|
|
Subscribe / Log in / New account

Development

Inkscape, a Scalable Vector Graphics Editor

Version 0.43 of Inkscape, a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) drawing tool, has been announced. Inkscape started out as a fork of the Sodipodi project. The Inkscape project definition states: [Inkscape]

Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats. Inkscape's main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards.

A number of new features have been added to version 0.43, including:

  • A connector tool for drawing auto-routing lines between objects.
  • Support for collaborative editing, multiple users can simultaneously edit a diagram.
  • Pressure and tilt sensitivity have been added to the calligraphy tool.
  • Improvements have been made to the node editing capabilities of the Bezier curve drawing tool.
  • New extensions are available for envelope distortion, whirling, and the addition of nodes.
  • Precision has been improved and limits have been expanded.
  • The SVG compliance is better.
  • The documentation has been updated.
  • Numerous bug fixes have been incorporated.
The version 0.43 release notes list all of the changes in more detail. Several of the new capabilities were produced by participants in Google's Summer of Code program.

Inkscape is easy to learn, fun to use, and well documented. Some user-contributed screenshots show a variety of the images that have been created. If that's not enough, a list of online galleries is available.

A sampling of the project's documentation includes the Inkscape FAQ, online user documentation with manuals and tutorials and the book A Guide to Inkscape by Tavmjong Bah.

The future of Inkscape is outlined in the project roadmap. The future point releases leading up to the 1.0 release have been well defined.

If you have not tried Inkscape yet, it is definitely worth the effort. The tutorials are well written, they provide a nice jump start on the learning curve. Source code and packaged versions of Inkscape 0.43 are available here.

Comments (6 posted)

System Applications

Clusters and Grids

New version of Simple Grid Protocol

Simple Grid Protocol version 1.02 has been released, it includes new features and bug fixes. "The Simple Grid Protocol is designed to allow users on a TCP/IP network or the Internet to run programs on their computer which utilize the unused CPU resources of other computers on a network or the Internet."

Full Story (comments: none)

Database Software

Firebird 2.0 Beta Released

Version 2.0 Beta of the Firebird relational database is available with many new features. "This version of Firebird 2 is an beta version, meant for field testing only and not for use in production."

Full Story (comments: none)

MySQL 5.0.16 has been released

Version 5.0.16 of the MySQL database has been released. "This is a bugfix release for the current production version."

Full Story (comments: none)

PostgreSQL Weekly News

The November 20, 2005 edition of the PostgreSQL Weekly News is online, take a look for new PostgreSQL database resources and articles.

Full Story (comments: none)

Interoperability

John Terpstra on Managing Samba

Samba.org mentions a new series on managing Samba. "SearchOpenSource.com is running a series of articles on Managing Samba by the Samba Team's John H. Terpstra. For part one, see Windows network identity basics. Part two is on User rights and privileges. John's goal in writing this series is to: provide a better understanding of the relationship between Windows networking accounts and their equivalent on the Unix or Linux server that is running Samba."

Comments (none posted)

Web Site Development

Midgard 1.7.3 released

Version 1.7.3 of the Midgard web content management system is out. "Midgard's 1.7 branch is a major overhaul of the whole Content Management System. Besides the stable and mature Content Management features of first generation Midgard, it also ships a preview version of second generation Midgard capabilities, allowing developers to have a glimpse at the new day of Midgard2."

Full Story (comments: none)

Building E-Commerce Sites with Handel (O'Reilly)

Christopher H. Laco works with Handel on O'Reilly. "While the CPAN community has solved most of the problems quite nicely with modules like Data::FormValidator, HTML::FillInForm, DateTime, and the various FromForm/QuickForm/FormBuilder modules, I still yearned for a lightweight, straightforward shopping cart module that didn't involve installed an entire CMS or B2B solution. Thus, Handel. Later I will show you how to get a functional shopping cart up and running using no lines of code. You heard that correctly: no lines of code. Zero. None. Nada."

Comments (none posted)

Desktop Applications

Audio Applications

amaroK Project Introduces SVN Service (KDE.News)

A new Subversion server for amaroK music player sub-projects has been announced. "Are you an amaroK script developer or are you developing a KDE application that should not be in KDE's Subversion for various reasons? We have the solution. The amaroK project is proud to announce the amaroK Subversion server, a service for amaroK script developers, launched as a thank you gesture to all the supporters who donated to the project during its fundraiser. We hope this will encourage the awesome amaroK community in their extremely valuable amaroK script writing."

Comments (none posted)

QjackCtl 0.2.19 released

Version 0.2.19 of QjackCtl, a GUI control panel for the JACK Audio Connection Kit, has been released. Changes include build improvements, bug fixes, and other enhancements.

Full Story (comments: none)

Rivendell v0.9.60 announced

Version 0.9.60 of the Rivendell radio automation system is out with new capabilities and bug fixes.

Full Story (comments: none)

Desktop Environments

Dropline GNOME 2.12.1 '64 drops' (x86_64) has been released (GnomeDesktop)

Dropline GNOME 2.12.1 has been announced. "We are pleased to announce the release of Dropline GNOME 2.12.1 ported to Slamd64 10.2 Linux (compiled for x86_64 architecture). An ISO image is available to download through bittorrent, a direct ISO download is also available from a mirror. This is our first port to x86-64 architecture and as such there may be bugs, please report them to our bug tracking page."

Also, Freerock GNOME 2.12.1 (for Slackware) is also available.

Comments (none posted)

GNOME Software Announcements

The following new GNOME software has been announced this week: You can find more new GNOME software releases at gnomefiles.org.

Comments (none posted)

de Icaza: Mono directions

Miguel de Icaza notes the Mono 1.1.10 release with a lengthy document on where the Mono project (at least, the part of it housed at Novell) plans to go from here.

Comments (25 posted)

KDE Software Announcements

The following new KDE software has been announced this week: You can find more new KDE software releases at kde-apps.org.

Comments (none posted)

Xfce 4.2.3.2 released

Version 4.2.3.2 of the Xfce lightweight desktop environment is out: "A "micro" release to fix a regression in the window manager settings".

Comments (none posted)

Electronics

gSpiceUI 0.7.93 announced

Version 0.7.93 of gSpiceUI, a Spice electronic simulation engine, has been announced. "Again this version has some major changes to it. The most obvious are that the main application frame is now resizable and the addition of a configuration file. Be warned, this version hasn't had much testing."

Comments (none posted)

Financial Applications

SQL-Ledger 2.6.3 released

Version 2.6.3 of SQL-Ledger, a web-based double entry accounting package, is available. See the What's New document for change information.

Comments (none posted)

Games

Cyphesis 0.5.3 Released (WorldForge)

The WorldForge game project has announced the release of Cyphesis 0.5.3. "Cyphesis is a small to medium scale server for WorldForge games, with builtin AI. This version includes the demo game Mason which is currently in development. This release is intended for server administrators wishing to run a Mason server and World developers developing new worlds or game systems."

Comments (none posted)

GUIs with pygame

Marcus von Appen explains GUI selection in PyGame with this tutorial. "From time to time questions about GUI elements for pygame come up. The following sections give some links to GUI modules and libraries written for pygame and try - where possible - to give an advice to which library you should refer for your pygame project."

Comments (none posted)

GUI Packages

SPTK 3.0.9 released

Version 3.0.9 of SPTK, the Simply Powerful Toolkit, is out with new database functionality and bug fixes.

Comments (none posted)

Medical Applications

FreeMED 0.8.1.1 Released (LinuxMedNews)

Version 0.8.1.1 of FreeMED, an open-source medical record system has been announced. "This release is a bugfix and security release before the 0.8.2 release cycle."

Comments (none posted)

Music Applications

GTick 0.3.7 released

Version 0.3.7 of GTick, a metronome application, is out with the following changes: "Fixed FreeBSD sound interface, fixed integer size for sound file playback".

Comments (none posted)

PDA Software

wxEmbedded - wxWidgets support for GPE

A port of the wxWidgets cross-platform GUI toolkit to the GPE Palmtop Environment has been announced. "wxGPE is the port of wxWidgets to the GPE Palmtop Environment. GPE is based on X11 and the GTK+ toolkit and runs on some PDAs otherwise running Microsoft PocketPC, such as many HP iPaq devices, Sharp Zarus devices, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet device, as well as a number of specialized handheld devices and embedded devices. wxGPE is mostly based on wxGTK, the GTK+ port of the wxWidgets C++ GUI library plus a number of adaptions to smaller screen size and other pecularities of GPE."

Comments (none posted)

Web Browsers

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 3 Available (MozillaZine)

Version 1.5 Release Candidate 3 of Mozilla Firefox is available for testing. "Like the earlier release candidates, Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 3 is intended to allow testers to ensure that there are no last-minute problems with the Firefox 1.5 code."

Comments (1 posted)

Miscellaneous

Benjamin Meyer on Type Managers (KDE.News)

KDE.News mentions a new article by Benjamin Meyer on Type Managers, interfaces for specific file types. "KDE developer Benjamin Meyer explains the concept of a Type Manager as a new form of specialist file manager application. "In the past few years many of us have been introduced to a new type of application, the Type Manager. There are many Type Managers out there such as digiKam and amaroK that are gaining market share and a rabid fan base of users . Type Managers seem to have that magic combinations of features that makes users love them. I have been taking a closer look at the Type Manager, what makes them so useful, what they really provide for the user and came to some surprising results." He concludes that Type Managers are part of the future of the desktop."

Comments (none posted)

Languages and Tools

Caml

Caml Weekly News

The November 15-22, 2005 edition of the Caml Weekly News is out with new Caml language discussions.

Full Story (comments: none)

Haskell

Haskell Communities and Activities Report (9th ed., November 2005)]

The November 9, 2005 edition of the Haskell Communities & Activities Report is online with the latest news from the Haskell community.

Full Story (comments: none)

Java

This week on harmony-dev

The November 13-20, 2005 edition of This week on harmony-dev covers the latest progress on Harmony, an open-source Java implementation. "Much of this weeks discussion was a controversy about a keyword scanning tool and some legal issues. There where two code contributions this week: Mikhail Loenko contributed "security, crypto, and x-net libraries" on behalf of Intel and Zoë Slattery contributed a "perl keyword scanner and sample files"."

Full Story (comments: none)

Python

Four python-dev Summaries

A group of python-dev Summaries came out this week, take a look for the Python discussions for: September 1-15, September 16-30, October 1-15 and October 16-31.

Comments (none posted)

Ruby

ruby/audio 0.1.0 announced

Version 0.1.0 of ruby/audio has been announced. "ruby/audio is a library that makes dealing with audio data a little easier than it has been historically in ruby. It also wraps libsndfile, which makes reading and writing audio data a LOT easier than it has been historically in ruby."

Full Story (comments: none)

Ruby Weekly News

The November 20th, 2005 edition of the Ruby Weekly News looks at the latest discussions from the ruby-talk mailing list.

Comments (none posted)

Tcl/Tk

Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!

The November 21, 2005 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL! is online with the latest Tcl/Tk development news.

Full Story (comments: none)

XML

Introducing SPARQL: Querying the Semantic Web (O'Reilly)

Leigh Dodds introduces SPARQL in an O'Reilly tutorial article. "This tutorial, the first of a three-part series, introduces SPARQL -- a query language and data access protocol for the Semantic Web. SPARQL is defined in terms of the W3C's RDF data model and will work for any data source that can be mapped into RDF. The specification is under development by the RDF Data Access Working Group (DAWG) and has recently reached Last Call Working Draft."

Comments (none posted)

Debuggers

First release candidate for GDB 6.4 available

The first release candidate of the GDB 6.4 debugger is available for testing. "There should be no surprise there as I have been doing nightly builds off the branch since it was created and didn't receive any build breakage incident."

Full Story (comments: none)

Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page: Linux in the news>>


Copyright © 2005, Eklektix, Inc.
Comments and public postings are copyrighted by their creators.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds