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Usually, there are topics of discussion galore to choose from in the open source blogosphere, but once Microsoft filed suit against TomTom, it seems you couldn't read about anything else. TomTom faces a patent challenge over its use of the FAT file system in its Linux-based GPS units. Some see the suit as an attack on Linux itself.

Linux shop Xandros is launching the Presto "instant-on" platform for PCs and laptops at the Demo 09 conference. When I saw my first PC with an alternate, quick-boot Linux operating system (DeviceVM), I was impressed. But I no longer think this is a viable market. I do not believe consumers want to run two operating systems on their computers--one fast to boot but limited, and one slow but capable. They want what they know, and for most of them, that means Windows. That's why Windows XP has become the popular operating system for low-spec Netbooks. And with computers on the whole getting more powerful, and Windows 7 getting such great reviews even on midrange PCs now (which will be low-end in months), I just don't see much of a market for two-OS computers.

The recent release of DRBD 8.3 now includes The Third Node feature as a freely available component. This document will cover the basics of setting up a third node on a standard Debian Etch installation. At the end of this tutorial you will have a DRBD device that can be utilized as a SAN, an iSCSI target, a file server, or a database server.

I spoke to Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier, who is openSUSE Community Manager, about FOSS license FUD. Brockmeier explains in detail what you need to understand when using open source software, and that it's really no more complex than the commercial stuff (and usually less so).

My brain is mushier than usual after putting in hours day and night all weekend. Enjoy the pictures :)

Have you ever needed to wirelessly network a Windows PC’s directly to a Ubuntu machine? In other words, you lack a router, switch, or other networking mechanism, each PC has a wireless device and you need to trade a file or play a network game? Read on. Ubuntu’s NetworkManager 0.7.0 contains the necessary features for creating an Ubuntu adhoc network host.

Last week saw the release of SimplyMEPIS 8.0, a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution designed for both personal and business purposes. We take the live CD for a spin to see what it has to offer. In the news this past week, openSUSE develops Debian-like distribution upgrade functionality to their package manager, Red Hat looks set for a comeback to the desktop arena as it announces virtualisation plans that will centre around KVM technology, and Novell signs a virtualisation agreement with VMware over support for their products. Also in the news, the Linux Starter Kit from Linux Format magazine has been released for free and we link to interviews with lead developers of Linux Mint and Kongoni. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the DistroWatch.com February 2009 donation goes to Wolvix GNU/Linux, a Slackware-based desktop distribution and live CD.

The absolute ultimate Linux beginners guide I stumbled upon an article at the BBC website. This is not a site I regularly visit, so I'm probably the latest person in the world to notice this article. I guess it's been noticed and many people already had their say on this. To bad there was no comment section with the article. But still I think there couldn't be enough people who have a say about this. I could start ranting here about how wrong he is with his conclusions, and how such articles are harmful by scaring people away from Linux. Which is true, but that's not my intention.

To get the next billion people online, netbooks must continue to become less expensive and thus more accessible. An interesting way to achieve this is to separate out the display and smarts into two pluggable units, one which can be shared by many, or replaced functionally with a smartphone, PC, or server.

Once again, time for the weekly distribution roundup. This week we have a rather large list of releases, so let’s get to it.

Mounting an LVM may seem a bit intimidating, it's not. In reality, despite the length of this entry, you will only be running a handful of commands, and most of those just to get the needed information. Do not despair, this will be as painless as possible.

Online shopping is the activity that consumers engage in when purchasing products or services over the internet. This activity has many distinct advantages over 'traditional shopping' for both consumers and the businesses.

This week we received a note from Matthias Dahl, a Phoronix reader, who wanted to remind us about current problems plaguing the NVIDIA 180.xx driver series. Using any of the newer NVIDIA Linux drivers can cause graphics corruption followed by the system locking up. These problems are certainly known by NVIDIA and are experienced by many users as can be seen from this NvNews Forum thread. Below is what Matthias had to share about the situation.

Ubuntu Podcast Episode #20 covers the controversial notifications feature, Karmic Koala, New Mexico LoCo helps facility aimed at people with substance abuse problems, better integrated mail stack in Jaunty, lots of HP-related Ubuntu news, and much more.

Just three days ago we shared that Nouveau will become the default NVIDIA driver in Fedora 11 to replace the obfuscated xf86-video-nv mess. Now proposed for Fedora 11 is to also integrate the Nouveau kernel mode-setting driver.

In this HowTo I will describe how to prepare a Debian Lenny server for OpenVZ. With OpenVZ you can create multiple Virtual Private Servers (VPS) on the same hardware, similar to Xen and the Linux Vserver project. OpenVZ is the open-source branch of Virtuozzo, a commercial virtualization solution used by many providers that offer virtual servers. The OpenVZ kernel patch is licensed under the GPL license, and the user-level tools are under the QPL license.

Linux is a joke. Well, that may be a bit harsh, but Ubuntu certainly seems to be all the excuse founder Mark Shuttleworth needs to make one bad pun after another. After Bill Gates' performances with Jerry Seinfeld, one wonders if becoming a billionaire tech mogul alters brain chemistry. At any rate, Paul Rubens reports on the future of Karmic Koala and Canonical. (Hint: not as successes in show biz.)

I'm taking PCWorld's new LinuxLink Blog under my wing. Being a mentor comes with great responsibility.

Have a confusing and entertaining Saturday :)

Zack Urlocker of MySQL fame was at the Stanford Accel Symposium earlier this week and, along with some other open-source heavyweights, participated on a panel that attempted to cull some lessons learned in building open-source businesses. If you didn't get to attend the event, don't panic. Urlocker has written up a few key principles.