Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux helpSpecial Offers
NewsVac: News from around the Web
-
Open-source innovation platform Cofundos.org
3 hours, 13 minutes ago
Cofundos.org is a novel platform for spurring innovation and development of open-source software. It can have quite an impact on open-source and web collaboration in general: Cofundos.org is about revealing bright ideas regarding the development of open-source software and attracting a critical mass for their realization. The main idea of Cofundos.org is to share innovative (open-source) ideas, to refine them and to mobilize funding for their realization. -
Linux development: Too fast, too furious?
11 hours, 43 minutes ago
Is Linux pushing the envelope a bit too far, too fast? That's the question posed by Charlie Babcock's interesting article on the pace and scope of Linux development. Dan Frye argues that Linux represents a "first-of-a-kind developer community." Most people don't recognize this, thinking that all open-source projects are similar to Linux. -
Seven areas where Linux could get better
12 hours, 13 minutes ago
To a business user of Linux, the development of its kernel may appear so Byzantine, with dozens of people maintaining different pieces and hundreds more volunteers submitting code, that it's hard to see where new features are headed. Not all these features will get in, showing the stop-and-go road for improvements to make their way into the Linux kernel. There is no Linux road map, per se. To give a glimpse of the process, here are seven areas of development worth watching, based on interviews with developers and kernel maintainers, and time on www.kernelnewbies.org. Not all are moving ahead smoothly, illustrating the stop-and-go path improvements must travel to get into the kernel. -
The Grill: Linus Torvalds in the Hot Seat
12 hours, 43 minutes ago
Linus Torvalds was only 22 in 1991 when he decided to share with friends and colleagues the code of Linux, the new operating system he had created. The University of Helsinki computer science student couldn’t have imagined the revolution his decision was about to ignite. -
Is Desktop Linux for real?
13 hours, 13 minutes ago
A year ago, InfoWorld wouldn’t have published an article describing how to switch from Windows to desktop Linux like this one by Neil McAllister. The operating system’s installation glitches hadn’t been smoothed out, app and basic utility support was still too spotty, and peripheral device support lagged. Oh, yeah, there was one more thing: The demand simply wasn’t there. -
High-Level Reverse Engineering
13 hours, 43 minutes ago
This paper aims to present a methodical framework for high-level reverse engineering. The methodology is a culmination of existing tools and techniques within the IT security research community, which presents ways to identify process operation at a higher-level of abstraction than traditional binary reversing. -
Virtualization: Everybody's Doing It, but Few Know How
14 hours, 13 minutes ago
"In the old days, you really just needed to understand the server," said Kirk Marty, a senior systems engineer at Jostens. "Now you have to understand not just the server, but also the command lines of the Linux operating system, networking, how switches work, storage and fiber connections." -
EU Win Over Microsoft Gives Ball To Linux -- Can It Run With It?
14 hours, 43 minutes ago
European businesses that have thus far shied away from Linux might not be more inclined to go open source as a result of the restrictions imposed on by the Commission. -
Linux frag-fest: the games Linux plays
15 hours, 13 minutes ago
You know Linux will handle all your web browsing needs, your e-mail, your office apps. But when it comes to gaming, what do you do? If you’re a hard-core gamer are you stuck in a Windows world, or the netherworld of dual-booting? Fear not: Linux can play hard and here’s how to get going. -
Red Hat not resting on its laurels, hires 'Transformation' executive
15 hours, 43 minutes ago
You'd think that Red Hat had "transformation" down pat. But the company apparently feels it has room to improve, announcing the appointment of Nick Van Wyk as Vice President, Global Operations and Senior Transformation Executive last week. Nick essentially replaces Joanne Rohde as EVP of global operations. Joanne resigned last week. -
Linux Smartphones For A Completely Customised Experience
16 hours, 13 minutes ago
Mobile phones used to be slabs of plastic that let you talk to people. New features and tools have turned once simple devices into pocket computers. Today’s smartphones are powerful computing devices, capable of running a wide selection of applications, with tweaking utilities as well as development tools and SDKs for writing your own code. -
Adventures in Digital Photography With Linux, part 5: Aperture, Shutter Speeds, and ISO
16 hours, 43 minutes ago
Welcome back! In part 4 we ranged all over the place, from how to manage and edit your photo archives with Linux, some discussion on choosing lenses, and finally getting down to the most important part of getting high-quality photographs: understanding aperture, shutter speeds, and ISO. Part 4 covered the fundamentals of aperture, so let's leap in to shutter speeds and ISO. This applies to point-and-shoot cameras as well as the fancy DSLRs with herds of different lenses; if you don't understand these three photography fundamentals, you won't understand how to get the best photos. -
How To Set Up Mumble Voice Chat On Fedora 7
17 hours, 13 minutes ago
This document describes how to set up a Mumble voice chat environment with Fedora 7. Mumble is a low-latency voice chat software with focus on games. -
GnuTLS Release Removes TLS Authorization Due to Patent Issue
17 hours, 43 minutes ago
GnuTLS, which released version 2.0.2 last week, removed the TLS Authorization capability, due in part to an effort to circumvent the IETF standardization process. -
Upgrading to Ubuntu 7.10
18 hours, 13 minutes ago
Well today was the day! Its a Saturday and what else does one have to do on a raining day in beautiful British Columbia Canada, Upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10! I have spent the last few days since the release of Ubuntu 7.10 reading all the various info I could find on Google about the experiences people were having upgrading to the new release. My experience with any upgrade whether it be Linux or Windows has not always been a successful one. Looking back I think every release of Windows I basically just wiped out the hard drive and started again. Sometimes not even backing up a single file.. :) With Linux, most of the time I have just backed up my home directory and again just re-installed the newer version of whatever Linux I was using at the time - More News
License change makes software more attractive for the community
Dimdim calls itself the world's first free Web meeting service based on an open source platform. Users can share their desktops and files while chatting and videoconferencing with meeting participants. Dimdim was originally licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), but the possibility of a big deal with a university made Dimdim executives eventually change to the GNU General Public License (GPL) instead. By changing the software's license from the MPL to the GPL, "we are making it easier for the community to use our product," says Dimdim founder DD Ganguly.
Going places with openSUSE's SCPM
Reconfiguring your laptop's wireless network settings every time you go to a new client's office or a friend's house can be tiresome, and carrying around little papers with notes about network names, keys, and IP addresses doesn't seem too professional. openSUSE's System Configuration Profile Management (SCPM) can help.
Extending Nautilus context menus with Nautilus-actions
There are literally dozens of plugins and extensions for Nautilus, the default file manager on the GNOME desktop environment, but there is just one that allows you to customize the Nautilus context menu items. The Nautilus-actions extension enables you to add customized entries to the context menu such that, when you right-click a file, the context menu will show options specific to that file.
Where does Linux go from here?
Linux is now mainstream -- so mainstream, in fact, that two of the top three Linux distributions are commercially successful operations, and the third aims to be. Every day, more and more old-school IT firms shake off their initial doubts, get in line behind their customers, and try Linux and other free software projects. In the face of such success, will Linux remain true to its free software ideals and to the community which created it? Or will it morph into a corporate byproduct, driven by the bottom line, and complacent with all forms of predatory intellectual property (IP), including software patents and closed, proprietary standards which are standard fare in the IT industry.
GPLv3 adoption on track, experts say
How is the third version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) being received four months after its official release? Not well, if you believe the Evans Data survey released on September 25. However, those who concern themselves with licensing issues at the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and at Palamida, a company that advises customers on issues that surround free and open software (FOSS), paint a different picture. According to these FOSS experts, adoption of GPLv3 is going as expected, and, while reasons for caution exist, the new version is likely to replace GPLv2 some time in the next few years. As for the Evans Data survey, they suggest that the information released overgeneralizes a complex situation.
Sun Report Builder: Better reporting in OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org Base is undoubtedly a powerful database application, but when it comes to its built-in reporting engine, words like "underpowered" and "outdated" come to mind. Fortunately, you don't have to put up with this situation any longer: with the Sun Report Builder (SRB) extension, you can add nifty reporting features based on Pentaho reporting engine -- assuming you can figure out how to use it without any help.
Simple home networking with SSH
The Secure Shell (SSH) network protocol makes it easy to connect computers that are running Linux, share files, and remotely run applications. Along with an X server, it can make sharing a single computer simple on a home network.
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.
