Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

The Debian Project produces an entirely Free operating system that empowers its users to be in control of the software running their computers. These days, more and more computing is being moved away from user computers to the so-called cloud – a vague term often used to refer to Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings. We are concerned that, without the needed care, this trend might put in jeopardy most of the freedoms that users enjoy when running (on their computers) software that is Free according to the Debian Free Software Guidelines.

Text editors that get out of the way and minimize complicated features can be desirable, depending on what you're doing and how you like to work. But Advanced Easy Editor takes "bare bones" to a painful extreme. Both strains of the app are reminiscent of sitting at a terminal running Unix. Perhaps they're just what's needed for a certain kind of job, but without so much as a text wrap feature, their appeal is highly limited.

Virtual Network Computing (VNC) is a popular tool for providing remote access to computers. The usual VNC configuration is optimized for single-user workstations, and logging in to the VNC port directly accesses a single user's desktop. This configuration is awkward on multiuser computers, however. Fortunately, you have an alternative. By linking VNC to a Linux computer's normal X Display Manager Control Protocol (XDMCP) server, accessing the VNC port enables users to provide their user names and passwords, thereby enabling a single VNC server instance to handle multiple user logins.

Intel is finally announcing the first Ivy Bridge processors this morning. I have been extensively testing out the Intel Core i7 3770K, the current high-end Ivy Bridge processor, for the past few weeks under Ubuntu Linux. I have been extremely pleased with the Intel Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor under Linux with its phenomenal performance, power efficiency, and new features. This article is the first of many looking at the Linux performance of the new Intel Ivy Bridge processors.

It doesn't happen often here in the Linux blogosphere that FOSS fans agree unanimously on -- well, on pretty much anything. Truth be told, there's generally good reason for the dissension. Take Microsoft's latest maneuvers, for example -- are they good news? Bad news? It's not always easy to tell. Last week, however, one of those rare announcements was made that brought universal joy to Linux aficionados around the globe.

Ohio LinuxFest is very pleased to announce that Wendy Seltzer will be keynote speaker at the 2012 event, to be held September 28-30 at the Greater Columbus convention Center. Wendy Seltzer is Policy Counsel to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and a Fellow with Yale Law School's Information Society Project, researching openness in intellectual property, innovation, privacy, and free expression online.

LXer Feature: 22-Apr-2012

In the Roundup this week we have word of the first Raspberry Pi computers being delivered, Larry Ellison knocks Oracle's own Linux strategy, Linus Torvalds is up for a Millennium Technology Prize, Joey Bernard expounds on science the GNU Way, The Slackware website continues to be down, Guillermo Garron's iptables cheat sheet and contrary to popular belief Mandriva is alive. Enjoy!

Last October I wrote about the sad state of the Free Software Foundation's high priority projects... Most of the projects are basically not going anywhere. Many of them at the time were not really advancing in their goals, haven't had releases in a while, or coding hasn't even started. It's been more than a half-year and still there's no significant work towards clearing many of projects from the FSF list.

Keith Packard has been working on the X window system since the early days, but more recently has been doing lots of work to enable its replacement. X has long held the position as the way that graphics is done on Linux (and other Unix) systems, but that is changing. He came to the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, which was held April 3-5 in San Francisco, to talk about the Wayland protocol and the Weston server, and how they could interoperate with X. Wayland looks to be an interesting change for desktop graphics on Linux. Wayland is an alternative window system, and is part of long-term effort to integrate more modern technology into the Linux desktop. But there are lots of existing X applications out there that need a migration path so that they don't have to be rewritten. That's part of the plan too, Packard said.

Open-source poster child Linus Torvalds, who kickstarted development of the Linux operating system kernel, has been nominated for the €1m Millennium Technology Prize - but says he's "no visionary" and is surprised Linux has been so successful. Torvalds and stem cell engineer Dr Shinya Yamanaka are finalists for the gong - one of the world's top awards for science and handed out once every two years by the Technology Academy of Finland. The award, worth £817k ($1.3m), recognises technology innovations that improve the quality of human life.

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Linux Creator and Linux Foundation Fellow Linus Torvalds is a Millennium Technology Prize laureate. This prize, determined by the Technology Academy of Finland, is one of the world’s largest such prizes with candidates sought from across the world and from all fields of technology.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison showed his trademark brashness on the witness stand, as the trial over Google's use of Java code in Android began in earnest. However, his testimony was less than smooth, at times, and may have abetted the enemy. It wasn't just the gift he handed to opposing counsel with his admission of an interest in the smartphone market, said tech analyst Rob Enderle. "He also stumbled about certain aspects of Java."

Regardless of how good they are, some Linux applications have very little appeal to all but users with specialized needs. That is not the case with Xournal. Even if you do not use a tablet for inputing notes, this app still lets you create with style. If you are looking for a very handy note-taking application, check out Xournal.

Nadim Kobeissi, master hacker, summoned for interrogation multiple times as a teenager by cyber-intelligence authorities in Beirut, Lebanon, sat in the backyard of a restaurant in Brooklyn, astounded that he was being treated to lunch..

KDE China User meeting On March 30th, a grand meeting called KDE China User was held in Beijing. This meeting provided KDE users, community members and technophiles with a nice "face-to-face" opportunity to discuss KDE's latest and cutting edge technology trends. Read on to find out what transpired at the meeting and what the future might hold for KDE in China. read more

Network-attached storage might not be the most glamorous of topics to cover on these pages, but there is no doubt that a highly specialized operating for sharing files on a local network can be a perfect solution in many scenarios. Today we launch what should become a series of articles on these useful operating systems, starting with a first-look review of FreeBSD-based FreeNAS. In the news section, Stefano Zacchiroli becomes the first Debian Project Leader to assume office for the third consecutive year, Kubuntu finds a new sponsor in a mysterious Germany company called Blue Systems, and Mandriva seeks feedback from users hinting at a new community-oriented beginning. Also in this issue, an overview of DoudouLinux, a Debian-based distribution with a simplified user interface designed for very young children, and a tips and tricks section dealing with timeless classics - cron and crontab. Happy reading!

LXer Feature: 15-Apr-2012

The latest installment of the LXWR of the weeks big stories for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

Intel introduced their new Z77 "Panther Point" chipset earlier this month in advance of the Ivy Bridge processor launch. Questions have begun to pour in how the line-up of Z77 motherboards are working under Linux. Are there any Linux compatibility problems? Here is my brief statement on the matter for now after having already used two Z77 motherboards for a while under Linux.

Last week, we had our biggest turn-out ever for our Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and our Legal Summit held immediately before. Collab has come a long way since the first meeting in 2007 at the Googleplex. While some of the issues and players have changed at heart the result is the same: a cross-section of people from the industry and community who may otherwise not meet collaborating together. We have assembled slides and videos from the week so if you weren't able to join us, please enjoy.

This week the University of Oxford and the Vatican announced a plan to collaborate in digitizing 1.5 million pages of rare and ancient texts, most dating from the 16th century or earlier. The project is expected to span about 4 years and was made possible by a donation of £2 million (approximately $3.1 million) from the Polonsky Foundation—a charitable organization that supports higher education, medical research, and other general matters in the arts and sciences.