The Linux version of Steam will likely be at the core of Valve’s upcoming plans for living room-based “Steam Box” hardware, building off the recently unveiled Big Picture mode. The move to Linux also gives Valve more flexibility in working around Microsoft’s Windows 8, which co-founder Gabe Newell has called “a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.”
via Valve officially launches Steam for Linux with massive sale | Ars Technica.
The Linux Foundation started work on Secure Boot last year and announced back in October that its plan involved development of a pre-bootloader, which it will get signed by Microsoft. A signed pre-bootloader will allow for chain-loading of boot-loader of any other operating system thereby enabling users to install non-signed Linux distros on Windows 8 UEFI hardware. This signed pre-bootloader will greatly help smaller distributions that don’t have either the resources or time to get their own Microsoft-verified key.
Out of fears that Oracle is making MySQL a more closed software project and not being happy with the overall direction of this widely-used database software, Fedora developers are looking at replacing MySQL with MariaDB in Fedora 19.
via [Phoronix] Fedora Looks To Replace MySQL With MariaDB.
MySQL would still be available in the Fedora repository for at least one release as the more conservative users make the migration from MySQL to MariaDB.
This document provides the release notes for Fedora 18. It describes major changes offered in the Spherical Cow as compared to Fedora 17. For a detailed listing of all changes, refer to the Fedora Technical Notes.
via Release Notes.
The Gnome2 fork MATE is supposedly integrated with this release. After reading the comments on slashdot I’m not keen on upgrading and will stick to FC14 or if another MATE release becomes available that supports system monitor. System monitor is so important for security and general maintenance of the system and yet most consumer devices don’t include it. System monitor is equivalent to the temperature guage in your car. You want to know if the engine is overheating just like you want to know if your computer is causing unexpected traffic on the network.
Like Android, Tizen is an open-source software platform that is already in use in tablets, vehicle infotainment systems, and smart TVs, though it hasn’t nearly reached the market share of Android or iOS. Tizen competes with other small-scale open-source platforms, including Sailfish and the recently announced Ubuntu for smartphones.
via Samsung drifts away from Android; will Motorola rise to replace it? | Ars Technica.
CyanogenMod is an aftermarket firmware for a number of cell phones based on the open-source Android operating system. It offers features not found in the official Android based firmwares of vendors of these cell phones.
via CyanogenMod | Android Community Rom based on Jelly Bean.
In this short post, I’d like to show how hash-DoS can be applied to the btrfs file-system with some astonishing and unexpected success. Btrfs, while still in development stage, is widely considered as being a viable successor of ext4, and an implementation of it is already part of the Linux kernel. According to this page,
Unlike Apple, Google doesn’t impose a Draconian policy on developers. Third-party rendering and JavaScript engines get the green light on any Android-based device, jailbroken or not. This means that Firefox is free to use its Gecko rendering engine, and Opera isn’t limited to a “mini” browser.
via Which Web Browser Should You Run On Your Android Device? : Web Browser Grand Prix: Android Circuit.
Why not Linux?
Linux-based distributions stack up software — the Linux kernel, the X Window System, and various DEs with disparate toolkits such as GTK+ and Qt — that do not necessarily share the same guidelines and/or goals. This lack of consistency and overall vision manifests itself in increased complexity, insufficient integration, and inefficient solutions, making the use of your computer more complicated than it should actually be. [top]
Instead, Haiku has a single focus on personal computing and is driven by a unified vision for the whole OS. That, we believe, enables Haiku to provide a leaner, cleaner and more efficient system capable of providing a better user experience that is simple and uniform throughout
via General FAQ | Haiku Project.
What platform(s) is Haiku targeted to run on?
The main target for Haiku R1 is the x86 (Intel, AMD, and compatible) platform. There are ports to other platforms underway, such as PowerPC, MIPS and ARM. However, it is not clear whether these will be supported or not. What platforms we support in the future will heavily depend on the availability of resources to support their development
The compromise is believed to have occurred due to the leak of an SSH key from a developer who legitimately had access to the machines in question, and was not due to any vulnerability or code exploit within FreeBSD.
via FreeBSD.org intrusion announced November 17th 2012.
We unfortunately cannot guarantee the integrity of any packages available for installation between 19th September 2012 and 11th November 2012, or of any ports compiled from trees obtained via any means other than through svn.freebsd.org or one of its mirrors. Although we have no evidence to suggest any tampering took place and believe such interference is unlikely, we have to recommend you consider reinstalling any machine from scratch, using trusted sources.