[HOT] HOT stick (Portable Apps) for Training/Workshops

Fri Sep 27 02:00:22 UTC 2013

Hey Maning,
we recently had very good results running GeoNode workshops with bootable
usb key built using the method to build custom ubuntu live CD [1]. Ours USB
keys were built with Ubuntu Customization Kit (UCK) but there are other
tools around too. I haven't tried for OSM tools but I was planning on
extending this for other trainings (OSM, InaSafe, etc...).
We did try using Virtual Boxes in the past but we had some issues with
network configurations in a university lab setting.

Cheers,

Vivien

[1] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCDCustomization

On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 6:46 PM, Pierre Béland <pierzenh at yahoo.fr> wrote:

> Maning,
>
> Andrew Buck, Will Skora and I have organized a Support group fo teams
> deployed in Africa this summer. Following our various experiences in Haiti
> and African countries, we started to discuss about solutions to facilitate
> training in the context of various OS and poor quality / low internet
> bandwith and brought this subject to the Tech WG. Various actions can be
> taken to reduce utilization of internet bandwith and facilitate support to
> the trainees.
>
> Other then the points mentionned by you and Harry, we discussed of ways to
> facilitate operations with various equipments and softwares. An interesting
> proposition from Andrew Buck is to use a VirtualBox where a Ubuntu Linux OS
> package woud be used. This has not been tested yet. But it should
> facilitate operations in a classroom with various OS. Everyone would use
> the same os and software versions. In a classroom software updates could
> also be centralized on one computer and then copied to the usb keys.
>
> For map caching, Ushahidi BRCK has been proposed but we dont know the
> specs of this equipment yet. It would be interesting to look at the various
> possible solutions acting as a bridge between internet and the classroom
> computers and contributing to reduce the internet bandwith usage.
>
> Pierre
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *De :* Harry Wood <mail at harrywood.co.uk>
> *À :* maning sambale <emmanuel.sambale at gmail.com>; HOT <
> hot at openstreetmap.org>
> *Envoyé le :* Jeudi 26 septembre 2013 11h49
> *Objet :* Re: [HOT] HOT stick (Portable Apps) for Training/Workshops
>
> Blurting out some thoughts on this.
>
> Dane Springmeyer worked on a "Installer" thing a long time ago:
> https://github.com/hotosm/installer
> Looks at bit old and Mapnik oriented (and Mapnik's moved on a lot!)
> It makes reference to a "HOT Package" page:
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/HOT_Package
>
> More recently we discussed the idea in the tech working group
>
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/Working_groups/Technical/meeting_2013-07-01
> And I think mapbox have a neat USB vector tile rendering thing up their
> sleaves: https://vine.co/v/b0DvTPnpPtw
> We also discussed Ushahidi BRCK which has some storage capacity. Could do
> map caching tricks.
>
> For applications there's a version management challenge. I think an idea
> we discussed was approaching this as a "build script" problem. You can
> distribute USB keys with lots of useful and up-to-date software and docs
> and data if you have a script to pull it all together.
>
> But yes portableapps.com is interesting. I used to find the site very
> useful back when I developed on windows. I notice they have a development
> section http://portableapps.com/development to help people "portabalize"
> apps. A lot of the apps currently listed are quite mass-market. Not sure
> how JOSM and QGIS would fit into their categories, or whether they would
> want them on the central portableapps.com listings. Also I don't think
> they have web applications just a XAMPP server, so I guess installing
> things like field papers would still need to be scripted outside of that
> framework.
>
> Harry
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: maning sambale <emmanuel.sambale at gmail.com>
> To: HOT <hot at openstreetmap.org>
> Cc:
> Sent: Thursday, 26 September 2013, 3:47
> Subject: [HOT] HOT stick (Portable Apps) for Training/Workshops
>
> Dear HOTties,
>
> Has anyone tried building a USB Stick that runs all the needed
> applications for an OSM Training?
>
> For a series of training we will conduct, we are anticipating a lot of
> different configurations and MS Windows versions.  They may use a
> computer lab or their own laptops.
>
> Instead of just giving the participants copies of the software
> installers, we are thinking of building a PortableApp [0] stick
> containing all the needed apps and resources.
>
> Anyone tried this approach?  How is it effective?
>
> A few things we want in the stick are:
> * JOSM including all the necessary plugins (FieldPapers, Notes,
> DirectUpload, GPXEdit, Building tools, Presets, GeoChat, Measurement,
> Mirrored downloads, Reverter, Terracer)
> * GPSBabel
> * QGIS
> * PDF reader
> * Firefox or Chrome
> * 7-Zip
> * ClamWin
> * Notepad++
> * Learning materials (either offline or pdf version of learnOSM)
> * Installers - installers of the above software
>
>
> [0] http://portableapps.com/apps
> --
> cheers,
> maning
> ------------------------------------------------------
> "Freedom is still the most radical idea of all" -N.Branden
> wiki: http://esambale.wikispaces.com/
> blog: http://epsg4253.wordpress.com/
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
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