04.03.12

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source

GNU/Linux

• Desktop

  • No Growth in a Growing Market

    At the same time that GNU/Linux was holding share of Wikipedia, traffic was increasing and the mobile share of traffic was increasing. Despite all that, GNU/Linux held share. Examining only non-mobile traffic, GNU/Linux share rose 18% while that other OS declined several percent.

  • Looking at the computer experience

    Hundreds of Linux distributions have been created trying to make that ideal mashup of Linux into a single user like OS.

  • The 1% Linux myth

    EVERY year, some bozo comes up with a prediction that Linux on the desktop is dead.

    These people really ought to know better, but it’s fun to get a rise out of Linux users, and a provocative headline does wonders for page views.

    I’ve decided not to play their game, so I’m not even going to name the fathead columnist who raised this issue again, and focus instead on why he’s wrong. That way, the truth gets out without benefiting the cynical purveyor of the lie.

• Server

  • Resara software focuses on Linux-based servers

    Warren Luebkemen of Resara, LLC recently joined the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce and celebrated with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

    Resara, LLC is an innovative, passionate software company that was founded in 2005 to develop Linux based server products. Resara has extensive experience and expertise in thin client computing, which was the first product developed by the company.

  • Exploring Quality of Service For Home Routers

    If you saw my article on DIY Linux Routers, then you might have already taken the plunge and gotten yourself up and running with one. One of the primary reasons I made the switch to a dedicated machine running a Linux router distro was to have a router that would not lock up on me regularly, but what I found was that the additional features that these distros come with became a large part of why I love my Linux router.

• Kernel Space

  • Red Hat Remains Leading Contributor To Linux Development

    According to the report more than 7,800 developers from almost 800 different companies have contributed to the Linux kernel since tracking began in 2005. Just since the last report, more than 1,000 developers representing nearly 200 companies have contributed to the kernel.

  • Linux 3.4 goes into testing

    Two weeks after Linux 3.3 was released, Linus Torvalds has announced the availability of the first release candidate for Linux 3.4. As usual, this step signals the end of the merge window at the beginning of the development cycle; during the merge window, Torvalds integrates the major changes for a new Linux version and about seven-eighths of all changes. Apart from a few stragglers, mainly minor and low-risk changes will be made in the stabilising phase that has now begun.

  • OSADL experimentally analyses Linux’s real-time capabilities

    With the help of its embedded farm, set up in November 2010, the Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) has tested and analysed Linux’s experimental real-time (RT) capabilities. The OSADL analysed a total of 73 billion automated test cycles recorded over the last 12 months on more than 50 computers running mainline RT kernels on a range of CPUs.

  • An In-Kernel x86 Disassembler For Linux Kernel

    Patches for an x86 disassembler for the Linux kernel have been proposed. An in-kernel disassembler could prove useful for developers in cases of kernel panics and other happenings.

  • Speed Boost: The Linux Kernel Can Run On Zero CPU Cores

  • Graphics Stack

    • OpenCL/Clover Is Closer To Mesa Merging

• Applications

  • BeyondTrust Announces New Linux Product

  • Instructionals/Technical

    • What is a Process in Linux ?

    • Creating An NFS-Like Standalone Storage Server With GlusterFS 3.2.x On Ubuntu 11.10

    • Hacking PubSubHubbub

    • Quick Tips: How To Burn ISO Image via Command Line with Wodim in Ubuntu

    • How to Install Firefox 12 on Ubuntu

  • Games

    • Three fun games reviewed

      Today I decided to look at the current versions of three well-known games on Linux: Supertuxkart, Supertux, and Secret Maryo Chronicles. All of them detected and let me use my Logitech wireless controller, which made playing them a lot easier than if I’d needed to use the keyboard. Each of these games let you set the window resolution or else play the game in fullscreen mode. All three of these have versions for Windows, and will provide many hours of fun. Check your repositories for them, and if you are running Linux Mint or Ubuntu, you will probably need to enable the “getdeb games” additional repository in order to have the most recent version.

    • Humble Bundle Android 2 Ends At $682k USD

      - $5.69 Average Windows Price
      - $7.07 Average Mac OS X Price
      - $9.97 Average Linux Price

    • Ryan’s Tools For Linux Game Porting, Development

      Last week at the Chicago Flourish conference, well known Linux game porter/developer Ryan “Icculus” Gordon shared some of his recommended open-source tools and libraries for Linux game development.

• Desktop Environments

  • Unity, GNOME3, Windows 8 and… jumping rats

  • Xfce 4.10pre1 released

  • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

    • Muon Suite 1.3.1 Released

      Jonathan Thomas has announced the release of Muon Suite 1.3. The Muon Suite is a set of package management utilities for Debian-based Linux distributions built on KDE technologies.

    • Kubuntu Could Be Open To External Sponsors

      In early February news came out that Canonical would be dropping support for Kubuntu following the 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin release. This Ubuntu derivative that employs the KDE desktop no longer has the business interest of Canonical and so it’s set to become another community-based spin, similar to Xubuntu or Lubuntu. Jonathan Riddell, the lead Kubuntu developer at Canonical, is set to be tasked with non-Kubuntu work following the Precise Pangolin release.

    • Qt 5 Alpha

      Today we released the Alpha of Qt 5, the first major release since the Qt Project went live. A lot of people have worked hard to make this release happen. A large amount of work and features that went into this alpha have been coming from people not working for Nokia. It’s great to see that the project has become a place where many people meet and together push Qt forward.

  • GNOME Desktop

    • GNOME 3.4: Are We There Yet?

• Distributions

  • DEFT 7.1 ready for download

  • New Releases

    • Fuduntu 2012.2 Released

      The Fuduntu team has announced the release and availability of Fuduntu 2012.2. With this release Fuduntu is shifting from SourceForge as a package host to a new mirrorable infrastructure. Several open source mirror providers have begun replicating the repositories. This change improves speed and availability of software available for installation, as well as package updates.

  • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

    • Ahoy Mandriva! Are you still out there?

      A post by one of the developers on March 8 said, again in keeping with the best cryptic traditions, “Yes, quick very fresh news: Mandriva still have to solve some complicated problems, but the situation is far more better since yesterday, the main problem is cleared

  • Red Hat Family

    • Red Hat donates $100,000 to “the future of open source”

      The donation will be split between four projects which do not benefit, normally, from Red hat’s work: Creative Commons (CC), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) and UNICEF Innovation Labs. The $100,000 award is 0.7 per cent of the company’s annual net profit of $146.6 million. Much of Red Hat’s development work is available as open source anyway though, a contribution potentially worth millions of dollars to the community.

    • You Can Bring Your Red Hat (RHT) – Cramer

      Stock-picking wunderkind Jim Cramer spoke with Red Hat’s (NYSE: RHT) CEO Jim Whithurst on Monday’s Mad Money.

    • Is Red Hat At A Tipping Point?

    • Red Hat questions Canonical’s Ubuntu EC2 popularity claims

    • Red-Hot Red Hat’s Shares Climb to 12-Year High

      Red Hat’s strong earnings report won the company some upbeat reviews from analysts who see the maker of the Linux OS gaining in the industry-wide push toward cloud computing. Red Hat’s momentum has accelerated as companies try to save money and gain more flexibility by keeping their technology in far-flung data centers instead of PCs.

    • Fedora

      • Fedora 18 Will Go For Tmpfs

        Fedora 18 is expected to use tmpfs for mounting the /tmp directory, which sees that the temporary directory is stored in RAM/SWAP volatile memory. Tmpfs tends to generate less disk reads/writes, potentially saves power while inreasing performance, sees that the temporary directory data isn’t stored across reboots, and other advantages. System administrators installing new Fedora installations are still expected to be able to opt-out of using tmpfs.

      • Seneca College builds Linux Fedora for Raspberry Pi

  • Debian Family

    • Debian Project News – April 2nd, 2012

    • Derivatives

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

        • Who Uses Ubuntu Linux, and Why? Survey Offers New Insight.

          It’s all too common to hear Linux portrayed by detractors as an operating system suitable only for longtime hackers and “hobbyists,” as it was put in one recent example.

        • Ubuntu’s HUD: Light-years beyond any menu system

        • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 259

        • Hello Unity, episode 2

        • Ubuntu 12.04 Default Wallpaper Unveiled

        • Flavours and Variants

          • Linux Mint vs. Ubuntu: the Best Option?

            For the last few years, there has been something of a popularity contest between two well-known Linux distros: Linux Mint and Ubuntu. Both of these distributions share the same code base, as Ubuntu is based on Debian and Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu.

            In both instances, the distributions took the foundation that Debian built, then added their own flavor to make it more user friendly. The similarities between the two distributions go even further, in that Ubuntu packages work flawlessly on Linux Mint, just as Ubuntu PPAs work well on Linux Mint.

          • Kubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) LTS Beta 2 Screenshots Gallery

            The Kubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. The Precise Pangolin Beta 2 release of Kubuntu 12.04 gives a preview of the next LTS version of Ubuntu.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

    • vivaldi ordering delay

      We had expected to be able to pull the lever on orders for Vivaldi by a couple of days ago. Last month there were some developments that have consequently pushed back the project by about a month. I’ll be sending out emails tomorrow to individuals catching them up with this, but thought I’d let people know via my blog as well.

    • Vivaldi Orders Delayed, Blessing In Disguise

      Tweet

      After a temporary hitch with trademark issues, KDE Active Plasma tablet has hit another road-block. There will be delays in the orders.

      Aaron Seigo has blogged about this delay, “We had expected to be able to pull the lever on orders for Vivaldi by a couple of days ago. Last month there were some developments that have consequently pushed back the project by about a month.”

Free Software/Open Source

• There’s a new open source cloud in town. Meet Apache CloudStack

• Citrix submits cloud-building software to Apache Foundation

• Citrix Sharpens Focus on CloudStack, Puts Brakes on OpenStack

• Apache Rave Graduates To Top-Level Status

• Vendor Touts Open-Source Trading Platform

  Dubbed OpenGamma Platform 1.0, the open-source software gives users the ability to customize and integrate the platform into existing legacy systems. It features a real-time calculation engine, a built-in library of analytics, market data support and trade data management capabilities.

• Yahoo Serves Mojito to Liven Up the Mobile Web Party

  Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) has offered its Mojito application framework to the open source community under the BSD license.

• Yahoo dives deeper down the Node.js rabbit hole with open-source Mojito

• OpenGamma 1.0 released

  OpenGamma has announced version 1.0 of its open source analytics and risk management platform for the financial services industry. OpenGamma is the first company in this area to open source its software. The OpenGamma platform is designed to be a completely open and transparent architecture to help deliver high quality, real-time available trading and risk analytics used by front-office traders, quantitative analysts (“quants”) and risk managers. According to the OpenGamma site, the platform, which has been downloaded over 4000 times, has 750,000 lines of code, 9,000 developer days of work and 10,694 test cases. It also apparently involved the consumption of over 37,000 cans of Dr Pepper Zero.

• Puma: open source web server for Ruby

  US-based Ruby on Rails Platform-as-a-Service specialist Engine Yard has introduced a new Ruby web server called Puma. According to its developers, Puma, created as an alternative to WEBrick and Mongrel, is “built for speed and concurrency”.

• Events

  • Reign of Freedom: Indiana Linux Fest starts April 13

• SaaS

  • The Secret History of OpenStack, the Free Cloud Software That’s Changing Everything

    If you want to live at the Rainbow Mansion, says one former resident, you have to want to change the world. That’s an easy thing to say. But the Mansionites have already changed the world, bringing their communal ethos to the most important open source project of the decade: OpenStack, the Linux of cloud computing.

  • Jasper Hunts for ‘Big Data’ Trophies with Talend’s Hooks for Hadoop

    Open source business intelligence software developer Jaspersoft has added new tools for accessing “big data” sets through Jaspersoft ETL, the extract, transform, and load (ETL) software that it OEMs from Talend. The latest release of the company’s tools includes better support for the Apache Hadoop big data framework.

  • ownCloud offers open source Dropbox rival

    The open source project unveils its first commercial product, claiming to give the flexibility with extra security measures.

    ownCloud today moved into the commercial market with the launch of its file sync and share project for businesses.

  • Open Source Cloud: ownCloud Releases Commercial Offerings

• Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • VirtualBox 4.1.12 Has Support for Ubuntu 12.04

    Oracle announced yesterday, April 2nd, the immediate availability for download of the popular VirtualBox 4.1.12 virtualization software.

    Even if it is not mentioned in the official changelog, VirtualBox 4.1.12 is now distributed as 32-bit and 64-bit .deb packages for the upcoming Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system from Canonical.

• Education

  • Infographic: The higher education bubble, Part two

• Business

  • Nurturing sweet open source success

    Explaining open source software can be tricky. Those on the proprietary and business side of the fence find it hard to understand why anyone would want to make software for free. On the other side, open source developers visibly pale at the talk of money and profit, says Muggie van Staden, MD of Obsidian Systems.

    It’s an awkward relationship but one that can and does work, thanks to the professional open source provider.

    Perhaps the best explanation of this complex relationship between developers not motivated by profit and businesses focused almost exclusively on profit is James Dixon’s beekeeper model.

    Professional Open Source Software (POSS) companies exist, says Dixon, as exchange systems between two distinct groups: the open source community, which is motivated by mutual contribution and community, and the business marketplace, which is motivated by economic reward.

  • Of installing open source software and starting an internet business

  • Why Not Open Source?

• BSD

  • Automatic GPGPU Code Generation For LLVM

• FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • GNU spotlight with Karl Berry (March 2012)

  • GnuTLS 3.0.18

  • Psychosynth 0.3.0 is out!

  • Automake 1.11.4 released

  • GNU Health wins award for Project of Social Benefit

  • Free Software Supporter, Issue 48, March 2012

• Public Services/Government

  • Munich mayor says switch to Linux is much cheaper and has reduced complaints

• Openness/Sharing

  • Wikidata: Wikipedia to get a collaborative database

    Wikimedia Deutschland, the German chapter of Wikimedia, has announced the launch of a new project called Wikidata. According to the non-profit organisation, Wikidata – the first new Wikimedia project since 2006 – will “provide a collaboratively edited database of the world’s knowledge” and, once completed, will be used by its other projects including the free Wikipedia online encyclopaedia.

  • Student Life implements open-source policy on website

    “The democratic nature of wikis online really spoke to me,” said Schmabb. “Student Life’s primary goal is to serve the needs of the Washington University student body, and we hope that our new website will allow us to better accomplish that goal.”

    Schmabb predicts that the quality of all stories will be increased now that eyewitnesses will be able to add their accounts of important news stories directly to the online story.

    Senior Online Editor David Seigle says that other elements of Wikipedia might be incorporated into the website in the coming months. Such features include talk pages and administrative powers to undo inaccurate edits.

    “[Schmabb] and I trust that members of the Wash. U. community will not abuse these new online capabilities until everything is fully implemented,” said Seigle, a senior.

  • Open Data

    • 40 million companies now in OpenCorporates database

      The open database of the corporate world, OpenCorporates, has announced that it has passed the milestone of having 40 million companies in its database. It also noted that the fifty-second jurisdiction, Mauritius, has been added, and that it is moving from alpha to beta, though it admits it should have done that “some time ago”.

    • Incredible art made with open-source weather data

      This is what the wind over the United States looked like on March 27th, 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. It’s beautiful. And it’s even better if you go to the project page, where you can watch real-time wind currents move around the map.

  • Open Hardware

    • Tinkerforge: open source electronic building-blocks