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
-
Kernel Space
-
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.
-
Graphics Stack
-
Applications
-
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.
-
Instructionals/Technical
-
Games
-
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.
-
Desktop Environments
-
GNOME Desktop
-
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.
-
-
New Releases
-
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!
-
Debian Family
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
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.
-
Web Browsers
Chrome
-
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.
-
CMS
-
Licensing
-
Are developers actually chasing down license violations?
-
Openness/Sharing
-
There are some pretty basic things that a researcher can do to make their work into an open content project. Here are a few.
-
Programming
-
Finance
-
Censorship
-
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.
-
Internet/Net Neutrality
-
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.
-
Intellectual Monopolies
-
Copyrights
-
ACTA
-
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
- Linux is Not Controlled by Linus (Torvalds)
- Torvalds has become "90% marketing hype"
-
- Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Arch Linux Journey and Amin Bandali's Priorities
- Links for the day
- Bluewashing as a Form of Silent Layoffs
- IBM will continue to shed off loads of workers while its debt climbs
- Turning 20 in 2 Weeks and Upcoming Network Maintenance
- That ought not interrupt our anniversary
- Microsoft Shutdowns Accelerating, More Shutdowns Revealed (Not Connected to Gaming)
- Silent layoffs disguised as "voluntary" "exits"
- Links 24/10/2026: Microsoft Blackmail and Lingering Unrest in France:
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/10/2026: From Bendigo to Kerang, Enshittification of Radio and Music in the UK
- Links for the day
- Red Hat Sinks With the Blue (IBM) Ship
- As IBM's debt continues to soar so do the silent layoffs
- The "No Pain No Gain" Expectations in Publishing
- Sometimes truth hurts; but that does not mean it mustn't be told
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XIII - Censorship by All Means Available in a Continent So Far Away, as 'Secure' (Restricted, Restriction by Microsoft) Boot Has a Crisis of Legitimacy
- it's about America controlling sites and computers everywhere
- Links 24/10/2026: Oligarchs Already Buy US Elections, GAFAM Front Group "EFF" Speaks of "Vulnerability Apocalypse"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Automobile Differential Tire Movement, Samsung Washer Woe, and Slop Scraping
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 23, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, October 23, 2026
- As Usual, Late on a Friday XBox (Microsoft) Releases Evidence of Its Demise
- We covered several such Friday announcements earlier this year
- Gemini Links 24/10/2026: Break/Fix and OpenStreetMap
- Links for the day
- Links 23/10/2026: Slop "is Scaling Transnational Repression" and Infringement and DMCA Suits Against Suno/Anthropic (Plagiarism Blenders)
- Links for the day
- More Shutdowns at Microsoft, Hundreds of Workers Impacted Shortly
- It's not the entire wave, just part of it
- The Register MS: About 60 Mentions of "AI" in One Day Are Paid-for Spam (Sponsored Hype, Composed by the Companies Covered)
- The Register MS is a dying site
- Links 22/10/2026: MElon (Elon Musk) Election Interference and Perl/Raku Foundation by the Numbers
- Links for the day
- Techrights Audience Grew as a Function of the Intensity of Attacks on Its Existence
- We try to publish fewer stories but better (not necessarily long but at least important) stories
- TechRepublic is Becoming a Slopfarm
- It seems like TechRepublic became LLM slop (maybe all of it, maybe only some of it for now)
- Techrights is Not About GNU/Linux, Tux Machines Is
- When we say "GNU/Linux" we emphasise the GNU
- The World Needs Activists With Social Skills and Perseverance
- An everyday activist makes life better for everybody, everywhere (not for personal gain or even credit)
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XII - Lawfare to Cover Up Microsoft's Restricted Boot Calamity (Microsoft as Authority Over Linux), Garrett Wants to Talk About Penises Instead
- When lawsuits become a political weapon
- Without Microsoft's Monopoly (and Monopoly Rents) the Inevitable Microsoft Mass Layoffs Carry on Endlessly
- Microsoft Windows is not retaining the dominance it once had
- IBM's Debt Grew About $2 Billion in 3 Months
- The silent layoffs still seem to impact Red Hat
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 22, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, October 22, 2026
- Gemini Links 22/10/2026: Solar MiniBBS, Building Major Tom, and Zig
- Links for the day
- Links 22/10/2026: Busan’s Celebrity Shark in Canal Again
- Links for the day
- Links 22/10/2026: "Software Developers Have Been Promoted Into Incompetence"
- Links for the day
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XI - Losing Over a Million Pounds (Borrowed Money) to Try to Silence Critics of Restricted Boot With Microsoft-Controlled "Certificates"
- Garrett is also very jealous of Daniel Pocock
- Links 22/10/2026: eBay to Lay Off a Tenth of Staff (Again), Node.js and PHP Security Crises, Climate News
- Links for the day
- Red Hat Layoffs Still Going on This Week (Whilst IBM's Debt Grows in Spite of Mass Layoffs)
- IBM is bluffing/cheating the shareholders again
- IBM's Debt Continues to Increase While the Company Rapidly Shrinks
- This is what a dying company looks like
- Linux Kernel Needs Diversity and Diversity of Good Code, Not LLM Slop
- Linux (and Linus) are kicking a can down the road
- Microsoft Shrinks Every Year
- Microsoft will try to spin or twist this as "efficiency"
- Gemini Links 22/10/2026: Holiday Inn and Emacs
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 21, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, October 21, 2026