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You've heard of Linux but are you ready to make the switch from Windows? Tired of Windows? Ready to look for an alternative? As a desktop user there are really only two options: Linux or Mac OS X. The second pretty much requires that you buy some Apple hardware before you can run it. Linux, on the other hand, will run on most hardware, even some of the older hardware that lurks around homes and offices. Linux is also free to download so you can try it out before having to spend any money.

Nagios is a popular open source computer system and network monitoring software application. It watches hosts and services, alerting users when things go wrong and again when they get better.

ZaReason is shipping a Linux-ready, 10-inch netbook that uses the Intel Atom N450 processor and is claimed to offer eight hours of battery life. The ZaReason Teo Netbook offers 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard disk drive, a WVGA display, and 802.11n WiFi, says ZaReason.

Where is Linux headed? That's a question the Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, is focused on as his organization gears up for the Linux Collaboration Summit this week. In Zemlin's view, Linux is strategically placed at the intersection of a number of major IT trends that will serve to bolster adoption of the open source operating system. With the increasing growth of the mobile web and cloud services, Zemlin thinks Linux will end up the big winner.

When you buy a new PC, laptop or server and install a Linux you want to know what hardware is actually in the Linux box and more importantly which piece of hardware is supported by the kernel out of the box and which needs special tweaking with modules to get it work. Here is a list of commands which should help you to troubleshoot your hardware and find some information about it. This is not a ultimate troubleshooting guide but certainly will serve as a good starting point.

The lack of games available for Linux is a factor that have kept some from making the switch from Windows to Linux. At least this is one less game that is not compatible with Linux.

I turned on my laptop running the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid beta (I think we're still technically on "beta 2") and found more than 100 updates ready for me. When I rebooted, I noticed that the button order on application windows changed — again.

KDE is currently moving in three directions: adding functionality, extending the concept of the social desktop, and the introduction of KDE on to every possible hardware platform. Bruce Byfield learns where KDE is going from lead KDE developer Aaron Seigo.

We have already published a look at the Fedora 13 Beta, delivered ATI Radeon benchmarks atop Fedora 13 Beta, and have other articles on the way covering this new Fedora release, while in this article we are investigating Nouveau's power performance using this newest Fedora release. If you are a mobile user planning to use the Nouveau stack right now, or you care the least bit about energy savings with your desktop, its power consumption alone may rule this open-source driver out as even a current possibility.

Ubuntu uses advanced systems for detecting file types and associating them with applications, but it's not that hard to dive in and take some control over the formats. In this article you'll learn how Ubuntu identifies file types, how to use Assogiate to control these processes, using Ubuntu Tweak to associate types with applications and use Bless to inspect binary files.

Late last year, getting a Google Wave invite was reminiscent of getting a Cabbage Patch Kid in 1983. It was the newest gizmo everyone just had to have. As a geek, I was one of the kids begging the loudest. Thankfully, one of our readers from across the pond (Paul Howard, thanks!) sent me an invite, and I cleared my schedule for the product that was going to change the way I communicate. Only, it didn’t.

I’ve been editing the Philippine Star Trek fans’ section of the New Worlds Alliance site for a few months now, and the contributors have been submitting their articles embedded in the email message. I actually prefer that to an attached file, because I can read the article right away, without having to open another application. When I’m ready to edit, I ask GMail to create a Google document out of it. Trouble is, the resulting file has hard new-line characters after every line, and a double new-line between paragraphs. I could cursor to the end of each line, delete it, and type in a space, but my inner sloth told me there had to be a better way. Read the full tutorial at Freesoftware Magazine.

This is jumping the gun slightly, but look for this eBook, written by yours truly, to become available sometime in early Summer. Visit the blog to have a look at the cover.

gThumb is a Linux photo manager which came in third place in our "Best Linux Photo Manager / Organizer" poll. An update in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx yesterday reverted gThumb from 2.11.x to 2.10.11:

Speaking in a keynote session at the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit, Dan Fry, vice president of open system development at IBM, provided his insights into some do's and don't when trying to work with Linux. For IBM, one of the hardest lessons it had to learn was one about control. Mainly, there is none. "There is nothing that we can do to control individuals or communities, and if you try, you make thing worse," Fry told the audience. "What you need is influence. It goes back to the most important lesson, which is to give back to the community and develop expertise. You'll find that if your developers are working with a community, that over time they'll develop influence and that influence will allow you to get things done."

This guide explains how to set up mod_chroot with Apache2 on a Debian Lenny system. With mod_chroot, you can run Apache2 in a secure chroot environment and make your server less vulnerable to break-in attempts that try to exploit vulnerabilities in Apache2 or your installed web applications.

Sam Varghese is a columnist for the IT Wire website who likes Ubuntu and apparently has great respect for Mark Shuttleworth. He writes opinion pieces that I often disagree with but he most certainly is entitled to his opinion. He has now, on three separate occasions this year, written pieces which are harshly critical of Ubuntu's detractors. Indeed, in a piece published today Sam Varghese spends three pages explaining The main problem with Linux: ignorant users. However, he doesn't talk about users in general. The three pages are dedicated to attacking someone Mr. Varghese seems to see as the epitome of the ignorant user: yours truly.

Virtualization has become an important aspect of the functionality of todays computers and computer Operating Systems. Many that are new to Linux or new to Virtualization often are overwhelmed by the number of Virtualization options the Linux Desktop has and often ask: "What Virtualization Solution is best suited for my needs".

I've read a bit of angst about cloud lock-in, a lot of weed pulling in the form of interoperability standards for the cloud, and a manifesto or two about 'Open Cloud'. And in between, I've seen lots of interesting new tools for cloud computing, and lots of narratives about how the tools, combined with the formalization of use cases, pave the way for open clouds. But what, exactly, does "Open Cloud" mean? And what role does open source play? Jim Zemlin, Executive Director of the Linux Foundation, likes to say that open source and the cloud go together like peanut butter and chocolate. But does open source necessarily mean open cloud, and vice-versa?

With Linux and free software making a name for itself in the world of big business, many people are testing the feasibility of switching small and home office software to their open source equivalents. Regardless of how you feel about the Linux desktop, this is one area in which Linux can have a real impact, both financially and productively, and any small or home office has the potential to be transformed by just switching one application or two to their open source equivalents.