01.11.09

Links 11/01/2009: Linux 2.6.29 Reaches RC, To Boot on Most Desktops

Posted in News Roundup at 10:59 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

• Even Better: Linux to *Be* on More Desktops than Windows

  With apologies to my boss, a story in today’s Wall Street Journal has me thinking that the future of Linux deployment might perhaps be even better than he predicted.

  The realization didn’t come quickly. My first glance at the paper is about 10 minutes after rolling out of bed and starting the process of getting my kids to school. I’d like to be able to tell you that as soon as I saw the article, I made the instant leap to my conclusion, but in reality, at 0-dark-hundred my thought process is something like this: “mrmmsmrm… coffee… mehhphrm drmhfsp… coffee…”

  Apparently something must have clicked, because I had the presence of mind to place the article in my office for later (coherent) consumption. The topic was netbooks, and how hardware vendors are scrambling to get some new offerings out the factory doors after the very popular Asus Eee PC came out in 2007 and made a big splash in an otherwise bleak electronics market.

• Is it GNU/Linux or Linux?

  It is Debian GNU/Linux, but it is Linux Mint and just plain old Ubuntu. But Canonical says Ubuntu is a Linux-based distro, not a GNU/Linux based distro. It is also PCLinuxOS and not PCGNU/LinuxOS. Redhat calls it Redhat Linux and the list goes on. So what is it GNU/Linux or Linux?

  I have been criticised for using Linux by itself and have seen others being chastised for it elsewhere. You write a long article and the only comment from some people is that you failed to call it GNU/Linux. They are showing disdain for you and are telling you that they will not read what you write until you follow their terminology. I get it, but don’t like the bad attitude. Their cause suffers as a result of their rudeness and quite frankly I don’t care that they choose not to read what I write. I actually believe in freedom.

• Linux 2.6.29-rc1

  The merge window is over, and while it is quite possible that I missed a few merge requests in the crazy week that is behind us, apart from those we should now have most of the bulk of 2.6.29 merged up. And now it’s just a small matter of making sure it’s all stable and ready to go.

• Linux Courses Increase Job Options for Techs

  For software programmers and developers worried about layoffs and job security in these tough economic times, the answer may be as clear as the screen on your cell phone. That’s because manufacturers of small consumer equipment like cell phones and PDAs need programmers trained in embedded Linux to hand-tune the product’s software code.

• Vista is a failure and GNU adoption is ramping up

  Today is one of those days that starts with a sweet taste. The FSF has declared another victory for its BadVista campaign: Vista is a clear failure for Microsoft and for FSF it’s time to devote energy to something else. (btw: did you donate to FSF?)

• Applications

  • 7 Linux web editors that get the job done

    Way back at the beginning of the web (or when it started to become mainstream) it was popular to spend hours hacking away at a keyboard to type your first web page.

  • The Linux Applications Alternative Series: Bittorrent

    Its a common misconception that Linux doesn’t have applications for day to day computing, nothing can be further from the truth. In fact I would wager that there is an alternative for any app/function out there. And since this blogs claims to “bring Linux to the masses” I thought it would be a good idea to write a series of blogs about the different apps available to Linux users in different categories.This article’s category will be: Bittorrent Clients…

• Audio

  • Ubuntu Podcast Episode #16

  • FLOSS Weekly 51: cURL

  • Open Sources Episode 5: Open Source and venture funding

• XBMC

  • XBMC

    If you are looking for a home media Centre, and have had it with figuring out MythTV, this is a VERY VERY good alternative to MediaCentre, Myth or TVersity. I think the interface is well written. and the software seems to be very well supported.

  • Sabayon – LiteMCE – sneak-peek

    With sabayon Linux 4.0 rolling on it’s way it’s time to look at some sort of a mini edition. We are gonna spin out a mini-dvd instead of a mini-cd. There is several reasons for this move and I’m not going to go into them as I don’t want to hear comments of not having a dvd drive for whatever reason it is. It’s the 21st Century, get with it and get a dvd drive, even microsoft is moving to dvd format releases.

    LiteMCE stands for lite dvd version, multimedia center edition. It’s desktop environment is gnome. It comes with xmbc for your multimedia. If I recall correctly the dvd download will be roughly 2GB.

• Desktop Environments

  • KDE 4.2 Review From Inside Out. Part 1

    Plasma makes the desktop valuable again. I liked the default uncluttered mode without any icons and I liked the idea of widgets that you can put on the desktop. Unlike 4.0 and 4.1 Plasma in 4.2 is usable and stable (not without minor glitches though).

    KRunner is a killer feature. Once you try it, you’ll never stop, believe me. In my opinion, KRunner may easily be one of the reasons to switch to KDE4. I only wish it was more prominent and more documented.

    As a general conclusion, I should say that after KDE4 I don’t want to get back to KDE3. The new Plasma desktop is a huge success and with proper architecture and implementation behind it, I’m sure we’ll see even more exciting improvements in the future. And of course, I’m sure that in subsequent KDE releases we’ll also see even more polished and ironed out 4.x desktop.

• Distributions

  • On Debian membership

    The more I think about it, The more I’m convinced that the both approaches that have been proposed to change the way we deal with Debian membership (Joerg’s new statuses for non-developing contributors, and Lars’ counting of advocates) are both steps in the wrong direction.

  • Fedora

    • Fedora 11 release name

      The Fedora 11 release name is:

      Leonidas

      The full GPG-signed message from our election coordinator, Nigel
      Jones, is attached. Thank you to the community for their suggestions,
      Josh Boyer and the Board for their work on additional diligence
      searches, and Nigel Jones for setting up the voting.

    • Fedora 10 Impressions

      I decided to switch my desktop back to Linux now that I know I can play Counter-Strike in VirtualBox thanks to the OpenGL 3D acceleration availible in VirtualBox 2.1.0. I *was* going to go back to the ‘ol reliable Ubuntu, but I decided since I have Nvidia graphics now, that I would try out Fedora 10 since the drivers are availible in RPMFusion’s repo.

      [...]

      Fedora has always been known to have great artwork, and Fedora 10 is no exception. The default look and feel is very sharp and professional. Fonts rendering is also very nice – seems better than the defaults in Ubuntu. I tend to use defaults for themes and such, so while the theme isn’t hugely important, having a nice theme as default is a niceity for me. I grow tired of the “brown” in Ubuntu (it’s depressing )

  • Ubuntu

    • New Ubuntu Mods for Mac Looks

      If you like OS X’s look and feel, but you’re a Linux guy or gal at heart, this is a mod for you. While the mod to make Hardy Herron look like OS X has been out for a while, it is now available for Intrepid as well. So whether you are running Heron or Intrepid (Ubuntu) you can get the same look and feel for the Gnome GUI as you have with OS X. The Mac4Lin themes allow you to customize your Linux box with the same background as the Mac, and additional options even give some of the same functionality. Since the Mac OS and Ubuntu share a Unix base most of the common applications for the Mac can be found in the Linux world. Sometimes Apple even borrows things from Linux for the Mac OS.

    • gOS 3.1 Gadgets SP1 released

      The gOS (”good OS”) project released SP1 of gOS 3.1 Gadgets. The Linux based gOS is an excellent Operating System for Netbooks & NetTops.

    • Ubuntu 9.04 Receives EXT4 Support

      With the EXT4 file-system having been stabilized with the Linux 2.6.28 kernel, the Ubuntu developers are preparing to adopt this evolutionary Linux file-system update. EXT4 will not replace EXT3 as the default file-system until at least Ubuntu 9.10, but as of yesterday, Ubuntu 9.04 now has install-time support for EXT4. In this article we are looking at the EXT4 support within Ubuntu as well as providing a few Linux file-system benchmarks from a netbook-embedded solid-state drive. In this article we have published Ubuntu benchmarks of EXT4, EXT3, XFS, JFS, and ReiserFS file-systems.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Linux-based gizmo construction kit gets extra bricks

  • Sub-notebooks

    • HP Mini Mi Linux Netbook Released

      Hardware provider Hewlett-Packard has released a Linux version for its mini-laptop. HP wants to be clear from the outset that disabling the Linux command line interface in the product is not an act of heresy.

      End of October 2008 HP began confirming rumors about their own Linux netbook variant, and have now followed up with release of their Mini Mi 1000 series. The netbook has 2 GByte system memory and an Intel Atom CPU, with the choice of an 8.9 or 10.1 inch display, and costs around $330. HP describes the mobile internet software as “a user-friendly, all-inclusive interface built on Linux.” In fact, “Mi” stands for mobile internet, a clear message that HP wants to put the mini-laptop square into the netbook market.

    • Atheros Turns Cell Phone Into Access Point

      It also comes with an onboard Linux based operating system, which will be able to host applications developed by third parties, according to Novatel.

    • Instant-on PCs Could Take off With Netbooks

      Freescale is also looking to add fast-boot capabilities to future Linux-based netbooks with its Arm-based i.MX515 processors, which the company introduced at CES. The company demonstrated an i.MX515-powered netbook made by Pegatron, an Asus spin-off, at the show.

    • Netbooks take center stage at CES

F/OSS

• Mobile industry hands future growth to developers

  Competitors Apple, Google, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Linux-based Open Source platform LiMo and Nokia’s Symbian have begun to accept applications and services will now become crucial to growth, said Seema Haji, a technical manager in Silicon Valley.

  “Mobile phone technology is not just about voice anymore. Features such as global positioning, social networking and interactive user interfaces are determining the usefulness and effectiveness of these devices,” she said.

• Commentary: Create a tech-friendly U.S. government

  Commit to open-source software and open standards: Free software, or as it is more commonly known, ‘open-source’ software, is software distributed under a license that gives users the right to copy, modify and redistribute the source code. In fact, most of the Internet runs on open-source software such as GNU/Linux, Apache and MySQL.

• Can’t We All Just Get Along? Q&A With OSA Community Dev Chair Gopi Ganapathy

  What the open source community needs is a more streamlined way to bring everyone together to collaborate and ensure interoperability, says Gopi Ganapathy, president and CEO of Essentia and the new Community Development Chair of the Open Solutions Alliance.

• Applications

  • Hyperic Enlists Partners For Open-Source App Management

    Open source and cloud computing are hot today, so its no surprise Hyperic, which plays in both technology spaces, says it’s having good luck recruiting solution providers to the channel program it launched in October. The company said its partner ecosystem now accounts for 30 percent of its sales and that number is growing.

    Even the tough economic climate may be aiding Hyperic. The company develops open-source tools for monitoring and managing the performance of Web applications, including those deployed on premise or hosted through cloud-computing systems. Jeff Santelices, Hyperic business development vice president, said companies are trying to control their IT operating costs, and that’s boosting demand for Hyperic’s software.

  • Customer Service, Say “Hello,” to Open Source

    On a mission to bring open source and software-as-a-service (SaaS) to the customer service and support markets, SpiceCSM has introduced their first set of products to the open source community. Using www.opencsm.org as its open source community portal, SpiceCSM is dedicated to delivering solutions that are tailored for customer service organizations such as call centers and help desks.

Knowledge/Open Access

• Sysadmin mantra: Think ‘abundance,’ softly does it

  What will your keynote at linux.conf.au be about?

  I’m going to talk about the “scarcity mindset”, how it holds us back, and how adopting an “abundancy mindset” would free us to think more creatively about IT.

• FTC Town Hall to Address Digital Rights Management Technologies – Eve

  Digital rights management (DRM) refers to technologies typically used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, and copyright holders to attempt to control how consumers access and use media and entertainment content. Among other issues, the workshop will address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations. Interested parties may submit written comments or original research on this topic.

ODF

• Expo Notes: Araxis Merge adds to its file-comparison bag of tricks

  At this year’s Expo, Araxis Merge was back, and with a nifty addition to its bag of tricks: it can now automatically extract and compare text from Word, Excel, PDF, and Open Document Format documents. Just open these files directly in Araxis Merge, and the program will extract and compare the text within the files.

• Meet the Tarrant County legislative delegation

  One priority is open-document-formatting legislation, which could save governments millions of dollars. He has also been active in efforts to reform school finance and property taxes.

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Digital Tipping Point: IP attorney Julian Summers 02 (2005)

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