[getting-started] Forum Topics

Want to buy a Dell machine loaded with Linux? Shame, as it appears that Dell Europe would really rather you bought a Windows-powered one, despite having a website devoted entirely to selling Dell Ubuntu laptops. And, oh boy, does it use some strange arguments to dissuade you from becoming a …

If you thought, or indeed hoped, that the Google Chrome OS would be a thoroughly modern marvel running web apps only then you are about to be disappointed. It would appear that even the brave new future of the OS cannot escape from the legacy of Windows. According to a …

Time to enter the Wayback ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABAC_machine"]WABAC[/URL]) Machine to an experience I had with a new Linux user and compare it to today's more tech savvy audience. The year was 1997 and I had settled in for the evening with my [URL="http://www.guinness.com/"]favorite beverage[/URL] and a bit of channel flipping, when I …

Hey Windows fans, would you like to take Linux for a spin to see what everyone's buzzing about? It's easy to do in just five easy steps. You can test Linux for yourself without having to setup multibooting, worry about partitioning or installing over your current Windows system. That's right, …

Any list of best or worst will have its opponents and proponents and I foresee that this list of worst Linux distributions will be no different. There were, at last count, almost 300 Linux distributions and they all can't be great. But, this list of Linux distributions are, in my …

Two headlines grabbed my attention today. The first proclaiming that Linux sucks while the second announced it was possible to boot into a full Linux OS in less than a single solitary second. Paul Rako [URL="http://www.edn.com/article/CA6720353.html"]reports[/URL] that one company, an embedded-Linux specialist called MontaVista Software, has gone step further than …

This post is a summary of a conversation I had the other day with an acquaintance of mine. It started out with him asking me what I do for a living and ended up with me having to choke back tears of laughter. I hope you have the same reaction …

I've run across ten new Linux distributions inspired by current news stories. Some, of course, are better than others and a few just have no practical use or purpose whatsoever but still are worth a mention. These ten distributions are in no particular order of my preference or relevance. Maybe …

I recently upgraded a friend of mine to [URL="http://www.ubuntu.com"]Ubuntu[/URL] 9.04 Desktop for his five-year-old [URL="http://www.acer.com"]Acer[/URL] laptop with 512 MB of RAM. I removed Windows 2000 after backing up his precious documents, pictures and browser favorites. I installed the latest stable version of Ubuntu, restored all of his settings, Internet connection …

Last night while watching my usual list of recorded television programs, I saw a commercial for [URL="http://www.kgb.com"]KGB[/URL], the company that begs you to text them with your questions. For a mere 99 cents, they'll answer any question that you ask of them. I'm sure that they have their share of …

Who says you don't get something for nothing? Certainly not the good people over at [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org"]The Linux Foundation[/URL] (TLF) who're offering free [URL="http://training.linuxfoundation.org/lp/sign-up-for-the-free-linux-training-webinar-series"]Linux training[/URL]. TLF is doing its part for the worldwide Linux community by offering this free training plus the [URL="http://jobs.linux.com"]Linux Jobs Board[/URL] and all of its [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/programs"]other services[/URL]. …

Sony has just put its Linux user base in the dust bin with its newest update that doesn't allow installing another operating system to its popular game console. Thanks, Sony. I'm now making believe that you're going to lose market share because of this. I'm also making believe that this …

From its [URL="http://www.debian.org"]Debian[/URL] roots to its commercially available support to its overwhelming popularity, [URL="http://www.ubuntu.com"]Ubuntu[/URL] is the ultimate Linux distribution. For me, Ubuntu became a significant force within the Linux community with its 2006 releases: 6.04 and 6.10. From April 2006, I've installed and used every new version and anticipate each …

If you've always wanted to create your own Linux distribution (distro), like I have, now you can by using a tool that was originally developed to create Virtual Appliances. [URL="http://www.susestudio.com"]SUSE Studio[/URL] (still currently in alpha) is a web-based tool that helps you create Linux Virtual Appliances and complete bootable distros …

Beware the Ides of March. I just received the news that one of my most favorite services is shutting down due to the cost of providing the free service. That's right, the public [URL="http://g.ho.st"]g.ho.st[/URL] cloud desktop service closes on March 15, 2010. I loved the Global Hosted Operating System and …

File under what just happened here? According to a [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/feb10/02-22MSAmazonPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases"]press release[/URL] issued by Microsoft yesterday, it has entered into a cross-licensing patent deal with Amazon. This covers the Kindle as well the Linux-based servers that Amazon uses, and comes back to the Microsoft claim that a number of Linux implementations …

Everyone has posted their predictions for 2010 but here's the real scoop on what's going to happen in 2010 with Linux and Linux-oriented hardware and software products. Get ready to see the biggest increase in Linux adoption in history. You can say you saw it here first. These are in …

It's been almost a year since I[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story220028.html"] last interviewed [/URL] Joe 'Zonker' [URL="http://www.dissociatedpress.net/"]Brockmeier[/URL], who is the community manager at [URL="http://en.opensuse.org/OpenSUSE_11.2"]openSUSE[/URL]. I sent him several questions to answer by email. I was curious about the new version of openSUSE, 11.2, along with his increasing use of social media to promote it. …

It's a fact of life that Linux distributions go extinct and it happens more often than our Linux fan base would like to admit. At last count, there are approximately [URL="http://lwn.net/Distributions/#historical"]50[/URL] individual distributions that are now extinct. What happens to the poor unfortunates who adopt and use these defunct distros? …

Thought you were bleeding edge with your quad-core PC? Think again. A company called Tilera today announced that it's working on a chip containing 100 processor cores, which it says could be seen by 2011. It's part of its new TILE-Gx line of 64-bit multi-core processors, the first of which--a …

Linus has spoken so get back to work and stop burning up the Internet with your hate speeches and endless ramblings about Microsoft and how this is so wrong. Linus accepted the code and gives his reasons as to why. Here's my take on the whole thing with responses to …

Just like the international gang summits in Los Angeles, Linux needs a collective, "sit-down" to discuss the future of this now formidable operating system. I'm not talking about a nice little get together with keynote speakers with high-powered, 10,000 foot views of where Linux is and where it's going. And …

Back in October '08, I wrote "[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3288.html"]5 Things I Wish Linux Had[/URL]" but never realized that it would inspire the heated debate (Read the comments) that it did. I also didn't realize that it would inspire an actual operating system. One of my readers commented briefly that he would take …

Perhaps it's my role as the family computer guy that's leading me in this direction today but it seems to me that there should be Linux distributions that are age-oriented and age appropriate. Seldom do I see my parents-in-law playing a heated game of [URL="http://www.quake.com"]Quake[/URL] or doing any kernel tinkering, …

I downloaded and installed [URL="http://www.ubuntu.com"]Ubuntu[/URL] 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and am happy to say it's an overall success. Of course, I would say that because I love Ubuntu; it's my favorite Desktop Linux distribution and I've seen a lot of them. Being Debian-based, it is rock-solid, stable, easily updatable and a …

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, …

The ominous 13th entry in my ongoing Crystal Ball Sunday series highlights a somewhat controversial and oft misunderstood computing space known as Cloud Computing. As I explained in my [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3340.html"]I'm Smarter Than Larry Ellison[/URL] entry, Cloud Computing allows applications to be hosted in leveraged environments such that you neither know …

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 …

Welcome to another edition of Crystal Ball Sunday! This week my predictions center around system builders and integrators and their use of Linux to lower costs, standardize hardware offerings, and provide a new systems to buyers that are ready to go to work. Acer has already discussed Linux being the …

This is the first post in my new series called Crystal Ball Sunday. These Sunday posts are where I take out my Linux, and related technology, crystal ball and give you my predictions for the coming months. This week I am focusing on corporate conversion to Linux. I foresee companies …