Feisty is shipping

Ubuntu's ShipIt is already accepting orders for free feisty cds! Unfortunately, we can no longer order large amounts of cds. I've already ordered my 3 feisty cd's, go get yours:

• Ubuntu
• Edubuntu
• Kubuntu

Gaim has become Pidgin

Probably, every Linux user out there knows GAIM, the instant messaging client for Linux.

Well, due to some legal problems with AOL, this great project has changed it's name to Pidgin. The story was covered in slashdot.

They now have a new URL, pidgin.im.

GAIM Pidgin is a fast and light IM client, best integrated in GNOME, which I recommend to everyone.

Beryl 0.2

Beryl 0.2 is finally out!

I've made my upgrades and finally the ATI issues are solved. My window decoration is running fast and stable! If you're using Ubuntu, upgrade from these official repositories:

• deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org edgy main
• deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main
• deb http://debian.beryl-project.org etch main

While nvidia user are able to run it from Aixgl, all of ATI users, using ATI official driver must use XGL, in order to do this, install xserver-xgl from your package manager and before you login, select the XGL session. Run beryl-manager to start it.

Enjoy

Ubuntu Desktop

I've been using Ubuntu for about an year now. This is, by far, the Linux distribution that has amazed me the most.

When I first tried out Ubuntu, it was version 5.10, Dapper Drake. It amazed me the simpleness of the system, yet, with all those powerful capabilities, characteristic of Debian based systems. For the first time, the only problem I had while installing a Linux distribution was the graphic card driver, which I had to manually configure. It automatically detected my sound card, monitor resolution, keyboard, auto-mounted dvds/cds, and lots of other goodies, that made me stick with it ever since. But, nothing is perfect.. The worst problem it had a couple of years ago is still here now. Looks!

Ubuntu is trying to take a great place in the desktop world. It is now taking on Microsoft's Windows Vista or Apple's Mac OS on. Despites being a great operative system, it lacks one small detail, it is ugly as hell! I've been using Feisty for some time now, and after a recent update, I really though that this situation was getting better. My splash looked like this:



Despite the usual brown look, the image was smooth, and better than the previous one. Just a couple of days later, after another update, I was seeing the worst splash screen I've ever seen.



It is not at all 'nice'. Planet Ubuntu's contributor Alan Pope has even called this splash phallic! Fedora is way ahead Ubuntu with their default looks. If we what any system to be attractive, the first thing he has to do, is make impact. And if Ubuntu whats to be able to fight the battle for Desktops, it has to be way more than just easy to use and secure/stable.

So, because maybe we're still in time, I challenge all of those, who have the knowledge, and all the other who think that they can help, let's embrace new ideas, Ubuntu needs a new and improved look! We are tired of the boring brown! Can this be done before Feisty final release?

PS3 cluster

Dr. Frank Mueller, professor at North Carolina State University, has put together 8 PS3's, in order to create an awesome cluster, with incredible processing capabilities, for about only 5.000$US, less than some of those branded computers, which have only a fraction of the capabilities.

The PS3 allows the Linux operating system to be installed, and IBM designed the programming environment for programming the Cell processor (including eight vectorization units), which combined tremendous computing power within a single PS3. According to Mueller, each PS3 unit contains six operational special-purpose cores for number crunching and one general-purpose core that is two-way multi-threaded in his configuration, so the eight machines clustered have 64 logical processors, providing plenty of number-processing ability in addition to be able to run the latest games for a long time.

The cluster is going to be used for scientific research. By now, it is being used to teach classes in operative systems, parallel systems, compilers and gaming.

The software powering it:

• Fedora Core 5 Linux ppc64
• MPICH2 (also MPI API)
• OpenMP v2.5 (via gcc)
• gcc (C compiler)
• CellSDK 1.1

Game Installers for Linux

Linux installers are not always that great, and for those who are beginning, a little help is always handy! Loki Installers for Linux Gamers are simple installers for several games, like UT2004, Quake3 and Savage! The installers are divided into two sections:

• Native: These are developed for the Linux operative system. The installer puts the game in the selected directory and creates a launcher for the game.
• Emulated: Games ported from Windows. The game is installed and the launcher will use Cedega, Wine or other available program,that must be installed separately, to run the Windows game.

The direct download is not always great, but the tracker is available for bittorrent downloads.

Have fun!

Get OpenSolaris

So, you want to try Open Solaris, but are too lazy to download and burn the DVD? Ask for it, just like ubuntu's free cds, they're also shipping their system with a bunch of useful tools!

Ubuntu Posters

I've found some posters, Ubuntu themed, which are an awesome way to publicize the Ubuntu Operative System. The following, and a lot more of marketing images, can be found through http://doc.ubuntu.com/~marketing/spreadubuntu/

Listen Music Player

Listen is an awesome music player developed for Gnome. It has got some really cool features that lack from almost all players, such as:

• Automatic lyric fetching;
• Artist and album information from wikipedia or Last.fm;
• Very good podcast and internet radio integration;
• Excellent library management.
  

The project home page show us some nice screenshots from the application. It has been all written in python, and, despites it's early development stage, only at version 0.5, it is already fully stable and usable. The installation can be done through the Ubuntu repository by installing the listen package or, in any other distro, if the package is not available, the source can be downloaded here.

Ubuntu bugs

As it is know, Ubuntu has got an excellent bug report/support system, through launchpad. Now, you can see the stats on how many bugs are open, how many are unassigned, unconfirmed and critical. Thank you carthik

OpenMoko

OpenMoko calls itself:

The world's first integrated open source mobile comunications platform

Specifically, they are developing a phone in order to compete with Apple's Iphone and Nokia's best mobile phones. In order to this, and this is the innovative part, they are building the software, based in Open-source software only. In order to do this, according to their mailing list, they will put together the OpenMoko Linux distribution, that will be based on:

• Hardware:
• 120.7 x 62 x 18.5 (mm)
  

• 2.8" VGA (480x640) TFT Screen

• Samsung s3c2410 SoC @ 266 MHz

• Global Locate AGPS chip

• Ti GPRS (2.5G not EDGE)

• Unpowered USB 1.1

• Touchscreen

• micro-sd slot

• 2.5mm audio jack

• 2 additional buttons

• 1200 mAh battery (charged over USB)

• 128 MB SDRAM

• 64 MB NAND Flash

• Bluetooth (2.0)

• Software:

• Linux 2.6.17.14

• gcc 4.1.1

• binutils 2.17.50.0.5

• glibc 2.4

• Xorg 7.1

• glib 2.6.4

• gtk 2.6.10

• dbus 0.9

• eds

• (more)

This powerfull tool, in it's early stage, will be given to some developers who want to help, so that bugs can be found. Its release is scheduled to March of this year in the U.S., and it will probably cost $350 US Dollars, plus shipping, which let us guess that it won't be for sale in ordinary shops, but only through the website.

IM Clients for Linux

If you use Linux, there are a lot of Instant Messaging clients for you to choose from. And this is not an easy choice at all. There is the features vs stability problem all the time. In order to simplify your choice, I've decided to come up with the most know.

• Gaim
• Gaim is the number one client in the open source community. It is being widely developed, and it's awesome due to it's stability and supported protocol diversity. The version in SVN already supports web cam and a lot more.
  
• Kopete
• Kopete, I would say, is to Gaim, as KDE is to Gnome. It has some extra feature, but complete useless. While the main window is simple, the chat window has way too much garbage.
• Emenese
• Emenese is still in it's early development, but is already being talked. It is being written in python, which gives it a promising future, with lots of extensions and a fast development, common for everything that comes the python language.
• Mercury
• Mercury messenger is for all of those who are used to Windows Messenger. Supporting almost everything that the Microsoft client supports, it's only disadvantage is that it is written in java, and it consumes a lot of memory!
• Amsn
• Amsn is just ugly. It was an attempt to copy Windows Messenger, but, in my opinion, it went completely wrong and I just can't like it!
• Kmess
• Despite I haven't ever tried Kmess out, it seems to be a real simples messenger client for KDE, with all the basic needs and really usable.

I am now using Gaim 2.0.0beta6, from the Ubuntu Feisty repositories, and I'm really getting along with it. Still, my favorite one, since I've had Microsoft's MSN Messenger for some years, is Mercury Messenger. The only reason I'm not using it right now is that it was giving me some problems, probably because of the java integration. I've taken the opportunity to see how Gaim was going and decided to keep it.

Have I missed any really good one? What's the best for you?

Windows Vista

Vista is getting released worldwide. Not for my computers!

UPDATE: Similar thoughts after vista release party

Debian on Windows

Following the Ubuntu installer for Windows initiative, Debian has just released their on version of the operative system installer in an .exe, for those who want to just try this operative system. This, just like the Ubuntu version, can be uninstalled through the add/remove programs in windows, just like any other program! Download and infos here (with a very suggestive URL).

Updating to Ubuntu 7.04

I've decided to update my Edgy Eft, Ubuntu 6.10, to the development version of Ubuntu, the Feisty Fawn, that's going to become Ubuntu 7.04.

• Step 1: tiagoboldt@Niath:~$ sudo update-manager -d
• I've just issued the command, update manager has looked and found the development version, update is automatic and 976 packages are currently being downloaded.

• Step 2: Unpacking and installing EVERYTHING automatically! Probably it will take a long time! It says about 23 minutes, fingers crossed, no errors must appear, like appeared from 6.04 to 6.10.
• Step 3: Rebooting, after a long wait of updates and a quick reboot, everything seems now to be properly working. Some programs will probably crash sometimes, but this is still the development version. But everything seems to be smooth.

Operation successful


Update:
Answering to Mike's comment, yes, there is a way to install through Feisty Alternate Install CD (not the Desktop CD), for this, just insert the cd, open a terminal and type:

gksu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"

Some updates might still be needed, but, anyway, it will be just a small part of it.
Job done :)

CNR package management

CNR, standing for Click and Run, is a package management system, originally developed for freespire, that is now spreading to other linux distros, like ubuntu, debian, fedora and others. It seems to be a good alternative to apt-get/aptitude/synaptics, since it's able to give a lot more of information about the product that's going to be installed, it will be able to install proprietary software, check all package dependencies and still manage to keep the computer clean. It will maybe be a good choice, but, still, I think I'll stay with the official ubuntu package manager, I believe that it would be changed if CNR really becomes that great!
More at CNR official page.

Gaming on ubuntu

I've spent some time enabling my ATI Mobility Radeon X700 on my Acer 1694WLMi Laptop. It gave me some headaches, there was some problem with the official ATI, driver, fglrx, and mesa didn't want to go away. After some tries, I've decided to reinstall everything, xserver and fglrx, with the kernel restrictive modules. After that, I've just "sudo moddep -a" and rebooted. All went smooth, and I can now see:

tiagoboldt@Niath:~$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: MOBILITY RADEON X700 Generic
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6011 (8.28.8)

This means that my graphic card was already recognized and was ready to be user. So, what is a graphic card used for? GAMES, I've just installed the recently released second life client, savage for linux and a couple of games from the repositories, like Xmoto or Tremulous.

Second life runs really good, but I don't see any point in playing that.. It can be freely downloaded here.
As for Savage, it's total fun, just spent the evening playing it. Worth a try!

Virtualbox

Virtualbox, just like VMWare, is a virtualization software. Specifically, Virtualbox allow the user to create virtual machines to run several operative systems. The program is freely available as open-source here, and it has binaries available for several operative systems. Ubuntu package available!

War on Microsoft

As all of us already know, the Microsoft empire is being more and more attacked by a lot of other companies and open-source movements. In this image, we're able to see who's attacking what, with all the companies and applications names, from the Microsoft side, against some big names, like Oracle, Mozilla, Linux, Google, Apple, Sun and several more!

Ubuntu repositories generator

For those of you who use, witch I recommend, Ubuntu, I've just found what could be a very handy tool, a sources.list generator. For those of you who don't know what the sources.list is, it's the list of repositories to be used by ubuntu software manager, in order to update and install software. This generator will give you, according to our selections, the appropriated sources.list file. Once done, you should put the file in /etc/apt/ directory. For that, save the text in your home directory and just use the command sudo mv file /etc/apt/sources.list (this will erase the previous config). After that, just run synaptics or any other package manager and you'll notice some speed improvements, and the whole new available packages for you to try. Give it a try!