12.01.09

Contents

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

GNU/Linux

• It is no longer about the Killer Application

  Moving to Linux is not about the killer application, it is about the choice of operating platforms to do what you need it to do. Linux is ready. Are you?

• SCALE University Returns for SCALE 8X

  The SCaLE University training program continues for SCALE 8X. It is presented by the League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA) in partnership with SCALE. The classes give a more intense and personal learning experience than a 45-minute seminar.

  We are offering four half-day classes for system administrators of all skill and experience levels. The SCaLE University Pass includes a full day of training (two classes of your choice) and full access to all three days of SCaLE. To register, select the “SCALE 8X Full Access Pass” and then the “SCALE University Pass” which will include a $60 discount on your total charge. The SCALE University classes will be held on Friday, February 19th. 2010.

• Google

  • Android And Chrome OS: Google Vs. Google?

    The end user, on the other hand, ought to be benefit. Most people are not going to be forced to choose between an Android phone and a Chrome OS netbook — they could very well have both, since they’re provided through different markets and satisfy different needs.

• Applications

  • Linux PDF viewers

    If I had to choose which of these tools was best suited for use as modern PDF viewer I would, without hesitation, select Okular. Not only is Okular as stable as the other offerings, it offers far more features which allows it to compete (and in many ways defeat) Acrobat Reader.

  • Instructionals

    • Where to Find Linux Screencasts/Video Tutorials

    • How to Take Perfect Screenshots with KSnapshot

    • Drupal: Get started the easy way

    • Fixing Strange and Peculiar Filenames in Linux

    • Graphic styles in OpenOffice.org Draw and Impress

    • How to do a holiday letter using mail merge, and print labels for the envelopes

    • SFTP on Ubuntu and Debian in 9 easy steps

    • Regain Compiz desktop rotation with the mouse in Ubuntu 9.10

    • How to Establish Simple Remote Desktop Access Between Ubuntu and Windows

    • Linux Security with Fail2Ban

• Desktop Environments

  • Nice collection of themes for Gnome and ubuntu Dec I

  • KDE

    • KDE Software Compilation 4.3.4 Release Announcement

      Today, KDE has released a new version of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC). This month’s edition of KDE SC is a bugfix and translation update to KDE SC 4.3. KDE SC 4.3.4 is a recommended upgrade for everyone running KDE 4.3.3 or earlier versions. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone. Users around the world will appreciate that KDE SC 4.3.4 is more completely translated. KDE 4 is already translated into more than 50 languages, with more to come.

    • A brief notification

      So, what it is? sometimes notifications pop up when the pc is unattended, sometimes is something not important at all and if it gets lost in oblivion who cares, sometimes it could be quite important, for instace somebody on IM attempted to contact you and now he is offline, maybe it’s the case to write him/her an email uh?

      Now notifications, while they behave exactly as before, being displayed for a short time and then disappearing, they are also “archived” for a short time (varying depending if the pc is used or not) and they are separed by application, so it’s easy to look inside all the old notifications of kopete for instace.

• Distributions

  • Red Hat Family

    • rPath heaves Javelin at Red Hat

      rPath is a little bit closer to its Proect Javelin dreams.

      Founded by a bunch of ex-Red Hatters that created a homegrown Linux operating system and a version control system for appliances based on that Linux, rPath has been expanding out to other Linuxes and trying to position itself as a kind of version control system for deployed enterprise applications through its rPath Builder tools and repository. Today, the company has come full circle in a way, announcing support for Red Hat’s variant of Linux.

    • Fedora Linux 12

      Product: Fedora 12 Linux
      Web Site: http://fedoraproject.org/
      Price: Free
      Pros: Fast install, better webcam support, KDE & Gnome updates, and a faster boot time.
      Cons: Doesn’t include OpenOffice.org or GIMP by default.
      Suitable For: Beginner, intermediate or advanced desktop Linux users.
      Summary: This release includes a faster install, updates to KDE and Gnome, faster boot time, update to Grub with ext4 support, and better webcam support.
      Rating: 4/5

    • Red Hat to Support Meals on Wheels this Holiday Season

  • Debian Family

    • Introducing Lernid

      Last week, while at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Dallas I mentioned in one of the roundtables about how wicked-cool it would be to have a desktop client for Ubuntu Open Week, Ubuntu Developer Week and other online tuition events that we run.

      One of the challenges we face every time we run these events is helping new community members figure out how IRC works. Ideally this should be as simple as running a program, selecting an event and connecting.

    • Linux Mint 8 – Review and Commentary

      We couldn’t be more happier with this release. The menu system is excellent, the software manager is outstanding and very well thought out and gives Mint the edge it needs to be the best and most convenient Linux distribution on the market today.

    • Ubuntu 10.4 (Lucid) boot experience changing from using usplash to plymouth

      This specification details the foundation team plans for the technology for the Lucid Lynx boot experience, changing from using usplash to plymouth to provide the graphical splash screen while waiting for the boot to complete. The “look” and “theme” components are not covered here.

    • 14 XSplash Themes For Ubuntu Karmic Koala

    • Ubuntu 9.10

      I have an old Mac Mini that I wasn’t using, so being bored I decided to install Ubuntu on it. Ubuntu is a well know distribution (distro) of Linux. The latest distribution is 9.10 also known as Karmic Koala, (all Ubuntu distribution are named after animals.). The first thing I did was I downloaded the latest distribution of Ubuntu as an ISO. An ISO is simply a single image of all files needed to install an application, in this case Ubuntu. I then burned the ISO to a CD using the burn option available in Disk Utility on the Mac. I did burn it at a lower speed then normal, which is recommended. I then placed the CD in the Macmini and restarted it, while holding down the C key when the chime rang. The first screen that came up asked me if I wanted to run Ubuntu without installing, install Ubuntu, check disk for error, or start from first hard disk. I decided that I wanted to do a full install, so I made that choice. (If you make that choice remember that you are erasing all data on the partition that you install it on.) The next choice I had was whether I wanted to use the full hard drive or a partition. I chose to use the full hard drive, hit the continue button and the installation ran without any problem. Once the installation is finished I set up my login name and password. I removed the CD and restarted the computer, Ubuntu started up without any problem.

    • Five Years of Ubuntu

      If there is any one word that could sum up Ubuntu, it would be Community. Even the definition of the word “Ubuntu” makes reference to community, and how the betterment of the individual and community are interconnected. Nearly everyone I’ve met through Ubuntu in the last five years cites the community as the single major reason for their use. In many aspects, Ubuntu is technically equal to its competitors, but nowhere else will you find the same level of community support. Nowhere else will you find the same level of friendship and positive atmosphere.

    • Could Ubuntu get enterprises to finally embrace the cloud?

      The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) allows you to build your own private cloud on existing hardware platforms that already run (or can run) Ubuntu Server, which is pretty much most of the Intel-based servers you have on hand. UEC is really just an implantation of the Eucalyptus cloud computing architecture, which is interface-level compatible with Amazon.com’s cloud. This means that most who understand and deal with AWS will find UEC to be an on-premise extension of that technology, generally speaking.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Phones

    • Review: Motorola DROID from VzWireless

      The DROID is undeniably fast—both at running apps and at using the Internet—but speed isn’t everything. Our DROID exhibited an unfortunate tendency to become unresponsive, distracted by who knows what for anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds, several times a day. Every so often, some apps closed unexpectedly—not just downloaded apps, but Navigation and Email. The DROID is a brand new phone, running a brand new OS version, so some growing pains are expected. However, we hope to see these kinks resolved quickly by Motorola/VzWireless updates.

      In the long run, we would like to see the DROID deliver stronger out-of-the-box business apps, including a more feature-rich Exchange mail client, standard file attachment readers, and an integrated personal/business calendar app.

      Combining such enhancements with the DROID’s already-strong voice-driven apps and embedded navigation would make this phone a stronger enterprise contender. Until then, we don’t see the DROID delivering a knock-out punch to the iPhone. We do, however, find the DROID worthy of serious consideration by anyone shopping for an “App Phone” this holiday season.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • Explosive Netbook Growth Expected to Slow

      According to a new report from research firm Research and Markets, netbook shipments will end the year with a bang, shipping twice as many units as 2008. That’s pretty impressive, and with prices continuing to fall, it seems netbooks are destined to keep selling like hot cakes. Or are they?

    • Why the CrunchPad mattered

      Michael wanted to make a CrunchPad. It very nearly happened. This marks a sea change in what our media can accomplish as well as a testament to the good will it has engendered in its readership. In the end, a harsh accident intruded. This is an important distinction because from where I sit this clearly wasn’t a case of harsh reality striking down this project but something far stranger.

Free Software/Open Source

• 10 Reasons Why ZFS Rocks

  Sun’s (NASDAQ: JAVA) open-source ZFS file system has some amazing features. It was originally designed for Solaris and unveiled in 2005, but you’ll also find it in OpenSolaris and related distributions. In the future it may well become a popular file system to run with Linux and BSD as well.

• POWER TO THE PEOPLE

  In today’s world, we have a “digital divide,” wherein some people have the means and tools to exploit technology and others do not. In most developing countries, people still pirate software because they cannot afford to pay for it. Since the software they pirate is typically closed source, they cannot change it to meet their needs.

• Seven Observations On Software Maintenance And FOSS

  The piece got me thinking about FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) and “continuous upgrading”. Here are seven observations on FOSS software maintenance that occurred to me as I reflected on the CACM article:

  1. FOSS projects “continuously” apply bug fixes and feature enhancements at no additional cost to their users. By applying these improvements “continuously”, the user reaps a steady stream of “interest payments” providing ever-improving security, performance, and functionality.
  2. Since FOSS incurs no licensing or license management costs, upgrading FOSS is not hindered by capital expenses.

• Death of a FreeBSD contributor: John Birrell

  John Birrell was a Unix developer since 1988 and a FreeBSD user since version 1.0.5. He had a Bachelor Degree in Engineering (Electrical, First Class Honours, 1981) from Monash University in Australia.

  Over the years he developed with various commercial Unix variants such as SysVR2/3, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, OSF/1 and SCO and several embedded operatings systems like VxWorks, LynxOS and Microware’s OS9.

  In the open source world he was once a user of NetBSD and OpenBSD in addition to FreeBSD. Afterwards, he preferred just to use FreeBSD.

• An Open Source Tool for Every Task

  For the last several years, I’ve organized sessions on open source software (OSS) at ed-tech conferences. But this year was markedly different, with an awareness of these tools among educators that I’d never seen—a result, perhaps, of restrictive school budgets (there are no licensing fees with OSS). There may also be a growing understanding of the concept of open source, in which contributors, who do not expect compensation for their efforts, write software for which the actual programming code is “open” and freely available. Personally, I think that Wikipedia has made a big difference. While the online reference isn’t software, but rather “open content,” Wikipedia demonstrates the potential of volunteer contributors to create a serious project for the benefit of all.

• Don’t need groupware? Organize your life with Osmo

  Everyone needs a way to organize both their work and personal life, but not everyone needs the same solution. For something fast and lightweight that covers all the basics, Vincent Danen recommends Osmo.

• Government

  • Government outlines five year IT strategy

    Other strands cover shared services, architecture and standards, open source, green ICT, information security and assurance, the government IT profession, better project delivery, supply management, and internal alignment and compliance.

  • Tories attack leaked five-year IT plan as ‘unambitious’

    A leaked document setting out the government’s IT strategy for the next five years is “complacent” and lacks ambition, the Conservatives say.

Leftovers

• Privacy fears prompt Fry to quit Plaxo

  Stephen Fry has quit Plaxo after he became annoyed that the social networking site was revealing what he sees as too many personal details with anyone visiting the site – as opposed to designated contacts.

  Plaxo, which was co-founded by Napster co-creator Sean Parker, maintains an online address book and social networking service. The service has fully configurable privacy settings, but Fry believes the default settings are sharing rather more information than he’s comfortable with.

• Will no one stop politicians consorting with conmen?

  Political corruption greased the wheels of many of the great disasters of capitalist history. In 1721, after the collapse of the South Sea Company had ruined Georgian Britain, the Commons established the useful precedent of sending the chancellor of the exchequer to the Tower for taking bribes from the promoters of the company’s shares. The rampers of the maniacal Japanese stock and real estate bubbles of the late 1980s also took care to pay off the politicians who might have saved their country by regulating the market.

• Gordon Brown urged to lift Iraq inquiry secrecy

  Gordon Brown is facing demands to change the rules of the Iraq inquiry this weekend amid fears that the most explosive documents explaining why Britain went to war will not be made public.

• Iraq inquiry’s game-changing evidence

  Or did we know all that already? Ever since the war, there has been a massive gulf between what various leaked documents have shown and the official version. Previous inquiries have failed to close that gap. Now Meyer, who was the UK ambassador to Washington at the time, has done exactly that.

• Bang for the Buck

  With the new year right around the corner, it’s worth thinking about where you can get the biggest bang for your buck–quite literally. In a lot of organizations, budgeting is a funny exercise that requires you to “use it or lose it” at the end of the year while also having surprisingly detailed plans for next year’s money.

• Internet/Censorship/Web Abuse/Rights

  • East, west coast cities mull pro-net neutrality resolutions

    San Francisco considered its measure at a hearing just before Thanksgiving. The resolution urges the FCC to “to codify strong network neutrality principles in order to ensure that the Internet will continue to foster innovation, increase competition, and spur economic growth as well as making the Internet faster and more affordable for all.”

  • The Imperfect is the Enemy of the Good: Anticircumvention Versus Open Innovation

    Digital Rights Management, law-backed technological control of usage of copyrighted works, is clearly imperfect: It often fails to stop piracy and frequently blocks non-infringing uses. Yet the drive to correct these imperfections masks a deeper conflict, between the DRM system of anticircumvention and open development in the entire surrounding media environment. This conflict, at the heart of the DRM schema, will only deepen, even if other aspects of DRM can be improved. This paper takes a systemic look at the legal, technical, and business environment of DRM to highlight this openness conflict and its effects.

• Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

  • Should There Be Punishment For Bogus ‘Pre-Settlement’ Letters?

    We’ve recently seen efforts to ramp up the system of “pre-settlement” letters as a way to “profit” off of file sharing. The scheme works by having a company that either holds the copyrights to certain works or has merely licensed them for this purpose put those files online and then see who is downloading them. That’s the simplest version (though, of questionable legality since if the copyright holder itself is putting the content online, you can raise questions about whether or not the sharing is really unauthorized). Some others in the space don’t actually put their content online themselves, but try to find IP addresses of those who are sharing the content, and then sending those users “pre-settlement” letters, in the hopes that many people just pay up, rather than fighting the letters (or, more likely, ignoring them).

  • Using faulty data to demand settlements from innocent surfers

    A Princeton researcher finds himself bombarded with demands to pay up after swapping adult movies online—but he didn’t do it. It appears to be another case of extremely-lazy IP “enforcement” using bad BitTorrent data collection.

  • Virgin Media Using Deep Packet Inspection To Spy On Your Internet Usage For Hollywood

    While this is just a test, and the information is being aggregated in a supposedly anonymous way just to judge the extent of the problem, there are a bunch of issues with such claims. First, there is no such thing as an anonomyzed dataset. Second, there are some pretty serious privacy questions raised by this. In the US, the use of Deep Packet Inspection for looking at what users do has been frowned upon, but in the UK it’s been deemed not so bad by the legal system (however, the wider EU doesn’t agree with the UK on this position). No matter how you look at it, it does seem quite extreme for your ISP to carefully look at everything you do online. In the end, of course, this will only serve to drive up the demand for encryption technology.

  • Inaccurate Copyright Enforcement: Questionable “best” practices and BitTorrent specification flaws

    In the past few weeks, Ed has been writing about targeted and inaccurate copyright enforcement. While it may be difficult to quantify the actual extent of inaccurate claims, we can at least try to understand whether copyright enforcement companies are making a “good faith” best effort to minimize any false positives. My short answer: not really.

  • Virgin Media and CView to rifle through your packets

  • If We Don’t Kick People Off The Internet For File Sharing, Football Will Die

    We’ve discussed in the past how the UK’s Premier League’s fear of the internet has been a case study in what not to do online. But it seems that the Premier League bosses still want to push forward with plans to make it more difficult and more annoying for fans to actually watch matches.

  • MPAA to FCC: critics of video blocking proposals are lying

    Hollywood is now resorting to calling critics of its analog stream-blocking proposal liars, while talking out of both sides of its mouth about DVD encryption and piracy. But the brunt of this accusation, Public Knowledge, still insists that shutting down the output to millions of HDTVs won’t benefit consumers.