Linux Solutions

The One Laptop per Child Scheme (OLPC) has confirmed that it will start selling its XO laptop through Amazon.com starting Monday.

The XO laptop is to be sold by the company in the same way as the G1G1 program. The customer spend $400 for two laptops, one of which gets sent to a child in a developing country,

Amazon will only sell Linux-based XO laptops, said Jim Getty, the vice president of software engineering at OLPC. A Windows version will not be for sale.

Time to frown slightly if you don’t live in the US, as the XO laptop will only be for sale through Amazon’s US store. However, OLPC are currently investigating the possibility of selling the laptop in other countries.

The laptop was designed for children in developing countries to use to enhance their education, and has received praise for its innovative hardware features, and environmentally friendly design. The laptop comes with 256MB of Ram, a 1GB internal flash storage drive, a 7.5” LDC screen and has wireless networking capabilities.

Depending on how the laptop is used, the XO may include a specially designed lithium-ferro phosphate battery, which the OLPC claim is more power-efficient than batteries used in commercial laptops.

The laptop can be used in settings that don’t have electricity by using solar power, and can even be run by using a foot pedal or pull string to generate enough energy.

OLPC is a non-profit company hat competes with Intel’s Classmate PC in the global education market. The OLPC scheme face set-back earlier this year due to restructuring of the business and spiralling manufacturing costs, causing them to lose ground in the battle with Intel.

The XO laptop is undergoing an incremental update that should make it faster and allow it to store more data. The update is code-named XO-1 Gen 1.5, and is likely to include a faster processor, more flash storage, and new wireless chip, and improved screen protection from rubber covers. The new version should appear in the first quarter of 2009, say OLPC.

OLPC also announced the 2010 arrival of the XO-2, its next generation laptop, which will feature a software-based touch sensitive keyboard and two touch screen displays.

CherryPal has announced that they will be shipping out its, $249, 2 Watt, cloud desktop pc next week, but according to an email from the company’s CEO, Max Seybold, the new company is having some pretty major funding issues – they just haven’t got any money.

An email from Seybold just before Halloween revealed that they have been screwed over “a firm and binding funding agreement with a UK based African-born family. Unfortunately they never followed through and left us high and dry.”

Seybold went on to explain that they sought out investment angels (high powered business men and women with a ton of spare cash) to help balance the company’s books. However, with seven investors interested, and “oral commitments” in place, the stock markets plunging all over the world caused the investors to hold on to their money.

“In a nutshell, we need to raise funds ASAP,” Seybold wrote.

CherryPal’s first PC caught the eye of many as it boasted cloud computing, as well as being more green – the concept involved a small computer with no moving parts, running a low-power hip with 246MB memory and an 8GB hard drive.

Rather than storing files, music and other applications on your hard drive, the CherryPal used Amazon’s S3 service to store your data online for free – a feature funded by advertisements.

The CherryPal’s original release dat was around July, but it had to be pushed back a couple of weeks due to a fault with the systems graphics card. However, two months later CherryPal changed the release date to November 4th.

CherryPal has plans to launch an open source initiative with Freescale in about two weeks time, called “Maraschino”.

Maraschino, Seybold wrote, is to consist of ten sub-projects, starting with embedded Linux, browser optimisation, and local and hosted applications. He believes the scheme is a “combination of Facebook and sourceforge.net”. Seybold said that Freescale will supply free developer boards of the 5121e PowerPC processor for the project.

But with the global economy in meltdown, governments changing, and a general feel that recession is upon us, its understandable that CherryPal as suffering.

Good OS have announced their relationship with MiTAC International to deliver its gOS Gadgets Linux operating system on a Intel Moblin 2.0 Netbook.

gOS chief executive, David Liu, said that the machine planned with MiTAC will be among the first to be released on the currently incomplete Moblin 2.0.

The device will be the first netbook from Taiwan’s MiTAC, who are best known for their Global Satellite Positioning (GPS) systems through its Mio Technology partner.

Back in July, Intel told the O’Reilly Open-Source Conference (OSCON) that Mobline 2.0 would be ready in three weeks. Of course, that never happened, and Intel now says that it will see the light of day in 2009.

Ram Peddibhotla, Intel’s software and services group open-source business director, said that Moblin 2.0 will become available in the first half of 2009 to run on Intel’s Atom processors and Intel’s next-gen processors in the second half of the year.

Some vendors have been working with Moblin 1.0 and “Moblin optimizations”, which are portions of Moblin spec that has been integrated into hardware of software design. Asus for example added changes with Moblin that offers a 25 percent improvement in battery life.

Moblin was “getting more and more ready for mainstream use,” said Liu.

Liu however warned that earlier this year Linux risked getting pushed out of the netbook market by Microsoft as OEMs adopted Windows instead. However he said this could be avoided by Linux companies such as gOS working closely with OEMs building netbooks.

Liu said that although Moblin had some bugs in the past, these are being ironed out, and that Moblin is adding “key optimizations that are getting our OEM partners super excited and that are encouraging”.

He believes Moblin is a sign that the Linux community is fighting back against Windows in the netbook market.

The new netbook will feature an 8.9-inch screen, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor along with options for either a solid state drive or a hard disk, Bluetooth capability and an on-board GPS system.

Envizions Computer Entertainment Corp. has announced the release of its “open source hybrid Linux gaming system” which is aimed primarily at game developers.

The EVO Smart Console packs a decent punch under its rectangular black exterior, housing a 2.9GHz, 64-bit Athlon quad-core processor, an ATI HD 3200 graphics chipset, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB or 250GB hard-drive, 1080p video resolution and its own Linux Distro called Mirrors Evolution.

The console claims to be the “System of Tomorrow” (you can practically smell the cheese from that tag-line), but it does have some good features to back it up, with Internet access, VoIP, remote access, voice recognition, DVR, Internet television, social networking, streaming content, and automatic backup storage, HD video playback, as well as “virtual unlimited online cloud storage.”.

The console will go on sale for a wallet friendly $250 (with a subsidised rebate plan) and offers “cloud” based computing applications Amiga-based games, and an Akimbo-based Video on Demand service that contains over 10,000 titles. Virtualization capability, the company claims, is said to support running an authorised copy of Windows alongside Linux, and for an extra $100 Envizions will install Windows for you.

Perhaps living up to the cheesy tag-line, the system features a customised liquid cooling system and a rather cool biometric security system that supports facial, voice and fingerprint recognition. The system also reportedly contains a voice activated Media Centre for playing music and controlling other media functions.

The company say that the initial release of the EVO Smart Console is primarily aimed at “game developers, open source users, and earlier adopters.” Full-on consumer rollout is expected next year.

Derrick Samuels, CEO and founder of Envizions said that the console will ship out with Fedora 8 or Envizions’s own Fedora-based Mirrors Evolution Linux distro “if the beta version is stable enough”.

“Mirrors Evolution is a modified version of Fedora 8,” said Samuels. “Over time, we’re going to keep making adjustments to it to make it into a robust Linux gaming platform.”

The company wants game companies to start developing “the first Linux HD games”, but they also want the community to get involved. Mirrors Evolution gives you access to the company’s EVO Network, which enables teams of developers to securely collaborate and implement projects, using a modified version of the open source Crystal Space Engine 3D.

Developers will be able to use the open source code to develop their own games, which the company hope to sell on “to give Linux game developers a chance to make some money,” said Samuels.

The EVO Smart Console will retail at $600, with a subsidised rebate plan that brings the price down to $250.

MAIDENHEAD, England, October 16/PRNewswire/ — The company that pioneered the mass merchandising of PC’s for all the family back in mid 90’s is reasserting its dominant position by supplying a new generation of netbooks.

Toys R Us, the giant entertainment retailer has teamed with Asus, one of the world’s biggest PC manufacturers and the world’s largest motherboard producer to offer a range of ultra light laptop PCs.

“Our Asus Eee PC range has become one of the hottest properties in the computing world and brings a whole new, highly mobile Internet experience for all the family,” said Mike Coogan, Marketing Director at Toys R Us.

“The Asus Eee PC’s are able to handle every task with ease. Bumps and shocks are no longer an issue, and with dependable solid-state disks on most models, customers will get unparalleled shock-protection and reliability. The battery life is also helped with state of the art technology with its super high tech power saving circuitry.”

“We’ve always had 100% Intel Powered PC’s with the best specifications. This was the case when we pioneered the mass selling of the revolutionary Asus super compact Intel powered laptops last December.”

The range has massively evolved since then and is now creeping into broader distribution as supermarkets and electrical stores jump on the band wagon.

“The difference is our advisors won’t try to sell expensive laptops beyond our customer’s needs. They simply offer advice designed to ensure customers get the Laptop PC that’s right for their family,” added Coogan.

Toys R Us have an Asus laptop to meet every individual needs with full Windows XP or the intuitive Linux Operating system both preinstalled, both perfect for Word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, wireless Internet and more.

The new 7″ Asus is set to be Toys R Us’ best selling laptop ever and a Christmas must have. Powered by an Intel processor and now with 8GB solid state storage, the petite netbook is less than GBP180.
Mike Coogan, Marketing Director said, “The Eee PC’s are virtually handbag sized and yet they are real PC’s, not just phones with browsing capability.”

Toys R Us has the full range Eee PC in-store ready for high demand this Christmas.

Eee PCs are available in all 73 Toys R Us stores in new Eee PC Centres. Advisors have been trained to assist parents and students on the best PC for their needs.

http://www.toysrus.co.uk
Source: Toys R Us

Intel has released a new version of it Linux compatible open source library for multi-core C++ development.

Intel say: “Thread Building Blocks v2.1 (TBB) offers performance improvements, adds a portable affinity mechanism, and improves the task scheduler to ease development for GUIs, network I/O, and artificial intelligence.”

Announced last july under the GPLv2 with runtime exception license, TBB is a cross-platform, portable library aimed at improving the performance of C++ applications on multi-core processors.

Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and Solaris are supported, and the library comprises a 120KB runtime combined with template libraries linked in at a compile time. TBB also implements a task scheduler, memory allocater, and timing counter, along with multiple generic parallel algorithms, thread safe containers, and sychronisation primitives.

Version 2.1 also adds the following components; tbb_threadabstraction, parallel_do, tbb_allocater, blocked_range3d, and recursive_mutex.

Additional touted new features in TBB 2.1 include; Support for 1-, 2- or 3-D ranges for more efficient work breakdown, Better performance throughout algorithms and containers, Choice of any memory allocator, Improved APIs, Better support for expert users using “black belt” hooks, and Support for task cancellation and exceptions.

Intel say’s TBB will, simplify parallel programming by avoiding the low-level coding required with threading packages such as p-threads or Windows threads. It supports the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), and Intel’s commercial compilers, but was designed to support any compiler.

TBB 2.1 is available starting July 23, says Intel.

If you’re someone who thinks about your carbon footprint, and the environment, then the new CherryPal C100 desktop – designed by green computer maker CherryPal – could be for you.

The machine, announced yesterday (Monday), containing no moving parts, and 80 percent fewer components than a standard desktop, the CherryPal C100 uses just 2 watts of power.

“The design goal was to build something with the same user experience, with the same performance metrics but in a very green, very efficient way. It was to use 80 percent less components for a much lower price. It’s green and inexpensive and hassle-free,” said Max Seybold, CherryPal CEO.

Compared to some high-spec desktop PC’s that have huge cases, the C100 stands at a miniscule 1.3 inches high, 5.8 inches by 4.2 inches wide and weighs a tiny 10 ounces.

It may sound like a toy, but behind the sleek black box is Freescales triple-core 512e mobileGT 400 MHz processor with integrated graphics, 256 MB of DDR2 DRAM and a 4GB NAND Flash-based solid state drive. The C100 also features 802.11b/g WiFi, two USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Ethernet support, a VGA out jack and a nine-volt AC adapter power supply.

The cool thing about the C100 is that it forces the users to change the way they work with data storage and software. Instead of accessing applications on the hard drive, the C100 processes and stores any programs and data on the Web in the CherryPalCloud.

When the computer boots up, the online storage is automatically accessed from CherryPalCloud’s secure online environment. Users will initially receive 50GB of storage and free 24-hour tech support.

The C100 runs a custom version of the Debian Linux OS, but the machine’s makers say its main operating system is the Firefox Internet Browser.

“The operating system is not exposed to the user. So the user experience is, you turn it on, fire it up and then you see the log-in screen, user ID and password. The next thing you see is the mandatory landing page - the Firefox browser,” said Seybold.

“All system-related commands are accessed through the browser, and all applications are loaded via the browser, [so] the operating system itself is not exposed. That’s for two reasons: One is that people don’t like the idea of Linux because it has a geek reputation, the other reason is that it [helps us] to reduce the overall footprint of the OS, and that has a direct impact on the overall performance and the perceived user experience,” Seybold explained.

“Whatever people want to do on a desktop, CherryPal is able to do,” Seybold said

Users can access applications or other system-related tasks by using drop-down menu’s in the browser. Pre-loaded applications on the C100 include OpenOffice, iTunes, a CherryPal media player and instant messenger.

The system also comes in at a wallet friendly US$249.

The only major issue’s I can foresee is that, what happens to all the things you store online is CherryPal happens to go bust? Do you lose it? Or is their a back-up system?

Also, just how secure is the CherryPalCloud? Would you trust putting anything on there that could cause you problems if it was hacked?

Dell has launched a couple of new notebooks and a new desktop system that runs a pre-installed version of Ubuntu 8.04, joining two other desktops in its open source product range.

Linux has become more of a household name, what with Microsoft dropping the ball with its recent Vista OS. A good example of this is Intel disregarding Vista in favour of Ubuntu for its Atom Centrino MID platform.

Although Dell won’t really loosing Microsoft’s grip on the market, its nice to see that large computer companies are taking note of consumer demand – even if it is the more niche Linux user market. But is Ubuntu going to be the platform that can truly compete with Windows dominance?

The two new Dell notebooks are the XPS 1330 weighing in at US$949 and the Inspiron 1525 at a feather weight US$549. Both notebooks are equipped with similar hardware as their Windows Vista counter-parts. The XPS 1330 features a Core 2 Duo T5550 CPU, and the Inspiron 1525 has a T2370, with 1GB of main memory.

The new desktop PC – the Inspiron 530N is priced at US$449, which is US$50 less than a 530s Vista model with the same hardware. You can get yourself a FreeDOS version of the PC with an E4600 Intel Chip for US$539.

The price remains pretty similar to a Windows-based PC, but you have to remember alot of work goes in to the installation of Ubuntu so you’re paying extra so if you’re a Linux n00b you don’t have to have the hassle of trying to figure it all out.

Dell has confirmed that the will expand their Ubuntu range in August with the XPS M1530n and the Studio 15n.

Samba has released its new version of its award-winning Free Software fie and print server suite for Microsoft Windows clients: Samba 3.2.

Samba has built on the previous release, by “by modernizing and enhancing the code whilst still retaining compatibility with all existing Samba installations.” Boasting that they are the leading technology choice for “Windows file serving on UNIX platforms and in embedded Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions,” Samba is used by vendors selling NAS solutions ranging from high end clustered business-critical systems, to low-end consumer devices.

Samba 3.2, in conjunction with the ctdb libraries and a back-end distributed file system such as Sun’s Lustre, IBM’s GPFS or Red Hat’s GFS, and provides a fully clustered file server solution. Each node is able to simultaneously serve an identical, consistent view of the exported file system.

Not just a simple “fail-over” high availability solution, Samba 3.2 with ctdb provides a scalable clustered file server solution with full Windows file sharing semantics. Samba and ctdb are already being shipped in production file serving products to some of the most demanding customers in the world in fields such as animation and video production.

Samba 3.2 introduces a ‘registry’ based configuration system. This allows vendors embedding Samba in an appliance to more easily manage Samba configuration via the supplied commands or library functions without having to write scripts to modify a text file.

Samba 3.2 has been designed and tested to integrate with the latest Microsoft Windows clients and servers, such as Windows Vista service pack 1, and Windows server 2008.

Samba 3.2 has extended the CIFS/SMB protocol to allow transport encryption. File system shares may now be marked as “encrypted” and all access to these shares is now encrypted over the network. Standard GSSAPI encryption techniques are used to safeguard the data. This extension to the CIFS/SMB protocol is open and available for other vendors to adopt without requiring patent licenses or other restrictions.

The memory footprint of Samba has been reduced by the use of the Samba developed “talloc” library, in order to allow greater use of Samba in embedded devices with limited memory requirements. All restrictions on file name lengths have been removed.

The networking functions have been re-written to ensure Samba 3.2 is fully IPv6 compliant. Customers may now use Samba in an IPv6-only network, and it has been tested to work with Microsoft Windows (R) IPv6 implementations as well as UNIX (R) IPv6 implementations.

Samba 3.2 begins the migration of Samba from a monolithic application to a more modular architecture comprised of library functions which can be used to control and configure the Samba environment. The new libnetapi library to control domain membership is one of the first examples of this new approach.

The Samba Team has adopted the Version 3 of the GNU General Public License for the 3.2 and later releases. The GPLv3 is the updated version of the GPLv2 license under which Samba is currently distributed. It has been updated to improve compatibility with other licenses and to make it easier to adopt internationally, and is an improved version of the license to better suit the needs of Free Software in the 21st Century.

NETGEAR has launched an open source wireless-G router, which will allow Linux developers and hackers to create Firmware for specialised applications.

Open Source Wireless-G Router (WGR614L) delivers higher processing power an has more memory for a wide variety of customised applications, and is supported by a dedicated and at acting open source community.

The WGR614L, which is Windows Vista certified, features a 240 MHz MIPS32 CPU core with 16 KB of instruction cache, 16 KB of data cache, 1 KB of pre0fetch cache, and boasts 4 MB of flash memory and 16 MB of RAM.

In addition to an external 2 dBi antenna, the WGR614L comes with an integrated internal diversity antenna, which will provide enhanced performance and range. The router supports free open source Linux-based Tomato and DD-WRT firmware, and will soon support OpenWRT.

The router features include; Hotspots – the ability to install any firmware, guest access via separate SSID, and Upstream and downstream QOS, and intelligent bandwidth monitoring.

The WGR614L includes one 10.100 Internet WAN port and a four-port 10/100 LAN switch, an 802.11g access point (54 Mbps), and Static and Dynamic routing with TCP/IP, VPN pass-through (IPSec, L2TP), NAT, PPTP, PPPoE, DHCP (client and server) and Bigpond.

A Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) firewall, and support for 40-, 128- and 152-bit WEP encryption, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), WPA2-PSK, and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is also included.

Additional security features include DMZ, MAC address authentication, URL content filtering, logs, and email alerts of Internet Activity.

The NETGEAR Open Source Wireless-G Router is available at a retail price of $69US.