index.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>AIMS Desktop</title>
    <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/index.xml</link>
    <description>Recent content on AIMS Desktop</description>
    <generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <lastBuildDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 00:11:02 +0100</lastBuildDate>
    <atom:link href="https://desktop.aims.ac.za/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    
    <item>
      <title>Getting started</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/getting-started/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 00:11:02 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/getting-started/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h2 id=&#34;download-aims-desktop&#34;&gt;Download AIMS Desktop&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop can be downloaded from &lt;a href=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/download&#34;&gt;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/download&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop is a large download (over 3GB), if you&amp;rsquo;re reading this from a mobile connection,
you might want to download it on a broadband connection instead.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;preperation&#34;&gt;Preperation&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop installs a new operating system to your computer. It can be installed alongside
an existing system such as Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, BSD or another GNU/Linux system.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Installation Media:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You will need a USB disk that is at least 4GB large. Preparing it as an installation
disk for AIMS desktop will overwrite all the data that&amp;rsquo;s on there, so if you have important files
on that USB disk, you should move it to a safer location before writing the installer to disk.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;rsquo;re familiar with the dd command, you can use that from your Linux or macOS system to write
the command directly to a raw USB device.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;rsquo;re using Windows and don&amp;rsquo;t have access to a Linux device, you can download the Rufus USB
tool at &lt;a href=&#34;https://rufus.akeo.ie/&#34;&gt;https://rufus.akeo.ie/&lt;/a&gt; which makes writing USB disks from Windows really easy and that
tool has been confirmed to work with AIMS Desktop media.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Prepare your system:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The AIMS installer will do most of the work, however, here are some tips:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Back up your system.&lt;/strong&gt; Even though there is a very small risk of data loss, it&amp;rsquo;s recommended
that you make a full backup of your system before installing. The installer in AIMS Desktop is
widely used and tested, but making a backup will also protect you against human error.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Disable secure boot.&lt;/strong&gt; AIMS Desktop doesn&amp;rsquo;t yet support secure boot. If your laptop has this
enabled, you should disable it in the firmware before commencing installation. You will have
to consult the manual for your laptop or do an internet search for how to do this on your
machine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;li&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Ensure you have enough power.&lt;/strong&gt; AIMS Desktop will take some time to install. If you&amp;rsquo;re using
a laptop computer, ensure that you are connected to a power source.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;installation&#34;&gt;Installation&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For the most part, the installation of AIMS Desktop is very simple. It uses a graphical installation
tool called Calamares (&lt;a href=&#34;https://calamares.io&#34;&gt;https://calamares.io&lt;/a&gt;) which guides you through the entire installation process.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;One aspect to be mindful though, especially if you&amp;rsquo;re dual-booting, is to be aware of the boot method
that your computer uses. Newer computers use UEFI, while older computers use BIOS/Legacy boot mode.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We&amp;rsquo;ve made it really easy to identify which method your computer uses to boot up. When you start the
AIMS Desktop live USB disk, it will show you the boot method in brackets.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/bootmodes.png&#34; alt=&#34;Boot modes&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Booting in Legacy/BIOS mode to the left, booting UEFI mode to the right. The red underline has been added to these images for emphasis.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When you press enter on either boot mode, it will start loading the live environment, and you should
see a loading screen similar to the one below. Startup will take a few seconds to a few minuted depending
on what kind of computer you have.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/bootsplash.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Boot splash screeh&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;AIMS Desktop startup screen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When it has finished booted up, you will be presented with the AIMS Desktop Live environment. The
live environment can do a lot more than just install AIMS Desktop, you can also use it to test
whether hardware supports the system, try out the software on AIMS Desktop, or show it to a friend.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/aims-live-desktop.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;AIMS Live Desktop&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;AIMS Live Desktop&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The installer icon is the first one after the main menu button on the top left side, as highlighed below. Click on this button if you&amp;rsquo;d like to proceed installing AIMS Desktop.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-icon.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Installer Button&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Installer button, as highlighted above&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You will then be greeted by the installer. If you&amp;rsquo;re unsure about some options like region,
keyboard layout, etc, then you can change it again in the settings manager after installation.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-welcome.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Installer welcome screen&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Installer welcome screen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Select the language that you would like to use during the installation, then click on next.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Then, choose your location and timezone. The city that designates your timezone might not
be the actualy city you&amp;rsquo;re in, and is often the capital of your country.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-timezone.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Time zone settings&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Time zone settings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Next, we&amp;rsquo;ll select a keyboard layout. Normall, you&amp;rsquo;ll want to select a keyboard layout that closest
match your physical keyboard layout. In some cases, you might want a different layout to match
another computer you&amp;rsquo;re using. The keyboard image in this screen will adapt so that you have a preview
of the option you have chosen, and you can also type test it in the typing space at the bottom.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-keyboard.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Keyboard selection&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Keyboard settings&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Next, we have to allocate some space to install AIMS desktop to. The most basic method of installation
is to use the entire disk for AIMS Desktop. Do do that, you can choose the &amp;ldquo;Erase disk&amp;rdquo; option.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you have another system installed, you can also choose to resize that system to make space for
AIMS Desktop, or to replace an existing partition with AIMS Desktop. In the future we&amp;rsquo;re planning
to add an advanced partition section to this guide for using manual partitioning.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-partition.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Partitioning&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Partitioning screen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In the next step, we&amp;rsquo;ll configure your first user for this system. This user will also be an
administrator user.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Full name:&lt;/strong&gt; You can enter your full name or part of your name in this field.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;User name:&lt;/strong&gt; The user name must not start with a capital letter, can not container numbers, spaces or other special characters. Examples of user names are &lt;code&gt;mohammed&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;yasmine&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;sarah&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;mehdi&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Computer name:&lt;/strong&gt; This is a name that you can use to identify the computer. It must also be lowercase  alphabetical characters, but you can also use a dash, eg: &lt;code&gt;mohammed-pc&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;sarah-laptop&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;yasmine-macbook&lt;/code&gt;, &lt;code&gt;mehdi-x280&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Password:&lt;/strong&gt; Your password protects access to the computer. Use a password that won&amp;rsquo;t be easy to guess. A password such as &lt;code&gt;password&lt;/code&gt; or &lt;code&gt;latitude&lt;/code&gt; or anything you would find in a dictionary would be too weak. Instead, you might want to consider using a phrase for a password, ideally something that is easy to remember but wouldn&amp;rsquo;t exist in normal conversation, eg: &lt;code&gt;Bunnies drink water in October&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-user.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;User setup&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;User setup screen&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Before the installer starts making changes to your system, it will present a summary where you
can review the changes it will make. It&amp;rsquo;s a good idea to look at least at the partitioning summary,
especially if you want to keep an existing system installed as well.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-summary.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Installer summary&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Summary of installer actions about to take place&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;When you&amp;rsquo;re ready, click next to proceed with the installation.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&#34;admonition warning&#34;&gt;
&lt;p class=&#34;admonition-title&#34;&gt;Remember to plug in&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;rsquo;re installing on a laptop device and haven&amp;rsquo;t yet connected it to a power source, then it is
highly recommended you do so before continuing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/getting-started/installer-installing.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Installation in progress&#34; /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Installation progress&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The rest of the installation is automated. On a fast computer, will take around 10 minutes to complete.
On a slower computer, it might take as much as an hour.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Tips and Tricks</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/tips-tricks/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:56:50 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/tips-tricks/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h2 id=&#34;managing-software&#34;&gt;Managing software&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Being based on Debian, AIMS Desktop uses the APT (Advanced Package Tool) to manage software.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Software and its dependencies on AIMS Desktop is managed via packages, for each program on
your computer, there is at least one package. Packages can be installed, removed or upgraded.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Here we will show you how to manage software using APT in the command line. APT needs root
(administrator) privileges, so you need to run it using the sudo command.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;For example, if you want to install the program &amp;ldquo;meld&amp;rdquo;, you would use &lt;code&gt;apt install&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code class=&#34;language-none&#34;&gt;$ sudo apt install meld
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  meld
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you would like to remove that package, you can use &lt;code&gt;apt remove&lt;/code&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code class=&#34;language-none&#34;&gt;$ sudo apt remove meld
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  meld
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;APT&amp;rsquo;s remove tool plays it safe, and doesn&amp;rsquo;t automatically remove configuration
files or data that may have been created for a package in the system. If you&amp;rsquo;d
like to remove that as well, you can use the purge command. This does not affect
any data in your home directory.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code class=&#34;language-none&#34;&gt;$ sudo apt purge meld
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  meld*
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;You will notice an asterisk next to the package name, this indicates that the
package will be purged, as apposed to a normal removal.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Security updates and other important software updates happen regularly. To update
the list of the available packages for your system, you can run &lt;code&gt;apt update&lt;/code&gt;. To
install any available upgrades, you can run &lt;code&gt;apt upgrade&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code class=&#34;language-none&#34;&gt;$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://http.debian.net/debian stretch InRelease
Get:1 http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates InRelease [62.9 kB]
...
$ sudo apt upgrade
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libnfsidmap2 libtirpc1
  Use &#39;sudo apt autoremove&#39; to remove them.
The following packages will be upgraded:
  busybox
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;p&gt;In the example above, apt points out that two of the installed packages are no longer
required. They might have been installed as dependencies of packages that have been
previously removed. To remove them, use the &lt;code&gt;apt autoremove&lt;/code&gt; command:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code class=&#34;language-none&#34;&gt;The following packages will be REMOVED:
  libnfsidmap2 libtirpc1
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;

&lt;div class=&#34;admonition note&#34;&gt;
&lt;p class=&#34;admonition-title&#34;&gt;Tip: GNOME Software&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;GNOME Software is a graphical front-end that supports APT.
It makes it easier to find and install software if
you&amp;rsquo;re still new to the system.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div style=&#34;text-align: center; margin-top: 1em;&#34;&gt;
&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/tips-tricks/gnome-software.png&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; /&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;connecting-to-remote-servers-via-ssh&#34;&gt;Connecting to remote servers via SSH&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Introduction:&lt;/b&gt; Servers that you
normally ssh into can be accessed through the Nautilus file manager.
This allows you browse your remote files, edit them and copy to and
from the remote server.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 1:&lt;/b&gt; Open Nautilus/Files&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;text-align: center&#34;&gt;&lt;img alt=&#34;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-nautilus-ssh-1.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 2:&lt;/b&gt; In the location pane,
click on &lt;em&gt;Other Locations&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;text-align: center&#34;&gt;&lt;img alt=&#34;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-nautilus-ssh-2.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 3:&lt;/b&gt; At the bottom there is a
field to &lt;em&gt;Connect to Server&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;text-align: center&#34;&gt;&lt;img alt=&#34;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-nautilus-ssh-3.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 4:&lt;/b&gt; In this field enter
&lt;code&gt;ssh://&amp;lt;user&amp;gt;@&amp;lt;server&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;, where
&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;user&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; is your username and
&lt;code&gt;&amp;lt;server&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; is the address of the server you are
connecting to.  Replace &lt;code&gt;ssh&lt;/code&gt; with &lt;code&gt;sftp&lt;/code&gt; if you
wish to connect to a SFTP server.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 5:&lt;/b&gt; This will prompt you for
a password if necessary and mount the location. You will see the
server in the left panel and a listing of files on the right.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 6:&lt;/b&gt; If you wish to bookmark this server for future use,
right-click on the server in the location pane and select
&lt;em&gt;Add Bookmark&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;text-align: center&#34;&gt;&lt;img alt=&#34;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-nautilus-ssh-4.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;changing-your-password&#34;&gt;Changing your password&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li class=&#34;has-sub&#34; class=&#34;active&#34;&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;#&#34;&gt;&lt;span&gt;GNOME Desktop&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 1:&lt;/b&gt; Open the Activities
overview and start typing &lt;em&gt;Users&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;img width=&#34;100%&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; title=&#34;Finding the Users settings in GNOME&#34;
src=&#34;/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-change-password-1.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 2:&lt;/b&gt; Click &lt;em&gt;Users&lt;/em&gt; to
open the panel.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;img alt=&#34;&#34; width=&#34;100%&#34; title=&#34;The Users panel in GNOME&#34;
src=&#34;/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-change-password-2.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 3:&lt;/b&gt; Click the label next to
&lt;em&gt;Password&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 4:&lt;/b&gt; Enter your current
password, then a new password.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;Enter your new password again in the
&lt;em&gt;Verify New Password&lt;/em&gt; field. You can press the gear icon to
automatically generate a random password.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;img width=&#34;100%&#34; alt=&#34;&#34; title=&#34;The change password dialog&#34;
src=&#34;/images/tips-tricks/2017.01-change-password-3.png&#34; /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 5:&lt;/b&gt; Click &lt;em&gt;Change&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class=&#34;has-sub&#34; class=&#34;active&#34;&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;#&#34;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Command Line&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 1:&lt;/b&gt; Open the terminal&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Step 2:&lt;/b&gt; Enter
&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;passwd&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt; and follow the prompts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&#34;color: #424242;&#34;&gt;Enter your current password, your new
password and then confirm your new password. You will not be able to
see your password when you type it in.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;div class=&#34;admonition note&#34;&gt;
&lt;p class=&#34;admonition-title&#34;&gt;How to choose a strong password&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;li class=&#34;has-sub&#34; class=&#34;active&#34;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Make your passwords easy enough for
you to remember, but very difficult to for others to guess. Your
password guards your personal information, so you should make sure
it is a strong one.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Use a mixture of upper-case and
lower-case letters, numbers, symbols and spaces in the password. A
good way of doing this to the take the first letter of each word
and the grammar of a phrase you can remember.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Make your password as long as
possible. This makes it difficult for a person or computer to guess
it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Do not use one or two words from a
dictionary in any language. These are what programs use to try crack
your password.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Do not use any personal information
such as a date, family member&amp;rsquo;s name or a pet.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Never write your password down.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;span&gt;Use different passwords for different
things.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Troubleshooting guide</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/troubleshooting/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2016 19:56:50 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/troubleshooting/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h2 id=&#34;troubleshooting-guide&#34;&gt;Troubleshooting guide&lt;/h2&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>Roadmap</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/roadmap/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 13:08:11 +0300</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/roadmap/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop follows the Debian releases and we aim to release a new major version along with
every major Debian release. We also aim to release at least an updated version with the beginning
of the academic intakes at AIMS (which happens in January and August every year). Since Debian releases
aren&amp;rsquo;t entirely predictable, this means that there will typically be 3-4 AIMS Desktop releases during
a Debian release cycle depending on Debian&amp;rsquo;s release dates.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;2017-1-based-on-debian-9&#34;&gt;2017.1 (based on Debian 9)&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;This is our first public, Debian-based release. In the past, AIMS Desktop was based on Ubuntu.
We changed to Debian for its
&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.debian.org/social_contract&#34;&gt;friendlier licensing conditions&lt;/a&gt;.
In this release, we aim to match the futures and usability of previous AIMS Desktop releases.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;This release will feature Sagemath and Jupyter Notebook installed directly from the Debian archives.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The goal is also to have this release available on this site, world-wide available for free
to anyone who would like to use it.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;2017-2-based-on-debian-9&#34;&gt;2017.2 (based on Debian 9)&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;First major update to 2017.1 based on user feedback.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;More details to follow.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;2018-1-based-on-debian-9&#34;&gt;2018.1 (based on Debian 9)&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We aim to have proper packaging for R Studio.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;More details to follow.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;2019-1-based-on-debian-10&#34;&gt;2019.1 (based on Debian 10)&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;We aim to include the AIMS Desktop meta-packages in the Debian repositories so that we can build AIMS
desktop entirely from the Debian repositories. The goal is that we buidl AIMS Desktop entirely
from Debian packages and gain the status of a pure blend (&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.debian.org/blends/&#34;&gt;https://www.debian.org/blends/&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;More details to follow.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>License</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/license/</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 12 Apr 2017 20:10:46 +0200</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/license/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h2 id=&#34;aims-desktop&#34;&gt;AIMS Desktop&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop is free to use for anyone whether it&amp;rsquo;s for educational, private
or commercial use.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It is based on Debian, and made up out of a large collection of software each
with their own specific licensing. To read the license for each software
package, you can find it in the &lt;code&gt;copyright&lt;/code&gt; file under /usr/share/doc for each
package.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;More information about Debian licensing and its social contract:
&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.debian.org/social_contract&#34;&gt;https://www.debian.org/social_contract&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;website-powered-by-hugo&#34;&gt;Website powered by Hugo&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This website is powered by Hugo, a static website generator written in Go.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://gohugo.io&#34;&gt;https://gohugo.io&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the &amp;ldquo;License&amp;rdquo;);
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0&#34;&gt;http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an &amp;ldquo;AS IS&amp;rdquo; BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;website-theme&#34;&gt;Website theme&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This website&amp;rsquo;s theme is based on &amp;ldquo;Meterial for Hugo&amp;rdquo;.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://themes.gohugo.io/theme/material-docs/&#34;&gt;http://themes.gohugo.io/theme/material-docs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Copyright &amp;copy; 2016 Digitalcraftsman &lt;a href=&#34;mailto:digitalcraftsman@protonmail.com&#34;&gt;digitalcraftsman@protonmail.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Copyright &amp;copy; 2016 Martin Donath &lt;a href=&#34;mailto:martin.donath@squidfunk.com&#34;&gt;martin.donath@squidfunk.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the &amp;ldquo;Software&amp;rdquo;), to
deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED &amp;ldquo;AS IS&amp;rdquo;, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
IN THE SOFTWARE.&lt;/p&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
    <item>
      <title>AIMS Desktop</title>
      <link>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/</link>
      <pubDate>Mon, 10 Apr 2017 11:27:13 +0100</pubDate>
      
      <guid>https://desktop.aims.ac.za/</guid>
      <description>

&lt;h2 id=&#34;welcome-to-aims-desktop&#34;&gt;Welcome to AIMS Desktop&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/screen.png&#34; alt=&#34;AIMS Desktop Picture&#34; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop is a collection of software that allows you to do mathematics and science on your computer easily and efficiently. You need no exising software on your computer, AIMS Desktop installs an entire operating system that you can install standalone, or dual boot with Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It is maintained by AIMS (The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences), a pan-African network of centres of excellence enabling Africa’s talented students to become innovators driving the continent’s scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop is free for anyone to use for educational, non-profit or commercial purposes. (See: Software Licences for more information)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;See the &lt;a href=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/getting-started/&#34;&gt;getting started guide&lt;/a&gt; for instructions how to get
it up and running.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 id=&#34;acknowledgements&#34;&gt;Acknowledgements&lt;/h2&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The AIMS Desktop project is maintained by &lt;a href=&#34;https://aims.ac.za&#34;&gt;AIMS South Africa&lt;/a&gt; and
contributors.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&#34;meet-the-team&#34;&gt;Meet the team.&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;img style=&#34;float: left; padding-right: 10px;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/faces/pipedream.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Photo of Jan&#34; /&gt; &lt;h3&gt; Jan Groenewald &lt;/h3&gt;
Jan is the IT Manager at AIMS South Africa and have worked on various forms of AIMS Desktop since 2003.
He conducted the first deployment of desktops at AIMS using Debian Sarge
to Sagemath upstream packaging. Jan maintains AIMS meta-packages and focusses on science software and
software used for academic purposes in the system.
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;img style=&#34;float: left; padding-right: 10px;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/faces/highvoltage.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Photo of Jonathan&#34; /&gt; &lt;h3&gt; Jonathan Carter &lt;/h3&gt;
Jonathan works part time at AIMS South Africa and maintains the PPA infrastructure, build scripts,
installer packages, this site and settings packages included in AIMS Desktop. Jonathan is currently
a Debian Maintainer in the Debian project. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;img style=&#34;relative; float: left; padding-right: 10px;&#34; src=&#34;https://desktop.aims.ac.za/images/faces/paddatrapper.jpg&#34; alt=&#34;Photo of Kyle&#34; /&gt; &lt;h3&gt; Kyle Robertze &lt;/h3&gt;
Kyle does intern work at AIMS and have worked on extensions to improve desktop usability, installer
improvements and documentation. He&amp;rsquo;s also a Debian contributor and maintains packages in the Debian archive. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h3 id=&#34;external-projects&#34;&gt;External projects&lt;/h3&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AIMS Desktop is built on the shoulders of giants. Here are only some of the projects that it is built on:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://debian.org&#34;&gt;Debian project&lt;/a&gt; - A large association of developers who build Debian, a general-purpose operating system environment made up of a large collection of free software.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel&#34;&gt;Linux Kernel&lt;/a&gt; - The heart of the system that handles all hardware and drivers.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://calamares.io/about/&#34;&gt;Calamares&lt;/a&gt; - An independent graphical installer framework.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://gnome.org&#34;&gt;GNOME Desktop Environment&lt;/a&gt; - The default desktop environment we ship with AIMS Desktop.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://jupyter.org/&#34;&gt;Jupyter Notebook&lt;/a&gt; - A web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations, and explanatory text.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://www.python.org/&#34;&gt;Python&lt;/a&gt; - A powerful programming language that&amp;rsquo;s easy to learn, many programs shipped with AIMS Desktop is written in Python.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;http://www.sagemath.org/&#34;&gt;Sagemath&lt;/a&gt; - Mathematics software that builds on many existing projects including NumPy, SciPy, matplotlib, Sympy, Maxima, GAP, FLINT and R.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Octave&#34;&gt;GNU Octave&lt;/a&gt; - A (mostly Matlab Ⓡ compatible) high-level language, primarilyi intended for numerical computations.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeXstudio&#34;&gt;Texstudo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox&#34;&gt;Firefox&lt;/a&gt; - A free web browse that aims to protect you on-line.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;!--
### Kafui Odzanga Dake

![Photo of Kafui](/images/faces/kafui.jpg)

Kafui is the IT Manager at AIMS Ghana and have worked on package selection as well as QA on AIMS
Desktop.
--&gt;
</description>
    </item>
    
  </channel>
</rss>