● 09.21.09

● Links 21/09/2009: OLPC with GNU/Linux in Nigeria, More Unlocked Linux Phones

Posted in News Roundup at 4:27 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

• The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world’s premier Linux certification organization (http://www.lpi.org), announced a new affiliate for their program in South Korea: OpenPlum, Ltd. OpenPlum (www.openplum.co.kr) is a leading Open Source solution provider in Korea and its President and CEO, Kwangjei Cho, is also director for the Linux Foundation Korea (http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/staff).

• F-Secure says the site has been going up and down since the event, and it’s not responding when I check it (from a Linux test machine, probably not a good idea to visit underground hacking sites using your Windows desktop). Let’s hope the site stays down.

Audiocasts

• This week on the show: Beer from hell, deep packet inspection, MOTOROLA’S NEW ANDROID UI, Microsoft vs. Zim Jemlin and the Linux Foundation and much more.

Desktop

• The best things in life are free

• To be happy, there’s no need for you to spend your money every time. And not all expensive things are better than those that are cheap. Before, I thought that the only way to get high-quality software is to spend more. But since I discovered Linux, and then Firefox, OpenOffice, Apache, and so on and so forth… I realized that I was wrong.

• The “desktop” has been getting all the attention for the past score of years or so, and it was a big improvement from the “command line”, which is what we had to deal with prior to that. The desktop metaphor opened up all kinds of possibilities for people who had never used computers before, and unleashed a wave of new applications development the likes of which had never been previously seen.

• On this happy note, it’s time to wrap this article. Don’t take me too seriously, after all, this rant was meant to be fun. Still, as the popular saying goes, behind every joke is a grain of joke, I think my article does have merits.

• Linux is a tool, a lovely, friendly tool. To use it properly, you have to possess a certain skill set. Otherwise, the experience won’t be pleasant. My hope is that future Linux converts will take to their hearts the advice given here and carefully consider the implications of making such a drastic move.

• Moving to Linux is just a beginning. Staying around is the journey. And being satisfied with the choice made is the end. Hopefully, we can all have a happy ending.

Server

• Since mainframe software is charged based on the usage of the core mainframe processor, IBM has developed “specialty” processors, which provide a way for businesses to lower the software by offloading applications to a second, lower-cost processor. The IFL specialty processor runs Linux applications, while zIIP focuses on databases and zAAP on Java.

• Available now, the Itona TC1330 includes VMware View 3.1 and Linux virtual desktops with its Sylph-OS operating system.

• Most of the following relates to using XP Pro as host. As soon as you feel comfortable using Ubuntu or some other Linux as host do it since you will see a performance increase in the VM.

• By comparison, the 1,024-core Altix 4700 Linux super from Silicon Graphics could handle an order of magnitude more, at 4.1 TB/sec of bandwidth. This machine uses 1.6GHz, dual-core Itanium 2 processors. A 64-core Power 595 machine from IBM (using the dual-core Power6 processors running at 5GHz) can deliver 787 GB/sec, or a little less than twice the vSMP setup, while a Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu M9000 server with 128 cores (using the quad-core Sparc64-VII processors) hits 222 GB/sec. An Integrity Superdome machine from Hewlett-Packard, equipped with dual-core Itanium 2 chips and a total of 128 cores, delivers 167 GB/sec of bandwidth on the Stream test.

Applications

• We all know that computers tend to gather all kind of stale files that pile up in different temporary or cache folders, ultimately slowing down the system and occupying valuable disk space. Any self-respecting geek takes on the job of manually cleaning those files every once in a while, but no matter how through you are, you certainly won’t be able to purge them all.

• Here is the listing ( not ranking ) of some of these applications, which can be used on Window managers.

Web Browsers

• Yesterday afternoon, the Google Chrome team released another update with performance gains for platforms, but Mac and Linux users will see the greatest boosts and new, useful functions.

• Google Chrome and other WebKit-based browsers aren’t the only ones getting improved 3D graphics handling capabilities. As of September 18th, Firefox trunk builds include support for WebGL.

• This type of software application is responsible for retrieving and presenting information held on the World Wide Web, a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet. Web browsers allow users to view web pages which often contain a mixture of text, images, videos, and other multimedia.

• There are many different web browsers available for Linux, the most popular of which is Firefox. However, the market dominance of Firefox does not mean that this is necessarily the best web browser for every situation.

Games

• NAEV 0.4.0 is out, a game of the space trading and combat simulator genre, inspired by the non-free Escape Velocity. Win32/lin32/lin64/mac binaries are available here.

• LGP announced the release of Shadowgrounds Survivor, a third-person/top-down alien-invasion action game:

• Quake Live is great fun. It’s a tremendous invention, game quality and graphics notwithstanding. What more, it looks well, it plays well. You get reasonable graphics, lots of fast-paced killing action, for free, inside your browser, on any operating system. It’s a dream come true!

Graphics

• Finally confirmed: single window mode is coming for 2.8! But thats not the whole story yet The plan for 2.8 also includes lots of other cool new usability and interaction features!

• This is a short show about how to extract the colours out of an image and put them into a palette. The next version of GIMP will allow the export of the palettes in a lot of designer and programmer friendly ways.

• In fact, if you need a lightweight tool that can help you to manage and tweak your photos with a minimum of effort, Fotoxx can do the job just fine. Fotoxx’s interface looks deceptively spartan: the main window sports a single menu and a toolbar that contains buttons for frequently used functions. But behind the simple interface hide quite a few powerful features like support for the RAW format (this feature requires the UFRaw package installed on your system), an easy-to-use panorama stitching function, and the ability to create HDR photos.

Distributions

• For the many years I’ve been writing about Linux, it has always amazed me that no distro ever wins, in the sense that it vanquishes many opponents in the marketplace. Instead success breeds other successes through forks, variants and derivations by other labels.

• I do not really need Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, and Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Instead, I could use one variant that let me choose my desktop environment and applications during install time. The installer could use either a network repository, or on disc repository depending on the ISO file.

• Barry Kauler is back at the helm of the Puppy Linux project, and he just released version 4.3 of the popular lightweight Linux distribution. Puppy Linux 4.3 is a massive upgrade from the 4.2 series, with almost all the components updated or replaced. Also, the whole system through which this Linux distribution is being built has been replaced with a completely new one, called Woof. The switch imposed the creation of a new package management system, called Puppy Package Manager, which supports the use of packages from any distribution within Puppy.

• Try out SAM for yourself and tell me how wrong I am if you like. You might find that it’s prefect for you.

• As far as Zenwalk is concerned, version 6.2 cements its place as one of the most highly-respected and well-liked distributions. As for Salix OS, well, we shall see.

Mandriva Family

• Mandriva Linux 2010 RC1 version is now available on public mirrors. This RC1 version is available through

• * Free version, 32 and 64 bits DVDs * Dual arch CD (both 32 and 64 bits) * One versions, KDE or GNOME * Virtualbox image

• Djl is an open-source (GPL licensed) game manager written in Python 2.5 for the GNU/Linux Operating Systems. It is inspired by Valve’s Steam software for Windows. djl currently hosts over 118 games you can download and play on your Linux system with such hits as Alien Area, Planeshift, Scorched 3d, UFO and many many more. Please note most games require gl drivers so a good gaming video card is needed.

Red Hat Family

• Frields, of Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat Inc., is a real player in the open-source world, and he lives and works in Fredericksburg. He’s Red Hat’s Fedora Project Leader. Fedora is a community-supported free and open-source Linux-based operating system.

• The event essentially asks the question: “Why pay for proprietary software that often isn’t as good as free software?”

• Some stocks appear likely to remain stable in coming weeks, presenting an opportunity for traders willing to sell options in those names.

Debian Family

• Debian smells like freedom because it reflects my own growth into a mature user who can understand and evalute choices.

• KDE 4.3 is Great but I would suggest all newbies to try the last, KDE 3.5.10 release of Mepis 8 (8.0.10) before it moves into KDE 4 world (cos i don’t know what will happen then).

• At the Atlanta Linux Fest, Mark Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 10.04, the next major release of Ubuntu after version 9.10 Karmic Koala, will be code-named Lucid Lynx. Ubuntu 10.04 will also be a Long Term Support (LTS) version of the Debian-derived Linux distribution.

• The Ubuntu art team has been hard at work preparing a new look for Karmic Koala, which is set to be released on October 29th. While no final theme has been chosen, here screenshots of some of the art I like.

• Washington – Thinking of trying Linux? If you are, you’ll quickly discover that there are dozens of different distributions – or “distros” – of the operating system floating around on the internet. Which should you choose? These days, the consensus favourite for easiest to set up is Ubuntu. Based on the stable Debian distro, Ubuntu comes with most drivers and productivity applications that you’ll need to start working right away.

Devices/Embedded

• Meshcom Technologies, Inc. today announced its new brand name – EmbedOne – for its new embedded Linux line of business. At the same time, new publicly available suite of software and services for the embedded Linux community was announced.

• Wind River, which was taken over by Intel in early June, has released version 5.7 of the Tilcon Graphics Suite, software for developing graphical user interfaces for embedded applications. WindRiver acquired Tilcon Software in February 2009.

• Wind River introduced Wind River Linux 3.0 in March this year, including compliance with the CGL 4.0 for PowerPC and x86 architecture-based processors from Freescale and Intel.

Phones

• The Nokia N900 is not shipping yet, but Amazon (Via Pocktables) already dropped the pre-order price of the unlocked Nokia N900 (U.S. Version) to $588.99 (down from $649).

• Now I have cyanogen’s ROM running on my phone. It is a very nicely customized rom with good performance. The improvements in the ROM includes Multitouch support, better camera options, Faster applications, 5 desktops etc. Anway I am addicted to Android. Trying out more and more hacks these days.

• Pre wins a lot of points for style. The black, shiny and uniform exterior looks great and the device is slight enough to fit easily in your pocket and in the palm of your hand. Its curved edges and simple design – there’s only one visible button when the keyboard is closed – make it approachable. It’s a phone you’ll want to hold.

Sub-notebooks

• I used the partition editor (gparted) to reduce the Windows partition from 300 GB to 32GB, and left the Recovery partition intact (just in case). I then set about installing (or trying to install) various Linux distributions. This was what I was really interested in, seeing how Linux dealt with the CPU and graphic controller, and specifically how the whole thing compared to the ASUS N10J with its Intel Atom CPU and nVidia graphic controller.

• For an OS that is still in alpha testing, Jolicloud is impressive. Surely there are plenty of bugs still need to be sorted out, but for the simple, yet user-friendly and easy to use interface, it really worth the praise.

• Anyhow, I think that this boils down to people not doing their homework. For sellers, or those who bundle netbooks with their services (like telcos), they should research on their offerings before they do the marketing so that they will not make messages that could lead their customers to confusion. It matters what they say in their marketing copy before anything else. Sometimes catchphrases and slogans are culprits in giving customers the wrong impression. I hope that those who are selling netbooks will learn how to NOT give false expectations. Especially because Linux on netbooks is not what users know about all the time. If they don’t want high return rates, then they should do their homework first. If they know that they might have to add trained customer service representatives who will be called for help, then they should make a way. Just because it’s a netbook with Linux shouldn’t make their customers that it is an inferior product.

• Earlier this month, I found myself embarking on a last-minute journey to a One Laptop per Child workshop in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. They are preparing for a 6000 XO laptop deployment in that region of the country. I attended to support the 5-day event, which was coordinated by Michael Tempel and Claudia Urrea.

• A buddy of mine purchased an OLPC when they were first released. He wasn’t impressed with it, but I can’t say the same… Sugar on a Stick runs great on my old Eee PC 900, and is a lot more intuitive than you’d think, even for a grup!

Free Software/Open Source

• But so what? The war is over. Open Source won. The whole IT industry now depends on a vast amount of Open Source code and many key Open Source projects.

• • Office suite: Review site Cnet.com calls the free suite Open Office “a credible rival to MS Office.” You can save and read files in the common Microsoft formats, such as .doc. The interface is similar to older versions of MS Office. Besides writing and spreadsheet programs, it offers counterparts to Microsoft PowerPoint and the Access database program. Download it at openoffice.org.

• Open Source Software (OSS) has been a part of the IT market for over two decades. Recently, the commoditization of IT markets, changing attitudes to the production and distribution of intellectual property, and the global economic recession have put the OSS firmly in focus. Nevertheless, the OSS remains an elusive phenomenon.

• Sourcesense, the European provider of open source solutions and The Go To Group, Inc. (Go2Group), a leader in the field of Software Production Line Automation (SPLA), today announced a broad technological partnership to extend middleware alternatives into the software development environment. With the combination of Sourcesense’s open source expertise and Go2Group’s best-practice services, the partnership aims to bring the power and value of open source solutions to customers looking for an option to today’s traditional enterprise solutions.

• And I added a quote from a very respected source, Freeform Dynamics director Dale Vile: “The fanatics and evangelists that push Linux in your face as the answer to everything actually put normal IT professionals off considering it”.

• Veda Informatics have launched open-source-developers.com, to offer website development services using open source technologies. It is to be focused on the needs of individuals and small businesses.

• The American database manufacturer Ingres was therefore well aware when it chose a golf tournament with the aim of bringing decision-makers and senior management from IT and business together in a relaxed atmosphere near the Main metropolis of Frankfurt. The managing director of Ingres Germany, Bertram Mandel, said in the business news of finanzinform.de: “Open source left the stage of experimental student life a long time ago. Open source software has arrived in the company”

• Ann All spoke with Mark Madsen, founder and president of Third Nature, a research and consulting company specializing in business intelligence and information delivery and the technology infrastructure required to support them. He authored a recent study of open source adoption in the business intelligence and data warehousing markets.

• There’s still time to insert open source into an SAP and Oracle projects. Go forth and prosper! Or at least use the open source product for better overall prices from SAP and Oracle.

• Open source software like Magento, Joomla, ZenCart, Drupal, Elgg, phpBB, Typo3, WordPress, osCommerce, Mambo, X-cart, OpenPHPNuke and Sugar CRM are established to develop a complete E-commerce website development.

• Jigsaw, a Data as a Service, or “DaaS,” systems provider, has launched a new developer program for companies, such as open source CRM software provider, SugarCRM, to integrate Jigsaw products to benefit both companies and their customers.

• Open Source Enterprise CMS vendor Nuxeo (news, site) is trying to make it easier for anyone interested in using its technology stack to bring those dreams to reality — from top to bottom.

• Rackspace’s support ideology – termed Fanatical Support – is something they are very proud of and has made Rackspace one of the world’s leaders in hosting. I assume this Drupal-based support site is very important to their business.

• Solr is a branch of the Apache Lucene project, which has also spawned other powerful spin-offs such as the Hadoop distributed computing system. Lucene itself is a Java library used as a core component for multiple search systems. Solr was originally developed by Yonik Seeley while at CNET Networks, where it is used on the CNET Reviews site to help visitors drill down through search results by category. Seeley has since joined Lucid Imagination, a firm formed to provide commercial distributions, training, and support for Lucene and Solr.

• A content management system provides the foundation for an easy to maintain a website. A key factor in deciding which CMS to use should be the customization factor. When I say customization factor, I mean the how difficult it is to develop custom functionality particular to your project. Some CMS systems make this easy while others present more of a challenge.

• Veda Informatics, a fast-growing internet visibility optimization company, has launched http://www.open-source-developers.com , offering website development services focused on the needs of individuals and small businesses. Start-ups and small businesses are typically tight on funds, but cannot forgo having a web presence.

• The fourth edition of a guide to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to adopt Open Source software has been published. This guide (developed in the context of the FLOSSMETRICS and OpenTTT projects) present a set of guidelines and suggestions for the adoption of open source software within SMEs, using a ladder model that will guide companies from the initial selection and adoption of FLOSS within the IT infrastructure up to the creation of suitable business models based on open source software.

• There are companies such as Sun/Oracle, RedHat and Canonical that provide commercial support for specific bundles of software. RedHat offers commercial support for what they call RedHat Enterprise Linux which is a bundle of software they have put together that forms a complete operating system. Canonical does the same with their own distribution of Linux, and has a support center in Montreal.

Sun

• Appearances to the contrary, OpenOffice.org and its various offshoots aren’t the only choices available to you in terms of full-scale, cross-platform open source office suites. Although alternatives in this space are few, the KDE Project’s KOffice is now coming on quite strong, while GNOME Office and Siag Office keep attracting fans, too.

• Building on its commitment to empower developers and students across the globe, Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) is sponsoring more than 300 community style events in more than 30 countries for Software Freedom Day (SFD) on September 19, 2009. With an emphasis on emerging markets such as India, China, Indonesia and Russia, Sun’s Software Freedom Day events are designed to help developers on all levels to better understand and generate increased involvement in open source technologies.

SFD

• So really Software Freedom Day is not so much about software but about our rights and how they apply to technology. At least that’s my two cent take on these matters. Go on, throw in your own two cents. I dare you!

• Today I attended the Saigon Software Freedom Day 2009 organized by the Saigon Linux User Group at the University of Education in District 5. This is actually my first ever SFD that I attended. It was nice to meet Prof. Nguyen Thai Son again, a long time advocate of open source and Linux in Saigon. I made many valuable contacts from this event today including the Ubuntu-VN team.

• Now besides the ‘freedom’ it represents, how does using a FOSS product benefit a common user? For starters, everything is zero cost. Every possible application that you can think of comes bundled with GNU/Linux OS and can be installed by clicking on the ‘add or remove’ function. So, no chasing different vendors to buy different applications. And given that FOSS is user-centric and mostly a community project, applications here are often the most superior and interoperable ones on offer.

• The software Freedom Day 2009 was marked in Accra on Saturday with a call on businesses to deploy open source software products in their operations to become competitive.

Events

• Open World Forum, the leading global forum for free, libre and open source software Relevant Products/Services (FLOSS) worldwide, today announces the shortlist of 20 innovative open source start-ups who will be invited to present their companies to an expert Jury at the Open Innovation Summit, part of the Open World Forum on October 2nd, 2009. The international Jury will then present an award to the company perceived to be the most innovative and promising.

• Open World Forum, the world biggest global forum for free, libre and open source software Relevant Products/Services (FLOSS) today extends an invitation to journalists and analysts covering open source news to register for the second Open World Forum event in Paris on 1 and 2 October 2009.

• I also got to sit in on a session presented by the eApps technical team on, “How To Bring Open Source Network Management Tools into Mission Critical Roles in Your Organization” I was jazzed to hear that they were using Zenoss Core to monitor over 5000 Virtuozzo containers.

Funding

• UK start-up company Romonet has developed an open source Java-based simulator tool which will be deployed internally by Fujitsu

Programming

• Extreme programming, a software engineering methodology that advocates frequent releases in short development cycles.

Standards/Consortia

• It’s important to note that HTML 5 isn’t one big difficult leap like moving from Windows XP to Vista, or from IPv4 to IPv6. According to Google’s Mark Pilgrim, the HTML 5 specification is simply a collection of detailed feature implementations that browsers can support. In fact, some browsers already support features like geolocation, local storage, offline apps, canvas, and the new audio and video tags. Apple’s Safari 4 and mobile Safari on the iPhone already do.

• OpenOffice.org 3.2 introduces a new set of document icons (a.k.a. mime type icons). The new set gives ODF documents a clean and unique visual identity, and removes any product or vendor specific brand.

Leftovers

• For alpha release software, this is a very promising show. I like almost everything about this — the size of the installation, the desktop look, the clean way the system applications and desktop widgets handle themselves. If I can track down why the network was inaccessible I definitely plan on reinstalling it and giving it another whirl.

AstroTurf

• The global political process to counter runaway climate change has become, for practical purposes, irrelevant. None of the currently proposed emissions reductions being seriously considered in policy making are appropriate to meet the severity of the situation. This overwhelming failure on the part of world governments is pushing the rapid unification of environmentalists, activists, scientists, and others to push for direct, immediate change.

• [...]

• Many other websites, such as Coal Swarm, post constant updates on direct actions and resources for radical change. Twitter and similar online social networks are being utilized to outpace the communications and organization capabilities of the state and police. Independent media coverage of these events will be almost instantly shared throughout the internet, inciting resistance and solidarity across the world.

• FreedomWorks receives funding from the tobacco conglomerate Philip Morris, as well as from Richard Scaife, another business tycoon, who for years helped fund dirt-digging investigations into Bill Clinton. Local branches of Americans for Prosperity have also received tobacco money; the group has opposed smoke-free workplace laws and cigarette taxes. … ExxonMobil was a sponsor of Citizens for Sound Economy, and both FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have campaigned vigorously against Obama’s plans to reduce CO2 emissions through a cap and trade scheme, working closely with the American Petroleum Institute.

• Matt Kibbe, who heads FreedomWorks, a national conservative group that led the push behind last Saturday’s rally, goes further. He says that the movement has stolen from Obama the techniques he used to such effect last year and is now redeploying them as a stick with which to beat the president.

• When Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, FreedomWorks studied how he did it and then copied him. They set up a ning site, a Facebook-like platform that allows members to talk to each other without having to go through the parent body. The result was explosive.

• FreedomWorks now has more than 800,000 members who largely organise and fund themselves; all the group itself does is arrange permits for demonstrations and advise on logistics.

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