Linux Archive

"On those infrequent occasions when you need to reboot Linux, you may find that the process takes longer than you'd like. Jack Wallen shares a number of tricks you can use to reduce boot times." While these tips are intended to shorten Linux boot times, some can also increase the security of your system. Speed and security in ten tips, both well-known and obscure.

SplashTop is an instant-on Linux environment created by DeviceVM. SplashTop does not intend to provide a full computing environment, but it satisfies a home user's basic needs such as email, VOIP, IM, etc. Asus is the primary partner of DeviceVM and SplashTop started to get bundled with Asus motherboards and Asus notebooks. Now the good folks over at the Phoronix Forums have hacked SplashTop to run from a USB stick on non-Asus motherboards, run custom applications and launch a terminal inside the Linux environment.

Daniel Phillips has announced the prototype design of a new linux filesystem (implementation has only begun). The most interesting thing seems to be a different way of implementing versioning: "Unlike the currently fashionable recursive copy on write designs with one tree root per version, Tux3 stores all its versioning information in the leaves of btrees using the versioned pointer algorithm. This method promises a significant shrinkage of metadata for heavily versioned filesystems as compared to ZFS and Btrfs".

The GNU/Linux operating system is blessed to have sound partition management tools like GParted which are very easy to use. However, when it comes to the management of 'virtual partitions' known as volumes, things are quite different. There is Linux Volume Management, or LVM for short, however it can only really be used from the command line.

In this article, learn how to be a more productive Linux systems administrator. These 10 essential tricks will lead you on your way to being one powerful Linux systems administrator. Learn about SSH tunnels, VNC, password recovery, console spying, and more. Examples accompany each trick, so you can duplicate them on your own systems.

"I've read past reviews by other reviewers describing Vector Linux as "better Slackware than Slackware" or "what Slackware should be" and I always felt that was a bit of a stretch. With this release it isn't. You get all the reliability and stability of Slackware, better performance than vanilla Slack (at least on my hardware) and the features and most of the conveniences users of distributions touted as user friendly have come to expect."

Linus Torvalds is remarkable, not only for being the technical genius who wrote Linux, but for then being able to inspire and lead an enormous team of people to devote their free time to work on the operating system and bring it to maturity. We sent Richard Morris off to interview Linus, and find out more.

Linux and UNIX-like operating systems in general are regarded as being more secure for the common user, in contrast with operating systems that have "Windows" as part of their name. Why is that? When entering a dispute on the subject with a Windows user, the most common argument he tries to feed me is that Windows is more widespread, and therefore, more vulnerable. Apart from amusing myths like "Linux is only for servers" or "does it have a word processor?", the issue of Linux desktop security is still seriously misunderstood.

Linux security may seem daunting, but there are a host of best practices to simplify the maze. Recently, Steve Grubb of Red Hat Inc. outlined some important security principles, including minimizing admin access, the increasing sophistication of SELinux and the importance of auditing systems.

The ext3undel utility can recover accidently removed data on ext3 filesystems. Users can recover a specific file by name, or they can restore all files marked as deleted. ext3undel is a wrapper for other recovery programs such as Photorec, Foremost and SleuthKit.

A sizeable number of full featured, mature and free video applications are available on the Linux platform. This article explores such topics as becoming a digital video editing master and turning your Linux machine into a Home Theatre.To provide insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 42 high quality Linux video applications, covering a broad spectrum of uses. Most of the titles included in this feature are desktop applications with an elegant graphical front-end, although we have not neglected console software.

"Linux kernel hacker Greg Kroah Hartman's June 5, 2008 talk at Google titled "The Linux Kernel" was chock-full of details about kernel development". This is a collection of some statistics about the Linux kernel development from that talk. Juicy Bit:"Supports more processors and devices than any other OS in history".

So you thought Linux was the key to the Eee PC's success? Not so, according to ASUS. "The bulk of the requests and requirements we see in the marketplace are for the model with Windows rather than Linux," says Henry Lee, Acer's senior product manager. "It's a give and take between simplicity of usage for the masses versus full customisation. The Linux version is really only to use exactly what is provided, and someone in the know can easily remove what's been installed. But consumers are accustomed to the Windows environment, and the Windows version will be a stronger player eventually." Editor's Note: More broadly, this piece examines whether the popularity of the Eee and its Linux-bearing cousins will be sustained, or if they will ultimately get beaten out in the netbook space by Windows-based versions. What do you think?

"Recently a blog post entitled 'Why Desktop Linux is its own worst enemy' has come across my feed-radar a few times. It's yet another in the long line of 'Linux ain't ready yet' jeremiads and it doesn't really say anything new yet it got on my nerves. Why?" Ryan Cartwright at Freesoftware Magazine is on fine form with this wonderfully splenetic broadside. Read the full tirade at FSM.