Linux Archive

Open Source Development Labs, one of the main groups promoting the business use of open-source software, released its standards for using Linux in enterprise applications. Read the article at C|Net.

Linus Torvalds announced the release of the 2.6.2 Linux kernel, calling it the "Fiesty Dunnart". Read his announcement and view the changelog at KernelTrap. Alternatively, check out the changelog or download from an official mirror.

For those that don't already know, smoothwall is a very slick and easy way to setup a firewall/nat/dhcp server (and more) at home or in a small office very quickly even on old computer equipment. I have used Smoothwall 1.0 in the past and liked its features (although at the time, I did have a problem with Snort failing to start after I updated the software with some fixes...). It served on an old Pentium II 400mhz machine with two NICs inside (network cards). One was the 'green' interface (more about that later) and the other was the 'red' interface. I used that setup for quite a few months, mainly because I wanted to see what alternatives there were to hardware based firewalls (such as DLink gateways/firewalls) that I had been using.

Installing Ark Linux was another episode in my continuing quest to find the perfect GNU/Linux distribution. My operational definition of perfect is pretty simple: just like Slackware, except for the parts I can't figure out (getting my USB thumb drive to work properly, for instance).

"Will the new Linux really perform in the same league as the big boys? To find out, I put the v2.6.0 kernel through several real-world performance tests, comparing its file server, database server, and Web server performance with a recent v2.4 series kernel, v2.4.23." Read the performance article at InfoWorld.

Cooperative Linux is the first working free and open source method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft Windows natively. More generally, Cooperative Linux (short-named coLinux) is a port of the Linux kernel that allows it to run cooperatively alongside another operating system on a single machine.

Here you can download Yellow Dog Linux 3.0 version for the AmigaOne/Teron series of motherboards, AmigaWorld reports.

Linux has a unique opportunity to take advantage of its open source nature by offerings its users greater integration than even proprietary software can due to the fact that developers have access to both the code from the operating system as well as a large assortment of bundled applications. The following osViews editorial contribution is the fifth piece to a multipart series, ( | | | ) which outlines the framework for a consistent, full-featured Linux desktop platform that would help grow the operating system's desktop install-base among new users and Windows converts.

Lately, there has been a "Why linux isn't ready for the desktop" article every 3 days. Most of the time, these articles originate from a lack of understanding or acceptance of the open source system. I'd like to try to address some of the common arguments against linux here, and try to help people understand why linux probably won't be on your desktop for a while.

Here's a review of this year's Linux World convention. It's from a frog's-eye perspective, a guy with a free "exhibitions-only" pass.

"As never before, corporate customers are turning to Linux software instead of Microsoft Windows to run big business operations. Now, if only they could get the word processor's basic "cut and paste" feature to work." Read the rest of the article at CNN (from Reuters).

ExtremeTech continues its journey into Linux distro reviews. Today is Ark Linux's turn.

Even though most Linux users have treated Linux as an operating system for their x86 white boxes, Linux runs equally well on PowerPC machines. David Mertz, Ph.D. looks at Linux on the PowerPC and the appealing range of PPC machines produced by Apple, where the option of using Linux is of great value to many users. Update: IBM pushes Linux on Power processors.

Linux's diversity is often regarded as one of its greatest strengths. That diversity -- as great as it is -- also translates to inconsistency, which many regard as one of the operating system's greatest weaknesses. The following osViews editorial contribution is the fourth piece in a multipart series, ( | | ) which outlines the framework for a consistent Linux desktop platform that would help grow the operating system's desktop install-base among new users and Windows converts.