HPC blog Stop Möckern my big iron

Napoleon experienced his first defeat* there 200 years ago... Now nine teams of university undergrad students will travel to Leipzig in the hopes of winning the clash of big iron that is the International Supercomputing Conference 2013 (ISC’13) Student Cluster Challenge.

Open Compute makers could do for Opterons what tier ones didn't

For more than a few large-scale data center operators and supercomputer centers in the world, AMD's Opteron processors are still an important part of their infrastructure. But over the past few years, as Intel has got its Xeon act together and AMD has had some issues (to put it politely) the tier-one server makers have not exactly given Opteron a lot of love. Yet it may not matter all that much, now that the companies who are official suppliers of Open Compute iron can start peddling systems based on the "Roadrunner" Opteron motherboard.

If you want to peddle boxes, you have to sell the ISVs first

IBM is opening a Power Systems Linux Center in Beijing, China, in the hopes of getting more local ISVs interested in its Power Systems iron and luring them away from x86-based systems. With the Power Systems business taking it on the chin in IBM's first quarter – revenues fell 32 per cent compared to a year ago – you can bet that Big Blue is trying to light a fire under its Linux-on-Power efforts.

Linus Torvalds made a Mother's Day gift to the world in the form of the 3.10-rc1 kernel prepatch. With this release, the merge window for the 3.10 development cycle has closed, so we know which features to expect this time around.

Unity 8 – the next major version of the Unity desktop – has been demoed running atop of Mir, Ubuntu’s custom display server. 

Both Unity 8 and Mir are still in active development, so to see them running as well as they are in the video below, taken by Michael Zanetti, is exciting stuff.

Unity 8, formerly known as ‘Unity Next’ is expected to arrive as the default desktop in Ubuntu 14.04. The version of Unity 8 demoed above is not the finished article; so expect something more desktop-like when it arrives.

Ubuntu 13.10, due October this year, is likely to include an option to try both Unity 8 and Mir, though neither will be default.

Unity 8 Gets Demoed on Mir, Looks Impressive Already OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

Want to add some Google Now-style to your Ubuntu desktop? You do? Then read on… 

DeviantArt user satya164 has knocked together a Google Now-inspired theme for Conky, the popular Linux system monitor (and a whole heap more).

Unlike many Conky themes this one is light on information displayed, only showing weather and network usage.

Google Now Conky Theme on Ubuntu 13.10

But like most Conky themes it is a faff to set up.

How to Install Conky Google Now

The instructions below are for Ubuntu, but also apply to its flavours and other Ubuntu-based distributions like Linux Mint.

Before you do anything you first have to install Conky itself. If you’re reading this article on Ubuntu you can hit the button below to open an install prompt.

Install Conky-All from Ubuntu Software Center

You may also need to grab Curl if it’s not already installed.

Install Curl from Ubuntu Software Center

Installed? Great. Next step is to download the Google Now Conky theme from DeviantArt.

Once you have fully downloaded the .Zip you need to extract it, and move the files inside to your home folder:

That’s all that’s needed to install the Conky theme. But you’ll need to edit the weather location to match that of your own:

• Go to weather.yahoo.com
• Search for your location in the weather search box (underneath forecast)
• Copy the numerical string in the URL

Now:

• Open .conkyrc in your Home folder
• Find the number: ’2294941′
• Replace it with the numerical string you copied from the Yahoo! Weather URL
• Save

If you like the font used in the screenshot, you can grab it from Font Squirrel (for free) - but install it before launching Conky from a Terminal with the command ‘conky’.

Want Conky to open when you login to Ubuntu? You’ll need to add it to Startup Applications. 

• Open ‘startup applications’ from the Dash
• Click ‘Add’
• In both name and command fields enter ‘conky‘ (without quote marks)
• Save

Finally, to complete the look check out these Google Now themed wallpapers.

Google Now-Inspired Conky Theme for Linux OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

The Debian project earlier this month put the finishing touches on their latest release: Debian 7.0, code named "Wheezy." This release marks the availability of two new architectures and a number of major updates and new features. Here, Linux Foundation Senior Engineer Jeff Licquia highlights the features you need to know about.

Have you used Ubuntu Brainstorm recently? Chances are you haven’t.

Usage of the once-popular feedback service is in decline. Terminal decline, according to Ubuntu developers. So much so the question of whether to ‘sunset’ the project has now been raised.

Ubuntu Brainstorm was created as a way to help build sonance between users and developers. The brief was simple: people submit ideas of what they’d like to see in Ubuntu, users vote and comment on those ideas, then developers respond to the more popular ones.

But there has been fewer ideas, fewer votes, and even fewer answers from developers over the last few years.

It’s easy to see why: Ubuntu’s design and development teams now more open, interactive and approachable than ever before, and Launchpad, used to report bugs against Ubuntu, has also replaced much of Brainstorm’s remit.

As it is today, the best way to promote ideas, give feedback or affect change in Ubuntu is to get involved directly. While Brainstorm may have once been part of that, it’s perhaps best left to fade quietly into memory.

Would you be sad to see Ubuntu Brainstorm go?

Ubuntu Brainstorm To Be Axed? OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

File storage and sharing using consumer-oriented cloud services can be a security problem for companies that want to avoid sensitive data leaks. ownCloud aims to solve the issue by offering commercial cloud services installed within a company's own datacenter. Their open source software is built on Linux and most often deployed on Linux by enterprise customers, said Markus Rex, CTO of ownCloud, via email. Here, Rex discusses where ownCloud fits into the open cloud ecosystem, what it means to be an open source company, how to ensure security with open source software and why they recently joined The Linux Foundation.

Linux has long been one of the key operating systems in space. It powers all manner of satellites and such like, but now it's taking over space desktops as well. NASA has announced that it's migrating the International Space Station (ISS) laptops from Windows to Debian 6 (http://www.drdobbs.com/tools/debian-6-now-onboard-international-space/240154787).

read more

Review Reduced-power virtualisation - take that, ARM

In late 2012 Intel launched Centerton: the first in its new line of Atom-based server processors. Hoping to cut ARM's invasion of the data centre off at the pass, these low-power CPUs are targeted at an emerging "Metal as a Service" movement that sees a return of unique workloads to individual processors.

Ubuntu Billboard in Ukraine. Image Credit: Konstantine R.

As concepts for contests go the latest one from Ubuntu is certainly unique. 

Ubuntu fans living in Ukraine and the Russian Federation have the chance to win a Dell laptops simply by spotting and snapping a photo of an Ubuntu billboard.

Dell are* currently advertising several of their Ubuntu-loaded laptops throughout major cities in both countries (Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk and Izhevsk in Russia; Lvov, Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk in Ukraine).

But before you think any ol’ snap of a billboard will do photos are to be judged according to the following criteria:

• Quality of the photo (40%)
• Creativity/Originality (40%)
• Number of views on Flickr (20%)

I’m not entirely sure how one can be ‘original’ and ‘creative’ in taking a photo of a whacking-great advert, but as I’m in the UK I don’t need to sweat too much about it.

Prizes are on offer for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed entries are as follows:

• 1st Place – Dell XPS Laptop
• 2nd Place – Ubuntu Swag, including messenger bag
• 3rd place – 100GB Ubuntu One storage for a year

Each participant can submit up to three photos to the Flickr pool hosting the competition. Importantly, make sure that your camera has location metadata enabled. This requirement is necessary.

Pictures may be photoshopped/gimped as you wish, but must be based on an original image taken by yourself in one of the cities listed above.

So, next time you’re on your way to school in Russia, or driving to work in Ukraine, be sure to have a camera handy – it could just win you a laptop…

*Collective nouns can be plural in British English.

Ubuntu Announce Billboard Photo Taking Contest OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

Download, then be nice to your mother, Linux Lord advises

The first release candidate for version 3.10 of the Linux Kernel is upon us.

Want to run Linux on the Google Computer Engine cloud? Starting immediately, Debian Linux is Google's Linux of choice.

SMEs, please buy it and stop us sinking into the red

Xyratex has downsized its ClusterStor high-performance computing storage array with the scale-out storage 1500, hoping to add much-needed revenue growth by flogging departmental HPC storage.

As Google Reader edging ever closer to cessation day (July 1st, fact fans) its millions of users are being forced to scout for a replacement service.

July 1st – End of Google Reader

Feedly is emerging as one of the most popular refuges for Reader fans. And it’s easy to see why: it offers a great set of features, a slick interface, and can be accessed in various ways on various devices, including Android and iOS.

But I’m not here to talk about why you should choose Feedly, but rather present a neat third-party web-app that integrates the service into the Unity desktop.

Once enabled, ‘Feedly Unity Webapp’ inserts your Feedly feed counts into the Ubuntu Messaging Menu, and displays an unread total badge on its Unity Launcher item.

It does lack desktop notifications, and Firefox’s insistence on opening web-apps as tabs and not separate windows might render it less useful for some (tip: use Chromium instead).

As well as unity integration you also get an app launcher in the Dash, an application icon, and independent entry for Feedly in Ubuntu’s Alt+Tab switcher.

Full instructions on how to install the Feedly webapp for Ubuntu can found on the GitHub page for the project.

Feedly Unity Web App Project

Alternatively, the app can be installed from a PPA on Ubuntu 12.04 through 13.10:

Feedly Unity Web App PPA

Thanks to @febcrash

Feedly Gets Unity Web App Integration (Updated) OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

hypnosec writes "Linus Torvalds has released the Linux 3.10-rc1 kernel marking the closure of the 3.10 merge window. The Linux 3.10-rc1 is the second biggest rc release in years and the closure of the merge windows means that the features expected out of the Linux 3.9 successor are chalked out. "So this is the biggest -rc1 in the last several years (perhaps ever) at least as far as counting commits go," Linus notes in the release announcement."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Welcome to 30 Linux Kernel Developer Workspaces in 30 Weeks! This is the first in a 30-week series that takes a new approach to the original series, 30 Linux Kernel Developers in 30 Weeks. This time we take a look inside developers' workspaces to learn even more about what makes them tick and how to collaborate with some of the top talent in all of software. Each week will share a picture and/or a video of the workspaces that Linux kernel developers use to advance the greatest shared technology resource in history.

HP are listing Ubuntu as a pre-installed operating system option for their forthcoming HP 255 Notebook.

The HP 255

Admittedly that, of itself, isn’t huge news. HP launched their first European Ubuntu-powered PC earlier this year in the form of the Pavilion 20 All-in-One PC.

But the 255, if sold in Europe as expected, will be the first HP laptop available with Ubuntu pre-installed.

Which is a bit newsworthy.

There are also a couple of other juicy bits that hardware-hounds will enjoy digesting from the datasheet:

Firstly, the 255 is listing its chipset as AMD’s ‘Kabani’. Thus far this has only been used in embedded devices, so this marks its first prosumer* outings.

Secondly, four ‘unannounced’ processors are listed: the dual-core E12500 and E23000, and quad-core CPUs A45000 and A652000.

*The 255 appears to be a business-oriented device

HP 255 Laptop Lists Ubuntu As OS Option OMG! Ubuntu! - Everything Ubuntu. Daily.

We don't need no vendor lock-in

What is the role of integrated stacks, in which compute, networking, storage and management are vertically integrated? And how do you avoid vendor lock-in?