Showing headlines posted by tadelste

Con Kolivas [interview] posted a patch for the 2.6.13 kernel [story] that implements cache prefetching. The patch is based onearlier work by Thomas Schlichter. Con explains, "I have resuscitated and rewritten some early prefetch code Thomas Schlichter did in late 2.5 to create a configurable kernel thread that reads in swap from ram in reverse order it was written out. It does this once kswapd has been idle for a minute (implying no current vm stress)." He goes on to explain, "Note that swapped in pages are kept on backing store (swap), meaning no further I/O is required if the page needs to swap back out."

Con noted that the patch will be included in his next -ck patchset [story], however, he also posted it to the lkml to guage interest in eventually merging the effort into the mainline kernel, and to encourage greater testing and feedback.

Win4Lin, a maker of Windows-on-Linux virtualization software, Thursday released Win4Lin Pro 2.0, which includes support for both older 16-bit code and newer 64-bit processors, among other updates. The new release also boasts easier installation, enhanced performance, and "compatibility with virtually all Windows XP/2000 business applications." The company announced last May that Win4Lin Pro v1.0 had been designated "Red Hat Ready" for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 on x86 and 64-bit processors.

Alan Yates, general manager of Information Worker Business Strategy at Microsoft, told DesktopLinux.com: "We do not believe ... that the answer to public records management is to force a single, less functional document format on all state agencies. "The proposed policy is inconsistent with ongoing dialogues Microsoft is having with other Massachusetts state agencies about how Microsoft products can best meet their data and records requirements for a variety of data types -- ranging from traditional documents to pictures, audio, video, voice, voice-over-IP, data, database schema, webpages, and XML information.

Cluster Resources recently released a new Maui snapshot that fixes a number of internal job management issues, improves fault handling and logging, and updates a number of communication protocols to allow better interaction with peer services.

No matter how good the software, hardware eventually fails. Redundancy is an important way to keep your important services running smoothly. With the right software, you can even sleep through otherwise catastrophic network failures. Philip Hollenback demonstrates how to make your network robust by using Keepalived on multiple Linux routers.

In China, government-led initiatives encouraging the adoption of open source software have spurred on intense competition between various factions of the community. IDC China analysts see a shift from low-cost distros to higher-cost, more robust products with improved support. Revenues for the locally-sold Linux server operating environment market in the first half of 2005 are estimated to approach US$2.9 million.

"In Africa, and much of the developing world, access to knowledge is limited on account of a lack of information and communications infrastructure and connectivity, low levels of literacy, little awareness of available resources [and] how to utilise them, and a lack of localised and locally relevant resources," says CSIR spokesperson Biffy van Rooyen. "The Free Knowledge Communities initiative strives to lower the barriers by providing basic building blocks to enable communities to empower themselves with knowledge." The idea is to ensure communities can not only reach existing free and open source software and content, but also create new content in a culture of sharing and collaboration.

Here are step-by-step instructions for installing and customizing your own Linux system. On the plus side, Linux appeals to those tired of the security woes that plague Microsoft Windows and, of course, to those interested in sampling thousands of free apps. As Linux is free, you won't be encumbered by potential software-licensing frustrations. It attracts developers in particular because of the plentiful development tools that are both powerful and free. Those who venture into Linux fresh from the Windows or Macintosh worlds are often pleased to find that Linux distributions, or distros, approach user interfaces with much more flexibility than those operating systems do. If you install one distro and don't like its look-and-feel, you can switch to other graphical user interfaces—some of which may be Mac-like and some Windows-like—without reinstalling Linux.

Linux is an enterprise player, and customer demand will force Microsoft to make its products interoperate with Linux, says Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), an organization that fosters the development and adoption of Linux.

Such public policy proposals have become a familiar challenge for Microsoft abroad, as national and local governments in countries such as Brazil, India and China have latched on to the promise of open-source software.Governments have been attracted by the prospect of using software with code open to inspection and adaptation, while also employing the software to stimulate the development of local software industries not dependent on Microsoft. At home, though, the Massachusetts recommendation represents something new. The plan, proposed by the state's chief information officer, is open for public comment until the end of next week. If Microsoft cannot overturn the proposal, it could become an influential policy that helps to shape the thinking of other local US authorities.

Martin Taylor, Microsoft Corp.'s general manager of platform strategy, recently approached Open Source Development Labs Inc., in Beaverton, Ore., to consider ways in which the two could conduct a joint research project to do some facts-based analysis of Linux and Windows. OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen talked to eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli about OSDL's future relationship with Microsoft and why he rejected the proposal out of hand.

Two IBM-sponsored reports published this week have found that Linux is cheaper to deploy and operate than Windows. One report found Linux was 40 percent cheaper overall than Windows, and 56 percent cheaper than Unix based Solaris. These findings appear to contradict Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign, which found Windows to be less expensive than Linux.

Everyone's talking about Xen, but the code is complex. Here's a starting point.

Writing at LXer.com, Tom Adelstein reasons that a recent upsurge in anti-Linux desktop press probably isn't due to shortcomings in the software. It may signal that Microsoft -- and by extension its partners -- are feeling pressure from the free operating system. Perhaps a new wave of disinformation is coming? "The media buzz about Linux's alleged failure on the desktop probably means Linux is continuing to take a significant share of Microsoft's market -- maybe even more than we think," Adelstein opines. "Why else would the big Redmond company's minions write such claims? Disinformation provides an insight into someone's fears. The noise level has gone up and that probably means Linux is creating trouble for Windows."

Yesterday, Sam Hiser called to let me know he placed an article in the pending queue at Lxer. "It's a scoop," he said. Turns out he was right. The article made the major media wires shortly after hitting Google News at 3 PM on Wednesdy.

INSTEAD of clearing the air about open source with its Get the Facts campaign, Microsoft is clouding the open source debate by taking advantage of people’s limited knowledge of Linux. This is according to members of the open source community in response to comments made by Martin Taylor, head of Redmond’s competitive strategy and architect of the Get the Facts campaign, in a recent interview with Reseller News. In the article Taylor said competing against Linux has become easier since providers such as Red Hat and SuSE Linux, which is now part of Novell, have become more commercialised. However, Con Zymaris, director of Open Source Industry Australia and CEO of Cybersource, a Melbourne-based Linux and open source solution provider, says this argument is a fallacy as these vendors have always been commercially focused.

Some 16,000 students in the mountainous South Tyrol province of Bolzano in northern Italy will find 2,460 classroom computers upgraded from Windows to Linux when they return to school this month. New multi-language educational applications resulting from this project are to be released to the open source community, the project's co-director told DesktopLinux.com.

from the imitation-is-the-highest-form-of-flattery dept. An anonymous reader writes "There is a new plugin available for IE that can make Internet Explorer resemble Firefox by adding tabbed browsing capabilities and an integrated search box. Moreover, the plugin improves IE's privacy and security by integrating a firewall designed to block out Internet exploits, phishing sites, spammers, spyware and worms, with a special HTTP filter that removes private data, and an anti-spyware tool that can identify and remove all pests in less then 10 seconds"

The media buzz about Linux's alleged failure on the desktop probably means Linux is continuing to take a significant share of Microsoft's market - maybe even more than we think. Why else would the big Redmond company's minions write such claims? Disinformation provides an insight into someone's fears. The noise level has gone up and that probably means Linux is creating trouble for Windows.

Korea Post, Korea's postal service agency, Wednesday announced it will begin adopting the free, open-source operating system known as Linux to its desktop computers nationwide on Thursday, replacing the Windows operating system produced by U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. In the first stage, Korea Post will install the Linux-based operating system on 4,748 desktop computers for customer use in 2,800 branches nationwide, the state-run mail service agency said in a statement. The move is aimed to join the South Korean government's efforts to promote the use of the Linux system in the public sector, Korea Post said. The replacement is expected to help Korea Post save 850 million won ($818,550) per year, the agency said. By the end of the year, Korea Post also said it plans to adopt the Linux software for its Internet banking and payment system to replace Microsoft Windows, which, users say, is more prone to viruses and hackers.