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An even-handed comparison of how to get a stable computing environment set up for a growing small business.

Joel Barker wrote an interesting book entitled, "Paradigms:The Business of Discovering the Future". Originally written several years ago, I find it relevant today. In his book Barker has more of an interest in how we think about the future than making predictions.

After finding how-to upon how-to that said to use "apt-get install ubuntu-xen-server" and repeatedly banging my head against the wall because it kept telling me the package wasnt found, I finally found the Xen page at the Ubuntu Community site that explained the situation.

Could this be the end of KDE as Canonical admit only GNOME will have LTS status as the Hardy Heron is released?

It's been a landmark year for open source, and in so many different ways that even a casual survey of the year's events will range far and wide. Here's a quick rundown of what to me were the top five open source events of the year -- not an exhaustive list, of course, but the things that best reflected how important and widely entrenched open source software (especially Linux) has become.

While Ubuntu Linux continues to grow -- in both popularity and new advancements for the Linux ecosystem -- and dance in the limelight, it isn't the choice for everybody. For those that may still be searching for their right Linux mate, Zenwalk 5.0 is a distribution worth trying out. Previously we have referred to Zenwalk as an unsung hero among Linux distributions and with the forthcoming 5.0 release it asserts a very well rounded Xfce desktop.

By the end of December 2005, I had been blogging on ODF developments in Massachusetts for about four months, providing interviews, legal analyses and news as it happened. At that time, not many bloggers were covering the story, and email began to come my way from people that I had never met before, from as far away as Australia, and as near as the State House in Boston.

Thousands of Polish high school students now have a chance to learn about GNU/Linux and the benefits of using free software as Polish FLOSS foundation together with school headmasters, supported by local authorities organize a series of lectures on free software in education. PolishLinux.org has a report — summary of the first 3 months of the campaign.

Even we at TG Daily sometimes question points he makes and we occasionally get into heated discussions. But we are very well aware of his background and experience and realize that he is one most knowledgeable general analysts in Silicon Valley today and we learned over the years that there's always a good reason why he has certain opinion.

[Some holiday chuckle from our favorite analyst -J.]

In the almost five years since SCO launched its attack on Linux and IBM, open-source and legal experts have predicted that SCO would fail and the company would collapse with its lawsuits. That day is one day closer at hand. On Dec. 27, SCO was delisted from the Nasdaq.

The XO laptop I received last week as part of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project's "Give One Get One" (G1G1) promotion is unlike any other laptop I've ever used, both in appearance and functionality. It's smaller, for one thing. The XO weighs only 3.13 pounds, is 9 inches wide, and approximately an inch thick when closed. But there's a lot more difference between the XO and a normal laptop computer than size. It has strangely marked keys, unusual buttons, external wi-fi antennas, a unique UI, and an original reason for being. Most people, myself included, will compare the XO to normal laptops, but that's not a good comparison. The XO is not designed to do the things that most notebooks are called upon to do, and no other notebook in the world can do the things the XO can do. There is some overlap, of course, but in the main it's apples to oranges.

The Debian development team yesterday announced the second update for Debian GNU/Linux 4.0, or Etch. Stability enhancements and an updated installer top the list of updates in this release.

A low-cost laptop for children based on Intel's Classmate PC design is now shipping in computer stores in Vietnam. Hacao's Classmate PC is pre-installed with Hacao Linux 2.16 Professional, a Vietnamese-language distribution based on Puppy Linux. The Hacao Classmate PC is equipped with an ultra-low power 900MHz Celeron processor with a 400MHz FSB (front-side bus), teamed with 256MB of RAM and 1GB of Flash-based local storage. The 2.9-pound device measures 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.7 inches (245 x 196 x 44mm), and features a 7-inch WVGA (800 x 480) LCD display.

LXer Feature: 29-Dec-2007

Thanks to a friend who knew a friend who knew someone else, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Chumby for a few days even though it is only available as a limited preview and not outside the Unites States. It's probably one of the first Chumbies in Europe. I only had it a few days as it was only lent to me by the owner, but this gave me ample opportunity to play with the device, give a thorough review and hack it a little. And what fun I have had!

When I was very young, I used to fight with my younger brother. One day, after being made to give in, he went to my mother and complained about the fact that I had been in a fight with him, and mom told him that if he didn't want to fight, he didn't have to. He could just walk away. She also told me the same thing. I drove my brother nuts by doing exactly what my mom said. I quit competing. I started working on my inner geek, while he was off trying to figure out why I didn't engage anymore. This is why Linux makes MS nuts.

Two weeks I wrote about how the XO laptop endowed a 9 year old boy with seemingly magical powers (of intellectual curoisity and competence), and I wondered aloud whether my 9 year old daughter would fare as well. On the one hand, she does like gadget gifts such as The Littlest Petshop. On the other hand, many such gadgets wind up as nothing more than a surface waiting to be decorated with stickers or glitter glue. Would her reaction to the XO validate or repudiate Negroponte's hypothesis that his project is an education project, not a laptop project? It seemed to work pretty well for Rufus...

There are a total of 21,652 packages installed on my home workstation, an AMD64 single core processor box which has been in use since March 2006. It runs the testing stream of Debian. That's a lot of code, all of it free as in beer. A vast army of developers has given decades of precious time to make it possible for people in every corner of the globe to use a computer and not have to depend on expensive software which, in more cases than not, results in more problems than solutions...

As 2007 winds to a close, the editors of LinuxDevices.com have assembled a retrospective aimed at highlighting major trends and events in the world of embedded Linux. Of the approximately 1,200 stories we published this year, these were the most important, in our opinion.

Congratulations to all the new Christmas owners of the year's hottest subnotebook, the ASUS Eee, putting Linux square in the mainstream and right in the hands of the masses. Here's a collection of tiny – but dead useful – hints and tips to help you get the most out of it.

Jeff Campbell (aka "Mr. Zonbu") has reviewed the Linux-based Zonbu Notebook. His final review score -- 8.5 out of 10 -- balances praise for thorough features, sharp display, and excellent support, with some questions over performance and design. Following up on his generally positive review of the Zonbu Desktop Mini desktop system, previously known as the Zonbox, Mr. Zonbu now takes on the laptop model, which offers the same Gentoo Linux distribution and software offerings.