Hello NS community.
I am Rob Bosch. A 49 year old Dutch guy living in Belgium. I came here because Allesio asked me to help out with the community. I have been very active in the Zentyal community for over 4 years, but unfortunately Zentyal chose to go another path when it comes to a community driven project.
I am a community man. Although I have my share of technical knowledge, it is more the community part that is inspiring me to be active and be part of a group of people that is enthusiastic about a project that can help grow and become a major distribution.
First of all, I absolutely like the atmosphere in this community already. I have watched some of the hangout videos and read a lot on the forums. I think Allesio is doing a superb job with inspiring members from all over the world to come up with their ideas and opinions.
I do hope I can embrace Nethserver as a replacement for Zentyal server. The last version of Zentyal server I used is version 3.2 (based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Server) and I am still running that on several servers. Until Ubuntu 12.04 runs EOL they probably will stay on that version.
I currently am involved in several projects. Most of the projects involve ICT in Educational environments. I have deployed ICT environments in a Belgium primary school and in Senegal in a secondary school. When I advise schools, I try to convince them to use Opensource solutions. Not only because they are cheaper and easier to maintain, but most of all because they are open. The philosophy of opensource (and open content) is probably even more important. Especially for primary and secondary schools since, in my opinion, opensource stands for sharing without expecting to get something in return. The fact that you DO get a LOT in return, like contributions, ideas and participation is the biggest reward you can have and that is only possible with opensource!
I joined Nethserver community primarily because Alessio asked me. I don’t know a lot about Netserver (yet) and my Linux knowledge is almost limited to Ubuntu based solutions. It will be hard for me to catch up, but again, the community feeling here is the most important for me.
Since I have an interest in Educational solutions I would like to see some modules added to Nethserver like Moodle or Chamilo (both are electronic learning environments), Xerte online Toolkits (an e-learning development environment where you can create interactive learningobjects) and Xibo (a Digital Signage content management system). I read in the forums there is a huge discussion going on whether to have AD replacement (Samba4) with GPO support or not. I think that if Nethserver wants to become a major player in the SME world, in the end there will be a need for full Windows client support. If that is through AD + GPO or through something else, that is to be decided. What stays important is that a mixed environment can be supported by Nethserver. What I learned from previous solutions I was involved with is that leaving out one of the major options (Windows, IOS, Linux) on the desktop will eventually hurt the project.
Currently I am very busy with http://www.linuxschools.com This is an Ubuntu based solution especially for educational environments. It consists of a server and a client that can take care of all the needs a school can wish for. The only thing that not is implemented is an UTM/Gateway function. Currently I use pfsense as UTM/Gateway for my Linuxschools implementations.
As of now, I didn’t test Nethserver yet, but I am downloading the ISO image as we speak. I don’t want to start a .deb vs .rpm war, but I think I will need quite some time to get used to CentOS. In the past I tried several times, but never could get used to it. However I do think this time it will work out just fine.
Lastly, what I am busy with is getting LPIC1 certified. The first exam is planned end of the month so fingers crossed.
I hope to find a great and thriving community and sure hope I can be a positive asset to the community.
best regards,
robb