Showing headlines posted by hkwint

The Gnome Partition Editor Live CD is a simple tool that will shrink a (usually "the") Windows partition on your hard drive, then make Linux partitions almost automatically. These four videos step you through the process of downloading GPartEd (the program's nickname) from SourceForge.net, defragmenting Windows, shrinking your Windows partition, and installing the three most commonly-used Linux partitions. As a free bonus, a fifth video will show you how to uninstall Linux and stretch your shrunk-down Windows partitition until it once again takes up your whole hard drive.

[ - A must-see for everyone who's going to fiddle with partitions and not willing to pay for Partition Magic - hkwint ]

LXer Announcement: 21-Jul-2006

In an attempt to find out where the LXer readers live, LXer reader Dominik (incinerator) started a LXer Frappr map where readers (and editors!) can add themselves.

For people not familiar with Frappr: For every reader, a kind of flag is placed on a worldmap, so others can find out where on earth you live (Yes, living on earth is a prerequisite). You can add yourself by filling out some info in the upper right corner of the page.
I'd say it's very nice to find out where our readers live (and make that part of our 'plan to world domination'), so pleas add yourself!

Only 50 days after Dapper Drake (6.06) - on July 20, Mark Shuttleworth and his Canonical engineering team introduced their newest creation, Ubuntu 6.10 Knot-1, code-named "Edgy Eft."

Shuttleworth explained on the Ubuntu users' list why he chose the unusual name.

"Edgy is all about cutting edge, perhaps bleeding edge, brand new code and infrastructure. It will be the right time to bring in some seriously interesting but definitely edgy new technologies which lay the groundwork for the next wave of Ubuntu development," Shuttleworth wrote.

[ - screenshots here - hkwint ]

The Dutch municipality of Groningen (180.000 inhabitants) recently announced to migrate to OpenOffice.org. The municipality expects to save 330 thousand Euros, of which 160 thousand will be used for the migration. Groningen isn't ready to switch to Linux yet, but it is currently busy to make the applications it uses OS-independent.

Whole article in Dutch only

Bandit countryIdentity systems such as Higgins and InfoCard give us new ways of storing and exchanging information about users; good news for users and developers.

The other half of the picture is managing and auditing those identities and the roles they correspond to.

Hackers are using techniques popularised by developers of open-source software like Linux to improve their malicious code, a researcher at McAfee has said.

[ - Crackers also like freedom 0 - hkwint ]

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is Now Available Worldwide

I googled around and haven't seen anyone else even ATTEMPTING to boot Linux on this thing (even though the Japanese had the UX50/90 already)...why is that? I don't know. So I decided to give it a shot. And it was surprisingly easy. Everything works just fine, the UX180P is just an ultra-mini-micro PC. Since it runs the full version of Windows XP Pro, it shouldn't have too much trouble with most current Linux distro's.

Larry Ellison, Oracle's President, claimed the software giant is targeting Red Hat support: specifically providing support services for Red Hat Linux users.

The browser wars are heating up, as the first beta of Firefox 2.0 is due on Tuesday July 11th, and Internet Explorer version 7.0 is now on it's third beta release.

The French Parliament has passed what the anti-Digital Rights Management (DRM) group EUCD.INFO calls "the worst copyright law in Europe." Popularly known as DADVSI (Loi sur le Droit d'Auteur et des Droits Voisins dans la Société de l'Information, or Law on Author's Rights and Related Rights in the Information Society), the bill now goes to President Jacques Chirac to be signed into law. However, opponents of the bill hope that alleged unconstitutional maneuvering by the government and possibly unconstitutional aspects of the law itself can still be used to prevent at least some aspects of DADVSI from coming into effect.

Solegy LLC has adopted support for encryption of SIP messages among service providers using its ServicePDQ™ managed platform. The news is timely as it addresses the recent disruptions to VoIP service caused by attempts to block SIP messages and media by network operators around the world.

Phipps, Sun's chief open source officer, said the transition to open source Java would come in a matter of months, not years. What he meant was that it would happen within the next 10 or 11 months. However, what attendees quickly trumpeted to the blogosphere was that the move was imminent. So Phipps had to go back to the press to clarify that it wouldn't be happening quite that soon. So began a fresh round of concerns about whether Sun was dragging its heels on open-sourcing Java.

This wednesday, the EC will decide if Microsoft eventually will be fined. Prior to that decision, EC Commissioner Kroes of competition says: "I see no other way out for MS"

[ - The full article is available in Dutch only - hkwint ]

Nope, there ain't much new news around. If you are bored, here are some suggestions for you:

• Check which groups already switched to Linux.
• Go read ESR's The Cathedral and the Bazaar". If you are still bored after reading it, read it in Danish.
• Go read some Halloween Docs.
• Go read more about DRM. This is the best article I ever read about it.
• If you need some new inspiration to flame Microsoft, proceed to http://msversus.org/this site.
• Warning: This one is usefull! Help some Linux-noobs.
• Look at the Firefox Counter and wait for it to pass 200M. If it did, submit an article about it at LXer.
• Try a HURD LiveCD.
• Read about Linux and learn a new language both at the same time!
• Stop preaching to the choir, and tell a different audience why they should use Free Software.
• Kick me in the butt until I finish my new article, 'A Gentoo diary' - Part 1

The second iCommons summit, held at the end of June in Rio de Janeiro, proved many things about the free culture movement. The most exciting development is that we're growing rapidly, both in terms of the numbers of activists and advocates who identify themselves with the movement, and in terms of the quantity of content being distributed under free licenses. But the summit also highlighted some issues that iCommons needs to address if it is to maintain its vitality and legitimacy. This article is is a friendly prod that I hope will strengthen and unite the community.

Ubuntu Linux (other Linux distro also able to save data on external USB hard disk or USB pen drive) has this nifty feature that allows saving both data and desktop settings.

'casper-cow' is a special label on an ext2/ext3 filesystem or partition. You need to use e2label command to assign the label on USB pen or hard disk drive. If this label found Ubuntu Linux will use the USB device to store desktop information as well as your data/applications. The idea is very simply, "you should be able to carry your desktop anywhere, anytime".

Microsoft said it plans to sponsor an open-source project to create software that will convert Office documents to OpenDocument, a rival format gaining ground, particularly among governments.

[ Finally! Thanks Massachusetts, Belgium, Denmark and probably the EC also, and congratulations to all ODF supporters Apparently, there is 'demand', although Microsoft claimed not. Now, the way is open to a switch to ODF for all MS users, after which it will be easy to save costs by switching to OOo! - hkwint]

The use of Open Source Software (OSS) solutions by health care providers and organizations is an increasingly important trend today. The number of OSS solutions currently available has grown to be quite substantial. The number of new OSS health care solutions under development is equally impressive.

[ - While not really 'recent news', this 'review' gives a very good summary of OSS in healthcare. - hkwint ]

Novell Is First Linux Provider to Supply Free Full-Service Teacher Training Courses, and Is Also Cooperating With Thomson Learning to Create New SUSE Linux Enterprise Courseware