Yellow Dog Linux, famous Linux distribution on PPC platform, just had been released it's newest version, Yellow Dog Linux 5.0, on 11/27/2006. The most important feature is that it could be installed on PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3).
PS3 allows a third-party system software to be installed on it. Such third-party system software is referred to as "Other OS".
PS3 lets "Game OS" and "Other OS" run on it at the same time. "Other OS" could communicate the hardware of PS3 via "Game OS". SONY Computer Entertainment, Inc. (SCE) hoped PS3 could launch full-featured Linux by this architecture. Maybe we could talk about this architecture sometime.
Because SCE allows end-user could install other OS on PS3, installing a Linux OS on it is not a tough task anymore. There are many articles on Internet teaching you how to install Fedora Core 5, Fedora Core 6 to PS3. But you need an extra add-on CD (download it and burn it by yourself) to finish the installation process. Quite inconvenient. However, because of the release of Yellow Dog Linux 5.0, now, you could finish the whole installation process by one DVD. You could take a look at it's installation guide here. You could understand how easy the installation process can be.
Yellow Dog Linux is the world's first and only commercial Linux distribution for the Cell processor, first for the Mercury Cell Blade and now PS3.
Someone might say "Why Yellow Dog Linux? Fedora is good enough to PS3!". But the fact is Yellow Dog Linux is better than Fedora Core on PS3 at present. Yellow Dog Linux has access to 6 of the Cell processors SPE's, while Fedora only allows access to 1. Furthermore, Yellow Dog Linux allows HD resolution mode, while fedora only 480i. Yellow Dog Linux also has sound. Fedora do work on the PS3, but was never built with it in mind. Go with Yellow Dog Linux, above all the other benefits, the interface is much better. Yellow Dog Linux use E17 (it's predecessor is the famous Enlightment) as its default desktop environment.
However, at present, only Enhanced account of YDL.net could download Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 ISO file. Terra Soft have not put the ISO file on the public download and mirror sites. The following is its schedule:
1. Monday, November 27: Download Install & Source ISOs via YDL.net Enhanced.
2. Monday, December 11: Purchase DVDs from the Terra Soft Store.
3. The week of December 25: Download Install & Source ISOs via the public mirrors.
It seems Terra Soft would like to let Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 be everybody's Christmas present...
At last, since I have an enhanced account and a PS3 console, I would share the testing results on this blog via article and video ASAP.
The following is the reference links:
Open Platform for PLAYSTATION 3
http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/index.html
Linux on Cell BE-based Systems:
http://www.bsc.es/projects/deepcomputing/linuxoncell/
Announcement from Terra Soft:
http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/pipermail/yellowdog-announce/2006-November/000135.html
One for Yourself, and Two for Children
The first prototype laptop of OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is annouced at the Country Task Force Meeting, 23 May 2006. The following are it's photos:
OLPC is a new, non-profit association dedicated to research to develop a $100 laptop. It's target is that let every children could contact with computer, no matter they ware born in rich families or not.
The hardware of this $100 laptop is ODM by a Taiwan company, Quanta Computer, Inc. And, it choose Fedora as it's default OS. The prototype laptops were running Fedora Core 5 in the meeting. You could get more information about OS here.
These laptops are quite cute and cheap. I believe that many people want to have one after seeing them. However, basically, $100 laptop won't be sold to individuals. But don't feel disappointed soon. Others have already started a website that sells $100 laptop for $300, so the balance of money can be used to support poor children. In brief, you buy one, and two are free for children who need it. What a great idea! That is win-win~ If there is any update about this website, I'll notice it in this blog.
OLPC is a new, non-profit association dedicated to research to develop a $100 laptop. It's target is that let every children could contact with computer, no matter they ware born in rich families or not.
The hardware of this $100 laptop is ODM by a Taiwan company, Quanta Computer, Inc. And, it choose Fedora as it's default OS. The prototype laptops were running Fedora Core 5 in the meeting. You could get more information about OS here.
These laptops are quite cute and cheap. I believe that many people want to have one after seeing them. However, basically, $100 laptop won't be sold to individuals. But don't feel disappointed soon. Others have already started a website that sells $100 laptop for $300, so the balance of money can be used to support poor children. In brief, you buy one, and two are free for children who need it. What a great idea! That is win-win~ If there is any update about this website, I'll notice it in this blog.
NVIDIA Release the Latest Linux Display Driver Version 1.0-8762
Some TwinView, SLI and mode selection bugs are fixed in this release, but one thing which I only care about is whether it supports GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap* or not. However, the answer is NO!!! According to side-street news from NVIDIA, the 8xxx series are not going to support the extension, glx_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, and it will appear in 9xxx series at the earliest!!! @@
Without this extension support, Compiz cannot get the complete benefit from the hardware acceleration.
And this driver has some problems in the newest X.Org release, X11R7.1. It does not yet include support for version 1.0 of the Xorg video driver ABI.
However, it does support more new graphic cards, such as Quadro FX 4400, GeForce 6600 VE, Quadro FX 550, GeForce 6500, Quadro NVS 120M, Quadro FX 350M, Quadro 350, GeForce 6150LE, GeForce Go 7900 GS, GeForce Go 7900 GTX, Quadro FX 2500M, Quadro 1500M, Quadro FX5500, Quadro FX 3500, Quadro FX 1500, Quadro FX 4500 X2, Quadro FX 560.
Get more information and download it here.
* GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap: A new GLX extension. This extension allows GLX clients to efficiently bind pixmaps - such as those provided by the Composite extension for redirected drawing - to OpenGL textures. This enables the compositing manager to bring the full force of OpenGL to bear on the problem of rendering the desktop. NVIDIA is working it with David Reveman (the author of Xgl) and the rest of the X.org community to work out the details of this extension, and NVIDIA plans to add support for it to a future driver release. Note, the implementation of GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap is only required to run compiz outside of Xgl. You are able to run compiz from within Xgl now.
Without this extension support, Compiz cannot get the complete benefit from the hardware acceleration.
And this driver has some problems in the newest X.Org release, X11R7.1. It does not yet include support for version 1.0 of the Xorg video driver ABI.
However, it does support more new graphic cards, such as Quadro FX 4400, GeForce 6600 VE, Quadro FX 550, GeForce 6500, Quadro NVS 120M, Quadro FX 350M, Quadro 350, GeForce 6150LE, GeForce Go 7900 GS, GeForce Go 7900 GTX, Quadro FX 2500M, Quadro 1500M, Quadro FX5500, Quadro FX 3500, Quadro FX 1500, Quadro FX 4500 X2, Quadro FX 560.
Get more information and download it here.
* GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap: A new GLX extension. This extension allows GLX clients to efficiently bind pixmaps - such as those provided by the Composite extension for redirected drawing - to OpenGL textures. This enables the compositing manager to bring the full force of OpenGL to bear on the problem of rendering the desktop. NVIDIA is working it with David Reveman (the author of Xgl) and the rest of the X.org community to work out the details of this extension, and NVIDIA plans to add support for it to a future driver release. Note, the implementation of GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap is only required to run compiz outside of Xgl. You are able to run compiz from within Xgl now.
X.Org Foundation Releases X11R7.1
X.Org Foundation released X11R7.1 on May 22, 2006. After the release of X11R7.0, it's been around five months. You could download it from http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R7.1/.
X11R7.1 is the second release of the X11R7 series. The next release, X11R7.2, are expected to be released in the end of 2006.
X11R7.1 does have many great new features. The most important feature is the new GLX extension, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap. This extension is used by OpenGL-based composite managers, such as Novell's Compiz, to use X pixmaps as OpenGL textures. However, unfortunately, there is no graphic driver which could support this extension now. We'll talk about it next time.
After installing the new release of X.Org, you have to download the packages of X11R7.0 first, and then add the new packages from X11R7.1 to them. That is just like patching. There are 69 packages which will be updated.
The following are the modules which modified from X11R7.1:
X11R7.1 does fix many major bugs, and some security holes, such as cve-2006-0745. Enjoy it! Though some of proprietary Linux graphic drivers get some problems to support it...
X11R7.1 is the second release of the X11R7 series. The next release, X11R7.2, are expected to be released in the end of 2006.
X11R7.1 does have many great new features. The most important feature is the new GLX extension, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap. This extension is used by OpenGL-based composite managers, such as Novell's Compiz, to use X pixmaps as OpenGL textures. However, unfortunately, there is no graphic driver which could support this extension now. We'll talk about it next time.
After installing the new release of X.Org, you have to download the packages of X11R7.0 first, and then add the new packages from X11R7.1 to them. That is just like patching. There are 69 packages which will be updated.
The following are the modules which modified from X11R7.1:
- bitmap-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- compositeproto-X11R7.1-0.3.1
- fixesproto-X11R7.1-4.0
- font-util-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- fstobdf-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- glproto-X11R7.1-1.4.7
- libICE-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libSM-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXScrnSaver-X11R7.1-1.1.0
- libXau-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXaw-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- libXcomposite-X11R7.1-0.3
- libXcursor-X11R7.1-1.1.6
- libXdamage-X11R7.1-1.0.3
- libXdmcp-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXevie-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXext-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXfixes-X11R7.1-4.0.1
- libXfont-X11R7.1-1.1.0
- libXfontcache-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- libXi-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXmu-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXpm-X11R7.1-3.5.5
- libXrandr-X11R7.1-1.1.1
- libXrender-X11R7.1-0.9.1
- libXres-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXt-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- libXvMC-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- libXxf86dga-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXxf86misc-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libXxf86vm-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libdmx-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- libfontenc-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- liblbxutil-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- libxkbfile-X11R7.1-1.0.3
- libxkbui-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- mkfontdir-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- rgb-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- rstart-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- scrnsaverproto-X11R7.1-1.1.0
- setxkbmap-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- smproxy-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- util-macros-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- x11perf-X11R7.1-1.4.1
- xclock-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xconsole-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xcursorgen-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- xdm-X11R7.1-1.0.4
- xdriinfo-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- xedit-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xf86-video-fbdev-X11R7.1-0.3.0
- xf86-video-vesa-X11R7.1-1.2.0
- xfs-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xhost-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- xinit-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xkbcomp-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xkbevd-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xman-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xmodmap-X11R7.1-1.0.1
- xorg-docs-X11R7.1-1.2
- xorg-server-X11R7.1-1.1.0
- xorg-sgml-doctools-X11R7.1-1.1
- xproto-X11R7.1-7.0.5
- xrandr-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xrdb-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xrefresh-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xset-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xtrap-X11R7.1-1.0.2
- xwininfo-X11R7.1-1.0.2
X11R7.1 does fix many major bugs, and some security holes, such as cve-2006-0745. Enjoy it! Though some of proprietary Linux graphic drivers get some problems to support it...
My Self-portrait
This is my self-portrait. I painted it by gimp many years ago. I place it here for updating my photo in this blog... :p
Overture...
When my fisrt-time getting in touch with Linux, till now (2006), it's been around 9 years. Over 14 years experience in software, firmware and middleware developments and designs, Linux do occupy most of my computer life, and it is also one of the beautiful things in my life. However, in the work environment of Taiwan, I had to work day and night, even everyday. I have no time to do some contributions to Linux community, especially Taiwan Linux community. A long time ago, many of my friends in Taiwan wish I could share my research and experience on internet. Thanks god. Recently, everyting around me is being stable. So I finally could start my blog about Linux.
Let's start everything here!
Let's just talk all about Linux!
Let's start everything here!
Let's just talk all about Linux!
