Items tagged with Ubuntu
One of the more pragmatic aspects of Intel-powered Macs was their ability to run alternative operating systems, including Windows and Linux, without much effort at all. Apple even included a Windows preparation tool, Boot Camp, on all of its systems with Intel Core processors. With the advent of Apple Silicon Macs (such as the recent Mac mini) that have the company's M1 SoC under the hood, Apple discontinued Boot Camp. Those systems had been locked into macOS 11 Big Sur, but thanks to Arm-based virtual cloud device maker Corellium, Ubuntu Linux is now "completely usable." Arm offers an array of licenses to its architecture that range from processor licenses, in which a chip vendor can whole hog...
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For many, Ubuntu is the go-to distribution for a Linux desktop. Sure, there are a host of other distributions, some of which like Linux Mint are themselves based on Ubuntu. Thanks to pre-built systems like Dell's XPS 13 Developer Edition, Ubuntu has a lot of mindshare. That hasn't been the case on single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi family, though. Back in April, Ubuntu's Server distribution came to the Raspberry Pi for the first time. Now with Ubuntu 20.10 codenamed Groovy Gorilla, Ubuntu desktop has come to the Pi. Desktop support is limited to the Raspberry Pi 4, and is available only in 64-bit form. Considering how little RAM the Raspberry Pi family had up until the last iteration,...
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While COVID-19 can claim some credit for more workers than ever performing their job duties remotely over the course of this year, the fact is the corporate world has been moving in that direction for a long time. At the same time, more businesses are trusting their data with private datacenters or public cloud hosting solutions. The two-fold struggle for IT departments has been how to securely give employees access to cloud apps, in-house data servers, and applications, while also managing a fleet of PCs when that fleet is outside of the corporate firewall. VPNs can help but there's a lot more to it than that. In fact, VPNs are just another variable that has to be considered, and often...
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Most of the world might be running Windows for the operating system on PCs, but there is a healthy contingent of folks who prefer Ubuntu Linux made by Canonical. Dell unveiled new workstations in May that run Ubuntu Linux specifically for that community. Canonical didn't make gamers happy when it announced that it would end support for 32-bit applications starting with the next release. Valve also announced that it was dropping support for Ubuntu in Steam. The gaming community rallied against Canonical's decision to end support for 32-bit applications with enough vigor that Canonical has reversed its decision. It has decided to support select 32-bit i386 packages for Ubuntu version 19.10 and...
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Give Dell credit, the bulk system builder has not shied away from Linux, and for several years has offered certain PCs with Ubuntu installed instead of Windows. That includes its Precision 7000 tower and rack workstations, and of course the XPS 13 Developer Edition.. Now you can order a more affordable Precision 3540 or 3541 mobile workstation with Ubuntu installed, if that is your desire. Dell is not making a huge deal about this, though it is a notable option. As far as Dell is concerned, the new Precision 3540 workstations are notable because they put in the hands of creators a "budget-friendly" solution capable of 2D and 3D CAD design, heavy Excel workbook crunching, and so forth. "Ideal...
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Raspberry Pi developer boards have proven to be very popular with folks looking to build a project that needs a power-efficient and modest performing single-board PC. Raspberry Pi unveiled its Raspberry Pi Model 3 A+ last month for $25. The success of Raspberry Pi has spawned similarly designed products from a number of competitors looking to cash in. However, a company called SinoVoIP is targeting a higher-end of the market with boards called Banana Pi that have been around for a few years. SynQuacer E-Series 24-Core Arm PC Motherboard Banana Pi boards are typically based on ARM core technology processors and are relatively inexpensive. The company behind the boards also has a somewhat...
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There's a lot to like about Tesla's Model 3, but as with most things with prepackaged entertainment (or infotainment) systems, even this beautiful electric car leave people yearning for a bit more. In the case of one reddit user, Tesla's infotainment system didn't satiate his/her entertainment hunger, so they decided to do what's perhaps one of the most interesting dual-OS installs ever, installing Ubuntu alongside Tesla's OS in their own car. Explicit details about how this mod was pulled off are not clear, but it's not going to be one for the faint of heart you can be sure. Digging deep into a car's OS means that a breaking something could lead to an essential bricking, although something tells...
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Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Just ask the affected users of older AMD systems who had their PCs bricked after downloading and installing a Windows update that was supposed to protect them from Meltdown and Spectre. It is not just Windows users who are suffering, either. Some Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 users also report that the latest update for their OS has rendered their system unable to boot. "I just ran an update on my Ubuntu Mate 16.04 system, which updated the kernel to 4.4.0-108. (I don't know if this version has changes to mitigate the recently-discovered Intel security flaws.) What happened afterwards is at boot time is the system locked up hard just as the graphical bootup...
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If you still can't wrap your head around the fact that Microsoft supports using Linux inside of Windows, then prepare to have your mind blown. Today, the company has debuted Ubuntu Linux in the Windows Store, available to anyone running a current Insider Preview build. Writing for the official Windows blog, Microsoft's Rich Turner says that anyone running at least the 16215 build of Windows 10 will be able to take advantage of the software, which is sure to be one of the most complex pieces of software on the store. To be clear, this solution isn't for those wanting to run an entire Linux desktop from within Windows; we're limited to the command line at the current time, which can still be hugely...
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It should be safe to call Windows 10 a "great" OS, but we can't ignore some maddening aspects of it including its data mining features and frustrating Windows Update mechanism. More than ever, the latest batch of Windows releases has clued the world into the fact that alternatives exist, and we're not just talking macOS. Free alternatives exist, such as the Ubuntu-based Zorin OS. Some Linux distributions make their goal of catering to those familiar with Windows clear, and Zorin OS is no exception. The GNOME-based desktop is designed to mimic Windows in some key areas, such as by having a taskbar at the bottom, and the main system menu located to its left. The clock and other system tray icons...
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The development community (and enthusiast) were shocked last week when Microsoft announced that it was bringing the Ubuntu Linux Bash shell to Windows 10, where it will run natively. Microsoft has wasted no time getting the functionality ready for testers, as the company has rolled out Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14316 with native Bash support baked right in. To enable Bash, you have first have to enable Developer Mode, which can be accomplished by navigating to Settings --> Update & security --> For developers. From there, you’ll need to enable “Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta).” However, you’re still not done yet — you’ll next need to open up the Command prompt and type “bash”....
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Earlier this week, we reported on a sleek, low-end tablet running Ubuntu Linux — a world first according to Canonical. But while that was definitely exciting news in the Linux world, today’s announcement from Microsoft and Canonical is quite Earth-shattering. The two companies announced today that they have partnered to bring the Bash Unix shell directly to Windows 10. And before you even go there, no, this isn’t just Ubuntu running in a virtual machine. Instead, Ubuntu will be fully integrated into the Linux subsystems that course through Windows 10’s veinswhat the hell ? Windows 10 14251 has lxcore.sys and lxss.sys ? aren't they part of Project Astoria ? and for Mobile only ?— WalkingCat (@h0x0d)...
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Wondering where the love for Linux is from big box OEMs? Look no further than Dell and its XPS 13 Developer Edition laptops. Also known as "Project Sputnik," Dell came up with the idea of offering developers a powerful and thin XPS notebook running Linux and launched its first models over three years ago. Now in its 5th generation, Project Sputnik is still going strong today with the latest models combining Ubuntu 14.04 with Intel's Skylake processors. To kick off its newest generation of Developer Edition laptops, Dell is offering three Core i7 configurations, including two that feature 16GB of RAM, which is something Dell received a lot of requests for. Dell said it also plans to add a Core...
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Intel is getting ready to release a version of its Compute Stick that runs Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (64-bit). You may recall that we tested a version running Windows 8.1 32-bit, and at around $149 street, we felt it was a decent value overall. The Ubuntu version (Intel product number STCK1A8LFC) will be even more affordable at around $110 when it ships out this week. One thing that's important to point out is there are some hardware differences between the two. The Ubuntu version will come with 1GB of single-channel DDR3L-1333 memory and 8GB of eMMC storage, both of which are soldered inside the Compute Stick. That's half the amount of RAM and storage found on the Windows 8.1 version. Otherwise, everything...
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When it comes to fringe players in the smartphone OS sector, we’ve seen Firefox OS, FireOS, and Cyanogen (which will soon be accompanied by OxygenOS). Another player is entering the fray next week courtesy of Spanish hardware manufacturer BQ. BQ has repurposed one of its existing Android handsets to give us the Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition, which will launch across Europe next week for €169.90 (roughly $190). So what exactly would make an Ubuntu smartphone appealing to consumers in a world dominated by the like of Android and iOS? Canonical, the folks behind Ubuntu, point to its Scopes concept that changes the way that users interact with their stored content and streaming services. Scopes is...
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Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, missed a golden opportunity to truly break into the mainstream market during the early days of Vista. The buggy operating system (prior to SP1) left consumers angry and willing to consider alternatives, but at the time, even Ubuntu was still a little rough around the edges to draw widespread interest among lifelong Windows users. With Canonical's release of Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) coming hot off the heels of Microsoft discontinuing support for Windows XP, could a mass migration take place? Hey, anything is possible. And unlike the early Vista era, Canonical is actively chasing Windows users with its latest release. "The 14.04 LTS release offers a solid, intuitive...
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In terms of gaming, Linux is on a roll lately. The latest company to throw its weight behind the open source platform is GOG.com, which says it's been working on bringing Linux games to its service for the past few months. There's still work to be done, buy by this fall, GOG.com plans to launch at least 100 classic titles on Linux. "We're initially going to be launching our Linux support on GOG.com with the full GOG.com treatment for Ubuntu and Mint. That means that right now, we're hammering away at testing games on a variety of configurations, training up our teams on Linux-speak, and generally getting geared up for a big kick-off in the fall with at least 100 Linux games ready for you to play,"...
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As recently as last month, it appeared that the Ubuntu smartphone would be delayed until 2015, but suddenly Canonical announced that it has secured manufacturing deals that will being the handset to market yet this year. Canonical has agreed with Spain’s bq and China’s Meizu to market the Ubuntu smartphone globally. Everything is already under development, and at some point this year customers will be able to purchase the handset online from bq, Meizu, and Canonical itself. In terms of carrier support, there are 16 members in the Canonical Carrier Advisory Group, including Deutsche Telekom, KT, SK Telecom, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Vodafone. “Ubuntu introduces a new UI paradigm...
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If Canonical is ever going to establish Ubuntu Touch as legitimate contender among mobile operating systems, it's a journey that won't truly begin until sometime next year. That's because the first Ubuntu Touch smartphone isn't likely to launch before 2015 even though Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said last month that we should expect Ubuntu Touch devices in 2014. Canonical community manager Jono Bacon offered up the revised ship date in a Reddit Q&A, adding that Ubuntu Touch is embarking on a long road with many components. "I would be surprised if we see anything like this before 2015. When the major OEMs/carriers ship, this is when many of the ISVs will be on-board too," Bacon said....
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We haven’t heard much from Canonical about its Ubuntu for mobile since its ill-fated $32 million crowdfunding attempt, but it appears that the company has finally found a hardware partner for its mobile operating system. Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth dropped the news to CNET: "We have concluded our first set of agreements to ship Ubuntu on mobile phones. We've shifted gears from 'making a concept' to 'it's going to ship.' That has a big impact on the team," he said. Shuttleworth declined to name the manufacturer, but he did say that Canonical is actively in talks with four major brands that sell phones all over the world. If that’s indeed the case, the mobile market will get...
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A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Dell's latest Ubuntu notebook, the XPS 13 "Developer Edition", also dubbed "Sputnik 3". This is the kind of notebook that most Linux fans would love to have; it packs in a fast Intel Core i7 dual-core, a 256GB SSD, 8GB of RAM, and a crisp 1080p 13.3-inch display. As fantastic as the XPS 13 is, though, its $1,549 price tag puts it out of range for a lot of people. The upside to that is that Dell offers a decent range of other Ubuntu notebooks, but as mentioned in the earlier post, things could be improved. With Dell tackling the high-end, what about the low-end? Or perhaps, ultra low-end? ASUS is on it. In an announcement this week from Canonical, we learn...
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When Dell first began offering Ubuntu-flavored notebooks, it was unclear whether or not it was a venture that the PC builder would stick with. Admittedly, it seemed at first that Dell was just testing the waters, to see if the supposed demand was real. To date, the company hasn't littered its lineup with such offerings, and it's especially weak in the mainstream consumer side, but things have certainly gotten better since the initial release. Where you'll have your best luck of scoring a nice Ubuntu-powered Dell notebook is on the business side, with the Latitude series. Or, if your goal is great performance in a small form-factor, there's been an XPS model available as well, dubbed "XPS 13 Developer...
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