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Links 01/09/2009: Many GNU/Linux Reviews, Smartbooks Are Coming

We apologise for the long downtime earlier today. Server issues.



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Graphics

    • 10 Unique Tips to get Elegant Gnome Desktop
      You can see many pretty Linux desktops every where on the internet. but having a really cool desktop like shown in screenshot is not possible for everybody. Most of the time customizing the look and feel ends with a bulky desktop that you never thought of!


    • 25 Cool & Beautiful Linux Wallpapers
      Here I'm sharing some cool and beautiful, high quality, Linux wallpapers, that I have collected from the internet. So without any delay lets check them out.






  • Server

    • VMWare or Xen? Depends on Your Fluency in Linux
      You hear it all the time: Xen is not ready to take market share from VMware because it is not as mature a product. Many disagree, because all the core functionality exists in Xen, but it isn't configurable via a unified GUI. In this article, we explain what maturity means and how you can decide which aspects are really important to your IT organization.


    • Apple's Snow Leopard Completely Blows It Virtually
      However, while Robin thinks that storage was a major letdown in Snow Leopard, I think where Apple really blew it was in Virtualization, particularly with not shipping OS X Server or Desktop with a free hypervisor or making one available for download.








  • Kernel Space





  • Applications

    • Minitube: Slimline YouTube Client
      The QT programmed tool was created by the Italian Flavio Tordini. A binary for Linux, Mac OSX and as source code under the GPLv3 is available for download. A free BSD port also. QT in version 4.5 at least, is required. Playback on the KDE multimedia framework will call for the installation of the relative packages.


    • VideoLAN (VLC) media player - You're simply the best
      VideoLAN (VLC), a player started as a student project and turned into one of the best, most popular media players worldwide, has recently had a birthday - turned 1.0. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to write about it and just show you how great it is.


    • Pidgin: IM Superstar
      The last major version in the Pidgin line-up, namely 2.6, adds a whole new dimension to the instant messaging experience: voice and video support, albeit for a limited number of protocols and platforms at the moment, but that is bound to change with future development. Since most IM protocols have evolved to support multimedia communication, this feature was long overdue.


    • Geany: A sweet and simple IDE for Linux
      Some time back we covered customizing gedit. Although it’s a very good editor, it requires a bit of customizing. However, if you are a developer you might be found wanting looking for a good programming editor. Let’s see one of the basic yet powerful editor called as Geany. With almost no dependencies, it’s an editor that has some good features.






  • Desktop Environments







  • Distributions

    • Slackware goes 64-bit
      The new version jumps on the 64-bit bandwagon with native support for the 64-bit x86_64 architecture. It also adopts the 2.6.29.6 kernel, bringing journaling filesystems, SCSI and ATA RAID volume support, SATA support, Software RAID, LVM (Logical Volume Manager), GRUB, Ext4, and encrypted filesystems support to the distro. The new kernel also supports X DRI (Direct Rendering Interface) for hardware-based 3D graphics acceleration, says the Slackware project.


    • Review: Supreme Super Gamer LiveDVD
      So what's my conclusion? It's good. Supreme Super Gamer does a bangup job of providing a good quality gaming experience on Linux, and is definitely worth checking out. On a slight side note, SSG is one of two releases from the Super Gamer crew of late.


    • Fedora, Mandriva delivering Linux goods
      Ubuntu Linux may get most of the attention but Mandriva and Fedora Linux are pushing the Linux desktop forward more than most

      Canonical's Ubuntu Linux has a huge following among open source fans and it benefits from significant hype because of it. But Mandriva and Fedora Linux are quietly delivering the new features that Linux users are looking for.


    • Zenwalk Linux 6 Review
      Zenwalk 6 is the latest release of Zenwalk Linux. The changes are major enough that most people will find it worth making the upgrade (note Xfce 4.6). Zenwalk has come a long way with Zenwalk 6, from its beginnings with creator Jean-Philippe Guillemin, also known as Hyperion.


    • Vine Linux 5
      Product: Vine Linux 5.0 Web Site: Vine Linux (Via Google Translator) Price: Free Pros: Let you choose from a range of install options and lets you customize your software choices. Cons: Default language is Japanese so the initial install screen might throw people. Doesn’t come with any office suites or significant office apps available during the install. You’ll need to download them via Synaptic after you install Vine Linux. Suitable For: Particularly great if you need a Japanese Linux environment. Can also be used by pretty much any other group of Linux users. Just be mindful that you’ll need to change the default language to English during the install. Summary: Vine Linux provides Japanese (and English) users with a good desktop Linux experience. Installation is easy and can be customized. Vine Linux also provides a good range of Linux apps (with the exception of office apps). Rating: 3.5/5




    • Mandriva Family

      • Mandriva Linux Community: more than 10 years but things have to be said
        Coming soon, a bunch of interviews from contributers and employees who work together on your favorite distribution. Stay tuned!


      • SAM Linux - Great little OS
        While writing my column I was testing SAM Linux to feature as one of the Linux distributions released last month. And in playing around with it, I realized what an untapped treasure it is. Light apps, tasteful eyecandy, handy tools, multimedia and hardware support add up to make this one of the best out-of-the-box desktops available.






    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Summit: Five Moves Worth Watching
        In fact, here are five key Red Hat trends our resident blogger expects to cover at Red Hat Summit and JBoss World.


      • Layer 7 Technologies Partners with Red Hat to Provide Security and Governance for JBoss SOA Customers
        Layer 7 Technologies, the leader in SOA security and governance, today announced that it has certified its solution portfolio against Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform and is now part of the JBoss Certified ISV Program. Layer 7 is the first XML gateway to be added to JBoss' partner ecosystem and will help customers enhance mission-critical security and operation aspects of the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform.


      • Is free Linux the right fit for your data center?
        You may be one of those users who complains that support for paid Linux only covers kernel issues that cause system failure. If you find that non-kernel issues are not covered by your paid Linux support and you are doing support yourself, you should consider switching to a non-paid Linux such as CentOS for some of your workloads.








    • Debian Family

      • Migrating a live system from ext3 to ext4 filesystem


      • Simply Mepis 8 is a nice little Debian-based Linux distro
        I am now running the latest version of Simply Mepis 8, one of many offshoots of Debian Linux and therefore a cousin of the venerable Ubuntu. I am taken back a couple of years to the simpler days of the KDE 3.5 interface. KDE 4, the current darling, is a work of art by the guys at TrollTech, borrowing elements from Apple's Aqua interface, but this old tech favors reliability over flash, and as a law student I have little time to expore the wonders of KDE 4. Simply Mepis with KDE 3.5 is, in a word, familiar.


      • OpenGEU 8.10 Review
        Since my switch from Windows to Linux I have settled on 1 distribution, OpenGEU 8.10. I'm not much of a distro hopper even though I do have Ubuntu Studio 9.04 installed on a different partition, it doesn't get much play. It's there because recently I wanted to see if I was missing out on anything. And so far I don't feel like I am.

        [...]

        All that said, OpenGEU 8.10 is not only fast and beautiful, but despite the use of E17 is very stable as well. My goal was to be as detailed as possible in reviewing it as to expose as many hidden surprises as possible as there often is when using code still in development. All in an effort to facilitate those that have been putting off trying E17 again due to growing pains early on, make the decision weather or not is worth trying again.


      • A Tour of the Ubuntu Software Store
        If you’re not impressed with the Ubuntu Software Store, I don’t blame you. It’s really not much more than a new interface that does the same thing Add/Remove does. The exciting parts of the Software Store don’t really come until Ubuntu 9.10, when it will replace Add/Remove, Synaptic, Software Sources, and, possibly, Update Manager. Later you will be able to buy commercial applications in addition to the free ones already available. Over the next several releases, the Ubuntu Software Store could provide one of the first realistic ways for shareware developers to sell software for Linux and, at the same time, make it much easier for new users to understand the software installation process. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.










  • Devices/Embedded



    • Linux works for test
      In a recent interview, Anshul Jain of Tejas Networks discusses the capabilities of Linux-based test systems for manufacturing.


    • Linux networking stack ported to MIPS64 chips
      French networking middleware firm 6Wind has ported its Linux-based networking stack to RMI's MIPS64-based XLR and XLS multi-core, multi-threaded processors. Optimized for multi-core, 6WindGate offers "ready-to-use layer 2-4" routing, QoS, IPv4-6, and XML-based UTM security management middleware, says the company.


    • Console servers run Linux
      Acrosser has introduced a pair of console servers that run Linux and offer eight serial ports.


    • SMB-targeted NAS devices run Linux
      Iomega has announced a four-drive, 2-8TB StorCenter ix4-200d network-attached storage (NAS) device that runs Linux, according to eWEEK. Meanwhile, NetGear announced that its ReadyNAS storage appliances now support the Remote Agent for Linux and UNIX Servers (RALUS) for Symantec Backup Exec, enabling faster backups.




    • Sub-notebooks

      • Smartbooks Prepare to Compete in Mini-laptop Space
        Mini-laptops based on Arm chips are set to make their way to users, which could heat up the battle in a space dominated by netbooks with Intel's Atom chips.

        [...]

        Smartbooks are designed to have similar characteristics to netbooks, including compact keyboards and screens. The devices are designed as alternatives to netbooks, most of which are based on Intel's Atom chips and come with Microsoft's Windows OS. The first smartbooks will come with Linux, as Arm-based chips do not support Windows XP.


      • Netbooks growing twice as fast as notebooks
        According to a new report, the market for netbook computers grew 40 percent from the first to the second quarter of 2009, almost twice the rate of standard notebooks. Netbook shipments actually outstripped notebooks in Latin America and Greater China.










Free Software/Open Source

  • New Apache project for RESTful web services
    Apache Wink is a new framework for developing "RESTful web services". The project currently resides in the Apache Incubator, where newly introduced projects within the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) are matured and evaluated for promotion to full Apache projects, having entered the incubator in May. The code base for Wink was contributed by HP and IBM, who also intend to oversee the project in the future.


  • Global Conference on Open Source
    invited keynote speakers including Brazil President Lula da Silva, Nicholas Negroponte, and Linus Torvalds.


  • Firefox 4.0 goes Chrome, will arrive with new UI in Q4 2010
    Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 as well as Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync integration.


  • Kolibri - a desktop operating system in under 3 MB
    The tiny operating system I'm talking about is called Kolibri. It's a fork of the MenuetOS project and is currently licensed under the GNU GPL.

    [...]

    In conclusion, I am blown away by how much functionality is packed into such a tiny package. The Kolibri ISO is less than 5MB and it has, for the size, a huge collection of software. While much of the operating system feels like a demo of what it can (or could) do, Kolibri shows an immense amount of potential.


  • Mine, all mine (& theirs too)
    The new license was rolled out today, to accompany the handy new function to export all blog content for use with (for example) WordPress. From now on, every Sun blogger has (if they choose to accept the new license) a clear, documented set of rights to their blogging content. Huge thanks to the team of people that made it happen, especially my favourite lawyer, Tiki Dare, who completely "gets" this stuff and without whose quiet and largely unsung help the open source community would be much the poorer.




Leftovers

  • Sony signs Google browser deal
    Google has signed a deal with Sony to incorporate its Chrome internet browser into the Japanese technology giant's personal computers.


  • eBay 'reaches deal to sell Skype'
    Skype is expected to be sold to a group of private investors, including Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and private equity firms.




  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Peter Mandelson Defends His Sudden Conversion To Kicking People Off The Internet
      You do realize that a UK-based music organization (PRS) recently released a report noting that the music industry in the UK is actually growing? Right? These are the sort of facts the Secretary of Business knows, right? And if the industry is growing, despite complaining about file sharing, isn't it possible that the real issue is just focusing on business model improvement, rather than the hand of gov't stepping in and slapping people around?


    • BSA Jumps Onto The Three Strikes Bandwagon
      More troubling, however, is that when questioned about the new statement by Ars Technica, the BSA said it was necessary because "last year our industry lost over $50 billion (USD) worldwide." Hmm. It's really quite troubling that the BSA still stands by these numbers when they've been debunked so thoroughly over and over again. They count the "retail value" of every piece of software as being "lost," which is clearly a lie. Five years ago, the research company that runs these studies for the BSA, IDG, flat out said that the BSA was wrong in claiming that "the retail value" of the software is the same as "losses." So why does the BSA continue to get away with claiming it?








Recent Techrights' Posts

Instant Bluewashing at Confluent: Mass Layoffs Alleged at IBM
So the main question is, did IBM just fire 800 people?
 
A Step Close to Shutting Down the European Patent Office (EPO)
Not going to work all month long
EPO Staff Demonstration Today
The demonstration will be live-streamed for those thousands of colleagues who don't live in Munich
Gemini Links 18/03/2026: Brazilian SYN Attacks and BGP
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It helps raise awareness of Software Freedom
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IRC logs for Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: Men Who Strangle Women (and Worse) Trying to Force Us to Write Public Apologies to These Men
For those who never before saw a SLAPP, they basically make many demands
"Vibe-forking" and Why It'll Ultimately Fail (Hype on Top of Hype)
Code made with LLMs sucks; converting solid, human-tested code into slop only complicates matters and increases risk
Updates About Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation
After all those years (a decade) and in spite of phony scandals many people out there still respect him
LLM Slop With "Linux" in the Domain Names
This is becoming a pain and a problem also in the arts and in software engineering
The EFF Has a Bug, Fixing This Bug is Likely Not Possible Anymore
"the EFF's continued existence impairs the arrival of a replacement organization, one which will actually champion digital rights."
Sophie Brun, Raphel Hertzog & Debian sexual conflicts of interest
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 17/03/2026: Microsoft Windows Broken by Samsung, Afghanistan-Pakistan War Escalation
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Héctor Orón Martínez & Debian shadow candidate pressure on Sruthi Chandran
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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What does that make The Register MS to women?
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The "legal industry" is due for "some reckoning"
GAFAM Deprecating Old Videos ("Content") by Removing the Support for Their Format for No Good Reason
"Security" is not a valid excuse
Credit/Debit Cards Have Long Been Called Plastics, Over Time They're Becoming More Like Pure Plastics
They cost less than a dollar to manufacture
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The EPO's workforce was meant to be capable of speaking many languages and have extensive experience in the sciences
People Who Attacked Techrights Also Attacked My Mother
Picking on old ladies because you don't like Free software advocates is never OK
Little Community Element Left in CentOS
CentOS, unlike Fedora, was meant to be long supported and solid
Social Control Media is Cancel Culture (Companies Like Facebook Also Punish/Ban Accounts for Mentioning "Linux" and Lobby for Anti-Linux Legislation)
The masters of Social Control Media decide what ideas can and cannot be expressed
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 16, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 16, 2026
Someone at Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is Censoring the Birthday Greetings to Richard Stallman
Some people remember
The European Patent Office (EPO) Illegally Transitioning Into 'Gig' 'Economy' Equivalent (a Shop for Patent Monopolies in Europe)
for scabs aka SEALs
At Least Six EPO Strikes Next Month (Yes, Six!)
The pressure intensifies over time
Several MPs Blast Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Inaction and Ineffective Action This Week
"Four MPs have written to the SRA"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 14 Out of 200: The Abusive Cases of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft and His Litigation Buddy Garrett Did Cause "Serious Harm"
claims were de facto abandoned at the trial
Today's Discussions About How IBM Pushes Workers Out
The corporate media keeps trying - baselessly and in vain - to paint everything that happens with the "hey hi" brush
Linux Teck (linuxteck.com) and Ubuntu PIT (ubuntupit.com) Are Botspam
now they just keep experimenting by trashing their sites and reputation
Links 16/03/2026: Moscow Experiencing Cellphone Internet Outages, "Salman Rushdie Is Tired of Talking About Free Speech"
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Links 16/03/2026: Arctic Security and 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin'
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Gemini Links 16/03/2026: KN95 Skins and CSS Surprises
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Debian is Dying for Some of the Same Reasons IBM's Fedora is Rapidly Dying
Prioritising CoC censorship, not communities
The Register MS is Again Femmewashing GAFAM (Which Makes Widows) in Exchange for Money
This is a moral issue because they betray or harm women and prop up authoritarian regimes
Gemini Links 16/03/2026: AB 1043, Lagrange Android Beta 47, and Poetry
Links for the day
"Slop-forking" or "Vibe-forking" as the New 'Noble' Plagiarism
New Cloudflare Slop Project?
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part VII - Cult Mentality, Mobbing, Nepotism
Does the EPO actually believe in the law?
2026 Microsoft Layoff Rumours
Surely if we had properly-functioning media, then someone would investigate this rather than rely on official statements from Microsoft and WARN notices
EPO Strike This Week
contact your national representatives about it
Gemini Links 15/03/2026: "Create Opportunities for Good Things to Happen", DOSbook, and Bitcoin Criticism
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Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 15, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 15, 2026
Pirate Praveen Arimbrathodiyil & Debian denouncing volunteers, hiding romances
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock