Linux Archive

Editorial: The Desktop Dilemma

Submitted by Timothy R. Butler 2002-08-12 Linux 45 Comments

"As the economic downturn has taken its toll on GNU/Linux companies, many surviving companies have decided to move away from the desktop market, and focus on the server instead. This escalated to an alarming pace after the death of Eazel, a startup that created the Nautilus file manager, and while the focus-on-server mania has calmed down lately, it is still very much alive. Yet, it seems to me, that focusing on the server will in the end cause these companies to loose not only the desktop, but the server as well." Find out why at OfB.biz.

Terra Soft Ships Macs with YDL Pre-Installed

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-09 Linux 22 Comments

Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., the leading developer of integrated PowerPC Linux solutions announced today availability of Apple computers with Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed. Terra Soft, an Apple Authorized VAR, is able to provide custom configured stand-alone units or clusters while maintaining the full Apple warranty. While installation of Linux on PowerPC has greatly improved, pre-installed systems boot directly to Yellow Dog Linux, saving time with installation and configuration.

Linux Kernel 2.4.19 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-03 Linux 4 Comments

You can use a mirror to download the latest stable Linux kernel 2.4.19, released today. Changelog, patch, full source are available. An XFS patch for 2.4.19 should be ready by next week.

UnitedLinux Due In November

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-30 Linux 11 Comments

"The four distributors Caldera, Conectiva, Suse Linux, and Turbolinux are planning to introduce UnitedLinux, a joint server operating system for enterprise deployment, in November of this year, the companies said late Friday. The technical specifications of the OS have already been finalized." Read the interesting report on what will be included on the UnitedLinux distribution over at ExtremeTech.

Cosmoe 0.5.5 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-29 Linux 12 Comments

This Cosmoe release's major features: Improved autoconf support for DirectFB, autoconf support for building Cosmoe to run in an X window (--enable-xwindows), mouse changed to /dev/mouse from /dev/psaux, better failure cases for the video driver loading, so if Cosmoe fails to load you're not stuck with a dead keyboard, incorporation of contributed bug fixes for Aedit and Aterm. Features coded but not included in this release: Sed scripts to convert Atheos programs to Cosmoe. Download here, read the mailing list here.

Linux: Going Hybrid

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-26 Linux 20 Comments

"When the hordes of volunteer programmers who make up the open-source movement met this week for their annual convention in San Diego, one constituency was conspicuously absent: entrepreneurs. Many start-ups that tried to make money from open-source software have already gone bust, and many of those that have survived are in a sorry state." The Linux kernel is not anymore just the hacker's kernel, hacking code in his bedroom. Most of the work these days is done by big companies like Red Hat, IBM, Mandrake and even Sun. The Economist comments on the subject.

Linux Poised to Plug in USB 2

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-26 Linux 7 Comments

"Support for a faster version of USB in Linux is imminent and will become a permanent part of the Linux landscape when the next version of the operating system, 2.4.19, is introduced." Article at News.com.

Linux: Twelve Steps to Desktop Dominance

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-23 Linux 48 Comments

"While I normally turn a cold shoulder to all those increasingly arcane ways of dividing people into two groups we keep inventing, there's one that I think holds the key to Linux's prospects for success on the mainstream desktop." Read the article at LinuxAndMain.

Linux in the land of z/OS

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-21 Linux No Comments

"Mainframe Linux's near-term attraction is it relative ease of operation, not price per se. We project mainframe Linux will remain a shrinking niche, whose term will be defined by the dual mainframe/Wintel gaps of cost (widening) and management functionality (closing)." Read the analysis at ZDTechUpdate.

The Rasterman Believes Desktop Battle for Linux is Lost

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-20 Linux 42 Comments

The Rasterman is the founder of the Enlightenment project, an infinitely configurable window manager that is working its way toward becoming a desktop, even though he thinks the desktop battle is lost. In an email interview with LinuxAndMain, he talks about what he's doing, his view of the future of desktop Linux, the nature of development projects (commercial, community-based, and genius-based) and more.

The Linux Kernel 2.6 Todo List

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-19 Linux 3 Comments

A good break down of what needs to be done for the Linux kernel 2.6 (which might be coming out as soon as in November) can be found on LWN and on KernelTrap.

Reports Circulate that TurboLinux has Collapsed

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-18 Linux 33 Comments

"Turbolinux, one of the four main Linux commercializers, closed down on Monday, multiple sources say. The company could not be reached for comment late last night when reports started filtering in. It was after normal business hours anywhere in the US. If true, the unconfirmed disaster will be a black eye for the newfangled United Linux initiative that Turbo, Caldera, SuSE and Conectiva, all second stringers, put together a few weeks ago to prop each other up and create a common operating system platform to take up against Linux market leader Red Hat." Read the (unconfirmed yet) report at LinuxGram.

LinuxJournal Presents the Linux Timeline

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-17 Linux 2 Comments

"As part of our 100th issue celebration, we present 100 of the most significant events in Linux history. As shown in the timeline, the first issue of Linux Journal coincided with the release of Linux 1.0. Ever since, the fortunes of our magazine have followed those of Linux at large." Read the Linux Timeline.

Interview with Robert Love

Guest post by Jeremy Andrews 2002-07-16 Linux 14 Comments

An interview with Robert Love is at KernelTrap. Robert is author of the kernel preemption patch which has been merged into the 2.5 development kernel. In this interview, Robert discusses the status of Linux kernel preemption, talks about his recent involvement with the O(1) scheduler and explains his recent VM overcommit work. He also reflects upon Linus' use of Bitkeeper, the future of Linux, and the recent Kernel Summit in Ottawa.

Top 10 Things Wrong With Linux, Today

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-12 Linux 68 Comments

Adam Wiggins has put together 10 reasons of what he believes it is wrong with Linux today. Our Take: Some of his points seem correct, but others are already fixed for most distributions. I really had a smile in my face reading his point No 5. It is exactly what I was talking about 2 weeks ago, and only the Amiga, OSX and BeOS-6/Dano people were able to follow of what it really means to have a smooth desktop! Read the discussion and explanation starting here and especially here.

Embedded Linux: Is It Dead Yet?

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-12 Linux 10 Comments

There are two recent articles about the current state of Linux in the embedded world: "It's raining penguins. Or rather, that's what many people would like you to think. Linux vendors are laying off scores of workers. Linux publications are folding. So is it doom and gloom time for Linux lovers? PDF here. "The law of supply and demand will face a curious test over the next few years, as embedded Linux vendors search for a way to make engineers pay for an operating system that appeals to users largely because it's free." Article at EETimes.

Marcelo Tosatti: Big Business and the Future of Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-11 Linux 5 Comments

The new Linux kernel maintainer speaks to ZDNet UK about opportunities for Linux in applications big and small, and explains why UnitedLinux is a good idea.

rxLinux 1.0-b1 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-05 Linux 15 Comments

The concept behind rxLinux, is to centralise configuration and management of multiple GNU/Linux servers. New servers can be deployed in minutes. A web interface is used to build custom iso cdrom dedicated for specific servers. Server, also called rxnodes, boot up from that cdrom and get the rest of configuration and software from a master server. No administration is done directly on nodes. Everything is controlled from the master servers. rxLinux is based on the GNU/Linux system and related Free tools, ensuring your Freedom as a user and an admin.

Cosmoe 0.5.4 Released

Submitted by Stefan Werner 2002-07-04 Linux 16 Comments

The Cosmoe 0.5.4 release is a relatively minor update which further improves the configuration script and the Makefiles that it touches. New in this release is the ability to create a DirectFB-enabled target.

On the Importance of Providing RPMs with your Software Package

Eugenia Loli 2002-06-28 Linux 21 Comments

"In this article, I'll ignore for the sake of argument that I am a developer, and side with users. Nowadays we have tens of thousands of applications available for Linux. Some are simple, some are rather complex, some are huge. This ought to be enough to achieve world domination, according to some Linux proponents." Read the editorial at LinuxAndMain.