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Links 19/5/2011: Fedora 15 Goes Gold, Canonical Creates Ubuntu Power User Community



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Super-slim Linux on a Raspberry Pi
    Linux on a stick promises to revolutionise low-cost computing

    Linux has a reputation for being available in many shapes and sizes, but now there is a version of Linux that promises to beat all-comers on both size and price. The new Linux PC, created by UK game developer David Braben, is not much larger than a thumb, but packs enough power to replace a lightweight laptop.


  • The $25 computer that could help change the world
    Unless you’re a hardcore gamer like me, you’ve probably never heard of David John Braben. Even among gaming circles, he’s no Sid Meier.

    But he has worked on some mighty impressive titles, including the classic trading sim, “Elite.” In more modern times, he’s worked on “Roller Coaster Tycoon 3” and games based on the lovable Wallace and Gromit.


  • Dell updates Chromium OS download for Mini 9 and Mini 10V
    Late in 2009, some Dell engineers got the company aboard the Chrome OS bandwagon at a very early stage. The group released a Chromium OS build for Dell’s Mini 9 and Mini 10V netbooks at a time when the only way for others to play with the nascent operating system was to build it from scratch on a 64-bit Linux rig. Now, more than 18 months later, the image has been updated. If you own a Dell Mini 9 or 10V, head on over to the Dell FTP server and download a copy of its May 13th Chromium OS build.


  • Desktop

    • Linux on the desktop: Europe leads
      According to a report from the team behind the web site monitoring service Pingdom, Europe leads the way for desktop Linux. The team analysed data collected from web statistics site StatCounter between February and April and published information about the popularity of desktop Linux in different countries.




  • Server





  • Kernel Space



  • Applications

    • Meet MiniTunes
      Fortunately, MiniTunes is in very early stages of development and will hopefully gain momentum as more and more people get to know it. I bet it will get better and better, even if it is a great audio player already!


    • Instructionals/Technical



    • Games

      • Review: Steel Storm Burning Retribution
        Steel Storm Burning Retribution has largely stayed under the radar despite being released across multiple operating systems. The indie shoot’em-up received some attention for its simultaneous release on Windows, Mac, and Linux (from the Linux community, as you probably guessed), and it’s available on Steam, but it seems that most computer gamers have yet to hear about it. Being someone who never quite forgot Raptor: Call of the Shadows and who has always secretly wanted to see it updated, I was more than happy to give this new game a shot.






  • Desktop Environments



    • GNOME Desktop

      • GNOME To Become A Linux Only Project?
        Something very interesting and potentially controversial is going on in the GNOME project. In an email to the GNOME mailing list, Jon McCann said that GNOME should focus on supporting on only support for Linux and drop the support for the other operating systems such as BSD, Solaris and Unix.


      • GNOME to drop support for BSD, Solaris, Unix?
        Take this one with a pinch of hearty pinch of salt for now, but, in a post to the GNOME Developer Mailing List, Jon McCann – a tour de force in the GNOME world and pioneer of GNOME Shell itself – has urged that GNOME not only become an OS, but forgo keeping support for other non-Linux operating systems such as BSD, Solaris and Unix in the process.


      • Transforming GNOME Into A Linux-Only Project?
        One of the mailing list messages making the rounds on the Internet today is concerning the GNOME project and whether they should no longer concern themselves with supporting non-Linux operating systems.






  • Distributions



    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat KVM deployments face uphill battle
        Attendees at last week’s Red Hat Summit said that they are evaluating Red Hat’s latest virtualization products, but production deployments are scarce.


      • Red Hat Recognized as Top Support Website
        Red Hat has announced its global customer portal has been recognized as a top support website by the Association of Support Professionals. The 14th Annual Ten Best Web Support Sites competition illustrates the excellence in online support and service.


      • Fedora

        • My Fedora 15 Pre-release experience
          Today, it become clear that Fedora 15 will be released on May 24th :) . It is an interesting release, specially as the first official Linux distribution coming with GNOME 3. Besides, it comes with a number of interesting features including (but not limited to): KDE 4.6, systemd, power management enhancements, Robotics Suite, Retrace Server, Better SPICE support, Dynamic Firewall and GDB 7.3. You can find the complete list of new features at Fedora 15′s Feature Page.

          I have tried Fedora 15 since its Alpha release, and started using more seriously since the first test compose of the final release. I generally really like this release, however it has a number of issues too because of the arrival of the new GNOME 3. Let’s start with the annoying parts first!


        • Fedora 15 Goes Gold, and That's Not All
          Several exciting announcements came out of the Fedora project today, the most exciting of which is that the Fedora Go / No-Go meeting resulted in a Go. In addition, the new Contributor Agreement was finalized and posted. A newish community project made its existence widely known as well.

          After the Go / No-Go meeting yesterday an announcement went out to the Fedora Developer Announce mailing list that version 15 "is declared GOLD!" A Release Readiness meeting will take place Thursday to make sure the release is coordinated and that all teams are in agreement and ready for the release.






    • Debian Family



      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Creating An Ubuntu Power User Community
            Over the last few months there has been some concerned feedback in some parts of the community about how Ubuntu is focused more and more on attracting new users to Ubuntu by providing a streamlined and simplified user experience. Much of this is being achieved with Unity; a new desktop interface delivered in Ubuntu 11.04, which will continue to be refined and improved upon based on user testing and feedback.

            One key piece of feedback from some Unity users was a concern around the lack of configurability in Unity, and a feeling that it is a little too simple and does not expose enough of the system, for which many more expert Ubuntu users enjoy.


          • As the Natty Narwhal Debate Continues, the Next Ubuntu Is Coming
            As far as Shuttleworth's comments about the desktop go, Unity--as long as you have the hardware to run it properly--has mostly gotten good reviews and is credited for bringing Ubuntu more in line with other, competitive graphical operating systems.


          • Top 4 Lightweight, Official Ubuntu Based Alternatives for Ubuntu 11.04's Unity 3D
            Many long term Ubuntu users have been quite critical towards Ubuntu's new Unity interface. Unity has its share of issues which Canonical is hopeful of rectifying by the next major release, Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. In the mean time, if you are not at all able to adjust with the revamped albeit buggy Unity desktop, there are a bunch of absolutely awesome Ubuntu based distros which runs on other interfaces like KDE, XFCE, LXDE etc. Here is how you install each of them as a different session in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.


          • Intel Sandy Bridge On Ubuntu 11.04 Is Still Troubling
            When Intel released their "Sandy Bridge" processors in early January with next-generation graphics, the Linux support was widely criticized as although they had been working on the open-source Linux driver for nearly one year at that time, it wasn't a pleasurable "out of the box" experience and building open-source graphics drivers on Linux can be a real pain. With Ubuntu 11.04, which was released at the end of April, this "Natty Narwhal" release still largely misses the Sandy Bridge support train.


          • Here we go again!
            Every 6 months the Ubuntu journey starts anew. Those of us entering yet another cycle assume that this all makes sense to the outside world but I like to post up dates on the wall in the office and write a blog post to give those new to the project, and some not so new, a handy reminder of the major milestones in each cycle.

            Each release that we create has a cycle with certain key milestones in it. These milestones are broadly agreed before the previous release is even out the door and are almost always an exact copy of what came in the previous release. The schedule for our next release 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot can be found by following this handy link to the Ubuntu wiki.


          • Ubuntu 11.10 roadmap | Are we moving in right direction?
            What is going to be in Ubuntu 11.10? Conclusions were drawn after much heated discussions and debates at the Ubuntu Developer’s Summit at Budapest. The centre of attraction of these discussions was the status of default applications that should be included and possibly excluded in the new version. Those that were shown the pink slip include Evolution, GMD and PiTiVi. Those which got included are Thunderbird, Chrome and LMD. Certain old warhorses will continue to stand strong in the new version such as LibreOffice. Now the developer community is expected to debate on these in the coming months. Here is our take on the whole thing.


          • What of Power Usering?


            Jono Bacon has come up with a really interesting ideas, in a blog post called Creating An Ubuntu Power User Community which describes Jono’s passion for creating a community of super power using.

            I’m concerned the initiative won’t work without some time and effort put behind the new group to prime the pump. Is there the time to dedicate to this? and importantly is this a Canonical sponsored idea (where Jono will have time during office hours to work on it) or would it be a hobby which may fall by the wayside?


          • Soon Ubuntu Will Be Running In Your Car
            Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, joined The GENIVI Alliance, a non-profit industry alliance committed to driving the broad adoption of an open source In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform.

            Canonical has joined to bring its new IVI-focused products to the GENIVI Alliance members and to announce its intention to build a new GENIVI compliant Ubuntu IVI Remix.


          • Unity in Natty: update
            2 months ago, I wrote about my experience with Unity in Natty. At that point, it was far from suiting my use-case, but yet, I somehow felt positive about its future and I kept using it. What was troubling me then was the release schedule. With all the remaining crashers and feature gaps 8 weeks before the long fixed release date, I had serious doubts about the final state of Unity in Natty. Now that it (Natty) has been released, and that developers spent a week at UDS and are now either taking some days off or writing blueprints, it’s a quiet period with almost nothing moving, a good time to see what has been achieved.


          • Problem Solvers vs. Problem Spotters
            Over my past few years involved in the Ubuntu Community, I have noticed an interesting trend. We are really good at spotting and vocalising problems. This in itself is not a bad thing. In fact it is good to spot problems. It is how we can make our contributions to the Open Source world better. We find the problems.












Free Software/Open Source



  • Events

    • Linuxtag 2011 in Berlin
      Berlin is a great location for the Linuxtag, it’s always nice to come there. Just have a look at the photo: The boosters are getting hip! Nearly the complete boosters team was there to meet, be available at our booth for questions and take part at the talks. With over 10.000 attendees it’s the biggest event of this kind, and you can be sure to always meet some well known faces of the openSUSE community there.


    • LinuxTag 2011
      On that last note, I'd like to publicly ask Canonical and especially Mark to deeply consider getting rid of the Copyright Assignment for the Software Center. It is a blocking issue for real collaboration and as you consider it Bug #1 to get rid of MS' majority market share, why not put your money where your mouth is and work with the other distributions to do something about that?




  • Web Browsers



  • Programming



    • Interview with Ken Thompson
      Go Language

      DDJ: Skipping several decades of work, let's speak about Go. I was just at the Google I/O Conference, where it was announced that Go will be supported on the Google App Engine. Does that presage a wider adoption of Go within Google, or is it still experimental?

      KT: It's expanding every day and not being forced down anybody's throat. It's hard to adopt it to a project inside of Google because of the learning curve. It's brand new and there aren't good manuals for it, except what's on the Web. And then, of course, its label of being experimental, so people are a little afraid. In spite of that, it's growing very fast inside of Google.







Leftovers





Clip of the Day



Byron Sonne leaves courthouse



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Credit: TinyOgg

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