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Tux has gone open source in a different way. The Free Penguin Project provides free GPL sewing patterns and advice so that anyone who meets the hardware requirements can create a fluffy stuffed penguin of their own; specifically, would-be Tux tailors need access to a sewing machine and fabric.

Can you make money building Freedom Toasters? Project founder, Jason Hudson, is about to find out. He's starting a small company that will build and manage the open source kiosks, potentially long after the Shuttleworth-funded project wraps up in 2007.

It says a lot for Ruby, the dynamic language thats giving Perl and Python a run for their money, as well as for Rails, the application framework that made Ruby famous, that such a savvy software veteran would choose to bet his next business on these open source technologies.

LXer Feature - 9-June-06

Every time someone boots up Windows, god kills a kitten. Bill Gates is the devil. Steve Ballmer is a sweaty gorilla. Linux is better than Windows, cures bad breath, and improves your love life. Linux advocates are foaming religious zealots who want to control everyone's lives.

Following Andrew Morton [interview]'s overview of what will likely be merged into the 2.6.18 kernel [story], several developers discussed the legality of the ACX1xx wireless driver. Jeff Garzik began the discussion, "I've never had technical objections to merging this, just AFAIK it had a highly questionable origin, namely being reverse-engineered in a non-clean-room environment that might leave Linux legally vulnerable."

Red Hat's acquisition of JBoss could have significant implications for the enterprise software market

Open source executives used a flurry of facts, figures and testimonials at the Red Hat Summit here last week to make what they believe is a sure-fire case against proprietary software and vendor lock-in.

In this tutorial I will describe how to install and configure mod_deflate on an Apache2 web server. mod_deflate allows Apache2 to compress files and deliver them to clients (e.g. browsers) that can handle compressed content which most modern browsers do. With mod_deflate, you can compress HTML, text or XML files to approx. 20 - 30% of their original sizes, thus saving you server traffic and making your modem users happier.

Digital Life is the sequel to Z4CK, Milne's first novel, in which intrepid hacker Duncan Steele roamed a brave new world, besting techno-proles and fighting to extricate himself from a bogus murder rap, his trusty Sharp Zaurus by his side.

Today, Linux has a sharper, more refined edge than before, and has branched out into private, public, enterprise and governmental sectors. Linux also spans all manner of hardware platforms, and serves an incredibly wide variety of purposes.

Xara Xtreme LX (Xara LX), the port of Xara's flagship graphics program released under the GNU General Public License, has been developing rapidly since the first code was released in March. The patches have been coming so quickly that any review promised to be obsolete before it was published. That is still true, but, with version 0.5 being treated as a milestone by the company, the time for a first look has finally arrived. Those familiar with the Windows version of Xara Xtreme will know what to expect. Those new to the program will find a highly contextual interface and precision tools that are quick to learn and easy to use, and marred only by the absence of a few key features and extras.

Richard Stallman slammed Sun Microsystems for its half-hearted attempt at open sourcing Java when Sun fell short of the mark after Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz committed the company to freeing the platform. But Stallman may be speaking too soon, according to Schwartz.

Vyatta and Sangoma Technologies have partnered to advance the market for network routers and firewalls based on open-source Linux technologies. Vyatta’s Open Flexible Router (OFR) will provide the protocol software and Sangoma’s WANPIPE PCI cards will supply cost-effective WAN connections.

Jon "maddog" Hall is president of Linux International, a worldwide non-profit association of end users who are dedicated to furthering the acceptance and use of free and open source Software (FOSS). In May, Hall gave a keynote address at LinuxWorld Johannesburg, where he had advice that may have surprised some in his audience. We caught up with Hall to talk about his South African visit and FOSS in the developing world in general.

QImaging, a developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital cameras for life sciences, machine vision, and OEM applications, has announced the beta release of a Linux QCam driver.

While it's unlikely you'll become a victim of this exploit, it's good to be aware of its existence should you notice anything unusual in your browsing.

[Please also be aware that it is dangerous to smoke while drinking gasoline martinis. -- grouch]

A small consulting company is shipping an inexpensive add-on board targeting software-defined radio (SDR) projects. Ettus Research's $550 Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) supports Linux and GNU Radio software, and is available with RF modules and antennas covering virtually the entire radio spectrum.

TimeSys is shipping a major update to the Eclipse-based tools available with its subscription-based online service for embedded Linux developers.

Commentary: Internet security is big business. Microsoft Windows and Office vulnerabilities have made major contributions to making it -- and keeping it -- that way. Today, players like McAfee, Symantec, Norton, and dozens of other firms fight for a share of a market worth tens-of-billions of dollars a year. I would like to think that this industry displays the same high degree of ethical standards and integrity shown by other first-responders: our police forces, firefighters, and paramedics. Sure, there are bad apples in the bunch now and then, but on the whole they are a admirably honest and trustworthy group. I don't think nearly as highly of the computer security industry.

A three-week-long flame war in debian-devel over the new Java Distribution License has culminated in Anthony Towns, the newly elected Debian Project Lead, offering to separate Debian from its legal representative, SPI.