Linux News for Oct 30, 2008

• Novell Makes a Move -- Motion for Constructive Trust and Payment Now - Updated 2Xs, as text (Oct 30, 2008, 23:36)
  Groklaw: "Here we go. Novell has filed a motion asking the bankruptcy court to confirm the constructive trust amount and order SCO to pay it now:"


• Ubuntu Brings the BBC to Linux (Oct 30, 2008, 23:06)
  Linux Today Blog: "But thanks to FOSS (as always) there is a silver ray in the gloom-- Ubuntu 8.10 includes the Totem BBC Plugin:"


• Is Linux Truly Small Business Ready? (Oct 30, 2008, 22:36)
  Datamation: "Nearly everyday we hear about how the modern Linux distributions are not only ready for the home user, they can even meet the growing demands of many small businesses as well. But rather than debating this point, I'll examine the tools that would potentially mean that more small businesses would feel the confidence to take the open source plunge."


• Germany: 'Cost of Open Source Desktop Maintenance is by far the Lowest' (Oct 30, 2008, 22:06)
  Metamorphosis: "Open Source desktops are far cheaper to maintain than proprietary desktop configurations, says Rolf Schuster, a diplomat at the German Embassy in Madrid and the former head of IT at the Foreign Ministry."


• What's New in the GNU Compiler Collection Release Series (Oct 30, 2008, 21:36)
  IBM Developerworks: "But GCC can't just sit still. New processor architectures continue to appear, and new research finds better ways to optimize and generate code. So GCC moves forward and has now matured into its fourth major release. This article explores the fundamental changes in GCC version 4 to show you why--if you haven't switched yet--the time has come to use the compiler standard."


• Ubuntu 8.10 - A Positive Evolution (Oct 30, 2008, 21:06)
  Polish Linux: "Usually I do not install test versions, however, favourable opinions of my friends convinced me it was worth trying. I have to admit, I am not disappointed with the latest version of Ubuntu, 8.10. And here is why."


• A Better File System for Linux? (Oct 30, 2008, 20:36)
  InternetNews: "Oracle's Better File System for Linux (BTRFS) is gearing up but what will it do and who will use it?"


• Chemnitezr Linux-Tage - Call for Lectures/Presentation (Oct 30, 2008, 20:06)
  Chemnitz University of Technology: "The "Chemnitz Linux Days" is one of Europe's largest conventions on open source software. Every year since 1999, creative and active people are meeting in Saxony's city of Chemnitz to share new ideas and discuss new developments of Linux and associated topics."


• Solving Privacy Issues in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (Oct 30, 2008, 19:36)
  Begin Linux: "One of the new features in Ubuntu 8.10 is the ability to create an encrypted directory for content you do not want others to access. Oh, by the way, did you know that anyone can read your files that are in your home directory? Here is an example of sue logged in and able to open files in mike's home directory. However, note that they are opened read-only so they cannot be changed. Still, who is looking at your stuff?"


• OpenOffice 3: Useful, Compatible - and Pretty (Oct 30, 2008, 19:06)
  LinuxInsider: "OpenOffice 3 is out of beta, and reviewer Lou Dolinar has had a few weeks to give it a test drive. The new version is spiffier, more compatible with office and works on more platforms -- particularly Mac, which had been a problem before."


• Intel to Establish Software Center in Taiwan (Oct 30, 2008, 18:36)
  Washington Times: "Intel Corp. announced Thursday it will join the Taiwanese government in setting up a Linux software center in Taiwan to help better market locally produced laptops and mobile Internet devices to the world."


• More Results from Realeyes (Oct 30, 2008, 18:06)
  Realeyes Technology: "For the past few weeks, I have been learning a lot about the site where the Realeyes pilot project is being run. After seeing several reports of incidents from Europe and Asia, it occurred to me that I could create a rule to monitor non-US IP addresses."


• U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Business Method Patents (Oct 30, 2008, 17:45)
  Reuters: " U.S. patent appeals court ruled on Thursday that business methods, such as Amazon.com Inc's one-click to buy goods on the Internet, cannot be patented."


• 12 Great Apps for Bridging Windows, Linux and Macs (Oct 30, 2008, 17:36)
  Network World: "Windows, Mac, and Linux -- can't we all just get along? Blogger Ron Barrett has scoured the IT world to bring you this list of affordably priced business productivity tools that run on any desktop (many are even free)."


• Upgrading to Intrepid Ibex With a Local apt-mirror (Oct 30, 2008, 17:06)
  Geek Page! "A clean install of Kubuntu requires just over 1 GB of packages to upgrade from Hardy to Intrepid, and dragging that much data across the cloud is just painful, I don't care how fast your ISP is. It's especially painful if you happen to have an apt-mirror server on your own LAN with a full copy of the Intrepid repository."


• Nokia Talks Qt Strategy, Tactics (Oct 30, 2008, 16:36)
  LinuxDevices: "Nokia hopes to increase the number of developers working on its Qt GUI toolkit tenfold. In opening remarks at its annual Developer Days conference today, Qt Software Chief Sebastian Nyström (pictured) invited attendees to look for online job postings, commenting, "We're hiring.""


• Ghost Story: Fear of Microsoft Fades (Oct 30, 2008, 16:06)
  Between the Lines: "It probably didn't cost much to produce the latest three commercials in its "Mac vs. PC" series. But their effect appears to be much greater, across the Web at least, than what Microsoft is able to generate in its $300 million campaign about Life Without Walls."


• Novell Turns Mobile Setback Into Victory (Oct 30, 2008, 15:36)
  The VAR Guy: "When Lenovo de-emphasized Novell SUSE Linux on ThinkPads, some skeptics thought it was a serious setback for desktop Linux and Novell's own open source efforts. The VAR Guy knew better. Fact is, Lenovo was bolstering its Novell relationship in two other areas. Here's the scoop."


• Sabre Holdings: Red Hat Thrives in Place of Unix (Oct 30, 2008, 15:06)
  Enterprise Networking Planet: "Linux has made the transition from rebel code to respectable corporate operating system faster than a speeding Usain Bolt."


• Linux to Ship on More Desktops than Windows (Oct 30, 2008, 14:36)
  Jim Zemlin's Blog: "For those that decry the constant prediction of the “year of the Linux desktop” I am happy to say that next year Linux may actually ship on more desktops than Windows or the Mac. That is right, I said next year. What is driving this? Two words: fast boot."


• KDE4 Apps: digiKam (Oct 30, 2008, 14:06)
  Polish Linux: "DigiKam is an application to manage your digital photos professionally, with a claim of: "Manage your photographs like a professional, with the power of Open Source"."


• Piracy - The Enemy of Free Software (Oct 30, 2008, 13:36)
  Raiden's Realm: "Sure, some have justified it in the movie and music industries as a way to hurt the media giants in tangible ways that force them to make changes they otherwise would not make, or otherwise did not want to. But software piracy is another story entirely."


• Performance tuning with System Control (sysctl) in Ubuntu (Oct 30, 2008, 13:06)
  Ubuntu Geek: "The Linux kernel is flexible, and you can even modify the way it works on the fly by dynamically changing some of its parameters using sysctl command. Sysctl provides an interface that allows you to examine and change several hundred kernel parameters in Linux or BSD. Changes take effect immediately, and there’s even a way to make them persist after a reboot."


• Appnr - Synaptic For Your Browser (Ubuntu) (Oct 30, 2008, 12:36)
  HowtoForge: "Appnr is a web-based directory for Ubuntu packages (including the official repositories and third-party packages from Medibuntu, Google, and the Canonical Partner repository). You can use it to browse and install packages directly from your browser. It's like Synaptic for your browser."


• Ubuntu Linux 8.10's Five Best Features (Oct 30, 2008, 12:06)
  Cyber Cynic: ""Ubuntu's focus has been on high-quality integration." Based on my work with the Ubuntu 8.10 release candidate, which goes final tomorrow, October 30th 2008, I agree with Shuttleworth."


• Preventing MySQL Injection Attacks With GreenSQL On Debian Etch (Oct 30, 2008, 10:36)
  HowtoForge: "GreenSQL (or greensql-fw) is a firewall for MySQL databases that filters SQL injection attacks. It works as a reverse proxy, i.e., it takes the SQL queries, checks them, passes them on to the MySQL database and delivers back the result from the MySQL database. It comes with a web interface (called greensql-console) so that you can manage GreenSQL through a web browser."


• Linux Tip of the Day - Look For a String (Oct 30, 2008, 09:06)
  Dralnux: "Sometimes you look for a string in files on your directory using grep, but you end up getting funny characters on your terminal. This is really annoyance..."


• 10 Essential Applications Included in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (Oct 30, 2008, 07:36)
  TuxArena: "Intrepid comes with pretty much bleeding-edge packages: GNOME 2.24.1, OpenOffice 2.4.1 (OpenOffice 3.0 is now available, but it is not included in 8.10), Firefox 3.0.3 and GIMP 2.6.1. Although Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 is out, 3.0.3 is the version which ships with Intrepid, and I guess it's a smart choice considering there was enough time to test this release."


• Understanding OSPF Routing (part 2) (Oct 30, 2008, 06:06)
  Linux Planet: "In today's installment of the classic Networking 101 series, Charlie Schluting guides us through the vital innards of OSPF, the Open Shortest Path First routing protocol: LSAs (Link-State Advertisements), packet types, and area types. Knowing these things ensures you will always understand your routing infrastructure, and never make daft mistakes."


• Install and Configure PowerDNS with MySQL (Oct 30, 2008, 04:36)
  TrulyManaged: "PowerDNS features a large number of different backends ranging from simple BIND style zonefiles to relational databases and load balancing/failover algorithms. A DNS recursor is also included as a separate program."


• Available Now: Damn Small Linux 4.4.7 (Oct 30, 2008, 03:06)
  Softpedia: "Robert Shingledecker announced today, on his forum, another minor update of the DSL Linux distribution. The new release, Damn Small Linux 4.4.7 (the versatile mini-desktop Linux distribution), includes the following additions since the previous version:"


• Ubuntu Quality: or, "But What About My Bug?" (Oct 30, 2008, 01:36)
  We'll See: "In September, for example, the total number of open bugs in Ubuntu increased by only 70. This doesn't sound like much of an achievement, if not for the fact that in the same time period, 7872 new bug reports were filed. The remaining 7802, or over 99%, were resolved"


• Open Source Makes New Inroads in Asia and Sardinia (Oct 30, 2008, 00:06)
  OStatic: "Slowly but surely, open source software is making its way to countries that have previously seen very little FOSS adoption, and the good news is that for many of these countries, it's the best technology choice to make"