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Links 6/1/2012: Alpine Linux 2.3.3, Mandriva in Danger





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • The Linux sex life - An illustrated story


  • Desktop

    • ThinkPad X1 Hybrid packs both x86 and ARM processors
      Lenovo has announced a 13.3-inch notebook computer that has both Intel and ARM processors. The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid combines an Core i3, i5, or i7 CPU with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon, allowing users to toggle between Windows 7 and a Linux-based "Instant Media Mode" operating system whenever they want.




  • Audiocasts/Shows





  • Kernel Space

    • Razer BlackWidow, Other Products On Linux?
      The Razer BlackWidow is an incredibly well constructed mechanical keyboard, but how well does it work under Linux? Has the Razer product support at Linux improved at all recently?

      A few weeks ago I picked up the Razer BlackWidow keyboard for my main machine in the office. I didn't pick-up this keyboard for any gaming, but rather having been a big fan of their mice, keyboards, and other peripherals over the years. Razer is obviously a gaming-focused company, but their many products I've either bought or received as samples have been wonderful. The build quality is great along with an impressive feature-set and being very reliable.


    • Did Your System Take A Dive With Linux 3.2?
      If you upgraded today to the just-released Linux 3.2 kernel and your Intel system is now having problems booting this new kernel release, you're not alone, but here's a possible workaround.

      A regression struck the Linux 3.2 kernel concerning IOMMU and is still present in the final release of Linux 3.2. The issue didn't appear during the 3.2 merge window but later on in the cycle (if my memory serves me when I first struck the issue, it was around -rc2 or -rc3) and results in the kernel not successfully booting.




  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments

    • Success of GNU/Linux on the Desktop
      GNU/Linux has been a success on the desktop with every distro I have tested since 2000: Caldera eDesktop, Mandrake, Slackware, K12LTSP, Fedora, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian GNU/Linux and a few others I forget (failure of my memory, not the distros). Government, education, business, individuals, OEMs all use it successfully. Consider what some might call a failure on the desktop, Dell and Ubuntu. Just because Dell.com looks like a GNU/Linux desert means nothing. That’s in the home country of M$, the Great Satan of operating systems. Dell is selling GNU/Linux like hotcakes in China. It’s a wild success. They have 220 bricks-and-mortar stores pushing the product.


    • GNOME Desktop

      • 3.3.3 Of GNOME Shell, Mutter Try To Fix Things Up
        Version 3.3.3 packages of GNOME Shell and Mutter were independently released today. These latest development snapshots in the road to GNOME 3.4 mainly try to address outstanding issues.

        There's already been numerous advancements in the road to GNOME 3.4, but for the 3.3.3 release of the GNOME Shell and for the Mutter compositing window manager there isn't too much to get excited about.






  • Distributions

    • Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, Ubuntu: Which Linux desktop is for you?
      There are more interesting Linux desktop distributions to choose from than ever before. However, if you're looking for major distros with a great deal of support, you'll want to look at the big four: Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.

      Each has its own outlook and methods. Thanks to Linux's customizability, you could take any of them and completely revamp it, if you wish. But unless your idea of a good time is operating system hacking, chances are you'll want a distribution that already meets your needs.


    • New Releases



    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • Mandriva in danger of closing its doors
        Mandriva S.A. hasn't had an easy time of it, even after emerging from bankruptcy in 2006. Formerly MandrakeSoft, the company merged with Brazilian Linux vendor and former UnitedLinux partner Connectiva in 2005.




    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Introduces Storage Solutions Software for Enterprises
        Red Hat, Inc., the pioneer in Open Source solutions has unveiled its new integrated product for storage solutions, the "Red Hat Storage Software Appliance" for Enterprises. The software can be deployed on a list of compatible hardware through an ISO image file. It offers support for mission critical and latency-sensitive data. It is even POSIX complaint, hence easing the deployment. The software makes use of GlusterFS 3.2, which provides scale-out storage solutions, without having to use the monolithic platforms, which are costly. The software comes as a balm on the fear that Open Source software isn?t capable of providing storage solutions for huge chunks of data.




    • Debian Family





  • Devices/Embedded





Free Software/Open Source



  • Geospatial services with FLOSS: Interview with Oslandia
    In this interview Olivier Courtin and Vincent Picavet, founders of geospatial service provider Oslandia, share with us their business story, some advice and how free and open source geospatial software plays a major role in their company. Enjoy the interview!


  • Why open source needs Simon Cowell
    With apologies for the sensationalist headline, Simon Brew wonders how to get a realistic debate going in the modern world…


  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla

      • Can Mozilla Unify Open Source?
        This week saw a quiet landmark in the history of the open source movement with the formal release of version two of the Mozilla Public License (MPLv2) and its approval as an official open source license. While to many it may look like just another legal detail, it is significant both for the way it was conducted and for the intent with which it has been created. This is a license aimed at unity.

        Drafting and reviewing the license has been a very open process, for which Luis Villa deserves much credit. Conducted mostly on open forums, the discussion has led to many revisions of the text. Luis also approach the Open Source Initiative early, accepting input from the License Review group and obtaining the Board's approval easily.






  • CMS



  • Project Releases



  • Public Services/Government

    • NASA Discovers Open Source Planet
      NASA, like many mega organisations uses Free Software or Open Source due to the uncountable advantes it has over the proprietary technologies. NASA has been a user of open source forever, but we did not see much code coming out. Which is totally fine. You don't have to relase the code of the work that you use. But, if you do it will benefit everyone.

      In addition, if the code is of no use to the rest of the world, there is no point in releasing it either. However, a lot of what NASA does enhances the quality of life and software is no exception.






Recent Techrights' Posts

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The stock (share price) of IBM says nothing about what actually goes on
Links 02/01/2026: Science, Patent Maximalism, and Public Domain Day
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Books, Scams, and mkscript (a Script to Make Scripts)
Links for the day
Strong Start for GNU/Linux This Year
based on statCounter
More Tools, Factorising Code
If some things in the site of Gemini capsules don't behave as expected, then that's likely due to a bug
State of Tech Journalism in 2026: Follow the Money
in order to understand what motivates an opinion piece one must follow the money
 
A Year of Relaxation, But Also of Hardcore Whistleblowing
Expect industrial action some time soon
The More Influential Richard Stallman (RMS) Becomes, the More Aggressive Attacks on Him (and the FSF) Will Get
We've meanwhile noticed disinformation being spread in social control media
GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High of 5% in Indonesia (Not Counting Chromebooks and Android)
There are also related events in Indonesia and SUSE in particular seems to have been popularised there
EPO People Power - Part XXIII - António Campinos Knows He's Extremely Vulnerable at This Time
Campinos should never have been put in charge
Gemini Links 03/01/2026: New Organisation System (Notebooks) and "2026 Already Off to an Amazing Start"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC logs for Friday, January 02, 2026
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buzzwords are a fool's way to compensate for or disguise a lack of knowledge
So You Should Definitely Call it "Slop" and Stop Saying "AI"
with more XBox/gaming layoffs being imminent the blowback will be fun to watch
Why Are We Still Using Voting Machines?
Voting machines still seem to me like an infantile cargo cult and an act of salesmanship (like various security theatre rituals at airports)
"Works for Me!"
Who knows best?
Why IBM Workers Like Techrights (Same Reason EPO Workers Do)
IBM will likely be a daily theme (high rate of recurrence)
In 2025 We Contributed to the Headlessness of the OSI, But It's Not Over Yet
By airing some 'dirty laundry' about the OSI last year we contributed to its current state
Africa's Largest Population Sees Diminishing Impact of Windows
less than 1 in 10 Web requests in Nigeria comes from Windows
Russia Cuts Finnish Cables ("Hybrid War"), Finland Cuts Off Microsoft
the birthplace of Linux
Free Software is More Naturally Inclusive
large, intolerant, violent companies get painted as a glorious example of United Colours of Benetton
Europe in 2026: Over 5% GNU/Linux, Not Counting Chromebooks
2026 has started strongly
Slopfarm Says Microsoft's "Biggest Business" is the 'Business' Where It Loses Tens of Billions of Dollars
TOI still pretends to have a lot of output
At the Start of January 2025 Microsoft President Said Microsoft Would Spend 80 Billion Dollars on "AI" Data Centres. That Didn't Happen. Microsoft Laid Off 30,000 Workers, Debt Surged.
Maybe this coming Monday Microsoft will come up with more false promises and vapourware
Links 02/01/2026: Insurrectionist Attacks Musicians Critical of Him With Lawfare, Project Gutenberg Now Has Over 75,000 Books
Links for the day
Decline in LLM Slop About "Linux" is a Good Start for 2026
When the only remaining proponents of slop are slop, which is pretty much what's happening right now, the bubble is popping
EPO People Power - Part XXII - Contact Officials and Inform Your National Representatives (Delegates) of the EPO's Cocainegate
Europe's largest media intentionally covers up serious scandals in Europe's second-largest institution
Slopwatch Still Dead, Not Enough LLM Slop About "Linux"
this is the desirable thing
LibXML2 Will Carry on (Without or With the Name "LibXML2")
The proprietary software boosters are projecting
Gemini Links 02/01/2026: ThinkPad, SHARP Zaurus, Lagrange Handheld Support
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 01, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 01, 2026
Links 01/01/2026: "Biophobia" and Renewed Effort to Locate MH370
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/01/2026: Bot Accounts Online and Reading in 2025
Links for the day
IBM’s and Red Hat’s "Operation Evolution initiative" Just Long, Fancy Term for Bluewashing, Redundancies, Layoffs
Gerstner is still alive, but he's shorter and more arrogant
Designing a Better Mousetrap or Tools for the SSG
Static Site Generators (SSGs) - unlike all modern Content Management Systems (CMSs) - are so simple that extending them is easy
Links 01/01/2026: 1930 Works in the Public Domain, Electricity Pricing 'a Mystery'
Links for the day
Firefox is Toast Because It Got Toasted by Mozilla
Firefox cannot keep above 2% and hasn't been able to for quite some time
Ignore the LLM Slop and the Noise, Microsoft is in a Death Spiral
So what does Microsoft have left to sell?
Red Hat is Vanishing Before Our Eyes
With some Red Hat staff "transitioning" we wonder if it's an HR hack, wherein they "reset the clock" on employment duration so as to lessen severance obligations
In 2025 Microsoft Lost Palau
Palau now has GNU/Linux at steadily high levels
Microsoft Mocked UNIX/Linux for Not Handling Dates After 2038, Microsoft Breaks Down on 2026!
Only a truly moronic company would design it that way
Another New Year's Resolution: Public Domain Sources, Credits
In addition to our first one
Combatting Slop Images (and ClownFlare)
we won't use or reuse slop images
The End of Red Hat
expect many more layoffs soon
A New Year's Resolution: Maximal Transparency
We'll do our very best to be transparent about everything that's going on, even legal matters
Gemini Links 01/01/2026: 2025 Comes to a Close and Capsular Gemlog Manager
Links for the day
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Raised About 1.3 Million Dollars in the Past Couple of Months!
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2026 IBM Phaseout of Red Hat
Red Hat won't fare any better than most IBM acquisitions
Microsoft Budget Issues, XBox Thrown Under the Bus
They're cutting budget. Soon they'll cut the staff.
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2026 will be another tough year for Red Hat and IBM
EPO People Power - Part XXI - Europe's Second-Largest Institution Became a Corrupt For-Profit Company Run by Drug Addicts
it'll be the demise of the Rule of Law in Europe and maybe a death blow to the EU (eventually), not just the EPO
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Over at Tux Machines...
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