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IBM doubles down on Linux
Less than a year after their announcement that they planned to invest a billion dollars in the Linux platform, IBM continues to ramp up their Linux play by rolling out Linux on Power System servers across 54 of the IBM Innovation and Client Centers worldwide. This comes almost two years after IBM announced that they had ported Linux to the Power Server platform.
The new services, announced last week at LinuxCon North America, are designed to get customers up and running on the Power Server environment while keeping their options open in terms of Linux flavor and applications. Support and training is now available to developers to build applications that can make use of the virtualization and parallel processing features of the Power Systems servers using Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Enterprise Server.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-doubles-down-on-linux-7000033088/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn), Beta 1 preview: No big changes
Every year by about this time, with the release of the first beta, most Ubuntu commentators have already filed their final story on Ubuntu x.10 for the desktop—well in advance of the final release in October. This time around, with the upcoming release of Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) for the desktop, the mediasphere is surprisingly quiet on the subject, and there's not much news coming out of Canonical. Mark Shuttleworth's recent blogposts are all about the cloud friendliness of Canonical's products, and so far have nothing to say about the new desktop release.
Jono Bacon's blog, usually a helpful information source, no longer applies, since Bacon left Canonical and his post as Ubuntu community manager at the end of May to become senior director of community at XPRIZE. Until a replacement for Bacon is announced, the four-person Ubuntu community team will bridge the gap.
Like the rest of the industry, Canonical seems to be focusing the majority of its development resources on smartphones and tablets, with the desktop version of Ubuntu now taking something of a back seat.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-14-10-utopic-unicorn-beta-1-preview-no-big-changes-7000033019/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
5 tips on migrating to open-source software
Open source is not just for Linux. Yes, you'll certainly find a much larger selection of open-source software for the Linux platform, but both Windows and Apple also enjoy a good number of titles. Regardless of what Free Open Source Software (FOSS) you need to use, you might not always find it the most natural evolution—especially when you've spent the whole of your career using proprietary software. The thing is, a lot of open-source software has matured to the point where it rivals (and sometimes bests) its proprietary counterpart.
With that in mind, I wanted to offer up my five best tips for migrating from a closed-software ecosystem to an open one. This may mean you're just dropping Microsoft Office for LibreOffice—or you might be diving into deeper open-source waters and migrating from Windows to Linux. No matter the change you are about to make, these tips should make the transition easier.
Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/5-tips-on-migrating-to-open-source-software/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Linux servers turned into bots by 'IptabLes' and 'IptabLex' malware
A botnet that infects and exploits poorly-maintained Linux servers has been used to launch a spate of large DDoS attacks targeting DNS and other infrastructure, Akamai’s Prolexic division has warned.
Dubbed the ‘IptabLes and IptabLex botnet’, the attack targets versions of Apache Struts and Tomcat, as well as some running Elasticsearch that have not been patched against a clutch of vulnerabilities.
Once compromised, the attack elevates privileges to allow remote control of the server from which the malicious code is dropped and run, after which it awaits direction by the bot’s command and control. The binary is connected to two hardcoded addresses running on China Telecom, while anyone whose server has been infected will probably notice poor performance.
Source: http://news.techworld.com/security/3543420/linux-servers-turned-into-bots-by-iptables-and-iptablex-malware/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
What Docker Is—and Is Not
Docker software has been getting quite a bit of attention recently, because it holds out the promise of making it possible for a developer to develop an application, package it into a container, and then deliver it to a number of different platforms—without having to test every combination of versions of the operating system, database, application framework or development tool. The goal is to overcome all differences in the versions of the operating system, database engines and other tools to make re-hosting an application very easy.
Although Docker indicates that this is a new idea, it really can be seen as a form of application virtualization. Docker relies on a form of processing virtualization, operating system virtualization and partitioning that has become a standard part of the Linux kernel.
Source: http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2014/09/05/what-docker-is-and-is-not.aspx Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Kinivo releases a pair of inexpensive Linux-friendly USB wireless adapters
Nowadays, if you buy a laptop, it will have a built-in wireless card (desktops; not always). For the most part, these integrated cards work well – on Windows. You see, most manufacturers build their machines with only Windows in mind. If you use only Microsoft's operating system, you should be golden. However, for nerds who like Linux (including myself), nonexistent or problematic wireless drivers can be an absolute nightmare.
This is why I recommend a USB wireless adapter to every Linux user; you never know when you may need it as a permanent or temporary internet solution. Unfortunately, not all USB adapters work with Linux out of the box, so the model you choose matters. Today, Kinivo releases two USB wireless adapters that are promised to work with Linux-based operating systems.
Source: http://betanews.com/2014/09/08/kinivo-releases-a-pair-of-inexpensive-linux-friendly-usb-wireless-adapters/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
City of Turin decides to ditch Windows XP for Ubuntu and €6m saving
€6m: the amount the municipality of Turin hopes to save over five years by switching from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux in all of its offices.
The move will mean installing the open source operating system on 8,300 PCs, which will generate an immediate saving of roughly €300 per machine (almost €2.5m altogether, made up from the cost of Windows and Office licences)—a sum that will grow over the years as the need for the renewal of proprietary software licences vanishes, and the employees get used to the new machines.
Or rather, to the old ones. Another reason for the switch was that the computers Turin uses are quite old, and installing Windows 8 would have probably been too demanding for them, whereas Linux offers more flexibility with more mature machines. And, as the support for Windows XP officially ended this year, sticking with Microsoft didn't make much sense to Turin. The switch to Ubuntu was officially approved in early August and is expected to take around a year and a half to complete.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/city-of-turin-decides-to-ditch-windows-xp-for-ubuntu-and-6m-saving-7000033482/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Torvalds says he has no strong opinions on systemd
Linux creator Linus Torvalds is well-known for his strong opinions on many technical things. But when it comes to systemd, the init system that has caused a fair degree of angst in the Linux world, Torvalds is neutral. “When it comes to systemd, you may expect me to have lots of colourful opinions, and I just don't,” Torvalds told iTWire in an interview. “I don't personally mind systemd, and in fact my main desktop and laptop both run it”.
Source: http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/open-source/65402-torvalds-says-he-has-no-strong-opinions-on-systemd Submitted by: Sam Varghese
Everything You Need to Know About Meizu MX4, the Upcoming Ubuntu Phone – Gallery
The new Ubuntu Touch operating system from Canonical will power the new Meizu MX4 phone and it will be out in December, according to the latest information posted by the Chinese company. We now take a closer look at this new phone to see how it will hold up with an Ubuntu experience.
Canonical hasn't provided any kind of information about a timetable for the launch of the new Ubuntu phone from Meizu, and even the information that we have right now has been posted initially on an Italian blog of the Chinese company. Basically, no one is saying anything officially, but that's not really the point.
The new Meizu MX4 was announced just a couple of weeks ago and many Ubuntu users have asked themselves if this is the phone that will eventually feature the upcoming Ubuntu Touch. It looks like that is the case, so we now take a closer look at this powerful handset.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Everything-You-Need-to-Know-About-Meizu-MX4-the-Upcoming-Ubuntu-Phone-458882.shtml Submitted by: Silviu Stahie
Curl Exploits Closed in All Supported Ubuntu OSes
Canonical has announced that a couple of curl vulnerabilities have been found and fixed in its Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS operating systems.
The developers have released a new update for the curl package and it looks like a number of security issues have been corrected.
“Tim Ruehsen discovered that curl incorrectly handled partial literal IP addresses. This could lead to the disclosure of cookies to the wrong site, and malicious sites being able to set cookies for others,” reads the security notice.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Curl-Exploits-Close-in-All-Supported-Ubuntu-OSes-458899.shtml Submitted by: Silviu Stahie
Mozilla Thunderbird 31.1.1 Lands in Ubuntu
Canonical has shared some details about a number of Thunderbird vulnerabilities identified in its Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating systems, and the devs have pushed a new version into the repositories.
The Thunderbird email client was updated a couple of days ago and the new version has landed pretty quickly in the Ubuntu repos. This means that it should be available when users update their systems.
For example, “Abhishek Arya discovered a use-after-free during DOM interactions with SVG. If a user were tricked into opening a specially crafted message with scripting enabled, an attacker could potentially exploit this to cause a denial of service via application crash, or execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user invoking Thunderbird,” reads the announcement.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Thunderbird-31-1-1-Lands-in-the-Ubuntu-458664.shtml Submitted by: Silviu Stahie
Stephen Hawking Talks About the Linux-Based Intel Connected Wheelchair Project
Intel has revealed a new, interesting concept called the Connected Wheelchair, which takes data from users and allows people to share that info with the community and is powered by Linux.
When people say Intel, they usually think about processors, but the company also makes a host of other products, including very cool or useful concepts that might have some very important applications in everyday life.
The latest initiative is called the Connected Wheelchair and the guys from Intel even convinced the famous Stephen Hawking to help them spread the word about this amazing project. It's still in the testing phases and it's one of those products that might show a lot of promise but never go anywhere because there is no one to produce and sell it.
Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Stephen-Hawking-Talks-About-the-Linux-Based-Intel-Connected-Wheelchair-Project-458539.shtml Submitted by: Silivu Stahie
Lobbying for open source and Linux in schools
About eight years ago, I started lobbying to bring more Linux and open source software to high schools and higher IT vocational institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium. Here's how I did it and what you can learn from it to do the same where you live.
First, Linux and open source in education can be categorized into three topics: • The infrastructure of schools • The desktop students and teachers work with • The curriculum for IT education
The first topic, the infrastructure at schools consists of a bunch of different software, which is used for administration. Examples are applications like student management systems, document management systems, and operating systems. Basically, this software isn’t that different from what is used in other industries. This applies not only to vocational education, but to all schools at any level.
Source: https://opensource.com/education/14/9/teachers-linux-open-source-education Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
ChromeOS vs Linux: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Anyone who believes Google isn't “making a play” for desktop users isn't paying attention. In recent years, I've seen ChromeOS making quite a splash on the Google Chromebook. Exploding with popularity on sites such as Amazon.com, it looks as if ChromeOS could be unstoppable.
In this article, I'm going to look at ChromeOS as a concept to market, how it's affecting Linux adoption and whether or not it's a good/bad thing for the Linux community as a whole. Plus, I'll talk about the biggest issue of all and how no one is doing anything about it.
When folks ask me if ChromeOS is a Linux distribution, I usually reply that ChromeOS is to Linux what OS X is to BSD. In other words, I consider ChromeOS to be a forked operating system that uses the Linux kernel under the hood. Much of the operating system is made up of Google's own proprietary blend of code and software.
So while the ChromeOS is using the Linux kernel under its hood, it's still very different from what we might find with today's modern Linux distributions.
Source: http://www.datamation.com/open-source/chromeos-vs-linux-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-1.html Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Netflix support is officially making its way to Linux, finally
Linux users, you've been very, very, very, very, very, very patient. And now, your patience is being rewarded with Netflix support on your OS of choice. For the longest time Netflix relied on Microsoft's would-be Flash competitor Silverlight. But, of course, support for the plug in was practically non-existent on the open-source OS. Now, with Silverlight fading, and Netflix embracing the power of HTML5, your wish of watching flicks in your favorite distro (be it Ubuntu, Mint or Arch) may finally come true. Paul Adolph from Netflix posted a message to Ubuntu developers, telling them that, “Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed.”
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/19/netflix-linux/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
China seeks to shun Western software
China is developing a homegrown operating system that could be ready as soon as October as part of an effort to wean itself from Western-made software, according to a Sunday report from the Xinhua government news agency, reports Technewsworld.com. Following hard on the heels of China’s announcement last month that it had launched an investigation of Microsoft under the country’s antimonopoly laws, the latest news suggests the new operating system first will appear on desktop devices and then be extended to smartphones and other mobile devices in three to five years. The now-defunct Red Flag Linux software could be part of the new OS, according to Computerworld.
Source: http://www.asianage.com/technology/china-seeks-shun-western-software-515 Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Ubuntu gets closer to debut in Meizu MX4 phone
The Ubuntu project announced a stable build for Ubuntu Touch phones, a week after Meizu tipped an Ubuntu version of the Meizu MX4 phone due in December.
The Ubuntu for Phones team at the Canonical’s Ubuntu Project announced the arrival of the first image from the ubuntu-rtm (release to manufacturing) distribution for phones. The announcement followed last week’s tease from Meizu, saying a version of the Android-based Meizu MX4 was on schedule for shipping with Ubuntu in December. The RTM image of Ubuntu Touch “seems to be the most stable ubuntu-rtm image we ever had,” writes Łukasz ‘sil2100' Zemczak of the Ubuntu Phones team. “Most blockers have been resolved (along with the no-input unity8 lockup bug), with only more minor issues remaining.”
Source: http://linuxgizmos.com/ubuntu-gets-closer-to-debut-in-meizu-mx4-phone/ Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Google and Dropbox Team on Open Source Security
In an effort to make open source security tools more user friendly, Google and Dropbox announced Thursday that they have teamed up with the Open Technology Fund to form “Simply Secure.” The goal of the new non-profit organization is to “help craft usably secure technologies and make them available for everyone.”
This is the second time this week a major technology company has launched an open source initiative. On Monday, Facebook announced its new TODO initiative, which is focused on developing best practices and tools to support open source development between companies. Google and Dropbox are also participating in the TODO collaboration.
The companies said the importance of providing easy-to-use secure tools has become increasingly important following revelations by Edward Snowden that the NSA, GCHQ, Unit 2800 and other spy agencies penetrated numerous technology organizations and collected personal data from millions of people.
Source: http://www.cio-today.com/article/index.php?story_id=103001NS3OFY Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht
Samsung News And Rumors: Smartphone Running Linux-Based Tizen Operating System Planned To Debut In India, Report Says
Tizen is a Linux-based operating system that Samsung already uses in some of its cameras and its Galaxy Gear line of wearable tech. The operating system has wide functionality with potential use in smart appliances and smart TVs. As of yet, Tizen has yet to be used in a major smartphone, but Samsung may be trying to introduce this operating system into its smartphone line starting with a run in India, according to the report.
Samsung's current line of Galaxy phones and tablets all run using Google's Android operating system, which also supports smartphones from major competitors like LG and Motorola. If Samsung were able to get a Tizen device off the ground, it could create a mobile software ecosystem to rival Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows and Apple's iOS, making the gadget giant more self-sustaining and less dependant on partner companies.
Source: http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/13347/20140923/samsung-news-and-rumors-smartphone-running-linux-based-tizen-operating-system-planned-to-debut-in-india-report-says.htm Submitted by: Arnfried Walbrecht