- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Government of Argentina Launches Linux Distribution
by Peter Reutemann 19 Sep '13

19 Sep '13

"The news has been full of headlines of happenings at this year's LinuxCon, but one tiny little headline stands out today as different. Although it hasn't made it into English speaking press yet, it seems the Argentine government has sponsored the development of a Linux distribution to be used on all state provided education computers." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/government-of-argentina-launches-linux-distribution Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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How Linux defenders attack bad software patents before they’re approved
by Peter Reutemann 18 Sep '13

18 Sep '13

"Despite the rise in the number of patent trolls launching lawsuits affecting open source software, there are some glimmers of hope. The America Invents Act that was signed into law in September 2011 has provided new ways to prevent the issuance of over-broad software patents that could fuel future lawsuits. In a session at LinuxCon today, Linux Defenders director Andrea Casillas explained how the group is using rights granted by the new law to fight patent applications. A project of the Open Invention Network, Software Freedom Law Center, and Linux Foundation, Linux Defenders examines the 6,000 new patent applications published each week, attempting to identify those that are potentially threatening to Linux and open source. Then, the group looks for prior art that would invalidate at least some of the claims in the patents." -- source: http://bit.ly/15APmDY Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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New Operating System Seeks To Replace Linux In the Cloud
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"At CloudOpen in New Orleans, KVM veterans Avi Kivity and Dor Laor revealed their latest venture, a new open-source (BSD license) operating system named OSv. OSv can run existing Linux programs and runtime environments such as a JVM, but unlike Linux, OSv was designed from the ground up to run efficiently on virtual machines. For example, OSv avoids the traditional (but slow) userspace-kernel isolation, as on the cloud VMs normally run a single application. OSv is also much smaller than Linux, and breaks away from tradition by being written in C++11." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/09/17/2113211 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Windows XP is going to officially die and stop receiving support from Microsoft in April, 2014. After that very moment, it is said to become a gold mine for hackers all over the world who will exploit 'zero-day' vulnerabilities. The municipality of the German city of Munich wants to stop that from happening [and] has decided to distribute free CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to users of the almost extinct XP. Munich, through its Gasteig Library, will prepare around 2000 CDs with Ubuntu 12.04 to offer to city residents affected by Windows XP's end of support. Previously, it was believed that Munich city's authorities were going to offer Lubuntu 12.04, which would have required lower system requirements with the same support period." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/09/17/1250257 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Gabe Newell talks about Linux as the future of gaming; teases "Steam Box" hardware
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

'The gamers among us waited... very... patiently... for Steam to come to Linux. This week, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell came to LinuxCon to talk about Linux, gaming, and how important open source is to the future of gaming, which given the audience, he described as "sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the Pope." In even better news, he also strongly hinted at a Steam Box announcement next week.' -- source: http://opensource.com/life/13/9/gabe-newell-talks-about-linux-future-gaming… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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TrueAbility Launches Ability Screen for Linux Pros
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Jobs are also on the rise for Linux professionals, and Technical assessment platform provider, TrueAbility, has announced the launch of AbilityScreen for Linux Professionals, billed as "a new way to evaluate the skill level of those who work within a Linux environment." It allows Linux professionals to demonstrate their expertise and prove what they know, helping companies to discover them. The company also hosts Linux Showdowns for demonstrating skills." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/trueability-launches-ability-screen-for-linux-pros Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Google and Samsung soar into list of top 10 Linux contributors
by Peter Reutemann 17 Sep '13

17 Sep '13

"Google and Samsung have become increasingly frequent contributors to Linux, and each is now among the top 10 companies sponsoring the open source kernel that powers operating systems from mobile devices to desktops and servers. A new Linux Kernel Development report (informally known as "Who Writes Linux") released today by the Linux Foundation names Samsung and Google as the seventh and eighth most frequent corporate contributors, behind Red Hat, Intel, Texas Instruments, Linaro, SUSE, and IBM. The report covers almost 92,000 changes to Linux from 3,738 individuals since version 3.3 in March 2012." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/09/google-and-samsung-so… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Installing Rackspace Private Cloud In 20 Minutes Or Less
by Peter Reutemann 16 Sep '13

16 Sep '13

"Being an application developer with a very limited attention span, my test of any new technology or product is how quickly can I write my “Hello World” application. The Rackspace Private Cloud, which is based on OpenStack, is intended for a full-fledged data center with a number of compute, storage and network requirements, but I was still hoping to install it in just a few minutes." -- source: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/installing-rackspace-private-cloud-in-20-minu… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Raspberry Pi As an Ad Blocking Access Point
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '13

13 Sep '13

"Adafruit has a new tutorial that will show you how to use your Raspberry Pi as a WiFi access point that blocks ads by default for any devices using it. This is really neat in that it would work for your Android or iOS device, your Xbox 360, TiVo, laptop, and more without needing to customize any of those devices other than to use your Raspberry Pi as the access point for WiFi. Using an ad-blocker can be useful for conserving bandwidth, helping out low-power devices, or for keeping your sanity while browsing the web!" -- source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/09/13/2059228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Google Releases Raspberry Pi Web Dev Teaching Tool
by Peter Reutemann 13 Sep '13

13 Sep '13

"Google has released 'Coder,' described as a simple way to make web stuff on Raspberry Pi. The idea is to make the Pi into a simple web server and web development environment on which kids can learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript. They provide an image for the Raspberry Pi, and they've open-sourced Coder as well. 'We thought about all the stuff we could do to make Coder a more complete package, but we have a hunch that the sooner this gets into the open source and maker communities, the more we’ll learn about how it might be used. Hopefully, a few more folks will pitch in and help us make this even more accessible and helpful for new coders.'" -- source: http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/09/13/1514202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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