Distributions
News and Editorials
"Easy" is in the eye of the beholder
There 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:
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:
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:
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 5.0.2
NetBSD 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 Team
Click 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 updates
Steve McIntyre has announced that Alexander and Meike Reichle-Schmehl have been officially added to the Debian press team.
Fedora
Fedora 13 and rawhide diverge
The 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 RawhideNVIDIA 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 development
Jesse 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/". In the very near future that path will change to pub/fedora/linux/development/rawhide/ . At the same time, a new path will appear, pub/fedora/linux/development/13/ . This path will be where the Fedora 13 stabilization happens as we work toward releasing Fedora 13. Rawhide will move on and start seeing changes more appropriate for Fedora 14 and beyond.
Fedora Board Recap 2010-02-11
Click 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 2010-02-15
Click 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 election
The 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, 2010
Click 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 2010
Frederic 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 Jam
There 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 CD
The 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."
Element
Element 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 2010
The 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 341
The 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 100
This issue of the Mint Newsletter covers the releases of Mint 8 Fluxbox, KDE64 and KDE, and several other topics.openSUSE Weekly News/110
This 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 #180
The 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
Next page:
Development>>