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Developers have released the Linux kernel version 2.6.30, adding support for new file systems as well as performance improvements and new hardware drivers. The Linux kernel is the core used by GNU/Linux operating system distributions from Red Hat, Novell Suse and others. The new release was finalized last week, and was publicised in a newslist post from Linux developer Linus Torvalds on the next day.

In March, the ever-innovating Linux Foundation announced a new program aimed at bringing the brains behind Linux together with developers-to-be in order to supply the increasing need for Linux talent. Now the program is going online, with the first two courses set to call roll by mid-month. The original sessions of the Linux Foundation Training Program, held at the annual Collaboration Summit, took the form of in-person, hands-on training, a method that provides students an unmatched learning opportunity, but limits the number of students the program can reach. The addition of online courses takes the program to the students, complementing the continued on-site courses offered at Linux Foundation events, local training sessions in select U.S. cities, and by request, specialized training for corporate developers.

Version control systems play an essential role for developers. First up, they allow developers to safely store successive versions of source code. Besides providing a secure backup of the source code, this type of software lets developers revert back to a stable release if subsequent code changes have unforeseen consequences.

In part 1 Eric Geier introduced us to Open-Mesh, and showed us the basic setup for covering a wider area such as a farm, warehouse, or neighborhood. Now we'll discover the captive portal options offered by the Open-Mesh routers so we can display a disclaimer or terms of service, or require a payment or account.

No one can watch everything all the time in the fast-paced IT sector. But it's pretty hard to do something - or not do it - and get it past the readers of El Reg. Recently, a reader told us that server maker Hewlett-Packard was no longer offering support for the Debian distribution of Linux on its servers. And according to HP's website, that appeared to be the case. But as it turns out, HP is still supporting Debian (in a sense). What it doesn't offer is formal support for Ubuntu. And it has no plans to.

LXer Feature: 15-Jun-2009

See how to write simple Plasma applets that improves the KDE 4 Linux desktop. KDE 4 includes many exciting new technologies, including Plasma, a feature that forms the desktop shell of KDE 4. See how to write simple Plasma applets (known as plasmoids) to greatly improve the desktop experience and how to turn a plasmoid into a simple memory monitor.

Follow-up post to recovering files with unrm and Lazarus. This time exploring the graphical web-based interface.

Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth is itching for a clean fight with Microsoft on netbooks. Shuttleworth once told The Reg he can't wait for Windows 7 on this sub-laptop class of machines because it'll finally give Ubuntu the opportunity to compete fairly against Microsoft's operating system in this emerging market.

Even everyday users find themselves in the file manager constantly. We need to make that experience as functional, efficient and user-friendly as possible. Right now I don't think it is. Why are we adding an extra step of adding scripts? "Oh, you mean I have to go out, find them, drag them home and put them in a file folder I can't see normally? I thought you told me that everything ELSE was gears and pulleys. Now I have them in my home file? And why are there "hidden" files in my home directory? What is there that I am not supposed to see?"

Ahead of the UK Ingres Users Association conference, Ingres held a two day code sprint last week to bring together customers and Ingres engineers to develop new features for the Ingres database. The results of the work on the Sunday and Monday appear to be impressive.

Screen – Manages multiple sessions on one terminal. Screen is a program that allows you to have multiple logins on one terminal. It is useful in situations where you are telnetted into a machine or connected via a dumb terminal and want more than just one login.screen-profiles includes a set of profiles for the GNU screen window manager. These profiles are quite useful on server machines which are not running a graphical desktop.

I've seen a lot of love for Microsoft's newly branded search engine, Bing lately and frankly I just don't get it. Bing landed a couple of weeks ago with a huge ad budget and a big splash, but I've used it and I don't see anything new here, but a pretty interface. Why are some people falling all over themselves to say how great they think it is?

Last week we published an in-depth article looking at the NVIDIA ION Linux Performance using a nettop device that contained this chipset with GeForce 9400M graphics rather than the usual Intel 945 graphics. From video playback to 2D to 3D, the graphics performance with the NVIDIA ION was wonderful. For that testing, the nettop we were using came courtesy of ZaReason and it was their new Ion Breeze 3770. In this review we are taking a closer look at the ZaReason Ion Breeze 3770 hardware.

The free internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia is beginning its licence migration today. In the future, the content of Wikipedia will be dual licensed, under the current GNU Free Documentation Licence (GFDL) and under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike 3.0 (CC-BY-SA). The update is beginning with the English Wikipedia projects, as a reference implementation of the licence change, and will expand to Wikipedia in other languages in the near future. From this point on, GFDL-only licensed content will no longer be accepted.

Suse Linux and Windows will become more closely integrated next week, when Novell releases a product allowing Microsoft management tools to monitor the open source operating system. Novell said in a statement on Wednesday that joint sales of Linux support certificates over the past six months have increased, which the company ascribes to the current uncertain economic conditions.

Almost 100 articles and blogs on the topic of “ubuntu sucks” were published in the past month alone, and about as many were published that unequivocally state Windows is better than Ubuntu. But upon closer examination, I found that a substantial portion of these negative reactions to Ubuntu stem from unrealistic comparisons.

Bluefish is a solid code editor for Linux, and it is a great way to develop websites for those who are new to markup and programming languages.

What do the universe, open source software, a 12,000-core supercomputer, a cool $2.5 million of high-grade silicon and one of the country’s largest data sets have in common? They all underpin a five-year Australian initiative to map and study the observable universe from the southern hemisphere.

The question of Linux vs. Windows suckiness riled the blogosphere this week, with fans questioning the drivers behind the perception that Linux isn't ready for the desktop and is only suitable for the technologically superior few. Is it a question of user skill levels or marketing talents?