08.13.08
Links 13/08/2008: Large Migrations to GNU/Linux, More Laptops
GNU/Linux
- Plumber’s 350 Linux desktops bonanza for Yellowfin BI
Plumbing World in New Zealand migrated to Linux on about 350 PCs throughout its 30 branches, which proved to be a boon for the cross-platform Yellowfin BI as the Business Objects application didn’t run on Linux.
- Start a New Linux-based Fetish With a New Media Server
So a new Linux-based media server to be released this month might be the ticket to keep the penguin-jonesing on track. However, there are two warning flags that must be thrown: It’s expensive ($2000) and comes from a company, Cirgon, best known for digital frames.
- General Dynamics launches servers for government, commercial users
- Felton, California Residents Eschew Proprietary Software
It takes a village? How about a whole city? How about 100 cities? I enjoyed this item from LinuxInsider about residents of Felton, California who pledged to go proprietary software-free for at least a week. If you’ve ever been to Felton, which has a Santa Cruz-like countercultural flavor, this pledge makes sense. Felton isn’t alone, though. As LinuxInsider reports, similar plans are in place for towns in Oregon and New Mexico, and 100 towns in Italy.
- Community-designed board runs real-time Linux
- 5TB NAS server runs Linux
Qnap Systems announced a new member of its “TS” family of Linux-based network-attached storage (NAS) devices. The five-bay, hot-swappable TS-509 Pro Turbo NAS is equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1GB RAM, and dual gigabit Ethernet ports.
- CIO Reality Check: Linux Security
Mobile
- Google Android just four weeks away?
Back in June, some unnamed sources told The Wall Street Journal that Google’s currently closed open mobile platform could be delayed until 2009. But this week, another unnamed source told TmoNews – a T-Mobile obsessed blog – that the American wireless carrier will offer up the first Android phone for pre-sale on 17 September.
- Motorola Linux phone ships in U.S.
Motorola announced that its LiMo-compliant Moto U9 phone is now available unlocked for GSM networks in the U.S. Available in gray, pink, or purple, the music-oriented U9 has a rounded, contemporary flip-phone form factor, highlighted by a seemingly borderless OLED (organic light-emitting diode) external display.
Laptops
- Review: Acer Aspire One
To sum up the Acer Aspire One: this is what notebooks should have always been like. Small, portable, light, fast, and cheap. For just EUR 299, you are getting a proper netbook, with all the functionality of its big brothers and sisters. Maybe not as full-featured as the MSI Wind, and not as hyped as the eeePC, but still the better choice, simply because it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.
- Acer Aspire One (Linpus Linux Lite, White)
- Lapwarmers are big business
- ASUS Eee Box gets unboxed in Australia at last!
- Select Dell Notebooks Now Cheaper With Ubuntu + Retail Vista Than Vista Pre-Installed
Since Dell has recently added several new models to the Ubuntu line, I decided to do price comparisons between the Linux and Windows models. I tried to get the systems as close as possible, but in a few cases there are very minor differences.
- Digital nomad drives laptop sales
KDE
- KDE e.V. Endorses Community Working Group, Code of Conduct
- Akademy 2008 – Day 2 and the Akademy Awards
- Interview: Qt Comes to Mozilla and Firefox
Ubuntu
- Canonical: Linux Mainframes May Power Software as a Service
If you’re a managed service provider or software as a service (SaaS) specialist, here’s an interesting theory: Instead of purchasing dozens — or hundreds — of x86 servers, you’re sometimes better off virtualizing your applications on a mainframe.
- Ubuntu remixes desktop
AMD
- AMD offers Linux drivers for new Radeon HD 4870 X2
Despite an often tenuous relationship with the Linux community regarding the driver quality for its graphics products, the AMD-owned ATI will offer release parity with Windows for its latest Radeon HD 4870 X2 card.
- AMD targets Nvidia with dual-GPU graphics card
F/OSS
- Audio from Saturday, 09 August 2008 [Radio New Zealand - Richard Stallman]
- Google Open Sources Google XML Pages
- Adjust Sound Levels in Audio Recordings With Levelator
MAFIAA
- Antipiracy Campaign Exasperates Colleges
- Allman Brothers sue UMG for ‘digital exploitation’
- One Man’s Quest to Digitize and Publicize Rare Vinyl
- YouTube Yanks Fair-Use Protest Video at Behest of International Olympic Committee
Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day
Michael Roberston, Chairman of Linspire, Inc.
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
David Gerard said,
August 13, 2008 at 3:48 pm
OT from Fail Blog: http://failblog.org/2008/07/02/microsoft-fail/
Roy Schestowitz said,
August 13, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Oh, *that* photo.
I posted it in one of the digests the very same day it made Digg’s front page.
Jim Allchin: “I must tell you everything in my soul tells me that we should do what I called plan (b) yesterday. We need a simple fast storage system. LH [Longhorn] is a pig and I don’t see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux and Apple, we need to start taking the lessons of ‘scenario, simple, fast’ to heart. Jim”
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061209135113443