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After introducing the One Laptop Per Child XO laptop to the teachers and then the third and fourth grade students involved in our OLPC pilot project in Ouéléssébougou, Mali, we finally got to see how exactly the kids use the XO laptops. We found out in the fifth and sixth weeks of the program lots of good news: the kids love the XO, especially since they have now started taking the small green laptops home at night. In addition they have really taken to navigating the Sugar OS and have become speedy typers. Even better is the collaboration that takes place in the classroom to teach each other how to use certain applications.

Let's face it: Linux can save companies money. It can do lots of really serious work well on machines that can't even minimally run a current version of Windows. Linux can allow companies to leverage the existing, aging systems and extend the productive life of hardware they already own.

Posting bellow describes setup Ubuntu Hardy PV DomU via attacment block device to Ubuntu Hardy HVM DomU at the same CentOS 5.2 Dom0. Standard debootstrap procedure has been used to create initial image on this device. This step allows to avoid “scp” image files from remote Ubuntu HH box to Dom0 and use /dev/sda(X) with prepared image immediately on the same box,referencing the same device from Ubuntu Hardy PV profile.

Virtualization software can help you run programs that your native Linux distro wouldn't. While Linux users have many virtualization options, none comes close to the all-encompassing VMware Workstation 6.5. Introduced last month, VMware Workstation 6.5 continues the tradition of outshining and outpacing the competition with a host of useful new features, and boldly goes where no virtualization software has gone before -- into the realm of virtual machines with accelerated 3-D graphics. Despite the advances, some of the new features are still in beta, so Workstation 6.5 might not be the best virtualization option for everyone.

Just as I brought you the Ubuntu 8.10B ScreenShots, I now bring you the Kubuntu 8.10B ScreenShots from the install to the installing of updates to using Amarok and transfering files using sftp in dolphin file manager.

This is WFTL Bytes!, your occasiodaily FOSS and Linux news show for Oct 10, 2008, with your host, me, Marcel Gagné. Today's stories include the opening of Oktoberfest, beer, Mandriva 2009, beer, Opera 9.6, more beer, Google on the defensive, and comparisons of jail cells from Hamburg, Germany.

Yesterday, I looked at the major applications in the first beta for KOffice 2.0. Now it's the turn of the rest of the beta: The KPlato project manager, KChart, the vector graphics editor Karbon, and the raster graphics editor Krita. These four graphical and charting programs have always been among the best-regarded of the KOffice programs. All of them have matured much faster than the traditional office applications KWord, KSpread, and KPresenter. In the case of KPlato and KChart, they have done so because they were limited applications with relatively few features. By contrast, the graphics editors Karbon and Krita have done so by attracting users who were not interested in office applications so much as design.

Flash memory drives the size of your thumb are dirt cheap and offer gigabytes of storage. It's tempting to fill one of them with important computer files, clip it to a key chain and hit the road. However, what if you lose it while fumbling for change at Starbucks and the hacker in the corner finds it? This is not a good thing. That's where a new breed of flash drives comes in.

With the ip command you can assign multiple network addresses to a network interface, without creating aliases like ifconfig requires. Carla Schroder shows you how.

The temptation to compare the FreeRunner and the Apple iPhone can be overwhelming. They both run a Unix-like operating system; they both have GPS, wi-fi, and accelerometers; they are both cell phones. In spite of their similarities, their differences are even more striking. Anthony Taylor takes a look at the features of FreeRunner and discovers that it is not the iPhone, but a handheld computer with GPS and cellphone capabilities and runs on free software. You can read the full article at Freesoftware Magazine.

Charlie Schluting's video tutorial shows you how to set up a Samba server on Ubuntu, and test it from a Windows PC, all in just a few minutes.

This article is a short introduction to running Linux Live-CDs with MobaLiveCD. MobaLiveCD is a standalone Windows application (i.e., you do not have to install it - it runs by clicking on the executable) that uses the Qemu emulator to run Linux Live-CDs on your Windows desktop.

Mozilla Labs recently offered a sneak peak and download of Geode. Geode is one of the first applications to use the new W3C geolocation specification API. It is currently available as a plug-in for Firefox 3 (and seems to only support Windows and Mac systems at this time). Mozilla Labs indicates it will likely be a new feature integrated in an upcoming browser release.

Founded in 1998, EZ Prints is an Atlanta-based provider of digital image fulfillment technology for retailers, portals, ISPs, digital content owners and professional photo services. About 500 online and offline retailers in the U.S. and Europe, including six of the top 10 online photo sites, use EZ Prints' technology platform to offer services that allow consumers and businesses to personalize digital content.

French software firm Mandriva has released its Mandriva 2009 Linux distro, moving to KDE 4 as the default desktop. Other new features include a revamped installer and "Control Center," netbook compatibility, and a variety of updated applications. Although KDE 4, or more specifically 4.1.2, is now the Mandriva default, the GNOME desktop has also been bundled and upgraded to version 2.24. Other updated applications include OpenOffice 3.0, and Mozilla Firefox 3. It now includes version 2.6.27 of the Linux kernel.

Whether you believe that punctuality is "the politeness of kings" or "the art of guessing how late the other fellow is going to be," you can count on your Linux box for information about local times across the globe, so that you can plan a punctual VoIP call, stock transaction, or meeting. Here are some world clocks that work well on the desktop. World time is a topic fraught with complexities and exceptions: Daylight Savings Time, fractional hour discrepancies, exceptional time zones, today, tomorrow, or yesterday. Some tools handle these difficulties well, and others not so well. On a practical level, however, what you need to know comes down to two basic questions: What time is it right now in Rubovia? And is it a good time to call Mary?

"Sidux" is a fairly new Linux distribution based on Debian's "unstable" branch, which is perpetually code-named "Sid." An early review suggests Sidux might have the ingredients to make the very newest versions of open source software available for wider testing and use. I have long suspected that a majority of Debian users actually use Sid. Despite its name, the "unstable" tree works fine on the desktop.

The Northeast Ohio Open Source Society will again be webcasting live from the floor of the Ohio Linux Fest this Saturday, October 11. Join us and listen to the goings on as told to us by the exhibitors, visitors and the occasional presenter or possibly even a Linux guru.

Foresight Linux is best known by many as the distribution that features the Conary package management system. Perhaps soon it may become known as your child's favorite distro. The recent release of Foresight Kid's Edition 1.0 introduces a new generation to the benefits of Linux and open source software. Not that kids care about that -- they'll just appreciate the unlimited hours of fun at their fingertips.

I spoke to Rishi Chandra, product manager for Google Docs Enterprise about Cloud Computing. He believes many of the fears around Cloud Computing are related more to perception than reality.