10.01.11

Links 1/10/2011: Linux Jobs, ACTA in Canada

Posted in News Roundup at 11:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux
- Distributions
- Devices/Embedded
Free Software/Open Source
Leftovers

GNU/Linux

How to Land a Linux Job

Finding a new job can be an overwhelming prospect in just about any industry today, but for those with Linux skills, the challenges are a little bit less daunting.
Autism – Where Linux Falls Silent

What I would like to see is a sparkled, verbal, full screen application that teaches the child how that mouse works. “Hey, YOU DID IT” resounds when the child gets the task right. Or…”Not quite but close, let’s try that again”.

Tuxmath or Tuxtyping comes to mind in style and purpose. I’ve tried to contact the developers about this several times in the past two weeks but as of yet, there has been no response.

I don’t write software and I don’t have time to learn how to…not at this level. I am imploring those who have the skills to contact me and let’s talk this through…at least to see what can be done or if it can be done. Maybe it’s already out there and I missed it. If you need money to do this, I will find you a sponsor or if I can’t do that, I will take on side work to pay you what I can.

What I do know is that Linux can make a difference in the life of an Autistic child and those who care for her.

I’m simply asking for a few people to help make that difference.
Can Penguins Dance on a Dell, Will Reiser File Again, Are Samsung and Intel Going to the Prom?
Professional Use of GNU/Linux

I have written a lot about using GNU/Linux in education where it is just about perfect at helping teachers, students and administrators create, find, modify and present information, the lifeblood of education. Today, I read about an engineer’s use of GNU/Linux for his work. Most of his work can be done with applications available from Debian GNU/Linux’s repository although he uses a few things running under Wine:
Server
- Oracle rises for Unix server push
  
  Oracle is taking the fight to Unix market leader IBM with its eight-core SPARC T4 processor and systems with rack, blade, and clustered systems – a full data center press.
- Virtualization — Ready for Small Businesses
  
  Virtualization technology was initially embraced by large enterprises. These large IT shops had the resources to invest in the hardware, software, consulting, and training necessary to take advantage of virtualization technology. These early adopters paid the price in terms of high costs for virtualization software and early blade servers, and also in terms of dealing with the inevitable bugs that accompany any new technology. On the other hand, these early adopters also benefited significantly from the reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) which is made possible by virtualization. They saw their capital expense decrease due to reduced hardware purchases and they saw their operating costs shrink due to reduced costs for power, cooling, and maintenance.
Audiocasts/Shows
- CAOS Theory Podcast 2011.09.30
Kernel Space
- Kernel Log: Coming in 3.1 (Part 4) – Drivers
  
  Linux 3.1 comes with all the components that are required for using the 3D acceleration features of various current GeForce graphics chips. The Intel graphics driver is still not using an important power saving mechanism by default. The kernel now supports the Creative Titanium HD.
- The word from kernel.org
  
  Two messages have been sent to the linux-kernel mailing list regarding the imminent return of (parts of) kernel.org.
- Kernel.org updates its status
- Graphics Stack
  - New, Generic X.Org KMS Driver Work
    
    David Airlie has announced new work on the xf86-video-modesetting driver, which aims to be a generic X.Org (DDX) driver that will take advantage of the generic parts of the Linux KMS (kernel mode-setting) APIs so that any GPU should be supported.
Applications
- Shotwell Photo Manager For Gnome
- Cairo Dock 2.4.0 Released | Install On Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Through Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Using PPA
  
  Cairo-Dock also known as Glx-Dock is a graphical user interface application launcher to quickly organize applications and files from docks and desklets and easily launch them.
- Instructionals/Technical
- Games
  - Quake 2 Source Code Review 1/4
    
    I spent about a month in my spare time reading the source code of Quake II. It was a wonderful learning experience since one major improvement in idTech3 engine was to unify Quake 1, Quake World and QuakeGL into one beautiful code architecture. The way modularity was achieved even though the C programming language doesn’t feature polymorphism was especially interesting.
  - Let’s Play: Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
    
    It’s time for a new performance comparison… It’s time for (perhaps) the most addictive soccer game in history… Ladies and Gentlemen.. Pro Evolution Soccer 2011!!!!
Desktop Environments
- Face off
  
  After a few weeks of getting grumpy with my KDE desktop at work, I thought I would investigate what other desktop environments are availbale for the version of Fedora that I am using (15 if anyone is keeping count). This particular install came with Gnome installed as well as KDE and ordinarily I would be ecstatic about this as Gnome had been my desktop of choice for a long time. However, the most recent version of Gnome has clearly been redesigned to accommodate a touch device and has lost all the “normal desktop” feel about it that a computer user would expect. Gnome used to be a complete breeze to use, have lots of good looking and useful tools (which to be fair, you can still use), and always had an air of familiarity about it. Now, you don’t get a proper “Start” style menu and have instead a page of applications under certain categories that looks more like the home screen of an iPod/Phone than a desktop. Coupled with my other general beefs with the change of interface and overall look and feel, Gnome had to go and I needed something to fill the gap. Step forward XFCE!
- K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
  - Metamorphosis
    
    When I first got to know Qt, it was a cross platform tool. That was really the reason for me to start using Qt. It was a great cross platform tool. At the time, I was using a Tru64 based system with real X-terminals. You know, the ones where the screen really is a stupid terminal connected to the network. Tru64 meant a real Unix, as in non-Linux, setup alongside Alpha CPUs. Great for what the school wanted us to do, i.e. use Matlab and latex.
  - A year after the agreement between KDE eV and KDE Spain
    
    Yesterday, September 29th 2011, it was published in the Dot, the article KDE España, an inspiring first year, wich summarizes KDE Spain activity after the agreement between that organization and KDE e.V. was signed.
  - KDE Commit-Digest for 18th September 2011
  - Amarok 2.4.3 Is Here, Install It In Ubuntu
- GNOME Desktop
  - GTK+ 3.2 with support for Wayland and HTML5
    
    Version 3.2 of the GTK+ GUI library has been released. The new version brings several enhancements and improvements, including better CSS theming support, two new widgets (GtkLockButton and GtkOverlay) a refreshed file chooser and a new family of “GtkFontChooser” widgets. The most important changes, though, are still experimental: the support for HTML5 and the Wayland display server. Programs that use GTK+ 3.2 can run as web applications in HTML5-compliant browsers as this video shows:
  - Gnome 3.2 Review
    
    The internet is becoming pretty much everything. And This feature integrates Gnome to the web by providing support to access your web accounts like Gmail, hotmail natively right from your desktop. Through this feature you can access the web account’s email, calendar, chat right from your desktop after you login. This feature is made available to all distros which will run Gtk 3.0. You can use this feature in Ubuntu 11.10 from the control panel. This feature was developed by David Zeuthen. Check out the screencast and screenshot for more details.
Distributions
- New Releases
  - AUSTRUMI 2.4.5
  - FreeNAS 8.0.1
  - DoudouLinux Gondwana update 1
    
    After 3 months of intensive work, we are very pleased to announce that our first update of DoudouLinux Gondwana, the version 1.1, is now out!
- Red Hat Family
  - Fedora
    - Installing Fedora 16 pre-release.
      
      I’m a little late this cycle to move my laptop to the Fedora pre-release. (Note the web site doesn’t yet feature the Fedora 16 Beta — that should change next Monday around 10:00 US Eastern time.) I had tried some Live USBs along the way and they were generally looking great, but before now I hadn’t had the spare time to do the installation and test to make sure my various workflow bits were all working normally. Today I finally took the plunge.
      
      [...]
      
      But the login dialog itself, part of GNOME 3.2, is also really swank! With smooth animation and fading, it now feels so much more polished from the very beginning of the signon process.
- Debian Family
  - Derivatives
    - Canonical/Ubuntu
      - Analysis: Ubuntu’s ‘Open for Business’ Sign To Developers
        
        Canonical has now sounded the whistle for developers to walk through its doors and begin to more easily write applications for its Ubuntu Software Centre, by officially launching a portal – developer.ubuntu.com.
        
        The effort is taking up the “app store” model launched by Apple and followed on by the Android community.
        
        While the Ubuntu desktop distro has always had an uphill battle for market share against Windows and Mac OS X, the developer portal to the Ubuntu app store shows the community’s leadership gets it. Third-party developers are the key to strengthening platform, and both developer.ubuntu.com as well as the app store are “Open for Business” signs.
Devices/Embedded
- Phones
  - Report: Nokia working on Linux OS for low-end phones
    
    Nokia is reportedly working on a Linux-based operating system code-named Meltemi which is aimed at low-end phones. Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that the project was being led by Mary McDowell, Nokia’s executive vice president for mobile phones. Nokia has declined to comment on the matter.
  - Android
    - Flickr launches Android app, real-time photo sharing
- Sub-notebooks/Tablets
  - Apple Cuts iPad Orders By 25%
    
    According to a report Apple has slashed iPad orders by 25%, according to research report from JPMorgan Chase. There is no indication as to why Apple is cutting the orders of the iPad by such a huge percentage. There can be several possibilities — a) the iPad market has saturated. b) Tablets are not for everyone and Apple fans who wanted the new toy from Apple already got one and don’t see any need to upgrade to the newest one. c) Android has started to make serious dent in the iPad market. The figures of non-Apple tablets may be smaller but more and more users may be going for Android powered tablets instead of the iPad which is controlled by a China like regime.
  - Amazon Announces Android Tablet Kindle Fire
    
    Amazon has finally set the tablet stage on fire with the launch of $199 Android tablet against Apple excessively expensive iPad tablets. Amazon has made the right move at the right time by offering a tablet with the perfect price. This is one tablet which is going to pull the ground from under the greedy Apple.

Free Software/Open Source

PhoneGap applies to the Apache Software Foundation

In a Google Groups post, Nitobi software developer Brian Leroux announced that the developers behind PhoneGap have applied to contribute their open source mobile development framework to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). The project has now been proposed to the Foundation for consideration and incubation as a new Apache project; however, at the time of writing, the proposal has yet to be posted.
Hortonworks Demonstrates Steadfast Support of Apache Software Foundation With Gold-Level Sponsorship
Mozilla
- Why Firefox Is My Browser Of Choice
SaaS
- Karmasphere Secures Funding to Accelerate Big Data Analytics on Hadoop
  
  Karmasphere™, a Big Data Intelligence company, today announced it has secured $6 million in a Series B round of funding, led by new investor Presidio Ventures. Also participating in the round are existing investors Hummer Winblad and US Venture Partners. Total investment in Karmasphere, since it was launched in 2010, is now $11 million.
Databases
- Percona Lifts Decade-Old Limitation from MySQL with New Release of Percona Server
  
  Percona, Inc., the largest and oldest independent MySQL services vendor, today announced the release of Percona Server version 5.5.15. The new release enables users to save memory and allows them to simultaneously hold more types of data (such as large BLOB and TEXT types) in memory by removing the fixed-length limitation on the MySQL MEMORY storage engine. The new release is based on improvements designed for the world’s largest online auction company.
- 10gen Releases Cloud-Based Monitoring and Alerting Solution for MongoDB
Project Releases
- Twitter open sources Storm
  
  As expected, Twitter has released its Storm stream processing framework as open source. The distributed real-time computation system was originally developed by BackType, which was acquired by Twitter in July of this year.
Public Services/Government
- IT: Free software and open technologies spur innovation in South Tyrol
  
  The Innovationpark South Tyrol (TIS) in the autonomous province of Bolzano in Italy, is increasing its efforts to support innovation in local industry in using free and open source technologies. It recently made ‘Free software and open technologies’ one of its seven departments.
- UK public administration’s use of open source growing in importance
  
  Open source is a topic rising in importance for public administrations in the United Kingdom. Very recent examples of public administrations turning to this type of software include city and county councils, hospitals and government departments, and politicians increasingly recognise its importance.
- NASA to launch open source space applications challenge
Programming
- When Forking is Not an Act of Love
  
  Distributed version control changed free software development in ways we’re only now beginning to understand. I used SVK for years from the start, and it improved the way I work. (Yes, I committed code on airplanes in 2005. I’ve forked and patched projects I don’t have commit access on. I’ve done that for six years now.)
  
  These days Git and friends have taken over from SVK, and that’s fine.
- I have joined SourceForge as its Senior Director of Business Development
  
  I joined Geeknet as the Senior Director of Business Development at SourceForge, and I am responsible to grow and extend our ecosystem. I am excited to bring in all my experience in the open source business and my understanding of open source communities to Sourceforge.
- Ruby 1.9.3 approaches with RC1
  
  The Ruby development team has issued the first release candidate for version 1.9.3 of its open source programming language. According to the developers, compared to the first preview from August, the RC1 for the next stable release doesn’t include a lot of changes as it primarily focuses on fixing bugs. Provided no serious problems are found, the team say that final version of Ruby 1.9.3 should arrive within two weeks.

Leftovers

Alibaba’s Jack Ma at Stanford: “We Are Very Interested” in Buying the “Whole” of Yahoo

In answer to a direct question about whether his company was going to buy Yahoo at a forum at Stanford University in Silicon Valley this afternoon, Alibaba Chairman and CEO Jack Ma said: “We are very interested.”
Berlios to shut down
Internet/Net Neutrality
- Broadband Must Not Block Lawful Content
Copyrights
- Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore’s Missing Copyright Tweets
  
  Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore was busy on Twitter yesterday, pointing to many groups expressing support for Bill C-11, the new copyright bill. While he omitted pointing to releases from students (“anti-circumvention provisions will seriously undermine students’, teachers’ and the general public’s use of copyrighted works.”) and librarians (“legislation which does not include the right to bypass digital locks for non-infringing purposes is fundamentally flawed”), it is interesting to look at some of the organizations he did cite.
- ACTA
  - Who is Signing ACTA: State of Play Cont’d
    
    It has been reported in global press this week that ACTA will be signed October 1 in Japan. http://goo.gl/nC0PL But that does not mean that ACTA actually goes into effect. Indeed, there seems a decent chance it will not go into effect anywhere.
    
    ACTA Article 40 states that the “Agreement shall enter into force thirty days after the date of deposit of the sixth instrument of ratification, acceptance, or approval as between those Signatories that have deposited their respective instruments of ratification, acceptance, or approval.” Although six ratifications is a pretty low threshold for an agreement with 36 parties to the negotiation, it is far from clear that this agreement will get even that.
  - Canada Signs Historic Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
    
    The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, today signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an international agreement aimed at combatting the spread of trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. In the June 2011 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada committed to enforcing and defending intellectual property rights and helping balance the needs of creators and users to foster innovation- and knowledge-based prosperity.