A-Z Linux Guide
A to Z Linux Guide, RedHat, Fedora, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Debian Guides and UpdatesHuge Linux Desktop Deals for Hewlett-Packard
Posted March 9th, 2007 in NewsHewlett-Packard is closing custom deals for thousands of desktop PCs running Linux, which has the company assessing the possibility of offering factory-loaded Linux systems, an HP executive said.
“We are involved in a number of massive deals for Linux desktops, and those are the kinds of things that are indicators of critical mass. So we are really looking at it very hard,” said Doug Small, worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing at HP. “We are in a massive deal right now for … multi-thousands of units of a desktop opportunity for Linux. That’s an indicator.” He declined to give details about the Linux deals.
Though HP doesn’t offer a specific SKU of a notebook or desktop PC preloaded with Linux, several of its notebooks are certified to work with Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system and with Red Hat Linux. The Palo Alto, Calif., IT giant also provides Linux-loaded PCs for custom orders, such as large enterprise deals.
30 Days with Ubuntu Linux
Posted March 9th, 2007 in News
Many people, daunted by Vista’s hardware requirements and product activation issues, claim on various boards how they plan to “switch to Linux.” We spend 30 days using nothing but Ubuntu Linux to find out if this is truly a viable alternative for the consumer.
Introduction
Complaining about Windows Vista is a national past time on Internet forums these days. Windows Vista “costs too much,” “has onerous product activation,” “requires too much hardware,” etc. These complaints are often followed up by a very simple boast: “I’m just going to switch to Linux (or Mac).”
But in today’s landscape, how viable is that statment? Is the threat to switch to Linux an empty one, or is it entirely possible? Linux on the desktop has been viable for years, especially for programming gurus who can solve their Linux problems by simply writing new software. It also seems to be viable for “Mom and Pop” end-users who just want a machine to write letters, send email, and browse the Web (although, admittedly, a guru will probably have to set it up for them).
But what about power users, such as the typical audience of HardOCP - those who know how to build their own computers, but not compile their own programs? Or people who may not know how to do something, but aren’t afraid of taking the time to figure it out? Is Linux truly an alternative? Can they do everything they did in Windows? The truth is, we didn’t know, but we very much wanted to find out.
To properly explore these issues, we took a cue from Morgan Spurlock and made the decision to use Ubuntu Linux as our home operating system for 30 days.
Download ubuntu 6.10: the Newest Ubuntu Release
Posted March 8th, 2007 in Downloads and Distros
Ubuntu is a complete Linux-based operating system, freely available with both community and professional support. It is developed by a large community and we invite you to participate too!
The Ubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customise and alter their software in whatever way they see fit.
These freedoms make Ubuntu fundamentally different from traditional proprietary software: not only are the tools you need available free of charge, you have the right to modify your software until it works the way you want it to.
Ubuntu is suitable for both desktop and server use. The current Ubuntu release supports PC (Intel x86), 64-bit PC (AMD64), Sun UltraSPARC and T1 (Sun Fire T1000 and T2000), PowerPC (Apple iBook, Powerbook, G4 and G5) and OpenPower (Power5) architectures.
Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core desktop installation fits on a single CD. Ubuntu covers every standard desktop application from word processing and spreadsheet applications to web server software and programming tools. Read more about Ubuntu on the desktop and Ubuntu on the server.
Ubuntu 6.10, the Newest Ubuntu Release
Because Ubuntu is so popular, we’ve distributed the downloadable files to several locations around the globe. In order to make your download go faster, please choose a location near you from the list below. For space requirements and other information, please see the Release Notes.
Fedora and Ubuntu, better performance?
Posted March 7th, 2007 in NewsWe have compared the 32-bit and 64-bit performance of Ubuntu and started a performance comparison of Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu, but how does the performance of the upcoming Feisty Fawn release compare to that of Fedora 7? In this article we have enclosed benchmarks from Fedora Core 6, Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft, Fedora 7 Test 2, and Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Herd 5. In gaming and desktop benchmarks, which of these Linux distributions is faster? We hope to answer that question today.
It is important to note that testing/development releases of both Ubuntu and Fedora are slower than their final versions, which is partially why we had went back to also include benchmarks from Edgy Eft 6.10 and Zod. Both Fedora Core 6 (Zod) and Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) were released this past October, while Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) will be introduced this April and Fedora 7 this May. Originally Fedora 7 was slated for release around the same time as Feisty Fawn, but a delay in the feature freeze has postponed the release by a month.
For comparing these two versions of two distributions the Linux benchmarks used were Enemy Territory, Timed Disk Reads, Gzip Compression, LAME compilation, and LAME encoding. Below is the hardware selection used in these benchmarks as well as the stock package 32-bit versions in both Fedora 6/7 and Ubuntu 6.10/7.04. On the following pages are our results.
Is it important to have an AntiVirus for Linux?
Posted March 7th, 2007 in NewsThe problem with answering this question is that those asking it know only OSes where viruses, trojan-horse programs, worms, nasty Javascripts, ActiveX controls with destructive payloads, and ordinary misbehaved applications are a constant threat to their computing. Therefore, they refuse to believe Linux could be different, no matter what they hear.And yet it is.
Here’s the short version of the answer: No. If you simply never run untrusted executables while logged in as the root user (or equivalent), all the “virus checkers” in the world will be at best superfluous; at worst, downright harmful. “Hostile” executables (including viruses) are almost unfindable in the Linux world — and no real threat to it — because they lack root-user authority, and because Linux admins are seldom stupid enough to run untrusted executables as root, and because Linux users’ sources for privileged executables enjoy paranoid-grade scrutiny (such that any unauthorised changes would be detected and remedied).
Here’s the long version: Still no. Any program on a Linux box, viruses included, can only do what the user who ran it can do. Real users aren’t allowed to hurt the system (only the root user can), so neither can programs they run.
Because of the distinction between privileged (root-run) processes and user-owned processes, a “hostile” executable that a non-root user receives (or creates) and then executes (runs) cannot “infect” or otherwise manipulate the system as a whole. Just as you can delete only your own files (i.e., those you have “write” permission to), executables you run cannot affect other users’ (or root’s) files. Therefore, although you can create (or retrieve), and then run, a virus, worm, trojan horse, etc., it can’t do much. Unless you do so as “root”. Which it’s simple to avoid doing.
Top Linux Distro: Ubuntu tops the forum members
Posted March 7th, 2007 in News
The top 10 linux distributions based on the number of its registered members are the following:
1. Ubuntu = 250,190 members
2. Gentoo = 105,828 members
3. Fedora = 89,088 members
4. Mandriva = 41,868 members
5. Xandros = 25,185 members
6. OpenSuse = 17,607 members
7. Kubuntu = 16,106 members
8. Freespire = 11,732 members
9. Arch Linux = 8,290 members
10. PCLinuxOS = 6,344 members
Read Detailed report here
Gimparoo: The Photoshop based GIMP tutorials for Linux
Posted March 7th, 2007 in TutorialsAbout Gimparoo!
This blog is dedicated to adapting popular Photoshop tutorials for The GIMP. This blog assumes you already know some basic things about the program, such as what layers are or how to use the pen tool. I may put some beginner tutorials up at some point, but until then, please visit the GIMP homepage and utilize their documentation and wiki.
About The Author
I am a husband, father, and college student. I hold a full time job as a computer technician, and I’m an open source advocate. [profile]
Latest Topics
- [H] On Ubuntu
- Free Stock Photography
- Open Font Library Logo Competition
- Convert RGB to Black and White
Read Complete Tutorials at gimparoo.blogspot.com
The Linux desktop is a complete blast (Katie McAuliff, Novell Canada)
Posted March 7th, 2007 in News
In January, Chicago native Katie McAuliff, who has worked for Novell Inc. for 13 years, took over as president of Novell Canada, replacing Don Chapman. Ms McAuliff will oversee all facets of the Canadian organization including sales, marketing, consulting, support, training, finance and operations, with a focus on expanding and strengthening Novell Canada’s partnership model.She sat down with Jack Kapica of Globetechnology.com to explain her company and its plans.
JACK KAPICA: Novell has been shifting its image recently. What markets is the company focussing on?
KATIE McAULIFF: A lot of people don’t really know who we are and what we do today. We’re in five markets — data centre, desktop, security and identity management, resource management and workgroups. Novell is firmly behind all these markets.
The Linux desktop is a complete blast. This market just went to a million downloads. It’s hot, it’s cool, it’s a lot less expensive, the kids are loving it. School systems have some great desktop operating systems — it’s also in kiosks, retail systems, point-of-sale systems. A lot of those systems are being refreshed now, so the best thing now is really lowering the cost of ownership, increasing return on investment. This is a great space, very strong selling. We’re 95 per cent there as a viable alternative to anything else.
These are huge growth markets for us, enjoying double-digit growth.
A lot of people don’t even realize that Linux runs on a mainframe, and that we do a lot of business on mainframes with Linux partitions. My sense here is that the potential has not yet been realized in the Canadian market.
Read the complete conversation here
Puppy Linux: small fully featured Linux distribution (Linux Hound with Teeth!)
Posted March 6th, 2007 in Distros
Puppy Linux, started by Barry Kauler, is a small (28-72M), fully featured Linux distribution.
Puppy Linux Trivia
- Puppy will easily install to USB, Zip or hard drive media.
- Booting from CD, Puppy will load totally into RAM so that the CD drive is then free for other purposes.
- Booting from CD, Puppy can save everything back to the CD, no need for a hard drive.
- Booting from USB, Puppy will greatly minimise writes, to extend the life of Flash devices indefinitely.
- Puppy will be extremely friendly for Linux newbies.
- Puppy will boot up and run extraordinarily fast.
- Puppy will have all the applications needed for daily use.
- Puppy will just work, no hassles.
- Puppy will breathe new life into old PCs
Blindingly fast, incredibly powerful, amazingly tiny…
These are extraordinary goals, yet Puppy achieves them all. Obviously, some objectives have qualifications, for example, to load totally into RAM the PC must have either 128M RAM or failing that a swap partition. Also, the “will just work, no hassles” objective is a work-in-progress!
One thing to be very much aware of is that Puppy is incredibly small. After all, to load totally into RAM and run from there, Puppy has to be small. The live-CD is about 28-72M, yet “every” applications you need is there — I’m quite serious — it doesn’t seem possible but it is. Furthermore, as everything runs in RAM, there are no delays and the speed is nothing short of astounding. Download Puppy / Get CDs
Puppy 2.15CE project has been launched!
“The next release of Puppy is going to be 2.15 Community Edition, incorporating improvements and ideas that Puppy enthusiasts want. Official releases of Puppy are created by me, and everything gets filtered through me, which is good from the point of view of maintaining a unified development of Puppy. However, now is the opportunity for users to have a more direct input to the final product.
Here is a forum thread, supervised by WhoDo:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15529
Note, I’m still here, and will test the alphas/betas on all my hardware and also offer suggestions and contributions.”
Alpha release will be available this weekend 23/24 Feb:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=15674
Prepare to be amazed!
Previous Community Editions
Puppy 109CE
Puppy 2.03CE (Puppy with Open Office)
Website: http://www.puppylinux.org
Linux Truth and Myths (Migration from Windows and Mac)
Posted March 6th, 2007 in NewsWritten by Steve Wild
Published March 05, 2007
Published at: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/05/161203.php
When people find out I run Linux on my computer instead of Windows or even Mac OS X they sometimes have funny ideas about what it must be like. Some of it is historical; Linux used to be quite difficult to administer in its younger days. Some of it is misinformation, or no information at all. I hope to dispell some of the misconceptions.
Linux is difficult to install - Myth. For the most part. Depending on the distribution, Linux is much faster and easier to install than Windows is. A smooth install of Linux takes me about an hour including installing updates, and even less sometimes. This includes installs of Red Hat (before it was Red Hat Enterprise Linux), Fedora (after it was Red Hat), Mandrake (now Mandriva), and Ubuntu (still Ubuntu). Of course, there are some distributions aimed at more experienced users that seem to go out of their way to make the whole installation process a little more, shall we say, complex. I’m looking at you, Gentoo.
I just recently re-installed Windows on a friend’s computer that had become so infected with god-knows-what that it was completely unusable. I didn’t keep track of how long the install took, but it was hours and hours, not even including when I had to go to bed and continue the install in the morning. Downloading and installing updates, rebooting, downloading and installing more updates, rebooting again. On and on it went.
Of course, after the install all he had was Windows with some minor applications like Notepad and Wordpad, and some games like Solitaire and Minesweeper. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve wasted plenty of time on both of those, but it’s a pretty sparse selection.
When I install a Linux distro I get a complete, usable desktop. An office suite, CD and DVD burning software, image manipulation software, full featured email suites, and lots of games. All for no cost. And lots more easily available. Which brings me to my next point…
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