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ES is an interesting looking open source research OS created by Nintendo. It runs natively on x86 and qemu. The kernel is written in C++ it uses an ECMAScript interpreter for all of the userland and it uses Cairo for graphics and even has a port of Squeak.

Mozilla has issued a fix for a bug found in an update issued earlier this week. Officials at Mozilla said they have released an update to fix a flaw in the recently released 2.0.0.10 version of their Firefox browser. It is the first time ever Mozilla has released two versions of the open-source browser in the same week. When Mozilla released Firefox 2.0.0.10 Monday, it included a bug in its rendering canvas HTML elements. Canvas elements allow for dynamic, scriptable rendering of bitmap images in HTML.

I am increasingly convinced all of the arguments between Linux distributions are going to become moot very soon. If they aren't there already. Not that I have anything against diversity, mind you. I have (and will) actively support the right to create and use any Linux distribution you want. My concern is, I think the distributions are becoming so similar in their construction, and the differences between them so subtle, the whole notion of distribution superiority is completely moot.

Lawyers for plaintiffs in a case brought against Microsoft over Vista's marketing have claimed that even the software giant's marketing director was confused by the pre-launch campaign in the United States. The case involves the way Microsoft marketed PCs as "Windows Vista capable" prior to the consumer launch of the operating system in January.

[Looks like even Microsoft doesn't know which computers can actually handle a Vista upgrade - Scott]

People in South Korea speak of folks in North Korea more as lost brothers than bitter enemies. Over the years the two have made various rapprochements, but now it looks like North and South are teaming up on a whole new kind of joint project: a Korean-language Linux distribution.

A stability and security update to SeaMonkey, the community-driven continuation of the all-in-one Mozilla Application Suite, has been released. As detailed in the SeaMonkey 1.1.7 section of the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories page, the upgrade includes the same security patches as Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.10, which was also made available this week.

Access content where and when you need it with Lotus Quickr Web services. In this article, we introduce the basic operations you can perform using Lotus Quickr Web services and some of the best practices that you should follow when interacting with these services.

Neil Wilson, a recently laid-off Sun Microsystems employee and a former owner of the OpenDS project, has accused his ex-boss of using strong-arm tactics to keep control of his project. In an open letter Wilson said he's finally gone public to "clear the air" having kept quit for fear of potential retaliation from Sun. Retaliation in this case meant lost severance.

The Mozilla Corporation today released Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11, the second minor update to the browser delivered this week. This upgrade has been rushed out to fix a regression introduced in Firefox 2.0.0.10, which broke the drawImage method of the canvas element.

In distributed networks, one of the most important tasks is to maintain the user and group information. For centralized management, many customers use Network Information Service (NIS). This article provides an overview of NIS and the steps to install and configure NIS as a server and client.

At one point in time and not too very long ago, I fancied myself a decent system administrator with a decent resume and work history. When I finished a series of writing tasks working on technology subjects that included system administration, I thought the time had come for me to work in a shop with Linux and MS. I put my resume up on Dice and Monster and waited for the phone to ring. When it didn't ring, I went up to see the hits. I saw six on Monster and eight on Dice. Only one company saved my data.

IPCop is a specialized Linux distribution whose sole purpose is to safeguard the computers and networks it is installed on. The distro proudly claims, "The Bad Packets Stop Here!" I recently installed IPCop 1.4.16 on my SOHO LAN, and found that it accomplishes what it sets out to do. My LAN is constantly in a state of flux, but at a minimum it contains at least two computers and a wireless access point. I use the wireless router both for Internet access from my laptop and to provide access to a Hewlett-Packard network printer that's located in a spot where a cable would be inconvenient. I add and remove the odd computer from the mix on an ongoing basis.

SoX is a power-packed command-line tool for various types of audio processing. It's very useful as an audio format converter, and it can be used for resampling audio files, converting between endianness, audio encoding and modifying other attributes of common audio file formats. Its main power, however, is its effect plugins. It can apply various effects to audio in the same way a digital audio workstation does. You can add echoes, filter frequencies, reduce or increase volume, remove noise and do various other advanced digital signal processing on sound samples.

A recent conference on open source in education at Seneca College generated interesting thoughts, published in Frank Hecker’s blog. (Hecker works for Mozilla.) This piece isn’t really about technology, but about how open source practices impact career and educational opportunities. A good read for big thinkers.

In the wake of recent flareups over the inclusion of BSD licensed code in GPL licensed programs, a little extra vigilance can go a long way. Recently, Fedora package managers manually reviewing code licenses in a new version of Joop Stakenborg’s popular XLog program — used by amateur radio enthusiasts around the globe to record their contacts — discovered a change in the licensing of one of the included files which impacted the licensing of the program as a whole.

Zonbu has started shipping a laptop version of its Linux-based computing appliance for home users. The Zonbu Notebook or "Zonbook 1" is based on a power-efficient Via processor, runs Gentoo Linux and 20 open source applications, and sells for $280 with a managed service plan.

Even if you work only in Linux, you'll likely have to use Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (CHM) files at one time or another. Several open source projects use this common format, including Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Python, and PHP. Microsoft developed CHM as a proprietary format for Windows 98, leaving behind the previous WinHelp (HLP) format. CHM is still alive and kicking in XP and Vista, though some applications use the newer Microsoft Help 2 format.

In PolishLinux.org Command Line Tricks series they have described Getting help and Processes management. Now it’s time to understand how the file permissions in Linux work. The article covers topics such as the basics of Linux file access rights, useful commands that allow you to manage file permissions, as well as numerical and special access modes.

Creating a high-quality chart for the Web can be a challenging task, but open source software like Open Flash Chart (OFC) makes it a cinch. As you might guess from its name, the core engine of OFC is written in Adobe Flash. Although this means that users need a Flash browser plugin to view charts created with OFC, this approach has a significant advantage: it allows you to produce professional-quality graphs with minimum effort, because the core engine does all the heavy lifting, and all you need to do is to specify configuration options for your chart and feed data into it.

If you're a technology consultant who serves small businesses, you can drive your profits higher by combining open source desktops with managed services. It's the perfect business model: You promote Ubuntu Linux PCs running OpenOffice and you manage those systems remotely for a monthly fee. That's right: You can actually bill customers on a monthly basis to support hardware that barely needs any support. Here's how it works.