The Open Source Toolbox

Microsoft/EU Browser Ballot

2010-02-22T19:21:00.003+01:00

Sort of an historical moment. For European customers, at least. See FSF/E announcement.

FSFE welcomes the arrival of greater competition in the web browser market. From today, Microsoft has to offer Windows users in Europe the possibility to choose among different browsers. This step puts into practice the company's settlement with the European Commission from December 2009. The Free Software Foundation Europe was an active participant in the Commission's investigation.

Installing Perian on Apple TV OS 3.0 to play Divx/Xvid and more

2009-11-05T18:29:00.006+01:00

As per usual, upgrading the Apple TV OS requires reinstalling the various components required to gain remote access (SSH) and extended video support (Xvid/VidX etc.) As the current pach-stick seem to work just fine, all that is required to finish the job is copying over the Perian codecs.

Gaining remote access to your Apple TV box
After applying the patches (use the ATV patchstick creator and follow instructions found here) connect to the AppleTV box from the command line with ssh, or with a client software such as Fetch (CyberDuck does not support ssh1, FireFTP is not availbale for Firefox 3.6...).

host: appletv@local
user: frontrow
password: frontrow

First you'll need to create a new folder "QuickTime" inside ~/Library (no need to touch the system's Library folder). Then if you have Perian installed on your desktop, simply copy over the file "/Library/QuickTime/Perian.component". Now reboot your Apple TV box (using the Remote, press on the Menu button while holding the "-" button on the wheel until the system reboots).

Why?
The Apple TV will only play media available via iTunes on another machine, or purchased from the iTunes store. You may stream it, or sync the content locally. In either cases you'll only be able to play content supported by iTunes.

Perian enables QuickTime application support for additional file formats and video and audio codecs. But even though you'll be able to play avi, divx and other type of media with QuickTime, it is still necesseary to "fool" iTune. One way to that is to repackage these files in a .mov "container".) This means you don't need to actually "transcode" (convert) the files...

The best tool I found for doing that is iFlicks.app, but you can also use (free) scripts like the Apple TV Fooler. Mind you, iFlicks will also update the meta data for movies and tv shows, and is nicely integrated with iTunes.

With Perian codecs installed on the Desktop and on the Apple TV and with an "Apple TV fooler" solution you are now free to watch Divx/Xvid and many other video formats not supported by Apple.

Sidewiki bookmarklet

2009-10-30T08:34:00.001+01:00

Would love to have the Sidewiki bookmarklet openup in a sidebar in Firefox. Right now, when you click on the bookmarklet, it opens the sidebar but then pops up a seperate window.

in reference to: Sidewiki : Sidewiki bookmarklet - Toolbar Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Firefox 64-bit on OS X

2009-10-01T11:33:00.001+02:00

Josh Aas published some data about Firefox 64-bit on Mac OS X 10.6(.1) (Snow Leopard).

in Bezug auf:

"64-bit Firefox Performance on Mac OS X"
- 64-bit Firefox Performance on Mac OS X « Boom Swagger Boom (auf Google Sidewiki anzeigen)

Mozilla Thunderbird 3 (Alpha 1)

2008-05-14T14:25:00.008+02:00

The main goals of this test release (aka "Shredder") is to find out about possible problems caused by the changes in the underlying platform. Though much has changed in the underlying code, there are only few new features, among them a new add-on manager, improved search results in content (message bodies), and a reported improved JavaScript performance.

On the Mac, Thunderbird is now a native Cocoa application, and it includes initial integration with the system Address Book (read only).

mudkip-player: XMMS-lookalike GStreamer player

2008-05-11T13:58:00.010+02:00

Didn't get a chance to try mudkip-player yet, source code only.

"Over the last few days, I have been working on merging audacious-1.5 and bmpx, to create an XMMS-lookalike GStreamer player... The goal here is to create a simple player which looks like XMMS to satisfy the demand created by XMMS removal in many distros. Both already existing projects have their own direction, this is just a shared goal to create a solution for the strain placed on our projects."

* Beep Media Player is an early fork of XMMS (Winamp clone) that uses GTK+ 2, while Audacious is a fork from Beep Media Player made after Beep Media Player was remade as BMPx. Audacious replaces XMMS in many distros, though many mainstream reviewers (Hebrew, from PC Magazine) still recommend new users should install XMMS.

[source: nenoblog]

What does it take to install support for HP C4280 on Vista?

2008-05-11T12:48:00.005+02:00

Not too much, but it is even easier on Linux. Actually, this genre of stories (I'm responsible for one, in Hebrew) are so common, yet the myth still holds. I may have my doubts about Linux desktops readiness for prime time, but there's no doubt that hardware support is (in many ways) far better then in Windows. Most of the time I don't need to do anything to start using my hardware, from Printer/Scanner to Camera and other peripherals.

NeoOffice 2.2.3 for Mac OS X

2008-05-11T12:32:00.006+02:00

New release of this OpenOffice.org port to Mac OS X. New features since the previous update in March include: support for Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Excel VBA macros, and QuickTime video support. Also, menus are now available when no documents are open, it is possible to import images from scanners and cameras, and NeoOffice will use Mac OS X Leopard grammar checking support.

Photo credit: Planamesa Software

Minimum Machine Requirements for NeoOffice 2.2.3: Mac OS X 10.3 or higher, 512 MB of memory and 400 MB of free disk space.

Links:
Official port of OpenOffice to Mac (Aqua)

Penumbra: Black Plague for Linux

2008-05-11T11:31:00.005+02:00

Penumbra is a game series developed by Swedish Frictional Games. It's a first person adventure game, which focuses on story, immersion and puzzles. Instead of using violence to progress the player has to use his/her wits to guide Philip, the main character, on his quest to unravel the past. "Penumbra: Black Plague", the final part of what meant to be a trilogy, is now out for Linux as well.

From the website:

"Played from a first person viewpoint, Penumbra is very different from other adventure games. Not only is it powered by a 3D engine utilising cutting edge technology, it also has an advanced physics system which allow for a never before seen environment interaction. The player can open drawers, pull levers, pick up objects and more using natural mouse movements creating a highly interactive and immersive game world.

The weapon system differs from your average game; swinging a melee weapon is done using the mouse which increases the realistic feel of combat. Fighting enemies is not something best done with brute force though, in most situations fighting is a last resort and the player is often better of using his/her wits. The AI of the enemies will also do its best to hunt and scare the player. The creatures encountered can break down doors, use group co-ordination, interact with the physics and more.

Penumbra: Overture will keep players on the edge as they have to explore scary and immersive environments never knowing what is behind the next corner. The world is detailed, graphical as well as a story wise making the player feel part of the world as secrets are uncovered."

Video: Teaser

Linux Minimum Requirements:: Kernel 2.6 or higher(2.4 untested), glibc 2.3, X11R6 with 3D acceleration, For x86_64 CPU, 32-bit environment must be installed

Links:
REVIEWS: PENUMBRA: BLACK PLAGUE (original 1up review of the Windows version)

[via: MacWorld]

An Open Source alternative to Google Analytics?

2008-05-09T16:04:00.005+02:00

Enters* Piwik, an open source self-hosted web analytics software, that can produce slick reports of site visitors, popular pages, search engines keywords, languages etc., but offers much more in the way of owning your data, and being able to do more with it.

Like Google Analytics, Piwik is using embedded JavaScript to collect raw data, thus avoiding problems associated with server based solutions. It can produce embedable graphs and charts of the stats (based on Flash), and has an extensive REST based API, making it very easy to access the data programatically. Developers should find it easy to expand and customize as well, due to its modular, plugin based design.

[via: ReadWriteWeb]

* Formerly known as PHPMyVisites

"Grumpy Griffin" (Ubuntu 7.10 for ARM processors) Released

2008-05-09T15:29:00.007+02:00

"Grumpy Griffin", which is derived from Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy", is now available.

Handhelds Mojo is a Nokia sponsored project, which compiles existing desktop Linux distributions for mobile and embedded devices based on ARM processors. The result is a complete (with the exception of Java and Mono), up to date and maintainable distribution, which can be tested under QEMU, or run of an SD card on the Nokia tablets.

The first distribution undergone this procedure was, Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty", which was retitled "Frisky Firedrake" and initially compiled for the ARMv5EL instruction set. The following video shows Frisky Firedrake booting on Nokia N800 tablet. Since then, the developers are working on other ARM variations. "

Links:
Ubuntu ported to ARM (an extensive review and background at Linux Devices)

Review: openSUSE 11 Beta 2

2008-05-08T12:38:00.019+02:00

openSUSE 11 is currently in beta still, and will be officially released in June. I downloaded and installed it using the KDE 4 LiveCD, but was rather disappointed with what I saw.

openSUSE/KDE 4
As for its look, KDE 4 ("openSUSE edition") is quite impressive, though I'm not sure it is ready for much more then tracking the development. The following details my attempts at making it work for me.

Installation
I still think openSUSE's installation procedure is way too technical and far from being intuitive. Though easy to finish successfully, YaST is awkward, too detailed, and the installation involves too many stages (especially when compared to other desktop distros, such as Ubuntu, or even PC-BSD and DesktopBSD, which manage to get it done with quite effectively).

Credit: openSUSE GNOME variant installer from Novell's website

- The only problem I run into with the installer was finding myself at the console (at runlevel 3) when it was all done... mind you, "startx" works just fine...

WiFi
- Netopia WiFi Pen: does not work with WPA, works fine unencrypted (didn't try WEP). Surprisingly, the card got associated with router, and I got an IP address, but couldn't connect to the Internet, even though the routing table seemed OK.

Mass storage devices
- Removable Media (DOK): could mount and unmount, though couldn't access the content, unless as root

- Camera (Sony Alpha 100): was mounted as a (VFAT) mass storage device, but was not accessible to me, unless as root. Also, digiKam (still not ported to KDE 4) could not identify the camera, nor access it as a mass storage device.

- Trying to poke around AppArmor profiles...

Desktop & User interface
KDE 4 seems to have come along just fine, and openSUSE is one of the best showcases of what's going on so far, with almost all parts integrated and functional... sort of (see notes above).

- Konqueror seems to render pages rather differently then Fireofx 3 (Beta 5), and they don't look very pretty. In some case, like on Blogger, the text disappears as the mouse hover over the text.

Conclusion
Though I can't say openSUSE 11 is ready (it is in beta after all), I was hoping for a smoother experience at this stage. Most of the things which did not work for me here, worked with other distros, but not all. PC-BSD seems to crash when using the Netopia WiFi Pen for a while, and other distros, such as Ubuntu, could not complete WPA authentication either.

Notes:
- AFAIK there are no drivers ready for nVidia (unless installed manually)

Links:
More screenshots of openSUSE 11 beta 2

"Sacred" Gold Edition for Linux

2008-05-07T12:08:00.005+02:00

The Linux Game Publishing announced that the action role-playing game "Sacred" has been ported to Linux, and will be made availbe on August 1st 2008.

This edition combines the original game with "Sacred: Under World", "where you set out on an epic quest to the very gates of hell itself.".

Minimum requirements: 2.2.x or more recent Linux kernel, with glibc-2.1 or later, and X Window (XFree86 3.3.x or later), 1.0 GHz x86 Processor, 256 MB RAM, 3.7 GB disk space, DVD Rom, hardware accelerated 3D graphics card (with 32 MB video memory), and a sound card (OSS or ALSA Compatible).

Links:
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Interview and trailer)

Banshee 1.0 Beta 1

2008-05-07T11:50:00.008+02:00

The GTK/Mono based Banhee player is approaching the 1.0 release. The new beta (0.99.1) reintroduces MTP and iPod Player support, including video (auto) conversion and syncing.

Also in this version: default smart lists, mini display mode (available as an extension), full screen mode, extension manager and more. CD burning support, podcasting, DAAP/iTunes music sharing, internet radio recommendations and batch cover art fetching are planned for the final release.

1Click installer for openSUSE 10.3 and other packages are available for download from the site.

Postal III on Linux too

2008-05-07T08:36:00.006+02:00

OMP PC Games! Interview with Vince Desi, the CEO of Running With Scissors. Postal III is scheduled for "sometime in 2009", and will use the Source game engine (Valve).

[via: LinuxGames]

Qt 4.4

2008-05-06T12:44:00.004+02:00

Trolltech's (now part of Nokia) Qt 4.4 is an important release, due to the integration of Apple's WebKit into the C++ class library which is also the basis for KDE.

"Qt now incorporates WebKit, the open source browser engine inside Apple’s Safari browser, the Apple iPhone and millions of Nokia smartphones. The integration allows developers to blend web and native content and functionality, create innovative user interfaces, and deliver a consistent, web-enriched user experience."

CrossOver for BSD systems

2008-05-05T21:01:00.005+02:00

Jeremy White, founder and CEO of CodeWeavers, has recently announced the availability of experimental builds of CrossOver Games, including, for the first time, a port of their commercial WINE based technology to BSD systems.

[via: Wine Review]

Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" open for development

2008-05-05T20:06:00.007+02:00

Folowing the update of the GCC compiler and development tools, work on the next release of Ubuntu, scheduled to be released on October 30, 2008, is starting. Only Alpha 5, to be released early September, will be feature complete.

Links:
ONLamp's Spotlight on FOSS (video podcast series that focuses on free and open source software and the revolutionary thinkers behind them) An Interview with Mark Shuttleworth

OpenSolaris 2008.5 (Sun's "Linux Killer")

2008-05-05T14:04:00.008+02:00

[@CommunityOne] Sun has released the May 2008 build of Project "Indiana" - Sun's codename for a project led by Ian Murdock that aims to bring OpenSolaris to desktops and laptops, while addressing Solaris' usability issues.

The OpenSolaris 2008.5 install media is a Live CD that can boot into a functional GNOME desktop, with Firefox, Thunderbird, and other core applications. This version also includes IPS - a network-centric packaging system written in Python, with which users can install new package, or update existing ones.

Next release: OpenSolaris 2008.11, code name "Jericho".

[via: The Register, ZDNet]

Links:
Main downlaod site
Hardware Compatibility List
Installation guide

openSUSE 11 Beta 2

2008-05-05T13:13:00.004+02:00

2nd beta release for opneSUSE 11, now with the new artwork [screenshots]. The next planned release is Beta 3, on May 13, while June 19 was set as the official public release

Links:
Test release download page (Intel 32/64 Bit, or PPC)

VirtualBox 1.6.0 (seamless windowing for Linux, Mac OS X host support)

2008-05-01T14:50:00.007+02:00

VirtualBox 1.6.0 (released yesterday) added Solaris and Mac OS X host support (beta), and seamless windowing for Linux and Solaris guests. Also, new SATA hard disk (AHCI) controller was enabled, and an (experimental) Physical Address Extension (PAE) support, which makes it possible for 32 bit applications to access more the 4GB of physical memory on Intel processors.

The German company Innotek was bought by Sun Microsystems earlier this year.

Video: Windows XP on Ubuntu in seamless windowing mode

OpenBSD 4.3

2008-05-01T12:55:00.004+02:00

OpenBSD 4.3 was released today (May 1st), six months after the previous release. The 24th release provides improved hardware support, new tools (snmpd, pcidump) and selection of software, such as GNOME 2.20.3, KDE 3.5.8, Xfce 4.4.2, GNUStep 1.14.2, Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.12, Thunderbird 2.0.0.12, and also PostgreSQL 8.2., MySQL 5.0.51a and OpenOffice.org 2.3.1.

More details and and an interview with the developers can be found here.

NetBeans IDE 6.1

2008-04-30T16:32:00.005+02:00

New release with better support for scripting languages, including preview of support for PHP, MySQL integration and more.

Specific release highlights include (from the release notes):

- Advance JavaScript Editing Support
- Improved Performance (Up to 40% faster startup)
- Built in Spring Framework Support
- Integrated Support for RESTful Web Service Support
- New MySQL Support in Database Explorer
- Significant Ruby/JRuby Support Enhancements

Tip: Send Link and mailto: from Firefox with GMail

2008-04-28T12:18:00.001+02:00

Setting Gmail as the preferred Mail application in GNOME can be achieved with a custom url handler in System -> Preferences -> Preferred Application. This one is a variation, which handles both mailto:// and Send Link from Firefox. It should within GNOME on any distribution, and is fast.

My Weekend with Ubuntu 8.04 ("Hardy Heron")

2008-04-28T10:27:00.002+02:00

I'm quite happy with the new release of Ubuntu, but it's not perfect.

Highlights

- [Desktop] I'm glad Compiz is out of the way and just works if proper graphics support is installed. Wish I would not have to install additional software so I could tweak it further and get the important stuff out (e.g. Scale ("Exposé"), wobbly windows are hardly useful).

- [Software Manager] Add/Remove (gnome-app-install) is a descent replacement for Synaptic. I like it that it doesn't ask for Root password, until it's required (doesn't seem to be PolicyKit enabled though), and the popularity column is actually useful when you need to pick from similar packages. I first rely on the score, when I'm not familiar with the applications.

- [Prism WebApps] I like the pre-configured Prism applications such as GMail, Google Reader and Google Groups, which can be used w/o Firefox. They're not installed by default though. They are very easy to create but difficult to customize (e.g. get and icon and properly set the title).

What I don't like

- [Desktop] Where is the visual refresh? I guess boring is OK for an LTS release, but this is not fun!

Installation

- [Repartitioning] First I tried to install Ubuntu along side Mandriva 2008.1 and Fedora 9 Preview (LVM), which were already on my laptop. It couldn't shrink Mandriva's 10 GB for me, though it might have something to do with Fedora's LVM layout. Had to wipe the hard disk out.

Networking

- [WiFi] Can't get WiFi to work properly with WPA/WPA2 authentication. It worked for like a second or two, but then most of the time it didn't. I'm using a Netopia WiFi Pen (USB Wireless Lan Card).

Performance

- [File System] Somewhat sluggish performance and very noticeable degradation in UI responsiveness if anything is accessing the file system in the background (e.g. apt-get, gem etc), or while Nautilus is copying files, or RawStudio processing images.

* Interestingly, Google Reader (on Prism) seems to be affected by this and it pops the famous "script not responding" error, even though it was running in the background.

** Firefox (3 Beta 5) becomes unresponsive way to often. Right now I'm launching Login Window (GDM Preferences), which seems to take ages, and Firefox is grayed out. Could be unrelated, but happens quite often.

Ubuntu 8.04 Gallery