- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

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

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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

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