Links 23/3/2012: Commodore Linux, Iceland Moves to Free Software
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
- Modified: 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
Contents
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Commodore USA has released the new AMIGA mini and the VIC mini, two small form factor PCs with a bit of retro styling, but very new and powerful guts
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Kernel Space
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Graphics Stack
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The Gallium3D compute infrastructure, which is the underlying work for supporting OpenCL over this open-source graphics driver architecture, is on approach for landing in the very near future. This has been one damn good day for open-source Linux graphics drivers following the earlier Nouveau surprise announcements.
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Soon, the kernel will support several AMD graphics cores that are used in recent Radeon graphics cards and in various upcoming processors. In systems with Intel graphics, using hibernation can cause memory corruption. The development of Linux 3.4 has started.
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Applications
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Instructionals/Technical
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Wine
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Desktop Environments
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
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Jonathan Riddell, the KDE developer, recently announced that Canonical stopping funding the Kubuntu project and reassigning him in a new role. Looking at Canonical's focus on Unity, that's not a surprising move. I don't know how Canonical works, but looking at the new challenges they set for themselves with every release, I do think they need all the hands they can get. The result of that hard work is evident - Unity is shaping up really well.
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Have an old computer lying around that you’d like to use for some light web surfing, document editing, and other tasks? I mean like a PC with a 1999-era Intel Pentium III processor? It turns out there’s an OS for that… and it’s not Windows 98.
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In my last blog about Linux Live Environments, I mentioned REMnux, an environment specifically built for malware analysis. I'd spent a little time with REMnux when it first came out, but decided to take the latest version (3.0) for a test drive.
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New Releases
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Debian Family
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Derivatives
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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Canonical’s next long-term support release of its flagship Linux distribution, Ubuntu 12.04 is in late beta. This next release, due out on April 26th, is in beta now. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and so far, so good.
Indeed, the new Ubuntu is good enough already that I’ve it on my default Ubuntu system: a 2009-era Gateway DX4710. This PC is powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. No, it’s not fast, but unlike Windows 8’s beta, you don’t need a fast computer for Ubuntu.
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From a pool of thousands, 15 photographic wallpapers have been chosen for inclusion in Ubuntu 12.04.
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With Ubuntu remaining uninterested in systemd, the Upstart init system continues to be developed. Released today was Upstart 1.5 with a few new features.
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However, while that beefed up version may be available at some point, costs and demand will likely hold it off for a while, the popular mini-computer's designer said.
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Phones
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Android
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NASA has made great efforts to get the public interested in their various projects and avenues of research using tools such as social media networks and their suite of mobile applications. Unfortunately, those applications have almost exclusively been iPhone exclusive. Of the over 20 mobile applications NASA has released, only a scant have made it over to everyone’s favorite open source mobile operating system.
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Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Android is open source and built on Linux. Fortunately for Android enthusiasts and independent developers, however, Sony has made life a little easier by releasing the open source archive for the Xperia S device. Of course, there are some catches. Read on for what this announcement means for the juncture of Android and free software.
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Sub-notebooks/Tablets
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Oracle/Java/LibreOffice
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The Document Foundation (TDF), which produces the leading open source office software suite LibreOffice, is on schedule for the release of a cloud version of its software next month.
The team released the last update to its 3.4 build on Thursday and is now focused on developing version 3.5 further, but the group is now also ready to go live for cloud services in April. That said, the team reserves the right to hold off on launch until the last few software fixes come in, TDF spokesman Italo Vignoli told The Register.
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Project Releases
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Public Services/Government
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OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE is finding favour on the Icelandic government scene with the announcement that all of its public administration organisations will adopt it.
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Iceland's push to move its public sector to open-source software has made some headway, with most of the shift seeing Windows swapped for Linux.
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Security
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Some words just seem to go together: "bread" and "butter"; "trial" and "error"; "Microsoft" and "security breach." The MS12-020 Remote Desktop Protocol vulnerability revealed last week shows once again that when it comes to data security, Microsoft is its own worst enemy and any "secure" system can be compromised.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Real Security Elusive, Microsoft Layoffs to Coincide With Certificate Apocalypse
- July 1
- 2026 is a Year of Strikes at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- As it stands at the moment, to many people the EPO represents crime, not law
- Only 1.5% Oppose the European Patent Office's (EPO) Strikes and Other Industrial Actions Until 2027
- Among those polled/surveyed (in a ballot)
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- 5 Years After Release of Vista 11 Not Even One in 5 People Use It (in the US)
- It doesn't look like Vista 11 will ever be adopted like prior versions and announcing a Vista 12 will mostly upset companies/organisations that only recently "upgraded" to 11
- Gemini Links 21/06/2026: Boca Raton, Perfect Summer Day, and LLM Doing Things Poorly
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 20, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, June 20, 2026
- Microsoft Insiders - Not Limited to XBox - Expect a 'Bloodbath' (Their Own Word)
- This isn't limited to XBox
- Reports of "PIP" as Means of Mass Layoffs at IBM This Year
- some insights into the PIPs
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 112 Out of 200: Strangles Women, Then Refuses to Even Attend Any of His Own Hearings About It
- It is meanwhile very apparent that Brett Wilson LLP is becoming a "mench sphere"
- Gemini Links 20/06/2026: "There Was Never Supposed to Be a Camera" and "What Is A Programming Language"?
- Links for the day
- Geminispace Reaches Its 8th Year, Today It Has Turned 7
- Gemini Protocol 'went live' 7 years ago, just before the COVID-19 pandemic
- Links 20/06/2026: "Full Page Paralysis" and "Hopes For Xbox’s Future Might Be Over Before It Even Begins"
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office's (EPO) Strikes "at a Scale not Seen Since Battistelli", European Patent Grants Down by Over 25% in Past 3 Months
- The actions are effective
- Links 20/06/2026: Microsoft's "Year of Shame" and "Feed the Writers"
- Links for the day
- Web Browsers Are Technically Bloatware (No Matter What Runs in Them)
- Don't make it a society that shames people into using a Web browser where none should be needed
- Fedora Has Changed a Lot Since I Last Used It (IBM Dominates Almost Everything, IBM Agenda Displaces Community Goals)
- "It is effectively 100% run by Red Hat/IBM employed people... even when they are community-elected representatives."
- Andy (Cyber Show) on His Teacher Who "Squeezed Every Last Drop Out of Life, With Gratitude, Humility, Generosity and Mettle"
- Some call them "eccentric" and are dismissive about what they have to offer
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 19, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, June 19, 2026
- Gopher/Gemini Links 20/06/2026: Slop With Tcl/Tk and Nokia 770 Perishes
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 111 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley (the Latter Arrested for Strangling Women) Keep Ousting Their Collaboration in Litigation, Lawfare in a Foreign Continent
- it's not law, it's just warfare disguised as "law"
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Lobbying in Lisbon...
- reappointment campaign lobbying has not been restricted to the "home front" in Portugal
- Slop Making Its Way Into Terms Where It Does Not Belong
- Hopefully by year's end Google News can successfully cull (and deprive of traffic) almost all slopfarms
- Links 19/06/2026: Microsoft Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures in Europe, "World Cup of Internet Resilience"
- Links for the day
- Links 19/06/2026: Salesforce Data Thefts and GAFAM's Conspiracy Theories That Data Center Opposition is a Foreign Plot
- Links for the day
- Links 19/06/2026: The Retweeting Class and Data Centres as National Security Risk
- Links for the day
- Don't Attack the Wives (or Spouses) of Pundits/Activists/Journalists
- We will be writing several series about this in the future
- Society Will Only Improve Owing to People Who Push Boundaries
- Push boundaries with ideas and facts, not with forbidden language
- Internet Relay Chat (Shorthand IRC) is Still Growing
- Contrariwise, social control media is waning
- The Register MS Published a New Page With "AI" 21 Times in It. It Was Paid SPAM.
- The former editor of the The Register MS admitted to me (directly) that he knew all this "AI" stuff was stupid hype
- Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Associates Dependence on a Ponzi Scheme With "the Future"
- Those ludicrous ads (disguised as rankings) from WSJ deserve scorn and ridicule
- The XBox Story is Still Fast-Developing, the Layoffs Are Confirmed to be Happening Already (Mid-June), Just Not "Officially"
- Workers have Microsoft have long braced for what is happening this summer and will accelerate further in two weeks' time
- Fake News From Rupert Murdoch's WSJ Could Not Keep IBM From Sinking
- "2026 Best Companies for the Future"?
- To GNU, AV2 Adoption May be a Year If Not Years Away
- The leap between versions means that there is fertile ground for incompatibilities
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, June 18, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/06/2026: "Born and Raised by the Internet", Fifteen Years in Gopher
- Links for the day