Archive for the 'Desktop' Category
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
Bob Sutor goes 100% Linux on the desktop; Mac surges; where’s Windows?
Nice to see Bob Sutor has made the complete switch to Linux for laptop use at work. I remember the day I wiped out my Windows partition on my laptop - it was memorable. I then went an entire year booting Windows in VMWare only about 3-5 times.
It’s great to see the transition starting to happen everywhere. Even if some of the transitions are to Mac, it’s greater choice.
This is all going to be even easier as technologies like Firefox, OpenOffice/ODF and open standards start to permeate the set of options available to users.
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
The Register Open Season Podcast
This was another interesting podcast. I’m obviously a fan of Mr. Vance (has anyone ever called him “Mr.”?) - maybe I’m the first. I also need to meet Matt Asay at some point… have much to discuss.
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Ubuntu Mobile Internet Device (MID) Edition is here
Ubuntu has officially released its MID Edition. There is a KVM image you can download to try it out. I haven’t seen any news on what devices or vendors will be bundling MID, but I’m sure Mark has some ideas for that.
http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS4429818312.html
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
June 17: Firefox 3
It’s official - June 17. I’ve been using v3 for a while now in beta and previews - it’s fast, really fast. I was having issues with Google Maps, but hopefully v3 will have the bugs fixed. If not, my fault for not reporting them ;-)
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Acer is betting big on Linux for portables
It looks like Acer is going big for Linux in its portables lineup. This is great news and offers greater options. The big question is when will ISVs start porting their commercial apps over… come on Adobe - it’s time for CS5 to support Linux!
Acer describes its 3 motivations as follows:
“We have shifted towards Linux because of Microsoft,” he said. “Microsoft has a lot of power and it is going to be difficult, but we will be working hard to develop the Linux market.”
Acer sees two killer apps with Linux on computers: operation and cost. Its flavour of Linux will boot in 15 seconds compared to minutes for Windows, and the open source operating system can extend battery life from five to seven hours.
At the same time, the company expects that the price differential of Linux will make the offering attractive for consumers at the low-cost end of the market.
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Toshiba will put Cell processors in select 2009 laptops
This is really cool - Toshiba is putting Cell processors into its 2009 laptops. It looks like they’re targeting video decoding similar to what they’re doing with the Cell processor in TVs, but I’m sure some crafty Linux developers will have a lot of fun using it to power 3D graphics. The Toshiba cell chip will only use 4 SPEs vs the 8 used in the PS3 but it should be quite powerful nonetheless. This could be a huge step forward for video editing and it looks like they’re already partnering with Corel (could we see VideoStudio accelerators?).
I’d like to see Toshiba sell a desktop card now…
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/09/toshiba_cell_strategy/
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Greetings from Hardy Heron
The good news: Hardy Heron is fantastic.
The complicated news: there appears to be a bug in the Wubi installer that can set the drive path incorrectly. It doesn’t ruin anything, but it could be tricky for novices that run into it. More on this tomorrow.
Download your Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron ISOs today!
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” arrives tomorrow
Unless you’ve been without internet access for days, you should know by now that Ubuntu’s next release is due tomorrow and that is always an exciting time. So fire up your fastest mirror tomorrow and see how much bandwidth you can grab before a billion others do the same ;)
I really like the direction Mark is taking with Ubuntu on the server. One, it offers a competing model for the industry compared to the RHEL/SLES model, two Ubuntu is pushing the technology further (e.g. KVM) and making it very easy for users to adopt (ala Microsoft Windows), and finally, it’s one platform that does well in many circles from desktop to server (ala Windows). So while Red Hat, Novell and Oracle fight over what’s left of Sun’s Solaris install base and grab some of the Windows opportunity, Ubuntu is driving straight into the Windows Vista SP1 Party with a fresh alternative. Now let’s just get those “Apple-like” Ubuntu systems we need with all the Adobe apps on them ;-)
Ubuntu article: http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/042108-ubuntu-linux-takes-on-enterprise.html?page=1
P.S. I claim absolutely no insight into what amount of sheer stupidity or drunkenness led to that Microsoft video link. I think sogrady said it best with just, “words fail me”.
Saturday, April 12th, 2008
Hello Winamp - we meet again
I remember using Winamp back in college. It was 1997 and downloading music from websites (yes, actual HTML links to download XYZ by Whoever) started to become popular. I don’t recall when Napster really hit my radar (not that I would admit to ever using it), but Winamp and MP3 were 1:1 in my world. When Winamp 2.0 came out, I remember playing around with all the skins… I even created a JCU skin at one point… memories.
It’s been a while since I’ve used Winamp though. Having moved most of my systems to Linux, I have rarely seen much of Windows and admittedly lost touch with Winamp. Today am happy to say that we’ve reconnected.
Our reconnection starts with an absolute hatred of iTunes and a horrible relationship that involves completely erasing, syncing, and re-creating libraries, playlists, etc b/c Apple decided to build in all kinds of DRM into iTunes. It’s nonsense and the challenge has always been in my mind, a lack of alternatives. The latest issue I’ve had is that my MP3 library is on a RAID array and for some reason, iTunes keeps on blowing up the RAID array… not good. I can’t even imagine how that’s possible, but it’s highly repeatable. I start Windows, RAID array is fine. I do anything, leave Windows on for 2 days, it’s fine. On the second day, if I open iTunes and do anything that involves accessing a file… my RAID drive splits into 2 separate drives in Windows Explorer and if I reboot - I get a degraded RAID array.
I have a system at home that has Windows Vista 64-bit. I needed Windows b/c I needed a couple things: 1) Photoshop, 2) Video editors for my home movies recorded on the awesome Sony HDR-SR7 HD video camera, and 3) web conferencing (although I don’t need Windows anymore now that I have the latest Ubuntu).
So back to my plight. I bought an iPod Nano 3rd Generation a while back simply because it’s thinner and lighter than my last MP3 player. It’s perfect for skiing is really what it comes down to.
I tried Songbird, but it’s way too early (couldn’t add any songs to my iPod). I tried a demo version of some terrible app that supposedly integrates into Windows Media Player. I searched for any way to get gtkPod on Windows, and even considered a Busybox/gtkPod route. And then… a Google search finally led to a blog, a blog to another blog’s list of alternatives and there it was: “Winamp.com”. The solution quickly unfolded before my eyes. Winamp - it’s been years, but boy am I glad to see you again.
So I fired up Winamp and right there, it found my iPod without me doing anything. I can click drag files onto the iPod and it’s seamless. And here’s the best part - you can play songs OFF the iPod and you can go in and delete files from the iPod (no check a box in the library / sync nonsense).
Winamp is the best iTunes there ever was. It’s like seeing a good friend from college that you had so many great times with but lost touch through the years. Now, let’s go have a beer.
Escape iTunes: Download Winamp
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Swiss Education System to migrate 9,000 desktops from Windows to Linux
Great news for Linux as a desktop platform as the Swiss Education System signs up 9,000 desktops for the move.
http://www.linuxwins.com/9000-swiss-education-computers-drop-windows-for-linux/
From the Google translated page, it appears these desktop were in dual boot setups and are now going to be straight Ubuntu Linux.
What is the use? Candolle In college, it was anticipated the guidelines of DPI. Après des années de « dual boot , c’est-à-dire d’ordinateurs équipés d’un double système d’exploitation Windows/Linux, les machines tournent désormais exclusivement sous Ubuntu, une «distribution» de Linux. After years of “dual boot, ie computers equipped with a dual operating system Windows / Linux, the machines are now exclusively under Ubuntu, a” distribution “of Linux.
Friday, April 4th, 2008
My old neighborhood featured in ComputerWorld for migrating its schools to Linux
I was so proud to see a city that I used to “hang out” in when in high school (usually at a batting cage, on a baseball field, or in a gym for pitchers-catchers practice - see a theme?) has begun deploying Linux PCs across its school district. I’m from the Cleveland, Ohio area originally and Brecksville-Broadview Heights is actually a very nice area so while budgets and schools may always seem to be in conflict, I have no doubt, B-BH’s school district is doing much better financially than others. If it makes sense in a city that could afford Windows, I’m sure it makes sense in many other school districts across the world. I’ll have to try meeting up with John next time I’m in town visiting.
I’m copying/pasting an usually large amount of text from ComputerWorld and recommend reading the entire article here:
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/040108-school-districts-serve-up-lessons.html?page=3
Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District opts for Eee PCs
John Schinker is the technology coordinator for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District in Ohio, which is comprised of six schools serving some 4,800 students from kindergarten to grade 12.
Schinker oversees all aspects of technology for the district, including hardware, software, instructional applications and networking operations.
Schinker purchased eight Linux-based Eee PCs for the district: one for the technical staff, one for himself, and one for each school, with instructions to pass them around among students and staff to determine how they can fit into the district’s educational environment.
“For us, the price was the major selling factor. If we had gone with Windows, it would have increased the cost by about US$150 and the hardware would be underpowered. Even running XP SP2, we would need more RAM in them. Linux was really the way to go to keep the cost manageable,” Schinker said.
So what do the kids think of Linux compared to Windows?
“So far, it hasn’t been an issue. Other than the Eee PCs and most of our servers, we’re Windows only. But the Eee PC is so intuitive, it hasn’t been a problem. Our experience with the Eee PC has prompted us to look at using something like Linpus on our older desktop hardware too,” he said.
Schinker said one positive outcome from Linux is that it forces the district to limit the scope of the Eee PCs.
“By not running Windows, we can put some limits on the expectations of the little laptops. They’re not going to run Accelerated Reader, or Successmaker or Adobe CS. We can focus the expectations on the things that it does well rather than trying to make all of these other applications work, and that is really nice from a tech perspective.”
What the Linux Eee PC will do for the district is allow kids to access the Web, write essays and stories, collect and graph data, and prepare and deliver presentations.
“My own kids, ages 6 and 8, really like Tux Paint. They say it’s as good as or better than the commercial Kid Pix program.”
But Schinker doesn’t think it matters what OS kids use, as long as it is tailored to their educational needs.
“Certainly the user interface on the Eee PC is intuitive…but there are plenty of Windows front-ends that will do the same thing and are just as easy to use.
“I think the older kids will have concerns that aren’t focused on the OS per se; they’ll be more easily frustrated by the screen resolution and keyboard size than the younger kids, but I don’t think the OS is a concern for them,” he said.
With the education sector typically under funded, the low entry cost to open source has its appeal, Schinker said.
“On the server side, almost everything we use is open source. We run Linux servers with Apache, MySQL, PHP, WordPress, Moodle, Samba, Xmail, Dovecot, SquirrelMail, etc. In almost every case, we’ve been able to implement better technology for less money because of the availability of open source and open standards technologies.”
But the cost savings aren’t always worth the migration efforts.
On the desktop the district tends to use more proprietary software, such as MS Office which costs around US$60 per copy. While OpenOffice would be more economical, Schinker said it is not worth the compatibility issues a migration would result in.
“I do think we focus too much in education on the tools. There’s the argument that we should be using what the ‘real world’ uses to better prepare our students. I argue that we need to focus on teaching concepts rather than specific software applications. Those skills can then be applied to whatever software package they end up using,” he said.
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04’s “Install inside Windows” option
It’s been one of those things were I kept hearing “Ubuntu” and something about making it easy for “Windows” users but I never really thought it would be much more than some basic migration tool no one would ever use. However, I just read this article and now I get it. Ubuntu has made dual boot without disturbing your NTFS partition in Windows absolutely foolproof. I’m amazed at the simplicity. Now Ubuntu has a huge advantage over Apple… think Apple.. I know Mark doesn’t think the business model works, but being then “open” Apple is the way to go. Sleek desktop deals, Ubuntu-compliant peripherals, Adobe supported apps, Lotus Notes for enterprise users, Zimbra for SMBs…
Sorry about that, I went off course. Take a look at this article which includes the play-by-play screenshots for running Ubuntu “inside” Windows. (and it works with Vista)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1570&tag=nl.e622
Monday, March 31st, 2008
Adobe joins the Linux Foundation!
Awesome news from Jim and David! Hey, better late than never ;-)
“Adobe’s decision to join the LF is a natural extension of its commitment to open standards and open source, which demonstrates its leadership and foresight in the software industry,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “Adobe’s membership will contribute to our goal of increasing even more application development on Linux with a specific emphasis on Web 2.0 applications.”
“Adobe delivers key RIA technologies for Linux users, such as Adobe® Flash® Player and now Adobe AIR™, to deploy RIAs in the browser and on the desktop,” said David McAllister, director of standards and open source at Adobe. “The Linux Foundation is a valuable resource, providing a forum where we can work with the community to ensure Adobe RIA technologies are compatible across the Linux software platform.”
This makes perfect strategic sense for Adobe. I can’t wait to see more Adobe desktop apps running on Linux. Adobe will be at the LF Summit and I believe are participating in DAM.
Press release here: http://linux-foundation.org/weblogs/press/2008/03/30/adobe-joins-linux-foundation-with-focus-on-linux-for-web-20-applications/
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Microsoft Windows 7 going to look a lot like Linux?
It seems like Sun and Microsoft, for all their anti-Linux crusading are both sending strong signals that their OS’s will in the future look a lot more like Linux…
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
OpenOffice 3.0 Preview
I can’t wait for this release. The Notes2 features are fantastic and probably the best feature will be native tables in Impress (FINALLY!). I wonder when these features will make it into Lotus Symphony… hopefully soon.
Check out the overview of new features here:
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/03/openofficeorg-30-new-features.html
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Eclipse takes on Java and .NET with OSGi model for run time apps
Very cool news…
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2136&tag=nl.e622
Monday, March 10th, 2008
NVIDIA Quadro Driver runs fastest on… Linux? What, not Windows??
It’s true, the NVIDIA graphics driver for Linux appears to best Windows and Solaris - and by a wide margin. I think the “Linux support” issue can be somewhat put to bed finally - except for ease of updating with kernel revs… now that is usually a pain still. I am somewhat amazed at how strongly Windows secured a last place finish… I wonder how much is due to the driver and how much to the OS…
By the way, if you’re wondering how a company got away with comparing performance with Solaris (which is not allowed per the Solaris license), you should note that they used the Solaris Express Developer Edition which I can only assume does not have the clause preventing non-Sun licensed parties from publishing Solaris performance results (I have not read that license myself, but am guessing Phoronix did - or they secured permission from Sun…).
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_workstation_perf&num=1
Friday, March 7th, 2008
Don Marti interviews Andrea Arcangeli on KVM and hypervisor virtualization
Don Marti has a great podcast interview up with Andrea Arcangeli on KVM and the benefits of the kernel taking on the hypervisor role (rather than separating the hypervisor and rewriting all the supporting structures as Xen does). KVM has many advantages and very few downsides - I recommend hearing Andrea discuss its KVM features.
What’s also interesting is that KVM is primarily backed by Qumranet who focuses on selling virtualized desktop solutions, not on selling the hypervisor itself. However, the “desktop” virtualization technology is quickly being stabilized and ready for a server environment. I think Ubuntu (try the new beta) and Fedora are the furthest ahead if you want to try KVM. It’s a very synergistic model for the Linux community to grab hold of and turn into an advantageous feature.
You can listen to the podcast here:
http://www.linuxworld.com/podcasts/linux/2008/030608-linuxcast.html
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Microsoft gets slapped by the EU for another record fine - will it really help??
Perhaps Microsoft’s recent, lame “open” announcements were prompted by an impending $1.3B fine… does anyone really think this will stop Microsoft? It’s just a tax and you know who will bear the cost (yes, those using Microsoft’s products, or Microsoft’s investors). I think a better solution would have been to look at what market structure would be necessary to facilitate the behavior that is needed. I think when it comes to Microsoft and its constant run-ins with antitrust regulators it is evident fines are not working. The industry needs regulators to step in with an effective structural change.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/02/27/ap4702025.html?partner=alerts
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record euro899 million (US$1.3 billion) on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
NYLUG’s Jim Gleason Presents on KVM
It’s great to see Jim hitting the streets in his new gig at Qumranet. Hopefully my schedule will allow me to travel between IBM sites and make it out next Wed. Note that you will need to rsvp at the NYLUG site.
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
6:30pm-8:00 PM
IBM
590 Madison Ave, 12th Floor
corner of 57th Street
** RSVP Closes at 4:30pm the day of the meeting (sharp!) ***
Please RSVP for EVERY meeting at this time.
Register at http://rsvp.nylug.org/
PLEASE NOTE: This meeting is at IBM, not Google!
Jim Gleason - on - The Next Wave of Virtualization
Kernel-based Virtual Machine and its impact on the desktop Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a Linux kernel virtualization infrastructure and open source hypervisor that provides both full and para-virtualization capabilities for Linux on commodity x86 hardware that contain the virtualization extensions from Intel and AMD. KVM is currently implemented as a loadable Linux kernel module. In late 2006, it was first included in Linux kernel 2.6.20 and and first shipped with OpenSuse 10.1 and Fedora 6.
Since KVM is part of Linux, KVM leverages the scheduler, memory management and other key resources in the Linux kernel, unlike VMware and Xen which must create their own custom mechanisms. Thus, KVM development focuses exclusively on the next-wave virtualization, while Xen and VMWare must also maintain these ‘forked’ non-Linux resources.
All of the core KVM developers, including Avi Kavity, work at the firm, Qumranet, which launched a desktop virtualization solution called Solid ICE that leverages KVM. Qumranet is the creator, maintainer and global sponsor of the KVM Open Source Hypervisor Project. Other high-ranking Linux kernel developers such as Rusty Russell and Anthony Liguori of IBM, Ingo Molnar of Red Hat, and Andrea Archangeli formerly of Novell, devote most of their time to KVM development.
What is the Next Wave of Virtualization?
Qumranet has gone beyond conventional server virtualization and application streaming by completely virtualizing end users’ desktop machines. From a browser on a thin client or PC, users access their desktop work environment over the network via a virtual machine running on a centralized server. The end result is a seamless end user work experience, just like a physical PC on a LAN. This is a high-level talk which will focus on the breakthrough Linux technology KVM, and its impact on the virtualization market.
About Jim Gleason:
Jim has been providing emerging technology to early adopters in the Financial Serivces Sector for the past ten years. Widely regarded as the person who brought Linux to Wall Street, Jim sold the first production Linux cluster to Goldman Sachs in 1998. Jim was also an early Internet pioneer having closed deals for the first official web sites of Charles Schwab, VISA, and all of Hewlett-Packard’s original web sites in 1993. Jim is also the Founder of the NY Linux Users Group and currently works at Qumranet in the capacity of Vice President of Sales.
Meeting Location:
Please note that this meeting will be held at IBM, 590 Madison Ave, 12th floor, corner of 57th Street, and not at Google. This is the building with the IBM logo on the front of the building.
Books!!!
Our friends at Prentice-Hall kindly provide us with review copies of various new titles. One of these could be yours, all you have to do is agree to review the book within a reasonable period of time.
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