Voyageur's corner

NX 2.1 libraries (based on X libraries and Xnest server) are derived from an old XFree release, and are not maintained anymore upstream, in favor of the 3.0 version (based on X.org, 64bit-clean, ...). As pointed out by our nice security people, the code base in NX 2.1 is not patched against all vulnerabilities reported in XFree recently.

So, what will this change for Gentoo users? The free edition server 3.0 has been in the tree for some time and will be going stable shortly (and 2.1 packages removed). The bugs reported when 3.0 got out are all fixed now, so this is the best working version anyway!

For Freenx users, I am preparing a version bump that will work with 3.0 libraries (and will also work on no-multilib amd64 systems too). Upstream is working on a new version, with complete 3.0 support, but as it will be a complete rewrite, expect it "when i's done"

Just in case, I'll move the 2.1 nx libs ebuild in the NX overlay (package.masked of course), if people really need it for their freenx setup (and know what they are doing)

When these updates are done, next big task will be to finally write some nice documentation on NX servers in Gentoo (what's NX, pros/cons of the different servers, how to set up advanced features, troubleshooting guide, ...)

I had previously blogged about virtualbox, which replaced vmware on my desktop.

The new version 1.5.0 was released yesterday, and the Changelog has some nice entries, like virtual serial ports, ...

A new feature I love is "seamless windows" (vmware and parallels had this on Mac, now we have that on linux ): that means windows programs in their windows on your desktop (and not anymore in a big "windows desktop" window)

Another great "new" feature is shared folders support: this was in 1.4.0, but not in the GPL edition... Here it is in 1.5.0, and working great: all the shared folders you set up appear (and appear quickly) in your "network neighborhood".

There is also an option now to activate/deactivate VT-x/AMD-V support, but they say it's slower than their own implementation. I'll have to test that on minesweeper

ps: and of course it's available in Gentoo portage

After some months filling up the gnustep overlay, I am glad to announce that the new series of gnustep ebuilds are finally making their way in portage
grobian added the new eclasses and all the gnustep-base packages (on which all other gnustep packages are built). Now we wait for arch teams to say "OK, everything's fine" (bug #189372 for the curious), and then we'll start moving in applications ebuilds
This will give me some time to complete the etoile ebuilds, the versions in the overlay work fine, but are still rough. By the way, if you try etoile and don't get the nice and shiny background, check that you are not running a 1280x1024 resolution (or another with the same aspect ratio): the background image for this ratio does not exist yet.
Another good news for GNUstep fans: the gnustep herd is now 3-persons strong, with truedfx joining our forces! And now for the dockapps fans: wmforkplop is a nice dockapp that displays animations reflecting forking activity, while listing the top cpu consuming processes (and a "process browser" to kill the offending ones). There's an ebuild available in my overlay, it looks better animated than in this screenshot:

GNUstep on Gentoo users, this is for you! (other interested people can read on, of course)

The gnustep overlay is now almost 200 commits old, so it's time for a status report (ie what's the overlay usability status?)

• New gnustep eclasses

These are more or less complete now (some changes still get in here and there), and are quite usable now They still need some proper self-review, before getting reviewed by gentoo-dev folks

• Updated base packages (and gnustep on gentoo organization)

These packages have not been changed for some time now and run fine, they'll be ready for portage inclusion when the eclasses are

• Packages updates

GNUstep ebuilds using the new system are easier to maintain, so the apps in the overlay behave quite well, and are up-to-date. People interested in ProjectCenter will most certainly like the the SVN pre-0.5 version available, quite an enhancement compared to stable 0.4.3 (for example this one works on ~amd64) As an enhancement, some of the gnustep-libs packages could change to the gnustep-base eclass (which does not require gnustep-gui and gnustep-back installed) instead of gnustep-2

• Étoilé packages

The Étoilé project recently released their 0.2 version. Some packages were already in the overlay (popplerkit/vindaloo for example), I am now working on the missing ones, and adding a global ebuild to easily set it up for the user For now, all frameworks are available, most of the user applications (typewriter, grr, ...) too. What's still missing is Azalea and friends (the window manager), the Etoile background systems (that allow for macos-x style menus on top), and some integration

If you are curious about Étoilé, a livecd should soon be available (probably before all packages are integrated in the overlay). Or of course, the web site

The Nomachine folks released a new major version of NX, highlights include (shamelessly taken from the release announcement):

• Desktop sharing

NX 3.0.0 gives remote access to the local display of the Unix workstation where the server is installed, meaning that users and system administrators can now get quick access to all the computer's resources and remotely control any NX-enabled PC over the Internet.

• Session shadowing

Multiple users can now connect to a NX session at the same time, show and share files, demonstrate software and presentations, even chat with the other users on the server. Session shadowing is supported for all remote desktop protocols, including RDP (Windows Terminal Server) and VNC

• Full support for the x86_64 architecture

• Screen scaling capabilities

NX is now able to scale the content of the frame-buffer, to offer thumbnails of the remote desktop or to fit the desktop in a smaller screen.

• Dynamic reordering of the screen updates

Based on the available bandwidth and the current level of congestion, NX will defer the most bandwidth-consuming operations to give precedence to interactivity. With browsers and office applications, for example, NX will reorder the screen updates to show first the textual output. With videos and games, NX will drop the intermediate frames,similarly to the way a media player would do in the same conditions, if the bandwidth is not sufficient to keep the frame rate of the requesting application.

• Greatly reduced session reconnection times

Special attention was paid to ensuring that sessions can be migrated from a computer to another in literally no time. As an example, the time for reconnecting a GNOME session through a modem link went from the 2-3 minutes, required with the 2.x.x code-base, to 15 seconds.

• Bug fixes, no more need for compatibility libstdc++

nxserver-freeedition is now bumped in portage, enjoy and test

As for freenx, the new features will need to be added, so if you want them, please send a mail to frenx mailing list or directly to Fabian Franz (the freenx developer) to motivate him Read Fabian's post and tell him "thanks!"

GNUstep-interested people, you're not forgotten, the overlay heavy work is now mostly done, we're in bug-fixing mode now. Etoile should soon release its 0.2 version (yes yes it will be added in the overlay after gnustep in gentoo is fixed)