OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/19492/Mandriva_Linux_2008_Spring_RC2_Released Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:41:37 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com Codeina http://osnews.com/thread?305749 http://osnews.com/thread?305749 I am curious how Mandriva benefits from it since they are a distribution based on France where patents on software is not enforced and they can legally ship Free software even when it is patent encumbered unlike Fedora which is US based on has to rely on Codeina as shown at

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia/Codeina Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Rahul) Comments Powerpack http://osnews.com/thread?305752 http://osnews.com/thread?305752 I have Mandriva Linux 2008 Powerpack installed on my laptop, and thus far it has been quite useable really. Some issues here and there, mostly codecs, but that's not what I'm here to rant about. I'm just wondering can these RC releases be installed over Powerpack installation without ruining anything? Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (WereCatf) Comments RE: Codeina http://osnews.com/thread?305760 http://osnews.com/thread?305760 Perhaps Mandriva would one day like to do some business in patently dark places such as the US?

I don't know, I'm not a lawyer, and I couldn't care less.

Would be a great idea BTW if Fedora would 'relocate' and become, officially, a distribution located in, say, Venezuela, or North Korea, or wherever those dumb patents don't apply.

Although I guess that this would require a 'move' of Red Hat as well. I'm not sure the shareholders are willing to go to Aruba or P'yongyang for every meeting.

Good fun though. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (h3rman) Comments RE[2]: Codeina http://osnews.com/thread?305765 http://osnews.com/thread?305765 Believe it or not, the suggestion to move Fedora to a different location comes up more often than you can imagine. This is completely impractical if you care about distributing in regions where software patents are indeed enforced and is not a long term solution since more and more regions are being forced by treaties to enforce similar laws.

The long term solution would be to eliminate the problem globally and there are many intermediate solutions been worked out including the following that Red Hat/Fedora participates in

http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html
http://www.redhat.com/truthhappens/public_policy/
http://www.redhat.com/magazine/014dec05/features/oin/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Rahul) Comments RE[3]: Codeina http://osnews.com/thread?305769 http://osnews.com/thread?305769

Believe it or not, the suggestion to move Fedora to a different location comes up more often than you can imagine.

Does the suggestion pop up at Red Hat HQ too?

I admit I wasn't entirely serious, well, a bit serious, but I try to be realistic.

However, I'm not sure if, what you suggest, too many regions will fall victim to patent aggression. With the present decline of American economic power comes a tendency, worldwide, to listen to US wishes just a little less.
(I hope you understand I've been looking in my magic crystal ball

.)

Although, admittedly, in the software business North America is likely to stay a very important region.

In any case, here's to the final and cruel death of software patents!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (h3rman) Comments RE: Codeina http://osnews.com/thread?305770 http://osnews.com/thread?305770 It doesn't matter where you're based as long as you sell software into areas where patents are enforced. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AdamW) Comments RE: Codeina - legal codecs http://osnews.com/thread?305772 http://osnews.com/thread?305772 by providing the legal codecs through linDVD (I think that's it anyhow), users in the US and other patent restricted countries can use the software without any legally grey areas. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments closer.. clooser.. just have to hold out http://osnews.com/thread?305773 http://osnews.com/thread?305773 soo close.. that second week of April is almost here.. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 01:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE: closer.. clooser.. just have to hold out http://osnews.com/thread?305775 http://osnews.com/thread?305775 Think about baseball! Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (akeru) Comments RE[2]: Codeina - legal codecs http://osnews.com/thread?305785 http://osnews.com/thread?305785

by providing the legal codecs through linDVD (I think that's it anyhow), users in the US and other patent restricted countries can use the software without any legally grey areas.

There are a number of ways to get codecs for Linux, but linDVD wouldn't be one of them that I would use.

Google for "Fluendo", "libavcodec" (included in mplayer) or "VLC". Use (and pay for) only the first of these options if you are a suppressed and downtrodden unfortunate living in the US. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lemur2) Comments RE[3]: Codeina - legal codecs http://osnews.com/thread?305787 http://osnews.com/thread?305787 LinDVD is specifically for playing DVDs. None of the things you mentioned are relevant to this. The only freely available decoder for CSS (the encryption scheme used by DVD) is dvdcss. The use of dvdcss to watch encrypted commercial DVDs is illegal under the DMCA in the U.S. and the EUCD in the E.U.

Yep, it may be an ass, but it's the law.

Codeina isn't relevant to this, it does not handle DVD decryption, only providing licensed codecs for common video and audio formats. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AdamW) Comments Any way to get Mandriva without going Torrent? http://osnews.com/thread?305798 http://osnews.com/thread?305798 I don't mind seeding torrents during the day when I'm at work, but I hate downloading them in DVD size. I don't see an alternative on Mandriva's site either. Anyone? Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zaine_ridling) Comments RE: Any way to get Mandriva without going Torrent? http://osnews.com/thread?305799 http://osnews.com/thread?305799 Er, the link for download information right in the story points you straight at a big list of direct download FTP / HTTP mirrors for this beta, and the default download method for stable releases when you go to www.mandriva.com and click on the big green Download button is direct FTP / HTTP. It actually takes *effort* to find the torrent files, and there are no torrents for pre-releases like this one, so I'm really not sure what you mean. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AdamW) Comments Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?305812 http://osnews.com/thread?305812 I tried Mandriva in Spring 2007 (for the first time) because of the Metisse desktop. However, in subsequent releases of Mandriva it does not seem to be included. Anyone know why? I could not find a reason, but may not have been looking in the right location. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (razrlazr) Comments RE[4]: Codeina - legal codecs http://osnews.com/thread?305817 http://osnews.com/thread?305817 The overall content of my short and undescriptive comment was that by providing legal codecs, Mandriva can be sold and used in regions where patent facism exists; DVD description codecs being the example chosen. My comment stands and does relate to the orginal post by intent but I could have been more descriptive.

Cheers for the clarification though and thanks to too the previous post for listing off other legal codec packages users can choose without being forced into running win32/64 against there will. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE: Any way to get Mandriva without going Torrent? http://osnews.com/thread?305818 http://osnews.com/thread?305818 I get mine by ye' old fashioned HTTP and FTP. They have a nice list of mirrors available though I don't have the link handy. ftp-linux.cc.gatech.edu is one source, sunsite.unc.edu is another.

I've also taken too keeping a local repository collection by rsync since I tend to uninstall and install VMs at whim depending on what config setup I'm trying for a particular puzzle. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE: Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?305819 http://osnews.com/thread?305819 You could probably copy the theme directory too your later version isntalls. It's not the pointy-clicky solution but it may help. I've gone so far as to pull themes from completely different distros in the same way.

The odd theme for me is a very osX looking metal theme that sometimes apears and sometimes not though I haven't identified which repository is the variable between installs in that case. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments RE[2]: Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?305820 http://osnews.com/thread?305820 You could probably copy the theme directory too your later version isntalls. It's not the pointy-clicky solution but it may help. I've gone so far as to pull themes from completely different distros in the same way.

Metisse is not a theme, it's a desktop composer similar to Compiz-fusion. I have never used Metisse myself nor do I know what it requires to function but it might be possible to just install any relevant rpms from the older release and have it working. Though, I am using Powerpack 2008 and I did notice the choice between Metisse and Compiz-fusion. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (WereCatf) Comments RE: Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?305840 http://osnews.com/thread?305840 Metisse is still available in all later releases, including 2008 Spring, it's right there as a choice in drak3d.

Quite a lot of people are using running 2008 Spring on the Eee and using Metisse, actually - apparently it's rather helpful for handling windows on that small screen. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (AdamW) Comments RE[5]: Codeina - legal codecs http://osnews.com/thread?305984 http://osnews.com/thread?305984

patent facism

oh dear... if people are really going to start equating software patents to fascism (has a patent software supporter ever beaten you with iron bars and poured castor oil down your throat for resisting his third way between capitalism and socialism?), then I suppose free software really is communism.

can I declare this thread "Godwin-Lite"-ed? Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (KLU9) Comments RE[2]: Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?305985 http://osnews.com/thread?305985 thanks and please keep supporting Metisse. Don't blindly walk into the light of the Compiz-Fusion bandwagon. Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (KLU9) Comments RE[3]: Whatever Happened to Metisse? http://osnews.com/thread?306236 http://osnews.com/thread?306236 Hm.. I may have to go read about Metisse and check out the screen shots. I don't know if things would break by trying to include the older distribution rpms into your newer distribution install. It may be worth trying in a VM unless you can find forum posts about people already trying it.

Now.. of to find me some screenshots. Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jabbotts) Comments