From 4f03e1832812c0b2889ace21d0a082a529b866a1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Michael Hanke Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:00:47 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Move SfN post into blog. --- sphinx/blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst | 186 ++++++++++++++++++ sphinx/blog/2010/index.rst | 9 + sphinx/blog/index.rst | 9 + sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst | 184 +---------------- 4 files changed, 205 insertions(+), 183 deletions(-) create mode 100644 sphinx/blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst create mode 100644 sphinx/blog/2010/index.rst create mode 100644 sphinx/blog/index.rst mode change 100644 => 120000 sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst diff --git a/sphinx/blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst b/sphinx/blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4756a2b --- /dev/null +++ b/sphinx/blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst @@ -0,0 +1,186 @@ +:date: 2010-11-24 14:00:00 +:tags: debian, neuroscience, conference + +.. _chap_debian_booth_sfn2010: + +Debian booth at SfN2010 in San Diego +==================================== + +.. image:: pics/sfn2010/SanDiegoConferenceCenter.jpg + :width: 100% + +During November 13-17, 2010 the NeuroDebian team ran its first Debian booth at the +annual meeting of the `Society for Neuroscience`_ (SfN2010_) in San +Diego, USA. We presented the upcoming release Debian 6.0 Squeeze and +demonstrated its utility as a robust and versatile research environment for +neuroscience. Booth visitors had the opportunity to meet with developers +of neuroscience research software, and to get information on available software +and recommendations for deployment strategies in research laboratories. + +.. image:: pics/sfn2010/PosterSession.jpg + +The `annual meeting`_ of the Society for Neuroscience is one of the largest +neuroscience conferences in the world, with over 30,000 attendees. Researchers, +clinicians, and leading experts discuss the latest findings about the brain, +nervous system, and related disorders. + + +Booth setup +----------- + +`Don Armstrong`_ kindly provided us with Debian banners to decorate the +booth and some Debian T-shirts to give away. Moreover, we were equipped with +laptops running Debian squeeze and sid, as well as two additional laptops each +running a Debian squeeze virtual machine on top of Mac OS X and Windows, +respectively (CDs with the VM image were also available for visitors to take +home). To demonstrate Debian's versatility, we had a complete Debian +archive mirror that was used to show the full selection of available software +and the simplicity of installation and upgrade procedures. The mirror +was provided from an external harddrive by a commodity router box +running the Debian-based DebWrt_ distribution. +All machines were connected to our own local wired network to avoid problems +with conference center's free wireless network (poor at best). Finally, we had +several hundred `tri-fold flyers`_ with general Debian facts on one side, and +NeuroDebian facts on the other (`sources are available`_). + + +.. figure:: pics/sfn2010/BoothReady.jpg + + Final booth setup with staff (left to right): Michael Hanke, Yaroslav + Halchenko and Swaroop Guntupali. + + +Booth visitors +-------------- + +The booth was well attended on all days of the conference. Many people were +somewhat surprised, but also pleased to see Debian represented. The visitors +comprised the whole range from long-term Debian users to people who were not +aware of an operating system other than Windows and Mac OS. + +A number of visitors were involved in free software development -- at various +levels. We talked to a Debian ftpmaster, a Gentoo developer, various developers +of neuroscience-related software that is already integrated in Debian and many +more whose work still needs to be packaged. We were visited by representatives of +companies looking for support to get their open-source products into Debian. +The vast majority, however, were scientists looking for a better research +platform for their labs. That included the struggling Phd-student, as well as +lab heads sharing their experience managing a computing infrastructure for +neuroscience research. + +The Debian booth also served as a platform for upstream developers to meet with +Debian users of their software. + +.. image:: pics/sfn2010/BusyBooth.jpg + + + +Debian-based systems are the preferred Linux environment +-------------------------------------------------------- + +The overwhelming majority of visitors running some Linux flavor used a +Debian-based operating system -- including Debian_ itself, Ubuntu_ and +sidux/apttosid_. Especially people using Python for research purposes seem to +prefer the comprehensive support of Python modules in Debian, whereas e.g. R_ +users are more uniformly distributed across GNU/Linux distributions. This +assessment is, of course, biased by the fact that Debian was the only +distribution that was present at this conference. + +In general, we had the impression that Linux users employ a larger variety of +tools in their research activities, whereas users of proprietary operating +systems tended to limit themselves to a more restricted set, or use an +intermediate computing platform, such as Matlab. + +.. figure:: pics/sfn2010/NeuroDebianPosterSession.jpg + + During the conference's poster session we explained the Debian system and + community processes to many interested visitors (`download the poster`_). + + +Take-home messages +------------------ + +While there was a large variety of topics that were brought up by visitors there +were some common patterns. + +Visibility + + For a Debian developer it may be surprising, but many people still do not + know that Debian exists -- even despite the fact that Debian is often a + perfect match for their particular requirements. People who got introduced to + Debian at the booth often couldn't believe what they were hearing or + seeing: so much software, runs on any hardware, all for free. + + We believe it would be very beneficial for Debian to reach out beyond the IT + sector and present itself in all fields of applications that it already + supports today. + +Debian and Ubuntu + + Apparently it is still a largely unknown fact that Ubuntu is based on Debian. + +Live-CD + + There was a significant demand for (customized) Live-CDs. On one hand, people + were asking for a way to quickly try out Debian (and we believe that this + doesn't necessarily have to be a live-cd). On the other hand, for example, + teachers were asking for means to temporarily deploy Debian on, e.g. + university computer pool machines and use Debian-packaged software for + teaching courses (e.g. on brain-imaging data analysis). + +Electrophysiology tools + + Of all subfields of neuroscience, electrophysiology researchers expressed the + greatest demand for better tools in Debian -- or basically at least some + specialized tools at all. Moreover, many research projects relying + on FOSS solutions in electrophysiology already use Debian-based + systems to accomplish the mission; they just rely on manual (from sources) + deployment of the necessary tools. We started a `new Debian Science Blend task`_ to + collect information about existing relevant software and to eventually package it. + +Realtime capabilities + + Apparently, numerous research groups utilize Debian-based equipment to perform + various flavors of real-time data acquisition and processing. They expressed + their demand for real-time capabilities of (some) Debian kernel images. + +Cloud-computing + + Cloud-computing seems to be an increasingly interesting topic for neuroscience + data analysis. We got the impression that there is a tendency to look for + alternatives to Matlab to be able to run analyses in the cloud cheaper (or at + all). We pointed people to ongoing efforts in Debian to enable Debian-based + cloud computing (see e.g. the `Debian wiki`_). + + +Many Thanks +----------- + +Throughout the conference many people stopped by to express their gratitude to +Debian for developing their operating system of choice. We want to affirm this +and relay it to the larger Debian community. Thanks for Debian. + + +Acknowledgements +---------------- + +This booth has been made possible by the generous support of Prof. James V. +Haxby (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA) and `other donations to the Debian +project`_. + + +.. _annual meeting: http://www.sfn.org/am2010/ +.. _SfN2010: http://www.sfn.org/am2010/ +.. _Society for Neuroscience: http://www.sfn.org/ +.. _Don Armstrong: http://www.donarmstrong.org +.. _DebWrt: http://www.debwrt.net +.. _Debian: http://www.debian.org +.. _Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com +.. _apttosid: http://aptosid.com +.. _R: http://www.r-project.org +.. _tri-fold flyers: http://neuro.debian.net/_files/brochure_debian-neurodebian.pdf +.. _sources are available: http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-exppsy/neurodebian.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD;f=artwork/brochure +.. _Debian wiki: http://wiki.debian.org/Cloud +.. _new Debian Science Blend task: http://blends.alioth.debian.org/science/tasks/electrophysiology +.. _download the poster: http://neuro.debian.net/_files/NeuroDebian_SfN2010.png +.. _other donations to the Debian project: http://www.debian.org/donations diff --git a/sphinx/blog/2010/index.rst b/sphinx/blog/2010/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9faa409 --- /dev/null +++ b/sphinx/blog/2010/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@ +2010 +==== + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 1 + :glob: + + 2010* + diff --git a/sphinx/blog/index.rst b/sphinx/blog/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faabef3 --- /dev/null +++ b/sphinx/blog/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@ +************************* + Debian for Neuroscience +************************* + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 2 + :glob: + + 2010/index diff --git a/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst b/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst deleted file mode 100644 index bcffd54..0000000 --- a/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,183 +0,0 @@ -.. _chap_debian_booth_sfn2010: - -Debian booth at SfN2010 in San Diego -==================================== - -.. image:: pics/sfn2010/SanDiegoConferenceCenter.jpg - :width: 100% - -During November 13-17, 2010 the NeuroDebian team ran its first Debian booth at the -annual meeting of the `Society for Neuroscience`_ (SfN2010_) in San -Diego, USA. We presented the upcoming release Debian 6.0 Squeeze and -demonstrated its utility as a robust and versatile research environment for -neuroscience. Booth visitors had the opportunity to meet with developers -of neuroscience research software, and to get information on available software -and recommendations for deployment strategies in research laboratories. - -.. image:: pics/sfn2010/PosterSession.jpg - -The `annual meeting`_ of the Society for Neuroscience is one of the largest -neuroscience conferences in the world, with over 30,000 attendees. Researchers, -clinicians, and leading experts discuss the latest findings about the brain, -nervous system, and related disorders. - - -Booth setup ------------ - -`Don Armstrong`_ kindly provided us with Debian banners to decorate the -booth and some Debian T-shirts to give away. Moreover, we were equipped with -laptops running Debian squeeze and sid, as well as two additional laptops each -running a Debian squeeze virtual machine on top of Mac OS X and Windows, -respectively (CDs with the VM image were also available for visitors to take -home). To demonstrate Debian's versatility, we had a complete Debian -archive mirror that was used to show the full selection of available software -and the simplicity of installation and upgrade procedures. The mirror -was provided from an external harddrive by a commodity router box -running the Debian-based DebWrt_ distribution. -All machines were connected to our own local wired network to avoid problems -with conference center's free wireless network (poor at best). Finally, we had -several hundred `tri-fold flyers`_ with general Debian facts on one side, and -NeuroDebian facts on the other (`sources are available`_). - - -.. figure:: pics/sfn2010/BoothReady.jpg - - Final booth setup with staff (left to right): Michael Hanke, Yaroslav - Halchenko and Swaroop Guntupali. - - -Booth visitors --------------- - -The booth was well attended on all days of the conference. Many people were -somewhat surprised, but also pleased to see Debian represented. The visitors -comprised the whole range from long-term Debian users to people who were not -aware of an operating system other than Windows and Mac OS. - -A number of visitors were involved in free software development -- at various -levels. We talked to a Debian ftpmaster, a Gentoo developer, various developers -of neuroscience-related software that is already integrated in Debian and many -more whose work still needs to be packaged. We were visited by representatives of -companies looking for support to get their open-source products into Debian. -The vast majority, however, were scientists looking for a better research -platform for their labs. That included the struggling Phd-student, as well as -lab heads sharing their experience managing a computing infrastructure for -neuroscience research. - -The Debian booth also served as a platform for upstream developers to meet with -Debian users of their software. - -.. image:: pics/sfn2010/BusyBooth.jpg - - - -Debian-based systems are the preferred Linux environment --------------------------------------------------------- - -The overwhelming majority of visitors running some Linux flavor used a -Debian-based operating system -- including Debian_ itself, Ubuntu_ and -sidux/apttosid_. Especially people using Python for research purposes seem to -prefer the comprehensive support of Python modules in Debian, whereas e.g. R_ -users are more uniformly distributed across GNU/Linux distributions. This -assessment is, of course, biased by the fact that Debian was the only -distribution that was present at this conference. - -In general, we had the impression that Linux users employ a larger variety of -tools in their research activities, whereas users of proprietary operating -systems tended to limit themselves to a more restricted set, or use an -intermediate computing platform, such as Matlab. - -.. figure:: pics/sfn2010/NeuroDebianPosterSession.jpg - - During the conference's poster session we explained the Debian system and - community processes to many interested visitors (`download the poster`_). - - -Take-home messages ------------------- - -While there was a large variety of topics that were brought up by visitors there -were some common patterns. - -Visibility - - For a Debian developer it may be surprising, but many people still do not - know that Debian exists -- even despite the fact that Debian is often a - perfect match for their particular requirements. People who got introduced to - Debian at the booth often couldn't believe what they were hearing or - seeing: so much software, runs on any hardware, all for free. - - We believe it would be very beneficial for Debian to reach out beyond the IT - sector and present itself in all fields of applications that it already - supports today. - -Debian and Ubuntu - - Apparently it is still a largely unknown fact that Ubuntu is based on Debian. - -Live-CD - - There was a significant demand for (customized) Live-CDs. On one hand, people - were asking for a way to quickly try out Debian (and we believe that this - doesn't necessarily have to be a live-cd). On the other hand, for example, - teachers were asking for means to temporarily deploy Debian on, e.g. - university computer pool machines and use Debian-packaged software for - teaching courses (e.g. on brain-imaging data analysis). - -Electrophysiology tools - - Of all subfields of neuroscience, electrophysiology researchers expressed the - greatest demand for better tools in Debian -- or basically at least some - specialized tools at all. Moreover, many research projects relying - on FOSS solutions in electrophysiology already use Debian-based - systems to accomplish the mission; they just rely on manual (from sources) - deployment of the necessary tools. We started a `new Debian Science Blend task`_ to - collect information about existing relevant software and to eventually package it. - -Realtime capabilities - - Apparently, numerous research groups utilize Debian-based equipment to perform - various flavors of real-time data acquisition and processing. They expressed - their demand for real-time capabilities of (some) Debian kernel images. - -Cloud-computing - - Cloud-computing seems to be an increasingly interesting topic for neuroscience - data analysis. We got the impression that there is a tendency to look for - alternatives to Matlab to be able to run analyses in the cloud cheaper (or at - all). We pointed people to ongoing efforts in Debian to enable Debian-based - cloud computing (see e.g. the `Debian wiki`_). - - -Many Thanks ------------ - -Throughout the conference many people stopped by to express their gratitude to -Debian for developing their operating system of choice. We want to affirm this -and relay it to the larger Debian community. Thanks for Debian. - - -Acknowledgements ----------------- - -This booth has been made possible by the generous support of Prof. James V. -Haxby (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA) and `other donations to the Debian -project`_. - - -.. _annual meeting: http://www.sfn.org/am2010/ -.. _SfN2010: http://www.sfn.org/am2010/ -.. _Society for Neuroscience: http://www.sfn.org/ -.. _Don Armstrong: http://www.donarmstrong.org -.. _DebWrt: http://www.debwrt.net -.. _Debian: http://www.debian.org -.. _Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com -.. _apttosid: http://aptosid.com -.. _R: http://www.r-project.org -.. _tri-fold flyers: http://neuro.debian.net/_files/brochure_debian-neurodebian.pdf -.. _sources are available: http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-exppsy/neurodebian.git;a=tree;hb=HEAD;f=artwork/brochure -.. _Debian wiki: http://wiki.debian.org/Cloud -.. _new Debian Science Blend task: http://blends.alioth.debian.org/science/tasks/electrophysiology -.. _download the poster: http://neuro.debian.net/_files/NeuroDebian_SfN2010.png -.. _other donations to the Debian project: http://www.debian.org/donations diff --git a/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst b/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst new file mode 120000 index 0000000..6e8536f --- /dev/null +++ b/sphinx/booth_sfn2010.rst @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +blog/2010/2010-11-24_booth_sfn2010.rst \ No newline at end of file -- 2.39.5