• config.h considered harmful
    Many, many programs written in C or C++ use a file called "config.h" which contains #define statement that control the compilation of the program. These programs are also nearly always built using 'make'. I claim that these two attributes are in conflict with each other. Or, in layman's terms, "config.h sucks". The problem is that when you have multiple options in config.h, every file which may be compiled differently depending on the values defined therein must be recompiled whenever config.h changes. read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • I just won a $300 bet
    For the past several years I've printed various documents at home by sending them to my wife Amy with a request "Please print...". And after several years we both know that Adobe Acrobat version 5 for Mac works far, far better than any subsequent release from Apple or Adobe, at least for the pdf documents I create on Linux. But how crazy is it that I don't have my own printer? Last weekend I found myself at Staples and I decided to make a $300 bet with myself that I could get good value from an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer (with a maximum format size of 13"x19" borderless prints). read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Web 2.0 doesn't imply usability
    I recently got myself a Flickr Pro account, and have been using Flickr for more of my photos. I find myself more and more annoyed at the rough edges in the Flickr user interface. For example, when you want to delete a tag from something, you click on the [x] to the right of the tag. Flickr asks you "Do you want to delete the tag?" Cancel/Ok:read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Report from CSEE&T Meeting, April 2008
    Last month I was honored to be a keynote speaker at the Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T) annual meeting. Open Source has become a major topic on campuses, not just the enterprise, and I was delighted to meet with some of the leaders in setting the agenda for software engineering education. When I was a student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, I did not give to much thought about how the faculty chose to teach Sorting and Searching and not DOS for Idiots or why the core curriculum was constructed in one way and not another. At the time it all seemed like useful and exciting stuff to me, and I learned it all (as best I could). read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Declare victory and go home
    Sometimes I want to declare victory and go home. Of course, that's usually an admission of defeat, but I really think that with news like Verizon Embraces Linux, that the penetration of Open Source into every sector of computer-using society (which would be ... everything) is inevitable. We've started the snowball down the hill, and there's no stopping it. Not that we would want to! But neither can the foes of Open Source stop it either.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Zak Greant's OSI Weekly Report 2008 Weeks 15 - 20
    This report is a summary of Zak Greant's Open Source Initiative activities from April 13th to May 17th, 2008. These Weeks Dropped the ball on my OSI volunteer work due to client emergency. Found great sysadmin to manage our infrastructure for us (I now just need to get budget approved.) Lightweight community service (chasing after the board on a private matter, answering a few community questions) Attended board meetings. Lightweight participation on board mailing list. read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Dr. Phatak speaks...and the world learns
    I first met Dr. Phatak at the Red Hat Summit in New Orleans in 2005. Dr. Phatak exemplifies what Amartya Sen lovingly calls The Argumentative Indian. Dr. Phatak is passionate, well educated, articulate, and most of all, sincerely committed to raising the standards in India to the highest levels. After spending time with him in Mumbai (aka Bombay), I truly envied those students fortunate enough to have him as a mentor and a teacher. read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • ''open-source fundamentalist''??
    read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • New OLPC stable build
    Business Week has written a series [1], [2], [3] of articles on the One Laptop Per Child project this week, and none are too favorable. I myself have blogged my disappointment with the apparent direction of the project. read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • 24 Core, 48GB RAM Linux cluster runs on 400W
    I just read the story of Helmer, a Fedora 8 linux cluster in an IKEA Helmer cabinet. The story begins 3D computer rendering are very CPU intensive and the best way so speed up slow render problems, are usually to distribute them on to more computers. Render farms are usually very large, expensive and run using ALLOT of energy. I wanted to build something that could be put in my home, not make too much noise and run using very little energy... and be dirt cheep, big problem? :) no computer stuff cost almost nothing these days, it just a matter of finding fun stuff to play with. read more
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://opensource
  • Elonex ONE Subnotebook Shows Right Path For Linux
    davidmwilliams writes "Whether it was to your taste or not, theres no denying the ASUS Eee Linux subnotebook was a massive sales success. Demand far exceeded initial production so its not surprising competitor models are on their way. Just like the Eee, the Elonex achieves cost savings by bundling freely redistributable open source software including, of course, the Linux operating system (specifically, Linos 2.6.21). Those who use the Elonex ONE may well understand it uses something called Linux under the hood, but they dont really have to grasp what this means. They dont have to care that the WiFi hardware was carefully chosen to be one of the exclusive few which has supported Linux drivers. They dont need to tamper with the way their family computer is already set up."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Microsoft Free, One Year Later
    madgreek writes "Last year I wrote of my switch from XP to Ubuntu at work. Now a year later, I am back to reflect on one year of being extremely productive at work using (almost) nothing but open source software in a Microsoft world."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Open Source Cities Followup — Munich Yea, Vienna Nay
    Were catching up on two stories of municipal engagement with open source software: Munich (which decided to go OS in 2003) and Vienna (2005). E5Rebel brings us news that Munich has stayed the course. But bkingaut informs that Vienna has decided to migrate back to Windows (Google translation) — to Vista no less. The migration of 720 computers used in kindergartens will cost the city about €8M. The given reason for all this is a language test application for the kids that only works with MS IE and wont be made compatible (by the producer) with Firefox until 2009.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Google Releases Desktop Gadgets For Linux
    mstrom writes "Google announced it has ported its Google Desktop Gadgets platform to Linux, making it the first cross-platform [desktop] gadgets framework. In a sign that Google is fully embracing the open source model, it admits the product is not feature-complete and has opened up the code base hosted on Google Code to give everyone a chance to tinker with the code powering the gadgets. According to Google: "Gadget support is not just a single feature, but rather an entire platform for miniature applications."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Windows XP Lives, Thanks to Linux
    CWmike writes "Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols puts his thumb on what really happened to spur Microsofts change of mind on sparing Windows XP: The smashing success of Asus and others Linux-powered UMPCs and mini-notebooks caught Microsoft completely by surprise. It turned out people wanted inexpensive, hard-working Linux laptops rather than overpriced, underpowered Vista PCs. If anyone thought this was a flash in the pan, that Asus just hit it lucky once, they havent been paying attention. Intel is putting big bucks into its Atom family of processors, which have been designed for UMPCs, or as Intel would have it, MIDs. Intel has encouraged both the computer makers and the Linux companies in its Moblin initiative to run desktop Linux. The Linux companies have picked up on this. Canonical, Ubuntus dad company, has come up with an UMPC-specific version of Ubuntu 8.04, the latest version of this popular Linux distribution, for Intel Atom UMPCs. At Computex, by my count, more than a dozen new UMPCs were announced both from vendors youve never heard of and from big name companies like Acer and Asus. You can also expect to see Dell releasing its mini-Inspiron with Ubuntu by Junes end."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Drive-By Contributors to the Linux Kernel
    eldavojohn writes "Theres an interesting post over at the Kernel Trap that focuses on a mans attempt to find out how many one-time contributors Linux averages per release. Although imperfect due to some obvious unavoidable flaws, he got a few dirty numbers of never seen from agains in the commits from patches 2.6.11 through 2.6.25 and the numbers are: {63, 148, 128, 92, 96, 122, 137, 140, 135, 95, 136, 153, 179, 179, 304}. This makes sense as another reader, Greg KH, pointed out that the distribution curve is tilted towards one-hit contributions, the distribution of all of our users are: 50% only contributed 1 patch; 25% contributed 2; 12% contributed 3; 6% contributed 4 and so on ..."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Acer Bets Big On Linux
    Stony Stevenson writes to tell us IT News is reporting that Acer is betting big on Linux, looking to push Tux on many of their upcoming laptops and netbooks. "The company is already heavily promoting Linux for its low cost ultra-portable netbook range out later this year, but senior staff have said that Acer will also push Linux on its laptops. [...] Acer sees two killer apps with Linux on computers: operation and cost. Its flavour of Linux will boot in 15 seconds compared to minutes for Windows, and the open source operating system can extend battery life from five to seven hours."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Canonical Talks Netbook Remix Details
    geekinchief points to a just-posted interview at Laptop Magazine "with Canonicals market manager, Gerry Carr, where he talks about Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Some interesting details: Canonical does not plan to make the Netbook remix available for download or sale. It will only come pre-installed on new systems. It will boot in 5-10 seconds."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Phoronix Releases Linux Benchmarking Platform
    KernelPie writes "The Linux hardware site Phoronix.com has announced the release of Phoronix Test Suite 1.0, a Linux-based testing platform designed for benchmarking software and hardware. This suite ships with 57 tests and 23 test suites, which contain everything from open-source games to file encryption to encoding software. In addition, they have a global database where users can submit benchmark results and more — with over 1,000 submissions already. This testing software is licensed under the GPLv3 and is available for download."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • How to Turn a PlayStation 3 Into a Linux PC
    MahariBalzitch writes "Popular Mechanics shows step by step guide on how to install Ubuntu Linux on a PlayStation 3 and still keep the PS3 gaming functionality. Now I just need to get my hands on a PS3." Not bad specs for the price, either, since Blu-Ray players still arent cheap. And though the article calls the procedure "somewhat complicated," its a lot simpler than was installing Linux from floppies not so many years ago.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Linux Cluster Supercomputer Performs Surgery on Dog
    An anonymous reader writes "In April, the Lonestar supercomputer, a Dell Linux Cluster with 5,840 processors at the Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin, performed laser surgery on a dog in Houston without the intervention of a surgeon. The article describes the process: The treatment itself is broken into four stages: 1) Lonestar instructs the laser to heat the domain with a non-damaging calibration pulse; 2) the thermal MRI acquires baseline images of the heating and cooling of the patients tissue for model calibration; 3) Lonestar inputs this patient-specific information and recomputes the optimal power profile for the rest of the treatments; and 4) surgery begins, with remote visualizations and evolving predictions continuing throughout the procedure."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Cell-based "Roadrunner" Tops Elusive Petaflop Mark
    prunedude writes "The NY times is reporting that an American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, is more than twice as fast as the previous fastest supercomputer, the I.B.M. BlueGene/L. To put the performance of the machine in perspective, Thomas P. DAgostino, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said that if all six billion people on earth used hand calculators and performed calculations 24 hours a day and seven days a week, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner can in one day."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • OEMs Looking to Ubuntu for Netbook Market
    Anon writes "Mark Shuttleworth provides much more detail today about development of the Ubuntu netbook platform, and says OEMs are calling Canonical when they want to start building netbooks. Channelweb notes: Its actually a big deal. For example, Dell CEO Michael Dell has been carrying around an early version of a Dell mini-notebook, and referring to it as the device for the next billion Internet users [...] Asus has become an industry rock star by using GNU Linux to power its Eee PC. HPs niche Mini note runs SLED 10 Linux. The iPhone, of course, doesnt run Microsoft software. Is anyone paying attention in Redmond?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Http://rss
  • Screenlets add customized functionality to the desktop

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • eBay sniping with JBidwatcher 2.0

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • Ask Linux.com: Unix basics, old school network sniffing, and router madness

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • Portrait: Pia Waugh

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • A utility for sending complex email messages from the command line

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • Controlling your camera from your computer with gPhoto

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
  • Ultimate Edition: Not so ultimate

    Published : 2008-06-11 Source : Newsforge
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