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Linus Torvalds has released the first pre-release version of Linux 2.6.36 and closed the merge window – the first phase in the development cycle, during which the bulk of changes for a new kernel version are merged into the main development tree. The usual announcement mail for the new kernel is currently nowhere to be found, but the RC1 is tagged in the Kernel Git tree and available for download on Kernel.org.

An internal Oracle memo that was released last week provides a detailed summary of the company's plans for the Solaris operating system, which Oracle obtained when it acquired Sun. The memo offers a mix of good and bad news for Solaris enthusiasts. It reveals that Oracle is strongly committed to advancing the Solaris platform and intends to increase the availability of resources for Solaris development. The bad news is that Oracle plans to discontinue Sun's community-centric OpenSolaris distribution.

LaTeX, pronounced “La-Tec”, is a document preparation language that treats creating many types of document files like constructing a shell script. LaTeX uses a “What You See is What You Mean” interface, far removed from the WYSIWYG word processors like Word and OpenOffice. LaTeX is a programming language, but don’t let that scare you away. Like many things in open source, the learning curve may be steep, but the view from the top is fantastic.

Net neutrality has been a hot and persistent topic on the internet for some time, so I’m not even going to attempt to summarize the debate here. Anyone who values their personal and online freedom knows it’s a crucial issue. Regardless of your operating system or the software we use it will affect each and every one of us. However, if you use GNU/Linux you’re already tech savvy and familiar with the politics and philosophy of free and open software, so you’ll be particularly sensitized to the impact of threats to net neutrality on free software. Rea the article at Free Software Magazine.

In this conclusion to my survey of algorithmic music composition systems for Linux I present Christopher Ariza's athenaCL.

If you want your application to have the widest reach possible, it would be a good idea to ensure they play nice with both KDE and GNOME. Follow Kunal Deo’s brief tutorial to find out how to get started…

The idea called Open Source is fast spreading into non-computer sectors as well. For long, Open Source was equated to GNU and Linux basically and the idea behind Open Source was never really understood properly by many. Its all changing. The idea of sharing, collaborating and having community involvement is no more a bad thing.

When the simple file and printer sharing features offered by Windows, Unix/Linux, and Mac aren't enough, you should consider using a network-attached storage (NAS) server. NAS servers offer a central place where you can store, access, and share files and documents on the local network, and possibly over the Internet. They are especially useful in multiple operating system environments, as they usually support all the sharing protocols.

Google has called Oracle's Android lawsuit an attack not only on Google but also on the open-source Java community. "We are disappointed Oracle has chosen to attack both Google and the open-source Java community with this baseless lawsuit," a company spokesman said in a statement to USA Today. "The open-source Java community goes beyond any one corporation and works every day to make the web a better place. We will strongly defend open-source standards and will continue to work with the industry to develop the Android platform."

The Women's Caucus is seeking an intern to assist with its work to increase the number of women involved in free software.

In his latest blog post, Canonical’s ex-CEO, Mark Shuttleworth, has revealed the first solid details of the multitouch and gesture recognition features in Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)…

Canonical founder and former CEO Mark Shuttleworth announced UTouch, the multi-touch gesture suite for Ubuntu. UTouch will be fully integrated into Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 along with the Unity desktop. The gesture suite can also be downloaded for existing versions of Ubuntu and the project itself is open source under GPLv3 and LGPLv3.

The Apple iPad is going to face serious competition from Android Linux-powered tablets, but the first mass-market, low-priced tablet to arrive, the Augen GenTouch78 isn't it. The tablet does have some good things going for it. While it's made from black plastic, it has a solid feel. Better still, it comes with a form-fitting, faux-leather case. I don't know about you, but whether I pay $170 for a GenTouch78 or $500 for an Apple iPad, I appreciate getting a real cover to protect it without shelling out additional cash.

While in Berlin for the LinuxTag 2010 conference a couple of months ago, I took the opportunity for a 8-mile long meandering walk across the city, from Warschauer Strasse and the East Side Gallery to Wittenbergplatz and KaDeWe, taking in the various historical sites along the way. It was a great refresher course in 20th century European history. I especially enjoyed the free outdoor exhibit in Alexanderplatz, which dealt with the Revolutions of 1989 with a focus on the various dissident movements and publications in the DDR.

Our daughter's Gateway Solo 1450 has been running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS for a very, very long time. Overdue for the upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04, I decided to give it a try. It didn't work.

Witech's OK6410 is an ARM11 development kit that targets industrial control equipments, vehicle navigation devices, multi-media terminal and consumer electronic devices.

If you compare that strong language with IBM's counterclaims for patent infringement against SCO Group in 2003, for example, claims it later dropped for fear it would be stuck in that stupid litigation forever with a party that had no money to pay in the end for any infringement anyway, you'll see that IBM didn't use that language. My point is that it's language that indicates Oracle is going for treble damages. And sure enough, at the end, in the relief section, Oracle America does ask for that. And it also means they likely have something quite fact-based and specific in mind that they think can be pinned on Google.

Linux’s path to mainstream acceptance owes a lot to KDE and GNOME. While both have contributed enormously towards the ultimate Linux dream, they’re also heated competitors. Who will win the war? Read on and pick your side wisely…

Well, it has been quite a week, last week. Not too long after the OpenSolaris Governing Board issued an ultimatum to Oracle and closely following the unveiling of the Illumos project, Oracle officially announced (in a memo to internal employees) that they will be leaving OpenSolaris behind. To most (including myself) this is not at all surprising. The writing had been on the walls, yet many still felt hopeful. It is disappointing news for more than one reason. OpenSolaris was a solid and great operating system. Not many of my readers may really know too much about the SunOS family but when Sun Microsystems developed a software product, it was always a quality product; that is, stable and extremely well polished.

It was on August 16th, 1993 that Ian Murdock started the Debian Project. Named after he and his Wife with the idea of a 'distribution' collaborated on openly by people all over the world. Thank You Ian, seventeen years later Debian still rocks.