Linux Today Sticky Page On this page we'll maintain links to important articles and documents that pertain to Free Software, Linux, and the tech industry. Please submit your suggestions to editors@linuxtoday.com. Thank you! (Jun 15, 2009)
Small Features
Bizarre Bugs: 9 of the Strangest Software Glitches Ever IT World: "I began my research intending to cover the whole PC era, but I quickly discovered that most of the strangest bugs have appeared in recent years. As a matter of fact, the three wackiest ones in my list--involving Google's Android OS, Microsoft's Zune, and Google itself--all cropped up in just the past few months." Jun 21, 2009
Miro 2.0 - Watch TV Podcasts and Videos in HD (Jul 4, 2009, 12:02 UTC) (55 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Tuxarena: "Miro is an open-source and cost-free application for watching Internet TV in high definition quality. It's available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows."
Hands off the Gimp (Jul 4, 2009, 06:40 UTC) (1325 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Always Right: "rickspencer3 proposes pulling the gimp from the CD:
...
* F-Spot has key features, like crop and red-eye removal"
Course: Using LDAP (Jul 4, 2009, 04:02 UTC) (896 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) BeginLinux: "This course will help you understand the benefits of LDAP as well as implementation of LDAP. The OpenLDAP Project is a collaborative effort to develop a robust, commercial-grade, fully featured, and open source LDAP suite of applications and development tools. The project is managed by a worldwide community of volunteers that use the Internet to communicate, plan, and develop the OpenLDAP Suite and its related documentation."
Firefox 3.5 - A Really Impressive Release (Jul 3, 2009, 20:04 UTC) (2960 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Tuxarena: "Firefox is currently the most popular browser on the Linux platform and the top choice on Windows after Internet Explorer (although there are statistics showing it beats IE in terms of popularity in some countries)."
Tiny Core Linux 2.1 Review (Jul 3, 2009, 12:04 UTC) (2268 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Desktop Linux Reviews: "They say that good things come in small packages and so it is with Tiny Core Linux, a diminutive but powerful distribution. "
5 Top of the Line Twitter Desktop Clients for Linux (Jul 3, 2009, 08:04 UTC) (1761 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Tech Source From Bohol: "For Linux users, here's my list of top of the line Twitter desktop clients that can surely help you better organize your friends, followers, and tweets, and overall make tweeting a lot more fun:"
SECURITY: How Microsoft benefits from Conficker (Jul 3, 2009, 04:04 UTC) (3508 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) ITWire: "An attack by the Conficker worm, that infects Windows systems, has cost the Manchester Council in England around £1.5 million - and Microsoft has benefitted too, according to a report in the Manchester Evening News."
Linux Vendors Head to the Cloud in Search of Cash (Jul 3, 2009, 02:04 UTC) (1019 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) InternetNews: "Is there a silver lining in the cloud for Linux vendors? This week, two of the largest Linux vendors each announced new initiatives to provide commercial services for cloud customers"
Editor's Note: Freedom is Not Embarrassing (Jul 3, 2009, 00:04 UTC) (2471 reads)
(23 talkbacks)
(feedback) We've all heard the scornful criticism against idealism, as though it were something to be ashamed of, and mocking of the fundamental ideals of Free Software. I'm not embarrassed to have ideals, I am proud.
How To Configure SSH Keys Authentication With PuTTY And Linux Server In 5 Quick Steps (Jul 2, 2009, 23:34 UTC) (1628 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) HowtoForge: "This tutorial explains how you can replace password-based SSH authentication with key-based authentication which is more secure because only the people that own the key can log in. In this example, we're using PuTTY as our SSH client on a Windows system."
Eschalon Review - Commercial Role-Playing Game for Linux (Jul 2, 2009, 23:04 UTC) (1404 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Tuxarena: "Eschalon is a turn-based RPG (role-playing game), which tries to reproduce the feeling of classic RPG games. It's closed-source, available for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, and it comes with a demo too. The full version is available as a download for $19.95."
SECURITY: Will AES crypto go the way of MD5? (Jul 2, 2009, 22:34 UTC) (1667 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Netstat -vat: "The AES (Advance Encryption Standard) (Define:AES) is a standard encryption mechanism in use by the US Government and many others - and it is now at risk from a very theoretical attack."
Mozilla's Crowdsourcing Mystique (Jul 2, 2009, 22:04 UTC) (1066 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Business Week: "So Ken Saunders, a 41-year-old, legally blind volunteer for Mozilla, took it upon himself to create a tool that makes the player easier to use for people with vision problems."
VirtualBox 3.0: No More Booting Windows (Jul 2, 2009, 21:34 UTC) (4526 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux Magazine: "VirtualBox 3.0, with its improved 3D support, can ensure that some users won't need to boot Windows even when gaming."
ASCAP Makes Outlandish Copyright Claims on Cell Phone Ringtones (Jul 2, 2009, 21:04 UTC) (1305 reads)
(6 talkbacks)
(feedback) Electronic Frontier Foundation: " But as part of a ploy to squeeze more money out of the mobile phone companies, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) has told a federal court that each time a phone rings in a public place, the phone user has violated copyright law."
Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python (Jul 2, 2009, 20:34 UTC) (1870 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) A Million Chimpanzees: "Welcome to "Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python". Not a book about learning Python as such, but an introduction to the discipline of Computer Science with Python as your guide."
Available Now: GNOME 2.26.3 (Jul 2, 2009, 19:34 UTC) (1733 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Softpedia: "The GNOME developers, through Lucas Rocha, have announced early this morning in a press release that the last maintenance release of the popular GNOME 2.26 desktop environment is now available for download."
Yellow Dog Linux 6.2 released (Jul 2, 2009, 19:04 UTC) (980 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) The H Open: "The Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) developers have announced the release of version 6.2 of their PowerPC distribution that runs on the Sony PlayStation 3 and other computers with Cell processors, including IBM's Cell blades."
5 reasons to switch to Linux (Jul 2, 2009, 18:34 UTC) (2284 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) TechDigest: "Struggling along on your Windows-based PC and considering moving over to Linux?
Here are five reasons why you should make the switch."
Get started with Linux - part 1 (Jul 2, 2009, 18:04 UTC) (1237 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Computeractive: "Here, we will explain how to get started with Linux. No experience is necessary, as we will guide you through all the basics. To start we will explain how to install the software, either by replacing Windows or running alongside it."
The cranky CIO says the hard drive is inside the computer (Jul 2, 2009, 17:34 UTC) (2415 reads)
(5 talkbacks)
(feedback) The Linux Distillery: "Those of us who work in technology have a jargon all of our very own. We know the difference between CPUs and GPUs, between SSD and HDD, let alone HD and SDTV! Yet, our users are flat out calling everything "the hard drive.""
Get to Know Clustered File Systems (Jul 2, 2009, 16:34 UTC) (1257 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Enterprise Networking Planet: "In this article we will cover a few common physical storage configurations, as well as clustered and distributed file system options. Hopefully, this is a good starting point to begin looking into the technology that will work best for your high availability storage needs."
Mono: Shielding the facts (Jul 2, 2009, 15:34 UTC) (2491 reads)
(20 talkbacks)
(feedback) IT Wire: "Until the anti-Mono crowd actually make a contribution to Free Software, they will continue to be treated as cranks - and their questions left unanswered."
Microsoft yanks 10 old patches down; smells like anti-Linux FUD (Jul 2, 2009, 15:04 UTC) (4104 reads)
(4 talkbacks)
(feedback) Microsoft Subnet Blog: "He seemed to think that much of the code in Linux belongs to Sun, and therefore will soon be owned by Oracle, who will turn around and use its so-called power to control Linux."
Why Ubuntu has become the flag bearer for Linux (Jul 2, 2009, 14:34 UTC) (2234 reads)
(6 talkbacks)
(feedback) TechRadar: "Ubuntu has to be doing something right. Ubuntu's biggest, and earliest, success has been in marketing itself. It's become a recognisable brand, not only in the Linux community, but in the wider non-technical world."
IBM, NetApp Take on Virtual I/O Bottlenecks (Jul 2, 2009, 14:02 UTC) (1030 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Enterprise Storage Forum: "Virtualization has done wonders for server utilization and consolidation, but packing all those virtual machines onto a single server has created something of a mess on the storage side.
Storage I/O bottlenecks in virtual environments are a growing and persistent problem for data centers, as storage controllers and heads can become overwhelmed by I/O requests from virtual machines, creating processing delays."
The Kernel Newbie Corner: Your First Loadable Kernel Module, Part Deux (Jul 2, 2009, 13:32 UTC) (1047 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux.com: "...you can't compile a loadable kernel module without at least a partial kernel source tree -- the part that contains the general build infrastructure and the essential header files. But since it's handy to have a full source tree hanging around for the sake of perusing its contents every so often, you might as well go get one:"
Proprietary Software's Premature Obituary (Jul 2, 2009, 13:02 UTC) (926 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Pardon My Punditry: "Not atypically for this sort of thing, it's coupled with another prediction of the demise of Microsoft and proprietary software in general. Is it likely that we have actually heard a "death knell" for the proprietary approach?"
London Stock Exchange to abandon failed Windows platform (Jul 2, 2009, 12:32 UTC) (3254 reads)
(3 talkbacks)
(feedback) Cyber Cynic: "While the LSE denied that the collapse was TradElect's fault, they also refused to explain what the problem really wa. Sources at the LSE tell me to this day that the problem was with TradElect."
What ever happened to chunkfs? (Jul 2, 2009, 12:02 UTC) (1159 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) LWN.net: ""What ever happened to chunkfs?" This is a question I hear every few months, and I always answer the same way, "Chunkfs works, the overhead is reasonable, and it is only practical if it is part of the file system design from the beginning, not tacked on after the fact. I just need to write up the paper summarizing all the data." Thanks to your benevolent LWN editor, you are now reading that paper."
it is like a cow in that i can’t use it to get work done (Jul 2, 2009, 11:32 UTC) (2341 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) Dot Unplanned: "I've only seen Vista in brief glimpses here and there. I wanted to try it for myself. As much as it entertains me that people have lost whole years of their lives to being angry and defiant about Vista, I couldn't believe it was that bad."
Linux based Solar-powered networking anywhere (Jul 2, 2009, 10:02 UTC) (1617 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) IBM Developerwork: "SolarNetOne is a turnkey Internet hotspot—power, computers, and satellite uplink—you can install virtually anywhere, for less than the cost of a subcompact car."
The Kernel Newbie Corner: Your First Loadable Kernel Module (Jul 2, 2009, 08:02 UTC) (1469 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux.com: "This is the first in a series of articles aimed at the beginning kernel programmer, designed to lead the kernel newbie through the basics of writing and compiling their first kernel module, and getting increasingly sophisticated from there. Everything that will happen in this space is meant to be fully hands-on, and you're all welcome to play along."
Red Hat inks cloud partnership with Amazon (Jul 2, 2009, 06:02 UTC) (823 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Channel Register: "But for the moment, Amazon's EC2 sets the pace in commercial cloud computing, and that means being Amazon's friend is particularly important to companies like Red Hat that want to make money from clouds."
PostgreSQL 8.4 (Jul 2, 2009, 04:02 UTC) (1954 reads)
(3 talkbacks)
(feedback) PostgreSQL press release: "The PostgreSQL Global Development Group has released version 8.4, continuing the rapid development of the world's most advanced open source database. "
