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In a previous article I presented two new patch concepts (bcache and flashcache) for improving performance but using SSD’s as a caching mechanism for hard drives. In reality the caching is achieved by using a block device to cache another block device, but practically it’s using an SSD to cache hard drives. I’ve been waiting for some time for a patch that increases performance by using a cache that is larger than the disk cache and faster than the disk. SSD’s fit that bill pretty well, especially given their fantastic read performance compared to disks.

LinuxCertified Inc, a leading provider of Linux training and services, announced its next Embedded and Real-Time Linux Development class to be held in San Francisco Bay Area from September 15th - 17th, 2010.

POSIX thread programming defines a standard set of C programming language types, functions, and constants—and pthreads provide a powerful tool for thread management. To use pthreads to the fullest, you'll want to avoid the common mistakes. One common mistake is forgetting to join joinable threads, which can create memory leaks and cause extra work. In this tips-oriented article, learn the basics of POSIX threads, see how to identify and detect thread memory leaks, and get solid advice for avoiding them.

Well you can ask them "are you PCI complaint?" However you shouldn't take their answer at face value. Recently, pretending to be a potential customer with an e-commerce website, I asked 10 random Linux hosts if their shared hosting plan was PCI compliant. 6 said no or no, its not possible on a shared hosting plan, which for the most part is true, especially if its less than $50/mo. As far as shared hosting goes you really should avoid looking at that all together if you are looking for the most secure, as well as a PCI compliant environment. However 3 hosts said yes, they are PCI compliant on their Linux shared plans, which is rather hard to believe.

The Apache Software Foundation, best known for the self-named popular open source Web server, has a variety of other technology that can help enterprises with databases, search, development, and more. Here’s an overview of the best.

Fear #2 (Cost!): Let’s look at skill-sets first. When you hire an employee who labels themselves a Windows Server Administrator, you are generally getting someone whose expertise on servers stops with Windows. Yeah, sounds extremely obvious, but I am addressing an important point. When you hire someone who labels themselves as a Linux Server Administrator, you are generally getting someone who knows both Linux and Windows server administration. Emphasis on the word “generally” as not all windows server admins know only Windows and not all Linux admins are well rounded.

I started a new job last week, as Technical Architect of Ubuntu. I'm thrilled to be here, I couldn't have crafted a more perfect job if I'd written the job description myself. I've been reflecting this week on how I got here. Many people know me for my involvement in Parrot, Perl, or Python, but my first love in free software was Linux, specifically Debian.

Ever looked at your Linux based N900 and think "You know what this needs? It needs to be bigger!" Yea... I didn't think so. I felt the same way, but I also knew that the 500$ investment I had made in my N900 was worth protecting.

Ubuntu 10.10, codenamed Maverick Meerkat, is still two months from its final release. However, if the first alpha and the forecasts about it are an accurate indication, the release is already taking on a character all its own. Specifically, Maverick may be the release in which the Ubuntu version of GNOME differs from generic GNOME to the point where it should be recognized as a separate desktop -- call it Ubuntu GNOME.

Allison Randal has been appointed Technical Architect of Ubuntu at Canonical by Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. Randal is known for her work as an architect of the Parrot virtual machine and chairman of the Parrot Foundation and is a board member of the Perl and Python Foundations.

(Sacramento, CA, USA: August 25, 2010) - The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world's premier Linux certification organization (http://www.lpi.org), announced promotional exam labs for their Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) at LinuxCon Brazil (São Paulo, Brazil, September 1, 2010) and Ohio Linux Fest (Columbus, Ohio, USA, September 12, 2010). This is LPI's second event as the exclusive Free and Open Source Software certification provider at LinuxCon and their fifth year as certification sponsor of the Ohio LinuxFest.

Last April (April-29-2010) there was a local event in Ecuador organized by AESoft, the Ecuadorian Software association. This event was names “Integrated Technologies” and was sponsored by Microsoft, CodePlex, Port25 and The Apache Foundation. On this conference Microsoft sent a message saying that they are Open Source friendly and they support Open Source development. I saw this even as a Microsoft response of the growing “Free Software” (as in Freedom) movement here in Ecuador. So Microsoft tried to convince the audience that they care about Open Source and there are a lot of OSS software they promote. - Martin Iturbide

Have you ever wanted to move mail from an old account to a new account? This tutorial will show you how to use fetchmail with PostfixAdmin.

The latest Debian Project News recently announced a code freeze in preparation for a new release by the end of 2010. It's a sign of the times that the news went mostly unreported. Which makes me wonder: What is Debian's role today?

Oracle suing Google over Java could be a good thing for MeeGo. If any good is to come out of Oracle suing Google over Android, the one to benefit could be MeeGo, the Intel-Nokia joint-venture mobile operating system.

Lightweight notebooks usually have lightweight specs, but as John Brandon discovers, the Dell Vostro V13 is an exception to the rule…

Parsix GNU/Linux is a great little distro hailing from the exotic lands of Persia. It features a lovely customized GNOME desktop and lots of handy applications. It reminds folks of Ubuntu in many ways and is often described as a nice alternative to Ubuntu.

While our primary focus at Phoronix is on providing Linux benchmarks, we do enjoy trying out and benchmarking other operating systems like FreeBSD, Solaris, and Mac OS X. When Apple originally launched Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" we were the first to provide detailed Mac OS X 10.6 benchmarks compared to Mac OS X 10.5 and also how Apple's new operating system at the time compared to Linux. We have continued to monitor the performance of Snow Leopard and found that some point releases had introduced some regressions and we have compared the performance of Mac OS X 10.6 to Windows 7 and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. With Apple's release last week of the "Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0" that is reported to bring "stability and performance fixes for graphics applications and games in Mac OS X", our interest was piqued and we set out to run a new set of Apple OpenGL benchmarks. In this article we are looking at the OpenGL performance of Mac OS X 10.6, 10.6.2, 10.6.3, 10.6.4, and 10.6.4 with this graphics update installed.

Next month's revamped JavaOne conference, the first under Oracle's jurisdiction, will feature a keynote presentation from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, as well as the latest on Java technologies ranging from the GlassFish application server to the JavaFX rich media platform....Ellison will take the stage Sept. 20 in San Francisco to discuss Oracle's vision and strategy for Java, Oracle said.

This article covers standard and journaling (also called journaling) filesystems with an emphasis is on ext2 (standard filesystem) and ext3 (journaling filesystem), but tools for other filesystems are mentioned too. Most of this material applies to both 2.4 and 2.6 kernels. Most examples in this article use Fedora 12, with a 2.6.32 kernel. Your results on other systems may differ.