All Linux Feeds

Nokia embraces Ubuntu OS

Adam Hartley — 1209123378

Nokia’s Internet Tablet devices are set to get a port of the Linux operating system Ubuntu, following the release of the latest ‘Hardy Heron’ v8.04 of Ubuntu this week.

The news also follows the announcement that Nokia is currently in the process of acquiring Qt developer, Trolltech.

Nokia informed Ars Technica that it is currently “exploring cross-platform possibilities between ITOS and Series60, and that it wants to see if GTK+ and Qt can coexist on the tablets like they do on the Linux desktop.”

Ubuntu sets internet alight

“There's no doubt that the net will be alight with torrent packets as the leagues of Ubuntu acolytes struggle to be among the first to get their hands on Hardy Heron," Nick Veitch, editor of PC Answers magazine told TechRadar.

“For desktop users, it includes some of the very latest open source technologies and software from the world of open source," he added.

“What could be more telling for the future is how many downloads the server edition scores - Canonical really need to get the IT suits to buy into the Ubuntu story as well as the Linux diehards.”

As for Ubuntu on mobiles, Veitch adds: "Ubuntu has also seen some action in the mobile space, with Nokia sponsoring a port of the world's favourite Linux flavour for their tablet devices, but as the company also acquired Trolltech for their Qt and Qtopia technologies, it seems unlikely that Ubuntu on every handset is something we'll see anytime soon."

Hands on: Ubuntu v8.04 - Linux for beginners

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UPDATE: Read Linux Format's expert verdict on Ubuntu 8.04 now.

The latest version of Ubuntu Linux, v8.04, is now available for download, the second Long Term Support (LTS) release from Ubuntu’s parent company, Canonical.

Ubuntu 8.04, also known as ‘Hardy Heron’, is being touted as an important release both for home and business use, with improved long-term support and regular security and maintenance updates.

Home for Gnome

Ubuntu 8.04 includes GNOME 2.22 open-source desktop environment and PulseAudio, a much-improved new sound server.

There’s loads of other stuff on offer too, including the latest Firefox 3 browser (still in beta), the Brasero disc burning utility and a new version of our favourite Mac BitTorrent client, Transmission.

If you’ve been toying with the idea of dipping your toe in the Linux community, then Ubuntu 8.04 could well be a good place for you to try it out. You can grab a live CD or DVD from the Ubuntu download site

Asus tackles Eee battery confusions

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Asus has moved quickly to combat a potential PR disaster that might have spiralled out of control, centred around news that the company had shipped Eee PC 900s with smaller batteries than the ones supplied to reviewers.

Asus has agreed to replace any Eee PC 900 batteries smaller than advertised/reviewed with new ones.

So those unfortunate Asus customers running on a four cell 4400mAh battery will soon be bumped up to a four cell 5800mAh battery.

See TechRadar’s latest, fully-detailed Eee PC 900 review right here.

MacBook Air cracked first in Pwn2Own

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It was the MacBook Air that cracked in the annual CanSecWest Pwn2Own challenge – with a Sony Vaio and a Fujitsu U810 standing firm in the battle of the laptops.

The contest asks hackers to gain access to a file on the computers to win the machine – with strict safeguards in place that ban the contestants from talking about their exploit until it has already been fixed by the company in question.

It's Miller time...

Charlie Miller won the laptop and the $10,000 as he cracked MacBook’s Air on day two of the contest, with the Windows and Ubuntu machines standing firm.

It is widely believed that a Safari exploit was used to get into the laptop, directing it to a ‘trap’ website and the malicious code that enabled Miller to take control of the laptop and read the file.

Last year’s competition saw the MacBook Pro cracked first as it competed with two other machines – with the QuickTime exploit quickly patched by Apple to prevent it being used maliciously.

Asus Eee PC gets touchscreen and GPS

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TechRadar is a big fan of Asus’ Eee PC, so we welcome today’s news that the second generation is set to feature the new 8.9-inch touchscreen display and, possibly, full GPS support.

The new version Eee with an 8.9-inch screen, in 8GB or 12GB models with the latest 1.3 model camera, is set to release before the end of April and the touchscreen version should follow at a later date this year.

Asus should confirm pricing and UK release dates with us shortly.

In addition to the main new feature of a fully resistive touchscreen screen, the next version of the Eee will also feature a tablet PC style rotating screen and, still to be confirmed with Asus, there is also talk of GPS support.

Asus in the US has said that the price point for the touchscreen Eee will, as is expected, be highly competitive, in the region of $500 (£250).

Eee Deluxe

Not everybody is so taken with the news however, with Linux Format magazine editor Paul Hudson concerned that:

"These kind of features don't come cheap, which means that the 9-inch Eee is slowly turning into an 'Eee Deluxe', probably complete with deluxe price tag.

"The Linux distro that ships on the Eee doesn't have much that can really take advantage of a touchscreen, so, while extra features are always welcome, I'd hate to think I'm paying more for things that only really come into their own when you install a custom OS."

Stay tuned for more on the latest Eee PC news from Asus as we get it.

Why doesn't one-laptop-per-child work?

TechRadar Staff — 1203422192

Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) movement, closed the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences annual conference on Sunday night by detailing the not-for-profit organisation’s progress to date. He told delegates that the movement aims to produce a £25 laptop by 2011.

During his speech, Mr Negroponte also claimed that half a million XO machines are currently on order, with production now ramped up to 110,000 units a month. Anyone sitting in the front row could easily have been fooled into thinking the OLPC is well on the way to meeting its lofty ambitions.

Slow sales and controversy hamper OLPC vision

However, take a step back, study the figures and the harsh truth is that the OLPC project hasn’t taken off as hoped, with sales at best slow and controversy seemingly never far away.

To date, only the governments of Peru and Uruguay have bought any significant quantity of the organisation’s bright green XO laptop, with total worldwide orders to date hovering around the 600,000 mark. More countries have expressed an interest though and the recent Give One Get One scheme in the US is believed to have generated a further 150,000 units. But given that the project was launched nearly three years ago, even the brightest OLPC optimist would have to concede that it's slow-going.

Add to that, the recent loss of Intel as a partner in the programme, alongside the high-profile defection of former chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepson, and things look a lot bleaker for the OLPC than Mr Neogroponte may have cared to let on during his speech.

Hardware issues or flawed business model?

So, what is the main problem with the OLPC project? Is it the business model the not-for-profit organisation operates on, the XO laptop itself, a mixture of the two, or perhaps something even more fundamental?

Certainly the OLPC business model has come under fire, both from the leaders of developing countries and also from similar not-for-profit organisations.

Nigeria’s education minister, Dr Igwe Aja-Nwachukuhave, recently told the BBC that laptops for children are a low priority compared to the provision of more basic facilities, a comment that was echoed by his Indian counterpart. Some charities have also questioned whether the cost of a dozen laptops would not be better spent on a more traditional educational aid, such as the creation of a library.

OLPC also faces stiff competition on the hardware front too, meaning there’s no guarantee that the governments of developing nations will choose the XO over a rival laptop. While scaled-down laptops like the Asus Eee and Elonex One appear to be geared towards schoolchildren in developed countries, the XO does face stiff competition from similar developing nations-focused products such as Intel’s Windows XP compatible Classmate laptop, especially now that Intel is no longer on the OLPC board.

A new OLPC machine on the cards?

Last year, during Intel’s short-lived partnership with OLPC, the potential was there for the two organisations to work together. But now that Intel has left the organisation, the OLPC is believed to be looking for other allies – something that Negroponte briefly alluded to in his speech to the AAAS. Could OLPC be about to do a deal with Asus or another scaled-down laptop manufacturer to ramp up production levels and scale down costs even further? Only the next few weeks will tell.

Of course, if OLPC laptops could be offered for free then governments would have to divert funds from elsewhere and the project would almost certainly be falling over itself to keep up with demand. However, given the intense competition between some for-profit technology companies to gain a foothold in the same developing countries the OLPC set out to help, it seems unlikely. And given the highly charged political climate surrounding the movement as well, the chances of finding a workable business model to distribute laptops in developing nations for free seems a very distant proposition.

One thing is for sure, however, Nicholas Negroponte isn’t about to give up trying. As the man himself never tires of saying, the OLPC considers itself a learning initiative, not a laptop-giving initiative. It doesn’t matter whose computer children learn on, the main thing is that they’re learning on something. You can’t really argue with sentiment like that.

Elonex to launch £99 Linux laptop

Audley Jarvis — 1203339803

UPDATE: According to The Inquirer the processor at the heart of the Elonex One is a rather mysterious-sounding LNX Code 8 Mobile Processor that runs at a rather lowly 300MHz. There's still no concrete details on who is making it for Elonex though. The Inquirer also reveals that the One comes with 1GB of Flash memory and 128MB of DDR-II memory. Internet access comes via a Lan/WLAN 10/100M Ethernet with WLAN 802.11g antenna.

British company Elonex is preparing to launch a revolutionary £99 educational laptop at the Education Show 2008 at the Birmingham NEC later this month.

Called ‘the One’, the new notebook is aimed primarily at schoolchildren and features a stripped down yet fully-functioning range of Open Source software that includes word processing, spreadsheet, email and an internet browser. Out of the classroom, the One can also be used to play MP3s and games with.

The One boasts Wi-Fi access as well, with 1GB of built-in memory and a USB port for attaching additional memory bands to. For an additional £20 the One can be purchased with 2GB of memory and Bluetooth.

The notebook employs a rubberised keyboard and a seven-inch screen that can be detached from the keyboard. Although there’s no touch-screen functionality, the screen can be used as a tablet with the aid of a track-pad located on the back of the screen.

Cutting costs

Helping to cut costs down to the sub-£100 price point there’s no optical drive and neither is their any firewall or anti-virus software. Unlike its main rival, the £220 eSys Eee PC 4G, there’s no built-in webcam either. Still, for a hundred quid, it’s pretty impressive.

Elonex wouldn’t reveal the name of the processor at the heart of the One when we called to ask; this information is being embargoed until its launch. Suffice to say that it’s unlikely to be a Dual 2 Core – we’d expect something more akin to a Celeron.

In any case, it needs to be remembered that the Elonex One isn’t intended as a business tool or a primary laptop, but as a cost-effective and ready-to-use educational tool for schoolchildren.

To this end Elonex is confident that all of the preinstalled Open Source software supplied with the One is fully compatible with common Windows programs. A spokesman from Elonex told TechRadar that word-processing documents created on the One can be opened in Word and vice versa.

TechRadar will be looking to test an Elonex One as soon as a test model becomes available so watch this space to see how it performs.

Mac users to get iPlayer downloads by end of year

Audley Jarvis — 1202468294

The BBC has said that it intends to launch a download version of its iPlayer video on-demand service for Mac users before the end of the year. At present Mac users can only access a streaming version of the player.

Commenting on the BBC blog, director general Mark Thompson claimed it as “evidence of the hard work that the BBC is committing to supporting other platforms."

Mac attack

The BBC launched the iPlayer last July, initially on a Windows-only platform. Following noisy criticism from disgruntled Mac users and Open Source fans that earned the backing of the BBC Trust and the Government, the BBC finally unveiled a player offering limited streaming functionality for Mac and Linux users in December.

Defending the Windows-only launch, Mr Thompson explained that the BBC’s decision was based on the fact that it simply wanted to offer a functional player to as many people as quickly as it could.

“Were we to choose to not develop any systems or services until they could be received by every single individual licence-fee payer, our capacity for development and innovation … would be severely limited," said Mr Thompson.

What's new in laptop tech?

Simon Pickstock — 1200055126

If you were expecting to see a host of new laptop technologies emerging at CES this year, prepare to be disappointed. Little has truly changed on the mobile front, and some of the innovations we'd expected to appear have been noticeably absent.

LED backlighting

Take LED backlighting. Apple was the first notebook manufacturer to incorporate the technology into its laptop screens, and we're surprised that the technology has not been adopted by more manufacturers.

In a conventionally lit screen, the CCFL (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp) is responsible for the majority of a laptop's power drain. LED is far more energy efficient, enabling the use of thinner and brighter screens. However, LED backlighting is more expensive, and does produce more heat than CCFL.

Dell has started to use LED backlighting, too, but there certainly doesn't seem to be a rush to embrace the technology.

Penryn and power-saving

It's fair to say that Intel chips dominate the mobile market, and the latest Penryn-based CPUs are being adopted by virtually all laptop manufacturers. The chip is basically a die-shrink of the existing 65nm dual core and quad core CPUs. By using a 45nm process, the chips can deliver more performance at the same clock speeds as previous chips, with the added advantage that they consume less power.

Intel could roll out mobile quad-core processors as early as June 2008.

Most importantly for mobile parts, Deep Power Down (DPD) technology will enable the chips to enter a very low-power state when idle, again helping to conserve precious battery life.

Battery technology has been slow to improve over the past few years and Lithium-Ion cells are still the power packs of choice for the mobile industry. We were excepting to see more fuel-cell announcements, and although Toshiba had a device powered by a Methanol fuel-cell prototype on display, little was said about it. Perhaps the company was feeling more ' Blu' than green.

The Tablet PC sideshow

Sideshow, Microsoft's much-vaunted secondary-screen system for laptops, has yet to see wide-scale adoption. Introduced with Vista, SideShow is supposed to enable you to perform tasks such as checking your email, or browsing the internet, without having to actually turn your laptop on.

Although we've seen it incorporated into Media Center remotes, so far few laptop manufacturers seem interested in the technology. Part of the problem seems to be that including the SideShow interface board and screen adds extra expense, without offering any tangible benefits for the consumer.

Two more Microsoft initiatives that seem to be taking on water are Tablets and Origami, aka Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPC). The trouble is that both of these are very niche devices. Few people actually want or need a touchscreen or handwriting recognition in a laptop-sized handheld. Even HP, one of the few companies to release a new Tablet PC, conspicuously avoided using the term in its press release.

Why the MID isn't a PDA

At IDF last year, Intel gave notice to its hardware partners that it sees Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) as a big growth area in 2008. MIDs or Ultra Mobile Devices (UMDs) are designed to be smaller than Tablet PCs, but powerful enough to run the full version of Windows. Intel had several prototypes on display at its stand, including devices from Toshiba and Aigo.

The 'smaller is better' approach is gaining traction elsewhere too. Asus has shown that its Eee PC, a cheap, low-powered mini-laptop running Linux, can win over hearts and minds. While smaller net-capable devices, such as Nokia's N810 and the new Sony Mylo are proving more popular, nicely filling the gap between mobile phones and full-sized laptops. Just like the now unfashionable PDA.

Perhaps the most compelling reason that these non-Microsoft devices are so successful is that they don't run Windows. They boot quickly, are simple to use and don't crash.

Considering that the CES organisers claimed that this year's show would be Carbon Neutral (we presume that doesn't include the thousands of air-miles flown by journalists, and the hundreds of tons of demo products air-freighted in), there was a distinct lack of green technologies on display.

Second-gen Asus EeePC to take bow at CES?

Dan Grabham — 1199446991

Is Asus Eee PC about to get overhauled with more power? Taiwanese sources seem to think so, with a new model set to be unveiled at next week's CES in Las Vegas.

The new machine would almost certainly include the option of Windows from the off. The current Eee PC ships with a Linux-based system but will run Windows XP if you install it. However, it's well-known that Microsoft has been working on a cut-down version of its OS, possibly even derived from Vista.
However, we're not sure how much credence to give these rumours because they also mention support for Wimax. Although Intel is set to include the standard within a forthcoming Centrino revision, the standard is a long way off gaining traction in Europe and the US.

However, it seems Asus appears to be readying a partnership with US carrier Sprint as well as Intel itself. Intel hopes that its involvement in Wimax will help push the so-called 'last-mile' technology.

The rumours also suggest that the new model will also have a larger screen size of 8.9-inches.

Asus is set to host events on Sunday and Monday at CES in Las Vegas - and we'll be there.