Linux in the news
Recommended Reading
Linux Evolution Reveals Origins of Curious Mathematical Phenomenon (PhysOrg)
PhysOrg.com summarizes a scientific paper describing how investigators used the Debian package history to verify Zipf's Law. "Using the data, they showed that the growth rates of connectivities between packages are proportional to the degree of connectivity between packages. In addition, they showed empirically that the average growth rate of the total number of links to a given package over a time interval is proportional to that time interval. Further, the variability of the total number of links to a given package increases proportionally to the square-root of time, providing a crucial test of the mechanism of stochastic proportional growth of connectivity between packages. Altogether, these characteristics are responsible for the universal distribution pattern of Zipf's law."
Resources
StudioDave Does A Hardware Review And Meets Ubuntu 8.10 (Linux Journal)
Over at Linux Journal, Dave Phillips picks a laptop and distribution for his mobile audio needs with some fairly specific requirements. He looks at problems that he ran into along with solutions that he found. "I had specific intentions for this machine. Above all it had to run AVSynthesis, which meant that it would need accelerated 3D graphics capability along with support for high-quality realtime audio. I also wanted to install a complete environment for building a specific version of Csound 5.09 and for compiling Ardour 3 from its SVN source code, which meant that I would need a relatively up-to-date Linux distribution. Other required components included a recent version of JACK and the latest Java SDK."
Reviews
Go fish! (developerWorks)
developerWorks examines the fish shell. "Thankfully, fish--the Friendly Interactive Shell--swims upstream against the tide of obfuscation, providing streamlined syntax and a much-improved user experience. Like other shells, fish provides redirection, shortcuts, globbing (that is, expansion of wildcards), subshells, tab completion, and variables. Unlike alternatives, however, fish also provides color-coded CLIs, an extensive command-line editor, and rich documentation."
Miscellaneous
Linux readied for DOD IPv6 certification (GCN)
Government Computer News reports on the recent IPv6 Special Interoperability Certification of the Linux kernel. "The Linux kernel has been brought into full compliance with the Defense Information System Agency's IPv6 Special Interoperability Certification, the Linux Foundation announced this week. As a result, all Linux distributions that use the latest kernel and enhancements should be able to pass certification. In 2007, the Defense Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer and the chief assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration developed an IPv6 Master Test Plan to ensure all DOD equipment using IPv6 would be able to interoperate."
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