Showing all newswire headlines

Python is moving to a distributed version control system (DVCS), but unlike many projects which have moved to Git, Guido van Rossum has selected Mercurial, also known as Hg (the chemical symbol for mercury), as the DVCS for Python.

I love this time of year, especially when it means reading about IBM buying Linus Torvalds (apparently Novell made an unsuccessful bid for Richard Stallman earlier this year) who will be required to appear in IBM commercials and promotional materials.

As Linux sysadmins, many of us still need to deal with Windows worms and how they affect our networks. Tomorrow is April 1st, and the Conficker worm will be activating on vulnerable computers everywhere. Here's a quick HOW-TO showing how you can detect compromised and/or vulnerable computers on your network: There are 2 fairly easy methods available at this late hour.

When it launched the netbook phenomenon a couple of years ago, the most noticeable thing about the Asus EEE PC, apart from its size, was that it typically ran Linux. Suddenly everyone was predicting the demise of Windows and the rise of Linux. Microsoft, naturally, quickly backtracked on its end-of-life plans for XP and threw itself into the netbook market with the result that Windows now accounts for about 90% of the netbooks market and Linux the remaining 10%. So buying a netbook with Linux is not as easy as it initially promised to be. We scouted around to find a selection of mid-level netbooks that could be bought in South Africa with Linux pre-installed.

There are several ways you can try to protect yourself from Conficker. These include disabling AutoRun, since Conficker can spread by infected USB drives; using current anti-virus software; use Windows' own malicious software removal tool; or, switch to OpenDNS for your DNS service. There are many ways to try to stop these attacks, unfortunately, the bad guys are always working on getting newer and better ways to infect your system. The sad truth is no matter what you do with Windows, whether you're running XP, Vista, or the Windows 7 beta, you're not safe. Now, however there's a patch that will stop Conficker, and almost all other malware programs, in their tracks. It's called Linux.

A developer is reporting that Google has banned his tethering application from the Android Market, one of the first hints that the store may not be as open as Google has promised. WiFi Tether for Root Users, an application developed by Seth Lemons and a partner, has been banned from the market for violating the developer distribution agreement. The application lets users connect their G1 Android phones via Wi-Fi to their laptops and then access the Internet from the laptop using the phone’s cellular connection. In a letter to Lemons’ partner, Google states that the application violates the developer distribution agreement. It cites a section that says Google may remove an application if it violates the device maker’s or the operator’s terms of service. The letter then points to T-Mobile’s terms of service, which expressly forbid tethering phones to a computer. T-Mobile is the only operator in the U.S. to sell an Android phone.

This tutorial shows how you can build the kernel and tools to use the new BTRFS filesystem on Debian Lenny. Btrfs is a new copy on write filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.

Checking out improvements to Rails’ ActiveRecord object, including dynamic scopes and batches.

Well almost all of them. I have to give attribution where attribution is due ;)

This is the 3rd and I think final revision of this script. I added the --list function, which before had to be combined with the --vm_name function. The main reason for creating this script was so that there can be an easy way to manage snapshots, especially automating the deletion, creation, reverting, and listing of snapshots.

SEOUL Apr 1, 2009: At the Federated Assembly of Korean Engineers, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a collaboration agreement with the open source project formerly known as TurnKey Linux

The open source consultancy credativ, has joined the Linux Foundation. The company is based in Germany but expanded into the UK in November 2007. In the UK, they provide support services for all major Linux distributions, along with providing open source project management and training.

Corvallis, Oregon, April 1st, 2009 - Linux Fund is pleased to announce Linux Fund Casino, an open source online gaming site that will launch immediately upon the impending repeal of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), the proceeds of which will benefit Linux Fund's mission to support open source software.

In this guide I will show how to create CD/DVD ISO images in Ubuntu using four easy methods. 1. Create ISO Images With K3b K3b is the KDE default CD/DVD burner and also one of the most popular (if not the most popular) burning application for Linux. The current version comes installed by default in Kubuntu 8.10 and 9.04, but if you are using Ubuntu and want to get install it issue the following command:

As Linux sysadmins, many of us still need to deal with Windows worms and how they affect our networks. Tomorrow is April 1st, and the Conficker worm will be activating on vulnerable computers everywhere. Here's a quick HOW-TO showing how you can detect compromised and/or vulnerable computers on your network: read more

You know what scared ME from using Windows? Working for Microsoft for 14 years, 4 of them in the Windows division. One of the reasons I left the company (other than the over-abundance of incompetent people) was the lack of confidence I had in Microsoft's ability to deliver a quality OS -- and they proved it with Vista.

[Please read #26 and #30 by an ex-softie in the thread - hkwint]

TV-Browser is a simple Digital TV Guide that supports more than 500 TV channels and 80 Radio stations. TV-Browser collects TV program information from different sources on the internet and presents it neatly as a Digital TV Guide with pictures where there possible (if there are no copyright issues).

MEDICAL Information Integration offers OpenEMR with full support and customization as a hosted service or installed at the customer’s location. Official Press release follows.

The Fedora Project has released a beta version of its community-sponsored, Red Hat-based Linux distribution, with the final due in May. The Fedora 11 beta release offers faster, 20-second bootups, improved package management, new virtualization features, and support for cross-compiling Windows applications, says the open-source project.

While Linux is very secure-able, as always the weakest point is the human factor. The Psyb0t targets inexpensive Linux-based routers that ship with weak or no passwords, and other flaws that are simple to fix. Sean Michael Kerner tells the tale.