If it is cloudy, follow it in real time on your computer with http://www.stellarium.org/ ;)

You will need to get the source and compile the following packages yourself from freetype's download page and cairo's releases page:

• freetype-2.3.5
• pixman-0.10.0
• cairo-1.6.4

with the usual

./configure && make && sudo make install

You might have to install make with the following before you can compile cairo:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Freetype needs special attention to enable LCD sub-pixel rendering because of these patent issues. So uncomment define FT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_RENDERING in devel/ftoption.h to enable it.

It is not really necessary to recompile freetype, I just included it to play around with it - and the new cairo is just so that firefox will compile. You can delete the new libraries (by default in /usr/local/lib) after firefox is compiled with system cairo. Then everything should be back to using the default font settings as set in the gutsy preferences. Or so I am guessing, works for me ;)

Now to compile Firefox:
Create a ~/.mozconfig file as described here.
This is mine:

. $topsrcdir/browser/config/mozconfig
mk_add_options MOZ_OBJDIR=@TOPSRCDIR@/ff-opt
ac_add_options --disable-tests
ac_add_options --enable-optimize
ac_add_options --enable-libxul
ac_add_options --enable-system-cairo 

Make sure you have all the build prerequisites. I had to install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install libdbus-glib-1-dev
sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev
sudo apt-get install libxt-dev

If you have everything, start compiling with this command

make -f client.mk build

After some time, build a tarball as recommended with:

cd ff-opt
make package

You will find your new firefox package in the dist/ directory. Unpack somewhere and enjoy ;)

Before shot with Mozilla cairo:

After shot with system cairo:

More info here: Total Eclipse of the Moon, 21 February 2008

Brian Herlihy, SEACOM president, said that the idea behind the cable is to offer international bandwidth at a lower price but to increase usage to ensure profits.

In a move seldom experienced in the local telecoms arena, SEACOM revealed their wholesale pricing structure and strategy to the media.

The company will have a four tiered bandwidth pricing approach where bandwidth prices for larger products, in this case STM-64, STM-16 and STM-4 connections, are sold at reduced rates to the standard STM-1 connection.

Their price for an STM-1 connection however sets a roof for the resale of bandwidth by larger bulk-bandwidth buyers thereby ensuring that smaller players receive a competitive rate.

The price for an STM-64 connection, supplying 9.6 Gbps of bandwidth, is $ 1 663 875 or R 267-00 per Mbps per month. The price per Mbps per month for a STM-1 (155 Mbps) service is R 673-00 while a STM-4 (600 Mbps) connection costs R 575-00 and a STM-16 (2.5 Gbps) service will cost R 435-00.

or in other words:

As I understand it, this means the cost for an always on 128 KB/s connection will cost between R267 and R673 per month, but we still don't know the contention ratio, so I can't speculate too much.

Certainly good news though, but I'll wait to see the actual cost to the end consumer before I start jumping for joy. Only the bigger ISP's will be able to afford STM-64, although, considering the current cost of bandwidth, STM-1 will be far less than the current offerings anyway.

At least we have a specific date and pricing this time. Hopefully change is more imminent now than the imminent change promised by DoC in the past...