Linux Archive

Linux 3.2 has been released . The changes include support for Ext4 block sizes bigger than 4KB and up to 1MB, btrfs has been updated with faster scrubbing, automatic backup of critical filesystem metadata, detailed corruption messages and tools for manual inspection of the metadata; the process scheduler has added support to set upper limits of CPU time usage to groups of processes; the desktop reponsiveness in presence of heavy writes has been improved; TCP has been updated to include an algorithm which speeds up slightly the recovery of connection after lost packets; and more. New drivers and small improvements and fixes are also available in this release. Here's the full changelog.

"Android drivers are returning to the Linux kernel. Kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman has retrieved the Android drivers removed from the staging area of Linux 2.6.33 in the spring of 2010 andput them back into his development branch for version 3.3 of the Linux kernel. The plan is for a Linux 3.3 kernel to be able to boot on an Android device without further patches."

It's starting to look like the end of an era for Ubuntu users as Canonical mull the creation of an ISO that won't fit onto a CDR. The question is, does it matter? Canonical owes at least part of its success with Ubuntu Linux to the unique way that it has been distributed. From the start it has been available as a downloadable ISO image and a free CD, posted at no cost to the user. This was great news for people who wanted to install Linux but did not have the luxury of a decent Internet connection. In a sense, installing via a CDR image has always been like a kind of cache, in that you're moving part of the content that you need onto permanent storage rather than pulling it through the network connection

So, it's no secret that the Linux desktop - at least, the GNOME-side of things - is a bit in a state of disarray. Unity hasn't exactly gone down well with a lot of people, and GNOME 3, too, hasn't been met with universal praise. So, what to do? Linux Mint, currently one of the most popular Linux distributions out there, thinks they are on to the solution with their latest release, Linux Mint 12.

"Australian researcher Silvio Cesare has released a tool capable of automatically detecting bugs and vulnerabilities in embedded Linux libraries. The script correlates vulnerability advisory CVEs for third party libraries to determine if holes have carried over to Linux platforms or have not been patched."

Tiny Core Linux is an 11 MB graphical Linux based on the 2.6 kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm. It's a minimal but extendable distro that runs from memory and loads from any bootable device. Version 4.1 has just been released with many improvements detailed in the release announcement, including app upgrades and bug fixes. 4.1 continues Tiny Core's rapid evolution, which has seen point release upgrades every month or two.

Linux advocates have for so long advocated browser-accessed software as a service as a way to break out of Microsoft's proprietary desktop. Now that this world has arrived, there's less incentive to work on native Linux apps.

While it may seem like Linux-only projects are betraying their loyal base by developing Windows or OSX versions, I would argue that cross-platform development is actually better for Linux as a whole, better for individual software projects and their developers, and ultimately better for Linux users.

"Red Hat, Canonical and the Linux Foundation have laid out a set of recommendations for hardware vendors in hopes of preserving the ability to install Linux on Windows 8 machines. Windows 8 machines should ship in a setup mode giving users more control right off the bat, the groups argue." Group hug-cheer combo for Red Hat, Canonical, and the Linux Foundation please.

Linux 3.1 has been released. The changes include support for the OpenRISC opensource CPU, performance improvements to the writeback throttling, some speedups in the slab allocator, a new iSCSI implementation, support for Near-Field Communication chips used to enable mobile payments, bad block management in the generic software RAID layer, a new "cpupowerutils" userspace utility for power management, filesystem barriers enabled by default in Ext3, Wii Controller support and new drivers and many small improvements. Here's the full changelog.

"Intel and Samsung are now confirmed to be working under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation, and with the cooperation of the Limo Foundation, on 'Tizen', a new mobile operating system based on Linux. Various rumours about the parties' future plans for MeeGo and merging of plans have been in circulation, but the announcement of a new operating system was unexpected. The Tizen operating system will combine components of MeeGo and Limo with an emphasis on supporting HTML5-based applications and WAC (Wholesale Applications Community) distribution and APIs. WAC is the product of a number of mobile companies who have developed a uniform platform for mobile widgets and applications based on W3C standards."

"Many Linux distributions have taken the path of easy GUI-based installation, in order to appeal to a broader mix of users. But not Arch Linux, which emphasises simplicity of technical complexity over general usability. Richard Hillesley explains."

InfoWorld's Neil McAllister examines the challenges and opportunities ahead for Linux as it enters its third decade, and finds that the rise of cloud computing and mobility could elevate the open source OS to a level of unprecedented dominance. 'The last 20 years haven't always been easy. Linux has made a few enemies, Microsoft foremost among them. It has faced its share of challenges, too, both technical and legal, and there are more hurdles ahead. Nonetheless, as Linux enters its third decade, its opportunities have never been greater. Computing is changing, and Linux is not only benefiting from this change but is enabling it. Thanks to a shift beyond the PC, Linux is poised to become more than just an OS, but one of the most transformative forces in computing history — and it's happening right under everyone's nose.'

Would you believe that ARM processors, those little chips that power so many smartphones and tablets, have a future on servers? Ubuntu does.