Articles about Linux

Slackware is one of the oldest Linux distributions available, and with new versions few and far between, each new release is reason to rejoice. After almost a year and a half since the previous version, Slackware 14.0 is now available for download, or can be purchased on optical media.

Slackware 14.0 also comes with updated KDE 4.8.5 and Xfce 4.10.0 graphical desktop environments, that have been slipped into their respective component packages, saving storage space on archive sites as well as decreasing the time and bandwidth used to download updates. USB, Firewire, ACPI support, Apache 2.4.3, X11R7.7, support for Network Manager, new development tools, a plethora of web browsers including the ability to repackage Google Chrome as a native app, a repository of extra software packages and many more are included. What else is new?

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There is no denying that Ubuntu is one of the most popular and easy-to-use Linux distributions available and at the same time a viable alternative to the conventional operating system of choice, Windows. Before you decide to install, you should test it on a virtual machine first, which is where Oracle VirtualBox comes into play.

With Oracle VirtualBox you get all the benefits of installing Ubuntu on a virtual machine but without paying for virtualization software like VMware. It's powerful and easy to set up -- perfectly suited for the job at hand.

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Is it possible to still be an early adopter and only start using Linux full-time now?

Linux is the supreme software conquest for me, and one particular distribution has tormented my early adopter "lifestyle" -- Red Hat Linux. It's now long gone, abandoned by parent company Red Hat, though it was given a new lease on life through Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

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Gone are the days when setting up and using Linux was a cumbersome experience, and what better way to see than trying Ubuntu -- one of the most popular and easiest-to-use distributions available. Ubuntu has tempted many Windows users to make the switch to open-source, free-to use-software.

One of the easiest methods to test Ubuntu is to install it on VMware Workstation. You get all the benefits of having Ubuntu installed but none of the hassles attributed to the process, because it's all happening in a safe virtual environment.

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Linux is no longer the geeky OS it used to be. Well, that might not be entirely true, but the operating system certainly has become more accessible in recent years. User friendly distributions such as Ubuntu have increased the popularity of Linux, but making the switch from Windows is still rather a daunting task for most people. If you don’t fancy the idea of wiping out Windows completely, or even going down the dual-boot route, LinuxLive USB Creator lets you make a portable version that can be run from a USB drive.

The very latest version of the program has added support for Peppermint OS Three, ArchLinux and Slitaz, but there are countless other distributions that can be used. Turning your USB drive into a portable Linux drive could hardly be simpler. If you have already download a Linux image, or you already have a distro burned to disc, you can select either of these as a source. However, you are also able to download many different varieties of Linux from within the app.

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Windows 8 gets grief from all angles, including from the gaming industry. Valve’s boss Gabe Newell recently called the forthcoming OS "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space", and Blizzard's Executive vice president of Game Design, Rob Pardo, tweets that Windows 8 "was not awesome for Blizzard either".

There are a couple of reasons why Gabe Newell, who worked at Microsoft for 13 years before leaving to form Valve, doesn’t like the new operating system. The awkwardness of running games through the interface formerly known as Metro is the most obvious issue, but the integrated Windows Store, which will directly compete with Valve’s distribution service Steam, is a much bigger concern for the company.

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Dell must have read my story on “What will it take to make Linux popular?”, agreed with Linus Torvalds' initial thoughts, then thought that it might be a good idea to publicly announce “Project Sputnik”, which despite the name doesn’t have anything to do with spacecraft like Dell would want you to believe. (Okay, so the skunkworks project predates my story by six months, but surely official timing can't be a coincidence?)

What Project Sputnik does is bring “an official developer laptop based on the Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS preloaded, available in select geographies”, meaning Linux for the people on the Dell XPS 13 in much simpler words. Dell is taking the project to the next level by officially releasing it this fall. Timing is interesting with Windows 8 launching October 26. Since the laptop comes with Linux, presumably it will cost less than its counterpart running Windows.

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With slick marketing, a great sense of humor, and a practical, useful product idea, Texas startup Jumpshot launched its initial public funding round on Kickstarter this week.

The long and short of Jumpshot is that it's a USB stick that removes bloatware, adware, spyware, and malware in a package that toddlers and grannies alike would be able to use. When Jumpshot is cleaning the system in the background, the user can stay connected and browse the Web in a Linux-based sandbox.

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In a recent interview Linus Torvalds, the mastermind behind the Linux kernel, said that the operating system is not as popular as Windows on consumer PCs because it doesn’t come preinstalled. Manufacturers sell the computers they make with an operating system on board, which most of the time is Windows. Why can’t it be Linux instead?

According to Net Applications, in 2011, sales estimates have Linux at roughly 1.5 percent usage share on desktop and laptop computers. Windows on the other hand was evaluated at 92 percent in the same estimate.  The discrepancy in sales points out few of the issues that Linux has to overcome in order to reach a broader market adoption, but it can also provide a solution.

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Red Hat celebrated the 10th anniversary of its flagship Enterprise Linux product, but reaffirmed the decision to shift focus to cloud computing, pledging that open-source roots would be key to success in the new business venture.

The company plans to release Enterprise Linux 7 in in late 2013, but offered little during a Tuesday press conference on what to expect. What may play a large part in the new release is a focus on the cloud. For all intents and purposes, Red Hat believes Linux is in the past and the cloud is the future.

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At first glance Linux Live USB Creator looks much like UNetbootin, theUniversal USB Installer, and every other tool that aims to help you download and create a bootable Linux environment for your PC. And as those existing tools are generally very good it’s not immediately obvious why we might need another.

Take a closer look at the Linux Live USB Creator and you’ll see it’s not just another “me too” utility, though -- the program really does have enough features and functionality to stand up against the best of the rest.

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Shares of Red Hat rose 17 percent to $60.12 in heavy midday trading. Yesterday, after the bell, the company reported $1.13 billion revenues for fiscal 2012, ended February 29. Red Hat is the first open-source based company to post $1 billion in revenues

Quite a feat for a platform Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once called a "cancer" and has repeatedly questioned the security of. One has to wonder if Ballmer might be reconsidering the parnership Microsoft penned with Red Hat back in February 2009.

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The busy folks at Pen Drive Linux have updated their handy Universal USB Installer tool to support four more distros. Which means it can now convert live CDs of Deepin Linux, LinHES Linux, Trisquel Linux and Satux Linux to run on USB keys.

And that’s not bad at all, as the tool already supported all the usual big name distros (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE and more, each in multiple versions), as well as a lengthy list of Linux-based utilities: Gparted, System Rescue CD, and antivirus rescue CDs from AVG, Avira, BitDefender, F-Secure and Kaspersky, amongst others.

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Make it small, make it cheap, and people will buy it.

Two tiny, single-board Linux computers with sweet names that debuted at nearly the same time have attracted disproportionately large attention from PC consumers this week: the Raspberry Pi, and the FXI Cotton Candy. The Raspberry Pi is a bare, uncased board that costs $35, and the Cotton Candy is a finished, ready to run PC-in-a-USB stick that costs $199. Both sport ARM processors, both will run Linux variants.

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If you want to download a particular Linux distribution you could go online, run a quick search or two, and you’ll probably turn up the necessary links fairly quickly. But a portable Windows tool called Get Linux aims to offer an even simpler solution.

Launch this small program and you’ll see a list of more than 100 Linux distros. Enter the name you need in the Search box, choose whether you’d like the 32 or 64-bit build, click Download, then just wait while Get Linux grabs the necessary ISO for you.

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