LaTeX template for Maastricht University PhD thesis

 Okay, not strictly speaking Linux, but there is some correlation between GNU/Linux users and LaTeX users. I got tipped recently about PhD thesis template for our university for LaTeX. It uses BibLaTeX, has chapters in separate files, the source code on GitHub, and even is available on Overleaf. Check it out :)

Updated VPN instructions

I haven't had much to write about recently. Linux has found a solid space at Maastricht University. It's not that I get a lot of questions either. But here's a quick note if you have been using openconnect, as outlined in this 2016 post. You may want to read up on the --authgroup command line parameter :)

Maastricht University VPN on Debian systems

Source: Wikipedia.

Nuno Nunes showed me today how to use the Maastricht University VPN. I rarely use it, because EZProxy for reading literature. But VPNs have huge benefits when working on public networks. The figure on the right side shows the idea: all your internet activity goes via the UM network, with all the advantages of that. Moreover, if I understood correctly, all traffic between you and UM is encrypted, solving public network concerns.

Turns out it takes less time than to write this blog post:

$ sudo apt-get install openconnect
$ sudo openconnect vpn.maastrichtuniversity.nl

There are graphical ways of doing this too, but I prefer the command line. This is for Debian GNU/Linux, but should be similar for other platforms, particularly the second step.

Update: I also found the --user= and --passwd-on-stdin options very useful.

Linux boost at Maastricht University with Android tablets

CC-BY-SA WikiMedia Commons.

I learned yesterday that all employees with a longer contract will be equipped with an Android tablet. That is great news for this blog, because Android uses the Linux kernel. It means two things:

1. adoption of Linux at Maastricht University gets a boost
2. this blog becomes a lot more relevant and it is probably time to start a blog series about Android apps that will benefit researchers at Maastricht University

My first suggestions:

• Evernote (for meetings)
• OpenStreetMap (for travel, 10 free offline country maps; offline route planning)
• Plume (Twitter client; for tweeting at conferences; see doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003789)
• Rainy Days (for home-work travel)
• Feedly (to read Table of Contents of journals)
• Coursera (MOOCs to learn something outside your own domain) and DuoLingo (to learn your fifth foreign language)

Of course, don't forget the apps for the online services you likely use already, like DropBox, Google Drive, a good webbrowser (Chrome or FireFox) etc. You may also be interested in the app our UM Library recommends for electronic reading of journals, Browzine.

So, the remaining questions really is, which app does ICTS recommend for reading our university email?? And, will that still require super powers for Microsoft to delete everything on your Android device if you accidentally (or your kid, dog, cavia) types the wrong security unlock code too many times??

Linux in Maastricht: not just me

This blog has been a bit silently lately. Fairly, I have been running Linux at Maastricht University for 2.5 years now, without much problems. Perhaps the least pleasing thing is the lack of UM-styled templates and the horrendous quality of the Outlook web interface.

But, I am not alone in using Linux in Maastricht. Here are a few things I recently ran into:

1. M.Sc. Public Policy use Linux in their teaching, and in this post they describe how to install LaTeX on a variety of Linux operating systems. Unfortunately, the commenting system is hidden to the general public, so that I cannot ask them if they know writelatex.com, and whether they know beamer templates for the UM style.
2. Apparently, UM has done research into the Linux kernel and kernel development in the past. The two papers are listed below.

van Wegberg, M. & Berends, P. The open source code movement: the linux operating system. Multi-Organizational Partnerships and Cooperative Strategy 283-287 (2000).

Ghosh, R. A. & David, P. The nature and composition of the linux kernel developer community: a dynamic analysis. SIEPR-Project NOSTRA Working Paper (21st February) (2003).

Setting up ActiveSync with Android

ICTS has two documents that describe how to set up Android that so that you have access to your agenda and email. However, there is one huge disadvantage: you can also use this by allowing the server to "Erase All Data" without warning. This is not some weirdly named permission, it will really delete all data if for some reason it got upset with your phone. Check the horror stories. What was Microsoft thinking??

Reading literature from home with your UM account

Well, this is not strictly for GNU/Linux only, but useful anyway: you can read non-Open Access literature from outside the UM network, using your UM account using EZProxy. And it is as simple as typing a URL: you just append .ezproxy.ub.unimaas.nl to the domain name. Thus, instead of typing http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7299/full/465685e.html you use http://www.nature.com.ezproxy.ub.unimaas.nl/nature/journal/v465/n7299/full/465685e.html. That's all.

Update: if you are using Firefox, check this plugin. If you are using the Chrome browser, you can also check out this extension:

Maastricht University should be known to the extension already (but the "manual" URL is given below too), and my configuration of the extension looks like: