Linux and Unix Forum

A little while ago, a friend of mine tapped me on the shoulder--virtually speaking--and asked me why there isn't an easier way to install software on a Linux computer. He asked innocently enough why we can't have a Universal Package Manager (UPM) to handle the software regardless of distribution. Ha! …

Is there a stimulus package on the way for those who use Linux and Open Source Software? You bet there is but it might not come from where you'd expect. Too many wasted stimulus dollars have already rained down upon those who wasted their own money but this time it'll …

Cisco in the server hardware business? With VMware? Using Linux? Has the world gone topsy-turvy while I wasn't looking? If you think about it, Cisco's forte--routers--are lightweight computers that do one specific job--routing packets from one network to another. So, their foray into the dark realm of higher-end server systems …

I've had the pleasure of taking a special [URL="http://www.debian.org"]Debian[/URL] 5.0 [URL="http://ftp.utexas.edu/debian-cd/5.0.0/i386/iso-cd/debian-500-i386-xfce+lxde-CD-1.iso"]distribution[/URL] (Debian 5.0 i386 XFCE LXDE) for a recent test drive as a virtual machine in [URL="http://www.citrix.com"]Citrix[/URL] XenServer 5.0. This single CD distribution comes with two selections for a graphical interface, [URL="http://www.xfce.org"]XFCE[/URL] and [URL="http://www.lxde.org"]LXDE[/URL]. XFCE works great and is very …

I've read almost a dozen articles in the past week about Netbook computers and am sorely disappointed with some of the news about them. The general consensus is that Windows dominates the Netbook space. The info was gathered from sales reports by [URL="http://www.asus.com"]Asus[/URL], [URL="http://www.msi.com.tw"]MSI[/URL], [URL="http://www.dell.com"]Dell[/URL] and [URL="http://www.sylvania.com"]Sylvania[/URL]. This news is …

I am proud to say that the Linux Community now has a place to land--a single place--and a great one at that: [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org"]The Linux Foundation[/URL]. You don't often read encouraging words from me about consolidations, mergers, buyouts and strategic partnerships but when they make sense for everyone, you do. As …

Here's some good news for a change: Linux-related jobs are on the rise. According to the freelance marketplace, [URL="http://www.odesk.org"]Odesk[/URL], the number of Linux jobs has increased more than 1,400% since 2006. This sharp increase as raised some eyebrows over at [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org"]The Linux Foundation[/URL] and they're responding appropriately. The Linux Foundation …

Everyone is talking about how open source technology is the answer to budget cuts and belt tightening in the workplace. There's no denying its use is on the rise and, in fact, the Linux server market is predicted to extend into the tens of billions over the next few years. …

PCWorld announces new blog: [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/160445/welcome_to_linuxlink.html"]LinuxLink[/URL]. Wow, it's only taken PCWorld a mere 10 years to come up with this fantastic brainchild. I'm impressed. There's nothing quite like being on the leading edge of technological advances like Linux. I hope their rapid move in this obtuse new direction doesn't singe their …

Do my eyes deceive me or did [URL="http://www.redhat.com"]Red Hat[/URL] just deliver its own smackdown on the virtualization community today? I was wondering when they were going to offer a solution that combined their new acquistion, Qumranet and the KVM product. I don't have to wait any longer. The products, including …

This is what we're going to see for the next year or two: Strategic Partnerships. A couple of days ago, Red Hat signed one of these partnership deals with Microsoft in what I call "A deal with the devil." Microsoft and Red Hat have slung mud, insults and accusations at …

Has the world gone mad? Sony is getting set to launch a cellphone with, wait for it, no less than a 12.1 megapixel camera built in. To put that in to some perspective, I take photographs for publication as part of my day to day working life as a jobbing …

Almost 10 months ago, I wrote the post, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2350.html"]"Dear China, Microsoft Wants to Charge You for Air Too"[/URL] and now Novell follows up with its own plan to charge China for air. The Chinese assume that since Linux is open source that it means that it is less capitalistic and …

Did anyone else get just a wee zing of excitement at 11.30pm (GMT) last night? I will admit to raising my glass and downing a large Jim Beam Black in order to celebrate the fact that UNIX Time had hit 123 billion seconds. OK, so I am a geek, what …

Someone commented on one of my posts the other day, stating that Linux is a tool and not a religion. Can this be true? I would hate to think that for the past 15 years that I've invested in Linux, it would turn out that Linux is merely a tool, …

There are number of factors coming together that lead me to believe that open source's moment is right now, today, this year. Open source already runs so many things and just last week as Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, he asked Scott McNealy of …

There's only one company that doesn't use Linux for its server virtualization platform. Can you guess which one it is? If you guessed [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft[/URL], you're correct. [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization"]Microsoft[/URL] is a newbie in the virtualization space but wants in and may make significant dents in the already well-established market that is significantly …

If your company CEO is walking around with bags under eyes, clutching a balance sheet in one hand and a bottle of Chivas in the other, it could be because she can’t get financing to keep the company going. Business Week has a great article on this topic, pointing out …

Asus might have [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3637.html"]lost the netbook war[/URL] to Acer, but it is fighting back as far as the keyboard PC wars are concerned. With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) still a day away in Vegas, the geeky and gadgetry announcements are coming thick and fast. We've already got a taster …

Linux will continue its soaring success in 2009. Yes, Linux is free and free is good but what about its other advantages over commercial Unix flavors and Windows? Here are the top seven reasons why Linux will continue to smash the competition in the face of the economy, the Cloud, …

Everyone wants to know what's going to happen in the new year as if anyone can accurately predict these things. However, one can deduce, with reasonable accuracy, that there will be innovations that are designed to get our attention. This is my list of Linux-oriented predictions for 2009. [B]The keyword …

If you haven't bought that special geek in your life something electronic yet for Christmas, here are 10 ideas for you. They're all Linux-based and are sure to bring a smile to any geek's face. They are in no particular order. [B]1. [URL="http://www.asus.com"]Asus[/URL] Eee PC[/B] - The new Eee PC …

Asus pretty much invented the whole netbook concept as we understand it today with the Eee PC, and for the longest time it sat pretty at the top of the netbook sales charts. The more astute reader might have noticed the past tense here, because Asus no longer rules the …

Whether the ailing economy is real or imagined, you might be looking for ways to shed some pounds off your bloated IT budget. You should seriously consider Linux and Open Source software to put your 2009 financial appetite on a diet. Here are 10 reasons to choose Linux in a …

Now that, if you are a hardcore PC gamer, is cool. ASUS has announced the availability of what it claims is the world's first quad core gaming notebook. The G71 series is powered by the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor, and has had 'overspeed protection' removed to push it …

It's been a year since [URL="http://www.amazon.com"]Amazon[/URL] released its Linux-based [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-com-kindle/dp/B000FI73MA"]Kindle Ebook Reader[/URL] into its online store and currently more than 200,000 people have purchased one. Are you going to join the fray at almost 400USD or wait for my bombshell? I suggest you wait. There have been several articles surrounding …

About a month ago, research firm IDC released a [URL="http://idc.com/getdoc.jsp;jsessionid=NR3SD2A2131BMCQJAFICFFAKBEAUMIWD?containerId=prUS21420408"]report[/URL] summarizing personal computer (PC) sales and their projected growth over the next few years. Included in the report are Desktop computers, Server computers, and Laptops. The boost in sales and projected growth are due to the upsurge in consumers purchasing …

Support for RESTful Web services, JBoss Seam and Java refactorings and code inspections are among the new features in [url=http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/features/newfeatures.html]IntelliJ IDEA 8[/url], JetBrains' Java IDE for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows that began shipping today. If you're not familiar, JetBrains' raison d'être is to make an integrated development environment …

Mainframes (MF) in the news again? Can it be or did I just wake up in 1980 all over again? It's true (the Mainframe part not 1980) that we are now looking backward for our future in virtualization and Cloud Computing using Linux as the delivery system. Mainframes have a …

Which hypervisor performs better, [url=http://www.xen.org/]Xen[/url] or VMware's [url=http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/]ESX[/url]? That apparently depends on which organization you ask. But for a team that's tasked with choosing a virtualization platform, some impartial data would sure be helpful. "That's where we come in," said Michael Salsburg, director of the [url=http://www.cmg.org]Computer Measurement Group[/url], a non-profit …

Howdy and welcome to Crystal Ball Sunday #12: Built-In Home Entertainment and Automation . Linux is the perfect medium for set top boxes (aka Set Top Units or Personal Video Recorders (PVR)) because of its customizability, optimization features, and no cost status. Whether you know them as Set Top Boxes, …

A company called [url=http://www.moderro.com/]Moderro Technologies[/url] this week unveiled the [url=http://www.moderro.com/Product/index.html]Xpack Web 2.0 Cloud Computer[/url], a palm-sized appliance dedicated to cloud computing. The US$395 computer was being demonstrated at the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo in New York City this week, and is set to begin shipping in late October. Although the …

AUGUST 7, 2008--There was much to celebrate at the [URL=http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/live/12/]LinuxWorld Conference and Expo[/URL] this week in San Francisco's Moscone Center, particularly if you're a developer building applications on or for the platform. Remember when gOS debuted as the operating system inside Wal-Mart's US$199 PC? The company yesterday introduced [URL=http://www.thinkgos.com/new/]gOS 3 …

[URL="http://www.plathome.com"]Plat'Home[/URL], Linux pioneers in Japan and creators of the diminutive OpenMicroServer, are running a contest called "Will Linux Work?" They are basically asking people to submit crazy/extreme environments or ideas using their Linux servers and see if they work. Whoever has the best idea will get 5 of their OpenMicroServers …

BestBuy is now offering Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) in a shrink-wrapped box for $19.99. This is the only packaged Linux that BestBuy currently sells. I haven't seen the package or visited my local BestBuy store in several months but I am happy about this decision. Shelf space is at a …

Yes, I know it sounds pretty daft, but MIO has [URL="http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/09/knight_rider_satnav_confirmed/"]confirmed[/URL] that it will be releasing a satnav built entirely around a Knight Rider theme next month in the US. Fans who want to experience that genuine eighties retro feel, but in a totally modern way, will just love KITT …

Yesterday, NetGear released the long-awaited open source wireless router WGR614L--a high-performance, full-featured, wireless router with 4-port switch running, you guessed it, Linux. The router currently supports the free open source Linux-based [URL="http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato"]Tomato[/URL] and [URL="http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php"]DD-WRT[/URL] firmware and will soon support [URL="http://www.openwrt.org"]OpenWRT[/URL]. From a hardware perspective, the WGR614L sports a 240 MHz …

Red Hat announced a new bare-metal [I]hypervisor[/I] technology last week at the Red Hat Summit in Boston. It is based on KVM (Kernel-Based Virtual Machine) technology and actually has been included in Linux kernel version 2.6.20 and up. This announcement has some Red Hat and virtualization proponents wondering why Red …

Those clever boffins at the University of Bath, England have managed to develop a machine called [URL="http://dev.www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome"]RepRap[/URL] which can, effectively, replicate itself. The boffins themselves describe it as being a 3D printer which can print, or rather produce, real mechanical parts. Perhaps most interesting is the claim that RepRap can …

RedHat settles its patent infringement lawsuit filed by Firestar Software and DataTern in Federal Court for an undisclosed amount. Part of the settlement that RedHat made was made on behalf of the Open Source Community--indemnifying users and its customers from future infringement suits by said parties. RedHat's corporate opinion is …

Acer is the latest company to jump on the ultra-portable bandwagon with Aspire one, a 2.2-pound unit that sports a near-full size keyboard and can yield as much as six hours of battery life per charge, according to claims by the PC maker. Rival Asus last month began shipping [URL=http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2339.html] …

Channel Insider has [URL="http://www.pr-inside.com/channel-insider-names-red-hat-enterprise-r619668.htm"]announced[/URL] that [URL="http://www.redhat.com"]Red Hat Enterprise Linux[/URL] has beaten off the competition in the 2008 Product of the Year awards to scoop the server operating system award. This is important for two reasons: firstly the fact that awards are given to products which "exemplify attributes of high importance …

Forget the One Laptop Per Child project hyperbole, there seems to be another contender emerging which is deserving of the title 'cheapest Linux laptop on the planet' despite having very little in the way of publicity when compared to the OLPC machine. The Linux lappy in question is the [URL="http://www.elonexone.co.uk"]Elonex …

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and many other financial institutions run their most critical services and applications on Linux. The NYSE specifically uses RedHat Enterprise Linux because of its stability and support. Linux is the most-chosen operating system in the U.K, France, Germany, and other European countries due to …

[URL="http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/197442/intel-not-ruling-out-shortages-after-chinese-earthquake.html"]PC Pro is reporting[/URL] that Intel hopes that its Chinese manufacturing plant is back in production by next week, but following the earthquake disaster has to admit that the situation could best be described as being 'dynamic.' The chip packaging plant in Chengdu, some 60 miles away from the earthquake …

Welcome back to Crystal Ball Sunday. This week in the Crystal Ball are my predictions for OpenSolaris vs. Linux. The release of OpenSolaris on May 5th has caused quite a stir. Many say that it will replace Linux on the Desktop and in the Data Center. My first prediction is …

ASUS announced that their new EEE 900 PC sporting Windows XP (Vista won't run on it) will cost $50 AUD less than its Linux counterpart. I am no economist but I can figure out quickly that a computer that comes with Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works pre-installed is going …

Microsoft has launched a new add-in, designed specifically to simplify the process of creating content that is accessible for visually impaired and what it refers to as 'print disabled' individuals. The new [URL="http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/daisy"]Save as DAISY XML[/URL] add-in is open source, being developed in conjunction with the [URL="http://www.daisy.org"]Digital Accessible Information System …

Yesterday Sun Microsystems officially released OpenSolaris and suggested that it's going to go head-to-head with Linux as a Desktop Operating System. Solarisx86 is nothing new and has been around about as long as Linux but it is historically proprietary and closed source. It was also very hardware-finicky and performance was …

Rather aptly located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the [URL="http://www.computerhistory.org"]Computer History Museum[/URL] will open its doors to the Charles Babbage Difference Engine Number 2 on May 10th. One of only two such working devices in existence, the first being housed within the Science Museum in London, the Babbage Engine …