KDE 4.4.0 Ushers In New Innovations To The Desktop

KDE 4.4.0 Software Compilation codenamed Caikaku has been released. KDE 4.4.0 brings an innovative collection of applications to Free Software users which enhances their experience while using KDE Desktop.

Free Open Source Screencasts for Linux System Administrators and Newbies alike

There has always been a dearth in quality training material in Linux System Administration. And if there are resources on the Net, they are hard to find. Now here is a new venture by John Yerhot who endevours to provide very well made videos which explain how to use different commands in Linux, useful to people who administer Linux servers.

Clipboard Managers in Linux

A clipboard manager is a computer program that adds additional functionality to basic clipboard usage. The main tasks of a clipboard manager are as follows :

1. To store data copied to the clipboard so that it can be pasted after closing the host application of the data copied.
2. To store and retrieve multiple clips from the clip history available – any number of times.

Is Linux kernel getting bloated ? Linus Torvalds says Yes!

A lot of bloat is creeping into the Linux kernel. This was the startling revelation made by none other than Linus Torvalds - Founder of the Linux kernel. He said this in his talk at LinuxCon - an event that brings together Linux gurus and open source leaders to provide collaboration and education space for all matters on Linux.

Netcat, nc command

Netcat - also known as nc is considered the Swiss army knife of system administrators. In its most basic usage, netcat acts as a simple utility which reads and writes data across network connections, using TCP or UDP transport protocols. But this simple tool finds diverse uses for system administrators (Unix & Linux alike). Hence the name Swiss army knife.

Apple - Exploring the innards of a Mac Mini

I have always been allured by Apple products - more for their aesthetic beauty than for their function - be it iPhone, iMac,  iPod, iNano et al. Yes, Apple products usually cost the bomb to buy compared to similar products from contenders and we ordinary users may as well stay away from them if we do not want to splurge on gadgets. However, all things said and done, Apple products do appeal to most people's sense of beauty and they are getting popular as days go by.

Linux servers can now be infected - Or can they ?

Linux gurus have always vouched on the safety and security of Linux - especially Linux running as servers. However, now after a developer named Denis Sinegubko has published his findings, they may just have to ponder over their words.

According to Denis, the Linux servers can be infected to be used in a botnet used to distribute malware.  The modus operandi of attack is as follows :

Open Solaris vs Linux - A Comparison

OpenSolaris and Linux to a layperson can seem similar in many ways. They both use more or less the same end user applications, have similar desktops, and are open source. But scratch the surface and you find that they are entirely different products all together.
Some of the notable differences which an end user may encounter are as follows :

Nokia N900 - A mobile communicator that runs on Linux

Nokia has a history of rolling out Internet tablets. There was Nokia 770, Nokia N800, N810, and now the company's latest offering Nokia N900.

Nokia N900 is positioned not exclusively as an Internet tablet. The manufacturer claim it is a mobile computer - one that is as sleek as, and behaves like a mobile phone but which has the power and capabilities of a desktop PC. You can consider Nokia N900 to be a metamorphosis of a desktop PC and a mobile phone, thereby embracing the best of both the worlds.

Who writes Linux and Who supports it

A study was conducted on the Linux development statistics by the Linux Foundation and these were its findings.

• More than 70 percent of total contributions to the kernel come from developers working at a range of companies including Red Hat, IBM, Novell, Intel, Oracle, Fujitsu, among many others.

Install Google Chrome web browser in Linux

Google has provided a pre-release version of its famed browser Google Chrome for Linux and Mac. However it is still very much in the development stage. You can download the latest builds of Google Chrome for Linux and Mac here.

All the same, if you want a stable Chrome web browser to work in Linux, then there is a work around. Codeweavers has released Crossover Chromium for Linux and Mac.

Update your Linux Kernel in real time without rebooting your machine

When ever Ubuntu updates the Linux kernel to a more recent version, I have to go through the rigmarole of rebooting my machine for the changes to take effect. While for a home user, it may not be such a big thing, while running Linux in critical situations, it may not always be feasible to reboot the server each time the kernel gets updated because running applications have to be stopped, and daemons have to be terminated for the reboot to take place - which inevitably leads to loss of time and inconvenience to others.

Linux eventually garners a 1% market share

Linux has garnered the magical 1% global market share of computer users. As of April 2009, it is exactly 1.02 %. It is an understood fact that we have a long way to go to catch up with the market leader Windows which is still way ahead at 87.90%. But 1.02% of the total computer users the world over is by no means a small amount.

If this trend is to be believed, people are waking up to the various alternatives they have over Windows. If you take a closer look at the chart below, you will find that the Windows share has been decreasing across subsequent months - October 2008 being an exception. And the market share of all other Operating systems have seen an increase during these periods.

An indepth look at OpenOffice.org Office Suite

OpenOffice.org is arguably the finest office suites available in the public domain. It is a direct competitor of Microsoft Office. It includes a Word processor (OpenOffice.org Writer), a Spreadsheet (OpenOffice.org Calc),a Presentation program (OpenOffice.org Impress), a Drawing program (OpenOffice.org Draw) and a Database (OpenOffice.org Base).

What does it mean to be free ? - We're Linux contest winner announced

Linux is Free. Do you know what that means ? If you don't, the following video will teach you the true meaning of Free.

New features in Linux kernels 2.6.28 and 2.6.29

Linux kernel has in recent times seen numerous advances. And the latest versions of the Linux kernel namely 2.6.28 and 2.6.29 have some fabulous features in-built into them.

Topping over 10 million lines of code, the current day Linux kernel is no push over and is forming a serious threat to its competition.

Some of the features that are there in the more recent Linux kernels are as follows:

Get a Free 1 Year Subscription to Linux Journal Magazine

Linux Journal is a premier Linux magazine which has been around for around 15 years now - and still going strong. This monthly print magazine publishes articles on Linux and open source software that are considered to be a few notches above it's competition in terms of quality and content.

Costing $29.50 for 12 issues, here is a chance for you to win a yearly digital subscribtion of this fabulous magazine for free.

What you have to do

Watch Linux Journal's daily tech video for this week starting from this one. That is one video a day.

As the video progresses, watch out for, and note down any letter that the hosts will anounce. Once you have watched all the videos in order, and have collected all the letters, in the last video you will get to know the email id to which you have to send the letters. Everyone with the correct answer who responds by 11:59:59PM U.S. Eastern Daylight Time March, Friday the 13th of 2009 wins a free digital subscription to Linux Journal.

Linux Journal has named this week the "Tech Tip Video Contest Week".

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 Lenny Released

A new release of Debian GNU/Linux namely version 5.0 aka Lenny has happened. The previous release version 4.0 code named Debian Etch was made 22 months ago that is 2 months short of 2 years. Debian is infamous for its long release dates. For example, a transition from Woody to Sarge took a whooping 35 months to happen. Though Sarge to Etch happened in a mere 22 months. But compared to some of Microsoft Windows releases, this time duration can be considered to be fair play. Having said that, Debian is widely respected for rolling out a robust and secure GNU/Linux distribution that supports a broad machine architecture. And the latest official stable release "Lenny" is no different.

Debian Lenny doesn't come bundled with the latest versions of software. For instance, you will not find OpenOffice.org ver 3.0 in it's repositories. And KDE is still at ver 3.5.10, and GNOME at 2.22. But you can rest assured that what you have is a rock solid Linux distribution which will never roll over and die on you.

For the very first time, Debian has rolled out a Live system which you can try without installing it on your computer's hard disk. It is made available as a Live CD, on USB Sticks, or via netboot.

Debian GNU/Linux version 5.0 (Lenny) can be downloaded at Debian.org.

TuxRadar has published an indepth review of Debian Lenny dwelling on its pros and cons. The site also carries an interview with Steve McIntyre, the Debian Project Leader providing us more insight behind the new Debian release.

A fun game for movie buffs who happen to use Linux

With the Oscar fever running high, there is towering expectations all around for all the Oscar nominees. So it was only a matter of time before someone jumped into the fray and created a game featuring all the movies, directors and actors nominated for the Oscar award. The beauty of the game is that it is played exclusively in YouTube - the popular video sharing site of Google.

The game titled "2009 Oscar Interactive Photo Hunt" is simple to play. You will be shown two nearly identical photos (there is just one subtle difference) of the people and movie stills associated with the Oscar Awards and you have to find the difference between the two images. You get 30 seconds to spot the difference and click on it. Once you click on the part you feel is different, you are taken to another YouTube video depending upon whether it is the correct answer or not.

There is only one rule... No pausing of the video at any stage is allowed. There are 30 levels in the game. The first 14 levels are quite easy. But from the 15th level, the solution gets more and more elusive. A fabulous idea, great game surrounding the Oscar theme and intelligent use of a popular free service. The game has been developed by DailyFill.com. To start playing the game, watch the following video and do as you are directed.

If you are unable to watch the preceding YouTube video, in all probability you do not have Flash player plugin installed on your machine. Read the following article to install flash player plugin in Linux.

Linux Commands - 10 Useful tricks for Admins

I have heard a saying - the one thing which sets apart a Linux administrator Guru from a Novice is how much more the former is able to accomplish with so few keystrokes. I do not know the veracity of that saying. But IBM Developerworks has - as usual, put together a collection of tricks which will help raise the efficiency of any system administrator by a notch or two. I am no Guru, nor am I a novice. I guess I fall somewhere in the grey areas between the two extremes, which makes reading the tricks really informative for me.

Among the tricks described are Linux commands which we seldom use such as - fuser, reset, screen, as well as invaluable tips like - resetting the root password, SSH back door entry, using VNC to SSH tunnel to a remote machine, checking your bandwidth, a couple of command line tricks, spying on the console and finally Random system information collection.

Read the article to learn more.