Developer jack118218 has released Ubuntu 7.10 PSP Edition v1.0, which officially breaks this shell application out of the beta phase. This new build will carry several new features an improvements, which you can view over in the full article.


Download: Ubuntu 7.10 PSP Edition v1.0

There's been no shortage of shell applications floating around the PlayStation Portable homebrew community lately. Ubuntu 7.10 v0.1 beta is the latest homebrew shell program from developer Jack and it runs many of the standard features found in similar applications. However, what makes this shell program more enticing than others is that it was licenced under the freeware distribution of GNU/linux. More on this in our full article after the jump.

Download: Ubuntu 7.10 v0.1 beta

Inspired by the Atari arcade classic Tempest, we reported on the homebrew game Webfest from developer Jum last year in October. Now the space/tunnel shooter game is back with more fixes and improvements. Head over the full article for more details.

Download: Webfest v1.2

For those of you subscribed to the StreamMyGame web-based service offered for PS3 users, you might be happy to know that you can now run games off the free Linux Player offered for it.

This was promised by StreamMyGame a while back when the service first went online and is now currently in full swing for PS3 consoles running on Linux. Check out more details about this online streaming service after the jump!

Bigboss, staff member of PSP-ita.com, has come out with something Ubuntu Linux users might like to use when using the Popstation on their PSP. It's called Popstation_MD GUI, and it's essentially a GUI for the Popstation that Bigboss says "works perfectly" with Ubuntu Linux machines.

If you want to learn how to use it, feel free to check out Bigboss' instructions at the full article.

Download: Popstation_MD GUI for Ubuntu Linux
Visit: QJ.Net PSP Development Forums

The laptop market will get a bit of Linux love, now that mobile computing manufacturer Everex is prepping up its Linux-powered laptop for its release in the first half of next year. The projected price will cost only US$ 300, making it one of the more affordable mobile computing options to date. The laptops will be powered by the Ubuntu Linux 7.10 operating software.

While its good to finally have laptops optimized for Linux (no more hardware compatibility problems!), there are naysayers about the Linux laptop's success. David Milman, CEO of Rescuecom Corp, said that most people who will be looking for more affordable mobile computers will not be familiar with Linux. To illustrate the point, he made an example out of most users seeking to install Microsoft Office, only to learn that the application will not run on Linux. "They will be disappointed and return the machine," he said.

We'd like to share with you this interesting conceptual game from New Zealand born artist and free software developer Julian Oliver. It is called levelHead and is actually a 3D spatial memory game. The game itself is still under development and will be released on Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu 7.04.

levelHead uses a cube with an image on each face as its only interface. Julian Oliver utilized PS2's EyeToy to capture the image and a screen to present the computed result. The cube possesses six rooms which in turn are logically connected by a network of doors.

Players, furthermore, need to turn the cube to lead the character around the rooms. You have a total of two minutes to find the exit and move on the next cube. Take note that some doors are traps as they lead nowhere. We know that it's quite hard to understand so we embedded below a video demonstration for levelHead.

Softwares used in the project include Vim, Blender, osgART, OpenSceneGraph, Artoolkit, and osgCal.

One representative from Acer recently claimed that they will not be releasing any laptops pre-loaded with Linux in UK because there is not enough demand in the market. As you've probably heard, this kind of Acer laptops are currently gaining popularity with the latest versions released in Singapore.

It should be remembered as well that Dell began offering computer models with Linux-based OS Ubuntu in the U.S. last May which was warmly accepted by the ever-growing Linux community. Anyway, it seems that our UK friends who prefer Acer computers will not be joining the fray anytime soon. The representative explained,

Acer models with Ubuntu pre-loaded are available at the factory level. However, there is no demand for it in the UK. Therefore, those configurations are not an option for UK customers at the moment. If the demand was there, then Acer would sell it.

Currently, even Dell is not offering Linux-based laptops in UK. However, a spokesperson from the company commented that they are currently discussing plans to include UK in their distribution list.

If you like Dell computers and you're looking for an alternative to Windows, you can get the best of both worlds soon with the company's E520, 1505 and XPS 410 models which sport Ubuntu, a Linux-based OS, ;aunch.

Dell says that it wants to offer its clientele the most options possible to ensure their satisfaction on the product. The company recognizes the existence of a solid crowd devoted to the free OS and says "providing more options to our Linux Enthusiast customer group will hopefully create even more raving fans!!"

Dell says the move will comprise of 1 percent of the total OS mix pf the company that it has installer in its systems. The company says that this translates into roughly 20,000 units a year.

While the Linux community applauds the move by the giant computer distributor, they say that one percent is still not enough to call the move a big step in the proliferation of the OS.

Linux is chosen by a lot of people because of the fact that its free to download and can be customized by programming-savvy users according to their whims. Issues with user-friendliness, however, has kept the mainstream steadily out of reach for Linux.

Emanuel of NGine Software has a very detailed How-To on controlling your PSP using your computer keyboard, and simultaneously view the screen from your PC in real-time. Yep, all those lol-kitteh image macros should come to mind: "your in your PSPz, and yur nowhere nearz it."

Now before you head to the How To, there are a few prerequisites: First you need an PC running Linux, they used Ubuntu 7.04); a PSP running Firmware 3.40 OE, although they do note that other versions may work; and a few software packages, the SVN versions of PSPLINK and RemoteJoy.

Below is a demo video just so you folks will get an idea of what you're going to get into:

Oh, and please, no complaints about not having a windows version. As the author of the How-To, Emanuel, says: "Linux is the better OS for PSP development, no arguments. all the tool chains depend on Linux. At the moment. this hack is primarily aimed at developers, not gamers."

So don't go spamming Emanuel, okay? We'll have our internet hamster try to dig up something for you Windows users, we'll update you when we find something.

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UPDATE: We've been informed that yes indeed, this is possible on Windows, still, the point is, that there is no Windows means in Emanuel's How-To. Anyhow, on to what we promised to get you folks: how to do this on Windows. What you will need: PSP Link v2.99 (USB) Beta, Remote Joy SDL for PSP (C) TyRaNiD 2k6, and the batch files and script files and binaries created by Schrade.

Below is a download link for TyRaNiD 2k6's Remote Joy SDL for PSP, there should be a tutorial included on how to get it to run for Windows.

Download: RemoteJoy SDL 2007