Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Hunted The Demons Forge SKIDROW


Kororaa Linux 14


Chris Smart has announced the release of Kororaa Linux 14, a Fedora-based distribution with extra applications and user-friendly touches, available in KDE and GNOME variants: "Kororaa 14 ('Nemo') final been released for download, in 32-bit and 64-bit variants with KDE and GNOME. This version is recommended for all new installs; however, existing beta 6 users need not reinstall. Given that there were no major bugs in beta 6, this month's update brings the first final release. Work will now begin on a beta 15 Fedora remix. New features: update to KDE 4.6.3. Bug fixes: nothing noteworthy. We'd love to hear your feedback on the forums, so download it today! Here is the brief release announcement. Download (SHA256) the live DVD images for your preferred architecture from here: Kororaa-14-i686-Live-KDE.iso (1,721MB), Kororaa-14-i686-Live-GNOME.iso (1,517MB), Kororaa-14-x86_64-Live-KDE.iso (1,783MB), Kororaa-14-x86_64-Live-GNOME.iso (1,562MB).

CUPP wants to punk your x86 PC

CUPP Computing has debuted an unlocked module for x86 PCs that allows users to combine a high-performance PC processor (x86/IA) and a low-power chip (RISC/ARM) into a single platform. Oh, and yes, you can use PunkThis to run Android apps on your PC.

CUPP wants to punk your x86 PC

"PunkThis [facilitates] more practical computing with greater battery life and a more versatile set of use cases,” a company rep claimed.

"It [offers] low power applications and flexibility, with seamless access to PC processing power as needed. The PunkThis module provides over 20 hour computing in a standard netbook or 40 hours with a low power screen."

As expected, the PunkThis module fits in a standard 2.5" drive bay and features both a Mini PCIe SSD HD and a 1GHz TI OMAP ARM processor with 512MB. 


Additional specs include:

  • Two USB connections (host & USB OTG).
  • Wiring kits for solder-less installation.
  • Micro SD System Memory.
  • Mini PCIe SSD for PC C: drive.
  • Micro SD for shared drive.
  • Wifi.
  • Keyboard Controller.
  • Audio I/O.
  • Operating systems - Ubuntu, Android 2.3, Open Platform.
  • Power - 20 hour battery life in 10" Netbook; 40 hour battery life with low power screen (PixelQi).
  • PunkThis desktop enclosure - 5 USB Ports; audio I/O; DVI I/O; power SD Card; headphone jack.

My take on all this geeky goodness? 



Sure, PunkThis sounds like a really sweet concept - for devs and modders. However, I honestly doubt the module will catch on as a stand-alone device for mainstream users.

Then again, PunkThis does allow you to run Android apps on your PC, but how many people are really interested in that type of crossover - at least at this stage?

Of course, OEMs are likely to take notice and monitor implementation of PunkThis on netbook systems such as the 1015PN by Asus.

If successful, a hybrid approach to portable/mobile computing may be considered somewhat of a viable option in the future.

Frankly, I’m personally not a huge fan of all this mixing and matching - on a hardware level. I’d definitely feel more comfortable with an ARM-based system and an x86 emulator than using a system that boasted both architectures.

 Similarly, I’d also prefer a next-gen x86 mobile device with Bluestacks virtualization software to PunkThis.


Sure, maybe it would sip more power than an ARM-powered system, but eventually, x86 chips will (hopefully) be low-powered enough to justify doing away with hardware add-ons/patches/workarounds like the Punk.

SliTaz GNU/Linux Cooking 20110531


Christophe Lincoln has announced the availability of a new development build of SliTaz GNU/Linux 2011.1, a minimalist desktop Linux distribution in 30 megabytes: "The SliTaz team is proud to announce the release of a new Cooking version built with our new and fresh packages from cookutils. Cookutils is one of the new generation of tools to build SliTaz packages and provides a build bot with a nice web interface that works out-of-the-box on any SliTaz system. These new packages have been built with a new i486 optimized toolchain. The full boot process has been improved and the first boot configuration is now done through GTK+ boxes in a X session and the boot time is also faster. This version comes with a new GUI tool for system configuration as well as our new system configuration panel - TazPanel. Visit the project's news page to read the brief release announcement. Download: slitaz-cooking.iso (30.0MB, MD5).

Pardus Linux 2011.1 Beta


Gökçen Eraslan has announced the availability of the beta release of Pardus Linux 2011.1: "The Beta release of the upcoming Pardus 2011.1 is now available. Here are the basic components and their versions shipped within Pardus 2011.1 beta release: KDE Desktop Environment 4.6.3, Linux kernel 2.6.37.6, LibreOffice 3.3.2.2, Mozilla Firefox 4.0.1, X.Org Server 1.9.5, GIMP 2.6.11, GCC 4.5.3, glibc 2.12. In addition to those updates lots of bugs have been fixed, 64-bit Skype package is now in 2011 stable repository, 64-bit WINE package will be in 2011 repositories soon, YALI now has a System Rescue mode, work on 2009-2011 distribution upgrade interface is about to finish, upgrade-manager package will be provided in 2009 repositories to ease the transition.... Read the complete release announcement for further details. Download the installation or live (non-installable) DVD images from here: Pardus-2011.1-Beta-i686.iso (1,139MB, MD5), Pardus-2011.1-Beta-x86_64.iso (1,155MB, MD5), Pardus-2011.1-Beta-Live-i686.iso (1,307MB, MD5), Pardus-2011.1-Beta-Live-x86_64.iso (1,325MB, MD5).