Marave aims to combat this by shoving everything but the task in hand out of the way. No toolbars, menus or web-browser peeking from underneath the window; As my mother likes to say, 'out of sight, out of mind'.
Since today is the birthday of both myself and the US President I thought it apropos to cover a birthday reminder tool for the Linux operating system. There are a few of these tools but only one of them really is worth discussing at any length. That tool? GBirthday. GBirthday is a tool that lives in your notification area and keeps track of the bithdays in your Evolution contacts or your Thunderbird/Icebird, Lightning, Sunbird/Iceowl events, even CVS files or MySQL databases!
Plasma, KDE’s desktop shell, has a few new features added in SC 4.5. Among them are the preview button in Folderview. Instead of hovering over a folder and automatically giving you a popup access window, hovering your mouse will show an “up arrow” button that gives the same functionality, making it less intrusive.
KDE has also added many new features and fixes to KDE games, admin tools, and other included software. KDE 4.5 is available for many operating systems, including Linux, FreeBSD and other Unix variants, Windows, and Mac OS X. Most Linux distributions provide updated binaries through their software repositories. You can also download KDE from the project’s website and build it from source. KDE is free and open source software, and the new version 4.5 is expected to be released today, August 4.
Today an email from the release team was sent out notifying KDE developers and packagers that the release of the next KDE software compilation, containing versions 4.5.0 of the Dev Platform, Workspaces and application modules, will be delayed by a week.
WeakNet Linux is designed primarily for penetration testing, forensic analysis and other security tasks. WeakNet Linux IV was built from Ubuntu 9.10 which is a Debian based distro. All references to Ubuntu have been removed as the author completely re-compiled the kernel, removed all Ubuntu specific software which would cause the ISO to bloat, and used a non-Ubuntu-traditional Window Manager, with no DM. To start X11 (Fluxbox) simply type “startx” at the command line as root.
Now, Gentoo has currently a number of hacks over Rubygems (the library, and the package manager) for two main reason: supporting the Portage-based install of gems in the old manner (as in calling gem from within the eclass), and supporting multiple Ruby implementations to be installed at the same time.
The third release candidate release of KDE 4.5 was released last week and again thanks to neoclust and mikala who did all the rebuild work this time, we have packages for Mandriva 2010 Spring since a couple of days now. Packages for both i586 and x86_64 are available. Here are the upgrade instructions:
1.faster boot 2.quick response. 3.better fonts. 4.default wide range software 5. large repository media(Free DVD version)..
In the August 2010 issue:
Xfce 4.6.2: Xfce Settings Manager, Part 3 Xfce 4.6.2: Customize Your Xfwm Theme Xfce 4.6.2: Customize Thunar's Context Menus Video Encoding: Step-By-Step Linux IS Ready For The Desktop OpenOffice 3.2: Calc Clipping Objects Together To Create Cool Graphics With Inkscape Ms_meme's Nook: Linux Time Forum Foible: Fun With PCLinuxOS Computer Languages A to Z: Modula2 Command Line Interface Intro: Part 11 Screenshot Showcase Alternate OS: Haiku, Part 2 Game Zone: World Of Goo Firefox Add-ons: Xmarks Marks The Spot and much, much more!
After a 200-plus point increase on Monday, the Dow was set to give up some of those gains. U.S. futures pointed to a weak opening, CNBC reports.
There has been some 'debate' that has bubbled to the surface again recently about Ubuntu vs. Red Hat on the issue of who contributes what to Linux.
Red Hat leads the Linux world with its contributions to the core Linux kernel and it also leads with its contributions to the GNOME desktop project as well. Ubuntu on the hand does contribute (not as much), and is focused on 'fit and finish' for the most part.
I personally don't have much issue with the fact that Ubuntu doesn't contribute as much upstream as Red Hat -- though it is something that matters. Let me explain.
Stefano raised again the issue of providing some kind of Debian membership to people that contribute to Debian in unusual ways (not involving deep purely technical skills), like doing translation, documentation, marketing, design, etc.
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It’s true that the name “Debian Developer” is suboptimal for non-programmers. But it’s also suboptimal for most DDs, since most of us don’t strictly develop software: we “just” maintain packages, mainly developing meta-data around the upstream source code. “Debian Developer” is how we call our full-fledged project members. Do we want to classify those non-programming contributors as second-class citizens? If not, we need to make them “Debian Developers”, not some strange other name.
Stefano delivered an excellent address to the Debian project. As Project Leader, he offered a perspective on how far Debian has come, raised some of the key questions facing Debian today, and challenged the project to move forward and improve in several important ways.
He asked the audience: Is Debian better than other distributions? Is Debian still relevant? Why/how?
Canonical has made a subtle but important shift in its channel partner strategy. Sure, the Ubuntu Linux promoter continues to engage with solutions providers. But increasingly, Canonical wants to recruit hosting partners and cloud partners onto the Ubuntu bandwagon.
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The VAR Guy is intrigued but key questions remain. For starters how does Canonical intend to compete with Novell’s Intelligent Workload Management (designed for on-premises and cloud environments) and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV), which Red Hat is promoting to cloud partners?
In Maverick we’re adding the new Ayatana indicator for sound, Conor Curran’s very classy implementation of MPT’s very classy spec. It’s a Category Indicator, like the messaging menu, so it allows apps to embed themselves into it in a standard and appropriate way. You can have multiple players represented there, and control them directly from the menu, without needing a custom AppIndicator or windows open for the player(s). The integration with Rhythmbox and, via the MPRIS dbus API, several other players is coming along steadily.
If you’re wondering exactly what MeeGo is, it’s a combination of Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo project. This lightweight combination targets smartphones, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. This specific release is for Atom-based IVI systems. These systems are designed to deliver things like navigation, entertainment, and networked computing services inside of cars, trucks, buses, planes and more. On their website MeeGo states “As vehicles become connected to the internet, the demand for internet-based entertainment applications and services increases and MeeGo strives to accelerate the pace of innovation in IVI.” I couldn’t help downloading MeeGo for IVI V1.0, taking some screenshots, and writing some of my thoughts on the new features. Be sure to visit the cart where you can buy MeeGo on USB.
JoliCloud is based on Linux, and is looking to go after cloud clients such as netbooks and tablets. However, the Paris-based company started by former Netvibes founder Tariq Krim is also exploring ways to recycle old computers and make them cloud compatible — targeting an economically sensitive demographic. Krim thinks web OS-based machines are going to find favor in the educational realm as well.
Nagios: Open source network and system monitoring and notification I've been a fan of Nagios for a long time. Nagios is a soup-to-nuts network and system monitoring and notification tool that has an extensive list of plug-ins and a vibrant community. There is a steep learning curve to set it up, but once that's done, you'll have your finger on the pulse of the entire IT plant.
The news peg here is an agreement with Cap Gemini to promote Drupal as part of its Immediate platform. On his blog Buytaert compared it to the decision by Dell and IBM to ship Linux on their machines in 2007.
Leaders of Ingres, Jaspersoft, Liferay, Sugar CRM, Pentaho and Red Hat are converging for the inaugural SPLASH Conference in Sydney on August 10, 2010. The main reason of the meeting is to share ideas with local firms in Australia.
How often do you hear people lumping together Linux and any of the BSDs? I’ve done it on occasion, and I hear it all the time. Of course, there are plenty of similarities between Linux and BSD: They are both based on UNIX. For the most part, both systems are developed by noncommercial organizations. And I must say that both the Linux and BSD variants have one common goal — to create the most useful, reliable operating system available.
For three years, Matthew Burton has been trying to get a simple, useful software tool into the hands of analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency. For three years, haggling over the code’s intellectual property rights has kept the software from going anywhere near Langley. So now, Burton’s releasing it — free to the public, and under an open source license.
Burton, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst and software developer, speaks today at the Military Open Source Software Working Group in Virginia. It’s a gathering of 80 or so national security tech-types who’ve heard a thousand stories about good ideas and good code getting sunk, because of squabbles over who owns the software.
LWN is reporting a GPL enforcement story that I learned about during last week while at GUADEC (excellent conference, BTW, blog post on that later this week). I wasn't sure if it was really of interest to everyone, but since it's hit the press, I figured I'd write a brief post to mention it.
As many probably know, I'm president of the Software Freedom Conservancy, which is the non-profit organizational home of the BusyBox project. As part of my role at Conservancy, I help BusyBox in its GPL enforcement efforts. Specifically and currently, the SFLC is representing Conservancy in litigation against a number of defendants who have violated the GPL and were initially unresponsive to Conservancy's attempts to bring them into compliance with the terms of the license.
A few weeks back we blogged about Russ Nelson’s proposals for the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to adopt the Open Knowledge Definition, our standard for openness in relation to content and data.
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Here are the questions we arrived at (thanks to Skud aka Kirrily Robert for taking notes):
1. What happens with data that’s not copyrightable? 1a. What about data that consists of facts about the world and thus even a collection of it cannot be copyrighted, but the exact file format can be copyrighted? Many sub-federal-level governments in the US have to publish facts on demand but claim a copyright on the formatting. 2. What about data that’s not accessible as a whole, but only through an API? 3. We’re thinking that OKD #9 should read “execution of an additional agreement” rather than “additional license”. 4. Does OKD #4 apply to works distributed in a particular file format? Is a movie not open data if it’s encoded in a patent-encumbered codec? Does it become open data if it’s re-encoded? 5. What constitutes onerous attribution in OKD #5? If you get open data from somebody, and they have an attribution page, is it sufficient for you to comply with the attribution requirement if you point to the attribution page?
In a recent case study about the company, the New York Times details how, almost immediately following the deal, friction emerged between the two companies. In an effort to stay the course of their mission statement, Honest Tea added a “no high-fructose corn syrup” label to the packaging of its Honest Kids line of children’s drinks. Coke saw this label as disparaging and potentially damaging to its other product lines and asked Honest Tea to change or remove the claim from its labels.
Maybe it was just ahead of its time. Or maybe there were just too many features to ever allow it to be defined properly, but Google is saying today that they are going to stop any further development of Google Wave.
After dumping 90,000 documents from the war in Afghanistan, and with a treasure trove of millions of files on other topics from around the world waiting to be released, everywhere-and-nowhere Internet leak hub WikiLeaks is once again the center of a discussion about the changing landscape of investigative journalism and the relationship between the media and the state secrets it reports. Nobody questions the importance of WikiLeaks, but not everyone is pleased.
US agencies have long defended the use of body scanning devices at airports with the promise that all images will be discarded as soon as security staff have viewed them.
As a part of France's three strikes law, the organization in charge of implementing the program, Hadopi (which, we should remind you, was caught infringing itself in using a font it did not license for its logo), has been tasked with figuring out a way to actually block people from the internet, or to stop them from using certain file sharing programs. While there were public consultations on how to do this, the actual technical spec was supposed to have been kept secret.
The idea is pretty simple. Flattr functions very nearly like a social networking or social bookmarking site — but with money. Sites that support Flattr provide a button that members of Flattr can push to signal their appreciation. When they do, the Flattr site gets a notification.
At the end of each month, each member’s clicks are added up. Their monthly balance is then divided up equally among all of the clicked “things”. These are paid out, micro-payment style, to the recipients. The total amount spent by the donor, though, is constant — they set this choice from their Flattr account. So the amount they spend is totally predictable, no matter how many times they click.
MPX demo video