Linux Archive

Review: Pocket Linux Servers

Submitted by Tyr. 2005-12-10 Linux 4 Comments

"These machines are the ultimate in small form factor, trading power and performance for size, portability and convenience. The navigation of this tradeoff is of paramount concern: give up too much power, and the device is useless; too little, and it'll be inconveniently large. I've taken a look at how two products, The BlackDog Pocket Linux Server and the Waysmall 200BT, navigate these waters."

LaCie Portable USB Drive Boots PCs Into Mandriva

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-09 Linux 21 Comments

Hard drive vendor LaCie has teamed up with Mandriva on a bus-powered USB 2.0 hard drive preloaded with desktop Linux. The "GlobeTrotter" boots Mandriva Linux LE 2005, and is available in 40GB and 80GB models priced at $140 and $199 , respectively. The GlobeTrotter drives feature an industrial design by F.A. Porsche. The devices have rubber feet, a passively cooled case design, and a low-power drive that, unlike most USB drives, requires no separate power adapter, instead pulling power through the host PC's USB port.

Install a Touchscreen for Linux

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-08 Linux 13 Comments

What's the next step in creating an easy-to-use Linux-based product for consumers? A touchscreen facade can make back-end Linux applications very usable in such devices as custom digital media centers, DVRs and PVRs, and even control interfaces for household robots. The potential uses are limited only by the imagination. In this article, get an overview for installing an LCD taken from a Sony PSOne, creating a modeline, and installing a touchscreen -- all for Linux.

Submitted by cpina 2005-12-06 Linux 41 Comments

"Although having this reputation, my question was: was a RAID 1 system too slow? Was it slower than not having any RAID? In fact, there are people that say that it is the other way round - these people say that having software RAID 1 is faster than having just one hard disk drive. In any case, who is right?"

Broadcom 802.11g Chipset (Airport Extreme) Reverse Engineered

Submitted by Maxi 2005-12-05 Linux 61 Comments

"Over two years ago a group was founded to reverse engineer the Broadcom Wireless LAN chipsets to provide Linux drivers. This chipset is used by many OEMs, for example in Apple’s AirPort Extreme in Power- and iBooks, Linksys’ WAP and WRT series of consumer grade wireless routers, various laptops from Acer, Dell, Gateway, HP and others and many more external and internal devices, including CardBus cards. That work has now come (.pdf) to a first milestone as there now is a free (GPL2 or later) Linux driver for a variety of these chipsets."

Book Review : Linux Debugging and Performance Tuning

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-02 Linux 5 Comments

"Recently, I got hold of a book named Linux Debugging and Performance Tuning (Tips and Techniques) by Steve Best. The book positions itself as a programmers guide to debugging and ways of increasing the performance of the programs that you write. The book explores the various tools that a programmer can access to iron out the bugs that crop up in the programs that he writes."

Is That a Linux Server in Your Pocket?

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-01 Linux 19 Comments

"Realm Systems has developed a portable computer likely to appeal to real geeks: a server so small it can fit in your pocket. This review is going to take a look at Realm Systems BlackDog. It is the smallest Linux server, weighing in at 1.6 ounces. It’s smaller than the size of a PDA and can be plugged into the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port of any computer running Linux, Windows 2000 or Windows XP."

Signals as a Linux Debugging Tool

Eugenia Loli 2005-12-01 Linux 10 Comments

This is an interesting method of speeding up your debugging phase. This article gives a background on Linux signals with examples specifically tested on PPC Linux, then goes on to show how to design your handlers to output information that lets you quickly home in on failed portions of code.

Desktop Linux Aims for the Big Time

Thom Holwerda 2005-11-29 Linux 65 Comments

Linux desktops have always faced an uphill battle against Windows desktops. Now, OSDL is calling together architects from over two-dozen key desktop-oriented Linux projects to a Dec. 1-2 meeting at its headquarters to set strategic directions and standards, and find synergies amongst Desktop Linux organizations.

Moving a Beginner to Linux

Submitted by anonymous 2005-11-29 Linux 31 Comments

"I did not write this to say that people who do not know much about computers need to be told what to do, or to assert that Windows is not a good OS for casual users, but rather to point out that Linux is a great choice for this. Advances in desktop Linux have made it a perfect choice for casual and beginning users who don't necessarily have to (or want to) put up with Windows. Whether this is done for ease of use, to save on licensing fees, or to be able to make the best out of an old computer, it makes sense."

Submitted by sebFlyte 2005-11-29 Linux 133 Comments

Following up on their tests to work out which Linux distribution works best for business, ZDNet has taken a look at the wider issue of whether or not Linux is actually ready to replace Windows on the majority of Windows desktops.

Windows Server Outsells Linux: What Does it Mean?

Submitted by Mehta Bhai 2005-11-26 Linux 114 Comments

"The Linux community was left stunned when Windows Server software outsold Linux in the server market. Gartner, Inc. recently reported that sales of Windows systems accounted for nearly 37 percent of all server revenue in the last quarter while Linux accounted for 31.7 percent. Windows has a 5+ percent lead over Linux, which should be the cause for celebration at Microsoft. Is this the downfall or, as they say, the beginning of the end of Linux? Most definitely not. Before the folks at Redmond rejoice too much, there are some things they need to consider."

Linux Desktops Will Get Killed by Microsoft This Christmas

Submitted by LinuxFanBoy 2005-11-25 Linux 128 Comments

"If you want a desktop or laptop and you want to move to Linux then you're cooked. You have very few options and retailers have used low-cost Linux systems to bait and switch users. Unsuspecting PC buyers will be faced with the need to upgrade to Vista in the near future. So, that bargain PC from Dell will probably keep on costing you money. Do alternatives exist? We like to think so."

Submitted by sebFlyte 2005-11-24 Linux 119 Comments

"As desktop Linux becomes ever more professional, and with Microsoft still a year away from shipping its new Vista version of Windows, could now be the time to go open-source on the desktop? Of course, circumstances will vary from company to company, but if you're ready to make the move, there's a good crop of Linux distributions ready to accommodate your needs."

Andrew Morton on Kernel Development

Submitted by Nate 2005-11-21 Linux 9 Comments

Here is a (very) brief interview with Andrew Morton, the maintainer of the Linux kernel 2.6 tree. Andrew discusses the debates behind revision control systems, new kernel features and his own -mm tree.

Wireless Hotspot How-To

Submitted by Falko Timme 2005-11-20 Linux 7 Comments

This tutorial deals with setting up a WLAN HotSpot on a Linksys WRT54GS router using OpenWrt, ChilliSpot, and FreeRadius. OpenWrt is a Linux distribution for Linksys WRT54G. ChilliSpot is a wireless LAN access controller. It is used for authenticating users of the wireless LAN. It supports web based login for hotspots. FreeRadius is a server that manages remote user authentication and accounting.

16 Papers on Real-Time and Embedded Linux

Submitted by anonymous 2005-11-18 Linux 1 Comment

LinuxDevices has once again published the proceedings of the annual Real-Time Linux Workshop. This one, the seventh, was held in France earlier this month, at the University for Science and Technology of Lille (USTL). The papers span a range of topics, from fundamental real-time technologies to applications, hardware, and tools.

New Linux Phone Standards Effort in the Works

Eugenia Loli 2005-11-14 Linux 2 Comments

PalmSource, France Telecom's Orange and several other companies plan on Monday to announce an effort to standardize aspects of Linux running on mobile phones. More info here.

More Effective Use of Shared Memory on Linux

Eugenia Loli 2005-11-14 Linux 11 Comments

Making effective use of shared memory in high-level languages such as C++ is not straightforward, but it is possible to overcome the inherent difficulties. This article describes, and includes sample code for, two C++ design patterns that use shared memory on Linux in interesting ways and open the door for more efficient interprocess communication.

Linux Scheduling and Kernel Synchronization

Eugenia Loli 2005-11-13 Linux 9 Comments

The Linux kernel is a multitasking kernel, which means that many processes can run as if they were the only process on the system. The way in which an operating system chooses which process at a given time has access to a system’s CPU(s) is controlled by a scheduler. This chapter covers the Linux scheduler, preemption in Linux, and the Linux system clock and timers.