Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Saucy Salamander and Ubuntu Touch To Be Released Shortly

The Saucy Salamander or the Ubuntu 13.10 is due to be released on October 17, regarded as one of the most awaited of OS for the desktop users. The new version of Ubuntu is said to be packed with features just what the desktop users have been counting on for. The good news just doesn't stop there as there is also report that Ubuntu Touch, a version for smartphones for its corporate side, also going to be released.

Overall Canonical has been creating waves with their entry, and it has also been doing good with the server versions that are already in production. The Ubuntu Touch however will be one of the most awaited of mobile OS which is currently ruled by Android and some part by the iOS.

The initial tests for Ubuntu Touch seems to be going good for its base models like the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4. But however the developer notes suggest that there is a hardware talk issue with the Asus Nexus 7, but however the OS is said to be doing good for Galaxy Nexus 10 tablet.

Developer tools are coming along nicely; the GUI Toolkit is making it easier for app developers. Jono Bacon, Ubuntu's community leader, wrote on September 20: "We are finalizing much of the core infrastructure (SDK, docs, knowledge, support, publishing) I really want to focus more and more on widening the awareness of Ubuntu as a powerful and fun developer platform." To help with this, Ubuntu has recently updated its developers' Web site.

The Ubuntu Saucy Salamander will be based on Linux kernel 3.11 and will include Firefox 24, LibreOffice 4.1, Thunderbird for mail client and Rhythmbox for Music player along with few more of the default apps.

The most highlighted feature however is the new graphics stack included with the version and a new built-in search options known as smart scopes. The version 13.10 will also have Mir which replaces X windows system, making it work smoother and better on graphics side. Canonical also believes that Mir will help the OS to work seamlessly over smartphones and tablets alike.

Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical and Ubuntu's founder, is happy with the Mir graphics stack. Others, led by Red Hat, prefer Wayland as an X Window replacement. Even Kubuntu, an Ubuntu spinoff that uses KDE for its desktop, will be using Wayland instead of Mir.

Mir won't be 100-percent ready for Ubuntu 13.10. Instead, it will use Xmir. This is a stack where X and Unity 7, the Ubuntu desktop, will run on top of the Mir system compositor by default, with a fallback of running X if there's no hardware that the Mir drivers can support. Intel, for one, will not be supporting Xmir.

The technicality will not be affecting the end users, but the developers for Ubuntu and game creators will have to watch out for the technology. The discussions are still hot on what will follow the X windows system, although it seems to be Wayland that seems to be gaining more rhythm. A leading game developer for Linux, Valve, seems to have opted not to go with either and continues with X windows, for its upcoming Steam OS.

Smart Scopes, formerly known as Lens, will finally ship. When Lens was first introduced, it integrated Amazon search results with local Unity Dash search results. Many users regarded this as an invasion of their privacy. Shuttleworth defended this commercial search when it was introduced in 2012, but it eventually was pulled as a mandatory feature and it became optional.

Since then, other operating systems, such as Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8.1, have also integrated Internet search with local search. In this release, Canonical will be extending Ubuntu's Dash searches as well.

So it will be a great thing to see it search over internet, facebook, google drive, yelp and other services, it may not be a feature everyone will want for. But this doesn't mean that the enthusiasts will be let down as the new release is already getting high hits.

We will be also eager to see the new Ubuntu Touch in action.

Inputs From Zdnet and Ubuntu

Unknown

- Unknown Updated at: Saturday, September 28, 2013

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Steam OS : Linux Based OS Enters Into Gaming Market, Will It Change the Industry?

Meet SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system from Valve, designed for the living room, and therefore with clear designs on Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony’s turf.

Valve took the lid off yesterday, the first of three living room-related gaming announcements. The next one happens tomorrow afternoon, with the final presumably taking place Friday. One of these reveals may be the fabled Steam Box, a kind of living room PC-console ostensibly built and sold by Valve to carry its software digital distribution platform beyond the increasingly staid traditional keyboard-and-mouse paradigm.

This is not Valve dipping a toe in the water, in other words; this is Valve taking full measures and diving in.

That said, we don’t know a lot about what SteamOS is, exactly. Not yet anyway. We know it’ll be freely distributed because Valve says so in plain language, but then so is the Steam client, and that’s been the case since its inception. We don’t know if we’ll be able to modify SteamOS in the same sense that one can modify Linux. In what sense will SteamOS manifest, in Valve’s words, “the rock-solid architecture of Linux”? SteamOS is derived from Linux, sure, but not, one assumes, another Linux distribution with the Steam-for-Linux client folded in.

Here’s a question we can answer in part now: What would gaming on SteamOS (vis-a-vis Linux) be like today? We already know what Steam’s like on Linux — have known since Valve rolled its inaugural Linux client out last February. Forget SteamOS’ ability to stream Windows and Mac games from separate Windows or Mac systems to a SteamOS box for a moment. I’m interested in that technology, but no one knows what it’ll be like, or how tenable, latency-wise (on the PC gaming side of things, players are even less forgiving when it comes to even slight deficiencies in the latter column). Let’s talk instead about Linux games on Steam.

Most of you have no idea what Linux gaming is like on Steam because most of you don’t run Linux. But what if you did? What could you play natively?

Valve maintains a catalog of Steam games online, including one sorted according to Linux support. The latter list’s appeal depends on your gaming proclivities. Do you like strategy games? You’ll find two of Paradox Plaza’s finest here: Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II. Ambient first-person horror puzzlers? See the recently released Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. Sprawling, hardcore space flight sims? Egosoft’s X series remains unsurpassed. Top-notch MOBAs? Try Valve’s own Dota 2. Indies galore? There’s Legend of Grimrock, Castle Story, Trine 2 and dozens more.

Shared From Time Tech