- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

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

1 0

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

1 0

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?

4 4

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

One Week With GNOME 3 Classic
by Peter Reutemann 06 Jun '13

06 Jun '13

"Stephen Gallagher, Security Software Engineer at Red Hat has completed his week long experiment running GNOME 3 Classic. Stephen writes: 'While I was never as much in love with GNOME 2 as I was with KDE 3, I found it to be a good fit for my workflow. It was clean and largely uncluttered and generally got out of my way. Now that Fedora 19 is in beta and GNOME Classic mode is basically ready, I decided that it was my duty to the open-source community to explore this new variant, give it a complete investigation and document my experiences each day.' I'll leave Stephen's opinion on the new Classic Mode to the Slashdot reader to discover, but I will say that it does touch on the much debated GNOME Shell Activities Overview, and the gnome-2-like Classic mode's Windows List on the taskbar." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/06/06/2011227/one-week-with-gnome-3-class… 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

Arch Linux developers warn of update problems
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jun '13

05 Jun '13

"The Arch Linux developers are warning users that their next update will require manual intervention to prevent system breakage. Arch is moving some directories into the /usr directory in a trend begun by the Fedora developers." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1882975 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

Changes to Radio NZ website
by Michael McDonald 01 Jun '13

01 Jun '13

Readers may be interested in reading this account of the latest changes to Radio NZ website. http://richardhulse.blogspot.co.nz/ Michael

1 0

PC request fulfilled
by Ian Young 31 May '13

31 May '13

No more calls please, we have a lender. Ian Stewart has kindly offered a box on loan.

1 0

Linux Mint 15 'Olivia' Is Out
by Peter Reutemann 30 May '13

30 May '13

"The Linux Mint blog today announced the full release of Linux Mint 15 'Olivia.' Here are the release notes and a list of new features. As before, it's available with either MATE or Cinnamon as a desktop environment. The included version of MATE has been upgrade to 1.6, which saw many old and deprecated packages replaced with newer technologies. Cinnamon has gone to 1.8, which improved the file manager, added support for 'desklets' (essentially desktop widgets), and completed the transition away from Gnome Control Center to Cinnamon's own settings panel. Other new features of Linux Mint 15 include improved login screen applications (one of which is an HTML greeter that supports HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and WebGL), a tool developed from the ground up to manage software sources in Mint, and a vastly improved driver manager. The project's website sums it up simply: 'Linux Mint 15 is the most ambitious release since the start of the project.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/05/29/1749205/linux-mint-15-olivia-is-out 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

loaner PC please
by Ian Young 30 May '13

30 May '13

Hello all, Just wondering whether anybody has to hand a going PC with IDE and SATA I could borrow for a relative's use for a week or so? He is computer savvy and equipped with live CDs for the mission which involves checking and blanking sundry hard drives. Alas, I appear to have gone into a kind of computer Bermuda Triangle where machines that were working when last run mysteriously pass away, and the couple I had meeting requirements appear to have become scrap metal. Anybody? Or perhaps alternatively a working motherboard w/cpu no longer required. ~ Ian Y

2 1

Drupal.org User Accounts Compromised
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '13

29 May '13

"The Drupal.org team released a bulletin this evening notifying users of a breach in their infrastructure. From the bulletin: 'The Drupal.org Security Team and Infrastructure Team has discovered unauthorized access to account information on Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org. This access was accomplished via third-party software installed on the Drupal.org server infrastructure, and was not the result of a vulnerability within Drupal itself. This notice applies specifically to user account data stored on Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org, and not to sites running Drupal generally. Information exposed includes usernames, email addresses, and country information, as well as hashed passwords... All Drupal.org passwords are both hashed and salted, although some older passwords on some subsites were not salted.' Users are encouraged to update their Drupal.org passwords and the passwords of any accounts that could be linked via the compromised information." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/05/29/2237230/drupalorg-user-accounts-compr… 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

Live Linux distribution shows off Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '13

29 May '13

"A Linux distribution that uses Wayland's reference compositor Weston as the default for handling its graphical user interface has been released by a developer who is only known by his screen name, "nerdopolis". Icons in the top menu bar allow users to start a terminal and Qt 5's demo browser, both of which run as native Wayland software components. Other icons start programs that are designed for X11 and use XWayland to run under the Wayland compositor; among these applications is KDE's Kicker start menu, which can be launched via the icon at the left side of the top bar." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1872444 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

presentation on crunchbang
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '13

29 May '13

Hi there In case anybody is interested... I've uploaded Monday night's presentation on CrunchBang to our elgg site: http://elgg.wlug.org.nz/file/view/2725/presentation-on-crunchbang-linux-270… 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

LibreOffice 4.1.0 Beta 1 arrives with over a thousand changes
by Peter Reutemann 29 May '13

29 May '13

"The first beta of LibreOffice 4.1.0 includes over 1000 improvements and bug fixes, including security improvements from Coverity's scan of the code base. The release also includes the new Sidebar UI in an experimental state." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1872242 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

Foxconn reportedly building a Firefox OS smartphone
by Peter Reutemann 28 May '13

28 May '13

"Foxconn and Mozilla are planning a media event at which they will announce the new partnership around the Firefox OS mobile operating system. Devices are expected to be announced at the event, including, possibly, a tablet." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1871994 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

Vastly Improved Raspberry Pi Performance With Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 28 May '13

28 May '13

"While Wayland/Weston 1.1 brought support to the Raspberry Pi merely a month ago, work has recently been done to bring true hardware-accelerated compositing capabilities to the RPi's graphics stack using Weston. The Raspberry Pi foundation has made an announcement about the work that has been done with Collabora to make this happen. X.org/Wayland developer Daniel Stone has written a blog post about this, including a video demonstrating the improved reactivity and performance. Developer Pekka Paalanen also provided additional technical details about the implementation." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/05/27/227242 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

meeting tonight
by Peter Reutemann 28 May '13

28 May '13

Hi there There is a wlug meeting tonight, with the following topics: - CrunchBang 11 - what's this: Peter Reutemann - Ubuntu 13.04 - what's new: Ian Stewart - Discussion: re-design of wlug.org.nz website http://elgg.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/733/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

5 4

Tizen with GNOME 3 shell shown by Intel
by Peter Reutemann 26 May '13

26 May '13

"Tizen, the mobile operating system that has yet to see a device launched with it, is already widening its reach to laptops. Tizen, a Linux Foundation project with Intel and Samsung collaborating on development, is due to appear on smartphones in the latter part of the year with Tizen 2.1, which uses a Linux base layer with a user interface built using Enlightenment libraries to run HTML5-based apps. At the Tizen Developers Conference held this week though, Intel showed an early version of what will become part of Tizen 3.0 later in the year. Tizen Experts recorded a video of the Intel Tizen variant running on an i7 Ultrabook." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1868948 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

Network Engineering Q&A Site Launched
by Peter Reutemann 26 May '13

26 May '13

"Stack Exchange launched a new site for network engineers. It's in question and answer style, content is tagged for filtering and subscribing to topics. A voting system supports quality of posts, leading to so called reputation scores which determine moderation capabilities of the users. It's now 18 days in beta, at this early stage users decide which way it will go, from quality and kind of contributions up to the future design of the site. People there discuss mainly professional subjects such as the best dual-provider design for the enterprise, when to choose fiber instead of copper cabling, and efficient ways for troubleshooting switching loops." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/26/1243208 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

Fedora Raspberry Pi remix reborn as Pidora
by Peter Reutemann 23 May '13

23 May '13

"Seneca College has released Pidora 18, its Fedora remix optimised for the Raspberry Pi mini-computer. It features a special headless mode that makes it easy to install the distribution over the network." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1867999 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

LinuxTag: LiMux firmly established in Munich
by Peter Reutemann 23 May '13

23 May '13

'Peter Hofmann, the leader of Munich's Linux migration project, has denied rumours that the LiMux client will be "decommissioned" when the initiative runs out at the end of the year. "The City of Munich has no intention to switch", he said at the LinuxTag conference in Berlin on Wednesday. The basic instruction given by Munich's City Council in 2003 was to create more independence and autonomy for Munich's IT, said Hofmann. This task won't be completed when the project runs out in October, he explained, adding that further adjustments will be needed in the specialised application and server areas.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1867920 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

Skype for Linux 4.2 brings interface improvements
by Peter Reutemann 22 May '13

22 May '13

"Microsoft's Skype division has released a new version of its proprietary voice, video and text messaging client for Linux that includes user interface improvements and fixes a number of bugs including a crashing problem when using the call window." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1867112 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

Arduino launches Wi-Fi board and ready-to-roll robotics platform
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '13

21 May '13

"Arduino has launched a new family of development boards and its first full robotics platform. The Arduino Yún is a Wi-Fi enabled board running Linux and the Arduino Robot is the company's first robotics platform that is fully functional out of the box." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1866147 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

Tails 0.18 can install packages on the fly
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '13

21 May '13

"The latest version of the live Debian Linux distribution for anonymity and privacy especially in repressive environments is now available with on the fly package updating and support for the latest obfuscation bridges." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1866479 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

Development plans for Ubuntu 13.10
by Peter Reutemann 21 May '13

21 May '13

"Among the topics discussed by the developers at Ubuntu Developer Summit 13.05 were the planned new features for Ubuntu 13.10. The next version of the distribution, code-named "Saucy Salamander", could include early versions of Ubuntu's Mir display server and have the Qt-based Unity Next desktop environment for testing. However, the default configuration will continue to include the graphics stack of Ubuntu 12.10 with X11, Compiz and Unity 7. By 2014, Canonical plans to unify the code base for Ubuntu's smartphone, tablet and PC desktops, based on Mir and Unity Next." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1866071 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

Jolla Announces First Meego Phone Available By End 2013
by Peter Reutemann 20 May '13

20 May '13

"Jolla, the Finnish company that continued Nokia's work on the MeeGo mobile platform, announced details of its first smartphone on Monday. Availability for the Jolla device is expected by year end and can be pre-ordered now; the phone will be priced at no more than €399 (US $512.26). The Jolla hardware looks similar to that of Nokia's Lumia, with a clean, button-less front face that houses the 4.5-inch touchcscreen. The phone will use a dual-core processor and support 4G LTE in some regions. Internal storage tops out at 16 GB, but can be expanded via microSD card. The phone also includes an 8 megapixel rear camera with auto focus. The phone is also 'Android app compliant' which, in a move similar to that of BlackBerry, can help with available apps at launch." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/05/20/1345232/jolla-announces-first-meeg… 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

upcoming meeting
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '13

19 May '13

Hi there The next wlug meeting is next week on Monday, with the following topics: - CrunchBang 11 - what's this: Peter Reutemann - Ubuntu 13.04 - what's new: Ian Stewart - Discussion: re-design of wlug.org.nz website http://elgg.wlug.org.nz/event_calendar/view/733/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

1 0

NetBSD 6.1 Has Shipped
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '13

19 May '13

"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. NetBSD is a free, fast, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source operating system. It is available for a wide range of platforms, from large-scale servers and powerful desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent for use in both production and research environments, and the source code is freely available under a business-friendly license. NetBSD is developed and supported by a large and vibrant international community. Many applications are readily available through pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection." -- source: http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/13/05/19/054239/netbsd-61-has-shipped 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

Linux Mint 15 "Olivia" gets release candidate
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '13

19 May '13

'The Linux Mint developers have announced a release candidate for Linux Mint 15. The "most ambitious release since the start of the project" includes a custom control centre application, a new screensaver tool and a number of other features.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1864900 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

Exploit for local Linux kernel bug in circulation - Update
by Peter Reutemann 19 May '13

19 May '13

"Back in April, the Linux kernel developers fixed an incorrectly declared pointer in the Linux kernel. However, it appears that they overlooked the potential security implications of such a bug – particularly the fact that it is possible to gain access to almost any memory area using a suitable event_id. The developers only got into gear and declared the bug as an official security hole (CVE-2013-2094) after an exploit was released that proves that normal, logged-in users can gain root access this way. " -- source: http://h-online.com/-1863892 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 Developers Revisit Replacing Firefox With Chromium
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '13

16 May '13

"Expressed shortcomings of switching to Google's Chromium open-source web-browser is that data migration from Firefox isn't too obvious, extensions don't migrate between browsers, Chromium isn't supported on all architectures (e.g. PowerPC), the browser doesn't work with the Orca screen reader and doesn't integrate well for accessibility reasons, there is no native PDF plug-in, and Chromium is said to have worse performance under memory pressure. There were also some concerns expressed about differences with WebApps in Chromium. ... It looks like the switch to Chromium will happen in the name of a better user experience for the desktop with Chrome/Chromium now arguably surpassing Firefox in its features and performance while pushing Chromium as the default leads to a more consistent experience across Ubuntu form factors from phones/tablets to the desktop." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/16/2037212 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

Raspberry Pi camera module now available
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '13

16 May '13

"After being in development since late last year, the Raspberry Pi camera module is available to purchase and the software to support it is now built into Raspbian." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1863706 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 4

50 million Apache OpenOffice downloads in a year
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '13

16 May '13

"Just a few days after the one year anniversary of the release of the first version of OpenOffice from the Apache Foundation (Apache OpenOffice 3.4) on 8 May 2012, the project can now boast 50 million downloads of the open source office suite. More than 80% of these downloads have come from Windows users, with the rest of the downloads spread between Mac OS X and Linux. Over time, the percentage of Windows users has slightly increased at the expense of Mac OS X, with Linux usage hovering steady under 5%." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1864812 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 2

Crunchbang mirror
by Ian Young 16 May '13

16 May '13

Anybody know of a mirror for Crunchbang? They used to list one but it's all torrents now. From time to time various kindly people have offered mirrors, but the surviving ones I've found lately are no longer current.

2 1

Unity 8, Mir To Be Experimental Choice In Ubuntu 13.10
by Peter Reutemann 16 May '13

16 May '13

"For those Linux enthusiasts wishing to toy with the Mir Display Server and Canonical's next-generation Unity 8 interface, they will be made optionally available for desktop users with the Ubuntu 13.10 release due out in October." -- source: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTM3MzY 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

New Yorker opens Strongbox - a Tor-based anonymous drop site
by Peter Reutemann 15 May '13

15 May '13

"The magazine's anonymous drop site is based on DeadDrop, developed by the late Aaron Swartz. Anonymity is in part ensured by only accepting connections via the Tor project's network. ... The project is available to fork fromGitHub. Although the project was designed to make secure dead-drop systems available to all, at this point the developers do say that expertise is needed to safely deploy it and the actual code still needs more work. With the first implementation now running at the New Yorker, the software will see practical use and hopefully fulfil its design goals." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1863768 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 to stop Brainstorm
by Peter Reutemann 14 May '13

14 May '13

'The collaborative ideas site is to finally close, having been left behind by changes to how Canonical design the Ubuntu operating system. Meanwhile, the company is to return the "Community" button to the top of its pages.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1862298 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 plans dogfood-capable phones by the end of May
by Peter Reutemann 12 May '13

12 May '13

"Canonical's developers are going to dogfood the Ubuntu phone just as soon as some important features get added to the current installable images. Ubuntu VP Rick Spencer is setting out to get that done by the end of May." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1859877 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

LinuxDevices.com Vanishes From the Web
by Peter Reutemann 10 May '13

10 May '13

"Embedded Linux pioneer LinuxDevices.com departed from the web earlier this week. The site became a collateral casualty of the aquisition of eWEEK by Quinstreet in February 2012, as part of a bundle of Ziff Davis Enterprise assets. Quinstreet immediately fired all the LinuxDevices staffers and ceased maintaining the site. A few days ago, the site's plug was finally pulled and it is now gone from the Web, save for a few pages on the WayBack Machine. For more than a decade, LinuxDevices played a pivotal role in serving and fostering an emerging embedded Linux ecosystem, and it was well respected by the embedded Linux community at the time it was acquired by QuinStreet. Unfortunately, the site did not mesh well with QuinStreet's B2B market focus. Fortunately, its spirit remains alive and well at LinuxGizmos.com, a site recently launched by LinuxDevices founder Rick Lehrbaum." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/05/09/2243250/linuxdevicescom-vanishe… 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 - Debian + Openbox
by Peter Reutemann 09 May '13

09 May '13

"CrunchBang is a Debian GNU/Linux based distribution offering a great blend of speed, style and substance. Using the nimble Openbox window manager, it is highly customisable and provides a modern, full-featured GNU/Linux system without sacrificing performance. The primary aim of the CrunchBang project is to produce a stable distribution offering the best possible out-of-the-box Openbox experience. To achieve this goal, CrunchBang pulls many base packages directly from Debian's repositories, which are well-known for providing stable and secure software. Packages from CrunchBang's own repositories are then customised and pinned to the system to produce what is known as the CrunchBang distro." -- source: http://crunchbang.org/about 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 Developing Its Own Package Format, Installer
by Peter Reutemann 08 May '13

08 May '13

"While complementing Debian APT/DPKG, Canonical is now developing their own package format. The new package format has promised highlights of having no dependencies between applications, each package would install to its own directory, root support wouldn't always be required, and overall a more self-contained and easier approach for developers than it stands now for Debian/Ubuntu packages. The primary users of the new packaging system would be those distributing applications built on the Ubuntu Touch/Phone SDK. The initial proof-of-concept package management system is written in Python and uses JSON representation." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/08/2038243/ubuntu-developing-its-own-p… 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

Linux still "benchmark of quality" in this year's Coverity Scan
by Peter Reutemann 07 May '13

07 May '13

"While Linux stands out for its repeated performance as a quality code base, Coverity's defect scanning finds what may be an interesting pattern in mapping how projects grow and how that affects the flaw factor of the code." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1858366 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

Certificate bug in open source IPsec VPN
by Peter Reutemann 06 May '13

06 May '13

"The strongSwan open source IPsec VPN software potentially accepts invalid digital signatures and certificates for IPsec connections. The developers report that the issue affects versions 4.3.5 up to 5.0.3 – but only if the OpenSSL crypto backend is enabled using --enable-openssl; the default crypto libraries are not vulnerable." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1855695 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

Cinnamon 1.8 adds desklet support
by Peter Reutemann 06 May '13

06 May '13

'The now available Cinnamon 1.8 no longer relies on the GNOME Control Center and supports "desklets", which are similar to Android widgets. The developers say that the Nemo file manager now better integrates into the desktop environment .' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1857166 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

Care needed when combining Exim and Dovecot
by Peter Reutemann 06 May '13

06 May '13

"A commonly used method of coupling the Exim and Dovecot mail server programs results in a serious security issue. The cause is an officially recommended, but problematic configuration." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1856664 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

On the Heels of Wheezy, Aptosid Releases 2013-01
by Peter Reutemann 06 May '13

06 May '13

"Right on the heels of Debian's 7.0 ('Wheezy') release, the Aptosid team is proud to announce the immediate availability of the 2013-01 release. Aptosid is a rolling release built on top of Debian's most modern branch Sid, providing the most up-to-date kernel available with patches and stabilization not yet seen in mainline, along with many patched Debian packages, all while maintaining 100% compatibility with upstream Debian (unlike other distros based on Debian). If you think Debian Stable is too old to be useful, give Atposid a spin!" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/05/06/0111241/on-the-heels-of-wheezy-apt… 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

"Portal" Now Available On Linux
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '13

05 May '13

"Valve have released Portal for Linux through the Steam platform. If you have a copy of the Windows version you will automatically have a copy of it for Linux in your account. There are also rumors of Portal 2 coming soon." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/05/05/1840224/portal-now-available-on-li… 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 "Wheezy" released
by Peter Reutemann 05 May '13

05 May '13

"Up front, the new release brings a GNOME 3 front end to the community-driven Linux distribution, but the big changes are behind the scenes with multiple architecture support and cloud-enabling packages." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1856723 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

The IPython Notebook
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '13

02 May '13

"The IPython Notebook is a web-based interactive computational environment where you can combine code execution, text, mathematics, plots and rich media into a single document. These notebooks are normal files that can be shared with colleagues, converted to other formats such as HTML or PDF, etc. You can share any publicly available notebook by using the IPython Notebook Viewer service which will render it as a static web page. This makes it easy to give your colleagues a document they can read immediately without having to install anything." -- source: http://ipython.org/notebook.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

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '13

02 May '13

"This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu 13.04 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge." -- source: http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-13.04-raring-ringtail 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

Android and Linux Nanosats Shine Bright in Open Source Space Race
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '13

02 May '13

'Three Android-powered NASA "PhoneSat" nanosatellites deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere on April 27 after successfully completing their six-day mission. Meanwhile, the Android- and Linux-powered STRaND-1 nanosat, which was launched by the U.K.'s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and Surrey Space Centre on Feb. 25, is still orbiting, but has yet to phone home.' -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/embedded-mobile/mobile-linux/716910-android-and-l… 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

AMD's Open Source Linux Driver Trounces NVIDIA's
by Peter Reutemann 02 May '13

02 May '13

"In a 15-way graphics card comparison on Linux of both the open and closed-source drivers, it was found that the open-source AMD Linux graphics driver is much faster than the open-source NVIDIA driver on Ubuntu 13.04. The open-source NVIDIA driver is developed entirely by the community via reverse-engineering, but for Linux desktop users, is this enough? The big issue for the open-source 'Nouveau' driver is that it doesn't yet fully support re-clocking the graphics processor so that the hardware can actually run at its rated speeds. With the closed-source AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce results, the drivers were substantially faster than their respective open-source driver. Between NVIDIA and AMD on Linux, the NVIDIA closed-source driver was generally doing better than AMD Catalyst." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/02/1421258/amds-open-source-linux-driv… 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

Lightworks for Linux now in open beta
by Peter Reutemann 01 May '13

01 May '13

"EditShare has opened the beta programme for the Linux version of its Lightworks editor for public testing. Lightworks is one of the oldest video editing packages still being developed, its initial release dating back to 1989." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1854081 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

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

1 0

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

2 1

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

4 3

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

1 0

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

5 5

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

1 0

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?

1 0

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

2 1

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

2 1

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

4 4

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

2 1

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

1 0

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

1 0

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

1 0

GTK+ 3.8 brings Wayland support
by Peter Reutemann 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

"The latest version of the open source widget toolkit adds support for Wayland 1.0, support for touch interfaces, and better text rendering and theming." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1831722 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

Enlightenment Terminal Allows Video Playback, PDF Viewing
by Peter Reutemann 27 Mar '13

27 Mar '13

"The E17 Enlightenment project has released a new version of its Terminology terminal emulator. With Terminology 0.3 comes several fancy features, including the ability to preview video files, images, and PDF files from within the terminal. There's new escape sequences, inline video playback, and other features to this terminal emulator that's only built on EFL and libc." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03/27/1217241 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

Spanish Open Source Group Files Complaint Over Microsoft Use of UEFI Secure Boot
by Peter Reutemann 26 Mar '13

26 Mar '13

"Hispalinux, which represents Spanish Open Source developers and users, has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission. 14 pages of grief cited Windows 8 as an 'obstruction mechanism' calling UEFI Secure Boot a 'de facto technological jail for computer booting systems... making Microsoft's Windows platform less neutral than ever.' On March 6 of 2012 the Commission fined Microsoft 561 million Euros for failing to offer users a choice of web browser, and there was also a 2004 ruling which found the company had abused its market position by tying Windows Media Player to Windows itself. Relations appear to remain more tense towards Windows in Europe, so there may be some hope of making UEFI more Linux-friendly. UEFI has been implicated in the death of Samsung laptops running Linux." -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/03/26/2226246/spanish-open-source-gro… 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

DOS Emulation Arrives For the Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 26 Mar '13

26 Mar '13

"Homebrew Coder Pate has released a DOS Emulator for the Raspberry Pi. Originally released for the Nintendo DS and Android, the emulator currently can emulate a CPU: 80486 processor, including the protected mode features (for running DOS4GW games) but without virtual memory support. The emulation runs at a speed around that of a 20MHz 80486 (which equals a 40MHz 80386) machine. It has support for Super VGA graphics, Soundblaster 2.0, Memory, USB keyboard and mouse. Perfect for playing old classics such as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D and Theme Park." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/03/26/1256210/dos-emulation-arrives-for-t… 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

Fwd: Google Alert - linux
by Michael McDonald 26 Mar '13

26 Mar '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Google Alerts <googlealerts-noreply(a)google.com> Date: 27 March 2013 07:52 Subject: Google Alert - linux To: mikencolleen(a)gmail.com Live Twitter Q&A Thursday with Adapteva CEO on the $99 Linux Supercomputer Linux.com (blog) Back in October Adapteva wrapped up a successful Kickstarter campaign to build a Raspberry Pi-inspired $99 Linux supercomputer. Next month the company expects the first Parallela boards to be in production -- just in time to show off at The Linux ... <http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/200-libby-clark/711034-live-twitte…>

1 0

Media Centre Linux OpenELEC now on Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

"The recently released version 3.0 of OpenELEC, the minimalist media centre Linux distribution, supports more hardware. Based on XBMC 12.1, it now includes images for the Raspberry Pi and Arctic MC001 computers" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1829751 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

Weak keys in NetBSD
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

"An incorrect bracket in the program code of NetBSD causes systems to generate weak cryptographic keys. OpenSSH server keys are particularly affected" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1829336 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

Orion launches bid to boost NZ ICT talent
by Rene Bartosh 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

They are sponsoring raspberry pi's for 'S schools. http://nzh.tw/10872863 Regards Rene

1 0

ANNOUNCE: WLUG meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder Bot 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

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

2 1

Too Perfect a Mirror
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

"Jeff Mitchell writes on his blog about what almost became 'The Great KDE Disaster Of 2013.' It all started as simple update of the root git server and ended up with a corrupt git repository automatically mirrored to every mirror and deleting every copy of most KDE repositories. It ends by discussing what the problem is with git --mirror and how you can avoid similar problems in the future." -- source: http://it.slashdot.org/story/13/03/24/1252237/too-perfect-a-mirror 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

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

25 Mar '13

"On day two of the 2013 Embedded Linux Conference, Robert Rose of SpaceX spoke about the "Lessons Learned Developing Software for Space Vehicles". In his talk, he discussed how SpaceX develops its Linux-based software for a wide variety of tasks needed to put spacecraft into orbit—and eventually beyond. Linux runs everywhere at SpaceX, he said, on everything from desktops to spacecraft." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/03/24/2050221 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Kivy - Open source Python library for development of UI apps
by Peter Reutemann 25 Mar '13

25 Mar '13

I know, not strictly speaking Linux, but interesting nonetheless... "Kivy - Open source Python library for rapid development of applications that make use of innovative user interfaces, such as multi-touch apps. Kivy is running on Linux, Windows, MacOSX, Android and IOS. You can run the same code on all supported platforms. It can use natively most inputs protocols and devices like WM_Touch, WM_Pen, Mac OS X Trackpad and Magic Mouse, Mtdev, Linux Kernel HID, TUIO. A multi-touch mouse simulator is included." Release under LGPL3 -- source: http://kivy.org/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

GCC 4.8 completes migration to C++
by Peter Reutemann 24 Mar '13

24 Mar '13

"The GCC developers have, after years of planning, completed the switch to C++ as the implementation language for their software. The new version of GCC also includes performance improvements and a new general optimisation level." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1824539 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Hardware up for grabs
by Daniel Lawson 23 Mar '13

23 Mar '13

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

1 1

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

22 Mar '13

"Canonical, the software company that manages and funds Ubuntu, announced that the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will base their national reference architecture for standard operating systems on Ubuntu, and they will call it Kylin. Arguably China is the largest desktop market and the announcement has important implications. Shuttleworth says, 'The release of Ubuntu Kylin brings the Chinese open source community into the global Ubuntu community.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/03/21/2235251/canonical-and-china-announ… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Debian 7.0 for Easter?
by Peter Reutemann 21 Mar '13

21 Mar '13

"The Debian developers are preparing for the release of Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" and have shortened the list of Release Critical Bugs to less than one hundred, of which the majority will most likely be ignored or corresponding packages will be dropped" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1827628 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 21 Mar '13

21 Mar '13

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

1 0

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

20 Mar '13

"OX App Suite is to expand with OX Text, a collaborative document editor which works with DOCX and ODT documents natively on the web and intelligently avoids damaging complex document content it isn't able to edit" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1826451 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Ubuntu to halve support length for non-LTS releases
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

"The Ubuntu Technical Board has decided to half the support time for non-LTS releases to nine months and enable users to more easier track the development of the distribution without switching to a rolling release model" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1825716 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

KDE sets its sights on Wayland
by Peter Reutemann 19 Mar '13

19 Mar '13

"After the GNOME project's decision, the KDE developers seem to also have decided to renew efforts to get their desktop environment ported to the Wayland display manager. This leaves Canonical as the only backer of Mir as an X replacement." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1825273 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 0

Major Bug In The Bitcoin Software Tests The Community And The Exchange Rate
by mailinglist 18 Mar '13

18 Mar '13

Bitcoin went into crisis mode early this morning. This time, the threat wasn't from hackers tampering with poorly secured virtual wallets. It was Bitcoin's own code that was causing the trouble.... http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/networks/bitcoin-/#.UUdqqVxLcf…

1 0

OpenSUSE 12.3 Is Out
by Peter Reutemann 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

"OpenSUSE 12.3 is out. There are several methods of downloading, as well as different media. It is also possible to boot the live CD from a USB stick. When using the DVD or Net install ISO, the standard is to select between KDE or GNOME, but XFCE and LXDE are also options. ARM images are available as well. More information about the release can be found in this feature guide" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/03/13/1951235/opensuse-123-is-out 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 plans to promote Wayland port
by Peter Reutemann 13 Mar '13

13 Mar '13

"GNOME developer Matthias Clasen has proposed that efforts to port the GNOME desktop to Wayland should be given more weight and be completed within the next year." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1821991 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

How to run an Arduino (clone) on a 9V battery for weeks or even months
by Peter Reutemann 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

"It is quite possible to run an ATMEGA with Arduino code for weeks if not months on a normal 9V battery, but it requires a different/special Arduino (clone)." -- source: http://hwstartup.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/how-to-run-an-arduino-on-a-9v-bat… 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

Atheros open sources firmware for two wireless chips
by Peter Reutemann 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

"Qualcomm Atheros has open sourced the firmware for its 802.11n wireless chips AR9271 and AR7010. The source code, build tools and instructions are available on GitHub." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1820950 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

Intel's graphics driver installation program for Linux
by Peter Reutemann 12 Mar '13

12 Mar '13

"Intel has released an installation program that provides Fedora and Ubuntu with newer versions of its graphics drivers by replacing parts of the distribution packages." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1820608 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

Samsung plans to turn smartphones into data safes
by Peter Reutemann 05 Mar '13

05 Mar '13

"Like the home of the US government's gold reserves, Samsung's KNOX project is all about keeping intruders out. Samsung's version, however, will not protect precious metals, but business data in mobile device storage. KNOX, which was unveiled today, is based on SE Android, the Android version of SELinux that was originally developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA)." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1816663 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 reveals plans to launch Mir display server
by Peter Reutemann 04 Mar '13

04 Mar '13

'On the evening before the first online Ubuntu Developer Summit, Canonical has revealed its plans for "Mir", a next-generation display server which will run as a system-level component to replace the X Window system. Canonical has rejected Wayland, seen by many as the successor to X Windows, because they feel it recreates X semantics in its input event handling and parts of the protocol include privileged shell integration which the Mir specifiers would rather not have. The decisions along this path of development appear to have been taken in the summer of 2012.' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1815982 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

Dell Sputnik now being sold in Europe
by Peter Reutemann 03 Mar '13

03 Mar '13

"Dell is now selling its Sputnik developer laptop, pre-installed with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, in its UK and German online stores. In the UK, customers save £120 (ex VAT) compared to the regular Windows model" -- source: http://h-online.com/-1814767 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 Touch Beats Firefox OS For 'Best of MWC' From CNET
by Peter Reutemann 01 Mar '13

01 Mar '13

"This week at Mobile World Congress both Firefox OS and Ubuntu have been wooing the audience with their mobile offerings. CNET reviewed both and felt that Ubuntu was 'the clear winner.' From the article, 'The team thought that Ubuntu Touch, the tablet version of which we got our hands-on for the first time at MWC, feels more like the complete package at this point. We liked its slick, elegant interface that makes use of every side of the screen and puts your content and contacts front and center, minimizing the time spent hopping back to a home screen.'" -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/02/28/2120252/ 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 webcam
by Bruce Kingsbury 26 Feb '13

26 Feb '13

I've got a machine running apache2/php5/mysql and motion at pi.fairfield.org.nz (ipv6 only outside our lan) In theory it should work, but it seems motion is ipv6 only. is there some way eg php script that I can have apache connect to localhost:8081 and just forward the raw data through to the browser? I set up two scripts webcam.php and webcam2.php that are supposed to do this, but neither seem to work (as far as I can test them; I won't have ipv6 at home until tomorrow). webcam.php is this; <?php $socket = socket_create(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, SOL_TCP); socket_connect($socket, '127.0.0.1', 8081); $reply = ""; do { $recv = ""; $recv = socket_read($socket, '1400'); if($recv != "") { $reply .= $recv; } } while($recv != ""); echo($reply); ?> webcam2.php is this; <?php system(nc 127.0.0.1 8081); ?>

2 3

Booting desktop Linux on the Chromebook Pixel
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

"Google engineer Bill Richardson has detailed how to boot Linux Mint on the new Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel is the first Chromebook to include the option of booting other operating systems with a third-party bootloader." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1809912 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

Special General Meeting 25th March 2013 - Change of Charter
by Rene Bartosh 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

Notice is hereby given of a special general meeting to take place at 7:30pm on Monday 25th March 2013 at MS4.G.02. A draft of the revised charter will be tabled, this will reduce the quorum to the smaller of 5 members or 50% of the general membership, and reduce the size of the committee to 4. Regards, Rene Bartosh WLUG Secretary -- >From Rene Bartosh (Gmail account) <kirjava(a)gmail.com> Personal: http://kirjava.net.nz/

2 1

SPAM filtering.
by Colin Palmer 24 Feb '13

24 Feb '13

On 22 February 2013 16:21, mailinglist <mailinglist(a)blahdeblah.co.nz> wrote: > he he, finally got the link through that I wanted to share. Any one at > the Uni realise how agressive the present spam filters are? > Yes, we do. The list server uses Postini to do spam detection, but leaves it up to Mailman to make discard and moderate decisions, so you can make it a bit less aggressive by tweaking the header rules in each list's spam filters section. -- Colin Palmer <colinp(a)waikato.ac.nz> Linux Architect, Systems and Development Team

2 1

(no subject)
by Ronnie Collinson 24 Feb '13

24 Feb '13

Sounds good. Just some small typos corrected and I booked the room for 25/2: Regrettably, I must inform you all, that we failed to attain quorum at the AGM last night, with only 7 members arriving. As by the charter, we will hold a second AGM on February 25th (after Christmas and summer festivities). If we fail to obtain quorum or a new committee, we may have no choice but to file for dissolution with the registrar (could be re-registered for a fee of $204.45). If this is needed we will endeavour to leave as much of the online presence running as possible. The club does however remain in good financial standing. If any member is unable to attend the AGM, we will be happy for you to attend via IRC, we will attempt to stream the meeting too (perhaps audio-only via mumble). On behalf of committee

3 7

REMINDER: WLUG meeting is on Monday
by Meeting Reminder Bot 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

There's a Waikato Linux Users Group meeting on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Second attempt at http://www.wlug.org.nz/AGM Meet up at the university: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 7:30pm onwards

1 0

Ubuntu For Tablets Announced
by Peter Reutemann 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

"Keeping its promise from yesterday Ubuntu has announced an operating system for tablets dubbed 'Ubuntu for Tablets' that it says will work on tablets of any size. Advertised to work on both entry level tablets as well as high-end tablets with enterprise specifications, the operating system offers multitasking, safer sharing, instant launch of applications through the menu bar on the left, effortless switching between applications among other features." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/02/19/1655233/ubuntu-for-tablets-announc… 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

ANNOUNCE: WLUG meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder Bot 17 Feb '13

17 Feb '13

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week from today: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Second attempt at http://www.wlug.org.nz/AGM Meet up at the university: MS4.G.02 (http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map?MS4) Time: 7:30pm onwards

1 0

Samsung Laptop Bug Is Not Linux Specific
by Peter Reutemann 10 Feb '13

10 Feb '13

"Matthew Garrett, a Linux kernel developer who was investigating the recent Linux-on-Samsung-in-UEFI-mode problem, has bricked a Samsung laptopusing a test userspace program in Windows. The most fascinating part of the story is on what is actually causing the firmware boot failure: 'Unfortunately, it turns out that some Samsung laptops will fail to boot if too much of the [UEFI] variable storage space is used. We don't know what "too much" is yet, but writing a bunch of variables from Windows is enough to trigger it. I put some sample code here — it writes out 36 variables each containing a kilobyte of random data. I ran this as an administrator under Windows and then rebooted the system. It never came back.'" -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/02/09/2146207/samsung-laptop-bug-is-n… 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 2

GNOME developers plan "Linux apps"
by Peter Reutemann 08 Feb '13

08 Feb '13

"Some GNOME developers are planning to implement an app format that allows developers to provide their Linux programs in distribution-independent files that can be installed as easily as smartphone apps. A sandbox model is supposed to isolate the apps from each other, and from the rest of the system, in a way that goes further than the isolation in current Linux distributions. Various developers worked to conceptualise such "Linux apps" at the GNOME Developer Experience Hackfest, which was held in the run-up to FOSDEM 2013 in Brussels. At the hackfest, the GNOME developers also declared JavaScript as the de-facto standard for GNOME programming." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1798691 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

(no subject)
by Bruce Kingsbury 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

This is STILL causing me grief. Firefox under Debian defaults to US_Letter after every single upgrade. I have to go into about:config and change each occurence of "Letter" back to "A4" otherwise if anyone tries to print from Firefox it stops the printer and I have to manually flush out all the US_Letter jobs. Locale settings in debian are all set to New Zealand. Every other program defaults to A4. Is there any way of universally making Firefox always default to A4? It's realld driving me MAD!!!!

2 1

Ubuntu Smartphone Shipping In October
by Peter Reutemann 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

"Smartphones running the open source Ubuntu operating system will be available to customers beginning in October 2013, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth told CIO Journal. Ubuntu will be available on a full range of devices, including desktop and tablet computers, potentially providing corporate IT executives a way to reduce the number of devices they purchase and manage, and would allow users to access all manner of corporate data through a single, pocket-sized device. 'You can share Windows apps to the phone desktop,' said Mr. Shuttleworth during a meeting in New York Tuesday." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/02/06/217237/ubuntu-smartphone-shipping-… 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

Windows Software Coming To Android Via Wine
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

"Software that allows Windows apps to run on Android devices was demoed at the Fosdem 2013 open source conference this weekend. The demo by Alexandre Julliard, one of the original developers of Wine, showed Wine running on an emulated Android environment. Phoronix reports the performance of Wine on Android to be 'horrendously slow' but says these problems were attributed to it running on an emulated environment rather than a native Android OS. ... The makers claim it bypasses many performance and memory penalties of other methods for simulating computing environments, such as running virtual machines, by translating Windows API calls into POSIX calls on the fly. The Android OS predominantly runs on ARM-based devices today, and a separate demo at the Fosdem conference showed Wine running on ARM-based hardware. There was no news on when support for ARM-based devices or Android will be added to a publicly available Wine release." -- source: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/02/04/2228218/windows-software-coming-to-… 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

Booting Via UEFI Can Brick Samsung Notebooks
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

"Heise News reports today some Samsung notebooks can be turned into a brick if booted just one time via UEFI into Linux. Even the firmware does not boot anymore. Some reports in the Ubuntu bug tracker system report that such notebooks can not be recovered without replacing the main board. Other Linux distributions may be affected as well. Kernel developers are discussing a change in the samsung-laptop driver." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/01/30/1426255/linux-booting-via-uefi-can… 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 2

Gnome Goes JavaScript
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

"Much to most programmers' shock and dismay Gnome has made JavaScript its main language for apps. It will still support other languages and it still supports C for libraries, but for apps it is JavaScript that rules. JavaScript seems to be a good choice for Gnome 3, as the shell UI is written in the language. It is also consistent with the use of JavaScript in WinRT, Chrome Apps, and FirefoxOS apps, and generally the rise of web apps. As you might expect, the initial reactions are of horror at the idea that JavaScript has been selected rather than the favorite language of the commenter. There is a great deal of ignorance about (and prejudice against) JavaScript, which is often regarded as an incomplete toy language rather than the elegant and sparse language that it actually is." -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/02/04/1819231/gnome-goes-javascript 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

MS Won't Release Study Disputing Munich's Linux-Switch Savings
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '13

04 Feb '13

"As previously reported on Slashdot, in November of last year, the city of Munich reported savings of over €10 million from its switch to Linux. Microsoft subsequently commissioned a study (conducted by HP) that found that, in fact, 'Munich would have saved €43.7 million if it had stuck with Microsoft.' Now, Microsoft has said it won't release the study, saying that '[it] was commissioned by Microsoft to HP Consulting for internal purposes only.'" -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/01/22/1716244/ms-wont-release-study-disp… Sounds like good old FUD to me... Like "Linux is infringes on heaps of our patents", without ever stating which patents exactly, if I recall that correctly: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033867/ 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 4

Gnome login screen accessability features
by Bruce Kingsbury 01 Feb '13

01 Feb '13

I'm having a bit of a problem with people fiddling at the logon screen, turning on features like sticky keys and screen reader and large text. These stay on even after the computers are shut down and I have to go around all the machines and turn them off again. Is there any way to dissable the accessability menu in GDM? Or at least some way that I can easily reset everything back to off?

1 0

Bit coin links and Greg's presentation notes.
by Chris O'Halloran 27 Jan '13

27 Jan '13

Hello All, Here is some more information from Greg's note at last Friday's presentation. I'd also like to thank Greg for volunteering to talk and for such a well presented and technical topic. Seeing the data miner in action was also a bonus. Attached is the email that Greg sent to Bruce and myself earlier this week. It seems as though there is plenty more reading on the topic. I've also loaded Greg's presentation to google docs so that those that weren't at the meeting can appreciate the presentation. <quote> Hi Chris, Bruce, as discussed here's the slideshow and talk-notes from last night I promised I'd send to you to forward on to relevant people, (group-wide bounced me on the email size limit). Also here's a list of relevant links as requested; Project home page http://www.bitcoin.org/ Wiki Main_Page https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page Network status live feed http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/ Forum https://forum.bitcoin.org/ Layman promo video site http://www.weusecoins.com/ Instawallet (web wallet) https://www.instawallet.org API -reference pages https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/API_reference_(JSON-RPC) https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Original_Bitcoin_client/API_Calls_list Monetary theory - Austrian economics http://www.libertariannews.org/2011/06/18/the-economics-of-bitcoin-how-bitc… http://austrianeconomists.typepad.com/weblog/2009/05/the-best-of-modern-aus… http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae9_4_5.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_School http://mises.org/ Szabo bitgold post http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2005/12/bit-gold.html Namecoin, distributed DNS Dot-bit project homepage http://dot-bit.org/Main_Page Feel free to email me for further links or information. Cheers, Greg B. Link to Greg's Bit Coin presentation<https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1ggO7B5SX…> Link to Gregs' presentation notes<https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1SqdoXYL8…> </quote>

7 13

Ubuntu considers “huge” change that would end traditional release cycle
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '13

23 Jan '13

"In the nine-year history of Ubuntu Linux, a new version of the operating system has come out every six months. But Canonical, Ubuntu's developer, is considering ditching that model in favor of one that produces an entirely new version only once every two years—while speeding up the overall pace of development by adopting a "rolling release" cycle in between." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/ubuntu-considers-huge… 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

Pear Linux
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '13

23 Jan '13

Hi there Last week, I came across the Pear Linux distribution, an Ubuntu remix, which is visually quite appealing: http://pearlinux.fr/ The last couple of days, I've unsuccessfully tried to run the live CD on: - virtualbox - old Dell Vostro dual-core laptop - Lenovo x100e The SysLinux prompt ("boot:") shows up and when continuing, the CPU seems to go nuts and nothing happens anymore. Just wondering whether anybody else had any luck installing it... 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 10

Test
by mailinglist 23 Jan '13

23 Jan '13

Hi guys, Sorry again. It's definitely what I'm trying to talk about. The spam filters are just blocking it though the messages happily get through to my work email. At least I know why I cannot contribute to the list. Cheers, Chris

3 5

test message
by mailinglist 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

Hi guys, Sorry about the messages. I've been trying to send a message so many times but it seems as though some filter is blocking it. Cheers, Chris

1 0

test message
by mailinglist 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

sorry for the test message

1 0

AGM second attempt
by Bruce Kingsbury 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

Following the failure to reach quorum at the 2012 AGM, we will have a second attempt at an AGM on Monday 25th February. This meeting will be at MS4.G.02, from 7:30pm onwards

4 3

Valve Starts Promoting Steam For Linux To Windows Users
by Peter Reutemann 22 Jan '13

22 Jan '13

"Steam is now being used by thousands of gamers running a Linux OS, and Valve has got to the point where they are happy to start urging Windows users to make the switch. Proof of that comes from a 'Join the Beta' promotion on the homepage of Steam suggesting you try Steam for Linux. There's even a download link to get Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, which removes yet another barrier to entry. With Gabe Newell's clear hatred of Windows 8, this shouldn't be a surprising move. We aren't going to see another version of Windows appear for a few years, so in Valve's eyes pushing Linux to gamers makes a lot of sense." -- source: http://games.slashdot.org/story/13/01/21/2021206/valve-starts-promoting-ste… 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

GPLv3 driver for exFAT reaches version 1.0
by Peter Reutemann 21 Jan '13

21 Jan '13

"ExFAT project member Andrew Nayenko has released version 1.0.0 of fuse-exfat, a filesystem driver that can read and write to Microsoft's exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) filesystem. Like the Ntfs-3G NTFS driver that is used in Linux distributions, the exFAT driver is based on FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) and works under Linux as well as OS X." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1788226 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

64-bit Window version of Scribus open source DTP program available
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

"Those who use the open source Scribus layout program under Windows can, like those who use it under Linux, finally install the new version 1.4.2 as a native 64-bit application on the 64-bit versions of Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. This means that the program is no longer subject to the memory limit of 2 GB per process that exists with 32-bit applications. Those who use an older version of Windows can still download and install a 32-bit version of Scribus." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1785023 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

Kolab 3 debuts new user interface
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jan '13

16 Jan '13

"Kolab Systems has released Kolab 3, the latest incarnation of their open source groupware server. Kolab 3 has been in development for quite some time and was originally expected to arrive in the third quarter of 2012. Kolab 2.4, released in May 2012, included a preview of some of the new features, including a new web interface based on the Roundcube email client, that supports mobile use on smartphones and tablets. Development of Roundcube is being funded by Kolab Systems." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1784192 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

Fedora 18 - released
by Peter Reutemann 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

Fedora 18 has been released. You can review the flavours of desktop iso's available for download here... https://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options The default desktop iso uses Gnome. Others available include KDE, LXDE and Xfce The nearest download site for Gnome and KDE seems to be in Aussie at... http://fedora.mirror.uber.com.au http://fedora.mirror.uber.com.au/fedora/linux/releases/18/Live/i386/ Fedora-18-i686-Live-Desktop.iso 10-Jan-2013 04:48 889M Fedora-18-i686-Live-KDE.iso 10-Jan-2013 05:38 805M http://fedora.mirror.uber.com.au/fedora/linux/releases/18/Live/x86_64/ Fedora-18-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso 10-Jan-2013 04:49 916M Fedora-18-x86_64-Live-KDE.iso 10-Jan-2013 05:51 831M -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

1 1

Report: ZTE to bring Firefox OS to Europe
by Peter Reutemann 11 Jan '13

11 Jan '13

"The Chinese phone maker ZTE says that it is working with an unnamed European wireless carrier to bring smartphones based on Mozilla's Firefox OS to the market this year. According to the Bloomberg report, Cheng Lixin, the CEO of ZTE's US business revealed the plan during an interview at CES, the consumer electronics show taking place in Las Vegas." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1780805 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

Plasma Active, Sailfish, and Ubuntu Phone Developers Discussing Common APIs
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jan '13

10 Jan '13

"Jolla's Sailfish, Canonical's recently announced Ubuntu Phone, and KDE's Plasma Active environments are all using Qt5's QML for interface design. Unfortunately, the set of UI components provided by each, although similar, are incompatible with the others. After a chat on IRC between developers of all three platforms, they've decided to discuss the reasons behind each implementation, in the hopes that they can work toward a common architecture." -- source: http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/01/10/1513251/plasma-active-sailfish-an… Now that would be quite a feat! Fingers crossed... 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

Linux Mint 14 Is a Breath of Fresh Air
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jan '13

09 Jan '13

"Linux Mint 14 contains some well-needed facelifts. For example, the Mint Display Manager used for the login screen is refreshingly improved. MDM now supports legacy GDM 2 themes with some 30 installed by default and about 2,000 more available for download. Even better, the format is so easy to apply for making themes that you can quickly add your own personalization to make your login screen look your way." -- source: http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/76989.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

1 0

Mindstorms EV3: Lego announces new robotics kit
by Peter Reutemann 08 Jan '13

08 Jan '13

'Announced for the second half of 2013, Lego's Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit includes a completely new central operating component, which Lego calls the "Intelligent Brick". The controller uses an ARMv9 (the company's previous NXT 2.0 products work with ARMv7) and includes 16MB of flash memory that can be further expanded with an SD card. A quite generous 64MB of RAM is probably required by the new operating system. According to the specifications, it is Linux-based and should, therefore, be "hackable".' -- source: http://h-online.com/-1778671 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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Snowlinux 4 "Glacier" released
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '13

07 Jan '13

'Snowlinux 4 "Glacier" is based upon Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 "Wheezy" and uses Linux 3.5. MATE 1.4 is the default desktop environment and LightDM as new default login manager to replace GDM 3. It was built an own greeter for LightDM. There were introduced much new features like snowMenu, the Snowlinux menu and snowMount, the Snowlinux mount tool for drives. The Snowlinux-Metal-Theme was colored blue and the icon set was updated with the latest Faience icons. Snowlinux uses Pidgin now as default IM client. This release comes along Firefox 17 and Thunderbird 17, LibreOffice, Rhythmbox and Shotwell.' -- source: http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=07652 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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Mobile Raspberry Pi Computer: Build your own portable Pi-to-Go
by Peter Reutemann 05 Jan '13

05 Jan '13

"When I started this project four weeks ago, I just wanted to see if it was possible to make an ultra portable, mobile Raspberry Pi<http://blog.parts-people.com/2012/12/20/mobile-raspberry-pi-computer-build-…>that you can take to-go. As I was building my Pi-to-Go I kept saying to myself, it would be cool if it had this, and then I would find a way to make it happen." -- source: http://blog.parts-people.com/2012/12/20/mobile-raspberry-pi-computer-build-… 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 Gets an Open Source Educational Manual
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jan '13

03 Jan '13

Last year a group of UK teachers started working on a Creative Commons licensed teaching manual for the Raspberry Pi. That work has produced the Raspberry Pi Education Manual which is available at the Pi Store or here as a PDF. From Raspberry Pi: "The manual is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 unported licence, which is a complicated way of saying that it’s free for you to download, copy, adapt and use – you just can’t sell it. You’ll find chapters here on Scratch, Python, interfacing, and the command line. There’s a group at Oracle which is currently working with us on a faster Java virtual machine (JVM) for the Pi, and once that work’s done, chapters on Greenfoot and Geogebra will also be made available – we hope that’ll be very soon." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/01/02/2316251/raspberry-pi-gets-an-open-s… 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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