- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

GNOME OS plans laid out
by Peter Reutemann 08 Aug '12

08 Aug '12

"At the recent Guadec 2012 GNOME developers conference, birds of a feather sessions saw the project set out goals for a GNOME OS initiative to improve GNOME for all users and developers." -- source: http://h-online.com/-1662865 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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Debian Changes Default Desktop From GNOME To XFCE
by Peter Reutemann 08 Aug '12

08 Aug '12

"The default desktop within Debian 7.0 'Wheezy' has changed from GNOME to Xfce. GNOME, KDE, and LXDE will continue to be available, but the decision was made to default to Xfce. The reported reasoning comes down to size constraints in fitting GNOME on a single CD." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/12/08/08/1455243/debian-changes-default-des… 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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Desktop Fragmentation
by Peter Reutemann 08 Aug '12

08 Aug '12

"Competition may be good for business, but competition among Linux desktops is currently so fierce that it may end up being to everyone's detriment in the medium-term." read more at http://h-online.com/-1662354 Personally, I'm curious which desktops will prevail. Survival of the fittest, i.e., largest developer/user base? 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 team forks Nautilus
by Peter Reutemann 07 Aug '12

07 Aug '12

"The Linux Mint team has forked GNOME's file manager after design changes led to the removal of some features. The result is the Nemo file manager which is based on the last Nautilus version before these changes were incorporated." --source: http://h-online.com/-1660545 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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Adafruit launches educational distro for Raspberry PI
by Peter Reutemann 06 Aug '12

06 Aug '12

Regarding Raspberry PI and schools... "Adafruit Industries has published a new Linux distribution called "Occidentalis" for hardware hacking and teaching electronics using the ARM-based Raspberry Pi mini-computer. Its developers say that they decided to create Occidentalis because Raspbian – a Debian-based distribution released by the Raspberry Pi Foundation last month – didn't include many of the tools and software components that most hardware hackers would need. " --source: http://h-online.com/-1660567 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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BerryTerminal
by Peter Reutemann 05 Aug '12

05 Aug '12

Hi there It looks like "BerryTerminal" is exactly what Ian was after at the Saturday workshop, a Linux distro for LTSP/Raspberry Pi: "BerryTerminal is a minimal Linux distribution designed to turn the Raspberry Pi mini computer into a low-cost thin client. It allows users to login to a central Edubuntu or other LTSP server, and run applications on the central server. " http://www.berryterminal.com/doku.php/start NB: It's still labeled "alpha". 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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Upcoming Event: Next-generation Networks
by David Hallett 04 Aug '12

04 Aug '12

Institute of IT Professionals National Series: Next-generation Networks 23 August 2012: 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Wintec City Campus Events Room 2 Gallagher Hub Gate 3, Tristram Street Hamilton National Series: Next-generation Networks Research networks have long been at the forefront of the technological revolution changing our society. Their role in bridging the gap between the high-end requirements of the science community and services available commercially led to inventions such as the Internet and World Wide Web. Often a leading indicator for emerging trends in the commercial sector, research networks have led the way in virtualization, security, and performance management. Today, research networks are facing a deluge of data that is forcing them to rethink how people, sensors, and machines are connected. In this topical presentation, REANNZ CEO Steve Cotter will talk about the challenges research networks are facing and why they are exploring new paradigms like software defined networking and energy efficiency. If you are interested in hearing about the latest cutting-edge trends in networking and how they could have an impact on New Zealand businesses and consumers, this is the talk for you. About The Speaker Steve Cotter has an extensive background in developing highly engineered, cutting-edge networking systems that require a deep understanding of advanced technologies and business drivers. He joined REANNZ from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) in 2011. As the head of ESnet, he was responsible for providing high-performance networking to thousands of researchers and scientists at more than 40 national laboratories and research institutions. Prior to ESnet, he served as Google's network deployment manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before being hired by Google, Steve worked for Internet2 as Deputy Operations Officer and was CEO & President of their wholly owned subsidiary, FiberCo. Note: Light lunch provided. Free for IITP members, inexpensive for others. Registration required at the following URL: http://www.iitp.org.nz/events/waikato_bop/621-Next-generation_Networks Regards, David Hallett, BSc, MIITP ITCP P.O. Box 15-516 Hamilton, New Zealand Mobile: +64-21-802 256

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New wine, old wineskins
by Michael McDonald 03 Aug '12

03 Aug '12

New wine, old wineskins Thought I might have had a problem to bring along to tomorrow's work but alas, I managed to find a workaround. Read on ... Had a long day Saturday trying to get Ubuntu 12.04 on to an old computer (or two). Live CD ran perfectly OK, but install seemed to crash at the same spot each time. The last machine I tried had an AMD 2000+ CPU, so after the failure with the 32 bit live CD, downloaded and tried the AMD/64 bit version. No go for that ... CPU was 32 bit - AMD wasn't relevant in this case! Did a little bit of Googling and it looked like PAE (pyhsical address extension) might be the problem. Recommended action was try Xubuntu or Lubuntu. Downloaded Xubuntu. Live CD ran up normally but install crashed, apparently at the same spot. Oh well, may have to live with an older version, so installed 11.10. Live CD was fine, Install went fine. Reboot ... and YUCK ... 640x480 (or worse) screen display. Also promptly appearing was the screen offering an upgrade to 12.04. Do I decide to chase the nVidia driver problem or try the online upgrade? Chose the latter (can always reinstall 11.10). Some windows were a bit of a problem ... had to use Alt/F7 to move them around so I could see the buttons at the bottom of the window. I was reminded why I always do fresh installs when changing sytems. It took at least two hours, and downloaded at least 700MB of files from the Internet. And guess what... Success! Video fine, 12.04 runs fine. Total Internet usage for the day was over 3.5GB. Would have been quicker for me to to pop down to PBTech, buy a "clean" computer, and install U12.04! Michael

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Nokia reportedly planning to sell Qt as more developers are laid off
by Peter Reutemann 01 Aug '12

01 Aug '12

"Nokia is shutting down its Qt offices in Australia, laying off the team that was responsible for developing key parts of the open source development toolkit, including the QML user interface layout system." -- source: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/nokia-reportedly-plan… 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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Bogus leap second disrupts Linux systems
by Peter Reutemann 01 Aug '12

01 Aug '12

"Last night, various time servers wrongly announced that a leap second would be applied; it is as yet unclear whether this was caused by a simple bug or whether it could have been a DoS attack that targeted Linux systems." --source: http://h-online.com/-1657965 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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