September 2006 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Opensource ORC
by Ian McDonald 28 Sep '06

28 Sep '06

If this interests you have a look at: http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/191251 -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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One laptop per pc update
by Ian McDonald 28 Sep '06

28 Sep '06

For those that saw the documentary and want to know more about technical status update this is interesting at: http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/weblog/?p=222 -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Torvalds talks about GPLv3
by Ian McDonald 26 Sep '06

26 Sep '06

http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/09/19/1531258&from=rss -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Short article on Gnome 2.16 new features
by Ian McDonald 25 Sep '06

25 Sep '06

This will be in Ubuntu 6.10 out next month: http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/2031230 -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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MEETING TONIGHT: Codebreakers documentary, end of year windup and free pizza
by Craig Box 25 Sep '06

25 Sep '06

For tonights meeting, we will air BBC World's documentary "The Codebreakers", about free/open source software. We will also present a short recap of the events of Software Freedom Day and a general pre-AGM wrapup, and then we will feed you with the promised Italian flatbreads. A synopsis for the documentary is below. Craig -- The famous digital divide is getting wider. A documentary, The Codebreakers aired on BBC World in May, examines whether free/open source software (FOSS) might be the bridge? FOSS contains 'source code' that can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction. It has been around for over 20 years but most PC owners are not aware that the Internet search engines and many computer applications run on FOSS. "It's not that FOSS has had a bad press, it has had no press because there is no company that 'owns' it," says executive producer Robert Lamb. "But we found that in the computer industry and among the afficionados, it is well known and its virtues well understood." The crew of the independent producers who made the film went to nearly a dozen countries around the world to see how the adoption of FOSS presents opportunities for industry and capacity development, software piracy reduction, and localization and customization for diverse cultural and development needs. Stories from The Codebreakers include computer and Internet access for school children in Africa, reaching the poor in Brazil, tortoise breeding programmes in the Galapagos, connecting villages in Spain, and disaster management in Sri Lanka. The documentary also includes interviews from key figures around the world. Intel, IBM, Sun and Microsoft all seem to agree that FOSS is a welcome presence in computer software. According to Jonathan Murray of Microsoft "The Open Source community stimulates innovation in software, it's something that frankly we feel very good about and it's something that we absolutely see as being a partnership with Microsoft." For more information, and to download a copy, see http://www.apdip.net/news/fossdoc

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Myspace videos in Debian or Ubuntu??
by Ian McDonald 23 Sep '06

23 Sep '06

Folks, Most myspace videos don't play in Linux that I can see because they use a newer flash movie format and the Linux version is still stuck on 7 (although 9 is on it's way...) Can anybody tell me if I'm wrong or a workaround? Ian -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Open office to support plugins
by Ian McDonald 23 Sep '06

23 Sep '06

http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6118676.html?part=rss&tag=6118676&subj=news -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Running Linux on old PCs.
by Ian McDonald 22 Sep '06

22 Sep '06

Good article here: http://polishlinux.org/choose/linux-on-old-hardware/ -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Updated proprietary drivers
by Ian McDonald 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=551&num=1 https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&q… This may be of interest to people. It shows the drivers changing and in some cases improving. It also shows the danger of non-free drivers as well. These drivers support old versions of X and not the latest (so I can't use easily on Debian Unstable). They don't yet support ailgx and of course you are limited to Intel/AMD platforms. The ATI driver drops support for old cards too... Now if Intel would mark their cards faster as they have supported the community by making open source drivers. -- Ian McDonald Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4 Blog: http://imcdnzl.blogspot.com WAND Network Research Group Department of Computer Science University of Waikato New Zealand

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Ubuntu Local Community Team for New Zealand relaunched
by Craig Box 21 Sep '06

21 Sep '06

Ubuntu New Zealand: Local Community Team ---------------------------------------- Ever since the birth of computers, enthusiasts and fans around the world have collected together in garages, universities and pubs to talk about their interest, learn from each other and help promote their interest. Combine this with the huge popularity of Ubuntu, and you get the Ubuntu Local Community (LoCo) project. A LoCo team is formed to help groups of Ubuntu fans and enthusiasts in a particular region to help advocate, promote, translate, develop and otherwise improve Ubuntu. With the support of Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager, and the awesome AustralianTeam, we're launching a New Zealand team for Ubuntu (http://ubuntu-nz.org/) What's involved? ---------------- What would you like to be involved? Activities other teams have engaged in include, but are not limited to: * development & coaching new, interested contributors * regional customisation * translations * advocacy, both virtually and locally * CD & merchandise distribution * IRC support (or just hanging out) There are no set goals for the team yet - it's entirely up to you, the new members, to decide as a group what we should do. Involvement in a LoCo is an easy way to get involved with the global Ubuntu community for non-developers and developers alike. There are people involved from many teams within Ubuntu who can help you gain useful skills for further involvement if you are keen! How can I get involved? ----------------------- Join our mailing list (https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-nz) and our IRC channel (#ubuntu-nz on Freenode - irc://irc.freenode.org:6667/#ubuntu-nz) More details are available from the website: http://ubuntu-nz.org/ Craig (Please pass this message onto your local LUG mailing list if it hasn't been there already!)

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