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Links 11/9/2011: Linux Tablets for Just $159, Sakai Open Academic Environment (OAE) Reaches 1.0.0





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop

    • ENT: The many faces of Linux - Online with Bob Vaillancourt
      A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had been playing around with a new distribution of Linux called Bodhi. One of the things I liked was its ability to run on minimal hardware. Its resource requirements were quite low, even to the point of enabling it to run on rather antiquated 386 machines.






  • Kernel Space



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



  • Distributions

    • ALT Linux 6 KDesktop review
      Package Management: Debian’s Advanced Packaging Tool, APT, is the package management framework on ALT Linux, with Synaptic Package Manager as the installed graphical interface to apt-get, the most commonly-used command line utility in APT. The version of Synaptic that ships with this version of ALT Linux is Synaptic 0.57.3, which was released in late 2005. Compare that to Synaptic 0.70, the version that comes pre-installed on Linux Mint and Ubuntu. So the graphical interface you have to use on ALT Linux 6 KDesktop is very old. It works, but if you have used Synaptic on other distributions, you feel like you have just stepped back into the last decade.


    • The OpenJDK as the default Java on Linux
      Recently I’ve received a bunch of private correspondence from people confused/worried over the change in the default Java packaging for Linux. For many Linux distributions, the official Sun/Oracle version of Java has been packaged up as the default Java for the platform. However, due to a recent licensing change, this will no longer be the case! So, is this a positive or a negative thing for the Java and open source ecosystem? Read on for my take on it :-)


    • New Releases



      • PelicanHPC GNU Linux
        09 Sept. 2011. version 2.6 is available. make_pelican uses a new and simpler method to add non-Debian software. This latest image was made using the new method, and the image contains the updated tutorial which explains the new system.




    • Debian Family



      • Derivatives







  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones



      • Android

        • Motorola’s Facebook phone leaked, without Google Android?
          A report posted by Unwired View on Thursday revealed an unannounced new smartphone from Motorola Mobility, running without the glorious power of Google Android operating system. The site claims the phone was posted in Bluetooth’s official website where certified devices land and get the “approval” for using the technology.


        • Undeniable Reasons That Show iPhone 5 Will Fall Head First Down Against Samsung Galaxy S2
          Samsung’s Galaxy S2, which is expected to reach the U.S. this month, has been released in more than 120 countries. The UK and South Korea were the first ones to receive the device.


        • Sharp Launching Aquos 3D Android Handset in Japan
          3D Android phones haven't really taken off just yet. Even with HTC's big marketing behind the Evo 3D, and the LG Optimus 3D, we haven't seen much adoption right out of the gate. It appears that Sharp is staying in the game, though, as they've just announced a 3D Android handset that's headed for Japan's SoftBank.


        • Is Android forking – and does it matter?
          Android seems to be having a difficult time at the moment, but, far from being a sign of increasing problems, Glyn Moody argues that the forking of the mobile operating system by the likes of Amazon and Baidu could work in Google's favour.






    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Like Father like Son (or Like Phone like Tablet)
        For those that read a previous article of mine, it shows to me why Microsoft wants to “talk up” the desktop – It knows that it won’t be able to compete in the Tablet world and if they follow their Phone legacy, then there will be the excuse of “its still in its infancy” whilst the product matures to a point to compete with others.

        It may be 12 months away (Windows 8 ) but I think we can add another 8 months onto that for “baking”. 2 Years for a ready competitor to Apple and Android Tablets? Yes Microsoft, you better keep talking up the Desktop, maybe you’ll convince a few of your customers.

        Unfortunately Microsoft can no longer dictate to the consumer, for the mainstream majority, I’d suggest Tablets are the future, Tablets I hasten to add that unlike the majority of Desktops, won’t force Microsoft products onto people.


      • Barnes & Noble Steps Up Push for Android Developer
        Barnes & Noble, growing increasingly serious about their Android efforts, has begun touting the benefits of their NOOK App Developer program. I recently spent some time speaking with Claudia Romanini, Director of Developer Relations and learned that NOOK Apps has been an all-around success. App downloads are already in the millions and developers are making money. According to Romanini, there are now more than 500 apps to choose from with many more on the way. The number of developers signed up for the program has eclipsed 10,000 more than doubling in the last few months. About that all-important money, I was advised that some developers have seen earnings of more than $100,000 in their first 30 days.


      • Quick Deals: Herotab M6 Gingerbread Tablet for just $159








Free Software/Open Source



  • Events



  • Web Browsers



  • SaaS

    • HP's OpenStack Cloud Goes Into Private Beta


    • Hadoop data-management provider Platfora raises $5.7M months after launch
      Hadoop is an open-source data-management software framework. It’s useful for companies that store enormous amounts of data and have to regularly index it. That can include financial services companies that have to track previous prices and old transactions or companies like Yahoo that need to regularly access search information. Platfora aims to add a more manageable user interface to access all that and make the data easier to digest for everyday users and business professionals.


    • LexisNexis open sources code for Hadoop alternative
      HPCC Systems, the division of LexisNexis Risk Solutions dedicated to big data, has released the open source code of its data-processing-and-delivery software it’s positioning as a better version of Hadoop. The High Performance Computing Cluster code is available on Github, and it marks the commencement of HPCC Systems’ quest to build a community of developers underneath Hadoop’s expansive shadow.




  • Databases

    • Open-source databases in the post-Oracle world.
      Open-source products, like MySQL and PostgreSQL, brought relational database functionality to the masses at a fraction of the price of a commercial Oracle, IBM or even Microsoft database. MySQL led the pack of free, or almost free, contenders -- customers typically paid for support, not the database itself. Sun Microsystems bought MySQL in January 2008 and open-source fans saw Sun, which fostered many open-source projects, as a worthy caretaker.




  • Education



  • Healthcare



  • Business

    • Web terms SME operators need to understand #6: Proprietary systems
      If it weren’t for open source (as covered last week), there would be no need for the term “proprietary”.

      Because from a business perspective, “proprietary” is essentially “situation normal”.

      Normal because it’s the notion of a free or community service that to business is in fact pretty unusual.




  • Project Releases



  • Public Services/Government

    • Government of India Promotes FLOSS
      In the interests of open e-government, India has widely adopted GNU/Linux in governmental organizations from the legislators to the schools. A recent draft of policy formally gives preference to FLOSS. This has been a long process over the last decade. India has lots of divides and has no need of a digital divide so standardizing on FLOSS works for them.


    • Cabinet wants open source openness, with chocolate biscuits?
      Press reports have been circulating since the start of this month analysing the government's attitude towards open source technology procurement. As we now know, the traditional approach within Whitehall has been to opt for some of the most costly proprietary technologies.

      Has this situation occurred due to perceptions of the 'safety factor' associated with big brand vendor products?

      Is this a case of 'nobody ever got fired by buying Microsoft' asks the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones.

      Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has said that he wants to shift mindsets and see more open source software deployment considered across a so-called "level playing field" now.




  • Openness/Sharing

    • Millennials' Open Source Attitude


    • Open Hardware

      • Geek 101: What Is Arduino?
        If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably seen us refer to the Arduino microcontroller on a number of occasions. This little circuit board is at the heart of many DIY projects, from robotics to art projects and just about everything in between.

        But what on Earth is Arduino, anyway? What makes it so versatile? And what can you do with it?






  • Programming

    • Google's 7th Summer of Code comes to an end
      Google has announced that its seventh annual Google Summer of Code (GSoC) event has come to an end. More than 1,100 university students from 68 countries participated in this year's event by writing code for 175 open source organisations, 50 of which are new to GSoC. A total of 417 mentoring organisations, including the Blender Foundation, the Debian Project, the GNU Project, the KDE Project, LibreOffice and Mozilla, were accepted in 2011.






Leftovers



  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • Orwell, 9/11, Emmanuel Goldstein and WikiLeaks
      A strikingly good piece of investigative journalism from Associated Press finds that accusations about the damage done by WikiLeaks' latest release are -- yet again -- wildly overstated and without any factual basis. These most recent warnings have centered on WikiLeaks' exposure of diplomatic sources whom the released cables indicated should be "strictly protected." While unable to examine all of the names in the cables, AP focused on the ones "the State Department seemed to categorize as most risky." It found that many of them are "comfortable with their names in the open and no one fearing death."


    • When mistaken identity leads to torture
      Khaled El-Masri was held for weeks by secret agents who missed a letter in his name




  • Cablegate

    • WikiLeaks Has No Blood on Its Hands
      Cassandra Vinograd and Bradley Klapper of the Associated Press conducted a partial review of US State Embassy cables released by WikiLeaks focusing on the sources the State Department “categorized as most risky.” The findings in the report cast further doubt on the official party line the government promotes when commenting on anything WikiLeaks and concludes, US examples of threatened sources have been “strictly theoretical.” The review found “several of them” are “comfortable with their names in the open and no one fearing death.”


    • 2011-09-05 Caracas Cables Pt I: Hugo’s Former Wife and “Half Brother,” Contentious Environmental Politics
      At the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, diplomatic staff routinely spoke to the rightist Chávez opposition during the Bush years. But in 2004, an odd encounter occurred between the Americans and Chávez’s former wife, Herma Marksman, who held a rather disparaging view of the Venezuelan president. Marksman, a history professor who was married to Chávez between 1984 and 1993, told U.S. diplomats that the firebrand populist was ambitious from an early age and “even thought of running the country as a 20 year-old.”


    • Kashmir politics - in disarray and dirtier than Dal Lake
      Kashmiris knew about their leaders all along. They knew they played a many-layered game. So when whistleblower website WikiLeaks recently released cables which the then US ambassador to India David Mulford had sent to the US State Department in February 2006, the contents didn't surprise many.


    • A Wild WikiLeaks Week By Sonala Olumhense
      It is a cruel coincidence that in a week in which awful revelations have been tumbling out from WikiLeaks, much of it about the filthy nature of Nigeria’s political elite, the Goodluck Jonathan government insisted on inserting a 100 Days celebration.

      I would have counseled a policy of silence, but perhaps, in their wisdom, they imagined such a celebration would deflect attention from the lamentable revelations.


    • The Idea That DoS Attacks Against WikiLeaks are War Crimes
      A recent interview WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange did with Sueddeutsche Zeitung in Germany features Assange’s take on what happened with the Cablegate release, how the organization has managed to withstand cyber attacks, the organization’s suspicions about OpenLeaks founder and former WikiLeaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg and how the organization thinks it has impacted the world.

      One section that sticks out is Assange’s discussion of the denial of service (DoS) attacks the site has managed to withstand.


    • Wikileaks: Ugandan First Lady “Ultimately Behind” Anti-Homosexuality Bill
      Tomorrow’s edition of Sunday Monitor, Uganda’s largest independent newspaper, cites leaked diplomatic cables to report that Ugandan First Lady, Janet Museveni, was behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.




  • Copyrights

    • Hollywood Leaks strikes fear into film industry bosses
      Behind the feelgood story lines and happy endings of even the most bland Hollywood movies lurks a formidable PR machine that exerts a grip on every aspect of a film's life. From keeping scripts secret, to vetting press interviews with stars, setting embargoes and filming on closed sets, big Hollywood studios jealously guard their projects. After all, hundreds of millions of dollars are often at stake. One slip-up can kill a movie – and a dead movie usually takes a few careers with it.






Recent Techrights' Posts

Who Asked Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for a Refund? ($100,000, Resulting in Losses of $267,201 in 12 Months, Highest-Ever Losses)
The IRS does not reveal who or what's tied to this refund (or the cause/reason)
"Cloud Computing" Was Always a Joke, But This Week Was the Punchline
Maybe stop following tech trends and fashions
 
Links 22/10/2025: Study on Misinformation by Slop and Heavily Debt-Sabbled Microsoft OpenAI (ClosedSlop) Uses "Browser" as Gimmick/Distraction
Links for the day
They've Already Spent Close to a Million Dollars on Lawyers and Sent Us About 50 KG of Legal Papers (Sponsored by Mysterious Third Party) to Try to Censor Techrights, Without Success
They try to overcompensate with sheer volume for a lack of solid, clear arguments (we are the victims here)
Trouble in Red Hat/IBM and a Retreat to Ponzi Economics in Search of Wall Street Market Heist
Would you invest your life savings in this kind of crap?
12 Months Ago the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Officially Went 'Tag-Team'
We're actually sort of flattered or proud that such despicable people are so desperate to censor us
"Cloud Computing" Does Not Mean Safety
Fault tolerance is related to the notion of software freedom
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 21, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 21, 2025
The Fall of Windows: From Something to Nothing
Of course Microsoft will pretend everything is fine and "just trust the hey hi" (AI)
Sounds Like Fedora is Ready to Become Less of a Slave of Microsoft (GitHub)
This seems like a belated move in a positive direction
XBox is a Dead Microsoft Product in a Dying Industry
It's probable that another wave of XBox layoffs is just over the horizon (maybe even before month's end)
Progress on Techrights Site Search
Fun times
IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Means the Layoffs Are Silent, Barely Reported
Don't wait to hear about "Red Hat layoffs"
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Happy Disconnection, AWS Falling Apart, Closing of Gemlog Blue
Links for the day
Full Audio of Today's Richard Stallman Talk in the Technical University of Munich
Free/Libre software and freedom in the digital society
Microsoft XBox is Just Vapourware (Promises of Hardware That Doesn't Exist), Real Products Perish
just as developers lose interest in developing for XBox Microsoft is increasing the costs imposed upon them
Slopwatch: Fake Articles (Slop) in "Linux" Clothing in Google News (Noise)
all about what Google does
Links 21/10/2025: Even "Inventor of Vibe Coding" Rejects Vibe Coding, USPTO Experiments With Slop in Examination
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Talk Now Available for Viewing (Archived Copy, Not Live-streamed)
This recording is over 2 hours old
Links 21/10/2025: AWS-Induced Chaos and Social Control Media Curbs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/10/2025: Programming, StarGrid, Brand-New Palm OS Strategy Game in 2025, and Chatbot as Addiction Mechanisms
Links for the day
The African Lion and the American Cowards
Safaris exist for people to watch and enjoy animals
Amazon Web Shenanigans Perfectly Timed for Today's Talk by Richard Stallman
Maybe listen to him instead of looking for excuses to ridicule the messenger
Mission:Libre Has Taken Off (Project by Carmen Maris)
there will be a lot more to report on next month (after the event)
Techrights to Publish More EPO Leaks Next Week
We're meanwhile also doing lots of work on search, whose interface now looks better
Links 21/10/2025: 'The Lost Art' of Neon Signs and Twitter (X) to Enable Identity Theft (or Handle Theft) as a Service
Links for the day
Plagiarism With LLM Slop: Hindustan Times (HT Digital Streams Limited) Has Become a Slop Factory/Hub
What a disgrace
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe, by Richard Stallman
"The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place"
Next Week We Launch Search at Techrights
We're planning to launch it some time next week. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday.
Talk by Richard Stallman Will be Live-streamed in Less Than 10 Hours
Happy hacking
"No Kings" in the Software World (GAFAM Should Not Exist, Either)
"No Kings" is a good slogan. Let's start by ridding ourselves of masters, not only those who reside in DC or visit DC
Every Morning
Bugs/edge cases combined with automation can spell disaster
Insane, Deliberately Dishonest, or Just Another Bigot?
very intellectually-dishonest human being
A Lot of Techrights is Built on Perl
Perl also runs the sister site
The Register MS Selling Slop for Microsoft (Vapourware, Ponzi Scheme, False Claims)
What will be left of The Register MS if it keeps repeating falsehoods and looking to profit from Ponzi schemes?
analytics.usa.gov Says Less Than 14% of Web Requests (to Government Sites) Come From Vista 11
Vista 11 was released more than 4 years ago!
People Who Attempt to Take Down Correct Information Need a Doctor a Day
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.” ― George Orwell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 20, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 20, 2025
Vista 11 is Sinking While Microsoft is PIPing (Mass Layoffs But Silent Layoffs)
We're witnessing a shift in platform dominance
Richard Stallman is Having a Good Week Already (Stallman Was Right About 'Clown Computing')
That alone is worth bringing up in his talk
An Update About Soylent News, With Jan Rinok "Back in the Saddle"
Burnout or "near burnout" a possibility when having to curate abuse
When Prominent GNU/Linux Distros Are Run by Spies
What has Microsoft Canonical become?
More Publishers and Companies Nowadays Say "GNU/Linux", Not "Linux"
It's not to see InstallAware saying GNU/Linux this week
Google News is Now Promoting a Parasitic Slopfarm Called "findarticles.com", Where Plagiarism of "Linux" Articles is Rampant
Does Google even care about the slop epidemic? Google itself is a vendor of slop now (and it calls it "Gemini")
Gemini Links 20/10/2025: Pumpkin Carving, "Hey Hi", and Other Buzzwords
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News Promoting Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
What is the value of Google News if so many results in it are fake 'articles?
Rejecting 'Snoop-Phones' and Turning "Old" Phones (or Tablets) Into Freedom-Respecting Appliances
Paul Fernhout (pdfernhout.net) wrote back to Akira Urushibatathis this past weekend
Our Uptime This Year Was Better Than AWS (Also a Lot Cheaper)
We never used "the cloud"
Amazon Web Shenanigans
An ongoing, experimental endeavour
Death of Elias Diem: FSFE mailing list archives hidden
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/10/2025: Louvre Museum Reveals Weakness, About 7 Million Protest US Turning Into Oligarchy/Monarchy
Links for the day
They Should Have Listened to Techrights Over a Month Earlier (Xubuntu Site Compromised)
we reported this issue about 40 days earlier and nobody did anything about it
Richard Stallman to Give Another Talk Today in Bavaria (Bavarian Academy of Science)
Tomorrow at 6 PM he speaks in Munich
Apple is the Company of Dictators and Worse
Apple is just another greedy corporation in search of sweatshops and even pedophiles (especially the high-profile ones)
Counting Unhatched Eggs Is Not Counting Chickens
Everything here will persist as normal
Barry Kauler Explains That Puppy Linux and EasyOS Exclude Systemd to Keep Things Simple
Barry Kauler's Puppy Linux is in the community's hands. He now focuses on EasyOS and more.
The "Infinite Bread"
The biblical story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 has software parallels
Half a Year After Brian Fagioli Got Kicked Out of BetaNews for Slop He's Still Doing LLM Slop and Slop Images Targeting 'Linux' (Plagiarising Original Works)
If the Web gets polluted or flooded by slopfarms such as these, and Slashdot then sends traffic so these slopfarms (Slashdot probably doesn't do this intentionally), then real writers with real knowledge of GNU/Linux will lose the spark for publishing
In Many Cases and in Many Different Ways, Technology Became Less Durable and Less Reliable Over Time
The "modern" things are more complex. And complexity is a foe or reliability and repair-ability.
Microsoft's LinkedIn is Losing Money, Traffic, and Hope; Now It Wants to Sell Its Users' Lifeblood (and Data)
Let this be a reminder of what social control media really is about
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 19, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 19, 2025
Campaign of FUD Against Framework Laptops and GNU/Linux (Using Microsoft's Attack on Linux, 'Secure Boot')
Ritual Defamation Cult has turned its attention over to Framework
Microsoft Lunduke: Freedom of Speech Means Spreading What I Have to Say and Banning People I Disagree With
4Chan is one he aims for and he is siccing 4Chan trolls at people he doesn't like
Liberation From 'The Feed'
They rank things based on the editor's choice/ideology (he or she knows the sponsors, hence the masters)
Microsoft's Killing of Vista 10 Seems to Have Resulted in More Articles About GNU/Linux (But Also FUD)
We not only saw a rise in traffic, we also saw a remarkable rise in the number of articles