LXer Weekly Roundup for 01-Apr-2007

LXer Feature: 01-Apr-2007 A weekly recap of the big stories concerning Linux and Open Source.

How To Revive An Old PC With Linux: An article about why you shouldn't throw away an old computer just because the Windows software is useless. The author goes through what he did with an old PC. An LXer named 'pogson' mentions in a forum discussion how you can actually run your old and new machines together so that two people can use the new machine at the same time. He briefly explaines two ways to go about it with requests from many others to write up a full tutorial on it.

Does the world really need OLPC?: A very funny article that parodies the OLPC, Linux and Microsoft using religious and political references that got people talking about tolerance and the ever present "Thought Police".

13 Applications to Install on Ubuntu/Linux running on Slow Computer: A nice list of programs but there are a bunch of distro's that are configured to not be performance heavy already. Why start with a full blown distro and then have to add and remove programs when you can get Xubuntu or Puppy or DSL just to name a few. It seems like just about everybody starts with Ubuntu and adds stuff from there.

ChangeLog: Run Linux, lose warranty: Joe Barr tells the story of a woman who bought an HP laptop advertised as "Linux Ready" but by actually installing Linux on her machine she unknowingly voided her warranty.

Open Season on Women: An editorial by Carla Schroder on the sexual harassment women put up with in forums in light of the recently publicized death threats to a female blogger. She asks, "Why do so many online communities tolerate trolls, sick psychopaths, and toxic personalities?" Good Question.

Linux for Senior Citizens: Here's proof that Linux is not a "young geeks only" OS. The author of this article, being a senior citizen herself, loves using Linux and highly recommends it for others in her age group.

No, really! Ubuntu is not Linux! Try it on for size!: The author chastises ex-Windows users for wanting Linux to act just like Windows and elects Ubuntu to be the new free Windows so that all the other versions of Linux can be for the Linux users. Its a unique talent to be so funny and so wrong at the same time.

RIP: Community Linux (1991-2007): Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols shows us the Hyde in his Jekyll once again in proclaiming that the Linux Foundation is the death of the community of Linux.

New GPLv3 draft takes new approach to patents, lock-down technologies: The third draft of the GPLv3 was released recently and Bruce Byfield takes a look at what has changed in the language concerning DRM and Patents since the second draft.

"Open Source and Linux Has No Place in OLPC": In this week's certifiable FUD article Brandon Watts leaves logic and reality behind to make a case for why Linux is not a real Operating System and that children should learn to use Windows instead, because it is real and everyone uses it. After reading it you might think both the article and the author are "certifiable".