Linux Archive

Joseph Pranevich has written a lengthy article discussing the changes to the Linux kernel for the 2.6 release. It covers topics such as scalability, responsiveness, the re-written IO subsystem, improvements to support for filesystems such as NTFS and XFS in addition to support for new technologies such as Bluetooth and much more.

IBM has put more muscle behind its effort to improve Linux for its Power family of processors, adding dozens of programmers to Big Blue's Linux Technology Center with plans to hire more.

Wendy, spokesman and policy counsel for the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC), says he just wants to make sure government agencies don't unduly favor open-source or free programs over proprietary software. "We want a process that is not based on automatic preferences," Wendy said.

Linus Torvalds released on late Sunday the first test (-pre) kernel of the upcoming Linux Kernel 2.6. Download or get more information here and make sure you report any bugs you might find on the way.

In this keynote, OSAF founder and chair Mitch Kapor asks if the same collaborative development methods that created success in the corporate arena can now make open source software central to the consumer desktop. ZDNews TechUpdate has an article on the subject too. Elsewhere, Linus Torvalds has published the last release of the current Linux development kernel, clearing the way to start work on the long-anticipated 2.6 kernel. And, this is an interview of the Ark Linux core team and a couple of contributors, while Gaël Duval tells why Mandrake Linux is better than Windows.

Until Red Hat's improvements make it into the Linux kernel, sysadmins are going to have to decide whether hyperthreading benefits their user setups. That may be a hassle, but it beats taking a performance hit from a feature that is supposed to do just the opposite. Read the article at NewsFactor.

I can say this with 100% certainty. I've come to this conclusion by simply reviewing server administration times over the past three years. Admittedly not the most scientific approach, but it is all the info I need. Remember, experience is the best teacher.

Linus Torvalds spoke candidly with Mercury News staff writer Dean Takahashi about the lawsuit from SCO Group versus IBM, on Microsoft and open source development. He also shed light on his decision to leave chip maker Transmeta for a Linux corporate software consortium, the OSDL.

IcePack is the third biggest German Linux distribution after SuSE and Knoppix. DistroWatch informs us that they recently released their commercial edition as a free download, as its developers are currently working on Icepack Linux 3.0. Icepack Linux 2.75 comes on 4 CDs, plus a bonus CD containing plenty of artwork, true type fonts and some commercial applications. Download from either the English, German, French and development web site.

Although Linus Torvalds didn't meet a goal to release the upcoming 2.6 version of the Linux kernel in June, the Linux leader said a test version could come as soon as next week. A day after Linux founder Linus Torvalds joined the Open-Source Development Lab, the group has hired another top programmer, Andrew Morton, the developer who will assume responsibility for the upcoming 2.6 version of Linux.

OSForge interviews Thomas Chung, the founder and developer of the LinuxInstall.org distribution while MozillaQuest interviews Mandrake's founder Gaël Duval about MandrakeSoft's current financial status and MandrakeClustering.

The Tux Team just published a look at the JAMD 0.0.6 distribution. "We continue our look at rpm-based distributions with JAMD 0.0.6, the latest release from Jim Lucha. It is his third release in less than one year. Each release has focused on the personal desktop experience for users who wish to use Linux but who are not interested in the details of learning Linux; such as compiling software, editing configuration files, and customizing the environment. In other words, this distribution is directed toward your neighbor." Full article at TuxReports.

Linux has made a big impact in the server room, but usability issues and lock-in to Microsoft Office have conspired to hold it back on the desktop. That all just changed, ZDNews says.

"When we pitted Red Hat Enterprise Linux against several flavors of UnitedLinux to see how each fared as an enterprise server platform, we found each edition of the popular GNU/Linux operating system to represent a distinct method on how to build bare metal into a working server. Installation is different, configuration options are different, and hardware support varies across these Linux flavors." Read the review at NWFusion.