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Domain: libero.it
Stories and comments across the archive that link to libero.it.
Stories · 6
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Why Do Commercial Offerings Use Linux, But Not Support Linux Users?
Michele Alessandrini writes "Having bought several TomTom One navigation systems at work, I was browsing their web site to find information about maps. There are several pages of documentation about their devices. In one of them, they proudly inform you that their devices use Linux, as a warranty of power and stability. They even prominently display their GPL compatibility. But, when you come to the software (the one used to manage updates, set locations, etc), they only support Windows and Mac OS. Not that surprising, and not a real necessity. Just the same, they probably saved millions of dollars using a free kernel and didn't think to support Linux users. As Linux gains ground in commercial applications like this, how often are we going to see actual users of the OS left out in the cold? Why don't more Linux-using shops reach out to the Linux-using community?" -
The Universal Off Button
jcr13 writes "Wired news is running a story about TV-B-Gone, a new weapon in the fight against the pervasiveness of television in our society. With this device, which takes the form of a keychain fob with a single button, you can turn off virtually any TV set. How does it work? By rolling through all known IR power-off codes, one by one, trying codes from the most popular brands first. Personally, I am terribly annoyed by TVs in restaurants and airports: they grab my attention over and over, no matter how hard I try to ignore them, and they distract me from the conversations that I should be having with my human companions. Unfortunately, the TV-B-Gone website seems to have already been swamped by the Wired coverage, so we cannot order these just yet. In the mean time, those of you with DIY proclivities may want to think about wiring one of these up yourself using a PIC chip or other micro-controller." An anonymous reader adds links to mentions at CNET, TV station KESQ and Ananova. -
EBay Fined $29.5M in Patent Case
pigreco314 writes "As reported by Washington Post and many others a federal judge Wednesday ordered online auction house eBay to pay $29.5 million to a Virginia inventor (former CIA engineer) who accused the company of stealing his ideas." This case has been going going on for awhile, but this looks to have some finality. Patenting "Buy it Now" is almost as stupid as One Click Shopping. -
CPU Convective Water Cooling
biso writes "The possibility of cooling a CPU with gravitational convective flow of water is here analyzed and experimented with positive results. Many liquid cooling systems have been experimented by overclockers to better dissipate the heat from CPUs. The major part of these coolers is characterized by a relatively complex system requiring pumps or other active devices. Sometimes even liquid nitrogen is used. I built a simpler cooler, able to dissipate the same heat flux of a normal heatsink." -
CPU Convective Water Cooling
biso writes "The possibility of cooling a CPU with gravitational convective flow of water is here analyzed and experimented with positive results. Many liquid cooling systems have been experimented by overclockers to better dissipate the heat from CPUs. The major part of these coolers is characterized by a relatively complex system requiring pumps or other active devices. Sometimes even liquid nitrogen is used. I built a simpler cooler, able to dissipate the same heat flux of a normal heatsink." -
Hardware Suggestions for an x86 Linux WAN Router?
il_seba asks: "We are looking for x86 hardware which could be used to build a stilish/compact WAN router for our LUG. The main requirements, in no precise order, are: small size, fanless operation (low power/low heat CPU + compact flash boot medium), on-board fast ethernet and a single PCI slot. The actual candidates are IGEL thin-clients and ALLWELL STB1030N, although if you have more, we'd appreciate knowing about them. We just need the barebone system, as we'll provide software by ourselves."