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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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New Weather Application Needs Testing And Feedback
18 minutes ago
Those of you who visit my homepage know that I work closely with WeatherBug in a consulting capacity. After much work on the by the WeatherBug software developers, I am thrilled to announce that they have released a Java based application into the wilds of the Linux world. Available both in Deb and RPM format, this self-contained app will install easily on most popular Linux distributions. Just remember to make sure that Java is already installed first. if you need help with that, do not hesitate to leave me a comment below for immediate help as always. -
Red Hat's man is back in town
17 hours, 18 minutes ago
As an intern at Red Hat in 2003, Michael Chen was no go-fer. He didn't fetch coffee or make copies. He helped craft the Raleigh software company's strategy for entering the Chinese market. Soon after earning an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, he headed to Beijing to oversee Red Hat's operations in the greater China region. -
Happy Third Anniversary GoblinX
18 hours, 18 minutes ago
The GoblinX Team is celebrating its third anniversary of life. The very first edition was released at October, 28 2004. -
The Perfect Desktop - Linux Mint 3.1 Celena FE
19 hours, 18 minutes ago
This document describes how to set up a Linux Mint 3.1 full edition desktop. The result is a fast, secure and extendable system that provides all you need for daily work and entertainment. Linux Mint 3.1 builds upon Ubuntu Feisty and is compatible to its repositories - about 22.000 packages are available.
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The Past 12 Linux Kernels Benchmarked
20 hours, 18 minutes ago
Taking a break from our graphics excitement last week with the release of AMD's 8.42.3 Display Driver, we have finished our largest (and most time consuming) Linux performance comparison to date. We have taken the last 12 major kernel releases, from Linux 2.6.12 to Linux 2.6.23, built them from source and set out on a benchmarking escapade. This testing also includes the Linux 2.6.24-rc1 kernel. From these benchmarks you can see how the Linux kernel performance has matured over the past two and a half years. -
Asian Governments Promote Open Source Development
21 hours, 18 minutes ago
Asian governments are pivotal to Red Hat Inc.'s goal of earning 60 percent of its revenue from outside the US by the end of 2009, said Matthew Szulik, the company's chairman, chief executive officer, and president, in a conference call on Thursday. -
Meet Doxygen Maintainer - Dimitri van Heesch
22 hours, 18 minutes ago
Blue GNU interviews Dimitri van Heesch, founder and maintainer of the Doxygen project, to learn more about about how developers can manage their documentation. -
Debbie is still running.
23 hours, 18 minutes ago
Uptime is not a criteria I've applied to Debbie or any other Home Server generally because the current hardware was not selected for its “green” power characteristics. It was what I had on hand when I put the system together. -
Review Prog. Collective Intelligence
1 day, 1 hour ago
Machine learning algorithms are at the heart of many of the most successful modern web sites and applications - from search algorithms to generating product recommendations, matching user interests to finding a date, machine learning is as essential as a fancy front-end with all the eye-candy you can muster. For those not versed in these arts, machine learning, data mining and knowledge discovery can be intimidatingly mathematical and conceptually difficult to understand. However, Programming Collective Intelligence, by Toby Segaran, sets out to make a variety of machine learning algorithms accessible to the average Joe programming a social networking or data-driven web application. -
ReviewLinux.com: Linux Mint 4.0 - An Elegant Linux
1 day, 2 hours ago
Linux Mint 4.0 Beta was released yesterday October 26 2007 and I thought I would have a quick look at it. Linux Mint is not packed full of software but it does have a great look and well worth looking at. Check out the images as well as the Flash Video of Linux Mint 4.0 Beta in action. -
First Beta of Linux Mint 4.0 Released
1 day, 17 hours ago
Following the huge success of Cassandra and Bianca, the Linux Mint developers continue their success with a brand new version of their free operating system, Linux Mint 4.0, codename Daryna. -
PC games on Sony PS3 using Game Streams: bad for Xbox 360
1 day, 19 hours ago
Q4 of 2007 will see a Linux version released that enables PC games to be played on the PlayStation 3 and it does not stop there, as they also claim the games can be played on other devices like mobile phones, media devices, set top boxes and DVD players. This is going to be amazing. -
Saxnet intros Meshnode III mesh networking router
1 day, 20 hours ago
n' for a WLAN router with a 500MHz AMD processor within? If you're frantically waving your hand in a futile attempt to say yes, Saxnet's got your goods. -
ATI releases Catalyst 7.10 drivers for Linux desktops
1 day, 21 hours ago
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Ars at FOSSCamp and the Ubuntu Developer Summit
1 day, 22 hours ago
FOSSCamp and the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) are taking place in Boston this week and we are there to get the inside scoop. Unlike typical conferences, these gatherings aim to provide a venue for active open source software developers to collaborate on programming projects and plan future development. - More News
UberScript lets you do more with XChat
I've been using the XChat IRC client for many years. The only thing I find lacking in it is a list of favorite channels. The Uberscript plugin, written in Perl, adds a favorites list to XChat, and also allows you to do things like auto greet users when they join a channel and hide nick changes, quit, and join messages.
New York Times opens up code
The New York Times likes open source -- so much so that, as it gradually moves more of its print operations online, it is nurturing a Web development team that has released two of its own open source projects.
An interview with ToorCon founder David "h1kari" Hulton (video)
When I attended my first ToorCon this month, I spoke with David "h1kari" Hulton, founder and chairman of the event, to learn more about its history and intent.
Going all-in with PokerTH
According to Wikipedia, Texas Hold'em is "the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States." With the GPL-licensed multiplatform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X) PokerTH, you can play Texas Hold'em against up to six computer opponents on your desktop, or you can join an Internet server and play against other real players.
Vixta: Nice concept, incomplete execution
Vixta is a new Linux distribution, first released only last month, based on the not-yet-released Fedora 8. Its main objective is to emulate the visual aspects of Microsoft Vista. Version 095 contains the newest, and sometimes unstable, versions of software. The project's goals include being free in every sense, requiring absolutely no configuration, and being user-friendly, eye-catching, and familiar. Too bad the goals don't include feature-complete and stable.
Profitability first, then open source, works for Projity
Projity is a company that provides two alternatives to Microsoft's popular Project application. Project-On-Demand is software-as-a-service (SAAS) code that runs in any browser and is available via a monthly subscription. OpenProj is a desktop version of the application that is built on Java and is licensed with the Common Public Attribution License (CPAL). Though Projity only recently "open sourced" its project management application, CEO Marc O'Brien says that the company's plan "the entire time" was to eventually do just that.
FSF Compliance Lab online meeting addresses license questions
The Free Software Foundation's (FSF) Free Software Licensing and Compliance Lab held a public question and answer session in an IRC meeting last night. The meeting was conducted by Brett Smith, the licensing compliance engineer at the FSF. Smith began by addressing some of the recent FUD surrounding the GPLv3 license, then moved on to answering some of the questions and misconceptions regarding it.
Forbes columnist Dan Lyons says he really likes Linux, no matter what anyone else says (video)
During a session at the 2007 Online News Association conference in Toronto, Canada, I had a chance to point my video camera at Forbes columnist (and Fake Steve Jobs blogger) Dan Lyons. He told me that people who say he dislikes Linux are not being fair to him; that out of 70 articles he's written about Linux, 67 have been positive, and he absolutely denies that he is paid by Microsoft to write what he does about Linux, Apple, or anything else.
Ubuntu 7.10 is outstanding
Canonical this month released Ubuntu 7.10, codenamed Gutsy Gibbon. Like the Feisty Fawn release before it, Gutsy is a bleeding-edge distribution with a focus on new features and the newest free software applications. It's a speedy operating system with great new features and only a few minor issues.
Microsoft-based consultancy builds business on open source software
R2integrated (R2i) is a Microsoft shop that has discovered how well open source software and communities can build a solid business. Principal Chris Chodnicki says it was a customer request that turned the technology consultancy toward DotNetNuke (DNN), an open source Web application framework.
X/OS is an undistinguished Red Hat clone
X/OS Linux is a distribution built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux sources. Its developers claim it was created "to provide a hassle-free enterprise-class Linux operating system without usage terms tied to commercial services." I downloaded it expecting I might find all the refinement of Red Hat along with some improvements and the community one expects to find growing around free software. It seems I set my expectations too high.
Learn and teach geometry and algebra with GeoGebra
GeoGebra, a GPL-licensed teaching and learning tool that integrates geometry, algebra, and calculus, benefits both teachers and students alike. Developed by Markus Hohenwarter at Florida Atlantic University, GeoGebra constructs geometrical figures and demonstrates the relationship between geometry and algebra. GeoGebra can help you create interactive demonstrations and precise images of geometric figures for inclusion in teaching and testing materials.
San Diego's ToorCon keeps hackers current
ToorCon 9, a hacker's convention, kicked off with registration and a reception Friday evening in the San Diego Convention Center. Keynotes and the talks were held Saturday and Sunday. This was my first time at ToorCon, and I learned why it is so highly regarded among the hacker community. It's good.
Query your processes under X with Qps
When it comes to managing processes, many people use old reliable commands such as ps, top, kill, and nice. These commands are handy, useful, and found in every Linux distribution. However, sometimes a GUI process manager can be useful, especially when you're trying to teach new Linux system administrators who aren't used to shell interfaces. Qps Visual Process Manager is a GUI ps substitute that lets you sort, manipulate, and manage processes.
Fedora 8 renews tradition of innovations
Not all major software versions carry the same weight. Consider the last two releases of the Fedora distribution. Fedora 7 offered little that was obvious to desktop users, despite some behind-the-scenes improvements and the opening of the release process to public scrutiny. By contrast, if Test 3 of Fedora 8 is any indication, the upcoming release, scheduled for next month, returns to the distribution's tradition of introducing a variety of innovations. Some of these innovations, like the new firewall tool, are minor, if still welcome. Others, like the IcedTea version of Java and Codec Buddy, are flawed, but may eventually find their way into other distributions.
License change makes software more attractive for the community
Dimdim calls itself the world's first free Web meeting service based on an open source platform. Users can share their desktops and files while chatting and videoconferencing with meeting participants. Dimdim was originally licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), but the possibility of a big deal with a university made Dimdim executives eventually change to the GNU General Public License (GPL) instead. By changing the software's license from the MPL to the GPL, "we are making it easier for the community to use our product," says Dimdim founder DD Ganguly.
Going places with openSUSE's SCPM
Reconfiguring your laptop's wireless network settings every time you go to a new client's office or a friend's house can be tiresome, and carrying around little papers with notes about network names, keys, and IP addresses doesn't seem too professional. openSUSE's System Configuration Profile Management (SCPM) can help.
Extending Nautilus context menus with Nautilus-actions
There are literally dozens of plugins and extensions for Nautilus, the default file manager on the GNOME desktop environment, but there is just one that allows you to customize the Nautilus context menu items. The Nautilus-actions extension enables you to add customized entries to the context menu such that, when you right-click a file, the context menu will show options specific to that file.
Where does Linux go from here?
Linux is now mainstream -- so mainstream, in fact, that two of the top three Linux distributions are commercially successful operations, and the third aims to be. Every day, more and more old-school IT firms shake off their initial doubts, get in line behind their customers, and try Linux and other free software projects. In the face of such success, will Linux remain true to its free software ideals and to the community which created it? Or will it morph into a corporate byproduct, driven by the bottom line, and complacent with all forms of predatory intellectual property (IP), including software patents and closed, proprietary standards which are standard fare in the IT industry.
GPLv3 adoption on track, experts say
How is the third version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) being received four months after its official release? Not well, if you believe the Evans Data survey released on September 25. However, those who concern themselves with licensing issues at the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and at Palamida, a company that advises customers on issues that surround free and open software (FOSS), paint a different picture. According to these FOSS experts, adoption of GPLv3 is going as expected, and, while reasons for caution exist, the new version is likely to replace GPLv2 some time in the next few years. As for the Evans Data survey, they suggest that the information released overgeneralizes a complex situation.
