Linux Archive

A Linux Distribution from the US Department of Defense

Submitted by fran 2011-07-22 Linux 15 Comments

"Lightweight Portable Security (LPS), created by USA's Department of Defense, is a small Linux live CD focusing on privacy and security, for this reason, it boots from a CD and executes from RAM, providing a web browser, a file manager and some interesing tools. LPS-Public turns an untrusted system into a trusted network client." Complete with backdoor so they can spy on all of us I'm sure!1!!

Linux 3.0 Released

Submitted by diegocg 2011-07-22 Linux 42 Comments

Linux 3.0 has been released. Technically, the release of version 3.0 of the Linux kernel shouldn't be too eventful, since the jump in version number doesn't actually signify any huge change or whatever; the only reason behind the bump to 3.0 is to come to saner version numbering. Still, man, it's like, totally version 3 of the Linux kernel.

Microsoft Contributes 361 Changes to Linux 3.0

Submitted by fran 2011-07-17 Linux 109 Comments

It's strange. Microsoft has been patent trolling the heck out of the Linux kernel for a long time now, and is still using these patents against Android today in its protection money scheme. However, as LWN.net illustrates, Microsoft makes quite a few contributions to the Linux kernel. Shouldn't this invalidate their patent claims?

Android is the Linux Desktop Dream Come True

Submitted by suka 2011-07-12 Linux 34 Comments

In an interview with the Austrian tech site derStandard.at/web Google's Chris DiBona talks about the important role Open Source plays inside of Google. He also goes on to explain why "Android is the Linux desktop dream come true".

Damn Small Linux: Still Damn Fun

Guest post by Howard Fosdick 2011-07-11 Linux 58 Comments

I've described how to refurbish mature computers in several articles. The emphasis has been on machines in the four to ten year old range -- Pentium IV's, D's, M's, III's and Celerons. But what if you have a really old computer, like a Pentium II, I, or even a 486? Can you use it for anything worthwhile? A vintage distro named Damn Small Linux answers "yes." This article describes DSL and tells how to make 1990's computers useful again. Screenshots follow the article.

Interview: Lennart Poettering

Submitted by vivainio 2011-07-07 Linux 79 Comments

Linux.FR has an interview with Lennart Poettering of PulseAudio and systemd fame (among others). Regarding PulseAudio: "I can understand why people were upset, but quite frankly we didn't really have another option than to push it into the distributions when we did. While PulseAudio certainly wasn't bug-free when the distributions picked it up the majority of issues were actually not in PulseAudio itself but simply in the audio drivers. PulseAudio's timer-based scheduling requires correct timing information supplied by the audio driver, and back then the drivers weren't really providing that. And that not because the drivers were really broken, but more because the hardware was, and the drivers just lacked the right set of work-arounds, quirks and fixes to compensate for it."

Object-oriented Design Patterns in the Kernel, Part 2

Guest post by Elv13 2011-06-27 Linux 11 Comments

"In the first part of this analysis we looked at how the polymorphic side of object-oriented programming was implemented in the Linux kernel using regular C constructs. In particular we examined method dispatch, looked at the different forms that vtables could take, and the circumstances where separate vtables were eschewed in preference for storing function pointers directly in objects. In this conclusion we will explore a second important aspect of object-oriented programming - inheritance, and in particular data inheritance."

Adobe Drop Linux Support for Adobe AIR

Submitted by lucas_maximus 2011-06-16 Linux 75 Comments

In a blog post today, Adobe's Director of Open Source and Standards said: "we will be focusing on supporting partner implementations and will no longer be releasing our own versions of Adobe AIR and the AIR SDK for desktop Linux". McAllister says that "way back in 1999" he'd predicted "a significant market for desktop Linux by 2005. Obviously I was wrong. So we, Adobe, also need to shift with the market." Source code for AIR will be made available to partners so they can make their own Linux implementations if they so desire. Is there anyone in the audience who cares about no more AIR on Linux from Adobe? Anyone...?

KQ ZFS Linux No Longer Actively Being Worked on

Submitted by aargh 2011-06-15 Linux 47 Comments

"Remember KQ Infotech? KQ Infotech was the Indian company that ported the ZFS file-system to Linux as an out-of-tree kernel module (after deriving the code from the LLNL ZFS Linux work) and KQ's interesting methods of engagement in our forums. The company was successful in delivering an open-source ZFS module for Linux that performed semi-well and didn't depend upon FUSE (the file-systems for user-space module) like other implementations. However, this ZFS Linux code appears to no longer be worked on by KQ Infotech."

Linux Kernel 3.0 Announced to No Fan Fare

Kroc 2011-05-30 Linux 55 Comments

Well this makes a change. Linus Torvalds has announced that the next version of the Linux Kernel release is to be '3.0'. "I decided to just bite the bullet, and call the next version 3.0. It will get released close enough to the 20-year mark, which is excuse enough for me, although honestly, the real reason is just that I can no longer comfortably count as high as 40."

0install 1.0: Cross-Distribution Packaging

Guest post by Tom5 2011-05-24 Linux 10 Comments

Zero Install, the decentralised cross-distribution software installation system, announced 0install 1.0 today, after 8 years in development. 0install allows software developers to publish programs directly from their own web-sites, while supporting features familiar from centralised distribution repositories such as shared libraries, automatic updates and digital signatures. It complements, rather than replaces, the OS's package management. As well as allowing developers to create a single package that works across Linux, BSDs, Mac OS X and Windows, it could help make software available on more minor platforms. OSNews covered decentralised installation systems in 2007.

End of Linux 2.6 Kernel; to Start Afresh From 2.8

Submitted by Debjit 2011-05-24 Linux 38 Comments

"So far. we have seen 39 development cycles of Linux 2.6 and the 40th is about to start. However, Linux 2.6.39 might be the end of the Linux 2.6 series. In an email, Linus Torvalds wrote that the numbers are becoming too big and he might thinking of giving the next release a version number of 2.8.0. In the ensuing discussion, Torvalds wrote that a version number of 3.0 is also a strong possibility", as a natural way to introduce a new numbering scheme where odd numbers are also used for stable releases and feature releases increment the second digit.

What’s New in Linux 2.6.39

Guest post by Elv13 2011-05-20 Linux 66 Comments

Version 2.6.39 once again took Linus Torvalds and his fellow developers less than 70 days to complete. This is further indication of a slight, though ever more apparent, increase in the kernel's development speed, as about 80 to 90 days still passed between the release of two versions one or two years ago. With 2.6.39, this also meant that there was a slight decrease in the number of advancements which are worth mentioning in the Kernel Log; however, there are still plenty of changes that will make Linux faster and better.

MeeGo 1.2 Release

Guest post by fran 2011-05-20 Linux 17 Comments

"Today we are announcing the project release of MeeGo 1.2. This release provides a solid baseline for device vendors and developers to start creating software for various device categories on Intel Atom and ARMv7 architectures. The MeeGo 1.2 Core OS provides a complete set of enabling technologies for mobile computing." Highlights include significantly enhanced connectivity, a switch to QML, and the release of a development preview dedicated to tablet devices.

VDPAU on Radeon Starts Working

Guest post by lemur2 2011-05-18 Linux 18 Comments

Efforts to implement NVIDIA's Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) on the open source Radeon Gallium3D drivers (for AMD/ATI chipsets) are reportedly just beginning to work. Being Gallium3D-based means this new VDPAU state tracker is using GPU shaders and not the dedicated Unified Video Decoding (UVD) engine found on modern Radeon HD graphics processors, but using shaders is still a big performance win for HD video playback compared to pegging the CPU constantly. Also, MPEG-2 is the only codec known to work at this time. Once the basic state tracker functionality works, support for other video codecs, such as VP8 and H264, should be relatively easy to add.

Puppy Linux: Top Dog of the Lightweight Distros

Guest post by Howard Fosdick 2011-05-16 Linux 29 Comments

How can you run a full range of current applications on older computers, netbooks, thin clients, and mobile devices? One way is to install a lightweight Linux like Puppy, Lubuntu, or Vector Light. Select the distro with the apps that meets your needs while matching your computer's resources.

Top 20 Countries by Linux Market Share

Submitted by Peter Alguacil 2011-05-16 Linux 15 Comments

Linux currently powers a majority of the world’s web servers and supercomputers. As a desktop OS, however, Linux has yet to gain mainstream acceptance. That said, there are some countries where people have embraced Linux on the desktop to a greater degree than most.

Canonical, Ubuntu Linux, CTO leaves

Submitted by sjvn 2011-05-08 Linux 69 Comments

Only a few weeks after Canonical, Ubuntu Linux's biggest change ever - the release of the Unity-based Ubuntu 11.04 Linux - the company's CTO, Matt Zimmerman is leaving the company.

Jeff Johnson About to Fork rpm – Again

Guest post by Sebastien Onglis 2011-05-02 Linux 54 Comments

Like Britney Spears, Jeff Johnson did it again and decided to fork rpm once more. Following a week long outage of the main website, he announced on the Mandriva development mailing list the launch of rpm6.org, without giving much explanation. Without more information, some people speculate this was caused by an intrusive merge by a Mandriva coder without discussing beforehand, while some others speak of the heavy criticism due to the migration, which still causing issues after several months.

Review: Qubes OS Beta 1

Guest post by fvillanustre 2011-05-01 Linux 17 Comments

"Qubes OS comes from an elegant concept: if you can isolate functional components within disposable containers, and you can separate those components that can be tainted through their interaction with the outside world from the core subsystems, you stand a good chance to preserve the integrity and security of the base Operating System at the possible expense of needing to jump through some hoops to move data around the system. All in all it sounds like a good proposition if it can be demonstrated to be practical." Read the full review.