Showing all newswire headlines

First distributives [sic] developed on the basis of Linux OS within the program to equip Russian schools with the open source software have been handed over to the informatics teachers in the Perm Region. The developers are sure their product will not only protect teachers from copyright advocates but might result in the technical literacy of pupils to improve.

OpenOffice.org has dismissed an analyst report from Burton Group which claims that Microsoft's OOXML document format is preferable to the ODF.

Setting up a file server doesn't need to be complicated. With three desktop machines (Kubuntu, Win XP and a testbed, which is currently running ReactOS) and a laptop (Xubuntu) in use at home, our IT is reaching small office proportions, and like many small offices, we run into file sharing problems. Peer-to-peer networking is fine when all the machines are on, but inevitably it happens that the file I want is on a PC that isn't running. Even worse, it be on my testbed machine that is currently in pieces or undergoing yet another upgrade. So, we need an always-on server that any of us can access any time, but if it is always on, it needs to be quiet, reliable and cheap to run.

There's nothing like an EU Commission investigation to get Microsoft to open up a little, is there? Today Brian Jones has two announcements, that Microsoft is making binary Office formats (.doc; .xls; .ppt) available under the Open Specification Promise. You won't have to email them and be evaluated any more. From what I've heard, the way it worked was that only companies and governments could get them before. Of course Jones tells it a different way, as I'll show you. The second announcement is about yet another translator project, an open source "Binary Format-to-ISO/IEC JTC 1 DIS 29500 Translator Project".

[Does this mean we'll finally get nested table support for MS formats in OpenOffice.org? - Sander]

In Part 1 we set up a simple anonymous Samba file and printer server. Now we're going to share it across subnets. Both Windows and Linux clients will be able to use this server.

Choices abound for reading Usenet messages in Linux. Many email clients can deliver news. Several standalone clients are also around, including Knode/Kontact, Pan, and several text-based choices. Some require you to be online when accessing news, others permit offline reading. Of course, there's also gnus for Emacs.

The latest LinuxQuestions.org Podcast. Topics include the 2007 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards, official participation at LQ, OSBC coverage, Open Source code contains security holes, is Apple killing Linux on the desktop and Sun acquires MySQL.

Okay, the headline is a bit dramatic. But the Sun-MySQL business combo makes The VAR Guy wonder: Will Novell wake up and start buying open source application providers … or is Novell doomed to repeat the exact same mistakes it made in the 1990s? Alas, Novell in 2008 looks a lot like Novell from a decade ago. That’s not good. Here’s why.

Since its debut in March of 2001, Mac OS® X® has been a very attractive operating system for many Linux® and Unix™ enthusiasts. The operating system brings the interface design Apple is known for to Unix and builds on the previous efforts of A/UX® and especially NeXT®. This article will introduce the reader to a technique for configuring a Fedora® 8 server and corresponding workstation running Mac OS X Tiger (10.4). I will discuss ways to provide three key services: authorization, authentication, and file sharing.

Curtis Knight, Isak Savo, and Taj Morton are the lead maintainers and developers of autopackage, a set of tools designed to let developers build and distribute distribution-neutral installation packages. In this interview, they share their vision of the project and where Linux packaging in general is going.

am working on LiGNU, which is PCLinuxOS with a face lift. It is an experiment of sorts, and I hope I do a good job on it. This may even be a good way to spring into tutorials on how to customize certain aspects of any distribution. The system itself will have menus that are reorganized to where a user migrating from Windows-based technology can better navigate it. In addition, important desktop shortcuts may be added. So here is where you come in.

The evolution of computing is characterized by a vertiginous acceleration of speed and capacity. As we install sophisticated applications and make use of computers in more creative ways, storage needs are pushed even further. You can improve your disk performance by using a RAID-enabled desktop system running common OSS applications.

DeviceGuru has published an open letter to Ubuntu Linux project founder Mark Shuttleworth suggesting that the mainstream flavors of Ubuntu (i.e. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, etc.) be rebranded as various "Editions" of Ubuntu. So, for example, "Kubuntu" would become "Ubuntu KDE Edition." Read the complete open letter here.

Do you want to promote free softwares in Hungary? There is a MS sponsored competition at http://www.legalizalj.hu I uploaded one video that promote Linux – please vote to it. (I prepared another video that is much better.)

A few weeks ago I wrote about my experiences installing several different distributions on my ThinkPad T61. One of the distributions I tested was PCLinuxOS 2007. And, as I wrote, there were a couple of small issues that I had to fiddle with in order to get everything working. With the recent release of the 2008 version of PCLinuxOS (the Mini Me version which comes with a minimal number of applications pre-installed), I thought it would be good to write about how this new version works on my laptop.

A new book that teaches users how to create themes for Drupal websites has been announced today by Packt Publishing.

Are you using SSH in the best way possible? Have you configured it to be as limited and secure as possible? The goal of this document is to kick in the new year with some best practices for SSH: why you should use them, how to set them up, and how to verify that they are in place. All of the examples below assume that you are using EnGarde Secure Linux but any modern Linux distribution will do just fine since, as far as I know, everybody ships OpenSSH.

Not content with mounting a serious challenge to Asus' elfin Eee PC, US manufacturer Everex this week said it will follow up its 7in CloudBook sub-notebook with larger models later in the year. To be fair, these are all enhancements Asus has already pledged to make to the Eee PC line-up. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it announced it would release 8in and 9in notebooks Eees later this year. In November 2007, it promised this year will see a desktop version.

Blog of helios has entered the storm prediction game. We are predicting a Tempest of unparalleled strength and the eye of that storm is going to be the current office of Steve Ballmer. Whaddayawanna bet that Ballmer not only pitches chairs, he will pitch every craftsman tool and appliance out the door as well?

PlayOnLinux (POL) is a python-based frontend (with bash install scripts) to install windows programs in Wine.