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 ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20 
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A brief roundup for a few fun bits in the world of FLOSS: Linux Foundation's Secure Boot bootloader now available On behalf of the Linux Foundation, kernel developer James Bottomley has released a Microsoft-signed mini bootloader whose signature is trusted by typical Windows 8 PCs and which allows such PCs to be started when Secure Boot is active. ... Samsung UEFI bug: Notebook bricked from Windows ... Microsoft's Windows 8 Hardware Certification Requirements stipulate that at least 64KB of storage must be available for this purpose. When a crash occurs in certain configurations, the Linux kernel [or any other OS] uses this storage to deposit information that allows the cause of the crash to be investigated later; Linux places about 10KB of data in a UEFI variable for such a "crash dump". According to Garrett's analysis, this is the actual reason why some Linux distributions destroy Samsung notebooks. ... How large an amount of data is required to cause firmware malfunction remains unknown; Garrett says that he generated 36 one-kilobyte variables in the tests that resulted in a notebook being disabled under Windows. The developer concludes that the problem is caused by a firmware flaw. "Writing UEFI variables is expressly permitted by the specification, and there should never be a situation in which an OS can fill the variable store in such a way that the firmware refuses to boot the system", says Garrett. He notes that similar bugs were seen in Intel's reference code for UEFI firmware a year ago, but adds that these bugs have all been fixed. Garrett has renewed his recommendation not to use Windows [or other OSes] in UEFI mode on the affected devices. ... [The Linux example was very rapidly patched within days to work-around the firmware problem.] Raspbmc turns the Raspberry Pi into a media centre The open source Raspbmc media centre distribution has been released in its first stable version. Version 1.0 of the XBMC 12 based distribution transforms the $35 Raspberry Pi mini computer into an HD capable entertainment centre. ... Highlights of LibreOffice 4.0 ... This version increase is more of a cultural and symbolic change than it is an indicator of major new features. Nonetheless, LibreOffice 4.0 introduces a number of functional improvements and underlying polish to the open source office package that is worth a look. ... ... Internally, the release of LibreOffice 4 introduces a wide range of API changes in the office suite that will set the project on a course away from OpenOffice. ... Aside from these rather abstract changes, there are, however, also tangible improvements in LibreOffice 4 that justify a closer look. ... ... came about because a user, in this case a SUSE customer, wanted to make it easier to "brand" LibreOffice. Support for Firefox themes enables users to skin the background of their toolbars in LibreOffice just as they would skin their Firefox browser. This can provide some diversion in an otherwise rather dreary day at work or, as Meeks suggests, be used to make the switch to LibreOffice more bearable for new users who have been migrated from a proprietary office package such as Microsoft Word. Theming the toolbar in this way can make the interface look a bit more familiar. Granted, it is just a cosmetic change, but such things can have a surprisingly big effect in some situations. ... ... [Various technical enhancements] ... ... LibreOffice 4.0 is a milestone event in the project's history. Now freed from the legacy of Sun/Oracle OpenOffice.org, it is now up to the project to show that the large community it describes in its statistics can deliver the features and enhancements fast enough to keep LibreOffice at the head of the free software office suite pack. What's new in KDE 4.10 ... Like all its predecessors since version 4.4, version 4.10 of the KDE desktop environment is divided into three main areas that together form the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC): KDE Applications includes applications such as the Calligra office suite, the Marble map application, and games. Various user interfaces for touch devices (Plasma Active), netbooks, and desktops are available in KDE Workspaces; at their core is the Plasma work environment with its widgets ("plasmoids" in KDE terminology). Finally, KDE Platform includes backend infrastructure components such as the Akonadi PIM data storage solution, the window manager, the KDE libraries, and the KDE SDK itself. ... [See the example screenshot. I like the non-rectilinear windows. Not so sure about the comic strip example... :-/ ] All good positive stuff, and all for user IT freedoms. IT is what we make it, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1337721 ·  |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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A quick roundup in the world of FLOSS: Linux 3.8 released Linus Torvalds has released version 3.8 of the Linux kernel, which brings with it full support for the graphic cores in Intel's upcoming processor generation Haswell and everything a system needs to use the 3D acceleration on all NVIDIA GeForce graphics chipsets. F2FS, a filesystem that is optimised for flash media as used in cameras, tablets, smartphones, USB flash drives and memory cards, is another innovation in Linux 3.8. The kernel developers have also accelerated some aspects of the performance of the Btrfs and Ext4 filesystems and, as always, new and upgraded drivers have improved the range of hardware supported by Linux. There are also interesting enhancements... What's new in Linux 3.8 "Unicycling Gorilla" is the code name for Linux 3.8, released today by Linus Torvalds after ten weeks of development. The name is once more derived from an event in Torvald's life and an anecdote without significance, but many Linux users will benefit from the many enhancements in the latest kernel version. ... Why it's time to stop using open source licences Free software is built on a paradox. In order to give freedom to users, free software licences use something that takes away freedom – copyright, which is an intellectual monopoly based on limiting people's freedom to share, not enlarging it. That was a brilliant hack when Richard Stallman first came up with it in 1985, with the GNU Emacs General Public Licence, but maybe now it's time to move on. ... ... I don't think this declining use of copyleft licences is a sign of failure – on the contrary. As I wrote in my previous column, free software has essentially won, taking over most key computing sectors. Similarly, the move to "permissive" licences has only been possible because of the success of copyleft: the ideas behind collaborative creation and contributing back to a project are now so pervasive that we don't require "strong" copyleft licences to enforce them... Droidifi will use Android to turbocharge routers The Droidifi developers aim to port the Android smartphone operating system to wireless routers to unlock the full power of the devices. The first version of Droidifi should be supported on the Cisco EA6500, Netgear R6300 and ASUS RT-AC66U. All three routers make use of IEEE 802.11ac to achieve Wi-Fi speeds of up to 1.7Gbit/s, contain a Gigabit Ethernet switch, USB ports, and decent processing power, memory and flash storage (128MB)... ... Similar functionality to Droidifi is already provided by OpenWRT and DD-WRT router firmware, both of which are also Linux-based and able to run on a much wider range of wireless routers, including older ones. ... Dell bringing improved Sputnik to Europe Dell has announced a higher resolution screen version of its Sputnik laptop, an Intel i7 Ultrabook supplied with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and aimed at developers, that it will be making it available outside the US and Canada. ... ... The new unit's US price has risen by $50 to $1549, but interestingly this appears to be $50 less than a similar XPS 13 with Windows. ... Developer preview for Ubuntu Phone due this week - Update Canonical is planning to release the "Touch Developer Preview of Ubuntu for phones" on Thursday 21 February. This release will allow developers to put images of the phone-optimised Ubuntu onto the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 smartphones. ... ... the start of an era of "true convergence between devices"... Vivaldi tablet in harmony with new vendor KDE and Plasma developer Aaron Seigo has given an update on the state of the planned Vivaldi tablet in a video published on his YouTube channel. In the video, Seigo addresses new developments regarding the tablet... ... off-the-shelf hardware which the manufacturer would agree to release open source drivers for and then pre-install this with the Plasma Active version of the KDE desktop – has failed... ... manufacture several follow-up devices with different hardware specifications. Seigo says the new approach allows the team to be "in full control" of its roadmap for the first time. Secure Boot restrictions can be disabled in Fedora When users disable the security checks in the Shim Secure Boot bootloader, the latest Fedora 18 kernels will disable any restrictions that are caused by their Secure Boot support. This means that Fedora now offers a very simple way of neutralising any Secure Boot restrictions that can be used uniformly on all systems and doesn't require users to disable Secure Boot in the UEFI firmware setup. ... ... This allows users to load self-compiled kernel modules and those from package repositories such as RPM Fusion – including the kernel modules for the proprietary graphics drivers from AMD and NVIDIA – even if Secure Boot is enabled. Steam for Linux officially launched With beta testing now officially completed, Valve Software has released the Linux client for its Steam game delivery platform. The software is available to download from the Ubuntu Software Centre and Valve has provided a downloadable deb package. The company has only recently relicensed the client with provisions that allow it to be included in Linux distributions. ... ... Users who purchase a game on Steam can play it on all available platforms ("buy-once, play-anywhere"). Around 60 games are currently available for Linux; these are marked with a penguin... From my observations and personal opinion, the Microsoft foisted "Secure Boot" was quite a fiendish move that gave a lot of Marketing leverage to something that appears to lock users AND THEIR HARDWARE into specific Windows software, and also deny a lot of the features that give FLOSS users their freedom. Only after a lot of hard work is most of that artificial proprietary foisted restriction now steadily being eroded... IT is very much what we make it... Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1339689 · |
Sirius B   Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 
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Mint 14 looking good. Slight hiccup though - it doesn't seem to pick up monitor resolution very well. Edit: However, unlike the initial installation of Mint 13, 14 picked up all devices including sound & worked out of the box - even in VMware. ID: 1343558 · |
Ex: "Socialist"  Send message Joined: 12 Mar 12 Posts: 3433 Credit: 2,616,158 RAC: 2 
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Mint 14 looking good. Slight hiccup though - it doesn't seem to pick up monitor resolution very well. You could always try proprietary driver for your card. Nvidia-current is a nvidia package available from the Linux repos. Trying to install the proprietary bundle directly from your cards maker can be really messy. #resist ID: 1343622 · |
Bernie Vine  Send message Joined: 26 May 99 Posts: 9954 Credit: 103,452,613 RAC: 328
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Mint 14 looking good. Slight hiccup though - it doesn't seem to pick up monitor resolution very well. Both 13 and 14 picked up everything for me. However I use a KVM which causes all Linux distros I have used to default to 1024x768. If I plug the monitor direct into the machine it immediately gets the correct resolution, until a reboot!! I know you can set the resolution but I just could not make that work. ID: 1343695 · |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7
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I'm using Mint in VM & 13 is not a problem. 14 gives both horizontal & vertical scroll bars, however its only a slight one. Just wondering what changed between the 2 versions. ID: 1343698 · |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7
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Sheesh.....Mint 14 is supposed to be the equivalent of Win 8 but with the missing features. One would assume that they would update everything else..... ...still have the 7.0.27 buggy boinc in their repository! ID: 1343813 · |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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Sheesh.....Mint 14 is supposed to be the equivalent of Win 8 but with the missing features. With over 41000 software packages to choose from, it would be a bit silly to include all of them on the download image... Once installed, take a look at what you want to add! One would assume that they would update everything else..... You may well need to enable additional repositories to see newer 'experimental' versions. Or put in a bug request for an update? Linux Mint Have fun! Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1343856 · |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7
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With over 41000 software packages to choose from, it would be a bit silly to include all of them on the download image... Once installed, take a look at what you want to add! Agreed, but as 7.0.27 has been reported as buggy, one would assume that it would be removed from the repositries. Until issues like this are catered for, Linux won't take the "Home" world, so maybe retitle the thread "Linux is on it's way! ID: 1344057 · |
Gary Charpentier     Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30641 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32
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Until issues like this are catered for, Linux won't take the "Home" world, so maybe retitle the thread "Linux is on it's way! More like Linux, run by committee, 10,000 legs, no head. 
ID: 1344059 · |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7
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Until issues like this are catered for, Linux won't take the "Home" world, so maybe retitle the thread "Linux is on it's way! At this moment in time, better that that the "head" of M$! Since 1991, Linux has improved dramatically & if MS continue on their merry way, Linux WILL surpass them eventually. ID: 1344064 · |
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Ex: "Socialist" Send message Joined: 12 Mar 12 Posts: 3433 Credit: 2,616,158 RAC: 2
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The issues with boinc in repositories are due to: -When Ubuntu/derivatives make a release, they take the existing packages from Debian testing at that point in time. (Instead of taking an older and more stable version) -Mint13 (Ubuntu 12.04) was originally released with a very broken 7.0.24... 7.0.27 was the SRU'd package to fix the broken one. As it at least worked, where 7.0.24 did not. -Many people using Ubuntu/derivatives and wishing to run Boinc have experienced issues. Ubuntu 12.04/Mint13 will most likely NOT see a newer Boinc pushed into the repository, as these are L.T.S. releases and they really really don't like changing package versions after the first several months a L.T.S. has been out. -There are PPA repositories hosted by a member of Debians Boinc team. Currently the PPA versions are the upstream Alpha 7.0.5x right now. These Alpha versions are considered safe until 7.1.x is released, because until 7.1.x the only code changes coming from upstream are bug fixes. I.e. any alpha right now will be better than any previous 7.0.x version, with no breakages. The PPA you can add to your sources to do a simple "apt-get install" of the newest boinc is: ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc You can add the PPA and upgrade Boinc with the following in terminal: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install boinc Once you do that, if you wish to not receive further updates, simply remove the PPA repository from your sources to prevent Boinc from having a reason to update: sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:costamagnagianfranco/boinc sudo apt-get update Hope this sheds a little light on what's going on in Ubuntu/Debian/Mint land, and what we can do to easily remedy the situation. #resist ID: 1344082 · |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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A bit of an update of what is new and fun and very occasionally not so fun in the world of FLOSS and Linux... (And there's quite a stir in the Linux kernel forums recently... More on that in a following post.) Feature set of Linux 3.9 has been established Experimental RAID 5 and 6 support in the still experimental Btrfs will be one of the major new features of Linux 3.9, expected to arrive in late April. ... Linux 3.9 will also include a cache target in the Device Mapper that will allow SSDs to be used as hard disk cache in order to offer accelerated access to frequently used data or temporarily store write operations to the faster SSD... the kernel's KVM hypervisor will, for the first time, support the virtualisation features that are available in Cortex A15 processors, which means that this will be the first [KVM] version to work on ARM CPUs. The next kernel will also run on two further CPU architectures: ARC processors from Synopsys and Imagination's Meta ATP (Meta 1) and HTP (Meta 2) processor cores. Linux 3.9 will also offer a driver for the series 7000 Wi-Fi components that Intel apparently plans to introduce in a few months... Dell Sputnik now being sold in Europe Dell's Sputnik developer laptop, which has recently received a bump to its specifications, is now available for purchase from Dell's UK web site and the company has also launched the product on its German language sites. ... The Sputnik costs £899 – which makes it £120 cheaper than the comparable XPS 13 model pre-installed with Windows 8... Rescue system Grml 2013.02 improves diagnostic tools The developers of Grml have released version 2013.02, code-named "Grumpy Grinch", of their Debian-based distribution aimed at diagnosing, repairing and maintaining Linux systems. ... ... Grml is designed to be run as a live image from a CD or USB stick; the standard image is approximately 350MB in size. A smaller 150MB image is also available... Will open science be web-based? ... interesting points of contact between open source and science, especially as computers become an increasingly important tool for most scientists. Now it seems that other people are also beginning to see a connection. ... PhUSE creates open source repository for clinical trial research PhUSE, a non-profit community with the goal of furthering advances in clinical information technology, has opened a repository for open source software... German federal state switches Linux-based school server The governmental IT supplier for schools in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg has committed to stop development of its in-house Linux-based school server software paedML in favour of a new solution ... by outsourcing this work to a commercial company. UCS@school is based on version 3.1 of the open source Univention Corporate Server. ... LibreOffice 4.0.1 delivers Android remote for all The Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 4.0.1, the first maintenance and bug fix release for LibreOffice 4.0 ... ... now works with all LibreOffice releases (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux). The remote allows users to control the suite's presentation software from their Android devices. ... And for the rare not-so-fun bits, but all of which have already been promptly patched/fixed: Vulnerability in recent Linux kernels offers root rights An error in the handling of special netlink messages in the Linux kernel can allow a user to surreptitiously gain root privileges. ... ... [Patched] Security vulnerability in sudo allows privilege escalation ... For the attack to work, the logged-in user must be listed in the /etc/sudoers file, which also specifies which programs can be executed with which privileges. The user must have run a sudo command at least once and have successfully authenticated him or herself. It must also be possible to modify the system time without entering a password. ... ... It is advisable to create a user who does not have administrator privileges and to use this user for day-to-day work to reduce exposure to such vulnerabilities. Sudo versions 1.6.0 to 1.7.10p6 and 1.8.0 to 1.8.6p6 are affected. The vulnerability has been fixed in versions 1.7.10p7 and 1.8.6p7. Mac OS X 10.8.2 uses sudo 1.7.4p6 and is therefore vulnerable until Apple ships an update. Hacker break-in at cPanel saw SSH trojans deployed Hackers broke into a server at cPanel.net, creators and vendors of the cPanel web hosting control panel for Linux, BSD and Windows servers, and proceeded to install SSH rootkits and compromised OpenSSH packages on customer systems. ... Meanwhile, Microsoft has only a slightly quieter patch-up day than for previous months: Microsoft prepares to close 7 holes on March Patch Tuesday Microsoft will be issuing seven security bulletins on 12 March for its monthly Patch Tuesday. These address four critical and three important problems; products affected are Silverlight, Office, Microsoft's server products, all supported versions of Internet Explorer and all supported versions of Windows... The four critical bulletins address remote code execution flaws in Windows from Windows XP SP3 onwards and Internet Explorer 6 through 10, as well as in Silverlight and Visio. ... DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 497, 4 March 2013 ... The world of Linux has seen many ambitious projects trying to build a business model around desktop Linux by charging users for the privilege of downloading the distribution. The latest arrival among them is Rebelling Linux, a new Debian-based operating system that promises great desktop computing with personal email support. But is the US$5 download worth the cost? Read Jesse Smith's review to find out what he thinks. In the news section, Ubuntu developers and users continue to argue over the merits of a rolling-release development model, Arch Linux explains the benefits of running the original distribution over some of its more user-friendly derivatives, and Debian GNU/Linux continues to march towards "Wheezy", albeit with many unexpected bumps on the road. Also in this issue, we'll take a brief look at the Steam gaming portal for Linux and we'll discuss the issues of diversity in the world of Linux distributions. ... All good vibrant stuff! All in the world of FLOSS. IT is what we make it, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1344187 · |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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And now for the story of a recent rather impassioned bun fight... A 'tame' summary is given which misses some rather critically fundamental aspects: No Microsoft certificate support in Linux kernel says Torvalds ... In submitting a collection of changes for merging into Linux 3.9, Red Hat developer David Howells has triggered a wide-ranging debate on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML). The patches would have enabled the Linux kernel to verify binaries signed by Microsoft. For example, this would enable the Fedora 18 kernel, which, if Secure Boot is activated, only loads kernel modules signed by the Fedora project, to also load Microsoft-signed modules. The Linux kernel currently supports certificates meeting the X.509 standard. Microsoft, by contrast, has developed its own code-signing system in the form of Authenticode... ... According to kernel developer Matthew Garrett, who coded secure bootloader shim (which is signed by Microsoft), it is, however, a contractual requirement for obtaining a Secure Boot signature from Microsoft. Microsoft also reserves the right to revoke a certificate if code signed with it compromises the security of UEFI. ... ... The issue of why the Linux ecosystem does not set up its own infrastructure for signing (Linux) operating systems has also once again been raised. This particular issue comes down to cost – according to Greg Kroah-Hartman, setting up and running such an infrastructure would almost certainly cost more than the Linux Foundation's entire annual budget. Further detail and a little nearer to the critical aspects is given in: Torvalds strongly objects to Windows 8 secure boot keys in the Linux kernel Linux founder Linus Torvalds makes no bones about it. He thinks inserting signed binaries into the Linux kernel is "moronic." ... Like it or lump it, the easiest ways to get Linux installing or running on Windows 8 PCs with Secure Boot all involve using Microsoft signed UEFI keys. Matthew Garrett, a Linux UEFI expert and creator of the shim boot method used by Red Hat, pointed out that these keys are only available from Microsoft as PE binaries. As anyone who follows Linux closely knows, Linux developers have no love for programs that have no source code and are only available as binaries. It goes against the very grain of open-source software. While most Linux users and programmers will grudgingly use such binaries as proprietary graphic and Wi-Fi drivers, the closer a binary comes to the Linux core, to the kernel itself, the less they like it. Thus, it shouldn't have come as no surprise when Torvalds blew up. ... ... Why should the kernel care about some idiotic "we only sign PE binaries" stupidity? We support X.509, which is the standard for signing. Do this in user land on a trusted machine. There is zero excuse for doing it in the kernel. ... ... as Ted Ts'o, a core Linux kernel developer said, that "this whole code signing insanity" … "is completely overblown." Those salient aspects are finally summarised here: Torvalds clarifies Linux’s Windows 8 Secure Boot position No one, but no one, in the Linux community likes Microsoft’s mandated deployment of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure Boot option in Windows 8 certified PCs. But, how Linux should handle the fixes required to deal with this problem remains a hot-button issue. ... ... Greg Kroah-Hartman, another prominent Linux kernel programmer, wrote that he doesn’t buy Garrett’s interpretation of what Microsoft wants. “I fail to see how Microsoft should be dictating how Linux, or any other operating system, works, especially when they aren’t even signing the kernel, they are merely signing a bootloader shim and saying ‘do your best for keeping the rest of the system secure please.’ “ ... ... And what does Torvalds himself think about all this? He’s not happy. “Stop the fear mongering already.“ Torvalds then goes on, in his own take-no-prisoners style, to suggest a plan on how to deal with Secure Boot signed keys and modules, which “is based on REAL SECURITY and on PUTTING THE USER FIRST instead of your continual ‘let’s please Microsoft by doing idiotic crap’ approach.’ “ ... ... Torvalds concluded, “It really shouldn’t be about Microsoft blessings, it should be about the *user* blessing kernel modules. Quite frankly, *you* are what the key-hating crazies were afraid of. You peddle the “control, not security†crap-ware. The whole “Microsoft owns your machine†is *exactly* the wrong way to use keys.†... The full untamed glory, complete with some very prominent names in there, is listed completely openly on the gmane thread. Two succinct posts that pretty much summarise the most important aspects are: 2013-02-21 18:56:44 GMT Linus Torvalds and 2013-02-26 03:45:24 GMT Linus Torvalds In my opinion, that is where the extreme passions have been stirred. Would you be happy to see well over twenty years of careful loving development spoilt by badly implemented 'crapware' trying to be innocuously sneaked in to literally steal the show away from the users and everyone else? Thought not. For ALL users. IT is what we all make it, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1344189 · |
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Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30641 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32
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So, let Linux not boot on UEFI systems. Let the user decide what hardware to buy. The market will decide. Linux will either prosper and UEFI will go away or UEFI will prosper and Linux will go away.
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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So, let Linux not boot on UEFI systems. Let the user decide what hardware to buy. The market will decide. Linux will either prosper and UEFI will go away or UEFI will prosper and Linux will go away. Really? UEFI itself is a good idea even if the code is somewhat overblown and bloated. The Microsoft implementation of what they euphemistically call "secure boot" is anything but secure and looks to me to be more a cynical bullying example of exerting restrictions and corporate control for extorting financial gain. So... You are advocating Neoliberalist totalitarian monopoly to subjugate all IT and us all? All in our only one world, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1346361 · |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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Latest brief recent roundup in the world of FLOSS and IT freedom: Open Source at CeBIT 2013 Open Source software has had a special area for itself at the CeBIT trade show for the last five years. The H went along to see what was new this year... 20 April is Hardware Freedom Day 2013 The organisers of Hardware Freedom Day (HFD) have selected 20 April as the date for the second HFD. The Hardware Freedom Day was started by the non-profit Digital Freedom Foundation (DFF) in 2012 to create a hardware version of the celebration of free software that is Software Freedom Day, also organised by the DFF. The organisation is already running events around the world which get people informed and involved with free software, open source and the communities that have developed around them... Atheros open sources firmware for two wireless chips Qualcomm Atheros has released the source code of firmware for two of its 802.11n wireless chips on GitHub. The source code and build tools for the firmware are released partly under the GPLv2 and and partly under the MIT license. The GitHub page provides build instructions for those wanting to compile their own firmware. ... The Ardour 3.0 digital audio workstation is ready for the MIDI studio Ardour chief developer Paul Davis has released version 3.0 of his digital audio workstation. Ardour 3's most important new feature is the multi-track recorder's comprehensive MIDI support and MIDI sequencing functionality. Ardour supports instrument plugins in Steinberg's VST format, the AudioUnit format of Mac OS X, and the LV2 Linux standard, successor to the LADSPA format. The MIDI workflow is modelled after the audio workflow: notes played on a MIDI device can be recorded as separate tracks and then played back via a software synthesizer. ... The delayed Mageia 3 Beta 3 arrives for testing ... Mageia 3 Beta 3 is shipping with a version 3.8.1 Linux kernel and systemd 195. Despite GRUB2 support being available for test, Beta 3 still ships with GRUB as a default boot loader. It also includes KDE 4.10, GNOME 3.6.3 and XFCE 4.10, and the release version of LibreOffice 4.0. Steam for Linux is available from the Mageia repositories. The developers have completed the "/usr move", which moves many executables and libraries from under / to /usr; a process inspired by the Fedora developers' move. Further details of the changes in Mageia 3 Beta 3 are in the release notes and errata. LiveCD and LiveDVD images for KDE and GNOME desktops are available to download along with a network installer image. ... Pwn2Own ends with all attackers winning The Pwn2Own competition at CanSecWest has come to an end with the second day being like the first day. No web browser plugin survived being attacked and Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader XI and Java were all successfully hacked. ... Google's Pwnium ends with no winners According to a Google+ posting from Google, there were no winners in Google's own Pwnium competition, which followed Pwn2Own at the CanSecWest conference in Canada. Google had offered a prize fund, inspired by the constant pi, of $3.14159 million with $110,000 prizes if the browser or system could be compromised and $150,000 prizes if the compromise could be persisted over a reboot. The target for the attacks was a Series 5 550 Chromebook running the latest stable ChromeOS. Google's fast patching of an exploit that was used by MWR Labs to win $100,000 at Pwn2Own in the preceding two days was fortuitous for Google... VP8 could become MPEG standard ... The developer mail to the IETF sees the WebRTC.org developer pushing VP8 as "the most suitable codec for MTI" (Mandatory To Implement). Next week in Orlando is the IETF 86 meeting, where there will be various presentations and meetings regarding the standardisation of WebRTC and, possibly, the codecs it uses for video. Google and MPEG LA make a deal over VP8 codec - Update Google and the MPEG LA patent licensing company have come to an agreementPDF regarding patents related to the VP8 codec, the core component of Google's WebM video technology. Google has licensed techniques that "may be essential to VP8 and earlier generation VPx video compression technologies," which were apparently covered by patents held by 11 patent holders. The deal enables Google to sub-license those patents to any user of VP8. ... X.org releases X Server 1.14 Performance improvements in terms of software rendering as well as fixes for touch devices and hybrid graphics systems are among the major new features of X.org's just released X Server 1.14. The new X Server also includes... Chrome for Android Beta has SPDY proxying Google's latest beta of Chrome for Android, version 26, has added an experimental feature designed to improve the performance of mobile browsing. The new "proxy browsing" feature has to be turned on manually and, when activated, directs mobile users' connections to HTTP sites through a SPDY connection to a Google-run proxy server. SPDY is Google's reworking of the HTTP protocol that multiplexes many connections into one, which, combined with other enhancements, gives a faster web experience. ... New game package from HumbleBundle In its latest sales campaign, the HumbleBundle team has released four commercial games for Android, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. As before, prospective buyers can choose their own price for the DRM-free game package... CeBIT Open Source Forum 2012 For the fourth time in a row, CeBIT will be devoting an entire section to the topic of open source. The event will be supported by international industry associations and representative bodies such as the Linux Foundation, Linux International, the Free Software Foundation Europe and the Open Source Business Alliance. The Open Source Forum will serve as the lively hub of the exhibition, which in turn features a diverse range of open source companies and independent projects... also be available later in the archive of Linux Magazin Online.Please click on the button "Play Video". A new window will open showing the video. projectcaua projectcaua "Freedom to make a living" MudPi About 10 years ago, I wrote Alternate Universe MUD, a free text-based online adventure game, with a space-theme and an emphasis on exploration and discovery. ... ... The game features spaceships, several worlds, an astronomical observatory, mudmail and mud-wide-web terminals, a stock market, various robots and even an auditorium where Shakespeare’s plays are performed by bots every few hours. ... Alternate Universe Alternate Universe is a free, futuristic-themed multiplayer text-based adventure game (of a genre which are called MUDs). To find out more about the actual game and how you play it, read... The Google SPDY is very good and interesting but I'm rather leery of going through their proxying to try it out. You can already experiment with it directly from the Linux world (no Google proxies needed). And I wonder if the Windows users will get lambasted again for being the cheapskates and non-contributory-'pirates' in the Indie Bundle downloads league? IT is what we make it, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1346364 · |
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ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20267 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20
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Had to happen: Microsoft faces European open software probe A Spanish group of open-source users has accused Microsoft of making it difficult for users of Windows 8 to install alternatives. The group of 8,000 Linux developers has filed a complaint to the European Commission about a mechanism that locks out other operating systems. Microsoft said the mechanism was a security feature. ... Security for who I wonder?... IT is what we make it, Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) ID: 1350950 · |
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Bernie Vine Send message Joined: 26 May 99 Posts: 9954 Credit: 103,452,613 RAC: 328
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Had to happen: Of course that only applies to "new shop brought PC's" any existing laptop or PC that upgrades to Win 8 will dual boot better than it did before. My laptop has never been better since I upgraded to Win8, funny how they don't mention that.  ID: 1351033 · |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24879 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7
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IMV, one of the best April Fool's jokes I've seen.... XBMC goes back to its roots (2nd article down) p.s. didn't by chance pick-up any decent James Bond ones did-ya'... Here you go Nick......  ID: 1353335 · |
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