"Why tune my system? This is probably the first thing you want to know. When a distribution is packaged and delivered to clients, it is designed to be fully compatible with most of the computers available in the market. This is a very heterogeneous set of hardware (hard disks, video cards, network cards, etc.). So distribution vendors like Red Hat, SuSe, Mandriva and the rest of them choose some conservative configuration options to assure a successful installation. For instance, probably you have a very advanced hard disk with some special features that are not being used due to standard configuration settings. To summarize: your Linux distribution goes well... But it can go even better!"

Linspire has announced an update to their 5.0 release. According to the release notes v2 includes OpenOffice.org 2.0 as well as numerous bug fixes and new drivers; however, no new features have been introduced. Existing 5.0 customers can download the ISO here (no additional purchase required).

"Microsoft Vista Build 5365 has been released. We are downloading it at the moment, screenshots will follow in our spanking new image gallery. This is a Vista-only release, i.e. no Longhorn Server attached, which is a shame. According to Microsoft, this is another 'refresher' build, with bug fixes rather than new features. We have been informed that regional fixes for IME, time zones, etc., have not yet been implemented; those will ship in all post-5370 builds." Microsoft released a FAQ alongside this build, get it in .doc or .pdf format.

The latest release candidate for SUSE Linux OSS 10.1, RC2, has been released. "I'm glad to announce SUSE Linux 10.1 Codename 'Agama Lizard' RC2. We have fixed the majority of bugs from RC1 and will release an RC3 next week. During the RC phase, we only provide delta ISOs of the media and update the factory tree as well."

"For years now, the Linux and open-source desktop has had the benefit of multiple software projects pushing forward to create nicer-looking, more useful environments. One of the most prominent of those projects, GNOME, recently underwent one of its twice-yearly updates, and the result is a compelling set of refinements. The newest version of GNOME, 2.14, now graces the desktop of Red Hat's Fedora Core 5 and other shipping and soon-to-arrive Linux distributions."

"One area of Web design that is going to become more important in the coming years is high DPI. For those of us working on WebKit, this will also become an issue for WebKit applications and for Dashboard widgets." Why? "On a screen with 1920x1200 resolution the Web site is going to be tiny, taking up less than 50% of the screen's width and half the screen's height. In terms of absolute size, the text will be much smaller and harder to read."

"Being able to run RISC OS on Mac OS X would probably be the highlight of 2006 for many of the users who have picked up a Mac to sit alongside their RISC OS machines. When VirtualRiscPC for Mac OS X will arrive is best left to VirtualAcorn, although what we've discovered here might be the next best thing. Riding the coat tails of Apple's switch to using Intel processors, it's now possible to run Microsoft Windows applications on the shiny Mac OS X desktop - and this includes VirtualRiscPC."

"There are a lot of Linux filesystems comparisons available but most of them are anecdotal, based on artificial tasks or completed under older kernels. This benchmark essay is based on 11 real-world tasks appropriate for a file server with older generation hardware (Pentium II/III, EIDE hard-drive)."

"While explaining the new splice() and tee() buffer management system calls, Linus Torvalds made reference to some possible future extensions. This included vmsplice(), a system call since implemented by Jens Axboe "to basically do a 'write to the buffer', but using the reference counting and VM traversal to actually fill the buffer." Reviewing the implications of using such a system call lead to a comparison with FreeBSD's ZERO_COPY_SOCKET which uses COW (copy on write)."

"Knoppix comes bundled with a bucket of tools, and although 1.7GB of uncompressed space goes a long way, you might hit the problem of having to use software that Knoppix doesn't include by default. Additionally, you may make changes in configurations that you want to keep when you reboot, or store data between Knoppix sessions. Thankfully, there are a few different ways to solve this problem, some being easier to use and more successful than others. This article shows you how to use and modify Knoppix to save your data and install new software."

"Microsoft and its critics agree that the future of innovation is at stake when the US software giant challenges a landmark 2004 antitrust ruling next week before the European Union's second highest court. But they will take opposite tacks on what that means before a special 13-judge panel of the Court of First Instance, which starts five days of public hearings on Monday."

"The 17" iMac has almost everything a silencer could want. It's quiet, efficient, good value, and can even run Windows. the iMac is a computer for the connoisseur, just as Apple intended. Power users, enthusiasts, anyone who wants to tweak the hell out of everything should probably stick to building their own systems - they'll be happier molding the computer to their own personal quirks. However, for someone who wants to use a computer, not take up computer building as a hobby, the iMac is among the best there is."

More than a dozen technology companies, including IBM, Red Hat, and Novell are planning to support a new integrated server and desktop Linux standard unveiled at next week's Linux Desktop Summit by the Free Standards Group. The FSG is a nonprofit organization that has worked for years on a number of open standards including a server specification called the Linux Standard Base.

"Gray and Bergamini recently worked together to develop the nfe driver to support NVIDIA ethernet controllers. In this interview, they talk about OpenBSD's policy to not ship binary-blobs, explaining the problems associated with drivers that use these blobs and the affect these types of drivers have on the open source community. They also detail the efforts involved in writing the nfe driver, describing why they started the project, how they were able to support undocumented hardware, and the features supported by the new driver."