Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

eyeOS is a web based desktop operating system. Despite its unusual deployment orientation, in many ways, it's a full desktop operating system, complete with file management and full applications that operate within draggable, resizable windows. As well as an overview of what the eyeOS 1.9 branch has to offer, I'll take you through what I did to install it on a Debian type operating system. Overall, I felt that it was a usable system and perhaps even a glimpse at what most computing is going to be like in the future.

LXer Feature: 11-Oct-2010

Some of the big stories this week included Steve Ballmer saying Android isn't free, Bruce Byfield talks about Ubuntu's real contribution to FOSS, Google makes aggressive counterclaims in the Oracle suit, Glyn Moody asks; Is Microsoft running out of steam? and last but not least Scott Charney, a Microsoft VP says that infected PCs should be banned from the internet. You have to read it to believe it. Enjoy!

It's been quite a while since having anything to report on with the LM_Sensors project, which is the free software project to provide user-space utilities and kernel drivers for various hardware sensors to be supported under Linux. LM_Sensors makes it possible to monitor the CPU/system temperatures, fan speeds, voltages, and other metrics for many systems and motherboards. The last time though we brought up LM_Sensors was in May when it received some better Intel CPU support, but the last major release (LM_Sensors 3.1.0) happened in March of 2009. Today though, LM_Sensors 3.2.0 has been released.

Sunday is the first KWin Bug Day (10th day of the 10th month 2010 - easy to remember!). KWin is a vital part of the KDE Platform and used by all software running in a Plasma Workspace. However, with the latest influx of bug reports it is becoming increasingly difficult for regular contributors like Martin Grässlin and the KWin team to keep up. This is where you can help with squashing those bugs!

After two years of development, version 3 of the popular Gallery online album software, code named "Santa Fe", has now been completed. Compared with its predecessor, the new version is said to offer improved performance and stability and require fewer resources. The developers have also drastically trimmed down the program package: instead of the previous 14 Mbytes, the standard installation is now only about 4 Mbytes in size.

The Mono project, which produces an open source implementation of the .NET runtime, has released version 2.8. The update brings full support for version 4.0 of the C# programming language, substantial improvements to the optional LLVM-based Mono backend, and a new garbage collection implementation that is more efficient.

Takashi Iwai of Novell/SuSE has just published a series of 18 patches for the X.Org Synaptics input driver that primarily provides multi-touch support. There's also some fixes and other changes to this Synaptics driver for X, but the primary feature is the addition of multi-touch support under Linux (and other X.Org-using operating systems) for supported hardware.

Mozilla announced a beta release of the Firefox 4 for Mobile ("Fennec") web browser, initially supporting Android and Maemo Linux (Nokia N900). The Firefox 4 Beta for Mobile aims to increase performance, adding a new "Layers" technology claimed to streamline scrolling, zooming and animations, but an early review says it still needs to get faster.

If you happen to think, as I do, that Google Chrome is emerging as the very best browser available, it's worth noting a point that we've made many times on OStatic: Chrome's evolution will have everything to do with the ongoing development of Google's upcoming Chrome OS. Chrome OS, Google's first operating system aimed squarely at computing desktops, is an ambitious project for Google, and, from the outset, it's been clear that because the Chrome browser interface--and much of its plumbing--form the UI and guts of Chrome OS, the fate of the operating system and its sibling browser are inextricably tied. As glimpses of version 8 of the Chrome browser appear, this seems more true than ever.

A group of OpenOffice.org developers has announced the creation of an independent foundation - called the Document Foundation - to guide the further development of the office suite, which is provisionally named LibreOffice. At the heart of this effort is longtime OpenOffice.org developer Michael Meeks. We had the good fortune to discuss the LibreOffice effort with Michael; read on for his comments on this new initiative

Canonical's Ubuntu project announced the release candidate for Ubuntu 10.10 ("Maverick Meerkat"), with the final version ready on 10/10/10. In addition to a revamped Software Centre, a new sound app, and a Netbook Edition overhauled with Canonical's "Unity" UI stack, Meerkat's final will feature new fonts.

Where do all good ideas go? Into the CPU of course. Back in the the day, we used processors that did not have floating point hardware. You may find it hard to believe, but the first micro-processors did not have on-board floating point units. Floating point was possible, but it was done in software. When the Intel 8086 hit the market there was an option to add a math co-processor called the i8087. If you included this co-processor, floating point calculations got much faster, provided you had software that could use it. Almost all systems had an empty socket for the i8087. It could purchased with the system or added later. Back then, processors came in a 40 pin DIP (Dual In-line Package). The trick was to push the rather large chip into a socket without bending or breaking the pins.

The economy, as everyone is well aware, stinks. Yet the one factor that isn't being discussed enough in the media is how different technologies will likely evolve due to these new economic conditions. One major change: while the days of costly software and expensive licensing is not likely to come to a complete end, I suspect we will see a sharp decrease in this area.

The Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Linux distribution is set to debut on Sunday (fittingly: 10/10/10), and with it will come a renewed vision for the idea of the personal cloud. In contrast to the public cloud, where applications are served, the personal cloud is all about user data, content and synchronization. With Ubuntu 10.10, the Maverick Linux distribution will also take aim at improving the way users view their desktops and acquire new software.

Oracle has lost a MySQL veteran who helped the plucky database start-up sink permanent roots in the developer and services communities. Kaj Arnö has left Oracle quietly, having submitted his resignation in June two days before Sun Microsystems' legal entity in Germany ceased to operate. Arnö was based in Munich.

While companies from Google to Apple to Microsoft voice their ardent support for HTML5 and developers rush to show off the fun tricks it can do, those who actually oversee HTML5 are telling the world to cool their britches.

For the third time in a row, Worldforge participated in Google Summer of Code, with three students completing the program this year. Worldforge is the original open-source Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) project, so it’s great at getting students who are interested in games into open source.

As the chairman and CEO of America Online, Steve Case helped connect mainstream America to the Internet for the first time. He orchestrated AOL’s $165 billion acquisition of Time Warner in 2001, which remains the largest merger in U.S. history, and he led the since-regretted combined company — which included Warner Bros. Studios, Time Inc. and CNN — for two years before stepping down as chairman in 2003. He left the board altogether in 2005, but with his private holding company Revolution and his philanthropic venture, the Case Foundation, he has remained active in shaping the way businesses and people use the Internet.

[Not FOSS related but I thought would be of interest to our readers. - Scott]

Ok, I recognize and greatly appreciate the tremendous contributions of open source software. I really do. I use it every day, and have done so for many years. I’m a Linux person from the word go. But, I work for a Windows Shop. All Windows, All The Time. So, to fill out my time sheet in order to get paid, or to follow all the Track Changes in a Microsoft 2007 proposal document, I have to run Windows, because the company I work for uses 100% Windows software to run their business.

Gaming on the Linux platform is alive and well, thank you very much. In fact, there are more quality games available for Linux today than ever before. If you're using a recently released version of a distro, like Ubuntu, you'll find a wide range of game categories available right from the install menu. The options increase if you're not opposed to spending a little coin.