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Links 01/09/2009: Many GNU/Linux Reviews, Smartbooks Are Coming

We apologise for the long downtime earlier today. Server issues.



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Graphics

    • 10 Unique Tips to get Elegant Gnome Desktop
      You can see many pretty Linux desktops every where on the internet. but having a really cool desktop like shown in screenshot is not possible for everybody. Most of the time customizing the look and feel ends with a bulky desktop that you never thought of!


    • 25 Cool & Beautiful Linux Wallpapers
      Here I'm sharing some cool and beautiful, high quality, Linux wallpapers, that I have collected from the internet. So without any delay lets check them out.






  • Server

    • VMWare or Xen? Depends on Your Fluency in Linux
      You hear it all the time: Xen is not ready to take market share from VMware because it is not as mature a product. Many disagree, because all the core functionality exists in Xen, but it isn't configurable via a unified GUI. In this article, we explain what maturity means and how you can decide which aspects are really important to your IT organization.


    • Apple's Snow Leopard Completely Blows It Virtually
      However, while Robin thinks that storage was a major letdown in Snow Leopard, I think where Apple really blew it was in Virtualization, particularly with not shipping OS X Server or Desktop with a free hypervisor or making one available for download.








  • Kernel Space





  • Applications

    • Minitube: Slimline YouTube Client
      The QT programmed tool was created by the Italian Flavio Tordini. A binary for Linux, Mac OSX and as source code under the GPLv3 is available for download. A free BSD port also. QT in version 4.5 at least, is required. Playback on the KDE multimedia framework will call for the installation of the relative packages.


    • VideoLAN (VLC) media player - You're simply the best
      VideoLAN (VLC), a player started as a student project and turned into one of the best, most popular media players worldwide, has recently had a birthday - turned 1.0. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to write about it and just show you how great it is.


    • Pidgin: IM Superstar
      The last major version in the Pidgin line-up, namely 2.6, adds a whole new dimension to the instant messaging experience: voice and video support, albeit for a limited number of protocols and platforms at the moment, but that is bound to change with future development. Since most IM protocols have evolved to support multimedia communication, this feature was long overdue.


    • Geany: A sweet and simple IDE for Linux
      Some time back we covered customizing gedit. Although it’s a very good editor, it requires a bit of customizing. However, if you are a developer you might be found wanting looking for a good programming editor. Let’s see one of the basic yet powerful editor called as Geany. With almost no dependencies, it’s an editor that has some good features.






  • Desktop Environments







  • Distributions

    • Slackware goes 64-bit
      The new version jumps on the 64-bit bandwagon with native support for the 64-bit x86_64 architecture. It also adopts the 2.6.29.6 kernel, bringing journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (Logical Volume Manager), GRUB, Ext4, and encrypted filesystems support to the distro. The new kernel also supports X DRI (Direct Rendering Interface) for hardware-based 3D graphics acceleration, says the Slackware project.


    • Review: Supreme Super Gamer LiveDVD
      So what's my conclusion? It's good. Supreme Super Gamer does a bangup job of providing a good quality gaming experience on Linux, and is definitely worth checking out. On a slight side note, SSG is one of two releases from the Super Gamer crew of late.


    • Fedora, Mandriva delivering Linux goods
      Ubuntu Linux may get most of the attention but Mandriva and Fedora Linux are pushing the Linux desktop forward more than most

      Canonical's Ubuntu Linux has a huge following among open source fans and it benefits from significant hype because of it. But Mandriva and Fedora Linux are quietly delivering the new features that Linux users are looking for.


    • Zenwalk Linux 6 Review
      Zenwalk 6 is the latest release of Zenwalk Linux. The changes are major enough that most people will find it worth making the upgrade (note Xfce 4.6). Zenwalk has come a long way with Zenwalk 6, from its beginnings with creator Jean-Philippe Guillemin, also known as Hyperion.


    • Vine Linux 5
      Product: Vine Linux 5.0 Web Site: Vine Linux (Via Google Translator) Price: Free Pros: Let you choose from a range of install options and lets you customize your software choices. Cons: Default language is Japanese so the initial install screen might throw people. Doesn’t come with any office suites or significant office apps available during the install. You’ll need to download them via Synaptic after you install Vine Linux. Suitable For: Particularly great if you need a Japanese Linux environment. Can also be used by pretty much any other group of Linux users. Just be mindful that you’ll need to change the default language to English during the install. Summary: Vine Linux provides Japanese (and English) users with a good desktop Linux experience. Installation is easy and can be customized. Vine Linux also provides a good range of Linux apps (with the exception of office apps). Rating: 3.5/5




    • Mandriva Family

      • Mandriva Linux Community: more than 10 years but things have to be said
        Coming soon, a bunch of interviews from contributers and employees who work together on your favorite distribution. Stay tuned!


      • SAM Linux - Great little OS
        While writing my column I was testing SAM Linux to feature as one of the Linux distributions released last month. And in playing around with it, I realized what an untapped treasure it is. Light apps, tasteful eyecandy, handy tools, multimedia and hardware support add up to make this one of the best out-of-the-box desktops available.






    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Summit: Five Moves Worth Watching
        In fact, here are five key Red Hat trends our resident blogger expects to cover at Red Hat Summit and JBoss World.


      • Layer 7 Technologies Partners with Red Hat to Provide Security and Governance for JBoss SOA Customers
        Layer 7 Technologies, the leader in SOA security and governance, today announced that it has certified its solution portfolio against Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform and is now part of the JBoss Certified ISV Program. Layer 7 is the first XML gateway to be added to JBoss' partner ecosystem and will help customers enhance mission-critical security and operation aspects of the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform.


      • Is free Linux the right fit for your data center?
        You may be one of those users who complains that support for paid Linux only covers kernel issues that cause system failure. If you find that non-kernel issues are not covered by your paid Linux support and you are doing support yourself, you should consider switching to a non-paid Linux such as CentOS for some of your workloads.








    • Debian Family

      • Migrating a live system from ext3 to ext4 filesystem


      • Simply Mepis 8 is a nice little Debian-based Linux distro
        I am now running the latest version of Simply Mepis 8, one of many offshoots of Debian Linux and therefore a cousin of the venerable Ubuntu. I am taken back a couple of years to the simpler days of the KDE 3.5 interface. KDE 4, the current darling, is a work of art by the guys at TrollTech, borrowing elements from Apple's Aqua interface, but this old tech favors reliability over flash, and as a law student I have little time to expore the wonders of KDE 4. Simply Mepis with KDE 3.5 is, in a word, familiar.


      • OpenGEU 8.10 Review
        Since my switch from Windows to Linux I have settled on 1 distribution, OpenGEU 8.10. I'm not much of a distro hopper even though I do have Ubuntu Studio 9.04 installed on a different partition, it doesn't get much play. It's there because recently I wanted to see if I was missing out on anything. And so far I don't feel like I am.

        [...]

        All that said, OpenGEU 8.10 is not only fast and beautiful, but despite the use of E17 is very stable as well. My goal was to be as detailed as possible in reviewing it as to expose as many hidden surprises as possible as there often is when using code still in development. All in an effort to facilitate those that have been putting off trying E17 again due to growing pains early on, make the decision weather or not is worth trying again.


      • A Tour of the Ubuntu Software Store
        If you’re not impressed with the Ubuntu Software Store, I don’t blame you. It’s really not much more than a new interface that does the same thing Add/Remove does. The exciting parts of the Software Store don’t really come until Ubuntu 9.10, when it will replace Add/Remove, Synaptic, Software Sources, and, possibly, Update Manager. Later you will be able to buy commercial applications in addition to the free ones already available. Over the next several releases, the Ubuntu Software Store could provide one of the first realistic ways for shareware developers to sell software for Linux and, at the same time, make it much easier for new users to understand the software installation process. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.










  • Devices/Embedded



    • Linux works for test
      In a recent interview, Anshul Jain of Tejas Networks discusses the capabilities of Linux-based test systems for manufacturing.


    • Linux networking stack ported to MIPS64 chips
      French networking middleware firm 6Wind has ported its Linux-based networking stack to RMI's MIPS64-based XLR and XLS multi-core, multi-threaded processors. Optimized for multi-core, 6WindGate offers "ready-to-use layer 2-4" routing, QoS, IPv4-6, and XML-based UTM security management middleware, says the company.


    • Console servers run Linux
      Acrosser has introduced a pair of console servers that run Linux and offer eight serial ports.


    • SMB-targeted NAS devices run Linux
      Iomega has announced a four-drive, 2-8TB StorCenter ix4-200d network-attached storage (NAS) device that runs Linux, according to eWEEK. Meanwhile, NetGear announced that its ReadyNAS storage appliances now support the Remote Agent for Linux and UNIX Servers (RALUS) for Symantec Backup Exec, enabling faster backups.




    • Sub-notebooks

      • Smartbooks Prepare to Compete in Mini-laptop Space
        Mini-laptops based on Arm chips are set to make their way to users, which could heat up the battle in a space dominated by netbooks with Intel's Atom chips.

        [...]

        Smartbooks are designed to have similar characteristics to netbooks, including compact keyboards and screens. The devices are designed as alternatives to netbooks, most of which are based on Intel's Atom chips and come with Microsoft's Windows OS. The first smartbooks will come with Linux, as Arm-based chips do not support Windows XP.


      • Netbooks growing twice as fast as notebooks
        According to a new report, the market for netbook computers grew 40 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2009, almost twice the rate of standard notebooks. Netbook shipments actually outstripped notebooks in Latin America and Greater China.










Free Software/Open Source

  • New Apache project for RESTful web services
    Apache Wink is a new framework for developing "RESTful web services". The project currently resides in the Apache Incubator, where newly introduced projects within the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) are matured and evaluated for promotion to full Apache projects, having entered the incubator in May. The code base for Wink was contributed by HP and IBM, who also intend to oversee the project in the future.


  • Global Conference on Open Source
    invited keynote speakers including Brazil President Lula da Silva, Nicholas Negroponte, and Linus Torvalds.


  • Firefox 4.0 goes Chrome, will arrive with new UI in Q4 2010
    Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 as well as Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync integration.


  • Kolibri - a desktop operating system in under 3 MB
    The tiny operating system I'm talking about is called Kolibri. It's a fork of the MenuetOS project and is currently licensed under the GNU GPL.

    [...]

    In conclusion, I am blown away by how much functionality is packed into such a tiny package. The Kolibri ISO is less than 5MB and it has, for the size, a huge collection of software. While much of the operating system feels like a demo of what it can (or could) do, Kolibri shows an immense amount of potential.


  • Mine, all mine (& theirs too)
    The new license was rolled out today, to accompany the handy new function to export all blog content for use with (for example) WordPress. From now on, every Sun blogger has (if they choose to accept the new license) a clear, documented set of rights to their blogging content. Huge thanks to the team of people that made it happen, especially my favourite lawyer, Tiki Dare, who completely "gets" this stuff and without whose quiet and largely unsung help the open source community would be much the poorer.




Leftovers

  • Sony signs Google browser deal
    Google has signed a deal with Sony to incorporate its Chrome internet browser into the Japanese technology giant's personal computers.


  • eBay 'reaches deal to sell Skype'
    Skype is expected to be sold to a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms.




  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Peter Mandelson Defends His Sudden Conversion To Kicking People Off The Internet
      You do realize that a UK-based music organization (PRS) recently released a report noting that the music industry in the UK is actually growing? Right? These are the sort of facts the Secretary of Business knows, right? And if the industry is growing, despite complaining about file sharing, isn't it possible that the real issue is just focusing on business model improvement, rather than the hand of gov't stepping in and slapping people around?


    • BSA Jumps Onto The Three Strikes Bandwagon
      More troubling, however, is that when questioned about the new statement by Ars Technica, the BSA said it was necessary because "last year our industry lost over $50 billion (USD) worldwide." Hmm. It's really quite troubling that the BSA still stands by these numbers when they've been debunked so thoroughly over and over again. They count the "retail value" of every piece of software as being "lost," which is clearly a lie. Five years ago, the research company that runs these studies for the BSA, IDG, flat out said that the BSA was wrong in claiming that "the retail value" of the software is the same as "losses." So why does the BSA continue to get away with claiming it?








Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 2 Out of 200: Detailed Timeline From 2012 (Attack on Reporters That Question Restricted Boot) to 2024 (Lawsuit Against Reporter and His Wife in Another Continent)
we reproduce a document produced 2 years ago to give people more context and more facts
GNU/Linux in Laptops/Desktops Still Matters, It's Likely the Only Way to Achieve Software Freedom
Software Freedom requires all sorts of things at the "OS level"
 
FSF Promoting Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Talk in Switzerland in Just Over a Day From Now
RMS may have more talks on the way
Why Slop Will Flop - Part IV - We've Seen the End of It
Some years ago they insisted blockchains would revolutionise everything
Android is Proprietary 'Linux' and It Becomes More Malicious Over Time, Google Only Delayed What It Planned All Along
Google is a proprietary software giant, GSoC is only a distraction and confusion
Links 04/03/2026: Scam Altman Causes Chatbot Sub Numbers to Plunge, "Stocks Drop as Inflation Risk Emerges"
Links for the day
Why Slop Will Flop - Part III - Our Relationship With Slop (and Yours)
I never - except inadvertently - "used" an LLM-based chatbot
Why Slop Will Flop - Part II - Devil in the Details
News sites or social control media sites which tolerate slop are digging their own grave
Simpler Means Faster
Do you know your bottlenecks?
Gemini Links 04/03/2026: About a Missing Symbol and "Good Manners"
Links for the day
The Register MS Takes Money From Chinese Surveillance Threat to Promote a Ponzi Scheme
"Sponsored by Huawei."
Nicaragua's GNU/Linux Usage Measured at Over 8% by statCounter
Nicaragua is a poor country, but it also has rich culture
Why Slop Will Flop - Part I - Slop Fatigue Prevalent
See, sooner or later people (audiences of colleagues) find out and as soon as they find out you are slopping, they will lose interest
Links 04/03/2026: "The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling" and a call to "Nationalize Amazon"
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Evidence of Abuse in Our IRC Network
IRC's freedom can sometimes be its 'weakness' if not properly guarded
High GNU/Linux Adoption in Brunei Darussalam
It's worth noting (or at least noticing) that Microsoft loses ground in some of the countries where the government contracts paid the most
Media Blackout Reducing or Preventing Press Coverage of Microsoft Layoffs in 2026
Worse yet, there will be gaslighting and deceit
Gemini Links 04/03/2026: The Garnet Star, The Hunt, The SYN Attacks
Links for the day
The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Discussion Illuminates How Much Worse Things Have Gotten ("on Strike and Participated in the 'Meeting'")
a videoconference - not a physical meeting - discussed EPO policies
Free Software Foundation Supports Its Founder, Advertises His Talks in Switzerland
When you suppress voices, assuming the reasons for suppression are bunk, it is always bound to backfire very badly
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 03, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 03, 2026
Over 1,500 EPO Workers Went on Strike Last Week
a new publication which celebrates some accomplishments of industrial actions and calls for further actions
Madame Streisand Wanted to Censor The Web, Instead She 'Created' a New Term, "Streisand Effect"
It is basically an own goal
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Failed to Detect Fraud in Law Firms... Until It Was Too Late
Earlier today we contacted some more politicians about this and received mail from them as well
Our EPO and IBM Coverage Bears Fruit
In case insiders want to get in touch with us, please ensure or at least try doing so securely
Defending Women Isn't a Crime, Everybody Can Agree on That
Their culture is unlike ours
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VI - Influx of Spaniards and Portuguese Workers (+77%) at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Led by the 'Alicante Mafia'
There is now data supporting this assertion, new and complete data in fact
Links 03/03/2026: "Scam Altman in Damage Control" and Oil Traffic Disrupted
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/03/2026: Phones, LLMs, and Changes on the Web
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms Talk in Bern Next Week
Dr. Stallman has just formally confirmed his third talk this month in Switzerland
Nobody is Safe at IBM (or Red Hat)
There is no job security at IBM
GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Guam
there are many computers in that island
Bad faith: Hugo Roy knew FSFE impersonating FSF before French tribunal, colleagues deceived
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 1 Out of 200: Claim No. KB-2024-001270 in a Nutshell
abuse of process by a law firm working for an American who was arrested for strangling women and another American whose own spouse calls a "rapist"
When EPO Team Managers (TMs) Are Harassing People Who Strictly Apply the European Patent Convention (EPC) in Patent Examination
There are two strikes planned for this month
Confirmed: Using Slop Gets You Fired
Let the story of Benj Edwards be a cautionary tale
Links 03/03/2026: "No one wants to read your AI slop" and "chatbots in the kill chain"
Links for the day
EPO and "Equivalent to More Than 100 Days of Strike"
The industrial actions continue and already have a positive effect
Streisand Effect, the Microsoft Way
Microsoft has once again proven the Streisand Effect
Keeping Track of IBM Layoffs in March 2026
IBM depends on bribery
GNU/Linux Measured at 7% in Yemen
Windows is too hostile and dangerous
Links 03/03/2026: Security Breaches, Iceland Wants EU Membership, and "Wall Street–Backed Lawmakers Want to Help Banks Gouge You"
Links for the day
Queensland Health Payroll System: IBM billion-dollar-blowout inquiry
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 02, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 02, 2026
Gemini Links 03/03/2026: GrapheneOS and Keyboard Shortcuts
Links for the day
Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive dayProductive Week Ahead
Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive day
Only One Slopfarm Seems to Have Targeted "Linux" Today
It certainly does feel like the slop hype is reaching the "late life crisis" and companies that benefited from this bubble are overdue for a day of reckoning
Microsoft Mass Layoffs: Being Sacked at 1AM in the Morning
Watch what happens to Microsoft employees who get pregnant
Links 02/03/2026: More Social Control Media Bans, Climate Change Woes, and "Journalist With Germany's Deutsche Welle Arrested in Turkey"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Small Phones, "I 3D Printed My Brain", and "Managing 5 Servers at Once with tmux"
Links for the day
IBM is Trying to Hide Mass Layoffs, Not Only With NDAs and 'Scripted' LinkedIn Posts
From what we can gather (screenshot above), today many people leave IBM and Red Hat
Richard Stallman is Giving a Public Talk This Week (Friday in Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology)
His birthday is just around the corner.
Windows Falls to New Low in World's Largest Population (India)
Windows is now down to 7%
Never Miss a Good Opportunity to Shut Up and Drink Coffee
Threats come at a cost; each time you issue a threat you stigmatise yourself as a bully
Last Month Matthew Garrett Said Ridiculous Things After His Spouse Had Called Him a "Rapist", Now He's Trying to Take the Site Offline and Put My Family in Prison
The real issue of concern to him (and his alleged reputation) is the spouse and the matter is to be dealt with in America, not the UK
Machine-Generated Legal Documents, Over 2,000 Pages Sent to Us Today Alone
We now know that the papers we receive are produced using bots (algorithms)
Reporting to Our Politicians/MPs the Failure of the SRA to Stop Hired Guns Who Help Americans (Men Who Attack Women and Nowadays Also Attack British Reporters)
About a month ago my wife wrote to politicians to get the ball rolling
The Topic Many People Don't Want to Talk or Write About
"DEI" is inherently about making racial and gender patterns better reflect society's
XBox is Virtually Dead Already, What Next Will Die at Microsoft?
Now that there are mass layoffs at Microsoft datacentres it is not premature to speculate about what dies after XBox
For the First Time, statCounter Measures Internet Explorer at 0.01% "Market Share"
What Microsoft replaced it with is just a Chrome clone with extra spyware
Was a Lot of "Windows" and "Unknown" in Iran Just GNU/Linux in Disguise?
more than 1 in 10 desktop/laptop requests is estimated to be GNU/Linux
"Here in the UK, GNU/Linux rose to all-time high at Windows' expense"
Will this entail Software Freedom as well? This depends on all of us
Links 02/03/2026: Claude Code Causes a Mexican Government Cyberattack, "London Repair Week" Noted
Links for the day
2026 Microsoft Mass Layoffs in So-called 'AI' Datacentres, Why Doesn't the Mainstream Media Cover The News?
What does this tell us about the state of the media?
Don't Fall for "Top X Law Firms" in "Discipline Y", They Pay $Z to Get False Endorsement/s
It's a scheme, a scam, an elaborate fraud
More Publishers Have Turned From Slop Boosters Into Slop Sceptics and Critics
There's a "hidden cost" when one participates (for profit) in "pump and dump" schemes
TeX Live Has New Release, But Planet Debian Won't Tell You That
It 'unpersoned' the developer
LLM Slop Does Not Know People (It Knows Nothing) and Cannot Distinguish Between People. It's a Recipe for Disaster.
no way of knowing who's who
"Over 1,100 Law Firms Gone in Five Years" in the United Kingdom (UK) Alone
There are basically way too many lawyers (looking for "business", e.g. threats and lawfare) and not enough positions to fill
Microsoft FUD From Microsoft Site Helps Distract From Actual Microsoft Back Doors
Published on a Sunday
Free Software Foundation Needs to Become More Active in Europe to Avoid Impersonation by Microsoft-Sponsored Groups
So far we've hardly seen the FSF saying anything at all about the US president
Links 02/03/2026: "Not Envious of Billionaires" and Palantir SLAPPs "Swiss Magazine For Accurately Reporting That The Swiss Government Didn't Want Palantir"
Links for the day
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Quit Social Control Media
Those networks are selling something. And that something is not peace because peace does not sell "attention".
Microsoft Users Drowning in Slop, If They Complain Microsoft Censors Them
Like an authoritarian regime
IBM is Killing Red Hat's Portfolio - Including Linux - to Prop Up Ponzi Scheme ("AI")
IBM is killing Red Hat
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 01, 2026
Speed of Sites Matters
Being easily accessible all the time matters to us
Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Weird Phone Calls, Small Phones, and Exploring Racket
Links for the day
Dr. Andy Farnell on "Good Tech"
in the age of "rent everything" and "own nothing"