Ubuntu Linux 7.10 Released

Last October 18, Canonical Ltd. - the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu - just announced that the latest Ubuntu Linux 7.10 codenamed Gutsy Gibbon is already available for free download. According to the press release, "Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Edition adds an enhanced user interface, improved hardware support, multiple monitor support and integrated desktop search" as well as "bringing together the best open source and free software available in a stable, robust environment that 'just works'."

This is a great news to all Linux users out there, just recently Canonical Ltd. released Ubuntu 7.04 codenamed Feisty Fawn, and in keeping true to their bi-annual release you can download the latest version of Ubuntu here. I personally had fun ordering 5 Ubuntu 7.04 cds which I promptly gave to some of my officemates, who like me, have been using Linux for quite sometime.

I highly recommend everyone who are open source enthusiast, Linux users, or just brave souls to give Ubuntu 7.10 a spin and see the benefits - first hand - of using Linux.

Seven Wonders of the IT World

CIO.com has compiled a rather interesting list of the Seven Wonders of the IT World. Some are very interesting while others are not.

The first one is the computer closest to the North Pole, and that title belongs to Webcam #1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory takes care of this floating eye at the top of the world.



The second one is the computer farthest from Earth, and that title belongs to NASA's voyager satellite. It is three times farther away from Pluto.




The third one is the world's most intriguing data center, and that title belongs to Googles' The Dalles, Oregon data center. It has a hydroelectric dam for power, two four-story cooling towers.






The fourth one is the world's largest scientific grid computing project, and that title goes to the E-sciencE II (EGEE-II) project. It is a large-scale scientific research projects in fields from geology to chemistry.




The fifth one is the world's fastest supercomputer, the IBM BlueGene/L (BGL). It helps researchers answer physics questions about stockpiled nuclear weapons and materials like Plutonium.




The sixth one is the world's smallest PC to run Windows Vista, the QOQ Model 2. Such a small and stylish device that runs the latest OS from Microsoft.




And lastly, the seventh one is the biggest paradigm change in enterprise software, that title belongs to the Linux kernel. One of the biggest name in free and open source software revolution.





Disclaimer: All images from CIO.com. Please click here to view the entire article.

Python 3000 released!

Python 3.0 has just been released! Be wary though, this is just an alpha release, with beta releases next year and hopefully the final version will be delivered by August 2008.

For those who are not familiar with Python, it is a high-level and multi-paradigm programming language (functional, object oriented and imperative) which has a fully dynamic type system and uses automatic memory management; it is thus similar to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, and Tcl. [wikipedia.org]

Its new version is called Python 300 (a.k.a. "Py3k", and released as Python 3.0) is a new version of the language that is incompatible with the 2.x line of releases. The language is mostly the same, but many details, especially how built-in objects like dictionaries and strings work, have changed considerably, and a lot of deprecated features have finally been removed. [python.org]

So if you are ready to learn the wonderful world of python, well I just started myself, click here to download the new alpha version of the language. Be warned though, this is not yet a stable release.

Software Freedom Day 2007

I got this from the local Linux user group in Davao. To all tech enthusiasts who share a passion with free and open source software, it's this time of the year to congregate.

Please say hello to Software Freedom Day 2007! Share the banner to inform other people.

Set Your Documents Free!

Red Hat announces the new ODF artwork for us to share and spread.

What is ODF?

ODF is a file format for electronic office documents, such as spreadsheets, charts, presentations, databases and word processing documents (e.g.: memos, reports, letters). [wikipedia]

It's main competitor is the Microsoft Office formats. The key differentiator here is that ODF is backed by a standards committee called Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).

What's the reason for ODF?

The reason for the existence of ODF is that OASIS believe that file formats should be free and open source, in that way when you open ODF files you don't need the expensive Microsoft Word to create, edit and view document files, rather you can use any document viewer program as well.

Final note from Red Hat

What can you do? Download, print, and hang the poster. Spread the word. And liberate your documents with ODF.

The declarations that started the Linux revolution

A trip back in the memory lane on how Linux started.

First declaration.

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Summary: small poll for my new operating system
Message-ID: <1991aug25.205708.9541@klaava.helsinki.fi>
Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready.I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system(due to practical reasonamong other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40),and things seem to work.This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, andI'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's
all I have :-(

Second declaration.

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
Message-ID: <1991oct5.054106.4647@klaava.helsinki.fi>
Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all-nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just for you :-) As I mentioned a month(?)ago, I'm working on a free version of a minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has
finally reached the stage where it's even usable (though may not be depending on
what you want), and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it. Sources for this pet project of mine can be found at nic.funet.fi (128.214.6.100) in the directory /pub/OS/Linux. The directory also contains some README-file and a couple of binaries to work under linux (bash, update and gcc, what more can you ask for :-). Full kernel source is provided, as no minix code has been used. Library sources are only partially free, so that cannot be distributed currently. The system is able to compile "as-is" and has been known to work. Heh. Sources to the binaries (bash and gcc) can be found at the same place in /pub/gnu.

Con quits Linux

Con Kolivas, a prominent Linux kernel developer, recently hanged up his glove in Linux development. Why did he left it all behind? If you're interested on Linux programming please take a time to read about the article. It talks about the software and hardware market and its impact on the Linux kernel development. He also gave an insight about the brutal kernel development discussions and how ego tripping runs amok in it.

Con Kolivas was a kernel developer who specializes in process scheduling. If you are a computer science student you will understand what process scheduling is about. If you don't know what it is, please take a look at scheduling computing [wikipedia] to appreciate it more.

As much as I wanted to join in the kernel development, the mailing list just struck fear in me. I know a little about operating systems development back in college days but it seems that I'm just a small fish in a big pond of kernel hackers. Oh well, sad day for Linux development, but all the thanks and luck to Con in his future endeavor.

I Want Eee!

I know what I want for Christmas! An Eee! According to Asus, Eee stands for "easy to learn, easy to play, easy to work". Just by hearing the name one can recall a similar product the Nintendo Wii. Maybe it was named as such to conjure the novice-friendly approach of Wii into computing.

Just look how small it is.

Specifications

According to reports the Asus Eee PC 701 specifications are:

• 7-inch display
  
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• Ethernet
• modem
• webcam
• 900 MHz Intel Dothan Pentium M CPU
• 512MB of RAM
• 4 or 8 GB flash drive
• and a Linux OS

This thing runs Linux.

What about the price?

This is the reason why I want this gadget. Price starts at $199 for the 4GB model and $299 for the 8GB model. Imagine that! For less than PHP 10K I can have a spanking brand new, powerful, and very ultraportable laptop-lite.

The Market

Students or someone who just wants a laptop to:

• browse the web
• check emails
• instant messaging
• video conferencing
• jot down notes
• create simple office related tasks
  
• upload and download files

This machine is heaven-sent. With Palm Foleo just around the corner, it will be an interesting year for laptop-lites. Hoping to grab one in stores by the year-end. And again hoping that Filipino tech shops won't overprice this thing.

* for a very thorough review of this thing, click here.

Ubuntu on Dell: will you buy one?

I think hell just freezes over, who would have thought of all PC makers out there it will be Dell that will pre-install Ubuntu Linux on some of its products, I was clearly surprised. After the dust has settled the real question is, will you buy one? Let's be realistic for awhile, Dell caters mostly to the American market, but if given a chance will Filipino flock computer shops in search for Dellbuntu? My answer, no.

Although there have been an increase in buying branded pcs in the last years, Filipinos still tend to buy those el-cheapo pcs - e.g. custom-made and brandless - why? because it cost cheaper, a lot cheaper, and how about support? they don't need it, a call from one of their friends and voila their computers are as good as new. If we can't even buy Chinese PC brands, how much more the Dell brand. And to make matters worst, piracy is so rampant here in the Philippines that no average Filipino will never ever try Linux. Don't get me wrong, I have tried different Linux flavors, but when you have Microsoft Windows for PHP 100 (roughly $2) it is a very tough battle. Hopefully those local Linux user groups will advocate more on Linux usage, especially Ubuntu which is geared towards the average juan.

Sidenote: If you have been using Linux, kindly share your experience with it. Thanks.