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openSUSE’s Jos Poortvliet | LAS 29e06

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openSUSE’s community manager Jos Poortvliet joins us to discuss openSUSE 13.1, integrating new technologies such as systemd and wayland, his thoughts on staying competitive, and your questions!

Plus the solid details we now know about SteamOS and Steam Machines, the big upset of the week….

AND SO MUCH MORE!

All this week on, The Linux Action Show!

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Jos Poortvliet from SUSE


Brought to you by: System76

Check out System76 on G+

Jos is the openSUSE community manager since 2010, and a Free Software evangelist for over 10 years. He’s also an active volunteer in the KDE community.

  • What are some of the main responsibilities of a community manager?

  • Could you describe the role of the openSUSE board?
    • We’ve noticed one of their roles is enforcing “Trademark issues”. To your knowledge has openSUSE ever had a confrontation around branding on third party sites?

  • Why do you suppose we don’t see distros built from openSUSE, like we see with Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, and Fedora?

  • How has working with systemd been? Don’t you have a developer in-house?

  • What are openSUSE’s plans for Wayland?

Viewer Stephan Asks

  • How is life in Berlin?

  • Do you see a point in the future when openSuSE becomes irrelevant to SuSE GmbH, and they will reduce or stop their sponsorship (much like they have already done with Libre Office)?

Viewer pierre4l Asks

  • Regarding the possibility of a Software Center-like experience in openSUSE:

  • Do you think this is a fundamental feature lacking in openSUSE compared to other distros, or do you think there are other priorities?

  • Two or maybe three years ago plans were unhatched at an openSUSE conference in co-operation with developers from other distros. The back end got worked on but it seems there was never a useful front end created. Are there any developments in this respect?

  • Are there any plans to implement such a software center in openSUSE? Would the Bodega idea proposed by Aaron Seigo fit the bill, or would it be more likely that the new Ruby version of YaST sees the existing tools undergo a revamp?

Viewer Martin Asks

  • How would you position openSUSE within the Linux ecosystem? (what kind of users does it attract, how does it differentiate itself)
  • How do you see openSUSE develop in mindshare and marketshare in the future?

openSUSE 13.1

  • YaST has been converted to Ruby for this release? WHU?

  • What is the big thing you’re looking forward to in 13.1?

  • Has “making a Linux” becoming boring? We’ve noticing you’re promoting a lot of upstream features.

– Picks –

Runs Linux:

Desktop App Pick

FUSE-based file system backed by Amazon S3

Weekly Spotlight:

Git yours hands all over our STUFF:

*

— NEWS —

Steam Update

– What we know –

The first Steam Machine is a computer that can fit bog standard parts just like a full-size gaming rig, and yet fit into your entertainment center. Valve’s steel and aluminum chassis measures just over 12 inches on a side and is 2.9 inches tall, making it a little bigger than an Xbox 360 and smaller than any gaming PC of its ilk.

Valve designed the case so the parts can breathe individually. The CPU blows air out the top, the power supply out the side, and the graphics card exhaust out back, and none share any airspace within the case.

a system built into Steam that shows you which games your hardware configuration can actually run, and conversely, what hardware you’d need to buy to play a given game well — based on the real-world data about computer configurations that Valve already collects with its Steam Hardware Survey.

First, circle January on your calendar. That’s when the other shoe will drop; Valve’s hardware and software partners will reveal the actual Steam Machines that will ship to consumers, and the games that will come to the Linux platform, at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show.

There will be a number of different Steam Machine boxes on sale in 2014, and Valve expects them to arrive mid-year. Some of those boxes will be far smaller and / or cheaper than Valve’s own prototype unit.

Don’t expect Valve to make Half-Life 3 exclusive to SteamOS to help lift the Linux-based operating system off the ground. “It’s against our philosophy to put a game in jail and say it only works on Steam Machines,” says Valve’s Doug Lombardi. Even though the company locked Half-Life 2 to Steam years ago, the team appears to have thought better of that decision. “That may or may not have been a good idea given the condition Steam was in at the moment.”

Valve’s Anna Sweet says she started talking to partners about Linux three years ago, and games will be surprisingly easy to build. “If you’re using the Unity engine, you’re already done… if you’ve done a Mac game, you’re most of the way there.”

SteamOS won’t just be about games: the company plans to add other services for video and music playback. “However, we are not planning support for spreadsheets,” quips Lombardi.

As promised, the OS is built on Linux (not based on Ubuntu, we’re told, but entirely custom), though you’d never know it as the only interactive layer is all Steam.

Here’s a quick look at some games being played with the prototype version of the Steam Controller – the same version that we’ll be shipping to 300 Steam users later this year.

Speaking to IGN, Valve’s Greg Coomer explained that no one Steam Machine will be considered the “main” device, and instead a variety of different boxes will be available, each with their own set of unique features.

Several press web sites are reporting today about SteamOS, Steam Machines, and the Steam Controller. They came to Steam hardware HQ recently and spent some hands-on time with all three. Here is a roundup of their coverage

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