The return of the EeePC with Linux (Ubuntu)

While Microsoft makes more efforts to assist manufacturers of netbooks to offer not expensive machines, they turned, in the image of Asus, to Linux.

The first EeePC of Asus had sold equipped with a Linux OS, before that the netbook market is overwhelmingly on Windows. However, Asus intends to return to his first love, and prepares a new EeePC Linux.

It must be said that Microsoft is completely disinterested market laptop to pas cher, very occupied by Windows 8 and Windows RT. The editor offers indeed most version of Windows at low prices to the manufacturers of these computers. At the time, those who do not want to increase their prices feel free solutions and Linux.

It is made by Asus with the EeePC 1015CX. In the program, screen 10.1 "in 1024 x 600 pixels, Atom N2600, 2 GB RAM and 320 GB hard drive. All for 1.25 Kg and the dimensions of 26.2 x 17.8 x 2.5 cm, sold less than €230 with the Ubuntu distribution.

The EeePC 1015CX left and on the right the 1225C...

Note that a second model EeePC Ubuntu will be also proposed to Asus, probably a little later. Sold from €299 and known as the EeePC 1225C reference, it will be in the format 11.6 "in 1366 x 768 pixels and may have an Atom N2800 with a 500 GB hard drive. Its weight will vary between 1.33 and 1.45 Kg with the onboard battery.

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How to install Diablo 3 on Linux

Who said that the Penguin was sealed to video games? Developers show the contrary with an installer that facilitates the lives of players under Linux. There is more than to follow the step to step.

Debatable or not, Blizzard is not its games under Linux. Perhaps you would have you buy the largest hack'n slash of all time if you could play. The phrase has no meaning? But this is what's going through the head of some Wheeler. The debate is not, let's see how to install the game on this non-native environment!

Before you begin, it is important to note that some libraries are missing on Linux 64 bit, only 32 bit systems may run Diablo III by this method. Also note that the installation was conducted under Ubuntu 12.04 PlayOnLinux software. This allows, according to the definition of the developers, to install and easily use of many games and software provided to run exclusively on Windows normally.

PlayOnLinux is responsible to install Wine and everything what will be useful for your Windows applications quickly and easily. Once installed, you can access a list of games or software according to its category. When you select one, PlayOnLinux loads an automatic script and proposed to start the installation for you.

The installable games available, include in some: League of Legends, Warcraft III, Adibou 2, SimCity 2000, Mass Effect 2, Portal 2 and many others... PlayOnLinux focuses primarily on the videogame universe but does not exclude applications Office, graphics, utilities and other joys usually reserved for the Windosiens. It's always good to take.

The screenshots below have been directed by softpedia, original author of this tutorial.

Install the latest version of PlayOnLinux. To do this, it is sufficient to consult the site download page and choose the correct version according to your Linux distribution.

If you have the DVD version, will have to mount the device manually with the unhide option (also shows hidden files and the extension files):

Mount SW rw, unhide, uid = 0 gid = 0, umask = 0, users/dev/mondisque/mnt/cdrom

Otherwise, you can download the installer from your Battle.net account. Then simply right click the executable and select "open with Wine".

Now start PlayOnLinux and type "diablo" in the search bar. It remains only to follow the guide as on Windows. Who said "Next, Next, Next, Ok"?

Choose the installation method: files or DVD

The launcher is running

The actual installation begins

If ever a 3007 error appeared, please type the following command:

echo 0|sudo tee/proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope

The installation will not work necessarily as expected in all users. In the game or launch problems may be encountered. Already on Windows it doesn't work every time... Let's not be too critical towards this beautiful initiative and appreciate rather the work conducted by the community. Good game!

> More information on the French page of playonlinux

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Samsung joins the Linux Foundation

A new arrival in the Board of Directors of the Linux Foundation and not least, Samsung!

For memory, the Linux Foundation established in 2007 brings developers the world over as the prominent Linus Torvalds to guide the future development of the Linux kernel. The Foundation now has about 70 members, such as HP, IBM, AMD, Oracle or even NVIDIA recently.

Should now count on Samsung comes to Silver member member Platinum with the contribution of $ 500,000 per year to the Foundation. The Platinum level crossing allows to sit on the Board of Directors and, therefore, to make decisions on the development of the Linux kernel, but also on the progress of the Foundation strategy.

Tizen project in Pocket in collaboration with Intel, Samsung seems to want to offer - take hand impose? -, its choice of the development of the kernel to be more in line with its products which fly its mobile operating system. But we also believe the Korean giant is looking to shed more in addition to the links connecting with Google because the commercialization of its smartphones under Android impose too many constraints. The hands-free, Samsung may follow its own schedule for development of its products without having to be forced to follow another firm such as Google Calendar.

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The Kernel Linux 3.4 is available

Linus Torvalds announced the availability for download of the new version of the Linux kernel now happening in 3.4.

3.4 Kernel is output. In the menu, improved performance, better management of cases of errors to avoid the "Kernel Panic" and new analysis tools when it occurs. But it is not everything, since he is add support for graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce 600 Series under architecture Kepler, the latest AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series under architecture Tahiti, but also the last APU as Trinity and the CPU for smartphones, the famous Intel Medfield.

More security and bug fixes, this new version 3.4 improves the performance of GTK2, a system of automatic discovery of CPU used to load the appropriate driver, or a new module called "Yama" input to improve the kernel security by limiting access to the ptrace command.

Another novelty for this version 3.4 of the Linux kernel, the management of the pointers in 32-bit mode on a 64-bit environment. This management can reduce the memory consumption, because registers of 32-bit pointers consume much less than 64-bit, so with this new mode of operation hybrid, Programs Manager little memory space can use lighter pointers registers with the possibility to allocate more memory in 64-bit.

We also note the possibility of launching a kernel without module by adding the parameter "nomodule" or the hardware acceleration support for encryption of data in AES on NVIDIA Tegra chips. The famous KernelNewbies site lists all of the changes and they are many, to go even further, the Linus Torvalds Advertisement message itself is readable here.

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Less autonomy under Linux? The fault of the BIOS and Windows

For several months, under GNU/Linux computers consumed more energy than under Windows. The reason is known for a time: the management of the NCDT has been modified in the 2.6.38 nucleus and - quite oddly - the operation of the technology was altered.

NCDT (Active State Power Management) is a technology related to the PCI-Express bus to reduce the consumption of the various PCI Express links when they are unused. The main problem is simple: the Linux kernel checks to the BIOS if the technology is supported and if the BIOS indicates, the NCDT is enabled. Otherwise, it is disabled. The kernel therefore uses a simple method, but it has a large defect: some BIOS do not indicate if the technology is supported, as it is. And the kernel, in this case specific (and a priori current) disables the technology, which has a quite visible impact on consumption and therefore - directly - autonomy.

In inquiring, a developer has understood the problem: Windows - by far the most used OS - does not test the rules on how to manage the NCDT. Specifically, the NCDT is regarded as being supported automatically unless the BIOS indicates explicitly that it is not. A patch for the kernel Linux - pending its integration in the future - has therefore developed to modify the behavior of the latter. With the patch, instead of manually disable the NCDT when the BIOS does not information, the kernel will do nothing. The only time where technology will be disabled manually is when the BIOS indicate it explicitly. The source is therefore linked to Windows - which does not perform the tests correctly - and, in fact, developers of the BIOS that indicate not correctly support, given that the most common operating system works without this information.

With this patch of 60 lines, consumption is much reduced, the developer indicates win 5 W on his Thinkpad X 220 in idle, which is important on a device of this type. Note that it is also possible to manually force the use of technology: it is supported on the vast majority of the recent laptops.

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Gumstix: Linux on a chewing gum Tablet

Gumstix, a company specialized in small computers, proposes a new model, the Overo Sand. As the company name suggests, the devices are the size of a chewing gum tablet.

The Overo Sand measures 5.8 x 1.7 x 0.5 mm and incorporates an SoC Texas Instrument OMAP, a Texas Instruments OMAP 3503 family. This SoC integrates a CPU ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz (as in many smartphones in 2009) but misunderstands the GPU. The Overo Sand has connectors for Gumstix accessories (cameras, for example), 256 MB of RAM and a microSD for storage location.

Faster versions (720 MHz) and incorporating the SoC with GPU (and HDMI output) and the Wi - Fi also exist.

The Overo Sand can run under Linux and is sold $115.

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Linux is passed in 3.0, a minor change

The Open Source Linux kernel is 3.0 without the modifications of a major version.

The launch of version 3.0 of the Linux kernel, Linus Torvalds, still active around its Kernel Open Source, announced this weekend. According to him, is that an update of routine and should not be expected, despite the numbering of this version, to radical changes. The developer said to be simply tired of the ramifications of the numbering in 2.6, the latest was version 2.6.39 released in May.

"What are the major new features?" No. There is nothing. We have some usual changes on the drivers and fixes. "Nothing to do with KDE 4 or Gnome 3 with the new kernel" had already warned Linus Torvalds some weeks ago. Perhaps this is the anniversary of Linux, which will celebrate its 20 years, which pushed its creator to decide the transition to the 3.0.

At the level of the changes, it notes, however, changes to the caching of pages and the revision of Btrfs file system integrated since the 2.6.29. Automatic defragmentation tool found and a compiler on the fly for GMP packets. Everything is explained in French on LinuxFR.org.

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Linux is passed in 3.0, a minor change

The Open Source Linux kernel is 3.0 without the modifications of a major version.

The launch of version 3.0 of the Linux kernel, Linus Torvalds, still active around its Kernel Open Source, announced this weekend. According to him, is that an update of routine and should not be expected, despite the numbering of this version, to radical changes. The developer said to be simply tired of the ramifications of the numbering in 2.6, the latest was version 2.6.39 released in May.

"What are the major new features?" No. There is nothing. We have some usual changes on the drivers and fixes. "Nothing to do with KDE 4 or Gnome 3 with the new kernel" had already warned Linus Torvalds some weeks ago. Perhaps this is the anniversary of Linux, which will celebrate its 20 years, which pushed its creator to decide the transition to the 3.0.

At the level of the changes, it notes, however, changes to the caching of pages and the revision of Btrfs file system integrated since the 2.6.29. Automatic defragmentation tool found and a compiler on the fly for GMP packets. Everything is explained in French on LinuxFR.org.

Read More