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
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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
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Kernel Space
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Graphics Stack
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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.
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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.
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Applications
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Instructionals/Technical
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Wine
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Desktop Environments
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K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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New Releases
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Debian Family
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Derivatives
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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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.
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From a pool of thousands, 15 photographic wallpapers have been chosen for inclusion in Ubuntu 12.04.
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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.
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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.
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Phones
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Android
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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.
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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.
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Sub-notebooks/Tablets
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Oracle/Java/LibreOffice
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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.
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Project Releases
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Public Services/Government
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OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE is finding favour on the Icelandic government scene with the announcement that all of its public administration organisations will adopt it.
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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.
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Security
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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
- Mass Layoffs at IBM, But Mostly in Secret (PIPs and 'Voluntary' Redundancies)
- Gerstner laid off a record number of people; Krishna tries to find 'innovative' new ways to cause workers to leave
- Secret Layoffs at Microsoft, Apparently More Sites Will Shut Down Entirely
- vindicates us and serves to affirm what we've said for over a month
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 156 Out of 200: Brett Wilson LLP Becoming Wilson FC
- Now acting almost like one-person shop (lots of staff has fled this past year)
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- Sources-First Publication
- Thank you for keeping us on track
- Ubuntu is Not Linux
- I was one of the first users of Ubuntu
- Links 21/08/2026: Outrage Over Politicians Who Support Slop-Feeding Data Centres, "America Is About to Get More Expensive"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 21/08/2026: Rain Coming Back and "Small Internet"
- Links for the day
- Slop-ware: Nobody Knows What Code Goes Into Linux and Most Developers Cannot Understand the Rust Code (Even If They Tried)
- So nobody is in charge
- The Slop Pyramid Scheme (Not Boon!) Isn't Good for GNU/Linux, Even If the Plagiarism Engines (Framed as "Training" or "Intelligence") Almost Always Run GNU/Linux
- We need the slop pop - we need the bubble to pop
- North America: GNU/Linux Measured at 13%-15% Every Night
- many (north) Americans use GNU/Linux at home and are using it to access the Web in the small hours of the morning
- Links 21/08/2026: "Silicon Valley’s Billionaire Cults Are Coming for Democracy" and "Who’s Raking it in as the National Debt Explodes?"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 157 Out of 200: What is a 'Defamation Troll'?
- "Defamation Mill" also
- Northern Europe Leads the Pack in Abandoning Windows After Threats Made to Greenland (Says Clownflare Data)
- Clownflare has a vast trove of data, so it cannot be easily dismissed as pure nonsense
- Clownflare: In Past 12 Months Microsoft Windows Fell From ~80% to ~75% on Desktops/Laptops in Asia
- Microsoft is deep in debt
- The State of Slopfarms About "Linux" in August 2026
- The Web needs serious cleanup, which curation can help deliver
- IBM Offers Workers Some Money to Fire Themselves, It's Called "Next Step" and It's Allegedly 'Extended' (Not Enough Fools Have Fired Themselves)
- Will IBM executives - including the CEO - ever be held accountable?
- £5 Million Unsolicited/Undisclosed Bribes and What That Means to British Politics
- It still remains unknown (disclosure denied) who helps fund the £1 million lawfare against us
- [Satire] Pocock, Binface & nobodies vs Farage: defamation before UK High Court
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- The IBM Censorship Team, PIPs (Silent Layoffs) in IBM Europe
- There seem to be many de facto layoffs going on at IBM right there
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 20, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, August 20, 2026
- Gemini Links 21/08/2026: "Ensmallening the BigWeb", "Rust Dependencies"
- Links for the day
- Links 20/08/2026: 'Linux' Foundation Promoting Slop Hype for Money (Hype as a Service), Malaysia’s Exports Jump 38% Year-on-Year
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 20/08/2026: A "Break From Routine" and "Modem Was the Problem"
- Links for the day
- Clownflare Reckons GNU/Linux is on Almost 1 in 10 Laptops/Desktops in Western Europe
- Western Europe and China are leaving more of GAFAM behind them
- Looking Ahead at September
- Rianne and I look forward to a productive September
- Links 20/08/2026: Facebook "Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians" and Facebook Faces "Social [Control] Media Addiction Trial"
- Links for the day
- Clownflare Sees GNU/Linux at 16% Market Share on Desktops/Laptops in Tajikistan
- in Tajikistan it seems like adoption of GNU/Linux is exceptionally high, based on a very large data set associated with Web access
- The Demise of Social Control Media Continues
- Entering (anew) social control media in 2026 seems foolish
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 155 Out of 200: Throwing Stones in Houses Made of Glass
- character-assassination-as-a-service
- Gemini Links 20/08/2026: Planners, Pantsing, Vinylyssee
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, August 19, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/08/2026: "Big Boost in Autonomy" and "Answer of E-Mail"
- Links for the day
- Firefox in Trouble in the US, Down to Lowest Level in 20+ Years
- more sites will stop or intentionally neglect Firefox support
- Clownflare: More Than 1 in 5 Laptops or Desktops in El Salvador Run GNU/Linux or ChromeOS
- Clownflare Radar reckons it's more like 20%+ now
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 154 Out of 200: Computer-Generated Legal Filings From Men Who Are Salaried by Mass Plagiarism Companies in Another Continent (America)
- This isn't the behaviour of a moral person but of some sort of "crypto bro" or "slop bro"
- Fired by IBM for Medical Leave, Rampant Censorship of IBM Critics Explained
- We've already caught and showed many cases where thelayoff.com deleted comments that were not even remotely racist
- Links 19/08/2026: First Amendment Under Fire by White House of Cards, "Universities Were Forced to Pay Up" for Not Censoring
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 19/08/2026: What Friendship Means, Sm0lNet/SmolNet, and New Feeds
- Links for the day
- Omarchy is Already Dying
- Same as the life cycle of slopfarms
- No, WSL (Windows With Fake 'Linux') Isn't Growing Faster Than Ubuntu, This Was Disinformation Spread by a Microsoft Propaganda Site, Then Spread by Slopfarms
- Be sceptical; Microsoft is truly desperate for anti-Linux spin right now, seeing that Windows is in a freefall
- Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Impact the Ability to Run Microsoft
- Can Microsoft still run Microsoft?
- Microsoft's Active Directory ("AD") and "Entra" Are National Security Threats
- Even the US government concluded Microsoft could not be trusted for security; it issued a formal report about it in April 2024
- Instant Impact: GNU/Linux Skyrockets to 10% in China Days After Policy Changes
- Let's see what the 'aftermath' looks like by year's end
- Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
- Links for the day
- Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
- Set aside its inability to scale well
- Improving techrights.org
- Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
- Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
- The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
- Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
- From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
- Links for the day