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Links 3/4/2010: Wine 1.1.42, SimplyMepis 8.5 Reviewed



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • What will come after Linux?
    I do think that the time of proprietary operating systems are coming to a close. There are too many free and open source solutions available and the most important part of any computing system, the data, can be easily transferred between them. So while windows keeps trying to entice the public with eye candy, MacOS keeps its hardware to itself and AmigaOS keeps with the unfortunate business decisions, the average Joe Blo and SOHOs will look around for alternatives. Enterprise businesses are like large religions. Stubborn and take several thousand years to make a minor change.

    So the day comes and Linux has toppled windows off of its pedestal. Linus Torvalds is as revered as Bill Gates was and Richard Stallman is throwing chairs when he hears about the new, up and coming operating system. Linux is pre-installed on just about every single computer sold and the whole computing industry is geared around providing service and support for Linux. I just wonder if we, as Linux supporters, will be treating the advocates of the new prodigy operating system the same way windows supporters treat us today.


  • Audiocasts



  • Desktop





  • Kernel Space

    • A stable kernel release storm
      Greg Kroah-Hartman has announced the release of four separate stable kernels: 2.6.27.46, 2.6.31.13, 2.6.32.11, and 2.6.33.2.








  • Applications





  • Distributions

    • Arch on the Meso
      So last night I figured it was time to give Arch a spin on the Meso. Next to Slackware I have a real soft spot for Arch. It’s a great distrobution with fantastic documentation and a wonderful community.


    • Mandriva 2010.1 Beta1




    • Red Hat Family

      • A Red Hat Day as Traders Go Bullish on Tech
        Options traders demonstrated confidence in Qualcomm Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Red Hat Inc., selling "put" options in all three technology companies in hopes the stocks stay strong in coming weeks.








    • Debian Family

      • SimplyMepis 8.5 Review
        Today marks the release of version 8.5 of SimplyMepis, the popular Debian based distribution that focuses on the K desktop environment. We decided to take it for a run and see if there have been any significant changes since the previous release.

        [...]

        Overall Impressions:

        Pro's:

        * Based on Debian which means the package selection is quite good. * Plenty of configuration utilities for those uncomfortable with the console. * System feels stable. * Pre-installed browser plugins for Firefox save users some time tracking them all down.

        Con's:

        * Visually unappealing. * Welcome screen doesn't start at first bootup which negates any value it might add.




      • Ubuntu

        • There is More to Linux Than Ubuntu
          Kubuntu was my favorite distribution for a time, back during the KDE 3.5 series. I was a KDE user all the way back to 2.0. Before Kubuntu I used mainly Debian unstable on the desktop, and Debian stable on servers. Way before that, Red Hat and Slackware. Red Hat 5 was my first Linux, on actual 3.5" diskettes. Somewheres in there I used Libranet, which was a super-nice Debian derivative, but sadly it died with the passing of its founder.


        • Quick Look at Lucid
          Ubuntu just released the beta 1 version of their new LTS (Long Term Support) Distribution, Lucid 10.04. The theme is based on "light" and it looks great. Here's what to expect and what not to expect when you first install this new flavor of Ubuntu:

          The first thing you notice when you launch the live CD is Ubuntu's new logo. Don't worry, they still have the basic logo but they added some new typography and use the logo like a registration mark. They went with the black desktop theme for their default which is fine, but they moved something around. The window manager buttons went from the right side to the left, which is difficult at first if you are not used to it.


        • Maverick Meerkat A Perfect 10?
          Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx (10.04) isn't out yet but Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and Canonical, and his team look toward the October 2010 (10.10) release they're calling Maverick Meerkat. On his personal blog this morning, Mark wrote, "It’s time to put our heads together to envision 'the perfect 10'." Mark, himself, has a new vision for the upcoming release already knowing that 10.04 is almost "in the can." His new vision is one of lightness-lightness in footprint, in deployment and in support requirements. A grand vision but can he do it?
















  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • Maemo Shown Running on an HTC HD2: Fake?
        Windows Mobile devices are very versatile. They can (sort of) run Android, Ubuntu, plus other flavors of Linux. In this video, it appears that someone has figured out how to run Maemo on an HTC HD2, or it's very possible that they are simply using a VNC client to access an Nokia N900 (which is a Maemo device) through the HD2. What do you think?


      • One Android To Rule Them All?
        Android is looking good, no doubt about it. What has started as a Linux-based OS for handsets (i.e., mobile phones) has now rapidly spread to different devices. There are small tablet computers like Archos' Internet tablets and Enso's zenPad, e-book readers like Barnes & Noble's nook and Spring Designs Alex, and even a netbook - Acer's Aspire One D250 (actually dual boots with Windows 7).








    • Sub-notebooks







    • Tablets

      • JooJoo: The "other" tablet arrives
        The arrival of JooJoo seemed kind of fishy because 1) it was April Fool’s Day, 2) there was so much buzz on the blogosphere about this weekend’s release of the iPad that it just had to be a joke and 3) Engadget said it was so overwhelmed with iPad coverage that it wouldn’t have its own review out until next week - and readers should not expect a side-by-side comparison to the iPad right away.


      • The iPad's Linux competition
        Linux developers should be able to build applications for this platform without too much trouble, since the OpenTablet's "Flash applications may invoke class modules that are written in C/C++" and its "application hosting framework controls the loading/unloading of applications." I can also see the OpenTablet doing well in businesses since "The system is fully managed with a device management system client that allows the server to monitor the device, provision the device, and send notifications (e.g., firmware updates or domain-specific messages such as peak pricing notifications for energy)." That means that, unlike the iPad, it should be easy to manage OpenTablet in a corporate network.












Free Software/Open Source

  • Unleash your inner Old Master with MyPaint (Open Source)
    MyPaint is a lightweight, easy-to-use open source painting application that you might not have heard of before. Unlike some of the more mature open source raster-graphics applications (such as Krita or Gimp), MyPaint doesn’t try to do everything: it’s not a photo editor, it doesn’t bother with paths, geometric shapes, text manipulation, or fancy masking options. Instead, it focuses on one and only one use: painting.

    MyPaint is built around use with pressure-sensitive graphics tablets, and puts natural-media-simulation first. There is only one “tool” per se, the paintbrush with which you draw directly onto the image. However, you can choose from dozens of different profiles with which to use that brush, simulating everything from charcoal to pencil, to ink to watercolor. Each has a different behavior, including the way it responds to pressure, speed, changes in direction, and interacting with pixels already on the canvas.


  • 1,500 Teachers Will Learn to Create Educational Software
    The Romanian Ministry of Education and Research has launched the "The Teacher - Educational Software Developer" strategic project that is to be implemented between September 2009 - September 2011 (24 months). The target of the project is three million pupils around the country.

    In the project, eighty experts will train 1,500 pre-university teachers from all over the country to develop the competences that they need in order to create their own educational software applications and to improve their ability to use teaching-learning interactive methods.




  • Mozilla







  • Business

    • Community Open Source as the Raw Material of Computing Utility Providers
      It’s April 2nd, so the Apache Software Foundation’s 2010 April Fools’ joke is over. Here is why I liked it a lot. It represents a hypothetical: What if the ASF and its projects could be bought? Or, if not bought, then put under control or strong influence of corporate interests like in traditional open source consortia? It would put the very software infrastructure we take for granted under partisan control and there is no guarantee that those partisan or corporate interests would be in the interest of the public good.








  • BSD







  • FSF/FSFE/GNU

    • Free Software: Phase Two
      The SFLC's founding director, Eben Moglen, said in his talk that the movement has reached "a point of inflection." The challenge it will face in "Free Software: Phase Two" is to explain the relationship between privacy, the integrity of human personality, and free software. The movement will have to figure out how to convince people they need a solution to a problem they don't know exists, he said. "It's not about we're done. The war is over. It's about, what's next."








  • Licensing

    • Enforcement of the GNU GPL in Germany and Europe, by Till Jaeger
      GPL enforcement is successful in Europe. In several court decisions and out of court settlements the license conditions of the GPL have been successfully enforced. In particular, embedded systems are the main focus of such compliance activities. The article describes the practice of enforcement activities and the legal prerequisites under the application of German law.






  • Programming

    • Ruby Summer of Code raises $100,000
      Ruby Summer of Code has announced it raised $100,000 in three days, allowing it to sponsor up to twenty interns. The Ruby Summer of Code is modelled on Google's Summer of Code, but focusses on the Ruby community.








  • Standards/Consortia







Leftovers

  • Feds found Pfizer too big to nail
    Prosecutors said that excluding Pfizer would most likely lead to Pfizer's collapse, with collateral consequences: disrupting the flow of Pfizer products to Medicare and Medicaid recipients, causing the loss of jobs including those of Pfizer employees who were not involved in the fraud, and causing significant losses for Pfizer shareholders.

    "We have to ask whether by excluding the company [from Medicare and Medicaid], are we harming our patients," said Lewis Morris of the Department of Health and Human Services.


  • Australian gamers unable to play Settlers 7 due to DRM woes
    Our review of The Settlers 7 concluded that fans of city building, micromanagement RTS games could do worse than check it out, with particular reference to the robust community features of online multiplayer.

    Sounds great! I'm sure we're all going to love it! There's just one problem - most of us can't, thanks to ongoing issues with Ubisoft's controversial new "always online" DRM.






Clip of the Day



SourceCode Season 2 - Episode 4: Greed/Water (2005)

32K



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