Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

It seems to be a big sticking point for windows users that they can't run their windows programs on Linux. They say they would use Linux if only they could run such and such windows program. Sounds to me like they wish to have their cake and eat it too. My point of view in this matter is quite simple. If you wish to run windows programs then use windows. If you wish to run Linux and windows programs then either use an emulator, wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) or a virtual machine. If none of those solutions are suitable then stop thinking about using Linux. Stop complaining that you will use Linux if only it could run this program. Either use the operating system the program was designed for or use an alternative program designed for the operating system you wish to use.

As the central element of Linux, the kernel is equally central to open source software in general. Because the community has such a stake in its design and success, the kernel has proven to be the hub around which much discussion revolves. The kernel's creator, Linus Torvalds, also has a stake in its success, and he takes part in the discussion.

At CeBIT Open Source 2009 Martin Michlmayr, past Debian project lead, presented his current projects FOSSology and FOSSBazaar, and spoke about the role his employer Hewlett-Packard is giving him in the governance project and how the FOSSBazaar work group is organized within the Linux Foundation. Britta Wülfing of Linux Magazine Online interviewed Michlmayr after his talk to find out more about his work at the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and the European Union Public License (EUPL). Here are the results of that conversation.

fluid Operations, a provider of management software for complex fully virtualised environments, has developed an open source implementation of the VMFS cluster filing system that uses VMware ESX to store virtual machines and disks. This is a userspace driver written in Java that has been tested under Windows and Linux, but according to the project's site it "should work on any platform that supports Java". It only supports VMFS3, not versions 1 or 2, and was developed by analysing the on-disk format of VMFS.

It probably won't be "Facebook for Linux" but a Web site launching Tuesday is intended to create an online community specifically for Linux programmers who focus on embedded applications such as mobile devices, set-top boxes, industrial controls and everything apart from servers and PCs. The Web site, dubbed Meld, is organized and supported by MontaVista Software, which markets a Linux software stack, services, support and tools for the embedded market.

Linux Mint, an Ubuntu-based distribution that prides itself on its good looks and ease-of-use, has just upped the ante with its Linux Mint 6 Felicia release candidate. The thing about Felicia is that it is the first KDE 4-based version released by Clement Lefebvre and his team over at Linux Mint.

Ahead of the first-ever Open Source Software (OSS) BarCamp event, which will take place on 28 March in Dublin, chief-organiser Laura Czajkowski has said that small-to-medium businesses have much to gain from open source, even if it is just to realise that there are alternatives out there.

I stumbled across Amber's blog by accident today – she's writing a series of posts that document her experience installing and using Linux distros and a variety of open source applications. I hope open source developers are following along as stay-at-home-mom Amber shares her adventures in Linux and open source. She eloquently points out usability issues that make it hard for your average mom to race out and embrace open source. Developers: Take note. For that matter, publishers should take note – I hope Amber gets a book deal out of her blog series.

Intel and a group of leading automotive-industry manufacturers have formed a non-profit group to develop and promote an open-source reference platform for In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) systems. When Intel announced earlier this week that it was developing a set of Atom processors specifically for the automotive market, it did not name specific car or parts manufacturers who had committed to using those chips. Today's announcement partially answers the questions this omission raised.

Putting fuel in my truck was the last place I expected to get into a confrontation. Especially concerning Free Open Source Software. I mean, come on... It was one of "those vans". You know, the brightly colored ones that promises to propel a computer tech or two as it goes down the road? The one that pulls up in front of houses with people who have broken their computers? You know the ones...

"Open source" has come a long way and with the new administration adopting the open source content management system Drupal to power the recovery.gov Web site, open source's visibility will likely get another big boost. Speaking from the standpoint of a developer, the number of tools, utilities and programs available under open source licensing continues to be very exciting. But it is also true that confusions still persist about what it is and, in particular, about its costs. "Open source" and "free" are not synonymous -- though there is a relationship between the two terms.

Every time you open a new tab, you are opening it to go somewhere. Sometimes it’s to do a search. Sometimes it’s to type in a new URL. Sometimes it’s to check an address you just selected. The only thing you are guaranteed to not want is a blank page. From the feedback from the last two rounds of new tab concepts, we know that the page needs to load instantly (even a small wait breaks user experience); that it shouldn’t be visually distracting; and that it should be a launch point into your daily activities.

In Microsoft vs. TomTom, Microsoft is suing TomTom in part because the guys from Redmond claim that TomTom's use of Linux in its navigation devices has violated three of its file-system related patents. One reason why Microsoft feels it can do this is that it already has patent cross-licensing agreements covering these patents with other Linux-using companies.

Not a lot of work has gone into Red Hat's Plymouth project since the release of Fedora 10, but now in the middle of the development cycle of Fedora 11 we are seeing some new work emerge. Plymouth is a boot splash program that leverages kernel mode-setting to provide a rich, flicker-free boot experience. In the past week there have been a fair number of commits to the Plymouth Git repository, which is the first time it has seen new work since early January.

Java Enterprise Edition 6 has passed the public review of the Java Community Process, but not by a unanimous vote. Java EE 6 (developed as JSR316) went to public review ballot last month and the results have now come in. The Apache Software Foundation voted against because of their long running dispute with Sun over the licence terms for the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK).

You don't see many physical gadgets coming out of the high-tech Demo conference anymore, the confab made famous as the launchpad for Palm Pilot and TiVo. What typically emerges now are tools and services around social media and productivity. Still, executive producer Chris Shipley says she saw more consumer hardware in advance of Demo than even during boom times, though only a few made it onto the conference stage. Times are tough, and Demo took a hit in attendance and in exhibitors: 39, down from more than 70 in peak years. Here's my take on a couple of interesting products this time around, a netbook computer with a twist and a network of cheap consumer webcams. Caveat: I haven't tested these yet.

Recently, Vital Wave Consulting, of TCO fame, did a in-depth Landscape Analysis of Low-cost Computing Devices. In that report, they came away with an amazing conclusion:

Not everyone who's into Linux is a dyed in the wool techie. While some people need to know the intimate workings of their PCs and what runs them, others are quite happy simply to use them. There will always a certain amount of crossover, but the one thing that neatly distinguishes the techies from the power users is the command line interface (CLI). Old-school Linux users swear that it's the only real way to do things properly, while the rest of us often avoid it like the plague. But what if we gave you just enough command-line knowledge to let you do all the important things, without having to don sandals and a fake beard?

The ReactOS team has just put out its latest newsletter, and it contains some interesting information on the progress being made. However, it also provides some definitive insight into what, exactly, the project is trying to recreate - a topic of some confusion. People were wondering what Windows version the ReactOS team was aiming its compatibility arrows at. Some claimed Windows 2000, others were sure it was Windows XP. As it turns out, the situation is a little more complicated than that, as the team looks separately at the kernel and Win32.

When I first began using Linux, I was fortunate that I had a few friends around who knew it well, and were able to answer my questions and provide support. Not everyone is so lucky. Fortunately, these days there are a multitude of ways you can get the info you need without calling up Cousin Ron the Computer Wiz. He’s probably busy recompiling his kernel anyway. Many of the things I’ve listed here are well known to long time Linux users, I’m hoping that those who are just starting out, or are considering the switch, can find a few useful resources for making your system work the way you want. Linux is meant to be tinkered with, there are examples and how-tos everywhere.