Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Blender is such a highly specialized and powerful rendering app that at least two Linux distros are built around it. This cross-platform 3D graphics application matches features and performance of the leading commercial equivalent software packages. Professional-strength rendering software is not a tool for tinkerers.

As someone who's been working as a system administrator for a number of years, it's easy to take tools for granted that I've used for a long time and assume everyone has heard of them. Of course, new sysadmins get into the field every day, and even seasoned sysadmins don't all use the same tools. With that in mind, I decided to write a few columns where I highlight some common-but-easy-to-overlook tools that make life as a sysadmin (and really, any Linux user) easier. I start the series with a classic troubleshooting tool: sar.

We wrap up our investigation of vector graphics editors with a look at Adobe's Illustrator, along with a selection of more specialist applications, including Microsoft's Visio and the free, open-source LibreOffice Draw.

When it comes to solving Maths equation in Linux, we have previously discussed GeoGebra, a software for geometry and 2D graphs. However, if you are looking for a more powerful tools, you should give Sage a try. We’ve all heard of Matlab or Magma, but Sage offers an open source alternative to those two, and is, to my opinion, simpler to use.

I have confirmed with NVIDIA that the current 304.xx Linux graphics driver series is "the last release branch for some cards, including GeForce 6/7." NVIDIA has previously said that their 306 Windows graphics driver will remove support for the GeForce 6 and GeForce 7 series graphics processors. With the largely shared code-base between Windows and Linux/Solaris/BSD, it could be presumed that they would be removing the support for all platforms. NVIDIA's Hardy Doelfel confirmed to me today that it's indeed the case.

We are proud to announce the release of GNU Health 1.6.3, the Free Health and Hospital Information System. This version brings major improvements in the hospital information system, both from the administrative and patient management. Here is a quick summary of the main changes ..

Robert Rosario, the developer behind the open source document management tool Mayan EDMS, has pulled the development code of the software from public repositories he says it's being pinched by folks who use it in ways not allowed by the GNU Public Licence. In a Google+ post, Rosario says he works hard to make the software, happily releases it for free but uses the GPL but reserves the right to retain property rights to the code. That's perfectly fair, he argues, given that the code is free to download and use.

They say it's a small world after all, but in the Magic Kingdom, it appears to be a FUD-filled world as well. How else to explain a recent episode of "Shake It Up" on the Disney Channel? Asked to diagnose a misbehaving PC, a stereotypically geeky character asks, "Did you use open source code to save time and the virus was hidden in it?" Much canned laughter ensued, of course -- as did widespread outrage.

One of the interesting Google Summer of Code projects this year was bringing OpenGL ES 2.0 support to the Blender Game Engine and also at the same time to port the game engine for this open-source modelling software to Android. Alexandr Kuznetsov is the student developer that took on this GLES / Android porting for a GSoC 2012 project, which for the most part turned out to be a success. His stated targets were making the OpenGL portion of the Blender game engine compatible with OpenGL ES, extending the Android support, and making a small game chooser / packager. He also carries a long-term goal of making all of Blender compatible with OpenGL ES.

The proposal, as part of JSR 355, to combine the previously separate Executive Committee (EC) for Java SE (Standard Edition) and Java EE (Enterprise Edition) and the Java ME (Micro Edition) Committee has now received the approval of the Java Community Process. There were no opposing votes to the plan, one abstention (Google) and one, Goldman Sachs, who did not vote on the Java SE/EE EC; AT&T and RIM, who sit on the Java ME EC, did not vote, but that was in accordance with the processes of JCP 2.8.

LXer Feature: 26-Aug-2012

The latest installment of the LXer Weekly Roundup for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

A week after it rocked its developer base with a new set of API rules, Twitter has become a Silver-level member of the Linux foundation, assuring the open source world that it’s “fundamental” to Twitter’s success. The microblog already had a keynote slot at the upcoming LinuxCon in San Diego, with its open source manager Chris Aniszczyk to take the stage and describe the company’s use of open source technology.

I picked a beautiful day to road-test Earth's WeatherBug Elite app. It was a late-summer day on which the National Weather Service had just issued a Red Flag fire weather warning for my brush-fire-prone, tinder-dry neighborhood. Android weather app WeatherBug provides a set of current conditions, forecasts and maps. Extreme weather alerts and social network sharing functions are built-in too.

Drupal is one of the most popular and versatile platforms for Web design. It's free, open source and will run on Linux. Early last year, a new version was released (Drupal 7), making it even better with improvements in usability, performance and security. If you've looked at Drupal before, but didn't end up using it, you may want to take another look.

There are many reasons to support KDE with a regular financial contribution. It is important to KDE e.V. by helping to create a predictable income. This money is used to support events that accelerate development of KDE software, enhance promotion efforts and help grow the Community. KDE contributors and users are scattered throughout the world and have many different backgrounds, so their reasons for contributing are diverse. Claudia Rauch and Jayson Rowe from the Join the Game Team asked supporting member Gaurav Chaturvedi why he joined the game.

The SFLPhone team and Savoir-Faire Linux, a Montreal Open Source consulting company, are pleased to announce the availability of SFLPhone 1.2.0, the first version since the KDE client was moved to KDE infrastructure. Our team is proud of joining the KDE family as part of Playground, and looking forward to being part of Extragear soon. SFLPhone KDE and SFLPhone Qt have been in development for the better part of a decade, aiming to provide the KDE environment with a professional software phone app. Recently, we have been working hard to bring the application to the status of KDE first class citizen. Thank you to the Oxygen and l10n community members for showing such an interest in our application and helping us improve it.

The fear of failure factor is one reason why potential newcomers to the Linux operating system never complete the switch. After all, when was the last time you saw a sign in a big-box computer store identifying the aisle labeled "Linux Loaded?" Most desktops and laptops come out of the box with Microsoft Windows preinstalled.

Last week I delivered OpenGL/3D benchmarks of Ubuntu 12.10 when comparing the performance of the default Unity desktop to the now-defunct Unity 2D environment. Canonical's decision to kill Unity 2D means that for those now forced to use the Compiz-based Unity may experience lower frame-rates, high power consumption with Unity-over-LLVMpipe, and other differences. Additional testing has shown how Unity is affecting the 2D graphics performance.

Well it was a dark, dark week in the Linux blogosphere last week, as further evidence of the economy's sickly state spread across the land. Tale after tale of personal tragedy has popped up on Google+ and beyond, in fact, making it more clear than ever that the magnitude of this economic crisis has reached nothing short of epic proportions.

LXer Feature: 19-Aug-2012

In the Roundup this week we have a 3.5.5 review of GNOME, as well as going all out and starting a OS of there own, Debian celebrates its 19th birthday, Red Hat finally commits to OpenStack and Carla Schroder talks about discovering and monitoring your hardware. Enjoy!