Nel regno di Ubuntu: gennaio 2008

lunedì 28 gennaio 2008

OpenVZ, accordo con gli sviluppatori di Ubuntu Linux

Gli sviluppatori di OpenVZ, un noto software di virtualizzazione integrato nel kernel di Linux, hanno rilasciato una nuova versione della propria tecnologia che, in coppia con il kernel di Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 10, può essere utilizzata in combinazione con macchine virtuali Xen.

Da oggi, due fra le più mature soluzioni di virtualizzazione open source possono così girare fianco a fianco, permettendo agli utenti di partizionare un server fisico in molteplici server virtuali utilizzando Xen e, successivamente, creare ambienti virtuali OpenVZ all'interno di queste macchine virtuali.

Gli sviluppatori di OpenVZ, un noto software di virtualizzazione integrato nel kernel di Linux, hanno rilasciato una nuova versione della propria tecnologia che, in coppia con il kernel di Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 10, può essere utilizzata in combinazione con macchine virtuali Xen.

Da oggi, due fra le più mature soluzioni di virtualizzazione open source possono così girare fianco a fianco, permettendo agli utenti di partizionare un server fisico in molteplici server virtuali utilizzando Xen e, successivamente, creare ambienti virtuali OpenVZ all'interno di queste macchine virtuali.

OpenVZ Project, la comunità opensource che rappresenta un ramo di SWsoft, realtà che segue lo sviluppo di soluzioni per la virtualizzazione quali Parallels e Virtuozzo, rilascerà delle macchine virtuali basate su Ubuntu 7.10 e "pronte per l'uso". L'operazione iniziata prevede la distribuzione di macchine viruali Ubuntu nelle versioni desktop e server

Gli utenti interessati avranno la possibilità di scegliere in che modo desiderino configurare la propria virtual machine. Ciò si concretizzerà grazie ad un apposito software, frutto della collaborazione instauratasi tra OpenVZ e Canonical, azienda che è di fatto lo "sponsor commerciale" di Ubuntu.

Secondo quanto dichiarato da alcuni portavoce di OpenVZ, un amministratore di sistema sarà in grado di impostare una macchina virtuale Ubuntu server in appena un minuto di tempo.

Nel caso in cui un'azienda dovesse riscontrare, in modo tangibile, i benefici derivanti dalla soluzione OpenVZ-Canonical, potrà eventualmente rivolgersi al supporto a pagamento (completamente opzionale) fornito da Canonical oppure a prodotti più completi come SWsoft Virtuozzo.

Il software che permette di creare virtual machine Ubuntu in formato OpenVZ, sarà pubblicato in questa pagina.

TiPI (Ti Potrebbe Interessare)

LinuxLinks

venerdì 25 gennaio 2008

Amarok Insider, la novità in Amarok2

http://mnm.uib.es/gallir/wp-content/amarok0.png

Quest'anteprima rappresenta un'istantanea dello stato attuale di sviluppo di Amarok 2.

Dopo quasi un anno di sviluppo, è molto utile per capire tutte le novità in questa fase che poi faranno parte della prossima release.

Il più recente rilascio di Amarok Insider, la vera e propria novità di AmaroK2.

Come sta lavorando il team, anche l'invitazione a collaborare.

Amarok Insider - Issue 11: The House Is Rokin'

Welcome to the first issue of AWN hosted on the official Amarok website. This makes it a bit more official, so I had to stop screwing around and at least drop the word "Weekly" from the name. So here it is, the Amarok Weekly Newsletter under its new name: Amarok Insider. Not weekly anymore :).
Ljubomir

Issue 11:

Amarok 1.80 - Technical Preview

After many months of hard work developers prepared a preview release for your compiling pleasure (and including *ubuntu packages). The release summarizes all the work done on Amarok2 so far, and includes, but is not limited to, the following features:

Redesigned media device architecture
Phonon support
New Internet Services Framework with numerous plugins
Context View
New Snazzy Playlist
New Podcast catcher system

That's a lot of interesting features, but still many more needs to be done - there is a reason why it's called "pre-alpha software". The Amarok team encourages everybody to try the new release and to provide feedback. Just keep in mind that the user interface is the least finished part of the Amarok and needs much more work. If you can find your way in GIMP, Photoshop or in particular, Inkscape, and would like to help with the artwork, you're welcome to contact us!

Qt4.4

Version 1.80 will be the last released version of Amarok using Qt 4.3. We will begin development using Qt 4.4 TP2 a few days after its released, assuming it has no show-stopper bugs. Qt 4.4 provides features (like QGraphicsWidget) required or highly preferred by some parts of Amarok (including the Context View and Playlist). By the time Amarok comes out, the final version of Qt4.4 should already be released. At least that's the plan. :)

Redesigned media devices architecture

Jeff Mitchell drops a few notes about media devices in new Amarok:
The media devices architecture in Amarok has come a long road lately. Although not changed much visibly, the underlying code responsible for the device discovery and much of the device handling has been redesigned and rewritten with Solid in mind. Provided a few things,* users of various types of media devices should be able to simply plug in and go - the device should be recognized and the correct plugin automatically loaded. Generic storage devices also benefits from this automation - if they are listed as a portable audio
player in HAL (which can be configued in Amarok), they will be picked up automatically for use with the generic plugin.

Thanks to the independence that Solid provides, all of this should work on Windows and Mac too, provided someone writes the appropriate Solid backends :)

There are also some architectural changes so that the devices can theoretically expose collections to the collection browser, which should make it possible to play "directly" from the device. This isn't in place yet - all of the device plugins need some further work- but it's planned.

* A working version of HAL 0.5.9 or greater, a supported device library, and a distribution which provides necessary FDI files.

Jeff Mitchell is an Amarok developer who, amongst other things, created the media device architecture. Check his blog to read more about his interesting work.

Phonon support

One of the other great KDE4 libraries which makes developing easy is the multimedia layer called Phonon. Applications using it can play audio and video files on any supported software platform with no changes in the code. That, along with recent Trolltech's contribution of GStreamer, DirectShow and QuickTime Phonon backends to KDE means Amarok plays music on all major operating systems, including Linux (and other UNIXes), Windows and MacOS X!

Context View

Work continues on Plasma powered Context View. Some plasmoids load, however many important features (like HTML display and proper layouting) are still to be written, and are waiting for Qt4.4. Expect much work on it later.

Services framework

Amarok's service framework flourishes. Two big services joined the pack recently: the Last.fm Ampache service, which adds a great amount of possibilities to Amarok. Read more about this exciting service on Nikolaj's blog.

service which has been written by Shane King, and a completely new

The Playlist

The playlist has quite improved since the last issue of AWN. It supports smart album grouping, optional (and unfinished) "classic" view, and features a nice artwork. The inclusion of Qt4.4 will help to improve it further.

Podcast manager

Podcasts in Amarok are no longer treated as ordinary playlists, but have a separate browser. It's functionality is currently limited, but (as others part of Amarok) will improve in the future.

Amarok on Windows

Our Windows guru, Shane King, writes about progress on Windows support:

One of the biggest (and most controversial!) features of KDE4 and Amarok 2 is cross platform support. There's been a fair bit of discussion about Amarok 2 on Windows, and as Amarok's "Windows guy" I've been asked to give a quick overview of where it's at.

Firstly, I can't take a lot of the credit for the porting. Most of the hard work is in Qt and KDE itself, and was already done before I started. Amarok itself is a good code base and required very little to make it cross platform. I've spent far more time investigating and fixing Windows specific fixes in the KDE libraries than in Amarok.

Currently, for basic music playing and organizational tasks, Amarok on Windows is in a comparable state to the Unix version. Thanks to Qt's audio backend, audio works well. The major things missing are outside of Amarok: libraries need to be ported (eg for media device support) or the KDE libraries are incomplete on Windows (some missing features, or not very "native" feeling in places). In general though it's pretty good for pre-alpha software.

This is why I find it funny when I've heard people worry Amarok will gain Windows only features: it's a struggle to even get to feature parity with Unix! Linux distributions really make life so easy for development, you can rely on a whole bunch of libraries being installed, having someone who will package your program for you, and most of the software you use assumes a Unix environment. For this reason I think Unix will always be the primary platform of Amarok.

I think Windows development will bring a couple of benefits to existing users. The obvious one is that although a lot of people don't necessarily want to use Windows, for a variety of reasons they have to. Having Amarok available will at least ease the pain. The less obvious benefit is that making the program available on Windows means the chance to attract more developers. Amarok can never have too many developers. For example, if it wasn't for the ability to run Amarok on Windows I wouldn't be working on it, and the work I'm now doing on the last.fm service would have to be done by someone else (or not get done). So even if you never plan to touch Windows, the port is actually a gain for developer attention on Amarok, not a distraction.

To answer the inevitable question: I hope to make Windows binaries available for the preview release. Check out the developer blog, they will be announced there when available.

To sum things up, Shane provided a nice screenshot:

It's hard to notice it's running on Windows, isn't it? Well, that's good :)

IRC helpers needed

Always wanted to help but didn't know how? Know a bit about Amarok? Worry no more - join the IRC force. We're experiencing increased need for people who'd help beginners on the IRC, and your contribution would be valuable. So, grab you gear and visit us at #amarok on freenode. And you can always become a Rokymotioner and help spread the word further!

Amarok at HdM LinuxDay 2008

The conference season started early for our promotion team this year. Lydia and Sven visited Stuttgart, Germany, to take part in the LinuxDay at the HdM university. Lydia talked about the open source community, how a FOSS project organizes itself and about KDE4. Sven showed the audience and the people on the live stream the wonderful world of Amarok, including a first peak at Amarok 2. Slides are available, recordings of the talks will be published soon on the LinuxDay website. The talks were in German, the slides mainly in English.

Kirocker Music Display 4.0

The next version of the award winning (well, it had to receive *some* award, it's way too cool) Kicker applet has been released. Those who haven't used this piece of art before should visit the homepage immediately. Besides improved eye candy, bugfixes and enhanced performance it features beautiful themeable fullscreen support, with support for automatically scrollable lyrics, and comes with a large amount of quality themes preloaded.

sabato 19 gennaio 2008

PackageKit, quasi pronto per il rilascio definitivo

Quasi pronto, per il rilascio definitivo PackageKit.

PackageKit è un punto di convergenza tra differenti gestori di pacchetti (APT, YUM, SMART, Conary ecc… perfino Emerge!) e GNOME, un sistema di astrazione basato su chiamate dbus.

Non è un “servizio” o “demone” ma invece si attiva e disattiva automaticamente, e solo quando ce n’è bisogno. Non è un rimpiazzo per GNOME App Install (che però potrà farne uso), per Up2Date, per Synaptic o qualsiasi altra interfaccia grafica a gestori di pacchetti. Non è assolutamente un rimpiazzo per APT, dpkg, rpm, YUM o qualsiasi altro gestore di pacchetti.

Servirà ad esempio a facilitare l’installazione di componenti aggiuntivi o software non compreso in una installazione standard. Nella pagina wiki di PackageKit c’è descritto un caso d’uso molto interessante e sorprendente nella sua semplicità: un utente clicca su un file ti tipo documento di testo, e se non è presente una copia di OpenOffice.org installata, PackageKit si offre di farlo… e il tutto senza richiedere la password, dal momento che quel software è sicuro, firmato, garantito dal distributore ed è contenuto nella lista di applicazioni installabili

fonte: pollycoke

The default software search screen for PackageKit

attachment:pk-prefs.png

The preferences screen for PackageKit, showing the option to allow or disallow updates based on battery power

attachment:pk-repo-auth.png

This screen demonstrates PackageKit's abillity to work with PolicyKit

attachment:pk-waiting.png

PackageKit's ability to queue different package management jobs

For more screenshots see this website

Intervista agli autori del progetto Richard Hughes e Robin Norwood

mercoledì 16 gennaio 2008

Gelatin per Ubuntu 8.04

Nuova veste grafica proposta per la prossima release di Ubuntu 8.04.

Questa volta è il turno di Gelatin, da wiki.ubuntu.com

Nella community Artwork tante altre.

Artwork/Incoming/Hardy/Alternate/gelatin

This propose of hardy theme suggests to Ubuntu 7.10 use the beautiful new Clearlooks engine with subtle changes in the color, selected menu item and in the gnome main-menu.

Concept

$/!\$ Edit conflict - other version:

Comments

* Wow. I have to say this is my favorite one. It's pretty much the only one that keeps to the smooth, calm Ubuntu origins rather than creating some ghastly new theme. The only suggestions I have are to bring back the desktop, trash, multiple-desktop, user, and turn-off icons and to make the title bar slightly less bright.

Wow, this is a whole another direction than what other people are comping. I like its minimal transparencies and small rounded corner radius are everywhere, and appreciate its prominent use of white and grey (vs. orange and brown.)

I also dig the fact that transparency is properly used to "de-emphasize" inactive window instead of bringing needless things into attention. I think that this particular concept is very sound by way of usability (ie. farther things appear more opaque.)

All these facts give the theme a rather matured look. Some suggestions: the top grey bar could be made whiter, the 1 pixel bright orange border on the active window could be subdued, and the 'close' button could be made more modern (this one reminded me too much of XP.)

Best of luck! - BramPitoyo

* I like it. The changes to 'clearlooks' are very subtle and yet elegant. Prominent orange, yet still easy on the eyes. Very nice. And since the changes are not that big, it shouldn't be too huge a task to realise. You've my vote. - Raphael Bosshard

*WOW! It's simple and clean. Perfect, you have my vote too. -- Simontol

* amazing! love it.

* I think it has a lot of potential, my personal comments are that the menu items (in the menu not the menu bar) are spaced too far apart, and either the font size should be increased on the text, or the icons should be made smaller (what are those 48x48?) so that there's less wasted space in between menu items. Then as far as the window theme I think the close button needs help, although I don't really have an idea how to improve it. Although I do think the part that bugs me is the "highlight" on the bottom and lower parts of the sides. I don't think it bugs me as much, but I don't care for that same highlight on the selected menu items either (again the menu items in the menu not in the menu bar) Anyways great job! - Ademan

Actually, that's not even evolution, just a tad of new clothes for the everlasting app & status bar on the top, window bar on the bottom theme, that's been around for ages. It takes up too much screen real estate in my opinion and is not very "modern" in the sense of this being a UI paradigm created in 1995 by Microsoft (only that they managed to do it in one bar, not two).

While I do appreciate the subtle chances to the Clear Look graphics, I think you should look into changing the rather confusing menu structure in the "System" menu and reconsider the entire desktop menubar. Maybe someone can come up with something more usable with regard to application access and system management. - Sebastian Niesen

* I love it too ! I quickly want a package to test it. Thanks. VetselPatrice

I love the way the drop down menus are displayed but if the close button is any indication of what the rest of the buttons on the theme will be I have to say that I don't care for them - too 'puffy', reminds me of the default Windows XP theme which is just way too kid-ish for my taste. Still, very well done. - Rafe Magnuson

I definitely like t his more than the other theme proposals. I think the panels and menus are a little too big though. --- DanBurke

Wow... I love it! Very clean, not too drastic a change. DanBurke, it looks like the screenshot is of a desktop with 800x600 resolution... if you go higher than that, I assume that the panels/menus would become smaller. - BaltikaTroika

Here it is an implementation for downloading: http://kims-area.com/?q=node/22

Update: http://kims-area.com/?q=node/23

Update 2: http://kims-area.com/?q=node/25

I love the cleanness and simplicity. I like the colors, especially the fact that the gray is whiter than in the Human theme. MihaiCapotă

TiPI (Ti Potrebbe Interessare)	Links
09/01 - Pixel, Photoshop per Linux 04/12 - Xsane, frontend grafico per Linux 19/09 . Light Zone 31/08 - Splash Screen alternativi 31/08 - Xgl/Compiz 30/07 - Wallpapers	14/01 - Installare KDE 4.0 su Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 14/01- Ubuntu Multimedia Center 09/01 - Virtual Open Source Edition presente in Ubuntu repos 09/01 - Personal Appliance Backup: backup e ripristino basato su Ubuntu e vmware 09/01 - Browser internet per Linux 08/01 - Applicazione di backup per KDE 03/01 - Glastree, the GUI (Graphical Use Interface) for Linux

martedì 15 gennaio 2008

NetVault, utility di backup e ripristino per Linux

NetVault è una utility di backup e ripristino per Linux, di facile utilizzo, ad alte prestazioni, scalabile.

NetVault's si presenta in un'unica architettura modulare; la sua flessibilità offre le più avanzate funzionalità di backup e ripristino per proteggere i vostri dati.

NetVault is the result of an innovative new, storage management architecture that utilizes modularity to achieve maximum performance. It meets the challenges of today’s high-speed technologies and data intensive applications.

NetVault is the answer to the demand for easy to use, fully functional, high performance, scalable backup and recovery storage management software. From workgroup, to datacenter, to the enterprise; from LAN, SAN and NAS – NetVault’s unique modular architecture and flexibility provides the most advanced backup and restore functionality to protect your most valuable asset…information. Delivering on the promise of simple to install and manage while providing robust performance, NetVault provides the flexibility for growth and continued enhancement as your information storage needs expand and change.

Learn More About NetVault

Features & Benefits
Packages
Supported Platforms
Supported Devices
Product Literature
Product Documentation
Request
Demo CD

Application Data Protection
NetVault Application Plugin Modules™ (APM™)

Disaster Recovery
VaultDR™ Bare Metal Restore

Open File Protection
OFM™ for Open File Management

NAS Support
NetVault NDMP for Network Attached Storage

nv_packages

Scalable from individual users to enterprise environments, NetVault™ provides packaged solutions to meet the needs of every customer. Each package effectively represents the foundation on which additional components can be added. The entry level packages have a very limited list of components that can be added, but at any time your base server package can be upgraded. All NetVault Packages come complete with special features to ensure superior performance and scalability.

Base NetVault Package
NetVault Packages include one Server Node, and a specified number of Client Nodes (CN).

NetVault Server Node
A Server Node (SN) is assigned and supports SmartClient™ tape and optical drives and libraries. The Server Node (SN) has a scheduler, database for keeping track of data stored, media manager and log manager and is responsible for the scheduling and administering data transfers for other Nodes. In addition, the Server Node (SN) also tracks the database and media manager for SmartClients. One License included in package.

Client Nodes (CN Packs)
A Client Node (CN) is a client that is managed by a NetVault Server Node (SN). Both Server and Client Nodes support Application Plugin Modules (APM's). A specified number of heterogeneous Client Nodes are included with each NetVault Package. Additional Client Nodes may be purchased up to the supported NetVault Server package client limit.

SmartClients™
SmartClient is a client that has a local tape or DVD media device attached, either directly, or via a SAN. Any client on the network may access the device attached to the SmartClient. The number of SmartClients which may be used are licensed in the NetVault Server key.

Dynamically Shared Devices™ (DSD)
This option empowers SmartClients, NAS devices and Servers to dynamically share stand-alone tape and DVD drives and/or library drives in SAN or shared-SCSI configurations. Each physical device that is shared requires a DSD license, regardless of nodes that shared the device.

Media Device Support
This feature enables a Server Node (SN) or SmartClient node to control a media device (Tape/DVD). This media device can be a standalone, auto-loader, auto-changer or library device.

Media Slot Support
This option enables online slots inside media libraries. This is the total number of slots per each attached library that is configured to a Server Node (SN) or SmartClient node. Slots are packaged according to the total number of slots in a single library.

Application Plugin Module (APM)
This option enables a NetVault node (SN or CN) to control application support for online backups such as Oracle, Sybase, Informix, MS SQL, MS Exchange and others. Each APM requires a separate license key to be applied to each machine installed on. APM license keys can easily be applied to relevant machines in a NetVault Domain using the GUI Client Mgt. Utility. NOTE: Linux license includes support for Linux, FreeBSD and SCO.

TiPI (Ti Potrebbe Interessare)	LinuxLinks
31/12 - rdiff-backup, per i backs incrementali di Linux in remoto 27/12 - DAR, tool a riga di comando per i backups di Linux. 24/12 Firefox e una estensione per il salvataggio dei bookmarks	16/01 - Pdumpfs, simple daily backup 15/01 - Better Gmail2, notevole estensione di Firefox per il nuovo Gmail 14/01 - Ubuntu Multimedia Center 09/01 - Kernel for Linux 11/01 - Rilasciato Wine 0.9.5.3 08/01 - The Linux Girlfriend Project 05/01 - 9 Characteristics of Free Software Users.

lunedì 14 gennaio 2008

Ubuntu Multimedia Center

Ubuntu Multimedia Center è un sistema basato su Linux, gratuito e disponibile con supporto "community" o professionale. E’ anche un sistema live essendo derivato da Ubuntu. Il progetto nasce dal fatto che non esiste ancora granchè su Ubuntu che riguarda la multimedialità. Gli utenti dovevano scaricare ed installare manualmente i codecs, i player e così via. Alla luce di questo, il principale obiettivo di Ubuntu Multimedia Center è quello di creare una distribuzione che metta a disposizione una piattaforma multimediale semplice e completa.

L’idea dei creatori è quella di integrare funzionalità simili a MythTV trasformando Ubuntu Multimedia Center in un media center e Personal Video Recorder (PVR) di tutto rispetto senza configurare nulla.

Per chi fosse interessato, in questa pagina un semplice tutorial che mostra come installare questa distribuzione sul proprio computer di casa.

venerdì 11 gennaio 2008

Rilasciato Wine 0.9.5.3

Rilasciata la nuova versione di Wine.

Wine è un programma che consente di eseguire all'interno di sistemi Linux programmi scritti per Windows. Come precisa lo stesso nome (Wine Is Not an Emulator, Wine non è un emulatore), Wine non è un vero e proprio emulatore di Windows ma un sistema che, basato su un vero e proprio server, accetta e gestisce in Linux le istruzioni e i comandi ricevuti da software Windows. Wine offre supporto per le DirectX, consentendo dunque l'esecuzione su Linux di giochi per Windows.

Il programma è disponibile per tutte le principali distribuzioni Linux e, dall'homepage del progetto, è possibile ottenere istruzioni dettagliate su installazione e funzionamento. In questa scheda viene reso disponibile il codice sorgente di Wine.

La notizia al completo:

This is release 0.9.53 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix.

What's new in this release:
- RunOnce and Run entries now executed on startup.
- Beginnings of support for emulated disk devices.
- Many Richedit improvements.
- Nicer looking color dialog.
- Lots of bug fixes.

Because of lags created by using mirrors, this message may reach you
before the release is available at the public sites. The sources will
be available from the following locations:

http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/wine-0.9.53.tar.bz2
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-0.9.53.tar.bz2

Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

http://www.winehq.org/site/download

You will find documentation on

http://www.winehq.org/site/documentation

You can also get the current source directly from the git or CVS
repositories. Check respectively http://www.winehq.org/site/git or
http://www.winehq.org/site/cvs for details.

If you fix something, please submit a patch; instructions on how to do
this can be found at http://www.winehq.org/site/sending_patches

Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file
AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list.

Wine Screenshot Gallery

PowerPoint 2000, Internet Explorer 5.0, Notepad, and Solitaire.



Changes since 0.9.52:

Alexander Dorofeyev (6):
 wined3d: Free palette handle when destroying IWineD3DPaletteImpl.
 ddraw: Release palette interfaces.
 ddraw: Remove redundant iface<->impl casts in IDirect3DTextureImpl_Load.
 wined3d: Fix regression of colorfill and texture to swapchain codepaths in
BltOverride.
 include/d3d.h: Fix method calling macros for IDirect3DTexture.
 ddraw/tests: Add test for rendering vertices with zero rhw.

Alexander Nicolaysen Sørnes (5):
 comdlg32: PageSetupDlgW: Set orientation in printer dialog.
 comdlg32: PageSetupDlgW: Set paper size in printer dialog.
 wordpad: Draw margin lines in print preview.
 crypt32: Implement CryptFindLocalizedName.
 cmd: Seed the random number generator.

Alexandre Julliard (33):
 winedos: Don't emulate in 32-bit mode interrupts that don't have a
specific handler.
 shell32: Fix messed up indentation.
 crypt32: Avoid casting away const from the context pointer.
 server: Use exponential backoff when waiting for wineserver -k to
complete.
 server: Redesign the server shutdown processing.
 ntdll: Print an error for unsupported shared writable mappings.
 advapi32: Don't wait for 20 seconds if a service fails to start.
 kernel32: Launch wineboot on first startup of a wine process.
 mountmgr.sys: Added initial stub for the mount point manager device.
 mountmgr.sys: Create a hard disk device for PhysicalDrive0.
 mountmgr.sys: Create disk devices for all configured drives.
 mountmgr.sys: Add devices to the MountedDevices registry key.
 mountmgr.sys: Implemented the IOCTL_MOUNTMGR_QUERY_POINTS request.
 kernel32: Implemented FindFirstVolume/FindNextVolume using the mount point
manager.
 kernel32/tests: Added tests for FindFirstVolume/FindNextVolume.
 ntdll: Return a proper Information field also when opening a server file
object.
 advapi32: Fix the length written to the pipe for the start message.
 wineboot: Don't print errors for non-fatal problems.
 configure: Add --without options for all optional dependencies.
 configure: Added a check for the soname of libodbc.
 wined3d: Use unsigned int instead of size_t for element counts.
 wined3d: Use unsigned int instead of size_t for the glsl mask size.
 advapi32/tests: Print the correct size in an error message.
 gdi32/tests: Avoid using size_t in traces.
 kernel32/tests: Avoid using size_t in traces.
 server: Wait for the expiration of all the process SIGKILL timers before
exiting the server.
 regedit: Fixed parsing of hex sequences.
 server: Accept utf-8 data as input in registry files.
 server: Make the registry parser more tolerant about malformed hex values.
 server: Output incorrectly-terminated strings in hex format.
 kernel32: Fail more gracefully in GetVolumeInformation for fake drive
devices.
 mountmgr.sys: Implemented IOCTL_DISK_GET_DRIVE_GEOMETRY and
IOCTL_STORAGE_GET_DEVICE_NUMBER.
 Spelling fixes in French man pages.

Alistair Leslie-Hughes (17):
 msxml3: Return E_INVALIDARG when value is NULL.
 msxml3: Implement setNamedItem.
 msxml3: Implement createComment.
 msxml3: Implement createAttribute.
 msxml3: Add missing values for get_nodeName.
 msxml3: Cannot add an attribute with appendChild.
 msxml3: Implement get_xml.
 msxml3: Tests for get_xml, createAttribute, CreateComment, setNamedItem.
 msxml3: nextSibling not supported for Attribute, Document and Document
Fragment Nodes.
 msxml3: lastChild not supported for CDATASection, Comment, PI and Text
Nodes.
 msxml3: createProcessingInstruction: Check arguments are valid.
 msxml3: previousSibling not supported for Attribute, Document and Document
Fragment Nodes.
 msxml3: get_attributes not supported for Attribute, CData, Comment, Doc,
Doc Frag, Entity and Text Nodes.
 msxml3: Suppress IID_IRunnableObject FIXME since its not supported.
 mscoree: Add stubs for DllCanUnloadNow and DllGetClassObject.
 user32: Add SetProcessDPIAware stub.
 msxml3: Fix memory leak in test.

Andre Wisplinghoff (1):
 regedit: Refresh tree view on import.

Andrew Talbot (26):
 msvfw32: Remove unneeded casts.
 ntdll: Remove unneeded casts.
 advapi32: Remove unneeded casts.
 comctl32: Remove unneeded casts.
 cabinet: Remove unneeded cast.
 avifil32: Remove unneeded casts.
 user32: Fix a spelling typo.
 cryptnet: Remove unneeded cast.
 crypt32: Remove unneeded casts.
 dbghelp: Remove unneeded casts.
 ddraw: Remove unneeded casts.
 dplayx: Remove unneeded casts.
 dsound: Remove unneeded casts.
 comctl32: Remove unneeded casts.
 d3d8: Remove unneeded casts.
 comdlg32: Remove unneeded cast.
 imm32: Remove unneeded cast.
 iccvid: Remove unneeded casts.
 gphoto2.ds: Remove unneeded casts.
 gdi32: Remove unneeded casts.
 dxdiagn: Remove unneeded casts.
 gdiplus: Remove unneeded casts.
 itss: Remove unneeded casts.
 kernel32: Remove unneeded casts.
 mapi32: Remove unneeded cast.
 mscms: Remove unneeded casts.

Andrey Esin (2):
 wordpad: Russian translation.
 shell32: Fixed typo.

Andrey Turkin (2):
 wineboot: Fix installation of SFP protected files.
 dbghelp: Implement ImageDirectoryEntryToDataEx.

Aric Stewart (3):
 imm32: When updating a NULL HIMCC with NULL just return NULL. Handle the
NULL HIMCC for the compstr when doing a ImmNotifyIME for a reset.
 imm32: ImmNotifyIMM with CPS_CANCEL fully clears the composition string.
Also enable respective tests.
 fonts: Add Japanese small font.

Austin English (7):
 dplayx: Fix a typo.
 msi: Fix several typos.
 Spelling fixes.
 More spelling fixes.
 Spelling fixes.
 Spelling fixes.
 loader: Add disabling dlls to wine man page.

Chris Wulff (1):
 shdocvw: Hide and show the frame window instead of the inner one.

Dan Kegel (1):
 winemenubuilder: Expand short paths, else menu items aren't created for
CSLU Toolkit.

Detlef Riekenberg (1):
 spoolss: Add stubs for SpoolerHasInitialized and SpoolerInit.

Divan Burger (6):
 comdlg32: Fix bug where the colour graph's cross is not painted.
 comdlg32: Clamp hue and saturation when clicking in colour graph in colour
dialog.
 comdlg32: Modernize the look of the luminance bar in the colour dialog.
 comdlg32: Modernize the look of the colour graph's cross in the colour
dialog.
 comdlg32: Modernize the look of the selected colour box in the colour
dialog.
 comdlg32: Modernize the look of the colour boxes in the colour dialog.

Dmitry Timoshkov (9):
 winecfg: Don't mix the strings in unix and windows locales.
 gdi32: Remove redundant indentation levels in CreateFontIndirectA and
CreateFontIndirectW.
 msvcrt: Rename _environ to avoid a conflict on Solaris.
 gdi32: Add more tests for bitmap font metrics scaling.
 comdlg32: If lpstrFile points to a valid string use it as a default value
for edit control.
 gdi32: Add support for scaling font metrics.
 gdi32: Fix the regression caused by the scaling font metrics patch.
 gdi32: Fix a GdiFont leak.
 gdi32: Simplify GetEnumStructs.

Eric Pouech (29):
 richedit: Added support for some message (key, mouse) filtering events.
 richedit: Fixed a couple of charformatXXm structure conversions because of
alignment issues.
 richedit: Correctly set the CFM_WEIGHT in charformat2.
 richedit: Fully initialize the first style.
 richedit: Correctly copy the pitch and family field.
 richedit: Don't allow recursive EN_REQUESTRESIZE notifications.
 richedit: Extend the usage of underlinetype from charformat2 in richedit.
 richedit: Now painting the newly supported underline types.
 richedit: Simplified handling of background brush while painting.
 richedit: Correctly initialize the paraformat structure.
 richedit: Now dumping all fields from the paraformat2 structure.
 richedit: Properly copying the paraformat2 structure for paragraphs.
 richedit: Enforce usage of paraformat2 fields instead of homegrown ones
for paragraphs.
 richedit: Fix the para computation when zoom is used.
 richedit: Now drawing the paragraph borders (if any) from paraformat2.
 richedit: Added support for spaces above & below paragraphs.
 richedit: Added support for intra-paragraph line space.
 richedit: Rewrote FindPixelPos so that it always return something.
 richedit: Small optimisation in ME_GetSelectionInsertStyle.
 richedit: Move init code after some sanity checks to avoid unneeded
computations.
 richedit: Don't recreate the DC all the time, but use uniformely a
ME_Context structure where needed.
 richedit: Optimizations for the style selection.
 richedit: Don't force repaint while the redraw flag is off.
 richedit: Simplify first para style handling by creating a context.
 richedit: Only copy the charset when it's defined.
 richedit: Initialize all the cursors at editor creation.
 richedit: Check return of GetScrollInfo before accessing the returned
structure.
 richedit: Uniformly handle the bPitchAndFamily field out of CHARFORMAT.
 gdi32: Break loop in MF_PlayMetaFile when META_EOF is found.

Francois Gouget (9):
 msxml3/tests: Add the trailing '\n' to an ok() call.
 wintab32: Add a trailing '\n' to a Wine trace.
 advapi32: RegGetValue() should not return an error when expanding a string
and given a NULL buffer and a zero size.
 advapi32: RegGetValueW() must return the required buffer size in bytes,
not WCHARs.
 kernel32/tests: Add more ExpandEnvironmentStringsA() tests.
 kernel32/tests: Despite the MSDN claims, GetComputerName() does not return
the required buffer size... except on Vista. So update the tests accordingly.
 msi/tests: Tweaked so it does not look like things are misspelled.
 shell32: A lot of lnk files have extra data blocks at the end, although
they don't seem to matter much. So drop the corresponding ERR() to a WARN().
 winemenubuilder: EnumResourceNamesW() returns false when we find the icon.
So fix the corresponding misfiring trace.

Gerald Pfeifer (24):
 msi: Add missing initializer for delete_ops.
 wined3d: Remove noop check in IWineD3DBaseTextureImpl_Appl().
 user32: Fix type of loop variable.
 winhelp: Remove a dead condition.
 taskmgr: Remove redundant out-of-domain checking which is already handled
by PerfDataGetProcessorUsage() and PerfDataGetProcessorSystemUsage().
 kernel32/tests: Remove extraneous check.
 winex11.drv: Simplify condition in create_xcursor_cursor() based on the
unsignedness of types.
 msi: Simplify condition in TABLE_fetch_stream().
 d3d9/tests: Simplify condition in test_vshader_input().
 wined3d: Remove four noop checks.
 winspool: Adjust the typo of a loop variable in test_EnumForms().
 ole32: Remove one noop check in CoWaitForMultipleHandles().
 wined3d: Simplify three checks based on the unsignedness of variables.
 qcap: Complete initializers for g_cTemplates[].
 msi: Remove an extraneous safety check and simplify deformat_string().
 wined3d: Removed dead FIXME checks.
 ws2_32: Remove two noop checks.
 msi: Remove an extraneous safety check and simplify
generate_error_string().
 d3d8: Fix type of loop variable.
 d3d9: Fix type of loop variable.
 msi: Adjust the types of loop variables.
 user32: Factor in EDIT_WM_EraseBkGnd().
 gdi32: Tighten range checking in PlayEnhMetaFileRecord() and remove four
useless checks.
 msi: Complete initializers.

H. Verbeet (6):
 wined3d: Call ActivateContext regardless of WINED3DCREATE_MULTITHREADED.
 wined3d: Call SetGlTextureDesc() from BindTexture() rather than from
PreLoad().
 wined3d: Move binding the texture and dirtifying the sampler to its own
function from surface_download_data().
 wined3d: Bind the surface texture in LoadLocation().
 wined3d: SFLAG_INTEXTURE is the same as SFLAG_INDRAWABLE for offscreen
render targets when ORM_FBO is used.
 wined3d: Properly handle the surface location in stretch_rect_fbo().

Hans Leidekker (15):
 gdi32: Add a stub implementation for RemoveFontMemResourceEx.
 msvcrt: Fix spec file entries for the execv functions.
 wininet: Fix handling of host and referrer headers in HttpOpenRequest.
 kernel32: Fix two test failures on Win98 due to missing GetTempPathW.
 kernel32: Add Surinam Dutch and Belgian Dutch translations of language
group names.
 tools/wine.desktop: Add Dutch translation.
 msvcrt: Implement _wsystem and forward system to it. Respect COMSPEC
environment variable.
 msvcrt: Implement _wpopen and forward _popen to it.
 msvcrt: Rewrite _execl/_spawnl functions as wrappers around wide character
implementations.
 msvcrt: Implement _execl{e, pe}.
 msvcrt: Rewrite _spawnve as a wrapper.
 msvcrt: Implement _wexecl{, e, p, pe}.
 msvcrt: Implement _wspawnl{, e, p, pe}.
 msvcrt: Implement _wexecv{, e, p, pe}.
 msvcrt: Correct search strategy for the exec/spawn functions.

Jacek Caban (42):
 urlmon: Move setting protocol_sink to separated function.
 urlmon: More ReportProgress implementation.
 urlmon: Release protocol sink in Terminate.
 urlmon: Added more binding tests.
 urlmon: Use BindProtocol in Binding object.
 urlmon.idl: Added missing MONIKERPROPERTY variables.
 urlmon: Added ibind argument handling in CreateAsyncBindCtx.
 urlmon: Make start_binding more generic.
 urlmon: Better implementation of bind stopping.
 urlmon: Better error handling.
 urlmon: Binding_Create clean up.
 urlmon: Added "CBinding Context" bind option support.
 urlmon: Call AddRef in EnumFORMATETC::QueryInterface.
 urlmon: Added BindToObject implementation.
 urlmon: Added more tests.
 ole32: Fixed parameter checking and improved debug traces in
IBindCtx::QueryInterface.
 mshtml: Added PutProperty implementation.
 shdocvw: Added missing OnObjectAvailable function.
 shdocvw: Store DocHost in BindStatusCallback.
 shdocvw: Return S_OK in OnStartBinding.
 shdocvw: Return correct variables in GetBindInfo.
 shdocvw: Always create BindStatusCallback object.
 shdocvw: Added OnObjectAvailable implementation.
 shdocvw: Use OnObjectAvailable in http_load_hack.
 shdocvw: Added OnProgress implementation.
 shdocvw: Added OnStopBinding implementation and use it in http_load_hack.
 shdocvw.5: Move on_before_navigate2 call to navigate_mon.
 shdocvw: Use BindToObject to load document (except for http, https and ftp
protocols).
 shdocvw: Call try_application_url after BindToObject failure.
 mshtml: Added Invoke(DISPID_READYSTATE) implementation.
 mshtml: Fixed Read implementations.
 mshtml: Don't assume that end_pos.node is text node in range_to_string.
 shdocvw: Fixed ref count leak.
 shdocvw: Set IE's IVer and Build registries.
 mshtml: Don't crash in before_async_open if there is no client site.
 mshtml: Handle fClearDirty flag in IPersistStreamInit::Save.
 mshtml: Move nsChannel's content type initialization to
async_open_doc_uri.
 mshtml: Update focus information in WM_RESETFOCUS_HACK.
 mshtml: Fixed hr element handling in range object.
 mshtml: Added more range tests.
 mshtml: Use QueryService to get IHttpNegotiate in get_post_data_stream.
 mshtml: Disable some default Gecko warnings.

James Hawkins (16):
 msi: Only read an internal package if the file to install is compressed.
 msi: WriteEnvironmentStrings should also write to REG_EXPAND_SZ strings.
 msi: If the package is a URL, the OriginalDatabase property should be the
URL and the DATABASE property should be the path to the local temporary package.
 msi: Factor out msi_set_sourcedir_props.
 msi: OriginalDatabase is the fully-expanded path to the original package
if the package is local and installed from the command line.
 msi: SourceDir is formed from the path of OriginalDatabase.
 msi: OriginalDatabase can be a URL so check for a forward slash too.
 msi: Directly download mi->source now that SourceDir points to the URL.
 msi: Check the local package for existence when resolving the package
source.
 msi: Copy the temporary package when storing the installer.
 msi: Remove an erroneous table.
 msi: Pad the month and day to two digits.
 msi: Create parent directories when duplicating files if they don't exist,
with tests.
 msi: Handle markers in the WHERE section of an UPDATE query, with tests.
 msi: Test committing a table with a removed row.
 msi: Actually delete the row data instead of blanking it out.

Jeremy White (4):
 wintab32: Add modest trace information for tablets.
 wintab32: Remove the unused and clearly broken FindOpenContext function.
 wintab32: Add logic to detect specific tablet cursor types, use it to
discard non tablet X devices.
 wintab32: If we could not find a stylus sort of device, we haven't found a
tablet.

Jonathan Ernst (4):
 server: New French man page for wineserver.
 crypt32: Updated French translation.
 server: Updated French man page.
 loader: New French man page for wine.

Kirill K. Smirnov (2):
 kernel32: Convert newborn wineserver handle to kernel32 console handle.
 winhelp: Fix index to handle offset value = 0 correclty.

Lance Jackson (1):
 cmd: Fix some unclosed file and registry handles.

Lei Zhang (10):
 gdiplus: Initialize a variable in a test.
 gdiplus: Add GdipCreatePen2 and test cases.
 msxml: Fix compilation on machines without libxml2.
 ntoskrnl.exe: Additional stub implementations.
 mapi32: Initialize several string buffers.
 shlwapi: Additional UrlEscapeA tests.
 shlwapi: Check an argument to UrlEscapeA.
 shlwapi: Check more arguments to UrlEscapeA.
 shlwapi: Fix a return value in UrlEscapeA.
 mapi32: Fix UrlEscapeA usage in MAPISendMail.

Lionel Debroux (2):
 msi: Correctly handle return value of msi_realloc.
 dinput: Improve TRACEs and WARNs.

Louis Lenders (2):
 user32: Add stub for GetLayeredWindowAttributes.
 shdocvw: Change return value for PersistMemory_Load.

Marcus Meissner (5):
 wininet: Check return value of InternetCrackUrl when checking referrer
host.
 winex11: Set last error on enumerating display settings.
 msvcrt: Remove strange condition which might lead to crash.
 server: Remove superflous check (value->data is dereferenced before
check).
 msxml3: Move potential NULL ptr derefs into their if () case.

Michael Jung (1):
 imm32: Added some unit test cases.

Michael Stefaniuc (5):
 wininet: Fix typo in comparison with NULL. Found by Smatch.
 user32: Remove unneeded casts.
 janitorial: Remove superfluous backslashes at end of lines.
 netapi32: Remove two unused global variables.
 kernel32: Add missing HeapFree(). Found by Smatch.

Paul Chitescu (1):
 advapi32: Accept a NULL lpServiceStatus in ControlService.

Paul Romanyszyn (1):
 comdlg32: Filter change should not update filename.

Paul Vriens (4):
 advapi32/tests: Don't crash on win98.
 kernel32/tests: Skip not implemented functions.
 kernel32/tests: Skip not implemented functions.
 kernel32/tests: Skip not implemented functions.

Peter Dons Tychsen (4):
 oleaut32: Add missing types to serialize/deserialize.
 ddraw: Add missing pitch in callback from EnumDisplayModes().
 dinput: Silence incorrect warning and move it to a valid place.
 devenum: Fix the implementation of IEnumMoniker::Skip(), to match the MSDN
specs.

Peter Oberndorfer (2):
 user32: Remove unused lpGrayMask array.
 dwmapi: Add stub implementation for DwmSetWindowAttribute and
DwmUnregisterThumbnail.

Reece H. Dunn (1):
 gdiplus: Added the ProfileNotFound status code.

Rico Schüller (3):
 cabinet: Fix memory leak (found by Smatch).
 mshtml: Fix memory leak (found by Smatch).
 msi: Fix memory leaks (found by Smatch).

Rob Shearman (70):
 rpcss: Initialise some out-only parameters that aren't initialised by the
generated RPC code.
 rpcrt4: Implement non-conformant string functions.
 rpcrt4: Add some tests for non-conformant strings.
 rpcrt4: Implement NdrConformantStringMemorySize.
 widl: Check that the buffer has enough space before unmarshalling base
types in generated code.
 include: Add defines for more message flags in rpcdcep.h.
 rpcrt4: Keep a track of server context handles allocated during processing
of a request.
 rpcrt4: Fix a case of destroying a context handle without first releasing
the lock.
 rpcrt4: Fix the MIDL_STUB_MESSAGE fields set by NdrServerInitializeNew.
 rpcrt4: Add tests for NdrServerInitializeNew.
 rpcrt4: Make some variables in the tests static.
 rpcrt4: Fix NdrGetBuffer to set the correct fields in the
MIDL_STUB_MESSAGE structure.
 ntdll: Add some tests for NtQueryValueKey.
 ntdll: Set the DataLength field of the information field in
NtQueryValueKey to how much data should be returned, not what was actually
returned.
 user32: Add a stub implementation of RegisterServicesProcess.
 ntdll: Implement RtlRegisterWait, RtlDeregisterWait and
RtlDeregisterWaitEx.
 kernel32: Implement RegisterWaitForSingleObject and UnregisterWait.
 kernel32: Add tests for RegisterWaitForSingleObject and UnregisterWait.
 include: ws2tcpip.h should include winsock2.h.
 rpcrt4: Update todos.
 widl: Make the offset of conformant string types point to the start of the
conformant string format chars, not the pointer type.
 ole32: Determine the destination for the COM call and initialise the
necessary parameters in ClientRpcChannelBuffer_GetBuffer instead of
ClientRpcChannelBuffer_SendReceive.
 svchost: Add a FIXME for an undocumented function
(SvchostPushServiceGlobals) that some native services expect to be called by
native svchost.
 kernel32: Implement RegisterWaitForSingleObjectEx.
 ole32: Clear the RPC_MESSAGE structure before using it.
 rpcrt4: Add some tests for NdrGetBuffer and NdrFreeBuffer.
 rpcrt4: Don't set Buffer to NULL in I_RpcFreeBuffer.
 ole32: get_moniker_for_progid_display_name should fallback to using
IClassFactory to get IParseDisplayName if getting it directly fails.
 ole32: Fix a typo in the class moniker tests.
 include: Add defines for context handle flags to rpcfc.h.
 widl: Output calls for the new versions of the marshalling and
unmarshalling routines for server context handles.
 rpcrt4: Pass the interface identifier to the lower-level context handle
routines for context handles with the strict flag set.
 widl: Add support for strict context handles.
 rpcrt4: Print fixme's if the serialize or no-serialize flags are set on a
context handle being marshalled or unmarshalled.
 include: Add the strict_context_handle flag to the Irot interface.
 widl: Fix the conditions under which array freeing code is output.
 include: I_RpcBindingInqTransportType and I_RpcMapWin32Status should be
always defined.
 rpcrt4: Implement I_RpcMapWin32Status.
 ntdll: Add tests for the data and name returned by NtQueryValueKey.
 ntdll: Fix the Data and Name returned by NtQueryValueKey for
KeyValueFullInformation.
 ntdll: Fix NtQueryValueKey for KeyValueBasicInformation.
 widl: Fix context handle "cannot be null" detection.
 widl: Use symbolic names for some of the context handle attributes.
 ole32: Clear the RPC_FLAGS_VALID_BIT flag from the RPC_MESSAGE ProcNum
when shortcutting the RPC runtime.
 ole32: Shortcut the RPC runtime for allocation of the message when
processing the COM call by just sending a message to a window in the process.
 ole32: Fix a memory leak.
 ole32: Fix memory leaks caused by not calling the channel hook function
when extension_size is zero.
 rpcrt4: Add tests for the RPC_MESSAGE members set by
NdrClientInitializeNew.
 rpcrt4: Set the ProcNum of RPC_MESSAGE in NdrClientInitializeNew to
include RPC_VALID_FLAGS_BIT.
 rpcrt4: ndr_stubless.h should include ndrtypes.h as it depends on types it
defines.
 rpcrt4: Add stubs for NdrCorrelationInitialize, NdrCorrelationPass and
NdrCorrelationFree.
 rpcrt4: Call NdrCorrelationInitialize and NdrCorrelationFree from
NdrClientCall2 if new correlation descriptors have been specified.
 rpcrt4: Add stubs for I_RpcAsyncSetHandle and I_RpcAsyncAbortCall.
 rpcrt4: Add stubs for asynchronous functions.
 rpcrt4: Add tests for some async RPC functions.
 rpcrt4: Implement RpcAsyncInitializeHandle.
 rpcrt4: Set ReservedForRuntime to NULL in NdrClientInitializeNew.
 include: Add prototype for I_RpcNegotiateTransferSyntax.
 rpcrt4: Set the fBufferValid flag in NdrProxyGetBuffer.
 rpcrt4: Remove some unused includes.
 rpcrt4: Bind to the server interface in I_RpcGetBuffer, not
I_RpcSendReceive.
 rpcrt4: Improve error handling in RPCRT4_io_thread and remove
commented-out code.
 rpcrt4: Use send on a socket instead of write as it's more portable.
 rpcrt4: Implement NdrMapCommAndFaultStatus.
 rpcrt4: Fix a leak of msg in RPCRT4_io_thread on the error paths.
 ole32: Fix some uses of SEEK_SET when STREAM_SEEK_SET should have been
used instead.
 rpcrt4: Fix memory leak in NdrFullPointerXlatFree.
 rpcrt4: Fix memory leaks in the ndr_marshall tests.
 rpcrt4: Fix a memory leak in the cstub tests.
 rpcrt4: Split RPCRT4_process_packet out into separate functions.

Roderick Colenbrander (2):
 wined3d: Use software palette conversion for non-texturing operations.
 wined3d: Unify color conversion code.

Stefan Dösinger (2):
 wined3d: Detect geforce 7300 cards.
 wined3d: Fix a pixelshader recompilation check.

Tony Wasserka (1):
 include: Add d3dx9core.h.

Zach Goldberg (1):
 Fix some typos.

giovedì 10 gennaio 2008

Virtualbox Open Source Edition presente in Ubuntu repos

VirtualBox è un software di virtualizzazione commerciale proprietario (con una versione ridotta distribuita secondo i termini della GNU General Public License) per architettura x86 a 32-bit che supporta Windows, GNU/Linux e Mac OS X (beta) come sistemi operativi host, ed è in grado di eseguire Windows, GNU/Linux, OS/2 Warp, OpenBSD e FreeBSD come sistemi operativi guest^[1]. La versione ridotta è stata rilasciata nel Gennaio 2007, dopo diversi anni di lavoro.

Se confrontato con altri software di virtualizzazione più diffusi, quali VMware Workstation o Virtual PC, a VirtualBox mancano alcune caratteristiche; a sua volta, quest'ultimo risulta dotato di alcune features uniche, come la possibilità di eseguire remotamente macchine virtuali tramite il Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), il supporto iSCSI e il supporto delle periferiche USB tramite RDP.

VirtualBox supporta la soluzione per la virtualizzazione hardware di Intel VT-x ed, in via sperimentale la soluzione di AMD, AMD-V, ma non usa nessuna delle due per impostazione predefinita^[2]..

VirtualBox per Mac OS X è attualmente in beta.

fonte: wikipedia

For some time now, Innotech's VirtualBox virtualization suite has been open source. However, the binaries they offered on the site were proprietary, despite the fact that the core technology was not.

Now, Ubuntu Gutsy users have the option to install a completely open version of VirtualBox, known as VirtualBox OSE. It is almost identical to the older proprietary version, and is readily available in the Synaptic Package Manager. Users looking for a free and open alternative to VMWare need look no further. Just fire up Synaptic and get ready for some hot VM action.

mercoledì 9 gennaio 2008

Pixel: Photoshop per Linux

Recentemente ho scoperto una molto promettente alternativa a Adobe Photoshop, che funziona su diversi sistemi operativi (e non, non è The Gimp!).

Questa è una buona notizia soprattutto per gli utenti di Linux, che sono stanchi di usare l'obsoleto Photoshop 7,0 con Wine (anche se alcuni hanno ottenuto CS2 al lavoro).

Per molto tempo gli sviluppatori di siti web che utilizzano Linux come sistema operativo di loro scelta sono stati praticamente costretti a utilizzare The Gimp come editor di immagini.

Ora le cose stanno cambiando. Un nuovo software di editing delle immagini sta emergendo. E semplicemente chiamato Pixel. È molto simile a Photoshop in modo che quando lo usano, non c'è davvero molto da imparare. E 'simile ad usare Photoshop, solo leggermente diversa.

Il tutorial completo in questa pagina

TiPI (Ti Potrebbe Interessare)	MyLINUXLinks
04/01 . Xsane, frontend grafico per Linux 19/09 . Light Zone 31/08 - Splash Screen alternativi 31/08 - Xgl/Compiz	10/01 - Pixel: Photoshop per Linux 09/01 - Personal Appliance Backup: backu e ripristino basato su Ubuntu e vmware 09/01 - Browser internet per Linux 08/01 - Applicazione di backup per KDE 03/01 - Glastree, the GUI (Graphical Use Interface) for Linux 01/01- FSBackup using the tar archiving utility

5 suggerimenti per gli utenti Linux

5 suggerimenti che ogni nuovo utente di Linux dovrebbe conoscere.

Ecco un'ottimo tutorial trovato in Linuxlandia

Linux is a powerful operating system, but chances are it's a very different operating system than any you've used before. The dizzying number of choices in distributions alone is enough to make your head spin, but it also means there's something out there that really suits your computing style. There are some things in Linux you just have to work out for yourself -- distributions, applications, neato screen savers (hey, we like distractions as much as the next guy).

We're taking a departure from the norm this week and not discussing a specific piece of software. Instead, we've been thinking about what we most wished we'd been told on our first foray into Linux-land. These tips run the gamut from installation planning to how to best ask for help. We chose these tips because they are not distribution-specific, and the majority of new users will at least find a few tips apply to their situation at some point.

1. Experiment with LiveCDs

Reason: LiveCDs are full-bodied, working versions of Linux you can run without touching your hard drive. Many distributions now offer LiveCDs, and we recommend trying a few to really get a feel for the different Linux flavors and desktops. If you've chosen a distribution that doesn't have a LiveCD, we strongly recommend having a live disk of some sort around. If you should be unable to boot your system (yes, even Windows!) you can use your LiveCD to repair damage or retrieve files that you can't live without.

2. Install /home on a separate partition

We have our qualms about mentioning this, due to the involvement of two subjects new users find intimidating anyway: partitioning and installing. But it's probably the single most useful thing to know as a Linux user, and will make management and any subsequent installs of your system a whole lot easier.

Reason: Installing /home (your user folders) on a separate hard drive partition means this: If you want to try another flavor of Linux (or you mess something up beyond belief) you can keep all your /home folders (and their contents) intact.

How to do it: This is most easily set up when first installing Linux (though it can be done after the fact). It's a bit tricky because you'll need to manually partition your disk, either through the system's installer or through a program like fdisk. We recommend using the system's installer should your distribution have one that handles partitioning (Ubuntu, openSuSE and most distros that new users tackle first have built-in system partitioners). Trust us, it's easier that way.

In its simplest form, you'll need three partitions on your disk with the mount points /, /home, and swap. Swap should be the smallest (the usual recommendation for swap is twice the size of your RAM). /home and / can be divided over the remainder of the disk space, and it's okay to make /home larger if you've got ridiculous amounts of drive space.

System Partitioner Kubuntu Linux with example partitions

What happens: Linux puts all your programs, logs, and system-wide settings on the / partition. All of your documents and user-specific settings are saved on the /home partition. If you decide to change distributions, or if something gets irreconcilably borked, you can reinstall Linux by reformatting the / partition and leaving the /home partition unformatted (remember to make the partition the /home mountpoint again, though!). Set yourself up with the same username(s) when configuring the system, and everything from your address book to your photos should be accessible.

3. When in doubt, use the vesa drivers!

Reason: Graphics support is sometimes an issue with Linux. Many distros give you the option to configure your card if it is not immediately recognized by the system. This is where a lot of new users get tripped up. They tend to pick the driver that seems closest to their graphics card model. Sometimes they're lucky, and it works. But if you're a brand new user, your safest bet is to use the vesa driver. You won't get fancy effects, and it'll look ugly, but you will have a graphical interface. You can then search for the correct drivers for your card.

4. Fear not the command line.

Reason: You don't need to be a guru to use the command line. Sometimes the quickest, easiest way of getting to the root of a problem is to whip open a terminal, and type the name of the program you want to run. If it's segfaulting, or can't find a component it needs... the output will tell you. The command line often gives you hooks to dig into a problem, whereas just clicking on the launcher might just get you an endlessly bouncing cursor and nothing to go on. Linux is particularly forthcoming with useful error messages, but you need to know where to look.

5. Ask for help before you get frustrated.

Reason: Frustration makes things worse for everyone. Going into a forum and prefacing your problem with "This sucks, I'm going back to Windows/Mac" (whether you mean it or not) doesn't make people more willing to help.

Best ways to get help: If you've heard it once, you've heard it a gazillion times: Google is your friend. If you have a problem with something on your system, chances are someone else has too. If the solutions you find don't help, by all means post your question to a pertinent forum or mailing list, telling all the details. We mean all the details. Tell the world your hardware, distribution, error messages, show any logs or configuration files you think might be useful, and explain what you've tried to do to solve it. Nothing makes an old Linux user happier than hearing a tech question beginning, "I searched here, here and here, tried this, and this, and I still have a problem."

Making the switch to Linux can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. There is a lot of advice out there, some good, some bad, and some that just won't apply to your situation. With these five tips in your arsenal, you're well on your way to a positive Linux experience.

lunedì 7 gennaio 2008

Open Moko batte Google Android

OpenMoko ha annunciato pubblicamente un aggiornamento al suo Linux-powered cellulare e prevede di presentare il dispositivo al CES a breve termine, battendo così in anticipo Google.

Questa notizia rappresenta un vero e proprio schiaffo per il concorrente open source Google Android, che è ancora in sviluppo.

Nel suo annuncio, OpenMoko batte sui tempi Google ed scrive ". . . Al CES abbiamo presentato il GTA02 formalmente in anteprima al pubblico. Stiamo facendo questo in un invito-solo evento mediatico, e non per mostrare il piano generale dell'azienda"

La notizia completa in Ubuntuland

giovedì 3 gennaio 2008

Gambas2, l'alternativa libera a Visual Basic per Linux

Gambas (http://gambas.sf.net) è un IDE per lo sviluppo in BASIC, per Linux. L'ambiente ricorda moltissimo il noto Visual Basic, e per molti comandi è compatibile con la sua sintassi, anche se la compatibilità al 100% non è il suo obbiettivo.

Perchè usare Gambas?

Con tutti i linguaggi che c'erano su Linux, perchè Gambas? La risposta è molto semplice. Sebbene Linux abbondi di linguaggi di programmazione, non abbonda affatto di ottimi ambienti di sviluppo e di facile uso. Gambas si propone di essere facile da usare e permette anche a chi ha poca esperienza con la programmazione di iniziare a scrivere programmi di una qualche utilità.

Dove trovare Gambas

Gambas può essere scaricato dal suo sito ufficiale http://gambas.sourceforge.net/download.html Ubuntu Breezy 5.10, che potete scaricare da qui: http://www.ptlug.org/download/packages/gambas2_1.9.23-3_i386.deb (se l'installazione del pacchetto vi dicesse che non avete alcuni pacchetti che dipendono da esso installati, li potete trovare tutti nel repository di Ubuntu, quindi basta installare quelli che mancano). Personalmente consiglio la versione in sviluppo visto che comprende molti componenti essenziali che non si trovano nella versione stabile. dove trovate sia la versione stabile 1.0.14 che la versione in sviluppo 1.9.23. Sul sito troverete sia i sorgenti che i pacchetti già compilati per alcune distribuzioni. Ho personalmente provveduto alla preparazione del pacchetto per

Documentazione

La documentazione che potete trovare su Gambas è per adesso quasi interamente in inglese (a parte quelle che trovate tradotta su Gambas.it) ma è sicuramente un ottimo punto di partenza per iniziare a studiare il linguaggio:

A Beginner Guide To Gambas: si tratta di un manuale in formato PDF di circa 400 pagine dove potrete trovare una panoramica completa di tutto l'ambiente, dei controlli, del linguaggio, affrontando problematiche comuni della programmazione, comprendendo anche la gestione degli errori e la programmazione object-oriented.
Wiki ufficiale del progetto Gambas: si tratta della documentazione ufficiale del progetto ed è in formato Wiki, in modo che tutti gli sviluppatori possano di volta in volta dare il proprio contributo.
Network Programming with Gambas: Tutorial sulla programmazione Socket tramite Gambas.

Risorse Esterne

fonte: ptlug

Ubuntu The official packages are there:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/devel/gambas2

But you will find more recent ones there:

http://danicafe.extreblog.com/200709118041_Gambas-packages-for-Ubuntu-Feisty-and-Guadalinex-v41.html

Distributions & Operating Systems

...or does Gambas compile on my system ?

Linux distributions (32 bits)

System	Version	Status	Notes
ArkLinux	0.7.1	OK
Conectiva	10	OK
Debian	Woody	OK	See the `README.DEBIAN` file in the source package.
	Sarge / Sid	OK
Fedora	Core 3, 4, 5...	OK
Gentoo	1.4	OK
Lin~~dows~~spire		?	Some unresolved problems with QT styles.
Linex		OK
Mandriva	2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008	OK
QiLinux	1.2	OK
RedHat	9.0	OK	But you must upgrade your Qt library or modify a Makefile.am by hand. See the file `README.REDHAT` in the source package.
	8.0	OK	But you must compile the Qt 3.2 library and maybe others. See the file `README.REDHAT` in the source package.
Slackware	10.1	OK	Maybe a little elbow grease is needed...
	10	OK
	9.1	OK
SuSE	9.x / 10.x	OK
	9.0	OK	Some problems with the way SuSE sets the `LANGLC_*` system environment variables. and
Xandros	2.0	OK
Ubuntu	Dapper / Edgy / Feisty / Gutsy	OK

Other Systems/Environments

System/Environment	Status	Notes
64 bits Linux	Bad	*Gambas* cannot work with 64 bits pointers at the moment..
FreeBSD	OK	*Gambas* is now part of the official FreeBSD ports. WARNING: The development version does not compile yet.
Mac OS X / PowerPC	Bad	Gambas should compile. Anyway, it will crash because of bugs in endianness management. I need an ssh access to a PowerPC computer to fix that!
NetBSD	Unknown	Work in progress...
Solaris	Unknown	*Gambas* now compiles on this system but may not work. I'm waiting for news from users.
Windows	Bad	The stable version of the *Gambas* interpreter and compiler compile on CygWin but not the components. Note that programs without GUI can work.

If you succeeded in compiling and/or running Gambas on your system, or if you have problems, write to the mailing-list. I will add any information I receive in the previous table.

Download

READ THESE IMPORTANT NOTES AND THIS PAGE FIRST.

Current Developer Snapshot

You get it from the Subversion repository:

$ mkdir trunk $ svn checkout https://gambas.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gambas/gambas/trunk/ $ cd trunk $ ./reconf-all

Do not forget to install automake and autoconf, otherwise the ./reconf-all script will not work.

Stable Version Source Packages (ChangeLog)

Package	Version	Format
gambas-2.0.0.tar.bz2	2.0.0	tar.bz2

Gambas presentation

Here is the last presentation I made in Palermo. You can open it with OpenOffice, or use the PDF version with the PdfPresentation OpenGL example included in the Gambas sources.

Presentation	Type
presentation-palermo-2007.pdf	PDF
presentation-palermo-2007.odp	OpenOffice

Binary Packages

NOTE: I didn't make the following packages, as I do not have the time and the knowledge to make them. So, if you have problems with them, contact their respective authors!

NOTE #2: The binary package specifications are located in the documentation wiki.

TiPI (Ti Potrebbe Interessare)	MyLINUXLinks
30/12 - rdiff backup per i backups incrementali di Linux in remoto 27/12 - DAR, tool a riga di comando per i backups di Linux. 24/12 Firefox e una estensione per il salvataggio dei bookmarks	03/01 - Glastree, the GUI (Graphical Use Interface) for Linux 01/01- FSBackup using the tar archiving utility 29/12 - Dump restore utilities 28/12 - ESR Backup System for UNIX and Linux. 27/12 - Gnu Cpio copy files