09.21.08

Links 21/09/2008: More GNU/Linux Phones, UMPCs, Devices

Posted in News Roundup at 8:10 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Phones

Is Android Google’s Ticket into the Enterprise?
Five Reasons to Be Super Psyched About Android (and Five Not to Be)
Neopwn, the World’s First Pentesting Mobile Phone

What do you get when you cross BackTrack Linux apps with a mobile phone? This is the first ever publicly available mobile phone running a full custom Linux network auditing distribution, and it runs it surprisingly well. One can literally go from phone to pwn in 2 seconds.
OpenMoko CEO: Embrace fragmentation, diversity is a strength

Sub-notebooks/Tablets

Eee PC stuffs opposition at awards bash

THE ASUS EEE PC has won the ‘Gadget of the Year’ gong at the 2008 Stuff Magazine Gadget Awards held at a swanky London hotel earlier this week.
Toshiba NB100 netbook announced for the UK
Nokia unveils Maemo roadmap, plans for 3G Internet Tablet
Details flow on Linux-based Porient H12 UMPC

Remember that Linux-infused H9 UMPC we spotted last year? Have a look at its proper successor, the Porient H12. The handheld packs a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, a 520MHz Intel XScale PXA270 CPU, 2GB of flash storage, an SD / MMC card slot, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS and DAB / DVB-H / DVB-T tuners.

GNU/Linux

PCBSD 7.0 Review

PCBSD is a nice distribution for new users to the “alternative” operating systems as it is pointed towards new users, but advance users would not be disappointed. It is nice to see that PCBSD is progressing nicely, but there is still that issue of no 64 bit support as they have done it once in the past but strictly release their distribution for 32bit support only.
X3 Reunion Still Actively In Development

Back in July we shared that X3: Reunion, one of the latest PC game titles being ported to Linux by Linux Game Publishing, was still in development. This game continues on where X2: The Threat had left off (a game ported to Linux earlier by LGP) and was developed by Egosoft and released for Microsoft Windows in 2005.
Using G OS 3.0 to access Google programs

Before recent fuss over the new Google Chrome browser, I was looking at another new freebie that may give the average user a better idea of where the search giant is headed. And it isn’t even a Google product.

G OS 3.0 Gadgets is a Linux release, based on the pop/mainstream Ubuntu, that gives Google’s various online strategies an opportunity to strut their stuff.
tmxxine : Muppy Interview
Is Linux the greatest threat to Windows Vista?

The various distributions of Linux most likely pose the greatest threat to Windows Vista overall- why you ask?
New Pint-Sized PC Packs a Punch

Although the company is playing close to the chest with its technical specifications, I was able to find out that the Xpack operating system is Linux-based and built around a fast processor with plenty of RAM and even some local flash storage.
Eight Monitors With ATI Linux Graphics

With the most recent Catalyst 8.9 Linux driver release there is support for MultiView on FireGL and FirePRO graphics cards. This allows the user to use multiple graphics cards together in order to build a single X server that spans all of these displays. With some motherboards such as the ASUS P5E64 WS Professional having four PCI Express x16 slots, you can have four graphics cards and if each one provides two DVI ports you then can have yourself an eight-monitor setup. Each monitor can be configured through the AMD Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition.
Mesa 7.2 Has Been Released
VMware seeks “a skilled Open Source/Linux expert”
A very minimal desktop
Why Don’t You Throw Your Cube into an Aquarium?

Sausagenmuff has created a jaw-dropping Linux desktop featuring a cube, saltwater and fish. Now all of us have seen cool Compiz screenshots/screencasts, but this one takes the cake.
Distributions I’m looking forward to
15 Great Quotes from Torvalds and Stallman about Free and Open Source Software

“To be able to choose between proprietary software packages is to be able to choose your master. Freedom means not having a master. And in the area of computing, freedom means not using proprietary software.”
-Richard M. Stallman
New GoblinX Screenshots
Linux: the girlfriend test

Our writer subjects Linux to the most exacting useability test yet devised: his girlfriend
Interview with Walter Bender of Sugar Labs

I’m happy to tell you that Sugar is still being distributed with the OLPC. Sugar is now in the hands of a half a million children and teachers worldwide, Bender says.
The sweet features of Fedora – Smolt
The Bizarre Cathedral – 23

Ubuntu

Pimp your Blackberry with the Ubuntu Theme!
Fleshing out XFCE in Ubuntu
Interesting new developments in Ubuntu Intrepid Alpha 6
Putting Ubuntu to the Test
Review: Xubuntu 8.10 ‘Intrepid Ibex’ Alpha 6

If you’re planning on gaming on an older machine but have an affection for Ubuntu, then Xubuntu is an obvious choice. Games these days eat quite a lot of resources, and with LCD screens almost enforcing you to use native resolutions your older machine will be working overtime to pump out the pixels.

PCLinuxOS

Just what is up with PCLinuxOS anyway?

Much the same can be said about Apple computers, their community and users. Those who use Apple don’t just “use’ them, they embrace them.
Minimizing PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniME for Speed