Linux News for Feb 25, 2009

• Develop a GPS-aware application for the Nokia N810, Part 3: Finish the job (Feb 25, 2009, 23:34)
  IBM Developerworks: "This series of articles shows how to build a global positioning system (GPS)-aware application using the Linux-based Nokia N810 Internet Tablet and its built-in GPS receiver. In this last of three installments, you'll put the final touches to the GPS trip tracker and get it ready for release."


• Jurassic Web (Feb 25, 2009, 23:04)
  Slate: "It's 1996, and you're bored. What do you do? If you're one of the lucky people with an AOL account, you probably do the same thing you'd do in 2009: Go online. Crank up your modem, wait 20 seconds as you log in, and there you are--"Welcome.""


• ZaReason: An Amazing Attack of Linux Cluefulness (Feb 25, 2009, 22:34)
  LinuxPlanet: "ZaReason is an independent Linux systems vendor, and I think one of the best. They "get it". Which is not something you can say about a lot of Linux vendors. Like the ones who plaster "We Recommend Windows Vista!" all over their Linux pages..."


• Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple (Feb 25, 2009, 22:04)
  OSNews: "You'd think Apple was their number one competitor - and you'd be wrong. Microsoft sees two other competitors as their primary adversaries."


• Nouveau Becomes The Default Driver In Fedora 11 (Feb 25, 2009, 21:34)
  Phoronix: "Among a horde of other features to be introduced with Fedora 11 (a.k.a. Leonidas), the Nouveau driver will become the default NVIDIA driver on this Red Hat distribution. This is a fairly bold move on the behalf of Red Hat, which recently hired Ben Skeggs, one of the Nouveau developers."


• The Windows-versus-Linux server face-off (Feb 25, 2009, 21:04)
  InfoWorld: "Linux certainly has established itself as a prominent server OS these days, pushing Unix into the background. But the open source OS shares the stage with commercial software giant Microsoft, which remains a dominant player with Windows Server."


• Fedora 10 regains Linux fans (Feb 25, 2009, 20:34)
  Cyber Cynic: "In 2007, Fedora, Red Hat's community Linux distribution, hit an all-time low. Users were leaving it behind in favor of Ubuntu and openSUSE Well-known Linux evangelist Eric S. Raymond, after looking at the latest release, Fedora Core 6, dismissed Fedora as junk."


• Adobe Flash gets patch for critical flaw (Feb 25, 2009, 20:04)
  Computerworld: "Adobe Systems has updated its Flash multimedia software to eliminate five flaws affecting Windows, OS X and Linux systems."


• Carmack: Quake Live on Mac, Linux 'high on my priority list' (Feb 25, 2009, 19:34)
  joystiq: "Don't worry Mac and Linux gamers: Though the public beta of Quake Live that opened its doors yesterday only supports Windows, id Software's John Carmack tells Joystiq that "it's pretty high on my priority list to have the Mac and Linux support.""


• Ubuntu 9.10 will have special focus on Netbooks (Feb 25, 2009, 19:04)
  EeePC: "The Ubuntu Netbook Edition will make more improvements for small screens & tuned to work even better on screens that are vertically challenged"


• Top 50 Linux Alternatives To Popular M$ Apps (Feb 25, 2009, 18:34)
  JJMacey Dot Net: "Linux is quickly gaining popularity, but there are still many users afraid to convert as they are not familiar with the applications. Today our Linux guru Blair Mathis is back to introduce fifty of the most popular applications on this OS"


• Adobe AIR 1.5.1 Released (Feb 25, 2009, 18:04)
  Adobe AIR Team Blog: "Today we released Adobe AIR 1.5.1, a relatively minor update that includes a number of bug fixes. The new builds are available for Windows, Mac and Linux on the Adobe AIR download center."


• Update on today's Gmail outage (Feb 25, 2009, 17:34)
  Official Gmail Blog: "Lots of people around the world who rely on Gmail were disrupted during their waking and working hours, and we're very sorry. We did everything we could to restore access as soon as possible, and the issue is now resolved."


• Attack on SSL Users Discovered, Tool Sources Released (Feb 25, 2009, 17:04)
  Linux Magazine: "SSL won't come to a rest: the newest attack isn't about encryption or errors in the Secure Sockets Layer protocol, it's about the weakest link in the chain -- the user."


• HeliOS Project Brings Linux Technology to the East Side (Feb 25, 2009, 16:34)
  Blog of helios: "It's called Space12. What was once a place that only the bravest would tread, is now a place where you can find good things."


• Ubuntu 9.04's New Login Screen ...and other features (Feb 25, 2009, 16:04)
  Softpedia: "Ubuntu 9.04 is getting closer and closer to the final release and we thought that it would be nice to give you guys a sneak peek at some of the upcoming features. The new version of Ubuntu will be released in less than two months, on April 23rd, and it will be dubbed Jaunty Jackalope."


• Novell plays Casablanca in Virtualization Wars (Feb 25, 2009, 15:34)
  Practical Technology: "On February 24th, Novell made an important virtualization announcement, but it wasn't the one some of us thought it would be. Instead of announcing that it would be partnering closer with Citrix and Microsoft, Novell announced that it would be working with VMware to help ISVs (independent software vendors) build SUSE Linux Enterprise-based virtual appliances."


• Stupid Geek Tricks: Watch Movies in Your Linux Terminal Window (Feb 25, 2009, 15:04)
  The Howto Geek: "In these days of high definition videos everywhere (even YouTube), only the truly geeky would decide to watch their movies in ASCII text in a terminal window. The surprising thing is that some videos are even fairly watchable."


• From Vista to Linux (It was a lot easier than I thought) (Feb 25, 2009, 14:34)
  CW: "Like many I had been looking for a way to get my office computer off of Windows for some time. I had played around with various Linux distros and even Mac for about 5 years, but I always had some excuse as to why I couldn't just make the switch."


• The EeePC as a low-power music player (Feb 25, 2009, 14:04)
  LWN.net: "For a long time, your author has been searching for a low power music playing computer for use in an off-grid solar and wind powered mountain cabin. The desire was to have a player with capabilities that were similar to the grid-powered system used at home. This consists of a library of over 5000 FLAC-encoded audio files that are either randomly or sequentially played by one of several Python scripts."


• The Beginner's Guide to Linux, Part 1: Finding the Right Distribution (Feb 25, 2009, 13:34)
  MaximumPC: "We are certain that many of you want to try Linux to see what it is like, but have no idea where to start or how to get into it. This article is the first installment in a four-part guide that will gradually introduce you to the Linux environment and how to adjust to it if you are a new user."


• How patches get into the mainline (Feb 25, 2009, 13:04)
  LWN.net: "Once upon a time, the way to get a patch into the mainline kernel was to email it to Linus Torvalds. A hopeful developer would then wait for Linus to release a new kernel tree to see whether the patch had been included or not."


• Kindle's Feeling Reviewers' Love (Feb 25, 2009, 12:04)
  InternetNews: "As Amazon ships the second version of its popular e-reader Kindle, the reviews flowing in so far are waxing warm and fuzzy about device enhancements -- even though they are nearly silent on price."


• You do know you can't rely on Gmail, right? (Feb 25, 2009, 10:34)
  Cyber Cynic: "The first news I heard this morning was that Google's Gmail had been down last night. It was also the second, third, and fourth news I heard this morning. Come on already! What did you expect?"


• Marvell hopes $50 'plug computers' will Web-enable our hard drives (Feb 25, 2009, 09:04)
  Computerworld: "Can a computer get any smaller and cheaper than a netbook? Marvell Technology Group Ltd. thinks so."


• Review: Python Web Development with Django (Feb 25, 2009, 07:34)
  A Million Chimpanzees: "I'm already sold on the relative simplicity and power of Python based on my attempts to hammer away with the language, so this book, at least as far as the topic is concerned, is everything I could ask for. But can the same be said for the content of the book?"


• Nautilus Property Page now included in Gnome MPlayer (Feb 25, 2009, 06:04)
  Kevin's World: "So I started working on it and within about 4 hrs had something functional. It may not be finished yet, but it seems to fit the bill."


• The Perfect Desktop - Debian Lenny (Feb 25, 2009, 04:34)
  HowtoForge: "This tutorial shows how you can set up a Debian Lenny 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."


• View from the Trenches: an Interview with HL7's Charles Jaffe, M.D. (Feb 25, 2009, 03:04)
  Standards Blog: "The number of standard setting organizations (SSOs) from which specifications have been drawn to create Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are legion, due to the complex nature of these goal. Some of the standards utilized are generic, and common to any sophisticated Internet-enabled commercial system"


• Need Help with Submission: Does Copyright extremism affect open source development? (Feb 25, 2009, 02:05)
  I'd be interested in any (first or second hand) experiences where copyright extremism has affected open source projects.


• India: Bloggers can be nailed for views (Feb 25, 2009, 01:34)
  The Times of India: "A 19-year-old blogger's case could forever change the ground rules of blogging. Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content."


• Debian Lenny: Returning Home to the Mothership (Feb 25, 2009, 00:04)
  Linux Today Blog: ""A rising tide lifts all boats", and I think Canonical has done a great job at raising the visibility of Linux. But my first Linux love was Debian, and with the release of Lenny I have gone back."