04.08.09

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Distributions
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers
• Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

GNU/Linux

• The new faces of Linux – Feeling the Power

  She told him that she refused to go back to a buggy, insecure system that enslaved her to maintenance and worry. She had been a GNU/Linux user for a week and refused to “downgrade to Windows”. They would indeed GIVE her a laptop with the required wireless and closed software she needed to connect for work. She refused to put Windows back on her computer at home. Mint Linux had spoiled her. But it gets better.

  It’s Fluxbox.

  When she discovered that she could have a pristine desktop and everything she needed with a right click, she fell in love. No more icons to shove around and out of the way, no more confusing menus…just straight computing the way it was meant to be.

• Paw Prints: Writings of the maddog

  I was working for Digital Equipment Corporation when I first met Linus and facilitated the port of Linux onto the Alpha processor.

  During the port, a member of the community contacted me and asked if Digital would contribute their math library to the Linux project, since Digital’s math library was a great deal faster than the one currently in use on the Alpha Linux port. I easily got Digital to contribute the Digital Unix math library in binary form, but they refused to make the library “open source” because of the investment that they had put into it.

• xPUD, the ultra-fast booting Linux flavour

  Weighing in at a mere 48MB, xPUD boots up before you can even decide how to pronounce it. This mini distro is built upon Mozilla’s XUL and Gecko engines, with an interface called ‘Plate’ which includes a web browser, media player, BitTorrent client and other tools. There’s not a great deal of information on the website just yet, but read on for a video of its über-rapid bootup.

• Double Your Computing Capacity and Lower Your Carbon Footprint for Earth Day

  Were you one of those people who turned the lights out and the power off for Earth Hour last month? Did you experience an excruciating sixty minutes of email/identi.ca/Facebook withdrawal? Userful has some good news (and a reward for your efforts) — from now until Earth Day (April 22nd), it is giving away two-user licenses for its Userful Multiplier software.

• Linux Desktop Hardware Myths Explored

  For instance I own a Wii guitar for Rock Band that I use to play Frets On Fire during my off time. Works out of the box, all I had to do is setup the button configuration from within the game itself.

  I also have two external hard drives using various Linux file systems on multiple partitions. Each partition mounts immediately once the external hard drive is plugged in. And saving the best for last, I tested things out by purchasing a random external DVD Burner (Sony brand) that I picked up at random from Best Buy simply because it was cheap.

• Firm shifts From Windows to Linux, reduces support issues by 45%

  I noticed in one of the local trade-press outlets today, how a publicly-listed engineering and manufacturing firm shifted many of its workstations from Windows to Linux, effecting a 45% reduction in its support issues, evident even in the first month after the migration.

• Addressing the State of the Linux Union

  Linux is often thought to be all about collaboration and contribution to a project. Yet the community doesn’t always get along, even as Linux’s supporters are enjoying new levels of success against entrenched proprietary vendors like Microsoft.

  To assess where Linux is today, to help hammer out some of the divisive issues in the community, and to sort through Linux’s own complex relationship with vendors like Microsoft, the Linux Foundation is hosting the invitation-only Linux Collaboration Summit in San Francisco. At the event, which begins today, the state of the Linux union — and the community’s take on collaboration, contribution and competition — will be on the table for discussion.

• Kernel Space

  • Linux Supports More Filesystems With 2.6.30-rc1

    Two weeks have passed since the release of the Linux 2.6.29 kernel that brought Intel kernel mode-setting, the Btrfs file-system, and many other improvements to the Linux kernel. Now though the first release candidate for the forthcoming Linux 2.6.30 kernel is now out in the wild.

• Applications

  • Graphics on Linux: Eight great image image resources and tools

    When it comes to the world of graphics, Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator and DTP applications such as Quark Xpress and InDesign, stand head and shoulders above the rest. They are the de-facto standards for graphics professionals. But they’re not open source applications, even if a little Wine hacking gets some of them running on Linux. If you’re committed to doing your graphics the open source way then we have a few suggestions, and a couple of handy tutorials to get you up and running.

• KDE

  • KOffice 2.0 RC1 Release Notes

    The KOffice team is proud to announce the first KOffice Release Candidate for the upcoming 2.0 release.

  • PIM Hackers Boost Akonadi Into The Future

    This weekend the A-Team (Akonadi, not Amarok) gathered in KDAB’s office in the heart of Berlin to push the Akonadi PIM storage database to the next level.

• Distributions

  • The best looking Linux is nearly here – and it’s not Ubuntu

    One of the many impressive features of Linux is that it is so flexible and has components that can be swapped in and out, and this includes its complete look-and-feel.

  • 10 Special Purpose Linux Distributions

    Today we will share with you 10 such distribution (among many) that are fairly popular for specialized task or interest:

    1) Scientific Linux: Based on Redhat, Scientific Linux is the result of a collaboration between two leading scientific research organization: Fermilab and CERN. As the name suggests this distribution can be a starting point for individuals or organizations who are interested in scientific research.

  • New Releases

    • Linux Mint 6 “Felicia” Fluxbox CE released!

      The team is proud to announce the release of Linux Mint 6 Fluxbox Community Edition. Linux Mint Fluxbox Community Edition is based on Xubuntu 8.10 Intrepid, Linux 2.6.27, Fluxbox 1.0.0 and Xorg 7.4. Included is an all-new menu system, Mint-FM2, Slim as a display manager, Live CD features that should make it easier to install on low-end machines, a brand new “Software Manager”, FTP support in mintUpload, proxy support and history of updates in mintUpdate, mint4win (a Linux Mint installer for Microsoft Windows), and much more minty goodness. For a complete list of new features read: What’s new in Felicia Fluxbox CE?

    • RIPLinuX 7.9

    • SystemRescueCd 1.1.7

    • xPUD 0.8.9

    • Clonezilla 1.2.1-53

• Devices/Embedded

  • Networking appliance boasts optional security coprocessor

    Win Enterprises has announced a 1U rackmount networking appliance with a redundant power supply and an optional cryptographic coprocessor. The Linux-compatible PL-80090 can accommodate 11 gigabit Ethernet ports and two 3.5-inch SATA drives, and supports Intel Core 2 processors with a 1333MHz FSB, says the company.

  • Tiny COM modules get WiFi, OpenGL options

    Gumstix launched new versions of its “Overo” gumstick-sized, open-source Linux COM modules. Like the original Overo Earth, the Overo Air (WiFi) module incorporates an ARM Cortex-A8-based Texas Instruments OMAP3503 SoC, while the Overo Water (OpenGL graphics) and Overo Fire (OpenGL/WiFi) modules move up to the OMAP3530.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • Intel Sets Launch of Moorestown, New Moblin Linux at 2010

      The launch of Moorestown will be accompanied by a new version of Moblin, a Linux-based operating system (OS) that Intel created for small devices.

    • Why Netbooks Are an Enduring Hardware Category

      The sizes of the displays on netbooks have crept up from the original 7-inch mini screens to healthy 10-inch displays, and yet the designs have remained very compact and the prices have remained very low. You can get a Linux-based Asus Eee PC at Target for under $300. With a 10-inch display, I am comfortable writing a blog post like this one, and performing many other tasks that I regularly need to do. I wouldn’t be comfortable writing on a smartphone under any scenario.

Free Software/Open Source

• NHIN software released to open-source community

  The Federal Health Architecture project released into the public domain the code for Connect, a software gateway that will let organizations outside the federal government share health information via the National Health Information Network.

• TIBCO Contributes General Interface to the Open Source Community

  TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TIBX) announced it has completed the Dojo approval process to donate TIBCO General Interface™ source code to the Dojo Foundation. TIBCO and the Dojo Foundation have established the General Interface project to give developers access to the award-winning General Interface™ source code and promote the rapid creation of reliable Ajax applications, components and portlets with the look and feel of desktop graphical user interface applications.

• Business

  • Forward to the Past with Forrester

    So are we supposed to believe that barely anything has changed in a decade? That open source is *still* problematic because of false fears over “throats to choke” and security? What’s going on?

  • Open source software’s second coming in the enterprise

    It may not sound like rocket science, but it is a nice confirmation of what we already know.

  • Pentaho and Jaspersoft Make the Case for Open Source BI

    The open source software business intelligence (OSS BI) community was greeted recently with significant releases from two of the highest-profile players — Pentaho Corp. (which markets a full-fledged OSS BI platform) and Jaspersoft Corp. (the proprietor of a commercialized version of the seminal JasperReports OSS reporting project).

  • Drupal 6 Content Management System To Soon Run 240,000 Sites

    Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal content management system, and co-founder of Acquia (which offers a commercially supported version of Drupal), is out with some remarkable statistics, here, and here. If you’re unfamiliar with Drupal, it is a powerful open source content management system, and OStatic runs on it, as do many other sites, including Fast Company and The Onion. According to the latest data from Dries, based on the growth of the platform, there will be over 240,000 sites running on Drupal 6 by January of 2010, and that’s up from fewer than 5,000 in July of 2008. Here are some more milestones for Drupal.

• UK/EU

  • Aberdeen hosts first advanced open source training course in Scotland

    Open Source software expert, Gavin Henry, who is managing director of Aberdeen-headquartered Suretec Group has teamed up with telecoms training provider, Telespeak and Asterisk open source software specialists, Digium, to organise Scotland’s first advanced training course for open source telecoms professionals.

  • [Brits, sign this petition, please]

    We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ask the Communities Secretary to require that all software produced by councils under the Timely Information to Citizens project be released under an open source licence

  • Bringing Free Software into the European parliament

    Free Software advocacy associations April (the main French advocacy association devoted to promote and protect Free/Libre Software) and “Associazione per il software libero” (Italy) have launched a joint campaign aimed at the European Parliament elections in early June 2009. The campaign invites citizens to ask candidates to sign the “Free Software Pact“.

  • Firefox 3 angeblich meist genutzter Web-Browser in Europa

    User-Agent 		März 2009     Februar 2009 	März 2008
    Firefox 3.0 		55,4 % 		55,0 % 		—
    Internet Explorer 7 	11,6 % 		11,7 %	 	13,1 %
    
    

• Releases

  • Open Source AIR Alternative: Appcelerator, an interview with Jeff Kunz

    Appcelerator is taking community development seriously, knowing that outside of the company interesting ideas and concepts take place they launched a community-based contest. You can follow them on twitter to know more about the initiative. Community voitng for the best application will open Monday.

  • Comvation AG releases latest Contrexx Open Source CMS version 2.1

  • Educators in Second Life releasing new tools for e-learning

    Educators working with students in e-learning classrooms have a new tool that makes teaching easier and more effective in Second Life. The SLOODLE version 0.4 suite of teaching tools is being released today and promises to deliver a more defined and orderly learning experience in a sometimes chaotic virtual world environment.

• Sun

  • Sun revs VirtualBox to 2.2

    Beleaguered server and system-software maker Sun Microsystems wants to change the Big Blue subject big-time, if only so that someone could talk about the new VirtualBox 2.2 virtualization software the company is announcing on Wednesday.

  • New: OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 Release Candidate 1 (build OOO310_m9) available

    OpenOffice.org 3.1.0 Release Candidate 1 is available on the mirror network.

  • Toshiba OpenSolaris Laptops

    The partnership between Sun and the Digital Products Division of Toshiba America Information Systems provide an easy option for people who want to use Toshiba’s award winning laptops with the open source platform for the future, OpenSolaris. This agreement means that people can enjoy the great features of OpenSolaris, such as Suspend/Resume, Timeslider, ZFS along with these performant, durable laptops from Toshiba.

  • Toshiba notebooks with OpenSolaris

    In addition to OpenSolaris 2008.11, the notebooks will also include the Adobe Flash Player, VirtualBox 2.0.6, OpenOffice 3.0 and a set of developer tools. Pre-installed tools include Glassfish V2, Java SE Development Kit 6 Update 10, NetBeans 6.5, Sun Studio Express 11/08

• Open Things

  • OpenStreetMap Navigates to Wikipedia

    One of the powerful features of open source is re-use: you don’t have to re-invent the wheel, but can build on the work of others. That’s straightforward enough for software, but it can also be applied to other fields of openness.

  • Conventional Scholarship as “Legacy System” and Open Access as “Middleware”

    A “legacy system” in the world of computing provides a useful analogy for understanding the precarious state of contemporary academic publishing. This comparison might also keep us from stepping backward in the very act of stepping forward in promoting Open Access publishing and Institutional Repositories. I will argue that, vital as it is, the Open Access movement should really be seen in its current manifestation as academic “middleware” servicing the “legacy system” of old-school scholarship.

  • Biochemist calls for ‘open-source’ R&D revolution

    University of Toronto biochemist Aled Edwards has been one of the leading champions of the open-source research movement in drug development. And he has some interesting numbers to back up his calls for a revolution in research.

• Java

  • Google pours Java on code cloud

    Google has added the Java runtime to its App Engine, that (semi-)free service that lets you build and host web apps on Google’s very own cloud distributed infrastructure.

    When App Engine was first introduced, almost a year ago to the day, it stuck with Python, a favorite among code-happy Google Oompa Loompas. But after countless request from developers outside the Mountain View Chocolate Factory, the platform has now embraced Java as well.

  • Zend targets Java with growing PHP community

    PHP has become one of the hottest programming languages in technology, and the engine behind the little scripting language that could is Zend Technologies. Back in 2000 Zend released its Zend Framework to facilitate PHP development, and it’s now taking this Java-bashing crusade a step further with the release of its new Zend Server, as The Register reports.

Leftovers

• Copyrights

  • Hollywood’s Favorite Lawmakers Preparing Next Level Of Draconian Copyright Laws

    Because (of course) last year’s ProIP bill that (once again) strengthened copyright laws wasn’t enough, Hollywood’s favorite lawmakers all got together outside of LA and complained about how copyright laws needed to be even more draconian. They once again quoted the same mythical stats about the damage done by infringement, and didn’t hear from a single defender of the public or someone who could explain the basic fact that strengthening copyright law doesn’t solve anything. Instead, they just complained, blamed pretty much every foreign country (other than France) and insisted “something must be done!”

  • Copyright laws put movie night on hold

    But the debut of Movie Night, originally set for April 18, is on hold indefinitely after officials learned the city must purchase a license from the motion picture industry before it can screen films for the public.

  • Rep “Hollywood” Berman calls for new IP law—using dodgy data

    Rep. Howard Berman took his committee on the road yesterday, hearing (again) from directors and rightsholders about how stronger intellectual property laws are needed to fight piracy. But didn’t they get such a bill just last year? And why are the numbers Berman uses either dodgy or flat-out wrong?

  • Talk about long term copyright

  • Why “Three Strikes” Will Fail

    Today you can buy a 1 Terabyte external hard disc for less than £100 – that’s big enough to store well over a quarter of a million songs, and thousands of films. Bringing along such a hard disc to a party and swapping files is already taking place, and the “three strikes” laws will simply ensure that sales of high capacity discs will increase dramatically.