● 11.10.09

● Links 10/11/2009: GNOME 3.0 Out in September 2010

Posted in News Roundup at 7:58 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

Desktop

• People do not necessarily behave honestly because they want to, but because their environment is keeping them honest. In order to keep the hardware vendors honest, it is necessary to implement anti-sandwich measures.

• Otherwise, the temptation will remain, to quickly boost quarterly revenues by triggering secret deals with the OS vendor which will paper-weight your investments.

• Murphy’s law is adamant in that respect: If the hardware vendor can sandwich you, he eventually will.

• For the purpose of keeping hardware vendors honest, it would be a good thing if the linux community maintained an anti-sandwich list of all hardware devices that are red-flagged as sandwiching tools, so that Windows users can protect themselves.

• About 18 months ago, I had another disastrous crash on my PC that caused me to lose a host of photos, music and documents. Luckily I had a backup of most of my documents on an external disk. So I wasn’t too concerned by this. I had experienced many crashes on Windows before and usually I was able to recover most of my documents and restore the system back to normal without too much effort.

• This time was different however and to my horror, I discovered that Windows had somehow corrupted my external disk as well. I had lost everything and was pretty angry about it.

• I tried a number of data recovery programs but most of the files wore gone. Forever. What a disaster! At that point I decided that I would look for another alternative to windows and I thought I would give Linux another try.

• [...]

• I was astounded!

• Within 10 minutes my computer was running Ubuntu Linux without even having to install it! This was a “Live-CD” and it can be used without installing to hard disk – it can be run from a cd without affecting your computer at all.

• Installing Ubuntu 9.10 from the CD took me about 40 minutes on a desktop PC. Unlike the previous release (Jaunty Jackalope), Karmic didn’t keep me waiting interminably for an online update. A “skip” button enables you to bypass some processes that access the Internet to speed up installation.

• Boot time was a slight improvement over my previous Jaunty setup, taking about 40 seconds to get to the log-on screen. On the initial boot, the audio volume was set all the way down to zero, making me think for a moment that I had lost sound. Pushing the volume slider up confirmed this was not so.

Server

• New collaboration offerings build on last year’s acquisitions of Jabber and PostPath.

• For the past five years, Regent Insurance has consulted SYNAQ, the Johannesburg-based Linux and open source managed services and software services company, to ensure its core business systems’ databases are accessible at all times.

• LinMin, maker of award-winning IT automation software LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning™, today unveiled Release 5.5, featuring Provisioning Rollback, the ingenious synergy of bare metal provisioning and bare metal imaging technologies for Linux and Windows.

Kernel Space

• A month ago we shared that the Gallium3D driver for the ATI R300/400/500 graphics cards (up through the Radeon X1000 series) was mostly done. Now today, the key author of the R300 Gallium3D driver, Corbin Simpson, has updated the status wiki to reflect the latest changes. The key change? The DRI state tracker report is no longer “mostly” implemented, but now it’s “done” according to Corbin.

• It’s possible we could possibly see Reiser4 in the mainline Linux kernel in H2’2010. Assuming this all works out and Shishkin and the other developers go for inclusion shortly thereafter, it would put Reiser4 on the block around the Linux 2.6.36 time-frame.

Applications

• Most people who use Linux for desktop use are well aware of the one of the largest issues facing the platform: Lack of commercial software. Now in most cases this is not an issue, no MS Office – use OpenOffice, no Internet Explorer – use FireFox. However one thing which there is currently no replacement for is gaming. Try as they might there are just not enough Open-Source game developers (or even closed-sourced ones) that bring the level of gaming quality, as of yet, to Linux that Windows enjoys.

• More digital Swiss Army knife software, including Linux utilities and tools that are so useful you won’t know how you ever did without them

• Everybody loves docks!! Whether you’re a developer, an OS X person, a Windows person or a Linuxer ;), you are just bound to fall in love with them too. Not only do they look great, but also provide a fancy medium for quick and convenient access to favorites. I’ve been a great fan of docks and I’ve been following them for a long time! The following is what I’d call the Cream of the ‘dock’ crop!

• The Deskbar applet is a small search box that you can attach to your panel which allows you to perform different tasks all by using your keyboard.

• Gcompris’s Reading section isn’t nearly as large as the mathematics section is. Here we find a game where the computer says a letter and the child has to click on the spoken letter. We also find an activity where the child has to fill in the missing letter to spell a word that matches a picture. Finally, we have an activity where the child drags pictures onto the word that describes them.

Desktop Environments

• The GNOME release team has decided (and then announced) that GNOME 3.0 will come in September. GNOME 2.30 will still happen in March and will feature the GNOME 3.0 packages that are ready in time, while September will be the first full-blown release of this overhauled desktop environment. GNOME 2.30 is still being considered a stable desktop release.

KDE

• Bangarang, a KDE media player, is now in beta testing for the 1.0 – “The Basics” – release.

• There are many applications out there that provide project-based web development tools and very feature-rich interfaces, but sometimes all you really need is a good text editor. For those times, there are few editors that can stand up to the KDE powerhouse called Kate.

• The last few weeks/months I kept polishing all the changes I did for KGet during GSOC and also introduced new stuff. It is fantastic to see how KGet improved the last few months with all the work we (the KGet team) put into it.

• So after some frustrations with GNOME and various applications flat out breaking, I decided I might as well give KDE4 another chance to redeem itself.

Distributions

• Announced yesterday (November 9th) by Stefano Fratepietro, DEFT Linux 5 is now based on the Linux kernel 2.6.31 of the Xubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system, and DEFT Extra 2.0 (Computer Forensic GUI). Starting with this version, DEFT uses the LXDE desktop environment and therefore it should no longer be considered as a Xubuntu customization. DEFT Linux 5 has been also split in two releases, one for disk forensics activities (see the download link at the end of the article) and one for cell/network forensics tasks, which will be published next week.

Red Hat Family

• The list of name suggestions for Fedora 13 is available on the Fedora Wiki. So far for Fedora 13 we know that it will likely carry X Server 1.8 support, NFSv4 support, greater DisplayPort monitor recognition with the open-source drivers, and other features.

• Open source solutions firm Red Hat, Inc. announced the general availability of the Red Hat enterprise virtualization for servers, designed to enable pervasive adoption of virtualization, with end-to-end solution combining a standalone hypervisor and virtualization management.

• “Much like the way Red Hat packaged the open source Linux OS for enterprise use, Gear6 has augmented Memcached with mission critical features and provides an advanced software distribution that works with the customer’s hardware to deliver a fast, highly available and more efficient Memcached,” said Joaquin Ruiz, Executive Vice President of Products for Gear6.

• Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services lifted its credit ratings on Red Hat Inc. (RHT) to just one notch under investment grade, citing the open-software developer’s strong base of recurring revenue and consistent earnings growth.

Debian Family

• I think Xfce does a good job of giving you what you need, and staying out of your way so you can work. Although Xubuntu is not targeted specifically at netbooks, with a few simple changes it becomes a very good fit.

• So, you’ve heeded the security warnings, run Ubuntu’s update manager and you’re happy that your system is now bang up to date with the latest whizz-bang software. But is it?

• This release for me is not an LTS and I wasn’t expecting massive stability. Plus I did something which I normally never do, I reinstalled the first week. Normally I wait a month before doing that and in the past waiting served me well. I think I might go back to doing that.

• This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu Studio 9.10 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

Devices/Embedded

• Powered by the Intel Atom processor and boasting 2GB flash memory storage said to be good for 500,000 pages of text, it runs Linux and some third-party software. Battery life for reading aloud is said to be 4 hours.

Phones

• Android smartphones are fast losing their novelty status as more manufacturers get to grips with Google’s open source operating system and go the widget way, often developing their own individual take of the basic style. Motorola and Samsung have been recent converts – with their Dext and Galaxy, respectively – but Taiwanese firm HTC was the first, and has been churning out variations on the theme with steady regularity.

• If you pay attention to the Mesa3D development mailing list at all you will have noticed quite a number of messages lately from Chia-I Wu, who has been pushing a good number of patches lately. Largely his work has pertained to OpenGL ES support for mobile devices, but his intentions are now known. Chia-I Wu is bringing Mesa (Gallium3D inclusive) to Android. In particular, Chia-I is focusing on running Mesa under Android on Intel-powered netbooks.

• Qualcomm’s Snapdragon is really getting around these days. Not too long after Sony Ericsson confirmed that their XPERIA X10 will have an Android operating system running on the 1 GHz processor, we now find LG announcing its own Snapdragon Android mobile phone.

• Introduced to the consumer market just over a year ago, the Google Android platform has rapidly evolved since its commercial release. In that time, it has moved from a 1.0 to a 2.0 version and expanded its hardware and wireless vendor market from one to many with more coming into the fold every month. This aggressive release schedule coupled with frequent SDK iterations has generated considerable momentum and buzz for the platform. Additionally, Google’s relatively seamless integration of their core services into the device elevates its baseline functionality beyond ordinary smartphone status.

• SK Telecom, South Korea’s biggest mobile telephony carrier, plans to release a “smart” phone powered by the Google-backed Android operating system next year.

• Nokia has started deliveries of its new top-of-the-range model N900, a key product for the world’s top phone maker in its battle against rivals iPhone and Blackberry.

• Four years after it started work on its Linux strategy, Nokia has finally announced that its first Linux-based device has started shipping to markets globally.

• Spec wise the HTC Tattoo packs Android OS 1.6 Donut, but sadly not up to Android 2.0 but does feature HTC’s Sense user interface. There is also a 3.2 megapixel camera, which isn’t too stunning, and the Qualcomm 528MHz processor may be a touch lightweight leading to some screen lag. The HTC Tattoo is basically a good Android offering for the asking price of £280 SIM free.

• The revelation comes following the announcement of Google Maps Navigation and we can’t help thinking that jumping from Linux, to Symbian, to Android is a bit of a coincidence, particularly given the impressive demo we’ve seen so far.

Free Software/Open Source

• If you want security coupled with flexibility and some good old-fashioned command line action in your UNIX of choice, look no further than OpenBSD.

• SourceForge Inc. has announced that it has officially changed its name to Geeknet. According to Scott L. Kauffman, President and CEO “Renaming the company Geeknet is the latest step in our rapid transformation.” The company believes that the new name will be a more accurate articulation of its business. Kauffman said “With Geeknet as our calling card on Madison Avenue, we are now able to clearly define the audience we serve and more effectively capture the business opportunity that we are addressing,”.

• Thus FOSS is not static. It fills niches. It grows organically in amazing ways with untold creativity and diversity. It is a better way of meeting needs, and turns consumers into contributors. One scrap of free software functionality is therefore more valuable to the individual and the community of computer users at large, than a vast edifice of commercial software. One has the potential to grow, collaborate, give back, diversify, address needs in an honest and progressive way. The other does not.

• A number of other important open source initiatives have also been around for a while. Apache’s Web server software was first released in 1995. Linux appeared even earlier, debuting in 1991, with roots going back to 1983. That operating system has yet to make any serious inroads onto the desktop.

• Compared to those two initiatives, Firefox has been a marked success, growing faster in a shorter period of time. Mozilla has found the mechanisms that work to bring products to market faster than before. Launched in 2003, WordPress also rose to prominence relatively quickly. There are other examples of speedy success in the open-source world.

• The most interesting example of a hurry-up offense in this space might well be the Android OS. Had it seen a more traditional launch, we could have expected five-plus years to see any traction for the mobile operating system. Handsets running the OS will be selling like gangbusters this time next year.

• The Tennessee Valley Authority is the nation’s largest public power provider serving approximately 9 million consumers in seven southeastern states. The organization also happens to be a big supporter of open-source projects, including Hadoop, a tool designed for deep analysis and transformation of very large data sets.

• As a direct response to customer demand for advanced, high-quality voice solutions and development tools, Broadcom is releasing its wideband and narrowband BroadVoice codecs in both floating-point and fixed-point C code as open source software under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1, as published by the Free Software Foundation.

• A new company, People Power, is launching into the crowded home energy monitoring business.

• Home energy monitoring is the tip of the spear in terms of cutting energy costs. Give people an idea of how much their appliances are costing, and when, then give them the power to adjust their energy use, and you not only save the planet, and save people real money, but create a nice business for yourself.

• GENIVI Alliance, the automotive industry’s only collaborative association dedicated to driving the development and broad adoption of an open source In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) reference platform, today announced its continued strong growth with the addition of four prestigious companies from the consumer electronics and technology industries.

• The Free Software Foundation is having a video contest on the subject “Why is free software important to you?” It’s a timely topic, with Windows 7 just out and with the free software community’s bickering so bitter as of late that common goals sometimes seem in danger of being forgotten.

• `Brave New (Open) World: A Producer`s Primer on the Latest Open Source Software` At The New School`s Lang Auditorium on Tuesd

• Kaltura, Inc. (http://www.kaltura.com), developer of the first open source video platform, today announced that it has received wide industry recognition by three independent sources over the past two months.

CMS

• Plone has won Packt Publishing’s Best Other Open Source CMS Award and been granted a prize of $2000.

• Drupal has won the Packt Publishing 2009 Open Source CMS Award and been granted a prize of $2000.

Business

Programming

• Programming is one of the most extreme examples of delayed gratification — you can work for months without having anything to show for it (or at least nothing that would convince your family that it was worth all that time and trouble). This can be really demoralizing, especially if you have any doubts about your abilities to begin with.

Standards/Consortia

• In the past year the Khronos Group unveiled the OpenCL 1.0 specification, the launch of OpenGL 3.1 / GLSL 1.40, OpenSL ES 1.0 as a new standardized audio API, and then most recently was the OpenGL 3.2 update. Today though the Khronos Group is pushing forward another standardized API that they hope to reach industry acceptance on and that is for windowing systems. OpenWF 1.0 was announced this morning and as it is described as “an operating system-independent and hardware-neutral foundation for building windowing systems and providing display control functionality in accelerated mobile and embedded devices.”

Leftovers

• Deirdre Walker, the 24-year police veteran and former Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police who wrote up a sharp, professional critique of the TSA’s checkpoint procedures, has written a follow-up, showing a huge flaw in the “random” screening process used at the BWI airport:

Finance

• From MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, Dylan Ratigan talks to author and former managing director for Goldman Sachs Nomi Prins about this week’s article in the UK Times I’m doing ‘God’s work’. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs.

Internet/Censorship/Web Abuse/Rights

• Conspiraloon Glenn Beck has lost, but also won, a case to win control of a domain he believed was infringing his copyright.

• EFF has big news in our long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle over telecom lobbying documents: the government will finally release some additional records this week.

• When the US government demanded the IP address of every visitor to Indymedia’s website (and ordered Indymedia to keep the request secret), Indymedia called the Electronic Frontier Foundation. EFF fought the subpoena — which was grossly unconstitutional — and won. Here’s the story of how it happened, and remember, if you ever get a crazy, unconstitutional request from a G-man, stop and call a lawyer or get in touch with EFF.

• BBC plans to copy protect Freeview high definition (HD) data have been dealt a blow by regulator Ofcom.

• Can the U.S. government secretly subpoena the IP address of every visitor to a political website? No, but that didn’t stop it from trying.

• Kristina Clair, a 34-year old Linux administrator living in Philadelphia who provides free server space for Indymedia.us, said she was shocked to receive the Justice Department’s subpoena. (The Independent Media Center is a left-of-center amalgamation of journalists and advocates that – according to their principles of unity and mission statement – work toward “promoting social and economic justice” and “social change.”)

• In United States v. Shelnutt (M.D. Ga. Nov. 2), a federal court in Georgia ruled that Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibits “tweeting” from the courtroom and that Rule 53 does not unconstitutionally restrict freedom of the press.

Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

• Trials developer RedLynx has admitted that in order to market its PC title it leaked it to torrent sites for pirates on the same day it was released to paying consumers.

• Can Hollywood and Big Cable get the FCC and Congress to give them carte blanche on their war against movie piracy? An impending decision on a proposal to block analog streams to HDTVs may show how much clout the studios have with the new FCC.

• TonyBot sez, “This video is from a talk I saw Professor Lessig give on Wednesday the title is ‘It is About Time: Getting Our Values Around Copyright.

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