Showing all newswire headlines

A few weeks ago we reported that notebook hybrid graphics switching on Linux still sucks. For these newer laptops that boast dual GPUs -- an integrated low-power IGP and a more performance-oriented discrete GPU for demanding environments with switching between the two being done "seamlessly" in real-time based upon usage or via a hot-key -- the support under Linux is still virtually nonexistent. There is a crude form of Linux GPU switching, but for the most part it's not nearly up to par for what's available in Microsoft Windows 7 or Apple Mac OS X. The situation remains that way, but some small progress has been made.

After I wrote a review of the Scratch programing environment, one of our readers suggested that I look into the Alice programing environment. http://alice.org/ Well, I've gotten to know Alice and have found it to be quite an impressive programing environment. By the way, I'm always looking for interesting subjects to write about, so if you have suggestions, please email them to me.

How many times have you heard this statement: "It's the year of the Linux desktop." Not recently? Then how about "Linux is making gains on the Windows desktop"? Still leaving a bad taste in your mouth? Bet I know why. For years, both the statements above have been over-used to the point that either idea is now completely meaningless. Not due to anything negative with the Linux desktop, mind you, rather due to inherent differences in how Linux is marketed to the world, who its intended audience is and whether mainstream adoption even matters in the first place.

If you are going to create a new browser from scratch and go up against the Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple, you might as well make it really different. RockMelt, a company backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen which has been under wraps until today, is trying to build a new browsing experience from the ground up. Are they crazy? “The big thing,” says Andreessen, “is that the browser world is very much in flux right now.”

The awk utility provides a powerful tool for searching patterns and printing them in the desired format. This is an introduction to awk with examples.

A quick look at the latest release of Sabily (Ubuntu Muslim Edition 10.10), including a video review and a gallery of screenshots.

7.0 marks a huge milestone for the Webconverger browser only operating system, since the Debian base system has upgraded from “lenny” to “squeeze”.

RockMelt is a new cross-platform web browser that's aimed at re-inventing the browser for how people use the web today. According to a post on the RockMelt blog, the browser has been in development for two years and is based on Google's open source Chromium browser platform, the open source project behind Google's popular Chrome web browser.

Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system is now in widespread use and more than a year old. Microsoft has already started work on its successor - Windows 8. The new Windows 8 operating system is expected to be released in late 2012 according to recent reports. One report in particular, from the Dutch arm of Microsoft, suggests that October 2012 could be the target date for a Windows 8 launch.

The first public milestone of the Xfce 4.8 Linux desktop is now out, giving Linux users the first taste of this powerful, yet minimal interface. With Xfce 4.8 developers have incorporated a long list of changes. Among the biggest items that I see in this new release (so far) is the replacement of the ThunarVFS with GIO.

Hello Interwebs! The rumors are true… starting today, we’re offering access to an early version of RockMelt, a new browser designed around you and how you use the Web. RockMelt does more than just navigate Web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the Web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search. And of course, RockMelt is fast, secure, and stable because it’s built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. It’s your browser – re-imagined and built for how you use the Web.

Inventec may be preparing to ship 60-70 thousand ARM Powered laptops running the Chrome OS laptop starting later this month according to Taiwan based rumor and fact website Digitimes.com. This may be the absolute demonstration of the shifting trend to come in laptops, where Intel and Microsoft will not be needed anymore and laptops can run ARM Cortex processors with fast I/O, good RAM, flash based storage, very thin and light form factors with very long battery runtime and instant boot, all running full Chrome web browser OS, one that loads all websites at full speed and provides fast web browsing.

LLVM 2.8 was released last month with the Clang compiler having feature-complete C++ support, enhancements to the DragonEgg GCC plug-in, a near feature-complete alternative to libstdc++, a drop-in system assembler, ARM code-generation improvements, and many other changes. With there being great interest in the Low-Level Virtual Machine, we have conducted a large LLVM-focused compiler comparison at Phoronix of GCC with versions 4.2.1 through 4.6-20101030, GCC 4.5.1 using the DragonEgg 2.8 plug-in, LLVM-GCC with LLVM 2.8 and GCC 4.2, and lastly with Clang on LLVM 2.8.

A few days ago I theorized that Mark Shuttleworth's move to Unity on Wayland was an effort to focus his operating system more on mobile devices and, ultimately, cloud-based services. Unity's hardware compatibility is limited in range, at least for now, and Wayland is even moreso, again at least for now. But there's one part of the equation I failed to consider. What about the X11-dependent Compiz?

After my controversial Droid post, it's time for me to strike back with another hot topic, namely the Java or C# trap for that matter. The JVM and the .NET CLR are birds of the same feather and they kind of flock together; like it or not.

Maybe today I’ve finally found an acceptable way to listen to web radio. Often I like to work with music, but after listening for the umpteenth time my favorite CD of Nirvana or Foo Fighters I want to switch to a bit of Web Radio, and here is my doubt “how?” You can go to the website of the radio and probably find the link “listen live”, or equivalent that will start a nice flash player, not so easy right?

Find out if those TCP streams on your network are filled with C monsters or if it's smooth sailing for your Internet surfers.

The recent announce at UDS about the fact that the venerable X server & protocols will not be the default choice for Unity and as a consequence Ubuntu was a shock for some, it is clearly a relief for me...

In this article by Bethany Hiitola, author of Inkscape 0.48 Essentials for Web Designers, we will see how you can use Inkscape to create basic design templates that can be used with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTML, and HTML5 in the final implementation. CSS are used with the HTML/XML coding to define the look and formatting of an entire website. One style sheet can be created that determines fonts, colors, spacing, placement, and more—reducing complexity and repetition in the coding of the pages themselves.

While the GNOME developers are busy at work on GNOME 3.0 and the KDE developers are busy working on KDE SC 4.6 and changes that may lead to KDE5, the Xfce desktop environment is still out there and being developed...