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Thread: Linux Fanatics ~ October 19, 2006
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| Linux Fanatics ~ October 19, 2006 |
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2006-10-20 06:34:24 |
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by Jack Carlson on October 19, 2006 at
5:55 pm ·
Categorized by Books / Related
Information Most Linux distributions are built to
meet a specific purpose; address a specific audience. There are
USB-bootable versions, live disks, and versions geared toward
scientific research or desktop publishing. Ubuntu Linux is one of the
few distributions designed around a philosophy. You may have
heard about UbuntuR17;s founder and first developer, Mark
Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth gained worldwide fame on 25 April
2002 as a civilian cosmonaut aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-34 mission,
paying approximately US$20 million. Two days later, the Soyuz
spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, where he spent
eight days participating in experiments related to AIDS and genome
research. On 5 May, he returned to Earth. In order to participate on
the flight, Shuttleworth had to undergo one year of training and
preparation, including seven months spent in Star City, Moscow.
[Source: Wikipedia] In the 1990s, Shuttleworth was a
developer for Debian Linux. In 2004, he released Ubuntu Linux.
The Ubuntu Web site has this to say about its guiding
philosophy: “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.”;
The
book’s forward and first chapter both discuss this philosophical
distribution. Details on installing and configuring Ubuntu begin in
chapter 2. The Ubuntu developers have done an outstanding job at
making Ubuntu as easy to install as any other distribution, despite
its Debian ancestry. Chapter 3 covers most all the activities
the average desktop computer user might need to do in the course of a
day. It discusses finding and using the installed applications (adding
new ones is covered in Chapter 4), understanding the file system, the
various parts of the desktop and how to get around, adjusting the look
and feel of Ubuntu and working with multimedia. The next
chapter deals with managing your system, keeping it updated and
configured. It details working with devices like cameras and printers
and ends with a look at the Terminal. Using Ubuntu in a server
configuration is covered from start to finish in chapter 5. You can
even set up RAID under Ubuntu. Chapter 6 covers troubleshooting
while chapter 7 introduces you to Kubuntu, the KDE window manager
based version of Ubuntu, which uses the Gnome manager by default. If
you prefer KDE and decide to install Kubuntu, this book is still
applicable. Chapters 8 and 9 finish the book by looking at
various participants in the Ubuntu community and other Ubuntu related
projects. Ubuntu has experienced a huge surge of enthusiastic
users. In a short space of time its popularity has begun to rival
Fedora and Mandriva. There are various theories as to why this is
happening. Some credit the philosophical roots of the OS, some say
itR17;s due to the pleasing brown default color scheme. I doubt
it’s because of its interface. Gnome is a no-frills desktop, but
many distributions offer Gnome. I say it has something to do with the
fact that the Ubuntu community is serious about their mission to make
and maintain an operating system that offers freedom of use and low
cost to the user. Ubuntu offers a unique distribution method.
Anyone can request a copy of the
OS on disk here free of charge, including shipping. Another
unique thing: Once you’ve installed Ubuntu to your hard drive
using the included DVD, you’ll find a full copy of the book in
your home directory. This means you can give the book and disk to a
friend and still have the Official Ubuntu Book available for reference
any time you need it. It seems Ubuntu is really serious about
that philosophy. The Official Ubuntu
Book
Benjamin Hill and Jono Bacon et. al.
Canonical, Ltd. Pearson Education, Inc. 2007
ISBN
0-13-243594-2
412 pgs. w/DVD-ROM
$34.99 USA/$43.99
CAN
Tags: ubuntu, kubuntu, canonical, pearson
education
by Matt Hartley on October 18, 2006 at
11:17 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Misc / Related
Information It’s here! It’s freaking
about time, man! Flash 9 Beta is now live and here for you to try if
you are feeling man enoughR30; I haven̵7;t had a
chance to try it out yet, but a publicly available beta of Flash 9 for
Linux is now available. Kudos to the Adobe Linux Flash team for the
hard work. From the linked blog post: While we are still
working out exactly how to distribute the final Player version to be
as easy as possible for the typical end user, this beta includes 2
gzipR17;d tarball packages: one is for the Mozilla plugin and the
other is for a GTK-based Standalone Flash Player. Either will need to
be downloaded manually via the Adobe Labs website and
unpacked….Source: jeremy.linuxquestions.org
by Matt Hartley on October 18, 2006 at
11:15 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Talk / Related
Information If you are a fan of Ubuntu Dapper, then
you are going to simply love Edgy. Ubuntu, now featuring Beryl!
Tonight I upgraded to Ubuntu Edgy and installed Beryl.
Sounds interesting. You mentioned Ubuntu, what is that?
Ubuntu is a free, open source Linux-based operating system that starts
with the breadth of Debian and adds regular releases (every six
months), a clear focus on the user and usability (it should “Just
Work”, TM) and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of
support for every release (and with 6.06 LTS you get 3 years on the
desktop and 5 on the server!). Ubuntu ships with the latest GNOME
release as well as a selection of server and desktop software that
makes for a comfortable desktop experience off a single installation
CD. …. Source: macewan.org
by Matt Hartley on October 18, 2006 at
11:12 pm · Comments off
Categorized by News / Related
Information OK, admit that Linux coming into play
with Sony’;s PS3 is not simply the wildest thing you have ever
heard of?
Open source software firm Terra Soft is to
produce a version of its Yellow Dog Linux specifically for
Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Terra Soft said the operating system
should be available in mid-November for subscribers to its YDL.net
service.
Soon after a free version will be put online for anyone
to download.
The operating system will come in two versions. One
that installs via a single click for casual users and another that can
be customised…. Source: BBC
by Matt Hartley on October 17, 2006 at
11:23 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Linux / Related
Information This is a problem with regard to many
software titles when it comes to the Linux world. It appears that
Linux is no exception. Online auction giant eBay is
continually upgrading and supplementing its services, and that means
frequent users periodically discover something new when they log in
— integrated PayPal, new messaging tools, and so on. I am one of
those frequent users, and I recently discovered that the latest update
to one of the core auction tools locks out Linux users.
The tool is the sellers217; auction setup wizard officially
named Sell Your Item. eBay rolled out Sell Your Item 3.0 at the end of
the summer, adding some more AJAX-ified flair and polish. It was
October before I dusted off a relic in need of selling and tried the
new form for myself, and found that it didn’;t work in
Linux. Some interface elements were grayed-out and
unusable, some text changes I made vanished right in front of my eyes,
and entire form reset itself to its empty defaults, trashing
everything I had done. The top of the page admonished, “For more
selling options and features use a newer browser and JavaScript enabled.” I was using Firefox 1.5 and yes, sir, JavaScript sure was enabled230;. Source: Linux.com
by Matt Hartley on October 17, 2006 at
11:20 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Misc / Related
Information Personally, I think it is simply easier
to simply install Kubuntu in the first place. Still, this is a good
how-to for converting an existing Ubuntu install should the need
arise. In the Introduction to this book, I mentioned that
there are several distributed versions of Ubuntu. These include
Edubuntu and Kubuntu, both of which are Ubuntu but with a different
default environment. I also introduced you to the concept of desktop
environments and told you that GNOME was the default environment for
Ubuntu. There is, however, another very popular desktop environment
for Linux called KDE. I highly recommend that you introduce yourself
to KDE and that you work with it as well. I make that same
recommendation for people already working with KDE, by the way. Try
out the GNOME desktop as well. You have a choice with Linux. Why not
see what works best for you?
Showing you how to work with KDE is
beyond the scope of this book, so I won’t spend a great deal of
time on it, but I will show you how to convert your Ubuntu system to a
Kubuntu system. If you want to learn more about KDE, may I suggest
that you look at my book, Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of
Death Goodbye! I cover KDE in detail and the concepts you learn there
will serve you well on your Kubuntu system. … Source: Linux Journel
by Matt Hartley on October 17, 2006 at
11:16 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Linux / Related
Information Perhaps this will clear the air: there
will be no Oracle Linux! Well, that seems to be the overall consensus,
anyway. Repeat after me: “There is no Oracle
Linux.” I don’t care how many times you hear stock
analysts say that Oracle is about to launch its own Linux. It’s
just not going to happen. The latest example of
wishful thinking comes from Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine
Egbert, who wrote on October 13, “Our independent checks in the
past two weeks indicate that Oracle seems to be close to introducing
its own software ’stack.’”
Jefferies, an investment bank, then cut its price target on Red
Hat from $24 to $21. Red Hat’s stock price then fell more than 7
percent that day. Since then it’s been continuing to
fall230;. Source: Linux Watch
by
Matt Hartley on October 17, 2006 at
11:10 pm · Comments off
Categorized by Security /
Related
Information Alright, so is this Nvidia code bug fixed
or isn’t it? From what I am seeing, it appears that there are
some conflicting reports. Exploit code has been published
for a security flaw in NvidiaR17;s Linux graphics driver that could
let a remote intruder take over a system.
The proof-of-concept
code shows how an attacker could launch a buffer overflow and then
commandeer the system, according to an advisory released Monday by
security company Rapid7. The critical flaws were found
in NvidiaR17;s Binary Graphics driver for Linux versions 8774 and
8762, and may also affect its Linux drivers for FreeBSD and Solaris,
according to the advisory. Rapid7, which discovered
the flaws, said that the proprietary Linux drivers are vulnerable to a
buffer overflow attack, should the user visit a malicious Web site.
The attack could enable an outside to remotely run arbitrary code on
the system and write arbitrary data anywhere in its memoryR30;. Source: News.com
by Matt Hartley on October 13, 2006 at
11:21 pm · Comments off
Categorized by News / Related
Information Well, it’s better than building
bombs I suppose. It seems that Libya has opted to purchase 1.2 million
low-cost laptops for their students. Libya reportedly plans
to purchase 1.2 million low-cost laptops, after signing a deal
recently.
Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the OLPC
(One Laptop Per Child) nonprofit association, told the New York Times
that the deal had been reached in Libya on Oct. 10.
Libya will
pay the OLPC $250 million, according to the Times. In return, it will
receive 1.2 million OLPC computers for students, one server per
school, a team of technical installation advisers, satellite Internet
service, and other network infrastructure.
The deal had not been
confirmed by either Libya or the OLPC by publication of this
story…. Source: eWeek
by Matt Hartley on October 13, 2006 at
11:17 pm · Comments off
Categorized by News / Related
Information It’s great to see this happening in
the various parts of the world. Would love to see this happening here
in the states as well. The European Commission is to spend
€4m on an open source observatory and repository (Osor) to span the
member states and enable them to share information across the public
sector.
The Osor will be a common repository where neighbouring
member statesR17; administrations can share software code and
knowledge about open source.
The project aims to improve the
return on IT investments and make applications more interoperable so
common projects, such as mutual recognition of e-ID card formats -
which differ from state to state - can be developed across the
members’ borders230;. Source: silicon.com
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