Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 07/08/2009: KDE 4.3 and Linux Mint 7 (KDE) Reviews



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat
    The filing adds Linux distro vendors Canonical, the sponsor of Ubuntu, and Red Hat (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), to the list of competitors for Microsoft's Client division. Previously, Red Hat was listed only as a competitor for its Microsoft Business and Server & Tools divisions, writes Bishop.


  • Wear Your Love for Linux on Your Sleeve
    Ferguson goes on to say that to avoid copyright restrictions, he and the designers are only able to consider concepts and original slogans, not images or artwork. Once all the collaboration is over and design decisions are made, free t-shirts will be given to anyone who contributed a chosen design.


  • Digitalizing My Personal Finances on Linux
    So I looked at GNUcash, which I remember playing with back in my early induction into the Linux community. GNUcash is much more complex then HomeBank and would be an excellent alternative to proprietary paid financial managers.




  • Desktop

    • From Mac to Linux: A Musician Convert
      Now Peter Kirn has captured Cascone's conversion story on createdigitalmusic.com. Interesting about the article is not only the facts of Cascone's conversion, but the comments accompanying it that contain numerous tips and information on sound processing under Linux.








  • Applications

    • Top 24 Linux Apps
      Though Linux comes in many different flavors, there are a common string of favorite apps that seem to unite all users.

      These apps are high-quality, versatile, professional, reliable, and often available in many different packages (deb, rpm, etc). If you're new to the Linux game, or simply want a list of programs that have been re-verified as excellent by many hundreds of users, this article is for you. To download and install the apps, just go to your built-in package manager.


    • A look at the server GUI argument
      People who do use a GUI should do so knowing the risks of exploitations and security and try to keep a system updated and use the GUI only when needed.

      If you aren't actively sitting at the machine, stop the x server until you need to use it again. This will go a long way to improving overall resourcefulness and productivity.

      It doesn't need to be a fight. Use the system how it works best for you. Just make sure you know all the facts going in to be the best prepared as possible.








  • Desktop Environments

    • Free Desktop Communities come together at the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit
      This year's Gran Canaria Desktop Summit represented the first time the GNOME and KDE communities have co-located their annual conferences in the same location. 852 free software advocates from 46 countries gathered together last month to discuss and enhance the free desktop experience at the first ever Gran Canaria Desktop Summit.


    • KDE 4.3 “Caizen” Review
      That probably covers the main features in the release especially the ones I’ve liked. Overall its is stable and the KDE developers themselves have said – “KDE 4.3 offers a more stable and complete product for the home and small office.” I think this was the release we were all waiting for in terms of stability and features as well.






  • Distributions

    • Tiny Core: The Little Distro That Could
      The way we use computers is changing, but Linux isn’t standing still. Tiny Core is a minimal Linux distribution that boots a complete live system for every day use. Its foundation and unique approach to the desktop helps it achieve certain goals like preventing system rot and ensuring your system is fresh every time it boots.

      [...]

      Although Tiny Core is a relatively new distro, it has a great deal of history behind it already. It is developing at a rapid pace and implementing new features along the way. It really can change the way you think about running Linux over a more traditional method. It’s an exciting project and really worth playing with. It’s lots of fun and it does deliver on its promises. Try it out and see how fast, stable, clean and fun a Linux system can be!


    • Slackware 13.0 RC2 Brings Updated X Server and Video Drivers
      A few hours ago Slackware's creator, Patrick Volkerding, announced that the second release candidate of the upcoming Slackware 13.0 Linux distribution was available for download. This update brings numerous new base packages, like the Linux kernel version 2.6.29.6, X.Org Server 1.6.3 and the K Desktop Environment 4.2.4. However, there are no official ISO builds for this release, but those interested in testing Slackware 13.0 RC2 can get it by using the link at the end of the article.


    • Linux Mint 7 (KDE)
      Suitable For: Beginner, intermediate or advanced Linux users. Highly recommended for beginners. Summary: A terrific alternative to the Gnome version of Linux Mint 7 for KDE users. Rating: 4/5




    • Red Hat

      • Whole Foods Recognized for Innovative Deployment of Linux Solutions
        Whole Foods Market was named a finalist in open-source solution provider Red Hat’s Third Annual Innovation Awards, which recognize the outstanding use, innovation and extension of Red Hat and JBoss solutions by Red Hat customers, partners and the open-source community.












  • Devices/Embedded

    • Real-time technology gains user conference
      Denx announced the first Xenomai User Meeting, which will co-locate with OSADL's Eleventh Real Time Linux Workshop (RTLWS11) in Dresden, Germany, on Sep. 28-30. The Xenomai meeting will showcase this major real-time Linux extension alternative to PREEMPT RT -- and maybe help make peace between the warring camps.




    • Phones

      • T-Mobile Android phone ships, garners endorsement
        The MyTouch 3G (pictured at right) is the first Android phone to ship out of the box with the new and much improved Android 1.5 "cupcake" release of the Linux/Java mobile platform. T-Mobile has also added its own additional apps and UI elements on top of Android, although the additions are not nearly as extensive as those offered in the Sense UI made available on HTC's upcoming Hero phone.


      • Android to get Opera Mobile
        Opera Mini is available for Android now, and the Android browser itself is pretty darn good. Opera Mobile is a nice browser, and it works with the Opera servers to make mobile browsing lightning fast.








    • Sub-notebooks

      • Netscape redux: Google's Chrome browser now an OS
        At its core, Google's new desktop, netbook, smartphone OS is built around Google's just introduced Chrome browser and will debut by the second half of 2010.

        It will initially be targeted at the low-cost netbook market, although it will eventually migrate to the PC segment, an area long dominated by Microsoft, which is planning to roll out the latest version of its Windows OS later this year.


      • Interview: Clutter maintainer Emmanuele Bassi
        We already experimented with WebKit in the past, but moved to Gecko because of the better integration with most of the sites out there; Aaron is using Clutter inside "Cubano", a media player based on the Banshee framework and mostly targeted at platforms like netbooks.

        The GNOME Shell project, which is considered one of the major new features of the future GNOME 3.0 release, is using Clutter for the UI and as part of the window manager, just like the Moblin netbook user experience is. GNOME Shell alone would expose something between hundreds of thousands and millions of users to Clutter.












Free Software/Open Source

  • Fourth Annual Open Source CMS Award Launched
    The 2009 Open Source CMS Award was launched today, inviting people to visit www.PacktPub.com and submit nominations for their favorite Open Source Content Management Systems. Now in its fourth year, the Award has helped to support a variety of Content Management Systems gain recognition in a crowded and high quality marketplace.


  • Another step forward for open source video
    An amazing Open Video Conference in New York earlier this year brought together video creators, technology hackers, entrepreneurs, and others to address the crossroads of open source/open content/open society and the facts of digital media technologies, file formats, standards, and the legal/regulatory climate. At the same time, the amazing Mozilla project demonstrated their support for the <video> tag. Companies like SpectSoft are creating amazing, high-spec VTRs and DDRs (running Linux, natch), and now Blackmagic Design announces Linux SDKs for several video interface products. Finally, video is becoming a technology that sits where mainstream hackers can play!


  • Firefox Director Talks Firefox 3.6, Tasks, and Competing with Chrome
    We were eager to know what's happening with Firefox. Mike Beltzner, the open-source browser's director, was glad to tell us. Here's what he had to say about future features, competition with Chrome, and keeping all of Firefox contributors in sync.


  • Thoughts about Dual-licensing Open Source software
    Note that releasing your code as BSD for a project that has or may have GPL code doesn't protect your code from being dual-licensed in an unfavorable way. The only way to ensure full freedom for others is to only donate your code under a contributor agreement with a clause as suggested below or to a project that has agreeable guidelines for how they license their code!

    To assure our users, contributors, and customers of how we at Monty Program Ab intend to re-license the code we produce or the code people donate to us, I have added the following note to our contributor agreement:

    "Monty Program Ab agrees that when it dual licenses code, it will not restrict the way the third party licensee uses the licensed copy of the code nor restrict how they use their own code."




Leftovers

  • Websense sharpens the axe as sales fall
    The move is a response to a slowdown in security spending during the recession. PC World reports that Websense plans to lay off 70 people from its worldwide workforce of 1,400.




  • Literature

    • Rupert Murdoch vs. Rupert Murdoch On Free vs. Paid News Websites
      Either way, given those statements, perhaps it's no surprise at all that Murdoch is now planning to put paywalls across all his online news properties in the relatively near future. Apparently the plan will be based on the WSJ model, meaning that some stories were be available for free, but there will be severe limits. Given how many old school newspaper guys have talked about putting up a paywall, this isn't much of a surprise (though, it is still odd given his comments from two years ago).


    • Internet Archive orders Google to delay culture grab
      In October, Google settled a lawsuit from the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over its Book Search project, which that seeks to digitize the works inside the world's libraries. Still awaiting court approval after an October hearing, it would - among other things - give the company a unique license to scan and sell and post ads against orphan works, titles whose rights holders can't be found.


    • Smithsonian Commons and Sustainable Content Usage Policies
      Congratulations to the Smithsonian for thinking about the future lives of their content in such a sustainable fashion. We’re very excited to see the future developments that the Smithsonian Commons brings to free culture on an institutional scale.








  • Imaginary Property Issues

    • Should You Really Need a License to Run a Video Arcade?
      In light of these concerns, I fail to see why Amherst or any other city should be in the business of licensing video arcades. And even if they are doing so for tax purposes, they shouldn’t be using that power to censor arcade games or shutting down businesses that offer such games.


    • What A Job: Making Sure No Brands Appear In A Movie
      What a stupendous waste of time, money and resources. But it shows what a ridiculous society we've created, where intellectual property law means that you can't have a McDonald's appear anywhere in the background in a movie. I'm sure that's exactly what our founding fathers were concerned about when they put in place the constitutional clause about "promoting the progress."


    • A Band That Knows Where the Money Comes From
      Chester French isn’t your typical rock band. Singer D.A. Wallach and multi-instrumentalist Max Drummey met as freshmen at Harvard, where lanky, longhaired Drummey majored in social anthropology and twee, preppy Wallach graduated as the top student in the school’s African-American Studies program. In the video for their best-known song, “She Loves Everybody,” a pretty girl punches the stuffing out of the two helpless weaklings, leaving them bloody-nosed among their broken guitars and drums.

      [....]

      Instead of giving interviews to reporters or dropping by radio stations, Wallach spends most of his time online, going through an average 100 to 200 e-mail messages a day. “We respond to every single e-mail we get,” he said. “I do an hour in the morning and an hour at night.








Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Luis Casas Luengo, Director of Extremadura's Fundecyt foundation 20 (2004)



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

Recent Techrights' Posts

Journalists Should be Ashamed for Parroting False Claims From IBM Management About "Quantum Computing", Say IBM Insiders Who Work on "Quantum Computing"
IBM is a buzzwords vendor. International Buzzwords Machines.
Exposing Corruption Using a Highly Resilient Platform
Growing levels of trust, based on our track record, help us attract whistleblowers
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) Has Weakened If Not Ruined What's Left of Big Media
Many things that have existed for decades are now being rebranded as "AI"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 97 Out of 200: Garrett in Hiding (From the Simple Observable Fact He's Closely Connected to the Microsofter Who Strangles Women, Tells Women to Kill Themselves, and Worse)
They use one another; they are coordinating this via the SLAPP industry in another continent
Rust Outsources its Financing (or Financial Control) to Microsoft
How long before the third "E"?
IBM's Shares Fell Nearly 13% in One Day (Including After Hours)
its main product is false promises
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: "Operation Influencer"
Costa's political career was far from finished
 
Links 04/06/2026: Self-hosting Remotely and GemText Emphasis
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2026: Ukraine’s Daily Moment of Silence and Uber Lays off 23% of HR
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 98 Out of 200: Microsoft Threatening Real Security Researcher With Criminal Investigation for Talking About Microsoft's Bug Doors/Back Doors
The crime should be the back doors (deliberate attack on every user's data protection), not talking about those back doors
Microsoft Would Get Away Even With Pedophilia
"Microsoft should never be above the law"
Free Software is Nourishment to Software Users, Unlike Proprietary Software
Quit treating "mere users" of software "like animals"
The "Peanut Gallery" of GAFAM Has Infiltrated Free Software Projects or Disrupts Free Software Communities
They contribute nearly nothing and do substantial damage; they're freeloaders who attack the most productive members of projects
Coding is Not a Quantity Game (It Never Was!)
"less is more"
Mass Layoffs Expected at Microsoft in July 2026
They're preparing more "lists" of people
Reflection on EPO Leadership That Harbours Cocaine, IBM Leadership That Pumps-and-Dumps the Shares, and More
ManCity replaced Manuel Pellegrini with a more famous manager it didn't envision winning 20 titles in 10 years (it could only hope) [...] Team-building is something that "Pep" seemed to be good at, as was Jürgen Klopp
Pump and Dump by IBM Insider Traders: Nickle LaMoreaux, Gary Cohn, James Kavanaugh, Arvind Krishna, Robert Thomas, and Others
the shares are already collapsing
Links 04/06/2026: Microsoft Threatening Security Researcher for Naming Back Doors in BitLocker, "Demand is Booming for" Old Tech
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2026: "Word Vomit", Slop", and Moving to Gopher/Gemini
Links for the day
"Format Sovereignty" Can Only be Accomplished With LaTeX or OpenDocument Format (ODF) or Vendor-Neutral Standards for Editable Documents
Microsoft is, in effect, above the law
The Cyber Show on the Importance of Software Freedom and Why GNU/Linux Could Not be Stopped
an excellent article
Drew DeVault Can Still Redeem His Reputation. Revisiting His Attacks (and Attack Site) on Richard Stallman Might be a Good Start.
DeVault has openly apologised (this past spring)
The Register MS is Publishing Paid SPAM; Some of It is Designed to Prop Up the "AI" Pyramid Scheme
The Register MS participates in scams
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 03, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 03, 2026
GNU/Linux Usage Rising Among Gamers, But "Hardware Survey Data Not Available."
Not anymore, not for now anyway
Jumping Up and Down on the Shoulders of Giants, Never Talking About What Bill Gates Did
We're back to 2019
Despite LLM Slop or Chatbots, Our Traffic Has Doubled Since We Moved Everything to the UK (in 2023)
The demise of news sites was not what we thought it would be
Software Developers Attacked by Plagiarism Engines Because These Developers Can Teach People How to Exercise Control, Not Outsource to Monopolies of Slop and Back Doors
"Universities should be telling industry what is to be done next, not the other way about. Present education policy has the tail wagging the dog."
Quantum Quantum Quantum Quantum (Pump, Then Dump)
What has IBM become?
Communicating With Freedom - Part I - Developing “Quibble” and Improving GNU LibreJS in the Process
In the next part we shall examine where things currently stand
Quantum Computers Are "All the Rage" (35 Years Ago, What IBM Promises This Year is What People Promised When the CEO Was in His 20s)
"Quantum" hype is high on the agenda
How IBM Removes 15% of Its Staff Without Even Checking Performance of Staff (or Calling That "Layoffs")
Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) as veiled RAs
Links 03/06/2026: Mobile Systems, Openwashing, and New Antenna
Links for the day
Canonical as Reseller of Back Doors in "Ubuntu" Clothing
Microsoft is the antithesis of security and autonomy
Romania Used to be Windows Stronghold, But That's No Longer the Case
Windows was once upon a time so ubiquitous that institutions didn't bother supporting anything except it
KDE Has Long Used Dragons, and Dragons Come From Hatched Eggs
That Microsoft Lunduke tries to paint this as some "trans agenda" thing says a lot about Microsoft Lunduke and his COVID-19-damaged brain
IBM Announces 5 Billion Dollars "Invested" in "AI", in "Security", and 10 Billion Dollars for "Quantum", But IBM Does Not Have This Kind of Money (It's Fake News to Manipulate the Share Price)
IBM has fast-growing debt and liabilities, it does not intend to invest this kind of money, it's a smokescreen and false promises timed to alleviate the sagging share price (52-week low)
When Science and Religion Are on the Same Side, United Against Slop Pushers
The "Mathematics Pope" (sometimes known as "Pope Pi") brought together science and religion, united against technofascists who are mostly college drop-outs who abhor women
Links 03/06/2026: "In Turkey, Criticizing a Corporation Can Land You in Jail" and "Court Bans X Account of Turkey's Oldest Newspaper"
Links for the day
Web Censorship Benefits the Corrupt and the Criminal
More so when corrupt politicians are in charge
Have a "Lifetime" Without Microsoft
The online rage over this is still ongoing
Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine Undoing Censorship of Corporate Wrongdoing
That won't go away anymore
"For Entertainment Purposes Only" But Everyone Must Adopt It for Work and Governance, Say Anti-Scientific Technocrats
"The present mentality around "AI" is like driving to the gym to use a treadmill - it's walking for people who hate fresh air and beautiful changing scenery."
Gemini Links 03/06/2026: Ian Murdock's Ex-wife Footprint in Debian and Alhena 5.6.1 Released
Links for the day
Irish Company statCounter Recognises It Overestimated Microsoft Windows' Market Share in Ireland
it seems like the Irish people are gradually moving away from Windows
Corporate Media Participates in the Lie That Mass Layoffs at GitLab and Loss of Geographic Footprint in More Than a Third of Countries is "AI" and Thus "Success Story"
There's no way to spin this as positive news
Slop Prompting is Not a Coding Skill and Slop Deserves Shunning
Red Hat is hypocritically shunning the very same thing it keeps promoting
IBM colleagues "handed out a PIP and then right after the end date they are gone"
Some go into early 'retirement' to save face
SLAPP Censorship - Part 96 Out of 200: When You Receive Death Threats From Anonymous Sockpuppets/Burner Accounts Connected to People Who Strangle Women and Tell Women to Kill Themselves
Women are not objects and my wife ought not be mentioned in "threats to kill" (how cops have described this)
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - Introducing the Other António
António Costa
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 02, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 02, 2026
Advertisements as Articles in The Register MS
Trust in media
Social Control Media Does Not Improve Reach, It Wastes a Lot of Time
many people still think that no presence in Social Control Media necessarily means invisibility
Links 02/06/2026: New York Times Debunks "Hey Hi (AI) Layoffs" (Excuse, False Narrative), Sheinbaum Publicly Bemoans US Meddling
Links for the day
Despite Mass Layoffs and Culls Dubbed "Buyouts" Google's Debt Doubled in a Year and It's Desperate for Money (to Pay Salaries and Bills)
Google and GAFAM in general have mass layoffs because they have no clear route towards profitability
Gemini Links 02/06/2026: Arch Linux WriterDeck and Papyrix Reader
Links for the day
Bloggers Still Have Considerable Impact on This Planet
Nowadays, in academia almost anywhere in the world, there's growing expectation that lecturers will spend not much of the time doing research or even teaching
The Firing Line Against Techrights
Tomorrow we'll tell a story about campaigns to intimidate us with death threats
The Cyber Show on the Fight Against Technofascism
It's very long (all combined), but nevertheless refreshing
What Efforts to Cancel Richard Stallman Ought to Teach Us About the Media, Including Very Large British Publishers
Richard Stallman is like a modern-age Alfred Dreyfus
After Threats to Greenland Northern Europe Seems to be Moving Away From Microsoft Windows Even Faster
The facts on the ground are, more people/businesses/institutions "get the message"
Claim of 500+ IBM Red Hat Layoffs With Termination Next Month
IBM is doing great... at hiding internal affairs
Slop Did Not Rewire Democracy, It's a Giant Flop
we already see slop giants accepting they'll never make money
The Register MS Embeds in Articles "SPONSORED LINKS" That Link to "AI" Ponzi Scheme/Scam
The circular financing giants are allocating budget for the spam, as do the banks (lenders)
Many Countries Divest From Microsoft
new numbers at statCounter today
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: A Tale of Two Antónios - On the Campaign Trail in Brussels
Part 1
SEO is an Acronym That Stands for Slop Engine Orientation
The Web changed a lot when Web directories, portals, and then social control media gained popularity
IRC Network OFTC is Shedding Off Servers
Down to 17
Julian Assange's Counsel Jennifer Robinson Has Just Won an Award
Jennifer Robinson is relatively young
Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (Swiss Federal Railways) and Richard Stallman
It seems like RMS is receiving endorsement or at least belated recognition from very high-profile institutions
Almost 30 Years After Rob Malda Made Slashdot It Still Inspires New Implementations
Maybe the issue isn't Slash per se, just the complexity of it (which SoylentNews complained about in the past)
Links 02/06/2026: "The Infosec Phrasebook", 'Perfect Randomness' and "Leaving the Tech World Professionally"
Links for the day
Faking Demand for Slop: Google's Search Prompt Becomes Slop Prompt (Bait, Switch, Fake Usage)
If there is no consent, then it's unsustainable
When You Give People (or Companies) Money to Buy Your Own Products and Then Call It "Revenue"
A lot of modern "economics" don't benefit ordinary people (all they get is high inflation rates); they're devaluing money by faking economic activity
IBM is Self-Detonating, the Cheeto-Infused Rally is Another Con by Don
pump and dump
"Quantum" as the "Next Big" Bubble
disappointing and delivering nothing
Links 02/06/2026: "$1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Benefits Billionaire Cheeto Mussolini Supporters", US "Plans to Criminalize Sleeping Outside"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/06/2026: Organising Oneself and Killing Off Distracting "Notifications"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 95 Out of 200: The Growing Risk of Tolerating Men Who Abuse and Physically Assault Women
FOSS should not be a "safe harbour" or "hideout" for criminals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 01, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 01, 2026