Information freedom for open source users.

lukehashj writes “The openSUSE Project is pleased to announce the release of the latest incarnation of openSUSE, with support for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. OpenSUSE 11.3 is packed with new features and updates including SpiderOak to sync your files across the Internet for free, Rosegarden for free editing of your audio files, improved indexing with Tracker, and updates to Mozilla Firefox, and Thunderbird.”

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adeelarshad82 writes “According to a message posted to a public mailing list dedicated to Chrome OS, a new feature is in the works that will grant users access to ‘legacy PC applications’ through some kind of remote desktop connection process. Google software engineer Gary Kamark, who first spilled the beans on the feature, calls the process ‘Chromoting.’ The current speculation amongst Chrome enthusiasts is that the Chromoting process is more akin to a VPN/sharing functionality than anything else. In that case, one would have to leave one’s Windows-based desktop or laptop system on in order to access apps via a connected Chrome OS computer — which is hardly a technological leap given that numerous applications today offer users an analogous screen-sharing / remote access functionality.”

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snydeq writes “Canonical is preparing a version of the Ubuntu OS for tablet computers as the company looks to extend its presence in the mobile space, InfoWorld reports. The OS will be a lightweight version of Linux with a simplified, touch-friendly user interface, and tablets with the Ubuntu OS could become available late in winter 2011. The focus will be on developing an OS with a simplified user interface that provides quick access to the most-used applications. Development efforts will also focus on adding on-screen keyboard features and compatibility for multitouch drivers.”

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An anonymous reader writes “The MorphOS Team has released version 2.5 of its PPC computer-only operating system. The new version extends its support of the PPC Mac range to include the eMac, which was the 2002-2006 Mac model consisting of a CRT monitor and computer in a single housing. MorphOS previously and continues to support the PPC Mac mini, as well as the Pegasos and Efika niche computers (all discontinued but available second-hand). MorphOS includes a web-browser and TCP/IP stack and a few traditional baseline OS-associated apps among its features. Further software is available from a range of online repositories. MorphOS 2.5 comes on a bootable 30-minute demo LiveCD ISO which may also be installed. The ISO is available for free download by anyone. The 30 minute limit is removed by online purchase of registration/key-file which is available for a limited period for the sum of 111 euros to celebrate the launch of this version.”

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whisper_jeff writes “Engadget has an interesting article up discussing whether or not Android is fragmenting. While the article discusses the concept that it may be more about handsets becoming obsolete at a dramatic pace rather than the OS fragmenting, it also begins by noting that there are currently five different versions of Android on the market, which implies there is a notable degree of fragmentation. Regardless of it being fragmentation or handsets becoming obsolete to new feature sets in a terribly short period of time, I believe this development cycle could turn casual consumers away and hurt Android’s chances at long term mainstream success.”

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Today at the Ubuntu Developers Summit, Mark Shuttleworth presented a few upcoming Ubuntu projects, including “Light” versions of the operating system for “both netbook and desktop, that are optimized for dual-boot scenarios.” Shuttleworth also took the wraps off Unity, a new lightweight interface that will be included in Ubuntu Light and eventually in Ubuntu Netbook Edition as well. “First, we want to move the bottom panel to the left of the screen, and devote that to launching and switching between applications. That frees up vertical space for web content, at the cost of horizontal space, which is cheaper in a widescreen world. … Second, we’ll expand that left-hand launcher panel so that it is touch-friendly. With relatively few applications required for instant-on environments, we can afford to be more generous with the icon size there. … Third, we will make the top panel smarter.” Ars got a chance to try out a prototype of Unity, saying, “Its unique visual style melds beautifully with Ubuntu’s new default theme and its underlying interaction model seems compelling and well-suited for small screens.”

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sammyF70 writes “The Wolfire/Humble Indie Bundle real time statistics have been updated to show the average amount donated per platform. It looks like Linux users donate twice as much, on average, as Windows users. You can see some graphs on the Wolfire blog.”

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VincenzoRomano writes “While the latest version of Ubuntu is still smoking hot, the Ubuntu development community is already working on the next step. Both the Wiki and the bug tracking system at Launchpad have already been set up for Maverick Meerkat, which will be version number 10.10. This confirms the usual naming and numbering schema and the fact that the final release should be due sometime within the forthcoming October. This next version, which obviously won’t be Long Term Support (LTS), should sport a lighter and faster environment with GNOME 3.0, aka GNOME Shell, among the main advances. Everything has been explained by Mr. Shuttleworth in his own blog since the beginning of April. It’s important to say to the impatient among us that the first alpha release is not due earlier than the end of June, so maybe it’d be better to take advantage of the Lucid Lynx while the technical overview of the Meerkat will start getting more details.”

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Stoobalou writes “A Californian Playstation 3 user has filed the first class action lawsuit against Sony over removal of the ‘Install Other OS’ function from the Playstation 3. The action seeks to redress Sony’s ‘intentional disablement of the valuable functionalities originally advertised as available with the Sony Playstation 3 video game console.’ The suit claims that the disablement breaches the sales contract between Sony and its customers and constitutes ‘an unfair and deceptive business practice perpetrated on millions of unsuspecting customers.’”

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martiniturbide writes “After a long delay, eComStation 2.0 GA will finally become reality. It will be released in time to be presented at the Warpstock Europe 2010 event which will be held in Trier, Germany, from May 14 to 16. We consider eComStation 2.0 to be the biggest overhaul of OS/2 so far. Together with a team of both hired and volunteer developers, we have extended the functionality, removed limitations, updated hardware support as far as possible, and resolved close to 1000 issues that had been reported since the release of eComStation 1.2R. The new eComStation 2.0 GA is the result of several years of combined efforts and investments.”

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An anonymous reader sends in an IBM DeveloperWorks backgrounder on Kernel Shared Memory in the 2.6.32 Linux kernel. KSM allows the hypervisor to increase the number of concurrent virtual machines by consolidating identical memory pages. The article covers the ideas behind KSM (such as storage de-duplication), its implementation, and how you manage it.

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Stoobalou writes “Sony says that it has no intention of reimbursing retailers if they offer users partial refunds for fat PS3s. Last week, the first PS3 user successfully secured a partial refund from Amazon UK as compensation for the removal of the ability to run Linux on the console. The user quoted European law in order to persuade the online retailer that the goods he had bought in good faith were no longer fit for his purposes because of the enforcement of firmware update 3.21, which meant that users who chose to keep the Other OS functionality would lose the ability to play the latest games or connect to the PlayStation Network.”

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Toxicgonzo writes “Amazon has given a European PS3 owner a 20% refund for removal of the PS3′s OtherOS feature. (We recently discussed hacker Geohot’s efforts to restore this feature.) The owner cited European law Directive 1999/44/EC — which states that goods must (1) comply with the description given by the seller and possess the same qualities and characteristics as other similar goods, and (2) be fit for the purpose which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of purchase. How many other European PS3 owners will follow suit? If Amazon forwards the bill to Sony, how will Sony respond?”

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Trailrunner7 writes “Joanna Rutkowska, a security researcher known for her work on virtualization security and low-level rootkits, has released a new open-source operating system meant to provide isolation of the OS’s components for better security. The OS, called Qubes, is based on Xen, X and Linux, and is in a basic, alpha stage right now. Qubes relies on virtualization to separate applications running on the OS and also places many of the system-level components in sandboxes to prevent them from affecting each other. ‘Qubes lets the user define many security domains implemented as lightweight virtual machines (VMs), or ‘AppVMs.’ E.g. users can have ‘personal,’ ‘work,’ ‘shopping,’ ‘bank,’ and ‘random’ AppVMs and can use the applications from within those VMs just like if they were executing on the local machine, but at the same time they are well isolated from each other. Qubes supports secure copy-and-paste and file sharing between the AppVMs, of course.’”

Xen’s also just reached 4.0; some details below.

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rubycodez writes “Oracle, having acquired Sun Microsystems, including its Unix, will no longer give away free Solaris licenses. Oracle also states that some features of its Oracle Solaris will not appear in OpenSolaris, which means OpenSolaris may start to die.”

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Many readers have been sending in news of the impending PS3 firmware update that will remove the ability to install other operating systems on the console. (We discussed it here on Sunday.) Over the past few days, legions of PS3 owners have been voicing their anger at Sony’s decision, upset that they’ll be forced to either lose their custom install or forgo use of the PlayStation Network and be unable to play certain games and movies. Now, hacker George Hotz, known for his iPhone jailbreaks and his PS3 hack earlier this year, has vowed to fight back and restore Linux support on the PS3. He said, “The PlayStation 3 is the only product I know that loses features throughout its lifecycle. Software PS2 emulation, SACD playback, and OtherOS support are all just software switches you can flip. It’s unbelievable you would go and flip one, not just on new boxes you are shipping, but on tens of millions already in the field.”

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Hann1bal writes “The next system software update for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) system will be released on April 1, 2010 (JST), and will disable the ‘Install Other OS’ feature that was available on the PS3 systems prior to the current slimmer models, launched in September 2009. This feature enabled users to install an operating system, but due to security concerns, Sony Computer Entertainment will remove the functionality through the 3.21 system software update.”

Updated 3:49 GMT by timothy: An anonymous reader writes “This comes as something of a surprise. Particularly because only a month ago Sony Computer Entertainment management seemed committed to the continued support of the Other OS option on the PS3.”

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snydeq writes “Galen Gruman writes about the dark side of the recent flood of Android smartphones: versions run amok. ‘That flood of options should be a good thing — but it’s not. In fact, it’s a self-destruction derby in action, as phones come out with different versions of the Android OS, with no clear upgrade strategy for either the operating system or the applications users have installed, and with inconsistent deployment of core features. In short, the Android platform is turning out not to be a platform at all, but merely a starting point for a universe of incompatible devices,’ Gruman writes. ‘This mess leaves developers and users in an unstable position, as each new Android device adds another variation and compatibility question.’ In the end, Google’s naive approach to open sourcing Android may in fact be precipitating this free-for-all — one that might ultimately turn off both end-users and developers alike.”
As reader donberryman points out, you can even put Android onto some Windows Mobile phones, now.

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obarthelemy writes “Having at last gotten Linux to run satisfactorily on my own PCs, I’d now like to start transitioning friends and family from XP to Linux instead of Windows 7. The catch is that these guys don’t understand or care much about computers, so the transition has to be as seamless and painless as possible. Actually, they won’t care for new things; even the upcoming upgrade to Windows 7 would be a pain and a bother, which is a great opportunity for Linux. I’m not too concerned about software (most of them only need browser, IM, VLC, mail and a Powerpoint viewer for all those fascinating attachments). What I’m concerned about is OS look-and-feel and interface — system bar on the bottom with clock, trash, info on the right, menu on the left, menu items similar to those of Windows. Is it better to shoot for a very targeted distro? Which would you recommend? Are there themes/skins for mainstream distributions instead? I’ve been looking around the web, and it’s hard to gauge which distros are well-done and reasonably active.”

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bridges writes “The V3VEE project has announced the release of version 1.2 of the Palacios virtual machine monitor following the successful testing of Palacios on 4096 nodes of the Sandia Red Storm supercomputer, the 17th-fastest in the world. The added overhead of virtualization is often a show-stopper, but the researchers observed less than 5% overhead for two real, communication-intensive applications running in a virtual machine on Red Storm. Palacios 1.2 supports virtualization of both desktop x86 hardware and Cray XT supercomputers using either AMD SVM or Intel VT hardware virtualization extensions, and is an active open source OS research platform supporting projects at multiple institutions. Palacios is being jointly developed by researchers at Northwestern University, the University of New Mexico, and Sandia National Labs.” The ACM’s writeup has more details of the work at Sandia.

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