Linux Archive

Total Computer Newbies Move On (Part III)

Guest post by Charles Williams 2006-01-17 Linux 100 Comments

What ever happened to the total computer newbies who tried Debian (part I | part II)? Mike, Diane, Mary & Carla are still doing very well, although much has changed since the first articles were written. They no longer use Libranet. They no longer use Gnome & believe it or not, Windows has now been installed. Read along to find out what happened.

Companies Push Linux Partitioning Effort

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-17 Linux 8 Comments

A push is under way to endow Linux with a virtual partitioning technology used by rival operating systems to make servers more efficient. SWsoft is trying to get OpenVZ made part of the mainstream Linux kernel - the software at the heart of the operating system - and a part of the major commercial Linux versions, said Kirill Korotaev, a project manager at the company. In this, it has a major ally: Red Hat, the top seller of the open-source operating system, which plans to add the software to its free Fedora version of Linux for enthusiasts.

Desktop Linux: If We Build It, Will They Come?

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-15 Linux 214 Comments

"Linux has made major inroads on servers and in data centers running both open-source and proprietary applications on millions of computers worldwide. We've recently seen the rise of Linux on mobile devices. But the Linux desktop remains elusive. We know it's out there, but it only now seems to be approaching the tipping point."

25 Reasons to Convert to Linux

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-11 Linux 75 Comments

Businesses, educational institutions, governmental agencies and other organizations around the world are converting1 their computer operating systems from Microsoft Windows to Linux at an increasing pace. They are likewise converting their application programs from commercial software to free software (also referred to as open source software). There are at least 25 reasons for this situation, including:

Linux Desktops Send NASA to Mars

Submitted by Vautnavette 2006-01-11 Linux 46 Comments

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is using Linux extensively... on the desktop! "At the JPL, it is common to see Red Hat Inc., SuSE or Mandriva Linux running on users' desktops alongside Windows.". On a side note, they don't trust Linux on the server: "Our personal view is that Linux, period, is only for the desktop. We don't run our main servers on Linux, because there are too many flaws in main Linux kernel," he said.

Samsung Prepares Linux Phones

Submitted by tuxtops 2006-01-10 Linux 2 Comments

Samsung developed a new UI on top of Linux for their new line of touchscreen-based high-end phones. The phones sport QVGA touchscreens, Bluetooth, 2 MP camera, microSD storage and TV-out. For more information, pictures and links have a look at TuxTops.com.

A New Vista on Linux

Submitted by george 2006-01-10 Linux 91 Comments

"More than five years ago the launch of Microsoft Windows XP - and its considerably improved features and reliability compared with Windows 98 and 2000 - made a comprehensive desktop rollout a no-brainer for companies. The other options were all far from desirable. Now, as the world gears up for the launch of Windows Vista, the conclusion may not be so cut and dry. Certainly, Vista is set to be feature-packed and reliable, and many companies will move to the new platform as a matter of course. However, Linux has come a long way in five years, with the concerted effort of hobbyists around the world supplemented by the resources of tech heavyweights to push its desktop features to near-parity with Windows XP."

Submitted by Valour 2006-01-10 Linux 12 Comments

"A lot of people have heard of GNU/Linux (more commonly referred to as just 'Linux') and are having trouble finding out what the differences are between different versions - or distributions - that are available. This article will show how they differ, and how GNU/Linux differs from similar operating systems."

Input / Output Redirection Made Simple in Linux

Submitted by Bjorn 2006-01-07 Linux 8 Comments

"Linux follows the philosophy that every thing is a file. For example, a keyboard, monitor, mouse, printer... You name it and it is classified as a file in Linux. Each of these pieces of hardware have got unique file descriptors associated with it. Now this nomenclature has got its own advantages. The main one being you can use all the common command line tools you have in Linux to send, receive or manipulate data with these devices."

Submitted by letsrock 2006-01-06 Linux 31 Comments

"Linux is not Windows, and although there are some similarities, you must realize that there may be a few 'new ways of doing things' to learn before you can be comfortable in Linux. Linux is an open-source clone of UNIX, a secure operating system that predates DOS and Windows and is designed for multiple users. The items in the following list generally apply to any UNIX-based *nix system, such as Linux and the various BSD's. For the purposes of this article, assume that it's all Linux."

YellowDog Linux 4.1 Released

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-06 Linux 29 Comments

Terrasoft has released YellowDog Linux 4.1. This new release of course incorporates the latest and greatest of the Linux world, but besides that it also features support for the latest Apple PowerBooks, beta support for Apple G5 PowerMacs with dual-core processors, and basic 64-bit development and runtime support. The release is now only available to subscribers, but a public release is planned for mid-February.

Linux Heats Up in the Mobile Phone Market

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-06 Linux 18 Comments

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 (Noodle) Released

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-05 Linux 47 Comments

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).

Submitted by diegocg 2006-01-03 Linux 58 Comments

Linux 2.6.15 has been released after two months and a week of development. You can check the comprehensible changelog or grep the full changelog. There are some new features like shared subtrees, UDP fragmentation offload, PPP MPPE encryption (VPN), NTFS write support (except for creating files), PPC64 thermal improvements, support for the late-2005 powerbook series, SATA passthru support (for SMART), console rotation for fbcon, nf_conntrack subsystem, some scalability and performance improvements, and lots of other changes. As always, download it from Kernel.org, or wait for your distributor to ship it.

Devices, Linux Filesystems, Filesystem Hierarchy

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-03 Linux 5 Comments

"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."

Set up an MP3/ogg Alarm Clock Using Linux

Submitted by Federico Pistono 2006-01-01 Linux 29 Comments

"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."

Linux Distributed Command Execution

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-30 Linux 17 Comments

"Many times, you want to execute a command not only on one server, but also on several servers. With the help of tool called tentakel, you run distributed command execution. It is a program for executing the same command on many hosts in parallel using ssh (it supports other methods too)."

What Ever Happened to Linux Media Center PCs?

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-29 Linux 54 Comments

"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."

Review: PCLinuxOS 0.92

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-27 Linux 38 Comments

"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."

Linux’s Difficulty with Names

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-27 Linux 92 Comments

"There are a number of things preventing Windows users from moving en masse to Linux. While the naming of applications is probably not a make-or-break issue when considering a new operating system, it is a legitimate consideration. This is the case because many of the names chosen for Linux programs are downright confusing, and the last thing desktop Linux needs right now is to make the transition from Windows or the acquisition of new users any harder than it has to be."