Fresh Moonlight
Moonlight is the name of Novell's Linux implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight 1.0 technology. Moonlight is now available in a Beta version for 32 and 64 Bit Linux systems, albeit only for Firefox users.
With Silverlight, Microsoft aims to compete with the widely used Flash from Adobe, at present with little success. But if few web pages are as yet using Silverlight, Moonlight has one distinct advantage over Flash: the simple plugin installation via the customary Firefox add-on, whereas the Flash installation is still somewhat laborious.
The Beta brings improvements in performance, fixes memory leaks and also supports the "Microsoft Media Pack" which contains the Microsoft Media Codec from Windows, that meanwhile, is also available for Linux. The Moonlight plug-in loads the codecs automatically when a page calls for it. In addition, Moonlight supports adaptive streaming. This means that the server regulates the compression of video data regardless of the connection flow-rate. If the bandwidth shrinks, the server sends the video at a lower Bit rate.
Whereby Moonlight 1.0 is based on the Silverlight 1.0, it comes with a 2.0 Media Stack, although the DRM parts are missing. This enables Moonlight to support all media codes from Silverlight 2.0, but doesn't mean that the browser can handle all of Silverlight's applications. Moonlight recognizes the video codecs WMV1 to WMV3, WMVA and WVMC1 and the audio codecs WMA7 to WMA10 and MP3. In the meantime, Microsoft are automatically redirecting Linux users who want to watch videos or films on Silverlight to the Moonlight page, but the Firefox plug-in can also be downloaded from the website. Further browsers (Opera, Konqueror), along with various systems (OpenSolaris, BSD) are to be supported in future. A list of pages that Moonlight more or less supports is available here.
Issue 261/2022
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
KaOS 2022.06 Now Available With KDE Plasma 5.25
The newest iteration of KaOS Linux not only adds the latest KDE Plasma desktop but sets LibreOffice as the default.
-
Manjaro 21.3.0 Is Now Available
Manjaro “Ruah” has been released and includes the latest Calamares installer, GNOME 42, and much more.
-
SpiralLinux is a New Linux Distribution Focused on Simplicity
A new Linux distribution, from the creator of GeckoLinux, is a Debian-based operating system with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.
-
HP Dev One Linux Laptop is Now Available for Pre-Order
The System76/HP collaboration Dev One laptop, geared toward developers, is now available for pre-order.
-
NixOS 22.5 Is Now Available
The latest release of NixOS with a much-improved package manager and a user-friendly graphical installer.
-
System76 Teams up with HP to Create the Dev One Laptop
HP and System76 have come together to develop a new laptop, powered by Pop!_OS and aimed toward developers.
-
Titan Linux is a New KDE Linux Based on Debian Stable
Titan Linux is a new Debian-based Linux distribution that features the KDE Plasma desktop with a focus on usability and performance.
-
Danielle Foré Has an Update for elementary OS 7
Now that Ubuntu 22.04 has been released, the team behind elementary OS is preparing for the upcoming 7.0 release.
-
Linux New Media Launches Open Source JobHub
New job website focuses on connecting technical and non-technical professionals with organizations in open source.
-
Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04 Now Available
Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04 has been released with all the additions from upstream as well as other features and improvements.