In this NixMashup we read what Ubuntu’s 2014 holds from the vantage point of Canonical Community Manager Jono Bacon. GnuCash 2.6 hits GetDeb, but you might want to hold off on upgrading. On the other hand, we’ve got 16 reasons for not putting off that upgrade to Linux Mint 16. Two entertaining Windows-to-Linux stories for you, one in attempts to thwart the NSA and the second to appease an 84-year-old Dad who thinks he got a Vista upgrade. Our clean energy news of the day is the achievement of converting algae to oil in less than an hour.
There isn’t really a Lumpis Linux distribution, but don’t tell the 84-year-old whose son loaded ZorinOS Linux on his PC. Pop thinks he’s running an improved version of Windows Vista! Pop wanted to make sure he was going to keep his Windows, so when his son was preparing to upgrade his PC said, “That’s fine by me, but don’t go tryin’ to put that Lumpis or whatever you call it on there. If that’s what you brought, you can just take it out right now!” A fun story to kick off today’s NixMashup.
I created a number of bash scripts when upgrading Linux Mint from Olivia to Petra recently (read all about it if you haven’t already), one of which was a “installApache.sh” script. All was working fine on the upgraded PC until I started seeing 404s on local WordPress sites using url rewriting. D’oh! The Apache Rewrite Mod has since been added to the script. This link is to the post that made me realize I forgot to include the mod in the upgrade script.
16 Reasons to Upgrade to Linux Mint 16
This post provides a good overview of the new features and improvements in Linux Mint 16 Petra over Olivia. I’ve been using Petra for a month and can vouch for probably 13 or 14 of the post’s 16 reasons to upgrade.
Jono Bacon is a developer and the Ubuntu Community Manager at Canonical. (bio) He describes 2013 as laying the technical foundation of a platform convergence to come in 2014. We are focusing on finishing the convergent pieces on phone first, then bringing them to tablet, and then finally bringing our desktop over to the new convergent platform. If Ubuntu can do what he and Mark Shuttleworth say they can do, 2014 will be an exciting year for Ubuntu fans.
GnuCash 2.6 Now Available on GetDeb
GnuCash 2.6 is available through GetDeb. (We mentioned GetDeb for new releases not in standard Ubuntu repositories in an earlier NixMashup.) Before seeing GnuCash 2.6 in my System Application Updates I installed it from the source code. After many support package installs, GnuCash 2.6 built successfully but wouldn’t load. My GnuCash 2.4.13 was mucked up in the process so I had to re-install 2.4.13 from source to get back in business. It was not a fun Friday night. My advice is to hold off on upgrading until more (or any) successful GnuCash 2.6 Ubuntu upgrades are documented. By the way, upgrading with the GetDeb PPA wasn’t successful either. On a positive note, GnuCash 2.6 DID successfully install on a fresh Linux Mint machine, so there are upgrade only issues.
I know CAD users are very serious about their choice of CAD software. Most professionals who use CAD in their work would probably dismiss LibreCAD for Linux out of hand, but like Accountants who’ve discovered GnuCash, LibreCAD could be a valid alternative to other high-dollar proprietary CAD applications.
With great glee, I am now running Linux Ubuntu
This is how Peter Van Buren’s blog post begins, or rather, “With great glee, I am now running Linux Ubuntu on all my computers as my operating system, forever replacing Windows. This very blog post is infused with Linux goodness. Smell it. Smell it. Yes, put your nose to the screen and sniff. Smells like victory.” He switched to Ubuntu primarily because of NSA intrusions into Windows which he details in the article. Well written and a fun read.
See the Video: JavaFX Everywhere
YouTube Video of a JavaFX application with gauges, calculator and line chart running on the Desktop, iOS, Android and Raspberry PI, demonstrating the good and any not so good platform-specific issues like a lack of custom font support or legend rendering.
There are usually drying and chemical application phases in the process of turning algae to oil. This advancement eliminates both. “By eliminating the drying process, as well as the complex process requiring industrial-grade solvents to extract oil from the algae, researchers have eliminated two of the costliest roadblocks to producing cost-effective algae.” Bring on the algae!
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Today’s Vermont Photo is provided by Betsy Arvelo, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.