Episode 044 – Tony Broke the Camera

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

http://smlr.us

Downloads:

MP3 format (for Freedom Haters!)
OGG format (for Freedom Lovers!)
Total Running Time: 1:13:27

Un-edited Live session – http://youtu.be/wVmqDw23_64

Contact Us:

show (at) smlr.us or the Contact us page

Summary

Kernel News: Mat
Time: 8:44
Distro Talk: Tony
Time: 11:27
Mary Distro Review
Time: 20:40
Tech News:
Time: 35:39
Is it Alive? – Mary
Time: 47:32
Listener Feedback
Time: 55:24
Outtro Music
Time:1:13:27

Intro:

Tony Bemus, Mat Enders, and Mary Tomich
Intro Sound bite by Mike Tanner

Kernel News: Mat

Time: 8:44
Release Candidate:
No new release candidate

Mainline:
3.6-rc1

Stable Updates:
On Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:04:32 BST
Ben Hutchings released kernel 3.2.26
With 11 files changed, 8 lines inserted, and 33 lines deleted

On Thu, 9 Aug 2012 08:56:18 PDT
Greg Kroah-Hartman released kernel 3.0.40
With 57 files changed, 351 lines inserted, and 171 lines deleted

On Thu, 9 Aug 2012 08:57:35 PDT
Greg Kroah-Hartman released kernel 3.4.8
With 128 files changed, 1154 lines inserted, and 673 lines deleted

On Thu, 9 Aug 2012 08:58:30 PDT
Greg Kroah-Hartman released kernel 3.5.1
With 145 files changed, 1270 lines inserted, and 729 lines deleted

On Sat, 11 Aug 2012 01:49:56 BST
Ben Hutchings released kernel 3.2.27
With 76 files changed, 862 lines inserted, and 455 lines deleted

Kernel Developer Quote:

–Alan Cox on his love of epub3 and Gnome3
“epub 3 even includes javascript which must be almost a sufficiently bloated and stupid idea that Gnome3 will be running to adopt epub3 for its help file format”

Distro Talk: Tony

Time: 11:27

Distrowatch.com

• 8-04 – Bridge Linux 2012.8 “Xfce” – an Arch-based distribution and live CD
• 8-04 – Arch Linux 2012.08.04 – new installation CD/USB image for Arch Linux, version 2012.08.04:
• 8-07 – antiX 12 – Debian-based distribution designed to run efficiently on older and low-specification computers
• 8-07 – NetSecL OS 4.0 – openSUSE-based Linux distribution featuring the LXDE desktop and a number of extra security features
• 8-07 – ROSA 2012 “GNOME” – “GNOME” edition, a Mandriva-based Linux distribution featuring the GNOME 2 desktop
• 8-08 – Scientific Linux 6.3 – an enterprise-class distribution built from source package for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.3
• 8-09 – LinHES 7.4 – Arch-based distribution centred around MythTV and designed for Home Theatre PCs (HTPC)
• 8-09 – Untangle Gateway 9.3 – Debian-based network gateway with pluggable modules for network applications

Distro of the Week: Tony

5. Damn Small – 1462
4. Ubuntu – 1613
3. Arch – 2001
2. Mint – 2978
1. Mageia – 3168

Mary Distro Review

Time: 20:40
PCLinuxOS XFCE Review
Is That all there is….
A few months ago someone suggested I take a look at PCLinux OS. Rather than use the well-worn KDE and Gnome desktops, I decided to give LXDE a whirl this week. .

Vitals:
Name: PCLinuxOS
Maintainer: Not known
Distro Latest Birthday: 2.00 Stable on July 24, 2012
Derivative: Independent but originally forked from Mandriva
Kernel: uname -a tells us that PCLinuxOS uses the 3.2.18 kernel
Review Desktop: XFCE

Obtaining/Downloading:

No problem downloading or burning—except for the fact I had run out of CDs and had to use a DVD to burn the CD-sized ISO to disk.

Live Environment:

I had a problem-free boot to PCLinuxOS’s XFCE desktop. I was prompted to apply updates in two phases using Synaptic. There was a problem with Caliber e-reader which appeared to resolve itself. At least I took no action after acknowledging it. Must have been the system. Before I started exploring, I confirmed that both wireless and my video display were working properly. No problem whatsoever; PCLinuxOS handled both easily and correctly

PCLinuxOS’s version of XFCE looked pretty standard. The LXPanel at the bottom contained the standard icons for the most part. The icons on the left side provided Easy access to configuration settings, synaptic, a terminal, launcher/menu, browser, etc. Speaking of browsers…what are the commonly used tools on this distro?

Browser: Firefox 14.0.1
Office: Despite having the LibreOffice manager both as a desktop icon and in the Office launcher menu, only Abiword was available in the office menu. Clicking the LibreOffice Manager presented these two dialog windows regarding the availability of LibreOffice.

I suspect the desire of PCLinuxOS to keep the boot media under 700MB drove the decision not to include LibreOffice for this distro. Even though that may be the case, it still detracts somewhat from the live environment experience.

Mail Client: Slypheed 3.2.0

Other live environment notables: PCLinuxOS adds wbar on the right side of the screen containing some frequently used apps, including two phantom apps that I will talk about later.

The Install Process:
The install is visually mundane, which isn’t necessarily a negative. There’s just no fancy graphics, no music playing in the background like I had when installing LuninuxOS last week. It was just a standard install on a grey background.

PCLinuxOS handled partitioning in a straightforward manner. The partition manager also allows you to toggle to expert mode where you have more actions available, such as use a partition for a loopback, resize partitions, add a label, etc.

I had three choices for the bootloader: Grub either with a graphical menu, with a text menu or Lilo with a text menu. Another option I appreciated during this process was the ability to choose how many seconds to wait until booting the default image. I found out you can’tset a password with Grub if you use the graphic menu. An odd deal, there.

Reboot to finish the install. OK, now I set my administrator password. Created a regular user and I was ready to go. (Also: PCLinuxOS provides for authentication via LDAP, Kerberos 5, Windows Domain, NIS, and Local file, which was chosen by default.)

Installed Environment:

As soon as I clicked the update manager, I was prompted to set up my network connection. Like the live environment, no problems.

The first thing I notice is the missing dock (wbar) which, in the live environment, was on the right side of the screen. I had to manually start it from the menu. (More Applications > Monitoring > Wbar). The dock displayed the same icons shown in the live environment. However, two of them, I mentioned earlier, were phantom apps. In other words, the icons were on the dock but the underlying application was not installed.

Bluefish – an editor for web developers and programmers.
Anjuta – an integrated development environment written for the GNOME project.

Thankfully the previously mentioned LX Panel is at the bottom – I appreciated the icon for controlling the LXDE desktop settings. A very concise way to change/update your desktop environment.

PCLinuxOS Control Center – I found it to be a robust set of tools for computer upkeep and maintenance. Reminded me of YaST (Yet another System Tool) utility just like Mageia’s configuration and maintenance tool did a couple of weeks ago. No surprise since both distros come from Mandriva.

1. Package Management
Several options await the user. I used both Synaptic and “apt” For a system update Apt threw a “some errors occurred while running transaction.” What those errors were was not obvious to me and did not impact my use of the system.

2. Interesting Apps, Etc.
Mymencoder – a GUI for mencoder, a command line video encoding, decoding and filtering tool.
If you do a lot of printing, the Printing configuration menu is jammed with many printer managers: HP, Epson, Lexmark, and a tool called z42tool, a GUI for Lexmark printer maintenance. What jumped out at me was the typo, however. (printer maintence)
Dupclean – a utility that searches your computer for multiple versions of packages and will attempt to remove from the RPM database.
Shred_GUI – As the name implies, it’s used to delete files and make their recovery impossible.

BleachBit – a free software disk space cleaner, privacy manager. This is the second in a row BleachBit has come pre-installed on a distro I have reviwed

LXDE

Rating:
The LXDE version of PCLinuxOS is an OK desktop if you’re using older equipment and don’t have the firepower to handle the full monty desktop.

3 cups of tepid coffee.

But I can ‘t say the same for the full monty version of PCLinuxOS. At nearly 4GB in size, this distro packs a punch that most can’t match. I briefly checked it out and you should, too.

Tech News:

Time: 35:39
Sharp Folds TO Microsoft Extortion

Sharp caves in to MS pressure and signs a licensing deal. They are licensing MS’s Extended File Allocation Table, ExFAT, technology for their Android based products. They have joined Panasonic, SANYO, Sony and Canon in paying extorton to MS. ExFAT is MS’s new implementation of the FAT file system. It is used on flash drives to exchange files between a device and a computer. This new system increased the size of the files supported by the FAT filesystem by five times.

This all started back in 2009 when MS sued TomTom the GPS maker for several patent violations, two of them involved ExFAT. TomTom settled agreeing to remove some functionality and pay a royalty to MS. MS started it’s licensing program for it’s IP in 2003. They claim to have signed over 1,100 licensing agreements.

---

The Excellent Lunduke License

When Bryan Lunduke needed an Open Source license he used the GPL then decided to write his own license. He wrote the GLL (http://lunduke.com/?cat=72), the Greater Lunduke License, incorporating logic from a couple the twentieth centuries greatest philosophers. The logic is “be excellent to each other”, being “bogus” is “most non-triumphant” and “party on”. Which gives rise to the licenses subtitle The Bill & Ted License. Granted it is no WTFPL (http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/) license but then there is only one of those.

---

Debian To Use XFCE As Default Desktop 7.0

This may be old news to some of you but I just found out about so here it is.

On Sat, 28 Jul 2012 16:28:53 Zulu time long time Debian developer, Joey Hess, had this to say in his commit of the tasksel package to Debian.

“switch default desktop task to xfce

This ensures that the desktop will fit on CD#1, which gnome currently does not.

There may be other reasons to prefer xfce as the default as well, but that is a complex and subjective topic. Unfortunatly, Debian does not have a well-defined procedure for making such choices, though it certianly has well-defined procedures for reviewing them. So, I’ve decided to be bold, and continue the tradition of making an arbitrary desktop selection for Debian in tasksel.”

This means that the default desktop when selecting “Desktop” during installation will be XFCE. The reason he gives seems a little odd as most distributions have gone over to using DVDs. What does this mean for Gnome are they slipping further down the ladder headed for insignificant?

---

And another story from the someone-make-them-stop department: Honeywell signs Android patent agreement with Microsoft
American conglomerate Honeywell International has signed a patent agreement with Microsoft to cover its devices running the open source Android and Chrome OS operating systems. The patent deal comes alongside the introduction of a version of the company’s Dolphin 7800 enterprise digital assistant (EDA) running Google’s Android mobile operating system; Honeywell already offers a version of the Dolphin 7800 that ships with Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 OS.

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Honeywell-signs-Android-patent-agreement-with-Microsoft-1660798.html

---

It was only a matter of time…
Linux Mint team forks Nautilus
Apparently not content with the recent design changes to GNOME’s Nautilus file manager, which removed functionality that some users deemed important, the Linux Mint team has forked the file manager to create Nemo…

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-Mint-team-forks-Nautilus-1660545.html

For now, there are only a couple of visible changes between Nautilus 3.4.2 and Nemo:
the location entry is visible by default, but it doesn’t replace the breadcrumbs – it’s displayed under the breadcrumb, and the user can easily show/hide it from the View menu or by using the CTRL + L keyboard shortcut.
some minor changes have been made to the look and feel – for instance, the sidebar uses a white background

http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/nemo-linux-mint-team-forks-nautilus.html

Debian Now Defaults To Xfce Desktop
In a commit made for Debian’s forthcoming 7.0 Wheezy release, Xfce is now the default desktop choice.

The default desktop task has been changed from GNOME to Xfce within the Tasksel Git. While one might assume the change is due to the criticism expressed by many GNOME users since the 3.x series — with some saying it’s losing its relevance on the Linux desktop — the main reason expressed within the Git commit comes down to Xfce being able to fit entirely on the first Debian CD.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1NTk
Chapter 7: The Final Chapter for SCO…
SCO Files for Chapter 7: “There is no reasonable chance of ‘rehabilitation'”
SCO Group has now filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. They are in Chapter 11 now. What is the difference? Chapter 11 means you are trying to reorganize and survive as a corporate entity. Chapter 7 means you’ve given up the ghost and are shutting down. But not SCO. They want the litigation with IBM to continue. But there’s almost no money left…

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20120807133033596

Is it Alive?

Time: 47:32

More Notes to come later…
… But all that matters is that Tony Won!!!

---

Listener Feedback show (at) smlr.us or 313-626-9140

Time: 55:24
Voicemail
Ask about Crunch bang.
Mr. Gadget – Enjoys our show and more of the show.
Steve Barcome – Google killing Listen…
That Dude – Kernel Swear counter

---

Outtro Music

Time:
D-Vices By JCRZ

This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.