Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux helpSpecial Offers
NewsVac: News from around the Web
-
We Do What We Must Because We Can: Valve Bringing Steam Client to Linux?
24 minutes ago
Valve Software was in the market a little over a year ago for a software engineer who would, among other duties, work with porting Windows-based games to Linux. No word on who got the job, or how that engineer's first anniversary review went, but evidently, this year was productive. -
Linux Day in Libya
54 minutes ago
Hello , I just want to tell you about the Linux day in Libya " Tripoli " the capital, that day will be held in " Dataleimad Tower" on 24th of jan 2009, during that day many activity " Presentation , Discussion table and workshop " ubuntu will support the workshop by sending many copies of Ubunutu . Free/Open Source software in Libya " FOSsiL will organize that day the info about that day released only in arabic language the banner for that day on http://fossil.ly/linuxday/bannerforday -
MySQL 5.1 goes GA, Monty not happy
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
MySQL 5.1 is now out, but not everyone is happy about this oft-delayed open source database release. I've been hearing about MySQL 5.1 since at least 2006 and over the last two years there have been a few dates I've been told when it would be released. "One would have thought that MySQL AB (now the MySQL department at Sun) should have learned something from our too early release of MySQL 5.0 but unfortunately this is not the case," Widenius stated. -
opentaps Delivers Supply Chain Planning Solution for Honeywell International
1 hour, 54 minutes ago
People often think about open source software based on their commercial counterparts, and open source ERP is no exception. In fact, however, because an open-source ERP system like opentaps is both less costly and more flexible, it can also serve as a toolkit to solve a wide range of business problems. An open source ERP does not have hefty licensing fees and can be modified to meet the user's particular requirements, so it could be cost effective solution for complex business problems, as a project for Honeywell international illustrates. -
Wyse beefs up thin clients
2 hours, 24 minutes ago
Wyse Technology announced its first Linux thin clients based on Wyse Enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise and its first mobile thin client to use Linux. It also announced improved virtualization add-ons, and a new release of ThinOS, its BSD-based thin client implementation. -
Expand your user-authentication options with mouse dynamics
2 hours, 54 minutes ago
In this article, learn how to apply the open source tools cnee and Perl in mouse-click dynamics to measure the more subtle characteristics of human-computer interaction. Also, learn how to use the number and hold time of mouse-click events to help authenticate users. -
Open Source and the frustrations at end-of-life, and beyond
3 hours, 24 minutes ago
Over the years, I have turned to Linux and the Open Source community for a number of solutions to obscure and difficult problems. And, rarely, has the community let me down. But the community, like software development in general, has limited resources and sometimes limited interest. -
Linux Ported to iPhone/Touch, Runs Busybox For Now
3 hours, 54 minutes ago
Even though there are a lot of happy people using Apple's iPhone very happily, there's also a group of people who are not so happy, most likely because of Apple's rather strict policies regarding applications and developers. While most of these people would just jailbreak the thing, some take it a step further - by installing another operating system. Yes, Linux now runs on the iPhone (1st gen/2nd gen, and the 1st gen iPod Touch). -
FreeBSD 6.4 Released
4 hours, 24 minutes ago
Even though FreeBSD 7.x is already out and updated, the FreeBSD team keeps working on the FreeBSD 6.x branch, now designated the legacy branch. They released FreeBSD 6.4 today, with lots of new features, fixes, and updates. They are expecting FreeBSD 6.4 to be the last release in the 6.x branch. -
AMD Will Ignore Netbook Market, Intel in Doubts
4 hours, 54 minutes ago
Netbooks are still all the rage these days, but according to Intel, this is going to change soon. The company has stated that they first thought that netbooks, who are almost exclusively powered by Intel chips, would be for emerging markets, but as it turns out, they are especially popular in Europe and North America. Intel claims that while these devices are "fine for an hour", they are not something for day to day use. And AMD? They are ignoring the market altogether. -
KDE 4.2 Beta 1 Release Announcement
5 hours, 24 minutes ago
The KDE Community today announced the immediate availability of "Caterpillar", (a.k.a KDE 4.2 Beta 1), the first testing release of the new KDE 4.2 desktop. Caterpillar is aimed at testers and reviewers. It should provide a solid ground to report bugs that need to be tackled before KDE 4.2.0 is released. Reviewers can use this beta to get a first look at the upcoming KDE 4.2 desktop which provides significant improvements all over the desktop and applications. -
Glendix: Bringing the Beauty of Plan 9 to Linux
9 hours, 24 minutes ago
Linux distributions come and go by the dozens almost every day, and most of them live and die an unknown, irrelevant life, mostly because no, changing three icons and adding the suffix '-nix' to any random word doesn't make it different from Ubuntu. Anyway, sometimes, a new distribution is started that brings something new to the table. One such "distribution" is Glendix, which aims to combine the Linux kernel with the userpsace tools from Plan 9. Distribution is probably not the right term for this project. -
openSUSE Sports a New License (Ding dong, the EULA’s dead…)
13 hours, 24 minutes ago
Just in time for openSUSE 11.1 RC 1, we’ve finished the new and improved license for openSUSE 11.1. The days of agreeing to a click-through EULA for openSUSE are over! -
The Linux Test Project NOV 2008 Release Announcement
13 hours, 24 minutes ago
The Linux Test Project test suite has been released for the month of NOV 2008. The latest version of the test-suite contains 3000+ tests for the Linux OS. -
8 of 2008's Latest Linux-Powered Mobile Phones
17 hours, 24 minutes ago
Just how ubiquitous has Linux become? You've probably read about the 10 Linux-powered e-book readers. And of course you've heard about the Google Android G1 handset. Now, have you ever wondered if the G1's the only phone that runs on Linux? There are actually more out there. Let's see if we can come up with 8 of the latest. - More News
Linux.com : Features
Three graphical mount managers
Mounting and unmounting filesystems used to be straightforward in GNU/Linux. A basic knowledge of the mount command or some editing of /etc/fstab in a text editor and you were done. However, with the addition of udev in the 2.6 kernel for autoplugging, and the demand for hotswapping USB devices, along with the increased use of logical volume managers and other complications, the process is now more complicated -- perhaps too complicated for many among the growing number of desktop users. That is where graphical mount managers such as Forelex Mount Manager, PySDM, and MountManager find their niche.
Keeping an eye on your network with PasTmon
The PasTmon passive traffic monitor keeps an eye on your network, recording which clients are interacting with which services, when and how long things took. You can then use the application's PHP Web interface to investigate these figures to see if any host is connecting to Web services that it shouldn't, or is contacting services suspiciously more frequently than you would expect for normal operation, or when response times become excessively long.
Keeping tabs on your network traffic
One of the first things I do upon installing a Linux distribution is put the Network Monitor applet on my GNOME panel. Watching the blue lights twinkle on and off makes me aware of network traffic. But if you want more details about what's happening on your network, such as which application is hogging bandwidth or what each network interface is up to, you can turn to specialty tools like NetHogs and IPTraf. While NetHogs is a unique tool altogether, IPTraf can be used on a server as well as by a home user.
Managing your MP3s with Zina
Large collections of MP3 files can be hard to manage. Organizing your music into directories helps some, but when you want to play just those tracks in a certain genre or from a certain year, no amount of directory organization will help -- but Zina, a powerful Web application, can.
Recent Firefox extensions for tab addicts
The number of Firefox extensions continues to grow. For example, when I last wrote about tab extensions just over a year ago, about 110 existed. Now, despite the need to rewrite many extensions to make them compatible with Firefox 3.0, the number is over 190, and the choice is greater than ever. Basic functionality, coloring options, positioning of the tab bar, automatic opening of tabs at startup -- whatever your need, you can probably find it on the Firefox add-ons site.
openDesktop.org provides super-portal to free software sites
When users want the latest in free and open source software (FOSS), they are likely to think first of sites like freshmeat, or perhaps Softpedia or GnomeFiles. However, as the FOSS community has divided into specialized communities, sites for new releases have proliferated, to the point where it is difficult to keep track of them all. Since 2007, openDesktop.org has provided a portal for many of these specialized sites. Under the slogan "Let's build the desktop of the future," openDesktop.org provides a quick overview of new software that is independent of desktop or distribution.
Giving thanks for a long weekend
Gmail notifiers let you know "you've got mail"
If you are into email like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were in the movie You've Got Mail, you probably want to be warned as soon as any message enters your mailbox. If you use Gmail, you can try one of several Gmail-specific applications that let you know when new messages arrive.
Run your NFS server in the user address space with NFS-GANESHA
NFS-GANESHA is an NFS version 2-4 server that runs in the user address space instead of as part of the operating system kernel. Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) lets you run a filesystem in the user address space instead of as part of the Linux kernel, but the FUSE support in the Linux kernel from many Linux distributions does not allow you to export FUSE through NFS. NFS-GANESHA lets you expose FUSE through NFS without patching your kernel.
Fedora 10 proves infrastructure matter
Glancing at the features list for Fedora 10, at first you might be unimpressed. Many of the features are basically infrastructure improvements, fixing known problems and enhancing performance while laying the groundwork for future developments. However, infrastructure affects almost everything you do with your computer, and the more you use Fedora 10, the more you are likely to conclude that -- one or two minor problems aside -- this may be the strongest Fedora release yet, as well as the first glimpse of its future.
Three applications for making disc labels
Making labels for DVDs and their cases is an often overlooked task. Many discs are lucky to have some terse information quickly scrawled on them after burning. But there are some fine open source applications available for creating labels for CD-ROM and DVD disks and printing jewel case inserts, including gLabels, kover, and cdlabelgen.
TiddlyWiki derivatives help you get things done
TiddlyWiki excels at managing notes and text snippets, but can you tweak it for other uses? If you take a look at some applications based on TiddlyWiki, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. With TiddlyWiki derivatives, you can manage tasks, track projects, keep tabs on contacts, and organize book collections. Like the original TiddlyWiki, each derivative consists of a single HTML file which you have to download to your local hard disk. Open the downloaded file in a browser, and the TiddlyWiki-based tool is ready to go.
Upgrading to the newest Fedora release
With Fedora 10 scheduled for release today, many users are thinking about how they are going to upgrade. A complete upgrade is something you do no more than twice a year, so the details are easy to forget. Also, the Fedora upgrade process, which centers on pointing to a new repository, is more complex than, say, the equivalent Debian process, in which repositories remain constant and only their contents change with a new release. But an even stronger reason for the uncertainty is that a Fedora system can be upgraded in at least four ways, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages.
Open source Untangle guard union's privacy
When Maine State Employees Association SEIU Local 1989 needed software to safeguard confidential information and ward off online threats, it found an open source solution. The labor union, which represents more than 15,000 public and private sector workers throughout the State of Maine, chose Untangle's open source Gateway platform, a solution that not only helps keep confidential data away from prying eyes, but also protects against spam, spyware, phishing, and viruses.
Debug your shell scripts with bashdb
The Bash Debugger Project (bashdb) lets you set breakpoints, inspect variables, perform a backtrace, and step through a bash script line by line. In other words, it provides the features you expect in a C/C++ debugger to anyone programming a bash script.
DataForm adds efficient input to OpenOffice.org Calc
Spreadsheets might be called databases for the timid, since they're more user-friendly than databases and do a good job working with limited amounts of data. Some tools for databases can work well with spreadsheets too. Take for instance DataForm, a new OpenOffice.org Calc extension that provides a form-like interface designed to make entering and finding spreadsheet data easier.
Ask Linux.com: NAS, Find, Squid, and EFS
Gather round the table for a hearty feast of homemade dishes straight out of the Linux.com forums. All your favorites are here -- heartburn-inducing Windows-to-Linux file permission problems, savory search tips, and little bits of GNOME and Squid for those with an adventurous palate. And, of course, for dessert there's a fresh slice of grandma's old-fashioned unanswered questions.
The tanking economy and OSS
The economy is falling as fast as temperatures in November. Recession seems certain, if it's not already here. The stock market's performance resembles Disney World's Space Mountain roller coaster. And every open source vendor, every Linux project, will be touched in one way or another.
SimplyMEPIS: The best desktop Linux you haven't tried
Nowadays, everyone uses Ubuntu, most people have used Fedora, and many folks have tried openSUSE. SimplyMEPIS ... not so many. That's a shame, because this relatively obscure Debian-based desktop distribution from Morgantown, WV, is an outstanding desktop operating system. With SimplyMEPIS 8 at beta 5 and closing in on release, I tested the distribution and found it to be a keeper.
A graphical way to MySQL mastery
MySQL GUI Tools is a suite of graphical desktop applications for working with and administering MySQL servers. The suite consists of three tools: MySQL Query Browser, MySQL Administrator, and MySQL Migration Assistant (available only on Windows). We'll look at the first two to see how well they let us manage MySQL without using the command line.
