Category: Unix

In one week, we’ll be having Thanksgiving.  We go old school on the technology side of things, take a satirical look at a popular form of food, and delve into our inner geek a little bit.

Unix

• The NSA DID ask Linus Torvalds to leave backdoors in the Linux kernel:  This one shouldn’t be too surprising, but we’ll throw this one out there all the same.
• 6502.org: The website that talks about the processor that was used by Apple and other companies in their computers and electronics.  Their Google+ page circled ours after publishing the previous Throwback Thursday.
• Oldcomputers.net: Hat tip to Stephen Mudd for bringing this link to our attention.  This site explores older computers, the hardware specifications, and more.  For historical reference as well as nostalgia, feel free to check it out.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• Pepperoni is for idiots, according to Maddox: This one’s a bit older, but with Thanksgiving just around the corner, this is more than appropriate.  Sometimes certain forms of food just aren’t satisfying.  Maddox breaks down why pepperoni isn’t real food.
• Deadline Live: Jack Blood is a radio talk show host who talks about a variety of topics that are not often mentioned in the mainstream.
• Bulbagarden: For those PokéMon fans out there, this site’s encyclopedia is extensive.  Detailed information on each PokéMon and characters from the video games, manga, and anime are all available.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

For those who remember the old days of Apple, where a rainbow colored fruit was their logo, there is now a chance to reminisce in a new way.  The source code of version 3.1 of Apple DOS was released.

As reported by The Register, there’s over 4,000 lines of code.  More information as available through the Computer History Museum and Paul Laughton, the developer of the operating system.

Welcome back to Wednesday Weekly Links, where we scour the Internet and other sources for news items that are often overlooked.  This week, we focus on innovation in computer software and a change at a major software company as well as pro wrestling, a government agency, and a really strange 911 call.

Unix

• Microsoft Drops Reward and Curve System (MaximumPC): Microsoft is scrapping the curve system, because it caused a bit of tension between employees.  Emphasis is going to be placed on team work and employee growth and development.
• Fedora 20 Goes Beta (ZDNet): Nicknamed “Heisenbug,” the beta release of version 20 of Red Hat’s community oriented operating system brings enhancements to virtualization and clouds, updated development software, GNOME 3.10, and an added emphasis on the ARM architecture.  Hat tip to Steven J. Vaughn-Nicols
• More AMD Patches Released (Phoronix): Those who follow hardware-based encryption solutions and use Linux may be jumping for joy at this.  AMD has released drivers for a Cryptographic Coprocessor.  A variety of encryption standards is supported through said driver including SHA and AES among others.  Hat tip to Michael Larabel.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• US Postal Service Bailed Out…. by Amazon? (Layfield Report): Amazon has made an arrangement with the US Postal Service for their Prime customers in time for the holiday season.  In New York City and Los Angeles, Sunday delivery of packages will soon be possible (with plans to expand to other areas).  Hat tip to Stephen Kelley.
• 911 Called Over Snoring Partner (The Smoking Gun): A Wisconsin man called 911 due to a woman snoring too loudly in his bed.  It turned out that she had sleep apnea, and he was advised that it wasn’t a police matter.
• Buff Bagwell Speaks on Different Issues in Terms of Pro Wrestling (24 Wrestling): Bagwell was interviewed about a variety of topics including his brief run in WWE.  He acknowledged that the match between himself and Booker T was a horrible idea and both were booed out of the arena.

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

I tried running Oracle Solaris on two of my machines, and was going to use it as the OS of choice for the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, the test was cut short, so the evaluation will be written here instead of in the next issue of the magazine.

The Live-DVD was used for installation.

The Interface and Included Apps

Gnome 2.3 is used for the desktop interface.  It comes with Firefox, Thunderbird, GIMP, Rythmbox, Brasero, and a handful of other applications.

What I Liked and What Needs Improvement

The live environment worked on the Breeze.  All the relevant hardware was detected and I was able to go online.  The Intel/Nvidia desktop on the other hand was a different story.

Either the driver was missing or was not loaded properly.  I was in no mood to either hunt down the driver or try some other fix to force the hardware to work correctly.  On the upside, the Nvidia drivers worked and I had 3D acceleration.

What was also perplexing was the fact that there was a category for Office in software management, but no word processing listed.  I know Solaris 11 is not supposed to be used on productivity machines, but why not have Abiword at the very least?

After all, GIMP 2.6 is included.

Then again, this is Oracle we’re talking about here.  This company is known more for their enterprise driven database products than operating systems and programming platforms.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, it seems that Oracle has ruined a potentially good product.  Even for developers, it can be a bit cumbersome to compile all the desired software from source just for the sole purpose of having the desired applications installed.

The online repositories are sparse.  The version of Firefox ESR is also out of date.  For that reason, this review will be on this site while the next stop on the Distro Journey for 2013 will be Linux Mint Debian Edition.

The sixth issue of the digital magazine is available for download.  The Toshiba Tecra M9 has been adopted and is being brought back to life.  Netrunner OS is evaluated for this year’s DistroJourney series and Thomas reconnects with his inner geek.

Unix

DistroJourney 2013: Netrunner OS is an Ubuntu-based system that uses KDE.  How does it stack up in terms of performance?  Find out in this issue.

Overlooked Pop Culture

The college anime club that Thomas was a part has gone through a significant transformation.  They are now known as the Animation Culture Society.  The student organization has grown and is allying itself with other groups.

Click here to download Issue 6 of the magazine.