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NEW YORK (AP) -- Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows didn't attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday. "This really wasn't what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien. To test demand for systems with the open-source operating system, Wal-Mart stocked the $199 "Green gPC," made by Everex of Taiwan, in about 600 stores starting late in October. Walmart.com, the chain's e-commerce site, had sold Linux-based computers before and will continue selling the gPC. This was...

Excuse the vanity, but I finally took the Linux plunge, and am having a difficult time with some tasks that probably should be easy. Specifically, I am having a hard time installing Java. I have the file in my home folder. My OS is PCLinuxOS. Can someone point me to an easy to understand tutorial? I tried the OS's website, and the documentation is incomplete (as I found out AFTER I installed it. I did see one website that showed YUM, which seems easier to install programs through, but as I said, I'm a bit lost. On the positive side,...

When most of us arrived home with our newly purchased PS3, we couldn't wait to start annihilating aliens in Resistance: Fall of Man or kicking butt kung fu-style in Virtua Fighter 5. Not astrophysicist Gaurav Khanna - he used his to build a supercomputer. Khanna now owns a total of 16 PS3 consoles, all linked together to provide the same computing power as a 400-node supercomputer. His set up, which he calls a 'gravity grid', is used to simulate the activity of very large black holes for the Physics Department at the University of Massachusetts. Stacked Sonies: the 'gravity grid'...

When I think about what works really well in open source development and technology, the following things stand out: Modular architectures, Programming language agnostic, Feedback-driven development, Built-for-purpose systems, Sysadmins who write code, and Standards-based communication.

Google recently confirmed in a blog posting that it had paid Codeweavers to help develop WINE to make Photoshop usable on the well-regarded but still somewhat unpredictable software package, which aims to replicate Windows libraries to enable popular Windows applications run in a Linux environment.

Google recently confirmed in a blog posting that it had paid Codeweavers to help develop WINE to make Photoshop usable on the well-regarded but still somewhat unpredictable software package, which aims to replicate Windows libraries to enable popular Windows applications run in a Linux environment.

I want to start by telling a story. Bare with me. Once upon a time there was a software engineer. He wrote code, windows code, embedded firmware. He was happy. Then one day a new project is put before him, a project unlike any other he had encountered. It was going to require all new hardware, and the features, wow. Something like this is going to require a full blown Operating System not the usual rinky dink assembly program. Research leads to the inevitable conclusion, Linux. Further Research leads to a graphical toolkit called Qt A request was made and...

One year after launching a controversial Macintosh hacking contest, the promoters of the CanSecWest security research conference are thinking about giving hackers another shot at cracking the Mac. Only this time, they're looking to broaden the field. Last year, show organizers invited attendees to hack into a Macintosh laptop, with the successful hacker winning the computer and a cash prize. But this year they're talking about giving attendees three targets to choose from. "We're thinking of having a contest where we have Vista and OS X and Linux ... and see which one goes first," said Dragos Ruiu, the principal...

WHAT’S the best-selling notebook computer on Amazon.com? If you guessed the new MacBook Air, guess again. Five of the 10 best-selling notebooks, including the top three models this weekend do not run Windows or Mac OS X. In fact, they are different models of the same diminutive notebook the Asus Eee PC—that runs on Linux. The significance of this development is easy to miss, particularly if you have your head buried in the Windows or Mac OS X world. (The other five models on Amazon’s list over the weekend were versions of the MacBook; there were no Windows machines in...

AMD's upcoming tri-core Phenom 8000-series desktop processors will appear next month, though only two of the anticipated three three-core CPUs will make it to market, it has been claimed. According to PC manufacturer sources cited by Chinese-language site HKEPC, only the 2.1GHz Phenom 8400 and the 2.3GHz Phenom 8600 will arrive in March - presumably after a CeBIT launch. Skip a month, however, and May will see the arrival of the 2.4GHz 8750, with the 2.1GHz 8450 and 2.3GHz 8650 following it in the broader May-June timeframe, the moles suggested.

I run Ubuntu on several machines. 7.04 Feisty, 7.10 Gutsy, and 8.04 Hardy, running Gnome on all. I'd like to hear viewpoints on the merits, or lack of merits, on the various Desktops others use and have experience with.

I am looking at purchasing a laptop in the next few days. My top price is 2K (possibly more depending features). Few things I am looking for:64 bit, dual core2-3GB Mem160GB+ HDD17 inch screenCD/DVD R (write would be cool).Not too worried about weight or how "thin" it is.I intend to run Redhat Enterprise WS 5 Looking to see what your experiences have been in laptop land.

According to a press release issued earlier this month by Finjan, a security research firm, compromised Web servers are infecting thousands of visitors daily with malware that turns their Windows machines into unwitting bots to do the bidding of an as yet unidentified criminal organization. Security firms ScanSafe and SecureWorks have since added their own takes on the situation, though with varying estimates on the number of sites affected. All reports thus far say the compromised servers are running Linux and Apache. According to an article on ServerTune.com, the exploit involves a rootkit installed on the compromised server that replaces...

I keep getting asked how I download and convert youtube and other videos, so I offer you this tutorial. You will need Ubuntu 6.06 or higher (this was done on 7.10), as I haven't attempted this with anything lower. I refer to Mozilla, but any Mozilla derivative, such as FireFox, will work. All Terminal COMMANDS will be in red. You will need to have ffmpeg installed. Open up your Synaptic Package Manager... Type in your password to access the Manager... Type in ffmpeg... Click on the box, and mark it for installation... Click Accept, to confirm installation... Good. Now close...

The KDE Community is thrilled to announce the immediate availability of KDE 4.0. This significant release marks both the end of the long and intensive development cycle leading up to KDE 4.0 and the beginning of the KDE 4 era.

A demo of my Linux installation. My window manager is Compiz Fusion. My virtual machine is run by VirtualBox. Distro is LinuxMint. Video playing is an excerpt from Planet Earth. Recorded with XVidCap.

Who in the *** is Asustek, and why does Microsoft hate them more than any other company in the industry? Why does Apple, Dell and Palm Computing hate them? And why does Intel love them? Taiwan's Asustek -- better known as ASUS -- is one of the most interesting, innovative and fastest-growing companies in technology. At its core, Asustek makes motherboards -- more than any other company. Asustek motherboards are the heart of Sony's PlayStation 2 consoles, Apple MacBooks, Alienware PCs, and some HP computers. But that's not why they're hated. The source of ire is a tiny laptop called...

The extent of Microsoft's generosity to its open-source patent partners has been revealed in Novell's latest financial statement. Novell's SEC filing reveals the company received $355.6m from Microsoft during 2007, although some of that payment is "being recognised over future periods". The payment forms a significant chunk of Novell's revenue, with the company turning over $932m in 2007. Novell was heavily criticised within the open-source community for signing the deal with Microsoft. The agreement saw the two ADVERTISEMENT companies agree to work on a series of interoperability initiatives, and not sue one another's customers for patent infringement. However, Novell came...

Item 3.01 Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard; Transfer of Listing. On September 18, 2007, The SCO Group, Inc. (the “Company”) received a Nasdaq Staff Determination letter (the “Determination”) from the Listing Qualifications Department (the “Staff”) of The Nasdaq Stock Market indicating that, as a result of the Company’s having filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the Staff determined, using its discretionary authority under Nasdaq Marketplace Rules 4300 and IM-4300, that the Company’s securities would be delisted from The Nasdaq Stock Market and that trading in the Company’s...

If you thought open-source software was a threat to big-company profits, think again. Just a few years ago, the open-source software movement was a pariah among big software firms. Shai Agassi, then an executive at SAP (SAP), likened it to socialism. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called it a cancer. The attitude among many in the establishment seemed to be that the “free code” revolution led by software such as Linux would discourage invention and erode profits.That nightmare scenario hasn’t happened. Instead, the open-source movement has helped lower the cost of computing, and fueled a lot of moneymaking innovation, and not...