Posts tagged as “Linux”

Debian Live Dead, Linux Ransomware & More…

By Christine Hall on November 13, 2015 |

Distros, Internet, News, Security and Web Apps

Debian Live Dead, Linux Ransomware & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Larry’s away today, hiding beneath his tinfoil hat and hoping to escape the ravishes of Friday the thirteenth, so I was volunteered to write this week’s review. Sorry. Larry will return next week.

G’bye Debian Live: By now you’ve probably heard the news that evidently the Debian Live project is no more. This according to the project’s leader, Daniel Baumann, who posted An Abrupt End to Debian Live on the Debian website on Monday. According to him, the project was “hijacked by the Debian-cd and the Debian-installer teams.”

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Reading the post, you might be excused for thinking it’s not all wine and roses over in Debian-land. “Debian can be great,” Baumann wrote. “But depending on who you are, where you come from, and who your friends are, Debian can also be hateful and full of deceit.”

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com

The State of Open Source Gaming on Linux

By Hunter Banks on November 11, 2015 |

Community and Gaming

In the month of October, the spotlight seems to have been on Indie games, and for the open source/Linux developer there were some exciting things happening. On October 26, the 2016 Independent Game Festival (IGF) had its last call for independent game submissions. The IGF is basically Sundance for game developers and student designers who create for Linux, Steam, Mac, and Windows as well as virtual reality and consoles, with over $50 thousand in prizes up for grabs. The competition takes place March 14-18 in San Francisco, for those interested.

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A few game jams, contests for developers to design a game in a short time span, usually between 24-72 hours, have just passed or are soon to be underway as well. Gaming on Linux just concluded its very first game jam last week. Ludum Dare recently finished its “October Challenge,” and as a result eleven more games have been added to the Linux roster. Their next challenge begins in four weeks, with the theme not yet determined, so feel free to visit and suggest a theme. Ludum Dare also has a mini-challenge, Fusion, scheduled to start on November 20 — so keep checking those links for updates.

Hunter Banks

Hunter Banks has been a part of the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) Family for the past 13 years. When not writing about open source gaming, he’s working on creating his own games. Follow him on Twitter @SilvrChariot

System Requirements: When Is ‘Enough’ Enough?

System Requirements: When Is ‘Enough’ Enough?

By Ken Starks on November 10, 2015 |

Hardware and Operating Systems

Old hardware. Laptops in one corner, sitting in a crooked series of piles, some of them just daring someone to try their luck, with one pile looking as if someone, at one time or another, succumbed to that dare. That’s what I found when I arrived at the business warehouse that was donating Reglue a number of laptops and other peripherals — things such as mice, keyboards and 500GB hard drives.

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While the warehouse guy went to get some paperwork, I began looking through some of the donations, taking a closer look at this “obsolete” hardware. Most of these were Dells, but there were also a mixed number of Sony, HP and Toshiba laptops and notebooks. The lack of MacBooks was obvious.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

The Red Hat/MS Agreement Molehill

By Larry Cafiero on November 9, 2015 |

Business

First, let me thank those who took the time to alert me last week to the agreement between Red Hat and Microsoft on holding hands in the cloud. All the concern shown in the emails and social media posts were completely welcome, and could be broken up into two basic sentiments: curiosity about my reaction and serving me some crow to eat.

Some tech pundits, in a race to get eyeballs to their sites, have claimed that Red Hat is getting into bed with Microsoft. Actually, the reality is this: Red Hat is eating Microsoft’s lunch.

To the former, I would offer sincere thanks; to the latter, I’d offer an invitation to bite me.

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But on the whole, let’s not make this Red Hat/Microsoft agreement into a bigger deal than it actually is.

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

Open APIs, Microsoft Loves Red Hat & More…

By Larry Cafiero on November 6, 2015 |

Community, Distros, News, Operating Systems and Software

FOSS Week in Review

It has been a busy week in the FOSS world, with a lot of buzz about developments in the larger sectors of the FOSS realms. So let’s jump in, shall we?

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Linux Foundation Logo Linux Foundation looks to Open APIs: After corralling the widely divergent world of containers, the Linux Foundation now sets its sights on the API economy and making application program interfaces, or APIs, easier to find, according to a report from InfoWorld. For the uninitiated, open APIs, sometimes called public APIs, describes an application program interface providing developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application.

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

Cheap Linux Laptops, Best Video Editors & More…

Cheap Linux Laptops, Best Video Editors & More…

By Larry Cafiero on October 30, 2015 |

Community, Hardware and Software

FOSS Week in Review

Before I start, a friendly reminder: You have until midnight tonight to submit a presentation to the Southern California Linux Expo SCALE 14X. The first-of-the-year Linux/FOSS show — on Jan. 21-24, 2016, at the Pasadena Convention Center — already has Cory Doctorow and Jon ‘maddog’ Hall lined up to speak (as well as our favorite FOSS funnyman, Bryan Lunduke), and if you want to join this list of esteemed speakers, sharpen that No. 2 and get cracking. Don’t make me check with your boss to make sure you’ve submitted…

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Laptop keyboard — Psst. Want a cheap Linux laptop? If you’re in Philadelphia tomorrow, you’re in luck. (Photo Mira DeShazer/Pixbay CC0 Public Domain)

Psst, want a cheap laptop? Philadelphia’s Nonprofit Technology Resources wants to save a pile of laptops from the scrapyard. So Ed Cummings, the president of the organization, said the organization is having a “Linux Laptop Pizza Party” on Saturday in the City of Brotherly Love, according to Juliana Reyes writing in Technical.ly.

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

Solved: The Case of the Missing SteamOS Icons

By Hunter Banks on October 28, 2015 |

Distros, Gaming and Operating Systems

Over the last week, many Linux users on Steam were left in a state of confusion when noticing that some Linux games have had their SteamOS icon removed. For those unaware, the SteamOS icon certifies that a title is playable on Linux, including SteamOS, and soon, on Steam Machines.

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A reddit user, mykro76, took note of this in a post last week:

Hunter Banks

A Miracle Comes to Linux

A Miracle Comes to Linux

By Ken Starks on October 27, 2015 |

Community

His name is Morgan, but it hasn’t always been his name. What it was before doesn’t legally matter any longer. What does matter, to us, is the concentric circles by which “Morgan” arrived…came to be. Morgan doesn’t know any better. Many metaphors of consciousness can be applied, but for Morgan, your arguments on his condition fall outside of his realm of concern. Morgan is Morgan, and what Morgan does in the present is all that matters. What might have been his reality, to you, before “the incident,” is simply pabulum to Morgan. To Morgan, you are children trying to complete a puzzle with missing key pieces. You amuse him.

Ken Starks

linuxlock.blogspot.com/

Ubucon Slated for SCALE 14X, Bassel Offered MIT Job & More…

By Larry Cafiero on October 23, 2015 |

Community, Distros, News, Operating Systems and Politics

FOSS Week in Review

I don’t say enough good things about Ubuntu, so when they give me reason to, I’m on it. I also don’t talk enough about openSUSE either; good, bad or indifferent. Not that I’m turning over a new leaf or anything, but this week’s wrap up contains two items about these distros, and more. Don’t just sit there: Read on&hellip.

**If you’re finding this article useful, please consider helping us meet our absolute minimum daily goal of $86 so our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser stays on track for the month of May.**

Ubucon, a series of Ubuntu-based conferences, brings its traveling salvation show to SCALE 14X in January.

Ubucon at SCALE 14X: SCALE 14X is pleased to announce that Ubucon, a network of conferences focusing on Ubuntu, will take place during the four-day expo at the Pasadena Convention Center.

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

Saying Goodbye to ‘All Things Open’ Until Next Year

Saying Goodbye to ‘All Things Open’ Until Next Year

By Christine Hall on October 22, 2015 |

Community, News and Software

The 2015 edition of the Raleigh based open source conference, All Things Open (ATO), is now one for the history books. It’s also one for the record books.

We knew going in there would be a record number of speakers this year — 131 according to a count on the ATO website — and we learned on our way out — at the closing ceremonies — that this year’s attendance topped 1,700, much more than last year and nearly doubling the attendance from the first ATO in 2013. Todd Lewis, the master of ceremonies for the event — his official title, chairperson, doesn’t begin to describe what he does — said that next year they’re aiming for 2,500, a number they probably have a good chance of hitting.

** If our coverage matters to you, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **

The odd thing was that if you didn’t know that attendance was up, you might’ve thought that the numbers were actually going down.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Richard Stallman Lecture: Free Software vs Malware and the Need for Reverse Engineering

All Things Open Meetup — June 2026

AlmaLinux Day: Los Angeles

Open Source Monitoring Conference

Posts tagged as “Linux”

Debian Live Dead, Linux Ransomware & More…

FOSS Week in Review

The State of Open Source Gaming on Linux

System Requirements: When Is ‘Enough’ Enough?

The Red Hat/MS Agreement Molehill

Open APIs, Microsoft Loves Red Hat & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Cheap Linux Laptops, Best Video Editors & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Solved: The Case of the Missing SteamOS Icons

A Miracle Comes to Linux

Ubucon Slated for SCALE 14X, Bassel Offered MIT Job & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Saying Goodbye to ‘All Things Open’ Until Next Year