Links 31/3/2012: Wine 1.5.1, Valve for Linux
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-03-31 16:08:35 UTC
- Modified: 2012-03-31 16:08:35 UTC
Contents
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Audiocasts/Shows
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Kernel Space
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Qualcomm has clarified their views today regarding the presentation of two of their Atheros developers proposing that all proprietary drivers be killed for good across all platforms and replaced with open-source drivers.
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As the latest work queued up for merging in the Linux 3.4 kernel is the Btrfs file-system pull, which Chris Mason describes as "pretty big, picking up patches that have been under development for some time."
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This board is certainly capable of single digit power draw, at least with certain specific setups. With Linux, running the latest kernel (at least 3.3.0) is recommended to achieve lower power consumption. MeeGo with it's included proprietary xorg driver for CedarView Atoms shows that Linux can achieve similarly low power draw as Windows 7 with an optimized graphics driver. What remains to be seen is if the Linux kernel developers will have access to enough information about the PowerVR SGX 545 GPU core to enable them to incorporate all power saving features of this GPU into the Linux kernel DRM driver.
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Applications
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Want to learn the art of writing a screenplay? Check out Trelby, open source screenwriting software you can try right now if you’re a Linux or Windows user.
Whether you’re an aspiring writer or a planning on becoming a YouTube star, knowing how to write a script is an essential skill. It’s possible, of course, to write a screenplay using Microsoft Word, but using software built for screenplays saves a lot of time. Formatting for screenplays is very specific, so why waste time imitating it? It will just frustrate you, distracting you from your writing.
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Instructionals/Technical
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Wine
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Games
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Do you want to play a game with extreme violence in a background populated with characters that are American Caricatures ?
Welcome to Postal 2.
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Desktop Environments
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
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A few months ago I took a look at KDE-Telepathy from within Fedora Rawhide. I said I would check it out after upgrading to Fedora 16 and then I got busy getting ready for the arrival of my daughter. (my first kid) So I just kept using Kopete for my multi-protocol IM needs. It’s the only way I keep up with anyone on Gchat or Facebook chat because I refuse to have to keep any specific tab open on my web browser for chatting. Also, it tends to be more annoying to chat – instead of chatting in a small window that I can put off to the corner of whatever virtual desktop or activity I’m in, I’d need my entire web browser.
But recently I came across this blog post in planet KDE that talks about what’s coming in KDE-Telepathy 0.4. I really like logging for my chats because it can be very useful to go back and look for a reference or a URL that someone mentions. So, even though there isn’t an easy way to view the logs right now, the fact that the logs are being saved was enough to allow me to over to KDE-Telepathy. I’m also really excited for the Gchat-like interface coming in 0.4. It’s mentioned in that previous link as well as here.
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GNOME Desktop
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There's a new simulation game in town and this one is aimed straight for the Linux user. With Linux Tycoon, you can design, build, and manage your very own Linux distribution and compete with other distros for users. "Basically take all the fun parts of building your own Linux Distro... and take out all the work. Bam! Instant entertainment!"
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Red Hat Family
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Red Hat Inc. (RHT) jumped 15 percent after the software maker forecast earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.
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Debian Family
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The Debian Project is pleased to announce that it is joining the Open Source Initiative ("OSI") as an affiliate. The OSI was founded in 1998 by Eric S. Raymond and Bruce Perens, with the aim of explaining, advocating, and protecting the term "open source". Debian shares the OSI's desire to encourage Free Software. Debian's Social Contract commits it to producing a system which is 100% free.
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Derivatives
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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A quick update: we’ve uploaded digital versions of the latest issue and our previous issue to Ubuntu’s Software Centre, and we’ll try to do the same for future issues as well.
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Depending upon your hardware, the power consumption when running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS can either be at its best or worst. Here's a look at the two power consumption extremes of the Precise Pangolin.
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I’ve been an Xfce user since 2004, this post from last year documents my UI adventures. It’s been my Desktop Environment of choice for my whole professional career as a systems administrator and I’m very set in my ways configuration-wise at work. These days I help out with the Xubuntu team on marketing, website, release notes and testing. I really love Xfce and I’ll continue to use it and contribute to Xubuntu (we had our beta2 today too, and formal release of our new branding!).
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Almost there! Day by day we are getting closer to the final stable release of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin the long term support release. Today the second beta release is available to download for the testing purposes. So, let’s check the recent changes to Ubuntu Precise Pangolin highlights.
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The Ninja Block not only runs on open software, but it itself is open hardware, with designs available under Creative Commons. It also includes a 3D printed case. Prices start at $155 AUD ($160 USD, €£100 GBP) for the basic device, with external sensors costing more. You can pre-order from the Ninja Blocks website.
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Phones
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Sub-notebooks/Tablets
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According to a report in The Wall Street Journal citing "people familiar with the matter," Google intends to go head-to-head with Apple's iPad by selling co-branded Android tablets. Google, of course, has its hands tied with regard to its lofty goals to become a big player on the hardware scene, as it waits for its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility to be approved. Is Google biting off more than it can chew with its smartphone and tablet plans?
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The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) announced that Apache Rave, the organization’s open-source mashup platform, has graduated from the incubator to become a top-level project.
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) announced that Apache Rave, the organization's open-source mashup engine, has graduated from the Apache Incubator to become a top-level project (TLP).
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Web Browsers
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Mozilla
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Ever wonder where the phrase “jump the shark” came from? It’s dates back to the once wildly popular TV show Happy Days. It’s widely accepted that the show lost its way, and its audience, in an episode where the lovable hero “Fonzie” jumps a shark on water skis in a pathetic attempt to keep the audience’s attention. I wonder how if Firefox jumped the shark when its parent company Mozilla decided to put Firefox on a hyper-accelerated release schedule last summer. Today, five releases later, Firefox keeps falling farther behind Google’s Chrome in popularity, it’s not very stable, and it can’t keep up with Chrome in speed.
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Public Services/Government
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The United States and India jointly launched a new Web portal to distribute an open source software applications to help governments manage and release their data to the public, according to an announcement on March 30.
The “Open Government Platform” website will make available code, tools and processes to government agencies and to developers, analysts, media, academia and the public to make government data more transparent and useful, officials said in the news releases.
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Openness/Sharing
Recent Techrights' Posts
- The UEFI Restricted Boot 'Time Bomb' is About to Go Off in a Few Weeks
- Garrett was the first person to face sanctions (like muting) in our IRC channels because of his abuse; worse yet, he hijacked other people's names and then locked them out of their own accounts
- Nobody is "Replaced by AI", It's Just a Smokescreen for Jobs Being Eliminated by Lack of Money (Too Much Debt) and Offshoring
- It's also why many make the jokes about the "I" in "AI" being "India" or "Indians"
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- Links 24/08/2025: Microsoft Settles Data Breach Lawsuits and Climate Change Causes Heatwaves, Water Shortages
- Links for the day
- CachyOS is Rising Fast, But Slopfarms Are 'Googlebombing' It
- CachyOS receives more media attention
- No Reason for Red Hat Relief Yet (Layoff Rumours)
- the execution could be stalled, delayed, or scheduled for some time after people come back from holiday
- GNU/Linux 6%, Windows 60% in Venezuela, Suggests statCounter
- The cash cows are dying
- Mass Layoffs Continue at Microsoft This Month (Remaining Workers See Conditions That Deteriorate)
- So far this month (one week remaining) we saw at least two waves of layoffs at Microsoft
- How SPAM E-mails With Windows-Centric Files Get Twisted as Linux Threats, Then Slopfarms Spread the Word
- Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
- Links 24/08/2025: Heatwaves Threaten Workers, Maldives Versus Press freedom
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Digital Cameras and Printers
- Links for the day
- Links 24/08/2025: GAFAM Lie About Pollution and Slop's Carbon Footprint, The Guardian Says Slop ("Hey Hi") is a Bubble That Will Send Stock Markets Into a Freefall
- Links for the day
- 80% of the Sponsored (Fake) Articles in The Register MS Are Promotions of Ponzi Schemes (Unethical Money), the Rest is Banned Chinese Business
- Is that an ethical way to make money? No.
- Should Currys PCWorld Start Voiding Warranties of Users of Vista 11?
- If a person's laptop has a mechanical issue, should this person replace GNU/Linux with Vista 11 for the repair shop? Only to damage the SSD?
- Newer is Not Always Better, and It's Possible That 'Peak' is the Past
- People creating their own platforms means progress, whereas centralisation (like moving from blogs to social control media) is the opposite of progress
- LLM Hype is Sowing Destruction: It Contributes to DDoS Attacks and Makes the Web Less Accessible (JavaScript "R U Human?" Tests)
- If it was googlebot, it would be possible to argue that you'd at least then get referral traffic from Google Search. With LLMs, all you get is plagiarised.
- Links 24/08/2025: New York Times Talks About Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 24/08/2025: Upgrading Debian and Mobile-indifferent Design
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 23, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, August 23, 2025
- Richard Stallman's Talk in Buenos Aires Scheduled for 16 November 2025 (a Month After FSF Turns 40)
- they've just updated their site and Stallman is listed first
- Men Who Abuse Women Should Never Spend Over 3 Years of the UK High Court's Time
- This demonstrates that we need a reform in the UK
- Slopwatch: Linux Journal, WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and the Serial Slopper
- The bubble needs to burst, but even then the Web will be left with residues of these slopfarms
- Links 23/08/2025: Science, War, and Important Win for the British Media Against SLAPPers Who Abuse Women
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/08/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Back to Oldschool
- Links for the day
- "Deserved Victory" for "Women That Suffered"
- "GNM defended its reporting as being both true and in the public interest and in a judgment on Friday"
- The US Government is Now in the Business (Literally!) of Saving Microsoft and Intel
- This means that President TACO/Cheeto now has greater financial incentive to also prop up Microsoft and Windows
- Links 23/08/2025: onmicrosoft.com as Spam Cannon, The Cheeto-Intel Deal Is Official
- Links for the day
- Wired Complained About LLM Slop Only Days Before It Got Caught Doing That Itself
- Never throw stones in a glass house
- IBM "Value" Down 14.16% in a Month, Red Hat Layoffs Allegedly Discussed 12 Days Ago
- "IBM is a dinosaur. Dinosaurs get extinct when the don't keep up."
- We're Seeing More Countries Where Windows Isn't Even in Second Place Anymore (Third or Worse)
- In a way, Microsoft can barely even hold onto second place anymore
- Microsoft Workers on Canonical's Payroll
- If you want something that's sort of like Ubuntu but is not controlled by Canonical, then look into Linux Mint, Debian, or LMDE
- GNU/Linux Climbs to 4% in Sierra Leone
- Sierra Leone isn't a very rich country (to say the least), but it's better off than some of its neighbours
- The SLAPPS Run Out of Oxygen Because They're Abuse of Process
- At the end of the day we plan to publish over 1,000 articles explaining what happened
- The Register MS Gets Paid by the Employer of the Previous Editor in Chief to Promote the "AI" Ponzi Scheme, Which Does Considerable Damage to the Web and to Online Journalists
- The Register MS can 'badmouth' slop all it wants; it gets paid to inflate this bubble. It's actively participating in it.
- Soon It'll be Autumn, Time to Repair Things
- Where they don't charge an arm and a leg
- Doing Our Best to Cover Software Patents When the Mainstream Media Does Not
- Even the FSF has its limits
- Gemini Links 23/08/2025: August Questions and Network Solutions
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 22, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, August 22, 2025
- Microsoft Has Issues in Guyana
- It's not just Guyana
- About 25% of the "Linux" News/Results in Google News Today Are LLM Slop, Almost 20% From the Same Rogue Operators of Slopfarms
- Google, which tries to market itself as an LLM giant, apparently fails to understand what's wrong with it
- Harassing People on Holiday
- There are "no-go areas"; but that assumes all laws firms have ethical standards
- The Great, Undeniable Value of Paper Trail, Not Purely Digital Systems
- Suppose you have nothing but bits on someone else's computer and "word of mouth"...
- The Company Behind Ars Technica, Reddit and Wired Caught Publishing LLM Slop (It Also Admits It Now)
- Condé Nast busted
- Links 22/08/2025: Lagrange 1.18.8, Wired Magazine and Business Insider Caught Resorting to LLM Slop
- Links for the day
- This Saturday It's Gonna be 3.5 Years* Since Russia Invaded Ukraine. No Microsoft Protests Against Microsoft Having Provided Russia With Services.
- Companies do not have consistent policies and enforcement of "corporate values" is somewhat of an egg salad
- Slopwatch: Sites Gone Rogue, Google Promoting Lies, and DDoS Attacks by Plagiarism Giants
- Charlatans and frauds engage in a war against artistic industries, mislabeling plagiarism as "AI"
- Links 22/08/2025: Cisco Layoffs, LA Times Says "AI Hype is Fading Fast"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 22/08/2025: K for Kentucky and Caddy Versus LLM Slopbots
- Links for the day
- The "End Software Patents" Initiative of the FSF Explains "WHY [to] ABOLISH SOFTWARE PATENTS"
- We hope to cover patent-related issues more and more as the big anniversary of the FSF approaches
- Freenode Sniffing
- The grown-ups left the building
- The Only Thing Worse Than Misinformation is Misinformation Sold to Everyone as "Intelligence"
- Misplaced trust is worse than none at all
- The Register MS Now Openly Admits LLM Hype Does Damage, But It's Also Being Paid to Participate in the LLM Hype (With Paid 'Articles' and 'Webcasts' for Paying Advertisers)
- The Register MS gets paid to do this
- End of the Smartphone Era? No.
- Maybe the media should focus on producing accurate, factual news
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, August 21, 2025
- Enshittification of Airports, Airlines, and Airplanes
- If people are willing to tolerate standard declines and enshittification (nowadays sold as "pivot to AI" or "replaced by AI" or "AI layoffs") they will pay for it some other way
- Latest Is Not Greatest: The Case of "Foldable" Tech
- don't be shamed into abandoning old things just because the "fashion industry" of Apple and Samsung tells you to
- Airlines and Their Tricks That Only Work in the 'Digital Age'
- People sceptical of the direction technology has taken are not "Luddites"
- Open Source Initiative (OSI), Which Became a Propaganda Front of Microsoft and "Hey Hi" (Hype, Misnomer), Wants You to Forget These Scandals
- A lot of these issues won't be set aside until there's a resolution