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A lazy sysadmin is a good sysadmin. Time spent in finding more-efficient shortcuts is time saved later on for that ongoing project of "reading the whole of the internet", so try Linux Format's 10 handy tips to make your admin life easier. Includes shortcuts for SSH and screen, along with ways to roll out admin commands across multiple boxes.

How does OpenSolaris, Sun's effort to free its big-iron OS, fare from a Linux user's point of view? Is it merely a passable curiosity right now, or is it truly worth installing? Linux Format takes OpenSolaris for a test drive, examining the similarities and differences between the OS and a typical Linux distro. If you want to sample the mighty ZFS filesystem, OpenSolaris is definitely the way to go.

Yes, it's the same question that comes up every year, yet Linux's desktop marketshare remains tiny. But 2008 poses some major opportunities: endless gripes and woes with Windows Vista; ever cheaper PCs and laptops such as the ASUS Eee; and the growing switch to online apps (making the underlying OS less relevant). This Tech.co.uk opinion piece claims that this time, it's not just hype, and 2008 *really* could be the year of Linux on the deskop..."

Today sees the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5. Linux Format has an in-depth first look at the distro, and examines how Red Hat aims to become even more 'open' by using a shorter and clearer SLA, improving community involvement through its Knowledge Base, and providing the new Red Hat Exchange. And yes, it includes XGL...

Linux Format and Novell have set up Make it with Mono, a website where Linux users submit ideas and descriptions of their most-wanted programs. On the 2nd of April, the voting booths will open, and the program idea that gets the most votes will be written in Mono (and released under the GPL). All ideas welcome, providing they're feasible -- ie not whopping great office suites!

Yesterday Oracle announced its move into the enterprise Linux market, revealing how it may challenge Red Hat. Linux Format got hold of the 'Unbreakable' distro to find out what's going on under the hood. Is it a breakthrough for Linux in the corporate market, or just another RHEL respin? See the article for all the info.

Linux Format has put Fedora Core 6 through its paces, finding out what's new, what's good, and what's not so good. Covering package management, look-and-feel and Xen virtualisation, this first-look sports screenshots galore of the new features.

Linux Format magazine has taken some of its previous tutorial series and put them online in the form of a wiki. Covering RPM, sound production, Perl programming, Subversion and PHP, the goal is to let users update articles as new programs are released. More tutorials are planned if it's a success!

Linux Format has an interview with Greg Kroah-Hartman, the well-known Linux kernel hacker behind many drivers and the USB subsystem. Greg explains why drivers aren't a popular area of kernel development, how the kernel is stabilising in 2.6, and the impact of the SCO lawsuits.

Linux Format has an interview with Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, the director of Linux and OSS marketing at Novell. Greg discusses whether or not any company can become the 'Microsoft of Linux', and explains how the company's internal migration to Linux on the desktop is progressing.

Linux Format has an interview with Bruce Perens. Having founded the Open Source Initiative and Linux Standards Base, Perens is a well-known spokesperson for the Free Software community, and in this interview he discusses the problems with his UserLinux project, the rise of Ubuntu, and why figureheads are still important in the open source world.

Just what makes a Mono developer tick? Linux format has a brief interview with Edd Dumbill and Niel Bornstein, two prominent Mono coders who've just written a book on the open source .NET implementation. They explain the advantages of C# over other languages, and give a bit of advice for budding Mono app developers.

[ED: The short, abstracted portion comes from a U.K. Linux publication*. While Mono is tolerated, I suspect as soon as it no longer fits any MS need, the attempt to cut it off at its knees will ensue. At a recent MS event, an unofficial 'Birds of a Feather' type meeting was not allowed on the convention site. If this is the way they are treated as "friends, what happens when is sours? - HC]

[ED: * they want you to buy the magazine to read the entire interview. Now it's kind of expensive in the States, but taped to the front is either a DVD or a couple of CDs with content. - HC]