Open Source Pixels

Linux 2.6.27 has been released. It adds a new filesystem (UBIFS) for “pure” flash-based storage, the page-cache is now lockless, much improved Direct I/O scalability and performance, delayed allocation support for ext4, multiqueue networking, data integrity support in the block layer, a function tracer, a mmio tracer, sysprof support, improved webcam support, support for the Intel wifi 5000 series and RTL8187B network cards, a new ath9k driver for the Atheros AR5008 and AR9001 chipsets, more new drivers, and many other improvements and fixes. Full list of changes can be found here.

Introduced in the Catalyst 8.8 Linux driver and further stabilized within Catalyst 8.9 was AMD’s MultiView technology. MultiView makes it possible to use multiple GPUs on the same system not for Linux CrossFire but for driving multiple display heads. Using MultiView on Linux you can easily drive four, six, or even eight screens. In fact, up to 32 displays are theoretically supported on a single system (permitting you have enough graphics cards and PCI Express slots). MultiView also allows for OpenGL acceleration across all displays and does not rely upon Xinerama. In this article we are taking a brief look at this multi-GPU multi-monitor feature catered towards AMD’s workstation customers.

“Claiming itself to be a next-generation publisher, WEbook has successfully roped in venture capitalists to invest in their business,” Deepak Thakur, senior research analyst in ICT Practice at Frost& Sullivan told the E-Commerce Times. If the dot-com burst and the more recent Wall Street fiasco have taught us anything, it is that investor confidence is not necessarily a harbinger of success.

A bit later than expected, Linus has released the final 2.6.27
kernel. For those just tuning in, 2.6.27 includes (among many other
things) UBIFS, support for integrity checking in the block
layer, multiqueue networking,
the ftrace tracing framework,
the lockless page cache, the
relocation of a lot of
firmware, the GSPCA webcam driver set, and a number of extended system calls.
See the always-excellent
KernelNewbies summary for lots more information about this release.

The Engineering 7 blog continues its trend of detailing the real issues that people deal with when it comes to Windows. We have already covered their insights, usage data, and mea culpas concerning the taskbar, as well as their musings on window management. The latest entry on the E7 blog deals with a controversial Windows issue: User Account Control. The usage data has some interesting results, to say the least.

Chromium is an open-source browser project that is the basis for Google’s Chrome browser. Right now, Chromium doesn’t support Linux natively, but Codeweavers has created a Linux port called CrossOver Chromium that can be installed free of charge. This guide shows how to install CrossOver Chromium on Ubuntu 8.04.

Kicking off what promises to be a month packed full of good Linux releases, Mandriva Linux will today release Mandriva 2009, the latest incarnation of its popular Linux desktop. This is what you can expect.

Mandriva has today released Mandriva Linux 2009, the new major release of the popular distribution. 2009 is a bold release which brings the new KDE 4 as the default desktop, along with a re-designed installer and Mandriva Control Center and many other new features. Other significant updates include GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3, Mozilla Firefox 3, and kernel 2.6.27. Key features include new graphical in-line upgrade capability, netbook compatibility, class-leading hardware support, and further improved support for working with mobile devices. For more details, see the Release Tour and the Release Notes. Get it at the download page, or go straight to the torrent list.

Foresight Linux is best known by many as the distribution that features the Conary package management system. Perhaps soon it may become known as your child’s favorite distro. The recent release of Foresight Kid’s Edition 1.0 introduces a new generation to the benefits of Linux and open source software. Not that kids care about that — they’ll just appreciate the unlimited hours of fun at their fingertips.

Regardless of all its hype, security in cloud computing is not a revolution; rather it’s an evolution of the age-old business model of outsourcing. The concept of cloud computing has evolved from the concepts of grid, utility, and SaaS, and these models evolved from the application service provider in the mid-early ’90s.