● 06.04.10

● Links 4/6/2010: QuokkaPad, Bria for Linux Softphone

Posted in News Roundup at 5:06 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

• Two uncertain years have taken their toll on people’s and business’ willingness and ability to budget for new PCs or even upgrade existing Operating Systems. This is golden for Linux since it is free. Not so golden for Microsoft.

Server

• The Top 500 Project lists the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world biannually. They have released this year’s list and in terms of the operating system used it is Linux all the way with more than 90% of the supercomputers running on Linux.

• So why do Linux users care? Because the work accomplished by the Super Computer manufacturers (IBM, HP, Fujitsu, Cray and so on) is poured back into the kernel and ends up helping all users. Just remember that today’s desktop PC was considered a super computer not that long ago. Advances in multi-core technology driven by super computing requirements of a few years ago are now used by financial services companies in trading applications to power their business.

• Cloud Linux Inc., an innovative software company dedicated to serving the needs of hosting service providers, today announces that Cartika, an industry innovator in cloud hosting services has increased density on its shared hosting servers by 5X using CloudLinux.

Audiocasts

• A group of chip makers including IBM, Samsung Electronics and Texas Instruments have set up a new software-engineering foundation called Linaro. The foundation is dedicated to improving Linux distributions such as Android, MeeGo and Ubuntu used in consumer devices. There are around 20 engineers already working at Linaro, but the foundation will soon have over 100.

Google

• Internet giant Google will launch its Chrome operating system in the Australian spring, with developers now eager to get their hands on the open-source software.

• Google’s Chrome OS is coming to a netbook near you sometime later this year. The Web-centric, Linux-based, open source platform will offer a lightweight, cost-effective alternative operating system for portable computing. Eventually, Google plans to expand the scope of Chrome OS to take on Windows on the desktop as well–a goal that requires both a solid operating system and a significant culture shift.

Ballnux

• The benchmark was executed on the integrated bladed cluster with 4,092 cores of Intel(R) Xeon(R) X5670 processors running at 2.93 GHz with Novell’s SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise 11 operating system.

• The new Samsung H2 looks likely to use the same quirky Linux Mobile-based operating system used on Vodafone 360 – although we hope it will be overhauled as it wasn’t anywhere near rivalling the likes of Android or even Symbian when we used it last year.

• Users are advised to plug the phone into a Macintosh or Linux-based computer and delete the file manually from the microSD card. Users are then advised to reformat the memory card.

• The discovery of the malware has blighted the launch of Samsung’s new smartphone, which runs on its own newly developed Bada OS.

• The Limo platform is a customized version of Linux that integrates with the Vodafone 360 to bring a great user-interface to users.

Kernel Space

Graphics Stack

• While there is multi-touch support in Qt and also Clutter along with MPX capabilities in GTK+ 3.0, the widely-used xf86-input-evdev driver up to this point has not supported multi-touch. Developers, however, have been working on the said support for evdev, which is the generic Linux input driver.

Applications

Instructionals

GNOME Desktop

Distributions

• The Pardus development team released a few minutes ago the new Pardus 2009.2 Linux-based operating system. Powered by the Linux kernel 2.6.31.13 and built on top of the newly released KDE Software Compilation 4.4.4 environment, Pardus 2009.2 (codename Geronticus eremita) comes with an amazing installer and bleeding-edge applications such as the OpenOffice.org office suite 3.2.1.3, the Mozilla Firefox 3.6.3 web browser or The GIMP 2.6.8 image editor.

Red Hat Family

• Already one of the Triangle’s most successful technology companies, Red Hat soon could reach a big milestone. CEO Jim Whitehurst said during a meeting in London on Thursday that he expects $1 billion of revenue in 2012.

• The stock price of Red Hat Inc. crossed above the 50-day moving average on lighter than usual volume. The crossing of the stock price above the 50-day moving average may signal the beginning of a noteworthy bullish trend. Traders use moving averages to identify changes in trend, those who can make those trends work in their favor will increase the number of winning trades.

• Red Hat Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, will discuss results of its first quarter fiscal 2011 on Tuesday, June 22, 2010, beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET.

• The Fedora Scholarship program, sponsored by Red Hat, recognizes one high school senior per year for contributions to the Fedora Project and free software/content in general. With a selection process that looks at the student’s contributions to Fedora and other free software projects and uses members of the Fedora community as references, it’s a little different from most scholarships you might be used to seeing. In addition to $2,000 USD for each of 4 years of an undergraduate education in any field of the recipient’s choice, the scholarship includes 4 years of annual all-expenses-paid trips to the nearest FUDCon, the Fedora community’s main gathering of contributors, which happens once per year in different parts of the world.

Fedora/Linpus

Canonical/Ubuntu

• Canonical is preparing to introduce a new service option for Ubuntu Linux users, known as Ubuntu Advantage.

• Slated for official release on June 7, Ubuntu Advantage is a comprehensive service that combines systems management tools, technical support, access to online resources, training and legal assurance, Canonical officials said.

• As well as making for a consistent platform for Linux across all major ARM devices, the other major advantage of the initiative, says Shuttleworth, is that it will speed up time to market for developers. “If you can develop your software for ‘linux on ARM’, rather than a specific CPU, you can choose the right hardware for your project later in the development cycle, and reduce the time required for enablement of that hardware.”

Variants

• Vinux community has announced the 3rd release of Vinux – Linux for the Visually Impaired, based on Ubuntu 10.04 – Lucid Lynx.

• The first question that springs to mind when hearing of a new Linux distribution is not “what does it do?” but “why?” It would seem by now that virtually every possible angle has been covered, and that a Linux distribution must exist for almost any use case one could conceive of. Yet the recently-announced Peppermint Linux is slightly different in that it seeks to bridge the gap between standard desktop computing and “cloud” computing.

• One of the original targets of Linux was the under-powered computer gathering dust in the closet destined for electronic disposal. While that sounds like a noble goal, it isn’t reality for the majority of today’s Linux distributions. Xubuntu says it’s for the limited resource computer, but even it has a minimum memory requirement of 256 MB. You probably won’t have a very pleasant experience running Firefox on a machine with less than 512 MB of memory.

Devices/Embedded

• Even if your name is IBM. Or Texas Instruments. Since they don’t want to go home, they’re getting together with friends. Linux will benefit.

• WNR3500L Open Source Linux Router to be FCC’s ‘Test My ISP’ Speed Sensor for the voluntary consumer measurement plan announced today

• OpenVox Communication Co. Ltd, a global provider of open source asterisk® telephony hardware and software solutions, has announced today that the industry first design-for-asterisk industrial embedded motherboard-IPC100 is released to the Open Source community. The IPC100 series motherboards can work flawlessly with OpenVox Mini PCI cards-A400M/B100M/B200M/B400M as well as any combinations to build a complete embedded IPPBX.

• Open-source ereaders aren’t exactly new – the txtr promises to give access to its underlying architecture, for instance – but the Australian QuokkaPad may have taken the longest to reach the market. The 8-inch LCD 800 x 600 touchscreen tablet is based on a 400MHz MIPS processor, and usually runs Linux 2.6.24.3 with the GPE Palmtop Environment UI on top; however, there’s also room for two other kernels, such as Android or Windows CE.

• Enterprise software supergiant SAP has poured ten million dollars of investment from its SAP Ventures arm into DeviceVM, whose Linux-based Splashtop quick-boot operating system is pre-installed on many of the top brands of notebook and netbook computers.

• [...]

• SAP’s goal for DeviceVM is to create an enterprise-IT grade version of the same type of software Google plans for its Chrome OS operating system: A quick-booting — three seconds on a Lenovo — rock-solid Linux boot with only a standards-compliant browser and a few other essential apps onboard. Such a lightweight configuration is easier to maintain and, at least in theory, less prone to bugs and security problems.

• The Linux-based Splashtop runs separately from a device’s underlying OS and includes a number of applications, including a Firefox-based browser; music, photo and chat functionality; and Skype calling.

• Midwest Server Repair LLC, a small home based computer business based 12 miles from the University of Notre Dame, has created a Linux PC, which, serves as an alternative to the modern Microsoft computer.

Phones

• Joint venture formed to further mobile operating systems based on Linux, as HP CEO confirms Palm buy was all about WebOS

• CounterPath Corporation (TSX-V: CCV; OTCBB: CPAH), an award-winning provider of desktop and mobile voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) software solutions, today announced Bria for Linux.

• CounterPath, a provider of desktop and mobile voice over internet protocol (VoIP) software offerings, has unveiled a new retail version of Bria for Linux softphone client that features support for multiple VoIP accounts and Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04.

• ABI Research anticipates that Linux-enabled smartphones, led by the success of Google’s Android, will comprise 33% of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. With more than 60,000 smartphones shipping per day, Android has catapulted ahead of other Linux mobile platforms.

• Victoria Fodale, an analyst at ABI Research, said Tuesday in a research note that the Scottsdale, AZ-based marketing research firm anticipates that Linux-enabled smartphones, led by the success of Google’s Android, will comprise 33 percent of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. “With more than 60,000 smartphones shipping per day, Android has catapulted ahead of other Linux mobile platforms,” according to the note.

• More than 60,000 smartphones ship per day and the Android has leaped ahead of other Linux mobile platforms, said Victoria Fodale, a senior analyst at the firm.

• According to research published by analyst firm ABI, Linux-enabled smartphones, led by the success of Google’s Android, will comprise 33% of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. With more than 60,000 smartphones shipping each day, Android has catapulted ahead of other Linux mobile platforms.

• Opera Devices SDK 10.30 for Linux uses Opera Presto 2.5, the same core engine as Opera Desktop and Opera Mobile. It has a great support for web and industry standards. It also provides support for extended validation certificates and fraud protection, which ensure users can browse safely with the Acer LumiRead.

Nokia/MeeGo

• The much-awaited Nokia’s first phone running on Linux Maemo operating system, N900 has finally made its debut in the Indian market.

• We don’t see or hear nearly enough of it, but the Maemo smartphone platform is powerful, open source and performs on the Nokia N900 on a level that’s comparable to the experience you get with a desktop computer.

• trackingTelefonica has announced that it will jointly explore with Intel and Nokia how to leverage MeeGo’s capabilities in order to deliver innovative converged services to its customers.

• Meego, the mobile Linux Operating system introduced by Intel and Nokia, has officially been launched with a netbook version ready to go.

• Version 1.0 of the MeeGo Core Software platform (CSP) and the Netbook User Experience will offer the first true taste of a platform that has been created after Intel’s Moblin merged with Nokia’s Maemo platform back in February at the MWC.

Android

• So far, Dell has kept much of its Android software work under wraps. When it exhibited its Aero phone at the CTIA trade show in March, it kept the handset powered off.

• A remarkably small device given its functionality, the Pro weighs in at 118 grams and measures 9 x 5.2 x 1.7 cm. Inside this tiny shell, Sony Ericsson has managed to squeeze a 600 MHz processor, allowing the Mini Pro to run applications without a hitch. Running on version 1.6 of the open-source Android OS, the X10 Mini Pro has access to plenty of applications to use this processing power on. With over 38,000 applications on the Android Marketplace, and more being added every day, there is something for everybody. Open-source tools and support allow you to create and publish your own applications as well, should you be unable to find what you’re looking for.

Tablets

• Plenty of pics as we get hands on with Intel’s slim slate, codenamed ‘Redvale’, which runs MeeGo 1.1 open source mobile OS on an Atom Moorestown platform.

• The device, which uses Nvidia’s Tegra processor, can be used as a notebook with an onscreen or Bluetooth keyboard, and has a stylus. It is Linux-based with Flash support and a full browser, and the company says they believe it will have 6 to 8 hours of battery life.

• This Linux-based eReader rocks two 14.1” capacitive IPS displays, making the device closer in size to a newspaper than a book.

• The device is known as the Kno. It boasts of dual 14-inch screens and is based on the Linux operating system. The device is designed for students and is expected to appear in the market at the end of the year. Still it is not officially confirmed, but the device will be available for under $1,000.

Free Software/Open Source

• The reason his organisation usually focuses on open source software is because it is licensed in a way which allows for the language of its interface to be changed easily. The opposite of open source software is proprietary software, where the company that develops it forbids you to change it.

• The BBC is using open source technology to provide visitors to its 10 national radio websites with a live text service.

• The live text tells users what’s on air now and what is coming up, whether it be the current number 1 on the Chris Moyles show, football match commentary on Radio 5 Live or the latest comedy on Radio 4.

Africa

• That major computing companies are unlikely to want to invest heavily in Africa is not lost on the continent’s brain trust.

• Sure, there could be some investment in major cities, but for the most part, the continent’s on its own. The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa is fine with that. OK, perhaps “fine” would be overstating it, but FOSSFA knows that’s the reality and so is bringing together the most skilled computing minds together to develop and distribute applications throughout Africa in local languages.

• Tectonic, one of the only websites in Africa specialising in open source news, has been relaunched.

• The site, which closed down in July last year, began publishing again on June 1.

• Tectonic editor and founder, Alastair Otter, closed the site last year saying that other projects and pressures had made it difficult to keep it running. “At the time I was involved in a number of other projects and the added pressure of maintaining the site, which wasn’t my primary job, became too much.”

Events

• The event, says Gardler, is a salute to “the spirit of traditional business-academia knowledge exchange” but he emphasised the practical nature of TransferSummit; “Unlike other events, our reach goes beyond the theoretical: we’re focussing on the strategic solutions that improve collaboration between commercial and academic concerns”. The aim is to allow participants to understand, share and discuss the strategic and tactical mechanisms, such as community outreach, academic / business partnerships, spin-outs, start-ups, applied research, intellectual property licensing and collaborative think tanks, so that they can grow their organisations effectively and in an open source way.

• The fifth annual Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) took place May 27-30 in Brussels, Belgium, bringing together the developers of the open source creative application suite: GIMP, Krita, Inkscape, Scribus, Rawstudio, Blender, and a dozen other related projects, such as the Open Font Library and Open Clip Art Library. As is tradition, most of the projects gave update presentations, and both time and meeting space was set aside for teams to work and make plans.

• No, this isn’t egoism talking–it’s all about the 6th International Conference on Open Source Systems, hosted at the University of Notre Dame.

Databases

Oracle

• The OpenOffice.org development team have issued the first point update to the 3.2.x branch of their open source office suite for Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Solaris. The maintenance update addresses a number of bugs and security issues found in the previous 3.2 release, but adds no new features.

CMS

• WordPress is one of the great open source success stories with both its software and the WordPress.com site itself. Google ranks WordPress.com the 12th most visited site on Earth with 120 million unique visitors.

• WordPress version 3 is now in the final phases of development with a release candidate now out for early testers on self-hosted WordPress installations. Those that use WordPress.com however don’t have to wait. WordPress is leveraging it’s massive 120 million unique visitor base to actually help test the latest version of WordPress 3.

• [...]

• So what’s new in WordPress 3?

• Lots, but at the top level WordPress 3 gets a new custom menus system (that’s now deployed for WordPress.com users). That’s going to be a big deal for many users, as it will lead to a new generation of theme development.

Business

• As more and more Open Source eCommerce programs (OSC) appear, many of the improvements are invisible to customers. But features that can really help the store to sell more goods are the product information pages and how they display product images to the customer.

• More than a third of organisations worldwide are lacking in support at senior management level for document management. That’s according to the annual survey from the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) also known as the association for enterprise content management.

Project Releases

• Fixes in the 2.6.1 Lyngen release include external dependencies support on MeeGo, merging test results from Phoronix Global IDs, system sensor monitoring adjustments, and misaligned graphs/charts, among a few other small glitches. The Unigine test profiles have also been updated against their latest Sanctuary, Tropics, and Heaven updates.

Government

• For instance we all know that Linux can offer significant savings compared to using Microsoft software for example. There are no license fees just maintenance costs.

Openness

• GnuBio is a new Harvard University spinout that is poised to become an “eBay of Biomarkers,” according to founder John Boyce. Boyce, who spent several years at Cambridge-based genome sequencer Helicos Biosciences Corp., has joined with Harvard professor of physics and engineering Dave Weitz and Jessica Tonani, former associate director of product marketing for Santa Clara, Calif.-based gene sequencing company Affymetrix Inc., to create a company that is part genome sequencing, part database management, part social network. It promises to join together millions of biologicial samples that are currently siloed at institutes around the world, and to do it using an open source platform.

• Open Source Bridge is a completely volunteer-run conference dedicated to the concept of “open source citizenship:” in which developers learn from one another and connect across projects.

Open Access/Content

• Take that, Wikihaters. A new study says Wikipedia is as accurate a source for cancer information as a professionally reviewed resource — assuming you can wade through the lousy prose.

• Cancer researchers from Thomas Jefferson University compared the accuracy of oncology information on the popular open-source encyclopedia with that on the National Cancer Institute’s Physician Data Query (or PDQ), a professional database that is peer-reviewed and edited. Both were fact-checked against textbooks to see whether cancer patients can trust the information they’re getting online.

Standards/Consortia

• A new open source project converts Flash animations to JavaScript/HTML5 on the fly, allowing them to be viewed in any modern web browser without the use of a plug-in.

• The Google Chrome developers have released the latest developer channel (a.k.a. the Dev channel) version of Chrome. Version 6.0.422.0 of its WebKit-based web browser features a number of bug fixes and adds support for the latest open WebM / VP8 video format introduced by Google as part of the WebM Project. Once Google considers the Dev builds to be stable enough, they are promoted to its Beta channel for future testing.

Leftovers

• Playing videogames and constantly checking Facebook for status updates could be killing empathy among college students, according to a new study from the University of Michigan (UM).

Environment

• Specialists working to contain BP disaster dealt new blow by opening of Gulf of Mexico hurricane season

• Energy secretary blames predecessors for avoiding tough decisions in ‘classic example of short-termism’

• The rapid decline of mammoths and other megafauna after humans spread across the New World may explain a bone-chilling plunge in global temperatures some 12,800 years ago, researchers reported Sunday.

• The 100-odd species of grass-eating giants that once crowded the North American landscape released huge quantities of methane — from both ends of their digestive tracks.

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