10.14.09

Contents

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

GNU/Linux

• 8th Annual Southern California Linux Expo

  I just saw notice of the 8th Annual Southern California Linux Expo now scheduled for February 19-21, 2010 at the Westin Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. While I’ve never attended this conference in person (why be in LA in February when you can be in snowy upstate NY?), I’ve always heard great things about it.

• Future Versions Of Firefox To Detect Screen Orientation

  The new feature, which was revealed by Mozilla’s Christopher Blizzard on Monday, was originally developed for mobile browsers but has now been made available, via an API, for a range of devices including Macbooks, Thinkpads and Linux machines.

• Convert any computer to a virtual machine with Linux and Clonezilla

  Last week Microsoft released Disk2VHD, a utility produced by its Sysinternals acquisition to convert a physical Windows hard disk into a Virtual PC disk image. While handy, Microsoft is treading ground Linux already covered in the form of open source program Clonezilla, which handles a far richer variety of disk formats and platforms.

• Five ways to ease migration from Windows to Linux

  With the ever-maturation of the Linux operating system there are more and more people considering a migration from their operating system of choice to the flagship of the open source community. For many this migration is a strange, but simple adventure. For others, however, the task is very daunting and one challenge after another. What most people do not realize is that there are very simple ways to help ease this migration.

• andLinux: Run Linux Applications Seamlessly In Windows

  andLinux is a complete Ubuntu Linux system running seamlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7; 32-bit versions only).

  andLinux uses coLinux, a port of the Linux kernel to Windows which allows andLinux to run almost all Linux applications in Windows, without modifications and comes in two flavors: KDE and XFCE.

• Small Businesses Should Bank Securely – And That Means Linux: WashPo

  Bill Gates isn’t going to like this one bit.

  Small business owners should boot their Windows computers into Linux, according to Washington Post columnist Brian Krebs, if they want to bank online without risk of someone stealing their banking password, and shortly after that, their money. Assertions like that must sting Microsoft, especially considering the emphasis it placed on security during the launch of its Vista operating system.

• Desktop

  • I’ll Use Linux When $App Magically Appears

    Vote with your wallet. Every vote for Microsoft is a vote against FOSS. The poster child for this is Linux OEM PCs– often the comparable Windows PC is the same price or cheaper, or has more and better hardware. Saving a few bucks in the short term pushes a truly competitive computer marketplace that much farther into the future. Let vendors know when they lost a sale because of this sort of tricksiness. Independent Linux OEM vendors are good to buy from because they don’t have to dance the razor’s edge of trying to please both Microsoft and their actual paying customers.

    It’s not always easy to balance immediate needs against longer-term goals. But as the saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Any progress is better than no progress.

  • Easeus Todo Backup Performs Backups for Free

    If that weren’t enough, the program also comes with a Linux-based boot recovery CD so you can recover your system if disaster strikes. It will clone disks. i.e. copy an entire disk structure to another disk, as well.

  • The desktop as a cluster of services?

    Today at work I had to redo some slides for a lecture. I ripped out some, created others and changed a boatload of pictures around so I obviously had a metric shitton of applications and windows open: Multiple browsers displaying different pieces of information I’d need, a Windows VM so I could put it all into Microsoft Powerpoint (yeah I did feel dirty), a bunch of emails, the Gimp to edit some pictures, GVim to write the changelog, some terminal windows and the crap that’s running anyways (IM client, IRC client and such).

• Server

  • Avaya aims Aura to the mid-market channel

    Dubbed Avaya Aura System Platform, the virtualization platform enables unmodified versions of Avaya Communication Manager, Voice Messaging, SIP Enablement Services, Application Enablement Services, Utility Services and Media Services to all be deployed on a single standard, commercial server certified by Avaya for security, scalability and resiliency and running a Linux OS.

• Kernel Space

  • Stable kernel updates 2.6.27.37 and 2.6.31.4

    The 2.6.27.37 and 2.6.31.4 stable kernel updates have been released. Each contains a relatively small set of important fixes and the usual encouragement to upgrade.

• Applications

  • Six Top Screen Capture Tools for Linux

    Basic screenshot software is really handy to have on hand, even if you don’t use it often. If you rely on screengrab tools often, however, you know how important it is to have software with lots of tools and features. No matter what your screen capture software needs are, you’re sure to find something you like in this list of the top six open source options.

  • Gpager 0.3 “Scenes From a Memory – Finally Free”

    Gpager is a GPLv2 libwnck pager that just float on your desktop, allowing you to do anything you were doing with you panel pager but bigger and stronger.

• Games

  • Smokin’ Guns a free Old West game for Linux

    Smokin’ Guns is a free FPS and Open Source game that take you back to the old time of the ‘Old West’. Based on the engine of Quake 3, Smokin’ Guns has all the attributes of a traditional FPS: play in solo or network, a complete arsenal of weapons, a dozen charts and several modes of play.

  • World of Goo Price Dropped To Anything

    2D Boy’s Ron Carmel spoke out against DRM at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year, stating that “It’s a waste of time. You just end up giving the DRM provider money. Anything that is of interest gets cracked, and the cracked version ends up being a better user experience than the legit version because you don’t have to input in some 32-character serial number.”

    This latest offer seems to show evidence that 2D Boy is all about the consumer’s experience – and having played World of Goo extensively, I can add that the games are all about that too.

  • Name Your Price For World Of Goo

• Desktop Environments

  • managing time line mismatches

    In a blog entry last week I talked about three challenges that arise as the number of individual groups participating in KDE has grown: time line mismatches, differentiation pressures and confidentiality requirements.

  • How Nokia Learned to Love Openness

    Another reason the geeks in the crowd were getting so excited was that the keynote was given by Matthias Ettrich, who occupies an important place in the free software pantheon, since he started and led the KDE project in the beginning. When I interviewed him nearly ten years ago, he told me how the name came about.

    He said he wanted to create a Linux Desktop Environment (LDE) without calling it that; he couldn’t call it MDE, since that would look like Matthias’ Desktop Environment, so he choose the suitably neutral K Desktop Environment.

  • Nokia Sponsors KOffice Development for Mobile Device

    At the Maemo Conference in Amsterdam Suresh Chande announced that Nokia has contracted KO GmbH to write a mobile office viewer using the KOffice libraries. The presentation by Suresh was given with the Nokia N900 smartphone, using the new Office Viewer.

• Distributions

  • Absolute Linux 13.0.2

    My experience with Absolute Linux was mostly positive. I like the idea of making Slackware relatively easy to get running on the desktop and I think Absolute Linux provides a pretty good amount of value for desktop users. It’s not as slick as some of the other desktop distros but that’s okay because slick isn’t necessarily what everybody is looking for all of the time.

    On the whole though I’d recommend this more for experienced Linux users as the install might be a little bit challenging. I encourage adventurous Linux newbies to explore and experiment with it but they should understand ahead of time that installing & configuring it could be a bit challenging for them if they run into a problem.

  • Mandriva 2010 goes for the full Moblin

    Mandriva posted the final development release of Mandriva Linux 2010, complete with the Moblin v2.0 netbook environment. Based on Linux 2.5.31, Mandriva 2010 RC2 offers a choice of KDE 4.3.2 and GNOME 2.28 desktops, plus Intel Poulsbo chipset drivers, guest accounts, and the Nepomuk collaborative desktop.

  • First Alpha of Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Edition Released

    The Dreamlinux team announced earlier today (October 13th) the immediate availability of the alpha version of the upcoming Dreamlinux 4.0 XFCE Linux distribution. This Xfce edition of the Dreamlinux operating system is a new project which tries to combine the good looks of the main Dreamlinux distribution with the speed of the Xfce 4.6.1 desktop environment, and it is also powered by Linux kernel 2.6.29.

  • Fedora

    • It’s now final: Fedora 12 ditches Pidgin to make way for Empathy

      There already has been words about Empathy replacing Pidgin as the default IM client in both Ubuntu 9.10 and Fedora 12. We are not sure whether Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic will have it or not but Fedora 12 is going to have Empathy as it’s default IM client for sure. I happened to be checking out the Fedora 12 features list and was not at all surprised to see the inclusion of Empathy as the default IM client in Fedora 12. This feature is also listed as 100% complete. So Empathy is now sure to be as the default IM client in Fedora.

    • Fedora 12 Beta: the final sprint

      Hopefully, this time next week we’ll have a rocking Beta release available for everyone to bash on. I’m really excited for Fedora 12, it’s going to be a good one.

  • Debian Family

    • Using Debian Squeeze

      Once past these annoying issues, Debian Squeeze has proven to be a solid system, and I have not encountered a single problem with the installed system, and in fact, I have been using it ever since.

      There have been a modest number of changes since Friday to Debian Squeeze, so it has not been quite as volatile as the Debian Sid based systems that I usually use.

    • ChromeOS to be based on Debian

      It’s already well known that Google HQ use a custom version of Ubuntu as one of their OSes, and it seems that Google’s forthcoming Chrome Operating System will be no different – running atop a solid Debian base.

• Devices/Embedded

  • World’s smallest Linux networking server?

    Lantronix announced its latest XPort embedded networking module, which it touts as the “world’s smallest Linux networking server.” The XPort Pro measures 1.33 x 0.64 x 0.53 inches, and offers 8MB of SDRAM, 16MB of flash, RJ45 Ethernet and serial ports, a web server, SSH and SSL security, and IPv6 support.

  • ACAL Technology – World’s smallest self-contained Linux networking server

  • Acal unveils RJ45-sized Linux networking server

    One for the record books? Distributor Acal Technology has samples of what is claimed to be the world’s smallest, self-contained Linux networking server. It fits in an an extended RJ-45 connector, believe it or not.

  • New Smartphones of Asus and Garmin Alliance

    M20 smartphone is provided with the following characteristics: 2.8-inch touch screen; its weight is 99 grams and it comes loaded with the launched Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile OS. As for the G60, it has a large screen (3.5 inch) and runs a customized Linux OS. Both models include a carfinder feature and a 3 mega pixel camera.

  • OpenInkpot: free software for e-book readers

    Back in July, Jonathan Corbet lamented that Amazon was making the Kindle an unattractive hacking target for Linux users. The comments to his article suggested having a closer look at OpenInkpot, a fairly new Linux distribution for e-book readers. This much in advance: It doesn’t run on the Kindle. Not yet, anyway.

  • Innovative Smart Home Designer Selects Wind River Linux for Home Automation Gateway

    Wind River today announced that Belgium-based fifthplay has selected Wind River Linux to enable its new home automation gateway.

  • Novatel Readies Next-Gen MiFi Hot Spot

    The next-generation personal Wi-Fi hot spot available from Novatel Wireless in North America will add embedded memory, memory card slot and Linux OS, which will enable over-the-air application downloading, chief marketing officer Rob Hadley told TWICE.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • Acer’s Android netbook due this quarter

      Acer is planning to launch a dual-boot netbook this quarter that will ship with both Microsoft’s Windows and Google’s Android operating system, the head of its Japan unit said Tuesday.

    • First Look At Browser That Will Be Included in Google Chrome OS

      On Monday, a mysterious Chrome OS folder appeared in that day’s newest Chromium build for Mac. The folder, which was compatible with Linux only, has been removed by Google.

    • A First Glimpse Of Chrome OS In The Flesh

      It would seem that the result is the browser aspect of Chrome OS running inside of Linux. As you can see in the screenshots below, it looks very similar to Chrome, the browser, on Windows (still the only officially released version of Chrome), but there are some key differences.

Free Software/Open Source

• Astricon: Seven Questions for Digium

  Asterisk, the open source IP PBX, is turning 10 years old. And Digium, the fast-growing provider of commercial Asterisk solutions, is hosting the Astricon conference this week. All sounds well. But The VAR Guy will raise seven key questions when he speaks with Digium officials later today.

• The Apache Software Foundation’s President Dissects the “Apache Way”

  One of our biggest challenges as the ASF has grown to nearly 2,000 Committers is how to teach the Apache Way to those interested in bringing new Open Source projects to the Foundation. The way to address this on a formal level is through the Apache Incubator, created to “mentor” new projects and to assist in their learning how to operate as an ASF project. ASF Members who find the candidate technology (called a “podling”) worth pursuing, they can then volunteer to be a mentor to the project.

• Open Source Could Have Saved Ontario Hundreds of Millions

  “Ontario’s auditor-general released a blistering report this week detailing how successive governments threw away a billion dollars developing an integrated electronic medical record system. This CBC article highlights an open source system developed at McMaster University that is already used by hundreds of doctors in Ontario. As one of the developers points out, ‘we don’t have very high-priced executives and consultants,’ some of whom cost Ontario taxpayers $2,700 per day.”

• Grand Central Dispatch Comes To FreeBSD

  Apple’s Grand Central Dispatch technology introduced in Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” was open-sourced under the Apache license last month by Apple and now it has worked its way into FreeBSD. This software, which helps in optimizing applications for multi-core systems, has ported the libdispatch library from GCD to FreeBSD and made Grand Central Dispatch more POSIX friendly.

• Sun

  • OpenOffice boom in Belgium

    The number of public administrations in Belgium that use the open source office productivity suite OpenOffice is rising steadily. And with it the use of the open document format ODF. OVAM, Flanders’ Public Waste Agency, already adapted its back office to support ODF a couple of years ago. They are now awaiting the decision of the Flemish Minister of Environment to move the four hundred desktops to OpenOffice.

  • Sun, Oracle chiefs vow: Sun technologies will live on

    From Java to the Solaris OS to the Sparc CPU platform and Sun storage technologies, Oracle will be good for all of them, the executives stressed at the San Francisco event. As a matter of fact, combining Sun’s research and development budget with Sun’s presents “one of the great R&D opportunities of all time,” McNealy said.

  • Full Frame: Views of Oracle OpenWorld

  • Sun Microsystems “Project Peter” targets Oracle to MySQL migrations to boost sales

    The PDF file presents an internal presentation of Sun Microsystems on “Project Peter”, a Sun confidential project to migrate customers using Oracle onto the MySQL database system.

    In a statement towards the EU, former CEO of MySQL, Marten Mickos, wrote:

    MySQL was able to derive significant marketing benefit from appearing to challenge Oracle, but we penetrated the markets faster by, in reality, focusing on new, huge opportunities such as Web databases. Key to MySQL’s success was its determined focus on markets that Oracle (and others) was ignoring.’[1]

    This statement, suggesting that MySQL was not directly competing with Oracle, contradicts the internal presentation, showing that targetting Oracle migrations indeed was a big part of MySQL’s sales strategy.

• FSF/E

  • The Car Analogy

    The next morning during your commute, you notice some funny noises coming from beneath the hood. You have a friend who is really good with cars, so you ask if she can help you out after work. When she sees your car, she tells you, “Nope. Can’t do anything for you. This is one of those Nonfree Cars. I can’t even open the hood.”

    So you bring it to your mechanic, and they do not even bother with charging you a diagnostic fee. “Sorry, sir. This is a Nonfree Car. Even if I had the right tools, I can’t even open the hood lock, let alone fix what might be wrong with it. It’s against the law.” Dismayed, you go back to the dealer to ask, “What’s the deal?”

    After waiting for a while, finally a service representative calls your name. You explain the noise the car is making and all the steps you have gone through in order to get it serviced. She explains that because the Nonfree name has such a great image, they don’t allow just anyone to service their cars. You have to be trained and accredited.

  • Free Software for Africa

    Some time in march I will need to go back to Kano, Nigeria, hopefully for the second Nigerian Free and Open Source software conference. I’m looking forward to seeing Mustapha (now a proud father) and Ibrahim and Immanu and the rest of the guys again.

• Openness

  • Business Benefits of Community Study

    As someone who manages a large community of users I have been watching for the results of the 2009 Tribalization of Business Study sponsored by Beeline Labs, Deloitte, and the Society for New Communications Research, that looks at how companies leverage communities as part of their business.

Leftovers

• Goldman Sachs 2009 bonuses to double 2008’s; $23 billion could send 460,000 to Harvard, buy insurance for 1.7 million families

  Yesterday, we brought you the insurance company that wouldn’t insure a 17-pound infant because he was too heavy. Today, we bring you the investment bank that manages to double its bonuses during the worst recession since the Great Depression.

• Break Up Goldman Sachs?

  It’s miraculous. Wall Street implodes and takes down the rest of the economy bringing us to the gates of the Great Depression II, and Goldman Sachs makes more money than ever before, even more than during the height of the largest bubble in world history. Happy days are here again.

  Where did all that money come from? We are owed a detailed explanation for how Goldman Sachs (with JP Morgan not far behind) made a killing while the rest of the economy was getting killed. More importantly, it would be good to know what value their well-rewarded labor contributed to the real world.

• AstroTurf

  • Wall Street Journal Becomes “Top” U.S. Paper: Memories of Memogate and Manny Miranda

    Take global warming. At the WSJ’s ECO:nomics Conference last year, co-host and WSJ editorial board member, Kim Strassel pressed for someone, anyone, to share the up-side of global warming. Specifically, she asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Do you see any pros in global warming?” As reported by David Roberts in Grist, “For just a moment he was struck dumb, as though waiting for a punchline. Finally: ‘No.’”

• Censorship/Web Abuse

  • Spooks want govt to block Skype

    Intelligence agencies have asked the government to consider blocking Skype as operators of the popular global VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) engine are refusing to share the encryption code that prevents Indian investigators from intercepting conversations of suspected terrorists.

  • Federal Court Denies Government Attempt to Delay Release of Telecom Records. Again.

    Today a federal district court denied the government’s latest emergency motion asking for a 30-day stay in last Friday’s deadline to release records relating to telecom lobbying over last year’s debate over immunity for corporate participation in government spying. The new deadline is October 16, at 4 p.m. Pacific time. We sought the records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Vince McMahon administers flying suplex to The Wine School of Philadelphia

    Watch out, food industry professionals! Vince McMahon of World Wresting Entertainment is making threatening legal rumbles towards The Wine School of Philadelphia over their wine class series “Sommelier Smackdown“.

    WWE lawyers issued a cease-and-desist letter to Keith Wallace, founder and director of The Wine School of Philadelphia, over the term. Wallace’s series pits a professional sommelier’s food and wine pairings against those of a member of the Wine School team, with the students voting for the winner.