March 2013 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

SpaceX: Lessons Learned Developing Software For Space Vehicles
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

"On day two of the 2013 Embedded Linux Conference, Robert Rose of SpaceX spoke about the "Lessons Learned Developing Software for Space Vehicles". In his talk, he discussed how SpaceX develops its Linux-based software for a wide variety of tasks needed to put spacecraft into orbit—and eventually beyond. Linux runs everywhere at SpaceX, he said, on everything from desktops to spacecraft." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/03/24/2050221 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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Kivy - Open source Python library for development of UI apps
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

I know, not strictly speaking Linux, but interesting nonetheless... "Kivy - Open source Python library for rapid development of applications that make use of innovative user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps. Kivy is running on Linux, Windows, MacOSX, Android and IOS. You can run the same code on all supported platforms. It can use natively most inputs protocols and devices like WM_Touch, WM_Pen, Mac OS X Trackpad and Magic Mouse, Mtdev, Linux Kernel HID, TUIO. A multi-touch mouse simulator is included." Release under LGPL3 -- source: http://kivy.org/ 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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GCC 4.8 completes migration to C++
by Peter Reutemann 24 Mar '13

24 Mar '13

"The GCC developers have, after years of planning, completed the switch to C++ as the implementation language for their software. The new version of GCC also includes performance improvements and a new general optimisation level." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1824539 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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Hardware up for grabs
by Daniel Lawson 23 Mar '13

23 Mar '13

Hey guys I'm clearing stuff out again, and have some more hardware available: PC 1: Intel Core2 Q8200 (Quad-core, 2.33GHz) Intel desktop board DQ45CB Thermaltake Litepower 600 PSU Cooler Master Elite 330 4GB DDR2-800 RAM hard disk of some size, I'll dig something up. PC 2: AMD Phenom II X4 925 (Quad-core, 2.8GHz) Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2 Motherboard Cooler Master Elite 330 8GB DDR3 RAM Seasonic 740W PSU w/modular connections Fanless radeon graphics card of some description (1GB ram i think) 750 GB harddisk. Other stuff: Altec Lansing speakers and subwoofer XBox 1.6, mod chipped (Xecutor 3 mod chip, I think) No hard disk unless I can find the original one, but it shouldn't be hard to fit another one. DVD Remote, one (maybe 2) controllers, and a Grand Theft Auto boxed set if I can find it Pickup from work in town (Alexandra St) preferred, but can do a weekend/evening pickup in Silverdale if arranged in advance

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Canonical and China Announce Ubuntu Collaboration
by Peter Reutemann 22 Mar '13

22 Mar '13

"Canonical, the software company that manages and funds Ubuntu, announced that the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will base their national reference architecture for standard operating systems on Ubuntu, and they will call it Kylin. Arguably China is the largest desktop market and the announcement has important implications. Shuttleworth says, 'The release of Ubuntu Kylin brings the Chinese open source community into the global Ubuntu community.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/03/21/2235251/canonical-and-china-announ… 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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Debian 7.0 for Easter?
by Peter Reutemann 21 Mar '13

21 Mar '13

"The Debian developers are preparing for the release of Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" and have shortened the list of Release Critical Bugs to less than one hundred, of which the majority will most likely be ignored or corresponding packages will be dropped" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1827628 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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REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 21 Mar '13

21 Mar '13

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !Special General Meeting A draft of the revised charter will be tabled, this will reduce the quorum to the smaller of 5 members or 50% of the general membership, and reduce the size of the committee to 4. Meet up at the university: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 7:30pm onwards

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OX Text offers open source collaborative DOCX/ODT editing
by Peter Reutemann 20 Mar '13

20 Mar '13

"OX App Suite is to expand with OX Text, a collaborative document editor which works with DOCX and ODT documents natively on the web and intelligently avoids damaging complex document content it isn't able to edit" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1826451 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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Ubuntu to halve support length for non-LTS releases
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

"The Ubuntu Technical Board has decided to half the support time for non-LTS releases to nine months and enable users to more easier track the development of the distribution without switching to a rolling release model" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1825716 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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KDE sets its sights on Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

"After the GNOME project's decision, the KDE developers seem to also have decided to renew efforts to get their desktop environment ported to the Wayland display manager. This leaves Canonical as the only backer of Mir as an X replacement." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1825273 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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