07.31.10

Contents

• GNU/Linux
  • Devices/Embedded
• Free Software/Open Source
• Leftovers
• Clip of the Day

GNU/Linux

• Desktop

  • Simmtronics Rolls Out Slim Desktop PCs

    Simmtronics SDC 2711S comes preloaded with Ubuntu.

  • Where are Dell’s Ubuntu PCs?

    Back in February, I covered Gripe Line reader Cal’s complaint that Dell seemed to have stopped carrying Ubuntu machines. At the time, I spoke to Anne Camden at Dell, who assured me that the company would be refreshing its Ubuntu line “in several weeks.” Thus, I was surprised to hear from Gripe Line reader Ken recently, who has been watching the Dell/Ubuntu situation closely because he is in the market for a Ubuntu desktop.

    “I just want you to know,” Ken writes, “that Dell still isn’t offering any new Ubuntu machines.” Instead, the company is carrying only one laptop and a netbook.

  • Dell release OpenManage Server Administrator for Ubuntu

    Dell has announced the release of its proprietary OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) 6.3 for Ubuntu 9.10 or later. OMSA is a web browser or command line driven system administration tool for servers. The .deb packaged and community supported release was completed with a “generous donation” of several weeks of engineering time by Canonical, which allowed the Dell Linux team to become better acquainted with .deb packaging.

  • Dell Adds Linux Desktop PCs, But Stops Web Sales of Linux Laptops

    In a reversal of its long-time approach to Linux, Dell has now added a desktop PC pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux to its Web site, while halting online sales of Linux-based netbooks and notebook PCs.

    Dell started selling the Studio XPS 7100 with Ubuntu on its Web site earlier this week at pricing of $459.99 without monitor. The price includes a one-year basic service plan.

• Applications

  • Instructionals

    • Ubuntu Linux solution stack implementation, Part 1: Introduction to the UNIX environment

    • How to make see-through text to image in GIMP

    • Speeding up Ruby on Rails

    • Speaking UNIX: Get to know Ksplice

    • Adding periods to SCHED_DEADLINE

    • Setting Up OpenVPN on a DD-WRT Router, Part 2

  • Wine

    • Wine Announcement

      The Wine development release 1.3.0 is now available.

      What’s new in this release (see below for details):
      – Beginnings of a user interface for the builtin Internet Explorer.
      – Support for cross-process OLE drag & drop.
      – New builtin wscript.exe (Windows Script Host) program.
      – Open/save dialogs remember the last used directory.
      – Translation updates.
      – Various bug fixes.

  • Games

    • Open games with closed content

      Some Linux users have at least a general familiarity familiar with RMS’s four freedoms and the GPL. Some of the games mentioned in this column, in the past as well as in the future, are licensed such that the game itself is under the GPL or a similarly free license, but the content is not. That is, you are free to do whatever you want with the game engine itself, but don’t mess with the content.

      For example, let us consider the game Sauerbraten. Now, the Cube2 engine that is the heart and soul of Sauerbraten is totally copylefted. You can distribute it, modify it, and even rub it in your belly, if you so desire. However, the data files that are associated with Sauerbraten is not free. While you can run Sauerbraten with the associated data files that compose the actual content of Sauerbraten, you are not permitted to include the data files along with any changes you make to the Cube2 engine itself. If you want to modify the game engine and release your own modified version of the game called Schnitzel, for example, then you need to create your own maps, textures, skins, and music to go with Schnitzel.

• Desktop Environments

  • GNOME Desktop

    • GNOME Census report now available as free download

      I was delighted to see that the GNOME Census presentation I gave yesterday at GUADEC has gotten a lot of attention. And I’m pleased to announce a change of plan from what I presented yesterday: The report is now available under a Creative Commons license.

• Devices/Embedded

  • New controller chip sets stage for color e-readers

    Monochrome electrophorescent (EPD) displays sourced from E Ink Corporation have been used in the majority of e-readers to date. Examples include Amazon’s market-leading, Linux-based Kindle — updated today to become smaller and lighter.

Free Software/Open Source

• Lockheed Goes Open Source. Blankenhorn Hates It.

  Wait, what? Open source advocates have, for years, been trying to encourage more code to come out from behind corporate skirts. Where companies can build business models around governing and supporting open source projects, we want them to take the plunge. If more code is open, that makes everyone smarter. And that, my friends, is exactly what Lockheed Martin did today. Someone who probably never contributed code in their lives just gave the community a project they’ve been working on for months, or even years. I think that’s amazing. In return, this brave developer gets painted as a nefarious secret agent out to steal our thoughts and bug our laptops. Or whatever.

• FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • Presentations at Debconf in NYC

    The first is “FSF’s Campaigns for Freedom” on Sunday, August 1st, from 14:00 to 15:00 in 414 Schapiro. I’ll give an overview of some of the current FSF campaigns, like the GNU Project, Working Together for Free Software, Defective by Design, PlayOgg, Windows 7 Sins, and the High Priority Projects List; and resources like the Licensing & Compliance Lab, Free Software Jobs page, Hardware Directory, and the Free Software Directory. But I’m going to save plenty of time to talk with the room about things the FSF should or could be doing.

  • Pictures from the GNU Hackers Meeting in the Hague (July 2010)

    The European GNU Hackers meeting took place this weekend in the Hague. Two days of talks about GNU projects, nearly 50 hackers, prodigiuous amounts of coffee, and exotic food. All followed by two days of coding for those who stayed on Monday and Tuesday.

Leftovers

• Science

  • Mars site may hold ‘buried life’

    Researchers have identified rocks that they say could contain the fossilised remains of life on early Mars.

    The team made their discovery in the ancient rocks of Nili Fossae.

    Their work has revealed that this trench on Mars is a “dead ringer” for a region in Australia where some of the earliest evidence of life on Earth has been buried and preserved in mineral form.

• Environment/Wildlife

  • Saudia Arabia and Russia

    As I have discussed previously, without Russia the world of Non-OPEC supply would have fallen down into a hole shortly after 2003. Indeed, without Russia Non-OPEC production (Non-OPEC ex-Russia) would have fallen every year from 2004 through the present day. What’s been a surprise is that Russia has been able to sustain its current ~9.5 mbpd for over four years now.

• Finance

  • High-Frequency Programmers Revolt Over Pay

    Last year Gomberg and a fellow programmer quit their jobs and cut a deal with HTG Capital Partners of Chicago, whose programmers typically trade on regulated futures exchanges. HTG supplies office space, technology and access to exchanges. Gomberg keeps 40% to 80% of net profits, with the percentage rising as his profits do. More importantly, says Gomberg, the programmers retain ownership of the code they write.

• Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

  • Google Search Engine Is Blocked in China

    Google said that the search engine was functioning normally in China. “It’s possible that our machines could overestimate the level of blockage. That seems to be what happened last night, when there was a relatively small blockage,” said Jill Hazelbaker, a Google spokeswoman.

• Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

  • Google adds ‘phone home’ DRM to Android Market

    Google has added a licensing server to the Android Marketplace which will allow an app to verify whether the user has purchased it or not before opening.

  • Internet ‘Key Holders’ Are Insurance Against Cyber Attack

    In a move that seems inspired by “The Lord of the Rings,” seven “keys” have been handed out to a trusted circle of people who might get called upon to “save” the Internet in the aftermath of a cyber attack.
    But contrary to other news reports, the seven key holders have not been vested with the power to resurrect the entire Internet should it be sabotaged by hackers.

• Intellectual Monopolies

  • Tech Comics: “Intellectual Property Infringement”