Google recently lifted the curtains on its soon to be flagship product Google Chrome OS - a heavily customized Operating system which runs on top of the Linux kernel. Google did this with great panache by releasing the source code of the operating system under an open source license. The open source part of the operating system is known as Google Chromium OS.

Since a lot has already been written about the Google Chrome OS, I thought of doing something different. I collected the details of the project and created a mind map providing a birds eye view of Google Chrome OS.

All you want to know about Google Chrome OS

So instead of reading through reams of text, now you need only glance at the following mind map to come upto date on the Google Chrome OS project.

Reference : Google Chromium OS Official Site

Now for some videos on Google Chrome OS.

What is Google Chrome OS ?

This video explains to you in plain English about Google Chrome OS.

Google Chrome OS UI Concept Explained

Explore the Google Chrome OS user interface in this video.

Google Chrome OS Security

A video on the security aspects of Google Chrome OS.

Google Chromium OS Explained

Chromium OS is the open-source project behind the Google Chrome OS. The following video talks about Google Chromium OS.

I just gave an impromptu lesson on symbolic links (symlinks) and hard links, complete with ASCII art, in #ubuntu-offtopic, and Topyli commented that simple explanations of this for beginners are hard to find, so here's a summary.

The purpose of a link is to allow you to have two (or more) paths to access the same data without having the data exist on disk multiple times, thus giving convenience without sacrificing disk space. So why are there two kinds of links and how do they work?

Symlinks (ln -s REALPATH LINK) work like this:

LINK --> REALPATH --> DATA

While hard links (ln PATH1 PATH2) work like this:

PATH1 --> DATA <-- PATH2

See what's happening here? In the symlink case, your link points to another path, which points to the data. In the hard link case, two paths point to the same data directly. I think I could get a lesson on pointers in C out of this ASCII art if I wanted to. If you want a bit more background, your hard disk's filesystem contains a table of inode numbers, which is just like the Index at the back of a book. Symlinks are when you get "(see also: rubber ducky)" and hard links are when you get "Rubber ducky: 5" and "Sesame Street: 5" both showing up in the Index. Since we can have multiple filesystems mounted on one machine (for example my /home is on a separate partition), it is important to note that while a symlink can point to something located on another disk (or in a book "Further reading: Little Red Riding Hood"), a hard link only knows about data on its own filesystem (ie same partition). So, if you want to link from your hard disk to a flash drive, you need to use a symlink. This makes sense since your hard disk can't know if your flash drive rearranges things while it's plugged into another computer.

How do these show up in ls? Hard links look like normal files. For symlinks ls -l --color will show LINK -&gt REALPATH. If REALPATH is deleted, this will be highlighted as red text on a black background.

Speaking of deletion, how does that work? Well, if you remove LINK, REALPATH and DATA will still exist. If you remove REALPATH, DATA goes away too and LINK just points at nothing (though if you add REALPATH back, LINK will start working again, as it only goes by filename). As for hard links, DATA goes away once no more inode numbers point to it. As mentioned before, hard links point directly to the data, so this means removing all links and the original filename. So if I remove the original filename (PATH1), PATH2 will still point to DATA.

I hope that's a straightforward enough explanation of how it works.

From http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com

Adobe AIR 2 beta (runtime and SDK) has been simultaneously released for Windows, Mac, and Linux. AIR 2 builds on the success of AIR 1 by giving developers new capabilities and even tighter integration with the desktop.

New Features in Adobe AIR 2 beta

• Multi-touch support - Track multiple touch points simultaneously.
• Gestures - Applications can listen for multi-touch events.
• Open files with default application
• Improved security.
• Support for detection of mass storage devices.
• Drag and drop support for remote files.
• IPv6 support
• Improved cross-platform printing
• Consumes less energy than its predecessor (version 1.0).

... just to name a few.

Check out the full Release Notes for the details as well as Adobe AIR 2 Developer FAQ to learn more about this release.

Currently, Adobe AIR 2 beta support is available for Fedora Core 11, Ubuntu 9.04, and OpenSuSE 11.1 . AIR 2 beta doesn't support 64-bit Linux yet. However, 64-bit support is expected to be provided as an update to AIR 2 beta for Linux.

It is for the first time that Adobe has simultaneously released a product for all the three platforms namely Windows, Mac and Linux.

You can download Adobe AIR 2 beta from the following page.

It is heard that GIMP is going to be left out of the default selection of packages bundled with the next version of Ubuntu aka Ubuntu Lucid. There is an interesting write up about this at omgubuntu.co.uk.

The following are the reasons provided against inclusion of GIMP in the default installation of Ubuntu Lucid.

• The general user doesn't use it.
• User interface doesn't inspire confidence.
• GIMP is usually used by professionals
• There are simpler and easier alternatives to GIMP for basic photo manipulation.
• Takes up space in the disk (CD,DVD,...).
• Photoshop is not bundled by default in Windows, hence GIMP shouldn't be in Ubuntu either.

Now the pro-GIMP users (which includes me) have this to say supporting the retention of GIMP in the next version of Ubuntu.

1. One of the ways of introducing people to alternative software is to include it in the default installation of Linux and have it readily accessible to the users from the menu. Removing GIMP would mean encouraging people to think that Linux is "not ready for serious users."
2. If saving space on the disk is the major issue, why not replace OpenOffice.org with equivalent software such as Abiword and Gnumeric ? After all, how many general users of Linux (or Windows for that matter) use a word processor or spread sheet program? And OpenOffice.org occupies far more space than GIMP.
3. GIMP's user interface may be out of the ordinary. But to those who have gotten used to this interface, Photoshop's interface is out of the ordinary. (Believe me, I use GIMP for touching up and preparing all the images you see on this blog. And I find GIMP a lot more intutive than Photoshop). Bottom line is, it is a matter of getting used to.
4. Agreed, you can always install GIMP using a simple apt-get install. But what about those users who do not have ready access to Internet (and there are lots of them out there who own a computer but rely on Cybercafes for reading their email and web browsing). There will be no easy recourse for these set of Ubuntu users who wish to install and use GIMP.

For the above mentioned reasons, I vote strongly in favour of GIMP being included in the default set of packages bundled with the next version of Ubuntu aka Ubuntu Lucid. Let me go one step further, every Linux distribution out there, whether it is the best Linux distribution, big or small, should include GIMP in their default installation. Value added software like GIMP is what makes using Linux truly fascinating.

Fedora 12 has been released. This release touts huge improvement in support for tablets accompanied by tweaks to our favourite software such as a new pen preset tool in Inkscape, Brush dynamics tool in Gimp, Handwriting recognition tool named Cellwriter, a notes taking application (Xournal) to name a few. The following are some of the other new features you will find in Fedora 12.

Fedora 12 Main Features

• Empathy, an instant messenger that supports chat, video, and audio. It lets you talk to your friends who are on AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, Jabber, Live (MSN), MySpace, and many other platforms.
• Support for Bluetooth audio devices.
• A redesigned NetworkManager which features IPv6 support.
• PackageKit - a package management front-end which sports a re-designed interface with many new user friendly features built-in.
• KDE 4.3, GNOME Shell preview, Gnote which replaces Tomboy are a few other noticable improvements in Fedora 12.

Read the full release notes of Fedora 12 to know the details. Also read an interview with Matthias Clasen of Red Hat who talks about some of the new features for desktop users in Fedora 12.

Download Fedora 12

Latest version of Fedora (version 12 in this case) can be downloaded from this page. There are also a couple of spins of Fedora 12 which are essentially customized versions of Fedora which you can access here.

After the $100 laptop OLPC project, it is the turn of the $80 laptop. You heard me right, this laptop costs only $80 if the video review that follows is to be believed.

The $80 laptop branded EasyPC is one of the products rolled out by a Chinese laptop manufacturer - MENQ Group.

EasyPC $80 laptop full specifications

EasyPC E790 comes with a modest 64MB RAM and 2 GB disk space. While the disk space is quite stingy, the good news is, it has an integrated standard SD card slot which supports cards of upto 32GB size.

These are the full specs of the $80 laptop from the manufacturer's website.

The specifications say the laptop comes installed with Windows CE by default. However, this laptop is ideal for running any light weight OS such as Google Android (which is built on top of a custom Linux kernel), as the following video review suggests.

Read the detailed review of the laptop @techvideoblog.com.

Photos from the Philadelphia Karmic Release party have been posted:

•  http://gallery.ubuntupennsylvania.org/main.php?g2_itemId=857
•  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahotw/sets/72157622579059915/

Thanks to everyone who showed up, 13 in total, and a special thanks to those of you who came from out of state (a couple folks from New Jersey, one from Maryland!) and everyone who got in the spirit of Halloween and dressed up

Ubuntu Florida LoCo Family

We celebrated our local team’s 2nd birthday and the release of Karmic Koala with a huge party in Central Florida that drew members from every corner of the state for good food, good friends, and lots of fun!

mhall119’s pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhall119/UbuntuFLBirthdayBash#

itnet7’s pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/itnet7/Birthday_Bash2009#

If you have decided to write a book, then you must be wondering about the different publishing options at your disposal. In most cases, you typically approach a publishing house with your idea of the book. However, there is an interesting alternative, which is to self-publish your book.

Self-publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers. The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is the absence of a traditional publisher. Instead, the creator or creators fulfill this role, taking editorial control of the content, arranging for printing, marketing the material, and often distributing it, either directly to consumers or to retailers.

One of the foremost portal which helps individual authors self-publish their work is Lulu.com. But there are other active players in the self-publish business too.

So how do you go about publishing your book and selling it to make money - is the big question.

Dusty Phillips has a very nice article where he explains the various options available to authors who wish to self-publish their work. He peppers the article with his own experiences in publishing a book in this manner. And also provides formatting tips to potential authors.

Check out his article.

The Ubuntu Georgia LoCo and ALE will be holding an Ubuntu 9.10 install fest at ITT-Tech Atlanta.

When:
Saturday, November 21st, 2009, 9am-5pm

Where:
ITT Tech
1745 Phoenix Blvd # 100
Atlanta, GA
(Map)
Enter the ITT Tech building at the north end, front doors on the east side are kept locked on the weekends.

We'll have free CDs, installation help, and just some time to hang out with other Linux users from around the area!

Bring your friends who want to learn more about Ubuntu, bring your machines to install or upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10!

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
901 G Street NW Washington DC 20001
(between Gallery Place / Chinatown and Metro Center stations)
http://barcampdc3.eventbrite.com/

read more

When you open a file from Firefox instead of saving it, the file is downloaded to the /tmp file and opened read-only. This is a problem when opening spreadsheets from web pages, as OpenOffice.org doesn’t allow manipulation of files opened as read-only. In this article, I show you how to strip read-only privileges from spreadsheets opened from Firefox so that you can manipulate these files without having to manually save them elsewhere.

First, open a spreadsheet from Firefox. The file will be downloaded, and opened as read-only in OpenOffice.org. Next, select Tools -> Macros -> Record Macro. This will create a shortcut that you can use on later spreadsheets.

Then do File -> Save As, and save the file as /tmp/temp.xls (Excel file format saves faster than ODF).

Hit “stop recording” once the file save operation is complete.

Save the macro under whatever name makes sense to you. I chose Save_as_temp. Note: your macro name cannot contain spaces.

Then click the down arrow on your toolbar and select “customize toolbar”.

Click add, and then find the macro you just recorded. I then clicked Modify -> Change icon and gave the button a new icon.

Now, whenever you need to manipulate a spreadsheet you downloaded in Firefox, you can click this button and strip the read-only privileges.

Mark Cahill is a web developer and Ubuntu user, and writes on how the open source movement is shaping the future of the web and how we do business. For more articles written by Mark Cahill, visit tiemonster.info.

The Complete Guide to Google Wave is book authored by Gina Trapani (Lifehacker fame) and Adam Pash. This book is freely available for reading online. The book is divided into 8 comprehensive chapters and 2 appendices. A very good book on Google Wave indeed.

Bookmark the link for future reference and read the free online book to get to know Google Wave inside-out. "The Complete Guide to Google Wave" book will be available in PDF and print sometime next year.

Now if only someone will send me a Google Wave invite.....

There has always been a dearth in quality training material in Linux System Administration. And if there are resources on the Net, they are hard to find. Now here is a new venture by John Yerhot who endevours to provide very well made videos which explain how to use different commands in Linux, useful to people who administer Linux servers.

FOSSCasts are short, free screencasts covering Linux, Unix, and Open Source software in general. Each episode is under 10 minutes and covers a different piece of Open Source software or a set of tips and tricks novice and seasoned veterans will both find useful.

The videos are available for download in two formats namely - Ogg Theora and Apple Quicktime. I checked out the latest episode - Sysstat Part 1 : vmstat & iostat; and the quality of the screencast is stellar.

The site is still in its inception stage and so you will find only a couple of screencasts at present. But their schedule is to provide one new screencast per week.

Do check out the screencasts - It is a job well done.