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Ms. Carla Schroder shared a list of her "bestest distros" recently, so I thought I might follow suit. She called hers "not-usual" and looking at her list, I'd say my choices are probably a little more usual. In any case, here are my top five favorite Linux distributions for 2010, in no real order.

The GRUB bootloader is widely used to get Linux (and other) systems running. Its flexibility and configurability make it a logical choice for many types of computers, as does its "just works" factor: your editor cannot be the only one to smile when he realizes how long it has been since the last "I forgot to run LILO and my new kernel won't boot" episode. One of GRUB's nice features is its ability to understand filesystem structures and find bootable kernels on the fly. So the addition of support for another filesystem type would not normally be a noteworthy event. When that filesystem is ZFS, though, people will pay attention.

The Google Android development team has released the source code for version 2.3 of its open source Android mobile operating system, code named "Gingerbread". Originally announced earlier this month, Gingerbread is the eighth platform release since version 1.0 and is the latest major update for Google's mobile OS.

LXer Feature: 19-Dec-2010

In the Roundup this week we have a open source driver for Kinect hitting the streets, SJVN gives his take on who is Google's target audience for Chrome OS, more information on where the Novell patents are going and why Mozilla doesn't back a FOSS flash player. Enjoy!

Most modern computers are powerful enough to run entire operating systems within your main operating systems, which means virtual machines are more commonplace today than ever. Here's a look at the five most popular virtual machine applications. Virtual machines allow you to run one operating system emulated within another operating system. Your primary OS can be Windows 7 64-bit, for example, but with enough memory and processing power, you can run Ubuntu and OS X side-by-side within it. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite virtual machine application, and now we're back to highlight the five most popular picks.

Earlier this week there was the release of a new open-source Linux driver by an engineer at Texas Instruments. The TI DMM-TILER is this new driver and its for the dynamic memory manager block on Texas Instruments hardware. "Its purpose is to organize video/image memory in a 2-dimensional fashion to limit memory bandwidth and facilitate 0 effort rotation and mirroring. The TILER driver facilitates allocating, freeing, as well as mapping 2D blocks (areas) in the TILER container(s). It also facilitates rotating and mirroring the allocated blocks or its rectangular subsections."

The Dropbox team has recently updated its popular Dropbox software to version 1.0 and shedded its beta tag. This newest version comes with selective sync (choosing which folders to sync on each computer), better bandwidth utilization and memory usage. In Windows/Mac, you just have to download the respective software and uninstall it in your system (Be sure to uninstall the older version first). In Ubuntu, if you have installed Dropbox via PPA or deb file, you will find that it your Dropbox does not get updated with the system upgrade.

We're big fans of Amarok music player at OStatic. It's a powerful open source application that lets you play music you have and find music you don't, thanks to it's integration with notable music services like Last.fm, Magnatune, and Librivox.

These days, a lot of Linux users have one distro on their main machines and do everything they can to boot into a usable desktop as fast as possible. Those of us who dual-boot multiple distros — or even OSes — though, still have to stare at the bootloader screen for a few seconds every time we power-cycle. So why not put a new coat a paint on that tired, old text-based menu? Pull up a terminal, and we'll make booting something to look forward to.

Yes, "my bestest distros!" is a overworked topic, but it's fun and Ubuntu is not on this list. So perhaps this will introduce you to something new and interesting.

While the best cards have not yet been dealt, for those hoping to see Valve's "Alien Swarm" game supported on Linux upon the Steam / Source Engine Linux release, you may be in luck. Windowing code within the Alien Swarm SDK is signalling that there may be support for this game coming to Linux.

More people than ever are using wireless networks as their primary networking medium. Great programs are available under X11 that give users a graphical interface to their wireless cards. Both GNOME and KDE include network management utilities, and a desktop-environment-agnostic utility called wicd also offers great functionality. But, what if you aren't running X11 and want to manage your wireless card?

Many of us are hoping for an eBook reader under the tree. A Kindle, a Nook, or perhaps just an Android device that runs eBook software. But if you don't get the gadget of your choice, or if you want to create content to fill one, you'll find plenty of eBook software for Linux as well as open source software to publish your own. The best of the lot? Calibre, a one stop solution for all your e-book needs.

Numerous changes to the network and storage code are to increase processing speed and improve the system's hardware support. Among the new additions are a PPTP stack, various drivers for Wi-Fi hardware by Atheros, Broadcom and Realtek, and code for hard disks with a logical sector size of 4 Kbytes.

Hulu Plus is the subscription based big brother to Hulu's free video streaming platform. It costs $7.99 a month, and really does open up the catalog of available titles. In fact, for subscribers, there are many shows that have the complete catalog of episodes from every season. (The Office, Family Guy, and many others)

Linux server admins are well-acquainted with its many sophisticated, secure remote administration tools. The Linux-based Android is the hot new mobile platform -- can it do remote server administration? Lugging a laptop around is preferable to commuting, but why not go even more portable with a smartphone or tablet? Can Android serve as a capable remote server administration platform? Android is based on Linux and is open source, so it seems it should be a natural for portable administration.

Like many so-called “power users”, the first thing I do after installing Linux is customize it. I set it to my preferred desktop settings, applications and configuration because I know what I like, and I normally go to great lengths to get it just right. Recently, after setting up a new Ubuntu Maverick install for my wife, I began to wonder what it would be like to run a system on the defaults. To try things their way – to use Ubuntu’s desktop settings, Ubuntu’s preferred applications and configuration. This meant I could not install any of my favorite applications (Chrome, VLC, Exaile…) if Ubuntu already provided an equivalent (Firefox, Totem, Rhythmbox…). How did it turn out? Frustrating, but with some surprising results. (Note: This is not your usual Ubuntu review, but my miscellaneous ramblings, and some praises. Read on for details.)

Google is to release as open source the developer tools WindowBuilder Pro and CodePro Profiler, both of which were acquired as part of its takeover of Instantiations. The code for the two tools is to be donated to the Eclipse Foundation. At the time of the takeover there was much speculation that the Eclipse-based tools could become Eclipse projects – this speculation has now proven to be correct. Other products which Google has made available free of charge since September, include GWT Designer, WindowTester Pro and CodePro AnalytiX, retain their proprietary status.

When CPTN Holdings appeared out of the blue to snap up Novell’s patent portfolio, the only thing anyone knew about them was that Microsoft was behind the group and that’s all Microsoft had to say about its Novell intellectual property (IP) purchase. Now, thanks to Germany’s anti-trust body, the Bundeskartellamt, we know that Microsoft’s CPTN Holdings partners were Apple, EMC, and Oracle.

Yes, it’s that time of year. Eggnog, fruitcake, tangled lights, crowded stores, bad weather — and the annual industry retrospectives. You can’t argue with tradition, though, and 2010 was a very interesting year for Linux and open source. Let’s take a look back at 2010 and see whether it was naughty or nice.