Linux News for Jan 22, 2009

• Don't Fear the Penguin: A Newbie's Guide to Linux (Jan 22, 2009, 23:32)
  PC World: "Linux has an undeserved reputation for being complex, cryptic, and difficult to use. With this simple guide, you can get started using Ubuntu Linux today."


• LCA2009: It's a Linux conference - but there's Macs aplenty (Jan 22, 2009, 23:02)
  IT Wire: "One thing that has been increasing exponentially at the Australian national Linux conference is that shiny, steel-grey laptop - or, at times, the sleek white one."


• An odd choice to help government with open source strategy (Jan 22, 2009, 22:32)
  ars Technica: "Asking Scott McNealy to write a paper about open source software is a bit like asking Dick Cheney to write a paper about government transparency."


• Does Windows 7 Threaten Mac OS and Linux? (Jan 22, 2009, 22:02)
  Datamation: "Does a good OS from Microsoft put the pressure back on Apple and the Linux development community?"


• The slow brutes learned and went away (Jan 22, 2009, 21:32)
  That Grumpy BSD Guy: "Over the last few columns, we have followed the progress of what appears to be a botnet cloud's attempt at gaining access to a couple of FreeBSD machines I have in my care."


• Linux.Conf.Au - Penguin Dinner (Jan 22, 2009, 21:02)
  Linux Journal: "I didn't really anticipate finishing my evening by hearing Linus Torvalds promise to shave off another man's beard."


• Cloning Linux Systems With CloneZilla Server Edition (CloneZilla SE) (Jan 22, 2009, 20:32)
  HowtoForge: "This tutorial shows how you can clone Linux systems with CloneZilla SE. This is useful for copying one Linux installation to multiple computers without losing much time, e.g. in a classroom, or also for creating an image-based backup of a system. I will install CloneZilla SE on a Debian Etch server in this tutorial. The systems that you want to clone can use whatever Linux distribution you prefer."


• How to secure your IM conversations (Jan 22, 2009, 20:02)
  Tech Czar: "It's called privacy. For no other reason then I don't want Microsoft indexing my chat conversation and trying to sell me sneakers on a sidebar because I typed the word "Shoes". Its nobody's business except mine, end of story."


• Obama vs. Microsoft (Jan 22, 2009, 19:32)
  Practical Technology: "Obama, the first true 21st century President, and his staff have arrived at the White House to find themselves stuck with 20th century Microsoft software... and they're not happy."


• Microsoft Antitrust: "The Linux Threat on the Desktop" (2006) and Predatory Response (Jan 22, 2009, 19:02)
  Boycott Novell: "Microsoft "Taskforce" lobbied Wal-Mart/Microtell to drop GNU/Linux"


• Facebook Friends Storage Vendors (Jan 22, 2009, 18:32)
  Enterprise Storage Forum: "Facebook user data is stored in MySQL (making its MySQL installation, with over 1,800 MySQL servers, one of the largest in the world), which it chose for its openness so the code could be modified as necessary. Facebook also uses a large number of memcached servers, which are faster than the MySQL servers and thus better able to keep up with requests, to store copies of the data."


• Setting Up Dual-Dual NIC Bonding On Ubuntu In 30 Seconds (Jan 22, 2009, 18:02)
  The Linux and Unix Menagerie: "Today we're going to cruise at maximum velocity, assuming that everything's fine (which it probably isn't) and plow through setting up bonding on a quad port nic card on Ubuntu in 30 seconds or less."


• Microsoft to cut up to 5,000 jobs (Jan 22, 2009, 17:32)
  MSNBC: "Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is cutting up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, a sign of how badly even the biggest and richest companies are being stung by the recession."


• Mobile device syncing in Linux made easy (Jan 22, 2009, 17:02)
  TechRadar: "There's a long history of syncing mobile devices with Linux. That long history is mostly filled with one device not synchronising, followed by another device not working, followed by another."


• CrunchEee 8.10.02 released (Jan 22, 2009, 16:32)
  Eee PC: "Crunchee is an ASUS Eee PC optimized version of CrunchBang Linux & can be installed using an USB memory stick, according to the excellent installation guide."


• Ubuntu Server Edition Gaining Business Applications (Jan 22, 2009, 16:02)
  WorksWithU: "...it signals an important milestone: True business applications are finally coming to Ubuntu Server Edition and its desktop counterpart."


• Cartoon Network's Kid's MMO and Mono (but not for Linux) (Jan 22, 2009, 15:32)
  Miguel de Icaza's web log: "The amazing Joachim Ante from Unity3D wrote me to tell me that Cartoon Network's new browser-based MMO for kids FusionFall has finally launched to the public."


• OLPC giving 5,000 laptops to Gaza children (Jan 22, 2009, 15:02)
  Mass High Tech: "Just two weeks after announcing layoffs and salary reductions, One Laptop per Child is donating 5,000 of its XO laptops to the United Nations Relief and Workers Agency (UNRWA) to give to Palestinian children in the Gaza strip."


• Red Hat Releases RHEL 5.3 (Jan 22, 2009, 14:32)
  OStatic: "Red Hat has rolled out the newest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL 5.3. In addition to virtualization and power-saving enhancements, this update is also shipping the first productized implementation of OpenJDK for Red Hat."


• Qps Visual Process manager (X11 ps) in openSUSE (Jan 22, 2009, 14:02)
  SUSE & openSUSE: "Qps Visual Process Manager is an X11 version of "top" or "ps" that displays processes in a window and lets you sort and manipulate them."


• Integrating legacy Windows applications on a Linux Desktop environment - part II (Jan 22, 2009, 13:32)
  blog.angulosolido.pt: "The terminal server is a multi-user machine. What happens if one process misbehaves and starts consuming all the CPU power?"


• How Can Red Hat Be Worth More Than Sun? (Jan 22, 2009, 13:02)
  OStatic: "At the moment, Sun's market capitalization is $2.69 billion and Red Hat's is $2.61. If the trends in share prices for these two companies continue, Red Hat's market cap will soar right past Sun's. Does this make any sense?"


• Asterisk: The Next Big IT Certification? (Jan 22, 2009, 12:02)
  The VAR Guy: "It was an interesting chat, but our resident blogger is looking further down the road and expects Asterisk certification to be the next big trend for VoIP solutions providers. Here's why."


• Some useful commands in Linux administration when making a website (Jan 22, 2009, 10:32)
  Harry Seldon's blog: "This is a cheatsheet of useful commands in Linux administration when making a website in Rails. I am using these commands over and over again so I thought it might help someone."


• Open-Source Mobile Telephony Goes Legit (Jan 22, 2009, 09:02)
  CIO: "Yet, open source in telecom is long past its debut and is, in fact, already in play in much of the Fortune 500. So why is open source a legitimate option in enterprise computing but bastardized so much in telephony?"


• OpenSSH: The Poor Man's SOCKS Proxy (Jan 22, 2009, 07:32)
  Das Bityard: "Just when I think I know everything I need to know about OpenSSH, I end up learning something new and tremendously useful. Today, that would be the -D argument."


• Installing PowerDNS (With MySQL Backend) And Poweradmin On Debian Etch (Jan 22, 2009, 06:02)
  HowtoForge: "This article shows how you can install the PowerDNS nameserver (with MySQL backend) and the Poweradmin control panel for PowerDNS on a Debian Etch system. PowerDNS is a high-performance, authoritative-only nameserver"


• Linux desktop to be subjugated by hypervisor unless it slims down (Jan 22, 2009, 04:32)
  Seeking Alpha: "But let me point out a sticking point with regards to the Linux kernel being considered a viable bare-metal hypervisor: it's HUGE!"


• KBasic Brings BASIC to Qt World (Jan 22, 2009, 03:02)
  KDE.News: "KBasic is a new programming language similar to Visual Basic. It combines the best features of those tools and comes with built-in backward support for those tools as it is 100% syntax compatible to VB and QBasic. It is written with Qt making it entirely cross platform."


• WFTL Bytes! for Jan 20, 2009: British Navy Everyone Told You So, KDE 4.2 Lurks Menacingly, Helios! (Jan 22, 2009, 01:32)
  WFTL Bytes!: "Today, the US of A gets a new president and seven days later, a new KDE appears (concidence?). Meanwhile, the British Navy learns the hard way, Yahoo cheers Zimbra, companies slowly board the Linux train, and a young woman's life is ruined by Ubuntu and Dell (not really)."


• Who Killed Spencer F. Katt? (Jan 22, 2009, 00:02)
  The VAR Guy: "Forgive The VAR Guy for being a little slow, but he just noticed Spencer F. Katt is missing from the redesigned print edition of eWeek (formerly PC Week."