Links 23/3/2012: Commodore Linux, Iceland Moves to Free Software
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
- Modified: 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
Contents
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Commodore USA has released the new AMIGA mini and the VIC mini, two small form factor PCs with a bit of retro styling, but very new and powerful guts
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Kernel Space
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Graphics Stack
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The Gallium3D compute infrastructure, which is the underlying work for supporting OpenCL over this open-source graphics driver architecture, is on approach for landing in the very near future. This has been one damn good day for open-source Linux graphics drivers following the earlier Nouveau surprise announcements.
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Soon, the kernel will support several AMD graphics cores that are used in recent Radeon graphics cards and in various upcoming processors. In systems with Intel graphics, using hibernation can cause memory corruption. The development of Linux 3.4 has started.
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Applications
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Instructionals/Technical
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Wine
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Desktop Environments
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
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Jonathan Riddell, the KDE developer, recently announced that Canonical stopping funding the Kubuntu project and reassigning him in a new role. Looking at Canonical's focus on Unity, that's not a surprising move. I don't know how Canonical works, but looking at the new challenges they set for themselves with every release, I do think they need all the hands they can get. The result of that hard work is evident - Unity is shaping up really well.
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Have an old computer lying around that you’d like to use for some light web surfing, document editing, and other tasks? I mean like a PC with a 1999-era Intel Pentium III processor? It turns out there’s an OS for that… and it’s not Windows 98.
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In my last blog about Linux Live Environments, I mentioned REMnux, an environment specifically built for malware analysis. I'd spent a little time with REMnux when it first came out, but decided to take the latest version (3.0) for a test drive.
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New Releases
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Debian Family
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Derivatives
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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Canonical’s next long-term support release of its flagship Linux distribution, Ubuntu 12.04 is in late beta. This next release, due out on April 26th, is in beta now. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and so far, so good.
Indeed, the new Ubuntu is good enough already that I’ve it on my default Ubuntu system: a 2009-era Gateway DX4710. This PC is powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. No, it’s not fast, but unlike Windows 8’s beta, you don’t need a fast computer for Ubuntu.
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From a pool of thousands, 15 photographic wallpapers have been chosen for inclusion in Ubuntu 12.04.
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With Ubuntu remaining uninterested in systemd, the Upstart init system continues to be developed. Released today was Upstart 1.5 with a few new features.
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However, while that beefed up version may be available at some point, costs and demand will likely hold it off for a while, the popular mini-computer's designer said.
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Phones
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Android
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NASA has made great efforts to get the public interested in their various projects and avenues of research using tools such as social media networks and their suite of mobile applications. Unfortunately, those applications have almost exclusively been iPhone exclusive. Of the over 20 mobile applications NASA has released, only a scant have made it over to everyone’s favorite open source mobile operating system.
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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Android is open source and built on Linux. Fortunately for Android enthusiasts and independent developers, however, Sony has made life a little easier by releasing the open source archive for the Xperia S device. Of course, there are some catches. Read on for what this announcement means for the juncture of Android and free software.
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Sub-notebooks/Tablets
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Oracle/Java/LibreOffice
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The Document Foundation (TDF), which produces the leading open source office software suite LibreOffice, is on schedule for the release of a cloud version of its software next month.
The team released the last update to its 3.4 build on Thursday and is now focused on developing version 3.5 further, but the group is now also ready to go live for cloud services in April. That said, the team reserves the right to hold off on launch until the last few software fixes come in, TDF spokesman Italo Vignoli told The Register.
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Project Releases
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Public Services/Government
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OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE is finding favour on the Icelandic government scene with the announcement that all of its public administration organisations will adopt it.
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Iceland's push to move its public sector to open-source software has made some headway, with most of the shift seeing Windows swapped for Linux.
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Security
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Some words just seem to go together: "bread" and "butter"; "trial" and "error"; "Microsoft" and "security breach." The MS12-020 Remote Desktop Protocol vulnerability revealed last week shows once again that when it comes to data security, Microsoft is its own worst enemy and any "secure" system can be compromised.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- BetaNews Sacked Brian Fagioli and Deleted His Comments, But He Still Tries to Use the "BetaNews" Brand for Self-Affirmation
- Fagioli takes the work of other people
- [Meme] Hard to Be a Better Person?
- Sooner or later they'll realise that for each pound I spend they need to spend about 1,000 times more
- New US Editor for The Register is a Microsoft Booster
- "Avram Piltch has served as US editor for The Register since July 2025."
- Reda Demanded That FSF Removes Its Founder, Now Reda Works Directly for Microsoft
- A sellout and a traitor, first working for GAFAM, now Microsoft
- PCLinuxOS is Raising Money to Support Development After Fire Incident at the Host
- PCLinuxOS has not had announcements lately
- Over 3 Months Later Brett Wilson LLP Still Unable to Recruit a Media Lawyer?
- "Immediate start", but not found... still unfilled
- Microsoft is Trying to "Pull a Nokia" on GNU/Linux as Desktop/Laptop Platform
- We all remember that rather well, don't we?
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- 'Tech' Gimmicks Are for Advertising, Not for Usability
- In the case of Microsoft, they latched onto slop
- The LLM Con Artists Are Highly Destructive
- Who will ever be held accountable for this scam?
- Too Bribed by Microsoft to Move to Free Software?
- Microsoft lies and Microsoft bribery (in politics)
- Microsoft Hiring European Politicians is Another Form of Bribery; There Should be a European Investigation
- When Microsoft bribed people in Europe for OOXML (there's no denying this!) a European government delegate said that Microsoft operated like a cult
- Speed of the Site Should be Better Now
- The "bot attacks" impact the speed of the sister site too
- Getting More From AnalogNowhere
- Recently we used many images from AnalogNowhere
- Microsoft, Microsofters and 'Secure' Boot Shills Already Storming the LWN Report About Expiring Certificate, Shooting the Messenger
- LWN has clearly stuck a nerve
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 23, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, July 23, 2025
- Disable "Secure" Boot Today (the Only Better Time to Do So Was Yesterday)
- Don't trust anything Red Hat tells you about security
- Links 23/07/2025: Windows Killed Company After 150+ Years, US Government Mimics Russia's Attacks on the Media
- Links for the day
- Freedom Generally Wins at the End, History Shows (But It's Constantly Attacked, Too)
- At the moment people realise "Linux" (e.g. Android) isn't enough to guarantee any freedoms
- “Inhumane” and “Disgusting” Mass Layoff Execution, According to Microsoft Staff
- The workers are looking for other places to work
- Misinformation is Not Intelligence
- It's low-grade plagiarism and it fails to show any signs of intelligence
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Slogan for Its 40th Anniversary
- The freedoms are what's most important
- LLM Slopfarms gbhackers.com, "Cyber Press" and CyberSecurityNews Are Drowning Google News (and Shame on Google for Feeding and Facilitating Them)
- All are run by the same people
- Links 23/07/2025: Droplets GUI Patent Monopoly Challenge, Nokia Leverages Illegal Patent Court Against Rivals
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Community in Geminispace and Challenges With Old Computers
- Links for the day
- Links 23/07/2025: Slop Patents Tackled, Slop Copyright Misuses Tackled by Politicians
- Links for the day
- Our Three Lawsuits Against Microsofters Are About to Become a Lot More Relevant to GNU/Linux
- The Master will easily understand why Garrett has been attacking me since 2012
- Links 23/07/2025: Retreating From Transparency on Jeffrey Epstein, We No Longer Have Press Freedom
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/07/2025: Piano and Food
- Links for the day
- New and Old
- On Ageism in Tech
- Slop Is Not Intelligence and It Does Not Enhance Productivity
- Like voice dictation, which cannot tell the difference between "sheet" and "shit"
- EPO Crimes Are Spreading to the British Court System
- Society is now paying the price for failing to tackle crimes at the EPO
- It's Time to Dump SharePoint and Here's What to Use Instead
- Nextcloud, ownCloud, Bookstack, MediaWiki, and MediaGoblin
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 22, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, July 22, 2025
- Brett Wilson LLP Has Gone Silent
- Sometimes silence says more than nothing at all
- Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Planet Ubuntu, and LinuxTechLab
- some slopfarms show no remorse and they don't value their reputation at all
- Links 23/07/2025: Book Bans, Storms, and Kangaroo Court for Patents Commits More Unlawful Acts of Overreach
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 22/07/2025: Thinkpad and Pinephone
- Links for the day
- Links 22/07/2025: "Blog Restart" and Microsoft Clobbered by “ToolShell"
- Links for the day
- Global Warming and Global GAFAM Energy-Wasting
- Burn more money (borrowed, loans), then hope the waste will somehow translate into profit?
- No Compliance With the European Patent Convention (EPC) at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- It's about preventing competition against this autocracy
- Blue-Collar Trolls vs White-Collar Trolls
- Examples of white-collar trolls
- Apple Vision Pro Failed So Badly That Its Sales Are About 2,000 Times Smaller Than iPhone Sales
- What's left for Apple to offer other than hype?
- To Millions of People "Year of the Linux Desktop" Was Some Time in the 1990s (Bootable GNU/Linux as a Complete Operating System is Over 33 in Age)
- In some sense, "year of the Linux desktop" was 33 years ago
- Make No Assumptions (or Demands) About the Screen Resolution Used by Other People
- There are usability aspects, aside from accessibility aspects
- Why Wayland (and XWayland) Won't Solve the Key Problem It Proclaims to be Tackling (the Same Is True for Rust)
- The problem isn't Wayland per se but the false promises and efforts to force everybody to move to it whilst insulting or demonising everyone who won't play along
- They Don't Tell Us that 'Digitalisation' (Now Sold as "Hey Hi") Just Means Customers Become Unpaid Staff and Are Made Accountable
- People are being conditioned to associate technology with something undesirable, at times even unbearable
- Diplomatic Immunity Should Not Exist for Anybody
- The EPO in its current form gradually 'normalises' the end of European democracy
- Brett Wilson LLP Stopped Sending Me Papers When I Showed It had Sent Me Over 5 Kilograms of Legal Papers
- A week ago we lodged our third lawsuit
- Microsoft Mass Layoffs and Shutdowns Became the New Normal at Microsoft
- Microsoft mass layoffs became a topic of everyday media coverage since May
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) Has Layoffs and Microsoft Gaming/Entertainment Division Has an Uncertain Future
- it's good to see all those horrible things crashing and burning
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, July 21, 2025
- FSF "Raised Almost $139,000 During This Summer Campaign"
- "Thank you for making a stand against dystopia!"
- Gemini Links 22/07/2025: VPS Exploited and Fear of View
- Links for the day