Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

The Zenwalk project today released Zenwalk Linux 4.6 (code-named Red Pill). The lightweight distribution utilizes a cutting-edge 2.6.21.3 Linux kernel with KVM support, along with the relatively new Xfce 4.4.1 desktop environment.

LearningSoft has used customized Linux-based handheld devices in an "assessment system" aimed at helping classroom school teachers create, administer, and score tests. Aimed primarily at grades three through eight, the "Indigo Learning System" uses Aeronix's $99 Zipit chat device running a custom software stack.

“We feel very strongly about this being an industry effort and being a standard. We want this to be the one way that developers can add offline capabilities to their applications,” says Jeff Huger, Google’s VP of engineering, during the keynote for the company’s global Developer Day.

Another chapter of a new how-to book, Hacking Ubuntu: Serious Hacks, Mods and Customizations, has been published online at ExtremeTech.com. The chapter, entitled "Multitasking in Ubuntu," explains how to switch applications, tweak the workplace switcher, customize applications, use buffers, and track projects.

Ten years ago, IT consultant Sona Mehring had a friend who was going through a difficult pregnancy. Mehring wanted to help in some way, so she created a Web site where her friend could post updates throughout the pregnancy and the subsequent premature birth of her child, and visitors could post messages of encouragement and love. It was an efficient way of communicating because it eliminated the need for multiple phone calls and email messages. The family was so impacted by the online support it had received through Mehring's Web site that it donated money to the hospital to provide an onsite computer and Internet access to other families experiencing life-threatening illness and disease. That inspired Mehring to found CaringBridge, a nonprofit company that provides free customizable Web sites built on open source software.

The Microsoft "boost" seems to be wearing down, but the Linux company has become more efficient.

In this, the fifth and penultimate edition of our weeklong series of video clips taken from our interview with Professor Eben Moglen at the Red Hat Summit in San Diego, the good professor explains how he came to meet and do legal work for Richard Stallman.

Building packages is usually hard work, and best left to distro developers who have the time and patience to work the appropriate magic. However, if you're an admin or user with a need to rebuild existing packages, rpmrebuild takes the pain out of creating new RPMs from installed packages.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was once the most widely used protocol for transferring files between computers. However, because FTP sends authentication information and file contents over the wire unencrypted, it's not a secure way to communicate. Secure Copy (SCP) and the more robust SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) address this security concern by providing data transfer over a fully encrypted channel. You can use these alternatives for transferring files securely over the Internet or any other untrusted network.

Obvious quality control and performance distinguish commercial, open source Zenoss from other offerings in the network and service monitoring field.

The FSF released the fourth and final draft of GPL version 3, incorporating feedback from the general public and official discussion committees.

Three months ago I introduced my readers to a new system for hosting VST plugins compiled natively for Linux. That system has continued its development and has become a mainstay in the Studio Dave Linux audio arsenal. Here's an update on the system's recent incarnations, complete with the usual multimedia extravaganza of text, screenshots, and sounds.

The VectorLinux team this week released the live CD version of VectorLinux v5.8 Standard and the first alpha of the live CD/DVD edition of v5.8 "SOHO." The Standard edition features a 2.6.18.5 kernel, and SOHO a newer 2.6.20.3 kernel, which both use the KDE 3.5.6 desktop with Kmyfirewall, the team said.

A startup in Alameda, Calif. plans to release a kind of holy software grail the third or fourth week of June. Lina said its dual-licensed Lina virtual Linux machine will run more or less normal Linux applications under Windows, Mac, or Linux, with a look and feel native to each.

Linux, like the other *nix platforms, has a reputation of being a good environment for developers. In fact, Linux and hacking – in the original sense of the word – seem to go hand in hand, so much so that some commentators still find it hard to conceive of it as anything but a server and/or development platform.

Robert Kaiser writes: "Yesterday, the SeaMonkey project released a new version of its all-in-one Internet suite. SeaMonkey 1.1.2 closes several security vulnerabilities and fixes several smaller problems found in previous versions. With that, SeaMonkey stays at the same level of security as its siblings Firefox and Thunderbird, which are issuing updates for the same problems this week as well.

Google is in the online ad-service business. Why does it lavish attention on software developers and open-source projects? Kicking offline Web apps into gear

Just a quick note to mention how impressed I have been with my current backup solution, Bacula (using an Overland Neo2000 tape library, which also does the job nicely). A basic setup is pretty straightforward, and after that it runs smoothly and with very little need for intervention (other than tape switching. I have yet to find software that will pull the tapes out of the fireproof box for me & put them into the tape library…).

Our series on Professor Eben Moglen's comments from an interview at the Red Hat Summit continues today with his explanation of why it was time for him to depart from the board of the Free Software Foundation.

Mobile device specialists Palm have stepped away from the handheld device market with the launch of the larger, Linux-based Foleo which is a lot more like a notebook than a handheld device. But will it catch on?