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A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on How To Run Multiple X Sessions Without Virtualization, which demonstrated how you can run multiple desktop environments at the same time on the same computer, and switch between them at the push of a button. I admit, this was somewhat of a warmup for the real show – how to run multiple Linux distributions at the same time without having to deal with the drawbacks of virtualization software. Today, we’re going to be using chroot to treat certain parts of your Linux filesystem as (almost) completely isolated systems. This can let you do all kinds of interesting things, like run a full Gentoo system from inside your Ubuntu system with little to no performance loss.

Have you considered embracing Linux in any of your articles? If you have, but have not acted on such thoughts, why is that? Is it the Linux learning curve? The "lack of benchmarks"? Simply the lack of resources on the part of your editors and product evaluators? After speaking with several editors from fellow publications, these seem to be most of the excuses at hand. However, at Phoronix Media, we have the solutions to these problems -- and they are free and easy to adopt. I would invite you to think how using Linux to complement your Windows testing in hardware reviews could benefit your publication by providing more thorough reviews to fulfill the needs of more readers, wooing more hardware companies with having another feature to offer, and generate additional page views from having more content.

The KDE Community released the 4.3 version of its popular Linux/UNIX desktop environment, representing more than 63,000 code changes by 700 contributors, 10,000 bug-fixes, and 2,000 new features. KDE 4.3 adds numerous improvements to the Plasma Desktop Shell and Application Development Framework, among many other enhancements.

To convert video files to a resolution that is adequate for a PocketPC’s screen, use mencoder. mencoder input.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbitrate=200:abitrate=48 -vop scale=320:240 -oac copy -o output.avi This will transform a typical 700MB AVI file into a ~200MB size file with a 320×240 pixel resolution.

When using a GNU/Linux operating system, from time to time you may come across a situation where network connectivity was interrupted due to the IP conflict. An IP conflict event occurs when two or more hosts on the same network are configured with identical IP addresses. At the present, there appears to be no code in the Linux kernel to take care of this situation by means of appropriate Gratuitous ARP response . Very often a network administrator is left in the complete ignorance by the Linux kernel and needs to troubleshoot IP conflict the hard way. Fortunately, there is a simple daemon called IPwatchD which main purpose is to catch and evaluate packets on the network and this way is able to prevent an IP conflict occurrence. This is done by help of libpcap library. IPwatchD daemon is written in C language and can run in passive or active modes.

This tutorial will show how to compile and install the latest VLC from source in Debian Lenny in several steps. The current version at the time of writing is VLC 1.0.1, so the tutorial should work successfully for it.

Since my first Moblin 2.0 article a month ago, the development team has not been resting. There have been a half dozen serious updates (over 200MB each time), and the OS has moved away from being riddled with periodic “Fatal Error” messages to just a few now and then. But beyond that, the entire OS has become far more usable as new features are enabled.

As Windows 7’s October 22 arrival approaches, The VAR Guy is hearing more and more buzz about virtualized Windows and Linux desktops — including an imminent announcement from Red Hat. Looking ahead, our resident blogger thinks the virtualized desktop market is ripe for channel partners.

Renaming a company can be a torturous process. Developing the new brand, getting the word out, and answering questions can be long and grueling, and at least some customers are bound to be upset, and possibly quite vocal about it. Not everyone is willing to brave these waters, though Nokia obviously is, as it announced today the renaming of its corporate Qt division, Qt Software.

From Raleigh, North Carolina to Redmond, Washington? Relocating can be fun and profitable.

Acquia has raised $15 million in funding and they're putting it into dev for their next gen open source content management system. A key part of that is a new cloud based service powered by Drupal 7.

Almost one year ago, on August 13, 2008, the last version of Amarok 1.4 for KDE3 was released. Since Amarok 2 for KDE4 was launched, bringing a completely redesigned interface and changing mostly all the major design concepts, users of this great player divided into two groups, the ones who still like 1.4 better and the ones who look forward for a complete Amarok 2.x (which still lacks many features from the old 1.4).

LTSP was available as an install option in Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10 from the alternate install CD . However I am unable to find it on the Jaunty CD. So, here is a quick how to on installing LTSP on ubuntu 9.04.

A little color makes the Linux command line easier to read. Juliet Kemp shows how easy it is to add a little color to your command shell.

As Dell continues to adjust its Ubuntu system lineup, niche Ubuntu PC makers are pressing ahead with expanded Ubuntu-driven offerings. A key example: System76 has refreshed its Starling Ubuntu netbook with more memory and the company has introduced two new Ubuntu desktops. Here's the scoop.

Another powerful trend that undercuts Microsoft is toward programs that look and function the same way in any operating system. "Over the past five years there's been a steady move away from Windows-specific to applications being OS-neutral," says Michael Silver, a software analyst at the research firm Gartner.

Earcandy is a PulseAudio volume manager, which for me is probably the first thing that i ever liked about pulse audio. This volume manager could mute music in your amarok or rhythombox or literally any music player when you play some video in youtube(i am not lying) or VLC or other video players. Mute is not the right word, but instead the music slowly fades away, and the sound from video player fades in. Sounds promising eh? But it is much better than you think.

GNOME has a basic screenshot application called gnome-screenshot, KDE has an advanced one called KSnapshot, which includes options to take screenshots of selected regions, fullscreen, or window under cursor, with or without a time delay (for taking screenshots of menus for example). But neither one of them compares to Shutter, a complex screenshot tool with many features, and the possibility to edit and apply effects directly from within it.

One of the greatest things about a Linux based Desktop environment is the ability to customize nearly everything you see. In this article we will see how to find hidden UI options as well as save all of your customizations for easy replication. By the end of this article you'll know how to automate (script) the customization of your desktop down to the very last detail.

Mobile content retailer, Mobile Streams, today opened a Center of Excellence for smartphone research and development in Hong Kong which it says will work on the development of new applications for the Apple iPhone and Google’s Android.