Tech | Steve Woods

LibreOffice 4.0.3 RC3 released

06/05/2013 Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Tech

The third release candidate (RC) for LibreOffice 4.0.3 is now available for download for evaluation and testing, etc.

As usual, the development team stress that using LibreOffice pre-release builds for “mission-critical” purposes is not recommended.

LibreOffice for all your office suite needs: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, drawing and formulas

Potential users are also advised to consult the Releases Notes.

When you visit the download page, it will try to detect the visitor’s system and offer the visitor the right download automatically, but may not succeed in all cases.

People who are interested in even more bleeding-edge binaries of LibreOffice’s current development are advised to try the nightly builds. However, those are potentially even less suitable for productive work, provided by individual contributors and have not been approved in any way by a quality assurance process. Caveat emptor.
“Rock solid” Debian 7 released

06/05/2013 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech
On 4th May, Debian made the following announcement concerning the release of Debian 7.0, the latest stable release of this venerable Linux distribution.
After many months of constant development, the Debian project is proud to present its new stable version 7.0 (code name “Wheezy”).

This new version of Debian includes various interesting features such as multiarch support, several specific tools to deploy private clouds, an improved installer and a complete set of
multimedia codecs and front-ends which remove the need for third-party repositories.

Multiarch support, one of the main release goals for Wheezy, will allow Debian users to install packages from multiple architectures on the same machine. This means that you can now, for the first time, install both 32- and 64-bit software on the same machine and have all the relevant dependencies correctly resolved, automatically.

The installation process has been greatly improved: Debian can now be installed using software speech, above all by visually impaired people who do not use a Braille device. Thanks to the combined efforts of a huge number of translators, the installation system is available in 73 languages and more than a dozen of them are available for speech synthesis too.

In addition, for the first time, Debian supports installation and booting using UEFI for new 64-bit PCs (amd64), although there is no support for Secure Boot yet.

This release includes numerous updated software packages, such as:
With this broad selection of packages, Debian once again stays true to its goal of being the universal operating system. It is suitable for many different use cases: from desktop systems to netbooks; from development servers to cluster systems; and for database, web, or storage servers. At the same time, additional quality assurance efforts like automatic installation and upgrade tests for all packages in Debian’s archive ensure that Wheezy fulfils the high expectations that users have of a stable Debian release. It is rock solid and rigorously tested.

You can install Debian on computers ranging from handheld systems to supercomputers, and on nearly everything in between. A total of nine architectures are supported: 32-bit PC / Intel IA-32 (i386), 64-bit PC / Intel EM64T / x86-64 (amd64), Motorola/IBM PowerPC (powerpc), Sun/Oracle SPARC (sparc), MIPS (mips (big-endian) and mipsel (little-endian)), Intel Itanium (ia64), IBM S/390 (31-bit s390 and 64-bit s390x) and ARM EABI (armel for older hardware and armhf for newer hardware using hardware floating-point).

Want to give it a try?
If you want to simply try it without having to install it, you can use a special image, known as a live image, available for CDs, USB sticks, and netboot set-ups. Initially, these images are provided for the amd64 and i386 architectures only. It is also possible to use these live images to install Debian. More information is available from the Debian Live homepage.

If, instead, you want to directly install it, you can choose among various installation media, such as Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, CDs and USB sticks, or from the network. Several desktop environments – GNOME, KDE Plasma Desktop and Applications, Xfce, and LXDE – may be installed through CD images; the desired one may be chosen from the boot menus of the CDs/DVDs. In addition, multi-architecture CDs and DVDs are available which support installation of multiple architectures from a single disc. Or you can always create bootable USB installation media (see the Installation Guide for more details).

The installation images may be downloaded right now via bittorrent (the recommended method), jigdo, or HTTP; see Debian on CDs for further information. Wheezy will soon be available on physical DVD, CD-ROM, and Blu-ray Discs from numerous vendors, too.

Already a happy Debian user and you only want to upgrade?
Upgrades to Debian 7.0 from the previous release, Debian 6.0 (codenamed “Squeeze”), are automatically handled by the apt-get package management tool for most configurations. As always, Debian systems may be upgraded painlessly, in place, without any forced downtime, but it is strongly recommended to read the release notes as well as the installation guide for possible issues and for detailed instructions on installing and upgrading. The release notes will be further improved and translated [in]to additional languages in the weeks after the release.
I’ve been using Wheezy on my laptop since release candidate 1 and can testify to it being rock solid and reliable. In particular, the screen display seems much more stable than it ever did under Ubuntu. Indeed the only problems I had with installing Wheezy were getting the wifi working (simply a matter of downloading and installing the correct firmware for the Broadcom chip on the card) and forgetting to install such little extras as libdvdcss2 so I could watch DVDs.

Why have I changed from Ubuntu? Unfortunately, the long-term support (updates) for the version I was running (10.0.4) runs out this month and subsequent versions have switched to the Unity desktop (not my favourite). I still regard Ubuntu as a great distribution, especially for beginners, to whom I’d recommend it for ease of use. Furthermore, for those who dislike Unity, there’s always the KDE-based Kubuntu, of course… 🙂
CERN restores first ever website

01/05/2013 Steve WoodsOpen Standards, Tech

In honour of the 20th anniversary of the release of libwww into the public domain (posts passim), CERN has restored the first ever website at http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

As screenshot of the front page of this historic site is shown below. The links on the pages are active too!

The world’s first ever website. Click on the image for the full version

Well done CERN.
Translators and interpreters – the illustrated guide

30/04/2013 Steve WoodsLanguage, Tech

In the past this blog has drawn attention to the sloppy use of terminology by the BBC and others, confusing translators with interpreters.

As some media types seem incapable of dealing with too many words, here’s a handy illustrated guide for them (all images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).

Firstly, a translator in the pre-digital age.

A pre-digital age translator at work

The bearded chap scribbling away is St. Jerome, one of the fathers of the Catholic Church, renowned for his translation into Latin of the Vulgate Bible.

Nowadays, a modern translator is more likely to be scribbling away using the kit in the picture below.

A modern translator’s desk

Note the keyboard, screen and dictionaries. The written word is clearly involved here.

Next we have a couple of conference interpreters.

Conference interpreters in action

Note the use of headsets and microphones. The spoken word is in evidence here.

However, interpreters sometimes use the written word to take notes, as shown here, but this is merely to assist in remembering long passages of spoken words.

On the left Mahmoud Abbas, on the right Barack Obama. Between them sits a White House interpreter taking notes while POTUS speaks.

Confused by translators and interpreters? You shouldn’t be! We’re here to help nation write and speak respectively to nation! 😉
libwww released 20 years ago today

30/04/2013 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Open Standards, Tech

The H Online reminds us that 20 years ago CERN in Geneva gave Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau official permission to release the libwww library free of charge, according to Berners-Lee, “to create a server or a browser, to give it away or sell it, without any royalty or other constraint”.

Since then this act of altruism on the part of CERN has had a profound effect on the world of communications. libwww (Library World Wide Web) is a highly modular client-side web API for Unix and Windows, as well as being the name of the reference implementation of this API. It can be used for both large and small applications, including web browsers/editors, robots and batch tools.

Its more modern replacement is considered to be libcurl.

You can read more about libwww on Wikipedia.

Reposted from Bristol Wireless.
The most clueless tweet yet by a politician?

27/04/2013 Steve WoodsPolitics, Social Media, Tech

Politicians are not renowned for their use of either modern technology or social media. As regards the latter, this was previously noted by tech humour site xkcd with the “Clueless Politician Coast” on the island of Twitter on its Updated Online Communities map in 2010.

If proof were needed of this cluelessness, this was happily provided today by Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Case proven, m’lud?

Those with memories capable of coping with more than 140 characters – 138 more than used by Ms Miller – may recall she was the MP who thought it was perfectly in order for taxpayers to provide her parents with somewhere to live.
Recommended software: Tor Browser Bundle

27/04/2013 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

If you’re interested in safe, secure internet browsing, you’ll be interested in the Tor Browser Bundle.

Tor itself is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the internet. As a user, Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your internet connection from learning what sites you visit; it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location and it lets you access sites which are blocked. For more information about Tor, read the project’s overview page.

Tor Browser Bundle in action. I was in Bristol. The IP address resolves to San Donato Milanese in Italy.

The Tor Browser Bundle lets you use Tor on Linux, Mac OS X or Windows without the need to install any software. all you need to do is unzip the package for your particular OS, and it’s ready to use. The Tor Browser bundle can run off a USB flash drive, is self-contained and comes with a pre-configured web browser to protect your anonymity.
On Mayday copy all your emails to Theresa May

25/04/2013 Steve WoodsPolitics, Tech

The government wants to establish a database of all the emails, internet browsing habits and telecommunications data under the Communications Data Bill, also known as the Snooper’s Charter (posts passim).

Why not save them one day’s effort by copying you send for a whole day to the Home Secretary? Show “Big Sister” that her “Big Brother” plans are not acceptable.

For those readers on Facebook, there’s a campaign page there.
I write to my MP on Snooper’s Charter

24/04/2013 Steve WoodsPolitics, Tech

It seems that the Home Office is trying to sneak the Communications Data Bill, also known as the Snooper’s Charter, into the Queen’s Speech to be given to Parliament on 8th May.

It’s trying to do this with as little consultation as possible and whilst trying to keep the details of the Bill secret.

As I’m not a criminal, I object to having my communications monitored by the government and have today written the email below to my MP, Stephen Williams, to draw his attention to the Home Office’s shenanigans.

Dear Mr Williams

I’ve written to you before on the matter of the Snooper’s Charter, also known as the Communications Data Bill.

The Home Office is – to the best of my understanding – trying to rush through an revised version of the Bill (the previous version was roundly condemned by a joint committee of both Houses, if I recall correctly) with minimal or no consultation.

In addition, the Bill has also attracted the attention of the Information Commissioner. Home Secretary Theresa May has so far declined to explain a proposed “filtering” system which would allow officials to trawl through the public’s private emails, text messages and other messages sent through the internet. However, the Information Commissioner has now ordered the Home Office to publish the advice that ministers received on the design, cost and risks of the new filtering system by 11th May. If the Home Office fails to comply with the Information Notice issued by the Commissioner last week, it will be judged as being in “contempt of court”. For full details, please see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10007940/Home-Office-faces-legal-action-unless-it-reveals-details-of-Snoopers-charter.html

I would urge you to use your influence with Nick Clegg and David Cameron, who are this week deciding whether to keep the Snoopers’ Charter in the Queen’s Speech on 8th May.

Yours, etc.

For those readers also concerned by the illiberality of the Home Office’s proposals – of which the GDR’s Stasi would have been proud – discover what you can do by consulting the Open Rights Group website.
Debian 7.0 due for release in early May

19/04/2013 Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

Yesterday Neil McGovern posted an email to the Debian Development announce list giving the timetable for the next release of the stable version of Debian GNU/Linux, codenamed Wheezy.

We now have a target date of the weekend of 4th/5th May for the release. We have checked with core teams, and this seems to be acceptable for everyone. This means we are able to begin the final preparations for a release of Debian 7.0 – “Wheezy”.

The intention is only to lift the date if something really critical pops up that is not possible to handle as an errata [sic], or if we end up technically unable to release that weekend (e.g. a required machine crashes or d-i explodes in a giant ball of fire). Every other RC fix that does not make it in time will be r1 material. Please be sure to contact us about the RC fixes you would like included in the point release!

Status
======

From the usertags page you can see a total of:
Blockers for Wheezy bugs (2 bugs)
Planned for removal bugs (4 bugs)
Ignored for Wheezy bugs (58 bugs)

These have all been actioned/fixed. However, there are also about 17 bugs that have not yet been tagged and are not hinted. These will be actioned shortly.

Awesomeness of Wheezy
=====================

We really need some more work on http://wiki.debian.org/NewInWheezy, please help contribute! Let’s tell everyone why Wheezy will be the best release ever.

As well as this, release notes, installation guides and documentation in general, especially translations can always do with some work. Please see previous mails on these, and help if you can.

I’ve been using Wheezy on my laptop for the last couple of weeks and it’s a very stable, reliable operating system. See instructions for getting Debian if you want to use or try it too.

Posts navigation