free software

  • Debian welcomes Google Summer of Code students

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    Debian logoReposted from Bits from Debian.

    We are proud to announce that 16 students have been accepted to work on improving Debian this summer through the Google Summer of Code! This is great news, following our 15 accepted students in 2012, and 9 accepted students in 2011.

    Here is the list of accepted students and projects:

    If you’re interested in one of the projects, please follow the links and talk directly to the students or the mentors, or come hang out with us on IRC.

  • Fedora caught in language trap

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Linux, Oddities, Tech

    Fedora Pi remix logoFedora, the community spin-off of Red Hat Linux, has announced the release of Pidora – a special remix of Fedora for the Raspberry Pi, as follows:

    Pidora 18 (Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix) Release

    We’re excited to announce the release of Pidora 18 – an optimized Fedora Remix for the Raspberry Pi. It is based on a brand new build of Fedora for the ARMv6 architecture with greater speed and includes packages from the Fedora 18 package set.

    * * *

    There are some interesting new features we’d like to highlight:

    • Almost all of the Fedora 18 package set available via yum (thousands of packages were built from the official Fedora repository and made available online)
    • Compiled specifically to take advantage of the hardware already built into the Raspberry Pi
    • Graphical firstboot configuration (with additional modules specifically made for the Raspberry Pi)
    • Compact initial image size (for fast downloads) and auto-resize (for maximum storage afterwards)
    • Auto swap creation available to allow for larger memory usage
    • C, Python, & Perl programming languages available & included in the SD card image
    • Initial release of headless mode can be used with setups lacking a monitor or display
    • IP address information can be read over the speakers and flashed with the LED light
    • For graphical operation, Gedit text editor can be used with plugins (python console, file manager, syntax highlighting) to serve as a mini-graphical IDE
    • For console operation, easy-to-use text editors are included (nled, nano, vi) plus Midnight Commander for file management
    • Includes libraries capable of supporting external hardware such as motors and robotics (via GPIO, I2C, SPI)

    Unfortunately for Fedora, Pidora has a rather embarrassing meaning to some: in Russian, “pidora” is a derogatory word for a male homosexual. As a consequence, the following announcement has been posted on the Pidora website:

    It has come to our attention that the Pidora name bears an unfortunate similarity to another word in Russian, and this has offended some community members and amused others.

    Please accept our apologies for any offence caused. Our goal was to simply associate “Pi” (from Raspberry Pi) and “Fedora” (from the Fedora Project).

    We are actively seeking a broadly-acceptable alternative Russian name in consultation with some community members, and will post more information shortly.

  • Introducing Joeffice

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Linux, Open Source, Tech

    Japplis of Amsterdam has released the alpha version of Joeffice, the first open source office suite written in the Java programming language.

    The office suite comprises a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, database editor and a drawing viewer.

    Joeffice spreadsheet screenshot
    Joeffice spreadsheet screenshot

    Joeffice works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. It also works online in a browser. Joeffice is released under the Apache license 2.0 which makes it possible for companies to change the code and redistribute it internally without having the need to share the modified code.

    Unlike some other office suites, Joeffice has a tab and docking system when opening multiple documents. It also can
    be installed online and it has a plug-in system under which third party plug-ins can be downloaded and installed.

    Japplis’ developer Anthony Goubard states he developed this open source office suite in just 30 days, according to Le Monde Informatique. In Goubard’s words: “The office suite was built with NetBeans and uses several popular open source Java libraries, which allowed me to build the program in one month.”

    Joeffice needs Java 7 to run.

  • Debian GNU/Hurd 2013 released

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    GNU Hurd boxes logoThe announcement below has been posted under the News section of the GNU website.

    GNU Hurd is the GNU project’s replacement for the Unix kernel and comprises a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control and other features that are implemented by the Unix or similar kernels (e.g. Linux).

    It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian “sid” at the time of the Debian “wheezy” release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release.

    The installation ISO images can be downloaded from Debian Ports in the usual three Debian flavors: NETINST, CD, DVD. Besides the friendly Debian installer, a pre-installed disk image is also available, making it even easier to try Debian GNU/Hurd.

    Debian GNU/Hurd is currently available for the i386 architecture with more than 10.000 software packages available (more than 75% of the Debian archive, and more to come!).

    Please make sure to read the configuration information, the FAQ, and the translator primer to get a grasp of the great features of GNU/Hurd.

    Due to the very small number of developers, our progress of the project has not been as fast as other successful operating systems, but we believe to have reached a very decent state, even with our limited resources.

    We would like to thank all the people who have worked on GNU/Hurd over the past decades. There were not many people at any given time (and still not many people today, please join!), but in the end a lot of people have contributed one way or another. Thanks everybody!

  • Amarok 2.7.1 “Harbinger” released

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    Amarok logoAmarok is a great media player for the Linux platform and one I’ve used for years; and now it’s also available for Unix and Windows too.

    The Amarok team announced the release of version 2.7.1, codenamed “Harbinger” on Wednesday this week. According to the following from the release announcement, it’s a release to fix one bug in particular:

    The Amarok Team has discovered a very unpleasant bug in QtWebkit ↔ GStreamer interaction that made continuous playing almost impossible, due to frequent crashing. We decided to work around it in our code and take it as an opportunity to release a bugfix version. It contains a couple of other fixes we deemed important.

    This version only contains some very essential fixes and changes compared to 2.7.0:

    • A modification in handling MusicBrainz ID tags was needed to avoid problems with falsely duplicate tracks.
    • We fixed a weird behaviour when the “Use Music Location?” question is answered “Yes” on the first run.
    • We now have worked around the QtWebkit ↔ GStreamer bug that caused frequent crashes on track start; this happened if the Wikipedia applet tried to load a page containing an audio tag.
    • The database is now also created if the home directory contains non-ASCII characters.
    • The Nepomuk Collection now also shows track numbers.

    These changes have also been incorporated into the next release – 2.8.0 – which is still in development and promises yet more fixes and enhancements.

  • Open source “strengthens democracy”

    Steve WoodsOpen Source, Open Standards, Politics, Tech

    image of Ivo Josipović
    Croatian President Ivo Josipović
    Open source strengthens democracy, according to Croatian President Ivo Josipović, as reported on Joinup, the EU’s public sector open source news website.

    Josipović appreciates the open source community’s creative and innovative spirit and is reported as saying: “What you are doing is something good, creative and innovative”, while opening the Croatian Linux Users’ Convention 2013 in Zagreb on Wednesday 15th May. As regards democracy, the President remarked: “Most importantly, open source helps to strengthen democracy.”

    President Josipović also expressed his “complete support” for the government plans to implement open source and open standards (what about open data? A stool needs three legs, not two! Ed.) in the Croatian public sector’s IT, according to the organisers of the Croatian Linux Users’ Convention.

    This is not the first time that Mr Josipović has shown his support for open source and open standards (posts passim)

  • Be careful on Skype, Microsoft is reading your texts

    Steve WoodsOpen Source, Tech

    Skype logoAnyone who uses Skype, has agreed that Skype may also read their text messages too. Heise Security has found out that Microsoft, which bought Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, actually avails itself of this right. At the very least https URLs sent via the chat interface receive an unannounced visit from Redmond some time later.

    Heise was alerted to this by a reader who pointed out that unusual network traffic was reported after a Skype chat with colleagues. The server logs pointed to a possible replay attack. As things turned out, a Redmond IP address had accessed the https URLs that had previously been sent. The Heise Security re-enacted the situation, sending each other URLs: one of the test https URLs contained login information; the other pointed to a private file sharing cloud service. A few hours after posting the team spotted the following in the the server log files:

    65.52.100.214 - - [30/Apr/2013:19:28:32 +0200]
 "HEAD /.../login.html?user=tbtest&password=geheim HTTP/1.1"

    Heise Security too had received a visit from an IP address registered to Microsoft. Some readers reported in the comments that Microsoft also monitors http URLs.

    When challenged about this behaviour, the company asserted that messages are scanned to filter out links to spam and phishing pages. However, the facts do not support this assertion: spam and phishing sites don’t normally lurk behind https URLs and Skype didn’t touch those. Furthermore, Skype is sending out head requests, which only the server’s retrieve administration data. Skype would have to examine the content of pages to investigate web pages for spam or phishing.

    Heise’s conclusion is that anyone who uses Skype must only agree that Microsoft can use all the data transferred almost as it feels inclined to do. It must be assumed that this actually occurs and that the company will not reveal exactly what it is doing with this data.

    As far back as 2008, The H Online, Heise’s English language news site, had previously drawn attention to potential eavesdropping in Skype.

    Anyone concerned about their privacy and the security of their own data is therefore advised to switch their communications to a client using the open source XMMP (formerly known as Jabber) protocol and free chat programs that support it.

  • ISS migrates to Linux

    Steve WoodsLinux, Open Source, Tech

    Laptops for crew use on the International Space Station (ISS) are being migrated from Windows to Linux, the Linux Foundation reports.

    image of International Space Station
    International Space Station – now penguin-powered

    The reason for the migration, given by Keith Chuvala of United Space Alliance, a NASA contractor deeply involved in Space Shuttle and ISS operations was as follows:

    We migrated key functions from Windows to Linux because we needed an operating system that was stable and reliable – one that would give us in-house control. So if we needed to patch, adjust or adapt, we could.

    The laptops will be running Debian and those currently running Scientific Linux, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone, will likewise be converted to Debian, according to ZDNet.

  • Contribute to Wikimedia Commons from your smartphone

    Steve WoodsOpen Data, Open Source, Tech

    image of Wikimedia Commons Android app login screen
    Login screen on the Commons Android app
    Wikimedia Commons is a great resource: nearly 17 mn. freely usable media files that anyone can use for any purpose and to which anyone can contribute too!

    Making contributions to Wikimedia Commons is also getting easier: it’s now possible to transfer images to the Commons database from an Android or iOS smartphone using a free and advert-free mobile app. Features include the ability to view a stream of your contributions, upload multiple files and export to Commons using – if you’re on Android – that phone’s share functionality. Your images will also be tagged with the GPS co-ordinates if GPS tagging is turned on.

    Wikimedia points out that by uploading your files to Commons, contributors will be doing more than if they just shared them with friends: they’ll be contributing the goal of spreading free knowledge around the world and sharing their work with billions of Wikipedia readers around the world (Wikipedia is the fifth most visited website in the world. Ed.).

    The Android app is available from Google Play, whilst the Apple Store features the iOS app.

    The developers also hope to add more features in future and make it easier to browse and discover all the great content Commons has to offer.

    The app development team would like you to report any bugs, as well as giving them your suggestions for new features.

  • LibreOffice 4.0.3 RC3 released

    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.

    image of LibreOffice Mime type icons
    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.

Posts navigation