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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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Former Linspire CEO switches to Ubuntu
3 hours, 44 minutes ago
The sincerest complement a Linux distribution can get is when the onetime CEO of a rival Linux company switches to that distribution. That’s exactly what happened when Kevin Carmony, former CEO of Linux desktop distributor Linspire, publicly announced that he’s switched to Ubuntu. -
What does the Linux desktop really need?
4 hours, 14 minutes ago
Once again, the Linux Foundation Desktop Linux (DTL) workgroup is polling users to find out what desktop Linux really needs. While the foundation folks conduct the poll (and I'd encourage Linux Magazine readers to participate), let me share my top three priorities for the Linux desktop in 2008: Applications, multimedia, and polish. -
Creating and Managing A Jailed Virtual Host in FreeBSD
4 hours, 44 minutes ago
It is possible to spawn a completely jailed second (or many!) operating system within a modern FreeBSD install. Doing so can be tricky, but here I will document the method that I have found works for me. The first most important resource about jails, is the man page, and many of the examples that you will see are basically straight following of the man page. Once you are done, each jail will operate as if its a complete independant operating system. -
Nokia’s Third-Gen Linux Tablet Sports GPS, Slider Keyboard
5 hours, 14 minutes ago
Nokia has just introduced the N810 Internet Tablet, its third stab at a Linux-run Wi-Fi tablet and the second since bringing these devices under the umbrella of its Nseries of consumer-orientated smartphones. -
Will Ubuntu Linux Break Through on the Desktop?
5 hours, 44 minutes ago
Canonical, caretakers of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, will release its new 7.10 Desktop Edition today which sports a raft of new features that just may just give it the best chance to take share away from Windows on the desktop. -
Reduce lock contention and improve performance
6 hours, 14 minutes ago
The IBM Lock Analyzer for Java, available from alphaWorks, provides real-time lock monitoring on a running Java application. It highlights threads suffering from lock contention that could be hurting application performance. This article introduces the IBM Lock Analyzer for Java, explains the architecture on which it is built, and provides some thoughts about the tool's future direction. -
How Far Behind Is Linux?
6 hours, 44 minutes ago
"Linux, the free operating system whose development is overseen by Mr. Torvalds, has long been entrenched in the worlds of science and commerce. When Google gives you a search result, a Linux machine is doing the work. At tens of thousands of other companies, computer managers take comfort in the fact that these days, no one ever gets fired for "buying" open source." -
Ubuntu 7.10 released today, security gets a boost
7 hours, 14 minutes ago
Version 7.10 of the Ubuntu Server, Desktop, Kubuntu and Edubuntu Editions is available for download. The Ubuntu platform is fully certified and supported, making it a secure choice for users looking to explore, deploy and enjoy Linux. Ubuntu 7.10 brings together the best open source and free software available in a stable and robust environment. -
Howto Install Freecom Musicpal in Ubuntu Feisty
7 hours, 44 minutes ago
Freecom just brought a brand new product to the Dutch market called the “Musicpal“. On the box it says it’s supported for Windows and Mac, although its software is based on Linux Kernel. Stubborn and Windows/Mac hater as I am, I decided to buy this nice product convinced of managing to make it work somehow in Ubuntu (Linux geek as I am!). Two days later I managed to make it work! Still not perfect, but enough not to bring my Musicpal back to the store. Therefor I thought it would be nice to write the beginning of a good tutorial. Full Story -
Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) Desktop Edition - Review
8 hours, 14 minutes ago
I’ll cut to the chase and say from the start that Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) Desktop Edition is simply the best desktop operating system that I have ever used. From installation, to setup, to regular everyday use Gutsy is just a thing of beauty. I have been keeping up with the release since its initial rocky Alpha period, to the polished final Release Candidate released on October 15, 2007 and then apt-get upgrading to the final release. The end result is that the Ubuntu team has put together everything that you could possibly want in a desktop operating system and more. -
The Perfect Server - OpenSUSE 10.3 (32-bit)
8 hours, 44 minutes ago
This is a detailed description about how to set up an OpenSUSE 10.3 server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of OpenSUSE 10.3, but should apply to the 64-bit version with very little modifications as well.
http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect_server_opensuse10.3 -
Wall Street Journal Unfairly Reviews Ubuntu
9 hours, 14 minutes ago
I have been watching the buzz surrounding this recent WSJ piece on the usability of Ubuntu by the common user. As per critics of the reviewers, they fail to actually hear what the man is saying. -
Why Users Ditch OS X for Windows
9 hours, 44 minutes ago
Despite my continued reluctance to make the OS X plunge, I'm amazed that Windows users who are looking to upgrade their existing computers are automatically considering Vista as the best option. -
Tom Calthrop: Barnraiser Collaboration Software Born Out of Amish Tradition
10 hours, 14 minutes ago
One of the things I thoroughly enjoy about the Free Software community is the creative names developers give to their projects. Tom Calthrop's AroundMe and Barnraiser projects definitely fit the mold. Barnraiser was born out of Tom's experience in Kosovo and is a small, scrappy little project that just might surprise you. -
Spread Root Powers to More Users with POSIX
10 hours, 44 minutes ago
Linux recently acquired POSIX file capabilities, which split root user powers into smaller privileges such as reading files or tracing processes owned by another user. In this article, learn how to program using capabilities and how to switch on the ability of your system setuid root binaries to use file capabilities. - More News
Fedora - not that one - provides platform for interoperability
There's a wealth of information stored in online collaborative services like YouTube, Flickr, and Wikipedia, but are these Web 2.0 services built to facilitate sharing their content across their individual boundaries? A group of academicians at Cornell University argue that this new wave of applications should be constructed with interoperability in mind. The result of their research, funded by DARPA and NSF, is Fedora, the Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture. The project was recently awarded a $4.9M grant by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to expand the functionality of its software platform.
The patent infringement suit: A playbook
Last week's announcement of a patent infringement suit against Red Hat and Novell set in motion speculation about motives, theories, agendas, and behind-the-scenes players. If you've been feeling like you need a scorecard to keep up, then you're in luck.
Five tag management plugins for WordPress 2.3
If you want to experiment with tags on your WordPress site, there's never been a better time. The newest WordPress version, 2.3, offers native tagging support. Working with tags in WordPress 2.3 is not a totally intuitive process, and ubiquitous tag management plugin Ultimate Tag Warrior is not supported in 2.3, so coders have been busy writing new plugins to help you take advantage of every ounce of tag functionality in WordPress. Here are five tag management plugins for 2.3 you might want to try.
Meet the chumby
I've been pacing the chumby maternity ward for nearly a year, waiting for this unique wireless device to see the light of day. I recently took delivery of my own little bundle of chumby joy and, at first look, I think it will make a great addition to my growing gadget family.
Linspire 6: Two steps back
Former Linspire CEO Kevin Carmony was pretty gung-ho about the company's upcoming release back in June. He said it would "fill some key holes in our current offering." Unfortunately Linspire 6, released last week, lacks the refinements you'd expect in a distro you pay $50 to download. It drops some key distinguishing features, and in return gains only some Microsoft technology as spelled out in the Microsoft patent covenants Linspire agreed to. This release seems to be about deferring to Microsoft.
Increase page ranking with FOSS tools for SEO
Theoretically, search engines should find all the best Web sites and rank them at the top of their search results. Unfortunately, due to the gap between artificial and human intelligence, this doesn't always happen. Users have the ability to alter the rankings by doing search engine optimization (SEO) -- a two-edged sword that can either be beneficial or harmful, depending on whose hands it's in. You can improve your site's search-engine rankings by using free or open source software (FOSS) tools for SEO.
Community is top priority in monetizing open source Openads
Openads, formerly known as phpAdsNew, is one of the more successful open source development projects. Its online advertising software is used by many thousands of domain owners who want to make a profit on their Web content by selling advertisements. Scott Switzer, the project leader, recently went commercial with the project, securing $5 million in venture capital and a new CEO straight from Skype. The key to the company's success? "I have really seen the value in what a community can give to a software project," he says.
O3Spaces 2.2: A step closer to open source
O3Spaces is a proprietary integrated collaboration and document management application for workgroups and businesses. Almost a year after its launch, the company behind the software has released version 2.2 beta. While the new version doesn't offer any earth-shattering new features, O3Spaces 2.2 sports a wealth of improvements aimed at solidifying its position as a viable alternative to Microsoft SharePoint.
Puppy Linux grows bigger teeth
For several years Puppy Linux has been breathing life into old and dated hardware, but instead of being just another minimalistic distribution, Puppy boasts smart features that save resources without cutting down the number of applications. The latest major Puppy release, Puppy 3.00, continues this trend by making the less than 100MB distro binary-compatible with Slackware 12 and providing other enhancements.
Retain and recall long paths with rr utility
rr -- short for retain and recall -- is a small utility that's both simple and useful. When you need to work on a config file buried deep in the bowels of your system and don't want to type its full path name to do so, rr is just the thing.
Ontario LinuxFest makes an auspicious debut
The first-ever Ontario LinuxFest, unapologetically modeled on Ohio's conference of the same name, took place on Saturday at the Toronto Congress Centre near the end of runway 24R at Toronto's international airport. With only a few sessions and a lot of quality speakers, the organisers kept the signal-to-noise ratio at this conference as good as it gets.
Trowser: A graphical less command that is more
Translating a command line tool to a graphical interface usually means a loss of functionality. However, in the case of the newly released trowser text browser, while I wouldn't swear that the transition has retained all the functionality of the less command that it is intended to replace, I doubt that anyone short of an expert is likely to notice the difference. Not only does trowser offer a comparable wealth of key bindings for moving about displayed text files, but it also adds such features as custom highlighting, a search history, and bookmarks as well. The result is an easy-to-use tool for developers who browse code listings, or anyone who browses log files, HTML pages, or other plain text files.
Using Zotero to manage OpenOffice.org bibliographies
If OpenOffice.org's own bibliography feature doesn't really cut it for you, you have several choices. One popular bibliography solution is Bibus, a cross-platform tool that integrates nicely with OpenOffice.org. It is, however, not the only bibliographical tool out there. In fact, there is another nifty tool called Zotero that turns Firefox into a powerful research tool. More importantly, it comes with an OpenOffice.org extension that allows you to use Zotero as a bibliography database. Zotero also sports a few clever features that make the process of creating and managing bibliographies much more efficient.
Lessons learned from open source Xara's failure
On October 11, 2005, proprietary software maker Xara announced its plans to open the source code to its flagship vector graphics package Xara Xtreme, and with the help of community developers port it to Linux. Today, two years later, the project is stagnant and on the verge of irrelevance, primarily because the company couldn't figure out how to work with the open source community.
Javalobby calls for Java port to OLPC
Rick Ross, founder of Javalobby, a popular site among Java developers, recently wrote an article about the One Laptop Per Child project and how cool it is. Ross also noted that OLPC does not appear on Sun Microsystems 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which outlines that company's social responsibility obligations. Ross thinks it's time to change that.
Mandriva 2008.0 rocks
Mandriva 2008.0, released this week, is the best version of Mandriva since 7.2.
New Alien Arena 6.10 blows away its FPS competition
Today, COR Entertainment is scheduled to release version 6.10 of Alien Arena 2007, the popular free software, 3-D, first-person shooter built atop id Software's Quake II engine, which was released under the GPL in 2001. The new release of Alien Arena comes with seven new arenas, a better arsenal of weaponry, and a new game mode for one-on-one duels.
A simple task manager for OpenOffice.org
If you spend most of your time in OpenOffice.org, you might want to be able to manage to-do lists and tasks without leaving the comfort of the office suite. Since Writer doesn't have such a feature, you can create your own no-frills task tool and at the same time sharpen your OOoBasic skills.
Support the Miro media player project, buy a T-shirt
The Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) believes the media is controlled by a small group of corporations. In response, it created the open source video player Miro as a way to make media available to the masses. Although the foundation receives funding from organizations like the Mozilla Foundation and Skyline Public Works, PCF relies heavily on hackers in the open source community and a small bevy of paid programmers to help develop its software. As a nonprofit organization, PCF sometimes has to get creative in order to pay the bills -- and thus its latest release.
OpenStreetMap project imports US government maps
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project in the process of building a free, Web-accessible, user-editable map of the world. So far, most of its map data has come through user-contributed GPS traces, but OSM has recently undertaken the bulk import of government-collected data covering the entire United States. The massive import will jump-start OSM's US map coverage, but its sheer size poses an interesting challenge to the project's resources.
