apokryphos - Slashdot User

Submission + - SUSE Studio 1.0 Released (susestudio.com)

Submitted by

apokryphos

on Sunday August 02, 2009 @04:01AM

apokryphos writes: "Novell have just announced the release of SUSE studio 1.0 — a user-friendly web service that allows you to create your customised Linux distribution as a live CD, USB, Xen or VMware image. Users have control over adding any repositories, packages and files to the distribution; full creation and customisation of the software appliance from a new user takes roughly ten minutes. It also includes a flash-based "testdrive" service which allows you to try out your appliance in a web browser before downloading it."

Comment Re:An Excellent Idea (Score 1) 126

by apokryphos on Tuesday January 27, 2009 @06:43AM (#26619891) Attached to: SUSE Studio — Linux Customization For the Masses

Yeah, you know how likely it is that SUSE will switch to the Debian packaging system... There's no way to get around it: I know for a fact that they've designed them in this way because developers like being able to get wide collaboration and benefiting the most amount of people.

Comment Re:How is this news? (Score 1) 126

by apokryphos on Monday January 26, 2009 @10:05PM (#26616491) Attached to: SUSE Studio — Linux Customization For the Masses

You quite palpably haven't read the article, or seen the screencast. USB images are not new at all. This is about a new user being able to easily roll any image (USB, VMware, installable live CD) with all the packages that they want (from any repositories) and all the configurations/files they want, all conveniently from a web interface. It's quite innovative and revolutionary.

Comment Re:An Excellent Idea (Score 3, Interesting) 126

by apokryphos on Monday January 26, 2009 @09:59PM (#26616433) Attached to: SUSE Studio — Linux Customization For the Masses

Indeed, it is actually designed to be friendly for other distributions as well. Both the build service and KIWI (both GPL) intentionally have generic designs so that you can both build packages for other distributions, and build customisable versions of other distributions, too. It's a really nice thing: when a distribution goes out of their way to ensure that others can benefit from the tools as well.

Submission + - SUSE Studio: Linux Customisation for the Masses

Submitted by

apokryphos

on Monday January 26, 2009 @07:19AM

apokryphos writes: "Novell just released the first alpha of SUSE Studio (screencast), which provides an easy way to customise your own Linux distribution with the software and configuration that you want. Among other things, you can spin a Live CD, USB image, and create a VMware image. It builds upon the already established openSUSE Build Service and KIWI imaging system."

Comment Re:An impressive installer?? Really??!! (Score 1) 49

by apokryphos on Monday April 21, 2008 @04:28AM (#23139872) Attached to: OpenSUSE 11.0 Beta 1 Has Been Released

Well, it has many improvements not only for new users, but for experienced users too:

Installation happens in 24 minutes now. In fact, on my computer it only took 18 minutes. This was not easy, it required a lot of work: switching to LZMA, creating images for the base patterns, and the new SAT solver (which benefit general package management too)
Installer is less hassle. You only need something like 6 clicks for the full installation. Say what you want, but we were constantly getting abused about the "long" and many clicks required for the installation in public reviews.
Installer is more pleasing to the eye. It's the first thing users see. Many new users were erroneously reaching the conclusion that "nothing changed" in openSUSE because we kept the installer the same. You would be very surprised about the psychological effect this had on users.
Installation is indeed run once, but it also provides a make-or-break situation for users. If there was a part they couldn't do they're probably not going to be hanging around to work it out, they'll just try something else.

So, while there is evidently a lot more to it than just the change in aesthetic appeal, aesthetics are incredibly important in their own right, as well.

Novell Rises to Second Highest Linux Contributor 135

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday April 02, 2008 @02:20PM from the putting-yourself-out-there dept.

eldavojohn writes "Which companies contribute the most to the Linux kernel? Well, The Linux Foundation released their results and Novell's contributions have gone up 250% (from 3.6% of all contributions to 14.4% of all contributions) to put them at #2 behind Red Hat. This chart also illustrates just how widely Linux is modified by the community and not just a handful of developers/companies. You can find more coverage on blogs and the original report."

Submission + - KDE 4 uses 40% less memory despite 3D eye-candy

Submitted by on Wednesday December 12, 2007 @08:39AM

An anonymous reader writes: Pro-Linux reports that KDE 4, scheduled to be released in January 2008, consumes almost 40% less memory than KDE 3.5, despite the fact that version 4 of the Free and Open Source desktop system includes a composited window manager and a revamped menu and applet interface. KDE developer Will Stephenson showcased KDE 4's 3D eye-candy on a 256Mb laptop with 1Ghz CPU and run-of-the-mill integrated graphics, pointing out that mini-optimizations haven't even yet been started. Will this combination of resource efficiency and consumer appeal make KDE 4 the leader in the booming Linux-based ultra mobile laptop and energy efficient desktop markets?

Submission + - Will Linux save the planet? (softpedia.com) 6

Submitted by 00_NOP on Monday December 10, 2007 @12:14PM

00_NOP writes: Acoording to a report on Softpedia, citing a UK government study, Linux PCs are likely to be used for 6 — 8 years instead of the typical 3 — 4 years of a Windows-based PC. With the price of copper and other commodities rocketing, seems like it is good news for the bank balance as well as, errr, the penguins. My oldest Linux box is from 2001 — what's yours?

Submission + - First KDE Education Project Meeting a Great Succes (kde.org)

Submitted by

Jure Repinc

on Wednesday December 05, 2007 @08:14PM

Jure Repinc writes: "Last weekend members of the KDE-Edu team met in Paris for a meeting about the KDE Education project . The meeting took place at the Mandriva office, where members got to know each other and started vivid discussions about their free and open source educational applications, life in general, as well as the future and vision of the Educational module, which is part of the KDE desktop project."

Submission + - 2007 Linux Graphics Survey Results (phoronix.com)

Submitted by

Michael

on Thursday November 22, 2007 @04:05PM

Michael writes: "At Phoronix we have finished our 2007 Linux Graphics Survey and the results are now available with over 20,000 submissions. This survey sought to find out the most popular graphics hardware in use, which closed and open-source drivers are being used, and how many are using accelerated desktop effects. The survey found that nearly half of those polled were using NVIDIA hardware, about 60% of Linux desktop users are using Compiz Fusion, Compiz, or Beryl, and that most still end up modifying their xorg.conf manually..."

Submission + - Over 1,500 Customers Using Oracle's Linux (prnewswire.com)

Submitted by kripkenstein on Wednesday November 14, 2007 @01:43PM

kripkenstein writes: Oracle has released a press release stating that in a short 9 months it has signed up over 1,500 paying customers to its Linux offering, Oracle Unbreakable Linux, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and has previously been covered on Slashdot.

Oracle's press release stresses Oracle's various contributions to FOSS. Given that Oracle is now the largest corporation selling and and contributing to Linux (in terms of overall revenue at least; not Linux-specific), the FOSS community's reaction to Oracle's Linux moves is becoming increasingly important. Will Oracle be welcomed, or scorned?

Submission + - SCO found guilty of lying about Unix code in Linux (linux-watch.com)

Submitted by

mlauzon

on Tuesday November 13, 2007 @02:22PM

mlauzon writes: "In the United States, SCO's Linux/Unix litigation has been stalled out while the company's bankruptcy trial is being dealt with. In Germany, however, several court cases have found SCO Group GmbH, SCO's Germany branch, guilty of lying about Linux containing stolen Unix code.

In the first case, reported on by Heise Online, the pro-Linux German companies, Tarent GmbH and Univention found that SCO was once more making claims that Linux contained Unix IP (intellectual property). Specifically, SCO GmbH made the familiar claims that "As we have progressed in our discovery related to this action, SCO has found compelling evidence that the Linux operating system contains unauthorized SCO UNIX intellectual property (IP)." This was followed by the usual threat "If a customer refuses to compensate SCO for its UNIX intellectual property found in Linux by purchasing a license, then SCO may consider litigation."

The German Linux companies had already successfully protested against these statements in 2003. Then they were granted an injunction against SCO from making its claims that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO IP, a.k.a. Unix source code. If SCO violated this injunction, SCO would have to pay a fine of 250,000 Euros.

Since Tarent and Univention brought the matter to the attention of the courts, SCO has taken down the offending page with its claims.

Of course, in the U.S. court system, it has already been ruled that SCO has no Unix IP. Novell, not SCO, owns Unix.

Tarent's managing director told Heise Online that he found "It disconcerting, though not surprising, to see SCO trying to do towards the end what it is really being paid for by its supporters: spreading falsities as disparaging as possible about Linux." Unlike 2003, where Linux companies had to nip things in the bud, exercising vigilance is due now where things are coming to an end: "Even though SCO has reached the end of the line in our opinion, one should not let them get away with this."

In a similar case, Andreas Kuckartz, a German Linux advocate, had been publicly stating since 2003 that "SCO IP Licenses for Linux" amounted to little more than "protection money pricelists" and that SCO is "spreading rumors about copyright violations in Linux." Further, Kuckartz claimed that "The SCO Group Inc. is probably is involved in crimes such as stock manipulation and filing a fraudulent complaint against IBM."

SCO took him to court over these claims and SCO has lost (German PDF document). The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled, Kuckartz said in e-mails to Linux-Watch, "that my statements are allowed because none of the factual statements I made to support those accusations are false. I can now even go to a business partner of The SCO Group GmbH and tell him or her that SCO is probably involved in the named crimes."

Kuckartz claim that he believes is the most important one is that in the four years the case has dragged out, SCO never objected "to my statement that SCO has not presented any proof of copyright violations in the lawsuit SCO vs. IBM."

In the United States, however, SCO, even now, continues to drag out its unsubstantiated claims that IBM has stolen SCO's Unix IP. In the SCO bankruptcy hearing, SCO attorney Arthur Spector once more claims, "Our litigation is a tremendous asset" and "Our litigation with IBM could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.""

Submission + - Skype with video support for Linux in Beta! (skype.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 09, 2007 @06:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: Skype 2.0 Beta brings the most requested feature to Skype for Linux: video calling. In the past, we have struggled in a world of glass panes and fruits. Forbidden from seeing the world around us. Denied the possibility of showing who we are. But today, our eyes open. We're not afraid to see, and we're not afraid to show ourselves. This is a time of excitement. And a time to share our happiness, our sadness, our anger and our love. For video has arrived to Skype for Linux.

Submission + - GIMPShop Review: GIMP Made Friendly (osweekly.com)

Submitted by

LNXPHreak

on Tuesday October 16, 2007 @02:07AM

LNXPHreak writes: "OSWeekly.com has reviewed GIMPShop, an add-on to GIMP, the ever popular Photoshop replacement for Linux. The review concludes, "What's really cool is that the author of this GIMP variation also seems to have removed usability errors from the Adobe way of doing things as well. Same features as before, yet with an improved naming scheme, I can honestly say that this would have a much better chance of turning a Photoshop user than GIMP ever had. To reiterate as clearly as possible, the 'fixes' seen with GIMPShop are cosmetic and relate to the application's layout, not GIMP's fantastic feature set."

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