Posts Tagged ‘Linux’
Darko on May 6th, 2008
Ubuntu, Linspire, and Freespire users can now install “Google Earth” with a single click, says Linspire. The desktop Linux distributor has added support for the free mapping application to its CNR (”click-n-run”) installer, a user-friendly tool currently beta-testing for a wide variety of desktop Linux distributions.
Linspire said the version of Google Earth that CNR supports will work with Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10 (32-bit), Linspire 6.0, and Freespire 2.0. Presumably, it will also support Ubuntu’s Hardy Heron release scheduled for tomorrow, as Linspire has promised CNR support for that release.
Google Earth aims to provide a “globe inside your PC,” according to Linspire. It lets users browse maps of roads, dining establishments, schools, railroads, stadiums, as well as terrain, borders, and geographical features. Users can even build maps of their own by creating KML (keyhole markup language) overlays. Users can also import data from supported GPS devices, and use that data to create maps.
Other Google Earth features touted by Linspire include:
Web-based map services
Local search with business listings and driving directions
Tilt, zoom, and rotate tools
Virtual “Play” button gives virtual helicopter rides over a given route
3-D buildings
Placemarks save geographic data for easy return to favorites
Measure Tool helps users to get detail on a particular distance
Built using Trolltech’s Qt framework for cross-platform application development, Google Earth is also available for Windows and Macintosh PCs. More details may be available on Linspire’s CNR.com website, here.
CNR is a cornerstone of the Linspire (formerly Lindows) desktop. The company began beta-testing a free version of the user-friendly, “single-click” installer last December.
Darko on April 18th, 2008
The Ubuntu team announced today the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) on desktop and server. Codenamed “Hardy Heron”, 8.04 LTS integrates the latest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.
The release candidate is complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition features incremental improvements to familiar applications, with an emphasis on stability for this second Ubuntu long-term support release, and is easier to try out with the new Wubi installer.
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 7.10 with even more virtualization support and security enhancements - enabling AppArmor for more applications by default, improving protection of kernel memory against attacks, and supporting KVM and iSCSI technologies out of the box.
The Ubuntu 8.04 LTS family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today.
The final release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is scheduled for 24 April 2008 and will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server.
Desktop Features
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Improved application selection: the GNOME desktop sports a number of improvements to the default applications, including more feature-full clients for BitTorrent and VNC, as well as an advanced UI for mastering CDs and DVDs.
File browsing: an enhanced filesystem layer brings greater performance and flexibility to Nautilus, the GNOME file browser.
Pluggable audio and video output: the PulseAudio sound server is integrated in the GNOME desktop for more flexible sound output, and a new Screen Resolution utility allows easier configuration of multiple video displays.
Wubi installer: a new Windows-based installer option makes it easier to try out Ubuntu, letting users install a full desktop on Windows systems without needing to partition their hard drive.
Server Features
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AppArmor profiles: a greater number of server applications are now protected by default with AppArmor, a kernel technology that limits the resources an application is allowed to access, providing added protection against undiscovered security vulnerabilities.
Memory protection: additional protection now prevents direct access to system memory through /dev/mem and /dev/kmem, and the lower 64K of system memory is no longer addressable by default, changes which help to defend against malicious code. The kernel now also loads Position Independent
Executables at randomized addresses, making it harder for application security vulnerabilities to be exploited.
Virtualization and iSCSI: KVM is now an officially maintained option, which combined with libvirt (CLI) and virt-manager (GUI) management tools allows for a simple and efficient virtualization option on hardware that supports virtualization extensions (AMD-V or Intel-VT). Mounting iSCSI targets is
now supported (including in the installer), allowing Ubuntu to interoperate with this class of cost-efficient Storage Area Network solutions.
Ubuntu Education Edition
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Add-on configuration: Edubuntu is now provided as an add-on to Ubuntu rather than a separate stand-alone flavor, permitting even greater reuse of Ubuntu technologies.
Kubuntu Features
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Kubuntu comes with the rock solid KDE 3 for those who want a commercially supported desktop.
For those who want something more exciting, a KDE 4 Remix is available bringing this cutting edge new version to you first.
Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/RC/Kubuntu for details.
Xubuntu Features
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Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment for those who want to a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on conserving system resources.
New Additions To The Family
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Two new variants joins in for this Ubuntu release. UbuntuStudio and Mythbuntu have done releases separately in the past, and with Hardy Heron we’re happy to be able to welcome these fine community projects into the main Ubuntu release process.
For a more in-depth tour of the features new in 8.04 LTS, see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/804rc
Darko on April 17th, 2008
Novell Wednesday released the beta of its new “Just Enough” SUSE operating system targeted as a platform for Linux-based appliances.
The company is releasing the beta in conjunction with the creation of the SUSE Appliance Program targeted at independent software vendors (ISV) who want to package their applications with SUSE Linux on an appliance.
In March, Novell unveiled a strategy that focuses on providing modular network infrastructure services to corporations including distributions of its core OS software tuned for physical or virtual servers. The services, which can be plugged together, also include virtualization, orchestration, policy, identity, compliance, management and collaboration tools.
“The appliance initiative is not necessarily front and center as part of the overall strategy so I don’t see it as a main building block but it will become one over time,” says Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC. “It is very much a step in the right direction.”
The Just Enough Operating System (JeOS), which is available now in beta, is a version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 that is reduced to just the components needed to run any given application and/or its third-party components.
The JeOS beta is available in several virtual image formats, including VMware VMDK, Xen and as a raw hard disk image. Novell plans to release later this year a Microsoft VHD format that will run on Windows Hyper-V, which is slated to ship in the fall.
Novell said that ISVs whose applications are certified to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server would be able to carry those certifications onto JeOS.
As part of the SUSE Appliance Program, ISV’s will be able to create appliances that can run on x86 hardware or as virtual machines.
Novell says it plans to work with ISVs to tune the operating system as the foundation for appliances. Novell plans to release several new components to facilitate the work, including an automated tool to build appliances.
Novell rival Red Hat in November announced the Red Hat Appliance Operating System (AOS). Red Hat plans to provide ISVs with a preconfigured version of AOS for use on appliances. Similar to the Novell plan, Red Hat will package with AOS a virtual appliance software development kit.
Darko on April 17th, 2008
Hopes of Red Hat releasing a desktop version of Linux for consumers were scratched today as the company announced no such plans would eventuate in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, its long awaited Red Hat Global Desktop Linux remains on indefinite hold, despite being slated for an original launch date of August 2007.
Although Red Hat had previously announced it was planning to launch a version of Linux designed for users of personal computers, the company has now backed down in the face of stiff competition and the likelihood of little profits.
“We have no plans to create a traditional desktop product for the consumer market in the foreseeable future,” read a Red Hat blog posting.
“Red Hat feel that as a public, for-profit company, Red Hat must create products and technologies with an eye on the bottom line, and with desktops this is much harder to do than with servers.”
Earlier this week, Red Hat CTO Brian Stevens said the company was yet to determine whether the market was ready for a consumer focused Linux desktop system.
“It’s one of those things. It’s worse to sell (just) 100,000 units than to sell zero — because of the commitment you make,” he said. “Right now we are sizing the global opportunity.”
Despite acknowledging that Linux on the desktop could provide a practical alternative to Microsoft’s Windows operating system, the blog conceded that building a sustainable business case around such a venture would be much harder.
“A growing number of technically savvy users and companies have discovered that today’s Linux desktop is indeed a practical alternative,” read the blog.
“Nevertheless, building a sustainable business around the Linux desktop is tough, and history is littered with example efforts that have either failed outright, are stalled or are run as charities.”
Instead, Red Hat said its focus for the next 12 months would centre on its Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, its continuing contributions to Fedora and the eventual go-to-market plans for Red Hat Global Desktop which has been designed for PCs used by ordinary office workers and consumers in emerging markets.
But in a sign that Red Hat is still stumbling in its commitment to Linux on the desktop, Red Hat Global Desktop has also hit its fair share of snags.
Originally slated for an August 2007 release, it has since been put on indefinite hold due to a “number of business issues that have conspired to delay the product for almost a year,” according to the Red Hat blog.
Although Red Hat says the technology side of Red Hat Global Desktop has been completed, hardware and market changes, as well as several startup delays with resellers has kept the release under wraps.
Darko on April 11th, 2008
Two recent studies suggest that Linux is being seen as a solution for wider and more critical business deployments. An IDC report says Linux server usage is expanding to more commercially oriented workloads previously the domain of Windows and Unix. And a Linux Foundation report shows the growing importance of Linux to big business.
IDC researchers predict that spending on the Linux ecosystem will rise from $21 billion in 2007 to more than $49 billion in 2011, driven by rising enterprise deployments of Linux server operating systems.
Linux server deployments are expanding from infrastructure-oriented applications to more commercially oriented database and enterprise resource-planning workloads “that historically have been the domain of Microsoft Windows and Unix,” noted IDC analysts in a white paper commissioned by the nonprofit Linux Foundation.
“The early adoption of Linux was dominated by infrastructure-oriented workloads, often taking over those workloads from an aging Unix server or Windows NT 4.0 server that was being replaced,” according to the report’s authors, Al Gillen, Elaina Stergiades and Brett Waldman. These days, however, Linux is increasingly being “viewed as a solution for wider and more critical business deployments.”
According to IDC, total software revenue on the Linux platform amounts to $10 billion today, or 4 percent of an overall total of $242 billion. “That share is expected to grow to more than 9 percent by 2011, or $31 billion in Linux-related software revenue in a total market that will grow to $330 billion,” the analysts said.
IDC projects spending on software related to Linux server platforms between 2006 and 2011 will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 35.7 percent — even as the overall spending on Linux software, hardware and services increases at a projected 24.1 percent clip.
“The growth of Linux as a platform for business-oriented workloads appears to be coming largely from migration of existing Unix deployments in combination with organic growth of Linux deployments in these same workload areas,” the study’s authors observed.
Government, financial services, and general services users are “highly likely” to move to Linux as a replacement for existing Unix servers, IDC researchers said. “Other industries have a lower likelihood of selecting Linux as a replacement for existing Unix server installations, but still remain as friendly to Linux as an alternative solution as they are to other migration options,” the report said.
IDC also expects Linux to continue applying competitive pressures on other major server operating environments, including Windows and Unix. “Each of these three platforms has a well-established installed base and will survive over the long term, but market expansion and platform-to-platform migrations, particularly Unix migrations, will continue to be hotly contested by Linux and by Windows,” the researchers predicted.
The growing importance of Linux to big business is also evident from the results of yet another report from the Linux Foundation. Every Linux kernel is being developed by nearly 1,000 developers working for more than 100 different corporations, with 70 to 95 percent of those developers being paid for their work, the authors of the report noted.
Even better, a significant increase is taking place with respect to the number of companies supporting kernel development. Major companies such as IBM, Intel, MIPS Technology, MontaVista, NetApp, Novell, Red Hat and more are finding that by improving the kernel, they have a competitive edge in their markets.
The data presented in the studies shows that Linux has significant momentum, said Linux Foundation spokesperson and report co-author Amanda McPherson.
“Not surprisingly, market momentum — as shown in the IDC report — is reflected in the developer numbers growing so fast,” McPherson noted. “One could also make the observation that the developer momentum and growth in community is translating into market expansion.”
Darko on April 10th, 2008
At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the University of Texas Supercomputing Center April 8, Hewlett-Packard announced the release of its first Linux-powered computer to be sold in the United States, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1.
HP was expected to offer a Linux desktop, and now it has finally done so. It’s not, however, the Linux desktop that many users expected. Instead of being a general-purpose consumer system or business PC, the Mini-Note is meant for the education market.
Chris Sieger, director of IT Services for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia, said in a statement, “HP listened to our needs and now is delivering a product designed by education for education.”
It may sound odd for HP to take its first step into Linux by way of education, but there is money to be made in the education vertical. Lenovo Director of Software Strategy Debra Kobs-Fortner said, for example, that Lenovo had seen its best business so far for its Linux-powered ThinkPads in the American education market.
The HP Mini is another UMPC (Ultramobile PC). Unlike Asustek Computer’s Eee PC and Everex’s CloudBook, the HP Mini is the first UMPC to arrive from a top-tier system vendor.
Like the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)’s XO Laptop and Intel’s Classmate PC, the HP Mini is designed for the wear and tear of use by children. The 2.5-pound UMPC comes with an anodized aluminum shell that’s designed to be sturdy. It also comes with “HP DuraKeys,” a clear damage-resistant keyboard coating designed to help prevent chocolate-milk-induced system failures. It also includes the HP 3D DriveGuard, which uses a three-axis digital accelerometer chip to shut down the hard drive if it’s dropped (or thrown, or kicked).
Besides the usual array of SLED software goodies, the system also includes educational software. Jim Mann, an HP technology strategist, credited Novell with putting together an excellent collection of educational software.
The PC itself comes in two different versions. Both models are powered by a 1.6GHz Via C7 processor. They also both have 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an 8.9-inch display with 1280 by 768 resolution. They each also include a pair of USB ports and Ethernet port. The cheaper model, the one that’s aimed directly at the education market, comes with 1GB of memory and a 120GB hard drive. This system, which should be available by the end of April, will retail for $499. The higher-end system comes with 2GB, a faster 120GB hard drive and a larger six-cell battery. This system will be available by May and list for $799, HP said.
Darko on April 9th, 2008
PC vendor Everex and gOS (Good OS), the Linux distribution based around Google applications, is taking the next step in online-based computing by introducing a limited edition MySpace PC.
The companies hope that the white-cased, two-pound MyMiniPC will attract what Everex officials claim is some of the more than 100 million MySpace users. As such, it’s the first PC, using any operating system, designed expressly to use with a social network.
“To me, gOS Space can be the face of Linux for the MySpace generation,” Jim Zemlin, president of the Linux Foundation, said in a statement.
Unlike Google Apps, where neither gOS nor Everex have a formal relationship with Google, this time the companies have partnered with MySpace. “The MySpace Developer Platform is all about embracing developers and empowering them to create new and exciting ways for friends to connect on MySpace and share their experiences with one another,” Chuck Rosendahl, managing director of MySpace, said in a statement. “The MyMiniPC is the perfect appliance for MySpace users and those whose activities are consistently tied to the Web and less to the desktop. It is an ideal solution for getting access quickly to the MySpace apps that matter most to our users.”
This trade paperback-book sized PC runs gOS Space 2.9. This is a customized version of gOS Linux that features a set of new MySpace Apps and a media center dock stacked with MySpace and Web 2.0 folders for news, photos, videos, music, TV and movies.
The MySpace applications available on gOS Space dock include Super Mood, Super Graffiti, Super Quotes, and Current Time. The company’s press release described Super Mood as an application that enables users to add large emoticons and personal updates to their MySpace profiles. With Super Graffiti, users can draw pictures on their friends’ MySpace profiles, and Super Quotes allows users to select quotes to display on their profiles.
The gOS Space dock also includes expandable icons, such as those gOS uses with Google programs MySpace News, Photos, Videos, Music, TV and Movies, Work, and Fun. The MySpace icon lets users get directly to the MySpace navigation bar. Besides the MySpace applications, the PC also includes the usual Linux application favorites, including Firefox, GIMP and OpenOffice. The system also includes gOS’ characteristic easy access to Google applications.
The MyMiniPC is powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T2130. It comes with 512MB of RAM and for storage it uses a 120GB hard-drive and a DVD+/-RW optical drive.
For graphics the system uses the Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 950 chipset. The PC can transmit video via both a DVI-I Port, and a S-video port. Audio is supported by Realtek ALC268 high-definition audio.
The tiny system also comes with a good number of ports. These include an IEEE 1394 and four USB 2.0 ports, a four-in-one media card reader for data, and a Gigabit Ethernet port for networking.
The system, which the Everex Web site states is only available in limited quantities, sells for $499 with a one-year limited warranty and toll-free, 24/7 technical support.
