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Novell Inc.'s openSUSE project is becoming more open, as a new release due out Thursday includes licensing changes that make it easier to redistribute the Linux operating system, as well as a build service that will encourage more contributions from open-source developers. OpenSUSE previously used a standard user license agreement and contained some proprietary software -- namely Adobe Acrobat and Sun Java -- that made it difficult to redistribute the open-source software, says Joe Brockmeier, Novell's openSUSE community manager. OpenSUSE 11.1, the release that will be announced Thursday, modifies the license to eliminate some of the legal headaches and removes the proprietary software, which now must be downloaded separately.

eRacks Open Source Systems has introduced a new desktop model that uses the recently-released Intel (News - Alert) Core i7 processor. The Core i7 processor from Intel is the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs and is equipped with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput. The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

Debian developer Josselin Mouette has had his privileges of posting to the announcement mailing list for developers withdrawn, following an offensive post to the list in November. Debian Project Leader Steve McIntyre told iTWire that after Mouette's "abuse of the ability to post to the d-d-a mailing list, I asked our mailing list administrators to remove that privilege for in future." Following the post on November 23, at least two Debian women developers indicated they were reconsidering their participation in GNU/Linux project.

[Looks like it finally got the attention of the brass at Debian. - Scott]

We are pleased to announce you the launch, by January ‘09, of a world wide Mandriva Community Steering Committee whose main targets will be to: Unify and leverage the Mandriva Community and Ecosystem, thus aligning joint efforts towards clear goals. Provide a better visibility on products releases. And last but not least, establishing a key milestone on the road to success.

This week's feature article shows keen Linux users how to make the most of their computer by performing a custom install for a leaner and faster system - in this case we build a custom Ubuntu 8.10. In the news section, openSUSE prepares for the imminent release of version 11.1, Debian announces the upcoming second and final release candidate of the Debian installer, the Unofficial Fedora FAQ updates its HOWTOs for the recently released Fedora 10, the University of Glasgow settles on Slackware Linux for its log-in server, Spain's Trisquel is added to GNU's free distribution list, and Chile's Educalibre gets Tuquito Linux running on Intel Classmate netbooks. We also have links to two interesting interviews - one with Timothy Cramer from OpenSolaris and the other with Warren Woodford of MEPIS Linux. Finally, if you are still searching for that elusive minimalist Linux system that would run smoothly on any old computer, take a look at Tiny Core Linux - a desktop distro in 11 MB.

If you haven't yet tried Puppy Linux, here are five reasons why this little gem deserves a closer look.

Sun has updated its "open source" desktop virtualization software. xVM VirtualBox 2.1 reportedly features improved 64-bit support, 3D acceleration, easier Windows and Linux networking, hardware virtualization on Macs, and "full" VMDK/VHD support, including snapshots, although many new features are "experimental."

Hi All, Here's the 22nd tip in the "OpenLDAP Quick Tips" series: "You are not sure what type of OpenLDAP replication to use, but you know you need to".

Another year gone, and Blizzard's World of Warcraft remains the unrivaled champion of the massive multiplayer online (MMO) genre, and - in many ways - PC gaming in general. At its feet lay 2008's pile of would-be "WoW-killers" left charred, battered, and wondering what Blizzard's four-year-old creation has that they lack.

No Apple at MacWorld? What's a Mac addict to do? There's always OpenSource World.

Linux has a special mount option for file systems called noatime. If this option is set for a file system in /etc/fstab, then reading accesses will no longer cause the atime information (last access time - don't mix this up with the last modified time - if a file is changed, the modification date will still be set) that is associated with a file to be updated (in reverse this means that if noatime is not set, each read access will also result in a write operation). Therefore, using noatime can lead to significant performance gains.

Novell is generating buzz with the Dec. 18 launch of OpenSUSE 11.1. But The VAR Guy is looking at Novell from a slightly different perspective. The far bigger news involves senior VP Roger Levy — who may bring order to Novell’s multiple, seemingly unrelated product lines. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy

If Parkinson's Law for computers holds true, then no matter how much disk space you have, it will get used up. If you're already feeling a pinch, consider using a disk space analyzer tool to see what's eating your space.

Most of hard-core Linux admins encountered hardware RAIDs and know what pain they could be to maintain and configure properly. Usually, you have to download some sort of proprietary CLI or GUI tool from vendor's website, learn it, try to understand its commands and, finally, use it to configure RAID or check its status. Einarc is a solution for all this hassle: it's a universal storage RAID command line interface and an API that provides management for various hardware/software RAID devices.

Contrary to some recent reports, senior managers at Acer and other leading vendors have confirmed that Microsoft Windows XP now dominates the emerging sub-notebook market with more than 90% of new sales. Meanwhile, Linux, which had the netbooks market to itself until April this year, has seen its share of the space eroded to less than 10% in a breath-taking decline.

As our software becomes more Web-centric and our devices cheaper, Linux is becoming the operating system on everyone’s lips for 2009. Sorry, Microsoft. If this week’s news is any indication, you’ve been served.

Microsoft plans to open Office to other file formats, a move the company hopes will placate government and business concerns about document interoperability. Describing this as a step to foster greater transparency, Microsoft intends to document how it incorporated Open Document Format (ODF) support into Office 2007 Service Pack 2, which is still in beta. That product is expected to ship sometime in the first half of 2009.

Welcome to the next step in studying for the Linux certification exams. This tutorial series serves as a comprehensive study guide so you can take the exams with confidence. And even if you're not preparing for Linux certification at this time, this series helps you build fundamental skills on Linux systems administration.

Why settle for black and white (or black and green, for that matter) when you can have teal on blue? How's this for a long-overdue follow up. If my powers of site searching don't fail me, we haven't touched on the Z Shell (zsh) since our post, from July 2008 about multiple stream output in zsh which links back to another post on zsh's extended globbing functionality. This post is more of a follow up to that one than the other, but who's counting? ;)

In a mature IT market, it becomes hard to make any significant changes in hardware architecture or software design without upsetting the installed base of legacy users. This, of course, makes the evolution of a product somewhat troublesome. Change must fit within the strict confines of compatibility, ensuring both hardware and software vendors do something useful without upsetting the entire apple cart in the data center - or on our desks and in our laps.