Links: Distribution Reviews, Sabayon Linux 5.3 “Extra Spins”, Fedora Community Web Site Design
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-22 08:20:47 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-22 08:20:47 UTC
Summary: Distributions news accumulated in recent days
One or two of the five distros I mentioned yesterday had been labeled as “lightweight” either by their designers or the community around them, and I was probably pushing that definition just a little bit when I gave them the chance to run at 150Mhz on 32Mb of memory.
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Reviews
Unity Linux had their first release on 09/07/2010 after around 1.5 years of development. The project was created in 2009 by former developers from the PClinuxOS (hereafter abbreviated PCLOS) community. One of them was KDulcimer who at the time had his own project TinyMe based on PCLOS, which according to the website started in 2006. His distribution would in the future be based on Unity Linux. So much for how the two are intertwined.
[...]
I have to say I like this basic distribution and the philosophy behind, there is definitely a niche for it. The artwork is an inoffensive non-blinding white swirl on dark-blue background, good for my sensitive eyes, with a Mint leaf floating around giving a fresh impression, and for convenience sake you got 'halt' and 'logout' buttons on the desktop to access these functions. Mandrake/Mandriva has always been my favourite rpm based distribution and one of the first I used back in the 90's, and I'm glad to see it and its many innovations living on in so many forms. Mandriva is of course in ongoing financial troubles and after so many years of it I'm a bit pessimistic if that will change any time soon. So what will projects like Unity Linux do if Mandriva disappears?
For the moment at least they are still around, so let's enjoy this little spin-off if you don't have long term planning needs.
Unity also runs well in Virtualbox, with guest additions pre-installed. As you would imagine due to its size, it ran well with 384MB memory, but will probably be happy with less.
Unlike Microsoft Windows, Linux has a deserved reputation as a bullet-proof operating system. To teach computer security a University lecturer has deliberately produced the most damn vulnerable Linux you’ll ever see.
I didn't have many complaints when it came to Zenwalk's security. The install process sets a password for the administrator and allows the user to create additional, unprivileged accounts. I did have two concerns. While I was using the distro the repositories were populated with updates, but there didn't seem to be any notification for the user when security updates were available. I've been spoiled recently by systems which automatically check for me. My other concern is Zenwalk runs a secure shell service by default, which allows remote root logins. Preventing root from remotely logging into a machine is a policy I'd like to see more distributions adopt.
Lucid Puppy Linux 5.0 was released back in May of 2010, but as one of my favorite distros, I have been playing with it heavily since then. I have been so impressed with the new version that I wanted to take a moment and write a quick review of this release.
You can find the official release page here, along with download information.
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New Releases
Our crew, is happy to announce the immediate availability of XFCE, LXDE and SpinBase/OpenVZ Sabayon 5.3 “Spins” built on top of Sabayon “SpinBase” ISO images.
Under the “Extra Spins” umbrella, the Sabayon developers are going to experiment new Stable Releases with different package compositions.
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Red Hat Family
The open source remote access project will include 3D acceleration, network tunneling, and perhaps iPad, iPhone, and Android tablet support
Server maker Hewlett-Packard and commercial Linux juggernaut Red Hat have teamed up to help shops using Oracle's Sparc/Solaris platforms make the jump to Linux-based x64 iron.
While the two companies did not say so, the migrations services being offered today through HP Services are no doubt a reaction to Oracle's spiking of HP's Solaris OEM agreement last month. Under that agreement, HP was able to bundle Solaris on its ProLiant rack and blade servers and sell Solaris support contracts, much as it does for Microsoft's Windows, Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Red Hat's Enterprise Linux.
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Fedora
When it was launched in late 2004 it was up against a number of distributions that had been in development for years: Red Hat, Fedora, Suse Linux and Mandriva (then still called Mandrake). These were well-developed distributions with their own fans and unique features. Ubuntu, based on Debian, had a solid base but had a long way to go to be as user-friendly as it planned.
Fast forward almost six years and Ubuntu has delivered. For many users it has been the perfect starting point for their Linux adventures. For others it offers the stability that they want from an operating system. It also has a huge fan-base and is the dominant voice in Linux marketing.
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Debian Family
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Canonical/Ubuntu
“Does Ubuntu have a firewall, and how do I turn it on?” is a popular question among new Ubuntu users. The answer is a bit complicated, but it’s an understandable inquiry for those migrating from the Windows world. WorksWithU addresses that question below by taking a look at Ubuntu’s firewall and some of the tools available for managing it.
In This Issue
* Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase calls all artists to contribute to next version of Ubuntu
* Operation Cleansweep: We Need You!
* Ubuntu Accessibility Team Personas Survey
* ISO testers for the Hall of Fame
* Ubuntu User Days Wrap-Up
* Ubuntu Stats
* Rocking The LoCo Council
* Ubuntu: a computer operating system built around community
* Ubuntu Chicago Bike Tour
* The Early-Summer LoCo BBQ at hutchnate's house was a tasty success!
* Ubuntu Honduras LoCo Team Wakes up
* Launchpad News
* Ahmed Kamal Joins the Horsemen
* Reviewers Team and Operation Cleansweep
* Ubuntu Manual Project core philosophy
* Man Your Browser
[...]
I’m an Ubuntu and FOSS kinda guy, I’m not happy with software that isn’t FOSS and I don’t find any sense in proprietisation of code. Having said that there are times when I must be a little more considered and not simply shun an entire site because it’s not foss.
Heaven known that deviantArt is one of the most proprietary, confused and messed up places I know. Bad copyright advice, no public domain option, admins that consistently ignore open formats like png and svg. FOSS Software isn’t promoted at all in any way. So why in Slartibartfast’s fjords would I want to hang my coat over there?
Well no matter what I do there _will_ be artists over there who use Ubuntu, people who may need help with wacom tablets, upgrades or finding help. There will be people who use Windows or Mac but don’t have FOSS tools yet or perhaps wouldn’t do better with Ubuntu instead. There are artists who’d love to get involved with the wider community but for what ever reason are disconnected by social chance.
Officially, Ubuntu does not come with built-in support for the GMA 500 drivers. We gave a workaround to this problem way back in Oct 2009 when the Ubuntu had just released Ubuntu 9.10. People expected Ubuntu to include these drivers in the Ubuntu 10.04 that never happened.
Recent Techrights' Posts
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- Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
- Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
- Slop is a disease on the Web
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- Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
- Big Trouble in GNOME
- even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
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- Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
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- Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
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- They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
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- Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
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- Welcome to the dying Web
- Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
- he might hop over to another European country
- Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
- Links for the day
- Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
- Links for the day
- New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
- Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
- IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
- Congrats to the management!
- In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
- Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
- IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
- "I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
- Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
- If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
- Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
- Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
- We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
- This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
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- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
- another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
- Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
- Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
- Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
- What a shame. Another dead site.
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- Links for the day
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- Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
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- outsourced to GAFAM
- Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
- Links for the day
- Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
- Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
- Towards GNU World Domination
- The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
- statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
- Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
- The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
- Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
- Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
- Most people access the Web there from mobile
- Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
- If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
- Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
- Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
- Links for the day
- Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
- Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
- Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
- Google should know better
- Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
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