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Links 24/5/2013: Fedora ‘Pidora’, CIvil Rights Debated in the US





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • LinkSmart’s Low-Cost, Big Data Plan with Linux and MapR
    LinkSmart’s audience and link management platform for publishers was built with big data at its core. So when management decided to migrate the cloud-based application to their own hardware, there was no question it would be completely powered by Linux.

    Linux-based infrastructure allows the 3-year-old startup to cut costs, both by avoiding the licensing fees of proprietary systems and by tapping the community’s collective knowledge base instead of paying for expensive support contracts, said CTO Manny Puentes.


  • LinkSmart’s Low-Cost, Big Data Plan with Linux and MapR
    LinkSmart’s audience and link management platform for publishers was built with big data at its core. So when management decided to migrate the cloud-based application to their own hardware, there was no question it would be completely powered by Linux.

    Linux-based infrastructure allows the 3-year-old startup to cut costs, both by avoiding the licensing fees of proprietary systems and by tapping the community’s collective knowledge base instead of paying for expensive support contracts, said CTO Manny Puentes.


  • Linux-Based Education OS Gets New Features


  • GNU/Linux Is Important After All
    If I was the type to have heroes, Richard Stallman would be near the top of my list, not far below John Lennon and Abbie Hoffman, and way out ahead of Tom Hayden or the several-times-over reinvented Bob Dylan, though the freewheeling Bob Dylan who took it down Highway 61 will always be near the top of the list.


  • Desktop

    • HP And Operating Systems
      Little by little, OEMs are coming to the realization that if they don’t sell FLOSS, someone else will do it. Being an M$-only OEM is no longer good business.


    • USA Too
      GNU/Linux had a huge double spike, doubling ~April 15 and again on May 18. What’s with that? It’s bigger than possible with most organizations. Could it possibly be Dell’s selling Ubuntu GNU/Linux? How could that shift display itself overnight like that?






  • Kernel Space



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments/WMs



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt



      • Digia launches Boot to Qt technology preview


      • Introducing Boot to Qt – A Technology Preview


      • Digia Announces "Boot To Qt" Project
        Digia has announced a new commercial endeavour that pairs a lightweight Qt stack atop an Android kernel/base operating system.

        Boot To Qt is Digia's new solution for developing "slick user interfaces on embedded devices." This new stack consists of a UI component driven by thr Qt Framework, ready-made developer images, full Qt Creator integration, and a VirtualBox-based simulator. Android is being used as the base layer to the OS.


      • KDE 4.11 Will Be The Last Major KDE4 Workspaces Feature Release
        For those that didn't hear already, KDE 4.11 will be the last Plasma Workspaces feature release in the KDE4 series and this upcoming version will be maintained for a period of two years.


      • Pre-order Akademy 2013 T-shirt


      • A rich python console and more in Kate editor
        I have done some improvements in the plugins: python_console_ipython, python_autocomplete, python_utils, js_utils, xml_pretty and django_utils. These plugins I added a month and a half ago (except python_console_ipython) to the kate repository. I have done two improvements and a new feature:


      • Plasma Workspaces to go into feature freeze with version 4.11
        KDE developer and Plasma team leader Aaron Seigo has announced that version 4.11 of Plasma Workspaces will be a long term support (LTS) release. Seigo says the developers are close to a feature freeze for the next version of KDE's desktop shell and that, once Plasma Workspaces 4.11 is released, there will be no more feature developments in this branch. However, as part of their stabilisation releases, the developers will provide bug fixes and translation updates for two years after the 4.11 release.






  • Distributions

    • Ranking Linux distributions, and the decline of the traditional distros
      A recent poll on Hacker News asking about Linux distributions of choice got me thinking, what can can we learn from a bigger picture of the distro landscape than a single HN poll? I went looking around and dug up a couple of other sources of information — Linux Journal’s annual reader’s choice awards, and data from Google Trends.

      What makes these three particular choices interesting is that they span a broad swathe of user types, from the hacker (Hacker News) to the enthusiast (Linux Journal) to the “average” Linux user (Google). That means we can learn from the trends across these three user types — considering which communities may be more predictive or more technical vs which represent broader adoption today.


    • Zorin OS 7 Release Candidate out now
      Pre-release version of Zorin OS 7 Core available for testing, the RC including Linux Kernel 3.8 and an overhauled graphical interface


    • New Releases



    • Red Hat Family



      • Fedora



        • Pidora, Raspberry Pi’s Unfortunately Named Fedora Remix
          Unfortunately, while Pidora looks to be a very interesting distribution for the Raspberry Pi, with many features taking advantage of the board’s unique properties, the Fedora team made one critical error during its development: they forgot to Google their intended name.

          As it turns out, Pidora has a rather embarrassing meaning to some members of the community: in Russian, “pidora” is a derogatory word for a male homosexual. It’s closest translation into English would be “faggot”.


        • Raspberry Pi's Fedora becomes Pidora
          Fedora and the Seneca Centre for Development of Open Technology released an optimized Fedora 18 Remix for the Raspberry Pi, and unveiled a new name for the remix. “Pidora 18,” based on a new build of Fedora optimized for ARMv6, features speedier performance and includes packages from the Fedora 18 package set, says the Pidora project team.


        • Pidora: Fedora Linux for the Raspberry Pi ARMs Up (Thanks to Seneca)
          You can now add another Linux distro to the list that will run on the Raspberry Pi. The core distro for the small device is the Debian based Raspian and there is also an Arch based Linux for the Pi too.


        • Meet Pidora: A Custom Version of Fedora for Raspberry Pi
          As the diminutive $25/$35 Linux-based Raspberry Pi devices continue to contribute to imaginative applications, they're also emerging as shining examples of new ways Linux can be deployed. Tinkerers have already put all flavors of Linux on the devices, and now, Fedora and the Seneca Centre for Development of Open Technology (CDOT) have announced the release of Pidora 18, a custom version of Fedora specifically for the Raspberry Pi. Here is more on it.


        • Fedora Project Announces Pidora Remix for Raspberry Pi
          The Fedora Project has been supporting Raspberry Pi, the diminutive $35 computer, for some time. Today they’re making the Pidora “remix” of the core Fedora distribution available. Like the Raspbian distribution of Debian, Pidora is compiled specifically to take advantage of the hardware already built into the Raspberry Pi.


        • Fedora 'Pidora' now optimised for Raspberry Pi mini-computer
          The Raspberry Pi mini-computer is to be served with new "Pidora" build of Fedora packaged for ARMv6 architecture.

          NOTE: Fedora is a free and open source Linux-based operating system sponsored by Red Hat -- it is typically classed as the second-most commonly used Linux distribution, after Ubuntu.


        • Pidora is Fedora Linux for the Raspberry Pi


        • Fedora Raspberry Pi remix reborn as Pidora


        • New Fedora Package Manager Still on Track


        • Review: Korora 18 "Flo" KDE
          That is where my time with Korora 18 "Flo" KDE ended. The odd error message in the installation of Skype may cause other people to reconsider entirely, which is why I can almost but not quite recommend Korora for newbies. Given the popularity of Skype and given that the helper package in the repositories conflicts with a core system package (making it useless now), it might be good if developers in that community could come together to write a more current tutorial on how to deal with Skype. Also, the stunted nature of Mupen64Plus means I wouldn't use this for myself. But really, it only needs a tiny bit more work before I can comfortably recommend this. You can get it here.


        • Pidora 18 (Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix) Release


        • New Security Feature in Fedora 19 Part 3: Hard Link/Soft Link Protection
          It is surprising to most people who understand Linux and Unix that you are allowed to Hard Link to any file on the OS as long as it is on the same file system.






    • Debian Family





  • Devices/Embedded

    • Build your own supercomputer out of Raspberry Pi boards
      Who says you need a few million bucks to build a supercomputer? Joshua Kiepert put together a Linux-powered Beowulf cluster with Raspberry Pi computers for less than $2,000.


    • Arduino Yun SBC adds Wifi, Linux to Leonardo features
      Arduino announced the first open source Arduino hacker board with built-in WiFi, and also the first to run Linux. The $69 Arduino Yún integrates the functions of an Arduino Leonardo, featuring an ATmega32u4 microcontroller and 14 GPIO pins, with an Atheros AR9331 WiFi SOC running OpenWRT embedded Linux on a 400MHz MIPS processor.


    • Introducing the BeagleBone Black's Linux 3.8 kernel
      This guest column by BeagleBoard.org co-founder Jason Kridner introduces the BeagleBone Black's cutting-edge Linux 3.8 kernel, up from the original BeagleBone's 3.2 kernel. The new kernel incorporates a new Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) display driver architecture, as well as full support for the Device Tree data structure introduced in Linux 3.7 in order to streamline ARM Linux development and hardware support.


    • BeagleBone Black ships, climbs Device Tree with Linux 3.8
      BeagleBoard.org has begun shipping its faster, cheaper "BeagleBone Black" SBC with a Linux 3.8 kernel, supporting Device Tree technology for more streamlined ARM development. The $45 BeagleBone Black runs Linux or Android on a 1GHz TI Sitara AM3359 SOC, doubles the RAM to 512MB, and adds a micro-HDMI port.


    • First Linux-Driven Arduino Board Reaches Out with WiFi


    • Phones



      • Ballnux



      • Android

        • Report: Android-related Projects Far Outpace iOS Projects
          The creation of new Android-related open source projects picked up in a big way in 2012, radically outpacing new iOS projects, according to data released by Black Duck Software. Black Duck manages and secures implementations of open source software, and has large samples of real-world data on open source software in use and in development. Its latest study shows that new Android mobile projects outstripped iOS projects by a factor of four in 2012, expanding by at least 96 percent in each year since 2007. New iOS project growth, by comparison, was 32 percent from 2011 to 2012.


        • Google's Android Strategy For Smartphone Domination
          Many people will be quick to point out that it Google is a technology Company with lot of products. However, Google at heart is Advertising Company.


        • Google Is On A Mission To Make Android Developers Rich
          Google always wants developers to build apps for Android first and not iOS. Google I/O 2013 was developer’s paradise which showed that the company is committed to making tools that make things easy for developers.

          To attract developers into choosing Android as the first option, Google is striving to help them take full advantage of the Android Ecosystem to generate monetary profits for themselves. Android apps have come a long way and are at par with its iOS counterparts, therefore Google can now focus on optimising the ecosystem and innovate.






    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Intel Demo GNOME-Powered Tizen OS Ultrabook
        Tizen, the open-source Linux software platform aiming to power everything from smartphones to smart TVs, is seemingly coming to laptops.

        Intel demoed a Tizen laptop experience at the Tizen Conference 2013 in San Francisco, USA, earlier this month. And it wasn’t demoed on any old heap of hardware, either: Intel were showing off the OS newcomer on an i7 Ivybridge Ultrabook.

        The Tizen OS experience is powered by ‘Tizen Shell’ – a UI built upon GNOME-Shell.








Free Software/Open Source



  • Open source, cross-platform office suite Joeffice was created in just 30 days
    Called Joeffice, it works on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux as well as in browsers, according to the developer, Anthony Goubard. It includes a very basic word processor, spreadsheet program, presentation program and database software, Goubard said.


  • ProjectLibre edges in on Microsoft Project dominance
    ProjectLibre is an open source project management solution ready to give Microsoft Project a run for their money.


  • Google Abandons Open Standards for Instant Messaging
    In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing "Talk" platform with a new one called "Hangouts" that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users.


  • Getting involved in Free Software


  • Open-source office suite written in Java
    The first open source office suite written in Java has been released by Japplis, a company based in the Netherlands.


  • New Maven plugins for simpler architecture management
    Macker, the second plugin, allows specific dependencies between packages to be defined and those rules to be automatically verified. The plugin is the result of observations by the company that targets for dependencies between packages set at the beginning of a project are often not met. Macker is a fork of software of the same name from Codehaus that hasn't been updated since 2003. The forked plugin from andrena objects has been adapted to current versions of Java.


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



    • Chrome



    • Mozilla

      • Firefox 22 Beta Ready To Test
        Keeping track of where Firefox is going is difficult given you have at least two horizons to keep your eyes on. Here we have a brief look at what to expect in Firefox 22, currently in beta and close to being rolled out.

        The big news in Firefox 22 is either WebRTC or asm.js depending on your particular interests.

        WebRTC isn't new but now it is deemed stable enough to be on by default.






  • SaaS/Big Data

    • Pattern, Open Source Framework, Aims to Accelerate Analytics on Hadoop


    • Open Source Big Data: DataStax Expands Cassandra, Hadoop Business in Europe
      Big Data is becoming a big deal beyond the United States, and it's time for the international channel to pay attention. The latest evidence: DataStax, which provides enterprise database management services based on open-source software. The company is making an aggressive push into the European market in what may be the first move toward a greater presence throughout the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region as a whole.

      DataStax, which is based in California and counts 20 Fortune 100 companies among its customers, distributes an integrated Big Data platform based on the open-source technologies Cassandra, Hadoop and Solr, all of which are developed by the Apache Foundation. It focuses on database scalability and reliability, and has been particularly innovative in the NoSQL trend.




  • Databases

    • Salesforce Nabs Open Source Database Guru for War on Oracle
      The grudge match between Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and his former protege Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, has reached legendary proportions in recent years. Ellison and Benioff pepper their speeches and interviews with not so subtle digs at each other’s companies, and Oracle even went so far as to cancel Benioff’s scheduled keynote at the Oracle Open World conference in 2011.




  • Funding



  • BSD



  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Single-board computers and software freedom
      Single-board computers (SBCs) are computers delivered as one circuit board that are powerful enough to run a real operating system. SBCs are typically inexpensive and versatile, making them an exciting tool for a wide range of applications, from education to scientific research. But there's a problem; all of the SBCs currently available have major flaws -- hardware that doesn't work without running a nonfree program.




  • Programming

    • Google Code disables direct file downloads
      Google has announced that it will in future not allow direct file downloads from its Google Code hosting service. The company says that "increasing misuse" of the service has forced it to take the step in the interest of keeping the platform's community "safe and secure".






Leftovers



Recent Techrights' Posts

Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
 
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Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
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No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
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Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
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The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
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Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
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A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
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Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
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Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025