2005 January

Apparently, the Czech postal service has put their faith in the Linux OS. What is most impressive is that they have done this with their ‘mission critical‘ program called APOST over to the SuSE distribution completely. If that is not showing faith in an operating system, I don’t know what is.

Embedded Linux is not just for basic devices anymore. The world of robotics, Linux could be king it would appear. Enter the RoboCup. Not to be confused with a jockstrap for our robotic friends, the RoboCup is a series of events created to promote robotic efforts.

Even with server-side Linux use continuing to grow like crazy, Microsoft has still been showing plenty of growth themselves in the server market. According to CNET, Windows server machines are most certainly not going away. Apparently, their growth has been coming in like crazy!

The founder and chairman of the MIT Media Lab wants to create a $100 portable computer for the developing world. Nicholas Negroponte, author of Being Digital and the Wiesner Professor of Media Technology at MIT, says he has obtained promises of support from a number of major companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Google, Motorola, Samsung, [...]

To attract users away from Microsoft Windows, Linux vendors have released a slew of new desktop packages and applications. These products may have their biggest appeal for home users, but Brenno de Winter, a consultant in the Netherlands and a resident desktop expert for SearchEnterpriseLinux.com, said enterprises can also benefit from Linux on the desktop. In [...]

The world of Open Source software has created some amazing things over the years. While the big names in Open software like GIMP and Open Office are practically household words among those of us in the ‘know’, there are still many super cool applications that have yet to be discovered from the Open Source realm. [...]

Ever since IBM and Sun have been pushing the Linux solution, many financial institutions have been jumping on board with the alternative OS for their data needs. Even with Linux doing so well, there are still of course some concerns regarding the compliance side of things. As 2005 pushes on, most professionals in the industry [...]

Nick McGrath of Microsoft in the UK, has been quoted as stating that Linux security is nothing but a myth.This would be fine if during the entire interview McGrath had something a little more concrete than ‘Who is accountable for the security of the Linux kernel’. While Linux has consistently proven itself to be a [...]

Samba fileservers can be fun to have around. Besides thats, this one based on Slackware called Lormalinux Samba Fileserver, looks as if it would be a real blast to set up. Sometimes nothing quite makes for a quite weekend at home like a little technology project to get the blood pumping.

Dave, I am a Sun Solaris sysadmin and really liked your book
Wicked Cool Shell Scripts. However, I don’t seem to find the “rev” utility on any of my Sun servers running Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and even 9. I couldn’t find it on the sunfreeware.com site either. Could you tell me where I can find it?

I have to tell ya, it is really great to see larger companies coming to the aid of smaller ones. This is true especially when it involves companies wanting to work with Open Source technologies. The Datamonitor is reporting that the Open Source Development Lab has been working to do their part by creating a [...]

Well this sucks! According to a verified report from ZDNet UK, a worm managed to sneak its way into Open Source databases all over. Some experts believe it could be positioning itself for a massive DOS attack, but no one seems to be positive yet if it will become a bigger problem.

This article from the Himalayan Times sort of reminds me of those commercials with the dentists. You know, where the announcer says that ‘4 out 5 dentists agree that blah, blah, blah’. Well in this case, the same case could be made about IT experts. Apparently a growing number feel that Open Source is truly [...]

In Europe, Linux is really begining to take off like a jackrabbit. Not just from the community perspective, but from the business side of things as well. According to LinuxDevices.com, European companies are doing pretty darn well as a matter of fact, when it comes to their Linux based endeavors.

Could it be that Apple has come to a point that they can satisfy even the most conservative Linux user? I think it is possible from what I am reading at OSNews.com. John Yanosko gives us his impressions of the options and the hardware from the Linux user’s perspective.

Why would someone want to try and run a Windows virus in Linux? To see what would happen of course! Yes folks, by using Wine, you too can have some of that missed virus fun as well. You should keep in mind that most Windows viruses will not do anything within Wine that could affect [...]

Wow! You have to admit that even a remote possibility of Open Source Java is truly a cool idea! It seems that Sun has really jumped into the whole thing with both feet, but I am left wondering just how much planning would go into this whole thing. Will they be prepared for any potential [...]

I could not agree more with Matthew Newton’s recommendation of learning Linux with either Xandros or Fedora. In practice, Xandros is the best choice because it allows the user to get a feel for the world of Linux without ‘dumbing it down’ too much like Linspire is famous for doing.

The idea behind the OpenSolaris initiative is a nice thing in theory. However the reality is that without the ‘community’ to pick it up and run with it, it’s little more than a cool idea at this point. Sun has to understand that there’s a lot more to a successful Open Source project than just [...]

Dave, Why is it that, “out of the box”, the Firefox browser looks great (font wise) when run on a Windows OS but looks terrible (almost too small and unreadable) on any Linux OS I have tried it on. It is probably the number one killer reason for me not switching to Linux.