The next version of Fedora Linux will make new users feel right at home.
When Fedora 13, Goddard, is released on May 25, it's not going to be your usual Fedora Linux release. In the past, Fedora has been seen as a great Linux distribution for Linux experts. Paul W. Frields, the Fedora Project leader, told me though that this release is more new-user-friendly and that is no longer just for experienced Linux users. Based on my early look at this Red Hat community Linux distribution, I agree.
You will be able to see it for yourself soon. After several delays, Frields has no doubt that this time, the Fedora final will be available for download soon. Frields explained to me that the delays were because Fedora has adopted much more "detailed and fleshed-out release criteria. In the past, we would release releases when it felt right. Now, we have criteria that make the process both more transparent to the community and provide strong release guidelines."
Fedora was thrown off its most recent release schedule by an issue with an obscure way of installing Fedora. Frields said that that, in the event, the problem didn't turn out to that bad. "So long as they were at it, there was a silver lining: the developers had time to fix more bugs. So, the delay helped us provide as strong a release as possible."
From what I've seen, Fedora does have a very strong release. Here are the five best features I've seen in it.
1. Professional-level color management
One long-time Linux problem has been that, while it has first class graphics programs like GIMP, it hasn't had great color management. Sure, you could get color to look great on your screen, but getting that same color palette to show up on your printer, that was an image of a different color.
Now, thanks to the work of Richard Hughes, Fedora includes the new and outstanding GNOME Color Manager. This allows people to work in ICC (International Color Consortium) colors across devices. Best of all, it's not just for experts. You can easily set up color profiles for your screen and printers to put together a true color workflow. According to Frields, Fedora will be release a design suite spin of Fedora just for graphic designers.
2. Better printer driver support
Linux would always support almost any printer's basic functionality. What it wouldn't do is load the best possible printer driver - until now. In Fedora's Easy Printing, all you have to do is plug in your printer, Fedora will figure out what printer you have, and it will automatically invoke PackageKit to find, download, and install the printer's appropriate driver and, if available, other software. In short, plug-and-play has finally come to Linux. Nice!
3. Improved open-source graphic drivers
You've long been able to use any graphics card with desktop Linux. You could often use these cards and chipsets advanced 3D and graphic acceleration features as well, if you were willing to use proprietary drivers. Now, Fedora's programmers have been working with other open-source developers to create high-quality 3D-capable drivers for NVIDA cards in the Nouveau project.
You may be wondering why this is such a big deal since probably most Linux users can live with using proprietary graphic drivers. According to Frields, "What users don't understand is that we can't help fix a problem with proprietary driver, but we can and do with open drivers ... Proprietary drivers require low-end sub-system changes that can cause more trouble for free software audio systems or media players." Linux simply works better, Frields argued with "Free software in every part of stack."
4. Improved KVM support
Red Hat has decided that KVM is its virtualization path in the future. You can see the first fruits of that decision in this Fedora. For example, in Fedora 13's take on KVM, you can declare and reserve PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) addresses, the industry-standard bus for attaching peripherals to computers for guest virtual machines. That won't matter to desktop users, but it's a great feature for production servers running multiple machines. If it works out well in Fedora 13, you can expect to see it in RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 6 or 6.1.
5. Easier to use and more stable to boot
Frields told me, and I believe him that Fedora is both much easier for Linux newbies to use and far, far more stable. Frields claims that even in alpha, Fedora 13 was more stable than some Fedora final releases. All I can say is I've been running the late betas for several weeks now on both virtual machines and on PCs and I've yet to see a stability problem.
It's also quite simple to use. While I wouldn't say it's as easy for a new user to pick up as Ubuntu 10.04, I also can see handing a new user a Fedora 13 USB stick or DVD and not having to worry about them getting good use out of it.
If you've never tried Fedora, or you haven't used it in a while, now is the time to give it a try. I think you'll be impressed.
pcworld
Kamis, 20 Mei 2010
Sabtu, 01 Mei 2010
Sony Sued for Removing Linux Support in PS3 Upgrade
Sony Computer Entertainment is under fire by PlayStation 3 owners. A class-action suit has been brought against Sony for removing Linux support from PS3 consoles in its latest upgrade.
An attorney for PS3 owner Anthony Ventura filed the suit against Sony in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday after Sony removed support for Linux in its PlayStation 3.21 software update.
After Sony announced the update on March 28, unhappy PS3 owners took their frustrations to the web by flooding Sony's official PlayStation blog with angry comments. A total of 7,454 comments were posted as of Thursday. While some are upset with losing Linux support, others are more angry with Sony for removing a feature for which they paid.
Ventura, however, took his frustrations straight to a lawyer who filed the class-action suit on his behalf.
No Joke
PlayStation 3 owners were anticipating the PlayStation 3.21 upgrade slated for April 1, but thought Sony was playing an April Fools' Day joke when it said the upgrade would remove support for Linux.
Sony quickly warned users that the upgrade was no a joke and, in fact, was an attempt to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system. PS3 owners who chose not to upgrade risked losing other PS3 features, according to Sony, including access to the PlayStation Network, newer games, and Blu-ray movies. Gamers who decided not to upgrade also risked losing playback of copyright-protected videos stored on a media server, the company warned.
If Judge Edward Chen allows the class-action suit, it would include all individuals who bought a PS3 between Nov. 17, 2006, and March 27, 2010, according to reports. The suit does not specify any amount in requested damages, but does state damages will not exceed $5 million.
Julie Han, a spokesperson for Sony, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Rebecca Bedwell Coll, who is listed as Ventura's lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Little To No Impact
Sony Entertainment has had great success with its PS3, with 12 million units sold in the U.S. to date, according to the company. Except, however, for a few bumps in the legal road.
In October 2009, Sony faced a class-action suit brought by John Kennedy, who said a firmware update caused damage to thousands of PS3 systems. After downloading the update, owners said it caused the system to malfunction. The damage resulted in Kennedy having to cough up $150 in repair fees.
Analysts don't expect the new class-action to negatively impact Sony PS3 sales. "I doubt it'll have much impact -- certainly a nuisance and cost, but having Linux on a PS3 was always way down the list of priorities for most gamers," said Lewis Ward, an IDC analyst.
yahoo
An attorney for PS3 owner Anthony Ventura filed the suit against Sony in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday after Sony removed support for Linux in its PlayStation 3.21 software update.
After Sony announced the update on March 28, unhappy PS3 owners took their frustrations to the web by flooding Sony's official PlayStation blog with angry comments. A total of 7,454 comments were posted as of Thursday. While some are upset with losing Linux support, others are more angry with Sony for removing a feature for which they paid.
Ventura, however, took his frustrations straight to a lawyer who filed the class-action suit on his behalf.
No Joke
PlayStation 3 owners were anticipating the PlayStation 3.21 upgrade slated for April 1, but thought Sony was playing an April Fools' Day joke when it said the upgrade would remove support for Linux.
Sony quickly warned users that the upgrade was no a joke and, in fact, was an attempt to protect the intellectual property of the content offered on the PS3 system as well as to provide a more secure system. PS3 owners who chose not to upgrade risked losing other PS3 features, according to Sony, including access to the PlayStation Network, newer games, and Blu-ray movies. Gamers who decided not to upgrade also risked losing playback of copyright-protected videos stored on a media server, the company warned.
If Judge Edward Chen allows the class-action suit, it would include all individuals who bought a PS3 between Nov. 17, 2006, and March 27, 2010, according to reports. The suit does not specify any amount in requested damages, but does state damages will not exceed $5 million.
Julie Han, a spokesperson for Sony, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Rebecca Bedwell Coll, who is listed as Ventura's lawyer, did not respond to requests for comment.
Little To No Impact
Sony Entertainment has had great success with its PS3, with 12 million units sold in the U.S. to date, according to the company. Except, however, for a few bumps in the legal road.
In October 2009, Sony faced a class-action suit brought by John Kennedy, who said a firmware update caused damage to thousands of PS3 systems. After downloading the update, owners said it caused the system to malfunction. The damage resulted in Kennedy having to cough up $150 in repair fees.
Analysts don't expect the new class-action to negatively impact Sony PS3 sales. "I doubt it'll have much impact -- certainly a nuisance and cost, but having Linux on a PS3 was always way down the list of priorities for most gamers," said Lewis Ward, an IDC analyst.
yahoo
Are you ready for a GPS app store?
It’s the hottest thing to come along in the tech world since blogging: The app store. And soon you might just have an app store for every gadget in your arsenal.
TomTom is the latest gizmo maker to get in on the app-tion, saying this week that it is now planning to launch an app store specifically designed for its Go Live GPS navigation hardware. The idea: Allow drivers to upgrade the old "drop in an address and tell me where to go" functionality of their GPS units.
The catch with GPS devices, of course, is that you don’t really want people playing games or otherwise mucking about with these units while they’re behind the wheel. TomTom acknowledges that broad GPS apps may be “impractical”; others might say these kinds of applications could be downright dangerous.
So what might the contents of a GPS app store look like, really? Enhanced point-of-interest apps immediately come to mind — think restaurant reviews (“take me to the nearest four-star restaurant”) and real-time gas-price applications. Traffic-planning apps would be a must, and geocachers would certainly love an app that integrates cache locations and contents directly with a GPS unit. I can even imagine a few augmented reality-style games designed for the devices. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, but there’s more to this idea than there seems to be at first blush.
TomTom hasn’t announced a time frame for the app store’s launch, but it’s speculated it will arrive before the end of the year. Information on typical application pricing is obviously still a ways out as well.
Will apps reinvigorate interest in the stumbling stand-alone GPS market? Apps alone won’t make people put down their iPhones and Nexus Ones, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. North-north-westerly, perhaps.
Yahoo
TomTom is the latest gizmo maker to get in on the app-tion, saying this week that it is now planning to launch an app store specifically designed for its Go Live GPS navigation hardware. The idea: Allow drivers to upgrade the old "drop in an address and tell me where to go" functionality of their GPS units.
The catch with GPS devices, of course, is that you don’t really want people playing games or otherwise mucking about with these units while they’re behind the wheel. TomTom acknowledges that broad GPS apps may be “impractical”; others might say these kinds of applications could be downright dangerous.
So what might the contents of a GPS app store look like, really? Enhanced point-of-interest apps immediately come to mind — think restaurant reviews (“take me to the nearest four-star restaurant”) and real-time gas-price applications. Traffic-planning apps would be a must, and geocachers would certainly love an app that integrates cache locations and contents directly with a GPS unit. I can even imagine a few augmented reality-style games designed for the devices. The possibilities aren’t exactly endless, but there’s more to this idea than there seems to be at first blush.
TomTom hasn’t announced a time frame for the app store’s launch, but it’s speculated it will arrive before the end of the year. Information on typical application pricing is obviously still a ways out as well.
Will apps reinvigorate interest in the stumbling stand-alone GPS market? Apps alone won’t make people put down their iPhones and Nexus Ones, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. North-north-westerly, perhaps.
Yahoo
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