The Latest SOBU

Read 'Wintel tablets may cost $600+ because Microsoft and Intel are unwilling to take a pay cut ' on Digital Trends. A rumor site claims that Intel tablets...

From the 'Lowest Common Denominator' files:

One of the perceived shortcomings of Mozilla's rapid release cycle, with new browsers every 6 weeks - is that enterprises couldn't keep up.

So now Mozilla has officially embraced a plan for an Enterprise release version of Firefox dubbed Extended Release Support (ESR). Personally, I don't think it's a great idea. In fact, I think it could hurt Mozilla's mission for improving the web for us all.

Kerner, Sean Michael. [January 11, 2012]. Mozilla Plans for Firefox Enterprise - Will it Slow Innovation? InternetNews.com. http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/mozilla-plans-for-firefox-enterprise-will-it-slow-innovation.html

Linux has quite a few PDF readers available, but Okular stands out as the best of the bunch, due to its ability to comment on, highlight, and otherwise annotate PDFs.

Gordon, Whitson. [Jan 13, 2012]. The Best PDF Viewer for Linux. Life Hacker. http://lifehacker.com/5875879/the-best-pdf-viewer-for-linux

Starry-eyed Linux desktop enthusiasts could become passive conduits for malware, security experts warn.

From a quick perusal of support forums for the Ubuntu Linux distribution, you’ll notice that the necessity of an antivirus program for the OS is one of the touchier subjects. Some users are clearly running their systems under the assumption that Linux is virtually impervious to attack. Why, that’s one of the benefits of Linux, they say: You don’t need antivirus software.

Bloom, Brian. [12 Jan 2012]. The myth of 'bulletproof' Linux. IT World Canada. http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/analysts-linux-security-mystique-dangerous/144662

The Rapberry Pi Foundation has begun manufacturing its pocket-sized Linux-based micro in volume, with the first batch set to roll off the line by the end of the month.

Cox, Caleb. [January 13, 2012]. Raspberry Pi Linux micro machine enters mass production. Reg Hardware. http://www.reghardware.com/2012/01/13/raspberry_pi_foundation_rolls_out_linux_based_pcs/

It appears that Microsoft may block the installation of Linux and other operating systems on ARM-based Windows 8 devices. If true, Microsoft should back off. When you buy a piece of hardware, you should have the rights to do whatever you want with it, with no technology in place thwarting you.

Gralla, Preston. [January 13, 2012]. Why Microsoft should lift the possible ban on Linux booting on Windows 8 ARM devices. Computer World. http://blogs.computerworld.com/19577/why_microsoft_should_lift_the_possible_ban_on_linux_booting_on_windows_arm_devices

The latest version of this free and open source operating system offers a choice between GNOME 2.32 and KDE 4.7.

Noyes, Katherine. [Jan 13, 2012]. For a Free Linux Alternative, Try FreeBSD 9.0. PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/248146/for_a_free_linux_alternative_try_freebsd_90.html

We held two Google Hangouts on Jan 3rd, 2011.  During the second hangout +Mike Weber showed us some tips for using Webmin on the Ubuntu server.

Weber, Andrew. [January 4, 2012]. Webmin On The Ubuntu Server | Linux Hangout. http://beginlinux.com/blog/2012/01/webmin-on-the-ubuntu-server-linux-hangout/

The control of US military spy drones appears to have shifted from Windows to Linux following an embarrassing malware infection.

Leyden, John. [January 12, 2012]. US killer spy drone controls switch to Linux. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/12/drone_consoles_linux_switch/

Great tutorial with step-by-step instructions how to create a simple geeky business card with GIMP and gedit by MitraX (www.inforbiro.com)

A fork of the GNOME 3 shell, this new software is meant to add another intermediate option between GNOME 2 and GNOME 3.

From the 'How Much is an Open Source Browser Worth?' files

A Nokia developer shared this week that his Qt 5.0 patch-set for Google Native Client is roughly on par with the Qt4 port, which he hopes to have integrated for upstream development in Qt5. This work allows for the Qt5 tool-kit to be used by web applications within supported web-browsers.

C++ has from the beginning attempted to improve on the type system of C, adding features like classes that let you build better types and enums, which eliminate the need for some uses of the preprocessor (which is not at all type safe). C++ also performs fewer implicit type conversions for you (such as not allowing implicit assignment from void*), letting the compiler find more bugs for you.

Allain, Alex. Better types in C++11 - nullptr, enum classes (strongly typed enumerations) and cstdint. http://www.cprogramming.com/c++11/c++11-nullptr-strongly-typed-enum-class.html

Data suggests a sharper rate of decline, which raises the question: why?

HP's webOS has been saved for now as they have announced that it is moving to the Open Source world and with that it has the possibility of growth.

In a recent conversation with AOL Energy, Dr. Michael Gamble spoke of his research with fusion technology, a process that fuses together tiny atoms like hydrogen and water to momentarily release energy. The nuclei of the two atoms initially repel each other, and have to overcome repulsion of the electric force before fusing together into a joint molecule whose nucleus is held stable with the strong force.

Chris DiBona recently showed the antivirus software industry who’s boss. He slapped them around like the proverbial red-headed step-child. Kudos to Mr. DiBona...

APA Citation
Djere, R. R. (2011, November 29).The linux week in review 26. Begin Linux. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://beginlinux.com/blog/2011/11/tlwir-26-dibona-libreoffice-templates-ipad-2-and-linux-mint/

In The Linux Week in Review 25, I will reveal my thoughts, both good and bad, about Apple’s extremely popular tablet. I will also reveal how the GNU/Linux community could create a hardware/software ecosystem that could dethrone the Ipad.

APA Citation
Djere, R. R. (2011, November 19).The linux week in review 25. Begin Linux. Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://beginlinux.com/blog/2011/11/the-linux-week-in-review-25/

I wasn’t sure that I’d ever write this post, but many folks have asked my to blog about my Linux choices so here it is.

I’ve always been a bit of an OS junkie. I Loved CP/M, DOS, OS2, NeXT, etc. and I’ve been a Linux user for well over a decade, but I’ve never used it as my primary machine. If whatever I was using for fun didn’t live up to my needs I could always just switch over to my Windows machine.