Practical Technology

for practical people.

May 27, 2009
by sjvn01
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Here comes summer’s first Linux netbook

Reports of the Linux netbook’s death at the hands of Microsoft have been greatly exaggerated. A flood of Linux netbook news will be made next week at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, but, after Intel announced the beta of Moblin 2, HP have decided not to wait until then and made an important Linux netbook announcement this week.

HP announced that it was releasing a new netbook, the HP Mini 110, that runs Ubuntu Linux 8.04 with HP’s easy to use Mi (Mobile internet) desktop interface. It will also be available with XP Home, but, for once, the Linux powered model looks to be the more compelling buy even if you don’t care for Linux.

The new Mini will give you a choice between the N270 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU you find in almost every netbook on the market today, and the newer N270 Intel Atom processor N280 that runs at 1.66-GHz. It also boasts a 10.1? LED anti-glare display. This screen may have the option of a Broadcom Crystal HD decoder, which HP says will optimize HD video in H.264, MPEG-4 and other formats. I say may because HP has confirmed that this will be an option on the XP model, but they’re mum on whether this will be available for the Linux Mini.

Interestingly enough, otherwise, the Linux model has more and better options than the XP netbook. On the XP, your storage choices will be a 160GB hard drive or a 32GB SSD (solid state drive). For Linux, though, you also have the option of a 250GB hard drive. In addition, and this is important, on the XP system your only choice in memory is 1GB of RAM. If you go with Linux, though, you can have up to 2GBs.

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May 26, 2009
by sjvn01
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An early look at Firefox 3.5

There was a time when Firefox was the Web browsers for the cool kids who knew their tech. Most would still agree that it’s better than Internet Explorer, but that’s damning it with faint praise. Over the last year or so, Firefox have become better known in tech. Savvy circles for its relatively poor performance and mediocre memory management. Chrome’s insane speed and Internet Explorer 8’s overall improvement have also dinged Firefox’s reputation. But now, Firefox 3.5 is almost ready to go. Does it have what it takes?

I downloaded the latest beta, Firefox 3.5 beta 4, to find out for myself. I used it on two different PCs. The first was my workhouse Windows XP SP3 system, and the other was my Fedora 10 computer. The XP box was a Dell Inspiron 530S with a 2.2-GHz Intel Pentium E2200 dual-core processor, 4GBs of RAM, a 500GB SATA drive and an Integrated Intel 3100 GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator). For Fedora, I used a Gateway GT5622 desktop with a 1.8GHz Intel Pentium E2160 dual-core CPU, 3GBs of RAM, a 400GB SATA drive, and an Intel 950 GMA.

On both systems, installing the browser took no more than five minutes. Once installed, I found that my two must-have Firefox extensions the Google Toolbar and XMarks were both working.

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May 25, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Moblin netbook Linux preview

Intel’s Moblin 2.0 Linux desktop for netbooks is really still too raw to be called a beta, but with a fresh take on what a desktop should be, it’s showing great promise.

When Intel announced that it was turning its Moblin mobile Linux project over to the Linux Foundation, I assumed that it had decided to walk away from the project. Then, Intel announced that it was partnering with Novell to bring pre-installed Moblin desktops to netbooks. At this point, I was really puzzled. But, then Intel released the new version of Moblin and their moves suddenly made sense.

Intel wants to compete with its long-time partner Microsoft in the operating system business. To do that, Intel wants broad support from the Linux community. Intel doesn’t want Moblin to be ‘Intel Moblin,’ the company want it to be Linux’s Moblin with support from everyone.

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May 22, 2009
by sjvn01
4 Comments

Finding the right open-source savvy lawyer

Some days, like it or not, you need a lawyer. For most business purposes, picking the right law firm isn’t usually that big of a deal.

Chances are you already have at least an idea of how to find a contract lawyer, a tax law specialist or a real-estate attorney. But what if your programmers are using open-source code that’s licensed under two different licenses? What if you’re concerned with how a patent might affect open-source software your company is already using? Or let’s say a company based in Utah decides that you’ve put its proprietary code into Linux, who do you turn to then? Now, what should you be looking for in a law firm?

Darn good question. Here are some of the answers you’ll need if you find yourself in a spot where you need someone who knows both IP (intellectual property) law and FOSS (free and open source) licensing.
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May 22, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

A+ for Dell’s new Ubuntu Linux netbook

I was lucky enough to have a friend at Dell who let me play with Dell’s new Latitude 2100-N for a few hours. After he chased me down, he pried it out of my fingers. I didn’t want to give it up. This is one nice Ubuntu Linux-powered netbook.

The Dell unit I looked at came with an Intel Atom N270 CPU running at 1.6GHz. This one had 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, an 80GB, 5,400rpm hard drive, and integrated Mobile Intel 950 GMA graphics chip set. It also had a 6-cell battery. Like most new netbooks, it comes with a good-sized display: 10.1″. As equipped, this unit would sell for $444.

The base Ubuntu Linux 8.10 equipped unit comes with 512MBs of RAM, a 16GB SSD (solid state drive) and a 3-cell battery. This version of the netbook sells for $369. If you wanted to get the same netbook with XP Home SP3, it would cost you $399. It’s always nice to see a vendor offer you the Linux cost savings.

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May 21, 2009
by sjvn01
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Netbook Linux gets revved up

Scoffers have been dismissing the Linux netbook, but I’ve been saying all along that the Linux netbook was alive and well and that Google would make its desktop Linux move with Android this year. But, I sure didn’t see everyone this side of Microsoft jumping in the Linux netbook pool for the summer. Well, you know what? That’s exactly what they’re doing.

Let’s start with Dell. We knew that HP and many smaller computer manufacturers were playing with Android on the desktop. But, just recently we discovered that Dell is tinkering with Android on Dell’s new Mini 10 netbook. Dell has always been the most serious OEM (original equipment manufacturer) about desktop Linux. I can think we can safely expect to see Dell being one of the first vendors to ride the Android desktop wave when Google finally gives it the thumbs-up.

Oh, and on another note, Dell has also recently released a new set of laptops in Australia with Ubuntu Linux. Dell gets that desktop Linux is important.

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