Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/09/2009: New Unbreakable, Berkeley DB



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Switching to Linux: A Windows developer’s view
    Summary: In this particular case, the switch to Linux took me just a few hours, while the benefit for me was rather big: Improved performance, and less hassle with dependencies. The drawbacks — getting used to Linux, different tools — are out weighted by the advantages for me; and that’s the main point of this blog post. I was surprised how easy it was to switch from Windows to Linux completely on this project; as I expected a lot of problems (like for instance, not being able to get the stuff running at all!)


  • Shh!!! HP sneaks Linux in on new laptops
    Except for Dell, the major PC vendors are reluctant to admit they actually sell and support Linux. For instance, HP supports Linux quite well on its servers but is very reluctant to support it on its desktops. They have trouble even admitting that they're now shipping DeviceVM's instant-on Splashtop Linux on their new notebook lines.


  • Open Source Should Be Open To All
    Often the way is baby steps. If today you can convince someone to use some Open-Source software package – a document creator, a presentation tool, a web browser, or even a web server – you give yourself the wedge to start pushing for an Open Source operating system.


  • LCA2010 Schedule is now available!
    LCA2010 Organisers are proud to announce the schedule of talks for linux.conf.au 2010!

    A full schedule of talks is now available for LCA2010. The conference brings together speakers from around the world presenting a variety of topics; from the strongly technical such as Linux kernel development, to social interaction within communities and issues relating to diverse and minority groups. linux.conf.au 2010 runs for a full week starting Monday 18th January, with more than 65 talk sessions, together with a number of Keynote presentations and 14 Miniconfs.


  • Dreaming Again with One Laptop Per Child
    Predicting that a dream will vanish is cheap, getting consideration for what replaced the dream is priceless. OLPC is changing the world in ways that where not predictable when the dream started. So let's first admit a few facts, then tackle the errors and misunderstandings of UNdispatch's article.




  • Desktop

    • Run Evernote in Ubuntu Linux with Wine
      I may even try running some other Windows programs in Wine at some point. Maybe. But there are so many excellent native Linux apps, I may not need to.


    • The State Of Linux Desktop Functionality
      The State Of Linux Desktop Functionality


    • 10 Reasons to use Linux for Enterprise Business
      For a year now the information technology sector has been suffering under the global economic recession. At this juncture, setting up a network system for any organization could be highly expensive. Linux is an open source OS and edges over it arch rival Windows in several instances when it comes to business. Apart from the fact that they are generally free, Linux is more secure, reliable and customizable than other proprietary counterparts. Some of the most renowned companies in the world, including the bigshots like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, run their servers with Linux rather than Windows.






  • Server

    • A Skeptical Look At The Linux Server Botnet
      When The Register ran news of a "Linux botnet" out in the wild, the bloviation did fly: See? Linux really isn't that secure! But odds are this has nothing to do with Linux security per se, and everything to do with the biggest and most notorious security hole of all: bad system administration.








  • Kernel Space

    • Torvalds on EFI
      Insightful quote of the day:
      Not that I’d ever claim that the BIOS is wonderful either, but at least everybody knows that the BIOS is just a bootloader, and doesn’t try to make it anything else. – Linus Torvalds (in reference to EFI)








  • Distributions

    • LFS, Gentoo or XYZ distribution. Which one for you?
      Finally, if you really, really want to learn exactly how a Linux system is created. There are a couple of methods which I know of that compile a complete Linux system from nothing. In other words you start off with an empty partition and end up with a working Linux system. The most famous one is the Linux From Scratch book which is an online (downloadable) book for compiling a Linux system from, er, scratch. Another, from a thunder down under, is DIY Linux (Do It Yourself Linux). This is not for the faint of heart and only those with a technical bent and some knowledge of Linux can work on this. There is no package management and every single aspect of your Linux system is under your control. As an added bonus you will be able to understand and work on any Linux system with ease.


    • The Netbook World Summit, a major IT event
      The Netbook World Summit 2009 will be held on the 8th of December 2009 in Paris.

      ABI’s Research forecasts worldwide shipments of nearly 35 million netbooks in 2009, rising to an estimated 139 million in 2013.




    • Red Hat Family

      • Trademarks - The dinosaur in the room
        Branding is just as vital to the success of FOSS projects as it is to proprietary software. This article explores the importance of trademarks for open source.




      • Oracle

        • Oracle Enterprise Linux updated
          Oracle has updated its Linux distribution for enterprise deployment. Oracle Enterprise Linux Release 5 Update 4 is now in step with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 which was released earlier this month.


        • Oracle updates Berkeley DB


        • Oracle *could* kill off MySQL as a commercial product, but probably won’t
          Before I even start this post I am going to repeat our view that Oracle is well aware that it has little to gain from killing off MySQL and that we expect MySQL to become the scale-out database for non-transactional web applications and to compete with SQL Server in departmental deployments.

          [...]

          Q. This is all very theoretical.

          A. Yes it is, but it highlights the importance of thinking through the long-term implications of licensing and copyright assignment. If you don’t want to end up in the situation faced by Monty Program, don’t go GPL with full copyright assignment.











    • Debian Family

      • 5 Exciting 2D Graphics Design tools for Ubuntu Linux
        Ubuntu linux is rich with exciting graphics utilities, Here you can see simple but very useful 2D Graphics Design tools for Ubuntu Linux. Yes welcome to the fantastic world of ubuntu graphics.


      • Launchpad Bug Filing Changes for Ubuntu
        As a part of the Increase Apport Adoption specification we are going to kick off an experiment and redirect all of Ubuntu’s /+filebug links in Launchpad to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs. This change has been tested on staging.launchpad.net already and will be landing shortly on edge.launchpad.net (There will be a +filebug?no-redirect if you really really need it).


      • Ubuntu Artwork team starts delivering - Four cool themes and two icon sets to start with!
        Ubuntu Artwork team finally starts delivering. Although Ubuntu have been the most popular distro for a pretty long time now, it really need to put in a lot of work on enhancing look and feel. Though a number of high quality third party themes are available like the bisigi-project, one thing where Ubuntu lacked was the absence of good quality themes by default. That is all going to change now.


      • Ubuntu 9.10 Home Encryption Performance
        There is certainly a performance cost to having the home directory encrypted along with the SWAP partition, as you can see from these results. Though a normal user not running disk benchmarks all day will not notice as severe of a change, depending upon the task it may be apparent. Is encrypting the data on your netbook worth it? Well, yours truly will not even travel without a netbook that has a fully encrypted disk running Ubuntu. What we had not compared in this article was how the home encryption performance change compared to Ubuntu 9.04 (without an encrypted SWAP and with an EXT3 file-system) or how it compares on Ubuntu 9.04 to a disk with a fully encrypted LVM, but we may have those results in a future article.


      • Ubuntu help: Finding answers fast
        Just before I finish I will mention a few paper resources: The Official Ubuntu Book, of which I am a co-author, or the Official Ubuntu Server Book are just two of dozens of books about Ubuntu on the market. You can also purchase paper copies of the official help at Lulu.com. Hopefully I have given you some good information about where to find help. Good luck and have fun with Ubuntu.












  • Devices/Embedded

    • Linux-ready mini-PC powers up
      Linutop announced the third generation of its compact Linux-based PC. Larger and with twice the memory of previous models, the Linutop 3 has a 1GHz Via C7 CPU, gigabit Ethernet, dual SATA ports, and PCIe expansion, the company says.


    • Android 1.6 is out
      GOOGLE HAS RELEASED the next version of its Android operating system for mobile phones, "Donut".

      Having a look at the promo video, Android 1.6 brings support for CDMA phones, more screen resolutions, more APIs, better camera software and improved search.


    • CrunchEee — the bad-ass netbook Linux for snobs that doesn’t give a rat’s ass whether you like it or not.
      CrunchEee is based on the Ubuntu 8.10 kernel — there’s a new version of CrunchBang, with 9.04 but without the Array.org customization for my Eee’s WiFi needs. I tried to install the Array.org kernel myself once and it didn’t take. I guess I’m still a Linux n00b after all… Just don’t tell anyone, okay?








Free Software/Open Source



Leftovers

  • Dell Settles New York Fraud Case For $4 Million
    New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced that Dell and its subsidiary, Dell Financial Services (DFS), have agreed to pay his office $4 million in restitution, penalties and costs to settle charges of fraudulent and deceptive business practices that scammed consumers in the state.


  • Denmark pulls 'promiscuous' video
    The three-minute clip shows a young blonde woman, trying to find a man whom she had a one night stand with, who fathered her child "August".




  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Taiwan government aims at 80% global market share for Taiwan-made e-book readers in 2013
      Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will be implementing a 5-year project with a total budget of NT$2.134 billion (US$65 million) to boost development of digital publication industries in Taiwan, with the goal being to make Taiwan-produced e-book readers reach a global market share of 80% with sales of NT$50 billion in 2013, according to the agency.


    • Cracks show in music industry over P2P enforcement
      Divisions inside the music business have prompted its umbrella trade organisation to issue a statement today denying any serious rift, while dodging the issue of whether it will urge the government to cut off persistent pirates from the net.

      The ructions were provoked by last week's statement from the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), a group of managers and big-selling artists including Radiohead, Billy Bragg and davefromblur. The FAC was sharply critical of Lord Mandelson's proposed anti-copyright infringement measures, especially suspension of internet access.


    • Stunned film, music sectors react to Veoh decision
      In the cafes along Sunset Boulevard and the high-rises on Fifth Avenue, executives and lawyers at powerful entertainment conglomerates were talking about Veoh on Tuesday morning.

      They were not joyful discussions. Copyright owners in the film and music sectors were stunned Monday by the news that U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz ruled that Veoh, an online-video service, is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe-harbor provision and cannot be held liable for acts of copyright infringement committed by users. This was the most significant court victory that the tech sector has won against copyright owners in some time.


    • WIPO Once Again Sides With Trademark Holder Over Common Sense
      The phrase "ta ta" is a well known way of saying goodbye. So, it was a cute idea for an Indian online travel site to use the domain name OkTaTaByeBye.com.










Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Jim Hogg teaches GNU Linux to high school kids 06 (2008)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



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

Recent Techrights' Posts

We Don't Depend on Google and Don't Care for Google
We have our own site search and we don't depend on Google to bring visits/visitors to us
Facebook Layoffs Due to Enormous Debt, Nothing to Do With "Hey Hi" Slop
The lies about "hey hi" in relation to layoffs will only contribute to further public resentment towards: 1) the media and 2) all the slop.
Universities Became Bad Places for Work
What happened to academia?
 
Layoffs in Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft's LinkedIn
There are silent layoffs at Microsoft this month
Change of Address at the Hired Guns, Address Removed
Companies tend to alter their 'shell structure' in anticipation of major action
The Good IBM Managers Have Flown Away, All That's Left is the Book-Cooking Loyalists
IBM is just cheating the SEC and shareholders. This seems to be the only thing IBM's management is nowadays good at.
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 12 Out of 200: Months Ahead of Serial Strangler From Microsoft Who Helped Double the Lawsuits (Funded by Third Parties) as 'Revenge' for Exposing Crimes
In 2024 I sat down and wrote about what had been done to me and to my wife
Crime Comes in Many Forms
apparently the SRA is OK with stranglers of women in America bullying the media in the UK
commandlinux.com, linuxteck.com, linuxiac.com, and linuxsecurity.com are Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Domain Name
once readers realise they read slop they immediately lose interest
Links 14/03/2026: Adoption of Slop Has Killed BuzzFeed, Russia Sees "Economic Gain From Iran War"
Links for the day
Patriotism is Conditional, If It's Unconditional, Then It's Like a Cult
My love for Software Freedom is only as strong as my love for Freedom of the Press
Links 14/03/2026: Mass Layoffs at Facebook ('Meta') and Sweeping Layoffs at Twitter (xAI), Social Control Media and Slop Are Only Debt
Links for the day
Wrong Time, Wrong Place (Digg)
Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian can relaunch Digg.com, but we doubt it'll work "this time for real!"
Reporting New and Suppressed Information is What Journalism is All About
In the domain of Free software, there are very few sites out there that offer exclusive coverage on community affairs and there are many gagging/censorship attempts
The Limits of Speech and the Rationale of Limitations
it seems to be part of an international trend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 13, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 13, 2026
Gemini Links 14/03/2026: Goodness, AD534 Multiplier Module, and Extroverts Online
Links for the day
Atlassian Corp: We're Doing Layoffs Because of "Hey Hi"; Wall Street: Atlassian Corp is Just a Failing Business
Don't ask "the media"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 11 Out of 200: Cannot Censor His Spouse, Accusations Are Repeated Today
He already has a history of threatening to sue gay people in America; he cannot take criticism too well
Price of Storage, Price of Energy... What Next?
EPO workers are going on strike because their salaries don't keep up with price increases and tech companies without connections in "the channel" face long delays, low availability, and high prices (no "bulk" purchases), which further solidifies monopolies.
Don't Forget Red Hat's RTO (Return-to-office) Layoffs
How many people still remember that Red Hat did the same thing?
Reminder: Microsoft silent Layoffs by RTO (Commute Time and Lack of Comfort/Work Satisfaction) Already in Effect This Year
It's difficult to measure how many employees have already "left on their own" due to the RTO policy
Founder of IBM Ventures Has Just Quit IBM
Some people leave IBM and many people 'leave' IBM
Signs of Impeding Mass Layoffs - Not Just Quiet Layoffs - at Microsoft
Beneath the surface there are waves of layoffs and even entire teams are let go
Career Science and Academia as Corporate Propaganda 'on Tap'
article about surveillance
Veteran GNU/Linux Journalist Jack Wallen Tries Geminispace and Likes It
It'll turn 7 some time soon
Scheduled Maintenance Tonight
There will be similar work early next week
"Alternative to Microsoft Office" Must Use Free/Open Standards/Formats for Real Sovereignty
It would make sense for the EU to invest in its own workers and its own software projects, more so now that there are hostile countries both to the east and to the west
IBM Has No Clue How to Integrate Companies Like Red Hat
IBM is failing to respect this company's culture
Fake Articles From Sites With "Linux" in Their Name/Domain Name
we can at least hope that linuxteck.com made a decision to quit slop
Links 13/03/2026: New US Weapons for Taiwan, Pakistan Air Strikes Hit Kabul
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/03/2026: Exhaustion and Smartphone Addiction
Links for the day
Friday the 13th & Debian Developers afraid to nominate in DPL elections
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 13/03/2026: Chatbot "Pentagon Contract" (Bailout) and Secret Service Ditches Slop Pusher
Links for the day
When Everybody Has a Right/Access to An Attorney/Lawyer (But Some Get Funding From Malicious American Corporations to Spend a Million Dollars on Many Lawyers and Several Barristers)
And send about 75 KG of legal papers to the residence of the "opponent"
European Qualifying Examination (EQE) Being Reduced to Pieces of Papers One Can Buy, Patent System Rapidly Losing Its Legitimacy
Welcome to the "new Europe"
Priorities in 2026
2026 is an interesting year
Willis Towers Watson (WTW) Producing More Propaganda for EPO "Cocaine Communication Managers"
The Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) has this new paper about Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and its annual EPO-sponsored propaganda, pretending all is well when things are clearly dire
Head of Microsoft Office and Microsoft 360 is Leaving Microsoft Amid Problems and Mass Layoffs
Microsoft is like a "legacy" company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 12, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, March 12, 2026
Gemini Links 13/03/2026: "Someone to Take Over Antenna" and Random Seed/RNG
Links for the day
By Expanding to Advocacy of Ponzi Schemes and Bill Epsteingate (Sex Trafficking), Linux Foundation Revenue Grew to $220,730,594, But Salary of Linus Torvalds Not Even in Top 10 Anymore!
true!
In the Name of Transparency, Today We Show Our Defence and Counterclaim
already uploaded by the other side
IBM Cannot Even Do Payroll, Now a "Legitimate Target" of Iran
Missiles or not, it seems like IBM systems will be targeted more by cybercriminals
Links 12/03/2026: Heating Bills to Soar, "Banks in Gulf Evacuate Their Offices"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/03/2026: On Phone Anxiety and Bjorn "Looking for Someone to Take Over Antenna"
Links for the day
Cultification: best candidates avoiding Debian leader elections
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman (RMS) et al Cited in 'Nature' (Journal/Site) Today, "CODE beyond FAIR"
Under Open Access
The Register MS, on Verge of Collapse, Keeps Promoting a Ponzi Scheme for China
Publishers that participate in this simply don't care about their readers
Overview of False Narratives and Lies Used to Lower Salaries at the European Patent Office (EPO), Abandoning Patent Quality and the EPC
Many of the latter slides are the same as Munich's
Links 12/03/2026: Atlassian Layoffs, GAFAN Covering up Slop-Induced Outages, "Age-verification in Operating Systems and the Internet"
Links for the day
The EPO's President, Who Covers Up Cocaine Use, is Trying to Suppress Communication Between EPO Staff Under the Guise of 'Privacy' (and in Defiance of a Court Ruling)
Why does Europe's second-largest institution: 1) curtail communication among staff (including union) and 2) go out of its way to avoid obeying a court order from ILOAT in Geneva?
Exactly One Week Before Next EPO Strike, Media Intentionally Not Mentioning EPO Strikes
One form of propaganda technique/s involves the systematic suppression of certain topics, or of particular "narratives"
Microsofters' SLAPP Censorship - Part 10 Out of 200: Showing Public Tweets is Not a Privacy Violation, But This Isn't About Justice, It's About Censorship
It's time to put a stop to this abuse of process (which is what the Judge deemed it to be last year)
Suicide of disgruntled employee? Bus fire at Kerzers / Chiètres, Switzerland, at least six dead
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Gemini Links 12/03/2026: "on Urbit" and the True Cost (or Criticism) of "Social Control Media"
Links for the day