LXer Weekly Roundup for 31-Aug-2008

LXer Feature: 31-Aug-2008 Happy Labor Day, hopefully you have an extra day off this weekend to relax and catch up on things, thus I present this week's LXer Roundup for your reading pleasure. This week we have 5 unpopular desktop environments, 25 killer Linux applications, 10 must have cheat sheets for those of you who are low on mental "RAM" (I know, its a groaner, but its all mine), in a new twist to the Apple-Psystar saga, Psystar claims they are going to counter sue Apple claiming anticompetitive business practices. A computer on the International Space Station gets infected with a 'worm' (guess what OS it was running?), Carla Schroder asks the question "Does attracting hordes of Windows users to your FOSS project benefit your project, or help the advancement of FOSS?" and to wrap things up I have a couple pieces of FUD I came across.

Happy Labor Day, hopefully you have an extra day off this weekend to relax and catch up on things, thus I present this week's LXer Roundup for your reading pleasure. This week we have 5 unpopular desktop environments, 25 killer Linux applications, 10 must have cheat sheets for those of you who are low on mental "RAM" (I know, its a groaner, but its all mine), in a new twist to the Apple-Psystar saga, Psystar claims they are going to counter sue Apple claiming anticompetitive business practices. A computer on the International Space Station gets infected with a 'worm' (guess what OS it was running?), Carla Schroder asks the question "Does attracting hordes of Windows users to your FOSS project benefit your project, or help the advancement of FOSS?" and to wrap things up I have a couple pieces of FUD I came across.

5 Least Popular Desktop Environments for Linux: KDE, GNOME, and Xfce are without doubt the most well-known desktop environments for Linux at the moment. They are utilized by majority of Linux Distributions simply because they are very much stable and usable. But did you know that there are other capable Free and Open-source desktop environments that you probably haven’t heard of?

25 killer Linux apps: We all know that Linux is about choice. Everyone has the choice of what they use and how they use it, provided they have access to a tame hacker with suitable programming skills. A consequence of this is that there's a huge range of software out there. If there's a popular favourite for a given task, you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be at least one alternative. You've only to look at the package selection options in most distro installers to see just how many choices you can make before you even start using your distribution.

10 must-have Linux (and not only) cheat-sheets: Need a quick reference card? Here you have a list with the best cheat-sheets for Linux, Screen, VIM, Firefox, Google and so on.

Moving LVM volumes to a different volume group: I recently ordered a brand new PowerEdge T105 server from Dell because my current home server, a HP ProLiant G3, is much too power hungry for my liking. The new server came with an 80 GB hard disk. I partitioned it with LVM, installed Debian Lenny and moved over the bulk of my things from the old server to the new server. Only one thing remained: my media collection, which is stored on a 500 GB RAID1 array on the old server. That RAID1 array is also partitioned using LVM in a single 500 GB volume group. I wanted to move the OS volumes from the 80 GB volume group to the 500 GB volume group. That way I could take out the 80 GB disk and save some power. Problem: There is no obvious way to move a logical volume from one volume group to another. Cue SytemRescueCD.

The paradox of FOSS projects supporting Windows: Does attracting hordes of Windows users to your FOSS project benefit your project, or help the advancement of FOSS? Or do you just get buried under complaints and demands? Should FOSS developers write applications for Windows?

One Less Windows User: As editor for LinuxInsider for more than a year now, I figured the time was right to start walking the walk with my personal machine. So I took my Dell Inspiron 1150 to this year's LinuxWorld Conference& Expo with the intention of switching my operating system to one of the many Linux distros.

Psystar Wars: Attack of the Clones: In a new twist to the Psystar saga, the Mac cloning company is to counter sue Apple claiming anticompetitive business practices because the Mac Operating System is tied to Apple only hardware. Rudy Pedraza has become something of a love him or loathe him figure in the Applesphere. His company, Psystar, started selling Mac clones this year under the guise of the OpenMac which quickly became the OpenComputer and then added the OpenPro to its range

10 fundamental differences between Linux and Windows: I have been around the Linux community for more than 10 years now. From the very beginning, I have known that there are basic differences between Linux and Windows that will always set them apart. This is not, in the least, to say one is better than the other. It’s just to say that they are fundamentally different. Many people, looking from the view of one operating system or the other, don’t quite get the differences between these two powerhouses. So I decided it might serve the public well to list 10 of the primary differences between Linux and Windows.

Worms in space: NASA confirms International Space Station infected: NASA has confirmed that a laptop aboard the International Space Station has been infected with the W32.Gammima.AG worm, and admits this isn't the first time it has happened... Well, what do you know, it seems that the latest International Space Station mission has an uninvited guest in the shape of a worm that managed to stowaway for the ride.

How to install KDE4 applications on Windows: This tutorial describes how to install and run KDE4 applications natively on Windows. Windows 2000, XP, and Vista are supported. KOffice, Kopete, Amarok, Ktorrent, Konquerror, KDevelop, K3b, Kmail, Dolphin are only some of them.

Why Switch To Linux: In an interesting post on Lifehacker, the editors ask the readers "Why did you switch to Linux?" The question drew quite a lot of interesting responses, including some very offbeat reasons for why people made the switch. If you're under the impression that people switch solely for rebellious or "fight the man" reasons, here are some of the more interesting responses and trends that they point to.

5 ways you can draw a mind map in Linux: Brain mapping is a graphic way to identify different parts of an issue or to plan steps or consequences of an action. Experts say mind mapping makes information easier to remember and makes studying more enjoyable. If you are a fan of mind mapping, you could use specific software to create mind maps.

Could Linux's Market Share Be 15%, 20%, or More?: The most frequently cited market share numbers for Linux are less than 1%, but those numbers are no better than any others, just better publicized. Other pieces of information show Linux's share much higher.

Dumb and Dumber Proprietary Innovation Strikes Again: But to my way of thinking, Nominum didn't fix a thing. The article describes combining four techniques for foiling what they are now calling the Kaminsky Attack. I guess "cache poisoning" isn't glamorous enough. The techniques sound questionable, and the fixes only applies to their expensive, closed proprietary caching server. Nobody else benefits from this fix. So it's not a fix at all- it's as though they were claiming to have cleaned up a small volume of water in a large swimming pool.

Red Hat fesses up to Fedora FOSS security fiasco: Fedora has admitted Red Hat OpenSSH packages were compromised by two separate server intrusions. A week late and leaving the FOSS reputation for timely disclosure in tatters.

Why Netbooks are a bad intro to linux: It seems as if Netbooks are the newest craze. I may even sell more of these Linux-loaded bad boys, then I do regular laptops. Thats fine and dandy. They also do what they are meant to do, quite well. They also make me money because they come with no optical drive, which makes me responsible for setting them all up if I need to install something. Fine. The bad? Most of the people I have seen buy these are business people, who want something small to carry around. These people know nothing about Linux. These netbooks are the introduction to Linux that these users get, and in my opinion its a horrible first look, at what Linux truly is.