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DistributionsNews and Editorials "Easy" is in the eye of the beholderThere is often a stark difference between how developers and users see problems and their solutions. A recent thread on the opensuse-project mailing list highlights exactly that difference in a discussion on providing a way for users to easily create a USB stick installation image. What developers think of as easy may not match their users' expectations. Clayton (aka smaug42) posted a request to the list: "When openSUSE 11.3 is released is there any possibility that we can provide a 'easy' way to create a full install from USB sticks?" The request was met with a number of solutions along the lines of Rupert Horstkötter's:
doing a full installation from USB already is damn easy with oS 11.2.
Just dump the hybrid iso (LiveCD) onto USB media and boot from that.
dd if=image.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=32k
For a developer, or advanced user, solutions of that kind are fairly reasonable, but, as Clayton pointed out, it doesn't solve the problem for other users: "I don't think that dd if=openSUSE-11.2-KDE4-LiveCD-i686.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M;sync is 'easy' (I can do it, but my mother for example cannot deal with that on her machine)" In addition, there are some concerns associated with that method as Carlos E. R. notes:
dd is a dangerous tool. You get the device name wrong and you might
destroy your entire hard disk content. And it is easy to get the name
wrong: in my computer, device names change from boot to boot, the moment I
plug an external usb disk.
There are cross-platform GUI tools like UNetbootin that will assist users in creating a bootable USB stick, but they aren't necessarily well-known—or installed by default. What Clayton and others are looking for is something that is integrated into the distribution:
Ubuntu for example has a "create a
bootable USB installer" thing built into the system menu now.... we
have nothing but.. "use the command line, it's easy" response :-(
which is meaningless to the average user.
That led to a suggestion that was much more in line with what is easy for a regular user. Cornelius Schumacher mentioned the imagewriter tool, which is part of the KIWI project. Further investigation found that it solved most of the problem, though there were a few issues that needed to be dealt with—starting with installing it by default for desktops. So it seems like openSUSE 11.3 (or a subsequent version) will add an easy mechanism for users to create their USB sticks. That is obviously a good thing for users. It reflects a view toward making desktop Linux more accessible to those who are not "computer geeks", which is something that Ubuntu has been pioneering for some time. Other distributions are getting on board with that as well, which requires developers and other power users to rethink how various things work. Solving problems is what engineers do, but solving the right problem, in the right way, is something that requires a different mindset. As these kinds of discussions show, though, that mindset is starting to sink in. That bodes well for the existence of a "year of the Linux desktop"—some day.
New Releases Announcing NetBSD 5.0.2NetBSD 5.0.2 has been released. Click below for the full announcement or see the release notes for additional information.
Distribution News Debian GNU/Linux Bits from the Stable Release TeamClick below for a few bits from the Debian Stable release team. Topics include Updating your package in stable, proposed-updates, oldstable, Appointment of a new Stable Release Manager, and New blood wanted.
Debian press team updatesSteve McIntyre has announced that Alexander and Meike Reichle-Schmehl have been officially added to the Debian press team.
Fedora Fedora 13 and rawhide divergeThe much-anticipated split between the Fedora "Rawhide" development repository and the stabilizing Fedora 13 repository has happened at last. That means that people continuing to follow Rawhide should fasten their seat belts and update their backups in anticipation of a flood of packages intended for Fedora 14. All Rawhide
NVIDIA Has Gallium3D Support In Fedora 13 (Phoronix)Phoronix reports that Fedora 13 will come with 3D support for the free Nouveau NVIDIA driver. "With Fedora 13, Red Hat is again shipping with the latest free software NVIDIA bits, which now includes 3D support. Thanks to an update to the mesa-dri-drivers-experimental package, there is 3D / OpenGL support enabled for NVIDIA hardware. This 3D support is coming from Nouveau's Gallium3D driver for most of the NVIDIA graphics hardware while there is also a classic Mesa driver for old NV hardware that recently came about."
New paths for Fedora developmentJesse Keating covers some repository changes as part of the No Frozen Rawhide initiative. "As part of the No Frozen Rawhide initiative, a couple new paths are showing up on our public mirrors. Previously rawhide was published to pub/fedora/linux/development/
Fedora Board Recap 2010-02-11Click below for a recap of the February 11, 2010 meeting of the Fedora Advisory Board. Topics include Improved metrics, TLA for Fedora Turkiye, Strategic working group, Importance of strategy, Different default offering, and No Frozen Rawhide.
Board Strategic Working Group Meeting Recap 2010-02-15Click below for a recap of the February 15, 2010 meeting of the Fedora Strategic Working Group. Topics include Spins and What is Fedora the Distribution?.
Gentoo Linux Gentoo Foundation Trustees 2010 electionThe Gentoo Foundation has opened an election to fill the 3 seats in the Trustees that have reached the end of their 2 year term. Nominations will be open until March 6, 2010.
Summary of the Gentoo council meeting of February 8th, 2010Click below for a summary of the February 8, 2010 meeting of the Gentoo Council. Topics include GLEPs 58 to 61 and VDB discussion.
Mandriva Linux Noteworthy Mandriva Cooker changes 1 February - 14 February 2010Frederic Himpe covers some noteworthy changes in Mandriva Cooker (development branch). "KDE has been updated to final version 4.4.0. New features since KDE 4.3 include integrated desktop search in Dolphin, a new Plasma desktop interface optimized for netbooks, Palapelli (a jigsaw puzzle game), Cantor (a scientific maths application) and many others."
Ubuntu family Ubuntu Global JamThere will be a Ubuntu Global Jam March 26 - 28, 2010. See the announcement for details. "What is Ubuntu Global Jam? The Ubuntu Global Jam is an online and in person event that takes place all across the world. People get together with the interest of making Ubuntu better, while having a good time socializing with other people near you who have the same interest and passion about Ubuntu as you do."
New Distributions Introducing the Live Hacking CDThe Live Hacking CD is a new Linux distribution packed with tools and utilities for ethical hacking, penetration testing and countermeasure verification. "Based on Ubuntu this 'Live CD' runs directly from the CD and doesn't require installation on your hard-drive. Once booted you can use the included tools to test, check and ethically hack your own network to make sure that it is secure from outside intruders."
ElementElement is an Ubuntu-based operating system for Home Theater or Media Center Personal Computers designed to be connected to your HDTV. Element comes with the software you need to manage your music, videos, photos, and internet media. Also included are a variety of applications that provide many of the same functions as your desktop PC, from web browsing to instant messaging and playing games. Element 1.0 is available for download now.
Distribution Newsletters Arch Linux Magazine, February 2010The February 2010 edition of Arch Linux Magazine is out. Inside you'll find news from Devland, the schwag store, community contributions, plus the feature articles: On Persistent Devices, Gimp Grunge, Motorcycle With A Twist, and more.
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 341The DistroWatch Weekly for February 15, 2010 is out. "It's been a fun and exciting week in the Linux world with things like Jeremy Garcia's Linuxquestions.org Members Choice Awards and the announcement-opps-not-announcement of RMS GNU/Linux-libre distribution hitting the Webwaves. Mandriva won an impressive major deployment contract and Debian Squeeze is running late. Linux Mint released their community distributions for KDE64 and Fluxbox. I updated my stable and yummy Mandriva 2010 with the newly released KDE 4.4 and give one of my favorite Linux tips. Happy reading!"
The Mint Newsletter - issue 100This issue of the Mint Newsletter covers the releases of Mint 8 Fluxbox, KDE64 and KDE, and several other topics.
openSUSE Weekly News/110This issue of the openSUSE Weekly News/110 covers * openSUSE News: Call for Volunteers in the German Wiki, * Duncan Mac-Vicar Prett: You don't need Kopete Facebook plugin anymore, * KDE SC 4.4 in the openSUSE Build Service, * How to submit a Story to the openSUSE Weekly News?, * h-online/Thorsten Leemhuis: Kernel Log: Coming in 2.6.33 (Part 4) - Architecture and virtualisation, and more.
Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #180The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter for February 13, 2010 is out. "In this issue we cover: Ubuntu Opportunistic Developer Week: Call For Participation, Interview With Jono by Joe Barker, Interview with Dustin Kirkland, Ubuntu Core Developer about encryption in Ubuntu, Upcoming Ubuntu Global Jam and your Loco Team, Ubuntu Honduras Loco Team at the T3 conference, Call for feedback on preferred desktop fonts, and much, much more!"
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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