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The rsync utility is smart enough to send only enough bytes of a changed file to a remote system to enable the remote file to become identical to the local file. When that information is sensitive, using rsync over SSH protects files while in transit.To protect the files when they are on the server you might first encrypt them with GPG. But the manner in which GPG encrypts slightly changed files foils rsync's efficiency.rsyncrypto allows you to encrypt your files while still allowing you to leverage the speed of rsync.

I have been using Vista for well over a year now (since Beta 1). Of course Vista is slow, its bloated (over 10x the size of XP), aero kills system performance (even though this should be done on the video card), networking is pathetically slow, etc etc. We all know Vista sucks.

Linspire is now offering customized desktops to customers. It's Linux's modular, open philosophy that makes this popular. Fat chance of Microsoft or Apple ever offering a customized desktop solution.

I have previously discussed the XO's hardware, as well as its multimedia and web activities. The XO has several tutorial activities that can be used in a fairly productive (read 'useful') way.

In the past week alone, Windows deals in Dubai, in Paris and even in Greece were announced not quite by Microsoft, but by Bill Gates, who had met politicians. We seem to recall press releases suggesting so — giving Gates all the credit. This was a not technical decision as much as a political one.

Microsoft Corp. has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo Inc. with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion in its boldest bid yet to challenge Google Inc.'s dominance of the lucrative online search and advertising markets. The Justice Department says it is interested in reviewing antitrust issues associated with it.

A mobile Linux-based 3G phone has been developed that could be made available to operators for less than US$100. The result of collaboration between NXP Semiconductors and Purple Labs--a mobile Linux development company with a focus on mass-market devices--the Purple Magic handset is a "reference design", meaning it can be tweaked by manufacturers to include or exclude various 3G features. Some markets may, for example, not want videocall functionality.

How do I improve my file server performance. I've many large files in directories and how do I speed up access time? The -D option causes e2fsck to try to optimize all directories, either by reindexing them if the filesystem supports directory indexing, or by sorting and compressing directories for smaller directories.

The Gnome project has released the first test version of Gnome 2.22 this week, including a new Web-browser engine, a new virtual file system and updates for virtual network computing and accessibility. Gnome is, along with KDE, one of the two major desktop environments used with Linux-based operating systems. Aside from managing the graphical windowing portion of the OS, it includes a number of applications, such as a Web browser, e-mail client, configuration manager and other components.

At the Linux.Conf.Au conference today, Intel has announced NDA-free programming documentation covering the 965 Express and G35 Express integrated graphics processors (IGPs). Intel's display driver has long been open-source, but up until now, they have not been releasing the programming documentation for these products to the public. This move comes months after AMD announced their new open-source strategy and began releasing register documentation on their R500 and R600 GPUs. These newly released documents by Intel even cover 3D and video programming for their IGPs.

This article is the first of two that demonstrates how a Ruby on Rails application can be deployed inside of WAS V6.1, and how to integrate WAS existing features with Ruby on Rails applications. This marriage provides the best of both worlds: rapid development and testing while leveraging your investment in WAS.

NXP Semiconductor and Purple Labs have announced a reference design aimed at enabling the manufacture of 3G Linux feature phones that could be sold to mobile operators at under $100. Touted features of the “Purple Magic” phone include video telephony, music playback, high-speed Internet browsing, and video streaming.

Is there anyone who doesn't collect something? I, for instance, have a sizable collection of books. Remembering who gave me which ones, and keeping track of ones I've currently lent to friends, is a nightmarish chore. Happily, the Tellico collection manager can catalog all sorts of collections, including books, movies, games, cards, coins, comic books, and even wine.

"Hear what Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates had to say during his last official visit to the UK before he 'retires' later this year. IT PRO attended the special event hosted by the Institute of Directors (IoD) and, after Gates had done his thing there was a Q&A session with the billionaire and industry figurehead." And also note how some of his answers match up rather nicely with F/OSS.

We use Gallery2 quite a bit for our photos and accordingly use a handy tool called Gallery Remote to upload images to the albums. Under Linux and OSX, there aren't really any efficient ways that I know of to upload lots of photos at once. Under Windows you can use an explorer type plug-in in the uploads section. Gallery Remote is a nice little java application which can handle drag-and-drop image adding, multiple photo addition, addition of captions and changing names, and some other features such as saving login information for multiple accounts or galleries. However, I have had trouble installing Gallery Remote on all of my Linux boxes so far, so I will show you the results of my Googling below and what has worked.

I've complained numerous times in the past about the Ted word processor being broken in Debian. On my many Debian installs, I could neither create a new file in Ted nor open an old one. But on my Gateway Solo 1450 (the $0 Laptop), after doing my big Debian Lenny update yesterday -- which fixed an annoying Nautilus bug by updating to Nautilus 2.20 -- I decided to give Ted another try. It works.

While perusing some Linux stories today, I came across a reference to using SBM, Smart Boot Manager. SBM runs from a floppy disk and allows systems to boot from a selection of disks, effectively allowing one to bypass an old BIOS and have more advanced boot options. From the SBM site: "Smart BootManager is an os independent BootManager which has easy to use interface and many other features. The main goals of SBM are to be absolutely OS independent, flexible and full-featured. It has all of the features needed to boot a variety of OS."

Think you're smarter than the meatheads on your local city council? Now you can prove it -- without running for office -- courtesy of the original city simulation game. Electronic Arts (EA) has released the source code to SimCity under the GPLv3. The newly freed game is dubbed Micropolis, and it is playable in most major Linux distributions. The original SimCity was published in 1989, and spawned 18 spinoffs (and counting), plus dozens of expansions and sequels. For years it was the bestselling PC-based video game, until it was eventually unseated by its own spinoff The Sims. Given its nonviolent, educational nature, SimCity was a natural fit when the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project solicited games for inclusion on the XO laptop.

How do you produce a major update of a popular desktop for GNU/Linux? Following the January 11 release of KDE 4.0, Bruce Byfield sat down with KDE and discussed the new and improved elements of KDE, and what it took to get them there.

Christopher Negus is responsible for some of the most widely-read and well-respected mass-market books on Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You may already know of, or own, Linux Toys, its sequel Linux Toys II, or one of his miraculously up-to-the-minute Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Bible books. Negus has an uncanny ability to [...]