Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Motorola has unveiled three new devices in its Razr smartphone line, touting extended battery life and larger screen size as their main selling points. All three will be available from Verizon Wireless later this year. They will come preloaded with various Google services, including the Chrome browser, Google Play, Google Maps, Voice Actions for Android and Google+.

They say everyone has a story to tell, and certainly Linux geeks are no exception. So it was with great anticipation that Linux Girl came upon an "Ask Slashdot" posting recently titled, "How Did You Become a Linux Professional?" "I'm interested in taking my skills to the next level -- and making a career out of it," wrote blogger ternarybit.

It was five years ago today that AMD's open-source strategy for Linux graphics driver support was publicly unveiled. On 6 September 2007, one day after unveiling their new Catalyst/fglrx Linux driver, is when AMD lifted my embargo that allowed me to exclusively explain their open-source strategy in detail.

While the Catalyst Linux graphics driver was overhauled five years ago, not everyone is satisfied with the closed-source AMD Radeon Linux graphics driver. Here's some interesting comments by a prominent Linux developer and his less than stellar Catalyst experience. Some interesting Linux graphics driver comments were shared this week in an email by a prominent open-source developer who's been involved with Linux since 1996 and is responsible for one of the window managers. When I was liaising between this developer and a prominent game company, he shared some interesting driver comments, which he's allowed me to republish on Phoronix.

Want your site to look good, even though you're not a designer? Try a design framework. For as long as I can remember, I've known how to use a pencil. I can write with it, and I even can draw with it—although in my case, saying I can draw is something of a sad exaggeration. I might know how to use a pencil and thoroughly understand its technology, but that technical knowledge doesn't mean I can draw something aesthetically pleasing.

One month after version 4.9 of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC) arrived, the KDE Community has released the first of the monthly stabilisation updates to its desktop and software suite. As usual with these types of updates, KDE SC 4.9.1 improves the translations for many applications and fixes numerous bugs, some of which can cause KDE applications to crash.

The LinuxCon and CloudOpen 2012 conference held in San Diego last week were an epic success. Three days of keynotes and technical sessions from leaders in Linux, open source technologies and cloud computing sparked new conversations online in the days during and after the event. The information and ideas now circulating through the Linux community presented some new angles on old topics as well as a rare peek at the tools and technologies behind innovative companies and services.

Linux Mint founder and lead developer Clement "Clem" Lefebvre has provided further insight into his team's decision to create Nemo, a fork of GNOME's Nautilus file manager, and their plans for the new project. In a new blog post, Lefebvre says that he and his fellow developers chose to fork Nautilus because of the recent controversial design changes in version 3.6 of Nautilus, calling it "a catastrophe" as it "removes features we consider requirements".

These updates are the first in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.9 series. 4.9.1 updates bring many bugfixes and translation updates on top of the latest edition in the 4.8 series and are recommended updates for everyone running 4.9.0 or earlier versions. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone. KDE’s software is already translated into more than 55 languages, with more to come.

When hearing the word interface, most people probably think of a Graphical User Interface or a physical hardware interface (serial, USB). If you dabble in scripting or are a serious developer, you, no doubt, are familiar with the concept of software interfaces as well. Occasionally, the need arises to integrate disparate systems where an interface doesn't already exist, but with a little ingenuity, an interface can be created to bridge the disparity and help you meet your specific needs.

Well, it pains Linux Girl to have to write these words, but it looks like the "Death of Desktop Linux" story is back for another round. Yes, after countless debates and discussions of the topic ad nauseum over the years -- the most recent being just a few short months ago, in fact -- it recently reared its ugly head again, like a zombie that just won't quit.

The Document Foundation (TDF) has announced that it has joined OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), the international standards development consortium which focusses on ebusiness and web service standards, as a Contributor. According to Document Foundation director Italo Vignoli, TDF will primarily focus its efforts on the Technical Committees for the Open Document Format (ODF), representing the open source productivity suite LibreOffice which it sponsors and governs.

Smaller buffers are designed to help avoid bufferbloat. "TCP Fast Open" promises to speed up HTTP connections. The netfilter infrastructure can now use userspace programs to help with connection tracking.

Linux kernel big daddy Linus Torvalds and fellow developer Alan Cox have lashed out at claims that the culture surrounding the operating system's core prevented it from conquering the consumer PC market. The pair also slapped down folks working on the GNOME user interface - a popular package among desktop Linux users - and accused the team of blaming others for GNOME's failings.

Microsoft this week updated its services agreement with subtle, yet potentially significant changes to its policy on privacy and dispute settlement. The company notified users of the changes in an e-mail sent Friday, informing them that the new Terms of Service would go into effect on October 19th. Apparently taking its cue from Google, Microsoft's revised policy allows the company to access and display user content across all of its cloud properties..

For years now, there has been a lot of talk about the "fractured" Linux Desktop environment. It's an easy argument to make, given the number of distros, desktop choices the user has and the number of apps that may perform the same function. The argument has been made so many times over the years that it's not necessary for citation. If you feel it is, Google is your friend....knock yourself out.

As the remaining founders of Diaspora hand the project over to the community, Glyn Moody asks what lessons we can learn from the success and failure of a free software project and considers the importance of thinking about what happens next.

Whenever one looks at the mobile patent wars, it is natural to conclude that everybody is suing everybody else. Thus far, though, that has not actually been true. Google has been on the receiving end of a number of lawsuits, either directly or indirectly via attacks on manufacturers shipping Android devices, but Google has not, itself, launched patent attacks against others. That situation has just changed, though, with the report that Google has filed a case against Apple with the US International Trade Commission.

LXer Feature: 03-Sept-2012

For your long weekend reading pleasure I bring you more on the Apple v. Samsung court proceedings, Firefox 15 goes on a memory diet, Linus shows his love for the Gnome desktop again, Apparently Apple killed the Linux desktop and no one told me and Baldur's Gate might get ported to Linux. Enjoy

Lost your shell connection? Need multiple shell sessions? You are logged into your remote server via SSH and happily plucking along at your keyboard and then it happens. Suddenly, the characters stop moving and then you get the dreaded “Connection Closed” message. You have just lost your session. You were halfway through some task and now you have to start over. Ugh. Well you can prevent this from happening by using screen. The Linux screen tool can not only save you from disconnection disasters, but it also can increase your productivity by using multiple windows within one SSH session. I use this tool all of the time in our server management work.