Google developers have today shown off Ubuntu running on …Google Glass.

In a session at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, cheekily titled “Voiding your warranty“, developers shared how to root Google Glass and install an alternative operating system on it. OS of choice for the demo being Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 12.04 on Google Glass

The image you see above – a laptop running Ubuntu relaying the screen of Google Glass in a window – is as sexy as it got in the demo. Yep, just a rooted Android accessing a native Ubuntu install through VNC/SSH.  No eye-controlled Unity; no blink-powered GNOME.

Since it’s unlikely that anyone reading this owns or has access to Google Glass I can save myself the bother of guiding you through the install process (which is a bit of hassle).

But it’s a geekily-cool sight to see, anyway.

Google Devs Install Ubuntu on Google Glass OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

It’s 5 months away from release, but we already know most of the new features planned for Unity in Ubuntu 13.10.

This is, in part, due to developers putting focus on Ubuntu Touch – the mobile version of Unity aimed at mobile and tablet devices.

While this work will eventually make its way to the desktop in the form of Unity 8, it won’t be finished in time to make this release. So the current version of Ubuntu’s desktop – Unity 7 – will serve as the basis for the next release, albeit with some extra polish, a few new features, and plenty of bug-fixes.

Features planned for Unity in Saucy include:

• Smart Scopes Service/100 Scopes
• In-Dash Payments
• New ‘Unity Indicators’
• Newer Compiz with performance improvements

There was also, early on in this cycle, talk of Locally Integrated Menus being implemented. However this hold-over from Ubuntu 12.04 was not mentioned during the recent Ubuntu Developer Summit session.

For performance fans the Ubuntu development team plan to use Compiz 0.9.10. This ‘trunk’ version includes a number of patches and tweaks that add a bit more oomph to the window manager’s performance.

You can see an earlier version of the proposed In-Dash Payment Preview in the video below.

What to Expect from Unity in Ubuntu 13.10 OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

Pin your ears back and we'll tell you

There's a lot of talk – some might say hot air – about cloud computing, what it is and what it is not. Ask 10 people and you will probably get 15 answers.

Versatile rack mount, entry-level minitower, itsy-bitsy cutie

Dell has filled out its workstation line with three new machines: a versatile, virtualizable 2U rack-mountable big boy, an entry-level minitower, and the minitower's little brother – which, if a workstation could ever be called "cute", would be a leading candidate for that designation.

Both Unity 8 and Ubuntu’s new display server Mir will be available to try in Ubuntu 13.10. 

At least, that’s the aim, anyway.

The details of precisely how both items will be available to try is currently being hammered out by developers at this weeks Ubuntu Developer Summit. But while neither Mir or Unity 8 will be installed by default, or ship as a session on the Saucy .iso, developers are extremely keen to make them as easy to install in 13.10 either through the Ubuntu Software Center or a dedicated PPA.

Unity 7 and the traditional X.org display server will continue form the default desktop experience in Saucy, which is due in October.

‘Preview’ Means ‘Preview’

Regardless of how Unity 8 and Mir is made available to Ubuntu 13.10 users the most important thing for anyone to remember is that it’ll be a preview. Unity 8 – the desktop version of Ubuntu Touch – is unlikely to be in a finished, polished state by October.

There’s also a question of what applications will run under the Mir session. Whilst the final release of Mir will support running “traditional” apps reliant on X.org and GTK, it’s not a given that these will run on the preview version being planned at present. A set of Ubuntu Touch apps will be installed alongside the Unity8/Mir session by default to make up for this.

But the preview will have its uses. It’ll give designers, developers and dutiful testers the chance to play with a functional, if limited, version of the next-gen Ubuntu desktop. Stress it; test it; help shape it.

Around the same time as Ubuntu 13.10 is released more complete version of Ubuntu Touch for Phones is expected to be released. 

Unity 8, Mir Preview To Be Available in Ubuntu 13.10 OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linus Torvalds, Jon 'maddog' Hall, and many other names closely associated with Linux are also closely associated with beer. (Ed. note: I have personally watched them associate with beer, and may have even joined them.) It comes as no surprise, therefore, when Linux advocate and LinuxAutomation.org founder Kurt Forsberg talks about using Linux to control his beer brewing. Kurt is a strong believer in Linux Automation who talks about home thermostats, sprinklers, and many other application, "anything you can automate..." but, he adds, "we spend all our time brewing beer so we haven't explored many of those yet." He says this with a big smile, of course. And if you want to keep up with Linux Automation on Faceboook, go ahead; like everyone + dog they have a Facebook page.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Saucy Salamander Could Ship with Chromium

Ubuntu 13.10 is hoping to ship with Chromium as the default web-browser in place of Mozilla Firefox.

In a discussion on the subject at the current Ubuntu Developer Summit developers expressed broad support for the change, saying that they are “leaning towards” supporting such a switch.

Ubuntu ‘s Desktop Manager, Jason Warner, who says the switch ‘feels like the right decision for the general user’, shared the main rationale behind it:

• Google Chrome has ‘leapfrogged’ Firefox in usage
• There is ‘clear demand’ for it from users; supplying Chromium would meet expectations
• Switching to webkit-based browser offers consistency across convergent platforms

Warner stressed that updated versions of Firefox will remain readily available to install from the Ubuntu Software Center.

‘Concerns Addressed’

The session also saw developers tackle concerns and complaints that have prevented Chromium becoming the default browser in the past. Security, PC support, user-preferences, and methods of delivering updated packages were all touched upon.

One commonly raised ‘issue’ is that of extensions, or rather lack thereof, available the open-source browser in comparison to Firefox. Chad Miller, maintainer of Chromium in Ubuntu, explained that the Chrome Webstore offers a massive choice already, adding that “if it’s recent code, it’s almost certain someone has built it for Chrome.”

Switching to Chromium will also allow Unity Web Apps to appear in so-called ‘chromeless’ windows. At present the Firefox implementation of Unity Web Apps opens in a ‘new tab’ rather than a chromless window).

Sadly for those using PowerPC versions of Ubuntu Chromium’s V8 rendering engine is not available, meaning Firefox would have to ship in its place.

A final decision on whether to default to Chromium will be taken following further consultation with the Ubuntu community in the coming weeks.

Key Points:

• Developers debating switch to Chromium
• Chormium ‘more popular’ than Firefox, as well as more performant
• Switch would create ‘consistency’ between Ubuntu Touch & Ubuntu desktop as both use Webkit
• Unity Web Apps will be able to use Chromium ‘Chromeless’ mode
• Stable releases of Chromium will be released as they’re available, much like Firefox
• Firefox will remain updated and available to install from Software Center
• Final decision to be taken after feedback with community

Take Our Poll

Chromium Likely to Replace Firefox As Default Browser in Ubuntu 13.10 OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

Sixteen Ivy Bridge-EX sockets and 12TB in a single image

HP has revealed a little more about its "Project Kraken" in-memory system that it is cooking up in conjunction with the engineers at SAP. It's talking about a future in which there are lots of scale-out servers like its Project Moonshot systems and big-memory systems like Kraken on the other end of the spectrum – with not as much plain-vanilla, general-purpose iron in between.

The last year has been a whirlwind of activity for Apache CloudStack. Citrix proposed CloudStack for the Apache Incubator in April of 2012, and just over a year later we're gearing up for a second collaboration conference – this time in Santa Clara, CA, from June 23-25.

Title: Final Frontier + 1

In this episode: There's a critical vulnerability in the kernel. But relax, it's been fixed. The International Space Station is switching from Windows to Debian. But not Debian 7, which has just been released. The beginner's programming environment, Scratch 2.0, is out and the Raspberry Pi gets a super-light camera module. As always, hear our discoveries, our reports on the challenge and your own opinions in the Open Ballot.

read more

If you’ve ever dreamed of working directly with Linux creator Linus Torvalds, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Ted T’so or any of the other Linux luminaries, you could work your way up through the ranks of kernel developers submitting patches and fixing bugs.  Or you could work as a systems administrator on The Linux Foundation’s IT team, managing the servers that they use every day to build the largest collaborative software development project in the world.

OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."

There are many products that let you run Linux on ARM and are not targeted at the mobile market. The ODROID-U2 is an extremely small form factor ARM-based computer that packs enough grunt to replace a modest desktop.

The best Linux applications and tools for enterprise systems admininstrators and developers can be found in three major areas: continuous build, configuration management/ provisioning and version control.

See how easy it is to setup a dual boot to Fedora 18 on your recent model MacBook Air (MBA). You don't need to install custom boot loaders or touch the internal SSD that contains OSX at all. Instead, take advantage of a high speed USB 3 pen drive as your Linux boot disk. After booting Fedora, graphics and wifi work without any extra tinkering. With the higher end modern USB 3.x pen drives disk performance doesn't need to crawl either.

Come on, those security bugs won't fix themselves

Today, right on schedule, Microsoft's monthly security patch bandwagon rolled into town with updates for Internet Explorer, Office and Windows - with Adobe bringing up the rear.