04.20.09

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers
• Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

GNU/Linux

• Too Many Choices?

  Just a quick question: have any of the people who argue this ever seen or been in an American supermarket? Have you seen the cereal aisle? The toothpaste section? Seriously, my wife is from Japan and she had some serious culture shock the first time she saw all the choices for things like toothpaste, deodorant, spaghetti sauces, etc, etc.

• Kernel Space

  • Latest ATI Linux Driver Introduces Support for Ubuntu 9.04

    Yet another stable version of the ATI/AMD Linux display driver was released last night, for both x86 and x86_64 architectures. With version 9.4, ATI Catalyst introduces early support for the upcoming Ubuntu 9.04 operating system and full support for the recently released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3. Users of the Release Candidate of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) can install and test this new ATI driver via the “Hardware Drivers” utility in the System -> Administration menu.

  • NVIDIA 180.51 Display Driver Released

    NVIDIA has now managed to make it nearly two weeks before issuing a new Linux driver update. The NVIDIA 185.19 Beta is still the latest in the 185.xx series, but NVIDIA has provided a pre-release of the 180.51 driver.

  • No Minix code in Linux Ever — More Evidence

    I saw an article the other day, repeating the mistaken view that there was Minix code in an early version of Linux. I knew that was not true, because for one thing Linus told us it was not true years ago. And Andrew Tanenbaum confirmed that Linus didn’t use any Minix code, as did Eric Raymond. But here’s some evidence for you cynics out there that I hope will settle that issue once and for all. It will at least make our historical record on Groklaw more complete. Anyway, it’s our policy to provide all the evidence we can find, because I know you’d like to see it for yourself, not just listen to others’ conclusions.

• Applications

  • The best Linux media players

    Recently I have had a lot of people asking how to play various media files in Linux. Since most users are migrating over from either Mac or Windows, they are either used to one single application handling their media files or at least knowing exactly what apps handle each media type. When they migrate over all of a sudden there is no Windows Media Player or iTunes. And then comes the bombardment of different applications to choose from! All of this combined makes for some difficult usage.

  • Gabob releases Now Boarding 1.2 for Linux

    Indie game developer Gabob is pleased to announce Now Boarding 1.2 for Linux. Now Boarding is an action-tycoon game focused on running an airport. Create calm from chaos in a busy airport. Get your passengers to the correct destination before they freak out.

  • Cross-Platform Open Source Video Game: Nexuiz

    The community has created a full tournament system (The Ladders) where people can enter into competitions of our many game types. Public multiplayer servers usually have about 20 to 100 active players at one time – if not, bots can be placed into the game. Single player has a large amount of levels which get harder with each stage.

  • A Review of Popular Window Navigators for Linux

    After a long time, I really said to myself, can I lose that bottom panel? I really wanted something semi-flashy that had function, giving me access to my favorite shortcuts. I have heard of Avant, and tried that, but I also wanted to give “the other guys” a good try too! I came across Gnome-Do and also Cairo Dock. While each actually has its ups and downs, I’m sure everyone can agree they accomplish the job. Here is The Linux Cauldrons review of Popular Window Navigators.

  • Six Linux softphone’s list

    Most of these projects will involve IP phones or ATAs, but you may use softphones too, which are very convenient for the traveler guy, here we will review some of the soft phones available for Linux.

• Desktop Environments

  • Xfce 4.6.1 Released

    Thanks to all the people who have been using xfce 4.6 and took the time and effort to submit bugreports for stuff that wasn’t quite working the way it is supposed to. We have been able to fix several issues during the past few weeks.

  • KDE

    • Kontact: Feeds (Akregator)

      Welcome to another issue of the Kontact series, this week we will give a look to Feeds part of Kontact, I used to use this application on KDE 3.5, and it seems like it didn’t change much, but, don’t misunderstand me, this isn’t a bad thing, since Akregator probably have on of the simplest, powerful and easy to use interfaces all around KDE. Let’s go on

    • ScottK might have something to say …

      I’m quite pleased with the progress made in KDE 4.2. I’m interested to see how the new systray protocol in KDE 4.3 evolves and is integrated with the notification system for the Karmic Koala.

    • Trying KDE again

      So far, KDE seems pretty usable for me now, but then, I’m quite happy to plod along on my Laptop and try things out.

  • GNOME

    • 13 Ubuntu Themes To Personalize Your Experience

      With the release of Jaunty around the corner some of you might be looking for a new theme to personalize the Jackalope. I was searching the web for some themes myself and thought I will put together a list of some of the best one’s I found. After grabbing one of the themes you might ask, now how do I install this? Luckily there is a very good article on the Ubuntu forums that will answer that question.

• Distributions

  • One week with Debian

    I’ve been using Debian for a week now and other than the surprisingly slow installation and no nice restricted-manager helping you with driver installation, I’m quite comfortable with it. There’s some stuff from Ubuntu which I miss (like command-not-found), but nothing big, and having testing, unstable and experimental to get newer packages from is cool. I still prefer Ubuntu, but it’s good to know that if something ever happens to it (just purely theoretically) I could live with Debian; and, in any case, I’ll keep this installation around (it only takes up 6GB, so there’s no reason to remove it once I get Ubuntu running fine again).

  • Mandriva

    • Switch to KDE 4.2.2

      So, am I happy? In a word, yes. With the Desktop “Folder Containment view”, things behave much like the old KDE, so I can get around fairly well, and do what I need to do. And, as Mandriva is building toward their final Spring release, they are releasing daily scads of bugfixes and updates–resulting in my system now becoming very stable, which is essential for a production machine

    • A quick look at Mandriva 2009.1 RC2

      The Live CD booted much faster than the previous versions. I did not time it but it was definitely faster. The boot screen also revealed new artwork which I like better than the one in Mandriva 2009. Apart from the looks, the system was as stable as any other Mandriva release.

  • Red Hat

    • An open source government

      James Whitehurst became CEO of Red Hat, the Raleigh-based distributor of the Linux computer-operating software, in early 2008. Previously, he was a top executive with Delta Air Lines. This is a recent posting he wrote on Red Hat’s blog.

      President Obama came to office with the promise of change. His administration has pledged to create an environment of openness and participation. Some have already called him the “open source president,” such as consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos.

      There’s no better time than now. Transparency builds trust. Participation solves problems. And we believe that open source provides an answer.

  • Ubuntu

    • FLOSS Weekly 65: Jono Bacon

      Jono Bacon, community manager for the Ubuntu Linux distribution, and rock star.

      Guests: Jono bacon for Ubuntu

    • CrunchBang Linux Review

      This distro happens to be what I’m running right now i went through dozens of other distributions to find one that is easy to use and that suits my multimedia needs. Crunchbang plays all of my music, movies, pdf’s, word documents…. you get the point. I would definatley recommend this distro for any one thats looking for something that has many powerful multimedia tools right out of the box.

    • Ubuntu and Ayatana

      I had never heard the name Ayatana before Mark Shuttleworth mentioned it during the Ubuntu Podcast. Basically, Ayatana is the overall project for improving desktop experience. Part of that is the whole notification system in Ubuntu 9.04.

    • ZaReason Readies Ubuntu 9.04 PCs, Servers

      On the server front, ZaReason launched its first rack-mount Ubuntu servers in March, and Malmrose says ZaReason will be growing that product line throughout 2009. Also, customers are using ZaReason’s UntangleBox as a server, notes Malmrose.

    • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 138

      Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #138 for the week April 12th – April 18th, 2009. In this issue we cover: Announcing Ubuntu 9.04 RC, Announcing Ubuntu 9.04 RC for ARM, Packaging Training Session Update, Announcing Ubuntu Open Week, New Ubuntu Members, Japanese Team release party, Philippine Ubuntu Release Party, Launchpod #18, Karma: Where did mine go, Ubuntu Forums Interview: Codename, Jorge Castro: Support your LoCo economy, Sayak Banerjee: KDE Brainstorm – 30 Days, 700 ideas, Ubuntu-UK podcast: The Waking Ally, Systerm76: Ubuntu PC Maker’s revenue up 61 Percent, Open-source server distro that builds on Ubuntu, Server Meeting Minutes: April 14th, and much, much more!

    • To Ubuntu bashers: Stop sulking and get a life

      The better side is that Ubuntu and Fedora are giving each other a solid competition, the final winner is no other than the end-users. Constructive criticism is one thing, but being pessimist and hitting Ubuntu for every fact just showcases the lack of rationalism.

  • New Releases

    • RIPLinuX 8.0

    • PelicanHPC GNU Linux : 15 Apr. 2009. v1.9 released

    • FreeNAS 0.69.1

  • SliTaz

    • 16 April 2009 – SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0 release

    • SliTaz 2.0: Screenshot Tour

      I just noticed that version 2.0 of SliTaz, a light-weight GNU/Linux distribution weighing in at under 30 megabytes, was released a few days ago.

      If you are looking for something small to run on an older computer, SliTaz is definitely a worthy contender to look into. Do not let the small size of the ISO fool you. It contains more than enough software to get you going. If you need something that isn’t installed by default, you have access to their software repositories via the tazpkg package manager.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Garmin nuvifone G60 bringing the Linux-love in June?

    Garmin and ASUS have been hard at work on their nuvifone lineup. The Garmin-ASUS nuvifone M20 was recently launched as a slim GPS-centric smartphone powered by the Windows Mobile platform. But, the duo’s new-found smartphone aspirations don’t stop there. Garming-ASUS are putting the finishing touches on the bigger, and arguably better, nuvifone G60. And, rumor now has the Linux-powered nuvifone G60 launching in June!

  • MontaVista Gears Up with Support for Cavium Networks’ Octeon II Multicore MIPS64 Processor

    MontaVista Software, Inc., a provider of embedded Linux commercialization, announced support for the Octeon II Processors from Cavium Networks.

  • Real-Time Messaging Middleware Integrated with Secure Linux

    Real-Time Innovations’ RTI Data Distribution Service its real-time messaging middleware, has been integrated with Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux).

    According to Karl MacMillan, director of Core Technology at Tresys, this combination provides real-time and high-performance distributed applications with the ability to securely distribute data by combining RTI’s high-performance network communications with the extremely flexible Mandatory Access Control (MAC) facilities of SELinux.

• Phones

  • Google’s CEO predicts strong year for Android

    Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt on Thursday predicted good times ahead for Android, the company’s mobile phone operating system and software.

    “Overall, it looks like Android is going to have a very strong year,” he said during the company’s first-quarter investors’ conference.

    New announcements of Android-related products and partnerships with mobile phone service providers and device makers will be “quite significant” this year, he said.

Open

• Sun Said to Be Willing to Talk If IBM Eases on Terms

• BBC R&DTV – Creative Commons Tech TV

  I thought the “formats” described on the R&DTV website were a bit vague. What does QuickTime format and Matroska format really mean? Sure, I know about QuickTime and Matroska containers, but this doesn’t say anything about the video and audio essence contained therein. The best way to find out about this is to download each video and let FFmpeg take a look.

Leftovers

• Amazon Uses DRM To Turn Kindle Into A Very Expensive Paperweight

  Once again, we see how DRM, rather than “enabling business models” as those who support it insist, tends to only serve to harm legitimate customers.

• Why Are Newspapers Exploiting The People They Cover?

  When we recently wrote about yet another journalist complaining about how Google exploits their content, someone in the comments made a really salient point that should get wider exposure. If you go by the journalist’s own logic, then the truth is that they are exploiting the newsmakers they cover.

• New Denver News Startup Discovering (Again) People Aren’t So Interested In Paying For News

  Romenesko alerts us that the group is is struggling to even find 10,000 people willing to subscribe. That isn’t too surprising.