Showing headlines posted by J_K9

Too frequently in the past has Linux had to spend months—even years—implementing support for the latest technologies for which the manufacturers have not bothered to make Linux drivers (either due to the extra costs or merely disinterest in the platform). Linux developers had to reverse engineer each technology to find out everything about it that wasn’t disclosed by the manufacturer in the hardware’s official documentation so that they could provide support for it in an Open Source driver. It's time for this to change.

How many times have you been stuck at work when the latest episode of a podcast such as LugRadio has become available for download, or the latest version of your favourite Linux distribution has been released? Wouldn’t it be really useful if you could access a server at home through your web browser and order it to download that file, so that it’s waiting for you when you get there? Or, if you like to sleep in peace with your desktop off, wouldn’t it be great if you could remotely access a BitTorrent client on the home server in your attic and tell it to run the downloads while you sleep? -- Here's how.

Ubuntu Server is a popular Linux server distribution which has been gaining some good ground over the past few years, but is still behind its main commercial rivals: Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. However, one of the new, experimental (but stable) features in Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition is set to change the course of all server Operating Systems in the near future, and that feature is Tasks.

The greatest hindrance to the adoption of Linux and Open Source software stacks in Small and Medium-sized Businesses are the employees, and it's almost entirely due to their dependence on Microsoft Office. How do we solve this problem?

One of the main problems facing GNU/Linux is that it simply is not known by the majority of the computer-literate users in this world, and is used on a daily basis by even fewer. It is an excellent Operating System which can satisfy the needs of most demographics bar certain specialised ones, such as gamers, so there is nothing stopping it from hitting the mainstream except marketing funds. You know what? These might not be needed.

Mira Groupware is now an official project, created to resolve the problem of an unsatisfactory selection of Open Source groupware solutions. Find out what it is, how it could help you and your business and how to contribute to its undoubtable future success!

There is a growing need in the Open Source community for a complete and dedicated project management solution, such as Microsoft Groove 2007 (which is not without its faults and which, unsurprisingly, is proprietary). If you want to see such an application become a reality, please read this post and share your thoughts.

In the wake of the announcements of OpenOEM, OpenMoko, the TAPR Open Hardware License and the most recent Linux Wireless Summit in London, this article expresses a take on Open Hardware and how it will revolutionize Linux.

A few articles have appeared recently discussing the copying of the Windows interface to Linux to ease user migration, such as the one on Youtux.org. This is nothing new - Windows-like Linux desktop environments such as LXP and xpde have been in existence for a few months/years. I think these projects are great because the developers are enjoying their work and I’m sure that some people use their products, but I don’t believe that this is the right way to attract Windows users to desktop Linux.

LPI recently announced that it was changing its recertification policy for the LPIC certification. This announcement was badly received by some, as it suggested that the LPI’s motives had changed and instead of seeking to maintain a persistently high quality of certifications they were now trying to make a return on their original investment by forcing the holders of the LPIC certification to recertify at least once every five years, or else they would lose their certificate.

If you're new to Linux programming, then you might be interested in considering these aspects before you start your wonderful journey. Especially if you've programmed in Windows, you might want to change some of your ideas, so that you minimize the “culture” shock you experience when you encounter completely different ideas and ways of thinking. Here are some of my tips, based on common questions asked in forums about Linux programming especially from experienced Windows programmers.