K Desktop Environment (KDE SC)

• Using KDE4 – Day 1

  It is a bit later than I envisioned, but here it is. Day one of using KDE4 of a seven day series on the Desktop Environment.
  
  If you are new to my Seven Day Challenges, you can also read through my Gnome Shell or Windows 7 Seven Day series.





• today's 30 minute hacks

  I ended up taking two "breaks" during the day today to do "30 minute hacks". This is where I do something in the codebase that may or may not end up being useful but which I find interesting to try out, keeping the exercise to a length of 30 minutes or less.





• Dirk Hohndel at Akademy

  At Akademy in Tampere we interviewed Dirk Hohndel, Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist (we would call him 'dude') at Intel. He was present representing Intel and checking out what the KDE community is up to. As he sacrificed spending the 4th of July with his family for this, we were anxious to talk to him. Sunday, after the Elegant keynote by Aaron Seigo, we managed to catch him for a chat and first asked him what he thought about the keynote.

Distributions

• Five distros for “fast” machines

  Not content to just sit back and learn tmux alongside cone, I also spent a little time over the past few days messing with a few other distros, both on this machine and a much faster one.





• Reviews

  • POLL RESULTS: Best 2010 Linux Distro Release

    Distro Release Votes (%) PCLinuxOS 2010.1 137 (31%) Linux Mint 9 78 (18%) Ubuntu 10.04 (and brethren) 63 (14%) OpenSUSE 11.3 47 (10%) Fedora 13 20 (4%) Arch Linux 2010.05 19 (4%) Pardus 2009.2 18 (4%) Other 16 (3%) Mandriva 2010.1 13 (3%) Slackware 13.1 13 (3%) Sabayon 5.3 4 (0%) CentOS 5.5 2 (0%)

  
  
  

  • Damn Vulnerable Linux – The most vulnerable and exploitable operating system ever!

    Usually, when installing a new operating system the hope is that it’s as up-to-date as possible. After installation there’s bound to be a few updates required, but no more than a few megabytes. Damn Vulnerable Linux is different, it’s shipped in as vulnerable a state as possible.
    
    The idea behind DVL is to offer an operating system for learning and research for security students. As the DVL website explains:

    Damn Vulnerable Linux (DVL) is everything a good Linux distribution isn’t. Its developers have spent hours stuffing it with broken, ill-configured, outdated, and exploitable software that makes it vulnerable to attacks. DVL isn’t built to run on your desktop – it’s a learning tool for security students.

    [...]
    
    For general operating system distribution there is an obsession with always shipping the most up-to-date version. It’s a good obsession to have, as for the most part we all want the most current and secure software running on our machines.

  
  
  

  • A week or two with Kongoni GNU/Linux

    Kongoni is billed as a Slackware-based, desktop-oriented GNU/Linux distribution and live CD, with a BSD-style ports tree and a graphical management system. Given that Slackware is the most BSD-like Linux this seems to make sense.
    
    Having heard good things about FreeBSD, Arch, and Gentoo which come to mind, this sounded intriguing and I decided to give this young project a spin. Kongoni has only had one release out so far, version 1.12.2 released 12/07/2009, a year old by the time you read this. This release was still based on Slackware 12 according to the developer, but has moved up since then via the repository. At the moment it is in sync with Slackware current, I suppose until the new release is out which, going by the kernel 2.6.34 and application versions will be based on Slackware 13.1.
    
    [...]
    
    Kongoni definitely has character and I hope it will be able to build a community to sustain it, rather than just the passing curious distro-hopper. Kongoni offers with their base install yet another way of doing things and in particular another way of using Slackware. It also is, not to forget, a Live CD by default, which should strike a chord with people looking for a Slackware based Live CD, particularly as we haven't heard anything from the Bluewhite64 or the Slax projects in this respect for a while. (The Slax community has been providing unofficial remixes now for a while, but they're not touching the base.)

  
  
  

  • Mandriva Linux 2010 spring “Farman” Review

    Overall, I’d have to give Mandriva’s “Farman” release a solid eight and a half out of ten. I’ve always been a Mandriva fan since the first time I’ve used it, and it remains to this very day one of the best distros I’ve used. RPM based or not, if you’re starting out with Linux and would like a gentle introduction to how Linux can work smoothly, without using Mint or Ubuntu, Mandriva’s certainly my choice for you. And if you’re more experienced with Linux, Mandriva still has a lot to offer you in terms of customization, stability, and the lightness that comes with their experience in the Linux market. Well done, Mandriva, well done. Once again, you prove that Red Hat can be amazing: it just depends on how you use it.

  
  
  




• PCLinuxOS/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

  • KDE 4.5 RC2 available for Mandriva 2010 Spring !!

    The second release candidate release of KDE 4.5 was released last week and again thanks to neoclust we have packages for Mandriva 2010 Spring since the beginning of this week.

  
  
  




• Red Hat Family

  • Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight Rating on Red Hat (RHT)

    Piper Jaffray is out with a research note this morning, where it reiterates its Overweight rating on Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT); it also has a $37.00 price target on the stock.
    
    The Piper Jaffray analysts said, “We recently interviewed 45 Red Hat partners to assess opinions of RHEV and found that 80% believe RHEV already delivers a TCO that is superior to, or equal with, VMware (NYSE: VMW). Customers appear ready for an open, viable alternative to VMware, as contacts indicate several large VMware customers are taking a very close look at RHEV. Our prior work showed that RHEV can drive 10% of RHT's bookings in the next 12-24 months, and the current results provide reason for incremental optimism.”

  
  
  

  • More Upside for Red Hat ?

    Shares of Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) booked a new 52 week high today by trading above $32.52, traders are definitely monitoring Red Hat's price action to see if this move attracts further buying into the stock.
    
    Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT) develops and provides open source software and services, including the Red Hat Linux operating system.

  
  
  

  • RedHat Enterprise Linux 6 Beta - I can't wait

    RHEL 6 is an excellent product. It works great. You have everything. Well, almost everything. Except NTFS support, everything works superbly, without any hitches. RHEL 6 combines modern technology with stability and quality to create a perfect formula. Whether you want this to become your server or your desktop, you have the right tools for the right job. Memory footprint is low, suspend & hibernate works, Wireless works, the choice of programs is well balanced, what could you ask more? And remember, this is only a beta release!

  
  
  

  • Fedora

    • Fedora Board Meeting, 16 July 2010

      Dennis asked, “What do you see as the biggest challenge in your starting weeks/months?”
      
      Jared replied, “We need to continue to push Fedora development, and to make the Fedora community more inclusive. I’m reminded this week at FUDCon at the barriers to entry that are there, not because we’re trying to be exclusive, but because of language and cultural differences for example… My biggest challenge in the beginning is to find ways to get buy-in from all the parties involved so that we can push with a concerted effort. I’d rather make it a collaborative effort.”

    
    
    

    • Autoten – Install utilities & proprietary codecs under Fedora Linux

      The author of autoten has done a superb job in keeping the application fuss-free & that should be appreciated as nobody wants to wander through menus to get simple things installed. Considering this application will be used by amateurs, there is no way they will get lost or feel intimidated by the huge(complex but informative) homescreen. Autoten gets a highly recommend tag from our side.

    
    
    
  
  
  



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  Canonical/Ubuntu

  • What is Ubuntu's future plan if the desktop OS is dead?

    First question that comes to mind is really? The COO of Ubuntu's Canonical argues that the desktop OS is virtually dead, replaced by "a new breed of "desktop" platform." He contends that the big players that have our attention like Google and Facebook are increasingly OS agnostic, thus making the base OS more and more irrelevant.

  
  
  

  • Ubuntu Pentest Edition – For penetration testing

  
  
  

  • A Worrying trend: Ubuntu the next Apple?

    The Ubuntu Software Center will feature software which you are able to purchase. Sounds like the same thing as all the other’s right?

  
  
  

  • Memo to Canonical: Time to Revive Ubuntu Live Conference

  
  
  

  • Worried about the meerkat Sound Menu? todays update screams ‘don’t be!’

  
  
  

  • Ubuntu Software Center 2.1.5 Released With Plugin Support (But There Are No Plugins Available Yet) [Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat]

  
  
  

  • Take a look at the Ubuntu-based malware analysis toolkit REMnux

    Security Consultant Lenny Zeltser has released a lightweight version of Ubuntu that includes a collection of malware analysis tools and runs as a VMware Virtual Appliance.

  
  
  
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    Flavours and Variants

    • Jolicloud 1.0 netbook OS starts roll out

      After more than a year in development, the Jolicloud developers have confirmed that the major 1.0 release of their operating system has started rolling out to existing users this week. According to a post on the Jolicloud blog, founding members that have been running Jolicloud since the first Alpha release will receive the update first.

    
    
    

    • New Peppermint Ice Cloud-focused Linux OS Set to Ship

      The team behind the Peppermint cloud-based flavor of Linux is at it again, this time delivering Peppermint Ice – a new version of Peppermint featuring a Site Specific Browser for launching Web applications and cloud applications.

    
    
    

    • Peppermint Ice

      Summary: Peppermint Ice is a great alternative for Peppermint OS One users that wanted Chromium as their default browser. It’s also perfect for anybody that wants a web-centric distro that is extremely fast and stable.
      
      Rating: 4/5

    
    
    

    • What's new in Linux Mint 9 LXDE?

      Based on Lubuntu 10.04, Linux 2.6.32, Openbox 3.4.10, LXSession 0.4.3, and Xorg 1.7.5, Linux Mint 9 LXDE features a complete desktop computing experience while being easy on system resource usage thus making it suitable for older hardware and situations where speed is a crucial factor.