Mir is a powerful display server that can meet your IoT display requirements

IoT is one among the hot discussion topic in these days. It changes the way in which we communicate with the devices surrounding us. The majority of IoT devices use sensors and other actuators to interact with people. While there is a class of devices which requires a graphical display to communicate with people.

Linux is the most popular operating system chosen by IoT manufacturers and researchers to build IoT devices.  When we use Linux on IoT devices, we have handful choices. It includes selecting a complete display server to custimizing a simple toolkit. The Mir server is a display server that can be used a variety of devices.

In a blog post, Mr. Jamie Bennet explores the pros and cons of Mir server as a graphical solution for IoT devices.

The IoT promises to bring about a revolution in the way we interact with devices around us. While many IoT devices will be hidden away, from sensors that measure manufacturing tolerances in a factory to hubs that control lighting around the home, there are a class of devices that need to provide some sort of graphical output or display to the user. Some examples include digital signage, interactive kiosks, automotive in-car entertainment gateways, smart meters, and the plethora of display screens seen on everything from washing machines to smart thermostats. All of these examples need some way to output graphics to a screen display but in an embedded environment that is not always easy.

Linux is one of the most popular OS choices for manufacturers and solution providers to use in IoT devices and with it there are a few options available for graphical environments. From custom software to drive the display, through direct frame buffer access with toolkits such as QT, to a full X windowing server. All of these options have their pros and cons and often it is a trade-off between custom software and off-the-shelf components to speed up development. Custom software takes time and requires developers to continue to maintain a code base for the lifetime of the device, while using a graphical toolkit such as QT requires less code but comes with commercial licencing. The open source X windowing server is a popular choice but, being over 30 years old, has some shortcomings. It has been well documented that the design of X windows, although revolutionary at the time, has some security risks especially around application isolation and privilege escalation which has led to efforts to replace it by redesigning the graphical server from the ground up. One such effort is Mir.

You can read the complete article in Ubuntu blog. 

What is data virtualization and why it is relevant?

Data virtualization is the process of creating a virtual layer of data. It will distribute a set of unified data services among multiple users and applications to provide better accessibility, reduced replication, and higher flexibility.

Picture Courtesy : Load Cells Website

The Load Cells Manufacturers has published an article on Data Virtualization. It gives a brief idea on data virtualization, with special emphasis on what is data virtualization and what is not. It also talks about working principle of virtualization, various data virtualization tools and the need for the data virtualization.

The most recent innovation is Data Virtualization, a process that gathers and integrates data from multiple sources, locations, and formats to create a single stream of data without any overlap or redundancy.

With big data analytics, companies can locate revenue streams from existing data in storage, or they can find ways to reduce costs through efficiency. However, this is easier said than done. IT companies generally have multiple, dissimilar sources of information, so accessing that data can be time-consuming and difficult. Data virtualization systems can help.

Companies that have implemented data virtualization software have better, quicker integration speeds and can improve and quicken their decision-making.

You can read the complete article in Load Cells website.

How elementary OS is achieving usefulness?

In a recent blog post, Mr Daniel Fore, a team member of elementary project writes, how elementary OS is achieving usefulness, an essential quality of a successful operating system. He explains how elementary OS allows the users to forget about the operating system and concentrate on their work.

Usefulness is one among the 4 qualities listed by Matthew Paul Thomas, designer at Canonical, as characteristics of a successful operating system. It implies an operating system should be able to do all the things, that people expect their computers to do. Other 3 qualities he listed as characteristics of successful operating system are desirable, get-able and keep-able. He mentioned these qualities in a talk on Ubuntu eco-system.

A preview of elementary OS 0.4.1 Loki (courtesy : DistroScreens)

By explaining usefulness in context of elementary OS, Daniel Fore writes,

As MPT explains, the desktop environment provides a foundation for an operating system’s usefulness, but it is most useful when it fades into the background and people can hardly tell they’re using it. Pantheon (the code name for our desktop environment) makes elementary OS useful with features like an intelligently hiding dock that maximizes screen real estate, a fast search that enables you to perform actions and find apps quickly, and a set of full-featured system indicators that help you keep an eye on the state of your device. But chances are you have never heard of the name Pantheon, and when you turn on your computer you don’t set out to use it. What makes an operating system truly useful is apps.

You can find complete post on elementary OS blog.

Best GNOME distributions in 2016

When the year 2016 is about to finish, dedoimedo has created a list of best GNOME distributions in 2016 and has published a comparative article in ocsmag portal.

When GNOME 3 was introduced almost 6 years back, there were a lot of criticisms against it. Most of them were raising the concerns on changing from a well established experience of GNOME 2.x and it was the prime reason for emerging desktop environments like Cinnamon and MATE desktop. Over the years, GNOME 3.x has grown a lot and has captivated the mind of reluctant PC/Laptop users who were not finding GNOME 3.x user friendly in it's early days.

The list of best gnome distribution prepared by dedoimedo lists in Apricity OS 12.2015, Fedora 24, Fedora 25, Ubuntu GNOME 15.10, Korora 23, CentOS 7.2, Zorin OS 12, Chapeau 24 and after comparing different aspects reaches in a conclusion that, Fedora 24 is able to deliver best GNOME experience among all these distributions. Though there are many interesting features in other distributions which can not be ignored so easily.

I do think the Gnome side of things is fairly interesting if heavily skewed in Fedora’s favor, so to speak. But this does make a lot of sense because both Ubuntu and Mint use their own presentation layer, and even though Gnome is present under the hood, Unity and Cinnamon are separate entities. Which leaves us with a lot of Fedora effort in this game.

But that does make the annual contest extra spicy. You have Fedora – and all its spins, and we can see that the results are not quite as predictable as one would expect. We must also take into account CentOS, which does the Gnome thing on its own, and let us not forget Zorin, a lone pure Gnome warrior still true to its creed.

Read complete article in OCSMag portal.

Getting started with Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

It is often told that, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is one of the key tool to get started with open source projects. IRC servers accepts and transmits relay messages to users connected with IRC clients and they communicated using IRC protocol, a predefined set of rules which regulates the communication between different nodes. There are multiple IRC networks and each network may be made of one or more clients.

In Fedora Magazine Mr Paul W. Frields has published an interesting article which covers basics aspects of IRC along with IRC clients available for Fedora, configuring IRC clients on different clients and other tips and tricks.

IRC, short for Internet Relay Chat, is a great way for individuals and teams to communicate and work together. Although there are new apps like Slack that mimic it, IRC itself has been around for decades. It’s a time-tested system with a wealth of features. However, it’s also simple to get started using it with tools in Fedora.

IRC servers on the internet accept and relay messages to connected users, each of whom is running an IRC client. The clients all use the IRC protocol, a set of agreed upon rules for communication. There are many separate IRC networks on the internet. Each network has one or more servers around the world that work together to relay messages.

Each network also has many channels, sometimes called rooms, where users can gather. A channel usually has a specific topic, and a name that starts with a “#”, such as #hyundai-cars. When you enter or join that channel, it’s because you want to discuss that topic. You can also start your own channel.

You can also privately message other users in most cases. It’s also possible to configure your user account on a network, or your client, not to get such messages. IRC has many options available, but this article will only cover a few simple ones.

Read complete article in Fedora Magazine.

Comparing memory usage of LXQt Desktop with LXDE, Xfce and others

It is often told that, Qt is a bloated framework and anything that make use of it will be bloated and will require considerable amount of memory. But a study conducted by LXDE/LXQt team shows this is not a valid statement and comparing to the benefits offered by Qt it does not consume much memory.

What is LXQt Desktop

LXQt is a lightweight and user friendly desktop environment built using Qt frameworks. The motive behind LXQt project is to provide a familiar user experience without consuming too much of the system resources. It is a new branch of LXDE, another lightweight desktop environment.

Memory comparison

A survey conducted by LXQt team claims that, the memory usage of LXQt desktop is less than all other desktop environments which provides similar or better user experience. It is almost comparable with memory usage of LXDE, with a lot of added features.

source : LXDE blog

You can find more details on this survey in  a blog post published in LXDE blog.