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Like other operating systems, GNU/Linux is starting to add increased support for international characters. The support is spotty in places, and varies between systems because of differences in keyboards, distributions, fonts, and program support. Even so, if you make a few configuration changes, you can use the keyboard to enter the characters for dozens of languages with only a few problems.

Alan Cox [interview] offered an updated libATAPATA (IDE) status report. He summarized, "with the exception of HPA and serialize support its now pretty close to a straight replacement for drivers/ide on x86 systems (and boxes using PCI devices only). There is other stuff that wants improving still like error recovery on CRC, but its getting close."

He provides a list of recent changes then cautions, "please remember that functionality equivalence, and much cleaner code doesn't mean less bugs yet, there is a *lot* of testing and hammering on the code needed before it is production ready for switching." His current patch is for the 2.6.16-rc2 kernel.

A Silicon Valley startup claims to have come up with a search engine for source code and code-related information. (Linux-Watch)

Hamilton, Ontario, Linux and open source enthusiasts were privileged to hear former Red Hat CEO Bob Young, author and Unix historian Peter Salus, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Ren Bucholz banter about SCO vs. Linux and other patent and copyright issues at a meeting of the Hamilton Linux User Group last week. Outside of the discussion that went on, there were interesting dynamics among the speakers and also between the panel and audience.

WILMINGTON, Del./EWORLDWIRE/Feb. 6, 2006 --- Shop-Script PRO, the middleweight member of Shop-Script family, gained in weight and lost in price. WebAsyst LLC has revamped the script, making it an even more powerful e-commerce tool: now it boasts many features that were previously available only to owners of Shop-Script Premium, the top product of the line.

Users of Microsoft’s Office and Access packages have been told they will have to install updates as a result of a patent infringement dispute between Microsoft and a Guatemalan inventor that has cost the software firm almost $9 million in damages.

[Ed: The article points out that technical, as well as legal, challenges apply in this situation. Gartner recommends using a version of MS Office without MS Access where not needed. Linux News recommends using OpenOffice.org or some other libre office suite where patent encumbrances of this sort are not likely to affect so many users. - dcparris]

Opinion: Novell's survey says Photoshop is the app most Linux users want ported to their desktops. So, what's it got over GIMP? (DesktopLinux)

The company behind Suse Linux tries to bring eye candy to the open-source OS. But will it make anyone more productive?

I got involved with Mozilla because I loved the idea of working on something that had the potential to make an impact on millions of people. My friends and I lived in our browsers, so there was also a tangible payoff for contributions that made it into a shipping Netscape release. After switching gears on the layout engine, it looked like Netscape needed all the help it could get. In early 1999 only the most basic elements of the old Communicator suite were in place in the new browser; you could barely browse or read mail as Netscape's engineers worked furiously to erect the framework of the application.

Richard Matthew Stallman is the founder of the Free Software movement, the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation. He has written several programs used in almost all GNU/Linux distributions, such as the GNU C Compiler, the GNU Emacs editor and the GNU Debugger, amongst others. He wrote the GNU GPL, and is also currently co-authoring version 3 of the GPL. He also gave POSIX it's name, the term used to mean most UNIX-like operating systems today. We asked him for his opinions on File Sharing, DRM and some other subjects.

LinuxP2P: What is your general opinion of Peer to Peer File-Sharing? Is it a positive or negative thing, and why?

Linux has always been comfortable running Web servers, firewalls, and other single-function services on dedicated machines, thanks to its flexibility, reliability, and small kernel footprint. LiveCDs are a natural extension of this capability of single-mindedness, letting you install a specialized, bootable Linux distribution -- along with whatever applications you choose -- onto a single CD for distribution.

VMWare's new, beta Server is now available to run virtual machines on both Linux and Windows server systems at no cost.

Australia's peak Linux body will informally separate some of its governance and executive functions in a move to relieve some of the pressure on its voluntary leadership.

The conflict between the open Internet--the one we all love for its small users and free speech--and the commercial Internet--with high barriers to entry--continues. The conflict's back this week in ICANN, which came into being in the midst of the conflict and has been subject to its vicissitudes for over seven years.

Testing a printer recommended by linuxprinting.org: the HP Deskjet 6840. German customers please ask HP why they don’t want to sell it anymore.

New Entry-level Virtualization Product to Accelerate Mainstream Adoption of Virtualization and to Provide Path to Enterprise-class Virtual Infrastructure

The industry is betting on Open Source and Linux community to lead the way. Open Source solutions becoming the base for efficient delivery of e-government services, modernise education and empower more Indians with the power of IT - compelling economic, political and cultural reasons for a country that is on the threshold of making a mark in world economy,

Motorola first announced its intention to migrate its mobile "smart" phones to embedded Linux in 2003. The first such phone to reach the market was the A760 in the fourth quarter of that year. Today there are a dozen or so models (differing product numbers in different markets and minor hardware variations lead to different counts), but there are still no significant ecosystems for third-party applications or developers. Is Motorola's switch to Linux a hit for the company but a miss for end users?

Patch management is a very important topic for people maintaining multiple Linux machines. By hosting ones own repository, one can bring down the ISP costs significantly. This book deals with this very important subject.

Virtio has announced a version of its "Virtual Platform" product aimed at simulating MIPS Technologies's new 34K multi-threaded processor cores. Virtio's VPMM-SC runs on a PC, providing a virtual target and test-bed for application developers evaluating the 34K architecture, or awaiting custom hardware designs based on 34K cores, Virtio says.