Following up on my earlier post, we've now released a new version of Google voice and video for Linux that includes both Debian and RPM packages. As usual, it can be downloaded from http://www.google.com/chat/video; upon visiting this page, you'll be given the option of which package you want to download.

Read the full thing at http://juberti.blogspot.com/2010/09/google-voice-and-video-rpm-packages-now.html

It has been a while since my original announcement of systemd. Here's a little status update, on what happened since then. For simplicity's sake I'll just list here what we worked on in a bulleted list, with no particular order and without trying to cover this comprehensively:

Read the full thing at http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd-update.html

Sometimes a system administrator needs to get around a few rules that are in place for good (or not) reasons. One example is when networks have ICMP turned off (or even just a portion of it). With ICMP off it can be difficult to configure tools like Nagios for simple up and down checks. In this text getting around the no ICMP problem and a script to handle it for Nagios.

Read the full thing at http://systhread.net/texts/2010q3nmap_ping.php

Amaze your friends with cool vi tips and tricks that will improve the efficiency of your file editing. This article takes you through ten of the less well-known vi commands that should form part of any serious vi user's toolkit.

Read the full thing at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-vitips.html

I thought you'd want to hear about what's just happened in the Software Freedom Conservancy v. Best Buy, et al case. It's another BusyBox case regarding infringement of the GPL, mostly about high definition televisions with BusyBox in them, and while the case is not finished regarding other defendants, it's certainly set another precedent. One of the defendants was Westinghouse Digital Technologies, LLC, which refused to participate in discovery. It had applied for a kind of bankruptcy equivalent in California. Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York has now granted Software Freedom Conservancy, a wing of Software Freedom Law Center, triple damages ($90,000) for willful copyright infringement, lawyer's fees and costs ($47,685), an injunction against Westinghouse, and an order requiring Westinghouse to turn over all infringing equipment in its possession to the plaintiffs, to be donated to charity. So, presumably a lot of high-def TVs are on their way to charities.

Read the full thing at http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100803132055210

Thanks so much to RMS for taking the time to answer our questions and thanks to the community at /r/gnu for all the questions. You can read more about RMS, FSF, and GNU at stallman.org, GNU.org 's GNU/Linux FAQ, and FSF.org.

Read the full thing at http://blog.reddit.com/2010/07/rms-ama.html

MythTV and XBMC can turn your Linux system into a video playback device with all the options you've ever dreamed of.

The Linux desktop is a place to work and a place to play. People fortunate enough to have time to play have many distractions to amuse them. Audio fun abounds with programs like Amarok and Rhythmbox. Video enthusiasts will find a plethora of options, from standalone video players (like MPlayer, Xine and VLC) to comprehensive multimedia environments (like Freevo and Moovida). Being a video enthusiast, I find myself drawn to two of the most popular open-source entertainment tools: MythTV and XBMC.

Read the full thing at http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10713

Here you go, munchkins. Judge Ted Stewart has ruled for Novell and against SCO. Novell's claim for declaratory judgment is granted; SCO's claims for specific performance and breach of the implied covenant of good fair and fair dealings are denied. Also SCO's motion for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial: denied. Novell is entitled to waive, at its sole discretion, claims against IBM, Sequent and other SVRX licensees.

CASE CLOSED!

Read the full thing at http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100610161411160

Just a quick update. I’ve released ver sion 0.4.0 of Lightspark, a free flash player implementation. This release was focused on improving stability, so all the crashes found by many testers should be fixed now. Thanks a lot for testing, several issues were related to particular graphics hardware and I would have never found them with out your collabortion. Please keep testing and reporting any issue.

Read the full thing at http://allievi.sssup.it/techblog/?p=345

One of my pet peeves is Linux installers for proprietary software requiring root permissions.

Last time, Adobe got me into rant mode by requiring root not only to install the Adobe Air runtime, but to install any Adobe Air based application as well. This time it's Abbyy – makers of the famous Finereader OCR software.

Read the full thing at http://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2010-05/17-please_dont_port_philosophy_with_code