Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/5/2015: MAME Free Software. Rust 1.0, New Wine





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Server





  • Kernel Space



    • Graphics Stack



      • Gallium3D's LLVMpipe Tacks On Another OpenGL 4 Extension
        Most often when talking of new OpenGL 4 extensions in Mesa it tends to be regarding the Intel Mesa driver given they're the company investing the most into the Linux graphics stack, followed by the Radeon and Noveau drivers. However, this week in Mesa is some love to the fallback/debugging software rasterizers.


      • Beignet Is Working On OpenCL 2.0 Open-Source Linux Support
        Within Intel's Beignet project for open-source OpenCL support on Linux systems with HD/Iris Graphics, there's a OpenCL20 branch as part of Beignet Git. The OpenCL 2.0 support code hasn't been touched in a few weeks, but it's clearly in the works by the Intel China crew that's been maintaining this project.


      • Intel Iris Graphics Performance With Mesa 10.6
        With Mesa 10.6 due to be released in early June, our usual performance comparisons of this new Mesa 3D version will come. To get our latest round of Mesa open-source graphics driver benchmarking kicked off, here are benchmarks of Intel's Iris Graphics when comparing Mesa 10.5 and 10.6 Git atop Ubuntu 15.04.


      • Libweston Likely To Be Delayed To Wayland's Weston 1.9
        While Wayland 1.8 is coming along, along with the Weston 1.8 update, it looks like the libweston functionality will be staved off for another release.






  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments/WMs



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt



      • Qt 5.5 Beta Released
        It’s my pleasure to announce the release of the Qt 5.5 Beta today.

        Since we released Qt 5.4, a lot of effort has been put into fixing bugs reported both by our customers and the community. With this in focus, we went through a couple weeks of dedicated bug fixing here at The Qt Company. During this time, we worked 100% on fixing as many open issues as possible. Although the focus of Qt 5.5 has been on stability and performance, it also has some interesting new features and functionality to offer.


      • Qt 5.5 Beta Finally Released
        Lars Knoll announced the Qt 5.5 beta today to the blog.qt.io. Lars noted, "Since we released Qt 5.4, a lot of effort has been put into fixing bugs reported both by our customers and the community. With this in focus, we went through a couple weeks of dedicated bug fixing here at The Qt Company. During this time, we worked 100% on fixing as many open issues as possible. Although the focus of Qt 5.5 has been on stability and performance, it also has some interesting new features and functionality to offer."


      • Qt Gamepad: Adding Gamepad Support To The Toolkit
        Qt Gamepad is inspired by the HTML5 Gamepad API while styled with a Qt-like API. Qt Gamepad offers C++ and Qt Quick APIs and there's a plug-in architecture for providing different backends to interface with the actual gamepads.


      • KDE Applications 15.08 Planned For Release On 19 August
        For those tracking the development of KDE Applications 15.08, the release schedule has now been firmed up. The feature freeze is to take place on 22 July along with the beta release, the KDE 15.08 RC release on 5 August, and the official KDE Applications 15.08 release is set for 19 August.


      • Schedules - Applications - 15.08 Release Schedule




    • GNOME Desktop/GTK





  • Distributions



    • New Releases



    • Red Hat Family



    • Debian Family



      • [Old] Why pro-systemd and anti-systemd people will never get along
        I was inspired to write this by the recent announcements of public desire for a Debian fork, an idea that I find to be dumb and which likely will not lead to a lot of technical work.

        Nonetheless, I saw the same systemd debate unfold again. I’ve seen it countless times already, and there was virtually no variation from the archetypal formula. You have two ardent and vocal sides, roughly classified into an opponent/proponent dichotomy, neither of which have anything enlightening to say and both with their own unique set of misunderstandings that have memetically mutated into independent ideas that poison virtually every debate of this nature.

        I largely avoid systemd “debates” these days. They depress me due to all of the flawed reasoning and shitflinging emerging everywhere, but I felt that perhaps this little write-up could try to explain the background and causes for just why systemd inspires so much vitriol and turf warring.


      • Derivatives



        • Tails 1.4 polishes up the privacy-obsessed Linux OS trusted by Edward Snowden
          This Debian-based system is designed to preserve your privacy and anonymity online, providing better protection than just using the Tor browser alone on a typical operating system. How effective is this concealment-centric operating system’s tools? Well, in 2012, vulnerabilities for Tails topped the NSA’s most-wanted list alongside Tor and TrueCrypt.


        • Canonical/Ubuntu



          • Tor Browser 4.5.1 Released with Support for Ubuntu 14.04 LXC Hosts
            The Tor Project announced the release of the Tor Browser 4.5.1 for all those who want to stay anonymous online. The new maintenance release is based on Mozilla Firefox 31.7.0 ESR, and it is available for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows platforms.


          • Meizu to Announce Ubuntu Phone on May 18 - Rumor
            Meizu might launch MX4 Ubuntu Edition on May 18, if the teaser posted by the Chinese company on Twitter is to be believed and if all the chatter on Chinese news websites will prove to be accurate.


          • Watch Mark Shuttleworth Announcing Ubuntu Fridge in 2006 with the Voice of Borat
            A fridge called ChillHub that runs Ubuntu was just announced last week, but it looks like Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Canonical, was making a similar announcement back in 2006. And he was using the famous voice and accent of the Borat movie character.


          • Flavours and Variants



            • A look at the MintBox Mini
              It has been a busy week for Linux powered hardware. We have had drones, refrigerators and more conventional hardware that are all powered by various incarnations of Ubuntu, launched this week. Another new hardware release we have seen this week is the MintBox Mini, it is the result of a collaboration between Linux Mint and CompuLab.


            • Elementary OS Freya: Is This The Next Big Linux Distro?
              I’ve tried just about every flavor of Linux available. Not a desktop interface has gone by that hasn’t, in some way, touched down before me. So when I set out to start kicking the tires of Elementary OS Freya, I assumed it was going to be just another take on the same old desktop metaphors. A variation of GNOME, a tweak of Xfce, a dash of OSX or some form of Windows, and the slightest hint of Chrome OS. What I wound up seeing didn’t disappoint on that level—it was a mixed bag of those very things. However, that mixed bag turned out to be something kind of special … something every Linux user should take notice of.












  • Devices/Embedded



    • How low can we go? Introducing the $9 Linux computer!
      With the release of the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B priced at $35 and its predecessor, the Raspberry Pi Model B+, having recently had its price dropped to $25 you might have thought a cheaper computer of equal capabilities would be hard to find. But now along comes CHIP, a $9 Linux computer!


    • Latest Atheros IoT SoCs include OpenWRT-friendly model
      Qualcomm has launched two WiFi-enabled SoCs that support the AllJoyn IoT standard, including a 650MHz, MIPS-based “QCA4531″ SoC that runs OpenWRT Linux.


    • Arduino shrinks Linux-ready Yún to “Mini” size
      Arduino announced a smaller, cheaper “Mini” version of the Arduino Yún SBC that offers fewer real-world ports, but gives more control to Linux.

      Arduino, the Italian-based project that designs the official line of Arduino hacker boards, announced a $60 Arduino “Yún Mini” SBC today at the Maker Faire Bay Area. This was the same event where Arduino two years ago announced its first Linux-ready board. the Arduino Yún. The Yún Mini sacrifices a number of interfaces in order to reduce size, and gives the OpenWRT Linux based Linino distribution, which is also used by the original Yún, more control over the board’s functions.


    • Original Raspberry Pi Model B+ Now Costs Just $20
      The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced that the price of the original Raspberry Pi Model B+ has been cut, and it should now be found at $25 (€22).


    • Samsung Debuts Yocto-Based Linux IoT Boards
      This week Samsung debuted three new system-on-chips on several Yocto-based Linux "Artik" computer-on-modules aimed at the Internet of Things market. Last week, a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign by Next Thing Co. launched a tiny, IoT focused "Chip" single board computer starting at $9 that will debut a new, small footprint Allwinner R8 SoC. And in February, the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched a wildly successful Raspberry Pi 2 Model B that features a quad-core Broadcom BCM2836 SoC that was custom made for the SBC.


    • Bridge Shield: for Raspberry Pi, Arduino UNO & Arduino Mega
      We are happy to announce that every Backer who has pledged $81 and above will be getting an "ARDUINO UNO” (clone) with their reward.


    • Panasonic Releases First Smart TVs Running Firefox OS
      The Firefox OS from Mozilla has been out for some time now, but today Firefox OS is landing in a new market for the first time. It's coming to Smart TVs, starting with six models in Panasonic's VIERA line.


    • Phones



      • Tizen



        • More Concept Designs for the Samsung Gear A Tizen Smart Watch
          So we’ve got news of the new Samsung Gear A (codenamed Orbis) Smartwatch, the new Samsung Gear SDK and a render of what the Smartwatch could look like based on prototype drawings. Now we have more renders of what the upcoming Samsung round Smartwatch could possibly look like, with its round bezel that takes advantage of the new round user Interface.




      • Android



        • Where Android Wear should go from here
          There are more than half a dozen smartwatches that run Google's wearable software, but it'll take more to make people want to buy them. These should be the next steps.


        • 3 Reasons Not to Install the Android 5.1.1 Update Right Now
          Google’s Nexus Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update comes with a number of big time bug fixes for Lollipop problems. It’s an exciting update but it’s also one that you may not want to install on day one. Today, we take a look at a few reasons why you might want to skip your initial Nexus Android 5.1.1 Lollipop release date.


        • WhatsApp for Android now fully employs Material Design; Holo, begone!
          Roughly a month ago, we reported that the Android version of WhatsApp, one of the more (if not the most) popular messaging services out there, got its first taste of Google's Material Design. Unfortunately, the update in question (2.12.34) was not initially available for all users straight out of the Play Store. What's more, there were still certain aspects of the interface that refused to get rid of the boring, yet well-known Holo design.


        • Video: here’s Android 5.1.1 running on the Sony Xperia Z3
          Sony has already updated many of its smartphones to Android 5.0 Lollipop, but now we’re looking forward to the jump to 5.1 and a new video shows us what to expect.


        • Moto E leaps to Lollipop to lead this week's Android update roundup
          The small-but-mighty Moto E is leaping ahead of several more expensive flagships in the race to Android 5.1. It joins a number of other devices this week that are finally getting their turn at some long-overdue updates.


        • 5 Exciting Android M Update Details
          Google still isn’t talking about its rumored Android M release, an release that could wind up being the Android 6.0 update, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t seen details emerge ahead of an announcement. In fact, we’ve seen a number of exciting Android M release details arrive in the days before Google I/O 2015.


        • Android 5.1/5.0 Lollipop Update Guide For Sony Xperia Z3 And Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
          As it turns out, a new video has surfaced online showcasing the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update for Sony Xperia Z3. In addition, the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo has also been confirmed by the South Korean conglomerate.


        • Nexus 6 Performance With Android 5.1
          With Android Lollipop, Google announced that full disk encryption (FDE), an optional feature available since Android Honeycomb, would be enabled by default. This requirement was later revoked due to performance issues on certain classes of hardware, the Nexus 6, having shipped with FDE enabled, being a prime example.


        • Komando On Demand podcasts with this Android player


        • Nexus 9 Android 5.1.1 Update: Impressions & Performance
          This week after nearly 5 months without a single update Google finally delivered the much needed Nexus 9 Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update with a collection of bug fixes and performance improvements aimed at fixing the tablet. After spending a few days with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop on the Nexus 9, here’s our initial thoughts.


        • RadeonSI Gallium3D Driver To Be Enabled For Android
          With the latest Mesa patch series by Chih-Wei Huang of Android-x86, the AMD RadeonSI Gallium3D driver is to be enabled.










Free Software/Open Source



  • MAME is going open source to be a 'learning tool for developers'
    The folks who maintain MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) are aiming to make the project completely open source in order to expand both its pool of supporters and its utility to developers and historians.

    This is notable because MAME is seen to be the premier emulator for arcade games, and the volunteers who maintain it have done laudable work to preserve artifacts of the game industry in a playable state.


  • MAME going open-source
    Given the scale of MAME, built over nearly two decades by so many contributors, accomplishing a change in licensing is a project in itself. One contributor reports that the licensing proposed is "BSD3 for core files and BSD3,GPL2 or LGPL2 for drivers/emulators"


  • Popular arcade game emulator MAME is going open source
    Unlike most vintage console or computer games, arcade games can be both difficult to find and expensive to buy, so many arcade fans use emulators to create their own homebrewed arcade systems. The Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) has become the most popular emulator for gamers who want to play classic arcade games in their home, and now the team behind MAME has decided to make the emulator completely open source.


  • CommunityCube: Open-source, Privacy First Server
    CommunityCube is a plug-and-play open source, small server designed to build a cooperative, fair internet where users’ privacy and rights are protected. It was originally conceived of in 2013, inspired by the Edward Snowden disclosures, when the founders recognized the need for a consumer-level product to protect privacy and anonymity.


  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla



      • Announcing Rust 1.0
        Today we are very proud to announce the 1.0 release of Rust, a new programming language aiming to make it easier to build reliable, efficient systems. Rust combines low-level control over performance with high-level convenience and safety guarantees. Better yet, it achieves these goals without requiring a garbage collector or runtime, making it possible to use Rust libraries as a “drop-in replacement” for C. If you’d like to experiment with Rust, the “Getting Started” section of the Rust book is your best bet (if you prefer to use an e-reader, Pascal Hertleif maintains unofficial e-book versions as well).


      • Mozilla-backed Rust language stabilizes at version 1.0
        New programming languages come and go. Most of them remain nothing more than academic toys or niche novelties. Rust, development of which is sponsored by Mozilla, might be one of the exceptions. The new language reached the 1.0 milestone today, marking the point at which its feature set is stabilized and developers can start to use it without having to worry too much about their code getting broken by a major change.


      • Rust 1.0 Language Officially Released


      • Firefox 38.0.5 Beta Arrives with Proprietary Pocket Integration
        Firefox 38.0.5 Beta was just released by Mozilla, and it bring a few new features that should really surprise users of this Internet browser.






  • SaaS/Big Data



    • Rackspace: Expect more of a leadership role in OpenStack community
      In this Q&A, Rackspace's Private Cloud VP and GM discusses the state of the OpenStack community and the company's plan to strengthen its role in it.


    • Your Very Own Cloud: Get There with ownCloud
      ownCloud has been getting a lot of attention for its flexibility, and because interest in private clouds is on the rise. You can move beyond what services such as Dropbox and Box offer by leveraging ownCloud, and you don't have to have your files sitting on servers that you don't choose, governed by people you don't know. Here are our latest updated resources for getting going with ownCloud, literally in minutes.




  • Business



    • Zarafa in Movement: A Short Story about Communication, Sharing and No Outlook
      Earlier this year, we from Zarafa, have informed our ecosystem about the direction of Zarafa’s future product development. It was one, very long newsletter where we showed how we see the world of communication & sharing. Most people only remembered one thing, though: Zarafa stops Outlook. In some cases, people felt like the world has come to an end. Of course, we understand such emotions. But of course, such a big decision is not made overnight. I would like to take a moment to explain how our discontinuation of the Zarafa MAPI client is only one part of our mission to create an open source communication & sharing platform.




    • Openwashing





  • Project Releases



    • Wine Announcement
      The Wine development release 1.7.43 is now available.

      What's new in this release (see below for details): - Improved support for Shell Browser windows. - Some more API Sets libraries. - Read/write operations support with built-in devices. - Major Catalan translation update. - Support for WoW64 mode on ARM64. - Various bug fixes.


    • Wine 1.7.43 Works On Desktop Shell Window Support


    • Wine 1.7.43 Improves Windows Explorer Functionality
      Wine developers have announced that a new version of the application has been made available and is now available for download. It's full of interesting features and numerous fixes.




  • Openness/Sharing



    • Open Hardware



      • Autodesk’s Ember Goes Open Source
        It’s one thing to claim a commitment to an open source philosophy, and another altogether to build an open source business. MakerBot ran afoul of the maker community as they accused the company of shifting away from an open source business model. There was much gnashing of teeth directed at Bre Pettis.






  • Programming



    • LLVM's Clang Adds Support For ARM/AArch64 v8.1a
      ARM v8.1a is a revision to ARM's AArch64 64-bit architecture. ARMv8.1-A is a backwards-compatible revision to the ARMv8.0 architecture while native ARMv8.1-A hardware is expected by late 2015.






Leftovers



Recent Techrights' Posts

WebProNews is a Slopfarm
Please avoid linking to WebProNews
Another "Told You So!": XBox Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Many Recent Reports Were Chaff and Spin), Many Other Divisions Affected
With mass layoffs at Microsoft the world would be much better
When the Microsoft Aggressors Rely on Several Law Firms ('Attack Dogs', 'Guns for Hire'), Not Just One, Lawyering Up Against Techrights (Acting on Behalf of Americans Against UK Publishers)
From serving customers at some restaurant he has moved on to bullying people with demand letters
Polygamy, from Catholic Synod on Synodality to Social Control Media & Debian CyberPolygamy
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Only a Third of or 1 in 3 Web-Connected Devices is a Desktop or Laptop, According to statCounter
we can expect Android to widen its lead
 
In Recent Hours Google News Promoted at Least 3 Slopfarms That Relayed Linux Foundation Propaganda Made by Bots or LLM "Bullshit Generators" (as Dr. Stallman Dubbed Them)
Google is circling down the drain and Google News too is hopeless
Linux Journal is a Slopfarm, It's Experimenting With LLM 'Authors'
Is Slashdot next?
Microsoft LinkedIn is Dying and Many More Layoffs Are on the Way
LinkedIn is just a failed acquisition of Microsoft. It causes losses and debt.
Gemini Links 25/06/2025: Combinatorial Music and Self Hosting
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Coming Back to Europe This Autumn to Give More Talks
His last talk in Europe attracted about 400-450 people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Social Control Media, Technology & Catholicism: Synod on Synodality review and feedback
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
How Many More Women Will Managers at Microsoft Strangle and Tell to Kill Themselves (or Try to Kill)?
The world needs to know what happened
The New BetaNews: 7 New 'Articles', All of Them LLM Slop
BetaNews is basically defunct. Nobody writes there anymore.
statCounter Estimates Only 1 in 300 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Search
Iranians don't quite trust Microsoft
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: ftpd on FreeBSD and Online Small Web Magazine
Links for the day
Google News Does Great Harm by Promoting Slopfarms as Legitimate News Sites
Slopfarms are sites which are 100% LLM slop
Links 24/06/2025: Trouble at "Open" "AI" and ‘Siarhei is Free’
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/06/2025: Stimulants and Subscription Costs for DRM
Links for the day
Links 24/06/2025: OpenAI [sic] May Soon Die (Too Much Debt) and Social Control Media Accused of Being Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda Amplifier
Links for the day
Nirbheek Chauhan in Planet GNOME Explains Why Wayland Pushers Are Losing
"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
The Days Are Getting Shorter, the First Half of 2025 is Almost Over
We're gratified to see significant increase in traffic and also positive feedback on the work we do
Turning GNU/Linux Into a Political Football
X (not the site) is Free software
X Server Still Works for Many People
A lot of people will grow suspicious of Wayland boosters/pushers if they persist and insist on using these tactics
Exactly a Week Ago "BetaNews Staff" Said "Betanews Is Growing Alongside You". Since Then Every Article (All by "Camila Nogueira") Has Been LLM Slop.
BetaNews is basically a slopfarm
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 23, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 23, 2025
The "Tarzan Effect" in Compilers and Software
What happens when you forcibly make things 'work', either by hacks or by disregarding warnings (like those that compilers tend to issue)?
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: Mass Tourism, Hair Love, and Google Gemini as a Googlebomb
Links for the day
Law Firm Burgess Mee Does Not Fully Deny Participating in Abusive Litigation for Serial Strangler From Microsoft
I am not unfamiliar with these tactics
The Modus Operandi of Wayland Pushers: Make It Political
do what I say or you're a nazi...
Links 23/06/2025: RFE/RL Contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko Released, Recording Industry Cutbacks
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Solicitors (M): Over 99.9% of Our E-mail is Self-Marketing, We Send You 3.5MB E-mails for Less Than 1KB of Text
Why would tech people entrust legal matters to such people?
Peter Moon's (Computerworld) Interview With Richard Stallman
Stallman: If you want freedom don't follow Linus Torvalds
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sailing to GNU/Linux, According to statCounter
countries in that region will quickly learn the price of neglecting digital sovereignty
From Do Your Own Research to Do Your Own Search
The Web is full of garbage; search engines amplify this garbage
More People Moving to Geminispace?
at age 6+ Gemini Protocol seems to have gained some maturity and it seems like more people use it
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore