● 05.14.15

● Links 15/5/2015: Skrooge Releases, Linux 3.14.42, Linux 3.10.78

Posted in News Roundup at 9:07 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

• I would consider myself an unlikely Linux ambassador. Not that I hide any Linux use or fascination but that I am not out there on a mission to encourage or convert people to Linux. Mostly it would be an occasional conversation about me using Linux for something or a conversation where I am explaining that there are more operating systems then just Windows or OS X. Most of the time my Linux conversations are with those that already have some connection to Linux. To be honest I have probably been a much bigger “Ambassador” to LibreOffice than to Linux; and I am not an uber LibreOffice or ODF fan boy but one that believes for most basic users it will work just fine without all the Microsoft expense. All of that has taken a slight detour within the past couple of weeks.

Desktop

• Some Windows partners, such as Dell, offer Linux-based operating systems as an alternative, but this is few and far between. HP, however, is planing to sell machines in Russia running the Ubuntu operating system. I suppose you could say the company is Putin (puttin’) Linux on the desktop there!

• Like many companies, your company may depend on Linux for its main operating system. For nearly a quarter century, Linux has been pivotal for organizations all over the world. While it definitely comes with a number of benefits, it’s important to remember that any system built on Linux is still susceptible to old age. After enough time, your software could even become obsolete. According to Gartner, for example, the average data center is nine years old. However, after seven years, Gartner says that these data centers begin becoming outmoded. This helps illustrate why legacy modernization is such a vital process to carry out regularly.

Kernel Space

• I’m announcing the release of the 3.14.42 kernel.

• Just this morning the major VENOM security vulnerability was made public while a few hours later, a kernel developer has gone public with four “remote packet of death” vulnerabilities affecting a mainline Linux kernel WLAN driver.

Graphics Stack

• After only two days from the announcement of Firefox 38.0, Mozilla pushed the first point release of the web browser to users worldwide via the built-in updater.

Applications

• As we all know, we must have an Internet connection in our Linux system for downloading and installing applications, right? Yes of course! But wait, what are you going to do if you don’t have an Internet connection, or the Internet connection is dead slow? This will be definitely a headache while downloading and installing packages in your Linux desktop using slow Internet connection.

Instructionals/Technical

Games

• I’ve worked over the last few days in my coding cave to bring a new feature, a release calendar for Linux games!

• Arduboy, a new pocket-sized 8-bit game device, has ignited a firestorm of interest on Kickstarter. With 27 days to go, the campaign already has drawn contributions of more than eight times its modest $25k goal.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

• The Skrooge Team announces the release 1.12.0 version of its popular Personal Finances Manager based on KDE Frameworks.

• The Skrooge Team announces the availability of 1.99.75 version of its popular Personal Finances Manager based on KDE Frameworks. This is a Beta version intended for users willing to help us by testing the KF5 port before the final Release.

• Most of us know we shouldn’t let our containers detach. QList, QVector, QString, etc. are implicitly shared. Copying them is cheap, but when we call a non const member function it will detach and trigger a deep copy.

• Qt 5.5 has been running behind schedule for some time while now The Qt Company is trying to get it back on track and to officially ship Qt 5.5 by the end of next month.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

• I must to congrat all the enthusiasm and effort from many young students supported by experienced people, leaded by Estu Fardani. There are lots of Linux users in Indonesia and I saw the willing to contribute with the GNOME project. I met Estu in person and I found more friendly local people: my new dear friend Deetah, Harris, Utian, Aris, Kukuh, Fahmi, Moco, Pico, Siska, Lenin & the awsome Sendy!

• The second update of GNOME 3.16 is out with many bug fixes, documentation improvements, translations updates, and more. We hope you’ll like it.

• GNOME 3.16.2 was announced this afternoon by Red Hat’s Matthias Clasen. The GNOME 3.16.2 release contains numerous bug fixes, documentation updates, translation updates, and other minor work. GNOME 3.16.2 release information can be found via this mailing list post.

• We reported earlier this week that the hard-working developers behind the acclaimed GNOME desktop environment used by default in numerous GNU/Linux distributions, including Ubuntu GNOME and Fedora, are preparing the second and last point release of GNOME 3.16.

• The GNOME Project has just announced the general availability of the GNOME 3.16.2 desktop environment, the second and last maintenance release of the 3.16 series.

Distributions

• There are many different Linux distributions, and some last for longer periods of time than others. Foresight Linux is a distribution that has finally reached the end of the road, and will no longer be developed.

Reviews

• Today, we take a closer look at a brand-new edition of the popular Arch Linux-based Manjaro operating system, Manjaro Pantheon, created by a member of the Manjaro community by the name of Stefano Capitani.

New Releases

• I’m happy to announce the release of ConnochaetOS 14.1.

Red Hat Family

• Red Hat CloudForms and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Earn Prestigious Industry Recognition

Fedora

• There’s one gripe I continue to have with DNF but at least it doesn’t mean the end of the world… DNF is mostly a drop-in replacement to the Yum command and when calling yum on Fedora 22 it will end up redirecting to dnf. One of the few exceptions though to where DNF is a drop-in replacement for Yum is supporting the –skip-broken argument.

• For those curious how the performance of Fedora 22 is shaking out, here’s some early benchmarks comparing the Fedora Workstation 21 and Fedora Workstation 22 (with all updates as of the final freeze) in various workloads.

• Plenty of Fedora 22 benchmarks are in the works now that this Red Hat backed Linux distribution is gearing up for release and has settled down with its many changes and new features. The Fedora 22 state tested was with the Linux 4.0.2 kernel, GNOME Shell 3.16.1, Mesa 10.5.4, and GCC 5.1.1 while using an EXT4 file-system. On the same exact Intel ultrabook, Fedora 21 was also re-benchmarked both in stock form and with all available updates as of 12 May.

Debian Family

• Univention, through Maren Abatielos, had the great pleasure of informing Softpedia about the immediate availability for download of the second point release of their Debian-based Univention Corporate Server 4.0 Linux operating system.

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

• SAMSUNG HAS ANNOUNCED the Artik 1 MIPS32-based Internet of Things (IoT)-sympathetic motherboard.

• The dual-core processor, powered by two MIPS microAptiv cores in a high-low 250MHz/80MHz configuration, also includes Bluetooth Smart (LE), flash storage and a crypto-engine.

• Today, May 13, we report that the Ubuntu Kernel Team, through Kamal Mostafa, is proud to announce that they will keep the 3.19 kernel branch alive for one more year, until July 2016, especially for their Ubuntu 15.04 operating system.

• The stable branch of the Ubuntu Touch operating system is currently based on Ubuntu 14.10, but it’s about to move to Ubuntu 15.04. That means the development version of the mobile operating system is about to switch to Ubuntu 15.10.

• Canonical has revealed details about a Libtasn1 vulnerability that has been found and fixed in Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.04 operating systems.

Devices/Embedded

• The distributor’s Open Source Hardware Technology website now has an updated product selector which allows users to select a board from 30 different parameters including processor type and speed, memory and expansion capabilities, wireless and wired networking, user interface options, video connectivity.

• THE CHIP ‘MICRO-COMPUTER’ that costs just $9 (£5.85) has reached over $1m in funding just four days after arriving on Kickstarter.

• The Raspberry Pi B+, which was previously priced at $35, has had its price cut to just $25. The price cuts have already gone into effect on the primary Raspberry Pi stockist websites: RS Components in the UK (£16) and MCM Electronics in the US ($25).

• According to Raspberry Pi, the price reduction was made possible by “production optimizations,” though no specifics were given. At first glance, there don’t appear to be any board- or component-level changes, though Raspberry Pi might not have updated its product images yet.

Phones

Tizen

• Samsung India have teamed up with union micro, small and medium enterprises ministry on Wednesday to open MSME-Samsung Digital Academy, which will offer courses to train young developers in the fine art of Tizen application development. We have already seen Tizen on the Samsung Z1 Smartphone, Samsung 2015 range of TVs and there is more to come.

• Use the application to get real time stock quotes on BSE and NSE, Sensex, Nifty, and other Indian and Global market Indices, manage and keep track of your investment portfolio, watch CNBC-TV18, CNBC AWAAZ, CNBC Prime HD and CNBC Bajar Live and get in-depth coverage & analysis of financial markets, economy and business.

Android

• The Nexus 4 Android 5.1.1 update is confirmed, the Nexus 6 Android 5.1.1 update is confirmed and the Nexus 5 Android 5.1.1 release is imminent.

• Samsung did a pretty good job updating its flagship devices to Lollipop, but with Google moving the goal posts by releasing Android 5.1, the Korean giant found itself playing OTA catch-up once again.

• Sprint is giving its Galaxy S4 Spark and Note 2 customers some Android 5.0 Lollipop loving after recently releasing the said update last May 8.

• Google’s bid to democratize Android just reached Europe. The internet giant has announced that Turkey will get its first Android One smartphone, the General Mobile 4G, on May 15th. The device is strictly middling given its 5-inch 720p display, Snapdragon 410 processor, 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front cam, but it will be the first Android One device to offer LTE. It’s fairly affordable, too, at about $263 contract-free. There’s no mention of where Google’s initiative will go next, but the company hints that Turkey might not be the last European nation to get an Android One phone — you may eventually find one sitting in a shop near you.

• The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge are shipped with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop out of the box, but both S6 models are poised to receive the most recent Android 5.1 Lollipop upgrade in the next month, Canadian carrier Rogers’ Community Forums page reveals.

• We’ve seen Android 5.1.1 roll out to the Nexus 9, the aging Nexus 10, and the underwhelming Nexus Player. Now it looks like the latest version of Android is ready to come to phones.

• Similar to other Android Lollipop updates, AT&T will be releasing the over-the-air package in stages. As such, users will have to wait a bit more to finally receive the update in their tablets, ranging from a wait of a few days to perhaps as long as a couple of weeks.

• You take a lot of pictures with your smartphone. Whether it’s a top-of-the-line shooter like the Galaxy S6 or a middle-of-the-road device it’s always at the ready for that photogenic moment.

• According to Sprint support, the Nexus 5 is set to receive an update this week to Android 5.1.1 build LMY48B (Sprint says it was supposed to start May 11). The update is listed as being nothing more than the update to 5.1.1 with included “security enhancements.” Tough to say what those security enhancements are, but in general, the update is expected to be quite minor.

• One of the great things about top Android smartphones is that the older they get, the more affordable they become, since newer models come along and retailers start cutting the price of the older handsets. So if you’re not really interested in buying one of the latest Android flagships available in stores right now, you can always look for a better deal a top-shelf model that’s a year old or even just a few months old.

• The Nexus 4 Android 5.1.1 update is confirmed which means that owners of the aging former flagship should be making the jump from Android 5.1 Lollipop soon. With that in mind, we take a look at what you can expect from Google and its Nexus 4 Android 5.1.1 release.

• It looks like Moto E (2nd Gen) 4G LTE owners are in for a treat today, as Motorola appears to be pushing out an update to Android 5.1. The update is arriving on phones as build 23.11.15, which is the same version we first outed a week ago when we pointed out the fact that Motorola was on the verge of unleashing a wave of 5.1 updates to a variety of devices.

• According to an OS Upgrade report published by Canadian phone company Rogers Wireless, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones are expected to receive the Android 5.1 software update next month. Since Rogers Wireless is expecting an Android 5.1 update before the end of June, it means many other phone carriers will also likely offer the upgrade around the same time or earlier.

• Meerkat has not only beaten its Twitter-owned rival Periscope to Android devices, it’s also shed its Beta phase according to a Tweet published Wednesday. The Meerkat for Android live streaming video apps operates just as its iOS counterpart does, allowing users to share real-time feeds with their Twitter followers. Conversely, Periscope’s Android debut is still coming “soon! We’re working on it,” per a post on the app’s blog published April 1st.

• Last week I was stuck with an iPad to do some pending work. I was traveling and my laptop broke leaving me with my Nexus 6 and an iPad. That’s when I realized that Google Docs for iPad was in a sorry state (actually the whole iPad experience was extremely poor compared to Android, I will write about it some time later).

• Google has released Games in Motion, an open source game sample to demonstrate how developers can make games using Google Fit and Android Wear.

Free Software/Open Source

• In the FOSS world, people seem more likely to really see the person, not just the community they belong to. And from a person, they expect that they really and honestly feel sorry if they made a mistake. And they seem to be more forgiving if a FOSS contributor admits a mistake and apologizes than if a proprietary software company does. It’s not only individuals, though. It seems like even companies in the FOSS field are expected to be more open and honest than those in the proprietary software field.

• In an age when Microsoft (MSFT) is floating the idea of open-sourcing even Windows, it’s clear that open source has pretty much conquered the world of software—or the parts of it that matter, at least. But, in a lot of ways, the weight of open source is now extending into many other realms, defining how people interact and collaborate well beyond the context of computers. That’s a fascinating issue, and it gives the key to understanding what could be the ultimate legacy of the free and open source software movements.

• Buying the latest games will typically get you top-quality graphics and an iTunes-ready soundtrack, but that won’t necessarily translate into compelling gameplay. And even if it does, there’s no guarantee you’ll be kept entertained for more than a few hours. The solution? Try one of these open source takes on classic PC games.

• Sure, the graphics won’t be as good. There is no chance you’ll want to download the soundtrack, and there will probably be odd glitches and bugs here and there. But, you can be sure the central concept will be great (it’s what inspired the remake in the first place). It’ll have been developed by people who love it, rather than just because they want your cash. And as, in most cases, the projects are still evolving — with new features, content, missions, expansion packs — you’ll want to keep playing for a long, long time.

• A recent rules change to Google Adwords may make it easier for open source projects to protect their good reputation

• The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a group that promotes security best practices for cloud computing, is making progress on its plans to develop a software-defined perimeter (SDP) framework for protecting Internet-connected systems against a range of security threats.

Web Browsers

Mozilla

• We are a group of Free Software advocates from Melbourne Australia and supporters of the Mozilla Foundation and its goals. While we would usually hold Mozilla in high esteem, on this International Day Against DRM we feel compelled to join the FSF and Defective By Design in condemning Mozilla’s decision to include proprietary mechanisms (Encrypted Media Extensions) in Firefox.

• We understand that you are trying to do what makes content owners comfortable lest they not allow their content on your browser; you have outlined this in the article “DRM and the Challenge of Serving Users”. However it seems that your focus is on the short term, compromising your values to retain existing users, rather than protecting them in the longer term. That article significantly neglects any mention of the harms caused by such proprietary technologies, and how they lead users to inflict this harm upon themselves.

• The challenge is, going from the Firefox start page, find a way to download the FREE version, without using external websites (so no Google search).

SaaS/Big Data

• Orlando-based open source analytics company Pentaho is ‘in the process of being acquired’ by Hitachi Data Systems, but the brand appears strong enough to be retained 100% intact inside of the new parent company.

• Most PTL’s are elected because they are the most technical contributor on a particular project. They are rarely elected for leadership skills. Most of our top technical contributors struggle with leadership, and naturally shy away from it. This frequently leads to dysfunction in community dynamics, as the PTL continues to focus on contributing at a very high level, and puts limited effort into leadership work. Doing things like setting project vision, tracking and celebrating milestones, providing team members with actionable feedback, and sharing the project vision with community members outside the project are all good ways of exhibiting leadership. Doing those things as a part time effort can yield limited results in terms of team unity, and effectiveness. My suggestion to open source project leaders is to earmark considerable time for leadership work, and scale back direct contribution work. A well empowered, motivated, and effective team can produce much more velocity than a PTL individually focused on strong contribution, and ignoring leadership responsibilities in order to do it.

CMS

• As time went on, we simply continued to ride the open source path. We assembled a huge collection of functional applications we had built for client sites that could be added to and modified for new ones. Shopping carts, contact forms, opt-in email list managers, employment opportunity listings, content editors, slide shows, all built as open source using PHP.

• A few years later came the emergence of Content Management Systems, which contained—as a package—many of the functional elements we previously had relied upon our own resources to create. Drupal, Joomla!, WordPress, and others were emerging as the default new development platforms for most digital agencies who had followed the same path as ours.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

• The Free Software Foundation (FSF), a Boston-based 501(c)(3) charity with a worldwide mission to protect freedoms critical to the computer-using public, would love to find an experienced, Boston-based deputy director to expand our leadership team.

Licensing

• Back in 2010, the Linux Foundation first launched its Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) effort that helps to build out and identify software components in a standardized manner. Since then, use of SPDX has grown, and on May 12 the SPDX 2.0 specification was announced. The new specification aims to be even more comprehensive in helping organizations understand the open-source licenses that are used as part of an application deployment.

Openness/Sharing

• An open source project is currently in the works to build an electric vehicle powered by in-wheel motors.

• The goals are ambitious: 1) Build an electric vehicle with a minimum range of 186 miles that can theoretically be put into production and sold for under $22,700. 2) Share the design so that others can replicate or customize the platform. 3) Do it all in less than a year.

Leftovers

Hardware

• SSD performance is outstripping interfaces faster than standards bodies can make them

• The word is out: Your SSD won’t retain your data forever when you unplug it. Yup, you’ll never be able to go on vacation again without toting your SSD along. It’s incapable of surviving for two weeks without you, poor thing.

Security

• The new Windows malware, which is intended as a demonstration, is called WIN_JELLY and acts as a Remote Access Tool or Trojan (RAT)

• Tiversa would allegedly turn over “information” about these fake breaches to the FTC and push the agency to come down hard on the companies who refused to hire it. Once the FTC started asking questions, Tiversa would again approach these companies and ask them if they’d reconsidered the use of their services.

Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression

• Paul Wolfowitz not only championed the Iraq War—he obsessively promoted a bizarre conspiracy theory.

• Everybody in this country is perfectly aware of the fact that we were allies with the British, the French, and of course, the Americans whom we gloriously linked-up with on the River Elbe in April 1945. But we also remember how from the very beginning, in 1939, the West was hoping to orient Hitler to the East and make the German socialists and the Russian communists kill each other. Yes, Moscow did get tons of American supplies under the Lend-Lease Act passed in 1941, and the Northern convoys to Murmansk were a manifestation of real heroism by the Royal Navy. We also cherish the memory of the French Normandie-Niemen air squadron and Le Resistance, but the Russians will never forget that we had to suffer three long years, until our brothers in arms finally landed in Normandy in 1944. That reduced the distance between D-day and VE-Day for them to just 10 months, while for the Russians it was 46 long months of war… For the first time since 1941 Moscow really celebrated Victory on March, 26, 1944 – the day the Soviet troops crossed the River Prut and recaptured the state border. By the time the allies crossed the Channel three months later the Red Army had started its victorious march across Europe, liberating Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Norway. The heaviest price we paid during this operation was for ousting German troops from Poland: 600,000 Soviet soldiers were killed on Polish soil.

Transparency Reporting

• Rusbridger and his extraordinary wig go on and on as a pretend opposition outlet, their reputation much dented by recent hysterical unionist output which exceeds the Daily Express. But Rusbridger’s continued usefulness to the establishment is not in doubt. The pose of publishing the most harmless of Prince Charles’ letters does little to help a threadbare disguise.

Censorship

• A counter-terrorism bill including plans for extremism disruption orders designed to restrict those trying to radicalise young people is to be included in the Queen’s speech, David Cameron will tell the national security council on Wednesday.

• The orders, the product of an extremism task force set up by the prime minister, were proposed during the last parliament in March, but were largely vetoed by the Liberal Democrats on the grounds of free speech. They were subsequently revived in the Conservative manifesto.

Privacy

• Exposure to news, opinion and civic information increasingly occurs through social media. How do these online networks influence exposure to perspectives that cut across ideological lines? Using de-identified data, we examined how 10.1 million U.S. Facebook users interact with socially shared news. We directly measured ideological homophily in friend networks, and examine the extent to which heterogeneous friends could potentially expose individuals to cross-cutting content. We then quantified the extent to which individuals encounter comparatively more or less diverse content while interacting via Facebook’s algorithmically ranked News Feed, and further studied users’ choices to click through to ideologically discordant content. Compared to algorithmic ranking, individuals’ choices about what to consume had a stronger effect limiting exposure to cross-cutting content.

• The Intercept’s Lee Fang has highlighted a few examples of loud National Security Agency allies that have financial ties to the agency and mass surveillance. The list includes Stewart Baker, the general counsel to the NSA from 1992 through 1994, Fox News military analyst Jack Keane, Retired General Wesley Clark, former Central Intelligence Agency chief James Woolsey, former Republican National Committee chair Jim Gilmore, former NSA director Mike McConnell, and Center for Strategic and International Studies President John Hamre. They have surfaced regularly in the media to denounce Snowden, and in the case of Woolsey, to call for Snowden to be “hanged by his neck”.

• Due to the secretive nature of the agency’s work, NSA contracts are often shielded from public disclosure, and identifying financial links between pundits and the agency’s web of partners is tricky. But the work of journalists and whistleblowers such as James Bamford, who was assigned to an NSA unit while serving in the Navy, gives us a sense of which companies work for U.S. intelligence agencies. Drawing largely from these disclosures, The Intercept has identified several former government and military officials whose voices have shaped the public discourse around government spying and surveillance issues but whose financial ties to NSA contractors have received little attention. These pundits have played a key role in the public debate as the White House and the agency itself have struggled to defend the most controversial spying programs revealed by Snowden’s documents.

• The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday to dial back the once-secret National Security Agency program that collects and stores data from nearly every landline or cellphone call dialed or received in the United States.

• Senator Bob Corker, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, appears to now be calling for the NSA to spy on more Americans, rather than fewer, arguing that the metadata collection program that is currently being debated in Congress is so small that he considers it negligent.

• Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said Wednesday he was shocked to learn this week how little data the National Security Agency is actually amassing in its controversial collection of Americans’ phone records.

• The fact is, U.S. intelligence agencies knew of al-Mihdhar long before 9/11 and had the ability find him. In the years, months, and days before 9/11, the NSA already had access to a massive database of Americans’ call records. Analysts—at NSA or CIA—could have easily searched the database for calls made from the U.S. to the safehouse in Yemen. They simply didn’t.

Civil Rights

• A U.S. marshal was among four people cited for assault in an apparent case of road rage Sunday, authorities said.

• A man who was involved in the incident told a TV reporter that it began with a honk and moved to a parking lot, where a man in another vehicle approached him holding a gun and punched him in the face with it.

Internet/Net Neutrality

• Annoyance with the cable industry appears to have reached the tipping point, with consumers fed up with skyrocketing prices, inflexible programming options and some of the worst customer service in any U.S. industry. The cable industry’s ingenious solution? Stop using the word cable. Last week, the cable industry held its annual trade conference, previously dubbed “The Cable Show.” Trying to distance itself from the aging, negative associations with the word “cable,” the industry has decided to rename the conference The Internet & Television Expo.

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