Linux.com :: Features

Happy Independence Day

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:00:00 GMT

We're taking the day off to celebrate the US Independence Day holiday. We intend to reflect on traditional American values such as freedom of speech and religion, fairness, justice, respect for the rule of law, the right to pursue happiness, standing up for the underdog, and taking responsibility for one's actions. We suggest other US residents do the same, and hold their elected leaders to the same if not higher standards. Then we suggest everyone have a barbecue and watch some fireworks.

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How to write a thorough review of a Linux distribution

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

I have never written a review of a Linux distribution, but I've read more than I can count, and many of them have been maddeningly incomplete and not worth the time it took to read them. Here's a list of items you need to talk about in order to write a thorough review, covering every aspect of the distribution from the initial download to the final recommendation and everything in between.

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OpenOffice.org extension will add PDF editing

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Easy PDF editing is coming to OpenOffice.org, but you'll have to be patient for a few months. Recently posted to the OpenOffice.org Extensions site, the Sun PDF Import extension (SPI) is only in beta, and only works with recent developer builds of OpenOffice.org 3.0, which is scheduled for September release. Right now, the quality of the final release is anybody's guess, but the beta's capabilities fall squarely in the middle of the available PDF import tools.

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An introduction to the Kismet packet sniffer

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Kismet is a wireless "detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system," and one of the growing list of essential open source tools for computer network security professionals. Kismet runs on any POSIX-compliant platform, including Windows, Mac OS X, and BSD, but Linux is the preferred platform because it has more unencumbered RFMON-capable drivers than any of the others.

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IOzone for filesystem performance benchmarking

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

IOzone lets you benchmark your filesystem performance, seeing how well record IO occurs for files of various sizes. With IOzone you can see more detailed information than the read, write, and rewrite figures that Bonnie++ reports. IOzone is great at detecting areas where file IO might not be performing as well as expected.

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Barracuda launches reluctant legal offensive against Trend Micro

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:01:21 GMT

The already vicious lawsuit involving Barracuda Networks and Trend Micro that is currently in discovery in front of the American International Trade Commission (ITC) just turned nastier. Barracuda has filed its own patent infringement claim against Trend Micro, based upon three recently acquired patents. The suit is in response to Trend Micro's allegation that its patent is being infringed by Barracuda shipping Clam Antivirus (ClamAV), the popular free software application, and appears designed to pressure Trend Micro to reach a negotiated settlement.

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Portrait: Louis Landry of Joomla! finds direction in FOSS

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

For Louis Landry, a member of the core team for the Joomla! management system, free and open source software (FOSS) is not just a hobby, nor just the technology behind Jxtended, the consulting business in which he is a partner. For Landry, FOSS is also the movement that gave him direction in life, and provides both the rationale and the outlet for his diverse interests. In fact, he is so enthusiastic about FOSS that he sounds like an evangelist for the community whenever it is mentioned.

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Banshee 1.0 is more than an audio player (video)

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Banshee 1.0 is finally here, and the development team has added a truck load of new features; making it not only an audio player but a full blown media player and manager. This video discusses all of the new and improved features of version 1.

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Expert tip: Print booklets in Scribus

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Scribus, a free, open source desktop publishing application, offers a wide range of page layout features, but one thing it lacks is the ability to print booklets. Fortunately, I've come across a simple procedure that lets you work around this issue. Here's how to do it in Linux; Windows users should be able to follow along too.

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A new utility for quickly interpreting multiple Bonnie++ benchmarks

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Yesterday I discussed the Bonnie++ tool, which can be used to benchmark filesystem performance. When you are tweaking a RAID and filesystem combination, you generally want to see whether your changes work in a positive manner across the board, and by how much. I created a utility called bonnie-to-chart to show the results of multiple Bonnie++ runs in either absolute or relative performance terms. It's primarily a Perl script that can be used together with the Open Flash Chart component.

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Open source social networking app thrives in China

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

The popular social networking site Facebook just announced a Chinese version, but similar Chinese-based Web sites such as Xiaonei and Hainei have been struggling there. However, since April, UCenter Home, an open source social network service based on PHP and MySQL, is pushing open social networking in China.

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One live DVD, one ton of Linux games

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

LinuX-Gamers Live is a live DVD from Germany based on Arch Linux that includes nothing but games. Version 0.9.3 was released in June and provides an excellent means of sampling Linux games or setting up a home arcade, although a few of the games wouldn't run on my machine.

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Investigating strange dialup activity with Wireshark

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

A controlled dial-on-demand router is a convenient tool. An uncontrolled dial-on-demand router is not. The Wireshark network protocol analyzer helped me track down the cause of some strange and unwanted dialup connections.

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Using Bonnie++ for filesystem performance benchmarking

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Bonnie++ allows you to benchmark how your filesystems perform various tasks, which makes it a valuable tool when you are making changes to how your RAID is set up, how your filesystems are created, or how your network filesystems perform.

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Three reasons why GNU/Linux is better for Web servers than OS X

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Apple's OS X, which has been an official certified Unix system for some time now, is often installed onto Internet-exposed or intranet-only Web servers for serving up dynamic content. I've worked with such configurations for a couple of years, and with GNU/Linux alternatives for even longer. There are at least three reasons why GNU/Linux systems do the job better.

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Big Buck Bunny builds a better Blender

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Big Buck Bunny is the colorful product of the Peach open movie project: an animated short released online and on DVD. But in addition to the 'toon itself, Peach has produced an altogether different yield: improvements to the Blender 3-D modeling application. Like its predecessor Project Orange, Peach pushed the open source tool forward with the demands of a real-world media production, in a way that hobbyist usage cannot. Could other free software projects use the same model?

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Win4Lin 5.0 makes big improvements

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

There is no dearth of software that can help you run that indispensable Windows app over Linux. Win4Lin has managed to survive through the years as an inexpensive tool for people who like to pay for support. The recently released Win4Lin 5, available for $30 a pop, has shrugged off the shortcomings of its predecessor and delivers on its "near native-performance" promise.

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Three image extensions for WordPress

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 GMT

Images are an important part of an attractive, eye-catching blog. Well-chosen images can highlight and capture the essence of your communication, helping your audience to better appreciate your message. Here are three WordPress extensions that help you gain more control over the photos and graphics you want to display on your blog.

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Ask Linux.com: Specialty distros, startup scripts, and a whole new forum

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:00:00 GMT

In this week's junket through the latest and greatest from the Linux.com forums, we look at Linux distributions for security testing, gaming, and the visually impaired, writing your own startup scripts, and our new forum for job seekers.

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Ten sticking points for new Ubuntu users

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

With Ubuntu, Canonical has had notable success in convincing people to switch from other platforms, but potential Ubuntu users are still running into trouble in several areas. Having spent some time on Canonical's forums, I've identified 10 points that seem to be common sticking points for new users -- that is, problems that have the potential to prevent a new user from adopting Ubuntu in the long term. These problems span the entire Ubuntu experience, but they all have two things in common: they are all serious enough to evoke the dreaded "I tried Linux but it didn't work" excuse, and they are all solvable.

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