08.19.08
Links 19/08/2008: More GNU/Linux Phones, Laptops Coming
GNU/Linux
- Strange Skype Network Activity - Even on Linux
I have a few contacts with whom I still chat on Skype, so I still start it from time to time. Yesterday I started it in the morning, and then got distracted and forgot to stop it when the person I was looking for was not around (at least according to Skype’s totally unreliable presence reporting). When I went back upstairs in the evening, I noticed the that the 5GHz LED and the Internet LED on my shiny new Netgear WNDR 3300 Wireless Router were blinking like crazy, and I really mean like crazy. I knew that there shouldn’t be anything happening on my home network at that time, so I started investigating.
- Ubuntu at Toyota
I wiggle the mouse, and up pops the Ubuntu Heron! Wow!
- IBM challenges Microsoft for the SME desktop
Just last week it announced a single deal with an as-yet-unnamed Asian company that it says will add 300,000 new seats to its Lotus Notes business.
[…]
To further up the ante, IBM has announced that it has forged partnerships with major hardware and Linux vendors to ensure that installing IBM business software on Linux systems is as painless as possible. Soon, Linux users will be able to obtain versions of IBM’s Lotus Foundations software that have been specially packaged for installation on Novell Suse, Red Hat, or Ubuntu Linux.
- Music Education With Linux Sound Tools, Redux
I still love to teach. I find it hugely gratifying to work with my students, particularly when they’ve prepared for one of our student shows at Coffee Amici, a local coffee house that has a regular schedule of concerts with nationally-known and local performers. I also still have to work to keep up with the new technologies that have the potential to make both the teaching and learning processes more efficient, more effective, and more fun. As I noted, I expect to make more use of video and other technologies as basic components in my instructional arsenal, and of course I expect to do it all with Linux.
- RidgeRun Announces Open Source Offerings for Texas Instruments OMAP35x and TMS320DM355 Processors
- ArchLinux: My ultimate GNU/Linux distro of choice
- BackTrack4 choose Ubuntu!
I talked with Mati Aharoni about new release now in developement, and him say to me that has taken the decision to abandon slackware for choose Ubuntu in next BackTrack version (4).
- Transparency is just as important
- My first taste of XFCE…
XFCE is a very nice DE that has made a good first impression on me. To be honest, going into it, I didn’t except very much because I thought a “lightweight” environment would mean clunky applications and little choice.
Looks
- 20 beautiful dark themes for Gnome and Ubuntu
Some weeks ago, I shown you a list of 30 themes for enhancing your Gnome desktop. Many readers loved the dark themes from this list, so here’s a new list of 20 dark and absolutely beautiful themes for your Gnome desktop.
- 4 Linux Distros Which Look Like Mac OS X
Here’s an interesting compilation of Linux distribution which resemble Apple’s Mac OS 10.
Myths
- 9 Linux Myth Debunked
- Linux Myth #2 - Linux is more difficult to install than Windows or OS X
Before you are three discs - Leopard (OS X), Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 2008.4) and Windows XP each respectively in front of a whitebox desktop. For those not in the know, a “whitebox” computer is a clone, or generic computer; not a name brand model like Dell or HP. They are the systems you get a computer shows, have built by a local Mom and Pop shop, or build yourself. The task is to install each operating system onto each computer respectively. My point is to debunk the myth that Linux is harder to install than Windows or OS X. This is going to be a bit tough, because it presupposes a person who is going to perform the install already has some experience installing operating systems. Contrary to the first myth, that “Linux is not for the general user because it is too difficult for the general user to install;” we are now moving beyond the general user to a more technical person.
BusinessWeek’s Latest FUD
HPC
- If it’s animation or special effects, it’s Linux
Rowe’s not just being a Linux booster. It’s the Gospel truth. The animation and FX for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Star Wars: The Clone Wars; WALL-E; 300; The Golden Compass; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and I Am Legend, to name but a few recent movies, were all created using Pixar’s RenderMan and Autodesk Maya running on Linux clusters.
- Rocks clusters make sense for educational environments
When evaluating a clustering solution in an educational environment, it’s difficult to pass up the Rocks cluster distribution. This scalable computing solution allows you to use a limited amount of hardware or a large server farm to meet research needs.
Laptops
- Linux netbook uses Chinese chip
A new netbook for European schools runs Linux on a Chinese-designed processor. With a generous 10-inch, 1024×600 display, the 2.4-pound Emtec Gdium boots Mandriva Linux from removable USB flash keys, running it in 512MB of DDR2 RAM on a 900MHz Loongson-2F processor made by STMicroelectronics (ST).
- Mozilla, ARM and Others Eyeing a New Class of Device
- Acer Aspire One A110
Thankfully, Acer has taken a slightly more restrained view of what constitutes an SCC. Its Aspire One is available in just three basic flavours: 8GB SSD and Linux; 120GB HDD with Linux; and 120GB HDD with Windows XP. On the desk in front of us, we have the least expensive, most basic model, the 8GB in MacBook-envy white, the most pure iteration of the SCC concept to date, in our opinion.
- Dell’s Mini Inspiron 910 Full Specs: Ubuntu Linux or Windows XP
Last week we saw Dell launch some E-series business laptops, but the Dell Mini Inspiron was nowhere in sight. Today we get to see Dell’s first ever netbook in images, specs and also a potential release date.
- Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date
Mobile GNU/Linux and Google
- HTC Dream sails through FCC tests
- A ‘Dream’ Come True: U.S. Approves the First Google Phone
- Google issues long-awaited Android SDK update
Since Google first issued a preliminary SDK last November, it has worked closely with companies that are members of the Android Open Handset Alliance to further develop the Linux-based operating system, Morrill wrote. Now the companies are close to completing the first version of Android, which will be loaded onto devices shipping in the fourth quarter, he wrote.
- Google launches white spaces campaign
Debian
Firefox
F/OSS
- Take a closer look at OpenBSD 4.3
- Spanish Open Source Firm to Make Presence Felt at Astricon
- Zertia Announces Open Source Practice
- Software vendors bid for schools IT contracts
- O’Brien to push high-performance for Sun
Open
- Aug. 19, 1839: Photography Goes Open Source
- Money Talks: Wikis for Investment and Finance
- OpenGL 3.0 - A Big Step in the Right Direction
- UK government stole website theme
- Number 10 and the Creative Commons
- More on Number 10’s website fiasco
- [RMS on Copyrights - PDF]
Rights
- Music, movie lobbyists push to spy on your Net traffic
- Spying as a business model. Will these guys get a clue already?
- The RIAA shuts down Muxtape
- OpenVPN counters censorship
- AT&T Mulls Watching You Surf
- McCain’s tech platform opposes ‘unnecessary regulation’
- MIT Students Bound and Gagged by Power-Mad Massachusetts Agency, Orwellian Magistrate
- MBTA v. Anderson
Leftovers
- Windows 7 Server to be ‘minor release’
- Microsoft fighting cognitive lock-in as users hold on to XP
- What’s That They Say About Assumptions…?
Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day
Dirk-Willem van Gulik, road builder for the Information Super-highway 01 (2004)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Hun said,
August 19, 2008 at 10:21 am
Fedora got hacked and they are not telling anyone !!!
The Fedora Infrastructure team is still actively working on the issues
we discovered earlier. As a precautionary measure, we need all members
to reset their Fedora Account System passwords.
To do that, follow these instructions:
* Visit https://admin.fedoraproject.org/accounts/user/resetpass
* Enter your FAS user name, and your email address.
* Select Submit.
* Most Fedora account holders do not use a SSH key in the Fedora Account
System. If you do, generate a new RSA keypair with this command:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
Upload the new public key (defaults to file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub).
Please reset your password within the next 15 days. Accounts not
reset after that time will be disabled.
If you have already received this message and reset your password, it is
safe to disregard.
Thank you,
Fedora Infrastructure team
Roy Schestowitz said,
August 19, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Let’s not jump the gun until there’s a formal word.
Mystery Fedora disruption prompts security fears
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/19/fedora_outage/