OpenSource
Category archives for OpenSource
How to keep your server’s hard drive from filling up with log files.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 25, 2009 Log files are good because they log stuff, so you can find out what’s been going on and troubleshoot. But they tend to accumulate and can actually fill up your hard drive. Most Linux distros have automatic log file management for common system logs, but if you are running something on your server that keeps…
Windows 7 will be out tomorrow (Oct 22). I can’t wait.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 21, 2009 Well, not really. But if you are looking forward to this momentous occasion, have a look at Linux in Exile’s pre-release commentary. Here.
BSD 4.6 was just released
Posted by Greg Laden on October 19, 2009 You can get a partial list of the changes in the new version here.
Happy Birthday OpenOffice.org!
Posted by Greg Laden on October 13, 2009 October 13th was the eigth birthday of the Office Suite OpenOffice.Org. This is an OpenSource office suite that will look familiar to anyone using Microsoft Office, WordPefect Office, etc. It has a word processor (Writer) that does pretty much everything Microsoft Word does, but with a more logical layout for menus and some other cool…
The freeDOS guy talks about Free and OpenSource Software
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2009 James Hall has a post on Collective Imagination that you will want to read if you are interested in FOSS.
FreeBSD 8.0 vs. Ubuntu 9.10
Posted by Greg Laden on September 30, 2009 These two OpenSource operating versions, to become available over the next several weeks, demonstrated improvements over prior versions and compare well to each other. I woul like to tell you that my preferred operating system, Ubuntu, came out on top …. and it did! But if you are selecting an operating system where speed is…
Google Wave begins testing today
Posted by Greg Laden on September 30, 2009 According to Google, this is what wave (which is OpenSource) is: A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point…
Boycott the Pure Sensia digital radio
Posted by Greg Laden on September 29, 2009 It runs Linux as its OS. But …
Linux to get faster
Posted by Greg Laden on September 8, 2009 The next version of the Linux Kernel will be very noticeably faster on computers with limited memory.
Taming Twitter with the Command Line
Posted by Greg Laden on August 14, 2009 I thought I was done with the command line for the week, but then I did something cool that I thought I’d share with you. Linux users only … others will think this is silly … join me below the fold.
The Three Button Mouse Phenomenon: A cultural trait found in those who love their computers
Posted by Greg Laden on August 13, 2009 I am told that all Macs come with a three button mouse. I’m not sure I believe that, but it is what I’m told. But to me the three button mouse on a Mac represents one of interesting cultural features of Mac users. Years go, when I was arguing with my friend Mike about which…
The Command Line Part 3: Underlying Power
Posted by Greg Laden on August 12, 2009 This is a continuation of a discussion of the role of the command line in both the functionality and the culture of the three main operating systems used today general purpose desktop computers: Linux, and the other two. Today’s toic: Underlying power.
May the force (of the command line) be with you
Posted by Greg Laden on August 11, 2009 This is the second part of a series of posts on the Power of the Command Line. (The first post was: The Command Line in Linux, Mac OSX and Windows) The lesson of today’s post is: Don’t be a chump, learn to love the command line!
The Command Line in Linux, Mac OSX and Windows
Posted by Greg Laden on August 10, 2009 This is the first in a series of posts on just what the title says: The command line. The main point will be this: Stop worrying about the command line.
Linuxoids: Butter Eff Ess is in your future. Background here.
Posted by Greg Laden on August 2, 2009 btrfs (pronounced as in the title) is the next gen linux file system (you can tell it is a file system because it ends in “fs” which means “File-related stuff.” Valerie Aurora nee Henson gives us “….a behind-the-scenes look at the design and development of btrfs on many levels – technical, political, personal – and…
Windows Update Can Ruin Your Day, Maybe Your Computer
Posted by Greg Laden on July 23, 2009 Our desktop support folks couldn’t do anything with it. When I told them my story about what happened (at least I’m honest) they realized it would be easier to re-install the machine with a fresh image of Windows Vista. Read this sad but unsurprising tale of woe at Linux in Exile. And find out how…
Microsoft is Doomed, Linux is the Future
Posted by Greg Laden on July 15, 2009 According to a recent survey, most companies will not deploy Windows 7. They just think it is going to suck and they are not going to have anything to do with it. YouTube will not be supporting IE6 any longer. Once again, an unpatched Microsoft Expected Feature, er, I mean Bug, is causing major problems.…
Microsoft: So evil it can make smart people stupid
Posted by Greg Laden on July 13, 2009 CNN is supposed to be a professional news outlet. But even the editors and writers at CNN’s Fortune desk are no match for Microsoft’s’ Stupid-Ray Gun. This piece is virtually giddy about the fact that the next version of Microsoft Office will be just like Google Office. Free and on line . Now, think about…
VLC Media Player hits Version 1.0
Posted by Greg Laden on July 9, 2009 VideoLAN’s VLC media player, arguably the world’s best media player, hit version 0.9.9 in early April. Three months and more than 78 million downloads later, VideoLAN has announced VLC 1.0.0, or “Goldeneye.” Your media will never be the same. In fact, with VideoLAN’s VLC media player for Windows, Mac, and Linux, it doesn’t have to…
Happy Birthday FreeDOS
Posted by Greg Laden on June 28, 2009 DOS stands for Disk Operating System. In the old days it was how you ran your PC. You booted up the computer and you had a prompt much like today’s Linux command line in appearance. If you typed “wp” at the command line, a text-based non-GUI version of WordPerfect would run. If you typed “dir”…
How to grep a PDF file (Linux)
Posted by Greg Laden on June 14, 2009 OK, I’m going to do this without looking. It will be something like pdftotext foo | grep whatever, right? Let’s watch and see…. Well, close enough. Note that that was not being done on a Debian system. For Debian (like Ubuntu) you would use apt to install the tools. apt-get install poppler-utils
Classic Shell Scripting
Posted by Greg Laden on June 1, 2009 A repost, continuing along the lines of bashing the shell. Having examined Learning the bash Shell (In a Nutshell (O’Reilly)) (see here, here, and here), it is now time to turn to a more advanced reference to help you geek out on your Linux computer. If you want to have only one book on bash,…
DVDs suck. All the time. In all ways.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 30, 2009 I swear, you are all a bunch of pod people, you consumers. You take whatever crap is dished out, and pay extra for it. When the DVD was produced to replace the tape (VHS) there was a significant down grade in performance in every single way but one. These downgrades were entirely unnecessary. The downgrades…
Asus PC Eee PC paid off by Microsoft to Screw Linux …
Posted by Greg Laden on May 29, 2009 … or so it would seem…. UPDATE: Or, this could be a fake. See comments. The Asus PC Eee PC was designed specifically to run LInux. The idea is in part to make a very inexpensive globally (more or less) accessable open source system so all the poor children around the world who happen to…
Ubuntu Server: Why you want one and how to do it.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 27, 2009 Why would you want to install Ubuntu as a “server” rather than as a desktop? The simple answer is: If you need to ask, you don’t want to do it. But, there is a more nuanced answer as well: By installing a server, you get to a) have loads of fun installing a server; b)…
Extra Geeky Tech Tip
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2009 Unlocking the mysteries of cups …
Exporting to PDF
Posted by Greg Laden on May 12, 2009 Most of you already know this, but just in case:
Why OpenSource is Good and ALL other alternatives are Always Bad
Posted by Greg Laden on May 12, 2009 Not all proprietary software is actually evil. However, very few people who prefer proprietary software over OpenSource software will admit how evil it can be. So this is like having two societies. In one, by convention and social norms we don’t hit the kids. In the other, we spank the kids now and then, and…
More on Open Source. Much, much more.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 5, 2009 We have been discussing the relative quality of support in OpenSource v. proprietary software, and I am reminded of some other issues that we’ve spoken of before. We had a fight here some time back (in November) over the question of Black Boxes in research software (I won the fight), a topic which has been…
Does Support for Open Source Applications Really Suck? And Why Not?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 3, 2009 Is software support that you pay for better than software support you get for free? Are you going to do better, for instance, with Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice.org Office when you need to fix something? The answer is obvious. But still, many of you manage to not understand. But this can be helped……….. ………. CLICK…
, which is now available for the 
