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● 01.18.12

● Links 18/1/2012: Canonical Removes Java From Ubuntu, NASA’s Open Source Software Initiative

Posted in News Roundup at 6:54 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

Desktop

=> ↺ HP Vayu Set Top Box Aka Vayu Internet Device (VInD) – Internet TV In India

• HP Vayu is the Tata Nano of Internet to Indians. Given the prices of Desktop PCs, Laptops & tablets in India; it’s no wonder that many Indians prefer to access Internet via mobile devices. Broadband penetration is rapidly growing and with Government taking initiatives with cheap ‘Aakash’ tablets, we surely know that Indians are going to adopt internet faster than ever before. HP India Labs has come up with an innovative device called Vayu Internet Device aka VInD. This mass Internet access device allows people to connect to the Internet using television sets and perform the basic operations using TV’s remote control.

=> ↺ HP readies Linux IP set-top computer for India

Server

=> ↺ Linux DRBD saves you from costly SAN deployments

• To configure services for high availability in a data center, shared storage is normally required, which typically means administrators will purchase expensive storage area network (SAN) devices. But there is an alternative in the form of the Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRBD) — a free software component that is available for the Linux operating system. In this tip, you’ll learn why DRBD can save administrators the expense of deploying a SAN and how to set it up.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Stable kernel 3.1.10

• Stable kernel 3.1.10 has been released with a pile of important fixes. “This is the LAST release of the 3.1 kernel series, please move to the 3.2 kernel series at this time. Again, 3.1.y is end-of-life.”

=> ↺ Adaptive Tickless Linux Kernel Support Status

• Back in 2007 (the Linux 2.6.21 days) the mainline Linux kernel received tickless idle support. With the system idling, the timer tick no longer needlessly goes off with the “NOHZ” feature. Being worked on since last year is now adaptive tickless support, which extends the tickless functionality to non-idle cases.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ XAA In X.Org Has Finally Met Its Executioner

• The XAA 2D acceleration architecture is finally set to be stripped out of X.Org Server 1.13 and upstream open-source X.Org drivers.

• The old and crusty XAA, the XFree86 Acceleration Architecture, is finally set to be laid to rest as X.Org developers cheer on its death. XAA has been around since, well, the XFree86 days (1996 with the XFree86 3.3 release to be exact while it was re-written in XFree86 4.0).

=> ↺ Intel Sandy Bridge Shines With Mesa 8.0

• Now that the Nouveau, Radeon, and LLVMpipe graphics drivers have been tested under Mesa 8.0, what is left? The Intel DRI driver, of course! The open-source Sandy Bridge Linux graphics support is shining with Mesa 8.0 thanks to OpenGL 3.0 support and measurable performance improvements. Intel Ivy Bridge is also ready to run under Linux.

=> ↺ Wayland’s Window Stacking & Raising Design

• Besides tool-kit advancements, other happenings in the world of Wayland this week pertain to coming up with a suitable window stacking and raising design for this next-generation display server.

Applications

=> ↺ Comparing BlueGriffon and Bluefish: Which Open Source Web Editor is Right For You?

• Two major open source Web editors made releases in recent weeks: Bluefish and BlueGriffon. Despite the similarity in names (not to mention the fact that both are designed to edit HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), the projects could hardly be less alike. Bluefish takes a programmer’s approach, while BlueGriffon is designed to provide as close to a WYSIWYG-design experience as is possible. Which one best suits your needs can depend heavily on the details of your content.

=> ↺ Get Ready For VLC Media Player 2.0

• VLC is one of the most popular third party media players. If you check the download stats on portals such as Softpedia or Betanews, you will notice that it is always listed in one of the top spots. That’s not because of the player’s pretty name but the functionality it provides. VLC plays nearly every media format out of the box, without codec hunting and installation. There are other players, like the excellent SMplayer that offer that functionality as well, but none managed to reach the popularity of VLC.

=> ↺ LiVES: A Rich Video Editor With Layer Upon Layer of Features

• Even though LiVES is a powerful video editing app with a deep set of features, it’s still approachable enough that an amateur can use it without getting lost in complex menus. It can be used by both film editing newbies and video pros alike. It’s about as complex — or simple — as you want it to be.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How To Set Up Multi-Master Replication Using Tungsten And MySQL-Proxy For MySQL High Availability On Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS

=> ↺ Simple Xymon Monitors Hosts, Services, and Network

=> ↺ Install Fail2Ban to curb brute-force attacks

=> ↺ Linux for Window systems administrators, Part 1: Managing and monitoring the extended file system

=> ↺ dnsmap 3.0 – Find Subdomains by Brute-Forcing

=> ↺ Bait Your Users with the Simple Phishing Toolkit

=> ↺ ALICE and friends. Artificial Intelligence Reloaded

=> ↺ How to compile and install Takeoff Launcher on Linux Mint 12 KDE

=> ↺ 10+ Useful Commands for Linux Users

Games

=> ↺ Another Unigine-Based Linux Game Soon To Alpha

• From the bits of information that is out there now, Relics of Annorath is described by its developers as “MMORPG which plays in a medieval/post-modern ambience. It provides a complex economic system, which is also reflected on the profession system of the individual characters. Relics of Annorath provides as much freedom to the player as possible, this covers a dynamic changing world with a complex guild, faction and political system that can change nearly everything in the player experience.”

Distributions

Gentoo Family

=> ↺ Gentoo Linux 12.0 reviewed: Linux For The Toughies

• Gentoo Linux 12.0 LiveDVD was released recently. We were the first ones to announce the release of Gentoo. Although not as popular as Ubuntu , this Linux distro is good enough for those who want to learn more about their system’s functionality and GNU/Linux. It uses Portage package manager which is also used by Chrome OS and Chromium OS.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat Inc Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Bullish for RHT

=> ↺ Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 Enters Market with Backing of Strong ISV Ecosystem

• Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced strong partner support for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 from its ISV partner ecosystem. In line with the general availability of the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 portfolio today, Red Hat introduces its ecosystem of industry-leading vendors that have integrated their applications with the 3.0 product through its APIs.

=> ↺ Red Hat weighs in on Internet regulations

• This is in protest to anti-piracy legislation being considered in the U.S. Congress and has already had a substantial impact.

=> ↺ openSUSE and Fedora Protest Against SOPA

• Today, January 18th, the openSUSE and Fedora websites are on strike against SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act).

• While the Fedora Project website only displays a text saying “The Fedora Project does not promote internet censorship. Help stop SOPA and PIPA.”, the openSUSE website is already redirecting to http://sopastrike.com/strike.

=> ↺ Red Hat’s 3.0 platform deemed a turning point for KVM, cloud aims

• Red Hat took a major step forward today in its goal to establish the open source kernel-based VM hypervisor as a leading virtualization platform for desktops and servers and a core component of its cloud computing strategy — the release of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0.

=> ↺ Uttam Energy Tech Builds Highly Secured IT Environment with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

• Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Uttam Energy Tech, a leading design and manufacturing company in India, has implemented Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to build its virtualized infrastructure for both servers and desktops. Uttam Energy Tech is utilizing both the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 2.2 platform as well as the Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 Beta, with plans to migrate all of its systems to Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 upon general availability.

Debian Family

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ Canonical backtracks on deleting Oracle’s Sun Java

• Canonical has announced that it has decided not to push empty versions of the Oracle’s Sun Java JDK packages into their partner repositories for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, 10.10 and 11.04. The company will now only remove the packages from the repository. The original plan announced in December 2011 would have seen the empty packages downloaded by users’ systems as part of the software update process, deleting any installation of the Oracle binary release of Sun Java and leaving only OpenJDK as an option.

=> ↺ Canonical Removes Java from Ubuntu on February 16

• As announced last month, Canonical is preparing to remove the Sun JDK (Java Development Kit) packages from the software repositories, starting with February 16th, 2012, affecting Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Ubuntu 10.10 and Ubuntu 11.04.

=> ↺ The Classic, Retro Workspace

• Lifehacker reader Tyler Brainerd uses an Ikea feet and shelf trick to raise his two Samsung monitors above the restored Marantz receiver and pull-out box. He’s got an HP Touchpad, runs Ubuntu, writes in Moleskine notebooks, and that’s his old rotary phone turned into a VOIP handset for his PC we told you about previously. Click through to his Flickr set for more shots and notes on his workspace.

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ Bodhi Linux ARM Beta Release for Genesi Smartbook

• Much to my fiancée’s dismay my little Genesi Smartbook has been occupying much of my time of the late. In fact, just six days ago I posted about how to get an early build of a Bodhi ARM file system for the Smartbook.

Devices/Embedded

Phones

=> ↺ Samsung backpedals on bada/Tizen OS merger plans

Android

=> ↺ Quad-Core HTC Edge Receives a Name Change

• We were not privy to the motivation behind the name change, although we suspect it had something to do with Edge/Endeavor being fully detailed so far ahead of its planned launch (likely a Mobile World Congress debut next month). Like any B2C organization, HTC wants to build up some buzz for its products prior to their introduction, but not so far ahead of time that its ability to operate in secrecy is hindered.

=> ↺ Oracle claims Android activations make Google $10 million in annual revenue each day

=> ↺ Sony’s 2012 launch schedule leaks: 12 Android smartphones coming this year!

• After it finally split up with Ericsson and started announcing and unveiling exclusive Sony branded gadgets, the Japanese multinational electronics giant seems to have big plans for 2012.

• Sony is preparing the release of no less than 12 Android-powered smartphones during the course of this year, according to a leak picked up by the guys at gsmarena.com just a couple of hours ago. While this piece of information is far from being official, the list looks pretty legit and makes us think it’s trustworthy.

Sub-notebooks/Tablets

=> ↺ LG’s Honeycomb tablet features 4G LTE and an HD display

• LG announced its first tablet equipped with LTE 4G capability, heading first to Korea. Running Android 3.2 on a dual-core, 1.5GHz processor, the Optimus Pad LTE has an 8.9-inch, 1280 x 720-pixel display, an SD slot, plus both eight- and two-megapixel cameras — and it’s just 0.37 inches thick, says the company.

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Freedom for the masses: plug servers from FreedomBox

• Proprietary social media platforms are used heavily even by those attending a conference meant for free and open source software users and Bdale Garbee used this fact to kick off his talk on FreedomBox at the 13th Australian national Linux conference in Ballarat today.

Events

=> ↺ Awesome! High-Altitude Balloon Launch At Linux.conf.au In Ballarat

• What’s better than launching a high-altitude balloon into space from Adelaide 20 times? Doing it live from Linux.conf.au in Ballarat. Check out our exclusive video and learn more about the Project Horus team after the jump, including their plans to launch an Internode Node Pony into space.

Web Browsers

=> ↺ Linux Web Browser Round-Up

• When I sit here in front of my desktop and look at my Debian Menu for “Internet”, I see a myriad of icons. But not just a myriad of icons for all kinds of applications, but also a myriad of icons for web browsers. As Linux users, we really are rewarded with having so much choice when it comes to web browsers.

• In this round-up, I will give you a brief look at the current web browser line-up for Linux users. This is not a review of web browsers, but rather a quick look to let you know what is out there available in the world of Linux for todays web user.

• You’ll find all the usual ones, ie. Firefox, but you’ll also perhaps find one that you may not have known existed. And you might even decide to give your own system a new browser for you to try. Because as you’ll see in todays quick round-up, not all browsers are equal. And they all provide something neat to offer a Linux web user.

=> ↺ Epiphany marches on

• Previously in this space we saw how the bright future of Epiphany looked like, and vague promises about incremental steps towards it were done. A month later, Epiphany 3.3.4 is out there, so let’s see how well we’ve done.

SaaS

=> ↺ Proposed New Cloud Standard Could Give Amazon Serious Competition

• In the cloud computing arena, one of the biggest debates in 2011 surrounded cloud “lock-in,” as many businesses and organizations are demanding increased portability of cloud applications between platforms, and increasingly pursuing open source solutions. Now, some of the biggest hitters on the technology scene are backing a proposed specification to do away with lock-in issues. The OASIS Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) Technical Committee has produced the specification, and it’s already backed by IBM, CA Technologies, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, NetApp, Red Hat, and SAP.

=> ↺ Enterprise Hadoop: Big data processing made easier

• It’s been a big year for Apache Hadoop, the open source project that helps you split your workload among a rack of computers. The buzzword is now well known to your boss but still just a vague and hazy concept for your boss’s boss. That puts it in the sweet spot when there’s plenty of room for experimentation. The list of companies using Hadoop in production work grows longer each day, and it probably won’t be long before “Hadoop cluster” takes over the role that the words “crazy supercomputer” used to play in thriller movies. The next version of the WOPR is bound to run Hadoop.

Databases

=> ↺ Amazon Takes Another Pass at NoSQL with DynamoDB

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

=> ↺ Download and Test LibreOffice 3.5.0 Beta 3

Business

=> ↺ 10 Open Source Shopping Carts to Run Your Ecommerce Business

• More and more companies have turned to the Web to transact business. And, of course, if you are going to sell on the Web, the right shopping cart can mean the difference between red and black ink. When shopping for your own ecommerce shopping cart software the most important aspect to consider is how well the cart software meets your business objectives. An ecommerce shopping cart has to be customizable to fit your business needs and branding, be flexible enough to scale as your business grows, be secure and support industry standards and provide solid integrate with payment gateways.

Semi-Open Source

=> ↺ 10 Open Source Shopping Carts to Run Your Ecommerce Business

• More and more companies have turned to the Web to transact business. And, of course, if you are going to sell on the Web, the right shopping cart can mean the difference between red and black ink. When shopping for your own ecommerce shopping cart software the most important aspect to consider is how well the cart software meets your business objectives. An ecommerce shopping cart has to be customizable to fit your business needs and branding, be flexible enough to scale as your business grows, be secure and support industry standards and provide solid integrate with payment gateways.

• Open source shopping cart software is an attractive option. Storeowners might look to open source ecommerce software because it will typically deliver the features and tools to manage a product catalog on a website without the hefty licensing fees that come with proprietary or off-the-shelf packages.

Public Services/Government

=> ↺ NASA’s Open Source Software Initiative Lifts Off

• The NASA Open Government Initiative has launched a new website to expand and explore the agency’s open source software development. Open source development is all about giving the public access to view and improve software source code. NASA uses open source code for it’s projects and missions.

• In 2009, the White House issued the Open Government Directive, which requires federal agencies to take specific steps to become more transparent. NASA’s Open Government Plan has been recognized as one of the best. “We believe tomorrow’s space and science systems will be built in the open, and that code.nasa.gov will play a big part in getting us there,” said William Eshagh, NASA Open Government co-lead on the project at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

=> ↺ NASA Clears the Runway for Open Source Software

• The NASA Open Government Initiative has launched a new website to expand the agency’s open source software development.

Openness/Sharing

=> ↺ Record and visualize your own data with this open source creative toolset

• The concept of visualizing data has caught a lot of eyes in recent years, especially the fitness sector. Simply considering the amount of popularity that revolved around Jawbone’s Up (despite the fact that the product didn’t work), shows the potential of recording and visualizing activities.

• What’s most impressive is that many of the opportunities related to data visualization have yet to be realized, but don’t worry, the open source community is on it.

=> ↺ WikiHouse’s DIY kits are the open-source way to build a house

• This article was taken from the February 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired’s articles in print before they’re posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Programming

=> ↺ Google Code-in 2011-2012 wraps up

• Google has announced that its 2011-2012 Google Code-in program has now concluded. Over the course of eight weeks, more than 540 high school students participated in the contest, which had them complete various tasks for 18 open source projects, including the GNOME and KDE projects, as well as openSUSE, FreeBSD and Perl.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ From CES: Will HTML5 Threaten the Closed World of the App Store?

• This year I was struck by the shifting nature of software ecosystems. On one hand you had Steve Ballmer and Steven Elop repeating over and over how Microsoft and Nokia will be the “third ecosystem” to Apple and Android’s already successful ones. I find it ironic that what Ballmer means when he says he wants “to build the strong third ecosystem in the smartphone market” is that Microsoft and Nokia really want to be well, Microsoft and Nokia again. Except this time in third place. We all know that the rise and hold of Microsoft’s desktop domination was driven not by technology superiority but by the “ecosystem,” the availability of applications and peripherals supporting that operating system (OS), and only that OS. Microsoft and Nokia would like to return to that world with their mobile platforms. As Elop said, “We believe the industry has shifted form a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems.”

Leftovers

Finance

=> ↺ Goldman Sachs forced to reveal pay of top London staff

• Ahead of the full-year results from Goldman Sachs on Wednesday it is worth taking a look at what the Wall Street firm paid its top flight staff in London in 2010. For the first time it has been forced to disclose, under EU rules, how it pays so-called “code staff” – those who are judged to be responsible for taking or managing risks – in its UK-based operations.

=> ↺ The Invisible Hand Behind Bonuses on Wall Street

• When asked about his job at cocktail parties, Alan Johnson has a curiosity-piquing line.

• “You know those big paydays on Wall Street?” he says, typically waiting a beat to deliver the punch line. “I have something to do with them.”

• Mr. Johnson, a consultant who speaks with a light twang from his native Alabama, has never worked for a bank. Nor will his company, Johnson Associates, pay million-dollar bonuses to any of its 12 employees this year. But as one of the nation’s foremost financial compensation specialists, Mr. Johnson is among a small group of behind-the-scenes information brokers who help determine how Wall Street firms distribute billions of dollars to their workers.

Intellectual Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ SOPA/PIPA Could Have Huge Impact on Enterprise IT

=> ↺ Wikipedia blackout begins vs. SOPA

=> ↺ What I Wish Wikipedia and Others Were Saying About SOPA/PIPA

• The SOPA/PIPA blackout today by Wikipedia, Mozilla, WordPress.com and many other sites is (I hope) drawing attention to proposed legislation that is considered a threat to “Internet freedom.” That’s fine, admirable, and (with any luck) will be effective at curbing SOPA/PIPA for at least another legislative season. The backgrounders I’ve read so far by Wikipedia and others explain pretty well why SOPA/PIPA shouldn’t pass. What they don’t say is that SOPA/PIPA are business as usual, and the protest is a last-ditch effort necessary because the legislative system and mainstream media are fundamentally broken.

• The blackout and other protests today are the result of a long, sustained, full-court press against legislation that’s being pushed through despite widespread opposition. Yet, Lamar Smith and many other members of the U.S. House and Senate have been plowing ahead full-steam. Why? Yes, in part because they’re well-funded by the entertainment industry, and it wants the bill passed, but also because they think they can.

=> ↺ OSI Opposes SOPA and PIPA

• The Open Source Initiative Board joined many other civil society organizations as co-signatories of an open letter expressing concern about SOPA and PIPA.

=> ↺ SOPA/PIPA – Who To Talk To in Texas

=> ↺ Top Open Source Sites Protesting SOPA, PIPA

• There are many open source communities which are protesting the anti-freedom bill SOPA and its ‘Little Boy’ cousin PIPA via their websites. Here are the top 5 open source communities protesting SOPA and PIPA.

=> ↺ The First Internet Strike in History a Success

• The Washington Post reports that Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who opposed SOPA/PIPA, has put out a statement saying, “The voice of the Internet community has been heard,” and that there will be no vote in the House on the bills so detested by the entire technical and Internet communities.

=> ↺ SOPA/PIPA: How to stop fear

• A communications medium that, at the default setting, provides free and open communication between connected people anywhere on the planet. Instantaneously.

• Today’s protests of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), are stark reminders that we, as a people, can get carried away with our fears and go too far to protect what we believe to be more important.

=> ↺ Mozilla, Firefox join anti-SOPA strike

• Mozilla, the open-source organization responsible for Firefox, joined other major technology companies today to protest anti-piracy legislation by blackening the browser’s home page.

=> ↺ First One Down: Rep. Lee Terry Removes His Name As A SOPA Co-Sponsor

• We were wondering when our elected officials would start realizing just how toxic SOPA and PIPA have become. It appears it’s happening today, along with the online protests. Rep. Lee Terry, from Nebraska — who just last week expressed some concerns about the bill at CES, but still appeared committed to it — has announced that he’s removing his name as a co-sponsor of the bill, becoming the first US Representative to do so. Over in the Senate, Senator Jerry Moran did so way back in June — and has since become a leading voice against PIPA. Terry’s spokesperson claimed that after listening to some of the complaints, he realized that the bill just has too many problems, and could cause more harm than good — especially for the open internet. Good for him. Now… who’s next?

=> ↺ Anti-SOPA/PIPA Protest Songs

=> ↺ Senator Marco Rubio Dropping His Co-Sponsorship Of PIPA

=> ↺ More Senators Dropping Off As Co-Sponsors Of PIPA

=> ↺ Disney Refused Invitation From Senator Feinstein To Meet With Tech Companies Over PIPA/SOPA

• We’ve been pointing out for months that the entertainment industry — who more or less wrote SOPA & PIPA — has done everything it can to deny both the tech industry and consumers any seat at the table. Many of us have asked to take part, or suggested that the backers of SOPA & PIPA open up the process — as Senator Wyden and Rep. Issa did with their OPEN Act — allowing the public to comment on it, suggest specific changes, and actually have a real debate on the bill, rather than handling it all in the back room. Multiple times, MPAA boss Chris Dodd has suggested that Hollywood is more than happy to sit down with folks in Silicon Valley to talk over the issues related to the bill — though, when a bunch of us offered to do just that, somehow Dodd wasn’t so welcoming.

=> ↺ Andy Samberg, Neil Gaiman, Trent Reznor, Aziz Ansari, Adam Savage & More Tell Congress: Don’t Pass PIPA Or SOPA In Our Names

=> ↺ Protest Via Plugin: Facebook Users Bring The Fight To Lamar Smith’s Website

=> ↺ Black Wednesday

• No, it’s sadly not a day for shopping. Today, some of the most visited websites are dark to raise awareness of two bills now making their way through the U.S. Congress. The bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), pose such a great threat to all of us who use, enjoy, and make a living on the Internet that they have united a formidable front from the likes of internet giants such as Google and Wikipedia. Social sites like Reddit that would be devastated by this sort of legislation are getting in on the black out, as well as those who help build the software that powers the Internet like WordPress.

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