Notable improvements expected with the release of Evolution 3.0: Migration of local mail storage from mbox to the faster, more resilient maildir format. Built-in duplicate email detection and removal. Significant memory usage and leak optimizations.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL 6) is out, and it brings a huge set of improvements over RHEL 5 for desktop users. Here is a curated list of highlights that I find particularly useful on an EL6 workstation: Core System & Filesystems Upstart: Replaces traditional SysV init (Upstart Wiki) Dracut: Modern event-driven initramfs generator (Dracut Wiki) ext4: Default robust filesystem (Fedora ext4 Feature) Btrfs: Available as a technology preview (Btrfs in Fedora) Boot & Graphics Plymouth: Smooth graphical boot flicker-free animations (Plymouth) Kernel Mode Setting (KMS): Native resolution and smooth transitions during boot (KMS) Xorg 1.7: nouveau open-source driver for NVIDIA cards (Nouveau) R600 3D hardware acceleration for AMD/ATI Radeon (R600 Accel) xrandr 1.3 dynamic monitor handling (LWN Article) Native DisplayPort audio and video support Performance & Security Tickless Kernel: Significant power savings on idle systems (Tickless Kernel) Tuned: Adaptive power management profiles (Power Management) PolicyKit & XACE: Fine-grained privilege management without root elevation (Polkit) Desktop & Multimedia GDM PAM Stacks: Support for multiple authentication backends (Multiple PAM in GDM) ConsoleKit Fast User Switching: Seamless desktop switching (Fast User Switching) PulseAudio: Unified volume control across applications (Volume Control) Glitch-free audio playback via timer-based scheduling (Glitch-Free Audio) IBus: Modern input method framework replacing SCIM (IBus) Evolution 2.28: Native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007+ via OpenChange (OpenChange) OpenOffice.org 3.x: Native support for reading and writing Office Open XML (.docx, .xlsx) documents NetworkManager: System-wide connection profiles managed independently of user logins (System Connections) Desktop Environments GNOME 2.28 (major upgrade from 2.16 in RHEL 5) KDE 4.3 Xfce available via EPEL SPICE: High-performance remote desktop protocol support Official Press Release: Red Hat Flexibility and Portability Product Overview: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop

Apologies for the delay in releasing a new version. I recently relocated to Pune and am searching for accommodation, after which I’ll be setting up broadband internet. Once that is sorted out, I will resume active work on xchat-gnome. In the meantime, patches and contributions are very welcome! P.S.: xchat-gnome now has an official mailing list.

I am the not-so-proud owner of an HP tx2 convertible tablet, and it has been quite a headache. It came preloaded with Windows Vista, along with an optional upgrade to Windows 7 available on request. The convertible laptop is heavy, has abysmal battery life, and heats up faster than a toaster. On the positive side, the tx2 is relatively compact with its 12" display, easy to carry around, includes an optical drive (which I still use occasionally), and features mostly Linux-compatible hardware. The touchscreen works under Linux, although I’ve currently misconfigured something there. ...

I am currently one of the maintainers of xchat-gnome and am working steadily toward releasing version 0.26.2. Track progress on GNOME Bug 602311.

With the release of GNOME 2.30, Nautilus has reverted to browser mode as the default. So long, spatial mode! In Fedora 13, Xorg now relies on udev rather than hal for automatic hardware detection. Bonus note: I noticed Totem now remembers the last-played playback position. Fedora and GNOME keep getting better with time.

Troubled by duplicate emails in your Evolution inbox? You need the remove-duplicates plugin! It slices, it dices, and it comes complete with its own patch set and Makefile. Currently, upstream is tracking this effort here: GNOME Bug 587011 – evolution-kill-bonobo unable to build remove-duplicates

Samsung will soon be launching the Galaxy in our market (an Android-based phone). Android looks very attractive to me because of its open, developer-friendly ecosystem. If you wonder why not an iPhone, I am inherently biased toward Linux—check out the discussion on Reddit for a deeper comparison. To get started, I downloaded the Android 1.6 SDK and followed the installation instructions. While installing the Eclipse ADT plugin, you might encounter dependency errors like this: ...

In short, this phone is frustrating—at least to me. Really Annoying Buggy default firmware: The stock web browser crashes whenever you hit “Stop.” Wi-Fi limitations: WPA Enterprise Wi-Fi connection is poorly supported. VPN: Setting up a VPN is a major pain. Bluetooth transfers: Any files or data received via Bluetooth are dumped directly into the SMS inbox and cannot be saved straight to a folder without a third-party file manager. Calendar widgets: Birthdays and appointments aren’t displayed on the home screen at least 24 hours in advance. Locked down: The platform is not developer- or hack-friendly. Customer support: Samsung’s sales and support teams are unhelpful. Windows-only SDK: Developing on Linux is a major hassle compared to Android. Accessories: Phone cases and screen protectors are nearly impossible to find. Contacts UI: Photo contacts are displayed as hover icons rather than clean thumbnails. Home screen: The 3D home screen navigation isn’t configurable. Audio formats: No Ogg Vorbis or FLAC support out of the box. Adobe PDF viewer: Terrible user interface lacking fullscreen support (Picsel Viewer is much better). Keyboard layout: On the alphanumeric keyboard, the “OK” button sits in the top-left corner, requiring an awkward reach. Mildly Annoying Opera has not yet been released for S60v5. The phone needs to be hacked (via HelloOX2) to install unsigned applications. No centralized app store, apart from Nokia’s Ovi Store and the Samsung App store (which lacks S60 apps). Lacks smooth kinetic scrolling across many list views. The Pros Built-in GPS and A-GPS. Gorgeous, large AMOLED screen with auto-brightness, easily readable in broad daylight. Responsive accelerometer with auto-orientation. Proximity sensor automatically turns off and locks the screen during calls. Intuitive and natural-feeling scrollbar. Great HD games available from Gameloft. Sports Tracker (from Nokia) is a fantastic fitness utility. Built-in podcast support. RoadSync support for connecting to corporate Microsoft Exchange email. Route 66 navigation works well and outperforms Google Maps offline. Support for P.I.P.S. and the Qt runtime. Native hardware support for high-quality DivX and FLV video playback. Quickoffice and Office Reader allow viewing MS Office and OpenDocument files. Support for multiple custom alarms and multiple timezone clocks. Native ZIP file extraction out of the box. MTP support. Excellent built-in dictionary and business card scanner.

In short: it’s terrible. Here is the longer story. The Modem The ISP-provided modem is a DNA A211. By default, it uses admin/admin credentials, and the web management console is accessible over Wi-Fi! It appears to run a Linux 2.6.8 kernel, likely with a GNU-based userland stack. However, I haven’t been able to locate the GPL source code published anywhere on their website. The modem requires a daily reboot to maintain a stable internet connection—I still haven’t figured that one out. ...