Posts published in “News”

Xubuntu Based Emmabuntüs 3, Version 1.03, Released

By FOSS Force on March 30, 2016 |

Xubuntu Based Emmabuntüs 3, Version 1.03, Released

Emmabuntüs is a GNU/Linux distribution that’s definitely set apart from the crowd, as its developers are motivated less by a love for technology than by a connection with humanity.

The Emmabuntüs Community today announced the third maintenance release of Emmabuntüs 3, version 1.03, based on Xubuntu 14.04.4. Like its *buntu namesake, the distro ships with the Xfce desktop by default, but also includes LXDE as an option.

What sets Emmabuntüs apart from other GNU/Linux distributions is the fact that it’s a distro with a mission. The informal community responsible for the distribution initially came together sometime before 2012 with the purpose of creating a distribution to simplify the task of refurbishing used computers to be given to charity organizations, with the key recipient being Emmaus, a secular international organization founded in Paris in 1949 by Catholic priest and Capuchin friar Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.

Ubuntu Coming to Windows 10

By Christine Hall on March 30, 2016 |

Business, Distros, News and Operating Systems

In its quest to become the Microsoft of the Linux world, Ubuntu and Microsoft are expected to announce today that Ubuntu will soon run on Windows 10.

Holy crap!

In Friday’s Week in Review I jokingly opined that I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Ubuntu for Windows” as a move by the folks at Canonical as part of their plans for world domination. Guess what? It’s really happening.

In an article published Tuesday, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes that “[a]ccording to sources at Canonical” a deal has been worked out between Ubuntu’s parent company and Microsoft that will lead to the GNU/Linux distro being able to run alongside Windows 10. According to Vaughan-Nichols, “This will not be in a virtual machine, but as an integrated part of Windows 10.”

SCO Again Returns From Dead, Plans Appeal

By FOSS Force on March 30, 2016 |

Business, Copyright and News

FOSS Force has learned that we shouldn’t write obituaries until we actually see a death certificate. SCO intends to file an appeal over the dismissal of its case against IBM.

On Feburary 29, we told you that SCO was “undeniably and reliably dead” after the company signed off on Judge David Nuffer’s dismissal of what remained of its case against IBM. Guess what? We were wrong. The once upon a time Linux and Unix company, which developed and distributed the Caldera GNU/Linux distribution, evidently has not yet been pulled from life support. On Tuesday, the company filed notification that it intends to appeal Judge Nuffer’s ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Busy Week: UbuntuBSD, FreeNAS 9.10 Released

By Larry Cafiero on March 24, 2016 |

News, Operating Systems and Software

Larry the BSD Guy

While the entire BSD world has been buzzing over Ubuntu’s BSD release, the FreeNAS project has been busy releasing version 9.10 as a major precursor to version 10.

Most of the attention this week has been around the release of UbuntuBSD, which in and of itself is a noble effort for those who want to escape from systemd, as the developers have dubbed it according to Phoronix. This manifestation joins Ubuntu 15.10 Wile E. Coyote — sorry, Wily Werewolf — to the Free BSD 10.1 kernel.

To its credit, UbuntuBSD uses Xfce as its default desktop. It also joins a list of other marriages between Linux distros and the BSD kernel: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, ArchBSD (now PacBSD), Gentoo/BSD and others along the FOSS highway. It’s worth a look and we’ll be giving it a test drive sometime soon.

But for now, there’s a more interesting and significant development in the BSD realm rising on the horizon.

Reglue Seeks USB Wireless Adapters and Speakers

By FOSS Force on March 21, 2016 |

Community and News

The Southeast Texas nonprofit, Reglue, needs a total of 86 USB wireless adapters and speaker sets to complete a project to bring computers and Internet connectivity to 125 families with school aged children.

Reglue, a nonprofit that supplies free refurbished computers to financially strapped families with school children in Southeast Texas, has announced that it needs donations of USB wireless adapters and speakers. The devices are needed for a project that will bring computers and Internet connectivity to all families with school aged children living in housing controlled by the Taylor [Texas] Housing Authority. The authority and Reglue have already reached an agreement with Time Warner to supply housing units with wireless connections, and the adapters are needed so that Reglue’s “kids” can take advantage of those connections.

In a March 14 post on the Reglue website, Ken Starks, the organization’s founder (full disclosure: Starks is also a writer at FOSS Force), explained that the shortfall is a result of the success of the program. “At first, we were informed that we could plan on doing about 40 [installations] in a year’s time…[but] we’re now looking at in the neighborhood of 125 machines.”

OSS in the Empire State, LibrePlanet 2016 & More…

OSS in the Empire State, LibrePlanet 2016 & More…

By Christine Hall on March 18, 2016 |

Browsers, Community, Copyright, News and Software

FOSS Week in Review

While New York State contemplates offering a tax break to open source projects and Massachusetts prepares for LibrePlanet 2016, Opera adds built-in ad blocking to its browser.

It may be a digital world, but the weather is still analog.

Around my parts, this is the time of year when the weather can’t seem to decide whether to act like winter or spring. In other words, it’s a couple of days of tee shirts and shorts followed by a couple of days of dressing in layers and running the heat. Last week it was in the 80s, but next week they’re saying to expect frost and maybe freezing rain. I’m not complaining. This is still better than the dog days of summer.

We’ve already covered quite a bit of the FOSS news this week. Here’s some items left uncovered:

FreeBSD Foundation Logo, Website Get New Look

By Larry Cafiero on March 17, 2016 |

Community, News and Operating Systems

Larry the BSD Guy

Sometimes you have to quit cleaning your code long enough to clean your room. The people at the FreeBSD Foundation have already been doing some spring cleaning. They’ve even called the decorator.

Drumroll, maestro…

There’s a new look at the FreeBSD Foundation, with a new logo and website. The changes are intended to highlight “the ongoing evolution of the Foundation identity and ability to better serve the FreeBSD Project,” according to the post announcing the changes.

The new FreeBSD Foundation logo marks a new step forward for the foundation.
Logo used with permission from the FreeBSD Foundation.

“Our new logo was designed to not only reflect the established and professional nature of our organization, but also to represent the link between the Project and the Foundation, and our commitment to community, collaboration, and the advancement of FreeBSD,” the announcement continues.

Great Wide Open Day One in Twitter Pics

Great Wide Open Day One in Twitter Pics

By Christine Hall on March 17, 2016 |

Business, Community and News

Although the second Great Wide Open conference in Atlanta comes a full two years after GWO number one, the wait doesn’t seem to have spoiled the fun.

If there was ever an open source conference that doesn’t need any help from the press, it’s this year’s Great Wide Open in Atlanta. In spite of getting very little media attention, IT-oLogy, the nonprofit behind the event, was able to announce nearly two weeks ago that tickets to the second day of the two day conference were already sold out, with less than 200 remaining tickets for day one. Day one was Wednesday, and as logic would dictate, day two is today.

This comes as something of a surprise, as this isn’t an established conference with a history like, say, OSCON, SCALE or even All Things Open, which these days is probably the flagship event of the same IT-oLogy that’s putting on this show down in the land of magnolia blossoms.

Top Websites Hit With Malware Ads

Top Websites Hit With Malware Ads

By FOSS Force on March 16, 2016 |

Internet, News and Security

Some of the biggest online advertising networks this weekend served malware laden ads to some of the Internet’s highest trafficked websites.

Some of the most visited sites on the Internet began delivering malware laden ads this weekend. The sites affected included The New York Times, the BBC, MSN, and AOL. Those who visited a site delivering the ads are not at risk unless they clicked on an infected ad. After clicking, users are taken to another website which attempts to infect them with either Cryptowall ransomware or a trojan that gives the attackers control of the infected computer. The good news for FOSS Force readers is that the malware seems to only work against Windows, so GNU/Linux users are considered safe.

Dangerous TLDs, Ballmer’s Linux Love & More…

Dangerous TLDs, Ballmer’s Linux Love & More…

By Christine Hall on March 11, 2016 |

Community, Copyright, Distros, News, Obits and Security

FOSS Week in Review

Two big open source conferences are coming up next week, while this week an automaker said it doesn’t have to pay attention to the GPL and the man credited with inventing email passed.

Although Microsoft mainly succeeded in its attempts to hijack the FOSS news scene this week by spreading open source love — better than spreading FUD, I guess — there was plenty of FOSS news happening away from the Redmond campus. Even Microsoft with all its billions, it seems, isn’t large enough to monopolize all of the news in the big, wide and wonderful world of FOSS.

For starters, it’s conference season. Well, except for a lull in the dog days of summer, Linux and open source conferences are always in season, but there are a couple of big ones on the slate for next week.

OpenSearchCon Europe

ATO Meetup: AI 3-in-1: Agents, RAG, and Local Models

Open Expo Europe Congress 2025

Nextcloud Summit 2025

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon China

Posts published in “News”

Xubuntu Based Emmabuntüs 3, Version 1.03, Released

Emmabuntüs is a GNU/Linux distribution that’s definitely set apart from the crowd, as its developers are motivated less by a love for technology than by a connection with humanity.

Ubuntu Coming to Windows 10

In its quest to become the Microsoft of the Linux world, Ubuntu and Microsoft are expected to announce today that Ubuntu will soon run on Windows 10.

SCO Again Returns From Dead, Plans Appeal

FOSS Force has learned that we shouldn’t write obituaries until we actually see a death certificate. SCO intends to file an appeal over the dismissal of its case against IBM.

Busy Week: UbuntuBSD, FreeNAS 9.10 Released

Larry the BSD Guy

While the entire BSD world has been buzzing over Ubuntu’s BSD release, the FreeNAS project has been busy releasing version 9.10 as a major precursor to version 10.

Reglue Seeks USB Wireless Adapters and Speakers

The Southeast Texas nonprofit, Reglue, needs a total of 86 USB wireless adapters and speaker sets to complete a project to bring computers and Internet connectivity to 125 families with school aged children.

OSS in the Empire State, LibrePlanet 2016 & More…

FOSS Week in Review

While New York State contemplates offering a tax break to open source projects and Massachusetts prepares for LibrePlanet 2016, Opera adds built-in ad blocking to its browser.

FreeBSD Foundation Logo, Website Get New Look

Larry the BSD Guy

Sometimes you have to quit cleaning your code long enough to clean your room. The people at the FreeBSD Foundation have already been doing some spring cleaning. They’ve even called the decorator.

Great Wide Open Day One in Twitter Pics

Although the second Great Wide Open conference in Atlanta comes a full two years after GWO number one, the wait doesn’t seem to have spoiled the fun.

Top Websites Hit With Malware Ads

Some of the biggest online advertising networks this weekend served malware laden ads to some of the Internet’s highest trafficked websites.

Dangerous TLDs, Ballmer’s Linux Love & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Two big open source conferences are coming up next week, while this week an automaker said it doesn’t have to pay attention to the GPL and the man credited with inventing email passed.