Slashdot Mirror

wehe writes "Heise News reports today some Samsung notebooks can be turned into a brick if booted just one time via UEFI into Linux. Even the firmware does not boot anymore. Some reports in the Ubuntu bug tracker system report that such notebooks can not be recovered without replacing the main board. Other Linux distributions may be affected as well. Kernel developers are discussing a change in the Samsung-laptop driver." It appears even Samsung is having trouble tracking down the problem (from the article): "According to Canonical's Steve Langasek, Samsung developers have been attempting to develop a firmware update to prevent the problem for several weeks. Langasek is advising users to start Ubuntu installation on Samsung notebooks from an up-to-date daily image, in which the Ubuntu development team has taken precautions to prevent the problem from arising. It is, however, not completely clear that these measures are sufficient."

TuxMobil writes "Bad news for FreeRunner fans: development of the first Open Source smartphone will be discontinued. (English translation via Google) OpenMoko executive director Sean Moss-Pulz said at OpenExpo in Bern (Switzerland) that the number of staffers will be reduced to be able to stay in business. OpenMoko had high intentions: the offspring from Taiwanese electronic manufacturer First International Computer (FIC) wanted to produce an Open Source smartphone. Not only with Open Source software pre-installed, but with free drivers and open specifications of the hardware components. This would give programmers as well as users complete freedom. Up to now the manufacturer has produced two models, the first has sold 3,000 units and the second one 10,000. Both models were targeted primarily to developers. From the beginning, OpenMoko had to fight with different problems. The smartphones came onto the market after a huge delay. Some phones came with construction defects. Also, changes in the team slowed down the development. Software development for the current smartphone will be continued but with fewer resources, Moss-Pultz said. He still hopes the community will support the FreeRunner."

Linux Mobile Phone Guy writes "Members of the open source GPE project (GPE Palmtop Environment) today announced a new offspring project to create a fully open source software stack for mobile phones, GPE Phone Edition. GPE Phone Edition is a fully open source project based on developments from the GPE project adding necessary components for mobile phone usage. Based on standards defined by the LiPS Forum a complete application software stack is built. The current implementation is based on code contributed to the LiPS Forum by Orange/France Telecom's research and development lab located in Beijing China in collaboration with GPE project members. The result is now an open sourced software stack which can handle a GSM compliant mobile modem for making voice calls, handling the SIM address book and sending and receiving SMS. Also some additional application exists e.g. for media playback, instant messaging and email. They have some screenshots there and even a downloadable VMware image using which you can try the whole thing in a virtual phone on your PC — if you connect a GSM Modem (like an existing phone) to /dev/GSM-Modem you should probably even be able to use the full phone functionality (access SIM card, send/receive SMS, make a call!)."

wehe writes "A post from two weeks ago mentioned Lenovo Preloading SUSE Linux on ThinkPad notebooks. But in an interview with LinuxPlanet, Rajat Aggarwal, Lenovo's worldwide product manager for ThinkPad T Series, said that Lenovo will sell the new T60p laptop both on its Web site and through its direct and indirect sales channels. 'But we are not pre-loading it with Linux,' he told LinuxPlanet. Still, Lenovo will be breaking new ground with the level of support given to Linux by a major laptop manufacturer, according to the worldwide product manager."

Werner Heuser writes "Ancient Greek and Roman historians recorded that during the siege of Syracuse in 212 BC, Archimedes (a notably smart person) constructed a burning glass to set the Roman warships, anchored within bow and arrow range, afire. The story has been much debated and oft dismissed as myth ... Intrigued by the idea and an intuitive belief that it could work, MIT's 2.009ers decided to apply the early product development 'sketch or soft modeling' process to the problem."

Werner Heuser writes "Intel has just released Linux driver version 1.0.0 for the Centrino PRO/Wireless 2100 chipset. Almost two years, since the first Centrino generation with Pentium-M Banias has reached the market, a stable issue of a native Open Source driver has become available. The Wireless LAN driver for the current Centrino generation with Pentium-M Dothan and PRO/Wireless 2200BG chipset is still at version 0.13. This driver is intented to support also the third generation of the Intel miniPCI WLAN adapter named PRO/Wireless 2915ABG. Though Intel intended these projects to be community efforts, there are some possible working constraints. Mainly, no hardware documentation is available."

Werner Heuser writes "Finally Intel has made their different announcements about Linux support for the WLAN part of the Centrino technology become true. Though not yet officially announced an Open-Source driver with included firmware is available at SourceForge. The driver is still experimental and supposed to work with 2.4 Kernels as well as with 2.6 ones." (See these previous stories for some background.)

Werner Heuser writes " Thanks to the work of Michael Tuschik OPIE 1.0.3 is now available for the original ROMs provided by Sharp. OPIE is an Open Source User Interface and Apps for Linux PDAs built on Qt Embedded. You don't need a special version of "ipkg". Install via shipped package manager. Michael wrote at the OPIE mailing list: "NOTE: The Opie PIM applications will replace the original Sharp apps but use its own "old" data format (applies to Sharp ROM 3.1x and derivates). On uninstall the SHARP apps will be restored.""

An anonymous reader writes " Shortly after Linuxant has released their commercial DriverLoader, Pontus Fuchs has made an NDIS wrapper available under the GPL. Since some vendors refuse to release specifications or even a binary Linux-driver for their Wireless LAN cards he has decided to solve it himself by making a kernel module that can load Microsoft-Windows NDIS drivers. ndiswrapper has been tested with some BroadCom miniPCI cards and it seems to work on some laptops . With some more work it should be possible to support more cards. Hopefully this will be the case for the many owners of Linux laptops based on Intel's Centrino technology. Please contact Pontus if you are interested in helping out!"

wehe writes "The Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card was updated. The changes are based on some of the criticisms the first announcement at SlashDot has got. A matrix of Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM relations was added together with tips and tricks how to identify the original laptop manufacturer. Also a list of Linux laptop and PDA resellers was added. Unfortunately even in our times of Linux success, support by laptop manufacturers is seldom, or if provided not much helpful. Though the marketing departments of some major manufacturers have announced Linux support for their laptops sometimes, it was not developed or silently dropped. Because of the rapid development (every manufacturer creates new models almost every three months) and the specific hardware of mobile computer devices and accessories (see Linux Mobile Guide for details), it is important to have current and reliable information about their Linux compatibility. A current example is Intel`s new Centrino(TM) technology. Though there are many Linux laptop installation reports available already, Intel still does not provide full Linux support yet. Note: the URL of the original "Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card" has changed from MobiliX to TuxMobil, because of severe trademark trouble with Asterix and Obelix, as reported on SlashDot."

wehe writes "The Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card was updated. The changes are based on some of the criticisms the first announcement at SlashDot has got. A matrix of Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM relations was added together with tips and tricks how to identify the original laptop manufacturer. Also a list of Linux laptop and PDA resellers was added. Unfortunately even in our times of Linux success, support by laptop manufacturers is seldom, or if provided not much helpful. Though the marketing departments of some major manufacturers have announced Linux support for their laptops sometimes, it was not developed or silently dropped. Because of the rapid development (every manufacturer creates new models almost every three months) and the specific hardware of mobile computer devices and accessories (see Linux Mobile Guide for details), it is important to have current and reliable information about their Linux compatibility. A current example is Intel`s new Centrino(TM) technology. Though there are many Linux laptop installation reports available already, Intel still does not provide full Linux support yet. Note: the URL of the original "Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card" has changed from MobiliX to TuxMobil, because of severe trademark trouble with Asterix and Obelix, as reported on SlashDot."

wehe writes "The Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card was updated. The changes are based on some of the criticisms the first announcement at SlashDot has got. A matrix of Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM relations was added together with tips and tricks how to identify the original laptop manufacturer. Also a list of Linux laptop and PDA resellers was added. Unfortunately even in our times of Linux success, support by laptop manufacturers is seldom, or if provided not much helpful. Though the marketing departments of some major manufacturers have announced Linux support for their laptops sometimes, it was not developed or silently dropped. Because of the rapid development (every manufacturer creates new models almost every three months) and the specific hardware of mobile computer devices and accessories (see Linux Mobile Guide for details), it is important to have current and reliable information about their Linux compatibility. A current example is Intel`s new Centrino(TM) technology. Though there are many Linux laptop installation reports available already, Intel still does not provide full Linux support yet. Note: the URL of the original "Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card" has changed from MobiliX to TuxMobil, because of severe trademark trouble with Asterix and Obelix, as reported on SlashDot."

wehe writes "The Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card was updated. The changes are based on some of the criticisms the first announcement at SlashDot has got. A matrix of Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM relations was added together with tips and tricks how to identify the original laptop manufacturer. Also a list of Linux laptop and PDA resellers was added. Unfortunately even in our times of Linux success, support by laptop manufacturers is seldom, or if provided not much helpful. Though the marketing departments of some major manufacturers have announced Linux support for their laptops sometimes, it was not developed or silently dropped. Because of the rapid development (every manufacturer creates new models almost every three months) and the specific hardware of mobile computer devices and accessories (see Linux Mobile Guide for details), it is important to have current and reliable information about their Linux compatibility. A current example is Intel`s new Centrino(TM) technology. Though there are many Linux laptop installation reports available already, Intel still does not provide full Linux support yet. Note: the URL of the original "Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card" has changed from MobiliX to TuxMobil, because of severe trademark trouble with Asterix and Obelix, as reported on SlashDot."

wehe writes "The Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card was updated. The changes are based on some of the criticisms the first announcement at SlashDot has got. A matrix of Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM relations was added together with tips and tricks how to identify the original laptop manufacturer. Also a list of Linux laptop and PDA resellers was added. Unfortunately even in our times of Linux success, support by laptop manufacturers is seldom, or if provided not much helpful. Though the marketing departments of some major manufacturers have announced Linux support for their laptops sometimes, it was not developed or silently dropped. Because of the rapid development (every manufacturer creates new models almost every three months) and the specific hardware of mobile computer devices and accessories (see Linux Mobile Guide for details), it is important to have current and reliable information about their Linux compatibility. A current example is Intel`s new Centrino(TM) technology. Though there are many Linux laptop installation reports available already, Intel still does not provide full Linux support yet. Note: the URL of the original "Linux on Laptops Manufacturer Report Card" has changed from MobiliX to TuxMobil, because of severe trademark trouble with Asterix and Obelix, as reported on SlashDot."