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Games

Submission + - Valve: Linux has everything they need (ubuntuvibes.com)

Submitted by dartttt
dartttt writes: In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is not an open platform anymore and Linux has everything they need: good OpenGL, pulseaudio, OpenAL and input support.
Android

Submission + - Microsoft's SmartGlass for Android Reviewed (thepowerbase.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has released their much anticipated SmartGlass application for Android, allowing the Linux-based mobile OS to act as an input device for their Xbox 360 game console.

While the app has its share of annoying problems, it does offer a glimpse into a possible future where consumer electronics are no longer crippled by the artificial barriers of manufacturer or operating system.
Linux

Submission + - Valve Steam for Linux Beta Survey (valvesoftware.com)

Submitted by
hawkeyeMI
hawkeyeMI writes: "Valve has moved one step closer to releasing Steam for Linux, and they want beta testers that have a lot of experience with Linux. Knowing Slashdot, many of you probably fit the bill. So, if you'd like to try to get into the beta, go fill out the survey! You will need a Steam account to do so."
GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - Rare photos: gnu crashing a Windows 8 launch event (fsf.org)

Submitted by
Atticus Rex
Atticus Rex writes: "Reporters and security guards at the event weren't sure how to react when they were greeted by a real, live gnu. The gnu — which, on closer inspection, was an activist in a gnu suit — had come for some early trick-or-treating. But instead of candy, she had free software for the eager journalists. The gnu and the Free Software Foundation campaigns team handed out dozens of copies of Trisquel, a fully free GNU/Linux distribution, along with press releases and stickers. Once they got over their confusion, the reporters were happy to see us and hear our message — that Windows 8 is a downgrade, not an upgrade, because it steals users' freedom, security and privacy."
Games

Submission + - A Proposal To Fix The Full-Screen Linux Window Mess

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: The SDL developers Ryan Gordon and Sam Lantinga have proposed a window manager change to work out the full-screen X11 window mess, primarily for games. The proposal is to come up with a _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN_EXCLUSIVE window manager hint that works out the shortcomings of the full-screen hint used currently by most games, _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN. Ryan and Sam have already worked out an initial patch for SDL but they haven't tried hooking it to any window manager yet. Those interested in the details, information is available from this mailing list message. One of the key changes is that software would make the request to the window manager to change the resolution, rather than tapping RandR or XVidMode directly. Martin Gräßlin of KDE was rather wary about the patch and said that games changing the resolution just tend to mess up the desktop.
Linux

Submission + - Serious EXT4 Data Corruption Bug Hits Linux Kernel (phoronix.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An EXT4 file-system data corruption issue has reached the stable Linux kernel. The latest Linux 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 stable kernels have an EXT4 file-system bug described as an apparent serious progressive ext4 data corruption bug. Kernel developers have found and bisected the kernel issue but are still working on a proper fix for the stable Linux kernel. The EXT4 file-system can experience data loss if the file-system is remounted (or the system rebooted) too often.
GNOME

Submission + - OpenGL Becoming A Requirement For The Linux Desktop (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Modern Linux desktops like Ubuntu's Unity and the GNOME Shell have placed a requirement on OpenGL 2.0+ support for handling their compositing window managers and desktop effects. Wayland's Weston also needs OpenGL ES 2.0 support. Now with modern Linux distributions like Ubuntu 12.10, rather than falling back to a 2D unaccelerated desktop if you don't have a sufficient GPU or graphics driver, users are being forced to run LLVMpipe as a CPU-based software rasterizer. LLVMpipe works fine if you are on a new PC with a fast x86-64 CPU, but the OpenGL-based Linux desktops are causing growing pains for ARM hardware, virtual machines, servers, multi-seat computers, and of course all older hardware. LLVMpipe is a Mesa Gallium3D driver that uses LLVM for run-time code generation as an attempt at accelerating graphics faster on the CPU.

So much for Linux being good for old compuers?
Linux

Submission + - Team Fortress 2 Beta patch adds files refering to Linux support (teamfortress.com)

Submitted by spacenet
spacenet writes: Valve has quietly released an update to the beta version of its popular online FPS Team Fortress 2. Among the modified files are some Linux-related files including a hardware driver compatibility list, optimal graphics settings, and a shell script launcher (previously only for OSX, now with a case for Linux as well). Valve has not updated their TF2 beta changelog, but has acknowledged the update in a forum post.
Linux

Submission + - Wayland 1.0 Released, Not Yet Ready To Replace X11 (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: After being talked about for four years, Wayland 1.0 was released today. The Wayland 1.0 release doesn't mark it yet as being ready for Linux desktop usage but just being API/protocol stable for future expansion. Wayland will now maintain backwards compatibility going forward, but how much longer will it take to replace X11 on the Linux desktop? Quite a while seems likely.
Windows

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Secure Windows Laptop for your kid, when clueless about Windows? 1

Submitted by madsdyd
madsdyd writes: I am a long time user of Linux (1997) and have not been using Windows since 1998. All PCs at home (mine, wife, kids) runs Linux. I work professionally as a software developer with Linux, but the Windows installs at my workplace are quite limited, so my current/working knowledge of Windows is almost nil.

At home we have all been happy with this arrangements, and the kids have been using their nintendos, ps2/3's and mobile phones up until now. However, my oldest kid (12) now wants to play World of Warcraft and League of Legends with his friends.

I have spent more hours than I like to admit getting this to work with Wine, with limited success — seems to always fail at the last moment. I considered an Apple machine, but they seem to be quite expensive.

So, I am going to bite the bullet, and install Windows 7 on a spare Lenove T400 laptop, which I estimate will be able to run both Windows 7 and the games in question.

Getting Windows 7 from a shop is surprisingly expensive, but I have found a place where they sell used software (legally) and can live with that one-time cost. However, I understand that I need to protect the Windows installation against viruses and malware and whatnot. The problem is, I have no clue how. One shop wants to sell me a subscription based solution from Norton, but this cost will take a huge dip into my kids monthly allowance — he is required to cover the costs of playing himself, so given that playing WoW is not exactly free, this is a non-trivial expense for him. On the other hand, he has plenty of time, so I guess he could use that time to learn something, and protecting his system at the same time.

So, my questions are sometihng like this: how do other Slashdotters provide Windows installations for their kids? What kind of protection is needed? Are there any open source/free protection systems that can be used? Should the security issues be ignored, and instead dump the Windows install to an external disk, and restore every two weeks? Is there a "Windows for Linux users" guide somewhere? What should we do, given that we need to keep the cost low and preferably the steps simple enough for a 12 year old kid to perform?
Red Hat Software

Submission + - Is Ubuntu Development Becoming Less Open? (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: While the larger Ubuntu community was busy downloading, installing and enjoying the latest edition of Ubuntu yesterday, a post by Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth rustled some feathers. He gave indications that from now onwards only selected members of the community will be involved in some development and it will be announced publicly only after completion. Unlike other open source projects where all development happens in open manner. There as some criticism of this move and Shuttleworth ate his words and responded that they are actually opening up those projects where were being developed internally by Canonical employees instead of closing currently open projects. He also attacked Red Hat, as usual. This attitude or Shuttleworth is causing much discomfort for the entire Linux community. Is Canonical doing something wrong?
Mandriva

Submission + - Mandriva Foundation Gets A New Name: OpenMandriva (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Mandrive, once the Ubuntu of Linux world, is struggling for new identity and new life. After its fork as Mageia the distribution is enjoying new life with support from Russian investors. The distribution and foundation is looking for a new identity. They have chosen Open Mandriva as the name of the foundation, the new name of the distribution is yet to be decided.
Linux

Submission + - Reiser4 File-System Still In Development (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Reiser4 still hasn't been merged into the mainline Linux kernel, but it's still being worked on by a small group of developers following Hans Reiser being convicted for murdering his wife. Reiser4 was updated in September on SourceForge to work with the Linux 3.5 kernel and has been benchmarked against EXT4, Btrfs, XFS, and ReiserFS. Reiser4 loses out in most of the Linux file-system performance tests, has much stigma due to Hans Reiser, and Btrfs is surpassing it feature-wise, so does it have any future in Linux ahead?
Linux

Submission + - Raspberry Pi Model B Upgraded To 512MB RAM (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Good (and bad) news for Raspberry Pi lovers, the Model B has been upgraded to 512MB RAM from 256MB. Bad news is for those who already got their Model B shipments because all those who have outstanding orderes with either distributors will get the *upgraded* version of the device, means with 512MB RAM instead of 256MB. The upgraded devices should be arriving to customers from today onwards. Raspberry Pi team will be pushing a firmware upgrade soon so these news devices can detect and use the additional RAM.
KDE

Submission + - KDE Plasma Active 3 Improves Performance, Brings New Apps (kde.org)

Submitted by
jrepin
jrepin writes: "KDE has released the 3rd stable version of Plasma Active, KDE's device-independent user experience. The Plasma Active user interface is touch-friendly and works well across a range of devices. Its Activities function gives users a natural way to organize and access their applications, files and information. Plasma Active Three noticeably improves the user experience with its enhanced and expanded set of apps, improved performance and a new virtual keyboard."
Microsoft

Submission + - Now You Can Run Linux, BSD On Any UEFI Secure Boot PC (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: The Linux Foundation has released a pre-booter which enabled any Linux or BSD distribution to run on any UEFI Secure boot windows PC. The Linux Foundation will obtain a Microsoft Key and sign a small pre-bootloader which will, in turn, chain load (without any form of signature check) a predesignated boot loader which will, in turn, boot Linux (or any other operating system).
Linux

Submission + - Linux Developers Still Reject NVIDIA Using DMA-BUF (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Many Linux laptop users are quick to bash NVIDIA over their lack of proper Optimus support. In August NVIDIA confirmed they were working on NVIDIA Optimus Linux support. As part of their Optimus Linux implementation they want to use DMA-BUF for the multi-GPU interactions just like the open-source drivers, so that they can all work together. Unfortunately, the developers of the linux kernel prevent NVIDIA to finish their implementation by not allowing non-GPL drivers to use this unified buffer sharing infrastructure.

Should NVIDIA use the F-word to respond to their intransigence ?
Linux

Submission + - Behind the scenes: Why Nokia killed MeeGo (taskumuro.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Press and users praised Nokia N9, the company's first MeeGo smartphone for sale. After only a few months, CEO Stephen Elop announced the end of MeeGo. Muropaketti reveals the reasons behind the scenes and the effect of the decision: wrong SoC with no support for 4G was one of the problems resulting eg. Nokia canceling their MeeGo tablet — even after Elop had praised it.

Also the article reveals that the MeeGo project was actually going to die by itself, not because of Elop. The major problems were there already and the bad decisions were made before the Elop-era. One big deal was competition: Symbian was bringing in money, Nokia's excecutives didn't want to kill a milking cow by providing a competitor in-house.
Operating Systems

Submission + - OS upgrades powered by Git (webconverger.org)

Submitted by JamieKitson
JamieKitson writes: The latest Webconverger 15 release is the first Linux distribution to be automagically updatable from a Github repository. The chroot of the OS is kept natively in git's format and fuse mounted with git-fs. Webconverger fulfills the Web kiosk use case, using Firefox and competes indirectly with Google Chrome OS. Chrome OS also has an autoupdate feature, however not as powerful, unified & transparent as when simply using git. bod

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