This is the 3rd Weekly Linux Nation news report for the week, where I link to and provide some brief commentary with my opinions about the most popular stories for the week in the Linux/Unix section on the Digg.com website. I am committed to doing this every Thursday.
“Why Thursday?” you may be asking – why the hell not! Enough banter. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
1. Man is Dugg for donating 16,000 Linux boxes, then gets the regulatory axe
Number one with a bullet, this story is worth reading. Summary: Guy donates computers to those in need, and then the Department of Toxic Substance Control of the California Environmental Protection Agency issues him a citation for hazardous materials.
First get over the fact that the Department of Toxic Substance Control of the California Environmental Protection Agency has of way-too-long-of-a-department-name-and-should-be-shortened-asap-p.s.-add-yellow-dolphins-as-our-logo-thanks.
Second, this guy donates computers to people and organizations that could not otherwise afford to buy them.
These computers he gives away are put to good use, which would otherwise be sitting in a landfill or elsewhere, poisoning the water supply, giving cancer to baby kittens dwelling in sewers, and far, far more evil things. So where’s the problem?
Sounds like this inspector has a hair trigger up his ass.
2. OPEN SOURCE GOD: 480+ Open Source Applications
Cynical Summary: Author browses Sourceforge, Freshmeat and other similar websites, writes about it, and get a ton of diggs. If you’re looking for something new, I can assure that you will find it in this very long list, with screenshots and such – obviously quite a bit of work went into writing this article, especially with the descriptions.
Mr. Sharma, keep up the good work. This article is one in a series of “GOD” articles that have all been very exhaustive and informative. Give it a read.
3. Linux File System Layout [PIC]
If you are not very familiar with the default directory structure of Linux, this can help you so much when you’re looking for a file. I printed something like this out a few years ago and it is very handy.
I’ll admit, it can be very confusing when you don’t know where a folder analogous to “Program Files” folder is in Linux.
Whee! I love the terminal. I love it even MORE after running this command:
telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
There’s so much more in the thread, but I think that one is the best.
The title is certainly linkbait, that’s for damn sure!
First, if you don’t know, GIT is a content management system primarily for programmers who need to be able to work on different parts of a program at once.
Linus Torvalds, who is the original author and maintainer of the Linux kernel, also originally wrote GIT. Someone had the balls to point out (on the GIT developer mailing list) that the program used only the C programming language, rather than the more popular C++ language.
Linus pulls out the big guns and fires a volley of insults at the man, in only the way that he can. I kinda feel sorry for the guy who’s getting reamed.
So I’m sorry, but for something like git, where efficiency was a primary
objective, the “advantages” of C++ is just a huge mistake. The fact that
we also piss off people who cannot see that is just a big additional
advantage. -Linus Torvalds
6. The Über-powerful Lsof Command (Non-Linkjacked, and NOT a .PNG)
Ever heard of a Linux command utility lsof? It’s pretty damn powerful, probably more powerful than grep, and used FAR less often.
Check out this article for some information on how to use this tool, and the absolutely insane number of command line options.
7. Review of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy features and changes
This review is spot on terrific! It’s worth being in the top 10 for the week.
This review (like many others lately) comes to the conclusion that many people are coming to right now, which is Ubuntu is newbie friendly, and hopefully your grandma could use it.
BAM! Video games and Linux.
This is an important topic for many people out there. BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE VIEDO GAMES! Let’s see some more of these types of articles, please!
Ahh….. Unfortunately this article is suffering from some high traffic – his image hosting is down. This is a really nice article, I love Savage 2 and Second Life, one I didn’t know about is called “Frets on Fire” and it seems like a ton of fun. I’m going to download it and give it a try myself.
9. OpenOffice.org Free Software Proves a Success at WalMart
Go figure! Free Software at Wal-Mart is popular?!?!??? Who would believe that?
10. Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) Default Wallpaper Chosen – What do you think?
Well “I think” this is not news-worthy. Practically anything with “Ubuntu” in the title makes it to the front page these days. Who gives a crap if the default wallpaper is bonzai kittens? Anyone who knows even a little bit about computers will change the background to something of their own choosing.
11. Linux to Finally Kill Windows in Europe?
Maybe.
The same group of bureaucrats in Europe responsible for things like Windows Media Player not being bundled in Windows want to go one step further – unbundle Windows from all PCs being sold in Europe.
This is Major News.
If this actually happened, Europeans would be faced with a choice: Pay for Windows (probably sold at an OEM software reduced price) OR… only pay a tiny fraction of the cost for a copy of Linux.
I’d be quivering in my space boots if I were in Microsoft’s position right now.
12. So Dell is NOT the only vendor selling Ubuntu PCs
Dell is the most prolific peddler of PCs in the USA, so it’s more newsworthy when they see a market in Linux, rather than small specialty shops making one-offs and not causing a huge splash. It is important, but if we say… the top tier 1 computer manufacturers putting Linux on boxes, that would make a big difference in Linux adoption.
Let this little tidbit sink into your brain for a second:
Dell does more business in 1 month than all of these shops combined do in 1 year.
13. Coming soon: automatic Linux driver upgrade
Me likey! DKMS (Dynamic Kernel Module Support) is great technology, which has already been used by Dell in their Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers, and is actually going to be available in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon.
14. SCO to be delisted from the NASDAQ effective Sept. 27th
Awww… Poor SCO. Their stock is not worth the paper it’s printed on. SCO will NEVER recover from being delisted.
15. Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) Beta released!
Well I think I know what I’ll be installing tonight, since I’ll have a little free time while the girlfriend has a night out on the town at a casino. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but I really love the naming convention of Ubuntu, unfortunately 8.04 is going to be Hardy Heron, not Happy Hippo.
By the way, WordPress makes this article is a pain in the ass to format in a readable way. Does anyone have tips for getting WordPress to behave and make unordered lists have newlines without typing everything manually?