Linux Journal - The Original Magazine of the Linux Community

Spotlight on Linux: SimplyMEPIS 8.5.x

Susan Linton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

SimplyMEPIS is a simply wonderful distribution. It was the first to offer a complete out of the box experience all tied up in a pretty package. It would be fair to say that it was probably the inspiration for many of the easy-to-use distributions available today. more>>

Going fast with DWM

Mike Diehl — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

If there was any justice in this world, there would be two cars parked in my driveway. One would be a 1977 Ferrari 308 GTS. The other would be a midnight blue BMW M3 convertible with all the amenities. I'd want the leather seats and power everything. more>>

Prettier Fonts Coming Your Way

Susan Linton — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

There was a time when Linux was notorious for having what was called "fugly" fonts. Things improved a bit over the years, but thanks to expiring patents things are about to get even better. more>>

Bash Co-Processes

Mitch Frazier — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:00:00 +0000

One of the new features in bash 4.0 is the coproc statement. The coproc statement allows you to create a co-process that is connected to the invoking shell via two pipes: one to send input to the co-process and one to get output from the co-process. more>>

OpenOffice.org 3.3 Definitely On Its Way

Susan Linton — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:00:00 +0000

OpenOffice.org 3.2.1 was released on June 4 and a new master workspace was branched off for the upcoming 3.3 on June 5. The code in this branch will be stabilized and later become the product release that will find its way onto your desktops. more>>

Using Linux To Create a Music Blog

Doug.Roberts — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Saxophone? Check. Digital recorder? Check. Camera? Check. Ready to rock & roll. Or do some blues. A bit of jazz? How about some Zydeco. Honky Tonk?

We'll see when we get to the Second Street Brewery this Wednesday in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That's when the weekly open mic session kicks off at 7:00pm, led by Case Tanner and his house band. more>>

India's $35 Tablet- The Everything Killer

Susan Linton — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:01:07 +0000

On July 22 a $35 (or 1500 INR) hand-held Linux computing device was unveiled by Shri Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development of India. The goal of the project is to lower the price to around $20 in time and eventually reaching the amazing price of $10. more>>

Stupid afio Tricks

LJ Staff — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

I've already covered tar and all the wonderful ways to use it, but it's not the only tool at your disposal. Another popular backup tool is afio. Depending on your distribution, it already may be installed. On Ubuntu, for example, run the following to install it: more>>

sudo apt-get install afio

Will Oracle Let OpenSolaris Wither and Die?

Susan Linton — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:00:00 +0000

When Oracle began the acquisition of Sun, few doubted that MySQL was the main asset of interest. With MySQL still breathing six months later, users hoped Sun's other projects would survive as well. But despite Oracle's early claims and intermittent assurances that OpenSolaris would remain open source software, very little else has been said. more>>

Security vs. Convenience

Shawn Powers — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Although my intent is not to start the next GNOME/KDE-level war, it seems there must be a happy medium between total desktop insecurity and total desktop unusability. Linux offers so many ways to secure data that it's important to realize it's okay for folks to have different needs and desires. Sure, there are some basic security measures we all should take—things like: more>>