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Cisco has been talking about the "network as a platform" for a long time, but what does that actually mean, and what does the AXP network module have to do with it? The Cisco Application eXtension Platform (AXP) is made up of a hardware card (three different models), modified Linux software that runs on the card, and a program for software developers. You could also say that the AXP represents "network virtualization".

This decision finally explains how U.S. courts should analyze open source and open content licenses. The bottom line for us is that copyright law provides the remedies but contract law provides the analytical tools. [This pdf file was posted to the OSI license-discuss mailing list, with permission to rebublish -Az]

At a very early stage in the installation of the Ubuntu8.04 desktop I encountered some perplexing failures in the mount command and in my attempted alteration of the fstab file. Commands that had worked in Ubuntu's earlier LTS desktop failed both on the command line and when the file itself was executed. Moreover, with respect to the latter the results were similarly perplexing whether the file was executed during bootup or on the command line with the "a" option. Succinctly the problem is, I have not been successful mounting the external directories [1.] of the 6.06 desktop while on 8.04. Nonetheless, use of essentially the same commands work where I can see all the directories of 8.04 while running the 6.06 desktop. Moreover, with root level privileges on 6.06, I can copy, remove or alter files and sync in either direction. Those options are unavailable to me on 8.04.

Red Hat Thursday released a Linux software stack for compute-intensive IT environments that it said costs less than Microsoft's price for its comparable Windows offering. Red Hat charges a subscription of US$249 per node, or server, per year for Red Hat HPC Solution, a new offering that combines Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Platform Open Cluster Stack 5, clustering software it has licensed from Platform Computing. Red Hat HPC Solution also includes device drivers, a cluster installer, cluster-management tools, a resource and application monitor, interconnect support and a job scheduler.

PackageKit is a system designed to make installing and updating software on your computer easier. The primary design goal is to unify all the software graphical tools used in different distributions. KPackageKit is the KDE interface for PackageKit. Today we talk with Packagekit-Qt and KpackageKit developers about new emerging possibilities in process of managing software on your desktop.

If the fact that the ParanoidLinux distribution (now in an "alpha-alpha stage") is based on a work of science fiction isn't unsettling, consider two key peripheral issues. The first unsettling issue is that in some censorship-centric areas of the world, an operating system granting a user anonymity could be literally life-saving.

After marking the GNU Project's 25th anniversary with an endorsement by Stephen Fry and the relicensing of OpenGL, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is concluding the month-long celebration by relaunching its high priority list, which enumerates as-yet unwritten or incomplete software needed to run a completely free computer system. Instead of being simply a page on the FSF's Web site, the list will become a campaign, and be actively promoted and discussed, and given a new emphasis in the Foundation's activities.

Obama is campaigning for change. McCain is campaigning for change. And now, Red Hat is campaigning for change. The software company will spend next week evangelizing the government’s growing need for open source. It’s a smart, timely move by Red Hat. Here’s why.

I love (g)vim! I've been using a lot of different text and code editors over the years. When I started with Linux my first editor was Anjuta. After that I've tried BlueFish, Screem, SciTe, (X)Emacs, Gedit and many more until I stuck with Kate. But in the end, every Linux programmer eventually drops whatever editor or IDE that he or she uses and switch to either Vim or Emacs. I switched to Vim. Vim is great all by itself, but there are a ton of scripts that you can use to expand vim make your life easier. Here are the vim scripts and settings that I use every day.

The dd command is one of those ancient UNIX tools that is extremely powerful, yet at the same time, the syntax can make it feel slightly archaic. A lot of seasoned sysadmins and developers still remember the first time they saw the dd command used by a bearded wizard. He might have used it to test the disk I/O, capture a disk image, or restore it. In some ways, dd can seem like Old Spice–only the guys over 60 use it. But the younger generation should know that dd still has some tricks up its sleeve. In this article, we’re going to put a new twist on this old favorite and show how grandpappy really does know best sometimes.

That's right; you heard me. Here are – count 'em – one hundred reasons why Linux beats Windows.

Yahoo announced yesterday that it was releasing version 2.6 of its popular Yahoo User Interface (YUI) library, a collection of JavaScript objects and functions for client-side Web programming. YUI, distributed under the BSD license, is similar to such open-source JavaScript libraries as jQuery (see related story), Dojo, and Prototype/Scriptaculous. Note that this release is not the same as YUI 3.0, a preview of which was released earlier this year, and which will not be backward compatible with version 2.x.

As South Africa prepares to host the second annual ODF conference next week, momentum behind the Open Document Format appears to be growing stronger. To date at least 15 national governments, including countries such as South Africa, Brazil, and Italy, have adopted ODF as a government standard according to the ODF Alliance. And earlier this week Sweden national standards body approved ODF as a national standard in that country.

Google unveiled the first Android-powered cell phone last week, a T-Mobile-branded device dubbed the G1. Comparisons to Apple's iPhone were immediate -- and that is a good thing for Android, when you consider what a raucous and contentious week it was for iPhone developers. Initial G1 reviews were generally positive, but several reporters complained that when they asked about specific missing applications and features, the reply came back that third-party developers "are welcome to add that." In open source circles, that sort of comment is often regarded as a dodge, what a proprietary vendor says when dumping source code over the wall with no intentions of developing it further.

Zilog, creator of the Z80 microprocessors that powered numerous circa-1980 microcomputers including the Osborne and Kaypro, has just introduced its first general purpose 32-bit microcontroller family. The Encore! 32 microcontrollers integrate ARM9 processor cores, are offered with Linux support, and target embedded devices.

Your occasiodaily dose of FOSS news as delivered by your video host, Marcel Gagné (aka WFTL). Today's video news features a bailout for billionaires, rotten Apples, dried up venture capitalists, and two attempts to spread the Linux word to the masses.

Carla Schroder takes us on a tour of some of the excellent Linux package managers: RPM, dpkg, and the sophisticated dependency-resolving package managers, aptitude and Yum. Learn how to find out what is installed on your system, find files and packages, install and remove software, and update your Linux system smoothly and reliably.

Converting an old PC into a home or office server may look like a good idea on paper, but in reality, the idea has a few serious drawbacks. For starters, old PCs tend to be noisy, power-guzzling monsters, and older components make them less reliable. Turning an old PC into a server also means installing and configuring all the necessary software, which can be a time-consuming and laborious process. If the drawbacks of this approach outweigh for you its possible advantages, consider instead Bubba Two, a nifty Debian-based device that can be used for a variety of tasks.

In the annals of computer software with bizarre and seemingly random names, "Tomato" is probably one of the less weird examples as these things go. But whether you say tomay-toe or tomah-toe, this one is neither a fruit nor a vegetable—it is a firmware for wireless routers, including the popular WRT54G family.

As anyone familiar with the Linux wireless scene before 2006 knows, Broadcom, which manufacturers the wireless chipsets found in many laptops, was for a long time synonymous with everything evil about closed-source software. That’s changing. Here’s how