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
- If You Value Privacy, Follow the Likes of Eben Moglen, Phil Zimmermann, and Richard Stallman, Not Back Doors' Boosters Who Mislabel Themselves as Security Experts
- Signal is not really secure
- Writer's Block is Not a Problem to Us, Only a Lack of Time
- Or timewasting by aggressive militants who try to silence us [...] People who experience writer's block very often find it depressing (it feels unproductive) and sometimes come to the conclusion that perhaps writing isn't for them
- March Plans for Techrights
- next month we plan to start the series about how the SRA failed
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- [Video] "New RMS [Richard Stallman] Positive Media" Reaches Millions of Viewers This Week
- Assuming 5+ million people will watch this on the first week, that's good publicity for the Free software movement
- Another Quiet Slop Day Passes By
- the number of slopfarms we can locate/track is fast decreasing
- Gemini Links 26/02/2026: Sending a Thesis and Lupa/Onion ("Lupa now lists Gemini .onion addresses")
- Links for the day
- Links 26/02/2026: Bcachefs Man Bonkers, "Seven Journalists Convicted for Taking Photos at Courtroom"
- Links for the day
- Links 26/02/2026: "Peak Mental Sharpness" and "The Whole Economy Pays the Amazon Tax"
- Links for the day
- "Community" Site Deleted by Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Had Interview Where Eben Moglen Spoke of GPLv3 and of DRM, Back Doors Etc.
- Deleting what happened or what was said two decades ago
- Richard Stallman (Free Software Foundation) and Eben Moglen (Columbia Law School) Explained 25 Years Ago That Proprietary Software (and Proprietary Firmware) Would Lead to Back Doors
- a fortnight after the 9/11 terror attacks in the US
- Giving to the Community Versus Taking From the Community (or Worse, Attacking the Community)
- some people bring no contributions, only harm
- LLM Slop Will Try to 'Rewrite' History of UNIX and GNU/Linux
- We occasionally see slopfarms spreading misinformation about UNIX, GNU, and Linux
- Where Does the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Stand on Machine-Generated Legal Documents and Copy-pasting One Client's Lawsuit to Start Another (for American Serial Strangler)?
- Now that many law firms cheat (copypasta, paper DOoS, LLM slop, breaches of rules, even defaming the other side) the SRA cannot keep up
- Of Course Android is Not Free Software
- That Android is not about freedom should not be so shocking
- Talking About Blackboxes
- Having just reposted a couple of articles from Alex Oliva
- Microsoft Slop is Already Killing XBox
- Microsoft will fail at alleviating such concerns
- Two Weeks Have Passed and It Looks Like Conde Nast's Ars Sloppica Sacked "Senior" "AI" "Reporter" Benj Edwards But Did Not Remove All His LLM-Produced 'Articles'
- the editorial standards at Conde Nast's Ars Sloppica are a joke
- Alex Oliva (GNU Linux-Libre): Stricter is Less Popular
- Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
- Fraud and Crimes at Microsoft
- A lot of these American companies simply cheat and even bribe
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 25, 2026
- FSF's Alex Oliva on Hardware Black Boxes
- Reprinted with permission from Alex Oliva
- What Microsoft Hides Underneath
- In recent years a lot of this shell game was played via "Open" "AI" [sic]
- A Lot of Slopfarms Died, Google News Feeds the Few Which Survived and Still Target "Linux"
- Many just simply died
- Links 25/02/2026: Fifth Year of War in Ukraine, Dihydroxyacetone Man Looking to Start More Wars
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Retired a Year, Illness, Losing a Lung, and "Back to Gemini"
- Links for the day
- The Register MS Published a Ponzi Scheme-Boosting Fake Article This Morning. It Mentions "AI" 30 Times.
- Will credibility be left after the bubble pops entirely?
- They Try to Ruin Linux, Too ("Attestation" in GNU/Linux)
- In the context of Web browsers, this isn't unprecedented and we wrote a lot about it
- Mozzarella Company: All Our Cheese Comes With Mold Now, But You Can Ask the Seller to Remove the Mold
- If you reject and oppose slop, do not download/use Firefox
- Stallman Was Right About Back Doors
- I had some conversations with Dr. Stallman about security and back doors
- Australian Signals Directorate ex-employee sold back doors to Russia
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- IBM Debt-Loading and Liability (Toxic Asset) Offloading
- One can hope that IBM will be subjected to the same attention Kyndryl received, but this boils down to politics
- Links 25/02/2026: 'Hybrid Warfare' and "Boycott the State of the Union"
- Links for the day
- IBM (and Red Hat) Can Disappear in the Coming Years, Along With Kyndryl (Debt Twice as Big as Its 'Worth')
- No wonder Red Hat workers tell us they hate IBM
- Software Freedom is Science, But It Also Sustains Life
- In some sense, Software Freedom can be explained in the context of nourishing people
- “Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren’t the core AI business, is being sunsetted."
- There has been a lot of narrative control lately, including at 9PM on a Friday
- 3,300 Capsules Known to Lupa and Currently Accessible
- Gemini Protocol turns 7 this summer
- When it Comes to Firmware, the FSF and Its Founder RMS Won the Argument (But Not the Fight, Yet)
- The "whataboutism" tactics are physiological manipulation means of discouraging those who move in the correct direction
- Austria Tackles Digital Weapon Disguised as "Social" and/or "Media"
- Are we seeing the end days of Social Control Media?
- Nothing Over the Horizon for XBox
- XBox is not even being sold in many places anymore
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Contradicting Itself: You Can Use Slop to Cheat Clients, But You Can Also Face Disciplinary Actions Over Slop
- Where does the SRA stand on the matter?
- In Praise of Eben Moglen
- Hopefully Professor Moglen will be with us for many decades to come and become an active speaker on issues such as Software Freedom
- Sunsetting IBM (for the Benefit of Few Corrupt Officials and Wall Street Speculators)
- IBM will not (and cannot) survive for much longer [...] The issue is bad leadership, not any particular nationality/race
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 24, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 24, 2026
- Gemini Links 25/02/2026: Rise of Solar in 2025 and Smallnet Protocols
- Links for the day
- HR Blunder at IBM or IBM Struggling With Money?
- Weird for such an allegedly rich company to be so stingy
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: x86 Computer In-Browser and Administration
- Links for the day
- Envy is the #1 Enemy of Richard Stallman
- Whenever you see someone mocking Richard Stallman, ask yourself: does this person have a reason to be jealous of Richard Stallman?
- Life is Sweeter When Less Means More
- People need to think "small", not "big" (as in capital)
- Championing a Cause
- Probably over 100 million GNU/Linux users on laptops/desktops
- Balmoral rape cult & Debian suicide cluster indifference, community
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Father of XBox Says What Microsoft Does Not Want to Hear About XBox (They All Know It's Dead)
- Microsoft just worried shareholders will find out Sharma is "just a face" and an undertaker
- Can Much Longer Can the Financial 'Press' (Pump-n-Dump Megaphone) Cheer for IBM's Accounting Enigma?
- IBM has fallen almost 25%
- France Needs to Focus on Software Freedom, Not Flags
- We need more SIP advocacy!
- Combatting Censorship in the "Civilised World": The Media Blackout Surrounding EPO Strikes and Other Large-Scale Actions
- We - collectively speaking - cannot afford to keep the Office in the hands of a "Mafia"
- Religious or Not, Consider Quitting Social Control Networks (All of Them) This Season
- Lent is a good time to quit addiction such as social control media
- EPO Strike Actions and Other Industrial Actions Are Effective When Management Fears the Staff and Staff No Longer Fears Any Managers
- 'António the unready' should get ready to be ousted
- Liberating the Self From the Invisible Prison of Plutocrats-Controlled Media and Social Control Media
- Can you always see the full picture or does something (someone powerful) obstruct it?
- Links 24/02/2026: Drug Cartel Decapitated, Jeffrey Epstein-Connected 'Linux' Foundation Promotes Slop and Buzzwords at MWC Barcelona 2026
- Links for the day
- 2023: Layoffs Are Because of "AI". 2024: Shares Up Owing to "AI". 2025: Shares Recently Fell Due to "AI". 2026 Forbes (Paid by IBM): Shares Falling is Good!
- "AI" is smoke and mirrors
- Bitcoin: Code of Conduct stifled open source concerns
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Slop Boosters and 'Hype Agents' Render Themselves Irrelevant and the General Public Becomes Incredulous Due to "Bros Who Cry Wolf!"
- It won't age well
- "Half-baked Vibe Code Shipped Full of Errors"
- Seems timely after our latest article
- IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books
- language-to-language conversion (in the context of programming) is nothing new
- Links 24/02/2026: Copyright Litigation Over Anne Frank’s Diary, "Arrogance of Developers"
- Links for the day
- Another New Low for Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA): Authorising Slop Disguised as "Legal Advice"
- SRA is a lapdog - not a watchdog - of the "litigation industry"
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part IV - "Many Jobs Were Given to Spanish Employees for No Related Skills At All"
- The EPO's fate might be similar to that of the XBox
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Hardware Tinkering and Slop Bots Attacking the "Small Web"
- Links for the day
- Quitting Reddit (Social Control Media Controlled by Conde Nast)
- There is a new post in Reddit
- IBM is the World Champion at Layoffs and There Are Reportedly More Layoffs in IBM This Month (EU)
- IBM fired 60,000 in 1993
- Free Software is for Everyone
- Young and old, rich and poor etc.
- Gemini Links 24/02/2026: Voltage Divider on Slide Rule and Many Raspberry Pi Projects
- Links for the day
- Links 24/02/2026: Telephone Turns 150, Political News Catchup, and Rearmament
- Links for the day
- Asha Sharma "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides Xbox Gently Into the Night"
- 2026 will probably be the last year of XBox
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 23, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, February 23, 2026