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KDE 4.11 to be Long Term Release

jeremy — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:16:48 GMT

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It was just last week we looked at some of the proposed features for upcoming KDE 4.11 as it neared soft feature freeze. Well, today some new information about KDE 4.11 came to light. Aaron Seigo said today that 4.11 would be a "long term release."

A long term release means a particular version will be kept up to date with stabilization and security updates for an extended period of time; in this case, two years. This will give distributions that skate safely in the well-worn groove of stability a chance to have a longer term plan and more stable offerings. Seigo said, "no new features [will be] added after 4.11.0 to Plasma Desktop and Netbook, though the code will be adjusted as needed to maintain and improve existing functionality." He believes this will help developers and distribution developers a chance to focus on polishing.

For those that like upgrading each release Seigo said:

This does not effect, in any way, anything other than the code currently in the kde-workspace repository. Applications are not affected, kdelibs and kderuntime will continue on as they currently are (with kdelibs in a feature freeze of its own already). I fully expect there to be a 4.12 and likely a 4.13 release of the applications, and how long that goes on will be up to the application developers and release team.

Seigo continues as if this news will get ruffle some feathers. I suppose they've come to expect that any announcement will. He said focusing on stabilization and security for so long helped KDE 3.5 become so successful, but hopes any updates to 4.1x won't be overlooked when KDE built on QT5 and Plasma Workspaces 2 appear. So, hold on to your socks boys and girls, announcing a LTR is actually announcing KDE 5. It'll be here within two years if all goes as planned and distributions will begin including it.

More at OStatic

--jeremy

Fedora Project Announces Pidora Remix for Raspberry Pi

jeremy — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:17:51 GMT

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The Fedora Project has been supporting Raspberry Pi, the diminutive $35 computer, for some time. Today they�re making the Pidora �remix� of the core Fedora distribution available. Like the Raspbian distribution of Debian, Pidora is compiled specifically to take advantage of the hardware already built into the Raspberry Pi.

Pidora offers a couple of interesting little additions to your standard Fedora desktop experience. The reduced oomph of the RPi means that the full-blown GNOME desktop is replaced with the lighter-weight XFCE. Pidora also offers an easy-to-use headless mode for folks running without a monitor. If you attach speakers to your RPi, it�ll helpfully say out loud what it�s IP address is. Clever trick.

The Pidora build was performed at Seneca�s Centre for Development of Open Technology, where they�ve been working with Fedora ARMv5tel/armv7hl build farms for the last couple of years. That experience was directly responsible for Pidora, since the RPi uses the ARMv6 architecture with a dedicated FPU, which is not strictly part of the ARMv6 spec.

According to CDOT�s Chris Tyler, there were three main challenges to getting Pidora out the door:

Ordering the build � sequencing the initial build of over 10K source packages that have complex and sometimes circular dependency chains can be challenging.
ARMv6-specific issues � armv5 and armv7 are the most common targets for ARM builds. Some packages make incorrect assumption or are missing code for armv6.
Native building � Fedora has a native-build philosophy, which requires that package builds be performed on a system capable of executing the compiled code.

More at TechCrunch...

--jeremy

Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 Released

jeremy — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:39:27 GMT

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Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 released!

It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian "sid" at the time of the Debian "wheezy" release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release.
The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). More detailed.

GNU Mach is the microkernel upon which a GNU Hurd system is based. It provides an Inter Process Communication (IPC) mechanism that the Hurd uses to define interfaces for implementing in a distributed multi-server fashion the services a traditional operating system kernel provides.

More at gnu.org...

--jeremy

KTAP 0.1 released: A New Scripting Dynamic Tracing Tool For Linux

jeremy — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:01:56 GMT

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I'm pleased to announce that ktap release v0.1, this is the first official release of ktap project, it is expected that this release is not fully functional or very stable and we welcome bug reports and fixes for the issues.

= what's ktap?

A New Scripting Dynamic Tracing Tool For Linux

KTAP is a new scripting dynamic tracing tool for Linux, it uses a scripting language and lets users trace the Linux kernel dynamically. KTAP is designed to give operational insights with interoperability that allow users to tune, troubleshoot and extend kernel and application.

KTAP have different design principles from Linux mainstream dynamic tracing language in that it's based on bytecode, so it doesn't depend upon GCC, doesn't require compiling a kernel module, safe to use in production environment, fulfilling the embedd ecosystem's tracing needs.

KTAP also is designed for enabling great interoperability with Linux kernel, it gives user the power to modify and extend the system, and let users explore the system in an easy way.

KTAP is released as GPL license.

More information can be found at ktap/doc directory.

More at LWN...

--jeremy

Can gaming be the turning point for Linux on the desktop?

jeremy — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:04:17 GMT

Quote:

Get into Linux and play some great games with Steam

The way we're complaining you'd think Linux is overlooked and underused. The amazing truth is that the majority of supercomputers run one type of Linux or another, and it's the leading OS on servers. Besides these, it's put to work on millions of low-power embedded systems around the world - a little something called Android.

So why then does the desktop remain a Windows bastion, while Linux is left shivering out in the cold? The same question could be leveled at the Apple Macintosh. Even with the hysterical success of Apple's wider products, the Mac as a desktop system accounts for just under seven per cent of the market. Linux is no higher than five per cent, and web use points the figure down to a pathetic 1.5 per cent.

Even with the attractiveness of the Mac's ease of use - which brutally contrasts with the stubborn user-friendly-free design of Linux - both still have the same fatal flaw: few games.
Until now. Valve, with its release of Steam for Linux - and more recently the announcement it's going to release an open gaming-platform based on Linux-powered PC architecture - could totally revitalise the desktop fortunes of this able OS.

We're going to take a look at how learning to run Linux, getting it installed and knowing the new gaming platforms can help you get gaming on a free and easy-ish to use OS.

More at techradar...

--jeremy

Google Glass rooted and hacked to run Ubuntu live at Google I/O

jeremy — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:27:31 GMT

Via AndroidQuestions.org

Quote:

Today at Google I/O the company held a session entitled "Voiding your Warranty" where employees demonstrated how to root Google Glass and install Ubuntu on it. What you're seeing above is a screenshot from a laptop running a terminal window on top and showing the screencast output from Glass on the bottom -- here running the standard Android launcher instead of the familiar cards interface. The steps involve pushing some APKs (Launcher, Settings and Notepad) to the device using adb, then pairing Glass with a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. After this, it's possible to unlock the bootloader with fastboot and flash a new boot image to gain root access. From there you have full access to Glass -- just like that! Running Ubuntu requires a couple more apps to be installed, namely Android Terminal Emulator and Complete Linux Installer. The latter lets you download and boot your favorite linux distro (Ubuntu, in this case). You're then able to use SSH or VNC to access Ubuntu running right on Glass.

More at Engadget...

--jeremy

AndroidQuestions.org has added a Google Glass Forum

jeremy — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:27:22 GMT

We're happy to announce that AndroidQuestions.org has added a Google Glass Forum. Visit http://www.androidquestions.org/thre...le-Glass-Forum for the announcement or http://www.androidquestions.org/forums/26-Google-Glass to head directly to the new forum.

--jeremy

New LQ Forum: Linux - Virtualization and Cloud

jeremy — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:46:01 GMT

We're happy to announce that we've expanded the current Linux - Virtualization forum to include Cloud platforms.

Quote:

This forum is for the discussion of all topics relating to Linux Virtualization and Linux Cloud platforms. Xen, KVM, OpenVZ, VirtualBox, VMware, Linux-VServer and all other Linux Virtualization platforms are welcome. OpenStack, CloudStack, ownCloud, Cloud Foundry, Eucalyptus, Nimbus, OpenNebula and all other Linux Cloud platforms are welcome. Note that questions relating solely to non-Linux OS's should be asked in the General forum.

Let us know if you have any feedback, or visit http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-and-cloud-90/ for the new Virtualization and Cloud platform.

--jeremy

Anomaly 2 is out

dugan — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:04:08 GMT

The highly anticipated Linux game, Anomaly 2, is now out. The reviewers love it.

I took the option of buying it from the Humble Store and getting a Steam key, instead of just buying it from Steam directly for the same price. Interestingly, the Humble Store only has the Windows version available for download. The Steam key should get you the Linux version though.

MSH Disclaimer & Signatures

Lucas M. — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:14:05 GMT

MSH Disclaimer & Signatures is a Postfix and Sendmail milter which add disclaimers to all types of messages: html, plain text, incoming, outgoing, per domain.
With administrative application you will create rich text disclaimers and signatures. Templates can be added based on sender, recipient, header, keyword or time range.

Add Disclaimers
Create server side, centralized disclaimers for all or only specified messages. Add signatures to outgoing emails and prevent from adding another one.
Use built-in HTML and Plain Text compose editor to create rich text disclaimers.

Prevent duplicates
Skip adding another disclaimer if already present in message.

Disclaimer Compose Editor
Use simple WYSIWYG html and plain text editor to create rich text disclaimers.

Visit official website and improve your company emails.

Post at ChromeOSQuestions.org and Win a $25 Gift Cert to the LQ Merchandise Store

jeremy — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:02:01 GMT

At 4pm LQDT tomorrow, we'll randomly select one post from ChromeOSQuestions.org (including those in the
Member Intros forum) and that member will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to the LQ Merchandise Store. See http://www.chromeosquestions.org/thr...SQuestions-org for more information on CQ.

Good luck!

--jeremy

Announcing a new site in BETA - ChromeOSQuestions.org

jeremy — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:13:12 GMT

Please welcome ChromeOSQuestions.org to The Questions Network family of sites. ChromeOSQuestions.org is for the discussion of all topics relating to Chrome OS and Chrome OS devices.

Note that if you have an account here at LQ, you already have an CQ account. The CQ site is running the next generation platform that will power LQ at some point in the future, so we're very interested in feedback and comments. If you have a suggestion or feedback, visit http://www.chromeosquestions.org/thr...SQuestions-org and let us know. If the feedback relates to LQ in any way, feel free to post in this thread.

--jeremy

New process visualisation/management app

dutchgold92 — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:19:31 GMT

Greetings, this isn't really a question so apologies if this is the wrong place to post.
I've just finished my BSc thesis which involved developing a Linux application that allows visual process monitoring and management. It's open source, so if anyone is interested, here it is on GitHub: https://github.com/dutchgold92/TaskStalker

Features include:

Live process accounting
Graphical view of a task's state changes
Recording of previous
Display of CPU activity
Basic system info display

Any comments or criticisms would be very welcome (I'm aware it could do with more functionality, but this is it for now).

LQ Zero Reply Drive

jeremy — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:53:11 GMT

One of the main goals of LQ is to help members get questions about Linux answered. One way we help facilitate this is with the "Zero Reply" functionality, which allows you to easily find threads with no replies. While no longer a quarterly event, the LQZRD is still a great way to help your fellow LQ members. The latest LQZRD will start at 11am LQDT and will run for 74 hours. During that time, I invite everyone to click http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...p?do=noreplies and attempt to answer as many questions as they can.

Keep in mind that if you'd like to search for threads on specific topics that have 0 replies, you can do so using the advanced search (Find Threads with -> At Most -> 0 Replies).

If you have any ideas on how we can further facilitate questions being answered at LQ, please let us know in this thread.

--jeremy

Ubuntu 13.04 Released

Steve R. — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:05:39 GMT

Ubuntu 13.04 has been released.

LinuxInsider review: Ubuntu 13.04 Emerges to Less-Than-Stellar Reviews

ZDNet Review: Ubuntu 13.04 Review: Linux for the average Joe or Jane