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Two weeks have passed since the release of the Linux 2.6.37-rc1 kernel that finally allowed the core kernel code to built without the the Big Kernel Lock. It also brought many open-source graphics improvements and other improvements and new drivers (such as a Intel Poulsbo driver and Broadcom's WiFi driver). Now the Linux 2.6.37-rc2 kernel is available as regressions are addressed in time for the final Linux 2.6.37 kernel release several weeks down the road.

awk supports user defined variables as well as variables that are predefined. These variables do not need to be declared like they do in bash scripts. There are three types of variables.

Fuduntu is a Fedora 14 remix (remaster) designed especially for Asus Eee (but you can of course use it on other netbooks and any laptop/desktop computer) and comes with some interesting performance tweaks by default. It was created by Fewt, the Jupiter (an hardware and power management applet for netbooks and Laptops) developer.

Mandriva was recently forked into a new distribution called Mageia Linux where several Mandriva developers parted ways with this distribution once known as Mandrake due to the uncertainty of the future direction of Mandriva Linux with its corporate backer having underwent some financial hardship. While there isn't yet a release of Mageia, the Mandriva Cooker Manager has finally been permitted to release details concerning the next two releases of Mandriva Linux.

You want a good end-user live CD? Go with Knoppix. You want an admin's toolbox with minimal fluff and maximum usability? Go with grml, a Debian-based live CD/USB that packs in more than 1,700 applications and utilities. If you've only used standard Linux distros, you're going to be in for a treat with grml — and also a few surprises. Most distros default to Bash as a shell, but grml uses zsh. (One of the grml taglines is "Linux for zsh lovers," so they really must dig zsh.) Be aware that you won't get a standard desktop experience. By default grml will start at the command line with a menu of options, including starting X.

What do you get when you put together 80 to 100 hard-core database geeks from ten different open source databases for a weekend? OpenSQLCamp, which was held most recently at MIT. Begun three years ago, OpenSQLCamp is a semi-annual unconference for open source database hackers to meet and collaborate on ideas and theories in the industry. It's held at various locations alternately in Europe and the United States, and organized and run by volunteers. This year's conference was organized by Sheeri Cabral, a MySQL community leader who works for PalominoDB.

If you have ever wished for a much more faster software downloads in Ubuntu, well, apt-fast could possibly make your wishes come true. Apt-fast is a simple bash script that accelerates apt-get download speeds coinsiderably.

When I do an upgrade, no matter the operating system, I prefer to blow everything away and install the new version from scratch. I've done straight upgrades, and they run fine, but I find every upgrade leaves some "cruft" from the old system. So I always reformat and reinstall.

A full review of Linux Mint 10. Whenever a new version of Ubuntu is released, you can be sure a new version of Linux Mint will soon follow. This time around it’s Linux Mint 10. Linux Mint, as you may already know, is one of the most popular Ubuntu remasters. It’s known for its excellent tools, great selection of software and bundled multimedia codecs.

In recent weeks and months there has been quite a bit of work towards improving the responsiveness of the Linux desktop with some very significant milestones building up recently and new patches continuing to come. This work is greatly improving the experience of the Linux desktop when the computer is withstanding a great deal of CPU load and memory strain. Fortunately, the exciting improvements are far from over. There is a new patch that has not yet been merged but has undergone a few revisions over the past several weeks and it is quite small -- just over 200 lines of code -- but it does wonders for the Linux desktop.

Content filtering is a requirement of the home desktop system configuration build I'm working on. Young children are part of the client base so it's mandatory. DansGuardian is basically the only free option available. It's a server daemon so it has command-line configuration only. Once it's running parents don't need to mess with the basic settings but they need to be able to set filtering controls for children without a lot of hassle. On Ubuntu it doesn't come with any blacklists but third-party lists are available. Shalla Secure Services has one of the most comprehensive list that's free for home use but installing and updating it is also a hassle. I wrote a pair of scripts to solve both of these problems.

Forget Perl’s claims, Emacs really is the Swiss Army chainsaw of the *NIX world. Join Richard Smedley for the conclusion of his three-part series this time exploring how you can live your life online and do it faster and better with Emacs…

Got a Canon compact camera? Then you ought to give CHDK a try. This alternative firmware turns your humble Canon point-and-shoot camera into a powerful photographic tool.

This document describes how to install a Postfix mail server that is based on virtual users and domains, i.e. users and domains that are in a MySQL database. I'll also demonstrate the installation and configuration of Courier (Courier-POP3, Courier-IMAP), so that Courier can authenticate against the same MySQL database that Postfix uses. The resulting Postfix server is capable of SMTP-AUTH and TLS and quota. Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the database. In addition to that, this tutorial covers the installation of Amavisd, SpamAssassin and ClamAV so that emails will be scanned for spam and viruses. I will also show how to install SquirrelMail as a webmail interface so that users can read and send emails and change their passwords.

Here we'll take a look at six different open and free Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) servers available for Linux (and other platforms). You'll find something that will work for you, whether you're supporting dial-up or VPN users, offering 802.1X for Wi-Fi security, or running VoIP. All your Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) needs can be met on a Linux server.

Google boss Eric Schmidt has said that Chrome OS will be available "in the next few months" — which may be an indication that the company's browser-based operating system has been delayed. Since unveiling the Chrome OS project last year, Google has said that systems using the operating system would be available by the end of this year. But the end of the year is a mere six weeks away. As he dropped the "a few months away" line at this week's Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Schmidt said that Gingerbread, the new version of Android, was "a few weeks away."

Will Ubuntu follow the MS strategy, keeping just ahead of your hardware? And, is that necessarily a bad thing? Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Ubuntu running quickly towards a big cliff. Recently, it was hinted/announced that Gnome would be dropped as Ubuntu's default desktop, and x.org dropped as the x server. The mint Distro has forked itself to produce a pure Debian distro, which was what Ubuntu was supposed to be (sort of) when I signed up for it, which I take to be a reaction by the minters of Mint to Ubuntu's increasing non-Debian-ness.

In an ideal world, free-software developers would happily get along and cooperate towards the same ends. But the world’s far from perfect, as rising tensions between the Ubuntu and Fedora camps have made clear recently in the wake of the founding a new website intended, ironically, to promote “respect” within the open-source ecosystems. Here's the story.

There is a recurring bug in OpenOffice that has been around for several years, and afflicts various distros though it seems most prevalent in Ubuntu. Maybe because more people use Ubuntu, maybe Ubuntu does something to it, I don't know. I do know there many unresolved bug reports and frustrated users.

VLC 1.1.5 is released, this is the fifth bugfix release of the VLC 1.1.x branch. This update comes with Small new features, notably GME and livevlc-logo .webm support and an integrated listing of web-shows directly in the playlist are making this release. Many bugfixes, updated translations and security issue are also part of this release.