Linux Archive

Arch Linux Voodoo 0.8 Released

Submitted by Kuat 2007-03-31 Linux 34 Comments

Arch Linux team has just released their Voodoo (version 0.8) ISOs. Many changes and brand new software application versions included, while at the same time the Arch team released Pacman, v3.0, currently available in the -Testing tree.

Submitted by theosib 2007-03-30 Linux 169 Comments

The founder of the Open Graphics Project writes: "Good design and usability are very important. I haven't paid enough attention to the discussions between Linus and GNOME developers, so I can't address it directly. But what I can say is that a learning curve is not a bad thing. While it's good to think about the total novice, it's even more important to have consistent and logical mechanisms. This way, if someone has to learn something new to use the computer, they have to learn it only once. This is why I think it's good that Apple and Microsoft have UI development guides that encourage developers to make their apps act consistently with other apps in areas where their functionalities conceptually overlap. And this is where I start to get disappointed with GNU/X11/Linux systems."

Linux-Based OpenGL Development System Without X

Submitted by zelko 2007-03-29 Linux 39 Comments

An .iso image of myOS has been released. "Minimalistic GNU/Linux system, stripped down of everything, but core necessary files to compile and run OpenGL/C code. It has simplified directory structure and cleaned up internal cross referencing. It can fit single floppy disc without development components. With Scithech SNAP/MGL drivers (based on Mesa) it was possible to run OpenGL without X. Stripped down and modified GNU gcc compiler, mixed with diet libc includes and selected shared files seem to be able to compile all relevant libraries and produce stable and relatively small code. Apart from Necromancer's file manager and OpenGL developing tools, this is pretty much your average Linux thanks to BusyBox."

‘RIP: Community Linux (1991-2007)’

Submitted by anonymous 2007-03-28 Linux 68 Comments

"The idea that Linux is primarily a community-based project based on the work of thousands of independent, idealist hackers died a quiet death at home on March 27th. The proximate cause of death was the Linux Foundation's naming of its new board of directors. This leading non-profit Linux organization's board included many Fortune 500 executives from around the world - but not one representative from a purely community-based Linux organization."

Add Your Own Linux System Calls

Submitted by IdaAshley 2007-03-23 Linux 7 Comments

"Linux system calls - we use them every day. But do you know how a system call is performed from user-space to the kernel? Explore the Linux system call interface, learn how to add new system calls (and alternatives for doing so), and discover utilities related to the SCI."

Submitted by diegocg 2007-03-21 Linux 78 Comments

LWN writes about a InformationWeek interview to Linus Torvalds: "Finally, the real basic issue is that I think the Free Software Foundation simply doesn't have goals that I can personally sign up to. For example, the FSF considers proprietary software to be something evil and immoral. Me, I just don't care about proprietary software. It's not 'evil' or 'immoral', it just doesn't matter. I think that Open Source can do better, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is by working on Open Source, but it's not a crusade - it's just a superior way of working together and generating code."

Linux and Symmetric Multiprocessing

Submitted by IdaAshley 2007-03-17 Linux 41 Comments

"As evidenced by major central processing unit vendors, multi-core processors are poised to dominate the desktop and embedded space. With multiprocessing comes greater performance but also new problems. This article explores the ideas behind multiprocessing and developing applications for Linux that exploit SMP."

Parallelise Application for Faster Linux Booting

Submitted by IdaAshley 2007-03-13 Linux 21 Comments

"One of the biggest complaints about Linux, particularly from developers, is the speed with which Linux boots. By default, Linux is a general-purpose operating system that can serve as a client desktop or server right out of the box. Because of this flexibility, Linux serves a wide base but is suboptimal for any particular configuration. This article shows you options to increase the speed with which Linux boots, including two options for parallelizing the initialization process. It also shows you how to visualize graphically the performance of the boot process."

Review: PCLinuxOS 2007 Beta 2

Thom Holwerda 2007-03-09 Linux 49 Comments

OpenAddict 'reviews PCLinuxOS 2007 Beta 2, and concludes: "In all honesty, any review of PCLOS will be lacking as the qualities that make PCLOS what it is are in the details. There is no one' shining point regarding this distro. The whole PCLinuxOS distribution is the shining point."

Linux Mint Freshens Ubuntu’s Palate

Thom Holwerda 2007-03-08 Linux 70 Comments

"Ubuntu is a strong desktop distro, but it falls short for some users in a few areas. Where are the multimedia codecs and DVD support, and what's with all the brown, for heaven's sake? If you'd like multimedia support with a minty fresh theme, try Linux Mint 2.2, an Ubuntu-based distro that throws in support for Flash 9, Windows Media Format, DVDs, MP3s, and troublesome wireless cards."

HP Sees Huge Linux Desktop Deals

Submitted by anonymous 2007-03-08 Linux 84 Comments

Hewlett-Packard is closing custom deals for thousands of desktop PCs running Linux, which has the company assessing the possibility of offering factory-loaded Linux systems, an HP executive said. "We are involved in a number of massive deals for Linux desktops, and those are the kinds of things that are indicators of critical mass. So we are really looking at it very hard," said Doug Small, worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing at HP. "We are in a massive deal right now for multi-thousands of units of a desktop opportunity for Linux. That's an indicator." He declined to give details about the deals.

Submitted by Luis 2007-03-07 Linux 124 Comments

Complaining about Windows Vista is a national past time on Internet forums these days. Windows Vista 'costs too much', 'has onerous product activation', 'requires too much hardware', etc. These complaints are often followed up by a very simple boast: 'I'm just going to switch to Linux'. But in today's landscape, how viable is that statment? Is the threat to switch to Linux an empty one, or is it entirely possible?"

Conary: an Innovative Second-Generation Package Manager

Thom Holwerda 2007-03-05 Linux 15 Comments

"rPath's Conary is a second-generation package manager. Considering that Erik Troan, rPath's CTO and co-founder, was one of the original authors of the RPM package format, some might be tempted to view Conary as an effort to do things right the second time around - nor is that view far from wrong. In its design, Conary is a streamlined version of dpkg or RPM with Yum in which all the utilities of those package managers are combined in a single command and combined with version control to meet the demands of a modern distribution."

Submitted by WillM 2007-03-05 Linux 124 Comments

"Freedom of choice is one of the great benefits of Open Source Software in general and Linux in particular. This freedom gives consumers the ability to select, without fear of litigation, what software they will use and how they will use or modify it. As a principal, this freedom is extremely valuable. However, a couple of announcements this week seem to indicate that market value of freedom of choice has dipped considerably. The biggest hurdle Linux adoption faced this week wasn't Microsoft, it was an enemy from within: Linux fragmentation."

New Linux WLAN Subsystem Integrated Into ‘mm’ Kernel Tree

Thom Holwerda 2007-03-03 Linux 18 Comments

"Almost a year ago the Linux WLAN developers announced the switch to a new WLAN subsystem. Today the new system finally found its way into the mm kernel tree of Andrew Morton. In May and April 2006 it became clear that the devicescape WLAN stack will be the future base for the Linux WLAN drivers. The aim was to overcome the current situation of having several different subsystems for different drivers and to create a common, well documented subsystem. The new stack will feature a reworked driver for Broadcom bcm43xx drivers as well as a Ralink rt2x00 driver. And, as already mentioned, Intel's ipw3945 driver will be implemented without the need for a proprietary deamon."

Submitted by michuk 2007-02-24 Linux 2 Comments

A review of KateOS Live 3.2 Beta. "KateOS is a Polish (and polished!) distribution which is completely community-driven. The effects of the community work are pretty impressive. Kate is original and has its own feeling. Each new release of the system brings a few decent innovations and offers an even better GNU/Linux lightweight multimedia desktop. In my opinion it will soon be able to compete with other popular lightweight Linux-based systems like Xubuntu or Zenwalk."

The Future of Packaging Software in Linux

Submitted by Andrzej Ptak 2007-02-22 Linux 92 Comments

There are currently at least five popular ways of installing software in GNU/Linux. None of them are widely accepted throughout the popular distributions. This situation is not a problem for experienced users - they can make decisions for themselves. However, for a newcomer in the GNU/Linux world, installing new software is always pretty confusing. The article tries to sum up some of the recent efforts to fix this problem and examine the possible future of packaging software in GNU/Linux.

PS3 Available Pre-Installed with Linux

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-22 Linux 36 Comments

Linux distributor TerraSoft is accepting pre-orders for Sony Playstation 3 gaming devices pre-installed with Linux. Linux is installed alongside the Playstation 3's native gaming OS.

Wind River Acquires Patented Real-Time Linux Technology

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-20 Linux 6 Comments

Wind River, one of the world's top embedded software providers, has acquired a real-time Linux distribution and patented hard-real-time technology from FSMLabs Inc. The acquisition will help Wind River penetrate new and emerging markets requiring extremely tight timing constraints, including the vast, emerging market for low-cost, single-core feature phones, according to the company.

Submitted by Dolores Parker 2007-02-16 Linux 12 Comments

"Zero Install is one of the more promising alternatives to native package systems for Linux distributions, such as RPM and Debian's dpkg. Originally developed by Thomas Leonard, who works in the Department of Electronics and Computing at the University of Southampton, it begins with a criticism of existing package systems the difficulties of using them, and is built to provide an answer to the problems raised by the critique. However, like other alternative package systems, it faces the problems of winning acceptance from the major distributions and fine-tuning its features."