Top 5 iPod Alternatives for Linux Users Learning Ubuntu: "Why support a company that doesn't support what you use?
The iPod is a great MP3 player, but there are several other MP3 players which are better then the iPod, and support all of the major operating systems as well." (Nov 15, 2009)
Linux Today Features
Linux Today Sticky Page On this page we'll maintain links to important articles and documents that pertain to Free Software, Linux, and the tech industry. Please submit your suggestions to editors@linuxtoday.com. Thank you! (Jun 15, 2009)
Small Features
Editor's Note: Cloud is Just Another Word for "Sucker"
We might warn about privacy, security, and reliability problems in cloud computing, but it's coming and we can't stop it. So do we join the cloud party? Heck no. Nov 14, 2009
Will secret copyright treaty restrict your digital rights? (Nov 22, 2009, 08:03 UTC) (306 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) MacUser: "Most Americans expect that their laws are only passed after some period of public debate between Republicans and Democrats or their news-channel proxies. However, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) may be an exception to this rule, and if it is signed, many United States laws concerning the Internet and ownership of data may become substantively different."
The Problem With The Linux Community (Nov 22, 2009, 00:03 UTC) (1341 reads)
(3 talkbacks)
(feedback) O'Reilly Broadcast: "There is too much fanaticism in the world, people getting all exited over nothing - over stuff which is meaningless. The really important and relevant stuff is ignored."
Vim 101: A Beginner's Guide to Vim (Nov 21, 2009, 20:02 UTC) (1669 reads)
(2 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux Foundation: "Ever wanted to learn Vim, but weren't sure how to start? No problem. We have you covered! This will be the first of a four-part (possibly longer) series covering how to use Vim and where to start using the world's best text editor."
Open Source Science: A Revolution From Within (Nov 21, 2009, 16:02 UTC) (1372 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) LinuxInsider: "It worked for software, so why not science? The open source science movement has been gaining momentum, and it's shaping the future of scientific research and discovery."
openSUSE 11.2-- Incremental Updates, Plenty of Polish (Nov 21, 2009, 12:02 UTC) (1718 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) LinuxPlanet: "With the purchase of SUSE by Novell many feared that the brand would be subsumed into the corporate borg and contaminated with proprietary add-ons. But openSUSE goes its own way, and the result is a sleek, reliable distribution with all the bells and whistles. Paul Ferrill takes it for a spin and reports."
Microsoft, other rivals slam Google Chrome OS (Nov 21, 2009, 08:02 UTC) (3885 reads)
(4 talkbacks)
(feedback) Computerworld: "Microsoft Corp. is, predictably, not all that impressed by Google Inc.'s demonstration of its upcoming Chrome OS today, but neither were potential rivals who make Linux and instant-on operating systems."
Intel Linux Graphics Shine With Fedora 12 (Nov 21, 2009, 04:02 UTC) (2046 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "Intel's Linux graphics driver stack is often at the forefront of X.Org / Mesa innovations, from Intel being the first driver having in-kernel video memory management to being the first driver with mainline kernel mode-setting support to even being the driver that often first receives support for new OpenGL extensions in Mesa."
Editor's Note: Do It Yourself "Cloud" (Nov 21, 2009, 00:02 UTC) (3488 reads)
(6 talkbacks)
(feedback) Last week I wrote "Cloud is Just Another Word for "Sucker". My objections to buying into this whole "cloud" services fad are three-fold: trust, reliability, and performance. But why not do-it-yourself? Linux has everything you need.
Google Chrome OS: First looks, first impressions (Nov 20, 2009, 23:33 UTC) (3826 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Ghacks: "The very early stages of the REAL Google Chrome operating system has been released (and done so fully open sourced). It’s not an operating system you can (and should) be putting on a stand alone machine. Actually what has been released are VirtualBox and VMware images that can be booted in their respective virtual machines."
Kernel Log: Coming in 2.6.32 (Part 3) - Storage (Nov 20, 2009, 23:03 UTC) (1917 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Kernel Log: "The kernel development team have enhanced various aspects of Btrfs, one effect of which is to significantly improve the experimental file system's write performance."
Enhancing openSUSE 11.2: Adding Repositories and Packages (Nov 20, 2009, 22:03 UTC) (1297 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux.com: "So you've got that shiny new openSUSE 11.2 system up and running. Now what? The default repositories have plenty of software, but there's much more for openSUSE in community and semi-official repositories that you might find useful."
A Northwest Nobel option? (Linus for the Nobel Peace prize) (Nov 20, 2009, 21:33 UTC) (1126 reads)
(7 talkbacks)
(feedback) Ridenbaugh Press/Northwest: "It would be fitting to honor that international effort by giving a Peace Prize to Linus Torvalds, perhaps in 2011 on the 20th anniversary of the August 1991 Linux announcement, or in 2012 on the 50th anniversary of Pauling’s award."
SECURITY: Cloud Computing Security Benefits, Risks and Recommendations (Nov 20, 2009, 21:03 UTC) (883 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Help Net Security: "ENISA's report is the first to take an independent, in-depth look at all the security and privacy issues of moving into the cloud, outlining some of the information security benefits of cloud computing, as well as 35 key security risks."
Keeping score in test-driven development with Python, PyLint, unittest, doctest, (Nov 20, 2009, 20:33 UTC) (985 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Free Software Magazine: "Programming is more fun when you keep score. The extreme programming (XP) development model popularized the idea of test-driven development (TDD) with professional programmers in mind. But TDD turns out to be even more useful for lone amateur programmers, because it provides much needed motivation in the form of more visible rewards for your work."
Win a CodeWeavers Linux Gaming Rig (Nov 20, 2009, 20:03 UTC) (933 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Wine Reviews: "Any customer purchasing CrossOver Games or CrossOver Professional until November 25th will be automatically registered to win this loaded CodeWeavers Gaming PC."
Intel Linux Graphics Shine With Fedora 12 (Nov 20, 2009, 19:03 UTC) (1461 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Phoronix: "Intel's Linux graphics driver stack is often at the forefront of X.Org / Mesa innovations, from Intel being the first driver having in-kernel video memory management to being the first driver with mainline kernel mode-setting support to even being the driver that often first receives support for new OpenGL extensions in Mesa."
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Firefox Extensions Discovered (Nov 20, 2009, 18:33 UTC) (1301 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Help Net Security: "One of the reasons behind Firefox's popularity is the availability of a vast library of extensions. Users use them to modify the browser to their liking and make their browsing experience easier and more pleasant. The problem is, unbeknown to them, these extensions are exposing them to risk."
Eva's Useful Guide to Ubuntu 9.10 (updated!) (Nov 20, 2009, 18:03 UTC) (2257 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Johannes Eva: "Welcome to the third edition of Eva's Useful Guide to Ubuntu!
This guide contains many tips to enhance and customize a fresh Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" installation."
Heard at the Ubuntu Developer Summit: Goodbye GIMP, hello ... nothing (Nov 20, 2009, 17:33 UTC) (2307 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Click: "The OMG!Ubuntu blog reports on the decision, however preliminary, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Dallas to remove the GIMP image editor from the 10.04 Lucid LTS release of the wildly popular Linux distribution."
Installing Google's Go Language on Ubuntu (Nov 20, 2009, 16:33 UTC) (1597 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Experimenting with GNU/Linux: "GO language promoted by google is a new system programming language said to be expressive, concurrent, garbage-collected. The language is still very young and there is no ready made package available for ubuntu. You can install it and try out the features from the version control repository of go."
A tiny cloud in Android (Nov 20, 2009, 16:03 UTC) (1254 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) IBM Developerworks: "Cloud computing minimally requires two components: the client software that runs on the portable device and the server software that normally runs on a network server. Put a tiny cloud in your Android handset and experience the usefulness of a local Web server."
Qualcomm sees big bucks in China's smartbook market (Nov 20, 2009, 15:33 UTC) (810 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Shanzai: "It's almost as if Qualcomm's CEO Paul Jacobs took a deep breath and looked the vast expanse that is Mainland China and said to himself; 'There be money in them there hills...'"
Amarok 2.2.1 (Nov 20, 2009, 15:03 UTC) (1380 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) ItRunsOnLinux: "Only 6 weeks after the launch of Amarok 2.2.0, the Amarok team is proud to present the next release in the 2.2 series: Amarok 2.2.1. This audio-player can play various audio-file formats & audio-streams. While the developers have focused on fixing bugs and polishing existing features, a few new features make their appearance as well."
10 Years of SourceForge.net (Nov 20, 2009, 13:33 UTC) (1107 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) OStatic: "Most people think of SourceForge.net these days as another huge web site with lots of ads, but very few understand its humble beginnings or how challenging it was to even launch the darn thing without the powers-that-be at VA killing it off in a fit of well-intentioned hari kiri."
Droid Could Bring Motorola Back From Dead (Nov 20, 2009, 12:47 UTC) (1933 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Ron Miller: "Until Motorola came out with the Droid, they were the forgotten cell phone company, but it wasn't that long ago that everyone wanted one of their phones: the Razr. This was in 2004, in the days before the iPhone when smart phones were found only in the pockets of executives and sales people."
Nokia N900: First Look (Nov 20, 2009, 12:03 UTC) (2914 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Linux Journal: "I've had the opportunity evaluate a pre-release N900 for a few weeks now, and while you can expect a full review in an upcoming issue of Linux Journal, I wanted to give you a quick look into what the N900 is like from the perspective of your average Linux geek"
Fedora 12 boasts enhanced performance, improved reporting, better graphics (Nov 20, 2009, 11:03 UTC) (1886 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) TechRepublic: "Today, Fedora 12 was released (November 17, 2009). This is perhaps one of the most significant Fedora releases to date, for a few reasons. A lot of performance enhancements under the hood make this a much more tightly optimized release for x86 (32bit) systems."
EVO Game Console Goes Live (Nov 20, 2009, 09:03 UTC) (1535 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Envizions press release: EVO Open Source Game Console Goes Live: Game On
Nov. 20 streaming event: Derrick Samuels debuts the final version of EVO
Cooperative Bug Isolation for Fedora 12 (Nov 20, 2009, 07:33 UTC) (1072 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) LWN.net: "We distribute specially modified
versions of popular open source software packages. These special
versions monitor their own behavior while they run, and report back how
they work (or how they fail to work) in the hands of real users like
you."
What Applications Should be in the Standard Installation? (Nov 20, 2009, 06:03 UTC) (1788 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) I Been to Ubuntu: "You may have heard that GIMP and F-Spot aren't safe for inclusion in 10.04. 700MB isn't much space to work with Why not question all the applications in Ubuntu, then? What should be in the default installation?"
Linux Bug #1: Bad Documentation (part 2) (Nov 20, 2009, 03:03 UTC) (1451 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) LinuxPlanet: "In Part 1 I talked about the messy state of Linux documentation, and how telling users to rely on Google is not documentation. Good documentation is equally important as good code. Today we look at the different types of documentation, from man pages to glossy books."
Haiku OS Alpha 1 Screenshots (Nov 20, 2009, 00:03 UTC) (2696 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Nuxified: "As you may or may not know Haiku OS Alpha 1 was recently released. It is a full featured and improved clone of the old BeOS. OSNews has a nice review starting with a bit of history."
Ubuntu's Canonical and Google partner to create Chrome (Nov 19, 2009, 23:47 UTC) (3101 reads)
(0 talkbacks)
(feedback) Cyber Cynic: "Some people may see Google's Chrome operating system as competing with existing Linux desktop distributions. Canonical, the company behind popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, isn't one of them. They're working with Google to make Chrome."
Liveblog: Google Chrome operating system arrives (Nov 19, 2009, 23:33 UTC) (2926 reads)
(1 talkbacks)
(feedback) Computerworld: "Today, November 19th, we're finally going to get a good look at Google's Chrome desktop operating system. Join me as I give a live overview."
