- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

meeting on Monday next week
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

Hi there There is a WLUG meeting coming up on Monday next week. As of now, there aren't any specific topics. But if you have something for a quick show and tell, please do let me know. :-) Otherwise, we'll just have a social gathering, trading interesting news. 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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OpenSUSE May Be First Major Distro To Adopt Btrfs By Default
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

"The openSUSE Linux distribution looks like it may be the first major Linux distribution to ship the Btrfs file-system by default. The openSUSE 13.1 release is due out in November and is still using EXT4 by default, but after that the developers are looking at having openSUSE using Btrfs by default on new installations. The Btrfs features to be enabled would be the ones the developers feel are data-safe." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/09/19/1352215 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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Government of Argentina Launches Linux Distribution
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

"The news has been full of headlines of happenings at this year's LinuxCon, but one tiny little headline stands out today as different. Although it hasn't made it into English speaking press yet, it seems the Argentine government has sponsored the development of a Linux distribution to be used on all state provided education computers." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/government-of-argentina-launches-linux-distribution 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 Linux defenders attack bad software patents before they’re approved
by Peter Reutemann 18 Sep '13

18 Sep '13

"Despite the rise in the number of patent trolls launching lawsuits affecting open source software, there are some glimmers of hope. The America Invents Act that was signed into law in September 2011 has provided new ways to prevent the issuance of over-broad software patents that could fuel future lawsuits. In a session at LinuxCon today, Linux Defenders director Andrea Casillas explained how the group is using rights granted by the new law to fight patent applications. A project of the Open Invention Network, Software Freedom Law Center, and Linux Foundation, Linux Defenders examines the 6,000 new patent applications published each week, attempting to identify those that are potentially threatening to Linux and open source. Then, the group looks for prior art that would invalidate at least some of the claims in the patents." -- source: http://bit.ly/15APmDY 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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New Operating System Seeks To Replace Linux In the Cloud
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"At CloudOpen in New Orleans, KVM veterans Avi Kivity and Dor Laor revealed their latest venture, a new open-source (BSD license) operating system named OSv. OSv can run existing Linux programs and runtime environments such as a JVM, but unlike Linux, OSv was designed from the ground up to run efficiently on virtual machines. For example, OSv avoids the traditional (but slow) userspace-kernel isolation, as on the cloud VMs normally run a single application. OSv is also much smaller than Linux, and breaks away from tradition by being written in C++11." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/09/17/2113211 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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With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Windows XP is going to officially die and stop receiving support from Microsoft in April, 2014. After that very moment, it is said to become a gold mine for hackers all over the world who will exploit 'zero-day' vulnerabilities. The municipality of the German city of Munich wants to stop that from happening [and] has decided to distribute free CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to users of the almost extinct XP. Munich, through its Gasteig Library, will prepare around 2000 CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to offer to city residents affected by Windows XP's end of support. Previously, it was believed that Munich city's authorities were going to offer Lubuntu 12.04, which would have required lower system requirements with the same support period." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/09/17/1250257 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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Gabe Newell talks about Linux as the future of gaming; teases "Steam Box" hardware
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

'The gamers among us waited... very... patiently... for Steam to come to Linux. This week, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell came to LinuxCon to talk about Linux, gaming, and how important open source is to the future of gaming, which given the audience, he described as "sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the Pope." In even better news, he also strongly hinted at a Steam Box announcement next week.' -- source: http://opensource.com/life/13/9/gabe-newell-talks-about-linux-future-gaming… 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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TrueAbility Launches Ability Screen for Linux Pros
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Jobs are also on the rise for Linux professionals, and Technical assessment platform provider, TrueAbility, has announced the launch of AbilityScreen for Linux Professionals, billed as "a new way to evaluate the skill level of those who work within a Linux environment." It allows Linux professionals to demonstrate their expertise and prove what they know, helping companies to discover them. The company also hosts Linux Showdowns for demonstrating skills." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/trueability-launches-ability-screen-for-linux-pros 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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Google and Samsung soar into list of top 10 Linux contributors
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Google and Samsung have become increasingly frequent contributors to Linux, and each is now among the top 10 companies sponsoring the open source kernel that powers operating systems from mobile devices to desktops and servers. A new Linux Kernel Development report (informally known as "Who Writes Linux") released today by the Linux Foundation names Samsung and Google as the seventh and eighth most frequent corporate contributors, behind Red Hat, Intel, Texas Instruments, Linaro, SUSE, and IBM. The report covers almost 92,000 changes to Linux from 3,738 individuals since version 3.3 in March 2012." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/google-and-samsung-so… 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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Installing Rackspace Private Cloud In 20 Minutes Or Less
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '13

16 Sep '13

"Being an application developer with a very limited attention span, my test of any new technology or product is how quickly can I write my “Hello World” application. The Rackspace Private Cloud, which is based on OpenStack, is intended for a full-fledged data center with a number of compute, storage and network requirements, but I was still hoping to install it in just a few minutes." -- source: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/installing-rackspace-private-cloud-in-20-minu… 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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Raspberry Pi As an Ad Blocking Access Point
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '13

13 Sep '13

"Adafruit has a new tutorial that will show you how to use your Raspberry Pi as a WiFi access point that blocks ads by default for any devices using it. This is really neat in that it would work for your Android or iOS device, your Xbox 360, TiVo, laptop, and more without needing to customize any of those devices other than to use your Raspberry Pi as the access point for WiFi. Using an ad-blocker can be useful for conserving bandwidth, helping out low-power devices, or for keeping your sanity while browsing the web!" -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/09/13/2059228 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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Google Releases Raspberry Pi Web Dev Teaching Tool
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '13

13 Sep '13

"Google has released 'Coder,' described as a simple way to make web stuff on Raspberry Pi. The idea is to make the Pi into a simple web server and web development environment on which kids can learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They provide an image for the Raspberry Pi, and they've open-sourced Coder as well. 'We thought about all the stuff we could do to make Coder a more complete package, but we have a hunch that the sooner this gets into the open source and maker communities, the more we’ll learn about how it might be used. Hopefully, a few more folks will pitch in and help us make this even more accessible and helpful for new coders.'" -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/09/13/1514202 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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JOB | Permanent Linux Systems Administrator (Singapore)
by James Tobin 13 Sep '13

13 Sep '13

Hello, I am working with an employer that is looking to hire a permanent Linux system administrator with an automation and scripting mindset as well as exposure to MySQL (the very minimum; replication) for a position in Singapore. Relocation assistance could also be offered. Should any list members like to discuss with me further I can be reached using James (at) Camalyn (dot) Org -- James Tobin http://www.camalyn.org | +44 8444 820 691 x 86246

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Intel, Red Hat Working On Enabling Wayland Support In GNOME
by Peter Reutemann 11 Sep '13

11 Sep '13

"After shooting down Canonical's Mir, Intel and Red Hat teams have increased collaboration on the development of Wayland. Developers at Intel and Red Hat are working together to 'merge and stabilize the patches to enable Wayland support in GNOME,' as Christian Schaller writes on his blog. The teams are also looking into improving the stack further. Weston won't be used anymore, so GNOME Shell will become the Wayland compositor. It must be noted that Canonical earlier committed to supporting and embracing Wayland. Despite that promise, the company silently stopped contribution, and it was later learned that they were secretly working on their own display server, Mir. Intel's management recently rejected patches for Mir, leaving its maintainance to Canonical. Before Intel's rejection, GNOME and KDE also refused to adopt Mir. Intel's message is clear to Canonical: if you promise to contribute, then do so." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/09/10/1928248 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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For Future Intarweb DHCP Server Users:
by Elroy 10 Sep '13

10 Sep '13

Troubleshooting ISC DHCP SERVER config-file (dhcpd.conf) error messages: If you get: " For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/ /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf line 33: e74f4b0 exceeds max (255) for precision. " Make sure you put colons ":" between each two alphanumeric digits in your MAC addresses, e.g. 0A1B2C3D4E5F, will give you the above error. Make sure it looks like: 0A:1B:2C:3D:4E:5F. Also, IP addresses go in quotes "192.168.0.xxx" etc, and MAC addresses 0A:1B:2C:3D:4E:5F do not need any. HTHSITNF.

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Linux From Scratch 7.4 is Available
by Peter Reutemann 10 Sep '13

10 Sep '13

"Linux From Scratch is famous for being hard. While most distributions have tried to dumb down their system for the inexperience, LFS has stayed true to its original vision, almost. Yet very few reviews appear for this venerable project. Well, version LFS 7.4 was recently released and perhaps some attention might help." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/linux-from-scratch-7-4-is-available 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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Intel Rejects Supporting Ubuntu's XMir
by Peter Reutemann 08 Sep '13

08 Sep '13

"Just days after Intel added XMir support to their Linux graphics driver so it would work with the in-development the X11 compatibility layer to the Mir display server premiering with Ubuntu 13.10, Intel management has rejected the action and had the XMir patch reverted. There's been controversy surrounding Mir with it competing with Wayland and the state of the display server being rather immature and its performance coming up short while it will still debut in Ubuntu 13.10. Intel management had to say, "We do not condone or support Canonical in the course of action they have chosen, and will not carry XMir patches upstream." As a result, Canonical will need to ship their own packaged version of the Intel (and AMD and Nouveau drivers) with out-of-tree patches." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/09/08/0431242 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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Official Announcement Linux.conf.au 2014 registrations open
by Paul Del 07 Sep '13

07 Sep '13

Press Release. Official Announcement Linux.conf.au <http://linux.conf.au/> 2014 early bird registrations open For immediate Release. The Linux.conf.au <http://linux.conf.au/> 2014 team are pleased to announce that we have now started accepting early bird registrations. According to Luke John, organising director, “The start of registration represents the culmination of a lot of groundwork in planning for the conference and it's a real milestone to be at this point in the process”, “While there's still a lot to do, it's really starting to take shape now, and I'm quietly confident that we've got a great line up of speakers and topics and we are looking forward to an awesome conference”. Paul Del Fante also chipped in to offer encouragement for those of you who may feel a bit daunted by the distances. “It's Perth, it's Summer, we've got a fantastic Linux conference on, warm beaches, balmy evenings, city life, so come on over and share in our hospitality”. The Linux.conf.au <http://linux.conf.au/> 2014 early bird registrations will be open till 2013/10/13, but are for a limited number of places and may close earlier before we move on to the formal registration period, and we'd please ask anyone who registers during this time to keep an eye out for any minor issues or inconsistencies you come across. The Linux.conf.au <http://linux.conf.au/> 2014 Organising Team. http://linux.conf.au #LCA2014

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zentyal - Linux Small Business Server
by Peter Reutemann 06 Sep '13

06 Sep '13

Just came across this... zentyal is an Ubuntu-based server edition aimed at small and medium businesses (SMB). The feature list looks like quite good: http://www.zentyal.org/server/#server-features They paid a lot of attention to a nice user/admin interface: http://www.zentyal.org/server/#server-screenshots 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 Kubuntu Team and a Partner Now Offer Commercial Support
by Peter Reutemann 04 Sep '13

04 Sep '13

"Kubuntu, which marries the ever popular Ubuntu Linux distribution with the KDE graphical interface, is popular with lots of individual users, but it also apparently has a foothold in the business world. So much so, in fact, that the Kubuntu team is now in partnership with Emerge Open to offer commercial support packages for businesses. Here are the details. " -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/the-kubuntu-team-and-a-partner-now-offer-commercial… 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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CuBox-i Tiny PCs Run Linux and Android, Start at $45
by Peter Reutemann 04 Sep '13

04 Sep '13

'Although the Raspberry Pi has grabbed the most headlines as a tiny, ultra-inexpensive, pocketable computer running an open source operating system, it's actually only one of many tiny LInux computers being heralded as part of a new "Linux punk ethic." We've written about a number of other miniscule computers that run Android and Linux here. Now, there is a pretty cool looking $45 cube computer that runs Android and Linux, shown here, called the CuBox-i1. This thing looks like it could gain an audience.' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/cubox-i-tiny-pcs-run-linux-and-android-start-at-45 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 Web Drops Google For DuckDuckGo
by Peter Reutemann 01 Sep '13

01 Sep '13

"In a blog post on the Gnome.org site by Claudio Saavedra, the Gnome Web browser team announced that they had switched the default search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo. The team cites issues with privacy and collaboration as the main motivators, and were inspired by a talk by Jacob Applebaum at GUADEC 2012." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/gnome-web-drops-google-for-duckduckgo 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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Hand of a Thief Linux Malware Goes for the Money
by Peter Reutemann 30 Aug '13

30 Aug '13

'One of the top reasons for choosing Linux, according to many users, is enhanced security. In particular, if you have spent much time using Windows PCs, you're familiar with the fact that Windows is the primary target for malware worldwide. Linux, on the other hand, is rarely targeted by virus writers and hackers. However, according to the Avast blog, a new Linux Trojan dubbed "Hand of a Thief" is actually targeting Linux users' bank accounts.' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/hand-of-a-thief-linux-malware-goes-for-the-money 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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X.Org Foundation Loses 501(c)3 Non-Profit Status
by Peter Reutemann 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

"The X.Org Foundation, which drives the X.Org Server projects, Mesa, and Wayland open-source programs, had its tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS. It turns out the X.Org Foundation had put in quite a lot of work to become a non-profit organization, with guidance from the Software Freedom Law Center. They got in trouble after failing to routinely file their taxes on time. There's also been a host of other X.Org accounting errors in recent years. There was also the recent news of the IRS going after open-source projects, too." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/08/27/1244247 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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Has the Apache Software Foundation Lost Its Way?
by Peter Reutemann 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

"Complaints of stricture over structure, signs of technical prowess on the wane — the best days of the Apache Software Foundation may be behind, writes InfoWorld's Serdar Yegalulp. 'Since its inception, the Apache Software Foundation has had a profound impact in shaping the open source movement and the tech industry at large. ... But tensions within the ASF and grumbling throughout the open source community have called into question whether the Apache Way is well suited to sponsoring the development of open source projects in today's software world. Changing attitudes toward open source licensing, conflicts with the GPL, concerns about technical innovation under the Way, fallout from the foundation's handling of specific projects in recent years — the ASF may soon find itself passed over by the kinds of projects that have helped make it such a central fixture in open source, thanks in some measure to the way the new wave of bootstrapped, decentralized projects on GitHub don't require a foundation-like atmosphere to keep them vibrant or relevant.' Meanwhile, Andrew C. Oliver offers a personal perspective on his work with Apache, why he left, and how the foundation can revamp itself in the coming years: 'I could never regret my time at Apache. I owe it my career to some degree. It isn't how I would choose to develop software again, because my interests and my role in the world have changed. That said, I think the long-term health of the organization requires it get back to its ideals, open up its private lists, and let sunshine disinfect the interests. My poorly articulated reasons for leaving a long time ago stemmed from my inability to effect that change.'" -- source: http://apache.slashdot.org/story/13/08/26/210200/has-the-apache-software-fo… 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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WLUG meeting tonight
by Peter Reutemann 26 Aug '13

26 Aug '13

Hi everyone There is a wlug meeting tonight: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/737/meeting With a committee meeting beforehand at 6.30pm: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/3080/committee-meeting 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 3.10 Will Bring New Map App
by Peter Reutemann 25 Aug '13

25 Aug '13

'Woohoo, our old friend Matthias Clasen, GNOME developer extraordinaire, has posted some new screenshots to show the new features coming in GNOME 3.10. He says, "we're already at the beta – I've just released 3.9.90, which is the first beta release. High time to show some of the nice new things that will come in GNOME 3.10."' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/gnome-3-10-will-bring-new-map-app 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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As Ubuntu Stumbles, Firefox OS Rolls On
by Peter Reutemann 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

"The Ubuntu Edge smartphone today failed by about $19 million to make its $30 million Indiegogo funding goals, and the roughly 20,000 investors will receive refunds. Earlier this week, the first Firefox OS phone available in the U.S. and U.K. -- the unlocked version of the low-end, 3.5-inch ZTE Open handset – sold out on eBay in three days." -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/734705 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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CoreOS: Building the Cloud from a Garage
by Peter Reutemann 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

"Wired posted an article yesterday profiling the creators of CoreOS, a minimal Linux server OS built from the combination of Docker and Google's ChromeOS. I have been complaining for a long time that server installs were too bloated, and even though the minimal installs have taken care of much of that, the CoreOS project looks like they strip it down even more. Alex Polvi and his team are building a new, open way to build a datacenter that should have other commercial datacenter vendors worried. " -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/coreos-building-the-cloud-from-a-garage 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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Install an Open Source Dropbox Alternative on Linux in 10 Steps
by Peter Reutemann 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

"Dropbox has made its mark as an integral productivity tool. Simple file sharing and syncing makes it easy to keep all your important documents and files on hand, wherever you are. If you're anything like me, you've hit the space limit of your free Dropbox account, and wondered if the Open Source world has any alternatives. Good news! Sparkleshare has you covered. Combined with a Bitbucket account and a little effort, you can have practically unlimited storage, for free!" -- source: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/734125-how-to-install-sparkleshare-you… 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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wlug meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 19 Aug '13

19 Aug '13

Hi everyone There is a wlug meeting coming up next week on Monday: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/737/meeting With a committee meeting beforehand: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/3080/committee-meeting 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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Canonical Is Shutting Down Ubuntu Friendly
by Peter Reutemann 16 Aug '13

16 Aug '13

"Canonical is going to finally shutdown Ubuntu Friendly, their community approach for users to share with other Ubuntu users how well their laptops/desktops work with the Linux distribution. " -- source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQzNzI 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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SUSE Study Shows Linux on the Rise in the Enteprise
by Peter Reutemann 15 Aug '13

15 Aug '13

"Most people who keep up with Linux know that it has been a giant success at the server level, and powers much of the server infrastucture of the Internet. In fact, many Internet and enterprise users don't even realize the extent to which they depend on Linux and related platform technology every day. In the enterprise itself, Linux is actually much more entrenched than some people would think. A new study on Linux in the enterprise from SUSE makes this abundantly clear, and shows that 83 percent of responding enterprises run Linux at the server level. " -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/suse-study-shows-linux-on-the-rise-in-the-enteprise 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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Elementary OS - Luna has been released
by Mark H. Jones 12 Aug '13

12 Aug '13

Yesterday afternoon saw the official release of Elementary OS - Luna. It is a lightweight distribution based on Ubuntu 12.04 using an adaptation of the Gnome 3 desktop environment that has been called "Pantheon". I have been using it since its release and have found it to be minimal, elegant and fast. For more information visit: http://elementaryos.org/ Mark On 12/08/13 12:00, wlug-request(a)list.waikato.ac.nz wrote: > Send wlug mailing list submissions to > wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > wlug-request(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > You can reach the person managing the list at > wlug-owner(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of wlug digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Ubuntu Edge might just change the computing world > (Peter Reutemann) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 11:15:10 +1200 > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)waikato.ac.nz> > To: wlug List <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > Subject: Re: [wlug] Ubuntu Edge might just change the computing world > Message-ID: > <CAHoQ12+++_kQDsyC8TyJATgn8mnDHGp2dQfrDzikpif1QP3trw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > >>> "Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and its parent company, >>> Canonical, is making a bet with the technology market. He's betting >>> that enough of you will be willing to invest in a smartphone that can >>> double as a PC, the Ubuntu Edge, to raise the $32 million needed to >>> manufacture it. You know what? I think he's going to win that bet." > "Bloomberg Pledges $80,000 Toward the Ubuntu Edge Phone" > http://ostatic.com/blog/bloomberg-pledges-80-000-toward-the-ubuntu-edge-pho… > > Cheers, Peter

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Ubuntu Edge might just change the computing world
by Peter Reutemann 11 Aug '13

11 Aug '13

"Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and its parent company, Canonical, is making a bet with the technology market. He's betting that enough of you will be willing to invest in a smartphone that can double as a PC, the Ubuntu Edge, to raise the $32 million needed to manufacture it. You know what? I think he's going to win that bet." -- source: http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-edge-might-just-change-the-computing-world-7000… 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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USD$9 arduino compatible board
by Rene Bartosh 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

If you thought the raspberry pi was bringing down the cost of open hardware for education/hacking, then take a look at this: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/9-arduino-compatible-starter-kit-anyone-c… I'll bring one in to demo as soon as mine arrives. Regards Rene

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First Laptop With Full-Sized Solar Panels Will Run On Ubuntu
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

"The Sol, a rugged-looking laptop with built-in foldable solar panels is designed for use in the military, education and developing countries where electricity is scarce. The Canada-based makers behind the Sol claim that the device can run directly off solar energy or can harness the sun's rays to charge the laptop's battery in under two hours. Once fully charged, the battery is expected to last between eight and 10 hours. While the concept of solar charging gadgets isn't new, this type of battery life is unprecedented. There's no word on when Sol will launch, but its headed to Ghana first, and it will run Ubuntu Linux." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/08/06/235236 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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Math Advance Suggest RSA Encryption Could Fall Within 5 Years
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

"The two encryption systems used to secure the most important connections and digital files could become useless within years, reports MIT Technology Review, due to progress towards solving the discrete logarithm problem. Both RSA and Diffie-Hellman encryption rely on there being no efficient algorithm for that problem, but French math professor Antoine Joux has published two papers in the last six months that suggest one could soon be found. Security researchers that noticed Joux's work recommend companies large and small begin planning to move to elliptic curve cryptography, something the NSA has said is best practice for years. Unfortunately, key patents for implementing elliptic curve cryptography are controlled by BlackBerry." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/08/06/2056239 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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XMir-Based Xubuntu Images Now Available
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

"Xubuntu, the Xfce-based flavor of Xubuntu, is presently evaluating the use of Canonical's Mir display server via the XMir X11 transition layer. For helping in the process and testing, the Ubuntu derivative has made public some Xubuntu XMir images. " -- source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQyOTQ 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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Review of Porteus distro on Distrowatch
by Ian Young 06 Aug '13

06 Aug '13

There is a generally favourable review of Porteus in this week's Distrowatch, should anyone who may be interested not have seen this already. I talked about this distro and its close relative Slax at a recent wlug meeting.

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GNOME 3.10 to be Offered for Wayland Beside X
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '13

06 Aug '13

"The GNOME project announced plans for supporting Wayland quite a while ago and progress has been reported incrementally for months. Wayland was supported in GNOME 3.95 for the particularly crafty, but starting with 3.10, binaries will be offered for Wayland right beside X. Matthias Clasen posted of this and other decisions made today at Guadec." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/gnome-3-10-to-be-offered-for-wayland-beside-x 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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PiCast Offers Chromecast Functionality for Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 05 Aug '13

05 Aug '13

'Much has been made about Google's $35 Chromecast dongle, which lets users stream their desktops and video to large screen TVs, but there is now a similar application for the Raspberry Pi that offers some of the same functionality: PiCast. Its developer has an informational page up here, where he notes: "I thought what do I have that I could use w/HDMI [licensing] and wouldn't be terribly hard to do? My Arduino? Nope BUT my Raspberry Pi can do it all, literally and [at the] same price as the Chromecast."' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/picast-offers-chromecast-functionality-for-raspberr… 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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Half of Tor Sites Compromised, Including TORMail
by Peter Reutemann 05 Aug '13

05 Aug '13

"The founder of Freedom Hosting has been arrested in Ireland and is awaiting extradition to USA. In a crackdown the FBI claims to be about hunting down pedophiles, half of the onion sites in the TOR network have been compromised, including the e-mail counterpart of TOR deep web, TORmail. The FBI has also embedded a 0-day Javascript attack against Firefox 17 on Freedom Hosting's server. It appears to install a tracking cookie and a payload that phones home to the FBI when the victim resumes non-TOR browsing. Interesting implications for The Silk Road and the value of Bitcoin stemming from this. The attack relies on two extremely unsafe practices when using TOR: Enabled Javascript, and using the same browser for TOR and non-TOR browsing. Any users accessing a Freedom Hosting hosted site since 8/2 with javascript enabled are potentially compromised." -- source: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/08/04/2054208/half-of-tor-sites-compromise… 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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Calligra and Krita Release 2.7
by Peter Reutemann 04 Aug '13

04 Aug '13

"KDE applications Calligra and Krita both made 2.7 release announcements in the last 24 hours. Calligra is actually 2.7.1 because a last minute bug crept in after tagging 2.7.0. Both demonstrate lots of exciting new features and improvements." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/calligra-and-krita-release-2-7 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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Firefox OS Phones Spread Out in Latin America
by Peter Reutemann 04 Aug '13

04 Aug '13

"Marking yet another milestone for Mozilla's Firefox OS mobile phone platform, devices based on it have arrived in Venezuela and Colombia, and Mozilla has just announced hat Firefox OS phones will arrive in Brazil in the fourth quarter of this year. When we covered Mozilla's mobile plans back in April, the company was targeting five countries to deliver the phones in: Venezuela, Poland, Brazil, Portugal and Spain. It's quickly becoming clear, though, that these phones will show up in many more markets." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/firefox-os-phones-spread-out-in-latin-america 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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With Microsoft Office on Android, Has Linus Torvalds Won?
by Peter Reutemann 01 Aug '13

01 Aug '13

"The father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, once said, 'If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won.' Microsoft yesterday released one of its cash cows, Microsoft Office, for Android. Since Microsoft has a very vague idea of what users want and is suffering from lock-in, the app is just an Android front end of Office 365 and is accessible only by the paid users. There are already quite a lot of office suites available on Android including Office Pro, QuickOffice and KingSoft, so Microsoft will have to struggle there. Still it's a Microsoft core application coming to Linux. So, it looks like Linus has won." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/08/01/1413252/with-microsoft-office-on-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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Report: Linux is Driving Innovation and Affordability in Supercomputing
by Peter Reutemann 01 Aug '13

01 Aug '13

"When most of us think about supercomputers, we think about closet-sized machines loaded with exotic and expensive technologies developed at great expense. However, if you actually look at the state of supercomputing, off-the-shelf components and open source platforms are playing an important role. In fact, The Linux Foundation has released an analysis paper on 20 years of data collected by the Top500.org supercomputer list. The Top500 list has ranked the world’s fastest supercomputers since 1993. The paper shows that Linux has become the dominant OS running on Top500 machines over the past decade." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/report-linux-is-driving-innovation-and-affordabilit… 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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Kiwi PyCon 2013 has made its way to Auckland!
by Tim Knapp 01 Aug '13

01 Aug '13

Kiwi PyCon is an annual conference aimed at promoting and educating people about the Python programming language. The event is going to be held at the Sir Paul Reeves Building at Auckland University of Technology, in the Wellesley Street campus on September 6-8. A particular target audience we’re trying to reach is entrepreneurs, developers, professionals, students in the IT & Technology sector who aren’t too familiar with Python. We’d like them to come along and see how Python is being used in various areas and therefore how they could make use of it. This year we're featuring 2 keynotes: Michael Foord, the father of mock and the testing libraries in Python, as well as Jessica McKellar, one of the people behind the largest Python User Group in the world, Boston Python, as well as a proponent of using Python to teach computer programming to beginner programmers. As with other years, there will also be an excellent line up of talks but this year we're also featuring for the first time some exciting new events, such as a full day of tutorials on the Friday prior to the conference, as well as a Recruitment Track, where companies seeking Python developers and people looking for Python-related work can meetup. For further information and to register, please go to http://nz.pycon.org. For media or conference enquiries please contact: Danny Adair, NZPUG President Phone: (09) 9555 101 Email: kiwipycon(a)nzpug.org

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A year of Linux desktop at Westcliff High School
by Peter Reutemann 31 Jul '13

31 Jul '13

"Around a year ago, a school in the southeast of England, Westcliff High School for Girls Academy (WHSG), began switching its student-facing computers to Linux, with KDE providing the desktop software. The school's Network Manager, Malcolm Moore, contacted us at the time. Now, a year on, he got in touch again to let us know how he and the students find life in a world without Windows." -- source: http://opensource.com/education/13/7/linux-westcliff-high-school 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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4 text editors for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 31 Jul '13

31 Jul '13

"This is a short list of my favorite graphical text editors for Linux that can be classified as IDE (integrated development environment). Here, I give the pros and cons of working with the following: - gedit - Geany - Sublime Text - jEdit" -- source: http://opensource.com/life/13/7/4-text-editors-linux I'm kinda missing vi/vim/gvim and emacs here. But maybe I'm getting old... ;-) http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_Vim_like_an_IDE http://emacs-ide.tuxfamily.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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Darling: Wine for OS X Applications
by Peter Reutemann 31 Jul '13

31 Jul '13

"The latest in the "interesting, but perhaps misguided" department, Darling is a project that aims to build a WINE-like environment for running OS X applications on Linux. As with many projects that deal with reverse engineering proprietary systems, Darling faces significant challenges. However, if Darling is successful, the Linux desktop would have access to some of the best desktop applications available. Darling is still in very early stages; if you believe in this vision, I'm sure there is a place for you to help in moving the project forward. " -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/darling-wine-for-os-x-applications 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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LibreOffice 4.1.0 is Here with New Goodies
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

'LibreOffice 4.1 arrived today right in its projected release window. This release brings several nice new features and probably the most mentioned in today's headlines was the AOO sidebar. Italo Vignoli said this release is a landmark in interoperability because it brings "compatibility with proprietary and legacy file formats to the next level."' -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/libreoffice-4-1-0-is-here-with-new-goodies 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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Hands on With the Ubuntu SDK Beta
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jul '13

25 Jul '13

"Ubuntu released the first beta of their integrated development environment for creating applications for desktop, mobile, and, presumably, television today. I downloaded the environment into a clean Ubuntu install in a VM to test it out, and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to get up and running. I ran through two tutorials, one I was able to complete successfully, and the other I was not. There are a few rough edges, and the release is certainly a beta, but it looks promising and gives a positive first impression." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/hands-on-with-the-ubuntu-sdk-beta 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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Major Security Breach at Ubuntu Forums
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jul '13

25 Jul '13

"There has been a major security breach on the Ubuntu Forums site, which is now being reported by mainstream media outlets. Instead of the usual flow of messages on Ubuntu Forums, a terse splash page has been posted with instructions for community participants. Here is what you should do if you are a community participant, and which sites are and are not affected." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/major-security-breach-at-ubuntu-forums 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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Linux Mint 15 KDE hands-on: A stumble on UEFI Boot
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '13

24 Jul '13

"Mint 15 KDE is released, and looks good as usual — but it doesn't install on my UEFI boot systems. So, what's new in this release? Check the What's New document for complete details, but here are a few of the highlights: - There is of course the updated Linux kernel, 3.8.0, and the latest KDE Software Collection 4.10, which together form the backbone of this system. - The new MDM (greeter/login manager) is included, which brings along HTML5 capability. - The new Mint Software Sources and Mint Software Manager utilities. - Finally, of course, lots of upstream packages have been updated — although I am disappointed to see that digiKam is still only 3.1.0 when a number of other distributions already have 3.2.0. I assume/hope/pray that this will be picked up in one of the early Mint updates." -- source: http://www.zdnet.com/linux-mint-15-kde-hands-on-a-stumble-on-uefi-boot-7000… 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 Rise of Linux In In-Vehicle Infotainment
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '13

24 Jul '13

"The 2014 Toyota Lexus IS reportedly will be the second major automobile to offer in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems based on Linux, following last year's introduction of the Debian-based Cadillac User Experience (CUE) IVI system, which now appears in Cadillac's XTS and SRX models. Cadillac's CUE IVI implementation was developed by GENIVI Alliance members MontaVista and Bosch and uses similar code, but is not listed as GENIVI compliant. Meanwhile, ABI Research projects that Linux will grow to 20 percent IVI market share by 2018, behind Microsoft and market leader QNX." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/07/24/2014203 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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Apache OpenOffice 4.0 Released With Major New Features
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jul '13

24 Jul '13

"Still the most popular open source office suite, Apache OpenOffice 4 has been released, with many new enhancements and a new sidebar, based on IBM Symphony's implementation but with many improvements. The code still has comments in German but as long as real new features keep coming and can be shared with other office suites no one is complaining." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/07/23/1643204 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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Samsung Ramps Up Linux Hiring, Development Efforts
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jul '13

22 Jul '13

"Samsung Electronics has dramatically ramped up their Linux hiring and development efforts in the past three years and they are still on track for hiring another 20,000 Linux and open-source developers." -- source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQxNjg 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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WLUG meeting tonight
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jul '13

21 Jul '13

Hi There is a WLUG meeting tonight: Rene will be talking about temperature logging using a Raspberry Pi (and Arduino). Meeting URL: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/735/meeting 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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PDF shuffler
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '13

16 Jul '13

Just came across a funky GUI tool for modifying PDFs (e.g., extracting, deleting, cropping, rotating pages): PDF shuffler Found it here (scroll down a bit): http://askubuntu.com/questions/221962/how-can-i-extract-a-page-range-a-part… You can install it on Ubuntu like this: sudo apt-get install pdfshuffler Project homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfshuffler/ 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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WLUG meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '13

16 Jul '13

Hi everyone There is a WLUG meeting next Monday. Rene will be talking about temperature logging using a Raspberry Pi (and Arduino). Meeting URL: http://www.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/735/meeting 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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X successor Wayland 1.2 arrives
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '13

16 Jul '13

"A stable programming interface for display servers and colour management support are two of the major new features in the now available versions 1.2 of Wayland and Weston. The developers say that the stable server API allows a Wayland 1.2 compositor such as Weston to work with more recent versions of Wayland; in their release email, they mention that having a stable API became necessary because external Wayland compositors are beginning to appear. The protocol for Wayland clients was declared stable in version 1.0." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1917457 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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Linux Mint 15 Xfce edition released with Whisker Menu
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '13

16 Jul '13

"The Linux Mint team has released the Xfce edition of Linux Mint 15, code-named "Olivia". The release includes the Whisker Menu as a replacement for Xfce's native application launcher. Whisker is inspired by KDE's Kickoff menu, but also takes design cues from the Mint menu application included in the Cinnamon edition of the distribution." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1917699 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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Maintenance of Apache web server 2.0 discontinued
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jul '13

16 Jul '13

"With the recent release of Apache web server version 2.0.65, the Apache project has discontinued the maintenance of the 2.0 version branch. The developers have urged users to migrate to current version series 2.2 or 2.4 editions as soon as possible; version 2.4 was released in February 2012." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1917444 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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Two weeks with Mir
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jul '13

14 Jul '13

"Mir has been running smoothly on my laptop for two weeks now. It’s an all-Intel Dell XPS, so the driver stack on Ubuntu is very clean, but I’m nonetheless surprised that the system feels *smoother* than it did pre-Mir. It might be coincidence, Saucy is changing pretty fast and new versions of X and Compiz have both landed while I’ve had Mir running. But watching top suggests that both Xorg and Compiz are using less memory and fewer CPU cycles under Mir than they were with X handling the hardware directly." -- source: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1269 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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Sphirewall, opensource advanced linux firewall/router being developed right here in NZ
by Michael Lawson 07 Jul '13

07 Jul '13

Hi Guys, This is a somewhat selfless plug, I am the lead developer and founder for a project called Sphirewall. Sphirewall is a firewall/router that has been developed from the give much more visibility and management capabilities. Its more focused on analytics and user based management, and offers heaps of features that aren't available in products like Pfsense, smoothwall and the likes. Ooh and its developed by a kiwi ;) I am trying to market the project and get more people involved, and are wondering if anyone would be interested in hearing more over a beer or two. You can see the project here, http://sphirewall.net/ and hear why it was created, http://blog.sphirewall.net/?p=145 Sound interesting? -- Michael Lawson

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LXDE previews Qt port of its desktop
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jul '13

04 Jul '13

"The LXDE developers are working on a Qt-based version of their desktop and have already ported significant parts of the components of LXDE to the user interface framework. While still in an experimental state, the developers could already show a functional desktop with the panel, PCManFM file manager and an image viewer in a working state. Most of the desktop's applets work with the ported panel as well." Used GTK+2 so far. -- source: http://h-online.com/-1911181 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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Boxee bought by Samsung
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jul '13

04 Jul '13

"Changing hands reportedly for the same amount of money that it raised in funding, Boxee, the company that forked XBMC, now belongs to Samsung, which is going to use the company's people to improve its Smart TV experience." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1911256 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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Fwd: Announcing the release of Fedora 19!
by Simon Green 03 Jul '13

03 Jul '13

Fedora 19 has been released over night our time. The original announcement is below. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Announcing the release of Fedora 19! Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2013 10:01:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Robyn Bergeron <rbergero(a)redhat.com> Reply-To: users(a)lists.fedoraproject.org To: announce(a)lists.fedoraproject.org, test-announce(a)lists.fedoraproject.org, devel-announce <devel-announce(a)lists.fedoraproject.org> The Fedora Project is delighted to announce the release of Fedora 19 ("Schrödinger's Cat"). Open the box and take a look for yourself! Fedora is a leading-edge, free and open source operating system that continues to deliver innovative features to many users, with a new release about every six months. Download it now: http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora Detailed information about this release can be seen in the release notes: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/19/html/Release_Notes/ ** What's New in Fedora 19? ** The Fedora Project takes great pride in being able to show off features for all types of use cases, including traditional desktop users, systems administration, development, the cloud, and many more. But a few new features are guaranteed to be seen by nearly anyone installing Fedora and are improvements that deserve to be called out on their own. A complete list with details of each new feature is available here: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/19/FeatureList == Make new things == Would you like to play? Whether you're a developer, maker, or just starting to learn about open source development, we have what you need to bring your ideas to reality. Here's a peek at some of our new tools: * Developer's Assistant is a tool for new developers that helps you to get started on a code project by offering templates, samples, and toolchains for a variety of languages. And when you're finished, you can publish directly to GitHub! * 3D modelling and printing are supported with OpenSCAD, Skeinforge, SFACT, Printrun, RepetierHost, and other tool options. Get printing without having to download binary blobs or run Python code from git. * OpenShift Origin makes it easy for you to build your own Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) infrastructure, allowing you to enable others to easily develop and deploy software. * node.js is a popular Javascript-based platform for those building scalable network applications or real-time apps across distributed devices. * Ruby 2.0.0 moves into Fedora but keeps source-level backwards compatibility with your Ruby 1.9.3 software. We're also giving you a custom Ruby loader to use to easily switch interpreters. * MariaDB offers a truly open MySQL implementation and is now the default MySQL option in Fedora. == Deploy, Monitor, and Manage == You don't have to work so hard when your machines are doing it for you. Regardless of how many you have, Fedora 19 helps you boot-manage your systems and gives you the tools you need for diagnosis, monitoring, and logging. * systemd Resource Control is one of many systemd enhancements in this release. It lets you modify your service settings without a reboot by dynamically querying and modifying resource control parameters at runtime. * Kerberos administrators no longer need their clients to sync their clocks or to have reverse DNS records carefully setup for services. Fedora 19 also includes Kerberos-enabled, LDAP replicated, two-factor authentication for FreeIPA. * Checkpoint & Restore lets you checkpoint and restore a process. It is useful for issues like process failure or moving a process to another machine for maintenance or load balancing. * OpenLMI is a common infrastructure for the management of Linux systems that makes remote management of machines much simpler. == Desktop Environments and Spins == GNOME 3.8 brings new applications such as clock and improvements to the desktop including privacy and sharing settings, ordered search, frequent applications overview, and additionally provides the ability to enable GNOME Classic ("classic mode") for a user experience similar to GNOME 2 built out of a collection of GNOME Shell extensions. Refer to https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.8/ for more details. KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.10: A modern, stable desktop environment, KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.10 includes new features for printing and screenlocking, better indexing of files, and improved accessibility features. Refer to http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.10/ for more details. MATE Desktop 1.6 introduces a large number of improvements to this traditional, GNOME 2-like desktop interface. Refer to http://mate-desktop.org/2013/04/02/mate-1-6-released/ for more details. == Spins == Spins are alternate versions of Fedora. In addition to various desktop environments for Fedora, spins are also available as tailored environments for various types of users via hand-picked application sets or customizations. Interest-specific Spins include the Design Suite Spin, the Robotics Spin, and the Security Spin, among others. Other available desktop environments, in addition to the GNOME 3.8 desktop which is shipped in the default version of Fedora 19, as well as those highlighted above, Xfce, Sugar on a Stick, and LXDE. To see all of the Official Fedora 19 Release Spins, visit: http://spins.fedoraproject.org Nightly composes of alternate Spins are available here: http://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/nightly-composes *** Downloads, upgrades, documentation, and common bugs *** Start by downloading Fedora 19: http://get.fedoraproject.org/ If you are upgrading from a previous release of Fedora, refer to: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Upgrading Fedora now includes FedUp in order to enable an easy upgrade to Fedora 19. *** Documentation *** Read the full release notes for Fedora 19, guides for several languages, and learn about known bugs and how to report new ones: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/ Because of the number of changes to the installer, we particularly suggest taking a peek at the Installation Guide: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/19/html/Installation_Guide/index… Fedora 19 common bugs are documented at: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F19_bugs This page includes information on several known bugs in the installer, so we recommend reading it before installing Fedora 19. *** Contributing *** We can't build Fedora inside a box. We need your help! Bug reports are especially helpful--if you encounter any issues, please report them! Fedora is a fantastic, friendly community, and we have many ways in which you can contribute, including documentation, marketing, design, QA, and development. To learn how to help us, visit: http://join.fedoraproject.org/ *** Fedora 20 *** Fedora 20 has been in active development for several months already. We plan to release it in November 2013, though the final schedule is part of the planning process and subject to change: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/20/Schedule *** Contact information *** If you are a journalist or reporter, you can find additional information here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Press Enjoy! -Robyn Bergeron -- announce mailing list announce(a)lists.fedoraproject.org https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/announce

2 1

A Hacker's Replacement for GMail
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jul '13

03 Jul '13

"I reluctantly switched to GMail about six months ago, after using many so-called “replacements for GMail” (the last of which was Fastmail). ... Over the past several months, I gradually put together a mail system that provides all the required features, as well as the three bonuses (encryption, easy programmatic access, and phone whitelisting). I’m describing it as a “Hacker’s Replacement for GMail” as opposed to just a “Replacement for GMail” because it involves a good deal of familiarity with Unix (or at least, to set up and debug the whole system it did. Perhaps following along is easier)." -- source: http://dbpmail.net/essays/2013-06-29-hackers-replacement-for-gmail.html Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

wlug meeting tomorrow
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jul '13

01 Jul '13

Hi there We have a WLUG meeting tomorrow night! We will be mainly working on the WLUG website (archived wiki, elgg upgrade, CiviCRM). To make this interesting to other members, work will be done on via projector. You might learn a thing or two. :-) When? Monday, June 24, 7.30pm Where? University of Waikato, MS4.G.02 http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map/?MS4 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

3 5

World's First Tizen Tablet
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jun '13

28 Jun '13

"Japanese firm Systena Corp. has announced what appears to be the world's first Tizen-based tablet, and the first Tizen product of any kind. The unnamed Systena Tizen tablet offers high-end features including a 1.4GHz, quad-core Cortex-A9 system-on-chip, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of flash, a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200-pixel display, 2-megapixel rear-facing and 0.3-megapixel front-facing cameras, and a microSD slot — specs that approach those of the most powerful Android tablets currently on the market. Japanese carrier and major Tizen backer NTT DoCoMo will sell the device, according to a report by TizenExperts. Last month at the Tizen Developers Conference, NTT DoCoMo and Orange promised Tizen smartphone launches in 2013, presumably using upcoming Samsung Tizen phones, but mentioned nothing about tablets." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/06/27/2225257 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Canonical To Ship Mir Display Server In Ubuntu 13.10
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jun '13

27 Jun '13

"Canonical has announced today that they intend to ship the Mir Display Server by default in Ubuntu 13.10, rather than Ubuntu 14.04 as originally planned. They moved ahead their Mir adoption since the code is materializing and they want Mir/XMir widely tested prior to the Ubuntu 14.04 Long-Term Support release. Mir in Ubuntu 13.10 will be using the XMir X11 compatibility layer to run the Unity 7 desktop and there will be fallback support for running an X.Org Server if the graphics drivers don't support Mir." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/06/27/1627241 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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Kubuntu plans to steer clear of Mir and switch to Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jun '13

27 Jun '13

"Kubuntu plans to avoid using Canonical's display server Mir and to instead continue using an X server for KDE on versions 13.10 and 14.04 LTS, after which the plan is to switch to Wayland, according to a blog post by Kubuntu developer Jonathan Riddell, formerly of Canonical." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1897942 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Knoppix 7.2 brings UEFI support
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jun '13

27 Jun '13

"The latest release of the live distribution introduces kernel improvements, the experimental ability to boot on UEFI systems and a new version of the A.D.R.I.A.N.E. system for visually impaired users." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1901955 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Better power management for Radeon driver in Linux
by Peter Reutemann 27 Jun '13

27 Jun '13

That might finally fix the overheating problems of my laptop... "An AMD developer has published a patch series that significantly improves support for the runtime power management features in the Linux kernel's Radeon driver. The patches also include support for new GPUs." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1897996 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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New KDE screen management tool ready for widespread use
by Peter Reutemann 25 Jun '13

25 Jun '13

"Blue Systems developer Àlex Fiestas has announced that the open source KScreen management tool has seen its first stable release. With version 1.0, the screen management utility is now considered by its developers to be ready for general use and planning for the features of KScreen 1.1 is already under way, according to Fiestas. KScreen is designed to bring next generation screen management to the KDE desktop." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1895373 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

PlayStation 4 Will Be Running Modified FreeBSD
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

"This discovery comes nicely alongside the celebration of FreeBSD's 20th birthday, for all the UNIX nerds. The operating system powering the PlayStation 4 is Orbis OS, which is a Sony spin of FreeBSD 9.0. It's not a huge surprise FreeBSD is being used over Linux, in part due to the more liberal licensing. The PlayStation 4 is x86-64 based now rather than Cell-based, which makes it easier to use FreeBSD. BSDs in general currently lack manufacturer supported full-feature AMD graphics driver, which leads to the conclusion that Sony and AMD have likely co-developed a discrete driver for the PS4. Some pictures of the development kit boot loader (GRUB) have been published too." -- source: http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/06/24/000250 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

wlug meeting tonight
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

Hi there We have a WLUG meeting tonight! We will be mainly working on the WLUG website (archived wiki, elgg upgrade, CiviCRM). To make this interesting to other members, work will be done on via projector. You might learn a thing or two. :-) When? tonight, 7.30pm Where? University of Waikato, MS4.G.02 http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map/?MS4 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

3 4

Call for Papers for linux.conf.au 2014 Perth Australia
by Paul Del 20 Jun '13

20 Jun '13

Hey Free Software, Open Source Community We would like to invite you and your members to submit a talk at linux.conf.au Australasia's premier Linux, Open Source & Free Software conference and the biggest. Thanking you Paul Del. LCA2014 Core Team To Free Software & Open Source & Linux community, We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers(proposals) for linux.conf.au2014 in Perth. Call for proposals closes: 6 July 2013 Do you have something to say about Free Software Passionate about Open Source? Linux on the forefront and frontier? Perhaps something else that you are passionate about in Free & Open Source? Got something to say? We are now asking interested people to submit proposals for talks. This year we are focusing on deep technical content, and the things that you think are going to really matter in our future. Check out our website for more information http://linux.conf.au/cfp Great Conference, Great Community. The linux.conf.au 2014 Team Email: papers-chair at lca2014.linux.org.au website: http://linux.conf.au twitter: https://twitter.com/linuxconfau Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lca2014 identi.ca: http://identi.ca/linuxconfau google+ https://plus.google.com/communities/100789999660988673438 Meetup http://www.meetup.com/linuxconfau

1 0

MySQL Man Pages Silently Relicensed Away From GPL
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jun '13

19 Jun '13

"The MariaDB blog is reporting a small change to the license covering the man pages to MySQL. Until recently, the governing license was GPLv2. Now the license reads, 'This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited.'" -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/06/18/2223247 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 1

WLUG meeting next week
by Peter Reutemann 19 Jun '13

19 Jun '13

Hi there Unfortunately, CiviCRM couldn't be persuaded to send out automated emails for registered events, hence a manual email again... We will be mainly working on the WLUG website (archived wiki, elgg upgrade, CiviCRM). To make this interesting to other members, work will be done on via projector. You might learn a thing or two. :-) When? Monday, June 24, 7.30pm Where? University of Waikato, MS4.G.02 http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map/?MS4 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

MediaGoblin 0.4.0 adds document support
by Peter Reutemann 18 Jun '13

18 Jun '13

Sounds like an interesting project... "MediaGoblin, the free software decentralised alternative to Flickr, YouTube, SoundCloud and other media sharing platforms, has been updated to version 0.4.0 and is now able to share documents. The new document support leverages Andreas Gal's pdf.js to display documents within the browser, surrounded by MediaGoblin's document metadata and controls and comment area. Servers with LibreOffice installed can also convert a wide variety of formats into displayable PDF content and offer readers both the original document and the PDF conversion for download." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1892116 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Red Hat says no MariaDB/MySQL decision made
by Peter Reutemann 18 Jun '13

18 Jun '13

'Red Hat has stated that no decisions have been made in a choice between MySQL and MariaDB as the "default database" in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (RHEL 7). In various media reports over the weekend, it was claimed that Red Hat had decided to "ditch MySQL" and move to MariaDB. The reports were based on a presentation at the Red Hat Summit last week where Senior Engineering Manager Radek Vokál, in charge of Developer Experience, said: "we are replacing MySQL with MariaDB" when discussing things the company is planning for RHEL 7. Vokál cited the ability to participate upstream with MariaDB's more open developers as a reason for the change and said: "MariaDB will be the main thing for us".' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1891543 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

crunchbang trayicon: cpu frequency
by Peter Reutemann 18 Jun '13

18 Jun '13

Hi crunchbangers One thing that I've been missing in crunchbang is an applet/trayicon for changing the cpu speed (why laptop likes to overheat when under load for longer periods of time, like compiling large projects). I came across trayfreq, a little GPLv3 licensed application that fills that gap: https://sourceforge.net/projects/trayfreq/ Just download it, untar it, compile it (see README). On my laptop trayfreq seemed to get automatically started when logging in. If that shouldn't happen, then follow these steps: In order to have trayfreq start with your desktop session, add it to Openbox's autostart: - main menu - Settings - Openbox - Edit autostart - append the following lines ## Run trayfreq /usr/local/bin/trayfreq & Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Debian 7.1 coughs up first Wheezy fixes
by Peter Reutemann 17 Jun '13

17 Jun '13

'The Debian project has released Debian 7.1, an update to May's release of the latest stable branch of the Linux distribution, Debian 7 "Wheezy". The update focuses mainly on security fixes, with coverage for 33 Debian Security Advisories and their associated corrections; users who regularly update from security.debian.org will already have received these fixes. There are also various "important corrections" for around 60 packages such as alsa-base, apt, cyrus-imapd, empathy, isc-dhcp, Keystone, LibreOffice, libvirt, openvpn, php5, readline, tzdata and xorg.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1890684 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Call for Papers for linux.conf.au 2014
by Paul Del 17 Jun '13

17 Jun '13

Hey To whom this may concern. A few of your members attend our annual linux.conf.au Linux & Free Open Source event. We would like to invite you and your members to submit a talk at linux.conf.au Also we would love for your group to attend linux.conf.au in Perth next year. Could you please drop this on your mailing list? Thanking you Paul Del LCA2014 Core Team Dear Linux & Free Open Source community, We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers(proposals) for linux.conf.au2014 at UWA Call for proposals closes: 6 July 2013 Do you have something to say about Free Software Passionate about Open Source? Linux on the forefront and frontier? Perhaps something else that you are passionate about in Free & Open Source? Got something to say? We are now asking interested people to submit proposals for talks. This year we are focusing on deep technical content, and the things that you think are going to really matter in our future. Check out our website for more information http://linux.conf.au/cfp Great Conference, Great Community. The linux.conf.au 2014 Team Email: papers-chair at lca2014.linux.org.au website: http://linux.conf.au twitter: https://twitter.com/linuxconfau Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lca2014 identi.ca: http://identi.ca/linuxconfau google+ https://plus.google.com/communities/100789999660988673438 Meetup http://www.meetup.com/linuxconfau

1 0

Linux migration proposal for Berlin rejected
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '13

16 Jun '13

'A petition to use more open source tools in the Berlin city administration that was proposed in the federal state parliament of the State of Berlin by the German Green Party has failed. The petition was rejected with the votes of the governing SPD/CDU coalition in the "digital administration" committee tasked with its evaluation. The Green Party's plan had included a migration to free and open source software on 25 per cent of the city administration's workstations and a comprehensive switch of all servers to Linux in a similar fashion to Munich's LiMux project.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1888130 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

32bit support of 64bit crunchbang
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jun '13

14 Jun '13

For the crunchbangers among you... Getting 32-bit support going on a 64-bit crunchbang is a bit more fiddly than on an Ubuntu install (ia32-libs is labeled as "broken"). The following post explains how to be able to install ia32-libs after all: http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=277918#p277918 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Debian Says Remove Unofficial Debian-Multimedia.org Repository From Your Sources
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jun '13

14 Jun '13

Debian warns on its blog: "The unofficial third party repository Debian Multimedia stopped using the domain debian-multimedia.org some months ago. The domain expired and it is now registered again by someone unknown to Debian. (If we're wrong on this point, please sent us an email so we can take over the domain! This means that the repository is no longer safe to use, and you should remove the related entries from your source.list file." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/06/14/0219213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

KDE Plasma Can Now Run On Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

"With the upcoming KDE 4.11, there's an initial Wayland backend through the KWin manager. The author notes on his blog: 'Once the system is fully started you can just use it. If everything works fine, you should not even notice any difference, though there are still limitations, like only the three mouse buttons of my touchpad are supported ;-)'" -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/06/12/1427239/kde-plasma-can-now-run-on-w… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

2 1

Raspberry Pi and Lego Mindstorms to be united by BrickPi
by Peter Reutemann 12 Jun '13

12 Jun '13

"The Raspberry Pi will be able to talk to Lego Mindstorms sensors and motors thanks to BrickPI and its closing-soon Kickstarter campaign. The open hardware and software designs are already available for makers to work with." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1887149 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

First Look At Ubuntu Touch, the Smartphone OS
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jun '13

11 Jun '13

"The first developer preview of Ubuntu Touch – aka 'Ubuntu for Phones and Tablets' – was unveiled just a few short months ago. And, just a few weeks back, it was announced that the team was shooting for having a fully functional (aka "can use it as your actual phone, on a daily basis") version by the end of May. May is now over, so Bryan Lunduke published some screenshots and analysis of the core features of the Ubuntu OS for smartphones and tablets." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/06/11/1455219/first-look-at-ubuntu-touch… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

gnome/mate panel with two monitors
by Mark H. Jones 10 Jun '13

10 Jun '13

Another way I have found to move panels between monitors is to disable the monitor on which the panel is displayed, thus forcing the panel to be displayed on the other (primary) monitor. After this you can re-enable the secondary monitor and the panel stays on the primary. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not but thought I should share. Regards, Mark

2 1

gnome/mate panel with two monitors
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '13

09 Jun '13

Hi there One thing that annoyed me in Gnome/Mate and multi-monitor setup was that I seemed to end up with the panels on the wrong monitor. I still had that issue with Linux Mint 14 and there didn't seem to be an obvious option in the monitor setup like "make this screen the primary one". However, today I came across a little tip of how you can move the panel between monitors manually: - uncheck the "expand" option in the panel's properties - grab one of the handles at the end and move the panel to the other screen - check "expand" again source: http://chrisjean.com/2009/11/03/move-gnome-panels-to-a-different-monitor-in… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Ubuntu Tweak ready for Ubuntu 13.04
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '13

09 Jun '13

"Version 0.8.5 fixes a number of bugs under Ubuntu 13.04. The developers recommend that users of the latest Ubuntu version should upgrade their version of Ubuntu Tweak as soon as possible." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1884492 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Calibre ebook manager converts DOCX documents
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '13

09 Jun '13

"The latest version, 0.9.34, of the open source cross-platform ebook manager Calibre can convert the DOCX format that is used in Microsoft Word. It also includes a new driver and an improved ebook viewer." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1884766 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

IPv6 and facebook.com, health.govt.nz
by Bruce Kingsbury 08 Jun '13

08 Jun '13

I'm using IPv6 through a SixXS tunnel and apart from two sites it works well. The two problem sites are as mentioned above, Facebook is just insanely slow for the first connection and I'm not sure why, health.govt.nzis completely unreachable for me because they filter icmpv6. I've discussed this with various people and I'm fairly confident that the problem is not at my end. So, any thoughts on how I might configure my system (debian 6) to prefer IPV4 for just those two sites but use ipv6 for everything else?

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NSA spies on you through Google, Facebook, Skype, and soon--Dropbox
by Bryan Baldwin 07 Jun '13

07 Jun '13

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data

1 0

Raspberry Pi gets new installation system
by Peter Reutemann 06 Jun '13

06 Jun '13

"To make the first-time experience with Raspberry Pi better, the foundation has helped create NOOBS to make it simple to get up and running with a selection of Linux distributions and to easily restore a system." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1883638 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0