Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Bon Echo Alpha 2, the second development milestone of Mozilla Firefox 2 aimed at developers and testers, is now available. Changes include inline spell checking in text boxes, automatic session restore after a crash and changes to the default tab behavior. The Bon Echo Alpha 2 Release Notes have more information.

Recently there has been a fuss over monolithic and micro kernels - specifically the direction of the Linux Kernel development. Free Software is about "freedom of choice", and we should be able to choose to compile the Linux Kernel as either a monolith or a microkernel. To help accelerate this process, could someone please steal Linus' laptop, install l4linux overnight on it and give it back to him?

Software freedom vs. software utility is an ongoing battle, and I've ended up in the middle of it since I started producing training videos. I strongly prefer free software and GNU/Linux over the alternatives, and for the years when my main computer tasks (besides email and Web viewing) were writing, editing, and lightweight photo editing, I happily used nothing but Linux and free software. Now I use a proprietary operating system and proprietary software for some of my work. This galls me, but I feel I have no choice.

Java father

I've said it before (four years ago, to be precise), and I'll say it again. Software is in the ascendant at Sun Microsystems. Last time I said it, the then up-and-coming Jonathan Schwartz had been appointed software executive vice president.

In this week's InfraSpectrum podcast: Peter Coffee examines a plug-compatible alternative to Microsoft Exchange, hosted on Linux and working with standards-based management and collaboration tools, is the proposition offered by PostPath, which emerged on May 9 from stealth mode after two years of development.

Documentation is a necessary evil of software development. While Linux lacks standard Windows tools such as FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and WebWorks Publisher, it's still a viable environment for technical writers. Linux users can take advantage of a number of documentation tools, including both free or open source software (FOSS) and proprietary software. All of them give technical writers the ability to author and publish professional documentation.

Motherboard and chipset maker VIA is again taking some heat over its open source efforts that, according to one open source developer, now "instigate" violations of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Foreword -- This article summarizes the appearance, evolution, and current state of Mini-ITX as a form-factor for embedded applications. It was written by Roland Groeneveld, who founded Logic Supply, a PC board and parts distributor specializing in Mini-ITX.

Unix descendent soon to match Linux on features, with GNOME desktop support expected this year, according to a core developer.

After his first trip to India, regular columnist Bill Thompson looks forward to the end of western domination of the free software community

Messaging vendor PostPath emerged from stealth mode last week, saying it plans to ship a Linux-based replacement for Exchange that supports Linux network protocols and is designed to look just like Exchange on the network. PostPath Server, expected to ship next month, is designed not only as a replacement for an entire Exchange environment but also as a piecemeal replacement for individual Exchange servers, such as those in branch offices.

Linux User Groups (LUG) and Canadian elected officials are responding to the news that the Canadian online census forms block free software users from participating. Last week's story helped uncover the fact that the software used for the online census seems to violate several government policies and treaties.

When investigating free and open source software (FOSS) development and implementation in developing countries, you're likely to run into Ken Wong and Phet Sayo's FOSS primer, published by the International Open Source Network. What makes this primer so special, and so widely known? To find out, we interviewed the authors.

A recent string of patches posted to the lkml attempted to clean up compiler warnings, and lead to numerous discussions about the appropriate way to fix warnings. One thread discussed a warning caused by what the compiler inappropriately believed was an unitialized variable, to which Alan Cox replied, "hiding warnings like this can be a hazard as it will hide real warnings later on." He went on to suggest the warning was a good thing as it encourages developers to continue to review the code, "while the warning is present people will check it now and again."

Koan Software has certified a BSP (board support package) based on its GPL-only industrial embedded Linux distribution with an ARM-based half Euroboard SBC (single board computer) from Taskit. Klinux (formerly K-Linux) supports the Portux920T, based on an Atmel AT91RM9200 with a 180 MHz ARM-920T core.

A year ago, I reviewed Ututo-e, an Argentinian distribution based on Gentoo. Ututo-e is known mainly as the only GNU/Linux distribution endorsed by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation (FSF). This endorsement is based on the fact that Ututo-e, in the words of Peter Brown of the FSF, "makes a commitment to follow the philosophy of the FSF as to what makes a distribution ethically free software." Last year, this endorsement seemed premature, because Ututo-e, while promising in some places, was buggy in many more. A year later, the 2006 release of Ututo XS is more polished, especially in its desktop and selection of administration tools, but its English version still falls below the standard of leading distributions such as Debian or Fedora Core.

GPLv3 will likely be adopted for Linux kernel, according to luminary Bruce Perens (pictured at left). "It's a negotiation... I'm expecting the embedded manufacturers and the Free Software Foundation and Linus to get the license to a point they can all live with," Perens says.