| Apr 05 |
Report: KDE Strides Ahead While Gnome Stagnates
KDE4 is a radical rewrite, and it lays the groundwork for a long and sustainable future. The long-term vision for Gnome is conservative and careful. While radical changes are upsetting, Gnome's conservatism could lead to an increasingly crufty and un-sustainable code base. Bruce Byfield gazes into his crystal ball and predicts what the future holds for both. |
| Apr 05 |
Tip: Viewing and Changing Ext2/3 File Attributes With chattr and lsattr
The chattr (change attributes) command allows you to view and change the attributes of the ext2 and ext3 filesystems, such as setting the immutable bit, synchronous writes, and append-only. Juliet Kemp shows us how. |
| Apr 05 |
OpenMoko GTA03 cancelled
Those who have been waiting for the next-generation OpenMoko phone (called
"GTA03" or "3D7K") will be disappointed; OpenMoko has come to the
conclusion that it will not be able to successfully complete the project.
Instead, the company will work, for now, on making the FreeRunner phone
actually work and on a mysterious "Project B". For more information,
see this post by OpenMoko marketing chief
Steve Mosher. "As it was defined, it is dead. So how do we get to a
new GTA03? Two requirements: continue to improve GTA02; deliver on project
B. What is GTA03 and when do we get there? There are a number of
independent efforts out there that are pitching me ideas for GTA03. I
talked to sean a bit about this and I'd like to try to open up more of the
design process and the marketing process to the community."
See also: the
slides from Sean Moss-Pultz's ESC talk [PDF].
|
| Apr 03 |
Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry (New York Times)
The New York Times takes a
look at the netbook revolution. "Netbook makers have turned to Linux, an open-source operating system that costs $3 instead of the $25 that Microsoft typically charges for Windows XP. They are also exploring the possibility of using the Android operating system from Google, originally designed for cellphones. (Companies like Acer, Dell and Hewlett-Packard already sell some Atom-based netbooks with Linux.)" (Thanks to Mark Tall)
|
| Apr 03 |
Tutorial: Getting Rid of Nasty Adobe Flash Cookies the Cool Linux Way
In Part 1 we learned about the not very well-known Adobe Flash cookies, how to find them on your Linux system, and how to use Adobe's Web-based Flash cookie manager. Today Carla Schroder is going to show us how to deal with Flash cookies using ordinary Linux commands, which unlike the Adobe manager are nice and fast and don't require an Internet connection. |
| Apr 03 |
Shortening the rope
There are many things which could be said to be a part of the Unix
philosophy. One of those, certainly, is that the operating system should
stay out of the user's way to the greatest extent possible, even if said
user is intent on doing something harmful. There is a classic quote
attributed to Eric Allman: "Unix gives you just enough rope to hang
yourself -- and then a couple of more feet, just to be sure."
Recently, some attempts by developers to shorten that rope a bit have run
into criticism; click below (subscribers only) for the full article.
|
| Apr 03 |
Samsung's Android Phone Plans (Forbes)
Forbes reports
that Samsung has plans to release several Android devices this year.
"Despite a fanatical amount of interest from the tech media and early
adopters, Samsung has mostly kept quiet about its plans to develop phones
using Google's mobile platform, Android. But at the CTIA Wireless trade
show, an executive shared with Forbes some details about the company's
Android strategy."
|
| Apr 03 |
Security advisories for Friday
Debian has updated moodle (arbitrary
file access).
Gentoo has updated openfire
(multiple vulnerabilities), glib
(attacker-supplied code execution), gnumeric (untrusted python modules search
path).
rPath has updated openssl (denial
of service).
SUSE has updated kernel (SLE 9:
multiple vulnerabilities), java (multiple
vulnerabilities), kernel (SLE 10: multiple
vulnerabilities).
|
| Apr 03 |
O'Reilly Open Source Convention Reveals Program and Opens Registration
Registration has opened for the 11th OSCON, scheduled for July 20-24, 2009
in the new location of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose,
California. The early registration period is open until June 2.
|
| Apr 03 |
Review: SUSE Linux Desktop 11, the Enterprise Linux Desktop
Novell's SUSE Linux Desktop 11 promises support, seamless interoperability with Windows networks, an attractive price tag, and a lot of value. Paul Ferrill takes a close look to see if it lives up to its promises.
|
| Apr 03 |
Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 Beta released
The beta release of the "Ubuntu Netbook Remix" - a version of the upcoming
"Jaunty" release optimized for small systems - is now available. "This is the first release of UNR to be fully
integrated into the Ubuntu family, fully up to date with the latest
applications and hardware support."
|
| Apr 03 |
Stable kernel update 2.6.29.1
The first 2.6.29 update has been released.
"There's many bugfixes all over the tree, but this should
specifically fix the networking issues people had w/ 2.6.29. As usual,
you're encouraged to upgrade."
|
| Apr 02 |
Android and Open Source (ABN)
Here is a serious criticism of the Android project posted to the Android Blogging Network. "In a successful hybrid open/closed project, the open source releases drive the closed source forks. Witness Apache httpd (open) and IBM httpd (closed). They have the same codebase, and - shockingly - its not the one in IBMÂ’s secret dungeons that generates new releases. IBM does do their own set of releases, but they work just like everyone else - by taking changes from the open tree and integrating their closed code.
Google works with Android in exactly the opposite way - development is done mainly in secret, and occasionally someone takes the time to audit it and dump a huge, unmanageable set of changes into the open source tree."
|
| Apr 02 |
HP Interviews Android for Netbook Position (TechNewsWorld)
TechNewsWorld
reports
that HP is considering the use of the Android platform for its Netbooks.
"HP has confirmed it is considering Google's Android operating system for use in upcoming netbook computers.
However, the company has not set a time line for deciding whether to offer Android exclusively or as one of several OS options for its products, if at all, according to Marlene Somsak, an HP spokesperson.
"We are studying Android. We want to assess its capabilities," she told LinuxInsider.
If HP decides in favor of using Android, it could well become the first major PC vendor to use Google's OS, currently deployed in smartphones."
|
| Apr 02 |
Thursday Security Updates
CentOS has updated
kernel (multiple vulnerabilities).
Debian has updated
icu (insufficient input sanitizing).
Fedora 9 has updated
moodle (multiple vulnerabilities).
Fedora 10 has updated
moodle (multiple vulnerabilities).
Mandriva has updated
gstreamer plugins (denial of service).
|
| Apr 02 |
KDE 4.2.2 released
Version 4.2.2 of KDE has been
announced.
"The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of "Cano", (a.k.a KDE 4.2.2), another bugfix and maintenance update for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop. Cano is a monthly update to KDE 4.2." See the
change log
for more information.
|
| Apr 02 |
Tutorial: GUI Programming in Python For Beginners: Create a Timer in 30 Minutes
Python programming is all the rage because it is clean, easy to learn, and powerful. It supports creating both command-line and graphical applications, and has at least four good toolkits for writing graphical applications. Akkana Peck introduces us to Tkinter, and shows us how to create an all-purpose timer (for cooking and other reminders for absent-minded geeks) in one lesson |
| Apr 02 |
TomTom Settlement Aftermath: Get the FAT Out (Groklaw)
Groklaw
recommends a FAT-free diet to avoid Microsoft patent liability issues.
"The Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin got the same message from the TomTom story that I did: just get rid of Microsoft's FAT filesystem:
"The technology at the heart of this settlement is the FAT filesystem. As acknowledged by Microsoft in the press release, this file system is easily replaced with multiple technology alternatives. The Linux Foundation is here to assist interested parties in the technical coordination of removing the FAT filesystem from products that make use of it today."
OK. Sounds like a plan. There clearly is no "new" Microsoft, and they have evidenced now a lack of interest in any real interoperability with FOSS."
|
| Apr 02 |
A GNOME 3.0 plan
Vincent Untz has posted a lengthy proposal for a plan that would see a
GNOME 3.0 release happening around the same time as the GNOME 2.30 release -
about one year from now, in other words. The core of 3.0 would be the GNOME Shell and GNOME Zeitgeist projects,
but there is more to it than that. "There's one obvious question related to those potential changes: what
will happen to the old way of doing things? For example, will we still
make the GNOME Panel available if, for some reason, people are not
immediately happy with GNOME Shell? There's no obvious answer to this,
and this will have to be discussed."
|
| Apr 01 |
Report: Does Linux Need Hard Times To Succeed?
As economic times get hard, classical economic theory tells us that expensive goods suffer the most. But lower cost doesn't mean compromising on quality; Paul Rubens examines what it will take to accelerate Linux adoption in the enterprise. |
| Apr 01 |
LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 2, 2009
The LWN.net Weekly Edition for April 2, 2009 is available.
|
| Apr 01 |
Report: OpenMoko Smart Phone: Open Linux, Open Hardware, No Britney Spears
Imagine owning a smart phone that you can hack just as freely as a PC. OpenMoko is an embedded Linux-based mobile platform, and the Neo Freerunner is OpenMoko's slick little touch-screen smart phone that runs OpenMoko. Unlike other mobile platforms that are open in buzzword only, OpenMoko is a genuinely open hardware and software platform. Carla Schroder investigates this radical new approach to mobile devices. |
| Apr 01 |
Intel Turns Over Its Linux Operating System (NY Times)
The New York Times reports
that it will be handing control of the Moblin distribution (recently reviewed by LWN) to the Linux
Foundation. "Intel will maintain strong control over the software
since it employs the top Moblin developers. But that could change over time
as outside developers show interest in the software."
|
| Apr 01 |
Rackable Systems acquires SGI
SGI has announced
that it has been acquired by Rackable Systems Inc. The purchase price
is "approximately $25 million."
|
| Apr 01 |
Wednesday's security updates
Fedora has updated seamonkey (F10:
multiple vulnerabilities) and glib2 (F9:
integer overflows).
Mandriva has updated thunderbird
(multiple vulnerabilities) and firefox
(3.0.8 upgrade).
Red Hat has updated the kernel
(multiple vulnerabilities).
|
