Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 23/05/2009: Gaming, Phones, and Sub-notebooks



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Discovery: The Ultimate Linux Device - The Kickfire Appliance
    Kickfire is having a contest where you can win a Kickfire appliance. You'll have to compete with me, of course, and others who want to win the ultimate Linux device but we'll all have fun doing it.


  • Statistics, Market Share, Logic, and Why There Probably Can't Be Only One
    Operating systems aren't immortal beings, and by rights, there can't be (there shouldn't be) only one. McKenzie reiterates Brian Proffitt's take on the Freeform Dynamics report, highlighting the idea that visual artists and graphic designers generally find using Linux less appealing (or workable) than those in IT departments, or even generalized office workers.


  • Sometimes Linux is really better
    I've been very impressed with the latest Ubuntu and it seems that the polish goes far deeper than just the eye candy.

    Next week I'm off to Melbourne and the office lent me a nifty 3G USB wireless dongle, a Huawei model E169, supplied by Optus.




  • Events

    • Taiwan open source conference sets agenda
      An agenda has been posted for the FreedomHEC Taipei open source conference in Taiwan. Scheduled for June 10-11, the conference focuses on embedded hardware running open source Linux, and includes presentations on Linux fast-boot technology, GPL licensing, the Qi bootloader, and Coreboot.


    • Red Hat Open Source Forum
      The Red Hat Open Source Forum will explore how to carve out costs with open source technologies in the current economic climate. Taking place in London on 16 June, 2009, the full day conference, for IT professionals will feature testimony from Red Hat partners and customers on the benefits provided by open source solutions.






  • Applications

    • Ubuntu Polishes GNU Screen
      GNU Screen is a terminal multiplexer program that Linux folk have used for ages. It allows you to turn one terminal into many, and run processes even after logging out. In this article we will give a brief overview of screen usage for the uninitiated, then talk about how Ubuntu’s defaults and new screen-profiles package have taught us about new and wonderful features of screen.


    • Download Themes for Your Gnome Desktop with Gnome Art
      Gnome Art is an art website which allows you to download and install various items such as icons, backgrounds, desktop themes, login window theme and gtk engine. This website comes with a very interesting application which is in the Ubuntu repositories. If you want to install it, run this in a terminal:


    • A new feature for Krita
      Yesterday, I took a day off from serious things like redesigning the library structure of KOffice, working on the Krita part of the redesigned KOffice website, trying to optimize the hell out of freehand painting and several other things, like being too sick to actually think straight for two consecutive moments and so not making much progress with any of these things.

      I took a holiday, in short, a chance to add a nice little feature to Krita: image backgrounds.








  • Games

    • Linux MMORPG Game Engine Sees Major Update
      Regnum Online, a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game that has a native Linux client offered by its developers (NGD Studios), has received a major overhaul. Regnum Online is one of the very few MMORPGs that has a native Linux client, but now its own game engine got a whole lot more powerful. The game engine has been reworked greatly and is now known as NG3D2.0, but later this year they already plan to introduce another major update on top of that.


    • Mystic Mine Sale
      Koonsolo is starting production on their next game, but as you might know this can be quite costly especially for a small game developer. In order to gain some funds quickly, they are doing a promotion and sell their current game ‘Mystic Mine‘ at a huge price discount!


    • Vendetta Online launches Dynamic Warfare.
      With the Friday night release, Linux-friendly space MMO Vendetta Online has launched Dynamic Warfare: a new long-term battle and large-scale warfare mechanic designed to permit factional conquest of geographical areas.








  • Desktop Environments







  • Devices/Embedded

    • UMID M1 mbook Available now in Linux and Windows XP and Both Very Pricey
      The $659.42 (Linux) and $765.78 (XP) price points won’t help its cause either. For these prices, UMID could’ve used an aluminum chassis and maybe an OLED screen and higher-capacity 32GB SSD.


    • Home media server to demo on Intel Atom platform
      At Computex, Intel and Amahi plan to demonstrate an embedded version of the latter's Amahi Linux Home Server software designed for Intel Atom N270 processors. The open source Home Digital Assistant (HDA) will provide media sharing and backup on integrated media servers and home routers, says Amahi.




    • Phones

      • NTT DoCoMo to Releases Their First Android Phone in Japan
        Behold the HT-03A, that according to this Japanese blog (memn0ck.com) is DoCoMo's future Android powered phone. The HT-03A running Android 1.5 Cupcake (aka HTC Magic) (Eric Lin introduced us to it on video here).


      • Panasonic to embrace open-source smartphones
        Speaking at a press conference in Japan, Keisuke Ishii, board member and director of the Mobile Terminal Business Unit at Panasonic Mobile Communications, said the company is "seriously considering developing an Android-based handset and entering overseas mobile phone markets in fiscal 2010."






    • Sub-notebooks

      • Linux Distros For Netbooks
        Most Linux distros are suitable for netbook use. But fine-tuning your particular flavor of netbook by finding an even friendlier Linux distro isn't too difficult. Matching up your rig's configuration: screen size, devices, and drivers -- and your own style of work and play -- with the most conducive Linux distro, you'll get the max out of your mini-laptop.


      • Et Tu, Intel? Microsoft's Ambitions Lie Bleeding
        Intel’s new operating system, designed for cloud-computing devices like smartphones and netbooks, is a potentially fatal stab wound to Microsoft’s operating system empire.

        [...]

        Intel’s decision to develop Moblin was clearly driven by the success of smartphones and netbooks, both of which rely on the cloud to do most of the processing and storage that traditional PCs perform on the device itself. Microsoft has tried to float the idea that it will survive the obsolescence of traditional PCs and laptops because of the largely spurious idea that Windows 7 is optimized for netbooks.












Free Software/Open Source





Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Steve Weber, creator of the phrase "anti-rival goods" 20 (2005)

Ogg Theora





Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Techrights Will Spend the Next Few Years Writing a Lot About Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
It's a growing problem
The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month
NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
 
Links 05/04/2025: TikTok Unsold (Still), Royal Society is Dead
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025
Microsoft's Trouble in Africa and Asia
A new all-time high for GNU/Linux
Brett Wilson LLP Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
The saddest thing in all this is that law firms can maintain high standards shall they wish to
Links 03/04/2025: Tariff Pains and C.D.C. Cuts
Links for the day
StatCounter: Microsoft is Masking a Disaster, It's Way Behind DeepSeek Already and Interest in LLMs Has Waned
it turns out the money "raised" for "Open" "AI" may not even exist at all
Links 03/04/2025: SoftBank Money for Microsoft "Open" "AI" Probably Doesn't Even Exist, Wikimedia Foundation Blasts LLM Nuisance While Microsoft Admits Demand Has Shrunk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/04/2025: Patch Panel and Pictures
Links for the day
Islamic Republic of Iran: GNU/Linux at All-time High This Month, Windows Falls to 12%
Vista 10 is up this month despite being "end of life" (EoL) soon
Indonesia: All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
What's noteworthy right now is the growth of GNU/Linux
statCounter Says GNU/Linux Usage is Up Again (Internationally)
some preliminary April data
Only on April 1st Can the Free Software Foundation Associate With Microsoft's Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We saw some pranks that day linking the FSF to Microsoft (e.g. "endorsing" Windows)
Confirmed in the Mainstream Media: A Lot of Microsoft "Workloads" Were Just LLM Slop (Helping to Fake Growth for Years, as Microsoft Had Paid "Open" "AI" to Become a "Client") and Demand is Rapidly Waning, Datacentres Canceled and/or Shut Down
Anything to facilitate further accounting fraud
Taiwan's Media Covers Closure of Microsoft's "AI" Lab, It's Time to Talk About the Gradual Death of Windows and Implosion of the "AI" Bubble
Earlier this week we showed that mostly Asian media had the 'nerve' to mention Microsoft silently shutting down its 'AI' lab
IBM Gets Rid of Kelly Chambliss as Mass Layoffs Reported in IBM Consulting, IBM Loses Key Contracts/Graft
IBM Consulting has been in disarray lately
More Gains for GNU/Linux, Based on Web Surveys
the Steam site shows rapid growth for "Linux" this month
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux Articles, Not Even Written by Humans
Why aren't Web sites more vocal about this problem?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Links 03/04/2025: Apple Fined Over Secret Surveillance, "Elegant Writer For A More Civilized Age"
Links for the day