Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Almost two years after its initial announcement, the Linux Solution Group (LiSoG) has now presented specificationsPDF for its OSDtBench (Open Source based Desktop Benchmark) desktop benchmark suite and demonstrated a prototype at LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin. According to LiSoG, public bodies in particular are placing increasing emphasis on benchmark results for comparing the performance of different computers.

In his keynote at the LinuxTag 2009 in Berlin, KDE founder Matthias Ettrich spoke about the future of user interfaces on mobile devices. In the process he presented QML, the newest development from his employer Qt Software.

In order to avoid this common mistake I often have my shell scripts prompt me for a yes or no answer before they proceed. The function described here is for doing that: asking a question and validating the answer.

Android developers can now slip native code into apps written for Android-based devices using Google's new native development kit (NDK). The Android 1.5 NDK, which was announced Thursday on the Android developers blog, doesn't actually allow developers to run completely native code on devices. Instead, it supports adding native code into apps written to run in Dalvik virtual machine (DVM) instances.

The middle of June, Yahoo! introduced a small change to its user login protocol that practically barred access from all Linux clients. IM services Pidgin and Kopete were hit and responded quickly. To protect its users from phishing scams, Yahoo! changed its login authentication protocol, as they announced June 16. The new protocol expected a specific authentication method version on the client end and refused access if it didn't match. IM services Pidgin and Kopete were recently affected by this.

In our 3rd post of our series on the efforts of OLPC, Santa Barbara, we will discuss the ways that the XO's have been used as learning tools our local 3rd grade classroom. Lets jump right into it...

Details of how Intel and Nokia will actually work together to create their brand-new category of not-a-smartphone, not-a-netbook mobile devices remain sketchy, but the first results will be open source software rather than any hardware platform.

Interested in Linux programming? Akkana Peck provides a handy guide to the best free software languages to get you started.

It's doubtful that very many users enjoy reboots. Although system uptime is often worn like a badge of honor — as though power-cycling were some form of humiliating defeat — the majority of us can probably agree that having to restart is a pain, if only for the lost time involved. It almost seems as though the annoyance grows exponentially the more frequent they come.

As a consultant, I am often faced with an unfamiliar Linux system (usually RHEL). I always find it useful to understand which files that shipped with rpm packages have been modified, since it's usually a good indicator of what customizations have been performed on the system.

Power and space saving computers are in, and Shuttle has a winner with the XS29F. This little gem really skimps on the power consumption to the tune of around 20-25 watts on average. That's less than half of that 60-watt light bulb shining down on you right now. For the Do It Yourselfer (DIYer) on a budget this box makes a lot of sense. The size is right, too, as the unit measures a skimpy three inches tall and a little over seven inches wide. Two doors on the front reveal the DVD drive, two USB ports and the typical audio in / out jacks. A power brick similar to one you would use with a notebook computer helps offload some of the electronics and heat generation outside of the box.

MediaMosa, a video management and distribution platform, which has been developed in the Netherlands to deliver video content to the Dutch educational sector, is now open source. In their announcement of the release, the developers, SURFnet, a provider of IT services to education and Stichting Kennisnet, the public IT support organisation of the Dutch educational sector, said they hoped that open sourcing the application would allow other developers worldwide to work with the software.

A collective "aargh" resonated throughout the Linux blogosphere in response to Nvidia's dissing of Android in favor of Windows CE for running smartbooks. It really should come as no surprise, suggests blogger Gerhard Mack: "[Nvidia] is a company that got dragged kicking and screaming into the open source world, and they really don't want to be here."

As I described in an earlier article, the first two years of the OLPC deployment in Uruguay "have been characterized by implementation and incubation. The laptops have been deployed to schools, manuals have been created, tech savvy volunteer groups have been formed, wireless internet connections have been established, teachers have slowly learned how to implement the laptops into their curricula and classrooms, and, as Rezwan has covered previously, a community of open source programmers has developed educational applications for the laptops."

The OSCON (Open Source Convention) conference will present over 200 sessions between July 20-24 in San Jose, Calif., covering a variety of desktop and embedded Linux topics. Meanwhile, SourceForge.net has opened voting for its 2009 Community Choice Awards, with winners to be announced at OSCON.

The Eclipse Foundation has hit its planned date of June 24 of releasing Galileo, its newest annual collection of development platform projects.

Only one week after the first beta was released, VirtualBox developer Frank Mehnert has announced the availability of the second beta of version 3.0 of the open source desktop virtualisation application for x86 hardware. In addition to numerous bug fixes for the previous release, the second beta includes several performance improvements and fixes for SMP guests. Several OpenGL and Direct3D related issues and a high CPU usage issue on certain idle Windows guests, have also been addressed.

Communtu wants to give new installers and Windows converts an easier time with Ubuntu. They will present a webpage with a list of suggested programs to install as a metapackage, including multimedia and proprietary software, and then install it.

Berlin's art colleges are completely switching over to Linux. Most of the productivity software on the workstations has already been swapped for free alternative products as part of a project that started over eighteen months ago.

The Boxee developers have announced the launch of a new public alpha for Windows of their cross-platform open media center with social networking and community features. Boxee is a fork of the XBMC Media Center that includes several customised additions, including Web 2.0 services integration with Twitter, Tumblr and Digg, as well as major audio, video and photo portal integration (such as YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, CBS, Comedy Central, Last.fm, Shoutcast, Flickr and Picasa).