LXer Weekly Roundup for 21-Jun-2009

LXer Feature: 22-Jun-2009

Sphinx: Search Outside the Box: Looking for ways to overcome indexing bottlenecks at Craigslist lead to an investigation of Sphinx, a powerful, free full-text search engine that works extremely well with MySQL.

Linux Mint 7 ScreenShots: Here we bring you yet another set of Screen Shots, but this time it is of Linux Mint 7 ( Gloria ). Let me start off by saying this... I've been using/managing Linux for almost 11 years now and I want a desktop that just works.. I am so out of that phase on making things work together ( Unless it is programming ). Linux Mint has done that for me, so I really want to say THANK YOU to Linux Mint Staff and Users for all the work you guys have done and for taking the time to make my life easier.

SCO vs. Linux: New investor rescues SCO from bankruptcy: In yet another bizarre twist in the interminable legal dispute over source code allegedly illegally copied from UNIX System V into Linux, the SCO Group, which claims ownership of the disputed code, has secured a last-gasp reprieve from the threat of liquidation. Immediately before the crucial liquidation hearing in the bankruptcy court, SCO CEO Darl McBride signed an agreement with a company by the name of Gulf Capital Partners, backed by well-known investor Stephen Norris. Caught out by the surprise development, all parties have agreed to postpone the liquidation hearing until the 16th or the 27th of July.

Coming home to Puppy Linux: It's been many months since I last used Puppy Linux. I bet more than a year has passed since I seriously ran Puppy, still one of the best Unix-like distributions/projects for older, underpowered computers. I decided tonight to break out the 1999 Compaq Armada 7770dmt (233 MHz Pentium II MMX processor, 144 MB RAM), which has OpenBSD 4.2 on the 3 GB hard drive (yes, I know 4.5 is out, and yes I do have the CD set, and yes, I'll probably reinstall) and two pup_save files in its 0.5 GB Linux partition.

Report: Good-Bye Ubuntu, Hello PCLinuxOS: After almost two years of relying on Kubuntu and Ubuntu, your editor has had enough. Farewell faithful *buntus, hello and welcome PCLinuxOS. Will PCLinuxOS work out better? Will I pine for the good old alliterative animal days? Will I become dissatisfied with PCLinuxOS and swap it out for something else? Is any Linux good enough?

Announcing A New Linux Distro: BaitNSwitch Linux: Today, I'm announcing my new Linux company, HookLineNSinker, Inc. (HLNS) which will produce a new commercial Linux distribution: Pricey Linux. HLNS products include Pricey Linux Enterprise, Pricey Linux Small Business Server and The Pricey Linux Desktop. There are also Pricey Linux Support options for those of you who need 24x7 support for your Pricey Systems. And to comply with Linux licensing, we'll also offer a free, community edition of our Pricey Linux known as BaitNSwitch Linux.

Linux Against Poverty - It Is a GO: Linux Against Poverty is much more than an installfest. It is an effort between the Free Software Community in any given place and the greater community that holds it. Lynn Bender's people will now begin soliciting companies and corporations in the Austin area for physical donations. He has secured the swank and popular nightspot known as Union Park for both the actual event and the party afterwards. The Park will be full of volunteer Austin Geeks, ready to accept the incoming machines, triage them and place them into different staging areas. One of the brightest tech guys I know, Andy Krell from nFusion will be there in person to lend a hand.

Microsoft Buries $10,000 For People With IE8's User-Agent String: Microsoft is burying $10,000 somewhere on the web for Australians with IE8's user agent string (*cough* User-Agent Swticher plugin for Firefox).

What is the best Linux distribution for beginners: One of the questions I see the most in forums and sites like Yahoo Answers is : "What is the best Linux distribution for beginners?" or "What is the easiest Linux distribution?" Well, unlike what you may think these questions are not that easy to answer, as the easiest Linux distribution is not necessarily the best for all beginners because other factors like the availability of support and commercial applications availability have to be taken into account.

The Three Faces of Fedora 11: Larry the Free Software Guy has strapped himself into the driver's seat in test-driving Fedora 11 on three different desktops -- GNOME, KDE and Xfce -- and the results range from reuniting with an old friend to receiving divine intervention.

Microsoft's Secret Weapon isn't FUD, it's Inertia: This is a story of hubris, nemesis and very bad language. Mine. We all like to have our egos flattered and I’m no exception, so when two old acquaintances told me their Windows laptops were infected with viruses I knew they were about to put the bite on me. They did. Could I fix them? Well, my vanity was flattered of course but it was to be a salutary experience that got me to thinking about whether it will ever be possible to wean users off Microsoft products. Read the full story Free Software Magazine.

Ubuntu's A Fading Memory, PCLinuxOS and 64 Studio Are Fab. So Far.: As I wrote a few days ago, I replaced Kubuntu and Ubuntu on several of my home PCs with PCLinuxOS and 64 Studio. I was intending to wait a couple of months to post a followup because long-term performance is what matters. But a few things have impressed me so much these two newcomers to my little computing empire deserve an extra mention.

Install more then 100 games in one command with Djl: Djl is an open-source (GPL licensed) game manager written in Python 2.5 for the GNU/Linux Operating Systems. It is inspired by Valve's Steam software for Windows. Djl makes it possible (via a repository) to download, install and remove a reasonable number of games placed into a distrobution independent subdirectory (but without dealing with any dependencies). It can also execute ,desktop shortcuts located in another directory. Actually Djl have more that 105 game in his repository, games like Alien Arena, Blood Frontier........,

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