Development
Anyterm: A Terminal Anywhere
Anyterm is a terminal emulator package that runs as a local Javascript application on a web browser, it is similar in concept to the commercial application MindTerm from the company appGATE. Anyterm uses SSL encryption to prevent snooping of terminal session information. The Comparisons page looks at the differences between Anyterm and several other remote login applications. The introduction describes Anyterm:
![[Anyterm]](https://static.lwn.net/images/ns/anyterm.png)
Anyterm is a box on a web page that behaves like a shell or other
text-mode application on the host machine. Performance is quite
respectable and it will run almost anywhere, even through firewalls,
since it uses only HTTP on standard ports. It consists of:
* Some Javascript on a web page.
* An XmlHTTP channel to the web server.
* An Apache module that receives the XmlHTTP requests and feeds them
to an emulated terminal, and thence to a shell or whatever.
The how it works document sheds light on the internal operation of an Anyterm session and the deployment document describes a number of possible configuration arrangements. The documentation also addresses a number of potential security concerns when running Anyterm.
Anyterm stable version 1.0 and development version 1.1.0
were just announced:
"This week the stable branch has reached the milestone of
version 1.0, as
I think that this is now good enough for widespread use. There's also a
development branch where I'll be adding more experimental features,
starting with WAP support in version 1.1.0 which was released today. So
you can now get a shell prompt on your mobile phone. Some work is
needed to make it useable though. Future plans include merging my
QWAZERTY keyboard-layout mapping code.
"
Dependencies include version 2 of the Apache web server and the ROTE terminal emulation library. Anyterm development is Debian-based, your editor was able to get Anyterm to build on a Fedora Core 3 system by adding some file paths various lines of several include files. The installation instructions provided sufficient information for getting the software up and running.
The
configuration instructions bring one issue to light:
"If you're using a system with SE-Linux security features, such as Fedora Core 3, you may find that they prevent anygetty from invoking /bin/login. This probably just needs a slight change to a configuration file somewhere to make it work; if someone knows what is required please get in touch.
" A bit of SE-Linux configuration knowledge would
be a useful addition to the documentation.
To get a look at Anyterm in action, you can try running the Tetris clone "bastet" from the Anyterm web site.
System Applications
Mail Software
Mailman 2.1.6 Released
Version 2.1.6 of GNU Mailman, a mailing list manager application, is out. "This is a significant release, which includes three important security patches, updated Chinese (zh_TW and zh_CN) support, better compatibility with Python 2.4, a few new features, and many bug fixes."
popa3d 1.0 announced
Version 1.0 of popa3d has been announced. "For those few on the announcement list who don't know this yet, popa3d is a tiny POP3 daemon which attempts to be extremely secure, reliable, RFC compliant, and fast (in that order). Now, to the news: I've released popa3d 1.0. This means that I consider popa3d to be mature enough to enter its 1.x era."
Networking Tools
Knettools 1.0 (stable) released
Stable version 1.0 of Knettools has been announced. "Knettools' is a collection of menu-based testing tools for IPv4 networks. Tools included in the package are Finger, Name Scan, Ping, Ping Scan, Port Scan, Service Scan, and Whois. It is developed using POSIX threads and gnome libraries. This package was formerly known as 'xNetTools'."
OpenSSH 4.1 released
Version 4.1 of OpenSSH is out with several bug fixes.Twisted 2.0.1 Released
Version 2.0.1 of the Twisted networking framework has been released. "This is a minor release, only including bugfixes since 2.0.0. One of the most important fixes was a bug causing many gtk GUI apps to crash. Twisted News is now properly included in the Sumo release."
Printing
CUPS 1.2.x Weekly Snapshot, r4528
A new weekly snapshot of the CUPS printing system is out. See the release announcement for details.
VPN Software
SSL-Explorer 0.1.11 released! (SourceForge)
Version 0.1.11 of SSL-Explorer, an open-source SSL VPN solution, is available. "This release of SSL-Explorer contains a number of new features such as the ability to view the currently logged-in users and disconnect their sessions if necessary. The software can detect when new SSL-Explorer releases become available and also detect when new versions of the provided extensions are released. Version 0.1.11 also provides new features required to enable the launch of 3SP's SSL-Explorer Xtra service that brings commercial support and additional features to the product."
Web Site Development
Caravel CMS version 2.3 released (SourceForge)
Version 2.3 of Caravel, a content management system, is available. "Version 2.3 marks the transition of our source code tree to Sourceforge's CVS server, accompanied by major cleanup and reorganization of the code tree. In addition, a number of bugs have been fixed. Flash, MP3, and Quicktime file types are now supported. The publish tool has been revamped. See the CHANGELOG for details."
SchoolBell 1.1 Released
Version 1.1 of SchoolBell, a Zope 3-based calendaring server, is out. "In this release we round off and finish most of the functionality that was deferred from the last release (REST interface and proper timezone support). One important point is that we have started to import translations from the rosetta project and already have quite a large amount of translations done."
Web Services
Constructing Services with J2EE (O'ReillyNet)
Debu Panda covers the development of web services under J2EE. "Web services are a popular means of deploying service-oriented applications, and the standards in J2EE 1.4 make it easier to develop services that are portable and interoperable. Debu Panda shows you how, and takes a look at how things will get easier in J2EE 5.0."
Desktop Applications
CAD
PythonCAD release 25
The twenty-fifth development release of PythonCAD, a CAD package for open-source software users, is out. "The twenty-fifth release consists primarily of bug fixes. The compatibility code for the GTK Action and ActionGroup classes introduced in the previous release had a number of bugs which have been fixed. People running PythonCAD on PyGTK releases prior to 2.4 should find this latest release working correctly due to these fixes."
Data Visualization
Eman 1.7 Released
Version 1.7 of Eman, a scientific image processing suite with Python language bindings, has been announced. Here is the change summary: "A major overhaul of the parallelism infrastructure (runpar) was done. It now uses fileserver for both reads and writes in the cluster versions. A binary release was made for AMD64, and support for OSX was improved. A new program, refine2d.py, was added for generating reference-free class-averages from a set of particles. A new program, makeinitialmodel.py, was added for constructing 3D models from blobs. The AIRS software was greatly expanded and improved with Chimera bindings. Major improvements were done to the experimental 2D crystallography preprocessing program (qindex)."
Desktop Environments
KDE 3.4.1 released
KDE 3.4.1 is out. This is a maintenance release limited to bug fixes and some translation improvements.GNOME Software Announcements
The following new GNOME software has been announced this week:- Drivel 2.0 Beta 1 (new features)
- G-Inspector 20050529 (new features and bug fixes)
- Glom 0.8.29 (new features and translation work)
- GnomePythonExtras 2.10.2 (bug fixes)
- nautilus-python 0.4.0 (initial release)
KDE Software Announcements
The following new KDE software has been announced this week:- K3b 0.12beta2 (bug fixes)
- Kexi 0.9 Stable (new features and bug fixes)
KDE Project Offers Kolab Groupware Services to its Contributors (KDE.News)
KDE.News covers the announcement that groupware services will be available to all KDE contributors. "At the Dutch KDE-PIM meeting in Annahoeve last weekend it was announced that the KDE project will offer groupware services to all KDE contributors using the Free Software groupware server Kolab2. This means that every KDE project or contributor can get a Kolab2 account for sharing tasks, appointments, contacts and email. Every project can manage their own groupware services and decide with which users they want to share these resources. The Kolab2 server will run under the kdemail.net domain and will be administered by the KDE project."
KDE Commit Digest (KDE.News)
The May 27, 2005 edition of the KDE Commit Digest is available, here's the content summary: "Kalzium adds gradients and crystal structure data. KOffice supports loading of embedded objects from OASIS format. khtml improves XHTML handling. Kopete adds full text search of history, styles, recieving files and buzzing in Yahoo, and work continues on video device support. KDE 4 work continues with some applications able to run."
Educational Software
mnemo-0.5 released (SourceForge)
Version 0.5 of mnemo, a memory training application, is available. "Release 0.5 contains a console-mode implementation (no multi-media, yet) along with some example training files for arithmetic, the "peg system" and Esperanto vocabulary."
Electronics
Oscilloscope plugin 0.2.0 announced
Version 0.2.0 of Oscilloscope plugin, a DSSI format plugin application, is available, here is the description: "It has two audio input ports and will display the two input signals as two waves in the display. The trigger level and direction is controllable, as well as the amplification and offset for each channel and the time resolution."
Qocs 0.0.6 Released
Version 0.0.6 of Qocs is available. "Qucs is an integrated circuit simulator which means you are able to setup a circuit with a graphical user interface (GUI) and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the circuit. After that simulation has finished you can view the simulation results on a presentation page or window."
XCircuit 3.3.14 Released
Version 3.3.14 of XCircuit, an electronic schematic drawing package, is out. The CHANGES file says: "Changed behavior of netlist generation to allow (finally!) info labels on a top-level schematic. These labels are written verbatim into the output. Probably needs checks to avoid attempting to process certain embedded escapes like pins."
Games
New version of HLA Adventure for Linux/Red Hat
Version 2.80 of HLA Adventure, an adventure game that was coded in the High Level Assembly programming language, is out with these modifications: "Bug fixes, additional features, program enhancements, code modifications, clearer documentation and other changes."
Medical Applications
OpenEMR 2.7.2 Released (LinuxMedNews)
Version 2.7.2 of OpenEMR, an electronic medical record system, has been released. "Some highlights of the 2.7.2 final release are: An overhauled, faster and nicer-looking appointment calendar Support for current versions of the SQL-Ledger accounting system, deprecating the old "forked" sql-ledger sub-project of OpenEMR Partial implementation of access controls based on the phpGACL project Improved tracking of immunizations Patient problems can be associated with specific encounters and vice versa New forms for EOB entry, payment posting and adjustments Patient statements and collection letters New reports including cash receipts and cross-referencing of appointments with encounters Demographics export to a commercial laboratory system Support for some FreeB (billing system) fixes".
Music Applications
BEAST/BSE version 0.6.6 released (GnomeDesktop)
Version 0.6.6 of BEAST/BSE, the BEdevilled Audio SysTem and the Bedevilled Sound Engine, has been announced. "Major bug fixes are incorporated in this release, in particular in the BSE file saving mechanism, so updating to 0.6.6 is recommended to prevent data loss. Also the dialog messages were significantly improved and we had translation updates to Canadian English, Czech, Italian, Spanish and Basque."
Office Suites
OpenOffice.org Newsletter
The May, 2005 edition of the OpenOffice.org Newsletter is online with the latest OpenOffice.org news, events, and a guide to using special characters in OO.o documents.
Web Browsers
Mozilla Deer Park Alpha 1 released
The Mozilla Project has made Deer Park Alpha 1 available. This is an early alpha release of what will eventually be Firefox 1.1. New features include a "sanitize" operation (which quickly removes personal information), image thumbnails in tab icons, the "fast back" page caching capability, better cookie management, and more.Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)
The minutes from the April 25, 2005 mozilla.org staff meeting have been announced. "Issues discussed include releases, security releases, the Volunteer Awards, the board meeting, search, Mozilla Firefox strategy and quarterly goals."
Languages and Tools
Caml
Caml Weekly News
The May 24-31, 2005 edition of the Caml Weekly News is online with the newest Caml language developments.
Haskell
Issue Three of The Monad.Reader
Issue Three of The Monad.Reader is out with new Haskell language topics. "This month's issue has a definite introductory theme. It includes republished book reviews, notes on learning, a look at the differences between functional and object oriented programming, and distributed computation."
Lisp
SBCL 0.9.1 released
Version 0.9.1 of Steel Bank Common Lisp has been announced. "This version implements SB-POSIX:MKSTEMP, provides some optimizations, and fixes some bugs."
Perl
This Week in Perl 6 (O'Reilly)
The May 18 - 24, 2005 edition of This Week in Perl 6 is available with all of the latest Perl 6 development news.
Python
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!
The May 31, 2005 edition of Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! is online with the latest Python language articles.
Ruby
Ruby Weekly News
The May 22nd, 2005 edition of the Ruby Weekly News has been posted. It is a summary of the ruby-talk mailing list.Ruby Weekly News
The May 29th, 2005 edition of the Ruby Weekly News has been posted, summarizing the week's activities on the ruby-talk mailing list.
Emulators
Bochs 2.2 released (SourceForge)
Version 2.2 of Bochs has been released with some new features. "Bochs is a highly portable open source IA-32 (x86) PC emulator written in C++, that runs on most popular platforms. It includes emulation of the Intel x86 CPU, common I/O devices, and a custom BIOS. Currently, Bochs can be compiled to emulate a 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro or AMD64 CPU, including optional MMX, SSE, SE2 and 3DNow! instructions."
Profilers
OProfile 0.9 released
Version 0.9 of OProfile, a system profiler, is out. "New in this release is a new differential profile output, a reworked call-graph output format, and several important updates. As usual, upgrading is strongly recommended."
Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page:
Linux in the news>>