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Submission + - VIA releases 2D and 3D graphics documentation

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: VIA has released 450 pages of register descriptions covering the 2D and 3D functionality of its VX800/820 and CX700M/VX700 chipsets. Some members of the OpenChrome project have also been granted access to additional manuals under Non-Disclosure Agreements, enabling them to work on a set of goals including multi-monitor hotplug support and TV output. The OpenGraphics project hopes to integrate all the functionality found in VIA's recently open sourced driver. Licensing issues with the MPEG-LA are currently preventing advancement in iDCT/Motion Compensation and MPEG-4 acceleration, but it has been suggested that this obstacle be bypassed by accelerating patent-free video codecs such as Dirac and Ogg Theora.
Linux Business

Submission + - Lenovo removes Linux option for home buyers

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: Lenovo has stopped selling laptops pre-installed with Linux on its web site, only 8 months after starting the trial program. This means that home customers won't be able to buy a Thinkpad without paying the Microsoft tax. Word has it that the decision to pull the plug on Linux came down from the highest levels of the Chinese company's corporate headquarters. For those looking to buy full-sized laptops and desktops with Linux pre-loaded Dell, System76, ZaReason and Everex all still offer such products.
X

Submission + - VIA releases 113,800-line FOSS graphics driver

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: VIA has released a 113,800 line-long open source graphics driver with full mode-setting support for CRT, LCD and DVI devices along with 2D, X-Video and cursor acceleration. Harald Welte, VIA's open source representative, states that the next step is to add 3D (see preview), TV-out and hardware codec support while integrating this work with existing open source projects. VIA has pre-installed Linux on a significant portion of the company's latest products, including the EVEREX gPC2, 15.4" gBook, and CloudBook. It has also helped port the open source CoreBoot BIOS (previously LinuxBIOS) to several of its motherboards.
Programming

Submission + - VIA releases 800 pages of documentation for Linux

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: VIA has published three programming guides that total 800 pages in length and cover their PadLock, CX700, and VX800/820 technologies. The VIA PadLock provides a random number generator, an advanced cryptography engine, and RSA algorithm computations. The VX800 chipset was VIA's first Integrated Graphics Processor, while the CX700 is a System Media Processor designed for the mobile market. This is another step in VIA's strategy to support the development of Free and Open Source drivers under Linux, which comes pre-installed on VIA products such as the Sylvania NetBook, HP Mini-Note, 15.4" gBook, gPC, CloudBook, Zonbu, and VIA OpenBook. Earlier this week, VIA hired Linux kernel developer and GPL-Violations.org founder Harald Welte to be VIA's liason to the Open Source community.
KDE

What To Expect In KDE 4.1 288

Posted by timothy from the plenty-of-goodness dept.
andrewmin writes "Recently, Gnome's been gaining a lot of ground on its KDE counterpart in the desktop environment wars. The KDE developers were hoping to change this with KDE 4, the new radical release of KDE, but it was not to be. KDE 4.0 was buggy and unstable, leaving everyone except the hard-core KDE lovers. Mainly, this was because it just didn't work most of the time. However, the developers were not without hope. They promised that KDE 4.1 would be more stable and fix all the holes and problems with KDE 4.0. That time is coming soon: in just four days, K Desktop Environment 4.1 will be released to the Linux masses." A release candidate for 4.1 came out just over a week ago, with binaries available "for some Linux distributions, and Mac OS X and Windows."
X

Submission + - VIA releases 16,434-line FOSS framebuffer driver

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: VIA has released 16,434 Lines Of Free & Open Source code that enables Linux to natively use the framebuffer on VIA's graphics chipsets. This comes a month after VIA announced that it will provide Open-Source drivers and documentation on its website so that its hardware will work out of the box with Linux distributions. This gives VIA-powered systems that come pre-installed with Linux, such as the gPC, 15.4" gBook, CloudBook and Zonbu the ability to output graphics through digital connections such as HDMI and possibly making them the best-supported framebuffers Linux has ever had. Look forward to documentation and X.org drivers from VIA as well in the near future.
KDE

Submission + - A Sneak Peak Screenshot Review of KDE 4.1

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: PolishLinux.org has a sneak peak screenshot review and commentary of an early snapshot of KDE 4.1, scheduled for release on July 29th. Highlights in this version of the Free & Open Source KDE desktop environment include tab support in the Dolphin file manager, a GStreamer backend to the Phonon audio system, wobbly windows in KWin, and KDE4 ports of System Information Center and the K3B CD/DVD burning utility.
KDE

Submission + - Byfield on KDE 4 (earthweb.com)

Submitted by
jammag
jammag writes: "GNU/Linux uber-pundit Bruce Byfield opines in this article that "The new version of KDE pushes at the borders of usability and desktop design from every angle imaginable." He overviews some noteworthy upgrades and offers tips for better use. "Increasingly, I'm looking at KDE 4 as a statement about what a desktop should be, and contrasting it with my own ideas on the subject.""
KDE

Submission + - Screenshot Review of the latest Amarok features

Submitted by
KDE News
KDE News writes: "Amarok Insider provides a screenshot review of the latest improvements to the Free/Open Source Amarok music player. Highlights include fully vectorized artwork to prevent image pixelation when scaling, a customizable main toolbar for quick playback control, and a Plasma-powered context view showing downloaded Track/Album information such as lyrics and artist names. Amarok also allows users to listen to radio stations using their Last.fm personal accounts and to browse music catalogs from Magnatune that are purchasable from within the application. Thanks to the Qt's cross-platform Phonon framework, Amarok can now run and play music on Linux, *BSD, Windows, and Mac OS X."
KDE

Submission + - Kubuntu breathes new life into abandoned hardware (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When 3Ghz dual core computers running 2GB of RAM weren't being used for many heavily CPU-intensive applications in a secondary school library, the school's IT department initially joked about replacing them with older and previously abandoned hardware. Then it saw the serious side. When the KDE-centric Ubuntu derivation, Kubuntu, was installed on the old gear — a mixture of Acer Veriton 3600s and 2.1Ghz V5100s — the school found it performed just as efficiently as on the newer hardware. So the IT department installed a range Kubuntu desktops in kiosk mode on the old gear for its Web-based student library system. Implementing a kiosk mode Kubuntu setup allowed Westall Secondary School, located in eastern Melbourne, to save money, exact greater control over security measures, gain flexibility and extend the life of older and discarded hardware without sacrificing performance.
Patents

Submission + - Apple threatens FOSS XESAM spec, claims patents

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The XESAM project, which aims to provide a unified API and specification for desktop search and metadata services on Free and Open Source operating systems like GNU/Linux, was told to close shop by an Apple Corporation. A developer of the XESAM project, Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen, was telephoned today by an Apple lawyer who threatened legal retaliation unless Mr. Erlandsen completely takes down the XESAM website. This is particularly worrisome because pretty much all FOSS desktop search projects like Beagle, Strigi, Nepomuk-KDE, and Tracker rely on XESAM. Is there any way that the GPLv3, the Open Invention Network (OIN), and/or the FOSS community can protect XESAM from patent predators like Apple?
KDE

Submission + - KDE 4: Improved stability and performance

Submitted by billybob2
billybob2 writes: PolishLinux.org has an extensive screenshot review and commentary on the development version of the Free and Open Source KDE desktop. Highlights include the ability to run any desktop applet prepared for Mac OS X inside Plasma, on-the-fly annotation and rating of files from within the Dolphin file manager, improved GUI for the Amarok music player, flexible 3D eye candy configuration in KWin, and improved support for accessing digital cameras via the Solid hardware layer and the DigiKam photo manager.
Graphics

Submission + - Trolltech adopts GPL 3 for Qt (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Funkmaster F
Funkmaster F writes: At the KDE Developer Conference today, Trolltech CEO Havaard Nord announced that its Qt application development toolkit will be released under GPL 3. 'Here at the KDE release event, Nord's announcement was met with applause. Like Trolltech's initial decision to move from its own QPL license to the GPL, this announcement and the company's more recent decision to adopt the GPL for all platforms rather than just Linux, demonstrate the company's ongoing commitment to openness.'

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