Showing all newswire headlines

If udev is driving you nuts, read this. For example, this document helped me configure my Kubuntu Dapper system to let me run my scanner as an ordinary user, rather than root-only. Dapper helpfully removed all the useful udev documentation, may their fleas be the size of Chihuahuas.

In Part 1 we discussed all manner of fascinating backup tools and strategies. Today we roll up our sleeves and build a sleek, dependable cross-platform network backup server with the excellent BackupPC. We're not going to mess around with dumb old tape drives, nor CDs, nor DVDs, nor floppy diskettes, but nice, fast high-capacity hard drives.

Linux may be the catalyst that boosts sales of blade servers in India. As vendors such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard and Dell grapple with new strategies to sell the sleek and expensive blade servers, the Linux operating system (OS) is the trump card they play to win over cost-conscious Indian IT buyers.

Computer stores are chock-full of all manner of backup software and network storage appliances of varying quality, usefulness, and ease of use. Do you really need some expensive commercial product? Probably not. Backing up Linux/UNIX systems is easy, and *nix comes with everything you need. Backing up Windows systems can get expensive, what with all those per-user and concurrent and per-machine blah blah licensing, and cross-platform backups can drive even strong admins to develop substance abuse habits. But don't run out and start one just yet, even though you'll be able to afford it, because this two-part series is going to show you how to perform the two primary types of backups the easy and cheap way: data files on a mixed LAN, and custom operating system images for fast bare-metal restores.

We're fond of the phrase, "lies, damn lies, and statistics." We tend to be cynical about data in general, but especially data that comes from sources we've long considered suspect. But deep down we're gearheads, and are lured to numbers like magnet to metal.

Scott Kveton and Jason McKerr, who created the lab in 2003, will head a software startup in Portland

here we go again- same dung, different day
No doubt many of you saw on Slashdot the article "Microsoft Talks Daily With Your Computer" or in Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols article for eWeek titled, Big Microsoft Brother, about allegations that Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage validation tool phones home daily to report information to Microsoft about you on each boot. Lauren Weinstein broke the story on his blog. Microsoft has now put out a statement, asserting that the Windows Genuine Advantage tool is not spyware, that they're going to change it some, and that one thing that distinguishes it from spyware is that they get consent before installing it. I question the accuracy of the statement.

David Berlind did a fabulous job of discovering that in fact the tool has two parts, one of which is new, the Notification part, as you can see in his helpful series of screenshots. First, he explains how the applications actually work. His research indicated to him that Microsoft asks permission for only one of the two, but the wrong one. I think it's muddier even than that, after reading the EULA. Thanks to Berlind's work, I see a legal problem with consent, which I noticed by reading the EULA. I also see a problem with the statement Microsoft has issued with regard to what information it collects. And something in the EULA needs to be explained, because it doesn't match Microsoft's statement

The long-awaited Ubuntu 6.06 Long Term Support (LTS) release, also known as Dapper Drake, made its debut last week. After extensive testing, I can say that it was worth the delay from its originally scheduled April release date.

When Richard Stallman created the Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985, it was organised around a radical idea: software should be free, not just as in free of charge, but free as in the concept of liberty. During the next 20 years, this idea turned out to be not just radical, but surprisingly practical. Beginning with Stallman’s Emacs text editor, to the various Gnu utilities, the Linux kernel, and beyond, free software has proved to be an enduring success.

[Note to McAllister: The price of subjection is cheap, but its cost is huge. - dcparris]

"My view is that the people of our company want to continue to challenge and look for new and innovative ways to solve problems," said Matthew Szulik, CEO of Red Hat. "That requires risk and that requires novelty of thinking."

The Puppy Linux project team, which debuted its v2.0 on June 1, has released a followup version that replaces Mozilla's SeaMonkey suite of web applications with Opera 9.0 Beta 2, founder and chief evangelist Barry Kauler said June 8 in his weblog.

Rational development

IBM has announced it has acquired BuildForge Inc, a privately held software company based in Texas.…

This tutorial shows how to install and use suPHP with PHP4 and PHP5. suPHP is a tool for executing PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners instead of the Apache user. With the help of suPHP you can also have PHP4 and PHP5 installed at the same time which I will describe at the end of this article.

Jive Software announced this week that it plans to make the source of its IM client available under a free software license.

If you're a frequenter of LinuxWorld.com for Linux and open source news, don't adjust your browser color and font settings. The site relaunched last week under new ownership, as Network World took over the LinuxWorld.com domain.

The VectorLinux project team June 9 released the final version of the live CD edition of VectorLinux 5.1, featuring a 2.6.11.7 kernel and a choice of desktop environments.

A new wave of open-source tools will offer capabilities for collaboration, portals, content management and business intelligence, say analysts

A Hanover-based tax department is ditching Sun for SuSe Linux and KDE desktops

Guardian Digital released v3.0.7 of EnGarde Secure Linux on June 6, featuring a 2.6.12 kernel, several bug fixes, feature enhancements to the Guardian Digital WebTool and the SELinux policy, and several updated application packages, project spokesman Ryan W. Maple said.

The new partners signed include Bangalore IT Capital, Ashram, Login & Anora in Bangalore, Dynamic, Veeras & Gem Infotech in Chennai and SP Soft, Softpro & Computech in Hyderabad