Frugalware Linux Newsletter - Issue 41

...to inform...to educate...to entertain

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford

Welcome

The newsletter's aim is to keep you up to date with what's happened recently in the world of the Linux distribution 'Frugalware'.

Features of this issue include:

• Frugalware 1.0 is here!
• A Frugalware award!
• Frugalware's users are people too - LGee
• Getting To Know You - Frugalware is beautiful
• Focus On Package(s) - Gigolo and medit

Events

Here's a selection of events which have occurred since the previous newsletter:

• Frugalware 1.0 is here!

  On 22 March 2009, Frugalware 1.0 - code name 'Anacreon' - was released to the world. VMiklos has said that the number alone doesn't mean anything but after 5 years of development, I think Frugalware is quite mature. In the past 12 months, there has been a lot of work going on that is not visible to Frugalware users. We have new developers, the excellent work of the artwork team, new translations, a GUI service management tool, excellent progress on a GUI installer and new contributors. The future looks very good for Frugalware.

• Xfce 4.6 has been released

  On 27 February 2009, the Xfce development team announced the release of Xfce 4.6. Improvements included in this release include:

  • a new configuration backend;
  • a new settings manager;
  • a brand new sound mixer;
  • several huge improvements to the session manager.

  Unfortunately Xfce 4.6 won't be included in Frugalware 1.0 because it's still being packaged and tested.

• A Frugalware award!

  Solisius wins the award for most bug reports in one day, with five on 3 March 2009. Well done!

• Vietnamese translations

  Clytie Siddall has begun providing Vietnamese translations of Frugalware projects, including GFpm, fw-control-center and gservice. Since we want Frugalware to be accessible by as many people as possible, translations are required to achieve this goal. Thanks to Clytie and all other translators.

Updates

Here is a selection of packages which have been updated since the previous newsletter:

Frugalware's users are people too

This issue's interview is with LGee.

What's your name?

Locsei Gábor. In Hungarian, we use reverse order, the family name is the first. My given name is a Hungarian version of Gabriel.

What's your IRC/forum nickname?

LGee. I used to sign my e-mails with my monogram 'LG', later I extended it to 'LGee' when some of my friends began calling me by my nick in real life.

In what country do you live?

In Hungary, Europe. I live in Budapest, the capital of the country.

In what country were you born?

Hungary.

What operating system(s) did you use before FW ?

I started with Windows 3.11, NT and 98 but I never got too far with them, I was only using a browser and MS Office. In 2003, a friend introduced me to UHU-Linux, a Hungarian distribution, and my Unix adventure began. Later, I became a more demanding user, and I saw that UHU's development model is not acceptable for me. In the same time, the first releases of Frugalware appeared, and after several other distros I decided to give it a try... It was almost 4 years ago,and I'm a happy user ever since. By the way, I have also used NetBSD/OpenBSD before Frugal, but those are just different systems. I don't feel any of them could replace my Linux desktops, but I respect their philosophy.

When did you start to use Linux (Frugalware)?

In 2005, with 0.2 (Aurora).

What do you like most about Frugalware?

The simple system which will not try to override my preferences, the open and friendly behaviour of the developers and the nicely built infrastructure around it (documentation, wiki, bug tracker, code management etc).

What would you like to see changed in Frugalware?

The installer... and maybe the marketing. It looks like Frugalware is getting out of focus. I don't know what could be done, maybe it's just a natural phenomenon.

Do you do something active in order to spread the knowledge of Frugalware?

I try to answer questions and I keep telling people that Frugalware is worth trying. I write bits of information in the wiki. When I have really much time, I check some bug tracker tickets.

For what purpose(s) do you use Frugalware?

I use Frugalware on our 2 home laptops for simple functions, on my work desktop for everyday work, and I'm just building another file server for myself - this will be my first 64bit FW installation.

How did you find Frugalware - e.g. a friend/Google search?

By reading the news on the biggest Hungarian Unix community portal, http://hup.hu.

What do you do when you're not using Frugalware?

I work as a Unix administrator, mostly with AIX which is an excellent server operating system - though it's closed source. I love sports, especially mountain biking and skiing. I'm preparing for the birth of my second child. I take lots of photographs whenever I can.

Please show us a screenshot of your desktop(s)

I use Openbox and Pypanel, so don't expect anything spectacular. Here it is.

What's the view from your front door? (please provide a photograph, with no people in view)

I hope to be able to move away from here.

Getting To Know You

In this section of the newsletter, we get to know Frugalware Linux a little at a time. This is not meant to replace the official documentation but instead make it easier to read. This should suit those those people who, like me, have short attention spans. :)

Frugalware is beautiful

Since it started, Frugalware has had some fantastic artwork, including startup screens, login screens and wallpapers. The recently formed Frugalware artwork team is continuing this great work.

Anyone can be a part of the artwork team but all work has to comply with the Frugalware artwork rules. These rules exist to protect everyone's right to use the artwork and, if they want to, improve it. You can find the artwork rules here .

Tips and tricks

Disclaimer - Be aware that the hints & tips provided here have NOT been tested and so come with no warranty.

• Linux Quick Fix Notebook

  The "Linux Quick Fix Notebook" is a fantastic guide for anyone who is interested in Linux system administration. It's available for free in PDF format, as are all of the "Bruce Perens Open Series". It's written in quite simple language, with each part explained clearly. All the instructions are written for Red Hat Linux but they're easy to adapt to suit Frugalware. As explained at the book's web site, "Peter Harrison addresses virtually every aspect of Linux administration, from software installation to security, user management to Internet services - even advanced topics such as software RAID and centralized LDAP authentication."

• S5 Presentation Application

  If you need to do a presentation, consider using the S5 presentation application. As described on its web site: "S5 is a slide show format based entirely on XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With one file, you can run a complete slide show and have a printer-friendly version as well. The markup used for the slides is very simple, highly semantic, and completely accessible. Anyone with even a smidgen of familiarity with HTML or XHTML can look at the markup and figure out how to adapt it to their particular needs. Anyone familiar with CSS can create their own slide show theme. It's totally simple, and it's totally standards-driven."

This section relies on your contributions! If you have some tips and tricks that you would like to be shown in the newsletter, please post them on the forums.

Focus On Package(s)

Gigolo

Gigolo "is a frontend to easily manage connections to remote filesystems using GIO/GVfs. It allows you to quickly connect/mount a remote filesystem and manage bookmarks of such." Gigolo is distributed as officially part of the Xfce Goodies project but Xfce is not a dependency. "Gigolo" seems a strange name for such an application, but as explained by its author, "...actually it fits pretty well for what it does: It mounts what it is told to. That's all." If you don't know the meaning of the word, I'd suggest you check a dictionary.

medit

medit is a text editor written using the GTK+ toolkit. Its behaviour and appearance are very similar to gedit, the default Gnome text editor. To enhance its features, medit offers plugins and user-defined tools. Plugins are written in C and medit comes with three - a file browser pane, a file list pane, and a function browser. User-defined tools appear in the "Tools" menu and can be written in a scripting language, Lua or Python. For those who use both Windows and Linux, medit works in both operating systems. Its main dependency is the GTK+ toolkit so it's not dependent on any desktop environment. If your text editing requirements are fairly simple, try medit.

Bug fixes

The following table gives you a overview of activity on bugs and feature requests as at 23 March 2009. In each cell of the table is a link to a detailed list of the relevant bugs or feature requests.

Security announcements

Remember - According to the normal support arrangements for Frugalware, the release of 1.0 ("Anacreon)" means that no further security or bug fixes will be released for 0.9 ("Solaria") or earlier releases.

Here is a list of security issues which have been discovered and fixed in the 0.9 release since the previous newsletter.

About the newsletter

Author

The Frugalware newsletter is written and edited by Russell Dickenson (AKA phayz). Credit for the Frugalware distribution goes to the development team.

Translations

The newsletter is currently translated into French and Danish. The French translation is provided by the French Frugalware community. The Danish translation is provided by the Danish Frugalware community. Thanks to all those involved in providing and hosting these translations.

Release

To allow time for review and corrections, each newsletter is written ahead of its release date. Therefore it may not mention events which occurred in the few days before its release - e.g. security fixes. To be sure that you've got the very latest information on these topics, go to the appropriate page of the Frugalware web site.

Feedback

If you have feedback about the Frugalware newsletter - whether good or bad - please provide it via the forums. Your feedback is valuable because we want the newsletter to meet the needs of Frugalware's users.