Development
Manage your movie collection with GCfilms
GCfilms is a film management application that is hosted on the FSF France's Gna project repository.
GCfilms is an application that can be used to manage a movie collection. A user can stock all the movies he has with some associated informations (where it is located, movie category, already seen or not, a rating,...). Then one can retrieve some movies matching filtering criteria (specific values for movies information).
This application has a plugin system to be able to find movies specific information (running time, actors, director,...) from Internet website. The user only enters the movie title and GCfilms automatically fill in these fields.
GCfilms features the following capabilities:
- Maintains a catalog of the user's film collection.
- Can search numerous Internet film archives to automatically acquire information about each film.
- Records film title, date, cast, a poster image, and other details.
- Can keep track of the media type, a personal rating, comments, storage location, and more.
- Manages a list of film borrowers, can send email requesting return of the film.
- Has a built-in search function for locating films in a collection.
- Exports film information to CSV, HTML, SQL, .tar.gz and XML files.
- Imports film information from GCfilms, CSV, the Ant Movie Catalog and DVD Profiler.
The installation instructions are simple and cover a number of popular Linux distributions and Windows. A test installation on Fedora Core 3 was refreshingly easy to perform. GCfilms is a cross-platform application that is written in Perl. Dependencies include Perl, Gtk2, and gtk2-perl.
Version 5.1 of GCfilms
was released
this week:
"Since last version announced on this site, there have been many improvements. These include: Completed translations, More user feedback (to try to be compliant with Gnome HIG), Performances improvements, Automatic conversion for genres, New plugins, Bug fixes and other improvements.
"
For those of you with an artistic bent, a
logo contest is underway,
submissions will be accepted until the end of August.
If you have a large collection of films that would benefit from some organization, GCfilms is the perfect application to use.
System Applications
Database Software
PostgreSQL Weekly News
The June 18, 2005 edition of the PostgreSQL Weekly News is online with the latest PostgreSQL database articles.
Interoperability
Samba 3.0.20pre1 Available for Download
Version 3.0.20pre1 of Samba is available for testing. "This is a preview release of the Samba 3.0.20 code base and is provided for testing only. This release is *not* intended for production servers. There has been a substantial amount of development since the 3.0.14a stable release (and since the 3.015pre2 release as well). We would like to ask the Samba community for help in testing these changes as we work towards the next official, production Samba 3.0 release." New features include a new asynchronous winbindd, support for Microsoft Print Migrator, a new Windows NT registry file I/O library, the SeTakeOwnershipPrivilege user right, and new net share migrate options.
Mail Software
VA Linux Publicly Releases `FlexPOP'
VA Linux has released FlexPOP, a POP mail server as open-source software. "FlexPOP is a new POP server developed by VA Linux, which has the merit of being fast and secure. FlexPOP supports the Maildir format, thus it can be used on large-scale systems which use NFS spools. Other strong points include user authentication with LDAP, POP before SMTP support, POP lock (mutual exclusion) support when accessed concurrently, timeout setting support for POP commands, delayed response support when POP authentication errors occurred and encrypted connection support."
FlexWebmail and FlexControl added to the VA FMS Roster
VA Linux Systems Japan K.K: "... introduced FlexWebmail, a high-performance Webmail server, and FlexControl, a Web interface for user/mail account control, as a part of the VA FMS (FlexMessaging Solution), a total messaging solution. VA FMS are based on Open Source Software, and achieves high reliability, high availability, high performance and high extensibility."
Gotmail 0.8.4 Released
Version 0.8.4 of Gotmail, a perl script that automatically downloads from hotmail.com, is out. "The focus of this release was to get as many patches merged and bugs closed from the sourceforge.net project tracker as possible. While last release fixed the hotmail.com page structure change, this release focused on optional features. Also, this release adds support for more than just hotmail.com and msn.com, and now allows use from other supported domains like: charter.com, compaq.net, hotmail.co.jp, hotmail.co.uk, hotmail.de, hotmail.fr, hotmail.it, messengeruser.com, passport.com, and webtv.net."
Sendmail X alpha 3 is out
The alpha 3 release of Sendmail X, a mail transfer agent, is available for testing.
Web Site Development
scgi 1.4 released
Version 1.4 of scgi has been released. "The SCGI protocol is a replacement for the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) protocol. It is a standard for applications to interface with HTTP servers. It is similar to FastCGI but is designed to be easier to implement."
Zope 3.1.0 beta 1 released!
Version 3.1.0 beta 1 of the Zope web development platform has been released, testers are needed. "Zope 3 is the next major Zope release and has been written from scratch based on the latest software design patterns and the experiences of Zope 2. It is in our opinion that Zope 3.1 is more than ready for production use, which is why we decided to drop the 'X' for experimental from the name."
Desktop Applications
Audio Applications
QjackCtl 0.2.17 released
Version 0.2.17 of QjackCtl, the Qt front end to the JACK audio server daemon, has been released. This release adds control over systemic I/O latency settings and coreaudio backend work.
Business Applications
Bear 2.0rc3 has been released (SourceForge)
Version 2.0rc3 of Bear, the ROLAP server from the BEE Project, has been announced. "We are going to release stable version of the v2.0.0 during the next week. We plan to release rc1 of v2.0.1 in the same time as well. This new version will bring several new features (e.g. improved subtotals management)."
"The BEE Project is a suite of tools supporting a Business Intelligence project implementation within middle-sized companies. The project methodology includes optimal data storage with respect to data analytical yield. The infrastructure for the ETL processes (data extraction and transformation, data warehouse loading) and the multi-layer application for analytic reporting are being developed. The solution architecture is based on the ROLAP methodology (relational on-line analytical processing) with the aim to cover projects with data volume up to 50 GB effectively, using open source technologies on the Linux/Intel platform.
"
Data Visualization
matplotlib 0.82 released
Version 0.82 of matplotlib, a Python-based data plotting utility, is out. See the what's new document for change information.
Desktop Environments
GNOME Software Announcements
The following new GNOME software has been announced this week:- Blam 1.8.1 (bug fixes)
- Blam 1.8.2 (bug fix)
- Conglomerate 0.9.1 (new features, bug fixes, and translation work)
- gcompmgr 0.21 (new application)
- GNOME Power Manager 0.0.5 (new features)
- GStreamer 0.9.1 (new development series)
- GTK+ 2.6.8 (bug fixes)
- GTK+ 2.7.0 (unstable development release)
- libgda/libgnomedb 1.2.2 (bug fixes)
- Pango 1.9.0 (Cairo support)
- Serpentine 0.6 (new features)
GARNOME Weekly Snapshot Builds (GnomeDesktop)
Paul Drain has announced a new release schedule for GARNOME, the testing version of GNOME. "After some thought, discussion and much testing of various build systems i've decided to try something new with GARNOME, in an effort to get as many interested people in a position to be able to test future GNOME releases as possible. In addition to the standard GARNOME release for each upstream release, every Thursday (GMT +10) a tarball will be created for branches of GARNOME -- that people can grab, compile, use and hopefully send bugreports, patches, criticisms, feature requests, etc to the list so that issues can be fixed *before* a release occurs."
KDE Software Announcements
The following new KDE software has been announced this week:- K3b 0.12.1 (bug fixes)
- Kalzium 3.5 Preview 1 (testing release)
- KMetronome 0.6 (new features)
- KTorrent 1.0rc2"> (testing release)
Electronics
New gEDA applications
The latest new electronic applications from the gEDA project include PCB snapshot 20050609, gnucap version 2005-06-10, Icarus Verilog snapshot 20050617, and GSpiceUI v0.7.18.
Games
Ember 0.3.1 released
The WorldForge game project has released version 0.3.1 of Ember "Ember is a fully functional 3d client for the WorldForge project. It takes advantage of the latest graphic cards to present a beautiful, fully interactive world. An easy to use GUI allows the player to interact with both the world and other players with ease. This release adds support for areas, such as fields or paths. These areas are dynamically created from entities in the world. Also added support for showing objects wielded by characters. Additionally, a lot of bugfixes and graphical tweaks went into this version."
phpDiplomacy 0.6 Released (SourceForge)
Version 0.6 of phpDiplomacy, a web-based board game, has been announced. "Diplomacy is a popular board game in which you battle to control Europe, but this isn't a game of luck; to win you must be diplomatic and strategic, forming and breaking alliances and bargains. phpDiplomacy takes the fight for Europe to the internet." Numerous enhancements have been added to the game.
Interoperability
Wine Traffic
Issue #279 of Wine Traffic is online with the latest news from the Wine project. Topics include: $$ and Development, Winecfg Goes Live, Documenting Config Options, AppDB Searching & To-Do, FFMpeg Video Wrapper (con't), MSN Messenger 6.2, Windows Icons in KDE, and VMWare Licenses.
Medical Applications
NetEpi Case Manager V0.9 (late beta) available (LinuxMedNews)
A late-beta release of version 0.9 of NetEpi Case Manager has been announced. "NetEpi Case Manager is a tool for securely collecting structured information about cases and contacts of communicable (and other) diseases of public health importance, through Web browsers and the Internet. New data collection forms can be designed and deployed quickly by epidemiologists, using a Web browser 'point-and-click' interface, without the need for knowledge of or training in any programming language."
Hui OpenVistA 3.0 Released to WorldVistA (LinuxMedNews)
LinuxMedNews covers the release of version 3.0 of Hui OpenVista, an open-source healthcare information system. "The Hui development team made several key enhancements to Hui OpenVista - most notably a more streamlined configuration process. Release 3.0 provides a preconfigured baseline system that simplifies the steps needed to convert the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) version of VistA to OpenVista. This enables users to quickly download the baseline as a starting point for configuring the system to their specific requirements."
Multimedia
GStreamer Python 0.8.2 released
Version 0.8.2 of GStreamer Python has been announced. "This is the 0.8.2 release of the GStreamer Python bindings. It should be used with the 0.8.x series of GStreamer and GStreamer Plugins. This is the third stable 0.8.0 gst-python release, it's now considered stable and ready to be used in production. It's already being used by serveral applications."
Office Applications
Gnumeric 1.5.2 Released (GnomeDesktop)
Version 1.5.2 of the Gnumeric spreadsheet has been announced. It features Win32 improvements, Excel import improvements, Linear regression lines in scatter plots, and bug fixes.Kolab 2 Groupware released!
Stable release 2.0 of Kolab Groupware is out. Kolab is a replacement for Microsoft Exchange that can manage email, appointments, contacts and tasks. ""With our focus on native offline-capable clients, Kolab 1 had brought a new approach to the groupware world," explains Bernhard Reiter, CEO of Intevation GmbH and project coordinator. "With this second generation, users can now share their groupware folders even with users that use Outlook when they are using KDE and vice versa." Additional new features are support for servers at several locations, usability, speed improvements, support for spam-control and anti virus software."
Office Suites
KOffice 1.4 released
The KOffice Team has announced the next version of the lightweight, integrated and complete office suite. Version 1.4 includes two new components - Krita and Kexi - and support for the OpenDocument file format.
Web Browsers
Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 Test Builds Available (MozillaZine)
Test builds of the Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 web browser are available. "The Mozilla Foundation is preparing to release a minor security update for Mozilla Firefox, ratcheting the browser up to version 1.0.5. While the final version isn't here yet, test builds of 1.0.5 for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X are now available."
Reporter Tool Makes Reporting Broken Websites Easier (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine mentions a new feature in the Firefox browser. "Deer Park Alpha 1 and the latest Mozilla Firefox trunk builds include a tool for reporting broken websites. Known as Reporter, the tool is designed to make it easy for users to send details about sites that do not work well with Firefox. When a user encounters a problematic site, he or she can use the 'Report Broken Web Site' command in the Help menu to fill out a problem report with all the necessary details."
Independent Status Reports (MozillaZine)
The June 17, 2005 edition of the Mozilla independent status reports have been announced. "The latest set of independent status reports includes updates from MenuX, InFormEnter, InfoRSS, PasswordMaker, pageplaylist, MozCreator, Platypus, Launchy, xulfrog, Mozilla Materials, Russ Key, Leet Key, WordBlock and adaptivehomepage."
Minutes of the mozilla.org Staff Meeting (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine has announced the availability of the minutes from the May 13 mozilla.org staff meeting. "Issues discussed include the Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 security release, Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.5, feedback from Deer Park Alpha 1 and Thunderbird 1.1 Alpha 1, the 1.1 Alpha 2 timeframe, the server outage plan, Thunderbird accessibility and Apple."
Miscellaneous
iPodder version 2.1 released (SourceForge)
Version 1.2 of iPodder, a media aggregator which can automatically download files to a computer or portable device, is available. Here are some of the changes: "iPodder's accessibility has been extended with the addition of more than 15 languages and enhanced meta data for the visually impaired. Additionally, the foundation for one-click capabililty has been implemented, and support for feedmanagers like Podnova have been installed. This update also improves security and optimizes handling."
JMRI production version 1.6 is available (SourceForge)
Production version 1.6 of JMRI/DecoderPro has been announced. "This project provides Java interfaces and sample implementations for controlling a model railroad layout from a personal computer. JMRI is intended as a jumping-off point for hobbyists to build their own layout controls."
Languages and Tools
Caml
Caml Weekly News
The June 20, 2005 edition of the Caml Weekly News has been released, take a look for the latest new Caml language articles.
Java
PMD v3.2 released (SourceForge)
Version 3.2 of PMD is available. "PMD is a Java source code analyzer. It finds unused variables, empty catch blocks, unnecessary object creation, and so forth. PMD v3.2 includes three new rules, a flurry of bugfixes, and various internal improvements to make writing rules easier."
Python
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! - weekly Python news and links (Jun 22)
The June 22, 2005 edition of Dr. Dobb's Python-URL! is out with another weekly roundup of Python language articles.
Miscellaneous
Open Language Tools Project code is available
The first source code from the Open Language Tools project has been released. The Open Language Tools XLIFF Translation Editor and the Open Language Tools XLIFF Filters components are available. "The aim of the tools is to make the task of translating software and documentation as easy as possible, and so allow more people to use computers than ever before. If you can't use a computer because it's interface isn't translated into your language then we want to provide tools that can help."
Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page:
Linux in the news>>