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SHIFTING to the Linux operating system can be pretty daunting for long-time Windows users who have grown accustomed to doing things a certain way.
Some months ago, we looked at the challenges that Windows users face when first using Mac OS X. The challenges are somewhat different on Linux, but can also lead to a fair amount of frustration for first-time users.
Linux for Windows users
Posted 11/28/2006 We took a look at Sabayon 3.0 a few months ago and were greatly impressed. The developers haven't taken a break since that time, and now 3.2 is upon us. We are diving in heads first to see what's new and what's been updated.
Sabayon Linux 3.2
Posted 11/27/2006 My background over the years has largely been with Mandrake/Mandriva Linux, and it's fully grown and mature (no longer a child), PCLinuxOS. Yes, I've dabbled with several other distributions along the way, but I always return to these two (Mandriva on the server, PCLinuxOS on the desktop).
Another Sabayon Linux 3.2 Look
Posted 11/27/2006 Ubuntu is without a doubt one of the fastest growing desktop Linux distributions. It is so popular that it has sprouted many derivatives. One of which is Fluxbuntu.
Fluxbuntu nBuild1 Revision2
Posted 11/27/2006 While still far from perfect, Ubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft" is both an improvement over the so-called "long-term support" release and a decent operating system in its own right. It's in a much better place than any other free-of-charge operating system has been before now, but I don't think it'll give any commercial operating systems a run for their money.
Ubuntu 6.10 "Edgy Eft"
Posted 11/27/2006 I have an impressive talent for buying laptop computers hostile to Linux. Right now I'm using a Sony Vaio VGN-FS840/W, with more proprietary drivers than you can shake a stick at. It's so bad that even a retail edition of Windows XP won't run on it; you need the OEM Windows (and sure enough, Sony is too cheap to include the CD), or you need to go to the Sony support site, download all of the drivers, and make your own supplement CD.
Xandros Linux conquers a hostile Sony laptop
Posted 11/27/2006 Xandros Corporation will release an updated version of Xandros Desktop 4 on Tuesday, 28 November 2006. Although the company refers to the new product by its marketing name of "Xandros Desktop Professional 4.0", here at DistroWatch it makes more sense to call it "Xandros Desktop 4.1", not least because the downloaded ISO images, which Xandros kindly provided to the press several days in advance, have "xandros-41" in their names. Also, while the new product is still based on the relatively old Debian "sarge" code base (the same core that the original Xandros Desktop 4.0 was built from), a number of new features an updated packages suggest that this is an evolutionary release, rather than a separate edition of Xandros Desktop.
Xandros Desktop 4.1
Posted 11/27/2006 Writing about XANDROS is somewhat like writing about an old friend. I have used various distributions of XANDROS for the past few years including their Server Edition.
LOOK OUT WINDOWS, HERE COME XANDROS DESKTOP PRO V4
Posted 11/27/2006 Up until now, Mac OS X and Linux users had been left out of the social—that is to say they haven't been able to use the Microsoft Zune with their operating system. "Until now" because the library libmtp is actually able to read the Zune's crazy filesystem on other, non-Microsoft OSes. How big a deal is this?
Zune Now Works With Mac OS X and Linux (Well, Almost)
Posted 11/27/2006 The recently announced agreement between Microsoft Corporation and Novell, Inc. has resulted in much concern that it could be harmful for Linux and other free software. However, the agreement itself, as well as its timing and comments made by Microsoft executives about it, may actually be a very good thing -- and perhaps even worthy of celebration!
13 Reasons to Celebrate the New Microsoft-Novell Pact
Posted 11/27/2006 Between Oracle's support offering and Microsoft's patent pledge, recent events could prove significant for the Linux operating system market. Matthew Aslett assesses the potential long-term implications
Linux in crisis?
Posted 11/27/2006 We're in the homestretch now. The only planned release candidate of openSUSE 10.2 was released a few days ago and final is expected to be released to the public on December 7. From this point on only showstopper and security bugfixes get integrated, so we are able to get a real good idea of 10.2 from this rc. I must say, from what I've seen, this is going to be a great release.
openSUSE 10.2 RC 1 Report
Posted 11/25/2006 By this point, everyone has heard of Damn Small Linux (DSL). When it comes to packing a full-featured Linux desktop environment into something as small as a pendrive, no one does it better than DSL. DSL uses Knoppix technology to boot and run from a live CD. The thing that sets DSL apart from Knoppix, or any other live distrobution, is its speed and compatibility on old hardware. Minimum requirements are a mere 486DX with as little as 16MB of ram.I will be testing Damn Small Linux on two systems. The first is my laptop - Dell Inspiron 1200. It’s nothing fancy but handles most distrobutions with ease. The second is a very old IBM Thinkpad 390E. The specs are 333 MHz and 64 MB of ram. This is the oldest machine I have.
A Quick Look at Damn Small Linux 3.0.1
Posted 11/25/2006 Tensions are already high over Novell's patent agreement with Microsoft, but Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth's invitation to openSUSE developers "concerned about the long term consequences" has kicked the tension up a notch.
Mark Shuttleworth issues divisive invitation to openSUSE developers
Posted 11/25/2006 After two years of supported life, Novell is discontinuing support for SUSE Linux 9.2, effective yesterday. Its closest competitor, Red Hat's Fedora Core 3, which was released at roughly the same time as SUSE Linux 9.2, remains supported.
Novell Discontinues Support for SUSE Linux 9.2
Posted 11/25/2006 GRISOFT, the developer of AVG security software, announced several new versions of its antivirus offerings for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD open source platforms. The products include AVG Email Server Edition 7.5 for Linux/FreeBSD now with integrated anti-spam as well as new products for the GNU/Linux platform – AVG Anti-Virus Professional Edition 7.5 for Linux/FreeBSD and AVG File Server Edition 7.5 for Linux/Free BSD. This release strengthens GRISOFT’s commitment to alternative operating systems including support for FreeBSD.
GRISOFT Expands Its AVG Security Solutions For GNU/Linux And FreeBSD Platforms
Posted 11/25/2006 X-Evian, a Linux distribution in English and Spanish that draws from Ubuntu and Knoppix code, last month released a live CD -- version 0.7 -- that features a 2.6.17 kernel and the XFce desktop environment.
X-Evian is a compilation which has been carefully chosen and configured for activist users, for liberated cultural, technological and social production, the Spain-based project team said. It is the team's first new release since 2003 -- it was originally built upon Debian GNU/Linux and Knoppix, the team said.
Live CD Linux distro borrows Ubuntu, Knoppix bits
Posted 11/25/2006 It was hard to believe, but early Saturday morning my kids snuck downstairs, grabbed my laptop out of the bag and started using it for fun and games. What was more surprising was the fact that they chose my laptop running Fedora, rather than the family PC running Windows with all of the kids games and edutainment packages.
When I asked my son why he had snatched my laptop instead of using the family PC, he replied without hesitation: "Because Linux is better."
Out of the mouth of babes: Linux is Better
Posted 11/25/2006 MCNLive provides a well-rounded desktop operating system, with applications to meet all of the needs of regular users, and all the power of the well-established *drake family of config/ management tools, all built on top of a tested, reliable base.
MCNLive linux live cd distribution
Posted 11/24/2006 A distribution ideal for the Linux newcomer, especially if they want to dual boot with Windows
Mandriva 2007 Free Linux
Posted 11/24/2006 Raw Therapee is a free RAW photo converter application developed single-handedly by Gábor Horváth. It has been available on Windows for some time, but on October 11, Horváth released the first build for Linux. If you are familiar with other graphical RAW converters, such as UFRaw, you will feel quite at home using Raw Therapee.
Raw Therapee 1.1 promises robust photo conversion
Posted 11/24/2006 On the day after Thanksgiving, Xandros Inc. will be giving business Linux users an early holiday present: Xandros Desktop Professional version 4.0
Xandros preps new Linux business desktop
Posted 11/24/2006 World of Warcraft players using Cedega (the Linux-based Windows emulator) had their bans lifted after an investigation by Blizzard in cooperation with the Cedega development team revealed that the bans were in fact made in error.
Blizzard Unbans Linux World of Warcraft Players
Posted 11/24/2006 After a long time I decided to change the linux distribution. I did so after the problems with the apt-get and update of the debian linux distribution (sid). I downloaded the iso image of ububntu linux version 6.10, burned the image and installed.
Ubuntu impressions
Posted 11/24/2006 Fedora Core is often called a test version of Red Hat, but many believe that it deserves to be recognised as a fully fledged distribution in its own right. Led by a community and sponsored by Red Hat, Fedora is probably one of the most popular GNU/Linux distributions in the world, with users including Wikipedia. It recently reached its sixth release, so let's see what's inside.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/22/2006 The latest distribution to be endorsed by the Free Software Foundation as a 100% Free Software distribution committed primarily to software freedom is gNewSense. It is based on Ubuntu Dapper and is because of that recognized as the most advanced pure Free Software distro
The sense of gNewSense
Posted 11/22/2006 After the usual new-release downloading frenzy died down a bit, I downloaded the 3.3 gigabyte DVD .iso image, stoked the boiler of my test PC, and put Fedora Core 6 through its paces. My mission: to determine if FC6 is suitable for production systems, or if it's better suited as a bleeding-edge testbed. This could be a wee hint:
Fedora Core is a rapidly evolving system which follows the latest technical developments. Fedora Core may not be appropriate for use in business-critical applications in your organization.
So let's keep that in mind as we embark on our Fedora Core 6 adventure. Today I'll talk about installation, and next week dig into the neat stuff you can do with FC6 after getting it up and running.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/22/2006 A series of events led me to installing a copy of Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 last week.
Given the hype that Novell had made around the distribution I was expecting to be impressed. And I was.
A week with SuSE 10
Posted 11/22/2006 Slackware is one of the oldest Linux distributions alive today and focuses on stability over cutting edge features. You might not find many flashy GUI tools for Slackware, but don't let that fool you - this is one heck of a distro. Today I'm taking a look at this latest version of Slackware and explore the myth that Slackware isn't for newbies.
Slackware 11.0
Posted 11/22/2006 Ubuntu uses Defoma,the Debian Font Manager,to centralize and simplify font management across all applications.Defoma, which stands for DEbian FOnt MAnager, provides a framework for automatic font configuration. An application whose configuration of fonts usually requires manual intervention can automate the process through Defoma, by installing a Defoma-configuration script. The script gets called whenever a font is installed and removed, so that the script may update the application configuration.Debian Font Manager — automatic font configuration framework.
Install Microsoft Core,Windows Truetype,Ubuntu Title,Macintosh Fonts in Ubuntu
Posted 11/22/2006 Fluxbuntu is a light-weight, standards-compliant, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring the Fluxbox window manager.The project’s primary goal is to develop an operating system that would run on a wide range of mobile devices and computers, both low-end and high-end.Recently since they started development on the PowerPC Architecture they also started development on support for the sony Playstation 3.
Fluxbuntu - Light weight Ubuntu-based Linux distribution featuring Fluxbox window manager
Posted 11/21/2006 Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich Web content. Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms, attracting and engaging users with a rich Web experience.
Install Flash Player 9 Update in Ubuntu
Posted 11/21/2006 I have been at least playing with computers for over 40 years and earning my living from them for over 35. Yeah, that statement scared me as much as it probably scared you but my point is that I have seen a lot of computing and a lot of changes over the years.
Sometimes Linux Impresses Me
Posted 11/21/2006 A few weeks ago I started seeing the “Blue Screen of Death” on my Sony Vaio PCG-K35 laptop every 10 minutes or so, making the computer nothing more than an overpriced 7 lb. brick. Because my laptop is more of a convenience and I’m in the middle of a large project, it got put up in the closet until I found time to deal with it.
Ubuntu Rescued My Laptop
Posted 11/21/2006 Robert Stimson of analyst firm W.R. Hambrecht initiated coverage of Red Hat with a bang on Tuesday.
Despite facing threats from giant Oracle and the strange alliance between former enemies Microsoft and Novell that obviously targets Red Hat, the Hatters and their stock were labeled as a “buy” with a target stock price of $21.
Red Fedora Fits Well Enough For Analyst To Give A Boost To Red Hat
Posted 11/21/2006 German software developer SoftMaker has released a free 30-day download of the beta GNU/Linux version of SoftMaker Office 2006, a proprietary office suite that retails for $70. The suite includes word processor TextMaker, spreadsheet PlanMaker, and subsystems for databases and drawings. These tools are fast and robust, and include a moderately complete features list -- somewhat less than the equivalent tools in OpenOffice.org, but greater than those in KOffice or GNOME Office. However, where TextMaker is a full-featured application with only a few areas where functionality is basic, PlanMaker is sparse to the point of often being inconvenient.
SoftMaker Office 2006 beta: Not a killer app
Posted 11/21/2006 "South Africa native and current London resident Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical Ltd. and the Ubuntu Linux distribution, told DesktopLinux.com Friday in an interview that widespread adoption of Linux on the desktop--so long-awaited by many people--'is just a matter of time, IMO.'
"Shuttleworth has been in the news a great deal lately, due to the skyrocketing popularity of the Ubuntu distro and because of major partnership deals he has made with Sun Microsystems, MySQL, Intel, Google, and others to use Ubuntu Server Edition in enterprise systems..."
DesktopLinux: Linux Desktop Domination "Just a Matter of Time"
Posted 11/21/2006 Yesterday I was browsing around on linux.org and saw a headline that said, "Ubuntu Spinoff Distro Adds Codecs, Plugins, More". Well, I had to click it, of course, since I had just installed Ubuntu but was really getting sick of having to thumb through APT repositories trying to find just the right combination of codecs to watch my DVDs and listen to MP3s. And since I had just installed it, I figured there wasn't anything of real importance to lose.
Linux Mint
Posted 11/20/2006 Ifconfig - the ubiquitous command bundled with any Unix/Linux OS is used to setup any/all the network interfaces such as ethernet, wireless, modem and so on that are connected to your computer. Ifconfig command provides a wealth of knowledge to any person who takes the time to look at its output. Commonly, the ifconfig command is used for the following tasks:
Ifconfig - dissected and demystified
Posted 11/20/2006 Ubuntu Multimedia Center is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with community and professional support.It is also a live cd that is ubuntu derived and also free. This system was inspired by the fact that ubuntu didn’t have much of a multimedia center.Because users would have to manually download the codecs for playing mp3’s and what not.The mail objective of this project is multimedia related programs available to users as easy as possible.
Ubuntu Multimedia Center - A new Ubuntu-based Linux distribution
Posted 11/20/2006 Data can be lost in different ways some of them are because of hardware failures,you accidentally delete or overwrite a file. Some data loss occurs as a result of natural disasters and other circumstances beyond your control.
Backup and Restore Your Ubuntu System using Sbackup
Posted 11/19/2006 If you have just installed GNU/Linux on your computer, and have only ever used Windows before, here are five things you need to know to get going rapidly.
Five things to know when you switch to Linux
Posted 11/19/2006 Roadwarrior is a client that uses unknown, dynamically assigned IP addresses to connect to a VPN gateway (in this case also firewall). This situation is shown on picture 1.1 and is one of the most interesting and today most needed scenarios in business environment. Here are some of the reasons why that is so:
Racoon Roadwarrior Configuration
Posted 11/19/2006 It's been quite the dilemma over recent months as to which Linux distro is the best choice for users moving away from XP (or "windoze" as it's affectionately labelled by some in the community). Instinctively the majority of users looked to Ubuntu and the user-friendliness of the gnome environment but it was brought to my attention that there's another major player in this exchange, a plucky little distro called PCLinuxOS, and here are my thoughts on it.
PCLinuxOS - perfect halfway house
Posted 11/18/2006 The last time I saw this distribution discussed it degenerated quickly into a flame war that had nothing to do with the merits of the distribution. Recently I saw that there was an update to the distribution. I had a bit of time so I thought I would take it for a spin and see what it was actually like. While this review is brief I hope to cover the major features that differentiate this distribution from Ubuntu its parent distribution and rate its overall usefulness.
Using Unbuntu Christian Edition - a Review
Posted 11/18/2006 For the first ever FOSSwire review, I’m going to take a look at the popular Linux distribution Mandriva; more specifically, their latest free-of-charge desktop outing Mandriva Free 2007.
Mandriva, originally called Mandrake, was born from the code of Red Hat 5.1 and its aim was to create a KDE-based Linux distribution (in those days KDE wasn’t GPL, and Red Hat didn’t want to include it for that reason).
And eight years on, we have Mandriva 2007. It’s a distro aimed at newer users of Linux, and in fact there are several versions of the distribution which are boxed commercial products (Discovery, PowerPack and PowerPack Plus). The Free edition that I tested out isn’t one of these boxed copies and is the only free-to-download version.
Mandriva Free 2007 - the FOSSwire review
Posted 11/18/2006 It’s been a while since my last post in this series. Only because once I used Automatix to install all my applications, I was basically finished with my system. Since my last post in this series, I’ve been busy customizing the look and feel of Ubuntu, which I find is the funnest part of using Ubuntu! There are so many options and themes and icons and window borders and wallpapers… but let’s keep that for another post.
There are still some things I needed to go through to make it the best system… well, for me, anyhow!
Adventures in a New Ubuntu 6.10 Clean Install: Day 5, Part 1
Adventures in a New Ubuntu 6.10 Clean Install: Day 5, Part 2
Posted 11/18/2006 Thinking of dipping your toes in the Linux pool? Xandros Desktop Home Edition — Premium may just convince you to jump in with both feet! Let Bryan Hoff guide you through the benefits and pitfalls of this free and easy-to-use Linux distribution.
Spending a Week with Xandros: First Impressions
Posted 11/17/2006 Arch Linux is an i686-optimized distribution that has been compared to Slackware for its stability (and it's use of BSD-style init scripts) and has also been compared to Gentoo in terms of speed. Arch Linux was created by Judd Vinet and is actually a Linux From Scratch (LFS) project. Arch uses pacman as its installation/upgrade tool and is similar in function to Debian's apt-get.
Arch Linux 0.7.2
Posted 11/17/2006 I already wrote a bit about desktop search on Linux systems, you can find more in the section Desktop Search (surprise, surprise).
However, the last look at the situation in general is quite some months ago, and several things have developed since then.
Desktop search for Linux - autumn 2006
Posted 11/17/2006 A few months back, I had posted an article related to BIOS which described its functions. A BIOS is an acronym for Basic Input Output System and is the starting point of the boot process in your computer.  But one of the disadvantages of the proprietary BIOS which are embedded in most PCs is that there is a good amount of code which is used in it to support legacy operating systems such as DOS and the end result is a longer time taken to boot up and pass the control to the resident operating system.
LinuxBIOS - A truly GPLed Free Software BIOS
Posted 11/17/2006 SUSE Linux 10.1 Kick Start is part of SAMS new Shortcut Series. To bring you up to speed, here's a quote from the source: "Short Cuts are short, concise, PDF documents designed specifically for busy technical professionals like you. Each Short Cut is tightly focused on a specific technology or technical problem. This may be a cutting-edge new technology that shows great promise, or it may be an existing technology that has reached the "tipping point" and is about to take off." Visit the Shortcut Home Page for more information on this series.
SUSE Linux 10.1 Kick Start
Posted 11/17/2006 Most Linux users have heard of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and many know how stable the OS is on desktop computers. But for the growing Linux laptop user segment, how well does the latest version of Ubuntu recognize specialized laptop hardware and perform on their portable device? Today I'm taking a look at Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft on Open Addict's DELL XPS M170 test laptop.
Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft
Posted 11/17/2006 In contrast to other operating system creators, OpenBSD's developers do not make an assumption that the user is a computer security expert. The system is fully secured out-of-the-box. Laborious tweaking and security hardening is not necessary. There's been only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 8 years! That's why the OpenBSD motto is "Secure by Default".
OpenBSD
Posted 11/17/2006 Not long ago I read an article about Pardus and it's new init scripts that promised to increase boot speed among other things. Since Linux init scripts seem to be always subject of controversy and research, I thought I'd take a look at Pardus when I had the chance. And that chance came with the release of Pardus 2007 beta last 11th of November.
Pardus 2007 beta
Posted 11/17/2006 ParallelKnoppix is a modified Knoppix live CD designed for use in creating HPC clusters. You can start up PK on multiple nodes to run a cluster, and customize PK to add or remove applications.
Getting started with ParallelKnoppix, a live CD for clusters
Posted 11/17/2006 By the time people discover these forums, they've probably already made some kind of move with Linux. This article is directed at people who never really thought about it, but it may be useful somehow.
Linux ... Maybe It's Time You Thought About It.
Posted 11/15/2006 It's been said many times in many forums, blog posts, mailing lists, and comment sections: GNU/Linux won't really go far as a desktop operating system unless it can play the same games that Microsoft Windows can. For years, TransGaming has tried to make the dream of running Windows games in GNU/Linux into reality, and to a small extent it has succeeded with its Cedega product (formerly known as WineX). Since development moves so quickly, it doesn't make sense to review each individual point release, so this review will take a look at the state of Cedega circa version 5.2.7.
Cedega 5.2 review
Posted 11/15/2006 I tend to install a lot of stuff on my Ubuntu machines. Much of this I do for curiosity and then report it here. This means that not only do I get to check out lots of interesting stuff, but my machines also start getting cluttered with stale files, old versions and orphaned files.
Here are two quick ways to help clean up your system.
Linux Tricks - Keeping your Ubuntu/Debian machines clean
Posted 11/15/2006 "Many Cedega (formerly WINEX) users claim to have been mistakenly caught up in a security sweep of the U.S. game servers performed by Blizzard's World of Warcraft Game Master (GM) staff. Affected users received the same strongly-worded 'Notice of Account Closure' email messages that true bot users did, in which they were accused of the 'Use of Third Party Automation Software.' While diagnosis of this event continues early speculation points to Blizzard's use of the Warden anti-cheating spyware application that is bundled with World of Warcraft, and the odd things that may have been produced by it when it was run via Cedega. Emails to World of Warcraft's Account Administration staff continue to go unanswered while the list of affected people continues to grow."
Blizzard banned all Linux users from WoW yesterday
Posted 11/15/2006 Web spiders are software agents that traverse the Internet gathering, filtering, and potentially aggregating information for a user. Using common scripting languages and their collection of Web modules, you can easily develop Web spiders. This article shows you how to build spiders and scrapers for Linux® to crawl a Web site and gather information, stock data, in this case
Build a Web spider on Linux
Posted 11/15/2006 The One Laptop Per Child project's onsite supervisor, Mark Foster, reported from Shanghai on Sunday that the first 10 prototypes of the Linux-powered OLPC XO-1 are up and running. This marks a key milestone toward an upcoming build of 900 units.
OLPC nears low-cost Linux laptop production
Posted 11/15/2006 Linspire announced the first of many free services offered to desktop Linux users. FreeLinuxEmail, an IMAP email and Net file storage service developed by Messaging Engine of Melbourne, Australia, provides desktop Linux users a free server-based email and file storage service that works with both web-based and client-based email. IMAP is a superior email protocol over POP systems offered by most free email services. IMAP's server-side functionality allows email, folders, drafts, templates, and files to be accessed at anytime, from any computer, via the IMAP server. IMAP allows you to read, send and manage all your email and folders from multiple computers, such as from work, home or from a laptop when on the road, yet still use a powerful email client, such as Thunderbird or Evolution.
Linspire Offers Free Services To Desktop Linux Users
Posted 11/14/2006 Learning UNIX is a seemingly daunting task, there are thousands of commands out there, each with hundreds of options. But in reality you only need to know a few of them.
The 15 Commands Essential For Unix
Posted 11/14/2006 Casual Ubuntu users may have registered surprise when they first booted the distribution's Edgy Eft release this past October. Back at the beginning of the Edgy development cycle, much was made of the formation of a new, dedicated Art Team to develop a fresh look for the backgrounds and splash screens of the startup process. But when Edgy hit the shelves, the artwork was scarcely different from that of its predecessor, Dapper Drake.
What really happened to Ubuntu's Edgy artwork
Posted 11/14/2006 Urli 6.10 is an Debian/Ubuntu derived Linux OS developed in Argentina. It was recently added to distrowatch's waiting list and sounded a bit interesting given that their motto seems to be "Linux like never before!" Well, this I had to see.
Quick Look at Urli OS 6.10
Posted 11/13/2006 KMyMoney is KDE's personal financial management program. If you don't have complex needs and a lot of history to import, KMyMoney lets you set up accounts, enter transactions, and generate reports easily, and other features are doable with some help from the generous amounts of documentation. However, KMyMoney is not a good choice for small business owners, who need more functionality than it can provide.
KMyMoney: Coming along, but still not there
Posted 11/13/2006The Friendly Interactive Shell (fish) is an alternative command line that is designed to be easy to learn and use. fish turns on by default options that are available in shells such as Bash or tcsh and develops them far beyond other shells. The result is a command line that can go a long way toward curing the phobia that many GNU/Linux users nurse from their experience with the DOS command line.
CLI Magic: Enhancing the shell with fish
Posted 11/13/2006 The Friendly Interactive Shell (fish) is an alternative command line that is designed to be easy to learn and use. fish turns on by default options that are available in shells such as Bash or tcsh and develops them far beyond other shells. The result is a command line that can go a long way toward curing the phobia that many GNU/Linux users nurse from their experience with the DOS command line.
CLI Magic: Enhancing the shell with fish
Posted 11/13/2006 NFS has traditionally been a semi-robust method of sharing files between Unix-based computers. The IETF has been working on NFSv4 since early 2000, and implementations have finally started springing up everywhere. The Linux kernel team has focused its efforts in NFSv4, providing its least buggy NFS implementation yet. If that alone isn't reason enough to start using v4, read on.
NFSv4: A Unix Mainstay Learns New Tricks
Posted 11/13/2006 Unfortunately, Ubuntu is becoming more and more of a disappointment lately. First they start shipping non-free software by default, then the edgy upgrade turns into a disaster and now I read about plans for including more non-free software and a 3D desktop by default in feisty (the next Ubuntu after edgy). To be honest, ever since I've seen the Feisty Fawn announcement I've been wondering what does the focus on "multimedia enablement and desktop effects" imply, the basic suspicion being will it include more non-free software by default?
Ubuntu should reconsider
Posted 11/13/2006 Today I am running a year-old version of Ubuntu Linux. In the world of Ubuntu Linux, where new releases are issued every six months, year-old Breezy is distinctly old.
To be honest, I am not entirely unhappy with having to run Breezy, even if I do still have a little envy for those able to enjoy the bells and whistles of Edgy Eft.
But, after my recent experience with Edgy I am more than happy to stick with something a little less cutting edge and flashy. At least for now.
Edgy pushed me over the edge
Posted 11/13/2006 My daughter recently attended a party where an artist twisted black, white and orange balloons into a penguin. When she happily showed me her prize, all I could think of was Linux. Now that the open source operating system has become so pervasive I see it symbolically everywhere.
The four most trendy Linux developments
Posted 11/13/2006 This article offers answers to questions not covered anywhere else to help you develop and deploy WebSphere® for Linux® on System z™ applications, including updates for the current product versions as of 2006 October. These technical questions and answers address 64-bit Linux distributions, JDBC drivers, heap sizes, and CPU.
WebSphere for Linux on IBM System z: Frequently asked technical questions
Posted 11/13/2006 The countdown continues on the road to 10.2 with the latest release of beta 2 on the 10th. This release didn't bring too many surprises, but things seem to be shaping up nicely. In light of all the negative publicity of Novell's recent announcement, I imagine the pressure is bearing down on the openSUSE infantry to release a banner system. I wish them luck and I think they are on the right path.
openSUSE 10.2 Beta 2
Posted 11/12/2006 Reports and resources for running Linux on a notebook or laptop computer.
Linux on Laptops
Posted 11/12/2006 Ledger is a command-line accounting application for the hardcore financial professional. If you're an MBA who groks Emacs and regular expressions, or a kernel hacker who appreciates tax deferred accruals, you'll love this application.
Ledger, the bran muffin of accounting tools
Posted 11/12/2006 When the life goes smooth, we get bored. When everything goes smooth we need some challenge to face and conquer. This is applicable for Linux distribution world also. After started admiring with Ubuntu, I did not want to be locked with it. I test a distribution only if it is having some unique feature in it. Zenwalk is one such promising. Here is my review on it. I came to know about Arch, which is optimized for i686 processors, so it is meant for recent generation of processors. So I downloaded base Arch Linux CD. My workstation is bit old with PIII/192MB/Intel-82815-Graphics which is suitable for this i686 optimized system.
Arch Linux 0.7.2
Posted 11/12/2006 Well, I thought it was about time I got around to doing this properly.
I've been using PC-BSD for approx. 10 Months so I've had enough time to see what life throws at me with it. My first install was 1.0 Release Canadate (RC) 1 and I currently run PC-BSD 1.2 (the current release) on my laptop and have a beta version of 1.3 installed on my desktop for testing. This will cover PC-BSD 1.2 and PC-BSD in general.
PC-BSD is primarly for desktops but makes a darn good laptop/workstation system. I won't cover installation details as this is changing in future versions and often reviewed. My reviews sole interest is in a End User prespective (imho)
PC-BSD Users Review
Posted 11/12/2006 Searching in Linux starts those venerable command line favorites: find, grep, and locate. These tools are very powerful and can easily be integrated into scripts, but for many users, this usefulness is also one of their key weaknesses. These users require a graphical interface in order to be comfortable with a program. They don't want to have to remember syntax and drop out of another app to type commands. The new breed of Linux desktop search is all about bringing the functionality of the tried and true originals into the graphical world.
Linux Desktop Search
Posted 11/12/2006 In this HowTo I will describe how to prepare a CentOS 4.4 server for OpenVZ virtual machines. With OpenVZ you can create multiple Virtual Private Servers (VPS) on the same hardware, similar to Xen and the Linux Vserver project. OpenVZ is the open-source branch of Virtuozzo, a commercial virtualization solution used by many providers that offer virtual servers.
The Perfect Setup - OpenVZ with CentOS 4.4
Posted 11/12/2006 The concept is that an image server retrieves a golden client's entire system image and deploys it to any number of client systems. A golden client is a system you have customized to work exactly the way you want. You can re-compile the kernel, install custom software, and do any configuration file tweaking you like. The command pulls the golden image to the image server for deployment to other systems.
Cloning Ubuntu in 7 steps
Posted 11/12/2006 A new IBM-sponsored study on Linux sent me by Joe McKendrick, our SOA expert, goes a long way toward explaining the big Oracle and Microsoft moves regarding Linux.
The war is over and Linux won
Posted 11/11/2006 ‘Completely free’ distributions spring up every once in a while, and they tend to get a substantial amount of coverage from the Linux press. The last one to be added to the FSF’s ever-growing list of free distributions is GNewSense, which is Ubuntu stripped of its proprietary software and given a (bad) makeover. As one might expect, it has received the usual spike of popularity: NewsForge, LWN, etc.
100% Free Distributions: Will They Get Linux Anywhere?
Posted 11/11/2006 Tilda is a nifty, ephemeral drop-down terminal window for GNU/Linux, written by Tristan Sloughter. Similar in likeness to many classic first-person-shooter terminals from games like Quake, Doom, and Half-Life, the terminal has no border and is hidden from the desktop until a hotkey is pressed.
Review: Tilda
Posted 11/11/2006 If users look beyond the splash screens and other branding, they will find almost nothing in the recently announced gNewSense distribution that is not already available in the Ubuntu Dapper Drake release. In fact, according to Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley, the Irish free software advocates behind the distribution, users may find that gNewSense detects less of their hardware than Ubuntu does -- particularly their wireless cards. So why would anyone use gNewSense?
gNewSense joins list of FSF-approved distros
Posted 11/11/2006 Today I'm taking a look at two ultra-userfriendly Linux distributions: Xandros Home Edition Premium and Linspire Five-O. I'm comparing these two against each other for their technical merits, ease of installation, look/feel, available software and ease of use. Are these two commercial Linux distros easy enough for your Grandmother? Read on to find out.
Ultra Userfriendly Linux Shootout - Xandros vs Linspire
Posted 11/10/2006 IPCop is a tool that can be deployed in almost any place within a network and serve a functional purpose. It has an intuitive easy to use interface that is great for users of any level. And the fact that no prior Linux or IPCop knowledge is required is just another bonus.
Configuring IPCop Firewalls
Posted 11/10/2006 I think the fight is never going to end . The only topic the whole glugt seems to discuss for the past one month ( or even more than that ) is UBUNTU or FEDORA.
Ubuntu vs FC5
Posted 11/10/2006 System builders considering a Linux desktop are faced with a dizzying array of choices. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of Linux distributions to choose from. Narrowing the field of contenders basically comes down to what works best for both the system builder and its customers.
Finding that fit often leads system builders to pursue a commercial distribution over an open-source one. Today's commercial desktop Linux distributions make a lot of sense for system builders, mostly because of three factors: recurring revenue, licensing and support. With that in mind, the CRN Test Center set out to compare commercial versions of Linux that are aimed at the channel, specifically the custom-system channel.
After considering several commercial distributions, the Test Center narrowed the field to three channel-friendly players: Linspire, San Diego; Novell, Waltham, Mass.; and Xandros, Ottawa, and their respective products: Linspire Five-0, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED 10) and Xandros Business Desktop Linux.
3 Linux Desktops Put To The Test
Posted 11/10/2006 Automatic LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) In about 15 minutes, the time it takes to install Ubuntu Edgy Server Edition, you can have a LAMP server up and ready to go. This feature, exclusive to Ubuntu Server Edition, is available at the time of installation.
Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) LAMP Server Installation with Screenshots
Posted 11/09/2006 SQL-Ledger is a popular free accounting application with a rich set of features. It's written in Perl and stores your accounting information in a PostgreSQL database, which makes deployment much easier when you have users who work on different machines. Like GnuCash, supports double-entry accounting. Unlike GnuCash, however, it appears to be squarely aimed at the small business community, boasting multiple user support, multiple company support, point-of-sale entry, accounts receivable and payable, and stock tracking. It has a good list of supported languages (29, according to the Web site), and by virtue of its HTML interface is usable on practically any modern operating system -- or indeed a whole range of different operating systems simultaneously.
SQL-Ledger: Impressive capabilities, but needs polish
Posted 11/09/2006 IN THE SOFTWARE world's version of survival of the fittest, Red Hat, the champion of the open source Linux operating system, seems to have found itself on the endangered species watch list. But don't let recent developments fool you. This company isn't on its way to extinction
Survival of the Linux
Posted 11/09/2006 And that's it. In short, this guy is complaining that Fedora isn't Ubuntu, and he's right. It isn't. And it won't be.
For the people prepared to give up their freedoms so that "my xyz works", my answer is "fine, go run Ubuntu". I have no interest or desire to spend my time debugging problems impeded by binary drivers I can't debug.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/09/2006 Fedora Core 6, codenamed Zod, was released on October 24 for x86, PowerPC, and AMD64 systems. With a number of improvements over its predecessors, this is an impressive release, if you're willing to overlook a couple of installer bugs.
Fedora Core 6: Kneel before Zod!
Posted 11/09/2006 Webilder delivers stunning wallpapers to your Linux desktop, directly from Flickr and Webshots. You choose what keywords (tags) to watch for, and photos are automatically downloaded to your computer. Webilder can also change the wallpaper every few minutes.
Automatically cycle Flickr images as your Ubuntu desktop wallpaper
Posted 11/09/2006 Microsoft’s next-generation Vista promises to deliver radically improved graphics for end-users, promising 3D-accelerated user interfaces and special effects that will dramatically improve the way a user relates to the computing experience, similar to what current owners of Apple Macintosh systems enjoy. Meanwhile on the Linux front, Red Hat and Novell have been spearheading the development of their own next-generation display subsystems, and Red Hat is among the first to include it in a freely released operating system: Fedora Core 6.
Slam-dunk for Linux - a review of Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/08/2006 Unless you are living under a rock, you probably know production Ubuntu 6.10 was released on October 26. I'd heard that it was a nice package, but really haven't spent much time with it. SUSE Linux and I have been together for quite a while and when you have something that works, you stick with it. Many readers are probably in the same boat.
A Diehard SUSE User Tries Ubuntu 6.10
Posted 11/08/2006 This is the first Fedora Core review I've written, but it's not because I didn't want to write one before. I've tested every Fedora release since the very first one, and have declined to write about it because it never seemed to work properly and I don't like writing totally negative reviews. At first I figured that the bugs and problems were just growing pains from the switchover from Red Hat Linux, and then from the move from the 2.4 to the 2.6 kernel, and other various things. There are no more excuses left, so I think it's time to break the silence about the inferiority of this desktop operating system, now in its sixth release.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/08/2006 Version 2.0 of GnuCash was released this summer, and it's better and more powerful than ever. GnuCash is a powerful free software tool for handling personal and small business finances, but if you're not familiar with double-entry accounting, the initial learning curve might scare you away from even trying it. If you're one of those folks for whom double-entry accounting is as foreign as a Texan in Petropovlask, here's how to get started using GnuCash 2.0 to track a checking account.
Using GnuCash 2.0 to balance your checkbook
Posted 11/08/2006 One of the most frustrating things about installing or upgrading programs on certain operating systems is the constant need to have to reboot. This is especially true with drivers or
system files. Why is it that linux can be upgraded without rebooting? Read on too find out.
Why linux can be updated without rebooting
Posted 11/08/2006 Thanks to Dell, one UK Linux user has succeeded in the perennial quest to buy and use a laptop without paying for an unused bundled OS.
Dell customer gets Windows refund
Posted 11/08/2006 After working with FC4 for more than a year, I decided that it is now time to upgrade my distribution. FC5 has been available for more than 7 months now and I did some testing on it. But instead of installing FC5 and then again upgrading to FC6, I thought it would make more sense to upgrade only once.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 11/07/2006 A recent announcement on Distrowatch.com for a new distro called gNewSense perked my attention. It seems that the Free Software Foundation, the group headed by Richard M Stallman, otherwise known as RMS, sponsored this project and basically was conceived "due to Frustrated by many Linux distributions which include (or make it easy to include) non-free software in their products, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has decided to enter the Linux distribution market by sponsoring a new project called gNewSense. Based on Ubuntu Linux, the distribution, created by two Irish free software advocates Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley, released its first stable version last week. The gNewSense mailing list immediately witnessed a rapid surge in traffic, indicating that the interest in the project is reasonably high, even at this early stage. Most of the discussion is currently revolving around possible improvements to the project's infrastructure and advocacy. If you strongly believe in the four software freedoms as advocated by the FSF, then gNewSense looks like a perfect distribution to use and an exciting project to join" quoting from DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 176, 6 November 2006
gNewSense Version 1.0
Posted 11/06/2006 Getting popular software off the Internet can sometimes be a struggle, even with all the mirrors and BitTorrent Samaritans out there. When the Fedora project released Fedora Core 6 last month, for instance, even several dozen mirrors weren't enough to serve everyone, and torrent speeds weren't good enough because of a scarcity of seeders. But thanks to Metalink I was able to sleep while my FC6 ISOs were downloading.
Downloading bliss with Metalink
Posted 11/06/2006 gNewSense came to me via a random suggestion on LinuxForums. These excite me because some of the most hilariously bad distributions I've ever tried have come to me this very same way. Looking at the rather sparse website for this distribution further fueled my excitement because it looks like essentially a reactionist derivative of Ubuntu that's sanctioned by the Free Software Foundation. These are likely the same people who have issues including "non-free" software packages in Debian and also likely the same people who worship Richard Stallman. Don't get me wrong, the FSF and RMS have created some great things, but their adherence to unrealistic ideals is just downright annoying to me. You might even say they're a "nuisance" (bad, bad joke, I know.)
gNewSense 1.0
Posted 11/06/2006 I’ve had three email requests now to right up how to execute things that normally require root privileges without having to enter a password. There are a number of ways to do this and we’re going to look at four of them.
Ubuntu Tricks - 4 ways to run Root privileged processes without a password.
Posted 11/06/2006 When running multiple machine with the same distribution, it is interesting to set up a repository cache on your network so that once a package is downloaded from an official repository, all other machines will download it from your local area network.
Having different machines running the same linux distribution, it becomes interesting to set up a repository cache somewhere on your network. This way, you won't download common packages more than 1 time from official repositories.
Here is the situation, we have one machine called repository-cache, this machine is going to act as the repository cache, basically, any other machines in your network is going to use it as a repository.
How To Set up a repository cache with apt-cacher
Posted 11/06/2006 Much too often, we take things for granted, and don’t think about them. They just work, especially if you are using Debian with its outstanding dpkg and apt package management tools. But one thing which amazes me every now and then again is apt-proxy.
In gratitude to apt-proxy
Posted 11/06/2006 Searchmonkey, formerly known as Xsearch, is a graphical search tool whose main page describes it as the combining of Beagle's simplicity of use with the exactness of the find and grep commands. With its recent release of version 0.6.2, Searchmonkey has yet to fully match any of these rivals, but shows considerable promise, especially in its potential for encouraging users to explore and learn regular expressions.
Searchmonkey balances command-line power and desktop ease of use
Posted 11/06/2006 Sound eXchange (SoX) is a command-line sound sample translator. This Swiss Army knife of sound tools can be used to convert file formats of your audio files, and to apply sound effects such as echo, fade-in/out, and chorus to jazz up your music with just a few keystrokes.
CLI Magic: Transform your audio files with SoX
Posted 11/06/2006 GnuCash is a personal and small business accounting package that provides true double-entry accounting, the ability to set up automatic recurring transactions, and simple budgeting. The application does not try to hide the complexities of managing your money from you with pretty screens. It does show you where (and how much) you're spending your money. If you're prepared to learn a subtly different way of doing things, you will find GnuCash a very powerful alternative for home or small business use.
GnuCash 2.0
Posted 11/06/2006 The so-called "Vista Killer" may not be ready for prime time -- but your customers may want it anyway. Here's how to be prepared.
Turning SLED10 Linux Into a Practical User Desktop
Posted 11/06/2006 I was drawn to Wolvix by a review of an earlier version on Tuxmachines, where the reviewer raved about its multimedia capabilities.
As installing codecs and plugins has always been one of my least favourite admin tasks, I thought I'd try Wolvix Hunter 1.0.5, which claimed to come with all the usual suspects pre-installed.
Wolvix Hunter is a live CD running on a 2.6.16 kernel and is a remarkable piece of work.
Wolvix Hunter 1.0.5
Posted 11/06/2006 Those of you who follow DistroWatch Weekly will remember that some three weeks ago I switched my main production system from Kubuntu to Mandriva Linux 2007. This was mainly due to a desire to rotate my working environment and to be able to report more objectively about the many free operating systems available on the market. Also, I thought it would be stimulating to change my desktop scenery from time to time - especially since I tend to spend many hours in front of a computer every day.
One month with Mandriva Linux 2007
Posted 11/06/2006 From time to time, we hear from users who say that the look of the MEPIS desktop isn't on par with the quality of the MEPIS operating system. We tend to agree that the desktop could use a little makeover. The problem is that we just don't have the money to hire a professional to design a desktop, nor do we have the time to work on it ourselves. So this is a call to you graphic designers out there, and anybody else who would like to tackle the MEPIS desktop makeover. Please give us your comments and ideas, and also indicate whether you'd be interested in working on this project.
Is the MEPIS Desktop in Need of a Makeover?
Posted 11/06/2006 FreeNX is a system that allows you to access your desktop from another machine over the internet. You can use this to login graphically to your desktop from a remote location. One example of its use would be to have a FreeNX server set up on your home computer, and graphically logging in to the home computer from your work computer, using a FreeNX client.
Securely Administring Remote Machines Using Freenx in Ubuntu
Posted 11/05/2006 "Generating a Debian Live CD is very simple. You need to have live-package (package available in Debian unstable or testing), and cdebootstrap from testing or newer (for stable, look at the bottom for more information about the cdebootstrap backport)."
Debian Live ISO Howto
Posted 11/05/2006 WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. What a mouthful. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
Install Wordpress in Debian Etch
Posted 11/05/2006 For people like me, who are addicted to Klipper: Klipper has search as you type. Just click on the icon, and start typing away! Only the parts of your paste history that match the typed text will be shown, the irrelevant entries will be hidden. This allows you to set the history size to a huge value, while Klipper still remains completely usable to handle. This is just so handy, I'm almost sad I didn't know about this before Smiling Thanks to ThomasZ for pointing this out, or I'd have never known
Cool KDE discovery of the day
Posted 11/05/2006 It has become something of a cliché that Linux has reached a critical point in its development and adoption. However, this is especially true now when we look at what events are lined up to occur in the near future, and particularly in the desktop area.
Linux on the Desktop
Posted 11/05/2006 bzip2 and bunzip2 are file compression and decompression utilities. The bzip2 and bunzip2 utilities are newer than gzip and gunzip and are not as common yet, but they are rapidly gaining popularity. The bzip2 utility is capable of greater compression ratios than gzip. Therefore, a bzip2 file can be 10-20% smaller than a gzip version of the same file. Usually,files that have been compressed by bzip2 will have a .bz2 extension.
Create and Extract .bz2 and .gz files
Posted 11/03/2006 "Windows Vista brings with it a new era of DRM and restrictive license agreements that aren't going to sit well with even your basic power user and some are looking for an escape route. These changes are making some users question their commitment to Microsoft. The obvious step is to make the leap to Linux. But what's holding people back from escaping Microsoft's shackles and moving to a free, easy platform? My guess is that the platform isn't everything. In fact, it's only a small part of the equation.
The World Just Isn't Ready for Linux
Posted 11/03/2006 The popular free Linux computer operating system being co-opted by corporate technology titans was born of a Finnish university student and a group devoted to no-cost software.
Linux a computer operating system for the people
Posted 11/03/2006 VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It is, in essence, a remote display system which allows you to view a computing `desktop’ environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures.
Remotely Manage Machines Using VNC
Posted 11/03/2006 While I haven't got the rull review written, I am finding a lot of conversation about the broken Wi-Fi in Ubuntu Edgy.
Wi-Fi in EDGY
Posted 11/03/2006 The VLC media player is an open source media player, distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is a highly portable multimedia player that supports many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs and various streaming protocols. It is able to stream over networks and to transcode multimedia files and save them into various different formats.
Install VLC Media Player in Ubuntu
Posted 11/02/2006 Songbird™ is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox®, it is built from Mozilla®, cross-platform and open source.
Install Songbird in Ubuntu and enjoy your Music
Posted 11/02/2006 Oracle's plans for its own Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) product, announced last week, follow on the heels of Red Hat derivatives put together by dozens of open source projects, including CentOS, Pie Box, and Startcom Linux. But this week, members of the influential CentOS community voiced strong pessimism over Oracle Linux.
CentOS: Oracle Linux Doesn't Measure Up
Posted 11/02/2006 I recently promised my son, Justus, that I would set up a laptop for his exclusive use. I have an old Compaq Presario 1200 whose sole purpose is to prevent dust from gathering on a particular shelf in my bedroom. This Presario has about 192MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive, and an 800Mhz Celeron processor. Sounds like a perfect candidate for Linux to me. I burned the Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) desktop CD and booted the laptop with it. It was surprisingly responsive. I ran into a little glitch when attempting to install from the desktop CD. As I blogged the other day, this method of installation stopped at 64%
Installing Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) on Antiquated Hardware
Posted 11/02/2006 If you're looking for a crash course on Linux security, this is your guide to getting started. Bone up on the basics of working from the command line, get a few open source security tools, and discover SELinux and IT no-nos to avoid. Then, if you want to go deeper, check out our Learning guide: Linux and open source security or ask an expert for security advice.
10 Linux security tips in 10 minutes
Posted 11/02/2006 Firefox 2.0 received a ton of fanfare on its official release recently. A few days before that release, and with much less fanfare, Songbird 0.2 was released to the wild as well and, although not ready for prime-time yet, it could represent a very disruptive stab at the media player market upon its official launch sometime in 2007.
Songbird aims to be the Firefox of media players
Posted 11/02/2006 Debian-based live CD distribution Knoppix is widely known as a distro with excellent hardware detection. The latest 5.0.1 version, released in June, builds upon its legacy and continues to improve.
Knoppix 5.0.1: A solid live DVD
Posted 11/02/2006 In an era when the next edition of Microsoft Windows is pushed back more than a year, and popular GNU/Linux distributions are almost expected to have their release dates delayed by weeks or months, it's nice to know that at least one operating system releases on schedule without all kinds of showstopping bugs and problems. OpenBSD 4.0 was released on November 1 with its usual mix of new hardware support and enhanced operating system features. Read on for the full report.
OpenBSD 4.0
Posted 11/01/2006 If your a Linux enthusiast you probably noticed what a great month we've had. Slackware 11.0 was released on the 3rd. Mandriva 2007 was released the same day and showed us how integrated XGL, Compiz and AIGLX could be. Fedora Core 6 was released on the 24th and brought us an amazing Gnome 2.16 desktop with fabulous artwork .  Ubuntu 6.10 came on the 26th and we couldn't wait to review it.
Ubuntu 6.10
Posted 11/01/2006 Beginning with an easy-to-use installer and booting into a well-thought-out desktop, Mandriva 2007 provides an environment that is aesthetically consistent and makes new users feel at home. Where Mandriva 2006 failed to provide an appropriate level of support for more advanced users, Mandriva 2007 includes prominently displayed tools for configuration from the desktop. Although these tools are marred by sluggish package management and an unhelpful security rating system, as well as instability on some machines, overall Mandriva 2007 re-establishes the distribution as one of the most advanced desktop experiences in GNU/Linux.
Mandriva 2007
Posted 11/01/2006 The folks at Slashgear recently posted an interview with Benjami Zores, one of the core developers of the embedded Linux distribution knows as GeeXboX.
In summary, GeeXboX, which incidentally has no affiliation or tie in with the Microsoft console, is a fully operational Media Center solution available on what's known as a LiveCD. It works on both x86 and PowerPC based computers and is as easy to use as dropping a CD in a PC since no installation is required.
GeeXboX - Standalone Linux Media Center on a LiveCD
Posted 11/01/2006 While Oracle's moves to provide enterprise-level support around Red Hat Linux are stirring up controversy, the vendor's decision to join the Free Standards Group (FSG), also unveiled last week, is capturing less attention. Yet is it possible that Oracle's newly minted membership in the standards group might actually help to dispel industry fragmentation?
Will Oracle's 'Standardization' Offset Linux Fragmentation?
Posted 10/01/2006 Ubuntu has become the most popular Linux distribution for new Linux users. It's easy to install, easy to use, and usually "just works." But moving to a different operating system can be confusing, no matter how well-designed it is. Here's a list of tips that might save you some time while you're getting used to Ubuntu.
Ten tips for new Ubuntu users
Posted 11/01/2006 Which Linux distribution is the easiest to install and use with as little tweaking as possible? On the KDE front, two of the key choices are Kubuntu and Simply Mepis. Yes, I realize that some users consider SuSE to be a player, and that's great, it has some great features. However, it’s simply not an “out of the box” friendly option as the previously mentioned distributions. After receiving enough SuSE 10.1 update errors, you will likely find yourself agreeing with me. Moving on...
Kubuntu vs. Simply Mepis 6.0: The Superiority Complex
Posted 10/31/2006 You don't need a Ph.D. in scientific visualization to have some fun with three-dimensional data. Whether you're searching for an unused nook in a cramped disk partition, or trying to find the bloated temp/ folder that's crashing your system, sometimes the flat folder view of a traditional GUI file browser is little help. Luckily, Linux offers a variety of 3-D filesystem that can make your disk usage statistics come aliv
Picture your disk space with 3-D filesystem browsers
Posted 10/31/2006 Terra Soft, a Loveland-based Linux software development company, announced Tuesday the unveiling of its Yellow Dog Linux v5.0 operating system for Sony's much-anticipated Playstation 3.
Terra Soft launches Linux OS
Posted 10/31/2006 After looking at most GNU/Linux distributions, author Rickford Grant finally settled on Ubuntu. Grant is the authour of Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks (No Starch Press, ISBN 1-59327-118-2). It's subtitled "a pain-free, project-based, get-things-done guidebook"
Making Ubuntu even simpler for newbies
Posted 10/31/2006 This page documents common bugs in Fedora Core 6 and, if available, fixes or workarounds for these problems. If you find your problem in this page, do not file a bug for it. Where appropriate, a reference to the current bug(s) in Bugzilla is included.
Fedora Core 6 - Common Bugs and Known Issues
Posted 10/31/2006 In recent months, there is one thing that’s on my mind - open source revenue vs. revolution. Seriously, while the revolution is well underway within the open source community, one has to question which of these two previously mentioned ideologies will, in the end, be the deciding factor on the future of software and OS' as a whole.
Revenue or Revolution: The Linux Explosion
Posted 10/31/2006 The fast-moving Red Hat distribution polishes SELinux, adds new tools and improves performance
Fedora Core 6 Innovates Unabated
Posted 10/31/2006 The last time I reviewed Fedora (Core 5, here) I was left a bit annoyed overall. Frustrated, as idealism had gotten the best of what I was hoping to be a solid distribution. This time around I'm hoping Fedora will be on the right pat
Fedora Core 5
Posted 10/30/2006 Elive, or Enlightenment Live, is a Debian-based distribution that runs solely on the Enlightenment system. The system can be installed on your machine with the use of their installer. Enlightenment itself is a very beautiful window manager / desktop shell that allows everything to be customizable, while providing beautiful eye candy that would probably only be seen on Windows Vista systems.
Elive 0.5
Posted 10/30/2006 The KOffice raster image editor Krita reached version 1.6 along with the rest of the office suite earlier this month. But don't be misled; although Krita comes bundled with KOffice, it is not a second-tier productivity accessory like Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Krita is a fully-loaded raster graphics workhorse that stands on its own.
Krita 1.6: State of the art
Posted 10/30/2006 There's an ancient Unix practice of keeping a system-wide phone directory in /usr/share/ with one-line entries containing name, location, and number, and a shell script named something like phone or tel that calls grep to output lines that match whatever arguments you give. You can improve on that method to create a personal contact manager with surprising speed and power.
CLI Magic: Command-line contact management
Posted 10/30/2006 Eagle-eyed Ubuntu 6.10 users may have noticed that their favorite new version of this popular Linux distribution has an old friend: Firefox.
While the Debian community has decided that Mozilla's restrictions on its logo and name are unacceptable for its free software community, Mark Shuttleworth -- founder of Ubuntu and its commercial brother Canonical Ltd. -- doesn't see it that way.
Ubuntu stays Foxy
Posted 10/30/2006 Slackware Linux is undoubtedly one of the most misunderstood Linux distributions on the market. Just one look at the default kernel version or bootloader seemingly conjures enough negativity on various Linux forums and web logs to warrant critical comments and even outright dismissals of the product. But is that all there is to Slackware?
If you happen to hold a negative view of the oldest surviving Linux distribution on the market, then please set aside some time and listen to this exclusive audio interview (OGG, 34.9MB, MP3, 29.7MB) with Patrick Volkerding. Published by The Linux Links Tech Show team, the elusive founder of Slackware Linux talks about the philosophy behind his distribution, explains the reasons for keeping the 2.4 kernel as the default, gives some hints about the project's future, and even branches out to talk about his pastimes. Will the seemingly old-fashioned distribution ever include AIGLX or other emerging technologies? And how is the business side of things over at Slackware? This 90-minute interview gives many answers that will hopefully clear up some misconceptions about the project that keeps proving its worth year after year.
OGG, 34.9MB, MP3, 29.7MB
Posted 10/30/2006 I have two office systems. My main one is my IBM T41 workhorse laptop. It is the one I haul everywhere and do everything with, to, for , and on. it can't be down or I cry a lot . When it had to go away to get it's video fixed a while back I was bereft and alone, till it came back . So making major changes to it is not something I do lightly. My other office system is an old Dell that has a couple of disks, and is where I stash various things I have experimented with over the years like lab vmware images. Till last night, both systems ran Fedora Core 5. Today the laptop is Ubuntu 6.10. When I get a chance, I'll take the desktop to Fedora Core 6, so that I can maintain access to a Fedora system.
Moving to Ubuntu 6.10 from Fedora Core 5 on the IBM T41
Posted 10/29/2006 Upgrading an operating system is always a chancy thing. An application can stop working, a modem can freeze up, and then, when upgrading to Ubuntu 6.10, Edgy Eft, you can lose your graphical user interface: windows, icon, mouse pointer, and all... Not good.
Edgy upgrade pains and fixes
Posted 10/29/2006 PC-BSD has been recently purchased by iXsystems and that can only mean one thing, support and creativity will continue. But this distribution is not based on Linux it is instead based on FreeBSD.
As many people have stated, BSD is much more closely linked to Unix than is Linux, although talking about the differences is beyond the scope of review, we will once again take a new look and PC-BSD.
PC-BSD 1.3 Beta
Posted 10/29/2006 As you know openSUSE released the first beta in the 10.2 developmental cycle on the 26th and tuxmachines has been checking it out in preparation for our report. This feature and version freeze release came with quite a few annoying bugs, but most didn't apply to my testing. I did encounter a coupla problems of my own and little or no new eye candy was found. But how did the system perform overall?
openSUSE 10.2 Beta 1 Report
Posted 10/29/2006 Shift Linux is a distribution based on Morphix Live CD. The Shift team consists of members from the popular NeoWin website which is a website dedicated to multiple operating systems, hardware and much more.
Shift Gnome weighs in about 400MB and you do not need a power system to run Shift. As with any Live CD distribution it is always recommended that you have enough memory to make sure your performance is not hindered due to accessing of the CD via optical drives.
Shift Linux 0.3.1
Posted 10/29/2006 Take a look around the Ubuntu Forums lately and you’ll see many installation and various related threads just cropping up with problems. Not just noob problems, but people that are pretty knowledgable about linux, about how to fix things when they break, and they’re left clueless with Edgy. I am one of them. I’ve been a long time Ubuntu fan, and to some regards I still am but I surely don’t see them as Linux’s saving grace any longer. I can’t tell everyone’s story, but I can tell my own. And i hope the devs at Ubuntu are listening.
Ubuntu Edgy Upgrades a Disaster for many
Posted 10/27/2006 With the release of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft), installing MythTV is now easier than ever.
Ubuntu is a great basis for a general purpose MythTV box and now comes with the latest version of MythTV (0.20) in its standard packages.
This guide focuses on DVB in the UK (Freeview), but much of it should be applicable to anybody installing Myth.
The old Ubuntu Dapper guide can be found here.
MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide
Posted 10/27/2006 Firefox 2.0 is now available and has new features that you'll definitely find useful.
Firefox 2.0: More Than Just a Surfboard
Posted 10/27/2006 I’ve now had the full version of Ubuntu’s Edy Eft (6.10) installed on my Lenovo X60s laptop for twenty four hours. I’ve been on it for about 15 of those. Here are my thoughts and feelings about the newest member of the Ubuntu family and using Edgy in both a work and play environment.
24 Hours with Ubuntu’s Edgy Eft
Posted 10/27/2006 As of October 26, Ubuntu has released their latest Linux operating system, version 6.10 aka Edgy Eft, which can be downloaded here. Ubuntu has been the up and coming star company in the Linux O.S. scene for the last couple of years. They just seem to get more popular with each release and along with their releases getting better with each release. I would dare say they have nearly the cult following like Apple Computers or Google. Ubuntu, as you might be able to tell, is an unorthodox company, even for a company in the Linux scene! Ubuntu was originally founded by Mark Shuttleworth, a South African multi-millionaire, who once paid $20 million to ride into outer space on the Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission.
Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft
Posted 10/27/2006 Fedora Core 6 was released on the 24th, not the 24th of December, but the 24th of October. I can't remember who said that on the Fedora IRC channel, but for him a new Fedora release was a bit like Christmas. Maybe that's because a release time is given as well as a release date, so you can count the hours, the minutes and even the seconds separating you from the upcoming release. Or maybe it's just the quality of the distribution which makes these moments magic. I remembered having tested Fedora Core 5, aka Bordeaux, a few month ago and I had been very impressed by it. Since then the releases of Ubuntu 6.06, Suse 10.1 and Mandriva 2007 had each pushed the bar a little higher, and I couldn't wait to see how the release of Zod, Fedora Core 6, would participate in making my Linux experience even better.
Fedora Core 6
Posted 10/27/2006 I downloaded Fedora Core 6 yesterday, and had a good couple of hours today (I’m on holiday) to test it out - so here’s what I think of it
Fedora Core 6 - A Cursory Glance (At What Looks Like A Great Distro)
Posted 10/27/2006 So with the release of the new version of Ubuntu, 6.10 (6 for 2006, 10 for October) I decided that rather than merely upgrading my system from 6.06 to 6.10, I would wipe clean my hard disk, wipe all my desktop settings and try to start afresh to see how long it would take me to get a clean, default install into a position where I’m happy with it.
Ubuntu 6.10
Posted 10/27/2006 It was surely a run-around to get Fedora Core 6 installed, but other than that, a lot of things that I have been accustomed to, work. Again, this is absolutely the prettiest Fedora Core.
Fedora Core 6: The Ugly and the Pretty
Posted 10/27/2006 The Ubuntu team is scheduled to release Ubuntu 6.10, codenamed Edgy Eft, today. After working with beta and release candidates over the last few weeks, I've found it to be a solid and usable upgrade for Dapper -- but not a particularly cutting-edge release.
Ubuntu Edgy is nice, but not so edgy
Posted 10/27/2006 When I first got in the Linux movement back in the late 1990's, I went out and purchased a couple of distros to play with. The first of these was Mandrake-Linux and I was always happy with how Mandrake worked, especially on the installer side of the house. But as with anything, as soon as anyone makes any money at anything, someone sues and so the name Mandrake is being tied up with some silly lawsuit about comic strips, magicians or something or another so a while back Mandriva was born. So for many years I always had one or two versions of Mandriva or whatever you wanted to call it laying around, installed on something or another.  Even as they emerged from Bankruptcy I had little issue with the group, but then as with many others in Linux, I had a change of heart.
Mandriva 2007 - Finally Functional & Free Linux From France
Posted 10/27/2006 I had pretty high expectations for Fedora Core 6 and in some ways they were met. FC 6 certainly is one of the best looking distro’s I have seen, especially for a default installation. but several smaller issue bugs that crept into FC 6 made me wonder how organized they really are. The problems I encountered with Fedora Core 6 were not huge issues, but there were enough smaller bugs that made me wonder if this release was rushed.
Fedora Core 6 Review
Posted 10/25/2006 Not to be outdone by the debut of Internet Explorer 7 last week, the Mozilla team has released Firefox 2.0 with a minor makeover, a few new features, and a number of enhancements to existing features. It's not a drastic change from the 1.5 series, but Firefox 2.0 bring enough improvements to make the upgrade worthwhile.
Firefox 2.0 is a solid improvement
Posted 10/25/2006 If you happen to use a Microsoft operating system you are most likely to be familiar with finding your partitions using drive letters, such as C: and D:. When you pop in your brand new Ubuntu CD and start the installation, you will notice that there are no C and D drives, but instead lots of letter and number combinations. Do you feel lost? Let’s work it out.
Partitioning - one of the hardest steps in a Linux installation
Posted 10/25/2006 With all of the BSD variants available for download, it's easy to incorrectly assume all of them are pure, incompatible forks from each other. Actually, there are more shades of BSD out in the world than just separate forks. One in particular made the news a couple of weeks ago when it was commercially acquired.
The BSD in question is PC-BSD. The company that bought it (for the ubiquitous "undisclosed" terms) is iXsystems, a systems deployment and integrator firm out of San Jose that has pretty strong experience implementing *BSD, Unix and Linux systems for its customer base. So, why, pray tell, did the company up and buy PC-BSD?
Enterprise Unix Roundup: PC-BSD May Be the Next Linux
Posted 10/25/2006 Firefox 2 is the next generation release of the award-winning Firefox web browser from Mozilla.This article describes how to install fiefox in ubuntu linux system
Install Firefox2 in Ubuntu and List of Addons
Posted 10/25/2006 "Humanity to Others" or "I am who I am becauase who we all are" or "Linux for human beings". All of these catch phrases, mottos sound as if these are for some NGO who are working for a social causes and upliftment of underdeveloped people / communities. Believe me, it is doing exactly that. These are the catch phrases for Ubuntu Linux which has had some good reviews over the past 1 year or so and is believed to have capabilities to make headway in the desktop market, both enterprise and home users. This probably should gain more speed and credibility given Vista's new hardware requirements and anti-piracy initiative.
After observing and closely following Ubuntu Linux for more than a year, I decided to test out the Ubuntu Linux at my home at the expense of Windows Vista that I have been running (RC1) for close to 2 months. Ubuntu starts up nicely from the LiveCD has most of the application an office user would require. Office productivity, email, internet, etc. It provides a short cut on the desktop to install the OS if you decide to keep it.
Ubuntu 6.10
Posted 10/24/2006 After three last-minute delays, Fedora Core 6 is finally being pushed out the door this morning. Fedora Core 6 is codenamed Zod, and is being released seven months after the much anticipated and well-deserved launch of Fedora Core 5. Yarrow, Tettnang, Heidelberg, Stentz, and Bordeaux were all exceptional or ground-breaking releases in one way or another, but what is new for Zod? After the release of Fedora Core 6 Test 1, we had written up a small preview of that development release to shed some light on what would hopefully hit the Fedora Core 6 development cycle. Today we will share with you everything that has made the cut for Zod. We have been fortunate enough to obtain an early copy of the final Fedora Core 6 spin, so we have all of the details for you this morning, so grab your coffee and enjoy!
Fedora Core 6
Posted 10/24/2006 This Gentoo-based distro is going to be one to watch. Rock-solid stability and endless flexibility, all wrapped into a 3.3GB LiveDVD environment packed to the brim with the latest builds of the latest software. So then, what makes Sabayon Linux so special? I'm glad you asked.
Sabayon Linux v3.1
Posted 10/24/2006 In the midst of the busy semester here at school, my fiancee's laptop, running Windows XP SP2, picked up some friends - adware, trojans, etc. It was a pretty nasty sight. I worked on it for at least two hours every couple of days, wiping it clean, doing my best to lock it down, and so on. Avast! and Ad-Aware had their limits it seemed, for only a day or so after I cleaned it, pop-ups and weird stuff would show up again. She was getting sick of it. I was getting sick of cleaning it, so I suggested, offhand, installing a different operating system that is a bit more impervious to those nasties. To my surprise, she agreed.
Freespire 1.0
Posted 10/24/2006 The Gaim 2.0 release is nearing its home stretch. The Gaim team released beta4 last week, with a number of new features and UI improvements. Gaim 2.0 is shaping up as a net improvement over Gaim 1.5, though some features have not changed for the better, and voice support for Google Talk is still missing in action.
A first look at Gaim 2.0
Posted 10/24/2006 A question I've been asked a couple of times - whether it's actually worth upgrading from Dapper (LTS) to Edgy Eft which is out very shortly (or already depending on when this is published). While it's always up to the individual whether they upgrade or not (and this is a special case as the user would be upgrading from an LTS release), there are some good reasons for doing so:
Is It Worth Upgrading to Edgy Eft?
Posted 10/24/2006 Last week's announcement about the release of Xen 3.0.3 generated surprisingly sparse media coverage. Although intended mainly for deployment on specialist servers and popular with many web hosting companies, Xen is a wonderful piece of software that can increase one's productivity even on a desktop system. Intending to prove that "virtualisation" is not just a buzz word, the developers of Xen also released a new demo CD to showcase the latest Xen technology and to demonstrate its capabilities.
Xen Demo CD 3.0.3
Posted 10/23/2006 Slackware is one of the oldest Linux distributions out there. And over the years, it has consistently kept pace with the changes. All the software bundled with Slackware 11.0 is the latest version - for instance Vim 7.0 is included, so is Firefox 1.5.0.7. And this is a remarkable feat since it is a project borne off the efforts of one man
A brief look at Slackware 11.0
Posted 10/23/2006 Messing up your hard disk's partition table doesn't take much effort, especially when you're preparing a dual-boot machine. Even a mistimed fdisk /mbr can spell disaster, erasing the master boot record (MBR) and making the disk unusable. But victims of damaged MBRs rejoice -- gpart can save your day. This utility scans a hard disk and prepares a partition table of areas that resemble a partition, which you can use to make the disk bootable again.
CLI Magic: Salvage lost partitions with gpart
Posted 10/23/2006 GnoTime, the GNOME Time Tracker, is a lightweight task/time tracking tool. It's easy to use and not overloaded with project management features, but it suffers from weak reporting tools.
Make time for GnoTime
Posted 10/23/2006 We have already disscussed how to install mplayer in ubuntu dapper and edgy.One more important about the mplayer is you can change the mplayer skin which one you like from the available list in mplayer website.Now we will see how to install new skins in Mplayer.
Decorate Mplayer with Mplayer Skins
Posted 10/23/2006 PCLinuxOS is a bit of an unknown quantity to me. It appears to be pretty popular, sitting at number six on Distrowatch at the time of writing, yet I rarely hear anything about it except for the odd release. So, seeing as I know next to nothing about PCLinuxOS, it's about time that I went and saw what the fuss was about.
PCLinuxOS 0.93a
Posted 10/22/2006 AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements). Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.
Protect Ubuntu Desktop From Viruses Using AVG Antivirus
Posted 10/22/2006 About 3 months ago I had installed SuSe 10.1 on my computer and was thrilled about it but I always had a passion for trying something new and exciting. I always heard about Gentoo Linux that it was “the bomb”, a great distribution that had it all: speed, functionality, stability, a great package manager, the works, but always had a disadvantage: hard to install. Well…not hard, but difficult, a installation that demands a pack of Linux based knowledge, and here i don’t refer the knowledge to install a package or how to open a document or these kind of things, but pure knowledge about the Linux itself, how it works and so on, so for a regular user who is looking for a office-based workstation or wants to brows the Internet and listen to some music in a secure and stable environment Gentoo does not seem the logical choice. Still Gentoo’s installation process has been simplified.
From SuSe to Gentoo and back again
Posted 10/22/2006 In the aftermath of the recent KDE-Gnome war I have spent several hours writing articles I never intended to write. If I had wanted to write about the KDE-Gnome controversy, I would have done so long ago.
The unknown soldiers of KDE and Gnome
Posted 10/22/2006 In this episode: a brief look at other window managers, including Openbox (more info here and here), Enlightenment (more info here and here), Ratpoison (more info here and here), Windowmaker, FVWM (more info here), Ion (more info here and here), and PekWM; a Listener Tip; listener feedback.
Episode 36 - Other Window Managers
Posted 10/22/2006 I have a Thoshiba laptop at home, I was running “Dapper Drake” (Ubuntu Linux 6.06) But one of the important things
about it was its inability to connect to WPA-encrypted Wifi access points.In my home i have a WPA Enabled Wireless router so i need to connect to my wireless network using WPA.I am giving the procedure that worked for me to enable wpa in my toshiba laptop.
Enable WPA Wireless access point in Ubuntu Linux
Posted 10/20/2006 So you want to learn Linux? The best way, the only really good way, is to get a distribution, load it on a computer and give it a try. Any of the ones I mentioned recently at DesktopLinux.com in "What's the best Linux for beginners?" will do fine.
However, you may need or want to read some materials about Linux to get up to speed. My favorite book is one I've mentioned often: Robin "Roblimo" Miller's book: Point and Click Linux.
Another good book is Dee-Ann LeBlanc's Linux for Dummies, 7th Edition. Unlike Miller's book, which focuses on how to use one distribution, this is more of a general guide to no fewer than seven distributions, including Ubuntu.
If Miller's book is the blue plate special, then LeBlanc's is a taster's selection of Linux delicacies.
The Linux 101 Required Reading List
Posted 10/20/2006 With the final release of Ubuntu 6.10 approaching, and apparently set
to be spot on schedule October 26th, we're starting to look beyond
it to Ubuntu 7.04, scheduled for release on 19 April 2007.
Planning for Ubuntu 7.04 - the "Feisty Fawn"
Posted 10/20/2006 I've always been a proponent of choice. Maybe it has to do with my biology study, I don't know. Variation makes a population stronger and resilient. A few days ago, I wrote an article on comp.lang.forth, passionately arguing that the ANS Forth standard should allow even more diversity in architectures, command sets and design objectives. That's why I like Open Source. Whatever you're looking for, somebody has done it. If not, you can always start a new project.
Three reasons NOT to use Gnome
Posted 10/20/2006 Is IceWeasel the solution to Debian and Mozilla trademarks issues? I don't know right now. I really think Debian have the right to fork Firefox or any other Free Software project but, in this case, I think it is better to keep using Firefox instead of IceWeasel. This is a brief list of the reasons:
7 Reasons To Keep Using Firefox
Posted 10/19/2006 The first beta of Adobe Flash Player 9 for Linux has arrived early. Adobe's main goal was to create a player that is feature-comparable to its Windows and Mac OS versions. Unlike Flash 7 for Linux, this version is also meant to have proper audio/video synchronization.
While still only a beta, the new Flash Player appears to have achieved most, if not all, of its goals.
Flash Player 9 beta for Linux test drive
Posted 10/19/2006 As I outlined in my last blog entry, there was a definite sense of urgency in migrating from Freespire 1.0 to something else. The distribution I settled on was openSUSE Linux 10.1--mostly in part from the fact that it was newly released this week, but also because I hadn't dabbled in SUSE products for a while and I wanted to see what was wha
Hello openSUSE
Posted 10/19/2006 With the next version of Ubuntu set to release in the near future, I found myself curious about the general consensus of the average user population. Early on, I made a conscious decision that I would not review this upcoming version of Ubuntu until it had been released in a non-beta format.
How Can Ubuntu Improve?
Posted 10/19/2006 With Microsofts Vista looking more like a joke everyday, there is a real opportunity forlinux to make a true attempt to go for the mainstream user. Unfortunately, it’s their openness and freedom that is holding them back.
Obviously we are not going to see the Linux companies out there working together as they are after all, still competing with one another. But there are some things that they can do to enable the development community in such a way that it will give Windows a run for its money unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
The Secret to Linux Dominance
Posted 10/19/2006 Flash Player 9 Update includes all of the features from the release versions of Flash Player 9 (9.0.16.0 and 9.0.20.0) for supported platforms. In addition to bug fixes and minor enhancements, this release introduces support for full screen mode in the web player and support for Windows Vista. These release notes document known issues related to the beta versions of Flash Player 9 Update.
Flash Player 9 for Linux Beta Has Arrived
Posted 10/19/2006 Slackware Linux 11 was released at the beginning of this month, which marks 13 years of continued development. Slackware Linux, while not the first Linux distribution, is the oldest surviving one, and is starting to show signs of aging.
Slackware goes to 11
Posted 10/18/2006 Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for unix-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use.Xfce is an easy to use and easy-to-configure environment for X11 based on GTK2. A priority is adherence to standards, specifically those defined at freedesktop.org
Install XFCE Desktop in Ubuntu
Posted 10/18/2006 What can we say? Some people need that Frontpage feel when editing a website. We know speaking such words at MadPenguin ought to get us sectioned and quartered for sure. But before you break out the big guns, just bear with us for a minute here.
Nvu for Linux: Frontpage Who?
Posted 10/17/2006 Recently KDE turned ten years old, a milestone by any measure. Over the past ten years this desktop environment has undergone tremendous improvements and introduced a number of advances into desktop Linux. KDE is popular, highly customizable, and, no matter what your tastes are, you will probably agree that it can look good. If all this was not enough, KDE has developed a celebrity status by appearing on a few popular television shows. Despite all this, GNOME is still the best desktop environment for Linux.
Anyone with any sense knows that the only way to communicate text-based information effectively on the internet is through a list. As such, here are three reasons why GNOME is the logical choice for the majority of home Linux users.
Three Reasons to Use GNOME
Posted 10/17/2006 A firewall is a secure and trusted machine that sits between a private network and a public network(the term firewall comes from a device used to protect people from fire. The firewall is a shield of material  esistant to fire that is placed between a potential fire and the people it is protecting).
The firewall machine is configured with a set of rules that determine which network traffic will be allowed to pass and which will be blocked or refused. In some large organizations, you may even find a firewall located inside their corporate network to segregate sensitive areas of the organization from other employees. Many cases of computer crime occur from within an organization, not just from outside.
Linux-Understand the meaning of Firewall
Posted 10/17/2006 Frugalware is an independent GNU/Linux distribution similar to Slackware, aiming at simplicity, speed and multimedia support. It features a wide software repository, managed by Pacman from Archlinux, which resolves dependencies and makes system updates easy. I’m going to walk you through the process of installing and configuring the latest version (0.5) of this outstanding OS.
Review: Frugalware 0.5 (Siwenna)
Posted 10/17/2006 Last week the Sabayon Linux project released ISO images of its miniEdition 3.1 live CD Linux distro. Sabayon has earned a reputation for running right on the cutting edge; it is the first distro to deploy a live CD using the Beryl compositing engine and Nvidia's newest beta video drivers. The only reason I tested the miniEdition instead of the full DVD ISO is that the DVD torrent estimated three days to complete the download. Seeing how much there is in the miniEdition, perhaps I should be glad.
Sabayon Linux miniEdition looks sharp on the bleeding edge
Posted 10/16/2006 Was it because of a bad strategy? Was its release cycle too long? Was it the controversy over Gael Duval being fired? Or was it just the lack of quality in its latest releases? Whatever it was, it disappointed a lot of people. The once most popular Linux distribution had now fallen far behind the leading Ubuntu, Fedora and Suse. A lot of its users were moving towards PCLinuxOS.
Mandriva 2007
Posted 10/16/2006 GIMP developer Øyvind Kolås gave a public demonstration of the Generic Graphical Library (GEGL) on Friday at the Piksel 06 festival in Bergen, Norway. GEGL has long been slated to replace the core image processing framework of the GIMP, bringing with it entirely new data models and operations -- but development had languished to the point where many critics had written the project off entirely.