Microsoft: we listen to broadcasters, not customers – Boing Boing
Danny sez, “A Microsoft spokesperson told CNet today that ‘Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set forth by the (Federal Communications Commission). As part of these regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is distributed and consumed.’ Do they really mean that they’re obeying the broadcast flag that courts and Congress rejected as being executive overreach by the FCC? The ones they have no obligation to follow?”
This is about the best reason I have yet seen to ditch Microsoft and move to Linux or Unix. I’d say more but it would just be Microsoft bashing and they are doing a fine job of that all by themselves…
Yanking the Window Shade – Blog of helios
Helios is still fighting the good fight! Educating the Geek Squad about linux! Give em hell, Helios! 😎
The 40 coolest free applications around – Seopher.com
Pretty good list. Several I had not seen before and want to know more about. Well worth the time to study.
Linux Today – Tuning LAMP Systems [Parts 2 & 3]
Mainly a link for me as I need to set up a local system for the ranch so we can use it over the wireless net here.
PIA Homepage
Looks like the Philippines are on the road to computer freedom. And are using my favorite Linux distro, PCLOS according to the article. Great to hear!
Blog of helios
He’s back and still fighting the good fight!
Samba Team Asks Novell to Reconsider
Samba Team Asks Novell to Reconsider
The Samba Team disapproves strongly of the actions taken by Novell on November 2nd.
One of the fundamental differences between the proprietary software world and the free software world is that the proprietary software world divides users by forcing them to agree to coercive licensing agreements which restrict their rights to share with each other, whereas the free software world encourages users to unite and share the benefits of the software.
The patent agreement struck between Novell and Microsoft is a divisive agreement. It deals with users and creators of free software differently depending on their “commercial” versus “non-commercial” status, and deals with them differently depending on whether they obtained their free software directly from Novell or from someone else.
The goals of the Free Software community and the GNU GPL allow for no such distinctions.
Furthermore, the GPL makes it clear that all distributors of GPL’d software must stand together in the fight against software patents. Only by standing together do we stand a chance of defending against the peril represented by software patents. With this agreement Novell is attempting to destroy that unified defense, exchanging the long term interests of the entire Free Software community for a short term advantage for Novell over their competitors.
For Novell to make this deal shows a profound disregard for the relationship that they have with the Free Software community. We are, in essence, their suppliers, and Novell should know that they have no right to make self serving deals on behalf of others which run contrary to the goals and ideals of the Free Software community.
Using patents as competitive tools in the free software world is not acceptable. Novell, as a participant in numerous debates, discussions and conferences on the topic knew this to be the case. We call upon Novell to work with the Software Freedom Law Center to undo the patent agreement and acknowledge its obligations as a beneficiary of the Free Software community.
And if they don’t back out of this deal with the devil then they need to be fourced to quit bundling software that uses the GPL with their distro.
gNewSense Official Website | Main / gNewSense
Interesting sounding new distro. Just downloaded it and am gonna give it a spin.
GNUzilla – Summary [Savannah]
The home to the GNU version (to be) of FireFox named IceWeasel.  Nothing here yet but a bit of text and some source code links but with Mozilla getting sh*tty about the logo and name this is the way to go. Hope this works out.
Session Manager :: Mozilla Add-ons :: Add Features to Mozilla Software
If you use Mozilla and use multiple tabs/windows and have had the experience of having the browser quit on you, then not remembering what tabs were unread even after digging through history, then this is for you.
This extension adds a tool to the tool menu called Session Manager. If the browser crashes or you quit or close the main window instead of just the tab, when you restart you have the option of selecting from the last X # of sessions. Option is set to 1. I have mine set at 3 just to see how it does.
Another feature is closed tabs memory. With this little gem an incorrectly closed tab is only a Tools Menu > Session Manager > Closed Tabs click away. Preset option is 10 closed tabs and this seems reasonable to me so I left it as is.
Check out all of the options after install to enable Sessions Manage and set your prefs.
So far seems very stable. Don’t note any speed difference. Will have to try it with a couple of days worth of tabs and see how it does.
In my opinion this extension should become a part of the standard distro. A must have!
After downloading the latest Ubuntu distro and burning it to disk I started it up in the iBook. Fought with it for a while but as there was a storm going on at the time and all the wired computers were off, was unable to get to the instructions for making the airport extreme work so rebooted into OS X and waited till later.
Later came today. After updating the backup software I did a full backup to the firewire drive and rebooted into it just to check. Worked fine so then booted into the Ubuntu cd and started trying to get the wireless going. First step was to run an ethernet cable to it so I could do the apt-get thing as well as getting to the Ubuntu site with the instructions. 😉
First page was WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx – Community Ubuntu Documentation which told me to:
In a terminal, type lspci , which lists the PCI devices in your system. Mine is the same as the example and this will be a new install so next page was WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx/Dapper – Community Ubuntu Documentation.
Since this is a new install I skipped down to section 1.2.2 Obtaining the firmware.
It told me to enable the Universe repository and after following the links I did that. Next up was again in the terminal and was:
sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter which gets the package needed. Then taking the easy way out and using the script:
sudo /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh When it quits doing its thing we’re ready to setup the wireless card.
First up is to load it in the kernel: sudo modprobe bcm43xx then check to see what it was loaded as with iwconfig. Should be eth1.
Then see if you can scan the network: sudo iwlist ethX scan and then you get to pick and choose and restart till the damn thing works on reboot.
Not there yet but close. I still have to start the network manager and choose the wifi card as the network device but it IS able to find it and load it. So closer and closer.
Downloaded and installed the KDE base packages and am now back with my perfered desktop. Bit more tweeking and then to try to get my years of mail moved over…
Is Ubuntu Linux a Sensible Alternative for Mac Users?
I do and don’t agree with his reasoning. While it is true that Ubuntu and other linux variants that will work on the mac may not do things better or even easier than OS X, my biggest complaint is the DRM that is now entwined throughout Apples wonder os.
If you don’t like supporting a company that is doing its damnedist to take away your right to do what you like with files on your own machine, then YES make the move away from anything Apple as fast as you can.
I am still hanging on mainly because the airport software in Ubuntu wasn’t (5 days ago when I tried the latest release) (though to be honest I tried the latest Kubuntu so I guess I need to try Ubuntu now) able to connect at the distance that the native Mac OS X software would.
Actions > Mouth… I have just started downloading the latest Ubuntu to try. As soon as I can get the wifi thing working even close to what I am used to then bye-bye OS X and restrictive DRM!
lf382, Applications: A toolchain for transformation from paper to HTML
Good article on taking old books, scanning, OCR, modifying images and turning into html online docs. Using old or at least older equipment and FOSS for the entire process.
DeLi Linux
Lightweight Linux distro for old machines. Site says that they have a 486 with 16 meg of ram running all apps smoothly. That is COOL!
Downloading it now and will try it on my ex-gateway machine which I have forgotten the specs for… 😉
Moving to freedom, one step at a time | Free Software Magazine
A journey from Microsoft slavery to FOSS freedom, one step at a time. He makes some good points and if you just have to use Windoze then by all means move to Firefox and other FOSS programs NOT owned by big biz. Good read and some good comments too.