be desperately needed by our people this summer, over the past several weeks the Bureau of Reclamation has released more than 70,000 acre feet of water from dams on the American and Stanislaus rivers to meet environmental demands that place fish above people.
That is enough water to meet the ANNUAL needs of a city of half a million people – all sacrificed in order to flush salmon smolts to the ocean (where they tend to swim anyway) and to keep the river at just the right temperature for the comfort of the fish.
The releases of this water are so enormous they are called "pulse flows." Citizens are warned to exercise extreme caution on rivers undergoing pulse flows – so swift is the water current they produce as that water rushes toward the ocean.
Four months ago, Folsom Lake on the American River was almost empty. Yet on April 21st, the Bureau of Reclamation more than tripled water releases from Folsom and Nimbus dams from 500 cubic feet per second to more than 1,500 cubic feet per second for three days – about 7,000 acre feet of water.
On April 14th, a 16-day pulse flow drained nearly 63,000 acre feet of water from New Melones and Goodwin Dams on the Stanislaus.
The irony is that if we hadn't built these dams, these rivers would be nearly dry in this drought and there wouldn't be any fish.
We cannot demand that our people scrimp and save and stretch and ration every drop of water in their parched homes while at the same time, this government treats our remaining water supply so recklessly, so irresponsibly and so wastefully.
This conduct utterly destroys the credibility of government demands for stringent conservation and sacrifice by our people, and it thoroughly undermines its moral authority to make these demands.
Inflexible laws administered by ideologically driven officials have taken this wastage of water to ridiculous extremes, and it cries out for fundamental reform.
The House twice has passed such a reform bill, most recently as HR 3964, but the Senate refuses to act on it or to pass its own alternative.
Nevertheless, the administration has the authority to stop these releases through provisions in the Endangered Species Act, but it has failed to do so.
Mr. Speaker, we use the word "outrage" too often on this floor, but in this case, it is an understatement.
If a homeowner is caught with a one gallon puddle on his lawn on the wrong day, he can be severely fined. But the government thinks nothing of flushing 23 billion gallons of desperately needed water this past month for the comfort and convenience of the fish.
How much longer will the people tolerate this kind of mismanagement from their government? How much longer will we allow these policies to threaten the health, safety and prosperity of the human population throughout these drought-afflicted lands?
California's chronic water shortages won't be addressed without additional storage. There are plenty of suitable and affordable sites, but current environmental laws have delayed them indefinitely and made them cost-prohibitive.
Until those laws are changed and new dam construction can begin, our state and federal governments have a responsibility to manage our dwindling water supply as carefully as we ask our citizens to do.
The wildly frivolous and extravagant water releases from our dams last month make a mockery of the extraordinary sacrifices that our citizens are making to stretch supplies in this crisis.
Perhaps, at least, they will serve to educate the public on just how unreasonable are these environmental laws -- and the policy makers responsible for them.


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Baby Bodysuits
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