Linux and Open Source

Distributed Replicated Storage Across Four Nodes With GlusterFS On Debian Lenny

2009-07-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

This tutorial shows how to combine four single storage servers (running Debian Lenny) to a distributed replicated storage with GlusterFS. Nodes 1 and 2 (replication1) as well as 3 and 4 (replication2) will mirror each other, and replication1 and replication2 will be combined to one larger storage server (distribution). Basically, this is RAID10 over network. If you lose one server from replication1 and one from replication2, the distributed volume continues to work. The client system (Debian Lenny as well) will be able to access the storage as if it was a local filesystem. GlusterFS is a clustered file-system capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. It aggregates various storage bricks over Infiniband RDMA or TCP/IP interconnect into one large parallel network file system. Storage bricks can be made of any commodity hardware such as x86-64 servers with SATA-II RAID and Infiniband HBA.

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Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python

2009-06-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

According to wordnetweb.princeton.edu, Computer Science is "the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures". It's the study of computer architectures, languages, and mathematical structures as applied to the process of computing. So what have Campbell, et al produced in this book...a Computer Science textbook that teaches Python? Kind of. Imagine you wanted to learn how the computer is used in the various scientific disciples. Further, you wanted to learn how computer programs and programming is used in this context to construct tools, perform investigations, and to solve problems. You also want to use a single programming language as your example. Welcome to "Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python". Not a book about learning Python as such, but an introduction to the discipline of Computer Science with Python as your guide.

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Hardware profiles in Linux using the runlevel 4

2009-06-12T21:05:00.001-07:00

People who use laptops often need different configurations. They may want the option of removing their external display, docking station, or other peripheral. In some cases, like with network cards, it's quite easy and normally the user doesn't need to modify anything. In some cases the user needs to execute some commands to modify the default behavior. Normally when you need to re-execute the same command twice it's time to write a script and put it in the right place to be executed in the right moment.

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Testing Fedora 10 KDE Edition

2009-06-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

My experience with Fedora has not been bad at all. I think a big reason for that is that my laptop has practically no need for proprietary drivers. The intel graphics card open source driver has gotten quite good and provides painless and efficient compositing out of the box. In fact, every piece of hardware, including sound, works out of the box. So, that leaves me free to compare distros by their features and ease of use. So what have I found in using Fedora 10 KDE version?

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Extensions for Chromium?

2009-06-11T21:05:00.001-07:00

From the Problem Statement: "Chromium can't be everything to all people. People use web browsers in a variety of environments and for a wide variety of jobs. Personal tastes and needs vary widely from one user to the next. The feature needs of one person often conflict directly with those of another. Further, one of the design goals of Chromium is to have a minimal light-weight user interface, which itself conflicts with adding lots of features."[I found this and thought it would be of interest. - Scott]

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X@FOSDEM 2009: RandR 1.3, GEM, Gallium3D, Etc

2009-06-11T11:05:00.001-07:00

All of the recordings from the X.Org meetings that took place during FOSDEM 2009 are now available on Phoronix. There were nine topics in total from RandR 1.3 to shader compiler optimization strategies. Novell's Matthias Hopf had explained RandR 1.3 with all of the work involved in this update to the Resize and Rotate extension for the X Server that now has panning support and other new-found capabilities. An RandR 1.3 demonstration was also done by Keith Packard. Later on, Matthias had provided a 3D understanding of the ATI R600/700 series.

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Google Jumps Into Organizing Smart Meter Energy Data

2009-06-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just as Googleâs CEO Eric Schmidt hinted over the past few months, Google is moving from managing the worldâs information to managing your personal energy data. On Monday night Google tells us it is developing an online tool called âPowerMeterâ that will allow users to monitor their home energy consumption. For now Google is testing the web-based software with Google employees, but the search engine giant is looking to partner with utilities and smart energy device makers and will eventually roll out the tool to consumers.

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Why Does Everyone Heart Boxee?

2009-06-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

The buzz has been building for Boxee lately. Mainstream news outlets like The New York Times, BusinessWeek and NPR are getting hip to the little open-source media center that could quite possibly change the way you experience TV. I first met Boxee CEO and co-founder Avner Ronen at a NewTeeVee meetup in New York roughly a year ago. At the time, I was contemplating buying an Apple TV. He politely shook his head and said I shouldnât bother, that his company had something better in the works.

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E-tailer dumps Windows for Red Hat

2009-06-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

UK-based online lingerie and nightwear retailer figleaves.com has turned away from Microsoft and to virtualisation and open source software to revamp the technology platform that will support its upcoming ecommerce site. The decision to move to Red Hat Linux and VMWare technology on HP hardware was taken in May last year when the company chose to implement a new ecommerce suite from ATG. Speaking to ZDNet.com.au sister site silicon.com, figleaves.com chief of technology Peter Pedersen said the retailer had outgrown the old system.

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Review: Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual

2009-06-09T11:05:00.001-07:00

Matthew MacDonald is something of an "in-house" author for the Missing Manual series. He's "penned" (and I use the term loosely in this day of the word processor) Access 2007: The Missing Manual, Excel 2007: The Missing Manual and, of all titles, Your Brain: The Missing Manual (and since I've reviewed all three of these books, I can tell you that he had a little expert help with the last one, especially). He's also written quite extensively for Apress and seems to be well versed on a number of topics.

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This week at LWN: The exceedingly grumpy editor's accounting system update

2009-06-08T21:05:00.001-07:00

When your editor posted the Grumpy Editor's next project, he certainly did not anticipate that it would take more than a year and a half for the next installment to be written. Or that, even after all that time, the project of moving LWN's accounting from proprietary software to free software would be incomplete. But the world is full of surprises, even in places where surprises are most unwelcome - like accounting. Happily, your editor's surprises do not involve counterparty risk, credit-default swaps, or anything else of that sort.

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Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows

2009-06-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

It's one of those perennial age-old battles that can never be resolved. Coke or Pepsi? Chocolate or vanilla? Linux or Windows? I've been in the trenches of those wars for years. I've written about Windows since the days of Windows 2.0, including numerous books and hundreds or even thousands of articles, blogs and columns. Along the way, I've been called every name in the book -- and many you won't find in any books, either -- by Linux proponents, because I've extolled the benefits of Windows, while ignoring those of Linux.

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AMD Video BIOS Disassembler Released

2009-06-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

Just a little more than a week after AMD openly released R600/700 GPU code to begin development of an open-source 3D driver for their ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 hardware, a disassembler and table dumper for their video BIOS abstraction layer has been released to developers. This tool called AtomDis was used early on in the development of the RadeonHD driver by Novell and is now being released under the GNU GPLv2 license to assist interested open-source developers or act as an instrument to those learning about graphics processor programming.

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Object Oriented Programming in Python

2009-06-07T11:05:00.001-07:00

I've owned this book for quite awhile and discovered that I have never reviewed it. I determined to correct my oversight and to share my insights regarding Goldwasser and Letscher's book with you. Of course, the snake head on the cover is totally inaccurate, given that the Python language was actually named for Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and company (or Flying Circus, rather). I suppose the snake's head just looked more cool against a jet black background, though. Is the book itself just as cool? Let's find out.

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KNDISwrapper is half-done, but far from half-baked

2009-06-06T21:05:00.001-07:00

If any process ever cried out for a graphical interface, it is using NDISwrapper to enable wireless devices to run on GNU/Linux using Windows drivers. The process is often torturous, especially for first-time users, who are unsure whether any problems are due to NDISwrapper's limitations or their own inexperience. By organizing and explaining the process, KNDISwrapper promises to remove much of the labor. But, so far, it only partly delivers on that promise by neglecting the hardest part of working with NDISwrapper -- finding the right Windows driver.

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Trumpet Windows Loudly--- Except When It's Malware Outbreaks

2009-06-06T11:05:00.001-07:00

Ever notice how Microsoft plasters the Windows name on everything it can reach? Splash screens, stickers on computers, and advertising everywhere. There is no escaping it. Except when it's yet another malware outbreak-- then all the news organizations go inexplicably deaf, dumb, and blind, as this latest story demonstrates: Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military base. Is it serious? Well.... "...the intrusion was severe enough to raise the INFOCON status, the information security equivalent of the DEFCON alert, and also necessitate the briefing of the president."

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Save the Libraries â With Open Source

2009-06-05T21:05:00.001-07:00

For some in the world of free software, libraries are things that you call, rather than visit. But the places where books are stored â" especially those that make them freely available to the public â" are important repositories of the world's knowledge, of relevance to all. So coders too should care about them alongside the other kind, and should be concerned that there is a threat to their ability to provide ready access to knowledge they have created themselves. The good news is that open source can save them.

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Weighing in on SCaLE

2009-06-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

OSCON is months away. LinuxWorld â" excuse me, Open Source World â" might as well be an eon or two away. Whatâs a person to do in the meantime? If you have the misfortune of living outside the Golden State, hop a plane and make your way to Los Angeles this weekend for the Southern California Linux Expo. If youâre within walking or driving distance, by all means you should be able to get your fix before the summer at the Westin Los Angeles Airport from Friday through Sunday.

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Symbian Foundation in anti-Android recruit drive

2009-06-04T21:05:00.001-07:00

The Symbian Foundation is limbering up to face the Open Handset Alliance next week, announcing a raft of new members to take on the Android threat, while LiMo and Access Linux lurk nearby looking for scraps. Realizing that the battle of operating systems is all about applications, Symbian has announced a load of new members including MySpace, Bank of America, and Omron Software - though most of the new members have something to gain for their $1,500 membership fee and there's a remarkable degree of infidelity with companies betting each way.

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Microsoft Licensing Deal Grants Access To Linux Printers

2009-06-04T11:05:00.001-07:00

Hoping to give their respective research efforts a shot of adrenaline, Microsoft and Brother Industries have agreed to a broad patent licensing deal that gives Microsoft access to Brother's embedded Linux printing products. The agreement, which includes compensation paid to Microsoft by Brother, gives Brother access to Microsoft's patents for Brother's current and future products, including multifunction products and "certain Linux-based embedded devices." Microsoft in turn gains access to Brother's patents for Microsoft's current and future products, including Windows and Office and a number of other unspecified IT products.

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Vista Support Upped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux

2009-06-03T21:05:00.001-07:00

One key issue that RHEL 5.3 addresses is Windows Vista interoperability. Red Hat has updated and improved the Samba (define), Linux to Window file sharing technology so that it will support Window Vista. "We have seen demand for Vista compatibility in 2008 and it became a problem that we didn't have really good support for," Riek admitted. "We did some changes on the Samba side to get the new Vista enablement there we also did some work on CIFS (define) side so Linux can work as a client to Windows servers."

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Does Linux stand a chance now that Windows 7 will run on netbooks?

2009-06-03T11:05:00.001-07:00

Possibly Microsoft's most important strategic goal for Windows 7, in addition to redeeming the brand damage done by Windows Vista, is to dominate netbooks, now the fastest selling segment of the PC market. This may not bode well for the Linux operating system. With netbooks, the open-source OS with a highly tech-savvy audience found a market where it could legitimately threaten Windows. But Linux will face an uphill battle in this category now that the sleeping software giant has been awoken to the opportunity that netbooks present, say industry analysts.

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Does Linux stand a chance now that Wndows 7 will run on netbooks?

2009-06-02T21:05:00.001-07:00

Google's Microsoft Complex

2009-06-02T11:05:00.001-07:00

James Grimmelman compares Google to Sauron. I'm flabbergasted. I had always thought that Google was the Ringbearer and that Mordor was where Gates and Ballmer hung out. Was I misinformed? Or am I just confused? If it's the latter, I have a decent excuse. After all, even though Google and Microsoft have very different public personae, it's getting harder and harder to tell them apart as businesses. Both built their empires through the same strategy: gaining control of the economic chokepoint of the prevailing computing model of their day.

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Opera is the weak link on my current OpenBSD 4.4 laptop

2009-06-01T21:05:00.001-07:00

I've sung the praises of the Opera Web browser many a time. It's a great deal lighter than Firefox, it renders most Web pages well, and most importantly for me, it enables me to use a critical Web-based application that is designed to only work with Internet Explorer, a browser I try to run as little as possible (and which isn't an option in OpenBSD). In OpenBSD, Opera is run with the Linux compatibility layer, so it's basically a Linux binary when it comes into the system from ports.

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Ubuntu 9.04 Receives EXT4 Support

2009-06-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

With the EXT4 file-system having been stabilized with the Linux 2.6.28 kernel, the Ubuntu developers are preparing to adopt this evolutionary Linux file-system update. EXT4 will not replace EXT3 as the default file-system until at least Ubuntu 9.10, but as of yesterday, Ubuntu 9.04 now has install-time support for EXT4. In this article we are looking at the EXT4 support within Ubuntu as well as providing a few Linux file-system benchmarks from a netbook-embedded solid-state drive. In this article we have published Ubuntu benchmarks of EXT4, EXT3, XFS, JFS, and ReiserFS file-systems.

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Computer-Augmented Intelligence

2009-05-31T21:05:00.001-07:00

We have just had the 40th anniversary of Doug Engelbart's Mother of All Demos, the day when Doug showed the mouse that everybody knows about in public for the first time as part of the oN-Line System (NLS). It is not so widely known how much more Doug demonstrated that day. He started out with windows, graphics, structured text editing, hypertext, video chat, and much more that became the foundation of all Graphical User Interfaces by way of Alan Kay's Smalltalk at Xerox, and the Apple Lisa and Macintosh.

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Open source programming languages for kids

2009-05-31T11:05:00.001-07:00

The past couple of years have seen an explosion of open source programming languages and utilities that are geared toward children. Many of these efforts are based around the idea that, since the days of BASIC, programming environments have become far too complex for untrained minds to wrap themselves around. Some toolkits aim to create entirely new ways of envisioning and creating projects that appeal to younger minds, such as games and animations, while others aim to recreate the "basic"-ness of BASIC in a modern language and environment.

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VirtualBox Gets OpenGL Acceleration Support

2009-05-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

Sun Microsystems has announced the release this morning of VirtualBox 2.1 with several enticing additions. VirtualBox 2.1 introduces support for hardware virtualization (through Intel VT and AMD's AMD-V) on Mac OS X host systems, support for 64-bit guest operating systems on 32-bit host systems, support for Intel Nehalem (Core i7) virtualization enhancements, full VMDK/VHD support, a new NAT engine, and new Host Interface Networking implementations on Linux and Windows. Perhaps though one of the most exciting changes in VirtualBox 2.1 is initial support for OpenGL acceleration on the guest operating systems.

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Tracking build status with Pulse

2009-05-30T11:05:00.001-07:00

Pulse is a build server that can monitor your source repository and trigger a build and test cycle every time somebody does a commit. With Pulse you will always know if the most recent sources in your revision control system compile and if they pass your unit and system tests. Better yet, Pulse allows you to build and test your current working copy of checked-out source, during a so-called Personal Build, so you can see if your code breaks things before you commit your changes to the central repository.

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The Microsoftie Who Embraced the Dark Side (Open Source)

2009-05-29T21:05:00.001-07:00

Keith Curtis spent years as a Microsoft programmer. Then he quit and became deeply enthusiastic about source development. This is his story..."A few weeks after leaving, I decided to try Linux. I had played with Firefox and OpenOffice for a few hours while at the company, and even wrote an e-mail to our legal team telling them that my friend Alex Mogilevsky's patented work on background spell-checking had been stolen by OpenOffice. But I had never used those apps beyond my brief testing, and had never run Linux."

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Running DOS Programs on Linux: Duke Nukem Lives!

2009-05-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

If I play video games they're usually pretty low tech ones. One of the few games I miss from the old days is Duke Nukem, and I'm talking about the Duke before he went 3D. If you have an old DOS game that you'd like to run, or for that matter any old DOS program, check out DOSBox. Even if you don't have any DOS programs that you'd like to run, you might want to try downloading some of the old DOS games that are now available free online.

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This week at LWN: MinGW and why Linux users should care

2009-05-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

The Minimalist GNU for Windows (MinGW) project is a way to get GCC and tools like binutils working to build software for the Windows environmentâ"something that might not sound very interesting to Linux users or developers. But there are a number of advantages to porting and regularly testing free software on Windows, as Red Hat's Richard Jones and Dan Berrange explain in the following interview. Richard and Dan also describe Red Hat's involvement, how developers can participate, as well as how it all helps the free software cause.

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Red Hat Ditching Oracle for Network/Spacewalk

2009-05-28T11:05:00.001-07:00

Red Hat's open source Network application project evolves with a plan to get rid of Oracle on the back end. "The application code for Spacewalk is open source, but we are using a proprietary back end for the database," Todd Warner Product Manager, RHN Satellite and Project Spacewalk told InternetNews.com. "For an open source project that's a problem since we have all these open source bits and it requires a proprietary database. It's a big Achilles heal that we'll be focusing a tremendous amount of effort to rectify."

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Microsoft promotes top IP officer

2009-05-27T21:05:00.001-07:00

Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, just got a promotion to corporate vice president, as reported in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Gutierrez, who has taken an increasingly active role in Microsoft's intellectual-property strategy since moving back from Paris a few years ago, where he had served as Microsoft's associate general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa (and where I first met him for hot chocolate and coffee), is well-known to the open-source crowd for his involvement in Microsoft's accusations in 2007 that Linux violates 235 of Microsoft's patents.

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Microsoft promotes top IP officer

2009-05-27T11:05:00.001-07:00

Red Hat deal a kick in the guts for Novell

2009-05-26T21:05:00.001-07:00

The good people over at Novell must be wondering what to do next after Red Hat and Microsoft inked a deal on server virtualisation interoperability yesterday. What will hit Novell really hard is the fact that Red Hat has not had to bend over as Novell itself did in 2006; there are no patent clauses in this deal at all, no question of money changing hands. In sharp contrast to the hush-hush nature of the Novell-Microsoft deal, Red Hat has clearly outlined the details of what its agreement with Redmond involves.

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Debian Lenny: A Linux Valentine Release

2009-05-26T11:05:00.001-07:00

Linux lovers rejoice -- you'll also be getting a present this Valentine's Day in the form of the Debian Lenny release. Lenny, named after a character in the Disney/Pixar film "Toy Story," marks the first major Debian release since Etch in April 2007. It's an important milestone for the distro, which is the basis of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and competes in the broader Linux ecosystem against Red Hat and Novell SUSE, among others. In 2008, Debian celebrated its 15th anniversary as it continues to remain a relevant community-based Linux distribution.

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SELinux and Smack security modules for Linux containers

2009-05-25T21:05:00.001-07:00

Lightweight containers, otherwise known as Virtual Private Servers (VPS) or Jails, are often thought of as a security tools designed to confine untrusted applications or users; but as presently constructed, these containers do not provide adequate security guarantees. By strengthening these containers using SELinux or Smack policy, a much more secure container can be implemented in LinuxÂ®. This article shows you how to create a more secure Linux-Security-Modules-protected container. Both the SELinux and Smack policy are considered works in progress, to be improved upon with help from their respective communities.

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Are Microsoft Partners Spreading Open-Source Fear?

2009-05-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

Microsoft and its channel partners are bound together with the glue of mutual commercial success. That's a big reason why Microsoft VARs are always quick to defend the software giant's interests. Criticize Microsoft in front of a group of partners and you may find yourself being forced to run for cover.[My issue with this article is the author uses some anonymous poster in a "Slashdot Report" as reference material. An anonymous post on Slashdot is not anything even remotely close to a reliable source if you ask me. - Scott]

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You Get What You Pay For

2009-05-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

"You get what you pay for" is a common FUDphrase used to discredit Linux and FOSS, because so much of it is available free of cost. Which scares the purveyors of overpriced crapware, who would rather walk barefoot through broken glass and burning dung than write software that customers actually feel happy paying for. It's hooey and we know it. But there is a related truism that is valid, which is "Whoever pays the piper calls the tune." You could shorten this to "money talks." And that is definitely true.

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Game up for desktop Linux?

2009-05-24T11:05:00.001-07:00

With Microsoft readying itself for the release of a fast, streamlined operating system in Windows 7, the Linux community needs to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat if the free and open-source operating system is to stay relevant on desktop computers. Microsoft last month released a âbetaâ or test version of Windows 7, its newest operating system for desktop PCs. Unlike Vista, which was derided by consumers and the technology press for being bloated, slow and problematic for many users, Windows 7 is winning plaudits from those who have installed it.

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Combat Arms Ubuntu Trademark Infringement

2009-05-23T21:05:00.001-07:00

Proprietary software, we all know it, almost all of us have once used it. Video games are software, and the majority of all games on the market are still proprietary. When a free game uses a popular GNU/Linux distribution logo, therefore, trademark, to describe something; most GNU/Linux distribution vendors let it slide. But the same treatment shouldn't be given to the proprietary video game software vendors. The free-- though closed source-- video game 'Combat Arms' for the Windows operating system may be committing copyright and/or trademark infringement.

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EU could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with Windows

2009-05-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

The European Commission could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with future versions of Windows. The revelation came as part of Microsoft's quarterly filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. Among the statements is a clause outlining the penalties being considered by the European watchdog, which recently ruled that Microsoft is harming competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. The most interesting situation outlined in the filing would see either Microsoft or computer manufacturers forced to install Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari by default alongside Internet Explorer on new Windows-based PCs.

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EU could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with Windows

2009-05-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sun's McNealy Tapped for Government Open Source Ideas

2009-05-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

If you've been following President Obama's search for a CTO for the country, you may have seen BusinessWeek's report that the choice he will make has narrowed down to two candidates, both born in India: Padmasree Warrior, the chief technology officer of Cisco Systems, and Vivek Kundra, CTO in the government of Washington, D.C. Now, ex-Sun CEO Scott McNealy has revealed that he has been asked to prepare a paper for the Obama administration on how open source technologies are the key to a more secure, more efficient government.

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The Gatekeepers of our technology

2009-05-21T21:05:00.001-07:00

The Linux Community is having an on-again off-again love affair with Dell. It's been a rocky affair since Dell decided it would bump the positive side of their ledger by offering the Linux Operating System on their products. There have been some embarrassing public displays of affection and there have been equally public spats, with a few pots and pans thrown... So it goes with passionate couples. A word of advice is always welcome though and I might offer one of the afore-mentioned parties a bit of it now... Duck.

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Choosing a Secure Password

2009-05-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here is my question: Are âcyEma7;IkmH!â or âhot1BA-Bitso69â secure passwords? Yes definitely, but who (the hell) can remember it! YOU WILL - after reading this article! Your passwords play a crucial role in protecting your computing accounts and the personal information that can be accessed through them. One of the problems with passwords is that users forget them. For that reason people use simple password phrases like their dogâs name, their kidâs first name and birthdates, the name of the current month or everything in different combinations.

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Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring Alpha 1 released

2009-05-20T21:05:00.001-07:00

The first pre-release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring is now available. This alpha concentrates on updating to the major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2 Beta 2, GNOME 2.25.2, Xfce 4.6 Beta 2, X.org server 1.5, and kernel 2.6.28 rc8. It is also the first distribution to introduce the major new Tcl/Tk release, 8.6. The alpha is available only in the DVD Free edition with a traditional installer and no proprietary applications; future pre-releases will add the live CD One edition with proprietary drivers. Please help test this first pre-release and report bugs to Mandriva.

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linux audio confusing as ever

2009-05-20T11:05:00.001-07:00

Audio in linux, how to put it into words? How about: oss, alsa, pulseaudio, esound, arts, portaudio, jack, gstreamer, phonon. Did I miss any? Embarrassment of riches? Or just embarrassment? I will not rehash history any more than to say that between buggy/incomplete drivers for sound cards and the wonderful world of alsa Iâve never been able to understand how the hell audio works beyond getting output and, sporadically, input. I am the quintessential dumb user of linux audio, even though I have tried to figure it out.

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Creating geographical charts with EuroOffice Map Chart

2009-05-19T21:05:00.001-07:00

Suppose you need to chart some demographical or geographical data. Using OpenOffice.org's chart module you can present the data as a bar, pie, or even exploded donut chart. What you can't do, though, is to create a map chart that shows data distribution by continent, country, or region. To do this, you need the EuroOffice Map Chart Professional (EOMCP) extension. Unlike many other OpenOffice.org extensions, EOMCP is not free, but the price is right (it costs 9.90 EUR or about 12 USD), and there is a free trial version available.

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Forensic investigation using free Linux tools

2009-05-19T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here is a scenario you can think about. An administrator of a company has been accused of hoarding illegal material of questionable moral content on his company network system. You have been called upon to examine the suspect server and unearth evidence related to the said illegal material. Your boss have told you that you are not allowed to shutdown the server. Unfortunately no additional money is available to buy forensic tools or equipment. In this workshop we will explain, how to use free forensic tools to investigate such cases.

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Quick DB Setups With MySQL Sandbox

2009-05-18T21:05:00.001-07:00

There are various reasons to set up quick "sandbox" instances of MySQL. You can use them to test different types of replication (such as master-master or various slave topologies), to test your code against different versions of MySQL, or to setup instances of MySQL on a per developer basis where each person has their own database running on a different port so they can breakdown/setup the DB easily or make schema changes without affecting other team members. A perfect tool to do all of these things easily is MySQL Sandbox.

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Carphone Warehouse, netbooks and GNU/Linux: an inquest

2009-05-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I was browsing around my local Carphone Warehouse shop last week. Unlike the last time I crossed their threshold (November) I noticed that their Ubuntu netbook display had vanished. There was only one netbook on display and it was advertised as running Windows XP. Their website also advertised the Asus EeePC with Windows XP too. I approached a sales person to ask about a GNU/Linux option on the Elonex and was informed that they no longer stocked them. What when wrong? Read the details of the inquest at Freesoftware Magazine.

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Calls for open source government

2009-05-17T21:05:00.001-07:00

The secret to a more secure and cost effective government is through open source technologies and products. The claim comes from one of Silicon Valley's most respected business leaders Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems. He revealed he has been asked to prepare a paper on the subject for the new administration. "It's intuitively obvious open source is more cost effective and productive than proprietary software," he said. "Open source does not require you to pay a penny to Microsoft or IBM or Oracle or any proprietary vendor any money."

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Linux Solid-State Drive Benchmarks

2009-05-17T11:05:00.001-07:00

With the number of netbooks on the market continuing to increase each month and more of these mobile devices switching to solid-state drives for their reliability, extended battery life, and faster performance, SSDs are becoming quite common and finding themselves meeting many Linux hosts. How though does the real-world performance differ between hard disk drives and solid-state drives on Linux? We have run several tests atop Ubuntu on a Samsung netbook with a HDD and SSD. In addition, we have also looked at the encryption performance using both types of drives.

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Cussing and Praising Kubuntu

2009-05-16T21:05:00.001-07:00

I have never had a successful Ubuntu dist-upgrade, so I had low expectations. Amazingly, it was successful on my computer... ...which surprised me because the poor thing gets thrashed in all kinds of ways. I'm forever installing weird software and hardware, and doing source builds and backports and you name it, and it keeps on chugging anyway. I gave it a good housecleaning first to give it a fighting chance and deleted all the weird junk, and it went fine except for one thing-- those dratted NVidia drivers. We hatess Nvidia.

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Jetway NC92 Atom IPC Motherboard

2009-05-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

If you have wanted to get your hands on an Intel Atom system but aren't interested in the netbooks that are out there, it's now relatively easy to find compatible motherboards out there to build your own Intel Atom system. Some of these motherboards even come with an Atom CPU already installed. In this article we have our hands on the Jetway NC92-230-LF, which is a mini ITX motherboard that is pre-installed with an Intel Atom N230 and offers one PCI slot, one DDR2 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, and 6-channel audio.

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How to sync Evolution with Google's PIM apps

2009-05-15T21:05:00.001-07:00

While I'm a die-hard Google user -- especially the PIM apps -- I still appreciate offline applications for the integration with the desktop, speed, and features they sport. The Evolution contact and calendaring application is a great example: it's as feature-packed as Microsoft Outlook, but with GNOME integration, and it's fast. Gmail, by comparison, is slow and lacks any desktop integration. In a perfect world, Evolution would sync with Google's PIM apps. Unfortunately, there aren't any good, easy-to-use, comprehensive guides for setting up Evolution to sync with all of these apps -- until now.

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Storing Files/Directories In Memory With tmpfs

2009-05-15T11:05:00.001-07:00

You probably know that reading from RAM is a lot of faster than reading files from the hard drive, and reduces your disk I/O. This article shows how you can store files and directories in memory instead of on the hard drive with the help of tmpfs (a file system for creating memory devices). This is ideal for file caches and other temporary data (such as PHP's session files if you are using session.save_handler = files) because the data is lost when you power down or reboot the system.

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Dealing with Command Line Options in Python

2009-05-14T21:05:00.001-07:00

I just wrote a bit of Python to generate some reports from the contents of a database. The one program that was more than just "display the data" was the one to print the transaction log. It included some sub-totals for various fields and paginated output. The one task remaining was to give it some options. That is, to pass it some criteria that would modify the report. Specifically, I wanted a start and end date and the ability to change the sort order from the default which was transaction date.

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Dealing With "Argument list too long" Errors on Linux and Unix

2009-05-14T11:05:00.001-07:00

Just dealing with the OS error message. This post has nothing whatsoever to do with marriage ;) Here's a question that gets asked a lot (and, consequently, answered a lot ;) on the boards. How do you go about dealing with a situation in which you're trying to take care of some business on your Linux or Unix box and you get stopped with the "Argument list too long" error message? It's probably happened to all of us at some point, but it's fairly simple to avoid, and in more than one way.

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Protect your Privacy! How to Send Encrypted Emails with Linux

2009-05-13T21:05:00.001-07:00

Today, we live in a world of rapidly diminishing privacy. If you use your employer's email system, it is possible that every message you send or receive is logged and intercepted without your knowledge. This may have unintended or even disastrous consequences if an intercepted email message contains sensitive personal information. Unless your email goes through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protected connections, your email is vulnerable to what is known in the IT security field as man-in-the-middle attacks, where an attacker can intercept your message as it flies to its intended recipient.

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'Would a Server by Any Other Name Be as Functional?'

2009-05-13T11:05:00.001-07:00

If you were to break into my network, getting to the contents of the right computer would be easy. I facilitate digital burglars by naming my computers according to what they actually are; my main desktop machine carries the label "Desktop", my Aspire One is imaginatively named "One", and this trend continues down to "PowerMac G4", "Ultra 5", and "T2". I always found giving computers real names was a tad bit wacky, but as it turns out, it can actually be very useful to give your servers and computers whimsical but meaningful names.

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Excellent Linux Hardware: Liteon External DVD Writer, Kill-A-Watt

2009-05-12T21:05:00.001-07:00

Just the other day I was sitting around complaining to my dogs, who are devoted, attentive listeners, that finding out how well hardware devices are supported on Linux is still more work than it needs to be...At any rate both dogs gave me their best "You can complain, or you can do something constructive. Like come outside and throw the ball a few thousand times" looks. So I threw the ball a few dozen times, and then came back inside and decided to write about some of my Linux hardware experiences.

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Question to all storage admins, developers and QA engineersâ¦

2009-05-12T11:05:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been focusing my free time on continuing the development of scsigen v2.0. I am currently working on the Linux 2.6 version and it will be followed by Sunâs Solaris/OpenSolaris. Microsoft Windows and FreeBSD will come afterward. From experience I have learned to always find out what the user wants or desires in features and functionality. I am not here to introduce a new industry but provide easy-to-use solutions that are contained in simple packages. Project details are listed in the link provided above.

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OpenBSD 4.4 update: Opera fixed, laptop runs great with 768 MB of RAM

2009-05-09T21:05:00.001-07:00

The OpenBSD 4.4-equipped Toshiba Satellite 1100-S101 (circa 2002) is cranking along very nicely. Who knew you could squeeze so much computing goodness out of 1.3 GHz of processing power? In 768 MB of RAM, I'm running tons of apps at once. I can run Opera, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, the GIMP, Pidgin and Firefox and still not swap to disk. I don't think that's so unusual, but usual or not, it's pretty nice. In my world, 768 MB is a lot of RAM, and I'm glad to find out that it's more than enough to do my work.

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Phoenix HyperSpace: An Instant-On Linux Environment?

2009-05-09T11:05:00.001-07:00

Fifteen months ago we exclusively showed off SplashTop from DeviceVM, which was an instant-on Linux environment embedded into ASUS motherboards and since then it has worked its way into products from other OEMs. DeviceVM continues to work on further refining SplashTop by adding in virtualization support and other features, along with a promised developer SDK. Phoenix Technologies, the company producing the BIOSes for many of the motherboards on the market, is today introducing their SplashTop competitor. HyperSpace is the Phoenix Technologies product being unveiled this morning with several distinct differences from SplashTop.

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Samsung NC10 Netbook

2009-05-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

It seems that each and every week there are new netbooks that are introduced, but there are not many differences between most models. Some netbooks will have a slightly longer battery life, a different exterior, or a solid-state drive, but there are more similarities than differences. However, one of the latest companies to join the netbook bandwagon here in the United States has been Samsung with the introduction of the NC10. Is there anything special about this 10.2-inch Atom-powered netbook? We will tell you in this Linux review of the Samsung NC10.

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Samung NC10 Netbook

2009-05-07T11:05:00.001-07:00

Google's Trust Issue Won't Go Away

2009-05-06T21:05:00.001-07:00

I write a great deal about Google mostly because it is always trying new things and putting them out there for free for the world to try. The tools are easy to access and use from wherever you are--any device with a browser and an internet connection--and you can't beat the single-sign on across the tool kit, but for all it has going for it, Google has a major trust issue. Every time I write about Google the comments always include people who won't trust Google with their content ever.

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OpenSUSE 11.1: Evolution dependent on Mono

2009-05-06T11:05:00.001-07:00

Any .1 release of a Linux distribution is generally meant to fix bugs which were present in the .0 release, not to introduce new features. In this respect, OpenSUSE 11.1 differs sharply from other distributions. And the news is not all good either. Novell acolytes please note, this is NOT a review, just some sundry observations. The cancerous Mono has spread its tentacles further into the GNOME Desktop environment which is present on the GNOME live CD, to the extent that removing mono-core results in the removal of Evolution as well, the default mail program.

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A balance of freedoms

2009-05-05T21:05:00.001-07:00

I was reading this comment on a story submitted here on FSDaily and started thinking that life's all about balancing freedoms. We balance freedoms (sacrifice one freedom for another) everyday. We sacrifice the freedom to do whatever we want to live in a society where laws keep us safe. And we'd rather be safe than do the things that are illegal (well most of us anyway). So we sacrifice a freedom we wouldn't exercise (to commit crimes) for ones we do want to exercise (to live without being the victim of crime).

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Energized by open source: Ditching closed apps spurred growth, utility says

2009-05-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

Six-year-old BlueStar Energy Services Inc. doesn't have the kind of systems-baggage that saddles many older organizations. Still, the Chicago-based company found itself hindered by the rigidity of its core systems, which constrained its efforts to expand its customer base and offer new services. Those barriers to growth led the company to embark on a bold effort to replace the bulk of its IT infrastructure -- including voice, e-mail and financial systems -- with open-source software. The initiative has been so successful that CEO Guy Morgan attributes much of the company's recent growth to it.

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Condensing with Open Text Summarizer

2009-05-04T21:05:00.001-07:00

Properly speaking, Nadav Rotem's Open Text Summarizer (OTS) is not a summarizer at all. True summaries generally involve rewording contents at a higher level of generality while preserving the meaning, not just producing a condensed version of the original the way that OTS does. However, within its limits, OTS is an efficient tool for automatically producing abstracts of non-fiction, that, in the last 15 months, has received favorable mention from at least four academic publications, including one in which it outperformed similar utilities, including commercial ones such as Copernic and Subject Search Summarizer.

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Richard Stallman's FSF Suing Cisco for GPL Violations - Cisco dissapointed

2009-05-04T11:05:00.001-07:00

Cisco said it was disappointed by the lawsuit, saying it takes its open source software obligations and responsibilities seriously. "We are currently reviewing the issues raised in the suit but believe we are substantially in compliance. We have always worked very closely with the FSF and hope to reach a resolution agreeable to the company and the foundation." Cisco is one of the leading contributors to the Linux kernel. Cisco also is holding a $100,000 contest for Linux developers and uses the open source operating system with its AXP router module as well.

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Power Mac G4/466 a pretty good Linux platform

2009-05-03T21:05:00.001-07:00

I haven't booted the Power Mac G4/466 running Debian Etch in a while, but I did so today because I'm about to move the box and its massive LaCie electron22blue monitor. So I wanted to power it up, do a software update and get it on the cart. This is a nice box on which to run Debian. I've complained at length at how poorly Fedora 9 installed and autoconfigured on this box and how startlingly better Debian Etch did with that same task. Sorry to repeat that, but it bears repeating.

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Microsoft to embed RSA data cop in Windows

2009-05-03T11:05:00.001-07:00

Microsoft is adopting technology from EMC's RSA security division for Windows to police data and prevent loss and theft of information. The companies announced Thursday Microsoft will license RSA's data loss prevention (DLP) engine for future versions of Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and "similar" products. Microsoft would not be drawn on whether the DLP engine will be built into Office or the forthcoming Windows 7. Office would be logical move given it features the Outlook client used by Exchange and is where potentially sensitive documents can be created in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

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Open Source News from FOSDEM 2009 - Day 2

2009-05-02T21:05:00.001-07:00

LXer Feature: 13-Feb-2009 Last weekend, the 9th Free & Open Source Developers' Europe Meeting (FOSDEM) took place at the UniversitÃ© Libre Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels. Your editors Sander Marechal and Hans Kwint attended this meeting to find out for you what's hot, new in the area of the Linux environment and might be coming to you in the near future. This is our report of the second day covering the talks about Thunderbird 3, Debian release management, Ext4, Syslinux, CalDAV and more. Coverage of the first day can be found in our previous article.

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jQuery Embedded in Dojo Accordion Panes

2009-05-02T11:05:00.001-07:00

The Dojo Toolkit is an Open source JavaScript toolkit which can be used to develop stunning web pages. I liked it from the very beginning. It is very fast and provides lots of tools to work with DOM, Animations, AJAX etc. The base code is lightweight (~26 KB). jQuery, even lighter, also Open Source, is the write-less, do-more, cross-browser, CSS3 compliant JavaScript library. In this article we will experiment embedding jQuery in DOJO 123's Accordion widget and try to identify if there exists any cross-code interactions. The code is also tested for cross-browser suitability.

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Getting Faster Support For Your VCS-Clustered NetBackup Servers

2009-05-01T21:05:00.001-07:00

A simple tip to avoid a lot of headaches with Symantec VCS NetBackup support. Today's post is a little trick that anyone running Veritas/Symantec NetBackup (Linux or Unix) on VCS - Veritas Cluster Server - should know. As the title suggests, doing this one little thing will almost guarantee you more responsive support from Symantec (given the highly specific situation outlined in the first sentence, of course ;). The funny thing, though, is that many people have this problem already; they just may not have had to deal with Symantec, with regards to it, yet.

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The Windows 7 party pooper

2009-05-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I published "Why Linux makes Windows 7 obsolete" . Okay, that was quite funny and we all had a lot of fun. But let's analyze what actually happened. In the past, editors of the "major" websites complained they couldn't publish a story on Open Source without being "flamed to hell". It appears that nowadays Windows supporters are just as touchy. The point is, they seems to feel they have to defend their choice. That is quite a change from the arrogant attitude they had before. All in all, it was an interesting social experiment.

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The Open Source Crystal Ball

2009-04-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

The end of the year is a self-indulgent time, when those who write about technology stop making lists of the best, worst, and most mind-numbingly mediocre applications they find and pause to make lists about tech trends in the upcoming year. Assessing the past is easy: it has been an interesting year for open source software. Predictions that come to pass, unless suitably vague, just fall into the "lucky guess" category. The one prediction I am sure of for 2009: Open source software will hold its own when it comes to growth and adoption.

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Amarok 2.0 Rocks the World

2009-04-30T11:05:00.001-07:00

After two years of intense development, Amarok 2 has become a reality! Some of the highlights that are included in the 2.0 release are a completely redesigned user interface, tight integration with online services such as Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm and Shoutcast. There is an overhauled scripting API and plugin support to allow better integration into Amarok. Much of the work has gone into migration from the KDE 3 to KDE 4 framework using core technologies such as Solid, Phonon, and Plasma. Read more about the new release in the release announcement and start Amaroking!

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Cloud computing to fuel open source explosion

2009-04-29T21:05:00.001-07:00

Tom Berquist, former managing director of financial powerhouses Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and now CFO of open source database firm Ingres, made the prediction last week. Ingres, the second largest open source company, counts the likes of BAE Systems, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa among its customers. Berquist said the cloud computing model--of companies' serving applications over the Internet--requires vendors to spend large amounts of cash buying and maintaining servers, telecoms infrastructure and software such as operating systems, Web, application and database servers to support their software as a service (SaaS) operation.

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7 Best Free/Open-source Image Viewers for Linux

2009-04-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

An image viewer (also known as image browser) is a desktop application that can quickly display or handle stored graphical images in different graphics file formats. It can render images according to properties of the display such as display resolution, color depth, and color profile. Other image viewers have advanced features like editing and web publishing. Some Linux users may not care much on whatever image viewer they are using. But to those who are rather picky, they can always get and install other image viewers with different features to suit their needs.

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Real World Benchmarks Of The EXT4 File-System

2009-04-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

With the EXT4 file-system being marked as stable in the forthcoming Linux 2.6.28 kernel, and some Linux distributions potentially switching to it as an interim step until the btrfs file-system is ready, we decided it was time to benchmark this journaled file-system for ourselves. We ran a number of disk-centric Linux benchmarks along with several of our real-world tests from the Phoronix Test Suite to gauge how well the EXT4 file-system performance will be noticed by desktop users and computer gamers. We have compared these EXT4 results to the EXT3, XFS, and ReiserFS file-systems.

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The Follow-Up: Absorption Of Knowledge In The Computer Age

2009-04-28T11:05:00.001-07:00

Today I'm going to follow up on post we did at the beginning of this week regarding absorption of knowledge in the computer age. I was originally going to post some ridiculously bad code, explain that I was doing it on purpose, and why, with text in the "F pattern" and see how many people still complained about the shoddy quality of the code. Instead, I looked back at some older posts where the code was intentionally bad and decided that, since I've already done that, it would be cheap to do it again.

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New software would play any videogame ever created

2009-04-27T21:05:00.001-07:00

Software that can be used to play almost any computer game in history is to be developed as part of a European attempt to preserve digital cultural heritage. The European Union has funded a â¬4.02 million (Â£3.6m, $5.2m) project dubbed KEEP, for Keeping Emulation Environments Portable, which will develop new ways to archive digital objects endangered by the relentless march of technology. As well as games, it will work to ensure that other kinds of files and software remain accessible long after the demise of the hardware and software for which they were originally intended.

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pkgwatch -- A Package Management Wrapper

2009-04-27T11:05:00.001-07:00

In the past I was trying many different linux distros. Each has its own package management systems: debian has apt, mandrake has urpmi, yellowdog has an apt front-end for rpm, suse has yast... While they all are quite similar and not difficult to use, I found that I often made mistakes because I often forgot which system I was using and the exact commands on that system. Another issue is that I wish I could keep track how I installed/removed those packages. So I wrote a simple wrapper for various package management systems.

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The semantic web as an operating system: with users and permissions!

2009-04-26T21:05:00.001-07:00

In the near future, the semantic web data will be precisely tagged and thus a whole lot easier to find. This will further spur the trend of the web and global society becoming tight networks that are increasingly interdependent and transparent. Do we have to sacrifice anonymity on the web in order to retain trust for collaboration? Or could we see a web emerge that functions as a kind of operating system with different users and permissions to run this global machine which we call the internet? Read the full article at Freesoftware Magazine.

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Spreading the FOSS message the Gandhian way

2009-04-26T11:05:00.001-07:00

There are some among the FOSS community who pay lip service to Mahatma Gandhi when talking about this genre of software. There are others who actually put Gandhi's methods into practice to spread the message. Four young men from the south Indian state of Kerala recently followed the example of the Mahatma - who undertook a famous march in 1930 against the tax on salt, to defy the British colonial rulers of India - and walked from one end of the state to the other , meeting people along the way, to spread the message of free software.

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Open Source Windows? Don't Count on It

2009-04-25T21:05:00.001-07:00

Obama's inauguration must have brought out the optimist in tech journalists. In the last week, Ron Miller and Charles Babcock have written to implore Microsoft to open source Windows. While inspired and with some solid reasoning, I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Here's why. As much as I believe in open source, I don't think it's realistic to expect Microsoft to change course so quickly or drastically, even though Vista has been a pretty big mess for the company. (I would, however, be happy to be proved wrong on this front.)

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Linux and the Open Source Model: Does It Work?

2009-04-25T11:05:00.001-07:00

Could Microsoft benefit from a similar business model? Does the Open Source Model work better than its commercial alternative? This post comes on the heels of one of my fellow Staff Writer's posting the story, "A Modest Idea: What If Microsoft Open Sourced Windows?" And I'm aiming this commentary at Microsoft too but it applies to any company who seeks profit over what is fundamentally correct behavior in the marketplace. I'm not against anyone making a profit. Profit is good. Forfeiting good business sense and sacrificing employees in the name of profit are bad.

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Mom, apple pie and open source

2009-04-24T21:05:00.001-07:00

Whenever I make a real egregious error here, like confusing FOSS with open source, I can usually count on a short e-mail from Richard Stallman, dear old RMS himself. So I hope he forgives me going all Richard Stallman on the Obama Administration. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Obama transition head John Podesta (right), has come out with a release calling the Administrationâs stimulus proposal an open source stimulus, because it emphasizes transparency and will feature a Web site where voters can track where the money goes.

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Disruptive Innovation, Applied to Health Care

2009-04-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

The health care system in America is on life support. It costs too much and saps economic vitality, achieves far too little return on investment and isnât distributed equitably. As the Obama administration tries to diagnose and treat what ails the system, however, reformers shouldnât be worried only about how to pay for it. Instead, the country needs to innovate its way toward a new health care business model â" one that reduces costs yet improves both quality and accessibility.[This article doesn't talk about FOSS directly, but it really wants too. - Scott]

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Auth software firm grows

2009-04-23T21:05:00.000-07:00

A company specializing in open source authentication and auditing software for mixed networks says it grew by a factor of five in 2008. Likewise Software says its products can be used to securely integrate Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory. Likewise is based in Bellevue, Wash., where Microsoft also keeps extensive offices. For its part, Microsoft yesterday announced historic layoffs. Likewise boasts of revenue growth of 500 percent, year-over-year, and new customers that include HP, IBM, Oracle, and Sun. It has ongoing relationships with Apple, Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat, and Ubuntu, it says.

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New Volume Control Interface For GNOME

2009-04-23T11:05:00.001-07:00

One of the items being worked on by Red Hat for Fedora 11 is making the GNOME volume control and sound preferences area more intuitive and easier to use. With Fedora and most other distributions now using PulseAudio, they are beginning to take advantage of some of the features available through this sound server. Some of this work involves reworking the user interface for controlling GNOME Sound Preferences, which we are providing a glimpse of in this article. Among other benefits, there is finally the ability to adjust the volume level on a per-application basis.

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Ironically, it's free: a review of GIMP 2.6.4

2009-04-22T21:05:00.001-07:00

This is the first time that I'm reviewing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), and it's definitely long overdue. As the open-source image editor of choice, the feature list of GIMP 2.6 is very long, and despite its status as a free application, it's as feature-packed as any commercial application. GIMP is loaded with the up-to-date tools many demanding professionals need: BÃ©zier path editing with brush stroking, tablet support, Heal Tool, alpha channels, multiple-undo History, area-averaged eyedropper, PSD file compatibility, and a wackload of other high-end tools that are impressive in their attention to detail.

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Will 2009 Be Open or Closed?

2009-04-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

As the end of 2008 approaches, people's thoughts naturally turn to 2009, and what it might hold. The dire economic situation means that many will be wondering what the year will bring in terms of employment and their financial situation. This is not the place to ponder such things, nor am I qualified to do so. Instead, I'd like to discuss a matter that is related to these larger questions, but which focusses on issues particularly germane to Linux Journal: will 2009 be a year in which openness thrives, or one in which closed thinking re-asserts itself?

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Linux and Open Source

Distributed Replicated Storage Across Four Nodes With GlusterFS On Debian Lenny

Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python

Hardware profiles in Linux using the runlevel 4

Testing Fedora 10 KDE Edition

Extensions for Chromium?

X@FOSDEM 2009: RandR 1.3, GEM, Gallium3D, Etc

Google Jumps Into Organizing Smart Meter Energy Data

Why Does Everyone Heart Boxee?

E-tailer dumps Windows for Red Hat

Review: Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual

This week at LWN: The exceedingly grumpy editor's accounting system update

Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows

AMD Video BIOS Disassembler Released

Object Oriented Programming in Python

KNDISwrapper is half-done, but far from half-baked

Trumpet Windows Loudly--- Except When It's Malware Outbreaks

Save the Libraries â With Open Source

Weighing in on SCaLE

Symbian Foundation in anti-Android recruit drive

Microsoft Licensing Deal Grants Access To Linux Printers

Vista Support Upped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Does Linux stand a chance now that Windows 7 will run on netbooks?

Does Linux stand a chance now that Wndows 7 will run on netbooks?

Google's Microsoft Complex

Opera is the weak link on my current OpenBSD 4.4 laptop

Ubuntu 9.04 Receives EXT4 Support

Computer-Augmented Intelligence

Open source programming languages for kids

VirtualBox Gets OpenGL Acceleration Support

Tracking build status with Pulse

The Microsoftie Who Embraced the Dark Side (Open Source)

Running DOS Programs on Linux: Duke Nukem Lives!

This week at LWN: MinGW and why Linux users should care

Red Hat Ditching Oracle for Network/Spacewalk

Microsoft promotes top IP officer

Microsoft promotes top IP officer

Red Hat deal a kick in the guts for Novell

Debian Lenny: A Linux Valentine Release

SELinux and Smack security modules for Linux containers

Are Microsoft Partners Spreading Open-Source Fear?

You Get What You Pay For

Game up for desktop Linux?

Combat Arms Ubuntu Trademark Infringement

EU could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with Windows

EU could force Microsoft to bundle Firefox with Windows

Sun's McNealy Tapped for Government Open Source Ideas

The Gatekeepers of our technology

Choosing a Secure Password

Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring Alpha 1 released

linux audio confusing as ever

Creating geographical charts with EuroOffice Map Chart

Forensic investigation using free Linux tools

Quick DB Setups With MySQL Sandbox

Carphone Warehouse, netbooks and GNU/Linux: an inquest

Calls for open source government

Linux Solid-State Drive Benchmarks

Cussing and Praising Kubuntu

Jetway NC92 Atom IPC Motherboard

How to sync Evolution with Google's PIM apps

Storing Files/Directories In Memory With tmpfs

Dealing with Command Line Options in Python

Dealing With "Argument list too long" Errors on Linux and Unix

Protect your Privacy! How to Send Encrypted Emails with Linux

'Would a Server by Any Other Name Be as Functional?'

Excellent Linux Hardware: Liteon External DVD Writer, Kill-A-Watt

Question to all storage admins, developers and QA engineersâ¦

OpenBSD 4.4 update: Opera fixed, laptop runs great with 768 MB of RAM

Phoenix HyperSpace: An Instant-On Linux Environment?

Samsung NC10 Netbook

Samung NC10 Netbook

Google's Trust Issue Won't Go Away

OpenSUSE 11.1: Evolution dependent on Mono

A balance of freedoms

Energized by open source: Ditching closed apps spurred growth, utility says

Condensing with Open Text Summarizer

Richard Stallman's FSF Suing Cisco for GPL Violations - Cisco dissapointed

Power Mac G4/466 a pretty good Linux platform

Microsoft to embed RSA data cop in Windows

Open Source News from FOSDEM 2009 - Day 2

Save the Libraries â With Open Source

Question to all storage admins, developers and QA engineersâ¦