Episode 038 – Mat’s New Job ** update 7/3/2012 **
Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
*** Update ***
Because of Editing error I have fixed the download file. If you downloaded the show before July 3nd, 12:37 US Eastern time and experianced problems hearing the show please download the new files here
Downloads:
MP3 format (for Freedom Haters!)
OGG format (for Freedom Lovers!)
*** Update ***
Summary
Kernel News: Mat
Time: 15:22
Distro Talk: Tony
Time: 16:59
Mary’s whats on sda6
Time: 27:28
July Convention Scene
Time:
Tech News:
Time: 43:31
EU Upholds €860 million Microsoft Fine
Asus Selling A Linux Netbook
Android Updates
8 Ways to Tweak and Configure Sudo on Ubuntu
Krita on Windows, the Next Step
KDE Announces 4.9 RC1
From the Linux Format podcast
KDE Now available On Raspberry Pi
SMBs Prefer Debian on File Servers
GRUB 2.00 released
Is it Alive? – Mary
Time: 1:05:53
Listener Feedback
Time: 1:12:46
Mat’s Soapbox
Time: 1:19:28
Outtro Music
Time: 1:23:34
Intro:
Tony Bemus, Mat Enders, and Mary Tomich
Intro Sound bite by Mike Tanner
Kernel News: Mat
Time: 15:22
Release Candidate:
On Sun, 24 Jun 2012 13:11:34 Linus Torvalds released kernel 3.5-rc4
After we recorded so we did not mention it and there is a new RC this week also.
On Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:55:14 PDT Linus Torvalds released kernel 3.5-rc5
This is what he had to say about it:
“So nothing really worrisome in here. Despite the networking merge
(which tends to be fairly big), -rc5 is a smaller patch than -rc4 was,
even if there are a couple more commits in there. So things seem to be
going in the right direction.So: networking updates, media fixes, some small arch updates (x86,
arm, ppc), and some random noise.Let me (and lkml) know if you have any pending regressions.”
–Linus Torvalds
Mainline:
3.5-rc5
Stable Updates:
No stable update
Kernel Developer Quote:
“Things not to do when cleaning up after the bathroom floor saga
#1 let the water dribble out of the old. U bend when you pick it up”
–Alan Cox
Distro Talk: Tony
Time:16:59
- 6-25 – siduction 12.1.1 – a minor update of the project’s 12.1 version released a month ago, based on Debian’s unstable branch
- 6-27 – Parted Magic 2012_06_26 – specialist live CD with utilities for disk management and data rescue tasks
- 6-27 – Clonezilla Live 1.2.12-67 –
- 6-29 – Oracle Linux 6.3 – enterprise-class distribution based on the recently-released Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3
Distro of the Week: Tony
- Fedora – 1328
- PureOS – 1503
- Ubuntu – 1839
- Mageia – 2220
- Mint – 3001
Mary Distro Review
Time: 27:28
A Terrible Linux Review
It might not be so bad if I could get it installed…
The Linux distro review planned for this week is Terrible. What could make a review of a distro terrible? Inability to install to the hard drive? Wireless that doesn’t work? The distro’s name is Terrible? Huh? That is correct. This week’s review is of a distro called Terrible Linux. I discovered it on Distrowatch’s list of submitted distros. With a name like Terrible you have to be good. Since the last couple of reviews had gone without a hitch, it was time to take this buggy off road for a little adventure.
Vitals:
Name: Terrible Linux (BTW—If you Google “terrible linux” you’ll get some interesting results. The top five I found will be in the show notes, including this interesting link: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/124287-the-worlds-slowest-linux-pc.)
Maintainer: Remy van Elst
Age: Most recent birthday was 5/1/12 when v0.0.3 was released
Derivative: Yes-Debian (6.0.5)
Kernel: 2.6.32.5 (as noted by uname -a)
Desktop: XFCE 4.6.2 – which had no fewer than 11 icons on it for such things as PAC, Midori, FileZilla, Terminal, Home, Minecraft, etc. Kupfer was an icon on the upper pane.
Other software installed:
ClawsMail
Midori/Chrome (No Firefox)
LibreOffice 3.5.2 (prompted to download new version 3.5.4)
Typical XFCE menu and apps
The Settings menu had some interesting menu items. There were several Remastersys entries:
1. Remastersys Backup,
2. Remastersys Grub Restore,
3. Remastersys Installer,
4. Remastersys USB Startup Disk Tool.
I don’t recall seeing that out of the box for a distro. I used the Remastersys Installer to install Terrible Linux to my hard drive (more on that later).
Many distros have their gimmick, that little something that sets them apart from others. One of this distro’s gimmicks is a start-up dashboard called: Terrible Start Commonly used actions such as opening Synaptic, a terminal, or email program are available via single-click action. You also can jot a note, go to a web site or open the Geany IDE. You could think of Terrible Start as a menu panel re-imagined as a box. The maintainer conveniently includes a button that will open the web page of his home site.
The only problem with Terrible Start is that many of the buttons do not work. For example, I clicked Geany, the GTK-based IDE. Nothing. Open LibreOffice button. Nothing. Open Mail button. Nothing. You get the picture.
It seems to me that most distro maintainers want users to install their distro, and make it easy to do by placing an install icon on your desktop on the panel. on your hard drive. However none was to be found on Terrible Linux. That was a terrible oversight, in my opinion. I finally found the remastersys installer in the system menu. That was an interesting experience but my partition survived.
After the install completed, I changed my laptop’s native resolution of 1680×1050 and it looked great.
The pièce de résistance was an interesting program called PAC or Perl Auto Connector. PAC is by David Torrejón Vaquerizas and is an app/utility which implements SecureCRT’s functionality. Some of the protocols it supports include ssh, telnet, sftp, rdesktop, vnc, cu, remote-tty and ftp. I installed it and was able to ftp to my ftp space. Although I had to configure PAC to manually prompt me for my user name/password rather than the pre-stored approach that I use in the other FTP clients. I am sure it’s a setting of some sort. I just didn’t have time to sort it out.
Here is the link to PAC: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pacmanager/
Terrible Linux garners a 1.5 cups of coffee. Good concepts but too rough to be considered as anything more than a test system, as the maintainer also notes on his site.
July Convention Scene
2012 Linux Symposoium – July 11-13, Montpetit Hall-U-Ottawa, Ottawa Ontario Canada
The goal of the Linux Symposium is to bring together Linux developers, enthusiasts, and systems administrators to improving communication, strengthen the personal connections within the Linux Community and to promote the open and free dissemination of new ideas.
http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2012/
========================================
OSCON, July 16 – July 20, Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR
OSCON is a gathering place for the entire open source community. It’s where all the pieces of the open platform come together. Unlike other conferences that focus entirely on one language or part of the stack, OSCON deals with the open source ecosystem in its entirety, exactly as you approach it in your work.
http://www.oscon.com/oscon2012/
OSCON will be preceded on July 14-15 by the Community Leadership Summit 2012 which brings together community leaders, organizers and managers and the projects and organizations that are interested in growing and empowering a strong community.
http://www.communityleadershipsummit.com/
==============================
Embedded Linux Week 9-13 July, Vogel Convention Center, Wurzburg Germany
The focus is on “Linux System Programming” and “real-time Linux” . Will cover the fundamental issues surrounding embedded Linux and embedded Linux system programming.
http://www.linux4embedded.de/de
==========================================
ESC India , July18-20, NIMHANS Convention Center, Bangalore India
(Embedded Systems Conference)
ESC India 2012 is a crucial event which attracts more than 500 embedded system engineers and technical experts to attend, share knowledge, network and update their information.
Tech News:
Time:43:31
EU Upholds €860 million Microsoft Fine
The European Union’s General Court made a minuscule reduction in it’s fine of Microsoft. This most recent fine is from 2008 however the original case goes back to 1998. The original case was brought by FSF Europe, the SAMBA Team, IBM, Red Hat, and others. Microsoft had appealed the 2008 fine of €899 million, which at the time was the largest fine ever given out by the EU. In MS appeal the requested the fine be annulled and their costs be born by the Commission and others.
They instead ordered MS to pay 95% of the commissions costs and 80% of the costs for the bringers of the action. They did however get the fine reduced from €899 million €860 million. Karsten Gerloff, the FSFE’s President, had this to say:
“The European Commission was right in being tough on Microsoft. We have worked hard to support the Commission in this case, and are extremely proud of the victory we’ve achieved.”
Joaquin Almunia, of the EU Commision, said thanks to that action, “a range of innovative products that would otherwise not have seen the light of day were introduced on the market.”
Asus Selling A Linux Netbook
The Asus Eee PC 1225C running Ubuntu 12.04 is currently available in Italy, and coming soon to the UK. It is also currently available in the US but with no OS installed. Here are the spec on this netbook.
Specifications
Operating System Ubuntu
Display 11.6″ LED Backlight resolution 1366×768
CPU Atom™ N2600 /N2800 Depends on country
Memory 2GB DDR3, Soldered in not upgradeable
Storage 320GB/500GB HDD
The Design
It has five different colors, Matte : Gray, Red, Silver, Glossy : Black, White. The 11.6” LED backlit LCD screen makes for excellent viewing, also the Chiclet keyboard and multi-touch pad provide an exceptional user experience.
New Intel® Atom™
It comes with the new Intel® Atom™ Cedar Trail dual-core CPU, with 15% faster processing speeds and a threefold increase in graphics performance.
The OS Is Ubuntu Linux
A Linux-based operating system that is stable and reliable. it allows you to browse the web and send instant messages. It comes with Libre Office pre-installed.
Exceptional Connectivity
It has built in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 (optional), staying online while on the go has never been easier. The optional USB 3.0 lets you transfer your photos and other files at speeds that are up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0. You can also easily play videos onto your HDTV using the built-in HDMI port.
This all Sounds great but I want to know is when is going to be available here with an OS pre-installed.
Android Updates
8 Ways to Tweak and Configure Sudo on Ubuntu
This article describes some helpful ways to make sudo work better.
http://www.howtogeek.com/116757/8-ways-to-tweak-and-configure-sudo-on-ubuntu/
Krita on Windows, the Next Step
On Friday, Intel and KO GmbH (that’s the company your humble correspondent works for…) agreed to start a project to make a new version of Krita on Windows. We’re provisionally calling it “Krita Sketch” — and it’s going to be extremely cool! There’s new hardware coming that supports touch and multi-touch in new ways, and we want to use that to improve the painting experience
http://www.krita.org/
KDE Announces 4.9 RC1
KDE Software Compilation 4.9 will be released in August and it will contain features such as Qt Quick in Plasma Workspaces, improved searching, sorting, display and inline rename on Dolphin, better integration of Activities for files, as well as lots of performance improvements and bugfixes to improve the overall user experience.
http://dot.kde.org/2012/06/27/kde-announces-49-rc1
http://techbase.kde.org/Schedules/KDE4/4.9_Feature_Plan
From the Linux Format podcast
A little fun that I heard on this podcast and wanted to pass along.
install sl
then type sl (non-root)
KDE Now available On Raspberry Pi
Good news for KDE lovers. If you own a Raspberry Pi, you will now be able to run KDE and integrated programs in it. Thanks to a developer named Luca Tringali.
This story contains a link to the image that you can download and try. My Pi is coming in August…delay…delay…delay!
http://www.muktware.com/3793/kde-now-available-raspberry-pi
Survey: SMBs Prefer Debian on File Servers, Seek Cloud Backup Options
Small and medium-sized businesses prefer Debian over Red Hat and CentOS for operating their file servers, according to a survey released Monday by cloud storage network provider Symform.
The survey of 100 companies with Linux file servers found that 67 percent used a Debian chain distribution compared with 54 percent on Red Hat and 5 percent on SUSE
GRUB 2.00 released
The GRUB2 boot-loader features an EHCI driver, an official theme, ports to Itanium and SGI MIPS architectures, better default video mode selection using monitor EDID information, new drivers (EHCI / AHCI / ESCC serial / EFI / Network stack / VBE on Coreboot), new file-system support, improved file-system capabilities, new boot protocols, performance improvements, better internationalization, and improved installation support.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTEyODc
Is it Alive
(or is it a Superhero…)?
Time: 1:05:53
During this segment of the show, I challenge Mat and Tony to identify whether a Linux Distro is alive or dead? Every other week, we twist the premise to keep things interesting. This week is twist week: I challenge Mat and Tony whether the named entity is a Linux distribution or a Superhero.
(http://www.comicvine.com/characters/) The items for the July 1 show:
====================================
OCTOZ – Octoz Linux was a French distribution built from scratch and designed to be easy-to-use, especially for Linux beginners and non-technical computer users.
MAT: Linux – Dead
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Linux (DEAD)
====================================
Aquamorph – Linux
Aquamorph is a complete, up-to-date environment, in which the user can comfortably browse, program and generally just do his work, while not having to worry about configuring and installing things.
MAT: Superhero
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Linux (Alive – http://aquariusoft.org/page/linux/aquamorph/)
===================================
DarkStar – DARKSTAR Linux is a Romanian Linux distribution based on Slackware Linux. http://linux.wikia.com/wiki/DARKSTAR
MAT: Linux – Dead
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Linux (dead)
===================================
Colassus
Colassus first appears in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and possesses the mutant ability to project powerful concussive blasts from his eyes. He is visually distinctive for the ruby quartz battle visor he wears to control his destructive power.
MAT: Superhero
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Superhero
===================================
Platypux – Platypux is a French Linux distribution which allows you, in every place, to take your data and environment
MAT: Linux – Alive
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Linux (ALIVE – http://platypux.site.free.fr/index_en.html)
===================================
Psylocke – Psylocke first appears in Captain Britain #8
Psylocke is a mutant with telepathic and telekinetic powers that she can focus into a blade of psionic energy.
MAT: Superhero
TONY: Superhero
VERDICT: Superhero
===================================
Mat: 8 (not loser this week)
Tony: 2
Listener Feedback
Time: 1:12:46
Juan Mares – Minty Badness
johanv – Kernel news notes from git
thom duchane – Mat and KDE
Mat’s Soapbox
Time: 1:19:28
Outtro Music
Time: 1:23:34
The Penguin by Manny
This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.