Linux Archive

Open-source enthusiasts and businesses are coexisting, says Adam Jollans, Linux strategy manager for IBM Software. Many companies simply want to figure out the best way to get the job done -- they will gladly mix and match applications. Read the article at NewsFactor.

The /proc filesystem is one of Linux's great features, and this article gives you a thorough grounding in some of its most useful aspects. With it, you can administer many details of the operating system without ever having to shut down and reboot the machine, which is a boon for those who need to keep their systems as available as possible.

"Lately, there has been lots of discussion on the current state of Linux as a desktop system, and articles pop up here and there, occasionally with very good ideas. However, none have surprised me more than this one. It was all very hyphothetical, but had pretty radical ideas on how the author thought the Linux directory tree should be reorganized." Read more about GoboLinux, a Linux distro that uses a new style directory tree at Kuro5hin.org.

The Linux 2.6 production kernel promises to be the most advanced open-source platform developed to date, according to computer scientists who have been putting the 2.5 development kernel through its paces. Read the article at eWeek.

Ingo Molnar has announced a new kernel-based security feature for Linux/x86 called "Exec Shield". He describes the patch, which is against the 2.4.20-rc1 kernel, as, "The exec-shield feature provides protection against stack, buffer or function pointer overflows, and against other types of exploits that rely on overwriting data structures and/or putting code into those structures. The patch also makes it harder to pass in and execute the so-called 'shell-code' of exploits. The patch works transparently, ie. no application recompilation is necessary."

The 90th issue of Linux Gazette is out and it includes articles like "Software development for a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux PDA", "The CUPS printing system" and "Programming with User Mode Linux".

Yellow Dog Linux version 3.0 for PPC is now shipping worldwide. Read more for the announcement.

Andrew Morton posted a lengthy list of items that need to be done before the 2.5 development kernel tree should be turned into the 2.6 stable kernel tree. He prefaced his list by noting that 2.6.0 does not mean, "it's finished, ship it", alternatively offering, "I'd propose that 2.6.0 means that users can migrate from 2.4.x with a good expectation that everything which they were using in 2.4 will continue to work, and that the kernel doesn't crash, doesn't munch their data and doesn't run like a dog. Other definitions are welcome."

"I've always been fascinated by the idea of running an operating system under another operating system. It's a cool hack to make a piece of hardware do double (or triple, or quadruple...) duty by running virtual machines. I've been hearing such good things about User-mode Linux (UML) that I had to give it a whirl." Read the article at UnixReview.

Lately, we've all read a lot of articles about desktop Linux - so many that it's getting hard to tell them apart. One says "Why Linux Sucks," the next "My Success With Linux." Even Michael Robertson of Lindows.com joined the fun with his "Why Desktop Linux Sucks, Today." But very few people have proposed anything radical, and I believe that's what's needed to take GNU/Linux to the next level.

"The first thing that most new users shifting from Windows will find confusing is navigating the Linux filesystem. The Linux filesystem does things a lot more differently than the Windows filesystem. This article explains the differences and takes you through the layout of the Linux filesystem." This is a pretty old article, but it's still a good read, especially for newbies.

"I want to make it clear that DRM is perfectly ok with Linux!" Read Linus Torvalds' statement regarding DRM on Linux, over at PCLinuxOnline.

DistroWatch reports about the brand new release of Conectiva Linux (4 CDs); version 9 comes almost exactly one year after Conectiva 8. Its installer uses Synaptic to select and install packages.

MontaVista Software, the leading Linux embedded company, today announced IBM WebSphere Studio Device Developer 5.0 for MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 3.0. Also, today they announced that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has chosen MontaVista Linux to power 'wakamaru', the first human-size robot that can function as a house sitter, and watch over or provide companionship to individuals.