Open Source at SF State University - Distribution

Ubuntu 9.10 - Karmic Koala is here

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:14:05 -0700

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is out. The demand for ISOs is incredible, so bit torrent is the preferred method. The mirrors are:

Ubuntu 9.10

Even getting to the torrent file via http is incredibly slow. I have a copy of the torrent file (not the ISO) at http://opensource.sfsu.edu/files/ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent It should be a lot faster to get the *.torrent on campus :-) I also have a couple of bit torrent downloads running on campus. I'll leave these running in the hopes that if you decide to download Karmic's awesomeness you'll get the bits from within 130.212.0.0/16

My name is Bond. James Bond: OLPC-SF meets on July 18, 2009

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:42:29 -0700

As a kid, I loved James Bond movies (I still like the old ones), especially the gadgetry. A shoe compartment, a multi-purpose watch, a micro camera. Needless to say, a lot of money has gone into ThinkGeek purchases Imagine my pleasure when I recently had to introduce the OLPC project to someone (potential funding source for a deployment). I pulled out a 8GB microSD card from a secret zipper in my shirt, placed it squarely on the table, and said "We won't be needing the Internet for now. This little piece of technology holds well over 100 albums and hundreds of books that are freely distributable. It also has a web server, a database server, a collaboration server, backup software, and a bunch more. We won't be needing the Internet to get this deployment off the ground".

How small can a Linux distro be?

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:52:28 -0700

How small can a Linux distro be? Very small. We've had distros that fit on a 1.44 MB floppy and are used for routers. For a desktop/GUI type distro though, the smallest I've seen is DSL - Damn Small Linux. I found another one a little while ago. Tiny Core Linux:

"Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux Desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, Busybox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Jwm. The core runs entirely in ram and boots very quickly."

sabdfl speaks: An interview with Mark Shuttleworth

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:23:53 -0700

Before you wonder what sabdfl is, it stands for Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life, a title assigned to Mark Shuttleworth. Its a meritocracy, not a democracy! Mark was interviewed by Jorge Castro online after the release of Jaunty Jackalope, the code name for Ubuntu 9.04. The full interview is up at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/openweekJaunty/AskMark Here are some excerpts:

Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope countdown

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 09:04:00 -0700

Sugar everywhere

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:47:19 -0700

55,000 Sugar/GNU/Linux XO machines are being shipped every month to kids all over the world. This is a generation getting ready to break the bonds of digital dependencies and building a commons for themselves on free and open source software and open content and standards. In the meantime, Microsoft announced a pilot study to run Windows XP on these very machines.

So, let's do a quick comparison:

Sugar is built on top of Fedora 9, the current and cutting edge version of Linux from RedHat, which then in turn creates its commercial platform based on Fedora releases. So, with Sugar, you get fresh code. Windows XP is from 2001. I was much younger then and had no grey hair Even at that, it is some specialized version of XP that you can get only if you are a third worlder. Its called Windows XP UP where UP stands for Unlimited Potential. Unlimited potential for whom? The users or the company? XP is no longer sold in the US, so the revenue er, I mean "potential" has to come from someplace else.

Canonical pushes for improved usability in Linux/FOSS upstream

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:09:18 -0700

Canonical founder and Ubuntu's Self Appointed Benevolent Dictator For Life (SBADFL) Mark Shuttleworth is putting his money where his mouth is. At OSCON earlier this year, he talked about beating Microsoft and Apple at their own game (although I think it should really be more about paving our own way than following someone's tail) of usability. Now, Canonical announces that it will fund usability improvements and push it upstream.The announcement is at http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080911-canonical-to-fund-upstream-linux-usability-improvements.html and discussion is up on Mark's blog.

XO Live CD with joyride 2282

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:54:25 -0700

A new live CD is now available (XO-LiveCD_080812.iso 426.01 MB) at:

Bittorrent - http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=0902d803b94822a07b7a5da6193147c10e0c83d8
HTTP - http://www.skolelinux.de/download/XOLiveCD/XO-LiveCD_080812.iso

Trinity Rescue Kit...just what you need in a pinch

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:13:27 -0700

Yet another bootable live CD distro that is loaded with goodies to clean your machine. This distro is particularly good for those of you who haven't kicked the "Windows" habit. Yeah, we know who you are, but that's ok. All in good time. Eventually, all your base are belong to us

Trinity works on Linux machines as well for partitions, etc. From their site:

Linux Distro Timeline

Tue, 29 May 2007 21:10:17 -0700

For those of you that have interest in the development of Linux distros, this great time line details the genealogy of the the most common Linux distributions.

http://linux.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/linux-distro-timeline-2/

-jasonstone

Ubuntustudio is out!

Mon, 14 May 2007 16:40:39 -0700

It looks like UbuntuStudio is out. By the looks of what they were proposing, it would make for a perfect (or near-perfect...nothing is perfect. really.) platform for my ISYS 568 Multimedia class. The site is extremely busy at the moment, but I am sure it will improve in a bit. The torrent link for download is at: http://ubuntustudio.org/files/UbuntuStudio_7.04.torrent

From their website:

Release notes: English, French, Spanish

Ubuntu Studio Repo

Here's how to get access to our repo.

Podcast in a box

Wed, 02 May 2007 09:17:21 -0700

Linux ISO that is a 'complete podcast package'

http://boxpopuli.com/installfestmay2007.html via http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/05/podcast_in_a_box_install.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

A Debian parody

Tue, 01 May 2007 09:54:08 -0700

There's a funny writeup on Linux.com about Debian. Here's a glimpse:

"Debain is the only group of software developers who still believe that Richard Stallman invented programming. Everyone else now correctly credits Bill Gates for doing so. Debain developers hold themselves separate from the rest of the Linux community because of their pride in not stealing from other operating systems to build their version of Linux. All other versions of Linux are based directly on Windows. "

SUM-thing

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:53:52 -0700

Tired of the same old splash screen? Well, try SUM or StartUp Manager, a GUI tool to select start screens etc. From their site:

StartUp Manager, or SUM, is a gui tool for changing settings in the bootloader and splash screen in ubuntu.

It works for Debian Etch as well. http://web.telia.com/~u88005282/sum/index.html

Hakix for Debian

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:22:11 -0700

Post install configuration and downloading of extra packages for media etc. has been a hassle with many distros. These distros cannot pre-package many files due to a lack of legal agreement with the providers. Case in point is Adobe (née Macromedia) Flash. The workaround is to try to automate the process post-install. Ubuntu has an application called Automatix. Debian has something similar now. Its called Hakix. From their websites (http://frenchninja.wordpress.com/development/hakix/) and (http://code.google.com/p/hakix/):