01.30.09

Links 30/01/2009: Moblin and More GNU/Linux-based Sub-notebooks

Posted in News Roundup at 6:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

• V.i. Labs Announces CodeArmor Intelligence Support for Linux Platforms

  V.i. Laboratories, Inc. (“V.i. Labs”),a provider of software protection solutions for securing high-value and mission-critical applications, today announced that its CodeArmor® Intelligence solution now supports Linux platforms. Built upon V.i. Labs’ software protection technology, CodeArmor Intelligence enables independent software vendors (ISVs) to gather intelligence on pirated use of their software and recover revenue lost to unlicensed use.

• Moblin2 first impressions — wow, does it boot fast!

  A lot of notebooks and even netbooks these days run Windows, but also offer a minimalist Linux environment that boots in seconds. Now, with the Intel-sponsored Moblin project’s alpha release of Moblin 2 Monday, it looks like insanely fast boots will become a standard feature of full-featured Linux desktops, too.

• Cray and atsec Achieve CC Security Certification of Cray Linux Environment

  Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) and atsec information security announced today that the Cray Linux Environment (CLE) has been certified by the National Information Assurance Partnership’s (NIAP) Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme as conformant to EAL3+ (enhanced with Flaw Remediation ALC_FLR.1). This evaluation took into consideration a number of new functionalities: the Lustre network file system, Portals high-speed Remote DMA and the application placement scheduler ALPS. The evaluation covers Cray Linux Environment 2.1 running on the Cray XT4 and Cray XT5 computer systems.

• Five’s VOD service now works for Macs/Linux

  UK broadcaster Five has moved to a flash-based system for its Demand Five service, meaning that it’s now available for Linux and Mac users.

  Five’s online television on-demand service had previously used Windows Media Player, but the decision has been made to switch to Flash, allowing the service to reach a wider audience.

• Open Access Astro-Observatory Runs GNU/Linux

  Montegancedo Observatory is the first free open access astronomical observatory in the world. It is located in Building 6 of the School of Computing. The dome is equipped with a computer-automated, robotized 10” telescope, and several computers operating as a web applications server. The observatory also links and broadcasts images and videos captured by the webcams arranged around the dome… All servers run on GNU/Linux systems.

• Speak your brains

  We’re planning A New Thing here at LXF Towers, and as part of that we need to know what you think. Not just random thoughts mind; we want to know what you think about Mono.
  Is it bloated junk, or does it point the way to a brave new cross-platform world?

• Open source device companies recognized

  TheVARGuy.com announced a list of the 50 top open source companies in the “channel.” Alongside well-known picks like Red Hat, Sun, and Novell (ranked one through three), several smaller, embedded-related firms made the top-25, including Digium, Openmoko, and Opengear.

• Kernel Space

  • Phenomenon Redux: AMD Phenom II in Linux Test

    A recent Linux Community test compared the AMD Phenom X4 with a Turion X2 and Intel P9400. Meanwhile AMD has sent us its new Phenom II processor, prompting a new test. These are the latest benchmark results.

  • Phenom II Breaks 6.5GHz, Enables New 3DMark Record

    Prior to the official release of AMD’s next-generation 45nm Phenom II processors, the Sunnyvale, California-based chip maker held a number of events where it approached the opportunity of demonstrating the overclocking potential of its latest desktop processors. Soon after their official release at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the processors were used in yet another demonstration, where one of AMD’s Phenom II products was pushed to record clock levels and was used to break the Futuremark 3DMark05 record.

  • Initial ext3 vs ext4 Results

    We’ve started to do some internal benchmarking of ext3 vs ext4 at myYearbook.com to see if what we’ve seen and heard about ext4 was really true. While the following benchmark is not in-depth, it does represent our initial findings, which match our anecdotal findings. If all of these findings hold true, we expect them to have a large impact on our PostgreSQL OLTP workload where machines are IO bound.

  • Linux 2.6.29-rc3

    It’s out there, and while it’s a bit larger than I’d wish for, that size is pretty understandable considering that it’s closer to two weeks than one in between -rc2 and -rc3 (due to LCA, obviously).

    And it isn’t really _that_ big: part of the reason it looks bigger as a traditional patch (which is what I upload when I upload patches) than it really is due to a lot of m68k include file renames, so if you look at the git rename-aware patches it all actually looks much smaller.

  • NVIDIA Releases Yet Another Linux Driver

    It was just yesterday that NVIDIA released four new Linux drivers, but today they have pushed out a fifth proprietary Linux driver update. Yesterday one of their drivers released was version 180.25, which brought a host of VDPAU fixes and new GPU support, but replacing that is now 180.27.

  • AMD Catalyst 9.1 Brings OpenGL 3.0

    AMD has just released its first official Catalyst driver update for the new year. AMD had delivered several key improvements to their proprietary Linux driver stack last year as we shared in our AMD Linux 2008 Year in Review, but what’s there to get excited about in Catalyst 9.1? Well, first and foremost there is improved Composite support during video playback, Hybrid CrossFire support, and a number of fixes. Oh, and there’s also OpenGL 3.0 support!

• Desktop Environments

  • KDE 4.2 Screen Shots

  • KDE 4.2: I’m tired of Pundits, Here’s MY Take

    For those who say that they cannot deal with a new desktop, get over yourselves. KDE 4 is not really that radically different in the big picture. I mean, you run programs on a desktop! Sure things are being done a little differently than KDE 3.5, but get a grip for a second, the KDE 4 series is definitely still KDE at its core. It is not rocket science to learn KDE 4.2 if you really knew what you were doing in 3.5, and the payoff will be a very refined desktop that is both visually pleasing as well as very functional.

• Distributions

  • How To Choose The Best Linux For Your Business

    For IT decision makers in small and midsize businesses, Linux is all about choice. But the dizzying array of different distros, service, and support options can make the choice a challenge. This guide to understanding the differences will help you pick the distro your business needs.

  • Red Hat

    • S&P Endorses Linux, Raising Red Hat (RHT)

      You do not see too many upgrades in corporate credit ratings during this part of the business cycle, let alone in technology and software. But Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) was just raised by Standard & Poor’s ratings today on the corporate credit side. You might even wonder if S&P is almost endorsing Linux after all these years after you look through the notes.

    • Vendor: Open Systems Help During Financial Crisis

      “Oracle Unbreakable Linux is a support program. It is not a distribution,” Boom explained. “Oracle Enterprise Linux, however, is another distribution. It supports any enterprise Linux.”

• Devices/Embedded

  • Tiny DLP projector ships

    Digi-Key has started distributing a tiny video projector from Texas Instruments (TI) that could prove small enough to embed in mobile phones. The 10-lumen Pico Projector uses TI’s DLP (digital light processing) technology, and is sold as part of a development kit targeting the Linux-ready BeagleBoard.

  • VC conf. scouts Moblin, Android apps

    A start-up incubator will host a free conference for Moblin and Android developers, Jan. 29 in Santa Clara, Calif. The Girvan Institute’s “Mobile Internet Developers Conference” is billed as the first in a series of developer-focused conferences tailored for the demands of the “global economic downturn.”

  • Sub-notebooks

    • Acer plans Linux, SSD version of 10-inch netbook

      On Wednesday, an Acer spokesperson told ZDNet UK that the 10-inch Aspire One “will be available with XP or Linux, and HDD or SSD”, and confirmed that the Linux distribution would be Linpus. However, buyers will not have these options in the initial release of the netbook, which will launch in mid-February and cost £299.

    • Netbooks: Emtec moves from peripherals

      Emtec, a company which has in the past been more focused on delivering laptop peripherals, is moving into the increasingly lucrative netbook market with the Gdium.

      Steering clear of Microsoft, this device uses the Madriva version of Linux and comes in at a small size – just ten inches.

    • Beyond Lightbulbs, Sylvania Enters Netbook Fray

      You probably know them best as makers of a variety of lightbulbs, but Sylvania has recently expanded its portfolio to include a colorful new line of netbook PCs.

    • Google Android Running On Eee PC 701 Tutorial

      We all know that the Google Android operating system was specially developed to run on cell phones, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot tweak it to run on netbooks as well.

Free Software/Open Source

• Open-Source DNA

  As far as I can tell, if you visited my home today it is legal for me to slyly snatch an “abandoned” sample of DNA from you (from the lip of a cup, a fallen hair, etc.), sequence it in full, and publish your DNA online for the world to read. Of course I wouldn’t do that, but in April 2008, a seller on eBay peddled the remains of Barak Obama’s restaurant breakfast claiming that “his DNA is on the silverware.”

• Programming

  • Jetty proposes to Eclipse

    The Jetty project has now formally proposed to join the Eclipse project. Greg Wilkins has previously discussed the potential move to place the open source Java HTTP server and servlet container under the umbrella of the Eclipse project, and now the formal proposal has been made. The proposal notes that the Eclipse IDE already uses Jetty to serve help pages and that Jetty is a mature project and technology. The plan involves moving Jetty from its Apache 2.0 license to a dual Apache 2.0/Eclipse Public Licence model and moving the package name to an org.eclipse name, during the transition.

  • Plug-in architecture on the way for the gcc

    When Richard Stallman began writing Bison in 1983, he was only trying to build the bits of an operating system he would need to write another operating system. But that recursive goal was no stranger than the recursive name he would create for the software he would eventually create: the GNU Project, where GNU standard for “ GNU is Not Unix.”

    And now, 25 years later, one of the most important tools to come out of the GNU Project’s drive for the GNU Operating System—the GNU Compiler Collection—has received approval from the Free Software Foundation to begin work on a plug-in architecture.

    Mark Mitchell, founder of CodeSourcery, confirmed that the FSF gave its permission to prepare the gcc for plug-ins. This is the first time that such permission has been granted.

• Google

  • Updates from Googlers Contributing to Open Source Projects

    You may recall some of our previous posts about Google employee contributions to Open Source during their 20% time. While many engineers spend their 20% time on releasing code created internally at Google, many more spend their time contributing to external projects just to scratch their own itch. We’re pleased to bring you some updates about what our engineers have been doing over the past few months:

    For all you version control geeks out there, you’ll be interested to know that Ben Collins-Sussman has been working on rewriting Subversion’s HTTP protocol. While the rewrite will still be WebDAV compatible, he’s busy removing all of the DeltaV formalities that cause numerous extra requests. Once complete, users should see much faster network traffic when speaking to an Apache server. For more details, check out the write up on Ben’s blog.

  • Gmail Goes Offline

    Imagine your Internet connection dropping out, but still being able to use e-mail.

• Bait

  • Look beyond the license type and find the best product

    Another busy week here at FierceContentManagement. Lots of big news, so much that I had my top five stories chosen by last Friday, an unusual occurrence, but you will note one clear pattern this week, the emergence of open source tools. Several of today’s items involved open source projects and services, and this was on the heels of last week’s Alfresco’s major release of Alfresco Labs 3.

• Funding

  • 75,000 Euros awarded to open source businesses

    On Wednesday, as part of the Open Source Meets Business conference in Nuremberg, the third annual Open Source Business Awards were presented. The Open Source Business Foundation provided a prize total of 75,000 Euros for the top 3 open source companies.

  • Tides Now Accepting Nominations for $10,000 Pizzigati Prize

    SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The $10,000 Antonio Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest will go to a software developer whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the nonprofit sector and ongoing efforts for positive social change. Tides, partner to forward-thinking philanthropists, foundations, activists and organizations, has just opened the process that will select this year’s Pizzigati Prize winner. Nominations for the prize, the largest annual award in public interest computing, will be accepted through March 2, 2009.

• Sun

  • Debian Founder Murdock Now Sun’s Cloud Strategist

    Debian Linux founder and former OpenSolaris chief Ian Murdock is taking over the role of chief strategist for cloud computing at Sun Microsystems.

    The result of a restructuring at Sun last November has given Ian Murdock the new role of VP of Cloud Computing Strategy, which Murdock recently announced in a video interview with his former Sun colleague Barton George.

  • Sun Shares Jump After Sales, Earnings Top Estimates (Update3)

    Sun Microsystems Inc., the fourth- largest maker of server computers, rose the most in eight years in Nasdaq trading after earnings topped analysts’ estimates.

  • Open source puts a shine on Sun’s quarter

    Sun Microsystems is getting some love from Wall Street after its sales and earnings topped estimates, as detailed by Bloomberg. Software sales jumped 21 percent year-over-year.

• New Zealand

  • Lotteries Commission using open source software

    I noticed today that emails from the http://www.mylotto.co.nz online lottery site, run by the New Zealand Lotteries Commission is using PHP List as its mailing list software.

Leftovers

• ISP Capitulates to IFPI, Agrees to Disconnect Pirates

  Up until today, the ‘Big Four’ record labels were taking legal action against Ireland’s biggest ISP, Eircom, in order to force it to employ filtering technology to stop online pirates. The case has been aborted as Eircom, at the behest of the music industry, has agreed to start disconnecting those accused of illicit file-sharing.

• ISPs Ready to Assist the RIAA?

  There’s also the question of what kind of impact these actions will have on AT&T and Comcast. If they are the only ISPs sticking their necks out, then they may see their customer base flock to other providers who won’t work with the RIAA.

• Canada’s Private ACTA Talking Points

  While the Canadian government has dutifully followed the U.S. line on ACTA with bland releases following each of the four 2008 negotiation sessions, newly obtained documents under the Access to Information Act reveal that the Canadian delegation may be speaking out on some of the public concerns that have been raised around transparency and the exclusion of many countries from the negotiation process [download here]. The documents include several noteworthy revelations:

  First, the documents confirm that the leaked ACTA document from last year was indeed the ACTA Discussion Paper distributed among governments. At the time, there was some question as to whether this was an industry wish-list or a government document. The Canadian documents confirm that this was a government document, a suggested intervention notes that “we would like to raise the issue of communications. As you all know by now, the ACTA Discussion Paper has been leaked . . . “

• EFF Explains Why You Should Be Allowed To Sell Promo CDs

  Last summer, a district court ruled that selling promo CDs is perfectly legal. This was an important ruling, because it reinforced the right of first sale — which has been a part of copyright law for ages — and it made it clear that companies couldn’t wipe out the limits of copyright law simply by declaring them void. The case involved a guy, Troy Augusto, who was selling CDs on eBay. Many of the CDs were “promo” CDs that had been sent to reviewers and radio stations — stamped with the words to the effect of “Promo: Not for Resale.” I’ve got a few such CDs in my own collection.

• More Evidence that File Downloaders Buy *More*

  So that seems to say that 25 per cent of the Dutch population share stuff, but that they represent 45 per cent of the sales. In other words, they are buying quite a lot more than people who don’t.

• Obama Hires Lobbyists of Various Stripes

  As PRWatch has noted, lobbyists of various backgrounds are finding jobs in the new Barack Obama Administration. Some recently hired include Eric Holder, one of whose clients was Global Crossing, Tom Vilsack who represented the National Education Association, William Lynn who was a top exec for military contractor Raytheon, William Corr who lobbied for The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Mark Patterson, recently a lobbyist for Goldman Sachs…

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

John William Templeton looks at Free Open Source Software and African American culture and innovation 08 (2004)

Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

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