Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 30th Oct 2008 15:28 UTC, submitted by M-Saunders
Bang on target, the new version of Ubuntu Linux is available for our downloading pleasure. Amongst various changes it sports updates to the installer, improved networking, and a new 'Mobile USB' version geared towards the blossoming netbook market. Grab a copy from the Ubuntu website, and check out Linux Format's hands-on look. Or the one at Simple Thoughts. Or the one at PolishLinux. And probably a few other websites as well.
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RE: I installed 8.10, but nothing to shout about
by Rahul on Fri 31st Oct 2008 01:57
in reply to "I installed 8.10, but nothing to shout about"
Member since:2005-07-06
The beta Xorg story is mostly a myth. Fedora 9 included 1.499 instead of 1.5 and that doesn't really make much of a difference at all. Refer
http://www.redhat.com/archives/rhl-devel-list/2008-May/msg00854.htm...
RE[2]: I installed 8.10, but nothing to shout about
by rklrkl on Fri 31st Oct 2008 12:59
in reply to "RE: I installed 8.10, but nothing to shout about"
Member since:2005-07-06
Sorry, but the X.org server that was initially shipped with Fedora 9 *was* a beta release - claiming it's a "myth" is just completely ridiculous! Secondly, ATI does *not* support beta X.org servers, so they didn't have a driver for it until shortly after the X.org 1.5 server was released. Heck, even now, the livna.org repo still doesn't have the fglrx drivers for F9!! This is a messup of gigantic proportions and Fedora make a huge mistake picking a bleeding-edge X server that has no (decent performance) 3D driver support for Fedora 9.
This is exactly why I'm still on Fedora 8 and am keeping my fingers crossed that Fedora 10 won't have more crazy "broken" stuff that Fedora 9 had...
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
I'm primarily a Fedora user, but I do like to try other distros and Ubuntu is usually one of the main alternatives I try. Firstly, I was a bit disappointed that the torrent link for 8.10 isn't prominent enough on the Ubuntu site (it really should be the main way people download ISOs nowadays) and secondly, the fact that a DVD version is available (yes, including torrents of DVD, not that the Web site makes it obvious those exist) is again well hidden. Fedora's torrents.fedoraproject.org is much better in this respect, IMHO.
As for the installation, I got a black screen when launching the live CD desktop using the default "Normal" setting, so I had to do the "safe graphics mode" setting to get the screen to appear. It's a Dell Vostro with an ATI 2600 XT and a CRT monitor - not an obscure combination really and quite disappointing that it ended up with a black screen by default (8.04 on the same setup was fine).
Once the installation was complete, I noticed that the promised Firefox prefs importing from my Fedora 8 partition didn't work (and no message to say it had failed), which makes me suspect the migration utility in the installer isn't up to snuff yet. I installed the ATI "restricted driver", only to find out that it wouldn't go above 60Hz and, yep, hacking the xorg.conf was the only way to go to 85Hz (60Hz gives me a headache with its flicker)...not good. I couldn't find a way to manually select your monitor, at least not from the standard GNOME menus anyway.
Amazingly, only hours after its official release, there were already 6 updates available for 8.10, *including* a new kernel! Yes, I know they probably finalise the ISO days before the announcement so that it can be mirrored, but it was still quite a surprise to see a new kernel on day 1.
I liked the Orca screen reader stuff, even if the first-time run brought up a low-tech terminal with text prompts to configure it. 8.10 also seems to be a few seconds faster to boot compared to 8.04, which is no bad thing.
I'm a bit surprised they haven't added any finer control by default for the Desktop Effects - just 3 general level settings seems a bit coarse to me. E.g. what if I want everything *but* the wobbly windows (which are cute for 10 seconds and then very annoying after that)? Yes, I can probably install a few obscure packages via Synaptic and configure it, but why not add 4-5 sub-options that are switched on at each level and allow you to toggle them on or off?
Overall, though, I don't think 8.10 is much of an advance over 8.04 - there's a few minor improvements here and there, but nothing killer (and the lack of OpenOffice.org 3.0 by default is a complete disaster!). Fedora 10, out in a few weeks, I think should knock the socks off Ubuntu - it's desperately needed after the catastrophe of Fedora 9 (beta X server for over 4 months of its 6 month life, what the freak were they thinking of?!).