July’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of July, 2016.

1. The Windows Zealot by Ken Starks. Published July 5, 2016. “Linux is a failed experiment,” she spit. “It has no business even existing in the tech world and I am fully capable of recovering any important files myself. I do not need your help.”

2. Our First Look at Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon by Christine Hall. Published July 25, 2016. Nearly a month after the release of Linux Mint 18 “Sarah,” we decided to take it for a spin and have our first ever look at the Cinnamon desktop.

3. LibreOffice and Nextcloud: It’s Almost Deja vu All Over Again by Christine Hall. Published July 6, 2016. It’s easy to be tempted to draw a parallel between the recent fork of ownCloud by Nextcloud and The Document Foundation’s fork of OpenOffice six years ago. Slight differences are there, but they’re probably meaningless.

4. In Search of a Linux iTunes Replacement by Robert Glen Fogarty. Published July 21, 2016. Our resident Linux newb goes on the prowl with one thought in mind: To find the best-of-breed FOSS music player for GNU/Linux.

5.Four Alternatives to Raspbian and Ubuntu MATE by Isaac Carter. Published July 20, 2016. While Raspbian and Ubuntu MATE remain the go-to distros for many Raspberry Pi users, our Pi guy reminds us that there are others, and offers us a look at four alternatives.

6. Needed: A Linux Three in One Distro by Christine Hall. Published July 4, 2016. If FOSS is to have a future, we must embrace both mobile and the Chromebook model and develop a distro that’s equally at home on a phone, a low resource cloud based computer and on a traditional PC.

7. OnlyOffice: A FOSS Office Suite for the Cloud by Tatiana Kochedykova. Published July 13, 2016. If you’re looking for a free and open source replacement for the convenience and functionality offered by the likes of Google Docs and Office 365, you might want to take a look at OnlyOffice.

8. Microsoft Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon by Christine Hall. Published July 20, 2016. Microsoft’s latest financials show the company to be healthy, and not likely to quit being a thorn in FOSS’s side for the foreseeable future.

9. Is 32-bit Nearing End-of-Life at Some Linux Distros? by Christine Hall. Published July 11, 2016. At least three Linux distros have already quit releasing 32-bit versions, and Ubuntu seems to be standing in line to do the same. Is the end at hand for 32-bit mainstream distros?

10. June Another Great Month for the Raspberry Pi by Isaac Carter. Published July 6, 2016. Among other things, our Pi guy looks at the newest addition to the MagPi Essentials collection, Dave Akerman and a Raspberry Pi breaking a lofty record, and Tim Peake returning from space while leaving his Astro Pis in orbit.

The post July’s Top Ten appeared first on FOSS Force.

from FOSS Force http://ift.tt/2aoMAKw
via IFTTT

Simple Weather Indicator Improves Location Detection, Adds Fahrenheit Option

Remember the simple weather indicator we mentioned a couple of weeks ago?  If you do, and you liked what you saw, you’re going to love the latest release. Indicator Weather v0.5 brings improved location detection accuracy, fixing what was arguably the biggest issue with the previous release). If you still find that location detection is a little way off, or […]

This post, Simple Weather Indicator Improves Location Detection, Adds Fahrenheit Option, was written by Joey-Elijah Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

from OMG! Ubuntu! http://ift.tt/2aqYZOj
via IFTTT

Linux Mint 18 Xfce Edition Is Now Available for Download, Here's What's New

We've been tipped by one of our regular readers that the final release of the Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" Xfce Edition operating system is now available for download from the official channels.

While there's no release announcement at the moment of writing this article, we all know already that the ISO images of new Linux Mint versions appear on the main FTP channels a few days before project leader Clement Lefebvre informs the community about the release, so that all the mirrors get in sync with the main download server.

Therefore, the final, production-ready Linux Mint 18 Xfce Edition ISOs are now available for download, supporting 64-bit and 32-bit PCs. Based on the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system and powered by the Linux 4.4 LTS kernel, the Xfce edition of Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" comes with a great set of new features.

Here's what's new in Linux Mint 18 Xfce Edition

Prominent features of the Linux Mint 18 "Sarah" Xfce Edition operati... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2antXmZ
via IFTTT

You Can Now Run Flatpak Universal Apps Outside a Linux Desktop Environment

The Flatpak developers, through Alex Larsson, announced on the last day of July 2016 that a new update of the Flatpak universal binary application format is available, version 0.6.8.

According to the release notes, Flatpak 0.6.8 is here to introduce a bunch of goodies for those who want to either distribute their open source projects as universal binaries for GNU/Linux operating systems that support the Flatpak standalone format, or users who like an easy method of installing the latest software releases on their distributions.

New features include the implementation of the "--no-desktop" command-line argument that promises to let users run Flatpack applications outside the graphical desktop environment of their GNU/Linux operating system. Of course, some of the functionality will be lost when running Flatpak apps this way.

OSTree 2016.7 or later is now required for running Flatpak appsread more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2arztpG
via IFTTT

AMD Releases New FirePro Unified Driver for GNU/Linux Operating Systems

AMD released recently a new version of its AMD FirePro Software Suite (a.k.a. AMD FirePro Unified Driver) for GNU/Linux operating systems, version 15.302.2301, bringing more improvements and bug fixes.

According to the release notes, the AMD FirePro Unified Driver 15.302.2301 update fixes a crash and some model rendering issues with the Maya 2017 computer animation and modeling software, and addresses an invalid error reported by the Tessellation control.

Support for dual GPU configurations was improved as well in AMD FirePro Unified Driver 15.302.2301 as no empty window will be shown on certain OpenGL applications when using Xinerama with X.Org Server 1.15 or later.

Other than that, it looks like a performance issue that occurred when waking the computer from sleep after executing a resource consuming 3D application was resolved, along with a deadlock problem in the Open... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aJuouo
via IFTTT

DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 672

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Review: Ubuntu Phone - the Meizu Pro 5 News: Solus embraces rolling release model, upgrading Fedora from desktop, interview with Jane Silber, Ubuntu 15.10 reaches end of life, FreeBSD's quarterly report Myths and misunderstandings: The massive memory myth Torrent corner: OPNsense, Parabola GNU/Linux-libre,....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2aolwLq
via IFTTT

Endian Firewall Community 3.2.1 Adds Extended 3G Modem Support, Linux Kernel 4.1

Today, July 31, 2016, the Endian Team proudly announced that the Endian Firewall Community 3.2 GNU/Linux distribution is out of Beta and ready to be deployed in stable, production environments.

Endian Firewall Community 3.2.1 is now the latest stable and most advanced version of the CentOS-based GNU/Linux operating system that has been designed to be used in routers and network firewall devices. And it looks like it's also a pretty major update that introduces lots of enhancements, many new features, as well as the usual under-the-hood improvements.

"Check out the new release today by downloading the ISO. If you have a 3.2.0 Beta 1 you can just register and run the updates," reads today's announcement. "The registration procedure is much easier now: follow the initial wizard and just with an e-mail address you can keep the system updated. Don’t forget to give us a feedback or report the bugs ... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aokpLD
via IFTTT

LXLE 16.04.1 "Eclectica" Released Based on Lubuntu 16.04.1 LTS, Screenshot Tour

After being in development for the past couple of months, the LXLE 16.04.1 "Eclectica" GNU/Linux distribution sees an official release based on the recently announced Lubuntu 16.04.1 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system.

Coming only a few days after the release of the RC build, the final LXLE 16.04.1 "Eclectica" build is here, available for download for 64-bit and 32-bit computers. It includes pretty much the same features that were available in the Release Candidate milestone, such as support for the Btrfs file system by default, support for multi-monitor configurations, and the implementation of an Expose-like window picker

Moreover, LXLE 16.04.1 ships with a lightweight application launcher, an Aero-like window snap feature, the i3 lock screen with autoblur support, and new startup splash, a command-line weather a... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2ak3AQQ
via IFTTT

FreeBSD 11.0 Beta 3 Out Now, Final Release Is Expected to Land on September 2

FreeBSD Project's Glen Barber announced the availability of the third Beta milestone towards the upcoming FreeBSD 11.0 operating system for public beta testing.

Delayed one day, the FreeBSD 11.0 Beta 3 release is the last one for this development cycle, and it promises to squash even more of those annoying issues that have been reported by users since the first and second Beta milestones. Among the changes, we can mention improvements to the libunwind library, and updated locales.

Additionally, it looks like the maximum size of the vt framebuffer has been increased, the bsdinstall installer received multiple updates for prompting users for the date and time during installations, as well as to offer them certain options for hardening the system, and many other core components were updated or fixed.

The third and last Beta release of the FreeBSD 11.0 operating system is available,... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aUFPid
via IFTTT

Stellarium 0.15.0 Open-Source and Free Planetarium Software Is a Massive Release

Stellarium developer Alexander Wolf was happy to announce today, July 31, 2016, the release of the Stellarium 0.15.0 update for all supported platform, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

Stellarium remains the world's best free, open-source and cross-platform planetarium application, an astronomy program that lets users watch stars, planets, and nebulae in real time. Stellarium 0.15.0 is a massive release, ending the 0.14.x series of the software and introducing numerous internal improvements, bug fixes, and new features.

Among the best new features implemented in the major Stellarium 0.15.0 release, we can mention the brand new StelProperty system that promises offer simpler access to internal variable and new ways of operation to the astronomy app, as well as a new plugin for planetariums and exhibitions, called Remote Control.

"We also introduce another milestone towards providing better astronomical accuracy for historical applications: expe... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2ajYbcg
via IFTTT

Simplicity Linux 16.07 Has Arrived, Offers Flavors Based on LXPup and Debian

Today, July 31, 2016, the Simplicity Linux developers proudly announced the general availability of the Simplicity Linux 16.07 GNU/Linux operating system for personal computers.

Simplicity Linux 16.07 comes three months after the previous stable release, Simplicity Linux 16.04, to bring lots of updated components and the latest GNU/Linux technologies. As usual, the distribution ships with the Mini and Desktop editions based on the lightweight LXPup OS, a Puppy Linux derivative using the LXDE desktop environment.

Additionally, there's the X flavor, which features cutting-edge software projects and it's based on the Debian GNU/Linux operating system with various technologies borrowed from the antiX Linux project. However, that doesn't mean that Simplicity Linux is moving base from Puppy Linux to Debian, at least not yet.

"Whilst we still have a lot of love for Puppy Linux and all it’s derivatives, sometimes it’s hard to make certain packages work, especially newer p... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aUA8AC
via IFTTT

Linux Kernel 4.1.29 LTS Is a Small Update with ALSA Fixes, eCryptfs Improvements

Linux kernel developer and maintainer of the Linux 4.1 and 3.18 long-term supported kernel series, Alexander Levin, announced the general availability of the Linux 4.1.29 LTS kernel update.

Looking at the appended shortlog, we can help but notice that Linux kernel 4.1.29 LTS is a small release in the Linux 4.1 LTS series, changing a total of 20 files, with 57 insertions and 77 deletions. Among the fixes, we can mention several improvements to the ALSA sound system, a few fixes to the MIPS, PowerPC, and x86 hardware architectures, as well as some enhancements to the eCryptfs file system.

"I'm announcing the release of the 4.1.29 kernel. All users of the 4.1 kernel series must upgrade," says Alexander Levin. "The updated 4.1.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.1.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: <... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2ajUFyJ
via IFTTT

Distribution Release: Simplicity Linux 16.07

The Simplicity linux project is based on LXPup and antiX and ships with LXDE as the default desktop environment. The project has announced a new release, Simplicity Linux 16.07. The new version is available in three editions: Desktop, Mini and X. "We are pleased to announce the release....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2aBb177
via IFTTT

Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10 "Erik" Officially Released Based on Debian 8.5 "Jessie"

Today, July 31, 2016, the development team behind the Parsix GNU/Linux operating system have had the great pleasure of announcing the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10 "Erik."

Powered by a kernel from the Linux 4.4 LTS series, version 4.4.16, Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10r0 is the first stable update of the Debian-based distribution. It includes all the latest software updates and security patches from the upstream Debian GNU/Linux 8.5 "Jessie" repositories.

"Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10 (code name Erik) ships with stable GNOME 3.20 desktop environment and a brand new kernel. This version has been synchronized with Debian Jessie repositories as of July 30 2016. Parsix Erik ships with LibreOffice 4.3.3 productivity suit by default," reads today's announcement.

Here's what's new in Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10

Release highlights of Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10r0 include the GNOME 3.20.2 desktop environment with the GNOM... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2an7upY
via IFTTT

Corebird 1.3 Released, Adds Profile Muting, Self Retweets, More

Linux Twitter app Corebird has a new release. We preview its new features, like profile muting, and show you how to install it on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

This post, Corebird 1.3 Released, Adds Profile Muting, Self Retweets, More, was written by Joey-Elijah Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

from OMG! Ubuntu! http://ift.tt/2amzCjg
via IFTTT

This Linux App Lets You Hear Typewriter Sounds As You Type

Do you want to hear keyboard sounds when you’re typing? This little app let’s you hear exactly that. Now before you ask me I have to say that I’ve little idea exactly who might want to use this app. Nor can I tell you “it’s especially useful for…” . But I love the idea behind it, especially […]

This post, This Linux App Lets You Hear Typewriter Sounds As You Type, was written by Joey-Elijah Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

from OMG! Ubuntu! http://ift.tt/2aj9mlE
via IFTTT

GNOME Maps Is Back On Track Thanks to Mapbox

The desktop GNOME Maps app hit a dead-end earlier this month after the free service it used to display maps changed it usage policy.

This post, GNOME Maps Is Back On Track Thanks to Mapbox, was written by Joey-Elijah Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

from OMG! Ubuntu! http://ift.tt/2aTCwrj
via IFTTT

Distribution Release: Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10

Alan Baghumian has announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 8.10. This new version is still based on Debian's current stable branch, but it comes the very latest GNOME 3.20 desktop, as well as a specially compiled Linux kernel 4.4. From the release announcement: "Hello everybody, we are pleased....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2aC4gUi
via IFTTT

Development Release: Rescatux 0.40 Beta 7

Adrian Gibanel has announced the availability of a new development snapshot of Rescatux, a Debian-based live CD with specialist utilities designed for rescuing broken Linux systems and fixing boot problems: "Rescatux 0.40 beta 7 has been released. This release provides minor fixes on UEFI boot. Some people had....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2am45aR
via IFTTT

Distribution Release: LXLE 16.04.1

Ronnie Whisler has announced the availability of LXLE 16.04.1, a new major release from the distribution project that builds a lightweight Ubuntu-based variant with LXDE as the default desktop. This is the distribution's first stable release based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS: "LXLE 16.04.1 'Eclectica' released. LXLE is built....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2aTfn8v
via IFTTT

Distribution Release: Parrot Security OS 3.1

Lorenzo Faletra has announced the release of Parrot Security OS 3.1, an updated version of the Debian-based distribution featuring a set of utilities for penetration testing, computer forensics, reverse engineering, hacking, privacy and cryptography. This new version, released barely six weeks after the 3.0 build, comes with the....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2alJeof
via IFTTT

Distribution Release: Endian Firewall 3.2.1

Endian has announced the release of Endian Firewall 3.2.1, the first stable build in the 3.2 series of the project's CentOS-based Linux distribution designed for firewall and routers. Besides improvements in hardware support and, the new release also brings a number of security updates: "The Endian team is....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2aFlRf4
via IFTTT

GNOME Maps App Is Functional Again, Switches to Mapbox API Through a GNOME Proxy

The GNOME developers behind the Maps application distributed as part of the GNOME Stack announced today the availability of an important release of the project since it lost access to the MapQuest service.

As reported by us two weeks ago, GNOME Maps lost its free map tile service, MapQuest. Why? Simply because the free online web mapping service owned by AOL has decided that it's time to disabled access to their free feed.

Since then, projects like GNOME Maps that relied on the MapQuest service for fetching tiles had no other chance but to move to an alternative, which is pretty hard to find these days, at least according to the developers behind the open source project.

On July 30, 2016, the GNOME Maps 3.20.2 stable release have been made available for download, and it promises functional maps again, thanks to the... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aoZmce
via IFTTT

New Steam Beta Client Adds Numerous Steam Controller Improvements, More

Today July 30, 2016, Valve has pushed yet another update for its Steam Client to the Beta channel on all supported platforms, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.

Steam Client Beta Update July 29 was announced today, despite its name, and it only introduces support for the upcoming Windows Anniversary Update that will be made available on August 2, 2016, as well as numerous improvements and a handful of new features for the Steam Controller device.

"Made Steam Controller absolute mouse movements High DPI aware. This fixes problems where mouse regions and cursor position settings would be wrong in some circumstances when the user was using high DPI scaling settings in some Windows OS revisions," the Valve developers working on the Steam Client have explained.

RB/LB buttons were added for changing the current action set

Among some... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2acCoBK
via IFTTT

ownCloud 9.1 Community Edition Cloud Server Adds Innovative Security Features

ownCloud announced the availability of the first major release for the 9.x series of the open-source self-hosting cloud server software for GNU/Linux operating systems recently.

ownCloud 9.1 Community Edition is now the latest stable and most advanced release of the ownCloud Server, which promises dozens of attractive new features, among which we can mention a bunch of innovative security enhancements, such as support for token-based authentication sessions and pluggable authentication support.

Additionally, ownCloud 9.1 introduces the ability to list all the devices that are connected to your personal user page, from where you'll be able to invalidate certain session. Device specific tokens are supported as well in the ownCloud 9.1 release, giving users new ways to control the access to their personal and private cloud servers.

But wait, that's not all, as ownCloud 9.1 also ships with time-based one-time passwords (TOTP), which lets you increase the security of y... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aDrEjE
via IFTTT

Docker 1.12 App Container Engine Officially Released with Built-in Orchestration

Docker, the award-winning and widely-used open-source application container engine, has just released a major milestone that introduces approximately 100 changes since the previous stable update.

That's right, Docker 1.12.0 is finally here after being in development for the past two months, during which it received a total of five Release Candidate (RC) builds that have been seeded to public testers and those who wanted an early taste of what's coming to the final Docker 1.12 release.

"We wanted to thank everyone in the community for helping us achieve this great milestone of making Docker 1.12 generally available for production environments. Docker 1.12 adds the largest and most sophisticated set of features into a single release since the beginning of the Docker project," reads the release announcement.

What's new Docker 1.12.0

... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aHahNw
via IFTTT

Development Release: FreeBSD 11.0-BETA3

Glen Barber has announced the availability of the third beta build of FreeBSD 11.0, the project's new major release scheduled for final release in September: "The third BETA build of the 11.0-RELEASE release cycle is now available. A summary of changes since 11.0-BETA2 includes: improvements to libunwind; updates....

from DistroWatch.com: News http://ift.tt/2akTTFT
via IFTTT

Latest Vendetta Online Update Brings VR Improvements, Oculus Rift 1.6 Support

Guild Software announced earlier today, July 30, 2016, the availability of the latest updates for its cross-platform, commercial, and popular Vendetta Online massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

A total of three small updates have been released for Vendetta Online since our last report three weeks ago, when Vendetta Online 1.8.380 was released for PCs (Linux, Mac, and Windows) with lots of goodies and multiple improvements.

Vendetta Online 1.8.381 is now the latest version, and the Guild Software developers have managed to add quite some nice enhancements since the 1.8.380 update, such as VR improvements, Oculus Rift 1.6 and Touch support, as well as Linux gameplay fixes.

As usual, if you're interested to see what exactly has been cha... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aFomhk
via IFTTT

You Can Still Help Define the Look and Feel of Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch"

Once again, your help is needed to help the Debian Project define the look and feel of the upcoming Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system by creating and submitting beautiful new artwork.

Last month, we reported on Debian Project's call for artwork proposals for Debian GNU/Linux 9, the next major release of the award-winning distribution used by hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, which is currently in heavy development under the Debian Testing umbrella.

"Stretch, the code name of the next Debian release, is a character from the film "Toy Story." For the next Debian release, version 9.0, the Debian Project is calling for graphics and other artwork to be submitted as proposals for the look and feel of the operating system," reads the proposal page on the Debian Wiki.

Here's what you need to know before you submit your artwork

Currently, it would appear that there's a... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2aF5JKE
via IFTTT

You Can Still Help Define the Look and Feel of Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch"

Once again, your help is needed to help the Debian Project define the look and feel of the upcoming Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system by creating and submitting beautiful new artwork.

Last month, we reported on Debian Project's call for artwork proposals for Debian GNU/Linux 9, the next major release of the award-winning distribution used by hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, which is currently in heavy development under the Debian Testing umbrella.

"Stretch, the code name of the next Debian release, is a character from the film "Toy Story." For the next Debian release, version 9.0, the Debian Project is calling for graphics and other artwork to be submitted as proposals for the look and feel of the operating system," reads the proposal page on the Debian Wiki.

Currently, it would appear that there's a single contribution, which you can see attached to this article on the right ... (read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2ai2aq3
via IFTTT

Voyager 16.04.1 LTS Adds Intel Skylake Support, Based on Xubuntu 16.04.1 LTS

The guys over Voyager, a Xubuntu-based GNU/Linux distribution built around the lightweight Xfce desktop environment, have announced the release of Voyager 16.04.1 LTS.

Based on the recently announced Xubuntu 16.04.1 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system, Voyager 16.04.1 LTS comes with the latest and most advanced Xfce 4.12.3 desktop environments, the long-term supported Linux 4.4 kernel that includes support for Intel Skylake CPUs, and UEFI 2.5 (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) for modern PCs.

Xfdashboard, the GNOME Shell-like dashboard for Xfce, has been updated to version 0.6, and popular open-source software projects like the Mozilla Firefox web browser, Kodi media center, and LibreOffice 5.1 office suite have been added to the new Voyager 16.04.1 LTS release.

Available for 64-bit and 32-bit PCs

Being based on read more)

from Softpedia News / Linux http://ift.tt/2a81tlG
via IFTTT