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Posts published by “Larry Cafiero”

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Lumina Desktop Getting Ready for FreeBSD 11.0

By Larry Cafiero on February 11, 2016 |

Desktops and News

Lumina Desktop Getting Ready for FreeBSD 11.0Lumina Desktop screenshot

Larry the BSD Guy

The BSD licensed Lumina Desktop aims to release version 1.0 in July.

It appears the sun is rising on Lumina.

Ken Moore, the lead developer for the BSD-based Lumina Desktop Environment, announced that another step towards the release of a full-fledged desktop environment for BSD variants (and Linux distros, for that matter) has been achieved with the release of version 0.8.8 yesterday.

For those of you keeping score at home, the Lumina Desktop Environment — let’s just call it Lumina for short — is a lightweight, XDG-compliant, BSD-licensed desktop environment focusing on getting work done while minimizing system overhead. Specifically designed for PC-BSD and FreeBSD, it has also been ported to many other BSD variants and Linux distros. Lumina is based on the Qt graphical toolkit and the Fluxbox window manager, and uses a small number of X utilities for various tasks.

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VIMAGE Coming Soon to FreeBSDFreeBSD logo

VIMAGE Coming Soon to FreeBSD

By Larry Cafiero on February 4, 2016 |

News and Operating Systems

Larry the BSD Guy

I have to confess that I am still tying up loose ends from SCALE14X — the expo doesn’t end when the doors close for those of us who work the show. However, one interesting development popped up on my BSD radar this week that bears mentioning.

Ed Maste gives a detailed report on it in the FreeBSD Foundation’s newsletter, reporting that Bjoern Zeeb gets the nod for a project grant “to finalize and integrate the work done to make the VIMAGE network stack virtualization production ready.”

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

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BSD at SCALE 14x

By Larry Cafiero on January 28, 2016 |

Community and Operating Systems

Larry the BSD Guy

As I may have mentioned during the SCALE 14x coverage, one of the disadvantages of the glorious burden of working for a great event such as SCALE is that I don’t get out of the media room enough. The fact is, I can’t — herding the cats known as the tech media and processing various social media posts around the event keeps me in the room.

But I do get to go fix things occasionally, and that’s when I make the rounds on the expo floor.

BSD had itself its own row of booths in the expanded expo hall — FreeBSD, the FreeBSD Foundation, and OpenBSD were all neighbors on the exhibit floor. As is common for all the conferences we attend, Dru Lavigne and I — she moreso than me — got to catch up on things, and I took the time to drop in on her “Doc Like and Egyptian” presentation (though, burdened with a radio, I was called away to put out a minor “fire,” rhetorically speaking, in the press room).

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

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SCALE 14X Is One for the Record BooksSarah Sharp at SCALE 14x

SCALE 14X Is One for the Record Books

By Larry Cafiero on January 25, 2016 |

Community and News

SCALE 14x Sunday

Whew. It had over 140 exhibitors, and over 185 sessions. It had just north of 3,600 people registered for the event. It had four days of peace, love and FOSS.

That was SCALE 14X.

But we’re getting ahead of Sunday’s story.

After the cacophony of Saturday night’s Weakest Geek — Ruth Suehle won her third, with talk of a dynasty in the air for that particular game — and the fun and games of, well, Game Night, Sunday rolled into Pasadena on a more quiet, thoughtful note.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingSCALE 14X Is One for the Record Books
SCALE 14X Saturday in Pictures

SCALE 14X Saturday in Pictures

By Larry Cafiero on January 24, 2016 |

Community, News and Operating Systems

Scale 14x Saturday

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls — that covers most of you: From a press standpoint, to say that SCALE 14X was busy would be a clear understatement. While the event has pretty much ratcheted itself up to the next level, staying atop the show in my capacity as the publicity chair is somewhat daunting.

So rather than tell you what happened today, I’m just going to show you. You’ll thank me for it later, trust me.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

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SCALE 14X Gets Rolling for the WeekendSCALE 14x

SCALE 14X Gets Rolling for the Weekend

By Larry Cafiero on January 23, 2016 |

Community and News

SCALE 14X Friday

One of the fears — one of the many in having an established conference at a brand spanking new venue — is this: Suppose they gave an outstanding Friday keynote, and nobody came? All those sleepless nights worrying about it were essentially for naught, since Cory Doctorow’s keynote at SCALE 14X Friday was a standing room only success.

The keynote kicked off yet another day of SCALE at its new digs, and the Pasadena Convention Center has gotten high marks among attendees. The wide-open exhibit hall, holding 143 exhibitors, was a complete hit with both attendees and vendors alike.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingSCALE 14X Gets Rolling for the Weekend
SCALE 14X: Making the Mark and Getting Ready for DoctorowSCALE 14x

SCALE 14X: Making the Mark and Getting Ready for Doctorow

By Larry Cafiero on January 22, 2016 |

Community and News

SCALE 14X Thursday

One of the drawbacks of having to work a show like SCALE is that I don’t get to go to enough sessions while I’m here. As the traffic cop at the intersection of old and new media, it’s my job to marshal the publicity team’s forces into taking the information happening at the show and then processing it for the wider public consumption.

Pasadena Convention Center - SCALE 14x
The calm before the perfect storm, complete with plaza-sweeping Zamboni: The hall at the Pasadena Convention Center is ready for SCALE 14X attendees.
That said — and fighting off rumors Thursday morning that, yes, I am the one to introduce Mark Shuttleworth at the UbuCon keynote that starts the entire UbuCon and SCALE 14X on Thursday (not to worry, I didn’t) — SCALE 14X Thursday kicked off a new era in the conference; specifically one where it become a major player in the FOSS expo constellation, and perhaps the biggest independent show in North America.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingSCALE 14X: Making the Mark and Getting Ready for Doctorow
SCALE 14X Thursday: New Morning in Pasadena

SCALE 14X Thursday: New Morning in Pasadena

By Larry Cafiero on January 21, 2016 |

Admin, Community, Distros, News and Operating Systems

SCALE 14X Thursday

Starting today, the Southern California Linux Expo — SCALE 14X in this year’s 14th annual iteration — moves from being hotel-based event busting at the seams to hold all the exhibitors and sessions to being a full-fledged, freewheeling convention center-based event with wide-open spaces and widespread talks.

The setup is done for today, with exhibitors readying their booths for the opening of the floor tomorrow after Cory Doctorow gives his Friday keynote. But let’s not get ahead of the story for Thursday.

The schedule is posted online, if you’re at the event. If not, you can still follow along at the link.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

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BSD Is Ready for SCALE 14X

By Larry Cafiero on January 14, 2016 |

Community and Operating Systems

SCALE 14x

Larry the BSD Guy

First things first: Were I to give an award for Best Presentation Title for SCALE 14X, it would clearly go to iX Systems’ Community Manager (and all-around BSD documentation queen) Dru Lavigne for “Doc Like an Egyptian” — she wins hands down, without question. Dru speaks at SCALE on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 3 p.m.

Speaking of SCALE, the first-of-the-year Linux/FOSS event for 2016 starts next week on Thursday and runs through Sunday. Next to the Rose Bowl and the Tournament of Roses Parade, both of which took place on New Year’s Day, SCALE is the third largest event in Pasadena this month.

BSD variants and a BSD certification exam highlight the presence of the Unix family at SCALE.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

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FreeBSD Foundation Takes Right Steps

By Larry Cafiero on January 7, 2016 |

Community, Operating Systems and Politics

Larry the BSD Guy

First things first: I’m the new kid on the BSD block. While in the process of still figuring things out on PC-BSD — dang that Synaptics! — and finding a place to contribute in the community, I have no real handle on the nuances of the inner workings of the wider BSD community. To my self-promoting credit, I am a quick study and the learning curve is not as difficult as I imagined. On the whole, I like what I see in those contributing to BSD, especially in the way of eagerness to help new users.

However, when Randi Harper decided to bail on participation in FreeBSD as she outlined in her blog, it raises the question, “Where have we seen this before?” Taking a step back, it raises the question, “Why does this keep happening in FOSS communities?”

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingFreeBSD Foundation Takes Right Steps