● 12.15.12

● Links 16/12/2012: Humble Indie Bundle 7 Rants, ownCloud KDE Client

Posted in News Roundup at 9:29 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

• With barely two weeks left in 2012, the inundation of “year-in-review” blog posts, podcasts, videos and–if we’re really lucky–songs has begun. This week, the Linux Foundation did its part by releasing a video celebrating major accomplishments over the last year in the Linux channel. What did the Foundation think were the most important developments? Read on for a look.

• Linux Rising. As The Linux Foundation’s Amanda McPherson notes, this was the year that Red Hat achieved $1 billion in revenues, and Android adoption outpaced the iPhone. You can watch The Linux Foundation’s “What a Year for Linux” video here.

• Top Linux Trends. Datamation has a good look back at some of the top trends in Linux for 2012. These included the rise of crowdsourcing, diversity in desktop environments, Ubuntu’s “Corporation vs. Community” schizophrenia, and interfaces that adjusted for multiple device form factors.

• With the year coming to an end, here’s a look again at the prominent Linux news from last year (2011) and whether the milestones reached then still have an impact today.

• Effectively this comes down to a redux of the most popular Linux news from last year and an update on each of the topics as it stands today. The most popular Linux stories on Phoronix from 2012 will be shared at the end of December.

• The two most popular Phoronix news stories last year came down to the same topic: ending of the Linux 2.6 kernel and moving to Linux 3.0 (Say Hello To Linux 3.0; Linus Just Tagged 3.0-rc1 and Linus Talks Of Linux 2.8 Or Linux 3.0; Ending Linux 2.6). Well, there isn’t too much to add to this particular topic for 2012. Linus Torvalds continues releasing new Linux 3.x major kernel releases and after enough of them in a few years time he’ll move to Linux 4.x. This is just much cleaner than sticking to Linux 2.6.x as was done for so many years.

Server

• Microsoft haters, Apple haters, Linux Haters, time for you to put all this nonsense to end once and for all with regards the real world of business!!

• So, here’s the scenario, and it’s up to YOU to provide the solution… if you can of course…..

• A small office, with 5 computers all running the same desktop operating system.

Audiocasts/Shows

Kernel Space

• With word this week that there’s some performance improvements for the open-source Radeon Linux graphics driver to be found with the Linux 3.8 kernel as a result of the a-synchronous DMA engine support, some very early benchmarks of the “drm-next” code were done from five different AMD Radeon graphics cards. In extreme cases, the open-source graphics driver can deliver 10x higher OpenGL frame-rates with the experimental kernel.

• Are you an Android kernel developer? If yes then we have got great news for you. Those who develop kernels for Android devices know how frustrating porting a kernel to a new device has always been. Well if you share that notion and would like this process to get easier than it is right now, you will be pleased to know that Linus Torvalds has announced ARM support in Linux.

• During the last couple of weeks I took some time to try out the next step in virtualization tech: nested virtualization. I set the target to add to our research infrastructure a server that was capable of managing multiple layered virtualization with the aim to learn something about the current status of KVM development regarding this particular feature, while checking out the relative performance levels and finding out if managing a host such as this and its virtual siblings through our own oVirt implementation was a viable option.

• The PowerPC feature pull for the Linux 3.8 kernel is significant in that it’s the first release beginning to introduce support for IBM’s next-generation POWER8 processors.

• The FUSE module, which allows for file-systems to be run from user-space, can now process direct I/O a-synchronously. This a-synchronous direct I/O can lead to very noticeable performance improvements for FUSE-based file-systems like ZFS.

Graphics Stack

• A new Gallium3D driver is in the works, supporting the integrated graphics chips of the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge generation in Linux-based operating systems. Older integrated video chips won’t be compatible with the new driver.

• While the Intel 830GM and 845G chipsets were first introduced more than one decade ago, their graphics driver support has been botched for much of the time. As of today though, Intel Linux driver developers think they have taken care of the longstanding stability issues with this now ancient hardware.

Applications

• Lightworks, the professional-grade non-linear video editor from EditShare that’s been ported to Linux, will have a public beta release before the end of the next quarter.

• Mobile application development is the process by which software is created for handheld devices. This article focuses on tools which help developers create applications for mobile phones. The purpose of application frameworks and libraries is to enable developers to spend their time on the creative and interesting part of development, alleviating the repetitive overhead associated with common development patterns.

Proprietary

• Novosoft LLC, an international software developer, announced the release of an update to their flagship product Handy Backup. The new version expands the list of cloud storage options and moves toward a cross-platform solution for Windows and Linux.

Instructionals/Technical

Games

• War For the Overworld is the Spiritual Successor of Dungeon Keeper series, Made by dedicated Dungeon Keeper fans from Keeper Klan. They Formed Subterranean games a team formed of professionals, Modders and Enthusiastic individuals, to recreate and improve on the old and beloved DK formula!

• Linux is no longer the red-headed stepchild of PC gaming.

• I like it. I like it a lot.

• It seems that the Humble Botanical Bundle was originally referred to as “Humble Indie Bundle 7“. The games mentioned in this article are not accurate, rather the result of a drunken Google session and a “Jump To Conclusions” mat. Our apologies.

• Valve’s been talking about implementing its digital distribution platform, Steam, onto Linux for quite some time. It looks like the organization is finally realizing those plans.

• Today, through a closed mailing list, Steam announced that Steam for Linux is ready to go into beta, and it will go live for beta testers next week. At launch, Steam for Linux will include a library of over 40 games, includingSerious Sam 3, Team Fortress 2, and Killing Floor.

Desktop Environments

• This beta release of E17, LUCKY RUBBER DUCKY, has a much better name than what was originally proposed.

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

• Amarok team has released the beta version of Amarok 2.7 which is available for testing. The team has invited all users to test this beta so the final release should be available before 25th December. With this version Amarok is introducing two brand new features.

• More than a year ago I started an experiment: to bring KDE Education to the kids in Kindergarten.

• Now my son was starting exactly at the same time his own adventure in Kindergarten, so I jump at the opportunity and suggest to the educators to have a period of testing. They accepted and I installed a Kubuntu 11.10 on an old PC, the Kindergarten bought a 22″ Touchscreen, and I also installed the first alfa version of Pairs (selfcompiled) that I was working on.

• ownCloud, the free and open source cloud solution, will be getting a client especially for the KDE Plasma Desktop soon. Sebastian Kügler, one of the KDE developers, announced the development of the KDE client on his blog recently.

Distributions

• Ubuntu this, Fedora that, Mint the newest Linux darling– it’s as though all those other hundreds of Linux distributions don’t exist. Let’s throw caution to the winds and seek out new distros, and boldly go where we have not gone before. Here are three I’m thinking of installing on my test machine and torture-testing this weekend.

• There’s no denying 2012 has been a fruitful year for Linux distributions in general, but something about it has also seemed to favor the rebirth of distros we hadn’t heard from in years.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

• Deep down, I was hoping that PCLinuxOS 2012.08 might rise again…

• Ever since the month of September, Mandriva is renewing its entire products and solutions portfolio. The next product to be unveiled this month is the Mandriva Business Server. A few words were hinted in the press as well as to our strategic partners and customers.

• Today we would like to lift the curtain on some aspects of the upcoming Mandriva Business Server. In a few words, Mandriva Business Server is complete Linux-based server platform aimed primarily at the SMB and public sector market. Mandriva Business Server is however not just another Linux server distribution. From the first moment in the installation to the regular maintenance and management tasks Mandriva Business Server offers its users with easy and beautiful management interfaces allowing them to configure and deploy services from the Mandriva Business Server in a seamless and fast way.

Debian Family

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

• Canonical has added new photo functions to its Ubuntu One cloud storage service. After users log in, the Ubuntu One web site now automatically displays thumbnails of all photos found in their cloud storage in a new “Photos” section. Users can browse the photos or display them as a slideshow.

• Our LoCo Teams are a wonderful part of the Ubuntu community. They provide a fantastic place for Ubuntu users to meet other users locally and enjoy Ubuntu together either online or in person.

• Ubuntu 13.04, scheduled to be released April next year is in high pace of development currently. While a alpha release has been published for most other Ubuntu based distros, Ubuntu will only release a single beta before the final release.

• This release is targeted to improve integration in various mobile devices and will also run on some tablets like Nexus 7. Also, for developers, this will be the first release that will be shipped with an Ubuntu SDK.

• The enterprise desktop is ripe for change. With support for Windows XP coming to an end, it’s time to find a better way.

• This ebook is about that better way. It’s a short, easy-to-read guide to why Ubuntu is a better choice than Windows for the majority of enterprise desktops today.

Devices/Embedded

• Next generation Pis could come in at $20 price point, but existing devices to be shipping until 2020.

• One of the classic dilemmas in embedded Linux development has been whether to do it yourself (DIY), rolling your own distribution, or invest in a soup-to-nuts solution from a commercial supplier like Wind River or MontaVista. The DIY approach, which involves cherry-picking and aligning kernels and components from open source repositories, has been eased over the years with an increasing number of board support packages (BSPs) and more up-to-date components provided by semiconductor vendors and open board projects.

Phones

Android

• Reportedly, the Yuga will employ a Samsung Exynos 5 quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, 128 GB storage, a 16-megapixel camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery. Oh, and let’s not forget that this one has been tied to a 5-inch 1080p HD display as well. Still not sold? It’s allegedly dust-proof and waterproof.

Free Software/Open Source

• Munich finally migrated its 12000th PC. We are so relieved that the trolls no longer pronounce Limux a failure and there’s a little matter of profit, besides.

• Dell has expanded its relationship with Canonical selling GNU/Linux in more than 1000 stores in China and India and Walmart in Brazil sells more GNU/Linux desktop PCs than that other OS.

• The pursuit of business sustainability and innovative change does not have to originate from any one, single source. It can generate from within your own company at the ground level, from the customers you service to your suppliers. Often the least recognized resources can be the greatest source of information, which can make a significant difference.

• [...]

• Evidence supports the need for executives to step outside the confines of traditional business methods and leverage the creativity of its key business stakeholders. Supporting an open innovation approach to business sustainability offers stakeholders the opportunity to become engaged in the future of a business. By recognizing that key stakeholders have a vested interest the success of the company, sustainable leadership can create openness to new ideas that promote business success and innovative ideas.

• One of the pillars of the Indian FOSS Community passed away this week. Known for his humor, his uncompromising honesty and his generosity in sharing FOSS knowledge with like-minded individuals. His sudden passing after a massive heart attack has shocked and saddened his friends across the FOSS World.

Events

• Magnolia, creator of the open source content management system (CMS) has announced its first ever “Magnolia Amplify” active learning event to be held March 6th-8th at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

Web Browsers

Mozilla

• It’s already abundantly clear that 2013 will witness a rise in prominence for open source gaming, what with players like Valve and Ouya poised to leverage new open source platforms. Now, Mozilla is stirring the pot with a hackathon taking place simultaneously in London and New York this weekend, a part of the company’s Game Jam hackathon series.

SaaS

• The OpenStack open source cloud platform started out with only two components: Nova Compute and Swift Storage. Nova originally came from NASA and Swift came from Rackspace.

• Over the course of the last two years, OpenStack has expanded beyond NASA and Rackspace and has been embraced by many large tech vendors, including IBM, HP, Dell, AT&T, Cisco and Intel among others. As OpenStack participation has grown, new capabilities have been added, including most recently the Cinder block storage project and the Quantum networking project. Cinder and Quantum both debuted in the recent Folsom release.

Databases

• Back when Sun Microsystems was setting, some of the programmers who had been involved with the popular and well-known open source MySQL database started a fork of the project called MariaDB.

• The new project was led and named by Michael “Monty” Widenius, the original developer of MySQL and one of the founders of the eponymous company that Sun acquired. After leaving Sun, he formed a company in his native Finland — Monty Program AB — to host development of MariaDB and made an open offer of employment to any MySQL committer. As a result, a formidable corps of developers gathered at Monty Program.

• Couchbase has been working on a new type of NoSQL database the melds both key-value and document data models.

• It’s an effort that began with the merger of CouchOne and Membase back in 2011 as the two companies combined to build a new joint product. Couchbase has since moved beyond its core Apache CouchDB roots though it still benefits from them.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

• Make a one-time donation to help us make your voice for software freedom heard. Please support us at whatever amount feels right to you. Every dollar helps us raise your voices one more decibel.

Project Releases

• Suricata from the Open Information Security Foundation (OISF), which is an Open Source Next Generation Intrusion Detection and Prevention Engine, has been updated to version 1.4.

Programming

• he soon-to-be-released LLVM 3.2 compiler infrastructure will expand upon its coverage of processor support and CPU capabilities.

• Some of the noteworthy improvements to the LLVM 3.2 processor/hardware support includes:

• - Minor code-generation improvements for x86 and x86_64.

Leftovers

Science

Security

• Japanese police are looking for an individual who can code in C#, uses a “Syberian Post Office” to make anonymous posts online, and knows how to surf the web without leaving any digital tracks — and they’re willing to pay.

Defence/Police/Aggression

• Nearly half of Britain’s top-secret military drones deployed in Afghanistan have crashed

• Suit over domestic surveillance will reveal state secrets, say DOJ lawyers.

• But a senior administration official tells CNN that Rice will not be chosen for the position.

• In a letter to President Barack Obama, Rice voiced concern over an unnecessary and prolonged vetting due to the incessant criticism she experienced over the Benghazi, Libya, incident…

• The European Court of Human Rights has issued an historic judgement on the case of Khaled el-Masri, the German citizen unfortunate enough to have a similar name to a militant named Khalid al-Masri.

• The CIA is having trouble keeping its secret agents off the internet. First, it allowed the White House to publish a photograph of the man behind the operation to kill Osama bin Laden. And now the identity of the woman who runs its “Global Jihad Unit”—and who has a long (if pseudonymous) history of being associated with some of the agency’s most disastrous boondoggles—has been published online by two documentary filmmakers who sussed it out with the help of some “savvy internet research.”

• The subtitle for the collection, of course, could be Propping Up The Peacock Throne, as the events described herein deal with the U.S. support for the Shah, and for the government of Iraq, within which Saddam Hussein was gathering power in preparation for his formal takeover in 1979. These events led to, among other things, the Iranian Revolution that got dropped on Jimmy Carter’s head, and the incredibly savage Iran-Iraq War in which the U.S. backed both sides in some of the bloodiest realpolitik in the nation’s history. Just a cursory glance through the 978 pages reveals how tight the alliance between the U.S. and the Shah’s government, and how important Iranian oil was to the U,S, as a counterweight to the rising power of OPEC among the other oil-producing states in the region. One telegram from Washington concerning the Shah’s ambitious energy policy rings a little ironic, given what’s going on today.

• Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement on the NDAA: “Today, this House will send the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to conference. Contrary to its title, the bill does not provide for the protection of the American people. It expands war. It further indebts our nation. It encroaches on basic rights with regards to indefinite detention. It eliminates the basic tenet that due process rights apply to everyone in this country – not just American citizens…”

• Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) angered many of his father’s supporters…

• Executives of US airplane manufacturing companies producing unmanned planes (drones) press the US White House to eliminate restrictions preventing to fly these devices in monitoring missions on the national airspace.

• Some of the most pressing air safety, security, cybersecurity, and privacy policy questions that must be addressed, policy questions that must be addressed, in order to allow for widespread domestic UAS operation under FMRA.

• Lawmakers across the United States will soon be eyeing the use of drones — unmanned aerial devices — for state and local police work. In the enthusiasm to deploy such devices, state lawmakers need to carefully consider the proper uses of drones in police work, firefighting, disaster relief and counter-terrorism.

• Top U.S. intelligence officials gathered in the White House Situation Room in March to debate a controversial proposal. Counterterrorism officials wanted to create a government dragnet, sweeping up millions of records about U.S. citizens—even people suspected of no crime.

• Not everyone was on board. “This is a sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public,” Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, argued in the meeting, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Cablegate

• The British have abandoned the idea of going into the embassy to take JAssange by force, a silly thing that would have dishonored them. More, this would have been a dangerous precedent for all the other embassies in the world. Mr Mélenchon explains that he is here to support the Ecuadorians, who have to withstand a big shock, while those who pretend usually protect human rights and freedom of press remain this time indifferent. The Ecuadorian are on a reasonable position, and don’t seek the arm wrestling at the contrary of the other.

• …former government analyst Daniel Ellsberg…

Finance

• This is one of several, very interesting revelations from the GAI report on corruption within the Obama Justice Department. And remember, in our bought and paid for system, what you will read is completely legal.

PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

• The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) appears to be anticipating an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audit, after multiple complaints challenging the “corporate bill mill’s” charitable status, based on documents recently obtained by Bloomberg News.

• “Meaningful action” has been thwarted, largely because of the power and wealth of the National Rifle Association (NRA). One of the key avenues it has used to exert its influence is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). For decades, the NRA has helped bankroll ALEC operations and even co-chaired ALEC’s “Public Safety and Elections Task Force,” where it secretly voted on bills alongside elected representatives. At ALEC’s annual meeting this summer, the NRA had the biggest booth at the convention in Salt Lake City and also underwrote a shooting event along with one of the largest sellers of assault weapons in the world.

Censorship

• Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group welcomed the Department for Education response to their consultation on parental controls.

• The response says that default filters and pre-filled forms encouraging filtering will not be pursued. Instead, parents will be asked to install filters and be given help to choose age appropriate settings.

• Google on Wednesday tweaked its SafeSearch setting and images search algorithm, significantly altering its search results: previously explicit searches have stopped returning explicit results. The ICM Registry contacted TNW to let us know that Search.xxx, the porn-only search engine, has seen a 50 percent increase in traffic during the last 24 hours.

• As online freedom comes under attack from big business and governments alike, Jennifer Granick assesses the legal landscape

• Facebook pays low-wage foreign workers to delete certain content based upon a censorship list. For example, Facebook deletes accounts created by any Palestinian resistance groups.

Civil Rights

• With the post 9/11 rise of the leviathan national security state, the rule of law in the United States under the Constitution is increasingly rule by secrecy, surveillance and executive fiat.

Internet/Net Neutrality

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

• Music industry group the BPI has threatened legal action against six members of the UK Pirate Party, after the party refused to take its Pirate Bay proxy offline. BPI seems to want to hold the individual members of the party responsible for copyright infringements that may occurs via the proxy, which puts them at risk of personal bankruptcy. Pirate Party leader Loz Kaye criticized the latest music industry threats and reiterated that blocking The Pirate Bay is a disproportionate measure.

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