Free Republic

Looking for Linux alternatives to Windows software? Here are twenty choice Linux apps you might want to consider.  1- LibreOffice: Some might point out that Oracle's own Open Office is still very much an option, but the fact is that Linux distributions are or have already migrated to LibreOffice in its stead. Unlike the proprietary-friendly Microsoft Office, LibreOffice offers the end-user much of the same functionality without the added cost of proprietary licensing. However, the biggest downside to LibreOffice has to be the lack of proper formatting support when opening a Microsoft docx document. While the document may be supported,...

Just three months after Mozilla pushed out what was its final big beast of a browser release in the form of the long-awaited Firefox 4, the next iteration of its popular surfing tool is now available online. Firefox 5, as it has been sensibly named, can be downloaded for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android platforms. Few major tweaks have been slotted into this release, which is hardly surprising given the fast, splatter-gun style of updating Mozilla code. The iterate-big-or-die cultural shift inside the open source browser outfit's Towers comes in clear acknowledgement of Google's Chrome schedule. It may be mirroring...

I was directed to a recent mailing list post by Linus Torvalds on linux-fsdevel in which he derided the concept of user-space filesystems. Not a particular implementation, mind you, but the very concept of it. Jeff Darcy, of Red Hat and CloudFS fame, wrote a wonderful response, which you should read first before continuing further.From my perspective, as the creator of GlusterFS, Linus is rather blinkered on this issue. The fact is, user space advantages far outweigh kernel space advantages. You’ll notice that Linus pointed to no benchmarks or studies confirming his opinion, he merely presented his bias as if...

The desktop wars may be finally ending, but not quite the way we may have expected. Take the GNOME Shell interface, which reviewers admire for its general direction but have some issues with the actual execution within GNOME 3. Meanwhile, Ubuntu's Unity continues to be a strong influencer in the interface arena, seeking that mobile device sweet spot. Over on the KDE side of the house, the interface is doing just fine, but everyone is wondering what the fate of the Qt libraries will be given Nokia's ever-growing commitment to Microsoft Windows Phone 7. This guy thinks that with the...

I want to preface this entry by stating something very important to me and my world. I am a writer. Not just a writer of technical documentation, how-tos, and other sundry articles, but a writer of fiction. I currently have three published books (you can find them in both paperback and ebook format on Amazon and Barnes & Noble) and, I get the argument on both sides of the DRM fence. What’s DRM? Simple. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a term for access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders to limit the use of digital content and devices. In other...

Say Hello To Linux 3.0; Linus Just Tagged 3.0-rc1 Posted by Michael Larabel on May 29, 2011 For anyone that was doubting Linus Torvalds would finally part ways with the Linux 2.6 kernel series, you lost your bets. On the eve of Memorial Day in the United States and his departure to Japan for LinuxCon, Linus Torvalds just tagged Linux 3.0-rc1 in Git. It was just one week ago that Linus Torvalds brought up the matter of whether its time to end the Linux 2.6 kernel series with there already being 39 major releases and its development period having lasted...

Fedora 15 has just been released! Fedora 15 is the first major Linux distribution shipping with the GNOME 3.0 Shell by default, and as usual, has a host of other Linux innovations. Some of the other "fun stuff" about Fedora 15 is support for Btrfs as a file-system installation option (without needing any extra parameters or special settings), better crash reporting, higher compression of live images using XZ compression, improved power management, and much more.

Ï€ Raspberry Pi Foundation The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK registered charity (Registration Number 1129409) which exists to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing. We plan to develop, manufacture and distribute an ultra-low-cost computer, for use in teaching computer programming to children. We expect this computer to have many other applications both in the developed and the developing world. Our first product is about the size of a USB key, and is designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a...

I was on the road in Boston late last week, and thus was unable to easily write something up on the April 15 jury finding in the case of Bedrock Computer Technologies, LLC v. Softlayer Technologies, Inc. et al. That's the catchy name for the patent infringement lawsuit launched in 2009 by Tyler, Texas-based Bedrock against Softlayer and CitiWare Technology Solutions, LLC, two Texas-based software companies, and a few firms that are decidedly not from Texas: Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc., MySpace Inc., Amazon.com Inc., PayPal Inc., Match.com, Inc., AOL LLC and CME Group Inc. The suit alleges that a patent...

I have decided that Groklaw will stop publishing new articles on our anniversary, May 16. I know a lot of you will be unhappy to hear it, so let me briefly explain, because my decision is made and it's firm. In a simple sentence, the reason is this: the crisis SCO initiated over Linux is over, and Linux won. SCO as we knew it is no more. There will be other battles, and there already are, because the same people that propped SCO up are still going to try to destroy Linux, but the battlefield has shifted, and I don't...

For many small business users, all the rational arguments for using open source software like Linux make a great deal of sense: It's free, customizable, compatible, and it's free of vendor lock-in, to name just a few. When it comes down to the wire at purchase time, however, many fall prey to one or more of the frequently perpetuated myths out there, and vague fears of incompatibility or a lack of support or something else drive them right back into Redmond's waiting arms. One way to make the notion of a Linux-based computer less worrisome for such users is to...

Why are you using Linux on your desktop? Before answering this question, consider the advantages and disadvantages and then come back full circle to your own motivation for using Linux. Nearly every week, I find my news feeds filled with the usual generic articles describing rather vanilla reasons for using Linux on the desktop. Why do I have a problem with this? Perhaps because the reasons often being shared are just echoes of other opinions that clearly aren't that of the author. Instead, we are reading the thoughts and ideas of many articles since past. Great platform for the wrong...

One of the best features of the open source Linux operating system is that there are so many distributions to choose from. Ubuntu gets by far the lion's share of the media's attention, it's true--largely by virtue of its top ranking at the top of DistroWatch's popularity list--but there are hundreds of other options out there as well, many tailored to particular kinds of users and situations. I've already looked briefly at several of the Ubuntu derivatives that are available and more specifically at Linux Mint, which is currently third in popularity. Today, however, I'd like to make a pitch...

I took a few days off from writing any articles, partly to try to make a serious dent in transcribing the Comes v. Microsoft exhibits. We're in the home stretch, and a quiet weekend, marking on a curve, is perfect. I know there's lots going on, other than work. I also needed to take some time to think about the recent discovery about Novell taking money from Microsoft and contractually agreeing to show up at Open XML standards meetings and events. Should Groklaw stop helping people like that, I asked? Is it time to shut Groklaw down? If not, is...

VANITY

Yesterday I had a request from a client for a network diagram for a system I’m designing, and normally I create such drawings as a PNG file. But this client said “no, I need it in Visio, or similar style so we can edit it”. I have avoided Microsoft Visio in the past, mainly because of its price tag: $249.99 for the basic version, and a whopping $999.99 for the premium version!**********************************snip********************************************* So I want to share “Dia”, short for “Diagram”. Its detailed, open source, and most importantly, free. It also has a community springing up that is adding shape...

I'm working at a company where our email is handled by Google Apps the usual way. Where we open browsers to http://mail.OURDOMAIN.com and then we type in usernames (tied to our domain) and passwords. My non-technical supervisor came to me and asked me why he can no longer log into the account with the username of "sysadmin", which has important info we need. After confirming that the username and password did not fail as a result of a typing error, I then sent email from INSIDE our domain to the administrator account at sysadmin@OURDOMAIN.com. I got the first "hard bounce"...

We recently gave you a brief history of viruses on the Mac and as requested by a user we wanted to give you a history of viruses on Linux. Given the tight security integrated into Linux, it is difficult to take advantage of a vulnerability on the computer, but some programmers have found ways around the security measures. There are several free options for anti-virus on Linux that you really should use, even if it isn't always running - a weekly or monthly scan doesn't hurt. Free anti-virus solutions include: ClamAV, AVG, Avast and F-Prot. 1996: The cracker group VLAD...

I'm about to start learning Fedora Linux and I'd like to build up an older Dell Dimension I have into a box to play on. I was able to get an old copy of Red Hat to load and boot but it's useless because I can't figure out how to get it on my wireless network and besides, I never could figure out anything useful to do with it. I tried PCLinux and Ubuntu but could never get either to boot. I've been told I can boot Linux from a thumb drive and this might be an interesting option so...

Best of Linux So far, in my look at Linux compared to Mac and Windows, I've covered music players, photo organizers, and video editors. But all those apps – and all the documents they create – are lost if your hard drive crashes, your laptop takes a spill, or some other catastrophe strikes. If you have documents, you must have a backup solution - Mac users at least have the option of Time Machine and Windows offers Live Drive. In this final installment of my look at the Linux desktop, I'll assess how Linux stacks up against backup solutions for...