Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

A while back, I made a comment with regard to how great it would be to have a single, collective HCL (hardware compatibility list) for all of the popular Linux distributions. At the time, I felt very strongly that if we had a one single collective database of hardware that was known to work with the latest distributions, life would be a lot easier.

If you're planning to take a stab at being an open source programmer then there are harder ways to do it than to start with PHP, MySQl and Apache. For one, the learning curve to getting your first application up and running is relatively shallow -- especially if you're already well-versed in HTML.

The KDE Project on Sept. 10 released KOffice 1.6-beta1, the first beta release for KOffice 1.6, which the project team said is scheduled for full release this October. The release is meant for testing purposes only, not for deployment on production systems, according to the team.

SAP product and technology group president Shai Agassi said Tuesday mySAP ERP 2005, launched in June, is the core of SAP's software and that this core would not be updated for another five years. SAP will instead introduce changes to the core - such as new functions and composite applications in vertical sectors - through Enhancement Packages released once every one or two quarters.

One of the greatest new features for laptop users in Ubuntu is network-manager. With this shiny new application it is finally easy to connect your Ubuntu system to any wireless network. Where previously you had to jump through hoops to do WPA or 802.1x authentication, network manager makes this completely transparent.

Two recent product introductions make it easier for companies to use Linux to deliver IBM Lotus Notes/Domino-based messaging, calendars and scheduling.

If you are in Germany, the country of Sauerkraut and Beethoven, and you move far to the east, you might arrive at the town of Dresden. In this city, the Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) is located, which’s operating systems group has developed a C++ implementation of Jochen Liedtkes well-known L4 µ-kernel interface. This microkernel, ironically called Fiasco, is the center of all the different projects of the TU Dresden Operating System (TUD:OS) research group.

Back in March, when Linus Torvalds put his seal of approval on the Linux 2.6.16 kernel, one of the key new features that was added to the kernel was support for the PowerPC "Cell" processor co-designed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. Now, that support for the Cell chip has been brought into the Fedora Core 5 development Linux from Red Hat.

Thanks to a handful of college professors, Dutch high school students interested in open source software development now have a community specifically designed to foster participation, learning, and useful code.

To most people —especially those to whom computing is a means to accomplish some other task rather than an end in itself —systems software is boring. To paraphrase the old Clintonian phrase, "it’s the apps, stupid". What matters to most computer users is more about what IT does than how it gets done.

Welcome to this year's 37th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community. Debian will be present at the Wizards of OS conference next weekend in Berlin, Germany. André Luiz Rodrigues Ferreira wondered if there will be special Debian themes available for the desktop environments in etch. Adrian von Bidder discovered a 16 core MIPS server with Debian pre-installed.

Inspired by Cisco and Microsoft, Symantec and Juniper Networks have struck back against rivals Microsoft and Cisco with an astonishingly vague, sweeping partnership of their own.

So you just bought and assembled a brand-new AMD64 workstation. The only decision that remains is whether to install a 64-bit Linux distribution, or stick with comfortable, tried-and-true IA-32. If you are seeking an easy answer to that question, I can't help you. Running 64-bit Linux has its pros and cons. Unfortunately, a lot of the cons are out of your hands -- but they're not really Linux's fault, either.

Collax, a leading provider of Linux servers for small and medium sized businesses, announced today that former IBM, Novell and SUSE executive Richard Seibt has joined its Board of Directors.

Did you miss out on the LinuxWorld 2006 conference and expo held last month in San Francisco? Well, we have some good news for you: the show management has posted the keynote talks online for free public viewing.

Science is an open process. Experimental information and results must be published so results are verifiable and reproducible. These results are then shared with the larger community to benefit all humanity. It makes sense that the software used for scientific computations should also be open. Here are a few scientific programs of general utility.

20th Anniversary of North America's Largest and Most Comprehensive IT Event Continues to Drive Revolution in Business Technology

Every wise old system and network administrator knows that security is a multilayer process. You have your firewalls and other border security, perhaps some internal network segmentation, and application and operating system security. However, locking down the operating system is probably the most crucial link in this chain.

Authentication is the process in which a program determines whether a user is actually the person who he claims to be. It is used in any kind of a system that provides different services to people depending upon their membership. When you log in to your favorite mailbox, access ATM, or use the services of Net Banking; what you are actually doing is obtaining service from the service provider after proving your credibility using your credentials (i.e. generally your user name and password).

A recent Slashdot item on Wi-Fi security was a timely reminder of the weaknesses of default Wi-Fi encryption protocols, and the dangers of using unencrypted, public Wi-Fi connections. Fortunately, you can use FOSS utilities to securely tunnel your Wi-Fi connection sessions and protect your Web and email traffic.