And in the name of more open communication.. linuxNUS brings to you.. the linuxNUS Forums!

Do check it out and let us know if you have any feedback!

Greg Kroah-Hartman, one of the leading Linux kernel hackers has announced on his blog that his employer, Novell, has moved him to work full-time on a project he announced back in January this year to help device manufacturers write free Linux drivers for their devices, so long as they provided the device specifications.

As Kroah-Hartman noted, after putting up his offer,

It turns out that there were two large groups of people who responded to the announcement, companies wanting drivers, and developers wanting to help out.

He was unable to cope with the workload, trying to juggle a full-time job and hacking the kernel on the side.

However, Novell recently modified his postion at work to allow Kroah-Hartman to work full time on the project, which will hopefully lead to more drivers being developed for Linux. Kroah-Hartman is the kernel maintainer for the PCI, USB, I²C, driver core and the sysfs kernel subsystems, according to his Wikipedia entry.

For more information, check out the official kick-off announcement and the Linux Driver Project Wiki.

We say, “Well Done, Novell!”, and all the best Greg!

(original article from Wired)

Here’s a step forward in the European Union.

In a recent submission to the European Commission, an European thinktank claimed that computer operating systems were “not a natual monopoly”, and that “Windows monopoly imposes an extra cost on virtually every EU business, as the price of operating systems would drop in a more competitive market”.

After exploring several alternatives, the paper concludes that the easiest way around these problems would be to unbundle Windows from the hardware, and require all desktop machines and laptops sold within the EU to be sold without operating systems in order to “foster a competitive market, increase consumer choice and reduce prices”.

Last week, AMD released register specifications for the RV630 and M56 parts into open source, thus allowing the OSS community to develop 2D (and theoretically 3D) drivers, given time. Current documentation for the project is available over at X.Org.

Hit the article for further details.

The specifications for ATI graphics hardware are finally open sourced and Novell has been quick to release an alpha-quality driver for the R6XX and R5XX series of cards.

Let’s hope this will be end of the frustration that many Linux users with ATI cards have been facing.

The Gelato Itanium Conference & Expo (ICE) technical program covers topics
for both interested and experienced users

- Basic Itanium platform architecture; porting; tuning; and other topics
such as virtualization, security, RAS, mainframe emulation, and Java
- More in-depth technical presentations to allow experienced users to
further enhance Itanium application performance on the Linux operating
system

Date: 1-2 October 2007
Time: 9:00 to 18:00
Venue: The Matrix, Biopolis

Additional conference information can be found at: http://www.ice.gelato.org

Organizers: The Gelato Federation

Hosts:
- The National Grid Office (Singapore)
- Institute for High Performance Computing (Singapore)
- Bioinformatics Institute (Singapore)

Sponsorships:
- HP
- University of Illinois
- HPC Wire
- Grid Today

Key talks:
- Linux in the Enterprise, Randy Hergett, HP
- Itanium Processor Road Map, Cameron McNairy, Intel
- The Software Stack to Unleash Multi-Core Power from the Intel Perspective,
Xinmin Tian, Intel

Registration:
Registration for Gelato ICE Singapore 2007 is now open. Please use the form
at http://www.ice.gelato.org/registration/index.php to register. Early Bird
conference registration until Sept 7, 2007.

Conference Agenda:
The conference agenda is available at:
http://www.ice.gelato.org/program/program.php

Students get about 50% off the registration fees.

Always wanted to install Linux on your PC/laptop but don’t know how to? Want to find out how to dual-boot Linux and Windows? Or even triple boot (with MacOS)? Fancy having some cool visual effects on your desktop?

linuxNUS will be having a hands-on Ubuntu Install Workshop on 12 Sep 07 (Wed). Our technical experts will be on hand to answer your questions and assist you in the installation and configuration process on your laptop PCs. If you do not have a laptop and want to install Ubuntu on your home PC, you can use a lab PC to go through the installation process.

Date: 12 Sep 07 (Wed)
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Venue: COM 1 Basement, Programming Lab 1 (COM 1 is right beside BIZ canteen)
Fees: $2 for linuxNUS members, $5 for non-members (sign up as a member to enjoy immediate savings!).

Notes:
1. If you have your own Ubuntu CD, please bring it along as we only have a limited number of CDs
2. Bring a multiplug along if possible
3. If you are using your laptop, backup important data before coming. If possible, create a partition for Linux of at least 5 GB space first.
4. Printed materials will be provided
5. Light refreshments will be provided

If you are interested, please register by sending us an email with the Subject: Install Workshop. Places are strictly limited and registration is on a first-come-first-served basis. Please indicate if you are bringing your laptop so that we can better allocate resources.

linuxNUS presents, the Linux and Open Source Introductory Talk.

Have you always wanted to know more about Open Source and Linux? Learn about the philosophies of the Open Source world. What makes Open Source software better?

Can you do the same things you do on Windows and Mac in Linux? Can you do them better? What about compatibility? Will you still be able to share files with your Windows and Mac using friends? What about assignments?

We’ll also teach you a few nifty tricks that you can use to make life in NUS that much easier =)

• Date: 29th Aug 2007, Wednesday
• Time: 7pm - 8pm
• Venue: COM1/213 (Click here for the location of COM1,  and here for the layout of COM1 level 2)

If you would like to attend, please drop us an email at contact@linuxnus.org with your name and contact number. If you don’t reply, we can’t guarantee we’ll have enough food for you, you see.See you there!

Hi everyone

It’s a new academic year again, and linuxNUS is organising a Welcome Tea for freshmen to find out more about who we are and what we do! This will take place on 22 Aug 2007 (Wed) at 1830hrs in COM 1 / 207.

The purpose of this session is to formally introduce you to our Coreteam members as well as get to know each other better. We will also announce the array of exciting events that we have lined up for you in the coming months. Light refreshments will be provided.

Take this opportunity to get to know members of the Linux and Open Source community here in NUS, and learn about the important role Open Source software plays in this era. Many entrepreneurs have introduced innovative products with Linux and FOSS as a platform for development. ZopIM, one of the budding startups at the E27 Garag3 will also be present at the Welcome Tea. Learn how Open Source software has enabled them to quickly develop and deploy their application.

We will be giving out more Ubuntu installer CDs, on a first-come-first-served basis. If you need any assistance pertaining to Linux, we will be on hand to answer any questions you may have (i.e. wireless connectivity issues, etc).

If you would like to attend, please drop us an email at contact@linuxnus.org with your name and contact number. This is so that we know how many people are coming and provide for enough refreshments. Also, if you want an Ubuntu CD, let us know as well so we can reserve one for you!

We look forward to meeting everyone at the Welcome Tea.

Our website has a new look!

Other than some cosmetic touch ups, there is now also a chat applet login located on the sidebar. Extremely useful for those who do not have an irc client, but still wish to drop into #linuxnus.

Do drop into the channel. The place usually comes alive after 11pm.

In addition, our photos are now hosted at Webshots

While most of the photos are from our archives on this site, there are some album/560147897EtzEMa" target="_blank" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/good-times.webshots.com/_br_/_album/560147897EtzEMa');">photos of the previous LUG before linuxNUS was founded. These were dug out from The Wayback Machine. Think those guys were around in Y2K there about.

Well if you recognize any of the people there, do tell them we are still around (FYI, linuxNUS only started off in Jul 2005). Those photos would probably bring back some anecdotes if they care to join the mailing list.

Matric fair rocked! linuxNUS was down for 4 days at booth #55 from 30th July to 2nd Aug. This is the 1st time that linuxNUS participated in the fair since we just started off not too long ago.

We have arrived!

It was pretty successful despite the initial difficulties that we had. But in the end, we manage to overcome the malfunctioning hardware and setup up a PIII 800 Mhz, 367 MB ram, Nvidia 128MB ram that showcased KDE and compiz-fusion.

The spinning cube desktop!

Don’t you agree?

Yup! That’s how lean the machine is… who says Linux has to be boring? =) 

Luqman loving the fire paint plugin

It was quite interesting that some of the freshies were unable to find our booth. Because somebody actually thought that we are “Leading Innovation in NUS” (aka Linus). Lolz. Nevertheless, many freshies did stumble upon our booth despite the little hiccup =)

Leading Innovation in NUS…

We got a total of 75 signups at our booth.One would probably think that all these would be either from Computing or Computer Engineering. Surprise! Some of the more “unexpected” aculties/departments/schools include: 

• FASS: Philosophy, Psychology 
• School of design and environment: Architecture
• CFA 
• Science, Life Sciences, Pharmacy, Mathematics, Chemistry
• Business
• FOE: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Wow! You mean this is not Windows or Mac OS?!

Well we are firming up details of our coming activities. So stay tune to our site and mailing list for further updates on our activities. If you missed out on our booth at the fair, do check out the rest of the photos taken.

Handing out of Ubuntu Feisty CD