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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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Open Source is Good in a Recession, but Thought is Still Required
40 minutes ago
While I agree wholeheartedly that open source software is a great option for businesses (regardless of economic climate), there is more than cost to consider. "Just switching everything to Linux" likely will save money in the long term, but it might not be right to do, right now. -
Mini-ITX board has HDMI port
1 hour, 40 minutes ago
Advantech has introduced a mini-ITX motherboard that targets embedded information and entertainment applications, such as information station kiosks and lottery machines. The AIMB-221 supports single- or dual-core AMD processors, and offers an HDMI A/V port, for connection to multimedia displays such as high-definition televisions. -
Papers sought for Embedded Linux Conference
3 hours, 40 minutes ago
The largest embedded Linux conference has announced its venue and topic list for next year's event. Set for April 6-8, 2009, at San Francisco's Hotel Kabuki, the Consumer Electronics Linux Forum's fifth-annual Embedded Linux Conference directly precedes the Linux Foundation's Spring Collaboration Summit, Apr. 8-10. -
Rugged Linux wrist computer upgraded
5 hours, 40 minutes ago
Just in time for the latest 007 movie release, Eurotech subsidiary Parvus announced a new version of its military-targeted personal wrist computer. The Linux-ready Zypad WR1100 offers a faster Marvell PXA 270 processor, more memory, a higher-resolution display, plus ZigBee and fingerprint scanner options. -
Adobe unleashes 64-bit Flash
7 hours, 40 minutes ago
Adobe released a 64-bit alpha Linux version of its Flash Player 10 media software, and announced a partnership with ARM on an ARM11 version of Flash 10. Other Adobe news includes AIR 1.5 for Linux, upgraded media servers, and a new design tool called Flash Catalyst. -
Linux-ready MILS kernel gains POSIX
8 hours, 40 minutes ago
LynuxWorks is shipping version 2.0 of its Linux-compatible separation kernel and hypervisor for high assurance systems. Aimed at multiple independent levels of security (MILS) applications in the aerospace, government, and defense industries, LynxSecure 2.0 offers enhancements including improved multi-processor support and a lightweight POSIX run-time environment, says the company. -
USB 3.0 debuts
9 hours, 40 minutes ago
The USB Implementers Forum will today unveil USB 3.0, which is said to be ten times as fast as USB 2.0. One of the first USB 3.0 announcements came from MCCI Corp. and Synopsis, which said they would together produce USB semiconductor IP and Linux-ready GPL'd drivers for the spec. -
Spotlight on Moblin.org Linux
11 hours, 40 minutes ago
As netbooks and MIDs (mobile Internet devices) proliferate, more Linux device developers are using software and tools from the Intel-sponsored Moblin.org project. Though aimed at developers, the free tools let most anyone with a little configuration and compiling experience easily build their own Linux netbook distro! -
Multicore Is Bad News For Supercomputers
13 hours, 40 minutes ago
With no other way to improve the performance of processors further, chip makers have staked their future on putting more and more processor cores on the same chip. Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, in New Mexico, have simulated future high-performance computers containing the 8-core, 16‑core, and 32-core microprocessors that chip makers say are the future of the industry. The results are distressing. Because of limited memory bandwidth and memory-management schemes that are poorly suited to supercomputers, the performance of these machines would level off or even decline with more cores. The performance is especially bad for informatics applications—data-intensive programs that are increasingly crucial to the labs’ national security function. -
HP to Microsoft: Thanks for Nothing
15 hours, 40 minutes ago
Microsoft's move to relax standards to qualify for its Vista Capable sticker program left HP execs fuming, newly disclosed e-mails show. -
Linux: for all things great and small
16 hours, 10 minutes ago
Most of us get a chance to see Linux in action at the desktop or single server level. Some of us use Linux on mobiles and other little gizmos without even realising that the penguin is doing the lifting. -
The Microsoft-Novell Linux deal: Two years later
16 hours, 40 minutes ago
Two years ago this month, Microsoft forged its controversial partnership with Novell that, among other things, had the two companies agreeing not to sue each other over intellectual property issues, in part to protect Suse Linux users over any patent litigation from Microsoft. -
Open Source Business Cluster launched in New South Wales
17 hours, 10 minutes ago
On the 7th November 2008, at the Australian Google Headquarters in Sydney, New South Wales, an Open Source Business Cluster was announced. The aim of the cluster is to more effectively market, deliver and provide support for Open Source technology to business and government agencies. -
Tip: Using find Command in Linux
17 hours, 40 minutes ago
Doing command-line stuff in Linux is fun. It may be intimidating for some at first, now that we are in the age where GUI is no longer an option. But with CLI, we can do so many things that can be accomplished faster if we know how to utilize the features of a certain command. -
Linux Printing: A Curious Mix of Yuck and Excellence
18 hours, 10 minutes ago
Last week I talked a bit about the bipolar world of printing on Linux: the best of times, the worst of times; the easiest and the hardest; the most reliable and the most annoying. I raised a number of questions such as why do print jobs disappear without a trace, then reappear days later? Printing multiple copies, if you had hit the print button in frustration multiple times. Is this printer really online and working? Does it have enough toner and paper? If there is a problem, why won't it tell me in a reasonable way? Why isn't there an obvious, easy button for "cancel the print job plz, kthx"? - More News
Linux.com : Features
Speed up your Internet access using Squid's refresh patterns
Bandwidth limitation is still a problem for a lot of people who connect to the Internet. You can improve your available bandwidth by installing Squid caching proxy server on your network with configuration parameters that will increase your byte hit rate, giving you about 30-60% more bandwidth.
Sun wrestles itself with StarOffice 9
StarOffice 9 reminds me of the classic Monty Python skit in which Graham Chapman wrestles himself. Although StarOffice is being aggressively presented as an alternative to Microsoft Office, it seems to be equally marketed and bundled to compete against OpenOffice.org, the free software project that is sponsored by Sun and that shares a common code base with StarOffice. The trouble is, the differences between the two have diminished with each release, until, with StarOffice 9, you have to wonder who the potential customers might be.
Manage your music with ID3 tag editors
The Linux desktop comes with a variety of multimedia players, such as Xine, MPlayer, and Amarok. Yet all digital media players are only as good as the files they have to work with, and preparing those files requires the best tag editor you can find. I checked out half a dozen of the more popular and stable graphical ID3 tag editors available for Linux. I found that going from no tags to great tags requires keeping more than one of these editors on hand.
Doing a diff without touching the command line
With diff-ext, GNOME users can compare and merge files from within Nautilus. If, instead, you use KDE 3, try out kdiff-ext from the same site, which works with Konqueror. Each utility handles paths to files and directories and invokes an external diff tool to perform the grunt work. With diff-ext you can easily compare two files with different names, from different directories, or whole directory trees.
iPhone applications for the Linux user
The iPhone and iPod Touch haven taken the mobile market by storm. Apple's AppStore is full of interesting applications that take advantage of the two devices's capabilities. But what's in there for Linux users? Sadly, GTKPod and Amarok cannot yet transfer files on an iPhone with the 2.x firmware upgrade, but there are other interesting ways your iPhone can interact with your Linux desktop and even servers.
sK1 vector in on good illustrations
From its name, you'd never know that sK1 is a good vector graphics drawing program, in the same category as better-known names like Inkscape, Dia, and OpenOffice.org Draw. Moreover, sK1 includes a feature that other Linux applications lack: it can read CorelDraw's CDR files and convert them to Linux-friendly formats.
Treat your C code like scripts with C Cod
C Cod is a front end to your C, C++, or Objective-C compiler that lets you treat C more like a scripting language. C Cod comes with C Server Pages, which provides support for CGI so you can write Web applications in C or C++ and have them automatically compiled on demand.
Slumberland rests easy after move away from proprietary Unix
In 2005, when Slumberland faced end-of-lifecycle replacements of its proprietary Unix platform, its warehouse management system (WMS) vendor suggested a move to Red Hat Linux and commodity x86 servers. Seth Mitchell, the infrastructure team manager at the large furniture retailer, gladly agreed. Upper management wasn't quite as quick to jump on the open source bandwagon, but once the cost savings started rolling in, everyone agreed that it was a profitable decision.
Crafting offers and invoice documents with Kraft
Kraft helps you keep track of business offers and invoices and can generate PDF files to help you easily issue these routine documents to third parties. Since Kraft is a KDE application, it can draw contact information directly from your KDE address book, so you don't have to duplicate or sync your contacts in order to generate an invoice.
Enrich your Joomla! site with image extensions
Several extensions can help you work with photographic images on your Joomla! content management system. Here are some of the best.
Bug Labs creates open source Lego for software engineers
Most of the new breed of open source hardware centers on specific products. Bug Labs is taking a different approach. Instead of developing particular devices, Bug Labs' goal is to provide a Lego-like collection of open source hardware and software that customers can use to build their own devices. According to CEO Peter Semmelhack, the result should be not only a higher degree of innovation, but also a forerunner of the hardware business of the future.
Set Mantis to track your bugs
Mantis is that rare bug-tracking program for small projects that is neither too bloated nor too featureless. It's an excellent choice for developers who need a bug tracker that the average computer user can use. Its clean interface and numerous features make bug tracking fast and easy.
Back-of-the-napkin calculations with Frink
Linux users have a myriad of calculators and unit conversion tools at their disposal. To set itself apart, Frink aims to track units for you and give you a way to quickly perform little conversions and real-world calculations without burdening you with needless details.
Ace Suares: A big Linux advocate on a small island (video)
The word "big" has two meanings here. Ace Suares is not only a big-time GNU/Linux and FOSS advocate, but he is close to 2.5 meters tall and built like a football lineman. He lives on the island of Curacao in the Netherland Antilles, where he and his wife run a small Web design and hosting firm that (of course) runs Linux servers. But trying to convert other IT people on Curacao to the FOSS cause has not been easy, and has caused Ace plenty of frustration over the years. Somehow, he keeps going; arranging conferences, holding LPI Certification classes, and generally talking up Linux to his clients, friends, and even to strangers whose businesses or government agencies might be made more efficient by using FOSS instead of proprietary software. Now we'll get out of the way and let Ace tell his story directly to you in the following video. (It's about 13:20 long.)
Clone your Ubuntu installation onto a new hard disk
Just upgraded your system with a shiny new hard disk and want to make it your new book disk? Cloning Ubuntu to another hard disk is easy. In fact, Ubuntu provides tools to clone the entire hard disk -- including the Windows partition, if there's one on there. This is the kind of fundamental task that Linux excels at, in fact.
Tidy up your mailboxes with Archivemail
Over time, people tend to accumulate a large number of messages in various email accounts, most of which they never bother with again. The problem is particularly acute for administrator accounts that receive routine notifications of events that are viewed, if at all, no more than once. The archivemail tool lets you easily archive these old messages and thereby free up some disk space and improve your mail client's performance.
Portrait: FOSS legal leader Andrew Updegrove
Attorney Andrew Updegrove specializes in technology, intellectual property, and standards. While other lawyers can make the same claim, few have his credentials -- maintainer of an online repository about standards consortia, former board member of the Linux Foundation, and progenitor of a major open source license.
Splashtop moves into netbooks
The Splashtop instant-on Linux environment is included in the new Lenovo IdeaPad S10e netbook, marking the product's first appearance in that form factor. That news should come as no surprise, since netbooks' ultra-portability is a natural match for Splashtop's instant-on.
Find your way with tangoGPS
If you want to turn your netbook or conventional laptop into a nifty open source navigation system, you need two things: a USB receiver and a GPS-enabled navigation application. You can buy a GPS receiver cheaply at virtually any gadget store or on eBay. And there are actually several GPS-enabled navigation applications out there, including Navit, GPSdrive, and Roadnav. These are fine applications, but if you are looking for GPS software that offers the right amount of features wrapped in a sleek and user-friendly interface, try tangoGPS. This lightweight GPS-enabled navigation application can pull maps from different sources and has a few clever features up its sleeve.
Levolor leverages Talend to better manage floods of data
When Levolor, a maker of window coverings, was looking for a better way to manage floods of data more quickly and efficiently, it ended up swapping its homegrown application for an open source tool.
