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Canonical wants a future beyond the desktop, the firm's founder Mark Shuttleworth said today in a conference call.

Most of you know this already, but: hybrid graphics, the technology concept of having dual GPUs (generally a low-power IGP and a high-performance discrete GPU) and being able to seamlessly switch between them depending upon load and battery life, is a mess under Linux. It will continue to be a mess for the near-term...

It was a bit perplexing when two weeks ago, apropos of nothing, commercial Linux distributor Red Hat affirmed its commitment to the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) messaging integration software that is at the heart of its Enterprise MRG-Messaging variant of the Linux stack it sells. Now we know why.

October saw the release of the latest version of the Ubuntu family and that includes Xubuntu, the Xfce edition. I’ve just installed Xubuntu 11.10 on my netbook and the experience was rather good.

Texas Instruments (TI) announced a low power (7mW standby) Cortex-A8-based system on chip (SoC) intended to supplant ARM9 processors in cost-sensitive devices. Priced as little as $5 in volume, the Sitara AM335x SoC is available in six models, most of which can be clocked to 720MHz, and half of which include 3D graphics acceleration, according to the chipmaker....

In opening keynote address of Ubutnu Developer Summit (UDS), Mark Shuttleworth said that lots of efforts will be put this cycle to make Ubuntu more power users friendly. Emphasis will be on improving multi-tasking, multi-monitor support and other features for power users. With 12.04 LTS, the support will also be extended to 5 years which has been 3 years until now for LTS releases. Also a more streamlined desktop experience will be delivered to corporate users who deploy Ubuntu at mass scale. Mark also talked about some plans for the next 14.04 LTS release, due in 2 years. He said that there will be efforts to deliver the core Unity platform to a range of devices that include smartphones, tablets and TVs.

Let a thousand RSI lawsuits bloom Microsoft has confirmed it will release a full commercial SDK for the Kinect in early 2012, and it’s hoping that the technology will cross the chasm from gaming into the business world.…

If the boot fits ... The Linux Foundation has published a how-to guide for PC makers on implementing UEFI's Secure Boot functionality without preventing the post-sale installation of Linux on Windows 8 machines.…

HP has been on a messaging roller coaster for the last 18 months and it's time that it found a message and stuck to it. The market is completely confused and confounded.

Linux From Scratch (LFS) 7.0 has been released, Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. And most importantly, how to customize it to your own taste and needs."

I caught an article on Lxer.com entitled:

"Shuttleworth: Linux Power Users Aren't too Cool for Unity"

There are a number of quotes in the article from the originator of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, Mark Shuttleworth, that clearly attest to the fact he is completely missing what so many people find wrong with Unity.

Microsoft's proposal for a secure boot process in Windows 8 has alarmed GNU/Linux vendors and the body that caters to kernel development to the extent that they have drafted documents to specify how such a process can be used without hindering the use of other operating systems.

The FSF have released a statement on UEFI secure boot. It explains the fundamental issue here, which isn't something as simple as "will OEMs let me install Linux". It's "Does the end user have the ability to manage their own keys".

Secure boot is a valuable feature. It does neatly deal with the growing threat of pre-OS malware. There is an incentive for it to be supported under Linux. I discussed the technical aspects of implementing support for it here - it's not a huge deal of work, and it is being worked on. So let's not worry about that side of things. The problem is with the keys.

And there is only a modest charge for doing so A top Microsoft legal eagle has moaned that Android smartphones and the like are profiting from cash that his bosses have invested in research and development.…

A few patches have been published today for the VDPAU state tracker in Mesa's Gallium3D...

Umbongo will be useful bargaining tool - Shuttleworth Ubuntu, the free and user-friendly Mac-a-like flavour of Linux, will be targeted at mobile phones, tablets and smart TVs.…

This HowTo lays out how to convert a regular netbook/laptop/desktop into an almost Google Chromebook using Hexxeh's Chromium OS build. All you need is a 2GB USB stick and a bit of time. It also makes a nice portable operating system as well.

While last week I showed how Ubuntu's performance has evolved as a KVM guest from Ubuntu 8.04 through Ubuntu 11.10, in today's article is a Linux virtualization showdown between VirtualBox, Xen, and KVM while using Ubuntu 11.10 on the Linux 3.0 kernel.

Kate Stewart announced on October 28th that thr Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Netbook and ARM editions reached EOL (End of Life) on October 29th, 2011.

Red Hat, Canonical and the Linux Foundation have laid out a set of recommendations for hardware vendors in hopes of preserving the ability to install Linux on Windows 8 machines. Windows 8 machines should ship in a setup mode giving users more control right off the bat, the groups argue.

As we reported last month, Windows 8 computers that ship with UEFI secure booting enabled could make the task of replacing Windows with Linux or dual-booting the two operating systems more difficult. In order to get a “Designed for Windows 8” logo, PCs must ship with secure boot enabled, preventing the booting of operating systems that aren’t signed by a trusted Certificate Authority.

Hardware vendors can give users the option of disabling the secure boot feature—but they could also decline to do so, making it impossible to run a non-Windows operating system. In practice, it seems unlikely that dual-boot scenarios will be prevented entirely, but Linux vendors and the Linux Foundation are worried about how UEFI secure booting will be implemented.