Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 1/8/2010: GNU/Linux Reviews and GhostBSD 1.5 Screenshots



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux





  • Applications







  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • GSoC 2010: Mind Mapping in KOffice
        A key element of mind map is tree which layouts shapes with text. I decided tree may be usefull not only for mind mapping, but for some other things. So I started working on TreeShape plugin. Plugin makes it possible to layout any KOffice shapes in tree structure and manage it.










  • Distributions

    • Distributions - A Brief History
      It seems as though there are as many Linux distributions as there are letters in the alphabet with which to name them. Certainly, there is a flavor to satisfy almost any palate. It wasn't always this way, however. How did it happen? Why hasn't the Linux world just standardized on a single distribution?

      The beginning of the Linux distribution really started with Richard Stallman and his fledgling Free Software Foundation in the early 1980s. The GNU operating system was being developed, intending to re-implement a UNIX-like operating system as free software. Although many GNU tools enjoyed wide use, the project suffered various setbacks and delays in its hunt for a kernel. There was a lack of cooperation from some at Berkeley with using the BSD kernel, and there were licensing issues with Mach (Carnegie-Mellon University's microkernel). Before these issues were resolved and the GNU Project was able to make headway building its own kernel, Hurd (another free kernel) became available for use.


    • Reviews

      • Sabayon - no, I dont know what it means!
        Sabayon on the whole is a very usable system. Not as slick as some of the bigger boys but certainly capable of handling itself in a scrap. Media support is a bit patchy but good enough and XBMC pulls it out of the bag and gives it a purpose and some edge.


      • Mepis Mepis Mepis


        Killer Feature: Hard to find one really. Mepis is solid and the DVD runs nicely but the not wanting to boot from the hard drive aspect worries me that if it doesn't work for me then its likely to not work somewhere else. Several nice touches like gadgets and widgets on the desktop but nothing that really stands out.

        Final verdict on Mepis is that its ...OK. It works for some and not others and has made me appreciate what KDE has to offer in terms of built in software. Not blown away but it looks nice and does most tasks reasonably well.


      • Arch Linux Promising, Disappointing
        Arch Linux looks promising. The installation is easy, the documentation is helpful, and the package manager interface is simple.

        [...]

        In summary, the helpfulness of the Arch docs is directly proportional to the brokenness of Arch packages. To me, Arch is yet another distribution inferior to Ubuntu.








    • PCLinuxOS/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • Mandriva Linux Spring 2010
        So far it has been a smooth ride except for one annoying problem. I am not able to shut down my laptop.


      • Distro Hoppin`: Mandriva 2010.1


        Mandriva enjoys the support of many mirrors for their repositories and the closest one to my location helped me achieve awesome speeds, beyond 10 MB/s. Sadly, there were quite a lot of times when that mirror didn't work at all. As a simple workaround, you can always change the mirror to a more reliable one from Software Manager → Options → Media Manager → File → Add a specific media mirror.


      • Man Driver - Mandriva Linux
        Verdict on Mandriva is that its the best non-Debian based system I have tried in these tests. Its got all the right ingredients to keep most people happy other than some support for DVDs or an easy way of getting them to work without hours of fiddling and downloading codecs.








    • Debian Family





      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Mark Shuttleworth apologises for alleged sexist comment
          Mark Shuttleworth has apologised “unreservedly to all offended” for his “poor choice of language” during LinuxCon 2009 during which a comment made by the Ubuntu founder was deemed to be sexist by many members of the Linux community

          The redress, given in the comment section of his blog, states: - “I apologize unreservedly to all offended by my poor choice of language on that or other occasion.”


        • We’ve got issue 39 out for you!
          That’s right, Full Circle issue 39 is out! We’ve got a review of the iRobot iPad Android tablet, talk about virtualizing Fedora, virtual memory, new interviews, and more! (Oh, and we seem to have the recurring theme of ’13′ in our articles.)




        • Flavours and Variants

          • Yuhnke commentary: Can a free alternative really replace Microsoft Windows on your mobile computer


            Over the past week I’ve been testing out a free operating system designed for netbooks called Jolicloud . I downloaded the installer from their website, went through a few prompts and within about 30 minutes it was up and running. The best part is, I was able to keep Windows on my netbook too. After installation, a prompt appears when I first turn my computer on asking me if I want to load Windows or Jolicloud. This made me feel safe, knowing that I could always go back to Windows if things didn't work out.

            The first thing I noticed was the simplicity. There’s very little clutter on the screen. The interface is similar to what you see on an iPhone, there are pages of app icons. You can click the “Add” button in the upper left corner to find more applications to add to your netbook. It’s almost like the App Store on an iPhone. Jolicloud is based off Linux so it runs pretty smooth and there are about 700 applications available for Jolicloud. This includes office applications that support Microsoft Office files, video players, music organizers, etc.


          • Kubuntu gets Global Menu


            Kubuntu 10.10 has finally got its application menu integration ready. The application menu, also called “Global Menu” is not same as the one found in UNE 10.10, but it is using the same infrastructure.


          • Pinguy OS (Remastered Ubuntu) - Ubuntu After A Week Of Customizations [Review]
            Pinguy OS is a remastered Ubuntu with a lot of useful default applications - great for those who don't like to do a lot of tweaking and want an OS that "just works". Pinguy OS doesn't rebrand Ubuntu, so you'll have the same Plymouth theme, the Ubuntu logo for the menu and so on.


















Free Software/Open Source



  • Open to Everyone: How Open Source Communities Can Benefit from Diversity Without Disunity, Teresa Jewell
    Open source is at once a type of software licensing, a community model, an ideology, and a social movement. As a movement aiming not only to promote open source software within the software development community, but also to change the attitudes of commercial users, it can benefit from lessons learned by earlier social movements.


  • Integrating Lessons from Other Disciplines into Open Source Practice, Mekki MacAulay
    Open source theory and practice is inherently interdisciplinary. Viewing the challenges faced by open source communities, businesses, and contributors through the lenses of different disciplines can yield novel solutions. This article reviews select lessons from the diverse fields of fashion, gaming, and scientometrics. It examines the way these other industries have addressed issues that are of relevance to the open source community and suggests ways to put these lessons to good use.




  • Oracle







  • BSD

    • GhostBSD 1.5 Screenshots
      GhostBSD 1.5 is based on the FreeBSD live CD however because this release is a little larger it comes on as a live DVD. As of this release GhostBSD is completely installable by issuing a list of commands and pc-sysinstall. A file with instructions for installing GhostBSD appear on the desktop. Although this install method is a little bit tough to complete, Eric Turgeonhas stated “Now for the next 6 mount I gonna work on a graphic installer for 2.0.” You can find more in the official release announcement. Please keep in mind you can buy Free-BSD and PC-BSD in our cart.









  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • ZeroPaid Interviews the Free Software Foundation
      Open source has been in the media for quite some time whether directly or indirectly. With ACTA leak and the ASCAP letter two big news items that affects open source, we decided to sit down with the Free Software Foundation and talk about these and other things related to the open source movement.








  • Openness/Sharing





    • Open Access/Content

      • Emerging-technology expert calls for open access to academic knowledge
        It is almost "criminally irresponsible" to hoard academic knowledge in the digital age, according to a Canadian specialist in the field.

        Brian Lamb, manager of emerging technologies and digital content at the University of British Columbia, also said that open educational resources (OERs) could help to reassert the academy's role as a "leader and guardian of free and open enquiry".


      • Open Access sceptics: parallels with climate change
        As a closing thought, if we think of academic journals in the OA debate as oil in the climate change debate, we are only going to have less and less access to them as time goes on. Academic libraries cannot afford to subscribe to them all, and that is only going to get worse. In the same way that in 50, 100, 150 years time (whatever it may be) we will have no oil-based fuel to put in our cars, in 10, 15, 20 years time you may be even less likely than you are now to reach your desired audience by simply relying on the subscription base of a given journal. Rather than waiting to see if this happens, why not do something about it now?


      • For the last time - open access is not like stealing bread
        The Times Higher ran a piece on ceviche cooking edupunk Brian Lamb's keynote at the recent JISC OER event in London. Brian makes his usual good points, but it was some of the comments that were revealing.

        In particular, one that states "We should also have 'open access' at Tesco: I should just be able to take from their shelves what I want without paying."












  • Programming

    • An Accurate Comparison of Perl 5 and Rakudo Star
      Rakudo Star is a useful and usable subset of Perl 6 you can use right now. It does not implement the complete Perl 6.0 specification, and it's by no means the final release: it contains bugs and misfeatures, and it's had very little optimization work for speed or memory.








Leftovers

  • Is Punch Google’s Swing At Microsoft Publisher?
    There’s a new mystery on the web today. In an otherwise boring video about “Google Lookup in Google Docs,” the search giant appears to have inadvertently revealed a new Google Docs product called “Punch.” So what on Earth is it?

    The blog Google Operating System (which spotted the feature) has its guess: “Maybe Google Punch is a free-form document that lets you combine data from other documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms.” ReadWriteWeb expands on that a bit for a similar guess: “Perhaps a Punch is a mix of functions and content intended for collaboration, more than for posting publishing like Google Pages is.” Both sound plausible, but we have another guess.


  • Cautious Arm declines to revise guidance
    Arm, the UK’s largest technology company by market value, declined to raise its full-year outlook in spite of beating market expectations with its first-half results.


  • An e-reader skeptic converted




  • Science









Clip of the Day



Firefox 4 Beta 2 - Web Tech Preview



[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft OSI Uses Its Money to Hire PR Agencies That Spy and Spread Mindless Openwashing of GPL-Violating Microsoft Ploy
`We're under attack. But the attackers smile at us and hire PR firms to spy, mislead etc.
In Nigeria, Africa's (by Far) Largest Population, Microsoft Bing is the 0%
To Microsoft, Africa is just "someplace" to get intensive, hard-working human 'resources' (tech labour) at 2 dollars 'apiece' as in per person per hour
 
Microsoft Layoffs and Closures Now Reported in Africa
Microsoft Uninstalls Nigeria as it closes African Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos
[Video] Richard Stallman, "I Saw You Playing Your Recorder in Paris" (Due to Proprietary Software Only)
Corporate autocrats do not want counterparts or alternatives to even exist
Five Years After the Extensive Campaign of Defamation Against Richard Stallman He's Still Giving Public Talks
"Richard Stallman will give a talk, in French, Free Software and Freedom in a Digital Society at Centrale Supelec in Saclay, on May 15."
Microsoft Is Rebranding Its 'Chatbot' Search for the Third Time Because It Fails to Gain Adoption
it always means that something has failed - not that they'll openly admit it
Richard Stallman Gives a Talk in Paris Next Week (in French) and It's About Freedom
another talk, which he has only just announced
Pace Up, Distractions Down
We've made our curation process faster and more efficient
In Algeria, GNU/Linux Estimated to Have Grown Tenfold in a Decade
a sharp rise in GNU/Linux usage
[Meme] Red Hat Diversity
Red Hat: don't mention Haghighi
Our Sister Site Turns 20 in Exactly One Month
twentieth anniversary of the site
Corporate Media Focuses on Who's Suing Red Hat, Not What It's Sued For
The unfortunate thing is, anybody who has an opinion on this lawsuit will inevitably be framed as "pro-Trump" or "anti-Trump"
Links 10/05/2024: Many More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 09, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, May 09, 2024
Gemini Links 10/05/2024: geminispace.info to Shut Down in 3 Weeks
Links for the day
Links 09/05/2024: Journalists in Detention, China Banning Songs or Anthems
Links for the day
Support for harassment and abuse victims
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Being Sick Enough and End of “World of Ends“
Links for the day
Links 09/05/2024: 'Hey Hi' (AI) Bubble Implodes Some More, Microsoft Layoffs So Widespread It's Hard to Keep Track
Links for the day
Speaking of Enshittification and Freedom, We've Still Not Begun Tackling the UEFI 'Secure' Boot Mess (Preventing GNU/Linux From Even Booting!)
Microsoft continues to fly under the radar and commit competition crimes with impunity
Microsoft Has Just Confirmed Mass Layoffs in Nigeria, It Now Adds Insult to Injury With Price Hikes for Locals
It's not like Microsoft paid them good salaries
Software Enshittification or Freedom? It's not a hard choice!
Reprinted from Alexandre Oliva
Links 09/05/2024: More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way
Links for the day
Amid Microsoft Layoffs in Nigeria GNU/Linux Climbs Above 6% Market Share (Not Including ChromeOS)
Hundreds are being laid off by Microsoft in Nigeria, based on yesterday's reports
[Meme] Blame the Robots or the 'Hey Hi' (AI), It Always Works in Today's Media
Companies do not have financial troubles! They have "efficiencies"...
News Reports Say Many More Microsoft Layoffs on the Way, Rumours Say Red Hat Also Imminently a Target
Microsoft is slipping out of control
Links 09/05/2024: Diplomacy Efforts With China, AstraZeneca Stops Experimenting With COVID-19 Vaccines
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 08, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Gemini Links 09/05/2024: Registered Computer Professionals and TLS (The Long Slog)
Links for the day
Links 08/05/2024: Android Malware and "AI" Hype
Links for the day
[Meme] Technical Committee With People Who Are Not Technical
the computing/computer industry being occupied by people who lack suitable background
The Demise of Computer Science Education
Education is essential for the future; without it, whole nations will perish
[Video] Prisons for the Minds and for Tech Workers
Today's video talks about what happens to workforces (across disciplines) in recent years
[Meme] Struggling to Leave Its Nazi Past Behind
digital arson
Microsoft Declines to Talk About How Many People It Has Just Laid Off
Hours ago in IGN: "Microsoft did not say how many staff will lose their jobs, but significant layoffs are inevitable. IGN has asked Bethesda for comment. Microsoft declined to expand further when contacted by IGN."
Microsoft Windows in South America: From 99% to 87%
the latest from statCounter
It's Rather Obvious Why They Try to Silence Richard Stallman, Eben Moglen, and Daniel Pocock
Some of them already sent physically menacing messages to Daniel Pocock
IRC Network of Techrights Turns 3 (or 16 if We Count the Freenode Days)
In a few months IRC turns 36
Sedating Oneself (and Shareholders) With Fuzzy Buzzwords and Pointless Acquisitions
IBM trying to buy time
Clickfraud Spamnil Ran Out of Clickfraud Budget, Apparently
sooner or later charlatans and frauds run out of steam
Techrights Gets Under the Skin of Bad, Corrupt, Immoral People (That's a Good Thing)
Journalism is the lifeblood of democracy and free societies
Companies Do Not Shut Down Offices and Lay Off Staff en Masse (Morale and Reputation Issue) Unless They're in Deep Financial Trouble
Microsoft has been faking its financial performance for years
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 07, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
[Video] Leaving Microsoft Behind for the Sake of National Security
Threats to "National Security" aren't some users with an Android phone but Microsoft at the root of things
GNU/Linux and ChromeOS Now at 6% in France, According to statCounter
numbers from statCounter