Links: Linux News (SSHFS, Drivers), Applications, Instructionals, Unigine Game, and Distributions
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-21 16:06:25 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-21 16:06:25 UTC
Summary: Accumulation of Linux and GNU news including a Zenwalk 6.4 review
Graphics Stack
Last month we reported on the status of kernel mode-setting with the Glint driver that's being done as a Google Summer of Code project to provide KMS support for the ancient 3Dlabs Permedia 3 and Permedia 4 graphics cards and to better document the Linux KMS/DRM driver writing process. As part of the Glint KMS discussion, it emerged that an independent developer (James Simmons) happened to hack together a 3dfx DRM driver. This was interesting as the work was never published or accepted into the mainline kernel, but today we finally are able to lay our eyes on this open-source 3dfx driver for the Banshee, Voodoo 3, and Voodoo 5 graphics cards.
Userspace file systems are one of the coolest storage options in Linux. They allow really creative file systems to be developed without having to go through the kernel gauntlet. This article presents one of them, SSHFS, that allows you to remotely mount a file system using ssh (sftp).
Applications
Most Linux users are familiar with the top command. Top shows you a list of processes on your system and provides a ton of useful information such as their CPU usage and owner. Unfortunately, this isn’t always enough data and many people don’t know where to turn next. This article covers three performance monitoring applications that show information top doesn’t tell you, and can greatly help in troubleshooting bottlenecks or just finding out more about your system. These utilities are iftop, iotop, and pv.
digiKam is undoubtedly a powerful application for processing and managing your photos, but there are situations when you need something lighter. For example, I use my netbook when I'm on the move to off load photos from my camera and quickly go through them. For this, I use Geeqie, a lightweight image viewer that offers a slew of nifty features that make it an indispensable tool in my arsenal.
-
Instructionals
-
Games
Earlier this month the developers behind the Unigine Engine shared their latest update on this advanced 3D engine that's fully supported under Linux. With the latest work on this game engine, there are significant performance optimizations to UnigineScript (the developers say these optimizations are "HUGE"), volumetric light shafts, optimized rendering of meshes in non-instanced mode, optimizations of the Unigine math library, and a note there is a new terrain system on the way, among other changes. Unigine Corp also dropped their first public confirmation of a new strategy game they are developing.
Desktop Environments/WMs
This time around, in our Alternative desktops series, we’re going seriously old-school Linux with Fvwm. Although using Fvwm will make you feel like you’ve gone back in time, it still has it’s place in today’s world. Where speed and simplicity are the single most important desire on a desktop, you really can’t go wrong with Fvwm. The only problem with this wonderful little desktop is getting used to the configuration.
-
K Desktop Environment (KDE SC)
Most of you probably haven't heard about Clementine before. But every linux music enthusiast must be aware of Amarok 1.4, which for many like me, was the best open source music player for Linux. Even though it was KDE app, I used it as my default music player in Ubuntu Gnome. It was that good. But everything changed once KDE developers decided to rewrite Amarok.
-
GNOME Desktop
I can't stand the default menu Ubuntu comes with and I only keep it because I have to know under which submenu the user can find an installed application when posting on WebUpd8. This wouldn't be needed if people used a menu with a search function but anyway. Also, since I install quite a few applications, half of it requires scrolling and makes it almost unusable.
There are gazillions of people on this planet right now. Not all of them will ever care to build their own flavor of Linux. But Linux gives you the ability to choose how YOU want things, and then share it with the world. I’ve talked before about where you can go to build your own version of Linux. It’s not as difficult as you might think it is… so what are you waiting for?
-
Reviews
It’s been a long time since I last took a look at Zenwalk. I’ve always had a sweet spot for it, though I haven’t had a chance to really give it a full spin in quite some time. Although I am primarily a KDE user, there’s something about Zenwalk that always keeps my attention: It’s simple, fast, and gets the job done. Not only that, but its one of the best lightweight distros around.
Zenwalk uses XFCE as it’s desktop of choice (though other versions are available) and from the past times I’ve used it, it appears to be focused on allowing your system to run free, rather than bog it down with unnecessary eye candy and bloat. Zenwalk manages to pack a punch with a large variety of useful applications preinstalled, without slowing you down in the process.
-
Red Hat Family
Red Hat Enterprise Linux now comes with built-in virtualization (KVM) but is Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) about to go to the virtual mat with VMware? If you look at their RHEL video, you'll come away with a resounding 'Yes' to that question.
Red Hat purchased Qumranet in 2008 to acquire their KVM-based virtualization solution and SolidICE product based on the SPICE protocol.
-
Fedora
As Ian and Ryan already blogged, the Fedora Design Team is evaluating new branding fonts: Comfortaa for headings and either Cantarell or Droid Sans for body text.
-
Debian Family
After ten editions in nine countries spanning four continents, and for the first time in the US, the Debian project is holding the annual Debian Developer conference, DebConf, at Columbia University in New York City on August 1.
-
Canonical/Ubuntu
I believe such a philosophy, like Ubuntu’s code of conduct, is important and every project should have one.
-
Flavours and Variants
Huzzah! So, the official (and huge) ISO for the second release of Netrunner is up, out and available right now! (torrent)
Here’s the distrowatch announcement.
Moving to KDE
The biggest change in this version is moving to KDE for the desktop.
Something important to understand about that: when I say “KDE for the desktop”, that doesn’t mean Netrunner is running all KDE apps. There are a lot of GNOME (and other) apps in there, because we are trying to present the best selection of applications and for some reason some people like some of the non-KDE apps better.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- The Week to Come
- Planning ahead
- LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
- The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
- When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
- there's "no free lunch"
-
- Links 28/07/2025: COVID-19 Sped up Brain Aging, "Circumvention is More Popular Than Compliance"
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman is Usually Right Because He Thinks "Outside the Box"
- he is able to observe society (mores and norms) as somewhat of an outsider
- LWN Has Been Down for a Long Time, Another Casualty of LLM Bots?
- Time will tell. How much time though?
- Slopfarms Versus 'Linux' (and Against People Who Write Real Articles About GNU/Linux)
- LLM slop in slopfarms by Brian Fagioli and Redazione RHC
- Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
- Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
- The Register MS/The Register US
- On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
- Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
- We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
- We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
- Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
- the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
- Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
- Links for the day
- Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
- Links for the day
- Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
- Links for the day
- The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
- But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
- Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
- It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
- Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
- Unlike systemd
- "New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
- We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
- When Silence Says So Much
- Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
- The Register in Trouble
- There is not much that can be done at this point
- Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
- Something isn't right at The Register
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
- Misinformation in Social Control Media
- Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
- Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
- throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
- Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
- Links for the day
- Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
- Links for the day
- Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
- Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
- Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
- That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
- Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
- The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
- The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
- The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
- Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
- Unlike so many other sites
- The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
- I decided to check how they're doing as a business
- Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
- Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
- Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
- days ago they hired a new US editor
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
- For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
- I myself know, from personal experience
- Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
- Links for the day
- Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
- Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
- HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
- When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol