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Netbooks are a relative newcomer to the world of portable computers. They sit comfortably at the opposite end of the spectrum from the "desktop replacement" notebooks, those laptops with big screens, beefy specs and full-sized keyboards. Netbooks sacrifice optical drives (CD/DVD drives) and have generally modest hardware specifications, smaller screen sizes and shrunken keyboards. They also tend toward smaller hard drive sizes ... oftentimes much, much smaller. What you get in return is a small PC that is truly ultra-portable, weighing less than two pounds in some cases. In other words, a netbook is an ideal travel companion. Is a...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Microsoft's suit against TomTom, which alleged infringement of eight of its patents - including three that relate to TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel. I wrote there that this seemed part of a larger attack on Linux, and not just one on TomTom, as Microsoft nonetheless insisted. This called forth a fair amount of disagreement, so I was glad to come across this post on Harald Welte's blog: [MS] claim that this lawsuit has no relation whatsoever to Linux, and they're only targeting TomTom's specific implementation of Linux. I have actually reviewed...

Here is an example of a new 3d browser http://www.mb3dengine.com/ Be nice to the site, it almost can's handle more then a few users and make sure you give it time to load. Also use your scroll mouse.

Walk by the netbook display at Best Buy and you're likely to hear cooing and exclamations of how cute the little laptops are. But take one home and you may realize your new baby just can't do the same things that a standard notebook can do. Netbooks are just about the only thing these days that are generating any excitement in the hardware space. The form factor is appealing to many, for sure. With about a 10-inch screen, these are much smaller than the standard-sized notebook, and certainly much lighter, and quite a bit less expensive, too. Some are as...

Canonical offers Office 'alternative'LinuxWorld IBM is today expected to announce expanded backing for Ubuntu in a desktop and collaboration software deal to challenge Microsoft's Windows and Office. Canonical, Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, has agreed to re-distribute IBM's Lotus Symphony productivity suite with its public Linux repositories. More details are expected later today. The news follows IBM's decision earlier this year to offer a version of its Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS) for Ubuntu. Ubuntu is, according to the suits at IBM, "a Linux operating system that scores high marks on usability and 'the cool factor.'" The deal is expected to be...

All you need is ubuntu You and me, me and you, lots and lots, for us to do By Sean Coughlan BBC News Magazine Bill Clinton told the Labour conference to get into ubuntu. Eh? Ubuntu. That was what Bill Clinton told the Labour party conference it needed to remember this week. "Society is important because of Ubuntu." But what is it? Left-leaning sudoku? U2's latest album? Fish-friendly sushi? No, it's a word describing an African worldview, which translates as "I am because you are," and which means that individuals need other people to be fulfilled. The former president, husky-voiced...

ASUS have released a cheap subnotebook. It is far from state-of-the-art tech-wise, with 512Mb RAM and a Celeron processor. It has a 4Gb hard drive and no optical drive. Its screen is 7” and runs at the odd resolution of 800x480 and the operating system looks like something Fisher Price might have designed. Why would you buy it? What on earth can you do with this? The answer is lots. Sure, the things I said above are true. But don’t be deceived by a small glimpse at its hardware specs – there’s so much more which can be said. I’m...

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Ok - let me go through the basic checklist. Logged in to FR? Check Logged into my computer? Check Logged into the server? Check Tin foil hat? On and locked Large grain of salt available? Check (although I'm cutting down on salt) I have a small network here at the house. Cable modem into a router, router split into three workstations. I inherited an additional box from a friend, and it's been sitting around for a while, so I figured - heck - let's turn it into a local file/printer/web server. Windows Server 2003 or Home Server are way too...

Do you know how many Ubuntu based Linux distribution there are? More than 40. That’s right. More than forty different Linux distros has been forked out of this ever popular Linux distro. While not all of them are worth mentioning, there are some decent distributions that have evolved from it. For instance, Mythbuntu, Ubuntu Ultimate Edition, gOS, and andLinux to name a few. Another Ubuntu based distribution that you might like to checkout is Super Ubuntu. Super Ubuntu contains all that is present on Ubuntu 8.10 and also includes: System and application updates: all updates released for Ubuntu + GIMP...

Once a year, Microsoft president Steve Ballmer, would proclaim that Linux violated some of Microsoft patents. Then, he wouldn't do anything about it. Now, perhaps, he has. In the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Microsoft sued Tom-Tom (PDF Link) on the ground that Tom-Tom's in-car navigation devices violate eight of its patents. At least three of these patents, concerning file management, reference TomTom's Linux kernel implementation. This is the first time that Microsoft has ever filed a Linux patent suit over Linux, despite its multiple claims. That said, according to Todd Bishop, "Microsoft says open-source software is not the intended...

Pundits and business executives alike are predicting gloomy economic times for 2009. But when the talk turns to free and open source software (FOSS), suddenly the mood brightens. Whether their concern is the business opportunities in open source or the promotion of free software idealism, experts see FOSS as starting from a strong base and actually benefiting from the hard times expected next year... The idea that software available at no cost will become popular in a recession is a no-brainer... Zemlin sees Linux and the FOSS ecosystem surrounding it as having insurmountable advantages in any market over its main...

For the gist of it...... just scroll down to the compact step-by-step guide. But if you like to get some of the background and related explanations then just read on. The rumor of the bullet-proof Linux architectureThere is this rumor going around that Linux is virus free. It is said that the old-fashioned multi-user heritage of Linux (and other *nix OSs) prevents malware, since users are not normally running their programs in admin mode (as root user). We are reminded that execute bits are needed to run anything – contrary to Windows – and that execute bits aren't set on any...

This time, Microsoft may have outdone themselves with a proposed patent of such breathtaking hubris that it makes their previous FUD pale by comparison. If it comes off it will either be a licence to print money (Redmond’s version of Quantitative easing?) or the biggest Pyrrhic victory in the history of computing since Steve Jobs refused Bill Gates and hardware vendors a licence to use Apple’s OS and software. When you first read about Microsoft’s proposed patent you are suffused with the glow of righteous anger but before you get carried away, stop. Stop and think. This patent might just...

KDE 4.2 "The Answer" has been released, which the K Desktop Environment community is confident will even be able to satisfy the needs of normal non-technical end-users.

I tried, I really did, to like KDE 4.2 I really didn't like the early versions of KDE 4. I then tried KDE 4.1. I hated it. I kept getting told by people that I just didn't get it. OK, I thought. Maybe I didn't get it. So, I gave the last KDE 4.2 beta and release candidate another try for a month on one of my openSUSE 11.1 desktops. Historically, SUSE and KDE developers work closely with each other, so openSUSE is a great distribution for any version of KDE. Well, they may work well together, but openSUSE with...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A virulent computer virus has infected as many as 15 million computers around the world so far, according to various estimates. The virus -- a self-replicating computer worm known as Downadup, Conficker or Kido -- spreads across computer networks using Microsoft Windows software which have not been patched or updated properly. Microsoft issued a patch that fixes the vulnerability the virus exploits last October. The Independent on Sunday newspaper said in London at the weekend that more than 3,000 British organizations, including hospitals and the Ministry of Defense, have been hit by the virus.

Back in 2002, as Roy Schestowitz calls out, Microsoft was desperately trying to figure out a response to Linux. The problem wasn't Linux as a product-level competitor. The problem, as its Windows chief, Jim Allchin, told a small gathering of Microsoft partners (PDF), is that Linux changes the nature of software competition with odd things like "community" and "GPL licensing," the latter of which Microsoft didn't like one bit : We feel a huge threat from Linux. Maybe we shouldn't, which is a question you could answer from your perspective...There's Linux the community. We're going to learn from Linux the...

In what may come to be seen as a deeply symbolic moment in the history of operating systems, Red Hat is on the verge of surpassing Sun Microsystems' market capitalization for the first time. Sun, perhaps unfairly, represents a fading Unix market. Red Hat, for its part, represents the rising Linux market. As I write this, Red Hat's market capitalization sits at $2.62 billion, while Sun is just ahead, at $2.7 billion. The stock prices are way out of whack with revenues: Red Hat pulled in $627 million in 2008. Sun? More than $13 billion. Such is Wall Street's confidence...

The New York Times ran a piece this Sunday featuring Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. Though a majority of the piece was biographical, and the rest wasn't exactly the picture of accuracy in its portrayal of Ubuntu (or Linux in general), there were a few interesting figures. It gives pause to wonder how, in this economy, and in an ever-changing industry, profit still gets much better press than growth. The Times reports Canonical is approaching the $30 million a year mark in terms of revenue, and Shuttleworth feels that is the point when the company will become self-sustaining. The Times also...