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The Ubuntu operating system is to replace its application menus with a "head-up display" (HUD) box. Users control the HUD interface by typing in the command they want carried out. Developers of the Linux-based software say they will initially offer the HUD as an option, allowing users to "hide" their menu bars. They say that using the HUD is faster than "mousing through a menu" and makes applications feel more powerful

At SCALE 10x a new FUSE implementation was presented that while still having the file-system in user-space, the kernel component is now responsible for more of the work.

Perl has been around for more than 20 years. During that time, it has received its share of both praise and criticism, and lots of misconceptions surround it. Much of this stems from long-outdated notions of what Perl used to be, but have nothing to do with what Perl actually is today. Perl hasn't been standing still. It's been growing continuously and evolving, and that growth has accelerated dramatically in the past few years. Moose is one of the technologies at the heart of this "Perl Renaissance", which also includes other exciting projects that have emerged, such as Catalyst and DBIx::Class.

As a systems administrator, I tend to think about source code and computing platform in large numbers. Computers however are getting smaller and more powerful, and the reality of computers that we put in or on our body as a normal daily routine is coming closer, and for many is already here. When our safety, our liberty, and our sense of humanity are tied to programmable devices, should we not only hope, but expect that we should have the right to examine how these devices function?

LXer Feature: 22-Jan-2012

What a week, no? What started out as Wikipedia joining Reddit, Mozilla and others in blacking out their websites this past Wednesday in protest to the SOPA and PIPA vote in Congress, quickly exploded into thousands of websites following suit. For one, it made surfing the internet on Wednesday a scavenger hunt to find a site that wasn't dark. And two, the ensuing media storm it created had the effect of actually getting Congress to postpone their vote on it. I have been in Los Angeles all weekend attending SCALE 10x and will have my full review for you later in the week, but I will tell you that it was bigger and better than ever. Enjoy!

MPlayer2 -- a fork of the popular MPlayer open-source project that's added on several new features -- has been quiet for a few months but is still being actively developed. The discussion surrounding MPlayer2 was resurrected in the Phoronix Forums this past week. One Phoronix reader immediately jumped to say that "Mplayer2 is dead. Nothing new for 11 months now." and to also criticize the program for the lack of supporting the (outdated) MPEG-1 format.

Back in October 2011, the Free Software Foundation speculated on the possibility that Microsoft might be trying to block out other operating systems from loading within a computer, using a new concept known as the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Microsoft showed it off a couple of months back, booting up Windows 8 in eight seconds. Linux users: Should you be concerned?

In last week's Weekend Project, we learned what the Arduino platform is for, and what supplies and skills we need on our journey to becoming Arduino aces. Today we'll hook up an Arduino board and program it to do stuff without even having to know how to write code.

Linux 3.3 can change the size of ext4 filesystems faster and supports ACPI 5.0, LPAE for ARM processors, Ethernet teaming and hot replace for software RAID. Meanwhile, Linux 3.1 has reached the end of the line, and the Linux Ate My RAM web site explains why Linux often appears to use all of the RAM.

I saw a post on the Xfce blog Tuesday or Wednesday about changing versioning scheme of the next Xfce release. I saved the URL knowing that I'd want to write about it. Just thank goodness that a storm blew in and caused my computer to shut off. Otherwise, I might have never seen the Update 2. Dirty rats.

Supposedly we've won today. Both the PROTECT-IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House of Representatives have been shelved by their respective sponsors. However, these acts have been shelved before, and the bags of money sent to DC didn't suddenly devalue, so I'm sure the next SOPA is being written as we speak. What did make me happy, though, was Neelie Kroes: the EU commissioner for the digital agenda has unambiguously distanced herself from SOPA, which she calls "bad legislation". Obama, the next time you want to make a statement with teeth, just wait for Kroes to do it for you.

The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) released a security-enhanced version of Android based on the hardened SE Linux, featuring stricter access control policies. SE Android restricts the system resources available to an Android app regardless of user permissions, blocking malware such as the "GingerBreak" exploit at six different steps during execution, says the NSA.

Here's a look at what's coming up on Friday at the Southern California Linux Expo SCALE 10X..

The School of Computer Science at the University of Windsor deployed their first network of diskless thin clients in August of 1987. Since then, the CS school has progressed through three operating systems, four thin client devices, and seven Sun server configurations. In the summer of 2011, UWindsor switched from Solaris and Sun Ray clients to Ubuntu and LTSP Thin Clients.

The question of whether Secure Boot technology in UEFI firmware could exclude Linux from PCs running Windows 8 has taken a fresh twist. Red Hat engineer Matthew Garrett, one of the first to flag up the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface issue, has blogged that Microsoft's rules for certified Windows 8 hardware do not make it easier to boot Linux despite what some have claimed. Redmond's requirements mention the existence of a boot option for PCs that can fire up a digitally signed Linux kernel. This custom boot-mode would allow the user to modify the contents of the machine's Secure Boot signature database and the platform key (PK) that verifies kernels during system start-up.

At any given point in time, there are multiple Linux kernel versions being developed and maintained. This past week, kernel developers outlined what's old and what's new for various kernels as work pushes forward in the New Year.

Windows and Linux use different file system architectures. Fortunately, your Windows experience can put you on the fast track to being comfortable managing and monitoring the Linux extended file systems. This article helps you learn your way around the extended disk file system family on Linux.

What may sound like a perverse concept is actually one of the many ways smartphones can change your life. If you play a musical instrument but don't happen to have perfect pitch (most of us, sadly), you can buy a tuner, pitch pipe, tuning fork or any number of other aids to keep yourself in tune. If you have a smartphone in your pocket, however, you also can simply download gStrings. Available in the Android Marketplace in either a free ad-supported version or an inexpensive ad-free version, gStrings will help you tune any number of instruments accurately.

The Linux Foundation posted a calendar of its 2012 conferences. These include the Linux Kernel Summit, which will be held Aug. 26-28 in San Diego, where it will be co-located with the larger LinuxCon North America event and the Linux Plumbers Conference, both held Aug. 29-31.

Marvell announced an education platform combining its Plug Computer, Arch Linux, and software developed in collaboration with Stanford University. The SMILE Plug micro server runs on a 2GHz Marvell Armada 300 processor, sets up a secure Wi-Fi cloud for up to 60 students, and provides a & Classroom 3.0& connected, secure, interactive learning environment....