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
- Expecting Failure
- Some things would not happen to technology (tech) experts because they know how things work and what to expect (or watch out for)
- unixcop.com is the Latest "Linux" Site to Have Become a Slopfarm After 2 Years of Death (Inactivity)
- Not a way to stage a comeback
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- The Only Still-Supported Version of Windows Breaks Itself (Again), the Microsoft Layoffs Will Carry on in Secret
- In the US they marked about 7% for removal just this past summer
- Wikileaks Turns 20 Just 18 Days From Now
- it's fair to say they've endured online, but aren't lively/active
- The Cyber Show Debunks the Alleged Intelligence in Slop
- It's shorter than usual
- Links 16/09/2026: US Running Low/Out of Some Ammo Due to Wars, Slop Bots "Are Using an Outrageous Amount of Electricity"
- Links for the day
- "AI Slowdown" is Code Word for Bubble Imploding (Trying to Make This Slowdown Seem Wilful, an Act of Safety and Responsibility)
- They help one another by inflating the bubble and making false excuses when expansion stalls
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 185 Out of 200: What Reputation?
- Helping monopolies and working for monopolies never made anybody popular
- Gemini Links 16/09/2026: Slovenia, Catastrophe Ethics, and ROOPHLOCH 2026
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, September 15, 2026
- Microsoft Layoffs in September 2026 Are Silent, Hidden
- Expect the same next month ahead of the fake results
- Links 15/09/2026: 'Smartphone', Android TV Box, Stockholm Syndrome of [Slop Plagiarism] Acceptance
- Links for the day
- Carmen-Lisandrette Maris Prepares Audiobook to Explain Software Freedom/Digital Rights to Adolescents, Needs Help From Volunteers
- needs help with narrating
- Links 15/09/2026: Putin-Connected Money for The Insurrectionist Jr. and Turkey's Crackdown on Activists
- Links for the day
- publicdomainpictures.net Seems to Have Become Fed Up With Slop Contaminating Its Database (Wasting Storage, Bandwidth), Now It's Suitably Flagged, Should Be Demoted/Delisted
- The site was redone, suffered some hours of downtime, then 'relaunched' with a new interface this week
- Gemini Links 15/09/2026: Hiking in Munții Făgăraș, Scams, and Slop Plagiarism Considered Unethical
- Links for the day
- Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 1 - At the Beginning (Torvalds Knew It Was Trouble)
- We still wonder if we should make and actively maintain a shame list (developer/employer) for the people who contaminate Linux the most with slop plagiarism
- EPO Staff is Preparing to Take Up a Notch the Strikes and Other Industrial Actions Ahead of October's Meeting (It Can Help Oust the Corrupt Leadership)
- mobilising perhaps thousands of workers at a critical time in the history of the Office
- Allegedly Many PIP Layoffs in Nepal, IBM Does This Before a Known Death Toll in Avalanche (Caused by China-, Europe-, and US-Induced Global Warming)
- Fresh wounds, before the bodies are even recovered (thousands still missing)
- "Wail" by Alexandre Oliva
- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) 4.0 International
- This Morning The Register MS Published a Page With "AI" 83 Times in it. The Register MS Got Paid to Do This.
- The Register MS is not a serious publisher and a lot of the stuff about "AI" on the Web isn't journalism but paid-for SPAM
- While GAFAM/Microsoft Disguise Financial Crisis as "Investment in AI" the Slop Giants Make Up a Narrative of Wilful Slowdown
- A BS artist is good at the art of BS when the artist's failures or weaknesses get twisted as moral or professional leadership
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 184 Out of 200: A Tiny Law Firm That Knows Nothing But Microsoft (But Merely Pretends to Understand "IT")
- They've managed to trick some mainstream media into thinking they're "Tech" experts or "Social [Control] Media" gurus; nothing could be further from the truth
- Links 15/09/2026: Sweden’s Far Right Perishing and "Iceland Just Got Played"
- Links for the day
- It's Not About How Developers Vote
- This isn't about politics, it's about users being in control of their own computers and computing
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 14, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, September 14, 2026
- Gemini Links 15/09/2026: Poetry, Enshittification of Ebay, and Mecha System
- Links for the day
- LG Lies to Cover Up Lies About Its Spying TVs (It Records and Transmits Conversations in Rooms)
- This is what a lot of "modern" technology is like
- Oracle's Debt Continues to Soar (Increase of 60 Billion Dollars in 15 Months, Not Counting the Secret Debt, With Off-balance-sheet Debt Having "Grown Roughly Thirtyfold in Four Years")
- Oracle debt continues to grow
- It Has Cost $215,000 in Legal Costs to Sue IBM for Wrongful Termination
- IBM typically settles out of court and demands secrecy (to avoid anyone else benefiting from the very expensive outcome)
- Apple's iOS and macOS Measured as Bigger Than Windows in the US, Linux-Based OSes at Almost 30%
- Expect the silent layoffs at Microsoft to continue at a rapid pace
- Oracle, Like Microsoft, Drowns in Debt and Discards Tens of Thousands of Staff (Microsoft Does the Same More Discreetly)
- The main difference between Microsoft and Oracle is that the latter is honest about what's going on
- Gemini Links 14/09/2026: First Android Phone, Leaving Sony, and Rant About Gemini-to-HTTP Proxy Providers
- Links for the day
- Links 14/09/2026: "Scam Altman Now Trying to Gain Control of Electric Grid" and Sweden Moving to the Right
- Links for the day
- Vista 11 Flunked
- Microsoft cannot start a "Vista 12" campaign as it would only make matters worse
- Microsoft Urgently Needs Distraction: There's No "Next XBox", But There's a New Boot Screen (Like 'Dark Mode', a Feature That Can be Implemented in Mere Minutes/Hours)
- Anything to distract from XBox fiasco
- The PIPs or 'Voluntary Termination Offers' Help IBM Fake Its Situation
- "IBM is not a tech company"
- IBM Flying Away to Sweatshops (So Will Red Hat)
- Even on Sunday people post about 'leaving' IBM
- RFID Ambitions Already Established by Widespread Skinnerbox Adoption
- A society that cannot maintain privacy for those who deserve it will not manage to assure dignity of citizens
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 183 Out of 200: What Actually Happened Two Months Ago (Based on People Who Attended)
- It's dangerous to assert what happened in a hearing you did not attend (there was no video stream or recording, either)
- Phil Harvey, an Editor-in-Chief in a B2B Site, Explains Why ChannelFutures (Connected to TechTarget) and Other Sites That Used to Cover Linux Deleted Many Articles
- Every old article in channelfutures is gone!
- Software Freedom Day 2026 is 5 Days From Now, Fresh Reminder to Boycott Proprietary Software
- Let this be a timely reminder of why people should avoid proprietary software
- Links 14/09/2026: Slop Hardly Used for Actual Work (Chatbots Are for Lonely People), Slop Bots (Scrapers, Plagiarism) "Are Thirsty for Power"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 14/09/2026: Trip, Hiding, and OCR
- Links for the day
- IBM PIPs Are Layoffs (RAs Come Later Even If You Satisfy the "Performance" and "Plan")
- Notice how "the media" almost never mentions silent layoffs, as if just because they're silent, there's nothing to investigate, nothing to see there
- Slop Companies Engage in Plagiarising the Web, Now They Pay People to Contaminate the Web With Their Lies
- Remember that the lawfare against us is funded by slop salaries!
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 13, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, September 13, 2026