Linux Archive

"This research report by a third-year graduate student examines the growing use of desktop Linux among governments in the US and globally. Drawing on published research and comments from industry analysts, the author hypothesizes that desktop Linux may be nearing a tipping point within government settings, after which adoption can be expected to accelerate."

"With a bit of C and microprocessors knowledge, this article shows it's possible to write your own device drivers in Linux. It might not be the easiest thing to do, but it's great to see that writing device drivers doesn't require black magic - it's just a matter of talking to the Linux kernel!" And a matter of praying that Linux's driver interface doesn't change while writing your driver, of course.

"Why tune my system? This is probably the first thing you want to know. When a distribution is packaged and delivered to clients, it is designed to be fully compatible with most of the computers available in the market. This is a very heterogeneous set of hardware (hard disks, video cards, network cards, etc.). So distribution vendors like Red Hat, SuSe, Mandriva and the rest of them choose some conservative configuration options to assure a successful installation. For instance, probably you have a very advanced hard disk with some special features that are not being used due to standard configuration settings. To summarize: your Linux distribution goes well... But it can go even better!"

More than a dozen technology companies, including IBM, Red Hat, and Novell are planning to support a new integrated server and desktop Linux standard unveiled at next week's Linux Desktop Summit by the Free Standards Group. The FSG is a nonprofit organization that has worked for years on a number of open standards including a server specification called the Linux Standard Base.

Efforts to bring glitzy new graphics to Linux are fueling an old conflict: Does proprietary software belong in open-source Linux? The issue involves software modules called drivers, which plug into the kernel at the heart of the open-source operating system. Drivers let software communicate with hardware such as network adapters, hard drives and video cards.

"If your laptop computer is a complement to your desktop machine, you're probably well aware of the need to synchronize data between the two. When you're in the middle of a big project and know you're going to be spending the afternoon in a doctor's waiting room or on an airplane, it's nice to be able to quickly transfer your project files - and maybe your email and contacts - to the laptop, then vice-versa when you return to your desk. This article will show you two ways to accomplish this on GNU/Linux-based machines."

"Many Windows users are familiar with different modes of execution of their operating system: safe mode, command prompt only, safe mode with network support and other such options that are presented during the boot-up process. Similarly, Linux has different modes of executing as well, which are known as runlevels. But unlike Windows, we can change runlevels on a fly. Runlevels control services started by the initialization process. The number of runlevels and services started on those runlevels varies with Linux distributions. Information about the runlevels of a particular distribution is listed in file /etc/inittab."

With the pervasiveness of 64-bit architectures, it's more important than ever that your Linux software be 64-bit ready. Learn how to avoid portability pitfalls when making declarations and assignments, bit shifting, typing, formatting strings, and more.

TuxMachines reviews the SuperGamer-1 DVD, a live-DVD based on PCLinuxOS, optimised for gaming (incl. 3D drivers), and concludes: "The Supergamer-1 DVD performed very well. I had no stability issues and lag was very minimal. Only after long periods of inactivity or loading a new gaming level did I experience delays while the DVD was spun and accessed. Hardware detection was spot-on with, just to name a few, the net connection, graphics, and sound automagically enabled. It was a completely enjoyable experience and I can't find anything to complain about."

An ex-Microsoft employee is arguing that Linux is ready for the primetime and that only thing keeping it away is the number of bugs it has. He claims that if these few high-importance bugs are fixed one way or another, Linux can become a dominant power in the desktop OS world.

"It's the year 2006, and installing applications in GNU/Linux can still be a nightmare (especially if they are not available in your distribution's repository). Simon Peter is the developer of Klik, a piece of software that tries to resolve this problem. Simon kindly accepted to answer a few questions for FSM."

"This article is about the 'Hits Per Day' score on Distrowatch, what it can be used for and how you can read a lot of different information out of it. On Distrowatch you can follow the 'popularity' of almost any distro of your choice. I put quotes around the popularity because you can question what the score actually means."

"LinuxForums takes a look at Xgl, and concludes: "In conclusion, Xgl is an exciting technology, it still needs some work to be done mainly to do with non nvidia/ati graphics cards and extending support to a wider variety of graphics chipsets. I for one will wait a bit longer (until the holidays) before attempting to install it onto my computer, perhaps by then more animations/plugins will be made available and support for other DE's would be available." Lots of videos inside, boys and girls, so rejoice.

"In seven years of attending LinuxWorld conferences, I've witnessed its transformation from an IT Woodstock to an expo populated by Fortune 500 executives. Although the penguin has definitely changed out of the tie-dyed tee shirt and into a three-piece suit, LinuxWorld still turns heads as the heartbeat of this vibrant community. And, the latest installment has proven to be no different. Despite the presence of men in suits, this IT gathering focused on populist topics, and I'm going to talk about the hottest ones: the $100 laptop for every child; a fight between two free platforms; and wikis."