I used to think that the best first step to explore Linux was through a live Linux CD. Over the course of the last year, my advice evolved. Now through the wonders of virtualization, a new Linux user could boot a live Linux CD without having to actually reboot your machine.

It wasn't more than five or six seconds after Red Hat Inc announced it was acquiring open source Java middleware and application development tool provider JBoss Inc a few weeks ago that the entire IT industry starting wondering what Red Hat might do next. The most obvious thing for Red Hat to do now would seem to be to go farther up the software stack and deliver its own database. But don't count on Red Hat doing that any time soon.

Matt Ettus has the sly smile of someone who sees the invisible. His hands fly over the boards of his Universal Software Radio Peripheral, or USRP, snapping them together with an antenna like Lego bricks. Then he plugs in the naked boards to a USB 2 cable snaking to his Linux laptop.

In a move calculated to expand Carrier Grade Linux's (CGL's) developer and user communities, HP has registered Debian's "Sarge" distribution with version 2.02 of the OSDL's CGL specification, and started a Carrier Grade subproject within Debian.

As the Red Hat-JBoss merger nears completion, JBoss chief - now senior vice president of Red Hat's JBoss division - sat down with CRN senior writer Paula Rooney at the Red Hat Summit in Nashville, to discuss the impact of deal.

VMware has completed an overhaul of its virtualization software, a technology that now seems to embody many of the traits of utility computing scenarios.

So, is there an alternative way of administering a Linux/Unix box remotely that avoids these problems of excessive bandwidth and poor graphics display? Old-time Linux and Unix hands will probably be chortling to themselves already: 'Remote X'.

If you're using Ubuntu Breezy (aka 5.10) or Dapper (6.06) there's a handy script you might want to take a look at. Automatix is this neat thingy that does stuff to your Ubuntu system to make it work better.

If your blog has even one regular reader, you too can be a blog snob. A blog snob is a super-important blogger who knows it and makes sure the rest of the world does too.

There is many options out there to encrypt datas on a hard drive. You could either encrypt a whole partition using kernel filesystem or simply encrypt specifics directories on your hard disk.

encfs along with fuse can accomplish this.

Over time, I’ve learned quite a bit regarding the Linux operating system. `Why` it works so extremely well on servers and desktops. Here is something I've learned along the way; how to set up a Postfix and Apache server.

Sometimes a site has need for easily accessible Perl libraries. Three methods to go about keeping handy Perl code readily available are:

1. Just keep a code repository of functions and dump them into programs on an as needed basis.
2. Write a Perl library with a group of functions in them.
3. Write Perl modules.

I enjoy using many different desktop environments and operating systems. On a day-to-day basis, I use Finder, Explorer, GNOME, and KDE. They all have their good sides, but obviously, they have their fair share of bad sides as well. The next couple of columns will be about the latter. This week, I take a look at whatever bothers me about Ubuntu's GNOME/Linux combination.

Previously, I explained how to use a computer that others have cast off as being unusable as a powerful network analysis tool. By combining the Linux distribution Fedora Core with the open-source packages libpcap, tcpdump, Multi Router Traffic Grapher (iptraf and MRTG), I demonstrated how useful statistics on network usage and trends can be obtained.

Knoppix is best known as the first really great livecd. At a time when traditional, mostly text, installers ruled the Linux world, they innovated a technology that has more or less taken over the way distributions are delivered today. Not content to rest on their laurels, they have continued to innovate and improve over the years. Today brought the announcement of the public release of Knoppix 5.0.1, the latest and greatest Knoppix to roll off the assembly line as an update to version 5. This release brings lots of bug fixes and updates - most notably: kernel 2.6.17, KDE 3.5.2 and Gnome 2.14.1.

This year's KDE World Summit, aKademy 2006, is approaching fast. The website is now live. On behalf of the programme committee I have the pleasure to announce that we will accept presentation abstracts as of now.

Also: People Behind KDE: Gilles Caulier

LVM is an implementation of a logical volume manager for the Linux kernel. The biggest advantage is that LVM provides the ability to make a snapshot of any logical volume.

The same thing happened with Windows XP. When Beta 2 arrived, I found myself torn between what was new and good about the operating system, and what was new and bad.

The business world is increasingly integrating open source, computer programs which are written by individuals and groups of computer programmers dedicated to free software. These same business programs have applications within education.