01.06.12

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source

GNU/Linux

• The Linux sex life – An illustrated story

• Desktop

  • ThinkPad X1 Hybrid packs both x86 and ARM processors

    Lenovo has announced a 13.3-inch notebook computer that has both Intel and ARM processors. The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid combines an Core i3, i5, or i7 CPU with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon, allowing users to toggle between Windows 7 and a Linux-based “Instant Media Mode” operating system whenever they want.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • FLOSS Weekly 196

• Kernel Space

  • Razer BlackWidow, Other Products On Linux?

    The Razer BlackWidow is an incredibly well constructed mechanical keyboard, but how well does it work under Linux? Has the Razer product support at Linux improved at all recently?

    A few weeks ago I picked up the Razer BlackWidow keyboard for my main machine in the office. I didn’t pick-up this keyboard for any gaming, but rather having been a big fan of their mice, keyboards, and other peripherals over the years. Razer is obviously a gaming-focused company, but their many products I’ve either bought or received as samples have been wonderful. The build quality is great along with an impressive feature-set and being very reliable.

  • Did Your System Take A Dive With Linux 3.2?

    If you upgraded today to the just-released Linux 3.2 kernel and your Intel system is now having problems booting this new kernel release, you’re not alone, but here’s a possible workaround.

    A regression struck the Linux 3.2 kernel concerning IOMMU and is still present in the final release of Linux 3.2. The issue didn’t appear during the 3.2 merge window but later on in the cycle (if my memory serves me when I first struck the issue, it was around -rc2 or -rc3) and results in the kernel not successfully booting.

• Applications

  • Liferea Feed Reader Reviewed – Minimalistic and helps you share your feeds

    Liferea is GTK feed reader for online news feeds. Liferea is specially designed for GNU/Linux systems making it fast ,easy to use and easy to install for GTK/Gnome. This news aggregator released in 2003 has been making waves ever since its release. Learn how to install Liferea in a few simple steps.

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • Linux Format 154 On Sale Today – Learn to Hack!

    • How to install Cinnamon in Ubuntu 11.10

    • Make calculations on Ubuntu with the Calculator Scope

    • Set up Your Own Diaspora Pod

• Desktop Environments

  • Success of GNU/Linux on the Desktop

    GNU/Linux has been a success on the desktop with every distro I have tested since 2000: Caldera eDesktop, Mandrake, Slackware, K12LTSP, Fedora, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux and a few others I forget (failure of my memory, not the distros). Government, education, business, individuals, OEMs all use it successfully. Consider what some might call a failure on the desktop, Dell and Ubuntu. Just because Dell.com looks like a GNU/Linux desert means nothing. That’s in the home country of M$, the Great Satan of operating systems. Dell is selling GNU/Linux like hotcakes in China. It’s a wild success. They have 220 bricks-and-mortar stores pushing the product.

  • GNOME Desktop

    • 3.3.3 Of GNOME Shell, Mutter Try To Fix Things Up

      Version 3.3.3 packages of GNOME Shell and Mutter were independently released today. These latest development snapshots in the road to GNOME 3.4 mainly try to address outstanding issues.

      There’s already been numerous advancements in the road to GNOME 3.4, but for the 3.3.3 release of the GNOME Shell and for the Mutter compositing window manager there isn’t too much to get excited about.

• Distributions

  • Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, Ubuntu: Which Linux desktop is for you?

    There are more interesting Linux desktop distributions to choose from than ever before. However, if you’re looking for major distros with a great deal of support, you’ll want to look at the big four: Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.

    Each has its own outlook and methods. Thanks to Linux’s customizability, you could take any of them and completely revamp it, if you wish. But unless your idea of a good time is operating system hacking, chances are you’ll want a distribution that already meets your needs.

  • New Releases

    • Alpine Linux 2.3.3 Has Linux Kernel 3.0.14

      Jeff Bilyk announced last evening, January 4th, the immediate availability for download of the third point release of the Alpine Linux 2.3 operating system.

  • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

    • Mandriva in danger of closing its doors

      Mandriva S.A. hasn’t had an easy time of it, even after emerging from bankruptcy in 2006. Formerly MandrakeSoft, the company merged with Brazilian Linux vendor and former UnitedLinux partner Connectiva in 2005.

  • Red Hat Family

    • Red Hat Introduces Storage Solutions Software for Enterprises

      Red Hat, Inc., the pioneer in Open Source solutions has unveiled its new integrated product for storage solutions, the “Red Hat Storage Software Appliance” for Enterprises. The software can be deployed on a list of compatible hardware through an ISO image file. It offers support for mission critical and latency-sensitive data. It is even POSIX complaint, hence easing the deployment. The software makes use of GlusterFS 3.2, which provides scale-out storage solutions, without having to use the monolithic platforms, which are costly. The software comes as a balm on the fear that Open Source software isn?t capable of providing storage solutions for huge chunks of data.

  • Debian Family

    • Derivatives

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Is ‘Ubuntu Concept Design’ a Unity Phone?

          The rumour mill is cranking into overdrive as to what form Canonical’s ‘Ubuntu Concept Design’ CES reveal will take.

        • Top 10 Ubuntu Software Centre app downloads for December 2011

        • Canonical to Reveal Mystery Ubuntu-based Device at CES

• Devices/Embedded

  • $40 mp3 player with wifi, speaker, linux support (palm pixi plus)

    For almost 4 years I have used a mp3 player from Creative Labs named “ZEN Stone Plus with built-in speaker”. It was used it to play music for our toddler all night long, nearly every night.

  • Phones

    • Android

      • LG’s New Google TV to Be Announced at CES 2012

      • Acer Iconia Tab A200 arriving January 15 for $330, Ice Cream Sandwich coming mid-February

      • First look at the white Sprint Epic 4G Touch in the wild

        It’s a little grainy, and it’s wrapped in plastic, but here’s your first look at the white version of the Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint Epic 4G Touch. Remember that it’s the same as the original version we reviewed months ago, and it’ll be available for $199 on Sunday.

      • Samsung expects bumper profits on smartphone sales gain

        Samsung Electronics has said it expects to report a big jump in profits for the final three months of last year, thanks largely to record smartphone sales.

      • Android dev modules target boot time, DLNA, and medical apps

        Wind River announced three modular versions of its Android development platform. Wind River Solution Accelerators for Android are available in User Experience, Connectivity and Medical modules, offering features such as multi-windowing support, DLNA media sharing, multimedia and sync interfaces, firmware management, IEEE 11073-compliant medical data exchange, and 30 percent faster boot-times, claims the company.

Free Software/Open Source

• Geospatial services with FLOSS: Interview with Oslandia

  In this interview Olivier Courtin and Vincent Picavet, founders of geospatial service provider Oslandia, share with us their business story, some advice and how free and open source geospatial software plays a major role in their company. Enjoy the interview!

• Why open source needs Simon Cowell

  With apologies for the sensationalist headline, Simon Brew wonders how to get a realistic debate going in the modern world…

• Web Browsers

  • Mozilla

    • Can Mozilla Unify Open Source?

      This week saw a quiet landmark in the history of the open source movement with the formal release of version two of the Mozilla Public License (MPLv2) and its approval as an official open source license. While to many it may look like just another legal detail, it is significant both for the way it was conducted and for the intent with which it has been created. This is a license aimed at unity.

      Drafting and reviewing the license has been a very open process, for which Luis Villa deserves much credit. Conducted mostly on open forums, the discussion has led to many revisions of the text. Luis also approach the Open Source Initiative early, accepting input from the License Review group and obtaining the Board’s approval easily.

• CMS

  • Drupal 2011 retrospective and 2012 predictions

    2011 was a tremendous year of major growth for Drupal, and also a year that kept me very, very busy.

• Project Releases

  • LibreCAD 1.0.0 Released (Cross-Platform 2D CAD Drawing Software)

• Public Services/Government

  • NASA Discovers Open Source Planet

    NASA, like many mega organisations uses Free Software or Open Source due to the uncountable advantes it has over the proprietary technologies. NASA has been a user of open source forever, but we did not see much code coming out. Which is totally fine. You don’t have to relase the code of the work that you use. But, if you do it will benefit everyone.

    In addition, if the code is of no use to the rest of the world, there is no point in releasing it either. However, a lot of what NASA does enhances the quality of life and software is no exception.