Linux in the news

Recommended Reading

Improving Linux Driver Installation (O'ReillyNet)

O'ReillyNet wants to improve Linux driver installation. "When compiling the kernel, you can select the drivers you want to use. Linux also has the capability to compile most drivers into special modules that it will load only when you use the device. These loadable modules allow the kernel to load certain drivers only when needed. This is particularly handy with rarely used devices and removable USB peripherals. Although loading drivers on the fly is flexible, the user experience of dealing with drivers has required that users know how to deal with modules, mount disks and devices, and low-level device information. These requirements have acted as a barrier to Linux adoption for nontechnical users."

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Speech code from IBM to become open source (News.com)

News.com carries a NY Times article on IBM's plans to release speech-recognition software to two open-source software groups. "IBM is donating code that it estimates cost the company $10 million to develop. One collection of speech software for handling basic words for dates, time and locations, like cities and states, will go to the Apache Software Foundation. The company is also contributing speech-editing tools to a second open-source group, the Eclipse Foundation."

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Penguin Europe: The EuroLugs network project (NewsForge)

NewsForge covers an FFII effort to organize European LUGs. "Last April, many GNU/Linux users, organized by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), met in Brussels to demonstrate before the European Parliament (EP) against the introduction of software patents in the European Union. During the event, further protests were coordinated for the following month in many European cities. Eventually, the guys in Brussels found themselves asking, why don't we do this systematically? More precisely, why don't we create EuroLugs, a permanent network of all European LUGS and FLOSS associations, so we can act faster, all together and more effectively?"

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Trade Shows and Conferences

Novell sees a 'both-source' future (News.com)

News.com covers Novell's Brainshare Europe conference in Barcelona. "Shortly after Messman finished justifying Novell's proprietary heritage, though, Novell European President Richard Seibt said that businesses should move away from a closed approach to their internal software development and adopt open-source methods in order to cut costs and improve efficiency."

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The SCO Problem

Keeping Today's SCO-IBM Motions Straight (Groklaw)

There has been a serious flood of motions leading up to the September 15 hearing in SCO v. IBM. Groklaw has put together a convenient list for those who are having trouble keeping the whole thing straight.

One of the more amusing recent filings is the reply memo opposing IBM's attempt to strike the declarations from SCO's non-expert witnesses. "Is SCO out of its mind? Not trying? Trying to lose elegantly? I have been debating it every which way, and my current hypothesis is that the only thing they fight hard for is delay. I think, therefore, that they don't mind losing, as long as they can preserve their opportunity to go after end users."

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Companies

IBM opens Linux center in Brazil (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld covers a new IBM LTC in Brazil. "IBM Corp. will spend more than $1 million to help fund a Linux technology center in Brazil. The center, created in conjunction with the Brazilian government, aims to train 700 public service professionals on the use of Linux by year's end."

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'Independent' report used MS-sourced data to trash OSS (Register)

The Register uncovers the funding of a supposedly independent report used in a decision to use Microsoft software by the London borough of Newham. "According to Microsoft's press release of last month, "Newham's decision to partner with Microsoft follows an extensive platform evaluation at the Borough, in which the merits of, and overall value offered by Microsoft's software were rigorously assessed by Capgemini. Capgemini were selected to conduct the evaluation by Newham, and ran the evaluations as an independent third party. Fact One: None of this is untrue, as such, but a study by Capgemini, funded by Microsoft, was Microsoft's offer during pricing negotiations with Newham last autumn. Note that Cap Gemini's brief was to assess value offered by Microsoft software, and that it ran its evaluation as an independent third party. The Beast chooses its words carefully here.""

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Novell chooses streamlined Linux desktop (vnunet)

vnunet looks forward to SUSE's upcoming desktop release. "Nat Friedman, Novell vice president of R&D for desktop development, told vnunet.com that this was what enterprise customers wanted. 'Large organisations tell us they want a well-integrated and supported product, not [things such as] text editors,' said Friedman, one of Ximian's founders."

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Sybase releases 'first free production database for Linux' (ZDNet UK)

ZDNet UK covers the release by Sybase of the Express Edition Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) database for Linux. "Simon Riggs, a PostgreSQL developer, said on Thursday that he is not worried about the impact that ASE could have. Instead, he sees it as another sign that companies are worried about the impact of open-source databases. "It is not a threat at all," said Riggs. "In fact, it is a good sign. Companies obviously see free, open-source databases such as PostgreSQL as such a serious threat that they are going out of their way to produce a free database.""

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Linux Adoption

Linux poised for move from data centre to desktop - report (Register)

The Register covers a Butler Group report that finds the Linux is ready for the data center. "Butler recommends Novell/SuSE and Red Hat as the distributions most worth considering for the data centre, but gives others a look-in on the desktop. Which is a conservative stance, but probably a sensible one if you're talking to people and companies without a great deal of open source knowledge and technical expertise."

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Linux can work wonders for India (Sify.com)

Sify.com is running an interview with Jyoti Satyanathan General Manager of Linux for IBM, India.

"Q: What, according to you, prompts the governments to adopt Linux in their day-to-day functions with citizens? What are the prime factors?"

"A: Linux is cost-effective. This is one of the factors. More than this, it is freedom one can get from single ownership and freedom from architecture attracting many governments to go for Linux. Adoption of Linux is prime time in government."

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The Best Tips from the Great Linux Desktop Migration Contest (O'ReillyNet)

O'ReillyNet announces the results of its Great Linux Desktop Migration Contest. "The Great Linux Desktop Migration Contest asked for entries in three categories: write an essay on the Benefits of Migrating to Linux; present an example of a Phased Migration Plan; and give us three Tips for Migrating."

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Linux at Work

Linux cluster goes Orbital (NewsForge)

NewsForge looks at Orbital Sciences' use of Linux clusters for solving fluid dynamics problems. "Orbital began to consider investing in its own high-power cluster. Fluent was using big Linux Networx clusters to do computations for Orbital and its other clients. A Linux cluster would be horizontally scalable, able to expand as Orbital's business grew. "We looked at some Sun clusters, but finally decided to go with Linux Networx because of the lower costs involved," Holst said. So in October 2003, Orbital bought and installed one of Linux Networx' "Evolocity" clusters, equipped with 24 Intel Xeon processors and Fluent 6.1 CFD software."

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Interviews

HP Delivers KDE on Laptops (KDE.News)

KDE.News talks to Thomas Schneller about HP's nx5000 laptop, which is available with Linux pre-installed.

"Does power management and the winmodem work on the nx5000 as they do under Microsoft Windows?"

"Yes, basically all hardware is working. ACPI is fully supported, so hibernating your Linux laptop is possible and also the winmodem works on this model. I also want to stress the fact that we welcome any feedback as we are eager to hear people's experiences with our product."

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aKademy Interview: Lars Stetten About Unix Accessibility (KDE.News)

KDE.News presents an interview with Lars Stetten on Unix accessibility. "Dear Mr. Stetten, you study computer science in Giessen. How do you estimate the situation for handicapped working with computers?
The current situation with Linux is not so good. Sure, the SUSE installation kernel has had support for the braille line for many years, but you can't operate a graphical user interface with this feature alone."

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Linspire me: Michael Robertson talks to vnunet.com (vnunet)

Vnunet interviews Michael Robertson, founder of Linspire. "One of the myths of open source is that, well, you just put the free software out there and then it ends up on computers. It just doesn't work that way. The original equipment manufacturers need someone they can call, and they need to have an economic incentive. The source code might be freely floating around on the internet, but that doesn't mean it's free for the end consumer."

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Resources

Linux MIDI: a Brief History, Part 1 (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal presents an overview of the creation and evolution of MIDI, from early standalone equipment to an all-in-one computerized composition environment. "The ALSA sequencer API is a most welcome evolution in Linux MIDI support. Compliant programs may be connected freely, with multiple inputs allowable on a single port. Graphic patch bays are available that display and edit the send/receive status of the available clients. Incidentally, ALSA's virmidi (virtual MIDI) ports appear to the system as though they are real ports, and their data may be routed to and from any other port, real or virtual."

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Running Linux on an iPAQ (IBM developerWorks)

Martyn Honeyford explains how to get Linux running on an iPAQ PDA. "Installing Linux on your iPAQ can be a great way to breathe new life into aging hardware or make an existing tool even better, particularly if you are a fan of Linux on the desktop. You can leverage your existing knowledge and enjoy the benefits of familiar (pun intended) free and open source software on the move. In this article, learn how to turbocharge your HP-Compaq iPAQ PDA with Linux."

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How to Use ZenTest with Ruby (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal introduces ZenTest, with examples of how to use it on Ruby code. "Ryan Davis has written a great tool called ZenTest, which creates test suites for existing bodies of code. Because a lot of people are new to refactoring, unit testing and ZenTest, this article serves as an introduction to this trio of tools."

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Reviews

Can open source software free your mind? (NewsForge)

NewsForge looks at FreeMind. "How do you organize all those little notes and ideas that you have spread out all over the place in a way that you can actually use them and make have them make some sense? That's one of the goals of a class of software known as mind mapping.  Once the realm only of high-priced commercial applications, there is now at least one open source option. It's called FreeMind and it's licensed under the GPL."

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An Introduction to GraphViz (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal reviews GraphViz. "GraphViz is a collection of tools for manipulating graph structures and generating graph layouts. Graphs can be either directed or undirected. GraphViz offers both graphical and command-line tools. A Perl interface also is available, but it is not covered here for reasons of generality. Graphical tools are not going to be discussed in this article either. Instead, this article focuses on using GraphViz from the command line."

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IBM does Linux-only dance on Power (Register)

The Register takes a look at IBM's new Power 5 Linux servers. "The first system in this new line will be the OpenPower 720, which arrives later this month. The four-processor box will run on either 1.5GHz or 1.65GHz Power5 chips and support up to 64GB of memory. IBM will offer both Red Hat and SuSE's enterprise Linux operating systems on the new box."

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What's New in SpamAssassin 3.0 (O'ReillyNet)

O'ReillyNet takes a look at SpamAssassin 3.0. "Naturally, SpamAssassin 3.0.0 includes many new static rules, and changes the definitions and scores of several old ones to reflect the changing nature of spam. For example, many rules focused on pharmaceutical spam are now included--drugs seem to have caught up with mortgages and pornography in the distribution of spam."

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What's Next for X? (O'ReillyNet)

Edd Dumbill reviews some of the upcoming capabilities coming to the X window system in an O'Reilly article. "I attended the talks given by X Window System wizards Keith Packard and Jim Gettys at the recent Linux Symposium and a got a taste of what's coming soon."

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Miscellaneous

To Evil!: Evil of August 2004 (O'ReillyNet)

Danny O'Brien seeks out the evildoers in the open source world in what appears to be the first of a series of O'ReillyNet columns. "Now, we know that the furthermost pits of hell are reserved for those who break licensing agreements (unless its clickthrough, where you get put in purgatory until the law can be clarified). But we should also give pause before we place the epaullettes of satan on someone who, let's be fair, learnt the intricacies of the SCSI bus so that we do not. Anyone who has played with SCSI knows that the interface is, frankly, Lovecraftian. A few terminators and DIP switches in, and you're constantly running saving throws for your sanity. Jörg [Schilling's] moment of alleged evil was fleeting, and he removed the restriction in the subsequent increment of cdrecord. Let's say that he was possessed by some old ide-scsi bug, and speaking in tongues at the time."

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Is Sender ID Dead in the Water? - No MARID Working Group Consensus (Groklaw)

Groklaw looks at some of the controversy behind the Sender-ID mail standard.

""'The broadest adoption possible and the most consistent standards are in the interests of not just senders, not just ISPs, but of consumers,' said Trevor Hughes, executive director of the ESPC. "Hughes also points out that even if it doesn't become a standard, Sender ID will still be a factor if the major ISPs adopt it. "'Where we stand is that Sender ID is going to be a reality for large senders,' he said. 'We don't question the sincerity of the folks who are raising concerns over open source compatibility. We just haven't come up with the same concerns.'""

"Hmm. Did he just say the ESPC doesn't care about compatibility in a standard? Yes. I believe he did."

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How to fight software patents -- singly and together (NewsForge)

Richard M. Stallman has written an article on NewsForge in which he compares software patents to land mines. "fighting patents one by one will never eliminate the danger of software patents, any more than swatting mosquitoes will eliminate malaria. You cannot expect to defeat every patent that comes at you, any more than you can expect to kill every monster in a video game: sooner or later, one is going to defeat you and damage your program. The U.S. patent office issues around 100,000 software patents each year; our best efforts could never clear these mines as fast as they plant more."

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Linux standard gains big-name backers (News.com)

News.com covers LSB supporters. "A number of software makers and well-known IT vendors have agreed to endorse the Free Standards Group's latest Linux standard to help create common ground for companies building open-source technologies, the organization said Monday. The San Francisco-based nonprofit reported that open-source software makers around the world have already adopted the guideline, known as Linux Standard Base 2.0. In addition, the Free Standards Group said a handful of high-profile vendors already working with Linux technology are backing the standard, including Advanced Micro Devices, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Intel."

Comments (4 posted)

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