Known issues

Hard drive installer is not present on the ISO version (or the USB media for that matter)

Download is first made available on the German mirror and is syncing now slowly with the Californian mirror.

Any comments? Please drop by the Web forum.

Posted Tue 16 Jun 2009 23:26:19 UTC

Since Google Checkout omits some countries like Brasil from its buyer registration page, I've reluctantly setup a Paypal account for Webconverger.

I thought Google Checkout fee was outrageous at 3.6GBP. Paypal took 4.10GBP from a 100GBP transaction!

Posted Thu 11 Jun 2009 19:58:04 UTC

A common customisation request is to disable the boot menu, in order to make this Web client tamper proof.

You can edit syslinux/syslinux.cfg on the USB image to look something like this:

label linux
    kernel /live/vmlinuz1
    append initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live quiet homepage=http://portal.webconverger.com/ nonetworking splash vga=791 username=webc hostname=webconverger union=aufs

Posted Tue 26 May 2009 19:22:14 UTC

Some of you may have noticed the Webconverger portal has been not working as it should. Apologies.

Dreamhost where the portal is hosted has upgraded to PHP5 and since the site makes use of the Apache AddLanguage feature their *.php directive wasn't catching the files. The solution was to add to the .htaccess:

<Files *.php.*>
ForceType php5-cgi
</Files>

So the portal currently has translations in:

humantorch:462$ ls *.php*
index.php.cn  index.php.en  index.php.fi  index.php.nl
index.php.de  index.php.es  index.php.fr  index.php.sv

If you want to create a portal for your country, I'm very receptive to adding it. If you find the links on any of the version of the portal could be better, please let us know too.

Thank you sneekylinux for the above succinct video. Also recently Webconverger has been featured in the German press.

With all this talk of "Cloud Computing", Webconverger really should be receiving some more press, as Webconverger makes the perfect cloud client.

Posted Thu 07 May 2009 18:50:14 UTC

New features and fixes

Added iptables firewall
Fix UA string for Hotmail
file:/// disabled in the latest kiosk extension. Try it out from here.
Remove previous wireless default to join any open network.
Iceweasel 3.0.9
CUPS printing support re-instated with a Firewall to rule to allow for printer sharing broadcasts
2.6.29 kernel backport, which means even better hardware support
Xpdf dropped in favour of a working printing dialog with Acroread -- there are some embedding issues when you first run it, [Ctrl+q] is needed to close the PDF viewer. Also saving allows file browsing.

Known issues

Spelling language has to be manually chosen and doesn't respect chosen locale boot options
The debian installer which only worked on the ISO version is temporarily disabled until the debian installer uses 2.6.29 which supports squashfs 4.
USB version seems to trigger Unknown video mode at least one of our test systems
CJK support disabled until new code proven and accepted in live-initscripts

Available first on the German mirror. Please comment on webc-users, thank you.

Posted Sun 26 Apr 2009 16:24:02 UTC

If you are daring enough to try a browser that supports HTML5 video, like the very latest Firefox trunk builds, you could enjoy a little wireless setup demonstration with a Thinkpad T60p and a Webconverger nightly USB build.

mvi_4868.ogg Size: 28M

Oh, Webconverger ships with the latest Debian stable builds of Firefox.

Posted Thu 16 Apr 2009 21:26:23 UTC

WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!

Another year, another archive key so you know the 7EEFD8EC key is from Webconverger.

4198 920B 166E 4256 B26E  E6AB E3C6 58D6 7EEF D8EC

So following Daniel's example except the change in repository layout I have updated the Webconverger archive key.

hendry@x61 ~$ wget -q http://debian.webconverger.com/archive-key.asc -O /dev/stdout | gpg
pub  1024D/7EEFD8EC 2009-04-07 Webconverger Archive Automatic Signing Key <key@webconverger.com>
sub  2048g/5CBB8700 2009-04-07 [expires: 2011-04-07]

If you track todo you'll notice I've added IN DAILY to:

disabling right click
setting the UA to Firefox 2
disabling the wireless convenience feature to join any open AP -- a bad default

IN DAILY means the bug has been fixed or rather in testing in the daily builds, though not in the proper tested official release yet.

As you all know with the uncustomized free version of Webconverger you can alter the boot options and remove nosudo to activate debug mode. From here you could run:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tor iceweasel-torbutton privoxy

Install the privoxy default maintainer's configuration if asked.

sudo su -c "echo forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 . >> /etc/privoxy/config"
sudo /etc/init.d/privoxy restart

This might help improve your privacy from the lunacy of the EU Data Retention Directive. I personally find using Tor unusable. It's just too slow. So in this case I don't think technology will save us. You should instead politely lobby your local European government representative.

Posted Tue 07 Apr 2009 22:29:30 UTC

So there is no more maxi or mini in 4.4. Just one Webconverger with all you need.

4.4 unforunately does not have printing support. Printing will be re-introduced in the next release, without the CUPS Web control panel.

The Webconverger release process

This is how a release is currently done. Improvement ideas are very welcome.

A daily build is targeted
A round of testing is asked for on the mailing list
Of course we conduct our own testing on VMWARE ISO and on actual hardware USB.
A day or two of testing elapses
The deliver.sh script is executed, which stages the release on hetty at build.webconverger.org
rsync -essh -artpv --progress --delete /srv/www/download.webconverger.org/ webconverger.com:download.webconverger.com/ which mirrors the download at the server in the states
A blog is published with the release notes
Webconverger.com is updated.
Release is tweeted
Release is announced on Freshmeat
Announced on the mailing list and if a important release, announced on the announce list

Posted Thu 02 Apr 2009 18:42:43 UTC

When Webconveger first started using Google checkout it was free, which was nice. I can't remember when Google Checkout UK started charging transactions fees, I guess at the end of 2007.

Until May 2009 they charged Webconverger 1.5% + 0.15. So on 100GBP, Google's cut was 1.65GBP.

Google's checkout fees have increaded to 3.4% + 0.20 on Monthly sales below 1500GBP. So Google's cut will increase to 3.6GBP. More than a 100% increase. That's greedy Google.

So what are the alternatives?

Paypal charge 2.9% + $0.30 USD
Worldpay use complex pricing

After enquiring Worldpay say:

Our new business offer is:
Set-up Fee: £75
Monthly Fee: £15 each month (first month payable upon application).
Credit and Debit card charge is 3.35% + 15p per transaction.

There must be better ...

It depends how much you're going to use it and who for. For UK-centric, nochex.co.uk used to be competitive. For small volumes, moneybookers.com was OK. I'm interested to hear what you go for. MjR

Since most of Webconverger customers are from outside the UK, we need a global solution. My friend Jake just mailed me to have a look at secpay, now Paypoint. Like Worldpay, Paypoint seem to require a business to ask for a quote. Urgh.

Posted Thu 26 Mar 2009 18:56:34 UTC

Ok, I admit since my last post about the Company Tax Return, nothing much has happened.

There are a couple of silly reasons for this. When I sent the CSV of my bank statements and Google checkout orders I assumed the accountant would be able to go from there.

After sometime, my accountant got back to me, very confused. He seemed to think that I wanted a personal tax return. No I want a Company Tax Return.

Then it seemed like they couldn't parse the CSVs I sent. I admit they are quite hard to read. So my accountant sent me a Cash Book template. After a couple of weeks I realised the document he sent me was an unreadable .xlsx format, which I was unable to open with Google Spreadsheets. I then asked for a .xls version and finally I could open the cashbook.xls template in Google docs. Phew.

So now I was entering Webconverger receipts and payments myself with 'expense type' notes. Very painful work I dreamt my accountant would do. I ordered all the statements from Barclays. They took more than a week to arrive and the print outs were quite odd. First batch looks like they came from a Unix machine. The latest statements were printed on what looks like a crap Windows machine. Finally I learnt I should import the CSVs into Google docs.

You can't currently import a CSV into your working Google docs document. You have to open a new document and then the copy from context menu was not working. After much frustration I learnt trusty ctrl+c and ctrl+v does work in Google docs. Fantastic.

After completing the Cash Book and feeling again quite pleased with the turnover of this 'opensource' company, namely Webconverger, I tried to work out exactly when Company Tax Return was required.

So in England there is a government service called Companies House who confusingly ask your company for an Annual Return every year. You pay them 15GBP to keep a few records of your UK business. In return Companies House provides you an ABYSMAL Web site. A site so bad that I know for a fact other government agencies can't be bothered to query it. I know this because the Company Tax Payment Reminder office in Shipley didn't seem to know the accounts return due date. I asked them why they had not checked with Companies House and I could feel their frustration...

Let me continue ranting by saying the Companies House Website is a bitch to navigate. The most interesting link is hidden on the right and it's called WebCHeck.

Here after waiting 30 seconds per request for me, you can enter 'Webconverger'. Then an obscene list of yellow entries with Web-something-or-other is presented. Fruitlessly try click Webconverger Limited on the very top of the page and give up. No, the secret after calling their helpline, is to click on the number in the left column. Head slap

Notice how the company information seems to fail to have additional useful information like a EU VAT ID. Honestly, Companies House sucks so bad. Ideally this public information should be available for search engines to trawl and index. Companies House Website is unbelievably offline between 12 and 7am. Isn't that just bizarre in the 21st century? What are they using for a back end? Punch cards?

Confusingly, I need to file two returns as my first year of trading was not a full year so HM Revenue & Customs cannot accept a return unless it's a full year has elapsed. Urf.

Next I needed to find out about VAT. Not paying VAT can wind you up in jail. So I better do this now since my returns are only due in September. Though I assumed that the HMRC Government gateway would email me reminders beforehand. Unfortunately they don't do this.

I thought I should be filing EC Sales lists (ECSLs) every quarter for supplies I've zero rated to EU customers. However in some of my notes it says I do not need to charge VAT on electronic supplies. Customised images are electronic downloads, so I have not submitted any ECSLs. However calling up the VAT helpline today, I was advised to submit ECSLs all the same. So I am a little confused and I need some help here.

HMCE_VAT_ESL_BULK_SUBMISSION_FILE,,,,,,
987654321,401,2005,1,GBP,A Bloggs,0
DE,123456789,750312,2,,,
FI,12345678,649,0,,,
FR,12345678901,62149,0,,,

Especially since some of my EU customers do not have EU VAT IDs. Or valid ones for that matter. One customer supplied a domestic VAT ID which the ECSL system would not take. Feck. The VAT helpline says if the Tax ID is invalid, Webconverger Limited must pay the taxes. Umm... oh dear. He then advised they I should confirm every EU VAT by calling 0151 7038720, because I cannot trust the 'Europa' Website, whatever that is. I have a feeling that EU VAT IDs are being abused, though I can't say for sure.

Earlier I've been advised I do not need to charge tax for US customers. So I have been only charging VAT for UK customers. Pity British customers, they seem to get the worst deal, especially since the GBP has devalued so much.

So right now I can't quite submit my VAT return completely as I am unsure with this electronics good stuff and the EU. Grr....

Just tried to log into VAT returns and confusingly I had to register again on the Government Website. On the main menu, it asks me to register for the New VAT Returns. WTF?!

UPDATE: After calling the VAT office, they initially wanted me to create a new login. I've done this before and I am not doing it again. Then the advisor conceded and said I should enrol on the 'New VAT returns' service via the Government Gateway. That went well since he walked my though the odd values like when and what I paid in my last VAT return. How am I supposed to remember??

Next I rang up ECSL people on 0151 7038720 and a lovely woman from Liverpool answered my queries. She said that since Webconverger does not trade in physical goods, I need to write in and tell the 'ESL compliance team' that I should be taken off the ECSL database. Aha!

She also advised when filling in the VAT returns to leave Box 8 blank otherwise the sysmte might re-enroll Webconverger to the ECSL.

Posted Wed 18 Feb 2009 21:43:59 UTC