In today's open source roundup: Check out the tiny Meerkat Ubuntu desktop. Plus: The 2015 Linux Jobs Report, and Mozilla releases Unity 5 to game developers System 76’s Meerkat Ubuntu desktop computer System 76 has long been known as a supplier of Linux computers. The company sells various models with Linux on Amazon that have proven to be quite popular. Now the company has announced its tiny Meerkat Ubuntu desktop computer. System 76 announced the Meerkat Ubuntu desktop on Google+: Coming soon! The Meerkat Ubuntu desktop! Engineering is complete. We’re working on retail packaging as well as imaging and distribution setup. Tentatively scheduled for release March 19th, the Meerkat will feature Intel 5th Generation processors, up to 2 TB of storage and 16 GB of memory packed in a 4″ x 4″ package. Pricing is to be determined. More at Google+ Image credit: System 76 System 76 also talked about CPU options for the Meerkat Ubuntu desktop: Two CPU options will be available – i3-5010U and i5-5250U. The Meerkat will use M.2 SATA SSD’s for cetain – possibly PCI but that hasn’t been validated. M.2 PCI SSD’s have amazing read speeds. They’re currently being tested on the Leopard Extreme. More at Google+ System 76 also shared information about the cost and GPU after Google+ users asked about them: We can’t be sure since packing cost aren’t back to us yet. Ballpark is around $500. GPU depends on the CPU – i3 is Intel HD 5500. i5 is Intel HD 6000. Iris Pro won’t be an option – that class of Broadwell CPU won’t be released until 3rd quarter which is very close to Skylake’s release. Our awesome Galago UltraPro has Iris Pro graphics now! More at Google+ The 2105 Linux Jobs Report The Linux Foundation’s annual jobs report is out. You can download it free from the Linux Foundation site at the link below. With its ability to adapt faster than any other platform to new technologies and markets, Linux is today’s defacto choice for everything from open cloud operating systems like OpenStack to product innovations like Tesla automobiles—and the opportunities abound for professionals who can support these increasingly ubiquitous Linux-based systems and projects. The time is right for professionals with experience on other operating systems to learn Linux. To better understand the clear advantage that professionals with Linux expertise have in the job market, and to learn how employers can attract and retain the best of them, Dice and The Linux Foundation surveyed both hiring managers and job candidates. The 2015 Linux Jobs Report reveals and analyzes the responses from more than 1,000 hiring managers at corporations, small and medium businesses (SMBs), government organizations, and staffing agencies across the globe—as well as responses from more than 3,400 Linux professionals worldwide. More at The Linux Foundation The Linux Foundation official press release also has more information about the 2015 jobs report: Key statistics from the report include: Nearly all hiring managers are looking to recruit Linux professionals in the next six months. With new Linux-based systems, projects and products constantly emerging, hiring the right talent to support all the growth continues to be a priority amongst employers. Ninety-seven percent of hiring managers report they will bring on Linux talent relative to other skills areas in the next six months. The rise of open cloud platforms is creating even more demand for Linux professionals with the right expertise. Forty-two percent of hiring managers say that experience in OpenStack and CloudStack will have a major impact on their hiring decisions, while 23 percent report security is a sought-after area of expertise and 19 percent are looking for Linux talent with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) skills. Linux-certified professionals will be especially well positioned in the job market this year, with 44 percent of hiring managers saying they’re more likely to hire a candidate with Linux certification, and 54 percent expecting either certification or formal training of their SysAdmin candidates. During December 2014, Dice and The Linux Foundation surveyed both hiring managers and Linux professionals about their Linux jobs needs and preferences. Hiring managers from corporations, small and medium businesses (SMBs), government organizations, and staffing agencies were surveyed. More than 1,000 responded with 66.9 percent indicating their company was headquartered in North America, 13.3 percent in Europe, 6 percent in Asia, 3.8 percent in South America, 1.9 percent in Africa, 2 percent in Mexico and Central America, 0.2 percent in Japan, 1.6 percent in the Middle East, and less than 1 percent in Australia/New Zealand. Respondents needed to have hired at least one Linux professional in the last year, or have plans to hire Linux professionals in 2015 to participate in the survey, and they were allowed to check as many responses to questions as appropriate. In addition, more than 3,400 Linux professionals responded to a survey, with 27 percent indicating they’ve been working as a Linux professional for 10 years or more. More at Linux Foundation Unity 5 and game developers Mozilla has released Unity 5 and it promises to provide enhanced gaming performance in web browsers without any need for plugins. The Mozilla blog has full details about the release of Unity 5: Mozilla’s goal of high quality plugin-free gaming on the Web is taking a giant leap forward today with the release of Unity 5. This new version of the world’s most popular game development tool includes a preview of their amazing WebGL exporter. Unity 5 developers are one click away from publishing their games to the Web in a whole new way, by taking advantage of WebGL and asm.js. The result is native-like performance in desktop browsers without the need for plugins. Unity is a very popular game development tool. In fact the company says just under half of all developers report using this tool. The engine is highly suited for mobile development and as such has been used to produce a wealth of content which is particularly well suited for Web export. Small download size, low memory usage, and rendering pipeline similarities make this content straight forward to port to the Web. Unity has a long history of providing their developers the ability to ship online via a Web plugin. In recent years, browser vendors have moved to reduce their dependency on plugins for content delivery. Mozilla and Unity worked together to find a way to bring content developed in Unity 5 to the Web using only standard compliant APIs and JavaScript. Unity’s new approach to Web delivery is made possible by using a combination of IL2CPP and a cross-compiler named Emscripten to port its content. IL2CPP was developed at Unity Technologies and converts all ingame scripts to C++. This approach has performance benefits when porting to multiple platforms, including the Web. Unity then uses Emscripten to convert the resulting C++ to asm.js, a subset of JavaScript that can be optimized to run at near native speeds in the browser. asm.js was pioneered by Mozilla. The code then executes in the browser as any other Web content. It accesses hardware via standard compliant APIs such as WebGL, IndexedDB, and Web Audio. The results of this collaboration have now reached the point where it’s time to get them into the hands of developers. More at Mozilla You can get a preview in this YouTube video: Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. 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