2004 September

An embedded Linux training and services company in the South of France has published 500 pages of embedded Linux training materials and presentations under an open source license. The materials are available in French and English, and have been contributed to the community by Free Electronis, based near Sophia Antipolis.

Debian GNU/Linux Advisory: freenet6
Package : freenet6
Vulnerability : wrong file permissions
Problem-Type : local
Debian-specific: yes
CVE ID : CAN-2004-0563
Debian Bug : 254709
View Advisory

NOVELL plans to launch its first Linux desktop offering, which incorporates technology it acquired from German Linux vendor SuSE last year, within the next month.

Sun Microsystems is backing European Union efforts to standardize office document formats, including a proposal that would enable people to switch easily between Microsoft-based documents and those created with open-source software.

Willamette University’s Mark O. Hatfield Library recently worked on a system upgrade for its administrative and public computers, and put together a cost comparison of using recycled machines as Linux terminals versus purchasing new systems loaded with Windows. They shared the results with Linux Journal.

/. reported the availability of a new Linux Driver Wiki at linux-driver.org, which will be geared toward both developers and newbies who are looking for information about their hardware and compatibility/setup on a Linux system.

CNet News is reporting a Gartner Group study that says as many as 40% of Linux desktops are being purchased to use pirated versions of Windows. This is especially true in developing countries where Windows piracy is rampant.

Ever write an email that you intended to send an attachment with, only forget to actually attach the file? I had that happen this morning. It could have been an embarrassing mistake in this case, but KMail came to my rescue.

A recent article from eWeek reports that Linux users are going backwards to the Windows OS. While I find this to be a bit strange, the article is referring to enterprise situations specifically. Apparently the companies that did revert back felt that Linux was simply not robust enough to meet their needs.

And they say that Open Source is nothing but trouble, ha! Today I read about a new start-up company in my very own Seattle (Northern WA myself) that is using Open Source as their business model. And let me be clear, these guys are not selling turnips either. Especially not when they were funded with [...]

Since being acquired by software giant Novell earlier this year, SuSE Linux has been increasing pressure on Red Hat. Sun Microsystems was once written off. Now they are a foreseeable challenge. Most of all, Microsoft would like to see the end of them and those like them.
“It’s fighting time,” says Matthew Szulik, Red Hat’s [...]

AfterStep is a window manager for the Unix X Window System. Originally based on the look and feel of the NeXTStep interface, it provides end users with a consistent, clean, and elegant desktop. The goal of AfterStep development is to provide for flexibility of desktop configuration, improving aestetics, and efficient use of system resources.

In response to Raymond Mendoza’s “Linux Takes a Small Step in Desktop Acceptance,” Gnomie Steve Hoult writes:
Man, did you miss the point of LSB 2.0. One of the largest problems with
adopting Linux on the CORPORATE desktop is trying to pick the right distro.
The corporate desktop is ruled by two main factors:

eWeek has been pretty good at covering Linux recently, and in the latest issue they review the latest offerings from KDE and GNOME.

eWeek has been pretty good at covering Linux recently, and in the latest issue they review the latest offerings from KDE and GNOME.

Okay, so it’s a painful title. But hopefully the product won’t be: Xybernaut has recently announced that they’ve adopted Linux for use in their upcoming line of mobile and wearable devices.

The SysAdmin to SysAdmin column over at Linux.com has a quick reminder of handy switches (or flags) to common command line utilities that could make users’ lives a lot easier. Don’t let the column title fool you — these could be handy tips for any Linux user.

Now this is pretty cool. IBM has released source code for future speech-recognition applications. While this is very much still in mid-stream, this could really allow the technology to finally mature a little bit.

A not taking utility with a friendly quality to it, Tomboy is perfect for taking some quick notes on the fly. Not complicated in any sort of way, I think that you will find this nifty little notepad as handy as I do. Accessing your notes could not be easier, this program has a very [...]

Today I found a review on ExtremeTech for the Ubuntu Linux distribution. According to the article, the developers are working to put the humanity into their distro. With that said, it would appear that the installer could use some work. Having things complicated at the start can be very problematic when you come to the [...]