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Security expert Bruce Schneier says we're creating an Internet that senses, thinks, and acts, which is is the classic definition of a robot. “I contend that we're building a world-sized robot without even realizing it,” he said recently at the Open Source Leadership Summit (OSLS).

As I mentioned when The Queue launched, although typically I will answer questions from readers, sometimes I'll switch that around and ask readers a question. I haven't done so since that initial column, so it's overdue. I recently asked two related questions at LinuxQuestions.org and the response was overwhelming. Let's see how the Opensource.com community answers both questions, and how those responses compare and contrast to those on LQ. read more

For the last 10 years, the Fedora Project has been building packages for the same release of another operating system. However on March 31st, 2017, that will come to an end when Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) version 5 moves... Continue Reading →

If you're looking for free and open source designs to replicate on your desktop 3D printer, you have about two million choices. read more

IoT (Internet of Things) is about connecting physical objects ("things") to the Internet. Technically, this is done by attaching a computer to a "thing." A computer is attached in a way that it can read data from the thing and report to the Internet, and also it can receive commands and control the thing's state.  Usually, the COMPUTER is directly wired to the THING, and the COMPUTER <=> INTERNET connection could be either wired (e.g., Ethernet), or wireless (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi). What could the computer be? read more

Ubuntu 12.04 was the first long-term support (LTS) version of Ubuntu. Like all Ubuntu LTS releases -- Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 are the others -- it had five years of support. However, people don't replace server operating systems as often as they do, say, socks or smartphones, so Canonical found they had enough 12.04 legacy users to justify offering "important security fixes for the kernel and the most essential user space packages".

The previous article in this series covered how to establish a baseline for open source software compliance by finding exactly which open source software is already in use and under which licenses it is available. But how do you make sure that future revisions of the same product (or other products built using the initial baseline) stay compliant once the baseline is established?

When you think of Linux and open-source companies, the automobile industry is not the first business to spring to mind. But maybe it should be. Daimler, Mercedes-Benz's parent company, has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), the Linux and open-source non-aggression patent consortium.

Shenzhen Xunlong is launching an Ubuntu snap app store for its Orange Pi SBCs. Canonical also ported its snap-based Ubuntu Core distro to NXP’s LS1043A SoC. Shenzhen Xunlong Software Co. Ltd has achieved considerable success with its Raspberry Pi compatible, open-spec Orange Pi SBCs.

When researching my article from last month, An introduction to the Linux boot and startup process, I became interested in learning more about GRUB2. This article provides a quick introduction to configuring GRUB2, which I will mostly refer to as GRUB for simplicity. read more

And you can now use Google Compute Engine storage as a disk, you lucky people Raspberry Pi Zero users have another operating system to choose from, with the release of NetBSD 7.1.…

Usually I try to write articles that are not aimed at a particular distribution. Although I may give examples assuming a Debian-based distribution, whenever possible, I try to make my instructions applicable to everyone. This is not going to be one of those articles.

Catch up on the series, Python tricks for artists: read more

Learn how to build a proper virtual private network with OpenVPN in this tutorial.

The first thing I noticed was how nice Kyle's car was. It wasn't too fancy (a late model Toyota Camry) but inside it was spotless. We were sitting in leather seats. On the back of the passenger seat, Kyle had mounted a tablet customers could use to watch TV if they wanted (not that I was particularly interested in television during this 4:30 a.m. ride to the airport). read more

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install and configure Invoice Ninja on a CentOS 7 server. I will use Nginx as the web server and MariaDB as the Database system. Invoice Ninja is free and open source web-based software for invoicing, payments, time tracking and much more.

Ever wondered how to control items like your fans, lights, and more using your phone or computer from anywhere? I was looking to control my Christmas lights using any mobile phone, tablet, laptop... simply by using a Raspberry Pi. Let me show you how to operate relays and control GPIO pins with the Pi using PHP and a temperature sensor. I put them all together using AJAX. read more

We’re at a point now that OSS has become such a mainstream phenomenon that not using open source almost certainly places your organization at a disadvantage. So you must learn how to navigate the challenges and risks in order to remain competitive.

Canonical is extending the deadline for security updates for paying users of its five-year-old Ubuntu 12.04 LTS – a first.…

Toradex unveiled a Linux-driven Colibri module with NXP’s i.MX6 ULL SoC that offers industrial temperature support and dual-band WiFi-ac and BT 4.2/BLE. Toradex has revealed preliminary specs — but so far no photo — of its Colibri iMX6ULL — the first of Toradex’s 67.6 x 36.7mm Colibri modules to offer onboard wireless.