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This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 11.1 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

As promised, we will keep the tech jokes coming because it's the season to be jolly (falalalala lalalala). Our next set of jokes will surely tickle some of our geeky readers’ funny bones. Now get ready for some classic Linux/Unix Christmas humor:

Audio in linux, how to put it into words? How about: oss, alsa, pulseaudio, esound, arts, portaudio, jack, gstreamer, phonon. Did I miss any? Embarrassment of riches? Or just embarrassment? I will not rehash history any more than to say that between buggy/incomplete drivers for sound cards and the wonderful world of alsa I’ve never been able to understand how the hell audio works beyond getting output and, sporadically, input. I am the quintessential dumb user of linux audio, even though I have tried to figure it out.

How to Install Latest Wine in debian Etch. Wine makes it possible to run Windows programs alongside any Unix-like operating system, particularly Linux. At its heart, Wine is an implementation of the Windows Application Programing Interface (API) library, acting as a bridge between the Windows program and Linux. Think of Wine as a compatibility layer, when a Windows program tries to perform a function that Linux doesn’t normally understand, Wine will translate that program’s instruction into one supported by the system. For example, if a program asks the system to create a Windows pushbutton or text-edit field, Wine will convert that instruction into its Linux equivalent in the form of a command to the window manager using the standard X11 protocol.

Move over Hodgman and that hipster kid who briefly dated Drew Barrymore, because there's a new advertising campaign in town that hopes to take Linux into the mainstream. With commercials. It's true. The Linux Foundation saw those successful I'm a Mac commercials, and Jerry Seinfeld playing with Bill Gates, and they wanted in. So they're having a video contest that will try and showcase "just what Linux means to those who use it, and hopefully inspires many to try it."

LXer Feature: 21-Dec-2008

There were several articles about Netbooks this week. One article entitled "Small is beautiful" that talks about the joys of the Netbook, another of how now that Microsoft has dumped XP on the Netbook market, that it has of course taken the majority of the share of pre-installs. Isn't it nice to know that you can buy a little Netbook with XP installed on it without having to pay for the 'downgrade' (I mean upgrade) like you would have to if you did not want Vista to come pre-installed on a new desktop or laptop? I didn't think so either.

At this moment in time there seems to be a war going on. On one side there is the proprietary systems, iconified by windows. On the other side there is the open source systems, iconified by Linux. There is also a third group, the fence sitters, who alternate between the two camps. These are neither willing or able to choose one side and stick with it.

The beauty of Linux is in users ability to do large amount of customization to have a unique user expereince. So today we will look in to some tips for a “better” Linux experience. The term “better” here is relative, because what works for me might seem a distraction for some or plain annoying to others; some of this “tips” might appeal to beginners, while advanced users might find it too easy. Hopefully some of these tips will be helpful to some of you.

Opinion: Microsoft has long been worried about Linux competition in the server market, writes Preston Gralla. But now it's also taking Linux seriously as a desktop operating system, and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it.

Could your business be paying for a proprietary program when an open source alternative exists? Take a look at our guide as we count down the most popular open source products. Much of the software suggested in this round-up came from sourceforge.net, known colloquially as the open source "phone book". Alternatively, you might want to look at Wikipedia's Free Software Portal. If you need software, it's well worth a look.

It's been a while since we put out an seo metrics script. In many ways, this is the opposite of our last one.

SuSE was founded in Nuremberg, Germany in 1992 when the Linux kernel was still almost new. by Hubert Mantel, Burchard Steinbild, Roland Dyroff and Thomas Fehr, with the objective of distributing Slackware (based on the earlier SLS Linux from Soft Landing Systems), in sets of 40 floppies, translated into German, with the approval of Patrik Volderding, the guiding light and sole developer of Slackware. The SuSE organisation began life as Gesellschaft für Software-und Systementwicklung mbH, which later became Software und System Entwicklung (Software and System Development), from which sprang the friendly acronym SuSE. SuSE's own distinctive version of Linux came into being with the absorption of Florian LaRoche’s Jurix Linux and the development of the SuSE installer YaST in 1995, and but for a mild stutter after the collapse of the NASDAQ, has never looked back since.

An X Window manager is software that manages the windows that applications bring up. For example, when you start an application, there will be a window manager running in the background, responsible for the placement and appearance of windows.

Steven Edwards of the Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 1.6 today. Bordeaux 1.6 comes with added support for Google's Chrome Web Browser, Google Earth, Google Picasa, Trillian and Apple's Safari Web Browser. Additionally, Cellar support has improved; you can now ?delete and install into an existing Cellar. IE6 now installs java, shockwave and latest flash. T?here has also been many small bug fixes and tweaks on the backend to improve the speed and reliablity of all the supported applications.

7 ways that you can save money and be a hero at your company.

OpenVAS stands for Open Vulnerability Assessment System and is a complete tool for network security scanning including a graphical user front-end. I is used to  detect security problems in remote systems and applications. The OpenVAS development team consists of various interested parties from academia and commercial entities as well as individuals. Please notice that there are currently two different series available for download: the stable 1.0 series and the upcoming 2.0 series. The OpenVAS developers recently have announced the release of the 2.0-rc1 versions of openvas-libraries, openvas-libnasl, openvas-server and openvas-client. In this step by step workshop we’ll describe how to compile, install and use OpenVAS 2.0 on a Mandriva 2009 server and client.

This is a detailed description about how to set up an OpenSUSE 11.1 server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.

It has been two years since Linux Format magazine last reported on Ulteo. Back then, we all thought it was going to be a standard new Linux distribution created by Gaël Duval, the founder of Mandrake Linux. If you take a look at Ulteo.com today, you won't find any mention of Linux on the home page. Not only that, but everything about the Ulteo site is slightly confusing. It's very difficult to understand what Ulteo is and what it might do, thanks to some rather vague statements and the use of some very stylised 'lifestyle' illustrations. But Ulteo is actually four distinct technologies.

The year 2008 showed open source -- both in the form of Linux specifically and as a software development model generally -- coming into the mainstream like never before. When it wasn't powering new hardware niches like the netbook, it was forming the core ofGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG)'s new Android mobile operating system or its Chrome browser, and sitting at the center of legal wrangling with wide-ranging repercussions.

You've all heard a major new flaw has been found affecting Internet Explorer all the way back to version 5. Microsoft pushed out a fix out of their regular "patch Tuesday" monthly schedule. The flaw has prompted some commentators to call for the replacement of IE with alternate browsers like Firefox. Just what was so serious? And what do Microsoft say that show Linux has the superior design?