Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

VirtualBox 3.0, with its improved 3D support, can ensure that some users won't need to boot Windows even when gaming. With its version 3.0 of VirtualBox, Innotek/Sun/Oracle made a significant step forward. End users will probably like the 3D graphics support the most: you can now run Ubuntu with Compiz. The new version brings enhancements and support for OpenGL 2.0.

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends, both at home and abroad. June was a very busy month for me, which is why there were so few postings and I wanted to jump on July with a really big bang, but I am having trouble finding a topic worth discussing. I could talk about my new netbook, an ASUS Eee PC that I picked up for a song, but it is still running Windows and while I have downloaded the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, I have not had time to unspool it and begin the install process. I have trolled my Twitter feeds looking for something exciting or provocative related to Open Source, but nothing, other than the release of Fedora 11 and Firefox 3.5 is jumping out at me and frankly neither is particularly news worth, despite the large number of people that are supposedly downloading both code sets.

As the Debian project releases a second update of its Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 ("Lenny") distribution, a controversy has broken out over the next version, "Squeeze." GNU guru Richard Stallman has warned that by including a Mono-based note-taking application called Tomboy, Debian runs the risk of Microsoft litigation over C# patents. Debian forms the basis for a number of desktop and embedded Linux distributions, including Ubuntu and Xandros. The second stable release, made available this week, is said to include numerous security fixes, as well as "a few adjustments to serious problems." But, the upcoming Squeeze release appears to have some serious problems, according to Debian insiders.

The PostgreSQL developers have released version 8.4 of the open source database saying it is "Now easier to use than ever". The release, which comes after sixteen months of development by the PostgeSQL Global Development Group, adds a number of new features such as per-column permissions which gives more control over which users can see which columns in a database.

The Triple Crown of Linux conferences — if there is one — is surely the Linux Symposium, the Linux Kongress, and linux.conf.au. It was just a month ago that we passed on the message to LinuxJournal.com readers that the time to get their name on the Kongress program was nigh, and now it is time to do the same for the southernmost jewel in the crown.

In June of 2007, after many months delay, the Free Software Software Foundation released GPLv3. Since that time, the license has been gaining an increased following, but without much threat to GPLv2 in first place.

"What ever happened to chunkfs?" This is a question I hear every few months, and I always answer the same way, "Chunkfs works, the overhead is reasonable, and it is only practical if it is part of the file system design from the beginning, not tacked on after the fact. I just need to write up the paper summarizing all the data." Thanks to your benevolent LWN editor, you are now reading that paper.

Less than 24 hours since it was released, Firefox 3.5 has already been downloaded more than four million times. According to Mozilla's Worldwide Firefox Downloads page, the major update to the open source Firefox web browser is currently being downloaded approximately 77 times every second all around the globe.

Next week, I'm taking part in a debate with a Microsoft representative about the passage of the OOXML file format through the ISO process last year. Since said Microsoftie can draw on the not inconsiderable resources of his organisation to provide him with a little back-up, I thought I'd try to even the odds by putting out a call for help to the unmatched resource that is the Linux Journal community. Here's the background to the meeting, and the kind of info I hope people might be able to provide.

It's easier than ever for Linux users to avoid closed, proprietary applications and drivers. But life is complex, and there are still times when a Linux user's choices are not as simple as FOSS/non-FOSS; for example, multimedia is a minefield of patented codecs, binary blobs, and DRM. So what's a freedom-loving Penguinista to do?

The Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) developers have announced the release of version 6.2 of their PowerPC distribution that runs on the Sony PlayStation 3 and other computers with Cell processors, including IBM's Cell blades. The new release upgrades the 64-bit Linux to 2.6.29 and includes components like IBM's Cell SDK version 3.1.0.1, as well as OpenOffice 3.0 and Firefox 3.06.

Fedora is a giant among giants, in the shadow of a giant from which it was born. But every giant is born of humble beginnings. So to understand the giant, you first have to understand from where they came. So let me take you through a short history of Fedora, and show you where it all began, and some of the interesting, if not curious steps that it took to become what it is today. To start with the very deepest roots, we need to look to the kernel that makes Fedora what it is: The Linux Kernel. That was first introduced in 1991 by a then college student named Linus Torvalds.

Sugar Labs has issued a LiveUSB version of its "Sugar" Linux distribution and educational software, used by One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)'s XO-1. "Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry Learning Platform" can be plugged into any netbook or PC, offering 40 activities designed for K-12 students.

Google's Linux-based mobile operating system — Android — has become a popular choice for phonemakers worldwide. Now, if Firefox developers are getting what they think they are, we may finally see the combination of Google's power OS with Mozilla's groundbreaking browser

After more than a year in development, Mozilla has finally released version 3.5 of its open source Firefox web browser. Previously intended as an incremental update, Firefox 3.5 now includes a number of welcome new features and performance improvements.

Google's Linux-based mobile operating system — Android — has become a popular choice for phonemakers worldwide. Now, if Firefox developers are getting what they think they are, we may finally see the combination of Google's power OS with Mozilla's groundbreaking browser

Vim is one of the most powerful text editors on any platform, and is full of time-saving shortcuts. Juliet Kemp shows us how to use Vim's map and abbreviation features to insert commonly-used words and phrases with a few keystrokes.

On the 15th of May 2009 the Modartt company announced the release of version 3.0.3 of their award-winning Pianoteq, a professional-quality digital keyboard instrument created by an audio synthesis method known as physical modeling. The program is vastly praised by its users, but in order to feel the love you've had to run a Windows machine or a Mac box. Until now, that is. The latest release introduces various new attractions, and the one that interests me the most is support for a native Linux version. Check it out, commercial music software's finest virtual keyboard instrument is now available for Linux.

The Ubuntu technical board appears to have decided that there is no significant cause for IP concern over Mono, the contentious clone of Microsoft's .NET development environment.

Debian's decision to include Mono in the default installation, for the sake of Tomboy which is an application written in C#, leads the community in a risky direction. It is dangerous to depend on C#, so we need to discourage its use.