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Installing Linux on a personal computer may not be as difficult as you think. This document explains how to install Linux on a PC, starting at the beginning: choosing a distribution

LinuxQuestions.org is proud to announce the launch of its redesigned website. Along with the new look comes a variety of new features and sections. LQ currently has over 60 forums, with topics ranging from Linux Newbies to Linux in the Enterprise, and has participation from twenty-five Linux distributions. The site runs on the LAMP stack and utilizes a variety of Open Source software.

The Linux kernel is one of those places that mere mortals fear to tread. However, there are those who are tempted by the 'here be dragons' signs and decide they want, or need, to get down into the internals of the kernel. For those intrepid individuals the 'Linux Kernel Primer' promises to be the guidebook they need as they start the journey.

British single-board computer (SBC) vendor Simtec has launched a developer discount program aimed at getting ARM-powered SBCs into the hands of Debian Linux developers. The "StrongARM Tactics" program offers at-cost StrongARM SA1110-powered boards to registered Debian developers willing to help debug and fix Debian's ARM branch.

Three different security books--all good in their own ways--for three different kinds of security needs.

A conference on free and open source software is seeking papers on embedded projects and technologies. FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Develpers' European Meeting) is set for Feb. 25-26 in Brussels, Belgium. The fourth-annual event will have an embedded track featuring papers on Linux, uClinux, eCos, RedBoot, and RTEMS.

Linux is coming to a consumer electronics device near you soon, thanks to Texas Instruments's (TI) new DaVinci chip.

"TI understands that there is a larger number of Linux programmers than there are DSP programmers," "What [DaVinci] does in partnership with MontaVista is enables the Linux developer to use the DSP without needing to understand the complexity of programming the DSP."

Most noteworthy, the company noted that over the last six months, its software has been identifying an average of 170,000 new infected zombie computers each day.

[Ed.- the story doesn't say, but you know they're talking about Windows zombies and viruses. Tell me again how security is a priority at Galactic Headquarters in Redmond? Tell me again how it is their user's fault- because they purchased such easily-compromised pieces of poo?- tuxchick]

IBM plans to implement web based applications using Open Data Formats (ODF) where users share the application and data by passing the desktop entirely. Apparently this is aimed primarily at rising economies of India and China where " ... They don't have the legacy of having everything saved in Microsoft Office to transition from...This is an opportunity to start out right." If true there is another very interesting aspect to this article: the claim that Microsoft's Open XML format is to be submitted to both " ... standards bodies ECMA International and ISO." The latter was not mentioned previously in what I have read and would be a much harder environment for Microsoft to sell its version of "openness". (Found on slashdot.)

Mannheim, Germany, says its switch to Linux apps won't be fast or cheap--but that's just fine.

We want to decide our IT strategy in Mannheim, and not have Microsoft make the decision for Mannheim

Texas Instruments (TI) has teamed up Linux with two new highly-integrated system-on-chip (SoC) processors aimed at next-generation portable multimedia players (PMPs), digital video recorders (DVRs), and other video-oriented consumer devices. The TMS320DM6443 and TMS320DM6446 (DM644x) are the first of TI's "daVinci" line, and are available with a full-featured development board and MontaVista Linux/tools support bundle.

Centrify to Showcase Active Directory-based Management of Unix/Linux and Java Identities at Leading Conference for Active Directory, MIIS Experts

Debian is currently the fastest growing Linux distribution for web servers, with more than 1.2 million active sites in December.

[From the Yes, Virginia, there is no such thing as too many Firefox stories dept:]

The 21st digital century is here. The Net and blogs and personal posts and sites and news pages are today's news and information sources and resources. Not the cartel-owned print and electronic lamescream media adnews outlets.

Trolltech has updated its Qtopia Phone platform for Linux handsets, adding a voice over IP (VoIP) client and better support for wireless messaging. The move will make it easier for handset makers to build Linux phones with VoIP capability, but such models are unlikely to be released in Europe for at least a year.

[ED- Covered earlier but it is important that Linux does well in the Mobile area -bstadil]

IBM is adopting OpenDocument Format (ODF) for the first generally available release of its network-based collaboration and office productivity suite. IBM said Sunday its Workplace Managed Client 2.6, due in early 2006, would adopt ODF so users could easily share files and information. The Workplace Managed Client is currently available on a limited capacity, with more than one million deployed seats.

A summary of free software news and events occurring in the month of November 2005.

When Gary Mauldin, CEO of La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, died from complications from an accident on Sept. 19, 2002, Kevin Mauldin inherited his brother's job -- as well as an outdated computer network.

"I'm a retailer, not a techie," Kevin Mauldin said. The younger sibling was adept at both retail and technology, increasing his company's sales by 35 percent in 2001 and virtually building the Denver-based furniture retailer's Unix-based operating system from the ground up.

THE non-profit Mozilla Foundation has released a new version of its free, and impressive, Firefox web browser.

Among other things, it offers faster browsing, automatic updates, better pop-up blocking - and bless you Mozilla - good security.

Firefox, which uses open-source software, is the world's second most popular browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which comes installed on most PCs.

More than 106 million copies of Firefox have been downloaded since it was introduced a little more than a year ago, giving Mozilla about 15 per cent of the market.

When it released the source code to its Solaris operating system, Sun Microsystems bet that people would pick it up and run. Sun said it wanted to see a community form around the OpenSolaris code, and take it beyond what the company had done with it in its more than 25 years of development of the OS. Today the community Sun was looking for seems to be coming to life.