How to easily install the very latest GNOME in any Distro with JHBuild

The point for having an upstream GNOME installation built from sources is if you are going to build an extension, a theme or a GTK App and take advantage of all the new features of next GNOME. However it is also useful if you want to help GNOME to get better by submitting bugs  ..or it could be useful if you are just curious to see what’s coming next :)

The tool for building GNOME is nothing else than JHBuild. 

Intro

I am not going to write a full guide for how to install GNOME with JHBuild by just giving some commands, instead I will explain some basic points and then you can check on the official documentation before you start building. So this is just a quick intro and doesn’t explain all possibilities of JHBuild tool.

What JHBuild is?

JHBuild is a small application/tool, that helps us to install software from sources by setting a sandboxed environment. It also handles every dependency of the software we want to build by downloading it, configuring it, building it and installing it.

JHBuild is part of freedesktop.org and started for GNOME, but today many applications provide JHBuild modulesets. In this tutorial we just get bother only with building GNOME.

Will JHBuild brake my system?

Absolute no! JHBuild will use an isolated from the rest of your system installation similar to NPM and RVM. However it can mess up with your Apps configuration files. For example if you build Gimp with JHBuild and you have also Gimp distributor package, both installation will use the same configs.

You can easily avoid that, by using a different account just for running latest GNOME.

How much time will take to build GNOME?

It depends from your connections and your system! A typical installation (in my case) includes Gnome-Shell, Gnome-Control-Center, Empathy and Gnome Themes ..plus all their dependencies. That means downloading and building around 120 packages from GIT. With my ~7Mbps connection and and an Intel Ivy Bridge i5, it takes approximately 3-4hours and it uses around 6-7GB of space.

However there is not need to staring at it, right? Updating is much faster.

Read More:http://worldofgnome.org/how-to-easily-install-the-very-latest-gnome-in-any-distro-with-jhbuild/

Linux 3.8's features staked out

Linus Torvalds has announced the first pre-release version of Linux 3.8, releasing it on the "longest night of the year". As previously reported, it includes support for the Flash-Friendly File System (F2FS), which has been designed for use on flash storage devices such as USB flash drives, memory cards, and internal storage in devices such as cameras, tablets and smartphones.
The developers have also merged a number of basic core functions developed under the "balancenuma" name. These are aimed at enabling future kernels to automatically keep processes and the memory areas they are using in close proximity. This is important for optimum performance on today's popular multiprocessor systems with NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access). Further improvements likely to be merged in Linux 3.9 and later versions will significantly improve this automated placement and will build on the foundations merged in 3.8.
Code for a "huge zero page", which can reduce memory usage in some setups, has also been merged. The kmem extension for the "memory" cgroup controller can now be used to limit the memory used by the kernel for processes in a group. Appropriately configuring these limits enables the kernel to keep the lid on any fork bombs run from the shell.
The addition of inline data support means that the Ext4 filesystem is now able to store very small files together with the inode entry, thereby saving storage space. The kernel has also been given a simple driver for the graphics cores on NVIDIA's Tegra family of SoCs (system-on-a-chip). The code for using the acceleration functionality offered by these chips, which is being co-developed by NVIDIA, has, however, not yet made it into the kernel. To simplify maintenance and ongoing development, the kernel developers have removed support for Intel 386 and related CPUs. 486 and other x86-32 processors will continue to be supported.
This is, as usual, the first release of the new version of Linux, coming after the closing of the "merge window" where the majority of the changes for the new version are merged into the main development branch of Linux. The next phase, the stabilisation phase, will mostly include corrections and fixes to the new features and any regressions that appear as developers test the new kernel. Details of these and many other changes will as ever be provided by The H's Kernel Log. Assuming the kernel developers keep to their usual tempo, Linux 3.8 is likely to be released in mid-February.

Source:http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-3-8-s-features-staked-out-1774113.html

Steam Linux enters open beta, give it a go now

All aboard the Steam train – yes, even you, Linux users. The Steam Linux beta is now open to everyone, officially ditching the closed beta that began in early November.

Linux users will need to have Ubuntu 12.04 and the latest version of the Steam client; complete instructions for setting up Steam are on the Ubuntu wiki, with a brief rundown on the Steam community page. Steam has an entire catalog of Linux-supported games, including Team Fortress 2, Amnesia, Killing Floor, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery, Trine 2, World of Goo and more.

Source:http://www.joystiq.com/2012/12/20/steam-linux-enters-open-beta-give-it-a-go-now/

Using the PHP/Java Bridge to Combine PHP and Java in the Same App

As you probably know, PHP 4 supported an extension for combining PHP with Java, but to combine PHP with Java in PHP 5 or PHP 6 you should install the PHP/Java Bridge, which the website describes as:

"... an implementation of a streaming, XML-based network protocol, which can be used to connect a native script engine, for example PHP, Scheme or Python, with a Java virtual machine."

In this article you will learn how to install and configure the PHP/Java Bridge and how to use Java classes in PHP scripts in a demo application. To use the PHP/Java bridge, you should have knowledge of Java SE and the PHP5 core, as well as how they interact.

Using the PHP/Java Bridge

The current distribution of the PHP/Java Bridge is available for download as a .zip file from the project page. The installation process depends on which Java platform will be interacting with PHP through this bridge. For J2SE, installation is simple:

1. Install J2SE 1.6 or above.
2. Install PHP 5.1.4 or above.
3. Extract the php-java-bridge_5.2.2_j2ee.zip to a folder.
4. From the command prompt, navigate to this folder and type: …>java –classpath JavaBridge.war TestInstallation
5. In the current folder, you should see an ext folder that contains four .jar files. Copy JavaBridge.jar and php-script.jar to your J2SE/Java SE ext directory ({JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/ext).

Article link:http://www.developer.com/java/other/php-with-java-using-php-java-bridge-tutorial.html

Japanese toilet answers nature's call via Android

Japanese bathrooms are about to become a little more interactive, thanks to a new smartphone-controlled toilet known as the Satis. Manufactured by Tokyo-based Lixil, this Bluetooth-enabled commode can be controlled with an Android app called "My Satis," allowing users to flush, raise the toilet seat, and activate a bidet jet stream with the touch of a button. The app also lets you stream music through the toilet's speakers and will automatically monitor "usage history," giving you a better idea of how much electricity and water you're consuming with each visit.

Complete Story

Mozilla Firefox 20 Will Speed Up Page Load Times

Firefox 20 is sure shaping up to be a really big release for Mozilla. We already knew that it would finally be the release that provides Private Browsing as it should be. Now it looks like Firefox is finally getting a really interesting Network load fix that seems obvious and sure could make a huge performance difference.
Firefox 20 will load stylesheets before images.

Read More:http://www.internetnews.com/blog/skerner/mozilla-firefox-20-will-speed-up-page-load-times.html

HTML5 Still Not a Standard Until 2014

The W3C announced  that the HTML5 definition is now complete. This is a big deal for the web and all of us that work and use it…but it's not end of the story.

The definition is not a final standard for HTML5, though it is an important milestone. HTML5 will not likely be a full bona-fide standard until mid 2014 according to what Jeff Jaffe told me during a conference call  to talk about HTML5.

Credits:http://www.linuxtoday.com/developer/html5-still-not-a-standard-until-2014.html