Links 23/3/2012: Commodore Linux, Iceland Moves to Free Software
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
- Modified: 2012-03-23 09:21:20 UTC
Contents
-
Commodore USA has released the new AMIGA mini and the VIC mini, two small form factor PCs with a bit of retro styling, but very new and powerful guts
-
Kernel Space
-
Graphics Stack
-
The Gallium3D compute infrastructure, which is the underlying work for supporting OpenCL over this open-source graphics driver architecture, is on approach for landing in the very near future. This has been one damn good day for open-source Linux graphics drivers following the earlier Nouveau surprise announcements.
-
Soon, the kernel will support several AMD graphics cores that are used in recent Radeon graphics cards and in various upcoming processors. In systems with Intel graphics, using hibernation can cause memory corruption. The development of Linux 3.4 has started.
-
Applications
-
Instructionals/Technical
-
Wine
-
Desktop Environments
-
K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
-
Jonathan Riddell, the KDE developer, recently announced that Canonical stopping funding the Kubuntu project and reassigning him in a new role. Looking at Canonical's focus on Unity, that's not a surprising move. I don't know how Canonical works, but looking at the new challenges they set for themselves with every release, I do think they need all the hands they can get. The result of that hard work is evident - Unity is shaping up really well.
-
-
Have an old computer lying around that you’d like to use for some light web surfing, document editing, and other tasks? I mean like a PC with a 1999-era Intel Pentium III processor? It turns out there’s an OS for that… and it’s not Windows 98.
-
In my last blog about Linux Live Environments, I mentioned REMnux, an environment specifically built for malware analysis. I'd spent a little time with REMnux when it first came out, but decided to take the latest version (3.0) for a test drive.
-
New Releases
-
Debian Family
-
Derivatives
-
Canonical/Ubuntu
-
Canonical’s next long-term support release of its flagship Linux distribution, Ubuntu 12.04 is in late beta. This next release, due out on April 26th, is in beta now. I’ve been using it for several weeks now and so far, so good.
Indeed, the new Ubuntu is good enough already that I’ve it on my default Ubuntu system: a 2009-era Gateway DX4710. This PC is powered by a 2.5-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor and has 6GBs of RAM and an Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3100 for graphics. No, it’s not fast, but unlike Windows 8’s beta, you don’t need a fast computer for Ubuntu.
-
From a pool of thousands, 15 photographic wallpapers have been chosen for inclusion in Ubuntu 12.04.
-
With Ubuntu remaining uninterested in systemd, the Upstart init system continues to be developed. Released today was Upstart 1.5 with a few new features.
-
-
However, while that beefed up version may be available at some point, costs and demand will likely hold it off for a while, the popular mini-computer's designer said.
-
Phones
-
Android
-
NASA has made great efforts to get the public interested in their various projects and avenues of research using tools such as social media networks and their suite of mobile applications. Unfortunately, those applications have almost exclusively been iPhone exclusive. Of the over 20 mobile applications NASA has released, only a scant have made it over to everyone’s favorite open source mobile operating system.
-
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Android is open source and built on Linux. Fortunately for Android enthusiasts and independent developers, however, Sony has made life a little easier by releasing the open source archive for the Xperia S device. Of course, there are some catches. Read on for what this announcement means for the juncture of Android and free software.
-
Sub-notebooks/Tablets
-
Oracle/Java/LibreOffice
-
The Document Foundation (TDF), which produces the leading open source office software suite LibreOffice, is on schedule for the release of a cloud version of its software next month.
The team released the last update to its 3.4 build on Thursday and is now focused on developing version 3.5 further, but the group is now also ready to go live for cloud services in April. That said, the team reserves the right to hold off on launch until the last few software fixes come in, TDF spokesman Italo Vignoli told The Register.
-
Project Releases
-
Public Services/Government
-
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE is finding favour on the Icelandic government scene with the announcement that all of its public administration organisations will adopt it.
-
Iceland's push to move its public sector to open-source software has made some headway, with most of the shift seeing Windows swapped for Linux.
-
Security
-
Some words just seem to go together: "bread" and "butter"; "trial" and "error"; "Microsoft" and "security breach." The MS12-020 Remote Desktop Protocol vulnerability revealed last week shows once again that when it comes to data security, Microsoft is its own worst enemy and any "secure" system can be compromised.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: Missed Deadline
- they helped expose a number of other scandals
- Red Hat's Owner is Called "America's Worst Tech Company" (IBM) and Microsoft's Liabilities Grow
- Microsoft has about a quarter of a trillion (yes, trillion with a "T") in liabilities
-
- Major Microsoft Layoffs This Week (Discussed Online)
- later we can expect a lot of spin, even misinformation
- Links 12/05/2025: Measles Rising and Taliban Outlaws Chess in Afghanistan
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 12/05/2025: Advice, Iorist Ethics, and Touchscreens
- Links for the day
- The Finances of GAFAM Aren't as They Seem
- MICROSOFT FINANCIAL PYRAMID revisited
- Links 12/05/2025: US Brain Drain and Reminder That "Microsoft's Lobbying Efforts Eclipsed Enron" (Fraud Coverup)
- Links for the day
- The Enshittification of Royal Mail (Post Office/Postal Services) Continues
- Enshittification is a thing, not only in the digital realm
- If the Gossip is True, Today Microsoft Has "Large M1 Meetings" to Discuss Almost 30,000 More Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
- the claim is that Microsoft is preparing to lay off 10% of its staff
- Microsoft Has a Long and Proven History of Funding Meritless Lawsuits Against Rivals and Critics (It Always Backfires)
- It also looks like the solicitor used by two Microsofters to SLAPP us is being urgently replaced
- Links 12/05/2025: Gardens and Kitchens
- Links for the day
- Links 12/05/2025: Media Being Attacked (New Forms of Attack on the Press), Many Data Breaches
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 11, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, May 11, 2025
- Links 11/05/2025: Pyotr Wrangel and Kubernetes With FreeBSD
- Links for the day
- What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: A Moment of Silence and Revisionism Amid US Government Investigation and Community Uproar
- Not a word this month
- Microsoft Florian Becomes Patent Troll, Arranges to Sue Companies (Extorting Money Out of Them)
- From campaigner against software patents to paid Microsoft shill to "FOSS patents" (actually attacking FOSS) to revisionism as "books" (for Microsoft)... and now this
- How the SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff Are Connected to the Corrupt OSI, Whose Majority of Money Comes From Microsoft for Openwashing, LLM Hype, and Whitewashing GPL Violations During Class Action Trial
- Let's explain how some of these things are connected
- Links 11/05/2025: China's Fentanylware (TikTok) Tells Kids to Vandalise Schools' Chromebooks and Increased Censorship in India
- Links for the day
- You Need Not Be a Big Company to Defeat Microsoft If You Can Successfully Challenge Its Core "Ideas"
- Maybe that's just a sign that the ideas of RMS have become too effective and thus "dangerous"
- Gemini Links 11/05/2025: Yeeting Oligarch Tech, Offline Browsing
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 10, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, May 10, 2025
- One is Simply Doomed to Fail When Working for Violent Men From Microsoft and Attacking Women as Well as People Who Merely Expose Crimes or Report Real Crimes
- Imagine saying to people that you "practice law" or "exercise law"
- The Tariffs Are Accelerating Microsoft's Decline in China
- Judging by the way things are going, there will be considerable adoption of GNU/Linux in years to come, China being one major contributing factor.
- Control Your Systems, Control All Your Data
- what does it take for us to control our own systems and data?
- Misplacing Blame for Security Problems, Sometimes With LLM Slop That Blames "Linux" for Microsoft's Failures
- Broken telephones and stochastic parrots beget plenty of Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
- Links 10/05/2025: WW2 Revisionism, Further Tit-for-tat in India-Pakistan Conflict
- Links for the day
- Links 10/05/2025: Germany Considers Smartphone Ban in Schools, Right to Repair Bills
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 10/05/2025: Git Server and Great LLM DDoS of 2025
- Links for the day
- Blizzard/Microsoft Unions Grow Ahead of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Apparently Starting Next Week (as Many as 30,000 Workers Laid Off by Year's End)
- Microsoft already fired about 5,000-6,000 workers this year by our estimates; that's not counting resignations compelled through pressure (i.e. pushed, did not jump) and contractors
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 09, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, May 09, 2025