April 2013 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Open Build Service 2.4 understands Arch Linux packaging
by Peter Reutemann 01 May '13

01 May '13

"The openSUSE developers have released version 2.4 of the Open Build Service that powers the openSUSE Build Service. New features include support for Arch's PKGBUILD format and AArch 64" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1853966 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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Dual boot
by Wolfgang 30 Apr '13

30 Apr '13

Hi I am trying to install Ubuntu Gnome 13.4 on my new HP520. Installation from disk went without hitch, but on restarting the grub2 bootloader is not starting. Instead, the windows loader loads Windows 7. Partition information is as follows (taken from the ubuntu install disk output): Device Type Mount Point Size Used System /dev/sda /dev/sda1 ntfs 104 MB 35MB Windows 7 (Loader) /dev/sda2 ntfs 95000MB unknown /dev/sda5 ext4 14999MB 3676MB Ubuntu 13.04 (13.04) /dev/sda6 ext4 14998MB 406MB /dev/sda7 swap 4998MB 0MB /dev/sda8 ext4 348996MB 5681MB /dev/sda3 ntfs 21004MB 18359MB Windows recovery Environment (loader) sda5 contains the root (/) partition, sda6 the /home partition, and sda8 will contain all my data, so that I may format both sda5 and sda6 once I re-install or update to a new version without data loss. grub 2 is supposed to be installed on /dev/sda. The BIOS is UEFI, without locks, and may also be run in classic mode. I have tried both, but do not gain access to grub2. Should I have installed grub2 on sda1 and loose the Windows loader? Any other suggestions? Thanks Wolfgang

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How to Bring More Women to Free and Open Source Software
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

"As an undergraduate engineering student Karen Sandler was used to being the only woman in a class. At the time she didn't want to talk about why there weren't more women in technology, though, believing the attention would only make things worse. That attitude has changed over time, however, as she experienced sexism more directly. At tech conferences, for example, her male colleagues would sometimes ask her whose spouse she was, not knowing that she was actually a speaker at the event. Now as a FOSS attorney and the executive director of the GNOME Foundation, Sandler is taking a different approach by addressing sexism head-on. ... 5 tips for Bringing More Women into Open Source 1. Address women directly. 2. Accept non-students and non-coders. 3. Connect women with mentors. "There's a feeling that women are less likely to ask for help, and find a mailing list intimidating... Mentors respond to newcomers and make them feel welcome," Sandler said. 4. Require a contribution as part of the application. It can be small like fixing a minor bug or rewording a pagraph of documentation. It gives people a head start for joining the community and also gives program administrators a better idea of who is applying and whether they're good. 5. Make sure women don't feel pressure to propose really ambitious projects." -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/714599-women-in-fr… 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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BitTorrent Sync creates private, peer-to-peer Dropbox, no cloud required
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

"BitTorrent today released folder syncing software that replicates files across multiple computers using the same peer-to-peer file sharing technology that powers BitTorrent clients. The free BitTorrent Sync application is labeled as being in the alpha stage, so it's not necessarily ready for prime-time, but it is publicly available for download and working as advertised on my home network." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/bittorrent-sync-creat… 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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Geeksphone Firefox OS phones now available
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

"Following their unveiling at Mobile World Congress, smartphones running Mozilla's open source OS are now available to buy online from Geeksphone. The phones are aimed at developers and interested end users" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1847833 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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13.04 based Ubuntu Touch arrives with few changes
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

"Although billed by some as "beta", the latest images released for Ubuntu Touch are just marking its underlying switch of foundations to the newest release on Ubuntu, 13.04. Beyond that, little has changed in the fledgling mobile operating system. These "Raring Ringtail" images, available for the Galaxy Nexus (codename: maguro), Nexus 4 (mako), Nexus 10 (manta) and Nexus 7 (grouper) – the four officially supported devices." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1846907 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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Ack 2.0 enhances the "grep for source code"
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

"Version 2.0 of ack, a grep like tool optimised for searching source code introduces a more flexible identification system, better support for ackrc configuration files and the ability to read the list of files to be searched from stdin." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1847056 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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meeting tonight!
by Peter Reutemann 23 Apr '13

23 Apr '13

Hi everyone Looks like the latest crash of the blades killed the meeting reminder. Thanks for Ian of reminding me and apologies for the (very) late reminder for tonight's meeting. We do have two talks scheduled for tonight: - Review of Linux live CDs (openSUSE, Slax, Porteus): Ian Young - Anti-aliasing / Code design / LibreOffice: Ian Stewart http://elgg.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/731/meeting http://www.wlug.org.nz/MeetingTopics.2013-04-22 See you tonight! 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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The flavors of Ubuntu from A to Z—or at least from Kubuntu to Xubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 21 Apr '13

21 Apr '13

'The release of Ubuntu 13.04 is less than a week away, bringing with it some refinements to the Unity interface that users either love or hate. But Ubuntu with Unity is far from the only choice for Linux lovers or those looking to avoid Windows and OS X. In addition to the many Linux distributions such as Fedora, Debian, or OpenSuse, there is a thriving open source community maintaining desktop operating systems based on Ubuntu code but with different user interfaces. These often have whimsical names like "Kubuntu" and "Xubuntu." While you can download the standard version of Ubuntu and apply a different user interface to it, most of these alternative distros are built with a non-Unity interface in mind from the start.' -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/the-flavors-of-ubuntu… 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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email for Graham Lauder - the SUSE and OpenOffice guy in Tokoroa
by Ian Young 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

Hi, anybody got a current email for Graham Lauder? I was hoping to get some DVDs of the latest SUSE Linux release from him for distribution at the LUG. ~ Ian Y

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Jolla Ports Wayland To Android GPU Drivers
by Peter Reutemann 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

"A Jolla Sailfish OS engineer has ported Wayland to run on Android GPU drivers. The implementation uses libhybis with the Android driver so that the rest of the operating system can be a conventional glibc-based Linux operating system, such as Mer / Sailfish OS. The code is to be LGPL licensed. The reported reasoning for making Wayland support Android GPU drivers was difficulty in ODM vendors not wishing to offer driver support for platforms aside from Android." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/04/11/2147208 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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USB sticks - best brand?
by Ian Young 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Just wondering whether anyone has opinions about a 'good' brand of USB stick. Having a wee spell of trying to run live Linux from these. Someone reckoned Sandisk is where it's at. This seems to be an area where the consumer is not offered much useful information, or perhaps I just haven't found that info. These gadgets have some flash memory and a controller chip I believe and that's about it, but maybe some of these components are somehow superior to others? Any thoughts? Good and cheap, can I have both?

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Empty boxes?
by Bryce Utting 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Hi all, I'm moving in a couple of weekends (which delights me enormously, I can tell you), and'm looking for boxes -- anyone have a stack of a dozen or so collapsed boxes of useful size tucked away? (any bigger than say 50x50x35 is kinda awkward, but if they're consistent then no biggie) Can reach me here or at 021 217 6386. cheers, butting

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Optimus support comes to the NVIDIA Linux driver
by Peter Reutemann 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

"NVIDIA has released a beta version of its proprietary driver for Linux systems which supports its Optimus hybrid graphics technology. Version 319.12 of the driver requires the current development version of the Linux kernel ." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1838415 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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SailfishOS SDK arrives
by Peter Reutemann 08 Apr '13

08 Apr '13

"A first look at Jolla's SailfishOS SDK reveals a novel dual virtualised machine arrangement, Qt tooling and an easy to use system for developing applications for the devices due in the second half of the year." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1837300 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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Alienware in the US sells gaming PCs with Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 08 Apr '13

08 Apr '13

"Alienware is now selling four variants of its X51 series of gaming PCs with Ubuntu 12.04 preinstalled; however, the Dell subsidiary is currently only offering these systems in the US." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1836869 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 13.04's "Final Beta" arrives
by Peter Reutemann 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

"The only beta for the Ubuntu 13.04 cycle has been released, but it is more notable by what features aren't present in the beta. The final release comes at the end of the month." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1835805 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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How to Run Linux on ODROID-U2: A Monster of an ARM Machine
by Peter Reutemann 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

"The more you look into the options for running a low-power Linux machine, the more products you will uncover. The target of this article is the ODROID-U2, which is an extremely small form factor, ARM-based computer that packs enough grunt to replace a modest desktop." -- source: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/711478-how-to-run-linux-on-odroid-u2-a… 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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ZFS on Linux is "ready for wide scale deployment"
by Peter Reutemann 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

"The developers of the native ZFS port for Linux have announced that the project is now is ready for wide scale deployment. ZFS for Linux 0.6.1 also adds packages for Debian, Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1832848 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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Security fix leads to PostgreSQL lock down
by Peter Reutemann 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

"A flaw in PostgreSQL, which will be fixed in the forthcoming 4 April release of the software, is severe enough that the developers have locked down the source code repositories and issued a notice that users should install the update as soon as it is released." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1832846 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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End of life for three Ubuntu editions on 9 May
by Peter Reutemann 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

"9 May is the end of life day for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS on servers, 10.04 LTS on desktops and 11.10 generally. Upgrading to 12.04 LTS and its five year support cycle is recommended" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1832813 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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GNOME 3.8 brings polish and new Classic Mode
by Peter Reutemann 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

"The lastest version of the open source desktop for Linux and Unix systems adds a new Clocks application, a number of new settings panels and a number of design changes throughout the desktop environment. A Classic Mode has also been added." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1832713 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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