Linux Archive

At least three Linux-based phones were shown at CES this week. WNC's GW1 dual mode GSM/WiFi SIP phone is running a version of Trolltech's latest Qtopia Phone edition with VoIP/SIP capabilities. Motorola showed its new Linux-based ROKR E2 feature-phone too (pics, video), but the iTunes software is now removed. This feature phone uses Motorola's new softkey-based UI. Recently, information became known for Motorola's A1200, which uses the older touchscreen UI, same to the one we reviewed a few months ago. Unfortunately, the SDKs of these phones won't be released to developers at large to create native applications, as Motorola is not interested in creating a compatible Linux "platform" similar to Symbian/WinMobile/Palm platforms and instead is pushing just for generic Java apps.

Arch Linux 0.7.1 was released with some better hardware detection (not hotplug), stock initrd support for usage with encrypted root filesystems, network profiles, and more little goodies here and there. As always, read the the docs before installing. You'll find ISO images here (torrents here).

"In this tutorial (free reg. req.) Ian Shields introduces you to Linux devices, filesystems, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. Learn in depth how to create partitions and filesystems, maintain the integrity of filesystems, mount and unmount filesystems, manage disk quota, use file permissions to control access to files, manage file ownership, create and change hard and symbolic links, find system files and place files in the correct location."

"Why should you spend money for an alarm clock or a software that does an equivalent job, when you can just use you Linux box? This short tutorial will guide you step by step in creating an MP3/ogg alarm clock using your computer, it works with all Linux systems, and can easily be modified for MAC OS X, *BSD, well you got it."

"A year ago, Linux seemed poised to take on the living room, in the form of home media center PCs and systems. But last year's product announcements have not materialized into this year's Linux-based consumer systems. Before losing her job at the helm of Hewlett-Packard, CEO Carly Fiorina peppered a Consumer Electronics Show keynote with word of HP's coming Media Hub, a machine capable of television and display-centric computing that ran on Linux. The machine, announced alongside the company's latest PC-centric Digital Entertainment Center systems running Windows XP Media Center, was promised by fall of 2005. Today, it is nowhere to be found."

"After trying out PCLinuxOS, I have included this wonderful Linux distribution in my list of Linux OSes I would recommend to newbies and power users alike. I am certainly impressed by its structure, stability and the choice of software bundled with it. Not to mention its out of the box support for proprietary file formats."

As reported in the latest free edition of LWN the Bluetooth Qualification Administrator has demanded that the Linux BlueZ project take down the Bluetooth hardware compatibility list for Linux, claiming that 'As neither of these products have been qualified using Linux it is illegal to make them available for public use'. This was apparently done at the request of a registered member of the Bluetooth SIG.

"In this paper I will try to explain the philosophy behind the Security Enhanced Linux (SE Linux). I will however try to explain the concept with an example but to keep the length readable I will restrain myself to go into much of implementation details for e.g. commands and similar stuff."

"LinuxDevices recently caught up with OSDL spokesperson Bill Weinberg, to discuss the organization's new Mobile Linux Initiative. Weinberg, who serves as the OSDL's representative to the MLI, filled us in on the initiative's early progress, strategy, and tactics for the year ahead." In addition, here is a first look at the UI of the latest Motorola Linux phone.

In order to see what is needed in book writing applications, you need to look carefully at the desk of someone who is actively writing a book. You will most likely see piles of paper, often cut up and marked with pencil, and if you examine those of the papers that are in piles, you will see that the pagination is all over the place because pages have been reordered. Read on...

Adam Leventhal (one of the DTrace developers) was in volved in making DTrace work for BrandZ. He's written a blog entry on using this combination to have a look at the "top issue" (why is it that whenever you run top, the top process is top?). The blog entry shows how using DTrace and OpenSolaris (the only way that you can currently d BrandZ), can be of benefit to Linux.

This chapter covers several methods to measure execution time and real-time performance. The methods give different types of granularity, from the program’s complete execution time to how long each function in the program takes.

The Open Source Development Labs has voiced cautious optimism that its latest initiative could finally herald a mass-market for Linux on the desktop. OSDL is pushing ahead with Project Portland, to develop a common set of core technical requirements for Linux and open source software on the desktop, following a meeting of 47 companies and organizations it hosted earlier this month. Portland has identified a core set of areas, spanning the interface, plug-and-play, drivers and the kernel, that OSDL members will flesh out.

"I was a slightly intrigued when I saw the announcement on DistroWatch for Stx, but I was quite a bit behind in my projects for the weekend so I didn't really pay much attention to it until I saw the announcement on PcLinuxOnline. There STIBS posted his announcement as a request for "Distro testers wanted ..." This got my attention. When I read the information posted, all other reviews like Frugalware and Foresight would have to wait. This project sounded very interesting. And very interesting it was." More here.