2004 September

As a former educator, I enjoy reading stories about schools using Linux to save money, especially cash-strapped schools. The case of the Enchanted Lake Elementary School in Hawaii is one such example.

One of the latest announcements to come out of Redmond is a new way of handling USB in upcoming versions of Windows. Due to all the security concerns surrounding USB keys and similar devices, administrators for schools, enterprises, etc., will have the option to disable USB devices, preventing them from being read (or written to) [...]

You may not have guessed it yet, but I have a confession: I just love Slackware and Slackware based distros. So the announcement on Distrowatch of the latest release of Vector Linux caught my attention. This one “provides you with a complete and fast desktop solution, even suitable for older hardware. It features Kernel 2.6.7, [...]

I’m sure you have heard that children are like sponges, and with good reason. Most kids master stuff that takes adults twice as long to learn. Rob Reilly, a professional technology writer and consultant, shares his experience in getting his eight-year-old daughter turned on to computers. So now you’re wondering, what does Linux have to [...]

The latest installment of Gaim has been released, and there is a big jump in the version number from 0.82.1 to 1.0.0 - I didn’t find any information on the Web site as to the reason for this. This release does include some new features; you can find the changelog here. You can download the [...]

Hi all - I hope that you all subscribe to the Tech News Watch newsletter or RSS feed - as well as this one. That’s because I frequently post items there about Linux (especially about Microsoft’s attempts to kill Linux) that appeal to a wider audience than this channel does. For example, take [...]

I personally love to read reviews, and this review of Xandros is no exception either. One of the first points that I picked up on was the fact that the reviewer feels that this distro really lacks the traditional power that a Linux power users likes to see in their OS. Another point that is [...]

An easy, simple to use software that allows users to mount and use NTFS partitions under Linux with minimal headache. No need to make special concessions with this puppy, let the software take the hard part out of it for you.

There is no question that using Open Source software in the workplace can be more cost effective. However as Dennis O’Reilly points out, sometimes you get what you pay for. While using an Open Source solution is often more secure than its closed source counterpart, it may be lacking the UI and documentation that employees [...]

Wow, has it been a month already since Mozilla first made the announcement regarding the new “bug bounty reward program”? Well, it is a month later and there have been payments made. Not only does it help out those who perhaps needed the money. But it also works to keep this great browsing technology as [...]

ComputerWorld has an interesting interview with Martin Taylor, Microsoft’s chief Linux strategist. This is the first in a series, and is surprisingly short given it’s spread across four pages.

Eduardo Sanchez from Open for Business has been running a series this summer called The Stealth Desktop, and it essentially details his experiences in installing and using Slackware. The third entry, Managing Users, Fonts and Printers, has just been posted.

According to CastleCops, there is no doubt about it. ShaoLin Microsystems’ ShaoLin Aptus is superb middleware that any Linux-run operation would find of real value. Not only that, but it is completely free as well!

In an interview with Jaanus Kase of Skype, we will get a sneak peak at when Skype for Linux will be ready for prime time and how it blends so nicely with the KDE desktop.

While Microsoft has said they are looking for new ways to work with the developers of Open Office, they have made it known that they will retain their right to sue them according to PCworld.com. The article goes on to state that this could mean potential legal woes for new Open Office users.

So what is new in Gentoo 2004.2? Linux.com takes a reviewer’s look to see what the latest is. From what I am reading, it sounds like it is a bit of a resource hog on the desktop, but offers a fair amount of power in exchange.

“Novell Inc. announced on Monday a new initiative called the Porting and Migration Network to help customers and partners move existing applications to SUSE Linux. Under the initiative, leading software and hardware vendors, including Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, Intel Corp., Oracle Corp. and Scali Inc. will work with Novell help their software partners deploy their platforms [...]

When I first stumbled upon Snownews, I was a little taken aback: who would want to use a console-based news reader? What sense does that make when there’s a plethora of GUI-enabled readers out there?

Knoppix 3.6 has been out for a little while now. Here at Lockergnome, we have even looked at the various features that it now offers its users. Still, I thought it might be fun to read over a review of the Live CD distro to see how it stands up under scrutiny.

In an article that caught my interest today, a KDE user gives his perspective on how Gnome is still quite different from the KDE that they are quite used to. His first impressions seem to indicate that the layout looks a bit like the Mac OS. All and all, he seemed to really like what [...]