Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 23/08/2009: SLAMPP 2.0, Nokia May Enter Sub-notebooks with Linux



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Open-source world is his
    Until his junior year of high school, McLean, 18, was an "average computer user." That's when a friend turned him on to Linux, a type of open-source software, where programmers can modify the underlying code.

    Next week, he starts his freshman year at Duke University and plans to study computer science and religion. His college costs will be partly paid with a 2009 Fedora scholarship, which recognizes students for their contributions to free, open-source software.


  • Korean OSS Contest Opens Doors to Worldwide Developers
    The deadline is fast approaching for open source developers to participate in Open Source Software Challenge 2009 contest, hosted by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy of South Korea.

    Until August 30, students and any other developer who wants to participate, can register for the Challenge, which is aimed at giving international competitors a chance to contribute to projects from around the world, fostering information exchange and the growth of a network of worldwide open source developers.


  • Froscon Day 1.
    This year I decided to go to Froscon. I had planned to go the last couple of years, but I never actually did it. And I must admit that I like it very much. The differences with for example Fosdem are huge. The developer tracks are really of the level of Getting Things Done instead of talking about it. Also the location is quite ok. The rooms are tidy, I can sit perfectly (something I can't say about Fosdem), the heat in the rooms is bearable and also the acoustic is very good. Most tracks are in German, but some are in English. Just the right ones.


  • Apple and Linux share the same design philosophy
    See what I mean? I will make a rough cut and say that Apple people develop frontend and Linux folks develop backend. But what unites them is that they both have a personal vested interest that the software succeeds, because they personally care about it. Which is opposed to the view of “professional designer” and “the user is not like me”.


  • 7 reasons I choose Linux over Windows 7
    Many have marked the 22nd of October on their calendars,but they seem to have forgotten the presence of the penguin.Mind you my friend the penguin is everywhere.Here are some of the Linux distributions releasing around that date

    Ubuntu Karmic : October 29th

    Fedora 12 : November 3rd

    OpenSuse 11.2 : November 12th




  • Kernel Space

    • The big guns of Linux kernel development
      As the report notes, the Linux kernel remains one of the largest and most successful open-source projects, able to sustain both rapid growth and rapid change. And, importantly, the distributed development efforts mean that development can continue on even if certain companies opt out of future efforts.

      Perhaps Linux is the only truly future proof technology?


    • Linux 2.6.31-rc7
      You know the drill, so all together now: "Another week, another -rc kernel".

      Most of the changes are small one-liners, but the dirstat shows the areas that got a bit more tender loving care:

      17.4% arch/arm/mach-omap2/ 2.2% arch/arm/mm/ [...]








  • Applications

    • World of Padman: Open-Source First-Person Shooter Game for Linux
      World of Padman is an open-source, cartoon-style first-person shooter game available for Linux too, besides Windows and Mac. It is a wonderful standalone game based upon the Quake 3 engine.


    • 5 RSS Feed Readers for Linux
      Here are 5 of the most popular, standalone feed reader applications for Linux. I didn't include feed readers which come with applications like Firefox, Opera or Thunderbird for example, but these can also be considered a viable alternative to the ones below.


    • Audacious 2.1 Review - Powerful Audio Replacement for XMMS
      Audacious is a powerful audio player for Linux which resembles the older XMMS, only using GTK2 toolkit for its interface. It supports XMMS and implicitly Winamp 2.x skins, coming with support for various audio formats, including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) or WMA (Windows Media Audio).


    • Top 3 Linux Vector Graphics Editors
      Formely known as Xara LX, it is based on Xara Xtreme for Windows, which is the fastest graphics program available, period. The Xara Xtreme source code was made available open-source in early 2006, and is being ported to Linux.




    • Simon

      • Simon - speech activated user interface for KDE
        Every once in a while, the KDE community stumbles across a third party application that is well integrated into KDE, but has somehow managed to fly completely beneath the radar. One such application is called simon (small 's' intentional), a speech recognition program that integrates well with KDE and provides a means of interacting with KDE using voice recognition.


      • How-To: Install Simon Speech Recognition Application in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
        Simon is a very nice KDE4 project with the goal of developing a speech recognition application and it currently works pretty well by letting the user record certain words and execute various commands given via a microphone. Since currently it is not included in the Ubuntu repositories, here are instructions on getting it up and running in Jaunty.










  • Distributions

    • Mandriva Linux 2010.0 Beta Has Plymouth
      Dear Mandriva fans, the time has come to announce the Beta release of the upcoming Mandriva Linux 2010.0 Linux distribution, due for launch in November this year. The features of this release are exactly what everyone was expecting, the KDE 4.3 and GNOME 2.28 Beta desktop environments, as well as Linux kernel 2.6.31 RC6 and X.Org Server 1.6.2.


    • Noteworthy Mandriva Cooker changes (10 August – 23 August 2009)


    • [SLAMPP 2.0 Released]
      Latest stable release

      SLAMPP Live CD/DVD 2.0.1 (Kalinda) - August 21, 2009

      Download the latest SLAMPP here. What powers up SLAMPP 2.0.x?

      SLAMPP 2.0.x is built using Zenwalk 6.0 as its base and Slackware Linux for packages. To compile everything into a working live CD, Linux Live scripts are used.


    • Hilti Standardizes Systems on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SAP Solutions
      Red Hat, Inc., a provider of open source solutions, announced that Hilti has migrated its systems running SAP applications.




    • Ubuntu Family

      • New In Karmic: Installation Changes
        Canonical have been hard at work redesigning the Ubuntu installer ‘Ubiquity’ into something more user-friendly in time for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.


      • Review: Ubuntu 9.04
        Long time no see; I've been away from the Linux community for a year focusing on other avenues. Yesterday I closed distro-review.com down and ported the Linux reviews over to this blog again. Having been away from the scene for a long while it seems fitting to review Ubuntu 9.04 and see how the situation has changed.


      • PC-OS 2009.03
        All in all, PC-OS is a good distro, with points to place it above Ubuntu, but the fact that it is based upon 8.04 is disappointing as it misses out on many of the improvements made in later editions. While it is lighter than Ultimate Edition, I still think Ultimate Edition has the edge over it when it comes to ease of use.


      • Buntfu.com Upgrades with New Features and Services
        Launched in February 2008, Buntfu is located at http://www.buntfu.com. It enables anyone or company to list their inventory of GNU/Linux based computers on their auction style store. The site is completely free with no site fees, store fees, or closing cost fees.










  • Devices/Embedded

    • Firefox Mobile: Fennec 1.0 Beta 3 for Nokia tablets
      The last peep we heard about Fennec was in late June, when Mozilla updated its mobile edition of the Firefox browser for Windows Mobile phones. This week, the Firefox browser maker has released an updated version for the platform powering Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets: Fennec 1.0 Beta 3.


    • Nokia plans foray into netbook segment
      With the market for converged devices growing, the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia, on Wednesday said it is exploring various opportunities in this market and may enter the netbook segment. ( Watch )

      "...the PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge. A lot of opportunity can be seen in this converged area.






Free Software/Open Source

  • Open source software might be cheaper than alternatives, but it has many other business benefits, too.
    It is often said that open source software wins because it is cheaper.

    However, the bigger factor in the success of open source software in industry has been performance.

    [...]

    Here's our top ten reasons to consider using open source and Linux in your business.


  • Accidental open source hero
    “In the heart of any open source project there is a circle of copying, modifying and sharing, all of which takes place without having to go through a central process,” he explains. “That is what drives the diversity of ideas.”


  • Time to Help an Open Source Hero
    I've given $10, which may not be much, but if just a few dozen Linux Journal readers did the same, his hospital bills would be covered, and there might even be some money left over for the HeliOS Project too.


  • Analysts Say EC Will Scrutinize—but Ultimately Sanction—Oracle-Sun Deal
    The Brussels-based European Commission has scheduled an antitrust review date of Sept. 3 to discuss the multinational companies' proposed deal. It will look closely at two main areas of concern: Sun's Java networking software franchise and the enterprise parallel database market—two sectors in which Oracle stands to greatly increase its market share.


  • The e-Learning Lingo Podcast Discusses “Open Source Software”
    Dave Boggs, CEO of SyberWorks, states, “This week’s episode of the e-Learning Lingo Podcast describes software for which the original program instructions are widely available.”


  • Anthony Doesburg: Students open to new source of knowledge
    All of it is open-source - and free - saving an estimated $200,000 over the equivalent proprietary software from the likes of Microsoft. Yet, says Mark Osborne, Albany Senior High's deputy principal and IT co-ordinator, the money's only part of it.

    "The financial benefits of open-source are quite secondary to our overall goal, which is to be an open, collaborative community where nobody is shut out of the learning process; nobody is beyond our community."


  • Why do companies prefer proprietary products to GPL products?
    In the GPL case, you've spent $50,000 on features you find valuable. Indeed your competitors can now use that product and those features, but they can in the proprietary route.

    There are additional benefits to the GPL products that seem to get overlooked. We have full access to the source code. We usually have a community full of examples and solutions to any problems we may encounter, which are only a Google search away.




  • Web Browsers

    • Bespin cloud editor gains collaborative editing feature
      Mozilla Labs has released a new version of Bespin, a Web-based integrated development environment. The new version introduces support for collaborative editing.


    • 12 add-ons every Firefox user must have
      Firefox's extendibility is one of its great advantages, and there are thousands of plugins to choose from.

      But having so much choice can be confusing, and it's often hard to tell which add-ons are worth installing and which are best left alone. So look no further - here's our 12 essential Firefox extensions. Download them now!


    • Which Web Browser And Why?
      Stuck in a 'Net surfing rut? Firefox, IE, Safari, and Opera have all been refreshed recently, and newbies Google Chrome and Microsoft IE 8 have joined the fray. Here's how to choose.








  • Misc.

    • Defense Info Agency Open-Sources Its Web Apps
      DISA, which provide IT services to the Department of Defense, made the decision to share its applications after other agencies expressed interest in them, said Dick Nelson, chief of personnel systems support at DISA's manpower, personnel and security directorate. "Federal agencies discovered that the applications we have could be of benefit more widely," he said. Interest is coming from states and counties, as well.


    • Introducing PLoS Currents: Influenza








Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Jack Vice, Founder of robot maker Anthrotronix, Inc. 03 (2005)



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

Recent Techrights' Posts

Throwing Away "Old" Computers (Mozilla and Other Climate Deniers)
Mozilla is not leftist
Further Media Cut-downs
media reporting about the media being cut
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: Moon Eclipse and ROOPHLOCH Reports
Links for the day
 
Links 10/09/2025: Microsoft Layoffs in "RTO" Clothing and Windows TCO, GitHub TCO
Links for the day
Blaming Everything on China
TikTok works for China. GAFAM works for fascists.
People Get Tired of "Hey Hi" (AI), Unlike the Subservient Money-Obsessed Media That Gets Paid to Pretend This Bubble Still Matters
"crash will be way bigger than dot.com burst in 90s. and that was Internet, actually transformative technology, not this expensive AI toy with direct dependency on the energy input which is not scalable"
Brett Wilson LLP Accepts That the Serial Strangler From Microsoft Filed a Case That Also Implicates My Wife (Everything is Connected)
They used to pretend that there were two separate cases
10 Reasons to Disable (or Enable) UEFI Secure Boot
Tomorrow the "trusted corporation" Microsoft will see a certificate expire
Gemini Links 10/09/2025: Hospital and Large Feeds
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 09, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 09, 2025
The Bluewashing of Red Hat is Being Completed, Many Staff Understand They'll be Made Redundant
Jim AllowHurst (Whitehurst) is meanwhile promoting Microsoft's agenda from within other companies
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Exceeding 10% in Bulgaria This Month
What can Microsoft still do to stop GNU/Linux?
Dark Patterns
Microsoft saying "security" is like a Convicted Felon in the White House saying "law and order".
It's Almost Fall (Autumn)
To "Facebook prison" you are bound
Bruce Schneier About "Secure Boot"
Bruce Schneier isn't a fan of "Secure Boot"
Links 09/09/2025: Microsoft Mass Layoffs Again and "RTO" (Timed Like It Serves as a Distraction From the Mass Layoffs)
Links for the day
RMS Told Microsoft to Stop 'Secure Boot' (He Even Went There to Say That), But They Didn't Listen
Dr. Stallman (RMS) assumed that speaking to sociopaths would work
What Richard Stallman Told Me About 'Secure' Boot in 2012
"if the user doesn't control the keys, then it's a kind of shackle"
Those Who Helped Microsoft Weaponise "Secure Boot" Against GNU/Linux and BSDs Are Fleeing
Microsofters doing what they do best: they evade accountability
Simple is Better, Simplicity is Power
That is "the advantage of having commodity GNU/Linux systems," an associate notes
Much Ado About Nonsense
Microsoft Lunduke is still all dramatisation and sensationalism
Current Events in France
It needs to dump Microsoft and other GAFAM (US) giants, move to Free software
Links 09/09/2025: US-Korea Tensions and Meta Whistleblowers
Links for the day
Links 09/09/2025: “Torrents of Hate” and Political Crisis in France
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2025: "Dedigitizing" and Forgejo on FreeBSD
Links for the day
Google News (Not Just Google Search) Lets Itself by Gamed by One Slopfarm - to the Point Almost Half of "Linux" News is Bot-Produced Plagiarism (LLM Slop With Slop Images)
That says a lot about what Google thinks of quality, even in Google News
Bill Gates-Funded Media Inadvertently Refutes the Microsoft Lie That in 2025 Microsoft Had Just Two Waves of Layoffs
There were about 12 rounds of layoffs so far in 2025
Official SUSE Blog Still Uses LLM Slop (Bots) to Make Fake Articles (Marketing)
The company is all about sound bites
Companies Realise That Slop Doesn't Work as Advertised, Accordingly Dump It
"Hype dims as a country-wide survey of US corporations shows a sudden drop-off in AI use among firms with more than 250 employees."
Microsoft-Funded Lawsuits Against Critics of UEFI 'Secure Boot'
Remember that no company (or law firm) ever survives collaborations with Microsoft
From theregister.co.uk to theregister.com (US) to The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives) and theregister.ai
The best way to break this racket (or cycle of hype and harm) is to break the chains of funding
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Culture of Censorship Necessitates More Speech
The OSI bans dissent or people who merely point out that the OSI is abusive
How to Reach Us Discreetly (Other Than Encrypted E-mail)
We're still managing to maintain a 100% source protection record. We soon turn 19.
LLMs Are Vastly Worse Than a Waste of Energy and the Externalities Are Huge
Worse than just higher power bills for everybody
LLMs Versus Search (Not Replacing Search But Engaging in DDoS Attacks Against Web Sites That Permit Searching)
The state of the Web isn't just bad; it's utterly terrible
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 08, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 08, 2025
It's Only the Second Week of September and Already Two Waves of Layoffs at Microsoft, Slopfarms and Microsoft-Funded Sites Spin It as "AI Investments" Rather Than Commercial Failure
A very large third one expected next week
The UEFI 9/11 - Part IX - Shunning Old Computers (in 2023 the Certificate Was Updated/Overridden, Underlying Aim May Be Herding/Forcing People to Get TPM and Other 'Novel' Restrictions)
the "upgrade treadmill"
Rumour: Second Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in September to Commence Third Week of September
That basically answers questions like, "Any specific date or time of the month?"
If Your Machine Still Has "Secure Boot" Enabled, Then Microsoft Has a de Facto Kill Switch (Even If Your Machine Doesn't Have Windows and Never Had Windows)
It is not incorrect to call UEFI 'secure boot' a "kill switch"
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Reality, ROOPHLOCH 2025, and Writing Another Gemini Client
Links for the day
Updating Firmware is Not the Solution But Only Additional Risk, Disable "Secure Boot" Today
firmware blobs are buggy, secret, impossible to audit, and barely tested
Microsoft Tim's DevClass (Part of The Register MS/Situation Publishing) is Full of Slop
Looking at many sites that are full of slop images is becoming an eye sore and hallmark of text too likely generated by LLMs or 'assisted' (tainted) by them
Microsoft Trying to Fake Demand for Slop. At What Cost?
That's a giant demotion and broken promises
Reddit is Corporate Propaganda
To make matters worse, Reddit ousted many original moderators
Jeff Geerling Shocked to Discover Many Metrics in YouTube Are Fake (His Audience Turns Out to be Much Smaller)
Maybe self-host all videos, don't rely on Google's "FOMO" cheating (addiction based on false assumptions)
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant and Kryptonite/Garlic to Vampires
Transparency (sometimes described by words like "Sunlight" or "Truth") is paramount
The Register MS Uses Slop in Articles About Slop
we are fairly certain it's slop or CG based on other people's work
Visiting a Web Page or a Public URL Should be Safe, Predictable, and Benign
It's probably too late to "fix" the Web
The Register MS (Situation Publishing) is Paid to Spread Mindless Hype for the "Hey Hi" Ponzi Scheme and That's a Serious Problem
"Sponsored by Zoom."
Links 08/09/2025: Burger King Cracked, Cox v. Sony Analysed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2025: Socialist Computer Museum and GAFAM/ByteDance/TikTok-Dominated Net
Links for the day
Links 08/09/2025: Tim Crook Disappoints Apple Faithfuls and Zuckerberg Lies (Financial Fraud) for Cheeto King
Links for the day
EPO Workers Point Out that the EPO is Destroying the Planet Under the Guise of "Hey Hi" (It Also Grants Many Invalid Patents Illegally
On 12 March and 16 June 2025, staff representation met with the administration in the Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in Munich
Turn Off Microsoft's Restricted Boot ("Secure Boot")
We're still running a series on this issue
Social Control Media Sites Have Become Bot Farms (Not Limited to LLMs and Automation)
linkedin.com was nothing but trouble and losses for Microsoft
Deep in Debt With the Magnitude of Losses Quickly Growing, Microsoft "Open" "Hey Hi" Now Uses Broadcom for Vapourware, Pretending It'll Do OK Next Year
At some stage it'll collapse
You Can Tell Microsoft is in Trouble When Its Own Fans and Staff Blast it
"Microsoft sinks billions into chasing artificial intelligence fads to hype up its share price."
Multiple Undersea Cable Cuts and We're Still OK
Microsoft customers experience problems
Lawyers Who Think They Are Online Assassins Don't Deserve a Licence to Operate
they've become a laughing stock in their "sector"
Microsoft Windows Fell to 3.9% "Market Share" in Bahamas
Based on statCounter
How the European Union (EU) Fell Out of Love With Free/Libre Software
Lots of bribery
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 07, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 07, 2025