This month we take a look at the FOMUS and MuseScore music notation programs. FOMUS has been designed "to facilitate the conversion of raw algorithmic output into readable music notation". MuseScore is an ambitious project that intends to provide Linux musicians with a true WYSIWYG music notation editor.

Nowadays I collect, store, and listen to music mostly on digital media, so I thought I'd find myself a Linux audio player that does all the things I need it to do. Little did I know how many options I had! After evaluating more than a dozen applications, I've found three that I feel provide the best mix of features and performance.

We have just confirmed this morning that the 1.0-8751 drivers still are unable to run CoolBits when Xinerama is activated.

Yes - you saw that correctly: Netscape Plug-in API 0.16 has been enabled on Linux/Unix! This means for our Linux users, among other things, that mplayerplug-in now is working in Opera.

Analysis: The likes of VMware and XenSource think it might be, and some analysts agree

I'm continually astounded by the depth and variety of the tools available for Linux, particularly for system administrators or even those who run just a regular Linux workstation. While other administrators in my Windows shop struggle with costly Windows GUI-based programs to get their data, I just smile and go back to my toolbox. What follows are some useful programs that I use on a daily basis.

If you've "googled" any topic recently--and who hasn't--you probably received a link to that topic in Wikipedia, the best living example of the power of online collaboration using wiki software. A wiki is a type of Web site that allows users to easily add and edit content and is especially suited for collaborative writing.

Several of the internet's pioneers have recently become space exploration pioneers as well. Paul Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, funded the company that created SpaceShipOne and is financing the construction of the Allen Telescope Array, which will provide dedicated radio telescopes to SETI researchers. Elon Musk, cofounder of PayPal, started SpaceX to develop a series of low-cost expendable rockets. Amazon's Jeff Bezos and id Software's John Carmack are both working on vehicles for space tourism at Blue Origin and Armadillo Aerospace. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Thawte and the Ubuntu Foundation, also became the first African in space and the second space tourist when he visited the International Space Station in 2002.

The much-anticipated new version 1.1 of Ruby on Rails hit the streets with fanfare a couple of days ago. And while even I am wary of the hyperbole that sometimes surrounds Ajax and Web 2.0, I'm very pleased to say that Ruby on Rails is the genuine article.

Most talk about virtualization these days centers on using server hardware more efficiently. But the technology also has the potential to ease another headache: software installation woes.

Ubuntu uses only open/free formats, so it doesn't include playback support for formats such as MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Audio Video Interleave (AVI) that may have some restrictions. EasyUbuntu, a Python script that gives Ubuntu users access to commonly used applications and codecs through a neat graphical user interface (GUI).

Some memes die hard. Along with the persistent claim that the popular Firefox browser platform is only for Windows-haters, we often see the comment that simply downloading something... even 100 million-plus of something... doesn't mean people are using it. In fact, Firefox's Mary Colvig says they believe 40 to 60 million people are actually using it.

Organizers of OpenOffice.org's annual conference, OOoCon -- set for Sept. 11-13 in Lyon, France -- have issued a call for papers on a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from developing OpenOffice.org, to free software marketing and politics. The deadline for acceptance is June 1, the project said.