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Links 19/10/2011: GNOME Shell 3.2.1, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • MY DESKTOP IS CHANGING
    Now we come to 2011 and the Linux desktop horizon is changing with the rise of smartphones and tablets. As our data becomes more mobile, developers are working to synchronize everything we use and need across all platforms, from your phones and tablets to your laptop and desktop computers. It is believed that by having a unified interface, it will help users avoid confusion and create a productive synergy. As handheld platforms are quickly becoming the dominant tools for accessing data, computer operating systems are following suit.


  • 18.5-inch panel PC offers capacitive multitouch


  • Desktop

    • Take your Linux PC back to the future!
      Take your PC back to 1985 with a cool selection of tools and tricks that build a fully functioning desktop computer on the console!

      There are many reasons to use the console. Sometimes you need to run on older hardware. Or you may be stuck running remotely over a slow connection, where using an X11 desktop is just painfully slow. There are lots of articles that describe the tools and utilities available for the console.

      But how do you use them all together? This tutorial will look at one way that you can combine all of these programs together to give you a fully functional desktop. You’ll essentially end up with a console desktop where you can check email, surf the web, chat with people, catch up on the news, and more. We’ll use tmux to organise your desktop and make the most of your screen real estate.


    • Why I Switched to Linux
      Since then I have used later versions of UBUNTU on both my home desktop system and my laptops. My newest laptop, an IBM ThinkPad T-42 is running Ubuntu 10.04 and – I’m writing this on that laptop. Linux has improved – 99% of the hardware on my T-42 “just worked” with the minor exception of the accelerometer chip (parks the harddrive when laptop is bumped)




  • Accumulations





  • Kernel Space

    • Pushing Reiser4 Is "Not Of High Priority"
      Edward Shishkin, the lone developer that took over development of the Reiser4 file-system following the conviction of Hans Reiser, has shared a new update with Phoronix regarding the efforts towards pushing Reiser4 into the mainline Linux kernel.


    • Linux 3.0.7
      Note, I've had some boot problems with this kernel, and I can't seem to narrow the issue down, but I think it's due to something not related to the kernel itself, but am not positive. Please test to verify that I didn't mess something up.


    • Graphics Stack

      • The Linux 3.1 Kernel For Older Intel Graphics
        While there's many ongoing improvements for Intel's Sandy Bridge graphics and the next-generation Ivy Bridge graphics within the Linux kernel, Mesa, and xf86-video-intel (namely the SNA acceleration for the DDX), here's some benchmarks from two older Intel systems using the latest Linux 3.1 kernel to see if there are any improvements there.






  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • GNOME Desktop

      • GNOME Shell 3.2.1 Released
        Owen Taylor announced earlier today, October 18th the immediate availability for download and upgrade of the GNOME Shell 3.2.1 user interface for the GNOME 3 desktop environment.

        The GNOME Shell package provides basic UI (User Interface) functions for the GNOME 3 desktop environment, such as launching applications and switching to windows.






  • Distributions



    • New Releases



    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Green-lights a Behavior Modeling Platform for JBoss
        In a large organization, no single IT staffer will be able to observe all the millions of system events and glean from them a pattern worth paying attention to. It's a problem with the level of knowledge decreasing in proportion to the rising amount of data.

        Back in 2007, Red Hat joined an effort to craft a system for automating the process of detecting actionable patterns from huge amounts of system data. Maybe one human being can't detect the patterns in a trillion data points, but a rules engine could. This rules engine is called Complex Event Processing (CEP). Last week, the company announced it's ready to integrate the results of its work into its business rules engine, JBoss Enterprise BRMS 5.2.


      • KVM 2011 Forum Presentations Now Online


        KVM Forum 2011 took place in Vancouver from the 15th to 16th of August, but the videos are finally up. KVM Forum was co-located with LinuxCon North America 2011. Videos are now uploaded to YouTube (all the videos are at that link). Other details on this virtualization conference and the presentation slides are available from Linux-KVM.org.




    • Debian Family

      • Back to OpenShot for video editing in Debian GNU/Linux
        Not entirely satisfied with my last effort in OpenShot, I wanted to try something else, and that something turned out to be Blender's Video Sequence Editor feature. That was a resounding failure. I had no idea how to do just about anything, and I find the Blender UI extremely uninviting.


      • Debian GNU/Linux Live Images Updated
        I mentioned last week that there was a new Debian GNU/Linux release available (6.0.3). At that time the Live images had not been updated. As of today (or late yesterday), they have. So if you want to get an easy look at the latest Debian running on your hardware, or you prefer to (or must) install from a Live image rather than the normal netinst image, you're good to go now.


      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot Review: First Real Step in Its March Towards Mass Adoption
            Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot final release happened sometime ago. I have been using Ubuntu 11.10 as my default netbook OS ever since Oneiric Alpha 2 was released. So it's not like I am installing Ubuntu 11.10 just for the sake of reviewing it. Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot has been the OS of choice in my netbook for sometime now.


          • Ubuntu Hardware Summit 2011 Announced
            Now that Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) has been released, Canonical proudly announced a few minutes ago the official place and date for the upcoming Ubuntu Hardware Summit 2011 event which takes place once a year.


          • Ubuntu 11.10
            So apparently Canonical decided to name this release after a cat that dreams and pees a lot. Were they trying to send some sort of message? Interesting, I wonder if this decision was made by a particular individual or some sort of committee? Some have said that Canonical is copying Apple too much (Lion anybody?) and perhaps they have a point or two in that regard. Aaah well, it is what it is.


          • Introducing Ubuntu 11.10 Without Unity
            Now that Ubuntu 11.10 was released, we are proud to announced today, Octomber 18th, the immediate availability for download of a new Linux operating system based on the newly released Ubuntu 11.10 distribution.


          • Canonical, Vodafone bring ARM-based Ubuntu netbook to South Africa
            Canonical and Vodacom, the South African subsidiary of Vodafone, have announced the launch of the Vodafone WebBook in South Africa. The ARM-based netbook runs the Ubuntu Linux operating system and is designed to "bring simplified, value-added internet access to thousands of South Africans, many of whom have until now had no access".










  • Devices/Embedded

    • Debian-based NAS OpenMediaVault released
      Following two years of development, OpenMediaVault (OMV) project founder and lead developer Volker Theile has announced the arrival of the first release of his open source NAS (network-attached storage) operating system, code-named "Ix". Created by Theile – who is also a FreeNAS and Debian developer – OpenMediaVault is a Debian-based rewrite of the FreeBSD-based FreeNAS distribution.


    • Phones



      • Android

        • Samsung, Google whip out Android 4.0 Nexus


        • What's New In Android 4.0?


        • iPhone 4S vs Galaxy Nexus: The Better Hardware!
          Google and Samsung have announced the launch of the next superphone dubbed Galaxy Nexus. The phone arrives only a few days after the launch of 'disappointing' iPhone 4S. While the iPhone 4S has nothing new to offer (from hardware POV), Galaxy Nexus comes with the best of the breed hardware. We talked about soft aspect of Galaxy Nexus here, in this article we are talking about the hardware comparison of the 'trying-to-catch-up' iPhone 4S vs 'rules-writing' Galaxy Nexus.


        • Dual-display phone to star in texting championship
          T-Mobile and LG announced an oddball Android 2.3 phone that features both a 3.5-inch display and a secondary two-inch screen embedded in the middle of a split-QWERTY keypad. Designed for texting and social networking, the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon-equipped LG DoublePlay will be featured in the fifth annual LG U.S. National Texting Championship on Oct. 26.


        • HTC Amaze 4G on T-Mobile: Great camera, but a battery vampire
          T-Mobile's HTC Amaze 4G is worth considering by serious shutterbugs who want a phone that can replace their everyday point-and-shoot, according to this eWEEK review. But, reviewer Nicholas Kolawkowski adds, don't expect its battery to hold out all day.


        • Motorola's latter-day Razr is 'thinnest 4G LTE smartphone'
          Motorola Mobility announced the Droid Razr, a high-end Android phone whose Kevlar-reinforced case is just 0.28 inches thick. Aimed at Verizon's 4G LTE network, it features a dual-core, 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage, a 4.3-inch screen packing 960 x 540 pixels, dual cameras, and accessories including a new 14-inch Lapdock 500 Pro.


        • Top Free Android Audio Players
          We often see Android devices being used as a music player. Android has a fairly capable stock audio player. However, that player has a number of deficiencies. For example the lack of gapless playback is a showstopper for anyone who likes to listen to classical music.


        • No Need To Wait, The Motorola Droid RAZR Teaser Photo Was Hidden In Plain Sight
          Earlier today, the Droid RAZR teaser site went live, revealing bits and pieces of the upcoming device as specific bloggers input the codes sent to them directly from Motorola. There's only one problem with that: we're still waiting for most of the bloggers to enter said codes. Luckily, one of our readers starting digging through the teaser page's source code and uncovered the full image.


        • Ice Cream Sandwich Official Video


        • Texas Instruments: “It’s Not the Number of Cores, It’s Sophistication”
          Texas Instruments is pretty darn proud to be powering the new Galaxy Nexus handset. While Samsung might have told us we were getting a dual-core 1.2GHz processor in the new hot phone, they didn't elaborate on which particular brand or model. That's probably why TI is sending out emails tonight, sharing the good news.


        • Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich SDK now Available for Download
          Are you a ROM developer? Tinkerer? Just a solid geek with a passion for Android? After tonight's awesome Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and Samsung Galaxy Nexus announcements, the SDK is now available for download,


        • How Linuxy Is Android?
          The world of Android is growing increasingly complicated. Soon Amazon will begin shipping its Fire, which includes a highly modified version of an old Android release. How free is the heart of Android? How much does its share with its free-spirited cousin Linux? Is it heading into a future where proprietary versions exist?
        • Motorola's New Razr: Cutting-Edge or Just Another Droid?
          Motorola is taking yet another shot at reviving the Razr brand's glory with the Droid Razr, a new Android smartphone headed to the Verizon network. However, will its thinness be enough to differentiate it from other top-model Android phones out there? "They've all got dual-core processors, WiFi hotspot functionality and a wide display," said ABI's Michael Morgan.






    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Speedy Jetstream tablet carries some unwanted baggage, says review
        The HTC Jetstream lives up to its name with a fast, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 4G LTE/HSPA service, a responsive, eight-megapixel camera, and a Scribe pen accessory. Yet with its $700 price, thick 0.51-inch profile, 25-ounce weight, and relative lack of ports, this tablet's a tough purchase to justify compared to several other 10.1-inch Honeycomb devices, says this eWEEK review.


      • We saw Ice Cream Sandwich on a Phone, but What About a Tablet?
        You watched the announcement, read all the blogs, and drooled over the multitude of Android 4.0 sexiness. Screenshot after screenshot, we saw what the next generation of Android phones would look like --- but what about tablets? We all known Ice Cream Sandwich is the new one-size-fits-all Android and is meant for both phones and tablets, so where's the screenshots of ICS running on a tablet? Google and Samsung were understandably focused on the new Galaxy Nexus, but since Google was so kind to release the Android 4.0 SDK, others took it upon themselves to show us what we can expect ICS to look like running on a tablet.








Free Software/Open Source



  • Events

    • ABLEconf 2012 Call for Participation


    • SCALE 10X to host SCALE Kids Conference
      For the first time ever, the Southern California Linux Expo will host the SCALE Kids Conference, a free and open source event where the community leaders of tomorrow will be able to spotlight their talents and ideas.

      The goal of the conference is to be as "kid driven" as possible. The event offers a unique opportunity for kids 10 to 16 to see and experience the inner workings of planning, determine the content, and help to steer the direction that the conference will take.




  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla

      • Walking with Dinosaurs – Mozilla’s Pascal Finette on WebFWD
        Rory MacDonald sits down with Mozilla’s Pascal Finette, former head of Mozilla Labs and now the man behind Mozilla’s new WebFWD initiative, an accelerator programme for exciting open source projects…

        “My path to Mozilla is probably a little bit leftfield,” says Pascal Finette, the man behind Mozilla’s new WebFWD programme. “When you look at my CV, my background is that I studied economics and psychology, then I founded a start-up straight out of college, I worked for eBay, I did mergers and acquisitions for a US software company, I did consulting for start-ups and then, the last thing I did before I joined Mozilla, I actually co-founded and ran a venture capital fund: an early stage seed-fund in Germany and UK.”


      • Firefox for Android Looks Promising






  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice Will Be Ported to iOS and Android


    • The Future of OpenOffice.org: How Not to Write a Press Release


    • LibreOffice's Mobile and Cloud Horizons Appear Strong
      Ever since LibreOffice, the productivity suite forked from OpenOffice, started to take shape, questions have arisen about how its trajectory might differ from OpenOffice's. This week, the LibreOffice Conference is going on, and The Document Foundation is generating some buzz through the announcement that versions of the suite will arrive for iOS and Android devices, giving LibreOffice a strong mobile footprint. Susan covered the news here. It's also very good news that the suite will arrive in a cloud-based version that could compete closely with Google Apps and other cloud-centric productivity tools.


    • Incubation, podling, IP Clearance, oh my!
      The Apache OpenOffice.org project is currently in the incubation phase. We're a 'podling'. It's where all new Apache projects begin, regardless of how mature your source code base is. In this post I'll attempt to explain a bit about incubation, and a bit about the 'Apache Way', and our current effort to meet the requirements for 3rd party code review and clearance. In future posts, I'll attempt to tackle other aspects of the project. If we all have a better understanding of how the work is becoming organized, those of you interested to volunteer will have a better idea of where to start, and those who are interested to follow our progress will have an easier way to check up on things.


    • Apache Disavows Team OpenOffice.org e.V.
      Thursday's story about the future of OpenOffice.org garnered an interesting response from the Apache Software Foundation that, coupled with a broader statement on the ASF blog, disavows any notion of trouble within the OpenOffice.org project.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • FSF takes Win 8 Secure Boot fight to OEMs
      PC makers are being lobbied to install Windows 8 on machines in a way that will afford users the freedom to boot Linux or any other operating system.

      The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is urging PC users to sign a statement demanding that OEMs which implement Windows 8's UEFI Secure Boot do so in a way that allows individuals to disable it, or that the PC makers provide a "sure-fire way" to install and run an operating system of the user's choice.


    • Free Software Foundation: Windows 8 secure boot requirement could lock out Linux
      The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has launched a campaign claiming that Windows 8-certified PCs might prevent users from booting into Linux. The mandatory "secure boot" facility in the systems' Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) might better be called "restricted boot," the organization claims.


    • Stallman on Steve Jobs: Tasteless or Incisive?




  • Openness/Sharing



  • Programming

    • Google Dumps Code Search - Should We Be Worried?
      Google does a lot of good for developers. At one time or another, I'd bet that many developers have played with a Google API at some point.

      Developers have also come to rely on Google's Code Search over the years. It's a service that I first wrote about when it launched five years ago. At the time, then Google product manager Tom Stocky was enthusiastic about the effort as a way to easily search for publicly accessible source code.


    • Deploying web applications from Orion to Heroku






Leftovers



  • Cablegate

    • This Week in the Press: 6 October – 12 October, 2011
      Corporate conduct

      The Deadly Microsoft Embrace: The government of India’s Tamil Nadu region is planning to purchase some 9 million computers, which will run Windows instead of free software. Cables shed light on how Microsoft has reached similar deals in other countries. In Vietnam, the U.S. government intervened to secure a large-scale contract for Microsoft. In Tunisia, Microsoft won a significant state contract only after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had agreed to donate to a charity run by then president Ben Ali’s wife.

      US diplomat said ex-BP boss’s Turkish partner unethical: Cables say Turkish businessman Mehmet Karamehmet is known to have employed tactics including death threats to force favorable deals. Mr Karamehmet is the largest shareholder of Genel Energy, which was recently acquired by Vallares Plc.

      Richard Branson was ready to fund plan to persuade Mugabe to quit: Cables state that British businessman Richard Branson was to provide the funds for a large group of well-known African politicians, formed with the aim of persuading Mugabe to leave office. Zimbabwean politician Jonathan Moyo, who is alleged to have invited Branson to join the group, denies the allegations, saying that his own involvement was due to Branson, rather than the other way around.






  • Finance

    • A Letter from Goldman Sachs Concerning Occupy Wall Street
      Please contact your Goldman representative for a full prospectus. As the world descends into a Darwinian free-for-all, the Goldman Sachs Rage Fund is a great way to tell the protesters, "Occupy this." We haven't felt so good about something we've sold since our souls.


    • Canada Trade Deal With European Union: CETA May Benefit EU Over Canada, Officials Say
      As Canadian and European Union negotiators sit down Monday for the ninth round of talks on a sweeping and controversial trade agreement with the EU, The Huffington Post has learned European officials expect Canada will get the short end of the stick.


    • The Work of the 1 Percent and the 0.1 Percent
      The Occupy Wall Street movement chants “We are the 99 percent, you are the 1 percent.” It’s a catchy refrain, and there are many excellent reasons to put the focus on Wall Street in the struggle for economic and political justice in the US. But even singling out one percent of the US means we are still talking about over 3 million people–are they Wall Street types? Where do they actually work?




  • Privacy

    • Supreme Court to hear Facebook bullying case
      A Nova Scotia girl's fight to have disparaging Facebook postings about her kept secret is going to the Supreme Court of Canada.

      The case could ultimately weigh the privacy of someone who has been tormented against the public's right to transparency in the legal system.




  • Copyrights

    • U.S. Copyright Czar Cozied Up to Content Industry, E-Mails Show
      op-ranking Obama administration officials, including the U.S. copyright czar, played an active role in secret negotiations between Hollywood, the recording industry and ISPs to disrupt internet access for users suspected of violating copyright law, according to internal White House e-mails.

      The e-mails, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, (.pdf) show the administration’s cozy relationship with Hollywood and the music industry’s lobbying arms and its early support for the copyright-violation crackdown system publicly announced in July.






Recent Techrights' Posts

With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
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Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
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IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
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Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
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a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
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Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
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Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
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Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
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Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
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shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
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a considerable share exists
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Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC