David Uhlman has put together a Gnome tips article much of which will be appearing in the forthcoming gnome hacks oreilly book. In other news, check out the extended application ranking we implemented for Gnomefiles.org.

E/OS is a graphic operating system which can execute programs from Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS, IBM OS/2, MSDOS, and Linux. This version run as a live CD, and supports DOS, Windows, and Linux emulations.

This Freshmeat article proposes a new technique for how desktops can integrate console applications.

Whereas the Java language has won over an entire generation of programmers with its commitment to exactitude and extensiveness, Groovy heralds a new era of programming on the Java platform, one defined by convenience, expedience, and agility. This article shares an informal introduction to the proposed addition to the standard programming languages for the Java platform.

The July issue of the Syllable Development Newsletter is available, featuring updates and progress from Syllable, the open source desktop OS, over the past month. Highlights include a new 3DFX driver, major ATerm updates and UI principle discussions. Good progress is being made.

Red Hat's Christopher Blizzard found that Pango is significantly slower than XFT (which itself is not a speed demon either) resulting on slower desktop Gnome/GTK+ software perfomance. The Pango maintainer, Owen Taylor, says that he's been opposed in the past to creating a fast path for latin text because it means that the non-english code paths won't get nearly as much testing. However, Owen now said that if we can find him a clean patch that would do it, he might take it and that "would make the entire desktop faster". Elsewhere, the Gnome Foundation has put up a Desktop Integration Bounty.

Thin computing on Linux got a significant boost this week with a pair of separate releases. Wyse Technology, one of the world's leading thin-client vendors, announced its newest Linux thin client. And just yesterday, the Linux Terminal Server Project, the "granddaddy" of all Linux thin-client open source projects, released LTSP 4.1.

It has taken four years, but the creators of the "Doom" video game series have finally reached the next level. Read the interview with Carmack here.

As a writer, the only reason Ed Hurst ever got his first computer was because it was far more efficient than a typewriter, and certainly more readable than his own handwriting. To enjoy that efficiency, however, you need a working printer, and Ed explores accomplishing just that on FreeBSD in this piece.

This article describes new features introduced in the beta release for Lotus Notes and Domino 7.0, including information on Java 1.4.1 suport, the ability to remotely debug Java code, extended support for JSP tags, enhanced Linux/Mozilla support, poductivity improvements to Domino Designer, and the ability to use DB2 as a data store. Go here to download a free Beta version of Domino 7.0

Apple has released Xcode 1.5, an update to its set of developer tools for Mac OS X. According to the release notes, the update includes "an enhanced version of the Xcode IDE with enhanced features and improvements to the user experience, speed, and the build system".

Despite its description as a technology proving ground, Fedora II provides Linux users with a good Linux desktop experience. For veteran Linux users, Fedora II will provide you with the productivity tools you need and the latest stable open-source technology. You can even use the Red Hat up-to-date service for free to keep your desktop current. Read Tom Adelstein's product review of Fedora Linux Core II.

Yoper Linux V2 was released a few weeks ago (July 13, 2004). After reading the release announcement on Yoper's website, I decided I had to try it. Yoper claims that version V2 "is the fastest Out-of-the-Box Linux system in the World".

This article covers some of the main components and techniques for securing your corporate network. Before you select which component(s) you need for your security model, decide how you want to lay it out, what protocols to use, and what hardware/software combinations are within your budget's grasp.