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Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

Posted Feb 9, 2010 16:32 UTC (Tue) by pranith (subscriber, #53092)
Parent article: Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

woah!! a stable update containing "changes all over the tree"??? What's going on here? Can you please elucidate why so many changes were needed for a "." update?


Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 16:23 UTC (Tue) by nye (subscriber, #51576)
In reply to: Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica) by dmag
Parent article: Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica)

Hmm, I hadn't realised Opera mobile supported such a small range of devices (not owning a portable computer myself).


Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

Posted Feb 9, 2010 15:51 UTC (Tue) by jake (editor, #205)
In reply to: Stable kernel 2.6.32.8 by PaXTeam
Parent article: Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

> which one's the security fix and how did you determine it?

because I read Greg's announcement email (linked), part of which says:

combined with verifying that a security problem
really was fixed and backported properly

jake


Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

Posted Feb 9, 2010 15:29 UTC (Tue) by PaXTeam (subscriber, #24616)
Parent article: Stable kernel 2.6.32.8

which one's the security fix and how did you determine it?


Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 15:12 UTC (Tue) by wookey (subscriber, #5501)
In reply to: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica) by MattPerry
Parent article: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica)

And (whilst we're on the subject) your-> you're.

Worthwhile post despite the grammar issues, I hasten to add.


Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 15:01 UTC (Tue) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167)
In reply to: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica) by nix
Parent article: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica)

It might be mergeable with future technology.

Take the focus wars. I currently use sloppy focus after spending a while as a strict focus-follows-mouse user, I know people who stand by click-to-focus, but I'm pretty sure we could all get along with the ideal focus mechanism focus-follows-brain. If the key strokes always landed in the window I'm expecting them to, then I won't be surprised and I will be happy with the focus policy - obviously.

Now, we just need to make the machine smart enough to implement this "obvious" policy. Similarly, I'm sure there is an obviously right but as yet unimplementable policy for window management.


PJ's comment when she posted this story in newspicks

Posted Feb 9, 2010 13:13 UTC (Tue) by wookey (subscriber, #5501)
In reply to: PJ's comment when she posted this story in newspicks by wtogami
Parent article: Matt Asay becomes Canonical's COO

Canonical has been fighting software patents a lot longer than that. For example, I heard Shuttleworth give a really effective speech about 3 years ago at the EUPACO2 (june 2007) 'future of software patents' EPO/EU event. Effective both because he is a very good speaker and most importantly because he represents real entrepreneurs and proper business people with millions to invest, who tend to get a better hearing from politicians that your average beardy geek. And that wasn't the first useful intervention. Since then they have been consistent good citizens both independently and via the FTF legal network.

You can be critical of their free software contributions and business practices if you like, but they have been very solid to date on swpats, and I see no reason for that to change in a hurry as MarkS is fairly vehement on the subject (as all right-thinking people should be).


PJ's comment when she posted this story in newspicks

Posted Feb 9, 2010 12:59 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769)
In reply to: PJ's comment when she posted this story in newspicks by nix
Parent article: Matt Asay becomes Canonical's COO

Could this be the same well known Microsoft lover and freedom enemy Daniel Robbins who has past connections with Microsoft as detailed here and here?


Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 12:54 UTC (Tue) by dmag (subscriber, #17775)
In reply to: Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica) by nye
Parent article: Linux Foundation: mobile Linux needs "magic" to beat Apple (Ars Technica)

I didn't see that button when I booted Android. ;)

Opera has a FTW button? FTW! Sounds neat, I'll have to try it on my netbook.

-=Dan=-


YouTube Ogg/Theora comparison

Posted Feb 9, 2010 12:02 UTC (Tue) by dwmw2 (subscriber, #2063)
In reply to: HTML5 video element codec debate reignited by DonDiego
Parent article: HTML5 video element codec debate reignited

This comparison may be of interest.

In reference to Chris DiBona's comments on WhatWG about Theora and YouTube, it says the following:

"While different files may produce different results, the allegation made on WhatWG was so expansive that I believe a simple comparison can reliably demonstrate its falsehood.

"I do not believe Chris intended to deceive anyone, only that he is a victim of the same outdated and/or simply inaccurate information that has fooled many others.


Missing the big picture

Posted Feb 9, 2010 11:40 UTC (Tue) by nye (subscriber, #51576)
In reply to: Missing the big picture by djao
Parent article: The FSF objects (again) to the Google book settlement

>EULAs depend on copyright for their existence -- without copyright, a EULA would have no legal enforcement mechanism

IANAL, but I believe this is not true.

Copyright has no control at all over usage. Once the copyright owner has sold or otherwise conveyed a copyrighted work to an and user, that user is free to use it in any way they wish without requiring permission, subject to the restriction that they do not copy/broadcast/redistribute it without permission from the copyright holder. Even in jurisdictions where a EULA is considered enforceable, there is no legal requirement to accept it in order to use the software[0]. However, if you *do* click through the EULA, then it is often considered to be equivalent to having signed a contract, to which you are now legally bound. This would be the same regardless of whether or not copyright applies.

[0] Some claims have been made that loading software into memory in order to run it counts as copying and thus requires a license, and there may be some jurisdictions which uphold that repugnantly deliberate misinterpretation of the law. In this case a EULA would indeed be required to use software, but this interpretation is absurd - eg. it would probably mean that you can only run a GPL program if the source is loaded into memory alongside the binary.


Yikes.

Posted Feb 9, 2010 9:28 UTC (Tue) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946)
In reply to: Yikes. by hingo
Parent article: Matt Asay becomes Canonical's COO

One problem with confusing assertions and mixing up basic concepts is that
noone can be sure what you like or dislike anymore


apps for Maemo

Posted Feb 9, 2010 9:02 UTC (Tue) by Tuna-Fish (subscriber, #61751)
In reply to: apps for Maemo by rfunk
Parent article: Three short stories, all about Android

With the stylus, you get just as accurate as with a mouse, making stuff like drawing apps usable, and the normal buttons are surprisingly usable even with fingers.

That being said, the most time I have spent with one has been inside the terminal. 800*480 is just about enough for 80*24.


Yikes.

Posted Feb 9, 2010 8:23 UTC (Tue) by hingo (subscriber, #14792)
In reply to: Yikes. by chromatic
Parent article: Matt Asay becomes Canonical's COO

Oh, I could give a long list of similar points of ignorance. (No, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is not an open core business model!) I'm just saying, I would be much more worried about someone that understands quite well what patents are and *likes* them, than someone who just doesn't understand them. It's a big difference.


Hate and love

Posted Feb 9, 2010 7:38 UTC (Tue) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091)
In reply to: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica) by asherringham
Parent article: Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy (ars technica)

I don't hate GIMP: it's a very capable piece of free software. But I abhor having to use it. A friend once called GIMP's windows "schizophrenic" and he was not far off. As another poster said, the main window now does not disappear, but it stays there just to hold the menu! While the palettes just stay there taking space idly.

Now I don't have to put GIMP in its own virtual desktop, and best of all: I don't have to move the little palettes away every time I resize the darn main window. The deepest mystery to me is why they didn't do this 10 years ago when people started requesting it. It's a mystery even though I was subscribed to the dev mailing list for a couple of years (until I was banned for complaining about this and other things, probably deserving it). Now I think that we can win the desktop if we just keep our ears open all the time.


Three short stories, all about Android

Posted Feb 9, 2010 7:21 UTC (Tue) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582)
In reply to: Three short stories, all about Android by tykepenguin
Parent article: Three short stories, all about Android

I see very little about android on either the daily updates page or in the
recent weekly editions. Do silly/unfair comments become less silly/unfair
when a smiley is appended?


Speculating on page faults

Posted Feb 9, 2010 5:59 UTC (Tue) by yuhong (guest, #57183)
In reply to: Speculating on page faults by mlankhorst
Parent article: Speculating on page faults

Yea, the more I read on LKML and the Linux x86-64 mailing lists, the more I think that developing the x86-64 port separately from the main x86 port was a big mistake in the first place. Look at the way the ACPI SRAT support was developed on the 32-bit and 64-bit side for an example, ACPI SRAT is supposed to be a *standard*, but before it was finally fixed in the year 2008, 32-bit SRAT/NUMA only worked for Summit systems, and not Opterons. Another example is AMD64 IOMMU support, which could have been supported on 32-bit Linux with PAE, but never was. It is now being gradually being fixed, but it was still stupid to do it in the first place.


Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 4:00 UTC (Tue) by laptop006 (subscriber, #60779)
In reply to: Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld) by corbet
Parent article: Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld)

At the end of that week Rusty was likely to need to get rescued anyway.

Besides, *wenches* (several of whom are friends that I owe many favours to)!


What to do

Posted Feb 9, 2010 3:49 UTC (Tue) by sitaram (subscriber, #5959)
In reply to: What to do by corbet
Parent article: China Internet Network Information Center accepted as a Mozilla root CA

however, when I try to delete them, they always come back when the browser restarts...

I guess I have to dig deeper; regardless of whether this particular one is trustworthy or not, there's got to be a way for one to pare down the list on one's own machine!


Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld)

Posted Feb 9, 2010 3:08 UTC (Tue) by corbet (editor, #1)
In reply to: Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld) by laptop006
Parent article: Linux Conf raises $33,000 for charity (ComputerWorld)

So you are the reason I'm out NZ$200 and I still didn't get to see Rusty dangling from a helicopter. I'll warn you that I don't forget things like that...

:)


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