Thom Holwerda Archive

Remote Python Call is a transparent infrastructure for RPC and distributed computing with the python language. It gives you complete and seamless control over a remote python interpreter and lets you execute code either synchronously or asynchronously (which means remote operations do not block and return AsyncResults). It is ideal for managing distributed tests on several platforms.

"What makes GNU/Linux such a pleasure to use is the excellent documentation that is included with it for each and every tool bundled with it. Just try learning to use iptables without reading the documentation even once, and you will get the idea. The documentation in Linux is available in a variety of formats - as man pages, info, HTML pages, postscript and in some cases even pdf. But not many people are aware that you can have additional documentation and even whole books available locally for making your GNU/Linux experience that much richer. Here are a few of them that have come to my notice."

"With the success of the iPod and Apple's bulging bank balance, the time has never been better for Apple to grow itself through acquisition. The thought that Apple might be interested in purchasing the struggling PDA manufacturer Palm has been floating around for a while. Steve Jobs even tried to purchase the company in the late 90s, according to the San Jose Mercury News. However, the rumor has recently gained some traction with the call by multiple investors for Palm to sell itself. Also, some key Palm employees, such as co-founder and former company president Donna Dubinsky, have previously worked with Apple."

MEPIS, one of the more popular Debian-derived distributions, may be moving in a new direction soon. MEPIS founder Warren Woodford is considering building future MEPIS releases from Ubuntu sources rather than from Debian. SimplyMEPIS 3.4-3, which is scheduled for release today, has been quite a challenge to build, according to Woodford. "It's taking up all my time, fighting the Etch pool... We've had a lot of trouble, because the Debian community has become so active, it's been difficult to get this out, so I'm looking at alternatives to getting out stable releases."

Chip firm Intel has told customers close to its plans that a combination of the Conroe next gen chip and the 965 chipset will be good to go for when Microsoft Vista arrives. And it has a new 'platform' to play with. Averill Pro will be introduced in the third quarter with Conroe, the Q965 Express chipset but matched with 'Averill Fundamental', which will use the Q963 Express and the Pentium D chip. Intel now estimates it will be able to shift more than two thirds of its desktop processors to dual core by year end.

"CodeWeavers and Linspire Wednesday jointly announced the release of CrossOver Office 5.0 for Linspire, a specially optimized version of the product for the Linspire Linux distribution. CrossOver Office enables Linspire users to run Windows applications natively from their Linspire desktop."

"Microsoft may not make flawless software, but its proprietary strategy is hard to fault. In particular, Microsoft has mastered desktop lock-in, undermining users' confidence in any alternatives and creating a slew of minor difficulties that irritate those who do switch. Two themes dominate the stories I hear about the tribulations of using and adopting non-Microsoft business desktops: the difficulty in finding compatible hardware and the stranglehold Microsoft Word has on users. In the last week, IT pros have shared their experiences with these two adoption inhibitors. They're representative of other stories I've heard."

After Xgl, Novell now also released Compiz, their OpenGL compositing manager. From the readme file: "Compiz is an OpenGL compositing manager that use GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap for binding redirected top-level windows to texture objects. It has a flexible plug-in system and it is designed to run well on most graphics hardware."

"The third International Forum on Free Knowledge brought together many groups and individuals interested in the development of free software worldwide to the city of Maracaibo. One reason Venezuela choose to host this event is because starting in January (2006), their new free software law, directive 3.390, comes into effect, which mandates all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two year period. I was invited to speak about Telephonia Libre: the use of free software in telecommunications."

Hyperion Entertainment announced the availability of the fourth update to the AmigaOS4.0 developer prerelease for all A1 owners. Major new features in this update includes a fast transparent JIT 68k Amiga software emulator, screen dragging in any direction, improved Warp3D/input support, and much more. A first impressions review is already available.

"The Unofficial Apple Weblog has posted a short story on the top five mistakes made by new Mac users. It includes closing an application window and thinking it has quit, downloading software and then running it from the disk image (runs slowly, can't eject disk image), and Windows .exe files littered around the desktop after they've tried to download software and install it. The comments attached to the article are entertaining, and pick up many other common mistakes. Here's a precise list of things that TUAW and its users said in comments, and a few of my own."

GNOME 2.12.3 has been released. This will be the final release in the 2.12 branch, as GNOME 2.14 is already on its way. Read the release notes (platform, desktop, and bindings), download the source code (platform, desktop, and bindings), or just wait until your distributor of choice packages it for you.

It seems like Linus Torvalds cannot make up his mind about whether or not to use the GPL3 for the Linux kernel. After clearly rejecting the idea of using the GPL3 ('and I don't see that changing'), he now opens the option up again. "It's 'quite possible,' said Torvalds that the GPL 3 could be used, 'but on the other hand, there's a purely practical problem with any change of license when you have tens of major copyright holders and hundreds of people who have written some part and thousands who have submitted one-liners and small fixes. There are, after all, benefits to putting the kernel under the GPL 3,' Torvalds said."

"At the recent ShmooCon hacking conference, an unknown hacker took control of researcher's computer, disabling the firewall and starting up a file server. While such compromises have become common in the Windows world, this time the computer was an Apple PowerBook running the latest version of Mac OS X. The compromise underscores a number of trends that has already caused a shift in focus among flaw finders and could result in more attacks on Mac OS X. "This is almost certainly the year of the OS X exploit," said Jay Beale, an expert in hardening Linux and Mac OS X systems. "The OS X platform may be based on a Unix platform, but Apple seems to be making mistakes that Unix made, and corrected, long ago."