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Catching them young is a popular slogan and one that yields dividends too, no matter whether one applies it to the adoption of software or the learning of a language. And with a small window seemingly open for Australia's FOSS community to push for the use of free and open source software in schools, the question arises - how does one go about making the first inroads?

I'd read the teeth-gnashing about Iceweasel/Firefox 3.0 among developers at Planet Debian, and while I wasn't eagerly awaiting the move from 2.x to 3.0 for Iceweasel -- Debian's copyright-free version of Firefox -- I didn't expect the thing to move from Sid to Testing with huge bugs.

10 most important Linux and free software logos, which represent Linux best.

Some more Unix humor to round out the weekend. A few song parodies, some clever paragraph reworking and command line jokes.

The Ubuntu Eee project has started selling SD cards preinstalled with Eee Ubuntu. While this is cool, it would be even cooler if they managed to get them in stores.

PCLinuxOS Magazine, July 2008 (Issue 23) is available to download. You can find it at the PCLinuxOS Magazine website. If you'd like to be informed immediately about our releases, please signup for the Magazine-Announce mailing list .

 

As we always do, the HTML version is simultaneously being published for low bandwidth users. The HTML Site is W3C standards compliant for easy browsing.

Some highlights include:

1. Linux Media Players - Part 1
   

2. How to change your localization
   

3. Alphabet of programming languages
   

4. Chapter 4 - Kde User Guide
   

5. And more...

PDF Version July 2008 (Issue 23)

HTML Version July 2008 (Issue 23)

Alarming headlines claiming that our laptop hard drives and iPod libraries could soon be scanned at airports for illegal copies of content are unfounded. Several recent reports, including one by the Daily Telegraph, claim that the governments of the G8 nations are considering an anti-piracy plan that would see customs officials granted the power to examine travellers' gadgets for digital contraband.

This article is a continuation of the 10 Best KDE Applications Not Included in KDE which I wrote a while ago. In the first article I reviewed Amarok, KTorrent, K3b, Gwenview, KVirc, Kaffeine, KDevelop, Kid3, DigiKam and Yakuake. In this second part I'll add 10 more applications which I consider to `be full-featured and to have a high quality. I included the screenshots at the end of the article. So, here goes the list...

When I first read about the computer designed for the One Laptop Per Child project, I wanted one. Not because it was adorable, cheap or a means of doing good (to buy one you had to buy a second for a child in a poor country). I coveted its screen, designed for use in full daylight. Even my Apple MacBook Pro, with all its clever tricks, can't manage that.

Since last night's release of Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 2 we have been trying out this latest work from the Canonical camp. While many Linux desktop users would just shrug off X.Org 7.4 as not being too relevant to them -- considering there aren't that many new blatant features -- if you're a faithful Phoronix reader you should already know about much of the recent driver work (especially on the ATI side) and Mesa advancements along with X Server fixes.

Article reviews 10 audio/video players for KDE.

Windows Vista debuted to muffled applause, followed by lackluster sales. Up until June 30, cash-strapped businesses looking to avoid the cost of upgrading to new Vista-compatible hardware could still purchase trusty Windows XP. Now, however, Windows XP is available only as a costly "downgrade" from Windows Vista--if you buy a copy of Vista, you can install the 6-year-old XP operating system using the Vista license.

Mentioned Xen port to CentOS 5.2 (64-bit) brought up daemons libvirtd and dnsmasq at Dom0, providing network bridging and NAT forwarding between Dom0 and DomUs. It also installs on the system command line utility virt-install.

Take a deep breath and repeat after me: A computer is just a tool. It is only so good as it serves to make life better for users. A "better" life is obviously not the same thing for everyone. For me, it means making my Mac more like Linux, as I began to discuss in my last article.

A list I found on the net of some hilarious error messages. Possibly for the Linux and Unix enthusiast only ;)

A vulnerability in the Internet's domain name system left essentially the entire Web open to widespread attack, but the technology community worked to patch the flaw before it could be exploited. Dan Kaminsky, a security researcher, noticed that the DNS was vulnerable to domain cache poisoning, and the discovery amounted to a red alert for the security community.

If your interested in having the speed and stability of a Gentoo based system with the improved ease of use and management of modern desktop, perhaps better than most. Also having the Out of the box functionality that so many users crave with little to no mucking about with things after installation, give Sabayon a try.

So many books like this get 'dinged' in the reviews for not being very accessible by beginners. What people seem to forget is that not every book (on JavaScript or any other technical subject) is written for the beginner. The authors (or probably the editors) make it very clear in the Preface of this text, that this book was written for the intermediate JavaScript coder. 'Intermediate' isn't spelled out as such, but it seems to mean that you're either a person who is well versed in the lessons taught by a beginner's manual, or you know just a little JavaScript, but are quite comfortable in other programming languages (and thus general programming practices). If you haven't written a line of JavaScript in your life and are eager to learn, do not buy this book. You're not ready. If you try to learn JavaScript from jump street using this book, you'll just end up frustrated and unjustly criticize the authors. With that said, if you are familiar with the basics of JavaScript or are otherwise qualified as described above, please continue reading this review and see if this text is right for you (I think it will be).

OpenEMR HQ announced on Thursday that it will begin offering a 'plug and play' EMR appliance as of July 14th, 2008. This last minute announcement came as the company also announced its plans to offer a native OpenEMR client for Microsoft Windows operating system on September, 15th, 2008.

The second alpha for Mandriva Linux 2009 is now available. There is information about the new release in various places: