Scientific Linux 6.3 Live CD/DVD Has Been Released

- Scientific Linux 6.3 Live CD/DVD is available for download!

Urs Beyerle announced last evening, August 26th, that the final version of the Scientific Linux 6.3 Live CD/DVD operating system is now available for download on mirrors worldwide.  Scientific Linux 6.3 is now based on Red Had Enterprise Linux 6.3, powered by Linux kernel 2.6.32, and features XOrg Server 1.7.7, IceWM 1.2.37, GNOME 2.28, Firefox 10.0.6, Thunderbird 10.0.6, LibreOffice 3.4.5.2 and KDE Software Compilation 4.3.4. Moreover, the distro includes software from rpmforge, epel and elrepo in order to provide support for NTFS and Reiserfs filesystems, secure network connection via OpenVPN, VPNC, PPTP, better multimedia support, and various filesystem tools like dd_rescue, gparted, ddrescue, gdisk. Scientific Linux 6.3 is distributed as Live CD and DVD ISO images, supporting both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. The complete list of changes with a comprehensive list of fixes, improvements, removed and updated packages, can be found in the official release announcement for Scientific Linux 6.3 Live CD/DVD. Download Scientific Linux 6.3 Live CD/DVD

Trisquel 5.5 STS Brigantia

Soumis par SirGrant le 22 avril, 2012 - 21:07

Trisquel 5.5 STS "Brigantia" est enfin là ! Cette version nous a demandé plus de temps mais cela en valait vraiment la peine. En effet, les nombreux changements que nous avons effectués parmi les composants fondamentaux ont mené à beaucoup d'améliorations du système qui serviront aussi à la préparation de la future version LTS (support à long terme). En compensation (merci beaucoup pour votre patience !), et à cause de l'importance de notre prochaine version, nous commencerons à y travailler plus tôt que d'habitude, dans environ un mois. Brigantia est la version qui nous a demandé le plus gros effort de ces huit années de Trisquel. Nous tenons à remercier toute la communauté, les membres, les donateurs et, en particulier, tous ceux qui ont contribué au développement.

Plein de nouvelles technologies, la même expérience utilisateur

Cette version de Trisquel est la première à être basée sur GNOME 3, GTK 3 et Linux-libre 3.0.0. L'intégration de GNOME 3 a représenté un grand défi. En effet, de la façon dont il est maintenant conçu, ce bureau n'est pas utilisable par notre communauté. La nouvelle interface par défaut de GNOME 3 s'appelle GNOME Shell et nécessite une accélération 3D car elle repose sur la composition d'images. Malheureusement, de nombreuses cartes graphiques ne sont, aujourd'hui, pas encore prises en charge par des pilotes libres fournissant une accélération 3D. Par conséquent, beaucoup d'utilisateurs, qui choisiraient des pilotes libres, seraient renvoyés à un bureau de seconde zone. Nous pensions que, pour avoir accès au nouveau bureau, de nombreux utilisateurs auraient ainsi senti le besoin d'installer des pilotes privateurs. Nous avons donc décidé d'utiliser par défaut le bureau de seconde zone mais en le transformant, autant que possible, en un bureau de première zone. Heureusement, ce bureau utilise une implémentation GTK 3 du tableau de bord de GNOME 2 et, non seulement cette implémentation est très fonctionnelle, mais elle est aussi plus stable que l'originale. Elle est également accessible, quelque chose qui fait actuellement défaut à GNOME Shell. Un autre avantage à l'utilisation par défaut de ce bureau est qu'il nous permet de livrer un environnement de travail avec une disposition à laquelle beaucoup d'utilisateurs de Trisquel sont attachés. On peut, bien sûr, toujours l'adapter et le personnaliser avec des tableaux de bord supplémentaires ou des "applets". Notons, parmi les caractéristiques de cette nouvelle version :

• Linux-libre 3.0.0
• GNOME 3.2
• Abrowser 11
• LibreOffice 3.4.4

Une meilleure accessibilité, un meilleur projet

En continuant à honorer notre promesse d'accessibilité nous sommes parvenus à améliorer l'intégration du lecteur d'écran Orca et d'autres logiciels pour un accès universel. Ce n'a pas été une mince affaire puisque il a fallu modifier les bibliothèques système sous-jacentes. Au vu des résultats, cela en valait la peine. Si vous utilisez le DVD i18n, le lecteur d'écran sera démarré par défaut, permettant aux aveugles et malvoyants une installation autonome d'un système Trisquel où le gestionnaire de connexion sera, lui aussi, accessible. Tout n'est pas parfait mais nous continuons à travailler sur l'accessibilité. Une autre amélioration concerne de nombreuses cartes graphiques nVidia qui sont maintenant capables d'accélération 3D via le pilote libre "nouveau", qui est passé d'un statut "expérimental" à une inclusion dans le système de base. Par ailleurs, nous pouvons maintenant annoncer que les paquets de Trisquel, soit plus de 300 Go de sources et de binaires dans nos serveurs, sont maintenant accessibles via de nouveaux miroirs officiels aux Pays-Bas, grâce à Jason Self, et en Inde, grâce à l'école d'ingénieur KMEA. Merci beaucoup !

Are you intersted by beeing the core of a Lebanese Linux User Group

What is a user group?

Computer user groups are not new. In fact, they were central to the personal computer's history: Microcomputers arose in large part to satisfy demand for affordable, personal access to computing resources from electronics, ham radio, and other hobbyist user groups. Giants like IBM eventually discovered the PC to be a good and profitable thing, but initial impetus came from the grassroots.

In the USA, user groups have changed -- many for the worse -- with the times. The financial woes and dissolution of the largest user group ever, the Boston Computer Society, were well-reported; but, all over the USA, most PC user groups have seen memberships decline. American user groups in their heyday produced newsletters, maintained shareware and diskette libraries, held meetings and social events, and, sometimes, even ran electronic bulletin board systems (BBSes). With the advent of the Internet, however, many services that user groups once provided migrated to things like CompuServe and the Web.

GNU/Linux's rise, however, coincided with and was intensified by the general public "discovering" the Internet. As the Internet grew more popular, so did GNU/Linux: The Internet brought new users, developers, and vendors. So, the same force that sent traditional user groups into decline propelled GNU/Linux forward, and inspired new groups concerned exclusively with it.

To give just one indication of how LUGs differ from traditional user groups: Traditional groups must closely monitor what software users redistribute at meetings. While illegal copying of restricted proprietary software certainly occurred, it was officially discouraged -- for good reason. At LUG meetings, however, that entire mindset simply does not apply: Far from being forbidden, unrestricted copying of GNU/Linux should be among a LUG's primary goals. In fact, there is anecdotal evidence of traditional user groups having difficulty adapting to GNU/Linux's ability to be lawfully copied at will.

What does a LUG do?

LUGs' goals are as varied as their locales. There is no LUG master plan, nor will this document supply one. Remember: GNU/Linux is free from bureaucracy and centralised control; so are LUGs.
It is possible, however, to identify a core set of goals for a LUG:

• advocacy
• education
• support
• socialising

Read more about LUG : Contents LUG howto

If you are interested send a mail to llug@cofares.net

Track Your Time With Project Hamster. Track Your Time With Project Hamster Extension

Read about http://goo.gl/fb/xD6De

Does Windows 8 help set the stage for mainstream Linux desktops?

By Jack Wallen

August 13, 2012, 8:22 AM PDT

Takeaway: Windows 8 will release soon and this could be the perfect storm the Linux desktop has needed. Couple that with a few missteps by Microsoft and Linux is looking at a big and bright future. Do you agree?

How long has the open source crowd been shouting at the top of their lungs, “World domination!”? I ought to know the answer to that as the cry has been part and parcel to my own personal repertoire for over a decade. And why not? The Linux desktop has been a stable foundation on which users could always depend when they finally took the plunge. It worked, plain and simple.

But the detractors always had plenty of ammo to keep the desktop from gaining any traction.

• It didn’t run business-centric apps.
• There were no games.
• Windows is what everyone knows (and people do not like change).

That was pretty much it. Three simple reasons to seal the deal against Linux ever gaining any traction on the big stage. But, those times are changing and changing quickly.

I know — there are still plenty of readers shaking their heads claiming me nothing more than a day dreamer. But there’s a new reason to be hopeful these days.

With the release of Windows 8, not only is Microsoft poisoning the well of its users with a drastically different interface, it is also locking down Metro application installation to only those from the Microsoft App store. This is exaggerated even more on the ARM version of Windows 8 — in that only Metro apps can be installed. Only on Windows 8 x86 will you be able to run traditional applications.

What does this do to all of those businesses that have proprietary applications and have been putting their faith and budget into 64-bit architecture? For those — they will have to hope that Windows 7 will continue on for a long, long time.

But Microsoft has made it very clear they want developers developing for Metro — not legacy.

Microsoft is also in the development of their own brand of touchscreen tablet/notebook hybrid — thereby giving a cold shoulder to their current hardware partners (one of which is Dell who happens to be, once again, testing the Linux desktop markets — only this time with their high-end line of laptops).

And then, to add a nice creamy topping to this un-delicious cake — there’s the secure boot problem (which I’ve already covered). So, when you add all of this up and you include two things:

• The rise, again, of Ubuntu being the ‘cool kid’ on the block
• Valve and Blizzard both coming out (quite vocally) against the up-coming release of Windows 8 (and how it is going to negatively effect the PC world)

You can see the stage is set for that world domination Linux has cried out for all these years. But, here’s the rub (and the painful truth) — businesses are simply going to hold onto Windows 7 for as long as they can. We already see this with Windows XP. I still see so many XP machines out there and those machine will continue to run until they die. Period. Once they die, people will have a few choices:

• Purchase a Windows 8 machine and stick with Metro.
• Purchase a Windows 8 machine and pay for the downgrade to Windows 7.
• Purchase a PC (regardless of OS) and install a flavor of Linux.
• Purchase a Linux PC from the likes of System 76 or Dell.
• Purchase a Mac.

Obviously each choice has its pros and cons. The biggest con going against the Linux option is the lack of business-class applications (such as QuickBooks). But think of this scenario — what happens if Intuit opts to not re-write all of their code to work with Metro? They may as well port QuickBooks to Linux — and why wouldn’t they want to port their bread and butter to a more stable platform?

Eventually this is all going to come to a bottle neck and everyone is going to have to make a choice — and a hard choice at that. From my incredibly biased perspective, I highly recommend people (and businesses) begin the switch to the Linux desktop now. Make the switch, get your users accustomed to the new flavor of desktop, and enjoy a level of stability and reliability you (and your users) have never been used to. Most day to day business can be run from within a web browser anyway — even web-based Exchange email — and for those remaining applications, have a Windows machine (or two) around so users can work with QuickBooks until Intuit finally realizes there’s a pot of gold to be had with Linux.

I know there will be plenty of people out there who will balk at the idea of Linux gaining serious ground on the desktop. But when the reactions to Windows 8 start pouring in and people simply refuse to adopt, they will have to go somewhere. This will be the perfect opportunity for Linux distributions to pounce and show the world the Linux desktop is the best available option. It’s free, reliable, stable. secure, has tens of thousands of applications, and doesn’t suffer from the fundamental security flaws that Windows endures.

What do you think? Will the release of Windows 8 be the perfect storm Linux has been looking for over the past decade? And, if so, what is the best way for Linux distributions to take advantage?

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/does-windows-8-help-set-the-stage-for-mainstream-linux-desktops/3774?tag=nl.e011

The Future is Open Source - Linux Gaming Faster Than Windows & Iphone

Valve's recent announcement that Left 4 Dead 2 runs better on Ubuntu than on Windows has caused a lot of excitement and controversy.

Free Audio book just for watching! http://audiblepodcast.com/osalt