Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Over time, software developers tend to learn that micro-optimization efforts are generally not worthwhile, especially in the absence of hard data pointing out a specific problem. Performance problems are often not where we think they are, so undirected attempts to tweak things to make them go faster can be entirely ineffective. Or, indeed, they can make things worse. That is a lesson that the kernel developers have just relearned.

OK. Step one in spending 30 Days With...Ubuntu Linux is to get Ubuntu Linux installed so I can use it. I have already narrowed it down to Ubuntu, so I don't have to bother with the question of which Linux, but the first question I need to address at this point is how to install it.

Recently, myself and my colleagues at Pelagicore decided to try to ditch Skype for an open replacement. We have been suffering stability issues with Skype for a long time, but our customers rely on it for contact with us and most people know how it works. However, recent events such as Microsoft buying Skype and cancelling support for Asterisk motivated us to try the alternatives.

The rolling-release Arch Linux distribution has just enabled floating point textures for Mesa. This was the hotly-debated feature for Mesa that provides OpenGL floating point textures and render targets, but is disabled by default since its protected by patents in the United States and elsewhere. Arch Linux users when building new versions of Mesa will receive this support irrespective of their physical location.

700MHz processor, 256MB of RAM. It doesn't seem that long ago since I was running a desktop PC like that. However, these are the specs of a new keyring-sized computer to be released by a UK not for profit company. They hope to be able to sell it for $25 dollars a pop, and best of all, it runs Linux.

Last week there was the news post about whether AMD is open-sourcing something next week (this week), which turns out to be based upon a Twitter comment I had made. A discussion about AMD possibly open-sourcing something had ensued, including comments by AMD's John Bridman, where he had said nothing was basically planned. Interestingly though, the initial open-source Llano APU support was just published.

Undeterred by slumping netbook sales, Asus announced three such devices, one of which -- the Eee PC X101 -- will be offered with the Linux-based MeeGo operating system for just $200. The EeePC X101 comes with a new 1.33GHz Atom N435 processor, while the Windows-only EeePC 1025C and 1025CE will include the "Cedar Trail" Atom N2600 and N2800, according to multiple reports.

Well, that was interesting. Just weeks after Microsoft announced it's shelling out billions to acquire Skype, the VoIP provider drops support for the open source Asterisk telephony system. Skype insists the parting of ways was underway well before Microsoft made its move, but suspicion still fills the air.

In 1996, Linus Torvalds released Linux 2.0, and we got symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and we were on our way to Linux supercomputers. In 1999, Linux 2.2 appeared, and Linux made a major move off Intel chip architectures. In 2001, after some delays, Linux 2.4 turned up with great server improvements. And, in 2003, Linux 2.6 showed up, the prototype for modern Linux. So why haven’t we seen a Linux 2.8 or 3.0 in the last few years?

LXer Feature: 30-May-2011

Was it just me or did yesterday not feel like a Sunday? In the Roundup for this week we have SJVN talking about Novell & SUSE's new structure under Attachmate, Linux Mint 11 ships with retro GNOME 2.32 desktop, Emery Fletcher pontificates on Linux World Domination, it is revealed that HTC pays Microsoft $5 for every Android phone they make and Microsoft is in decline? I thought we already knew that.. Enjoy!

For anyone that was doubting Linus Torvalds would finally part ways with the Linux 2.6 kernel series, you lost your bets. On the eve of Memorial Day in the United States and his departure to Japan for LinuxCon, Linus Torvalds just tagged Linux 3.0-rc1 in Git.

As pointed out in our forums, the first screenshot of Desura running on Linux has emerged. Desura is a digital distribution service that's similar to Valve's Steam service, but at this point is primarily used by indie game developers and game mods.

I use Twitter quite a lot. For the longest time, I used Web-based Twitter clients, clients for my smartphone, or browser extensions to interact with my Twitter account. Why? The desktop clients for Linux left me feeling cold. They either did too much or too little, and just weren’t satisfying overall. One client that does come close to being everything that I need is Turpial. Written in Python, Turpial is fast and easy to use. And it does just enough – it doesn’t pack too many features, but it’s not bare bones either. Let’s take a look at how to tweet using Turpial.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and Canonical, for an wide-ranging, hour-long conversation while at Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) in Budapest. In his opening talk, Shuttleworth said that he wanted to "make the case" for contributor agreements, which is something he had not been successful in doing previously. In order to do that, he outlined a rather different vision than he has described before of how to increase Linux and free software adoption, particularly on the desktop, in order to reach his goal of 200 million Ubuntu users in the next four years. While some readers may not agree with various parts of that vision, it is definitely worth understanding Shuttleworth's thinking here.

Just how much market share can the Linux Desktop claim? The debate's a familiar one, perhaps even a tired one. But recently Pingdom published a list of the 20 countries in which the Linux desktop enjoys the most popularity. Naturally, that list was quickly criticized from multiple angles. So what's Linux's true penetration? "In the end, I don't think we will ever know," said blogger and developer Jeff Hoogland.

In 2008, Microsoft hired Hamilton “Hammett” Verissimo, the founder of the open-source Castle Project, as a program manager on the Microsoft Extensibility Framework (MEF) team in the company’s Developer Division. On May 17, 2011, Verissimo quit Microsoft. People join and leave Microsoft every day. (In fact, the last of the original Xbox founders submitted his resignation from Microsoft this week.) But I was interested in hearing from Verissimo whether it was a conflict in open/closed source philosophies that led to his decision to go. It turns out many of his frustrations are similar to ones I’ve heard shared by those leaving Microsoft whether or not they were in the open-source camp.

Skype has terminated its partnership with Digium, effectively killing Skype for Asterisk, which integrated Skype's VOIP service with the open source PBX/telephony platform. While some analysts see Microsoft's impending acquisition of Skype as the source of the schism, others argue that Skype has never been an open source supporter, and had already been backing away from the Asterisk product.

With the release of version 3.6, the Tiny Core crew have added a GUI method for hard disk installation. As I have, on previous occasions, banged on about this omission, I thought I'd take a look.

The openSUSE Project has announced that the openSUSE Build Service will be renamed the Open Build Service, retaining the well-known OBS acronym. Jos Poortvliet, the openSUSE community manager, said that the rename is "a small but important step in the right direction for us", noting that the idea for the name change came from community members as OBS works for more than just openSUSE.

Cray's latest supercomputer will run Cray's modified version of SUSE Linux on AMD's upcoming 16-core & Interlagos& Opteron chip and Nvidia's Tesla 20-Series GPU (graphics processing unit). The XK6 system should deliver up to 50 petaflops of performance when it ships later this year, claims Cray.