Finding the closest APT package archive using GeoIP and indexing

In preparation for TurnKey's upcoming release based on Ubuntu Lucid 10.04 LTS, we are knocking off todo list items. One of them is code-named auto-apt-archive. As you can guess from its name, the objective is to configure the closest APT package archive mirror, automatically, without user intervention. It does this by leveraging a new GeoIP service provided by the TurnKey Hub.

Meet Rik Goldman

Rik Goldman is the English and Info Systems teacher that led a team of six high school students to help develop 3 new TurnKey Linux appliances for Ampache, LimeSurvey and Elgg.

TKLPatch summer contest summary: let the judging begin!

It all started with a happy accident

I have a confession to make. This contest, which is directly fueling the largest expansion of the TurnKey library since the project started, is a happy accident. It wasn't something we planned. It wasn't on our summer todo list. It was just one of those unexpected, spontaneous ideas that light up the inside of your brain like a flash bulb, and demand you take action. Or else! (you won't get any sleep)

Back in June we had just launched the TurnKey Hub and were getting ready to focus all our energies on releasing TKLBAM. I logged into PayPal and noticed our donated beer budget had a sad little beer belly. It was just sitting there, giving me an accusing look. I felt guilty. Surely all those people who donated expected we would put these funds to better use. That's when it hit me. It was too much to buy beer, but not so much that we couldn't risk it all on a fun experiment...

I talked it over with Alon and on an impulse we decided to do a contest, but not just any contest. A wild and wet summer open source bonanza! With ponies!

What happened next took us both by surprise.

TKLBAM: a new kind of smart backup/restore system that just works

Drum roll please...

Today, I'm proud to officially unveil TKLBAM (AKA TurnKey Linux Backup and Migration): the easiest, most powerful system-level backup anyone has ever seen. Skeptical? I would be too. But if you read all the way through you'll see I'm not exaggerating and I have the screencast to prove it. Aha!

Ask us anything

We're going to be doing a series of interviews with prominent TurnKey community members so we figured it would make sense to do an interview with the founders of TurnKey (that's us!).

Interviewing ourselves is a bit weird, so instead we're inviting the TurnKey community to propose the questions which we'll answer in a separate blog post.

So... ask us anything!

GNU high school: teaching kids by contributing to open source

Today I'd like to spotlight TurnKey's unlikely relationship with Chelsea School, a high school in suburban Maryland. I'm going to try to tell this story on two levels:

  1. The straightforward who-what-why.
  2. Why you should care.

I'll start with the latter. If it works maybe you'll stick around for the full story.

Kids collaborate with NASA, discover cave on Mars

Recently, a 7th grade science class, using the raw data from a NASA satellite, made a remarkable discovery: a mysterious cave on Mars.

Blog Tags: 

Tip: use custom search engines for efficiency

I don't need to tell you how search improves our efficiency on the web, but using custom search engines can make your day even more efficient.
 
Configuring your browser to use custom search engines is a massive time gain, and improves your work flow.

TurnKey Appliance Development Contest: An Open Source Summer Bonanza!

Over the last few months donations have been trickling in and gradually piling up. Since there's a limit to how much beer we can reasonably drink we've been brainstorming ideas for using that money to help the project.

Beta of TurnKey Core on Debian Lenny (+ Ubuntu vs Debian)

We've just uploaded to SourceForge our first ever Debian-based virtual appliance: a beta of TurnKey Core on the rock stable Lenny release.

Beta of TurnKey Core on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Well, it took a little longer than expected, but we are pleased to announce that TurnKey Core - the common base for all appliances, has been released based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx).

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS will be supported for five years.

This is a beta release, so take it for a spin, let us know what you think. If you come across any issues, please report them. If you have ideas on how to make it better, let us know.

Pages

  • 1
  • 2