July 2, 2008
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Ultrathin Linux PC Envy

I want; I mean I really want, an Apple MacBook Air. Mind you, I wouldn’t kick a Lenovo ThinkPad X300 or Toshiba Portege R500 out of my hotel bedroom either. If you’re a Mac or Windows user you’ve got several excellent top-of-the-line ultra-thin laptop choices. If you’re a desktop Linux user, your choices aren’t that great. So far.

Oh, there are excellent pre-installed Linux laptops. For a full-powered one I see it as almost being a coin-toss between the Lenovo R61 with SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP 2 and the Dell 1420N. The quick and dirty on how to choose between them is that the Lenovo works extremely well with office network environments, especially those that use AD (Active Directory), while the Dell with commercial DVD-playback built-in is a better home user buy. One last thought on solid working Linux laptops: Dell will be moving to Ubuntu 8.04 any time now, so you may want wait a tick before buying one. Good machines and I paid my own money to get an R61, but these are not ultra-thin sexy laptops.

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July 1, 2008
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Struggling towards a great Linux desktop

I’m very happy with my Linux desktop. To be precise, I’m very happy with SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP2; openSUSE 11, Kubuntu 8.04, Mint 5 and MEPIS 7. I’m also getting fond of Fedora 9.

Anyone see the problem here? I do.

That’s too many desktops, except for a nut case like yours truly who really likes playing with operating systems. Most people, most sane people anyway, want one desktop that works for them and can at least get along with the other desktops in the office.

The beauty of Linux is that you can have a safe, powerful desktop operating system. The ugly thing about Linux is that it can you also give you enough options to drive you batty.

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July 1, 2008
by sjvn01
2 Comments

What’s what with Xandros buying Linspire

t’s safe to say that no one saw Xandros, the oldest of the desktop Linux companies thanks to its Corel Linux ancestry, buying Linspire, the desktop Linux perhaps best known for being the first Linux to openly embrace proprietary software. So how did this deal happen? Why did it happen? Here’s what Xandros CEO Andreas Typaldos had to say about the surprising deal.

First, Typaldos explained during a call and in a e-mail memo that Xandros was indeed acquiring Linspire lock, stock and barrel. Xandros will own “the CNR software distribution facility, and the Linspire and Freespire Linux desktop operating systems.”

Why make this deal when Xandros, thanks to its Asus partnership, appeared to be gaining users at a quick rate. According to Xandros, his company made the “acquisition will provide an exploding number of mobile Linux customers with one-click software delivery to update and enhance their platform.”

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July 1, 2008
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Best Practices for using Open-Source Software

When faced with using open-source software in your company should your first reaction be:

1 )Run in terror.
2) Pick up and cuddle your stuffed Steve Ballmer doll while shouting “No!”
3) Refuse to even consider it
4) Deal with it.

Even if you think open source is the dumbest idea to hit IT since Microsoft Bob, number four is your only real choice.

There was a time when SCO and Microsoft could pull the FUD over some people’s eyes and convince them that using open-source software would be leaving your company open to lawsuits or that the only support you’d ever get for your open-source software would be someone who looked like he’d been playing Jesus in a third-rate road show of Godspell. Those days are long gone.

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June 30, 2008
by sjvn01
13 Comments

Surprise Desktop Linux Move: Xandros Buys Linspire

Practical Technology has learned from several sources that Linspire, the San Diego, Calif-based Linux distributor is being bought out by Xandros, the Canadian desktop Linux vendor.

In an announcement that was sent out today, June 30, to Linspire stockholders, CEO Larry Kettler wrote that the stockholders had decided to sell all of Linspire’s assets. This deal specifically includes Linspire, Freespire, and the company’s distribution agnostic CNR (Click ‘N Run) desktop installation platform.

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June 29, 2008
by sjvn01
3 Comments

Avoiding Server 2008 Password Troubles

I was setting up Windows Server 2008 on a test system today to get a better grip on Microsoft’s just released Hyper-V virtualization when I ran into a completely unexpected problem: I couldn’t set up the system’s initial password

I expected to have some trouble integrating Server 2008 into my network. My LAN, while it used AD (Active Directory), relies on Samba and LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) so I expected to have some trouble with, at a minimum, some authentication issues. And, indeed, I did run into that kind of problem, but first I had to get logged into my server. This is not a problem I ever expected to have with a modern operating system.

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