● 04.21.09

● Links 21/04/2009: Android Sub-notebooks Appear, MAFIAA Smears the FSF

Posted in News Roundup at 6:39 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

• The aggregate amount of computing power for mainframes that IBM shipped in the quarter actually rose by 18 per cent, Loughridge said, with MIPS shipments of so-called specialty engines that run Linux, WebSphere, or DB2 accelerators up 20 per cent and Linux-related MIPS up more than 50 per cent.

• Gear6 today released Web Cache in an effort to commercialize the Internet’s predominant (de facto, for Linux) distributed caching protocol, memcached. Every Top 20 web site not owned by Microsoft uses memcached (Facebook has almost 1,000 servers dedicated to its memcached tier) and 50-60 percent of all Alexa-ranked Top 10,000 sites use it to some degree, according to Joaquin Ruiz, EVP of products and corporate development at Gear6. With Web Cache, Gear6 is offering a turnkey solution that brings high availability to memcached, as well as significant capital and operating expenditure savings.

• Would you be kind enough to provide us at FLISoL Bogotá with say, 15 or 20 of those installation CDs/DVDs? We won’t be using them to install Windows on the computers, don’t have to worry about it. I will personally hand them out to the kids so that they use them to play around (as frisbies or just to scratch on their surface) while we are on our stuff. I know that yours is a toy OS and so we should install them on the kids computers, but I refuse to.

• Blackmagic’s Linux support in Media Express 2.0 allows for fully cross-platform development on Macs, Windows or Linux machines. Version 2.0 adds new double-speed capture from Sony HDCAM SR decks and ships in June 2009.

• But here’s the question: Would you rather buy a netbook with a deliberately crippled OS that still costs more than Linux, and pay for an upgrade, or just buy a cheap laptop that runs a fully functional Linux distribution like Ubuntu, Mandriva, Xandros, or Linpus Linux Lite? OK, if you’re reading this there’s a good chance you’re a geek and you’re not scared by Linux. So let me rephrase the question and ask which netbook operating system option would you recommend to your friends and family members?

• RPath on Monday released version 5 of its rBuilder product for building virtual appliances to run under Linux and ease the number of steps needed to create a workload for Amazon’s EC2 and other cloud computing environments.

• I suppose , in answer to the question “When will Linux be ready for the user desktop?”

• It was ready almost two years ago in this house. Children use it daily, as well as computer phobic wives and memory challenged mad computer geniuses. (The ‘genius’ part is up for speculation.)

• “It’s amazingly easy to start,” he says. “You just need to get onto the internet. A great example is clarkconnect.com, a site from a Linux distributor that is designed to help people who don’t know what they’re doing set up open source.”

• It is also a blessing in disguise for Linux. It could have no better than Google itself starting to promote it. Does it mean more Open Source apps? Free apps? Better GUI on Linux games? What else?

Distributions

Red Hat

• Global Knowledge, the worldwide leader in IT and Business training, today announced that it is joining training partner Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) in celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) program. Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source solutions.

Ubuntu

• Under the hood, the latest version of Ubuntu offers a kernel upgrade, the latest version of GNOME, support for the Ext4 filesystem, and a more stable and robust Linux distro than its less-than-thrilling 8.10 predecessor.

• He argued that the major sources in software today are either free software or powered by free software, Google Yahoo etc.

• During an open Q&A, Shuttleworth said that customers should expect a major netbook OEM announcement within the next couple of weeks or months. Also, when answering a question about the Canonical-Dell relationship, Shuttleworth said the engagement continues to expand.

• Canonical will release Ubuntu 9.04 (nicknamed “Jaunty Jackalope”) on April 23. The new release of the fast-growing open-source Linux distro boasts faster boot and resume operations, a new desktop notification service, smoother handoffs between WiFi and 3G service, and Ubuntu’s first ARM port, says Canonical.

• He may sound innocent, but Leigh Dyer has attempted to get Linux working on an iPod, which means help desk workers everywhere view him as “difficult”. He also knows his stuff. Leigh is a software developer and systems administrator with more than 10 years Linux and Windows experience. He’s been using Ubuntu since before its official announcement in 2004, although he’s not afraid to admit he’s also quite a fan of Mac OS X.

• DRM Free

• The company that make this device, Neuros Technology, have clearly positioned themselves as anti-DRM – they created an ‘Unlocked Media’ trademark and logo to market their devices as being open and DRM free. They are also supporters of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Free Software Foundation’s ongoing ‘Defective By Design‘ campaign that aims to ‘identify defective DRM enabled products and target them for elimination’.

• 1. You will find it quite easily that Ubuntu stands as the best Linux distro available that takes the hardware recognition quite easily and effectively. I have used Ubuntu on many systems including laptops and desktops with different configurations and there is no hardware problem that I faced.

• 2. Synaptic makes it easier and simple for you to handle package management and software installation and you won’t feel dismembered from your earlier love operating system Windows.

• Besides the main desktop release, Canonical is also releasing the Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix. This is a version that’s designed to work well on the limited resources of a netbook like the Dell Mini 9. That said, you can, of course, run ordinary Ubuntu on a netbook.

• Need a cloud in a box? Want a cloud in a box? Well, then, start requisitioning a couple of machines now so you’re ready on Thursday to load up Ubuntu 9.04, install Eucalyptus, and follow the prompt to register your cloud with RightScale! And best of all, it’s all free! Free open source software and access to a free RightScale service account.

• One of the great promises of the Ubuntu spring release is the shortening of boot times. Alongside a modest range of humble changes, the boot performance is supposed to be one of the major improvements that Jaunty Jackalope brings over Intrepid.

• I upgraded at 6:30. I turned off at midnight (another wild evening), having forgotten I’d done it. Fantastic.

• There is an argument – for want of a better word – among creationists, that while microevolution is possible (small features may change between generations of living beings), macroevolution (ie, a dog to a horse) is impossible. The biologist’s world-weary reply is, well, a dog never becomes a horse. Things do change gradually – and if they diverge enough, then one day you’ll have a dog and a horse from a common ancestor. In short, there is no ‘macroevolution’.

Devices/Embedded

• The applications in the sensor panel are running on Linux and data is communicated back and forth to the main PC, which runs Windows.

• But that’s not all that’s brewing at Maemo.org. So if you get a chance, drop by Maemo.org and check out the project. They’re a group worth your time and consideration.

• The last time we saw the Pre’s Classic Palm OS emulator in action, we had a few lingering questions in our mind, chief among them being how well can it game? From the looks of this latest video, released by Motion Apps to answer that very question, pretty well so far. In addition to confirming sound support for the latest build, we also get a brief glimpse of the software handling 3D driver GTS World Racer.

• Shock jock Howard Stern may have picked a BlackBerry over the Palm Pre, but the unreleased device has captured the heart of actress Angelina Jolie.

Phones

• The Intrinsyc Center of Excellence will make it easier for device makers all over Asia to take advantage of Intrinsyc’s years of experience in Linux and handset development.

• Schmidt said this year’s Android-related announcements will include both phones and netbooks, and will be “quite significant.” Schmidt said device manufacturers have started putting Android into netbooks without any prodding from Google (NSDQ: GOOG). IDG said Taiwan’s Asustek Computer is rumored to be working on an netbook that uses Android, while other Taiwanese companies are also reportedly developing products.

• SkyTone isn’t the only Android Netbook game in town either, they are just first to announce. Plenty of others are planned, namely Pegatron’s Freescale based netbook. There is also the i-Buddie prototyple shown below (although this is based on Intel Atom).

Sub-notebooks

• Here is a long series of articles about things that i think which could be improved concerning Mandriva PR. If possible, I will take a subject or some articles and show how Mandriva could have react or communicate about this. Today i will take about the netbook market and Mandriva situation.

• Being the nice guy, I suggest I would install it for her, right in front of her face. She agreed and I whipped out the USB drive containing Eeebuntu (that I carry with me all the time) and proceeded to install it over her Windows installation. After it was finished, I sat with her for a bit to make sure she could use it. She didn’t ask a single question. Instead she was all smiles at how cool the new interface was on her netbook. Did she know it was Linux? No. Did she need to know it was Linux? No.

Free Software/Open Source

• Computer skills must mean more than word processing, says Bill Thompson.

• The research, conducted by Georgia Tech, is based on the prevalence and acceptance of open source software in 75 different countries around the world. Each country was awarded points for “its policies, practices, and other data in the fields of Government, Industry, and Community.” The data also takes into account that, though some countries have may not have a particularly high rate of FOSS use, the fact that it holds several IT patents or has a large number of Internet users indicates a open source software has a high potential of gaining traction in the future.

• The economic situation is eating into your profits, and the Microsoft Office licenses look more expensive than before. Or maybe you are familiar with the way Microsoft Office has looked for over a decade: it had a file menu, edit menu, and format menu, and you balk at the thought of retraining your staff for Microsoft Office 2007’s bizarre ribbon. In either case, you don’t have to buy Microsoft Office thanks to OpenOffice.org: the best kept secret in office suites.

• Martin Kool, a developer from Web applications specialist Q42, has released his open source multi-player game engine. Sarien.net is a “portal for reliving the classic Sierra On-Line adventure games” and is completely browser based. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome are all supported.

Business

• By around August 2008, Untangle exited the hardware appliance business to build stronger OEM relationships. Apparently, it was a smart move. A case in point: Untangle’s March 2009 software subscription sales were up 5 times over March 2008, according to Andrew Fife, a senior product marketing manager at Untangle.

Sun/Oracle

Leftovers

• GOOGLE HAS AVOIDED paying over £100 million in UK tax through employing an elaborate revenue billing structure, an accountant reckons.

Censorship/Web Abuse

• Foxy, a peer-to-peer file-sharing program popular among Taiwanese Internet users, is illegal because it may help users illegally download files, the Banqiao District Court ruled.

• Time Warner Cable may have backed off its plans to meter broadband for now, but AT&T still has tiered broadband trials going on in Reno, Nev., and in Beaumont, Texas. And judging from one consumer’s experience with the trial, AT&T doesn’t inform users of the caps until after they’ve ordered service.

Copyrights

• In their proposed response, the RIAA lawyers personally attacked The Free Software Foundation, Ray Beckerman (NewYorkCountryLawyer), and NYCL’s blog, ‘Recording Industry vs. The People’. The 9-page response (PDF) — 4 pages longer than the document to which it was responding — termed the FSF an organization ‘dedicated to eliminating restrictions on copying, redistribution, and modifying computer programs’, and accused the FSF of having an ‘open and virulent bias against copyrights’ and ‘blatant bias’ against the record companies.

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