Links 21/3/2012: Torvalds Secrets, Radeon HD 7000 Driver Now Free/Libre
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-03-22 00:15:30 UTC
- Modified: 2012-03-22 00:15:30 UTC
Contents
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Kernel Space
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To get the most out of your systems, you want detailed insight into what the operating system kernel is doing. A typical approach is to sample stack traces; however, the data collected can be time consuming to read or navigate. Flame Graphs are a new way to visualize sampled stack traces, and can be applied to the Linux kernel for some useful (and stunning!) visualizations.
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Graphics Stack
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Applications
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The TEA Text Editor is a very handy writing tool that delivers a much different user interface. For most computer users cranking out words or program code for digital consumption, text editors are often preferable to feature-bloated word processors. TEA pours on features yet keeps from getting too steamy.
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Instructionals/Technical
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Games
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You may have heard a few days ago that Dear Esther, a game built upon Valve's Source Engine, would be ported to Linux and released in the coming months. Well, here's more details about that Source-based game is getting to Linux.
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Desktop Environments
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GNOME Desktop
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Users who choose between GNOME 2 and GNOME 3 are rarely making that decision on a purely rational basis. In my experience, users of GNOME 2 are often choosing what they know, while users of GNOME 3 are technophiles who enjoy anything that is new.
Neither is likely to go over the two generations of GNOME feature by feature. In many cases, the choice seems made before login.
But what happens when the two desktop environments are compared in general features? I'm a fan of neither GNOME 2 nor GNOME 3, but I decided to find out.
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New Releases
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Today sees the release of Legacy OS 4 Mini an Update / Replacement for TEENpup 2010 Mini Beta. Those updating from TEENpup 2010 Mini Beta will need to save any important documents, music etc to an external Hard Drive, USB stick etc as a full reinstall is required to update to this new version, sorry!
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Debian Family
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Spending a couple of days intensely running Linux Mint 12 on a very nice desktop PC sent to me for review by ZaReason (much more about that later), I probably shouldn't have been surprised by the annoying bugs in Mint that made me a lot less productive than I am in the Debian Squeeze system I've been running on my laptop since late 2010.
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In this interview, Luke Kanies, CEO and founder of Puppet Labs, explains why the Puppet configuration management tool is a huge hit with sys admins, and tells us what to expect next from the popular open source project.
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We got another reminder of how disruptive open source software is to mobile computing this week, when Linux and Android merged back together. This appears to be good news for a number of parties, but Android and Linux developers and users seem particularly likely to benefit. The inclusion of Android code in the Linux kernel and the ability for Linux developers to more easily work on the Android environment and applications also ties into some of the key topics we’ll be covering in a Webcast March 21 titled ‘Open Source, A Tale of Two Cities in the Mobile Enterprise,’ presented by 451 Research and Black Duck Software.
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Web Browsers
Chrome
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Ever since Google started working on its Chrome OS operating system, it has had a pronounced focus on allowing users to only work with cloud-based data and applications. This has drawn criticism from many users, and some from us here at OStatic, as seen in this post. With Chrome OS, Google placed a heavy bet on the idea that consumers and business users would have no problem storing data and using applications in the cloud, without working on the locally stored data/applications model that they're used to.
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CMS
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Licensing
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Are developers actually chasing down license violations?
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Openness/Sharing
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There are some pretty basic things that a researcher can do to make their work into an open content project. Here are a few.
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Programming
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Finance
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Censorship
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The Obama administration has condemned Iran for trying to take control of the Internet. In addition, The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued guidance and licensing information to further support the free flow of information to citizens of Iran – a freedom the Iranian regime has consistently denied to its people.
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Internet/Net Neutrality
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They're selling us out. Just weeks after Internet users from across the globe came together to to beat SOPA, the major ISPs are cutting a deal with Big Content to restrict web access for users who are accused of piracy.
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Intellectual Monopolies
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Copyrights
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ACTA
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Concerned of the ACTA dossier many citizens contacted the press staffers of his colleague Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Commissioner Michel Barnier is right when he emphasized the need for better communications. Karel De Gucht had the opportunity to embrace the public attention to ACTA, and strengthen the institutional cohesion with the European public, help the transformation of the EU towards an “Europe of the citizens”. He didn’t exercise this opportunity, and it appears to me the reason is a fundamental disrespect to democratic principles, he doesn’t take the public seriously.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 2 Out of 200: Detailed Timeline From 2012 (Attack on Reporters That Question Restricted Boot) to 2024 (Lawsuit Against Reporter and His Wife in Another Continent)
- we reproduce a document produced 2 years ago to give people more context and more facts
- GNU/Linux in Laptops/Desktops Still Matters, It's Likely the Only Way to Achieve Software Freedom
- Software Freedom requires all sorts of things at the "OS level"
- Madame Streisand Wanted to Censor The Web, Instead She 'Created' a New Term, "Streisand Effect"
- It is basically an own goal
- Defending Women Isn't a Crime, Everybody Can Agree on That
- Their culture is unlike ours
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VI - Influx of Spaniards and Portuguese Workers (+77%) at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Led by the 'Alicante Mafia'
- There is now data supporting this assertion, new and complete data in fact
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- Why Slop Will Flop - Part III - Our Relationship With Slop (and Yours)
- I never - except inadvertently - "used" an LLM-based chatbot
- Why Slop Will Flop - Part II - Devil in the Details
- News sites or social control media sites which tolerate slop are digging their own grave
- Simpler Means Faster
- Do you know your bottlenecks?
- Gemini Links 04/03/2026: About a Missing Symbol and "Good Manners"
- Links for the day
- The Register MS Takes Money From Chinese Surveillance Threat to Promote a Ponzi Scheme
- "Sponsored by Huawei."
- Nicaragua's GNU/Linux Usage Measured at Over 8% by statCounter
- Nicaragua is a poor country, but it also has rich culture
- Why Slop Will Flop - Part I - Slop Fatigue Prevalent
- See, sooner or later people (audiences of colleagues) find out and as soon as they find out you are slopping, they will lose interest
- Links 04/03/2026: "The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling" and a call to "Nationalize Amazon"
- Links for the day
- Coming Soon: Evidence of Abuse in Our IRC Network
- IRC's freedom can sometimes be its 'weakness' if not properly guarded
- High GNU/Linux Adoption in Brunei Darussalam
- It's worth noting (or at least noticing) that Microsoft loses ground in some of the countries where the government contracts paid the most
- Media Blackout Reducing or Preventing Press Coverage of Microsoft Layoffs in 2026
- Worse yet, there will be gaslighting and deceit
- Gemini Links 04/03/2026: The Garnet Star, The Hunt, The SYN Attacks
- Links for the day
- The EPO's General Consultative Committee (GCC) Discussion Illuminates How Much Worse Things Have Gotten ("on Strike and Participated in the 'Meeting'")
- a videoconference - not a physical meeting - discussed EPO policies
- Free Software Foundation Supports Its Founder, Advertises His Talks in Switzerland
- When you suppress voices, assuming the reasons for suppression are bunk, it is always bound to backfire very badly
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, March 03, 2026
- Over 1,500 EPO Workers Went on Strike Last Week
- a new publication which celebrates some accomplishments of industrial actions and calls for further actions
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Failed to Detect Fraud in Law Firms... Until It Was Too Late
- Earlier today we contacted some more politicians about this and received mail from them as well
- Our EPO and IBM Coverage Bears Fruit
- In case insiders want to get in touch with us, please ensure or at least try doing so securely
- Links 03/03/2026: "Scam Altman in Damage Control" and Oil Traffic Disrupted
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 03/03/2026: Phones, LLMs, and Changes on the Web
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman Confirms Talk in Bern Next Week
- Dr. Stallman has just formally confirmed his third talk this month in Switzerland
- Nobody is Safe at IBM (or Red Hat)
- There is no job security at IBM
- GNU/Linux at All-Time High in Guam
- there are many computers in that island
- Bad faith: Hugo Roy knew FSFE impersonating FSF before French tribunal, colleagues deceived
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 1 Out of 200: Claim No. KB-2024-001270 in a Nutshell
- abuse of process by a law firm working for an American who was arrested for strangling women and another American whose own spouse calls a "rapist"
- When EPO Team Managers (TMs) Are Harassing People Who Strictly Apply the European Patent Convention (EPC) in Patent Examination
- There are two strikes planned for this month
- Confirmed: Using Slop Gets You Fired
- Let the story of Benj Edwards be a cautionary tale
- Links 03/03/2026: "No one wants to read your AI slop" and "chatbots in the kill chain"
- Links for the day
- EPO and "Equivalent to More Than 100 Days of Strike"
- The industrial actions continue and already have a positive effect
- Streisand Effect, the Microsoft Way
- Microsoft has once again proven the Streisand Effect
- Keeping Track of IBM Layoffs in March 2026
- IBM depends on bribery
- GNU/Linux Measured at 7% in Yemen
- Windows is too hostile and dangerous
- Links 03/03/2026: Security Breaches, Iceland Wants EU Membership, and "Wall Street–Backed Lawmakers Want to Help Banks Gouge You"
- Links for the day
- Queensland Health Payroll System: IBM billion-dollar-blowout inquiry
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, March 02, 2026
- Gemini Links 03/03/2026: GrapheneOS and Keyboard Shortcuts
- Links for the day
- Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive dayProductive Week Ahead
- Tomorrow should be sunny (at long last!) and a generally productive day
- Only One Slopfarm Seems to Have Targeted "Linux" Today
- It certainly does feel like the slop hype is reaching the "late life crisis" and companies that benefited from this bubble are overdue for a day of reckoning
- Microsoft Mass Layoffs: Being Sacked at 1AM in the Morning
- Watch what happens to Microsoft employees who get pregnant
- Links 02/03/2026: More Social Control Media Bans, Climate Change Woes, and "Journalist With Germany's Deutsche Welle Arrested in Turkey"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Small Phones, "I 3D Printed My Brain", and "Managing 5 Servers at Once with tmux"
- Links for the day
- IBM is Trying to Hide Mass Layoffs, Not Only With NDAs and 'Scripted' LinkedIn Posts
- From what we can gather (screenshot above), today many people leave IBM and Red Hat
- Richard Stallman is Giving a Public Talk This Week (Friday in Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology)
- His birthday is just around the corner.
- Windows Falls to New Low in World's Largest Population (India)
- Windows is now down to 7%
- Never Miss a Good Opportunity to Shut Up and Drink Coffee
- Threats come at a cost; each time you issue a threat you stigmatise yourself as a bully
- Last Month Matthew Garrett Said Ridiculous Things After His Spouse Had Called Him a "Rapist", Now He's Trying to Take the Site Offline and Put My Family in Prison
- The real issue of concern to him (and his alleged reputation) is the spouse and the matter is to be dealt with in America, not the UK
- Machine-Generated Legal Documents, Over 2,000 Pages Sent to Us Today Alone
- We now know that the papers we receive are produced using bots (algorithms)
- Reporting to Our Politicians/MPs the Failure of the SRA to Stop Hired Guns Who Help Americans (Men Who Attack Women and Nowadays Also Attack British Reporters)
- About a month ago my wife wrote to politicians to get the ball rolling
- The Topic Many People Don't Want to Talk or Write About
- "DEI" is inherently about making racial and gender patterns better reflect society's
- XBox is Virtually Dead Already, What Next Will Die at Microsoft?
- Now that there are mass layoffs at Microsoft datacentres it is not premature to speculate about what dies after XBox
- For the First Time, statCounter Measures Internet Explorer at 0.01% "Market Share"
- What Microsoft replaced it with is just a Chrome clone with extra spyware
- Was a Lot of "Windows" and "Unknown" in Iran Just GNU/Linux in Disguise?
- more than 1 in 10 desktop/laptop requests is estimated to be GNU/Linux
- "Here in the UK, GNU/Linux rose to all-time high at Windows' expense"
- Will this entail Software Freedom as well? This depends on all of us
- Links 02/03/2026: Claude Code Causes a Mexican Government Cyberattack, "London Repair Week" Noted
- Links for the day
- 2026 Microsoft Mass Layoffs in So-called 'AI' Datacentres, Why Doesn't the Mainstream Media Cover The News?
- What does this tell us about the state of the media?
- Don't Fall for "Top X Law Firms" in "Discipline Y", They Pay $Z to Get False Endorsement/s
- It's a scheme, a scam, an elaborate fraud
- More Publishers Have Turned From Slop Boosters Into Slop Sceptics and Critics
- There's a "hidden cost" when one participates (for profit) in "pump and dump" schemes
- TeX Live Has New Release, But Planet Debian Won't Tell You That
- It 'unpersoned' the developer
- LLM Slop Does Not Know People (It Knows Nothing) and Cannot Distinguish Between People. It's a Recipe for Disaster.
- no way of knowing who's who
- "Over 1,100 Law Firms Gone in Five Years" in the United Kingdom (UK) Alone
- There are basically way too many lawyers (looking for "business", e.g. threats and lawfare) and not enough positions to fill
- Microsoft FUD From Microsoft Site Helps Distract From Actual Microsoft Back Doors
- Published on a Sunday
- Free Software Foundation Needs to Become More Active in Europe to Avoid Impersonation by Microsoft-Sponsored Groups
- So far we've hardly seen the FSF saying anything at all about the US president
- Links 02/03/2026: "Not Envious of Billionaires" and Palantir SLAPPs "Swiss Magazine For Accurately Reporting That The Swiss Government Didn't Want Palantir"
- Links for the day
- There Has Never Been a Better Time to Quit Social Control Media
- Those networks are selling something. And that something is not peace because peace does not sell "attention".
- Microsoft Users Drowning in Slop, If They Complain Microsoft Censors Them
- Like an authoritarian regime
- IBM is Killing Red Hat's Portfolio - Including Linux - to Prop Up Ponzi Scheme ("AI")
- IBM is killing Red Hat
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, March 01, 2026
- Speed of Sites Matters
- Being easily accessible all the time matters to us
- Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Weird Phone Calls, Small Phones, and Exploring Racket
- Links for the day
- Dr. Andy Farnell on "Good Tech"
- in the age of "rent everything" and "own nothing"
