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
- What Efforts to Cancel Richard Stallman Ought to Teach Us About the Media, Including Very Large British Publishers
- Richard Stallman is like a modern-age Alfred Dreyfus
-
- Advertisements as Articles in The Register MS
- Trust in media
- Social Control Media Does Not Improve Reach, It Wastes a Lot of Time
- many people still think that no presence in Social Control Media necessarily means invisibility
- Links 02/06/2026: New York Times Debunks "Hey Hi (AI) Layoffs" (Excuse, False Narrative), Sheinbaum Publicly Bemoans US Meddling
- Links for the day
- Despite Mass Layoffs and Culls Dubbed "Buyouts" Google's Debt Doubled in a Year and It's Desperate for Money (to Pay Salaries and Bills)
- Google and GAFAM in general have mass layoffs because they have no clear route towards profitability
- Gemini Links 02/06/2026: Arch Linux WriterDeck and Papyrix Reader
- Links for the day
- Bloggers Still Have Considerable Impact on This Planet
- Nowadays, in academia almost anywhere in the world, there's growing expectation that lecturers will spend not much of the time doing research or even teaching
- The Firing Line Against Techrights
- Tomorrow we'll tell a story about campaigns to intimidate us with death threats
- The Cyber Show on the Fight Against Technofascism
- It's very long (all combined), but nevertheless refreshing
- After Threats to Greenland Northern Europe Seems to be Moving Away From Microsoft Windows Even Faster
- The facts on the ground are, more people/businesses/institutions "get the message"
- Claim of 500+ IBM Red Hat Layoffs With Termination Next Month
- IBM is doing great... at hiding internal affairs
- Slop Did Not Rewire Democracy, It's a Giant Flop
- we already see slop giants accepting they'll never make money
- The Register MS Embeds in Articles "SPONSORED LINKS" That Link to "AI" Ponzi Scheme/Scam
- The circular financing giants are allocating budget for the spam, as do the banks (lenders)
- Many Countries Divest From Microsoft
- new numbers at statCounter today
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - On the Campaign Trail in Brussels
- Part 1
- SEO is an Acronym That Stands for Slop Engine Orientation
- The Web changed a lot when Web directories, portals, and then social control media gained popularity
- IRC Network OFTC is Shedding Off Servers
- Down to 17
- Julian Assange's Counsel Jennifer Robinson Has Just Won an Award
- Jennifer Robinson is relatively young
- Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (Swiss Federal Railways) and Richard Stallman
- It seems like RMS is receiving endorsement or at least belated recognition from very high-profile institutions
- Almost 30 Years After Rob Malda Made Slashdot It Still Inspires New Implementations
- Maybe the issue isn't Slash per se, just the complexity of it (which SoylentNews complained about in the past)
- Links 02/06/2026: "The Infosec Phrasebook", 'Perfect Randomness' and "Leaving the Tech World Professionally"
- Links for the day
- Faking Demand for Slop: Google's Search Prompt Becomes Slop Prompt (Bait, Switch, Fake Usage)
- If there is no consent, then it's unsustainable
- When You Give People (or Companies) Money to Buy Your Own Products and Then Call It "Revenue"
- A lot of modern "economics" don't benefit ordinary people (all they get is high inflation rates); they're devaluing money by faking economic activity
- IBM is Self-Detonating, the Cheeto-Infused Rally is Another Con by Don
- pump and dump
- "Quantum" as the "Next Big" Bubble
- disappointing and delivering nothing
- Links 02/06/2026: "$1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Benefits Billionaire Cheeto Mussolini Supporters", US "Plans to Criminalize Sleeping Outside"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 02/06/2026: Organising Oneself and Killing Off Distracting "Notifications"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 95 Out of 200: The Growing Risk of Tolerating Men Who Abuse and Physically Assault Women
- FOSS should not be a "safe harbour" or "hideout" for criminals
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, June 01, 2026
- Rust is a Disaster for Both GNU and Linux, But 'Linux' Foundation (GKH) Keeps Promoting It Despite the Problems
- And non-GPL licences
- IBM's CEO and his "pump and dump scheme" ("Arvind's lies about quantum")
- Don't be misled by Wall Street
- Gemini Links 01/06/2026: Xylophone Essay, Ham Radio, and Slop Contaminating USENET/Newsgroups
- Links for the day
- How to Tackle Corruption Effectively and Gradually
- In my personal, humble experience
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios
- "Campaign for the Re-Appointment of the President"
- Links 01/06/2026: Patent Applicant Disclosures Drop After the January 2025 IDS Surcharge, "China Exports Surveillance"
- Links for the day
- Links 01/06/2026: Irreversible GAFAM Bans and "The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient"
- Links for the day
- Running and Writing Sites for People, Not Bots (Including Search Engines)
- Had those sites spent more time focusing on RSS feeds (not social control media "games") and less on SEO (trying to game search engines), they wouldn't be sobbing now
- SBB, the Swiss Railroads, Want to Hear Richard Stallman
- Can Dr. Stallman persuade key decision makers to adopt not only "Linux" but also Software Freedom (not the same thing), as he did in South American before? Or like he did in Kerala?
- Resumes and Vanity Pages
- Wikipedia is fast becoming a glorified marketing company
- Trusting Microsoft is Foolish
- Mr. Rossmann says they "gaslight customers" in their Web site, but it goes a lot further than this
- Techrights in a Nutshell, in Very Generic Terms
- "for dummies"
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 94 Out of 200: SLAPP by Garrett's Litigation Buddy Started 20 Months Ago, He Has Not Even Put in His Defence Yet!
- This is what happens when one deals with incels and misogynists who promote slop and Microsoft
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 31, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, May 31, 2026
- Gemini Links 01/06/2026: Buckingham Palace Garden Party, TUI Annoyances, Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology
- Links for the day
- Links 31/05/2026: Heat Wave Grips France and Edgar Morin Dies
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 31/05/2026: Backup vs. Mirror, Year of the Death of a Euphemism, Slop Makes Only Yet Another (Untested) Calculator
- Links for the day
- IBM Red Hat Has a Long History or Track Record of Misusing Trademarks to Send Lawyers to Try to Take Down Pages and Web Sites of Critics
- Red Hat claims to own words; IBM thinks it owns names
- Richard Stallman is Coming Back to Bern to Give a Talk Next Month
- another big talk coming up
- Gravitating Towards What Your Role in Society May Be (or What You're Truly Good At)
- Many IBMers already realise that they spent years if not decades of their lives working on mostly meaningless products/projects
- 900 Days Later
- 900 days is a very long time (almost 1,000)
- Cybershow Requires Free Software to Record Shows
- Cybershow is run by people who understand that without Software Freedom there can be no sovereignty
- Losses at Microsoft's GitHub Seem to be Deepening
- How many billions of dollars has Microsoft lost by betting on the false prediction that it can somehow "monetise" public code by LLMs?
- Links 31/05/2026: Slop 'Code' (Junk) "Increasingly Leads to Production Failures" and "Huge Slop Costs With No Clear Benefits"
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office Strikes Intensify Tomorrow, Huge Strikes Planned for June, 10,000 Strike Participations Registered
- Campinos may well be ousted soon
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 93 Out of 200: A Blueprint of Reckless Lawfare in the UK, Waged and Funded by Americans (in Another Continent)
- Lawfare powered by slop companies (including Microsoft) from America, targetting British people who consistently oppose slop because it's objectively terrible
- Links 31/05/2026: Watershed Moment, Traveller RPG Book Binding, and GUI Annoyances
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 30, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, May 30, 2026