This last week we got a chance to sit down and talk to some of the folks behind Suse Studio and the openSUSE Build Service — two of the coolest projects currently happening in the Linux world (and two that deserve far more attention from the press than they are currently getting).

For the uninitiated, here’s the quick 1,000 foot view:

openSUSE Build Service - Take your Linux application.  Put it on their server.  Have their server farm create packages for you for Suse, Fedora, Ubuntu, etc… and it will even provide a repository and download locations for you (so your users can download directly from their servers).  Thus saving countless hours of manually (or semi-manually) building packages for each distro yourself… and saving money on bandwidth.

Suse Studio - A (gorgeous) website that allows you to build your own “appliance”.  Essentially this is a web-based Linux Distro builder.  Add and remove packages.  Change out logos and artwork.  Generate VMWare images, ISO’s, etc.  And there’s even a feature that allows you to test out your pending changes to your new custom distro… right from the website (without downloading a thing).  Awesome.

And today those crazy kids have stepped it up even further with the unveiling of Suse Gallery, which catalogs and showcases the distros/appliances people build with Suse Studio.

Think the possibilities through for a moment.

Let’s say you are a software developer.  You’ve just made an awesome application for Linux.

Now you can set up the openSuse Build Service to build and create the repositories for you.  Then you can go in to Suse Studio and build a custom Linux distro that is focused on showcasing your application (a good way for people to take a big application for a spin).  You can then point people to Suse Gallery to download that full distro to try it out… all from the Suse servers.  And it’s all free.

To go along with the launch of Suse Gallery, they have created “The Disters” awards.

The idea is simple.  $10,000 goes to the most innovative distro/appliance built with Suse Studio (and published to Suse Gallery).  There are two categories: “Open Source” and “Commercial”.  Check here for more details.

All in all this is some of the coolest stuff going on right now.  These projects offer an awesome amount of power for software developers, distro makers, IT guys, power users, etc… and all for free.  Hats off to the team working on these projects.  Incredible job.

I’m going to go ahead and call this an awesome day.

The first big update to Illumination Software Creator (version 1.1) has shipped for Linux and Windows!

Lots of new features to help you build ever more powerful applications in a %100 visual way.

There are three big ones (in my opinion):

• There is now an official “loop” block, so you can easily have real “do while loops” in your applications.
• Full ability to handle text files (with proper open/save dialogs, etc.).
• And, of course, you can now run shell scripts directly from Illumination-built applications.  Which makes it super easy to build interfaces to automate command line tools.

And all of that power is still super easy to use even if you  have zero programming experience.

This is, of course, a free upgrade for existing users.  New users can try out the demo version and purchase a copy over at the store.

Here’s the big, beefy list of new features:

• New window control: Multi-line “TextField”
• New Variable Type: “Text File”
• New Block: “Do While” loop
• New Block: “Close Window”
• New Block: “Run Shell Script” (contained within the new “System” block section)
• New Block: “Open Text File Dialog”
• New Block: “Save Text File Dialog”
• New Block: “Read All Text From File”
• New Block: “Save All Text To File”
• New Block: Get and Set blocks for TextField control
• New Project Settings option in Project Menu
• Can now adjust the height and width of a project working area to any size (big or small) within the Project Settings

There are also some updated examples that show off some of these new features.

And, once again, a big thanks to the community for sending in their feedback and bug reports during beta!

Now that version 1.1 is out, the attention is turned to version 2.0 (which will also be a free upgrade) and bringing full Adobe Flash/Flex/AIR support (in addition to the existing Python/GTK support).

The 2.0 version of the coolest, 100% visual software development tool on the planet, Illumination Software Creator, has been announced.  (You can read the press release here.)

Okay, I’ll admit it… I’m a tad biased.  But, even if I weren’t, this 2.0 upgrade… great guacamole, Batman.  This is some seriously good stuff.

I’ll cut straight to the big points:

• Now includes a native MacOS X version of Illumination Software Creator itself.  (So now all of our Mac friends can come hang out with us.)
• Full support for building Adobe Flex websites.
• Full support for building Adobe AIR desktop applications.
• 2.0 will be a free upgrade to everyone who has purchased, or will purchase, Illumination 1.0.
• Public Beta for 2.0 will be available in the coming days and will be announced here and on the official support forum.

This is where things start to get really cool.

So now you can build your own software.  Completely visually, without writing a single line of code (you don’t even need to have any programming experience to dive right in).

And then you can run that software on:

• Linux, Windows or Mac Desktops using either Python or Adobe AIR (take your pick!)
• On your Nokia Tablet using Python
• On your website using Adobe Flex
• Or on any device where Flash is supported

If that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is.  We’re talking “T-Rex with a jet pack and lasers” kind of awesome here.

You can check out version 1.0 (for Linux and Windows).  Take part in the Beta over at the Support Forum (the Beta for version 1.1 is set to wrap up in the next few days, after which “2.0 Beta 1″ will be made available).

And, of course, you can buy a license over here for $49.  (Which is less than the cost of most video games.  Or as someone, somewhere, probably has said, “Why I do declare!  That’s a super dandy deal!” … We don’t hear the phrase “super dandy” enough…)

The third Beta, of the 1.1 release, of the coolest visual software development tool this side of Jupiter has landed!

What’s new in this release, you ask?  So, very much.

• A new “Text File” variable type.
• New block: “Open Text File Dialog”
• New block: “Save Text File Dialog”
• New block: “Read All Text From File”
• New block: “Save All Text To File”
• As well as two blocks to Get and Set the text in the new multi-line TextField control.
• A new “Color” variable type.  (More on this in the next Beta.)

The net result?  You can now read and write text files, and work with multi-line text, within Illumination.

Just to help you get started I’ve put together a (very, very simple) Text Editor example project.  That screenshot on the right is the project itself.  It’s a thing of beauty.  With only adding 7 blocks to a brand new project, you can have a, fully functional, text editor that can save and load text files.  Absolutely glorious.

Downloads:

• 1.1 Beta 3 for Linux
• 1.1 Beta 3 for Windows
• Text Editor example project

All the cool kids are hanging out over at the Illumination Software Creator official support forums.  That’s the place to provide feedback and get help from the community.

On a related note: We’ve added bulk discounts to Illumination purchases.  Go to the Radical Breeze Online Store, enter the number if Illumination licenses you need and, presto, the discounts will be automatically applied.  (Purchases of more than 15 copies get a 35% discount, etc.)

(And, of course, if you only need one copy of Illumination… that’s okay too. )

I love Maemo.  I’m not even going to try to deny it.  It is, by far, my favorite mobile device OS.

It is fast, flexible and highly customizable.  It makes the Nokia Internet Tablets (N900, N810, etc.) a dream to use for nerds everywhere.  (In fact, I have such a high opinion of Maemo, I included the ability to build applications for it in my visual development tool Illumination.)

But Maemo is dead.  And it’s time to move on.

In its place is MeeGo.  The project hosted by the Linux Foundation and spearheaded by both Intel and Nokia (the combination of those three organizations brings some serious street cred) and is, in a certain way, the combination of both Maemo and Moblin (Intel’s Netbook-focused, Linux-based OS).

This week, only a few short months after MeeGo was announced, we have the first release - MeeGo 1.0 for Netbooks.

This first release of MeeGo… is basically Moblin.  From an end user standpoint the two are only slightly different.

It is, without a doubt, meant for Netbooks.

And we’ve got a few months to go before we see a version of MeeGo that is ready to use on handheld devices (the current versions of MeeGo can be installed on the N900 phone’s… but it’s still mostly just a terminal for development purposes).

In fact… that is causing me a fair bit of pause.  If we have the complete MeeGo user experience for Netbooks ready and shipping (you can install it on your Netbook right this moment)… why is the handheld device experience not ready?

Will the Netbook and handheld versions of MeeGo differ that much?  Will the handheld version look more like Maemo 5 (on the N900)?  Or is the time being spent to polish up the Moblin/Netbook interface to better fit on the smaller form factor of the handheld devices?

Right now we don’t have the official answers to those questions.  Luckily we won’t have to wait too much longer as the handheld user experience is reported to be available for testing in the next few months.

And, on top of all that, MeeGo is utilizing the openSUSE Build Service to build projects for the different MeeGo versions.  (If you haven’t looked into the openSUSE Build Service at this point, you really owe it to yourself to check it out… It is a fantastic way to put together packages for multiple platforms.  Very cool stuff.)

So, all in all, I’m quite excite about MeeGo.

Really, the only bit that makes me have a frowny face is this:

1. MeeGo will not be officially available for the Nokia N900.  Though a development release will be… so you’ll be able to get MeeGo and use it on your N900… but not in an officially supported way.  Which means…
2. As of right now there are not phones/handhelds on the market that are slated to be upgraded to MeeGo.  Which is a major bummer.

But, so long as Nokia can manage to get a new tablet style device (the “N900 + 1″ perhaps?) out that ships with MeeGo this year, I’ll be pretty okay with that.

In fact, I think it’s fantastic that Moblin and Maemo are now merged.  If this allows MeeGo to advance at a faster rate… and makes it easier developers to ship their software on multiple devices… I’m down right excited.

The Maemo Community has created some phenomenal software over the last few years.  And I have no doubt that the MeeGo Community (which is comprised of many of the same individuals)  will do the same.