5 Free Linux Apps You Can't Do Without PC Authority: "Like a digital Swiss Army knife, these are the Linux utilities and tools that are so useful you won't know how you ever did without them." (Nov 2, 2009)
Linux Today Features
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
The 10 biggest failures in IT history 10 Things: "I recently shared a list of events I believe were pivotal in shaping today’s IT industry - things like the development of COBOL and the creation of UNIX. This time around, I’ve listed a few of the biggest failures in IT..." Nov 1, 2009
Linux-Kongress 2009: New filesystems, optimised programming (Nov 6, 2009, 20:02 UTC) (1128 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) The H Open: "Among the topics were the advantages of Ext4 and Btrfs, fast Ext4 filesystem checks, and kernel and userspace tricks for minimising the time-consuming movements of read/write heads, all of which can speed up some tasks by several orders of magnitude!"
Has Google Become a Good Open Source Citizen? (Nov 6, 2009, 17:32 UTC) (828 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Seeking Alpha:: "With its open source release Thursday of its Closure JavaScript tools, Google (GOOG) is starting to suggest that it may eventually become a good open source citizen."
Setting Up Gitosis On Ubuntu (Nov 6, 2009, 16:32 UTC) (779 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Howtoforge: "This article is part one of a two part series that covers setting up a hosting server using gitosis for your central repository, and in the next article, taking an existing SVN repository and running the appropriate scripts and commands necessary to migrate it into something git can work with."
Open Source: More than a License (Nov 6, 2009, 14:17 UTC) (687 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) OStatic: "For the first time, there seems to be a growing concensus that an OSI-compliant license alone is not enough to define one's position on the openness spectrum."
SECURITY: Q&A: Ubuntu 9.10 security (Nov 6, 2009, 07:34 UTC) (1682 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) HelpNet Security: "What are the most notable security features introduced with Ubuntu 9.10?
The widest-reaching change was the introduction of non-executable memory emulation for Ubuntu systems that lack non-exec hardware."
Checking in on CodePlex (Nov 6, 2009, 03:04 UTC) (1030 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) Standards Blog: "In this blog entry, I'll give my impressions of how the CodePlex Foundation is developing, and (as before) my opinions on how effective the decisions being made are likely to be in achieving the Foundation's goals."
FatELF: Turns out I liked the uncertainty better. (Nov 5, 2009, 21:02 UTC) (1722 reads)
(9 talkbacks)
(feedback) Ryan Gordon: "It looks like the Linux kernel maintainers are frowning on the FatELF patches.
Some got the idea and disagreed, some didn't seem to hear what I was saying,
and some showed up just to be rude.
I didn't really expect to be walking into the buzzsaw that I did."
GNOME 3.0 May Not Come Until September 2010 (Nov 5, 2009, 20:32 UTC) (1731 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "The March target is just six months after the release of GNOME 2.28 and consistent with their bi-monthly release cycle they have been following for years. However, it looks like GNOME 3.0 may not hit in H1'2010 but rather September of next year."
Google: Android fragmentation not 'bad thing' (Nov 5, 2009, 20:02 UTC) (1238 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) The Register: "Google has defended its decision to allow unfettered Android tweaking, saying that although this may fragment the Googlephone market, it's what's best for developers."
Apache at 10: You Can't Buy Your Way In (Nov 5, 2009, 18:32 UTC) (1406 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) InternetNews: "Money can't buy everything, especially when it comes to freely available open source software from the Apache Software Foundation (ASF)."
Kernel Log - Discussions at the 2009 Kernel Summit, FatELF in the firing line, new graphics drivers (Nov 5, 2009, 13:34 UTC) (1457 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Kernel Log: "This year's Kernel Summit saw Linux developers, led by Linus Torvalds, discussing the development process and gaining an insight into how Google uses the Linux kernel in-house. Ulrich Drepper and Alan Cox think universal binaries in Linux are a step in the wrong direction. Various graphics drivers have recently been updated to add new functionality."
Meet the Platform Team Managers: Matt Zimmerman (Nov 5, 2009, 00:04 UTC) (982 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Ubuntu User: "In this final interview in my Where Karmic's Karma Comes From series, we meet Matt Zimmerman, Ubuntu CTO and chair of the Ubuntu Technical Board. Matt brings each team together with his tireless efforts to ensure quality, professionalism, and polish to each release."
Next-generation Linux file systems: NiLFS(2) and exofs (Nov 4, 2009, 19:03 UTC) (2384 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) IBM Developerworks: "Linux continues to innovate in the area of file systems. It supports the largest variety of file systems of any operating system. It also provides cutting-edge file system technology. Two new file systems that are making their way into Linux include the NiLFS(2) log-structured file system and the exofs object-based storage system."
Faster booting with Upstart (Nov 4, 2009, 18:03 UTC) (2271 reads)
(3 talkbacks)
(feedback) The H Open: "A good portion of the boot time on current Linux systems is spent on system initialisation and starting dozens of daemons sequentially. The Ubuntu 9.10 development team have started to parallelise and accelerate the boot process through the large scale use of Upstart."
Speaking UNIX: Peering into pipes (Nov 4, 2009, 15:03 UTC) (1417 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) IBM Developerworks: "The pipe operator connects one UNIX® command to another to create ad hoc programs right on the command line. But a pipe is something of a black box, occluding the data flowing from one utility to the next. Pipe Viewer provides a peek into the pipeline. Here's how to use it in day-to-day tasks."
Pink Army Cooperative Uses Open Source Principles to Treat Breast Cancer (Nov 4, 2009, 14:33 UTC) (770 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) OStatic: "Content management systems, media apps, and gaming software all have their place in the FOSS ecosystem, but when projects like the Pink Army Cooperative come along, it reminds people of just how powerful the open source doctrine really is."
KDE 4.3.3 Out Now: Clockwork (Nov 4, 2009, 03:03 UTC) (2951 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) KDE: "KDE Community Ships Third Translation and Service Release of the 4.3 Free Desktop, Containing Numerous Bugfixes, Performance Improvements and Translation Updates"
Firefox 3.6 Tweaks Are Mostly Under the Hood (Nov 4, 2009, 01:33 UTC) (2224 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) LinuxInsider: "Developers may be more interested in some of the more subtle changes, however -- e.g., support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 Web technologies, as well as support for image rendering and multiple background images."
The 2009 Linux Kernel Summit (Nov 3, 2009, 19:32 UTC) (1352 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) LWN.net: "The 2009 Linux Kernel Summit was held in Tokyo, Japan on October 19 and 20. Jet-lagged developers from all over the world discussed a wide range of topics. LWN's Jonathan Corbet was there, and has written the following summaries."
Cloud Computing Technology Comparison Matrix
(Nov 3, 2009, 16:32 UTC) (1325 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Matt's Blog: "This is a report from the Devopsdays 09 conference which took place at the 30. and 31. October in Ghent (Belgium). Developers and System-Administrators presented new techniques for agile system administration followed by "open spaces" to work-out related topics suggested by the really interactive audience."
AMD's UVD2-based XvBA Finally Does Something On Linux (Nov 3, 2009, 15:32 UTC) (1382 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "AMD has been shipping an XvBA library with their ATI Catalyst Linux driver since last year, but they have yet to release any documentation on the XvBA API or any patches to implement the support within any Linux media players. Heck, AMD has not even officially confirmed XvBA with Phoronix being the lone source of information for the past year."
Intel's Special Driver For Poulsbo Uses Gallium3D (Nov 3, 2009, 07:32 UTC) (1506 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "Yesterday afternoon we ran a story on a new Linux driver for the Intel Poulsbo chipset, which right now is known for being notorious with its troubling Linux support. However, Intel apparently had been working on a new "special driver" that the Linux Foundation was showing off recently in Munich at a mobile development camp."
Learning Python, 4th Edition (Nov 3, 2009, 04:32 UTC) (2163 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux Tutorial: "I just wrote a review for Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition and commented that it seemed as if each successive edition acquired more pages. In the Linux book's case, it isn't true, but it is true in the case of Lutz's book. In fact, between the 3rd and current edition, the book has expanded some 466 pages. Good grief, what accounts for such growth?"
bringing theora to youtube (the hard way) (Nov 2, 2009, 17:04 UTC) (1897 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Christopher Blizzard: "Anyway, I decided to try and make it so that I could easily play Youtube videos without having to use Flash. (Flash – in many ways – is the weak link in the chain. In this case it’s because I can’t fix/hack it, although I’m happy to not have it because my browser is a lot more reliable.)"
An Introduction to CouchDB (Nov 2, 2009, 16:34 UTC) (1859 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux Magazine: "A couple weeks ago I wrote about NoSQL and provided a short overview of the landscape of non-relational databases. One that has become increasingly popular is Apache CouchDB, so I’d like to spend a couple weeks digging into it a bit and talking about why it’s so interesting."
Apple Scuttles ZFS: Community Picks it Up (Nov 2, 2009, 14:34 UTC) (1368 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) OStatic: "In like a lion, out like a Snow Leopard? Apple changed its spots on Sun's ZFS fairly quickly. This week the company shutterd the ZFS Project on Mac OS Forge, and there's no hide or hair of ZFS to be found in Snow Leopard."
Just the Facts - Exporting Encryption Algorithms (Nov 2, 2009, 13:34 UTC) (1177 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) FOSS Bazaar: "Open source developers may not realize it but in certain circumstances their work is subject to export regulation. When open source developers create an account on SourceForge.net they are required to agree to SF’s terms and conditions."
2009 Linux Graphics Survey (Nov 1, 2009, 12:03 UTC) (3257 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "For the past two years we have hosted an annual Linux Graphics Survey in which we ask well over 20,000 users each time their video card preferences, driver information, and other questions about their view of the Linux graphics stack."
When hackers get the blues (Nov 1, 2009, 04:03 UTC) (3211 reads)
(7 talkbacks)
(feedback) IT Wire: "Hacking is often a lonely profession: the wee hours are generally the most productive and communicating with an inanimate object often results in people being unable to interact in a regular manner with their human counterparts."
Building Debian (and Ubuntu) Meta Packages
(Oct 30, 2009, 18:04 UTC) (1803 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Dave Hall Blog: "Over the last few weeks I have been building a bunch of Debian packages (aka debs) for a new Ubuntu server roll out. I will outline how to build a simple package which pulls in a couple of useful packages."
ICEfaces 1.8: Push Technology with ICEmapper (Oct 30, 2009, 15:33 UTC) (1320 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Packt Publishing: "You've already had a look at auction and chat implementation in the ICEfaces examples. These examples are pretty cool and also present realistic use cases. The article example should follow this idea. But the aim was to create something fresh and new, and not just a poor copy of the existing stuff."
Handling NULL values in model-based lists of CakePHP (Oct 30, 2009, 08:23 UTC) (1209 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Free Software Blog: "I’ve been using CakePHP for a little while, and a common problem that keeps arising again and a again is that of handling NULL values in model-based lists of my forms."
Ford Unveils Open Source Sync Developer Platform (Oct 30, 2009, 00:16 UTC) (2109 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Car Tech Blog: "Ford announced that it is testing an open-source platform to could be used in the future to develop applications that make use of Sync to connect to social networks in the cloud."
DOD open-source memo could change software landscape (Oct 29, 2009, 21:18 UTC) (3124 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) GCN: "The Defense Department's guidance on the military use of open-source software has been a long time in coming, and should ease the widespread concerns in the military about open source-use."
Java development 2.0: Easy EC2 (Oct 29, 2009, 15:04 UTC) (1832 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) DeveloperWorks: "Provisioning an EC2 instance for hosting a Java Web application is a snap. In this Java development 2.0 column, you'll quickly build a Web application that leverages Groovy, Spring, and Hibernate (via the Grails framework) and deploy it on an EC2 instance."
Salting the Bones (Oct 29, 2009, 00:09 UTC) (2357 reads)
(7 talkbacks)
(feedback) Blog of helios: "We've talked about killing Linux Myths before. But there is still one that persists... Linux Users are cheap and Linux Users are not a profitable market for gaming developers."
