Links 08/08/2008: More Ubuntu PCs from Dell, Apple Back Doors
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-08-08 13:57:10 UTC
- Modified: 2008-08-08 14:00:16 UTC
GNU/Linux
- Tiny, 6-chip ‘open’ computer runs Linux
Embedded designer Paul Thomas is showcasing a tiny, open-sourced computer at LinuxWorld in San Francisco this week. Would-be “Linuxstamp” enthusiasts can obtain pre-built boards for the hefty sum of $120 directly from Thomas, or they can download the design for free and build it themselves.
- Dell now ships XPS and Studio notebook with Ubuntu Linux 8.04 factory installed
Dell has launched an XPS and Studio notebook with Ubuntu Linux 8.04 factory installed.
- Linux Foundation launches killer development tool
- Gentoo 2008.0: Return to greatness?
Has Gentoo gotten its act together? Only time will tell, but it sure looks like Gentoo is back on the right path. I'm sticking with it.
- Rugged handheld offers SPI expansion
New Zealand company Aceeca International has announced a ruggedized handheld computer that runs Linux. The Meazura MEZ1500 has a Marvell PXA270 processor, and a proprietary "MZIO" expansion slot that carries SPI (serial peripheral interface) signals, allowing the attachment of custom A/D (analog/digital) converter modules.
- Ubuntu Mobile Edition: Review
The mobile Internet device (MID) space is one of the fastest growing platforms with new concept designs appearing every month. Nokia was one of the earliest vendors with a product (Nokia 770) in this space to ship with a Linux operating system (OS) and continues to see solid sales with the current model 810. New concept designs come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and many sport a Linux OS.
Events
People
- Portrait: Michelle Murrain lives the open source lifestyle
Ten years ago Murrain was teaching biology and public health at Hampton College in Massachusetts, when she was recruited to help a small nonprofit get a server up on the Internet. It didn't have enough money to afford host-provided email and a Web site, so Murrain helped the organization out with Linux.
- Being Debian leader can be 'scary at times'
"We do have our occasional heated discussions, we have 1000+ developers and that sometimes means on any given topic, we may have 2000 opinions. There's no telling people this is what we're going to do, it's more of the consensus approach. If i tried anything without a reasonable amount of backing from the developers, I'll probably get shot," he said with a chuckle when I met him at the British International Motor Show in London last month.
F/OSS
Firefox
Security and Back Doors
Recent Techrights' Posts
- What EPO Staff, the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO), and Europe Want and Need
- Who should be served by patents?
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 49 Out of 200: Two Americans, One Case, Recycled for Low Budget at Brett Wilson LLP and 5RB Barristers
- Change one character, bill the client tens or hundreds of thousands of US dollars
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- Nothing But Vapourware Since XBox Leadership Ousted and Mass Layoffs Will Come Soon
- We just don't know the exact date/s... yet
- Gemini Links 18/04/2026: Guix and WikiReader
- Links for the day
- Network Maintenance Next Friday
- We must be doing a terrific job so far given how much money gets spent trying to silence us
- "The Work-to-rule is Having Effect" at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- The media knows how to contact SUEPO, but it's clearly not doing it
- Improving the Sites, Not Bloating Them
- Sites need to evolve over time. Many conflate evolution with bloat (as if more complexity is desirable).
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 50 Out of 200: The Time Staff of Law Firm Burgess Mee Was Showing Up in Letters Sent for a Serial Strangler From Microsoft
- Family-friendly? No.
- Next Week the Star of the "EPO Reality TV Show" Will Likely be Absent (Absconding the Tough Reality of Widespread Unrest)
- He tarnishes the legacy of that surname and the country's image by spouting out lies and hurling abusive insults (lots of the "f word") at staff
- Speculations That IBM's CEO is on His Way Out
- IBM has mass layoffs, but the media is not covering this [...] IBM is a company in the loo, a firm in a state of rapid disintegration
- Slopwatch Was Deprecated, It's Not Coming Back
- LLMs that produce many words very fast (and waste a lot of energy in the process) cannot compete with authentic news sites
- WELCOME to The Cyber|Show @ Geminispace!
- Andy set things up this past week
- Links 18/04/2026: Microsoft's PR Department (Waggener Edstrom) and CEO's Wife Buys NPR (BillPR, Now BallmerPR) as Independent/Public Service Media Dims Down
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 18/04/2026: Chronic Pain and CodingFont Game
- Links for the day
- Links 17/04/2026: "I Hate the Internet" and Fake Wallet in Apple App Store
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, April 17, 2026
- European Patent Office (EPO) Strikes and Other Industrial Actions Are Working: Patent Application Grants Have Collapsed
- Even before the strikes happened any day of the week
- Pension Contribution Increases as Another Attack on Compensation for EPO Staff (Mostly Patent Examiners)
- Pension contribution increases!
- Almost 1,000 IBM Layoffs Not Newsworthy (Nobody Covers It), Unlike When Snap Does It and Mentions a Celebrated - or Reviled - Buzzword
- not a word regarding IBM layoffs
- Behind the Scenes With Richard Stallman
- If you support his ideas, even if you dislike him as a person, then you'll welcome his ability to speak about those ideas
- Gemini Links 17/04/2026: "Many Problems and Inequities in the Legal System", "No Place to Hide"
- Links for the day
- Links 17/04/2026: SRA Breaks Its Own Rules as Solicitor Attempts Suicide, IPv6 Barely Hits 50% After 20+ Years
- Links for the day
- ActBlue former IT boss disappearance: Decklin Foster & Debian, Harvard suicide lab, Chris Gleason is wife, whistleblower or both?
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 17/04/2026: Getting competent in NixOS and Alhena 5.5.6 Released
- Links for the day
- Links 17/04/2026: "We Cannot Lose Sight of Ukraine" and "When Leaders Should Resign"
- Links for the day
- GizChina Appears to Have Become a Slopfarm, I.e. Fake News Site With Fake Text
- Don't waste a moment reading LLM slop, as at the very least it rewards plagiarism [...] Deemed to be slop also by two human beings, not just two scanners
- Massive, Cross-Site Strike at the EPO Today
- There's coordination across sites for maximal pressure
- Dr. Andy Farnell Says "AI" is "Only a Marketing Term" for Things That Exist for "Entertainment Purposes Only"
- distortion or misuse of the term (now buzzword/s) "AI"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 16, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, April 16, 2026
- Strikes at the EPO Carry on, Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) Increases Pressure Ahead of Technical and Operational Support Committee (TOSC) Meeting Next Week
- the local section The Hague (or SUEPO TH) wants to rally many staff members
- Gemini Links 16/04/2026: LLM Nuisance, Identity Systems (Surveillance), and Why Windows is Failing
- Links for the day
- 'Going Offline' is Not Primitivism
- Computers are good at automation, but people are not robots
- The Register MS Has Published Article With "AI" 18 Times in it, "Cloud" 9 Times. It Got Paid to Do This.
- What happened to journalism?
- In Europe, More People Turn to Russia for Answers, Not Microsoft
- The future of computing doesn't look pretty
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 48 Out of 200: Brett Wilson LLP and 5RB Copy-Pasting Bogus Claims for Violent Americans (Microsoft) Who Tell Women to Kill Themselves
- Microsoft's Graveley telling his partner to kill herself is probably a crime
- The EFF Is Hardly Doing Anything Anymore
- Our series about the EFF has been brewing for over 2 years already
- Microsoft Uses Slop to Bribe (at No Cost) Nations That Otherwise Would Move to GNU/Linux and IBM is Forcing Red Hat Staff to Use Slop
- Life it too short to waste "consuming" slop
- Links 16/04/2026: Roblox Launching ‘Roblox Kids’ Accounts and "Deepfake Nudes Crisis in Schools"
- Links for the day
- Red Hat Staff: IBM Red Hat Laid Off About 400 Engineers, the Media Did Not Cover This
- The media is not doing its job or doing a really shoddy job
- Gemini Links 16/04/2026: Nocturnal Pulse, Unpersoned Outlaws, and Monaspace Lagrange Fontpacks
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman Lecture in GDC Auditorium in Austin, Texas
- corporate power could not 'cancel' the man
- It's Not About the Head, It's About the Masters (and Funding)
- Regardless of who the OSI claims to be its leader, its masters are Microsoft, just follow the money
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 15, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, April 15, 2026