Linux Archive

Running open source software on a Mac is a different animal — almost like an x86, but not quite. Configuring new hardware has always been a problem in Linux; it is now compounded for the Mac user. Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) has built this port of Linux with the hardware of current Macs in mind, such as the iMac and the G4. YDL 2.3 is a treat to install and use on these machines. Read the rest of the review at UnixReview.

Con Kolivas, a practicing doctor in Australia, has written a benchmarking tool called ConTest which has proven to be tremendously useful to kernel developers, having been designed to compare the performance of different versions of the Linux kernel.

UnitedLinux, the joint software development effort by four Linux distributors, is working on a version of its software for desktop computers, according to executive Gregory Blepp.

eWeek hosts four articles regarding Linux on the desktop. "Linux Renews Desktop Bid", "Linux Is Ready to Roll, With or Without Office", "OEMS are MIA When It Comes to Desktop Linux", "Red Hat Linux 8.0 Tops Desktop Class".

Robin writes: Just a bit of silliness to lighten up your day: "If your school, charity or government agency is suddenly graced with a visit by Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer offering to donate a free operating system or desktop office software, Linux.com will match that offer. Our software offer has no strings attached to it whatsoever. You don't need to start paying for upgrades after a few years or anything like that. Too good to be true? Bill and Steve might think so, but we don't!"

A Linux distribution is like a religion. If you've ever tried to suggest to another person that his or her choice of a distro might not be the best, then you know what I mean. Even if you haven't, you have probably come across a "distribution opinion war" on one of the mailing lists or public forums. But that's OK. We should be passionate about things we love, even if it's just a mass of programming code. What follows are facts and figures about Linux distributions. Personal opinions may vary, but facts are a lot more difficult to dispute... See Linux Distributions - Facts and Figures (mirror-au, mirror-hu, mirror-us) by DistroWatch, one of the main Linux distribution news sites on the web.

David Mosberger, developer of the initial GCC port to IA-64 and lead kernel architect for Linux on IA-64, tells us why you should care about Intel's new 64-bit chip.

"Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake and others are just starting to bless us with a new round of desktop-oriented distributions – aka "distros". If you're finally considering Linux as a desktop OS, congratulations! And don't fret, we're here to help." Read Jim Lynch's article for ExtremeTech.

First of all, why is SCO in braces, you'll ask. The reason is, I have not seen anything in this linux distribution that sounds or smells like Caldera/SCO, even though I downloaded it through SCO's UnitedLinux beta tester website. I will mostly focus on the installation (as I am a UNIX installation developer in "real life"), but I will also discuss more parts of the UnitedLinux distribution. For more screenshots of UnitedLinux and its installation procedure, go here.

"What is configuration in Linux? What do experienced system administrators do when they need to, for example, modify the access rights to a Web site or change the network settings for their server? Invariably, they're going to login into the machine and edit a text file using a Unix editor such as vi or Emacs. That by itself isn't that bad, but depending on which application you want to configure and which Linux distribution you happen to be using, the location of the file you need to edit (and maybe even the format of the file) could be completely unknown." Read the article at FreshMeat.

Robert Love, author of the kernel preemption patch, has written an informative article for KernelTrap on debugging the Linux kernel. He says, "Recently, a lot of work has gone into the 2.5 development kernel to facilitate better debugging. Starting with the 2.5.39 kernel, an infrastructure is in place for tracking down a wide range of atomicity/sleep bugs."

"For some reason, UnitedLinux attracts FUD the way a dog does fleas. But, now that the public beta is out, we can see that, well, its basically a GPL-compliant, high-end Linux server operating system. In short, this isn't a Linux for playing with at home or running a small business. It, as the developers promised, is a Linux for business customers high-end needs. Now, the question is can UnitedLinux deliver on that promise. And, that is what well see in the coming weeks as potential business customers put this beta through its paces." Read the article at LinuxPlanet.

Cosmoe version 0.5.7 was released on Monday, September 23rd. A snapshot of the progress on DirectFB-based Cosmoe 0.6 is also available for developers who wish to work on it. Check the mailing list for more information.

Linux Orbit reviews OEone's HomeBase DESKTOP: "Unlike Ximian GNOME, the HomeBase DESKTOP product doesn't take over the default GNOME installation included with Red Hat 7.x versions. It will create it's own session type in the graphical login (gdm) used with Red Hat 7.x systems. Why is this important? Well, from my experience, this makes HomeBase DESKTOP the most painless test drive of any Linux desktop product I've tried to date. If you don't like it, just go back to GNOME or KDE or whatever else you use, since nothing has really changed in those installed environments."