December 2012 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

$100 Android/Linux tablet hits funding goal, ships in January
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

'A $100 tablet that can run both Android and Linux is on the verge of becoming a reality. We wrote about the "PengPod" last month when its creators were seeking $49,000 on a Kickstarter-like site called Indiegogo. The project's deadline expired last night, with the PengPod getting a healthy $72,707 from more than 500 contributors.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/12/100-androidlinux-tablet-hits-funding… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Comment: OpenOffice's Tale of Two Cities
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

Failure in Freiburg, success in Munich. Experiences with open source software in the public sector couldn't be more different. If there's a lesson to be drawn from this, it's "go the whole hog or not at all". -- source: http://h-online.com/-1760502 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Secure Boot bootloader for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

"Linux developer Matthew Garrett has released a version of his Shim Secure Boot bootloader that allows any Linux distribution to be launched on Secure Boot systems without the need to disable UEFI Secure Boot. As Garrett's Shim binary has been signed by Microsoft, the Secure Boot bootloader will be executed by almost any type of UEFI firmware." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1761089 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Plan 9 ported to the Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

'Plan 9 developer Richard Miller has ported the open source Unix-like operating system to the Raspberry Pi mini-computer. Plan 9, which was originally developed primarily for research into distributed operating systems by Bell Labs, is still being developed at Bell Labs (now a subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent) and a number of independent developers. The operating system extends the classic "everything is a file" philosophy of Unix to network objects without differentiating between local and remote resources.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1761509 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Dell launches Ubuntu-powered Sputnik for developers
by Peter Reutemann 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

"Dell has launched its Ubuntu laptop for developers in the US. The project, which was first announced in May, uses an XPS 13 Ultrabook as the base for a customised Ubuntu 12.04 installation that is aimed at application developers and systems administrators. Dell has worked with Ubuntu sponsor Canonical and various hardware manufacturers to provide support for the hardware, and the system ships with additional features such as the sputnik command that allows developers to easily replicate their development environment on other machines." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1759350 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Mozilla Combines Social API and WebRTC
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

"Mozilla has put together a demo which combines WebRTC with Firefox's Social API. Over on Mozilla's Future Releases blog, Maire Reavy writes, 'WebRTC is a powerful new tool that enables web app developers to include real-time video calling and data sharing capabilities in their products. While many of us are excited about WebRTC because it will enable several cool gaming applications and improve the performance and availability of video conferencing apps, WebRTC is proving to be a great tool for social apps. Sometimes when you're chatting with a friend, you just want to click on their name and see and talk with them in real-time. Imagine being able to do that without any glitches or hassles, and then while talking with them, easily share almost anything on your computer or device: vacation photos, memorable videos — or even just a link to a news story you thought they might be interested in – simply by dragging the item into your video chat window.'" -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/12/02/214216/mozilla-combines-social-api-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Why KDE Plasma Makes Sense For Linux Gaming
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

"Martin Gräßlin, a lead KDE developer, addresses some queries around a topic bugging Gnome and Unity users — the fallback mode. In this post he says that 'having the non-composited mode around allows us to do things like turning compositing off when running games or heavy OpenGL based applications such as Blender. So if you want to get some of the now finally available games for Linux, KDE Plasma should be your primary choice to enjoy the game. I have also heard of users switching to KDE Plasma because we still provide non OpenGL based setups.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/12/01/2351222/why-kde-plasma-makes-sense… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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