LINUX TOOLS AND SOFTWARE

Application: AC3D

AC3D is a popular 3D object/scene modeller available for Windows

and Linux. It's very easy to use but powerful too - anyone can create good looking 3d objects in minutes. Whether you want to design 3d objects for games or build your dream home in virtual reality, AC3D is the ideal way to quickly turn your ideas into great three dimensional models. It supports many file formats including POV-Ray, VRML (1 and 2), RenderMan ,3D Studio, Lightwave, DXF, Alias triangle, Wavefront OBJ, Direct X & more. AC3D is used by thousands throughout the world. Even those who have access to much more expensive 3d graphics software

have AC3D because it's fast and easy to use.

http://www.ac3d.org/download

Application: AMaViS

AMaViS (A Mail Virus Scanner

) scans e-mail attachments for viruses using third-party virus scanners available for UNIX environments. It resides on a UNIX (Linux) machine and looks through the attached files

arriving via e-mail, generates reports when a virus is found and sets the delivery on hold.   

http://amavis.org/download/

Application: LinCity

LinCity is an SVGALIB (Linux only) and X based city/country simulation game for Linux and other Unix platforms (Solaris, FreeBSD, HP_UX, AIX, SCO and IRIX). There is also a Win32 version (win95 and NT) available as a separate package. The game reminds a bit of SimCity but has it's own goals and methods to get there.

http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/lincity

Kinect driver

   

        Bounty offered for open-source Kinect driver The first person who figures out how to build an open-source driver for Microsoft  new Kinect motion controller could win a $3,000 bounty offered by a leading open-source hardware developer  from Adafruit Industries. What does kinect is?  Kinect is a gestural interface for Microsoft's X-Box 360. It enables users to play games through gestures, spoken commands or by presenting objects or images. So far, it's only available for X-Box.

Hardware hacker Hector Marcan released his open source Kinect drivers  already, winning the $3,000 bounty from Adafruit Industries. Ada Fruit, a New York based company that sells DIY electronics kits, issued the bounty for open source Kinect.  Marcan's drivers have been tested by other hackers. He says he plans to use the $3,000 to purchase additional tools and devices for Team Twiizers, the hardware hacking group he's a member of.

Access to Kinect from the desktop opens up some intriguing opportunities. Marshall explored some of ideas about using it to control the Internet of Things and, of course, advertising and interactive retail. This become the kinect device more useful in a wide range of applications and not only for exclusive use of Microsoft

 .

net neutrality

       first off i am going to mention a part of the FCC broadband policy statement that said:

In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its Broadband Policy Statement (also known as the Internet Policy Statement), which lists four principles of open Internet,^[13] "To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to:"

• access the lawful Internet content of their choice.
• run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.
• connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.
• competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers.

          I just read about net neutrality and what the biggest telephones and Cables Corporations want to do with. They want to get rid of what we do, see and how internet users surf in the web , deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and what users can download or what not. Even they are planning to tax some content from provides to guarantee the data speed from them. And they want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services and streaming video -- while slowing down or blocking services offered by their competitors. I read that “The big phone and cable companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to gut Net Neutrality, putting the future of the Internet at risk. “  This is unacceptable and I believe it is a threat to the freedom and those big corporations are insatiable monsters that their goal is sucks our money no matter what or how. Internet is part of our life in home, school, university, work, social life and so on, and it has to keep on free. It is a concern for all internet consumers around the world and we need to be united in this cause. I found surfing in the web the next document which stands for why consumers demand internet freedom

http://www.freepress.net/files/nn_fact_v_fiction_final.pdf

jobs in linux field

Some of the positions I’d be greatly interested in working in are the Field Support Engineer - Linux, IP Systems, Linux System administrator, Embedded Linux Developer, Linux Tech Support and Linux Programmer.  The Field support Engineer-Linux, IP Systems at CyberCoders Engineering offers a salary up to 90K a year.  The 2^nd job that caught my eye was Linux System Administrator, which makes approximately 86K a year. Embedded Linux Developer makes approximately 92K a year. Companies like Pantek pays $132 an hour for their Linux Tech support personnel. And last but not least a Linux Programmer makes approximately 86k in Dayton, NJ. The salary varies from company to company and the jobs performed. Also, education and experience has a great impact on the chances on getting the job, and the salary you make.

SCO vs. Novell

         In the SCO v. Novell case it was a legal battle over ownership of the source code for the UNIX operating system, including part of Linux.  It all started when  In the early 1990's, AT&T sold the UNIX code to Novell and  Novell partially sold some of the rights of UNIX code to Santa Cruz Operations then A few years later, Santa Cruz Operations sold the UNIX code to the SCO. A couple of years later SCO decided to seek legal action against Linux manufacturers and distributors for what they believe were a copyright violation.  The case went on for a few years, but it all finally ended on March 2010 when the jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Novell. It was a victory for Open source project!

The Google Lunar X Prize

        I don’t agree with Fred Bourgeois and his plan of spending a considerable amount of money in a project that I consider unnecessary at this time, if ever. I think the time and cost invested in this project outweighs the benefits. I’d agree on motivating people to create and explore ideas like these, to think above and beyond to captured data from the moon and even other planets. But in this particular case, and taking into consideration our economy I don’t think it’s worthy to invest Millions of dollars in such project when there’s probably other ways to make open source projects here on Earth that could be more useful at a lower cost.