09.22.09

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers
• A Profile on Linus Torvalds

GNU/Linux

• Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 63

  The following Linux distributions were announced last week: SystemRescueCD 1.3.0, Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 6, Puppy Linux 4.3, Mandriva 2010.0 RC1 and Parted Magic 4.5. In other news: AMD releases ATI Catalyst 9.9 video driver suite for Linux systems and the KOffice theme made available for testing the second beta version of the upcoming KOffice 2.1 open source office suite. An in-depth review of the BleachBit 0.6.3 application is also present in this edition. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases.

• Why Linux is so great?

  I’m using Linux since 2001 and it still amazes me day by day. After trying Red Hat, Mandrake, Debian, SuSE and many other flavors (yes, I do have a bag full of Linux distros CDs) I have chosen Gentoo as my main focus. It could be any other distribution, but that’s the advantage: you’re like in a clothing store and you can try anything that fits your size and preferences. And, after taking it for free, you can still modify the product to fit better.

  [...]

  Also for reference, I work as a self-employed web developer, also performing computer maintenance and network configuration for clients. My first computer was a Sinclair clone (HC-91) bought in 1992.

• Desktop

  • Time for a change on the desktop?

    Results of the research and a discussion of desktop Linux related considerations and practicalities in general are again written up in a report which can be downloaded, this time from here.

  • To new Ubuntu users – 5 things to expect

    Don’t expect it to be a free version of Windows or Mac

• Server

  • Parallel Programming: I Told You So

    If GCC gets block support then libdispatch will probably be available to the Linux crowd as well.

  • Mad Dog 21/21: Big Blue’s Sun Strategy Gamble–IBM Without i

    So even as IBM boasts of its success in moving Sun customers with many servers to few large z platforms (and sometimes just one), the z systems IBM is talking about have Linux engines, not the general-purpose engines that are needed to run z/OS. IBM sells the Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) engines for a lot less than it gets for general purpose engines. Like the System z with z/OS, Power Systems with i is perceived as also carrying a premium price. IBM maintains that both its EBCDIC computing lines provide superior value, but, in the ‘nix world at least, IBM has a hard time getting traction with that story.

  • Manashosting offers Linux reseller package with many innovative features.

    ManasHosting, a Bangalore based web designing and web hosting company, is offering a Linux reseller package with unlimited domain hosting Linux platform. Clients can make the most of a cPanel Control Panel with unlimited sub-domain and php3 facility. This reseller package from ManasHosting comes with more than 100 very innovative features – which are not present in many of the competitive reseller packages available in the market.

• Hardware

  • Hardware-Assisted Debugging Offers Linux OS-Aware Support for Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processors

    Intel Developer’s Forum — Arium, an industry leader in hardware-assisted development tools for almost three decades, today announced the release of ground-breaking debugging technology supporting Linux OSs. The technology offers substantial improvements for Intel®-based software and firmware development assisting engineers to bring designs to market faster and with higher quality.

  • TurboHercules Showcases the Hercules Open Source Mainframe Emulator at Intel Developer Forum

    TurboHercules Inc. announced today that it will be showcasing Hercules, the popular open source mainframe emulator, at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) September 22-24 in San Francisco.

• Kernel Space

  • Linux Buffs Get Eyeful at LinuxCon Tech Showcase

    Attendees at the sold-out LinuxCon event in Portland got to take a close-up look at some of the latest Linux technologies touted by participating companies. Companies displaying their wares at the showcase included powerhouses like IBM, HP, Oracle and Novell, along with scrappier Linux players such as Wind River, Hooduku and PogoLinux.

  • LinuxCon Roundtable in Torvalds Quotes

    On motivation throughout his history with Linux:

    “It has changed a lot over the years. It started out being all about the technology, and all about just really twiddling with the hardware and just learning and just doing something cool and sitting in my basement. It wasn’t my basement at the time, it was my mother’s basement [everyone laughs]. But really being low level and doing the programming. That eventually faded and then it become somewhat about the community and the fame, hey that was great. But also new problems that I hadn’t had before. The SMP work, many years ago, that other people started and I kinda took over, continued to motivated me.”

  • Why Linux succeeds while other open source projects fail

    That’s where open source can also help for adoption. If a project, like Linux does become successful, it provides more incentive for users to use the application as a way of future proofing their technology investment.

    Hohndel noted that when IBM decided to discontinue its OS/2 operating system, there were many enterprises (including a German Bank that he was working for) that were left hanging.
    “Open source means that will never happen to you,” Hohndel said.

  • X Server 1.7 Release Candidate 2

    The change-log along with source download links for this X.Org 7.5 server can be found on the X.Org mailing list.

• Applications

  • Games with native linux installers

    Many people don’t know it, but as well as all the open source games for Linux out there, there are MANY games available the will install and play on your Linux box, provided you have the right files. I now present a small selection of these games (there are more if you look hard enough), with links to the Linux installer files, for your continued Linux gaming experience! You still need to purchase the game disks for all these titles. Enjoy.

  • The Unix Ideal

    It’s much easier to read and much more useful. I can click on the links and Firefox starts up. This saves me from having to go to the podcast’s website to look at the show notes. Unfortunately, most podcasts I listen to are not featuring such great details, but the Linux and Technology ones are.

• K Desktop Environment

  • Plasma 4.4: Update on where we are

    Back in July, I blogged about our plans for Plasma in 4.4. It’s now September and the obvious question is: where are we now?

    * Improve kiosk based lock down and deployment management: there is the new plasma-desktop scripting support, but action restrictions and more fine grained kiosk controls are not yet done. Let’s call this one 50% done.

  • Replacing KDE applications

    It feels like I just did this, even though I’ve been running Linux as my primary OS since around 2002. When I decided to stop using KDE recently, I was surprised to find how many KDE applications on which I had become dependent, and how little idea I had what to use as alternatives. Some of them are little and therefore easily replaced, but others that are more full-featured have been quite a challenge. Here’s a sampling of the ones I’ve been working on lately.

• Distributions

  • Red Hat Family

    • Red Hat remains red hot on the Street on eve of next earnings report

      And those fortunate souls who own Red Hat can also expect share values to increase if Wall Street analysts are correct. Red Hat, which closed at $25.72 on Monday and recently hit a 52-week high of $26.32, reports earnings after the markets close Wednesday. Analysts expect the Hatters to report a 15-cent per share profit on revenues of $179 million and an increase of 9 percent in sales over a year ago.

    • Leading Print Solutions Provider, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Standardizes Operations on Red Hat’s Middleware Solutions

      Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), the world’s leading solution provider for the print media industry, built an interactive customer portal, www.MyHeidelberg.com, using JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform to create an interactive site to enhance its customer relationships and provide a unified global brand presence. With the successful portal project, Heidelberg has since migrated its proprietary application platform to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, in order to reduce costs, and increase the performance of its web applications.

    • LSI displays single-root I/O virtualization solution at Intel Developer Forum

      LSI Corp., in collaboration with Intel Corp. and Red Hat Inc., announced Tuesday demonstration of its single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) capable storage controller. The controller, using Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d) and PCI-SIG SR-IOV technology, enables virtual servers in direct-attached storage (DAS) environments to share a storage controller, delivering increased system performance, efficiency and scalability.

    • Fedora Mini: A New Netbook Competitor?

      For a long time, Ubuntu was the only big-name Linux distribution with a specially tailored netbook version. That changed recently with the announcement of Fedora Mini, which stands poised to compete with Ubuntu Netbook Remix on Linux-based netbooks and similar devices. Here are some thoughts on what this development means for Ubuntu and Canonical’s netbook strategy, and Linux netbooks in general.

  • Debian Family

    • Canonical Offers Preview Of Ubuntu Karmic Koala

      Canonical has come up with the final alpha iteration of its signature Ubuntu Karmic Koala operating system, which is poised to be available to general users in the next month.

      The company has introduced a couple of handy changes in the last alpha of the OS, with the most notable being the exclusion of the erstwhile boot splash screen. Instead, the new version includes an X-based splash screen to offer enhanced booting speeds.

    • Ultimate Edition Gamers 2.3 Is Based on Ubuntu 9.04

      Announced by TheeMahn on September 21st, Ultimate Edition Gamers 2.3, a popular Linux distribution based on Ubuntu, brings to Linux users lots of pre-added games in a 3.8GB, downloadable DVD ISO image. Being built off Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) by hand, Ultimate Edition Gamers 2.3 is definitely one of the most awaited and fun Linux operating systems. Without further ado, here is the complete list of games that are pre-installed in the new Ultimate Edition Gamers 2.3 operating system:

      · 3D chess;
      · Airstrike;
      · Aisleriot Solitaire;
      · Barrage;
      · Blackjack;
      · Boswars;

      [...]

    • Alternative Netbook Operating Systems

    • What OS is on Your Netbook?

      Matthew Dillon has a nice summary of netbook operating system choices today at Gotta Be Mobile and after reading it, I got to wondering what you folks are running on your netbooks. Our polls don’t allow for multiple choices, so if you have a multi-boot system, choose the OS that you use the most. And if you have multiple netbooks, base your response on your primary netbook.

    • Ubuntu 10.04: A Closer Look

      Lucid Lynx’s release date is almost seven months in the future. Solid blueprints for its development have yet to materialize, as Canonical remains focused on delivering Karmic next month. But the goals expressed for the release by Shuttleworth appear well reasoned, neither too ambitious nor lackluster.

    • Linux Mint 7 XFCE: Screenshots

      While Ubuntu continues to be the focus of Linux hype and momentum, there is an increasing number of Ubuntu-based distributions appearing as well.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Phones

    • Pre-oder Unlocked Nokia N900 Linux for just $588.99!

      Nokia Company launched its new N900 in the end of August and today the smartphone can be pre-ordered.

    • Android tools now on Sprint’s developer site

      Starting today, Android developers can go to Sprint Nextel Inc.’s developer Web site for tools to build applications for the HTC Hero — it’s coming to Sprint on Oct. 11 — and future Android devices.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • Linux Lands on Panasonic Toughbooks

      The VAR Guy certainly realizes rugged Linux is a niche opportunity. But resellers like EmperorLinux seem to be carving quite a niche for themselves.

    • ASUS Eee PC 1001HA offers Linux, odd texturing

      ASUS‘ second netbook from this weekend offers a blast from the past, in the shape of a Linux OS option. The ASUS Eee PC 1001HA is billed as an entry-level model, but will be available in three different versions: the 1001HA XP, with Windows XP, the 1001HA LX, with Linux, or a bare model that comes with no OS at all.

Free Software/Open Source

• Happy One Web Day

  Backed by Mozilla, to whom we must credit the use of the word “awesomeness”, today apparently is a chance to make the world wide wibble better by tinkering with your social networking sites, printing off posters that say, “I love the web”, donating money, and quitting the use of IE 6. Not wholly altruistic then.

• B-schools take digital route to cut costs

  Going one step ahead, IIM Bangalore said that it is now working to fulfil its ambitious project of becoming an online university, making every course available online by integrating proprietary software like that of SunGard and free and open source software (Foss) platforms, such as Linux and Moodle.

• Veda Informatics Launches Open Source Developers Website

  Veda Informatics have launched open-source-developers.com, to offer website development services using open source technologies. It is to be focused on the needs of individuals and small businesses.

• Cyberoam comes up with free to download Open Source logging and reporting solution

  Cyberoam has come with a new open source logging and reporting solution promising to offer a centralized identity-based logging and reporting of multiple devices across geographical locations.

• Cyberoam Develops Open Source Logging and Reporting Solution

  As an open source solution, iView eliminates the need for large capital outlays while delivering security management, regulatory compliance and forensic analysis.

• Open Source Groupware Partner Summit Approaching

  Open-Xchange, the leading provider of open source groupware, will be hosting its first Open-Xchange Partner Summit on October 8 at the RheinEnergie Stadion in Cologne, Germany, providing the partner community with a unique forum to learn how to advance their business with e-mail and collaboration services.

• WidgetPad: Open-Source, Web-Based Environment for Mobile Developers

  Today, Nakajima is launching WidgetPad, a free, collaborative, web-based, open-source mobile development environment where developers can easily create smartphone applications using standard web technologies (such as HTML 5, CSS, and Javascript) and distribute them as stand-alone applications to app stores.

• First free software festival in HCM City

  The Software Freedom Day took place in over 400 cities in over 100 countries in the world on the same day. In Vietnam, the event was held at the HCM City Teacher Training University in cooperation with the group of Linux users in HCM City (SaigonLUG).

• Open Source can Help India Save 10,000 crore, says IIM-B Study

  Even as the current economic climate has compelled the Indian government to go on the austerity drive, by asking its ministers to air travel by economy class – a more compelling option may lie in looking at replacing proprietary software with open source. A recent report titled, ‘Economic Impact of Free and Open Source software – A Study in India’, by a team at IIM-Bangalore, highlights several interesting insights, that show how by replacing just 50 percent of proprietary software with open source in desktops and servers, India can save close to Rs 10,000 crore in 2010.

• EDB invites wide-ranging collaboration on open source code for public sector archive solution

  EDB is the largest IT vendor for the Norwegian public sector, and currently provides IT services to several hundred public sector entities in both local government and the national public sector.

• BonitaSoft Raises $3 Million in First Round of Funding

  The company is said to be the first provider of open source software for business process management, a market which currently represents $2.6 billion with an estimated growth of 30 percent per annum by 2012.

• Staffordshire University Launches JISC Funded Initiative for Federating Open Courseware

  The UK’s Staffordshire University is taking part in a pilot study to explore the issues and benefits involved in making its ‘stock’ of learning content freely available.

Leftovers

• Introducing Google Chrome Frame

  Today, we’re releasing an early version of Google Chrome Frame, an open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer.

  We’re building Google Chrome Frame to help web developers deliver faster, richer applications like Google Wave. Recent JavaScript performance improvements and the emergence of HTML5 have enabled web applications to do things that could previously only be done by desktop software. One challenge developers face in using these new technologies is that they are not yet supported by Internet Explorer. Developers can’t afford to ignore IE — most people use some version of IE — so they end up spending lots of time implementing work-arounds or limiting the functionality of their apps.

• Googling Juror Prompts Court to Overturn Jury Verdict

• Lily Allen, Don’t Apologize To Me, Apologize To Everyone Else

  If anyone deserves an apology, it’s all the people you’ve been blasting with this complaint that it’s “piracy” that’s somehow harming artists, when the actual evidence shows no such thing. Plenty of artists have learned to embrace file sharing and used it to their advantage, suggesting it’s not piracy that’s the problem — it’s artists unwillingness to adapt and put in place smarter business models.