Valve Console Locked For Linux, Report Suggests “SteamBox” Out 2013

After many rumours, it appears Steam’s living room console is real. At the end of 2012, German site Golem.de attended a conference, and at that conference was Ben Krasnow, Valve’s electronics engineer. Krasnow, apparently, talked hardware.
Specifically, a Valve console, which has been a joint effort with Jeri Ellsworth (for the last two years), runs off Linux, and is due in 2013.
“It doesn’t come off as a huge surprise,” says one translation from the original German source site, “considering that Valve-boss Gabe Newell views Windows 8 as a catastrophe: Steam Box will not be based on Windows, but on Linux instead.”
“This was confirmed by Ben Krasnow, one of Valve’s hardware developers, when inquired on this topic,” continues the story. “With that, the Linux client for Valve’s download and community platform Steam, which is currently in its Beta phase, gets an all new background because of this – especially as Linux will also support the big-picture mode.”
Linux might mean that the vast majority of Steam’s library won’t automatically work, but all Valve need to do is make the console launch with Half Life 3.

Source:http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/01/05/valve-console-locked-for-linux-report-suggests-steambox-out-2013/

Linux users resent being locked out of Windows 8

 Microsoft’s brand new version of its flagship product, the Windows operating system, has pitted it once again against Linux users who have had a longstanding battle with the giant. The Linux community has been particularly offended by the operating system’s Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), or popularly known as Secure Boot.

The GNU Linux community’s fundamental objection to the feature is that it amounts to collusion between Microsoft and hardware manufacturers to lock users, depriving them of the freedom to install other operating systems in a Windows environment. They were later mollified by Microsoft’s clarifications that there will be a ‘Secure Boot-disable’ option on PC’s shipping with Windows 8. Although this option would have allowed installation of multiple operating systems, it is still arduous on Secure Boot machines.

Secure Boot is deemed as an attempt by Microsoft to tighten its losing grip in the desktop space and grab onto a substantial user base in the tablet space. With the release of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s tablet computer Surface, there is some clarity about the implications of Secure Boot.

As the Redmond giant provides an option for multi boot on Intel or AMD processor-based computers (seen with Windows 8), and no such option for ARM-based computers, the restriction might play out differently in the tablet market (manifested in Microsoft Surface).

It would create unhealthy competition in the long run, if Microsoft-certified ARM devices make it big in the tablet computer segment, and eliminate other operating systems from the race with a hardware lock in the form of Secure Boot.

If you have a personal computer, or a laptop that you purchased a couple of years ago, the first wake-up screen would most likely be a dull visual with a pixelated logo and text in a monotonous font with keyboard access to only a few obscure device options. This wake-up system software, that has existed from the first IBM PC, is mostly the only piece of computer ware that has never seen any major upgrades.

The Basic Input/Output System (or commonly known as the BIOS) is the firmware that initiates the device wake-up, before the operating system can be loaded.

With UEFI, this interface between the device firmware and the operating system will make the interface advanced, firstly, and more importantly, prevent malicious software that attack the BIOS (rootkits) from hampering the functioning of the operating system. The initiative of Intel and now the consortium UEFI is trying to make the boot process of computers more secure.

Secure or restricted?

Boot restrictions aren’t new in the industry. All Apple products come with restricted boot. Tablets and phones running Android too do not allow multi boot. With the Microsoft version of UEFI Secure Boot, it has joined the league of restricted boot operating systems. If Microsoft is not alone, why is it being targeted?

A blog post on Free Software Foundation website reads, “When done correctly, Secure Boot is designed to protect against malware by preventing computers from loading unauthorised binary programs when booting.” In the case of the Microsoft implementation, it hasn’t been done correctly. Making the apprehensions of Free Software crowd come true, Microsoft has now made it mandatory for ARM-based devices to have “Secure Boot” on, without an option to disable it. This means ARM-based devices certified for Windows do not have the option of booting into another operating system (unless the operating system in question is also certified by Microsoft).

Impact on market

While Free Software community and technologists who want multi boot are agitated with this ARM lock by Microsoft, from a market point of view, it does not seem like a threat, at least as yet.

Microsoft is not imposing the Secure Boot restriction in the desktop space, which is almost entirely ruled by Intel or AMD machines running Microsoft Windows. If Microsoft had imposed Secure Boot on desktop platforms, they might have faced a second antitrust action, because they are still the monopoly in personal computer operating systems.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/linux-users-resent-being-locked-out-of-windows-8/article4277078.ece

Linux Live USB Creator makes it easier to install Linux

There used to be a time when Microsoft Windows ruled the operating system world. But in recent years, the free and open source Linux operating system has taken a big bite out of Windows' dominance. But Linux has always had an image problem of seeming too difficult and unwieldy to install and learn, with a steep learning curve attached.
Linux Live USB Creator (LiLi for short) aims to take the sting out of a newcomer's introduction to the operating system by making it as easy as possible to get started. All you need is a USB stick with enough space—a minimum 2GB should do the trick—and five minutes of your time to install it. No user manual required.
After downloading and installing the software (developer Thibaut Lauziere also offers a portable version), open it up and you will see a simple straightforward user interface, showing the various steps needing to be completed. Once each step has been successfully carried out, the traffic light icon on the right hand side will turn green.
First, you need to point the app towards the location of your USB stick in the computer.  Secondly, you need to choose the source of the Linux installation file. For example, you may have it already downloaded onto your computer. If so, point it towards that file.
If not, you can click "download" and a big drop-down menu of various Linux distros (and some non-Linux options) will be presented as possibilities.  Just choose the one you want to download.  For newcomers, it's probably easiest to choose Ubuntu as it's an easy Linux distro to get started with.
Once you've done this, the "persistence" level should be automatically at green. "Persistence" means that you can keep your preferences and data on your USB stick, after rebooting (normally this information is discarded).
Next come LiLi's personal options, which you must decide yourself. I enabled all three options but you need to decide for yourself what you prefer.
Finally, if everything looks OK, click the yellow lightning flash to begin the installation of your chosen Linux distro to your USB stick. In my case, it took only a few minutes and it was immediately ready to go.
There are two possibilities to run your new Linux distro. The first one is to reboot your computer and let Windows boot from the USB stick. However, this means you are running only Linux with no access to Windows. The second (and preferable) option is to go to the stick and choose "Virtualize This Key," which will launch the excellent VirtualBox software.
This is the software equivalent of a sandbox where you can run software programs inside, independent of the operating system you are currently using. In other words, you can be running Windows and at the same time, have Linux running inside the VirtualBox window.
The only downside to this option is that a huge amount of CPU is going to be required to run both OS's simultaneously. So you may notice things slowing down slightly as a result. If it gets too bad, try closing some non-essential programs.
In a word, Linux Live USB Creator should be on everyone's PC, as it is essential for everyone to learn that there is a world beyond what Microsoft has to offer. With it being portable, you can easily carry it about on a USB stick and introduce Linux to everyone you know.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023568/review-linux-live-usb-creator-makes-it-easier-to-install-linux.html

Bodhi Linux 2.2.0 ships stable E17 desktop

The latest version of Bodhi Linux now ships with the stable Enlightenment E17 desktop environment that was released recently. Bodhi Linux 2.2.0 also includes a new kernel option for 32-bit installs and has introduced hybrid ISO images. This release makes the minimal desktop distribution one of the first Linux flavours to ship the stable version of E17.
Bodhi Linux now provides two 32-bit install images: a version with a PAE-enabled kernel for machines exceeding 4GB of RAM and an image that uses a non-PAE kernel. Like the 64-bit image, the PAE-enabled 32-bit ISO uses a Linux 3.7 kernel while the non-PAE image provides an older 3.2 kernel. All images are now hybrid ISOs, meaning that they can be copied to USB memory sticks with a simple dd command and can be easily burned to CDs as well. The documentation for the distribution has also been updated and the desktop profiles have been reworked for the final release of E17. These provide several different desktop layouts – from a barebones setup to tiling window management and a complete composited desktop.
Bodhi Linux 2.2.0 is available for 32-bit and 64-bit x86 systems as well as ARM devices such as the Raspberry Pi, Nexus 7 and others. These images can be downloaded from Sourceforge. At the time of writing, packages on the Bodhi Linux web site had not been updated. Users of the 2.x branch of the distribution can update their systems through their package manager.

Source:http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Bodhi-Linux-2-2-0-ships-stable-E17-desktop-1777022.html

Samsung: Tizen Linux phones will arrive in 2013

Hard on the heels of Wednesday's unveiling of Ubuntu Linux for phones, Samsung has now reportedly confirmed that it plans to ship new Linux-based mobile devices of its own later this year. 

Rather than Ubuntu Linux or Linux-based Android, however, Samsung's handsets will be based on Tizen Linux, a mobile OS that was launched by the Linux Foundation and the LiMo Foundation in late 2011.

Samsung plans "to unveil competitive Tizen devices within this year," a company spokesperson reportedly told CNET on Thursday, though no further specifics were provided.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023649/samsung-tizen-linux-phones-will-arrive-in-2013.html

Download Shim

Secure Boot bootloader for distributions available now

Download Here:

http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/shim-signed/

Linux (slowly) comes to Windows 8 PCs with UEFI secure boot

One of the largest underlying changes to Windows 8 is the long-overdue shift from BIOS to UEFI. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is superior to BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) in almost every way, except for one: At the moment, UEFI prevents Linux distributions from being installed on Windows 8 machines.
UEFI, in essence, is a light-weight operating system that your computer loads at boot time. (See: Demystifying UEFI, the long-overdue BIOS replacement.) Because it’s an operating system, UEFI has full access to your hardware, and it can be programmed to do just about anything (thus the Extensible part of its acronym). UEFI interfaces can be mouse-driven (pictured below), and can perform complex tasks such as surfing the web or backing up your hard drives.
The UEFI specification itself also introduces a few new features to improve performance, flexibility, and security. The feature that has received by far the most attention is secure boot, as it can be used by PC OEMs to prevent other operating systems being installed on their hardware. Dell, if it so wishes, could build a PC that only runs Windows. On the flip side, Apple could stop Windows from being installed on its hardware.
Ostensibly, secure boot isn’t meant to be used maliciously, though: Its primary purpose is to prevent a malware-infected PC from booting, thus protecting the user from possible data theft or worse. Secure boot works by means of cryptographic signing: A chip on the motherboard stores the cryptographic hash/key of important operating system files and drivers, and during boot-up those files are checked — if their hashes have changed, they’re assumed to be compromised, and the boot process stops. If you try to boot Linux, secure boot detects the altered hashes and halts boot. While Linux obviously isn’t malware, secure boot doesn’t know that.
The solution, of course, is to add the Linux file/driver hashes to the secure boot chip — but to do that, you need a secret password. In the case of Windows 8 machines (i.e. official OEM machines bearing the Windows 8 logo), only Microsoft and the OEM know the password. If the key was public, then malware authors would be able to add their own hashes, and thus the system would be worthless.
Where does this leave Linux? One solution is to simply disable secure boot. Some OEM machines allow you to do this, while some (most notably the ARM-powered Windows RT devices) don’t. This is a bit of an unfair compromise, though, as it leaves your computer vulnerable to malware and rootkit infection. Another option would be for Linux distributors, such as Red Hat and Canonical, to collaborate with Microsoft to get their distros added to the secure boot system. It doesn’t seem like there has been much movement in that area, though.
The currently favored solution is a workaround: a pre-bootloader signed by Microsoft (so it passes secure boot) that can then be used to load a normal Linux bootloader without further signature checking. One Linux developer, Matthew Garrett, has managed to get Microsoft to sign a pre-bootloader called Shim. You can download it today and use it to boot Linux on your Windows 8 machine. Shim should soon find its way into SUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, and other major Linux distros. The Linux Foundation is developing an “official” workaround, but as of November it still hadn’t received Microsoft’s blessing.

Source:http://www.extremetech.com/computing/144204-linux-slowly-comes-to-windows-8-pcs-with-uefi-secure-boot