Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Intel has revealed that it is developing a variant of the Linux-based MeeGo operating system that will run on conventional desktop and laptop computers. This move could substantially broaden MeeGo's scope, transforming it from a mobile platform into a general purpose Linux distro.

The first beta release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 was made available yesterday morning. RHEL 6.0 is set to offer many virtualization enhancements, power management improvements, new security features, many package updates, and even some reported performance enhancements. With Red Hat mentioning this major upgrade to their enterprise operating system carrying "performance enhancements", these claims have now been tested using the Phoronix Test Suite within our labs. There are some improvements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 to note, but also some losses.

If you own an ICOM D-STAR radio, you know how hard it is to program through the faceplate. And if you are a Linux user, you know that your options are either use the faceplate or borrow a Windows machine (or fire up a VM) and plunk down $60 for the software and cable to program them with. Until now that is. Enter CHIRP. CHIRP is a cross-platform, cross-radio programming tool specifically focusing on ICOM D-STAR radios, although there seems to be nothing preventing you from using it with non-D-STAR rigs. This is new software (currently at version 0.1.9), so let’s look at the highlights.

You would think that writing a blog entry on “Hot New OSS Projects” would not be that difficult. All you should have to do is go to SourceForge or Freshmeat and see what projects are being downloaded, or at least accessed, and write about them. Or, hangout on Slashdot or LinuxDevices.com and see what cool things are being shown and talked about. These days you can even read the mainstream media about Linux products and projects. And of course there is the Linux.com site with its news feeds, discussion groups and projects. All of these would have been “too easy” for maddog, so of course he had to do the unthinkable and ask his eclectic group of Linux User Group (LUG) members what they thought were “Hot, New OSS Projects.” The first message that came back from the “call for thoughts” was: “What do you mean by OSS project?” followed by “What do you mean by new?” and (of course) “

We've got here our very first entry for "The $100.00 (USD) Coolest Linux Workspace Contest". It's from Mauricio, a Music Theory student. If he wins the contest, he says that he will be using the money to buy a USB mic for some serious music recording.

When we hear the word "appliances", we tend to think of things in the kitchen — blenders, mixers, juicers, espresso machines. When IBM thinks of appliances, however, they think of something else: Quick and easy software stacks, ready to run right out of the box. That's exactly what IBM, in partnership with Novell, announced today: A new line of software appliances aimed at simplifying the tech needs of small and medium business — with Linux under the hood.

Yesterday we showed proof of Steam's Linux client existence via its Mac OS X launcher that is currently in closed beta, then this morning we showed further signs of Linux support. Since 2008 we have known that Steam and the Source Engine would come to Linux. As an update, we even pointed out the download link for the Steam Linux binary from their store.

Developers attending today's Facebook conference, f8, are being issued with RFID badges integrated with their Facebook profiles for clocking into site locations. The details come from the All Facebook, which reports that Facebook is being atypically opaque about the data gathered from the radio frequency identification tags. But given the experimental nature of the service that's unsurprising - the point of the conference is to inspire people to create applications, not define their limits.

Yesterday we reported on Proof In Steam's Mac Client Of Linux Support as we received the bash launcher used by the closed-beta Steam on Mac OS X that showed support for Linux. Today there are yet more signs of Linux support when studying Valve's Mac OS X client.

The /etc/fstab file gives you control over what filesystems are mounted at startup on your Linux system, including Windows partitions and network shares. You can also use it to control the mount points of removable storage devices like USB sticks and external hard disks. Akkana Peck shows us how.

Songbird, the popular open source cross platform music player, has decided to dump support for Linux. Such a move could be fatal and here's why.

Having watched people advocate the Linux desktop for more than 10 years, it's always surprising to see the same people arguing against the things that will help bring Linux (and software freedom) to a larger audience. But like the fanboys who pine for the days before indie bands went to major labels, there's a loud minority in the Linux community protesting the commercial offerings that come along with success.

There are plenty of reasons for wanting a low-resource distro running on your computer. Maybe you have some ancient hardware that you need to breathe new life into. Perhaps you want something that will fit on a modestly sized memory stick. Or it might be that you want to run 200 virtual machines simultaneously on your desktop. The important things that we'll look at here are the amount of space needed, how much processing power is required to get the distro running at an acceptable level, and the effort required to get it to work.

Who can blame Adobe for being ticked off? They wanted a slice of the lucrative Apple iPad/iPhone application business, but Apple won't let Adobe applications, or even Flash, on either platform. First Adobe responded by cussing Apple out, then thinking about suing Apple; now, they're talking about abandoning the iPad/iPhone platforms. That's lame. Apple's already told Adobe that they're not welcome. I have a better idea. Adobe, forget about Apple; go Linux instead. Mike Chambers, the principal product manager for developer relations for Adobe's Flash, has already suggested that Flash developers start working Google's Linux-based Android operating system. "The iPhone isn't the only game in town," said Chambers.

As Ubuntu Lucid is preparing for its grand launch on 29th April 2010, I am sure you should have already known what to expect in this release. The next usual question is: “what should I install after installing Lucid?” We have done plenty of “what to install after installing Ubuntu” articles previously, but this time round, I am going to save you all the trouble and introduce you to a script that can automate plenty of stuffs for you.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt shed some light on the company's plans for Chrome OS in tablets and mobile devices at the Atmosphere Cloud Computing Summit. Cloud computing is the cornerstone of Chrome OS, as the platform runs entirely on cloud servers and all user data is automatically backed up to the same remote server network.

Twitter is preparing to launch several impressive new features, including a new streaming API that will give desktop client applications real-time access to the user's message timeline. The new streaming API was announced last week at Twitter's Chirp conference, where it was made available to conference attendees on-site for some preliminary experimentation. Twitter opened it up to the broader third-party developer community on Monday so that programmers can begin testing it to offer informed feedback.

Linux vendor Red Hat today released the first public beta of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL 6), giving observers a look at what's to come in the next version of its flagship operating system platform. The new release takes advantage of a long list of new Linux kernel improvements for performance and scalability while also providing new technologies for security, management, and virtualization.

T-Mobile and Garmin-Asus announced a navigation-oriented smartphone that will run Android and include multi-touch capabilities. The "Garminfone" includes a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, 4GB of flash storage, a three megapixel camera, and GPS capabilities that work with or without cellular connectivity, according to the companies.

A new cloud-focused Linux flavor launched recently; known as Peppermint, the operating system is currently a small, private beta and will open up to more testers over the next two to four weeks.