One of the biggest things holding back GNU/Linux adoption is the fact that most people haven’t tried GNU/Linux. That’s where SLAX comes into play.
How to create a GNU/Linux live USB stick with SLAX
By Andrew Min
Online on: 2007-09-14
- Andrew Min's blog
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Create your online project site, start to finish, with Sakai
A flexible Collaboration Learning Environment
Hacker's code | EasyBy Alan Berg
Online on: 2007-09-14
Sakai is an online Collaboration Learning Environment, CLE for short. Indiana University has proactively deployed it for 100,000 students, and over 120 other Universities are involved with their own local deployments or test beds. Clearly, this well received application is worth checking out and taking for a vigorous and thorough test run.
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And the luddites shall inherit the world (wide web)...
Online on: 2007-09-13
With the lay public now moving their businesses and lives online, everything they do has an electronic component. But, being lay people, they’re using the most antiquated, bug-ridden, security-deficient, poorly-implemented solutions and services possible. And this is despite being told better. They indulge in PayPal, eBay, FaceBook, DRM, MySpace, and on-line shopping. All of which suck...
- Steven Goodwin's blog
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- 924 reads
Fast programming with Rexx
Ease of use and power can co-exist
Hacker's code | IntermediateOnline on: 2007-09-12
Ever need to code quickly? You can code Rexx like water—yet it’s powerful. Here’s everything you need to start, by studying real-world programming examples.
Configure and use the Untangle Gateway
Facing the challenges with network administration, the right way
Hacker's code | IntermediateBy Dirk Morris
Online on: 2007-09-10
Connecting a network to the modern day internet can be challenging. Basic infrastructure, like routers, DHCP Servers, and DNS servers, are required to get the network online. The network must also be protected with a firewall and intrusion prevention, and the desktops need protection from viruses and spyware. Next will come a spam and phish filter to stop the continual flood of junk email. Most are then forced to implement some sort of internet usage control, like web filtering, to control what users are doing on the network. [...]
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FSM Newsletter 10 September 2007
Published on web | Easy
By admin
Online on: 2007-09-09
Hello everybody, and welcome once again to the fortnightly newsletter of Free Software Magazine: keeping you well informed about the realm of free software... AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Happy reading!
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- 780 reads
Stretching your instant messaging wings with Pidgin
How to connect to virtually any instant messenger network using Pidgin
User space | EasyBy Andrew Min
Online on: 2007-09-05
Today, everyone uses a different instant messenger. Your boss may use Lotus Sametime, your colleague AIM, your friend Google Talk, and your kid Yahoo! Messenger. However, these all take up hard drive space, RAM, and CPU usage. In addition, many of these are proprietary and Windows-only (two big minuses for GNU/Linux users). Luckily, the free software world has an alternative that enables users to chat with users of all of these programs (and many more). It is called Pidgin.
How to take screenshots with Scrot
Online on: 2007-09-04
Screenshots. Where would the internet be without them? They are ubiquitous and when you are researching that latest piece of cool software or the latest ISO of your favourite GNU/Linux distro they are an opportunity to preview the eye candy. There are many ways to make those screenshots and most KDE and Gnome users will be familiar with the GUI tools bundled with them: Ksnapshot for KDE and Take Screenshot for Gnome. They are good at what they do. However, sometimes you just need to take screenshots quick and dirty without the overheads (especially if you are using a lightweight windows manager on a relatively low-spec machine). If that's your case, you can use “Scrot”.
- Gary Richmond's blog
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- 2123 reads
No budget learning with free software
The Guus Kieft School
Power up | EasyBy Alan Berg
Online on: 2007-09-03
This article describes the work in progress of applying Ubuntu Linux sensibly within an underfunded school, and as part of a wider well thought out and alternative educational structure. I shall emphasise best practices and try my best not to dwell too much on the underlying technologies.
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FSM Newsletter 2 September 2007
Published on web | Easy
By admin
Online on: 2007-09-02
Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine's fortnightly newsletter (sorry about the delay!), keeping you up to date with all things free software... AND the top 10 FSDaily articles for this week! Enjoy!
Announcements
We have reason to celebrate because FSDaily recently crossed the 1000 user mark! This is great news because we have only been up and running for 3 months and have only been advertising on Free Software Magazine. So word of mouth must be working well.
Something rotten in the State of Sweden
Online on: 2007-08-31
This entire OOXML campaign stinks!
This is being forced on everyone simply because one corporation has manufactured a back-door strategy, to maintain a software monopoly.
Around the world, we decided that we needed a new universal standard to apply to the digital equivalent of pen and paper.
Around the world, we decided on such a standard.
Microsoft chose not to take part in those deliberations.
Now, Microsoft want to tell us, “Stuv ya stanadz suggerz, wod we zeyz goez, bub.”
- Laurie Langham's blog
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- 1336 reads
Delve deep into drives
By Mitch Meyran
Online on: 2007-08-31
I recently read a doctorate’s thesis on file system robustness by Vijayan Prabhakaran from the University of Wisconsin. It’s very interesting, and may explain in part the recent ruckus on the LKML around file systems.
- Mitch Meyran's blog
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SPIP: Content management for publishers and writers
A powerful tool to manage online publications
Hacker's code | EasyBy Dmitri Popov
Online on: 2007-08-29
Content Management System (CMS) software comes nowadays in all shapes and colours, so you can afford to be picky and choose the one that fits your needs. And if you happen to be a writer or an editor of an online magazine, SPIP might be what you are looking for. While SPIP is not as well-known as, say, Joomla, it has a huge following in France, its country of origin. Unlike other CMS applications which cater for a broad user base that needs to manage “content”, SPIP is designed for a more specific audience and purpose. [...]
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- 2262 reads
No news, but no snooze
Online on: 2007-08-28
Two things piqued my interest recently. One was the iPlayer protests at the BBC, the other was the Wiki tracker project. More specifically, it was the reporting of these events. In the case of the former, it went virtually unreported and made me proud of our independent and open news sources and reporting network. The latter highlighted (again) the many issues of user-generated content. Is there a half-way house?
- Steven Goodwin's blog
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- 1073 reads
Tips and Tricks
Power up | Easy
Online on: 2007-08-27
This is a collection of tips&tricks written by Gary Richmond and Andrew Min. In this article:
- How to get the best out of the history command in GNU/Linux (Gary)
- How to close down GNU/Linux safely after a system freeze with the SysRq key (Gary)
- How to find .debs (even if you think they don't exist) (Andrew)
- How to kill processes (Andrew)
- 3 comments
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- 8873 reads
Top 10 Free Software Daily stories this week!
By admin
Online on: 2007-08-26
You get the best free software news at FSDaily... because YOU decide what's important. Here are the top 10 FSDaily stories from the last week as voted by the members. Don't like 'em? Think something's missing? Want to know more? Head to FSDaily and get voting and submitting!
- admin's blog
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- 771 reads
Beware of Skype
Online on: 2007-08-24
On Sunday, August 5, 2007 Bush signed the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) into law, in which the U.S. Congress spinelessly caved in and gave legal authority to the Bush administration to continue to intercept and spy on electronic communications. Then, on Thursday, August 16, 2007 the whole worldwide Skype network goes down. Coincidence? I think if you use Skype, you should now be very, very, concerned about the privacy of your calls and had better start considering using FOSS alternatives.
- Jabari Zakiya's blog
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- 11944 reads
Introduction to Firestarter
Additonal security through a simple interface
Hacker's code | IntermediateBy Ken Leyba
Online on: 2007-08-24
Most modern GNU/Linux distributions are secure with their default minimal installs, whether desktop or server, while some distributions are designed specifically with security in mind. However, any GNU/Linux distribution that needs services available to other users or systems will need either enhanced or configurable security. There are other situations in which added security is beneficial; for example, a large environment, while secure to the outside world, would be enhanced with additional security measures in place.
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- 6363 reads
Book review: Linux Appliance Design
by Bob Smith, John Hardin, Graham Phillips, and Bill Pierce
Published on web | EasyBy Alan Berg
Online on: 2007-08-23
I am not paranoid... honest, but we are all surrounded, surrounded by consumer appliances such as wireless network routers, media centers and even some clever fridges and microwaves. I am even sure that my elder sons Robosapien is out to get me! At least the book Linux Appliance Design: A Hands-On Guide to Building Linux Appliances by the experienced Engineers (and now writers) Bob Smith, John Hardin, Graham Philips, and Bill Piece allows us to know our hidden enemies and build better appliance mousetraps.
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Linspire: Doomed to failure
By Andrew Min
Online on: 2007-08-22
Linspire is doomed. No, they haven’t signed an unholy alliance with ID Software involving pre-installing DOOM on all Linspire computers. In my opinion, they are doomed to die a painful death in the operating system world. Why? Read on to find out.
- Andrew Min's blog
- 10 comments
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- 3204 reads