How to Monitor a System with Sysstat on CentOS 4.3
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"A common task for System Administrators is to monitor and care for a server. That's fairly easy to do at a moment's notice, but how to keep a record of this information over time? One way to monitor your server is to use the Sysstat package. Sysstat is actually a collection of utilities designed to collect information about the performance of a linux installation, and record them over time. It's fairly easy to install too, since it is included as a package on many distributions."
More is Less and Less is More
"If we want open source software to take off on the desktop, we need to reduce the amount of choice and concentrate our efforts into a single app for each purpose. Choice is one of the drawcards of open source software, but if it is ever to receive adoption at any recognisable level on the desktop, there needs to be less of it. More is less and less is more." More here.
Overview of Modern Fancy UNIX Desktop Systems
"In the last few months, there has been a lot of talk about Xgl, compiz, AIGLX et cetera. It seems that 'Xgl' has become a synonym for fancy desktop on Linux - but no one seems to talk about the alternatives or how it all works. I have had a little look into this and am going to summarize it for y'all. I will explain where the following come from and how they work: Xglx, Xegl, Luminocity, and AIGLX."
Critical Bug Found in Ubuntu and Derivatives
Ubuntu bug hunters and users in general have discovered a severe bug in the Debian-derived distribution. The bug is rated as 'critical', and is said to prevent Ubuntu from gaining any significant ground in the computing world. This bug can be observed everywhere in the world, at companies, in shops, in people's homes. It's Ubuntu's bug #1.
Apple Leads Industry in Customer Satisfaction
Newly published data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index show that Apple leads other personal computer manufacturers, beating out Dell, HP and others. On a 100 point scale, Apple merited a score of 83, according to the ACSI, a 2.5 percent year-over-year increase and a 7.8 percent increase from 1995, the first year the ACSI measured the PC industry. The annual ACSI is sponsored by the American Society for Quality and University of Michigan's M. Ross School of Business. It's derived from phone interviews with customers contacted by using digital-dial telephone samples. More than 70000 consumers are identified and interviewed annually.
Videos: Singularity in Action
MSDN's Channel 9 has two videos in their 'Going Deep' series which dive, well, deeper into Singularity, the operating system in development at Microsoft's research department. The first of the two is about, among other things, Software Isolated Processes (SIPs). The second of the two actually shows Singularity in action.
Chairman Insists that Dell’s Troubles Are Short-Term Setbacks
You would have thought, in view of the week's events, that Michael Dell would show up at a greet-the-folks gathering here Friday looking like some whiter shade of pale. Not a bit: Appearing in a packed hotel ballroom during a brief stopover, the founder and chairman of the computer maker Dell seemed to glow a sort of sun-drenched pink as he defended his company and his actions. "There are a number of things a company might do in this situation - run and hide, wait for the regulators or claim it's not a problem," Dell told an audience convened by the local chamber of commerce. "We've exercised an abundance of caution. Beyond all the hysteria, we're doing the right thing for our customers, and they'll appreciate it in the long run."
The Vista Domino Effect On Tech
After pushing the launch of Windows Vista to late 2006 for corporate customers and early 2007 for consumers, Microsoft insisted that quality, not timing, would dictate the product's release schedule. The company's loyalty to that guiding principle is soon going to be put to the test.
IronPython 1.0-RC2 Released
IronPython is the code name of the new implementation of the Python programming language running on .NET and Mono. The latest version, 1.0-RC2 was just released. Changelog here.
Nintendo DS Opera Browser Hands-on
"The DS Browser ends up becoming a bullet point for the Nintendo DS system's capabilities. Yes, the Nintendo DS can now surf the internet. But after the novelty wears off, you probably won't want to", Craig Harris writes in his review. Craig was very kind to send us a DS screenshot rendering the mobile version of OSNews, although the browser seems to interpret "100%" of cell width as 800px wide instead of DS' 256px native resolution. Update: Craig sent us another shot, this time using the "small screen rendering" mode, which looked much better.
First Development Snapshot of KDE4 Released
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KDE has released a development snapshot of KDE 4, ironically named "Krash". Nothing much to see for users, but should help kickstart porting and development.
The Java XML Validation API
Validation reports whether a document adheres to the rules specified by the schema. Different parsers and tools support different schema languages such as DTDs, the W3C XML Schema Language, RELAX NG, and Schematron. This is a good guide to learn about this XML validation API and how Java 5 adds a uniform validation Application Programming Interface (API) that can compare documents to schemas written in these and other languages.
Why Doesn’t Linux Need Defragmenting?
"It's a question that crops up with depressing regularity: Why don't Linux filesystems need to be defragmented?. Here's my attempt at answering once and for all. Rather than simply stumble through lots of dry technical explanations, I'm opting to consider that an ASCII picture is worth a thousand words." Read the explanatin here. Elsewhere, "Why is Linux Successful?"
Review: Freespire 1.0
LinuxForums has a review of Freespire 1.0 (screenshots): "I was very pleased and impressed by the quality of this distribution. It is a pity that Freespire isn't completely "free" though, as you have to pay to use its preferred package manager. I really liked the fact that the distribution released an OSS version which didn't include the proprietary and restricted pieces of software. This should help Freespire in getting a better reputation among Linux users. Freespire is a nice distribution with a lot of handy tools and great ideas. It is comfortable and easy to use. In its non-OSS version it comes pre-installed with Java, flash plugins, multimedia support and even spell checkers within its web and email applications."
Haiku Turns Five
Haiku, the open-source BeOS replacement project, turns five years old today. Founded in August 2001 as OpenBeOS with the intention of replacing BeOS due to the lack of action by the then-ailing Be, Haiku has seen five years of change in the BeOS market but continues to progress.
Interview: Timothy Miller, Open Graphics Project
LXer has an interview with project lead and creator of the Open Graphics Project, Timothy Miller. "I'm not sure exactly how large that market is, but we seem to be creating a movement. Individuals and businesses interested in open hardware are coming to me all the time, asking about it."
LinuxWorld Expo Wraps up
"Another LinuxWorld Conference & Expo has come and gone. More than 10000 attendees and 175 exhibitors passed through the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The show ended yesterday after a shorter schedule of talks and exhibits, including a session by kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman. Here's our final report, including more video goodness."
Interview with Fedora Project Leader Max Spevack
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Slashdot published an interview with Fedora Project leader Max Spevack where he answers questions on everything from what has changed since the birth of Fedora Project and its goals, driver support in Linux up to what he considers the worst aspect of the Fedora.
Microsoft Embeds Windows Live Links in New Vista Builds
Microsoft is set to deliver a new Windows Vista build - possibly Build No. 5506 - to testers some time in the next few days, according to Vista testers who asked not to be named. The forthcoming build will embed links to a number of Microsoft's Windows Live services. Microsoft is gunning to release the new build some time the week of August 14, testers said. That build may be 5506 or a slightly later build, they said. On a related note, two of Microsoft's security patches this month are for Vista.