More Updates

Several packages in Slackware-Current are now being upgraded. I hope this packages can bring more improvement over the past version. Those packages are:

a/file-5.05-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/lvm2-2.02.82-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/ntfs-3g-2011.1.15-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/smartmontools-5.40-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/usb_modeswitch-1.1.6-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
ap/groff-1.21-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
ap/hplip-3.11.1-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/cairo-1.10.2-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/eggdbus-0.6-i486-1.txz: Removed.
l/fuse-2.8.5-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/gst-plugins-base-0.10.32-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/gst-plugins-good-0.10.27-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/gstreamer-0.10.32-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/libpng-1.4.5-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/seamonkey-solibs-2.1b1-i486-3.txz: Rebuilt.
n/openssh-5.7p1-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/libdrm-2.4.23-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/mesa-7.10_84b857e-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xf86-video-nouveau-8bb82312-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/gnuchess-5.08-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/seamonkey-2.1b1-i486-3.txz: Rebuilt.

Fixing Nepomuk Indexing Problem

I finally get rid of annoying Nepomuk Indexing problem by enabling Nepomuk Search on both my laptop and desktop. Even though it's a CPU-consuming process, it's worthed since i hate to have that error message displayed at random time during my presentation at class.

People or my students who looked at the error message might said that Linux is broken or no different with Windows (error-prone) or whatever reasons to discredit Linux. In fact, it's only KDE-related problem, not entirely Linux's fault. Linux is just the kernel anyway, but most people don't understand this basic principle.

I have to say that enabling Nepomuk Search does have a drawback, mostly if you have a moderate CPU specs. It will rise your CPU utilization as it will try to index all metadata on your desktop. Depending on how much data you have, the process will take some time to complete. Once it's finished, the process will be much lighter than it used to be.

In my system, i disabled Strigi, since i don't use KDE search feature. I use locate or find in command line which is fine with me. It's also faster and more effective IMHO. Enabling Strigi will cause you more CPU resources. Wasting resources for something that you don't use is silly enough for me.

Anyways, i still hope that future KDE release should have the same behaviour of KDE 4.5.5. Even by disabling Nepomuk, we won't have to see those Nepomuk Indexing error messages. Well, it's just one of my wishlist for next KDE release. I hope they see this blog post somewhere

Choqok 1.0 Released

Choqok, one of my favorite Twitter/Identi.Ca client is now at 1.0. They postponed this release just to make sure they have all the bugs squashed before their first 1.0 milestone. And they make it in time just few hours after KDE 4.6 gets released, so the developer has been working very hard and i'm thankful of him

I must say, i'm impressed with the new splash screen and the system tray icon which is now looks cuter than previous RC release. Take a look on the splash screen in the screenshot. Looks nice isn't it?

I used the SlackBuild script from previous RC and it builds just fine here on Slackware-Current. I hope you enjoy the release of Choqok 1.0 as well as i do.

Upgrading to KDE 4.6

Today, i upgraded all of my machine to start using KDE 4.6 from Eric Hameleers. First, i upgraded my workstation since i can do it remotely since yesterday. This afternoon, my laptop followed and then at last, my desktop. It's all working now. I even disabled HAL and everything still works normally as before

Thanks to Eric for providing this package

KDE 4.6.0 for Slackware-Current

KDE 4.6 has been officially released and with no delays, Eric has stepped up again to give Slackware-Current users a chance to witness the new shinny release of KDE 4.6 by building KDE 4.6 packages for Slackware-Current users in his KTown repository.

I'm in a process of mirroring and it would take some time before the rsync process is complete, but by tomorrow morning (Indonesian time), i believe it will be ready to serve you

Thank you Eric and happy hacking with KDE 4.6

Update (27 January 6:36 AM): I woke up this morning and yes, it's already finished. I have upgraded my workstation to KDE 4.6 and today, i will test it on my laptop before i go with my desktop at home which is my primary machine.

Go grab them now:
http://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.6.0/
rsync://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.6.0/

New VLC from AlienBOB

VLC, one of the most popular multimedia player is now at 1.1.6 version. They released the latest version after about three months of work and this time, it includes a security fixes which was reported in last December.

Eric Hameleers aka AlienBOB has provided VLC package for Slackware in his repositories (there are two repository, one with limited encoding capabilities due to hosted in US and the other one has mp3 and aac encoding capabilities). Please visit his blog for more information about the package and repositories.

New Console Audio Player

There is a new console audio player in -Current called moc. This package gets added in the latest -Current updates along with other packages. Nothing interesting, except that audacious is getting an upgrade.

Here are the list of packages gets added, rebuilt, and upgraded :

a/sysvinit-scripts-1.2-noarch-36.txz: Rebuilt.
ap/moc-2.5.0_alpha4-i486-1.txz: Added.
l/aalib-1.4rc5-i486-3.txz: Rebuilt.
l/libsndfile-1.0.23-i486-1.txz: Added.
n/pssh-2.2-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/audacious-2.4.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/audacious-plugins-2.4.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.

Another Basic and Development Updates

Several basic and development packages are now being upgraded in the latest -Current updates today. Those packages are spread among a/, d/, l/, n/ and x/ directories. Those packages includes:

a/coreutils-8.9-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/cryptsetup-1.2.0-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/cups-1.4.6-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
a/lvm2-2.02.81-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
ap/pm-utils-1.4.1-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
d/binutils-2.21.51.0.6-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/git-1.7.3.5-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/oprofile-0.9.6-i486-5.txz: Rebuilt.
kde/kdepimlibs-4.5.5-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
l/shared-mime-info-0.90-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/lftp-4.1.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/ncftp-3.2.5-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/rfkill-0.4-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
x/xdg-utils-1.1.0_rc1-noarch-1.txz: Upgraded.

KDEPIM Translations Updated

KDEPIM translations has now being merged after it has been reported missing on -Current's repository on LQ. All kde-l10n packages are being rebuilt due to this update.

XFCE 4.8 for Slackware-Current

XFCE 4.8 has been released and Robby has provided XFCE 4.8 packages for Slackware-Current in his repository. I'm now using it on my workstation since it's getting heavier to use KDE 4 on this machine. I think i will ask for replacement as this is not a new computer anyways. It has been used for years and i think it can be used for something else.

XFCE 4.8 will not goes into -Current as it is a major changes, but you can always upgrade to this version with taking your own risk

k3b 2.0.2 on -Current

It has been a quick updates on KDE's extragear package. After Amarok has been included yesterday, today, a new release of k3b is included. This version is quite special as it now enables users to disable HAL support completely and directly use udev. This package is almost similar with Eric's package on his KTown repository but some unimportant commits missing.

libgpod is now rebuilt due to permission problem reported on LQ.

Amarok 2.4 Released on -Current

I just compiled Amarok 2.4.0 this morning and in the next few hours, it has appeared on -Current. What a surprise

There are some interesting news also for IPod users, since Slackware now has include the latest libgpod 0.8.0 which can be used to compile the newest gtkpod, an application to connect Apple's product into Linux-based machine. Liblastfm is now upgraded as well, but it was taken from repository instead of a source release. Probably due to some problem which hasn't been solved or in pending for future release.

There is one new package on this update, which is libplist. According to information in github, it's a library to handle Apple Property List format whereas it's binary or XM. I hope it can work better with gtkpod

Thank you Pat and Slackware team

Amarok 2.4 Slipstream Released

Amarok team has just released their newest version of Amarok 2.4 "Slipstream". This version should sync with KDE 4.5.5 which has been released by KDE team last week. This is a major version, so expect new features and also a lot of bug fixes in this release. Major highlight of this version includes:

• The ability to use iPod Touch 3G and possibly newer devices.
• Transcoding: Now Amarok allows you to convert tracks from one file format to another when copying from the file browser to the local collection. We will expand this to media devices in future releases.
• A new applet that fetches guitar and bass tab information for all your string instrument needs.
• OPML export for Podcast subscriptions.
• A map and calendar view for the upcoming events applet
• Support for UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) collections, you can now listen to music from UPnP servers on the local network.

I have compiled this version on my desktop which is running -Current with KDE 4.5.5 installed and my first impression is that it loads very fast compared to 2.3.2. Also, reading my playlist which is stored in Amarok database is blazingly quick. It would take me 10-20 seconds before the playlist appeared, but now it only took less than 1s. That's so much difference

Also, the new splash screen is amazing. I think it has the same theme as the one used in KDE 4.6. Unfortunately it vanished too fast, so i can't take a screenshot of it.

In general, it's very worthed release to be compiled ahead of Slackware's default package.

Firefox 4.0 is Approaching

Firefox package in testing/ has been upgraded to the latest Beta release, Beta 9. Mozilla confirmed that they will release the final version of Firefox 4.0 next month (February). The exact date is still not yet clear, as they are still trying to squash all the remaining bugs in this Beta release.

Meanwhile, Kdevelop and Kdevplatform are now upgraded as well in -Current. The other KDE packages are already in stable state and no need to upgrade nor patch for now.

Another Upgrade on Development Tools

Several development packages has been upgraded on today's batch of update. The list are:
d/ccache-3.1.4-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/doxygen-1.7.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/guile-1.8.8-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/intltool-0.41.1-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/mercurial-1.7.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/nasm-2.09.04-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/yasm-1.1.0-i486-1.txz: Added.

KDE 4.5.5 Arrives in -Current

This morning, we had a lot of exciting changes in -Current. KDE 4.5.5 which has just been released is now being included in -Current and it will likely the version being used in the next Slackware release (13.2).

Along with this update, the basic toolchain, including kernels, glibc and gcc are being upgraded as well. It now uses 3.6.35.10 as the kernel, 2.12.2 as glibc, and 4.5.2 as the gcc compiler. Well, basically i need to recompile my kernel as there are gcc and glibc updates. Since NVidia hasn't release any update to their NVidia driver which work on 2.6.37, i think i will upgrade to 2.6.36.3 for now. It should work nicely with VMWare also, so i don't have to find patches for it.

Linux Kernel 2.6.37 Backlight Problem

If you are using Intel Graphics Card and planning to build Linux Kernel 2.6.37 on it, you probably want to postpone it a little bit, especially if you are using the Power Management feature on laptops. It says that 2.6.37 has some backlight problem and Linus and Chris Wilson were trying their best to fix the problem, but at the end, there were some bugs left and it has been reported by Michael Hocko at this LKML thread.

Chris has offered a patch, but it didn't fix the bug fully, so it's still an open bug for now. I think we will have to wait until Greg managed to launch his -Stable release after a while.

KDE 4.6 RC 2 Released

KDE 4.6 RC 2 (Release Candidate 2) is now available after it has been announced by KDE team this morning (Indonesian time). As usual, KDE packages for Slackware-Current is being done by Eric aka AlienBOB on his KTown repository.

Right now, it has been mirrored in UKDW Repo:
http://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.5.95/
rsync://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.5.95/

Have fun with KDE 4.6

Slackware PicBadge on FB

I got a nice information from Oncle_Jean Twitter account about Slackware PicBadge. Basically it will add a nice Slackware logo on top of your photo (you can pick your own photo or upload a new one) in Facebook and publish it on your Facebook account. It's a nice way to support Slackware

By the way, here's my Slackware PicBadge that i created using this PicBadge.

K3B Works Without HAL Completely

Eric has updated kdebindings on his KTown repository as of yesterday (i missed this update honestly) since new PERL package has arrived in -Current so it needs to be rebuilt in order to work with newer PERL version.

Today, Eric updated his k3b package to have the latest GIT version which should fix the divide by zero error thus preventing a successfull burning process and stucked at 100% as reported in LQ. This version also includes a patch which should make k3b works without HAL completely. This is the last KDE package that needs to be patched in order to work without HAL.

These two packages are now ready to be tested in UKDW's Repository as well

http://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.5.90
rsync://repo.ukdw.ac.id/alien-kde/4.5.90

Update (5 January 2011): It seems k3b is still not able to free from HAL. We will see if the next KDE 4.6 RC 2 fixed this problem or not. It should be out tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Many Development Packages Upgraded

Well, looks like several of my wishlist are now fulfilled with the latest -Current updates after Pat decided to upgrade several of it's packages, including those who are in d/ directory, such as Perl (now upgraded to 5.12.x), git, ruby, and subversion. vim and vim-gvim are also upgraded as the latest stable has been released.

Apart from those development packages, several other packages gets upgraded/rebuilt as well as a consequence of several package gets linked together.

Here's the first packages in 2011 based on Pat's timezone:
Sun Jan 2 05:11:14 UTC 2011
ap/foomatic-filters-4.0.6-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
ap/hplip-3.10.9-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
ap/linuxdoc-tools-0.9.66-i486-6.txz: Rebuilt.
ap/vim-7.3.094-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/git-1.7.3.4-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
d/perl-5.12.2-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/ruby-1.9.1_p430-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
d/subversion-1.6.15-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
kde/kdebindings-4.5.4-i486-4.txz: Rebuilt.
l/pilot-link-0.12.5-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
l/slang-2.2.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
l/taglib-1.6.3-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/gnutls-2.10.4-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/irssi-0.8.15-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
n/net-snmp-5.6-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/ntp-4.2.6p2-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
n/obexftp-0.23-i486-4.txz: Rebuilt.
n/openldap-client-2.4.23-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/imagemagick-6.6.6_9-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.
xap/pidgin-2.7.9-i486-2.txz: Rebuilt.
xap/vim-gvim-7.3.094-i486-1.txz: Upgraded.

First Packages in 2011

First packages coming in 2011 is several upgrade in basic applications such as coreutils, e2fsprogs, gphoto, lsscsi, mpg123, dhcpcd, system-config-printer, and the most interesting part IMHO, KOffice 2.3.0.

Why would i say interesting? Since KOffice has just been released yesterday and it's the first official release of KOffice since the split announcement of KOffice and Calligra Suite. It seems that Pat still support the KOffice and not turning to Calligra for now.

Enjoy the development of Slackware-Current in this new year

Update (1 January 2011): This KOffice release is already made by the Calligra team, but it will remain being KOffice until 2.3. Further release (starting 2.4) will start using the new name: Calligra Suite. Please read KDE announcement for more detail. Thanks to Eric Hameleers for the corrections.