● 05.14.10

● Links 14/5/2010: Linagora Acquires Mandriva; Smart TVs With Linux

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

• At this point many are likely asking how much this costs. If you read my previous article, you would know the answer right away: “It’s free and it’s on Linux”. I suppose I need to preface that last comment with the qualification that you need some old “junky but functional” hardware lying around. There are many different Linux solutions we can deploy to achieve this goal. For this article I have chosen a solution of Arch Linux, Shorewall, and Squid.

• We selected Arch Linux because it is a rolling release and has the latest and greatest packages. If you are not familiar with the phrase “rolling release”, in Linux it indicated a distribution that keeps you up-to-date with the latest software updates via the package manager. You will never have to re-install or upgrade your server from one release version to the next with this style of distribution. The great part about a rolling release on a proxy/firewall setup is that once it’s set up and working correctly, you will not have to go back and completely overhaul the server when a newer distribution update comes out.

• 8. Linux

• It’s a movement rather than a firm, of course, but we think Linux still deserves to be here: from making netbooks work to powering Android phones and generally making Microsoft get its act together, Linux has been enormously influential. It might be considered more cool if journalists could get through just one Linux-mentioning article without also mentioning beards and hippies.

• Facebook started blocking The Pirate Bay when the site released a new Facebook feature, reported Wired. But it seems the rabbit hole goes deeper. I tried something interesting. I asked a colleague to open The Pirate Bay and searched for a legal copy of Ubuntu Linux. He found one (It’s completely legal to download Gnu/Linux).

• One of the cost saving measures fire departments can look at is fairly simple. Switch from Microsoft Windows to Linux and use the Ubuntu Distribution. All of the modern conveniences of a Windows based PC without the headaches.

Desktop

• You can also choose from a number of operating systems including Windows and Linux.

• Dell will offer Latitude 2110 with Ubuntu for $389 (Rs. 17500 approx.), while the Windows 7 Starter edition model will be available for $419 (Rs. 18,900 approx.).

Fast Boot

• Second, he notes, many of the quicker operating systems, which tend to run on Linux, are less exposed to attacks than Windows, and hence fundamentally somewhat more secure. That last statement has lost some of its punch with the advent of Windows 7, however, which is better than its predecessors in this regard.

• Sony’s refreshed VAIO P introduces a couple of new features worth-mentioning, such as the built-in accelerometer, touchpad, GPS with Digital Compass, 3G and Pre-boot Linux-based OS.

Security/Rescue CDs

• Rescue CDs work by booting into a different operating system (commonly some form of Linux), which rootkits and other threats that actively resist detection or removal are powerless against, because they never get launched.

• Most rescue CDs actually boot into Linux, making any infestation by Windows-based malware just plain impossible.

Server

Google

• The SDK includes a compiler based on GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) for creating x86-32 or x86-64 binaries from C or C++ source code, and you’ll find ports of popular open source projects like zlib, Lua, and libjpeg.

• We already knew that Canonical was planning to overhaul the user interface for the next version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix — the version of Ubuntu Linux optimized for laptops with small screens and low power processors. But now it looks like Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 could also come with some new default applications.

• These people are downloading home-brewed versions of the operating system derived from the esoteric source code, which Google releases under the name Chromium. Google is developing the Chrome system as an open-source project and periodically releases the Chromium code online, to let other Web developers contribute to the project.

Kernel Space

• The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced it is expanding its premier Linux conference, LinuxCon, to Brazil. LinuxCon Brazil will take place August 31 – September 1, 2010 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

• They do a good job with providing a 3-D model of the design and diagrams that show the components and the power wiring setup. This photo shows Tim Nufire of BackBlaze deploying pods in a rack that “contains just under half a petabyte of storage.” Pretty cool.

• At the end of April, the maintainers of the Linux kernel’s Stable Series released 2.6.32.12 and 2.6.33.3. Both versions were released three-and-a-half weeks after their respective predecessors, one containing almost 200 and the other more than 130 patches – it seems that the intervals between new stable kernel releases are becoming slightly longer, and that the number of changes integrated into the new versions is getting somewhat larger.

• A US-based security expert quoted by the Times of India thinks an open source OS for Indian government computers wouldn’t be such a bad idea, but here’s the thing: There are already several Indian-developed, Linux-based operating systems, including BOSS and the education-oriented E-Swecha, the installation of which Richard Stallman helped oversee at the end of 2008. The Indian government could in theory develop an OS from the ground up without using the Linux kernel at all, but that would be wildly expensive.

Applications

• LiLi USB Creator is a free software for Windows that allows you to create a bootable Live USB key with Linux on it.

Proprietary

• Bricsys NV, the developer of Bricscad, announced today that the beta version of Bricscad V10 for LINUX is now available.

• Bricscad V10 is recognized as the number 1 alternative CAD platform for the DWG file format.

• The Skype CEO recently hinted that they are considering adding mid-call advertisements. See previous paragraph re “pricing packages”. Does this mean there will be adverts running in calls you are paying for?

Instructionals

Games

• It has been an interesting week in the world of Linux games—really in the intersection of Linux and commercial games. First was the announcement of the release of the source code that underlies the Ryzom massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG). In addition, though, is word that the Humble Indie Bundle, a collection of cross-platform games being sold using a novel method, generated over $1 million in a week’s time, with roughly a quarter of it coming from Linux users. It has long been said that there is no market for Linux commercial games, but these two events may shine a light on different business models that just might be successful.

• The Humble Bundle consists of six PC/Mac/Linux games that you can purchase at whatever price you are willing to pay for them/think they are worth.

• [...]

• And then there are the people who made it into the Top 10 purchasers with leet-speak (1337 and 31337 for “leet” and “elite/eleet”). Sigh. Predictable yet somehow funny.

• According to The Telegraph, the digital distribution platform will be available to Linux users “in the coming months”.

Distributions

• The consumers aren’t going to care about Linux fragmentation because they’re not going to see much of it: they’ll see “Android”, which happens to be built atop a rich stack of Linux kernel and library components. As long as their calls don’t drop and their apps run, they’ll be blissfully ignorant of any Linux fragmentation.

Mandrake/Mandriva Family

• Mandriva is said to have decided on this a month ago and is looking for potential buyers ever since. A potential buyer includes Linagora, which is a French open-source company. Lingaroa has also confirmed that it is going to acquire Mandriva and they have already started moving Mandriva assets.

Red Hat Family

• Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water (MEW) has announced plans to switch its data centre Linux deployment, with a move from Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

• MEW serves more than 800,000 consumers with a 12 gigawatt power generation grid.

Ubuntu

• The Ubuntu Women Team is being restructured and a new election process will be put in place to elect the next leaders This time though, there is not one single leader but three leaders being elected.

• Canonical is looking at Ubuntu for in-car systems, tablets, set-top-boxes, and what director of business development Chris Kenyon called “the digital home or something you carry around”.

• Beyond working towards the X Server not running as the root user and the X.Org/Mesa/Kernel upgrades planned for Ubuntu 10.10, it may also be easier to test the Wayland Display Server in this Ubuntu “Maverick Meerkat” update due out in October.

• We first talked about Wayland in late 2008 when the project was still in its infancy by Kristian Høgsberg. Wayland is still very much a side-project of Kristian’s that just receives commits every once in a while and has yet to gain any widespread adoption, but it still possesses a lot of progress. Wayland can run dual nested X.Org Servers within it, now runs off Mesa rather than Eagle EGL, supports the KMS page-flipping ioctl, a DRI2 driver is being worked on, and much more. However, it doesn’t do too much yet for the end-user, but that should change once the GTK, Qt, or Clutter tool-kits is properly supported within Wayland. Right now there’s just a basic terminal and a few demo applications that can run within this display server that leverages kernel mode-setting.

Variants

• Custom versions of Ubuntu can offer anything from ease-of-use to a multimedia studio

• Ubuntu 10.04, aka Lucid Lynx, has now been released and work has already started on version 10.10, its successor. But, if Ubuntu 10.04 isn’t your ideal operating system then it’s worth taking a look at some of Ubuntu’s derivative versions. Chances are that one those will suit your needs.

Devices/Embedded

• The new Linux-based line can interface with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, contactless, Power over Ethernet, and features a modular contactless reader for in-field upgrading to contactless card and NFC technology.

• No problem for Iomega – its ix12 controller has an Intel Core Duo processor running EMC LifeLine software, which is built on Samba Linux, and that means Iomega potentially has deduplication working directly on the array.

• That’s a whole lot more powerful than the original NES system. There’s also an Ethernet port, Wi-Fi b/g/n and a 4GB flash drive with Ubuntu 9.10 installed.

Television

• A smart TV’s operating system will be built around the Linux kernel and support Flash and OpenGL graphics. Content protection systems would also be built in.

• The chips are set to power a Linux-based OS and support Flash.

Nokia

• Maemo might be evolving into MeeGo, but it’s going by a circuitous route that takes in some Archos 5 play along the way, albeit unofficially. A group of Archos tinkerers have been persuading Maemo (in its Mer form) to run on both the Archos 5 Internet Tablet (usually found running Android) and the Archos 5 Internet Media Tablet, and while it’s not a perfect implementation it does at least function.

• A team of Maemo hackers working with Nokia’s home grown Linux platform have successfully ported the Android platform to the Nokia N900 internet tablet, replacing the original Maemo 5 OS.

• Aigo have just launched their latest Linux Maemo mobile Internet device (MID) the WalkShow NX7001. Which is equipped with a 16:9 4.3-inch touch screen display with a resolution of 800 × 480 and a Linux operating system also know as the ‘Nokia Maemo Linux’ which allows you to perform the same functions on the MID as on a desktop PC.

Android

• Cherrypal, an obscure company that sells $99 netbooks, has dropped Linux in favor of Android in its bottom-shelf PC line.

• Google has been working diligently on its Android phone OS, and update 2.2 is coming up quite soon. So far, the Linux-derived phone OS is selling well, recently thought to have overtaken the iPhone in monthly sales.

• Open source is gaining a foothold: Sales of Android-based handsets have already overtaken those of Apple’s iPhone, and there’s every sign that Android could find a home on netbooks and tablet computers, too. Lots of companies, including Dell, are making devices that use Google’s open source OS, and it will be interesting to see whether they can come up with a tablet to rival the iPad.

Sub-notebooks

• The Linkbook’s operating system is geared primarily towards a user-friendly web experience; from email to social networking and browsing, as well as basic Open Office – everything a business entrepreneur, student or first-time PC user could need in a computer.

• For the price, though, it’s difficult to be too hard on the Linkbook. At R199/month, it is becoming easier to get computing into the hands of almost everyone. We’re sure that Nicholas Negroponte would agree with us that that’s a good thing. But whether this is the device to do it is open to debate.

• As I mentioned yesterday, l have now downloaded and installed the packages for the current very early pre-release of the Ubuntu Unity Netbook Edition. The good news is, it looks very interesting.

• When Canonical announced its Ubuntu Light platform for netbooks and platforms Monday morning, a lot of fuss was made about the new Unity interface, the capability of Ubuntu Light to act as an instant-on environment for users of these devices who just want to surf, and the general coolness of the plan.

• Linux runs particularly well on Netbooks, but it might be hard to choose which flavor is best for your right now. Not sure what’s out there? We’ve lined up the five best Linux netbook OSes for your mobile computing pleasure.

• What makes a distro one of the best choices for netbooks? It has to be easy to install, support netbook hardware relatively well, and should offer an interface that’s well-suited for netbooks. Not every distro will support all hardware out of the box, but some distros are better than others at handling a wide range of hardware. Also, it has to be free to download and easy to get.

Tablets

• With Palm’s operating system under its belt HP may be able to bring some powerful competition to the iPad. The Linux-based platform is incredibly fast and packed with features, and has only be unveiled on two phones so far, the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi.

Free Software/Open Source

• “It’s counter-intuitive to me,” Sanders said in a recent interview. “I would expect open source to be very open to everybody — It’s collaborative … flexible. There’s so many things I can name about open source that are beneficial.”

• Open source lessens vendor lock-in and boosts the capabilities of both the developer and the platform. Servoy is expected to release the open source version in June. After the release, the source code can be downloaded from the Servoy website.

• Transparency on the other hand promotes confidence and community, educates and ultimately empowers. As the web gets richer, the financial and social cost of maintaining secrecy gets higher and higher.

• Businesses give to open source because open source increasingly gives back to businesses.

Events

SaaS

• “It isn’t the cloud if it has very firm boundaries”, says Marten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems. I had a chance to chat with Marten and Dr. Rich Wolski, CTO and co-founder of Eucalyptus recently about their vision of the future of cloud computing and what role open source will play in it.

Oracle

Education

• This landmark project makes pioneering use of open source technologies including Moodle and Joomla to allow Tesco staff to access all their learning needs online for the first time. The eventual scale of the project will make it one of the largest ever implementations of the Moodle platform in the corporate learning space. Kineo has designed and developed over 100 Moodle solutions for its clients, and on this project combined Joomla to add further functionality and enhance the user experience.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

• Version 4.5 of the GNU Compiler Collection was released in mid-April with many changes under-the-hood, as well as a few important user-visible features. GCC 4.5 promises faster programs using the new link-time optimization (LTO) option, easier implementation of compiler extensions thanks to the controversial plugin infrastructure, stricter standards-conformance for floating-point computations, and better debugging information when compiling with optimizations.

Releases

• Sighttpd is an HTTP streaming server designed for distributing realtime input. It is particularly useful for making camera streams available to multiple clients, and has been designed for embedded systems use.

Government

• Replacing the Veterans Affairs Department’s electronic health record system with an open source system would allow the agency to innovate quicker and reduce costs, according to a May 6 report from an industry association.

• The State Services Commission, in a Request For Proposal (RFP) for a redevelopment of its website at www.ssc.govt.nz, stipulates that the content management system (CMS) should be open source.

Openness

• The open data movement strives to make all data freely available to the public. Like its open source software counterpart, open data can be freely downloaded/shared without any restrictions and it can be mixed with other similar data sources.

Leftovers

Finance

• Don’t expect a thank you note from Goldman Sachs or any of the other banks that had perfect trading days in Q1. “Perfect” means that they had no days of trading losses for 63 trading days.

• The government paying down your loan if you are underwater or unemployed? Wow. Anything to keep the game going for the banks – including bankrupting our nation. Moral hazard? The real moral hazard isn’t just how unfair it is to homeowners and people who have done the right thing, the fact that it is squarely to the benefit of the banks makes it a nation ending type of hazard – all to protect those people who have the power to crash the planet at the flick of an HFT switch.

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