Showing all newswire headlines

If you have ever suffered from that scourge of all computers users - RSI - Ryan Cartwright at Freesoftware Magazine has the cure. Workrave. It's a neat little piece of software which will take you profligate keyboard habits and discipline them in order to stop you having your wrists in splints. Read the full story at FSM

Mention Common Gateway Interface scripting to a Web developer, and their first response is likely to be "I use Perl." While Perl has long dominated the CGI scripting world, there are other, and perhaps better, tools available. In this tutorial we'll take a look at CGI scripting with Python, a fast, versatile, multi-platform language. Python is an interpreted, object-oriented language named after the BBC television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus." No johnny-come-lately, Python's first release was in 1991. Developed by Guido van Rossum, Python is the scripting language of choice for many enterprises, including Google, NASA, and ForecastWatch.com.

PCLinuxOS Magazine, June 2008 (Issue 22) is available to download. You can find it at the PCLinuxOS Magazine website. If you'd like to be informed immediately about our releases, please signup for the Magazine-Announce mailing list .

As we always do, the HTML version is simultaneously being published for low bandwidth users. The HTML Site is W3C standards compliant for easy browsing.

Some highlights include:

1. What is root?
   

2. Configuring a 5 Button Mouse

3. Burn an ISO Disk

4. Google Goodies
   

5. And more...

PDF Version June 2008 (Issue 22)

HTML Version June 2008 (Issue 22)

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server (version 1.0.6) on a Fedora 9 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free).

Simple shell script to do disk monitoring across multiple OS's. Emphasis placed on simple design.

There is a funny thing about commercial open source software companies as much as they like talking about their community-driven open source heritage they end up doing a lot of things their proprietary counterparts do. Spout off about being enterprise-ready, boast, offer TCO studies, and all manner of other things that make them look like a typical proprietary software company. A lot of them neglect the transparent open source traits that makes them truly disruptive and interesting (see yesterday's post on SourceFire).

Shenzhen, China-based smartphone design company Tranzda Technologies is marketing five phone designs that use its NewPlus Linux phone application stack. All five Tranzda designs include GPS, along with optional features that include WiFi, cameras, and biometric fingerprint authentication.

A few years ago, I had really high hope’s for Novell’s forays in to Linux. However; bad move after bad move has left me with no confidence in Novell or their Linux products. I can’t say I was shocked to find this work of misinformation touting the “benefits” of Novell over Redhat and “unpaid” Linux.

Remember Munich, and its city council's 2003 decision to rip out Microsoft Windows and Office, and to replace them with free software? It was a seminal moment for open source, when Microsoft brought its heaviest guns to bear – in the shape of Steve Ballmer, no less, who made the city an offer it couldn't refuse – and failed..

Since releasing Google Desktop for Linux, we've added almost all of our most requested features, like 64-bit support and the ability to search applications and documents. All except one major exception: Desktop Gadgets. Gadget support is not just a single feature, but rather an entire platform for miniature applications. It's a complex undertaking, but we're now putting the finishing touches on the product.

One of the most interesting parts of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, which aims to supply its ultra-low-cost XO-1 laptops to millions of students in developing nations, is its highly customised GUI. Called Sugar, it presents the user with a greatly simplified interface that's quite a departure from a traditional desktop. The biggest shift is that Sugar is a "singletasking" interface -- users can work with just a single application (called an "activity") at a time, which takes up the entire display, though you can run multiple activities simultaneously and switch between them. Another major difference is that the filesystem is presented as a virtual log of files, called the "Journal", which records multiple versions of files over time.

I implemented a new feature for LUKS in order to allow for emergency deletion of all LUKS key material. I've finished the implementation and submitted it to Clemens Fruhwirth for merging it into the next version of LUKS.

Asustek Computer Inc. in September plans to launch the Eee Monitor, a PC built into a monitor designed to rival Apple Inc.'s iMac, the company's CEO said Monday. The new device joins the Taiwanese company's popular Eee family of products, which started with the low-cost mini-laptop, the Eee PC. Asustek has expanded its laptop line to include products with different configurations and sizes supporting various operating systems, including Linux and Windows XP. The company will launch two new Eee PCs at Computex Taipei 2008 today: the Eee PC 901, which boasts nearly eight hours of battery life, and the Eee PC 1000, which has a 10-inch screen and regular-size keyboard.

The phone rings. You pick it up, and it is the recruiter for your dream job. Your palms begin to sweat as the technical interview starts. “You want to know the run-levels for Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® or Fedora®?” You pause, thinking. “Well, I use Linux every day, and I know single user mode is level 1…”. You stammer a bit, and say you’re drawing a blank for the rest. The recruiter thanks you in that “sorry” tone-of-voice, and hangs up the phone.

Has Microsoft lost the confidence of value added resellers with regard to profitability after it fails to make the top three in server operating system awards ceremony?

So, you have all this wonderful FOSS/Linux know how and a passion for it. Your passion is so great that you want to make a living doing it. That is sooo cool. But before you do, you need to learn how to boil to water and develop a solid business model around it so you can actually make money.

The appeal filed by India against OOXML is not yet available, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it likely is about by reading this open letter, Finally, My open letter on OOXML happenings in India by Dr. Deepak B. Phatak, a member of the committee, written to members of the LITD 15 committee of BIS, India. Among the issues Dr. Phatak raises are that OOXML is "not mature enough for acceptance as an ISO standard" yet; that there's no final draft available; the standard has been broken up into parts, and new conformance criteria introduced; and that the BRM meeting "failed in its basic objectives of resolution through technical discussion" since there was insufficient time to discuss most of the issues and in the end, most of the NBs abstained.

To keep up with the growing popularity of the recent wave of small, low-cost, flash-drive-equipped, wireless "netbook" computers, Ubuntu Linux today announced a specially modified version of the Linux operating designed to run on such machines. Called Ubuntu Linux Remix, the new operating system will be aimed at hardware manufacturers that are building netbooks for the consumer market, said Gerry Carr, marketing manager for Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu around the globe. Ubuntu Linux Remix is built to be compatible with Intel Corp.'s new Atom processors, which are miniaturized, low-power CPUs that can be used in smaller netbook chassis, Carr said.

The IT Service Center Berlinhas announced the development of a desktop system for the public services in Germany's capital (Google Translate to English). This is yet another public body making the switch to the Free Desktop system. The announcement talks about the good integration of KDE with their current infrastructure, which is partly based on Microsoft's software. According to the ITDZ's press release, the integration phase has successfully finished and the KDE-based client for Berlin's administration is now ready for prime time.

Yet another law firm flies the FUD flag alleging that you can't use open source and make money due to the "...the irreconcilable conflict between open-source software and its widespread use by for-profit companies.""