The Fourth Issue Full Circle - was released

Full Circle (the Ubuntu Community Magazine) was released tonight

It contains :
* Edubuntu - What’s in it for the kids?
* How-To : Hosting Code on LaunchPad, Learning Scribus part 4 and Keep your kids safe in Ubuntu.
* Preview of Miro 0.9.8.
* Interview with Ubuntu Developer Colin Watson.
* Letters, Q&A, MyDesktop, MyPC, Top5 and more!

Get it while it’s hot! here...

ODF (open document format) runs on Microsoft Office

Ketika kita memakai OpenOffice maka pilihan pertama penyimpanan dokumen pasti dalam bentuk format ODF, meski kita bisa menyimpannya dalam format doc. dan jika menyimpan dalam format odf , kita akan kebingungungan jika hendak membukanya pada program office buatan microsoft. untuk bisa membuka format tersebut di microsoft office ada plugin tambahan yang bisa di download disini. plugin ini memerlukan program microsoft .Net untuk bisa menjalankannya. Selamat mencoba. Use ODF format than OOXML

Football Manager 2007 with WINE

Footbal manager 2007 is the most windows program that i usually play at home. When I still use windows a few years ago, this game must be install on my computer. The games are very interesting.
Now, when i use PCLinuxOS on my computer, i try to run the game with Wine and the result make me happy. The games running well on my linux desktop abosulutly with Wine. I read on internet, and the the game was recommend to use Cedega (WineX), but my wine runs the games very smootly except the cursor i think. So Linux Is the best i think...

FLU BURUNG (AVIAN INFLUENZA) MENJANGKITI BALI GWA TERCINTA

wah ini berita yang sangat buat gw ketakutan & trenyuh. kemana pemerintah bali? sakarang uda sampe meluas ke Denpasar dan selitarnya!

berita menurut DW-World :

Setelah kematian dua korban, kini muncul lagi pasien baru yang diduga terjangkit virus flu burung di RS Sanglah Bali. Pemerintah dan DPRD Bali bergegas mengambil langkah serius dalam mengatasi penyebaran virus flu burung di wilayah mereka.

Seorang anak balita dirujuk ke ruang isolasi penanganan flu burung Rumas Sakit Umum RSUP Sanglah Denpasar setelah diduga terinfeksi virus flu burung. Nenek pasien mengatakan bocah berusia 1 tahun empat bulan itu mengalami panas tinggi. “Malamnya itu tinggi, 40 lebih panasnya, terus besoknya sudah diajak ke puskesmas sudah dikasi obat juga tidak mempan, besoknya lagi diajak kedokter ditolak, terus dokter satunya juga ditolak , di UGD ditolak juga, terus dirujuk kesini.” Kasus ini menyusul kematian dua perempuan akibat flu burung dua pekan lalu. Meski Indonesia mencatat rekor 84 kasus kematian akibat flu burung, namun sebelumnya sampai sebulan lalu tidak ada korban meninggal dunia yang berasal dari Bali.

Langkah antisipasi dilakukan

Dengan mulai jatuhnya korban di Bali Pemda dan DPRD Bali kini bersiaga dalam mengatasi merebaknya virus flu burung. Pemerintah dan kalangan pebisnis wisata khawatir kasus flu burung akan mengganggu sektor turisme, yang menjadi andalan mereka. Beberapa restauran bahkan mulai menarik sajian ayam dan bebek dari daftar menu mereka.

Sementara itu, DPRD dan Pemba Bali mengucurkan dana sebesar 1,8 milyar rupiah. Dana tersebut lebih diprioritaskan bagi pembangunan dan penyediaan peralatan penanganan bagi pasien flu burung di Rumah Sakit Umum Pusat RSUP Sanglah Denpasar. Hal ini dilakukan sebagai antisipasi ketersediaan ruangan perawatan pasien flu burung apabila nantinya Bali mengalami Kejadian Luar Biasa flu burung. Mengingat saat ini RSUP Sanglah Denpasar hanya memiliki satu ruang penanganan flu burung dengan 3 tempat tidur. Ketua Komisi 4 DPRD Bali Ketut Kariyasa Adnyana menyampaikan selain penyediaan dana penanganan flu burung, DPRD Bali dan pemerintah daerah Bali juga telah sepakat untuk memberlakukan sertifikasi unggas yang diperdagangkan lintas kabupaten di Bali maupun yang keluar masuk Bali. Sertifikasi ini juga nantinya diharapkan dapat menekan penyelundupan unggas dari luar Bali. “Menjadi kekhawatiran kita kan penyelundupannya itu, karena selama ini karantina yang pengawasan pintu-pintu masuk ke Bali itu sudah cukup bagus, tetapi yang mengkhawatirkan adalah diluar pintu resmi karena kita lihat kan banyak sekali yang datang dari luar Bali yang tanpa melalui pintu resmi.” Daerah-daerah yang merupakan jalur lalu lintas perdagangan unggas, ditetapkan sebagai daerah rawan flu burung. Daerah-daerah itu adalah Kabupaten Tabanan, Badung dan Denpasar Kepala Dinas Peternakan Bali Ida Bagus Raka menyatakan potensi penyebaran flu burung di ketiga kabupaten tersebut cukup tinggi dibandingkan dengan kabupaten lainnya di Bali. Apa saja yang akan dilalukan? „Jarak satu kilo itu pemusnahan, diluar itu penyemprotan diluar itu vaksinasi seluruh Bali akan dicanangkan model itu juga, Badung hari ini melaksanakan, mudah-mudahan September biasa semua melaksanakan, karena cuaca juga kurang menguntungkan .“

Sektor turisme belum terganggu

Meski sudah ditemukan korban meninggal dunia akibat flu burung, tingkat kunjungan wisatawan menuju Bali tetap stabil. Beberapa negara yang merupakan pasar potensial bagi pariwisata Bali seperti Australia, Jepang dan Taiwan juga tidak mengeluarkan travel warning atau larangan berkunjung bagi warganya untuk tidak berkunjung ke Bali. Kepala Dinas Pariwisata Bali Gde Nurjaya : “Jadi tingkat kunjungan baik dari Jepang, Australia juga tetap stabil. 35 persen rata-rata, perharinya pernah mencapai 7200 dalam bulan Agustus tanggal 6 kalau tak salah, sekarang kembali menjadi 5200.“ Berdasarkan data Dinas Pariwisata Bali, secara keseluruhan jumlah kunjungan wisatawan yang datang ke Bali sejak Januari telah mencapai 1 juta wisatawan. Sementara tingkat hunian hotel di Bali mencapai hingga persen.

Linus Torvalds talks future of Linux - interview with APC

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, has, along with others like Richard Stallman, literally changed the world of software forever.

Linux-based distributions seem to pop up every day, while more and more devices now run Linux at their core, from mobile phones to inflight entertainment systems, to the world's mission critical server infrastructures.

The development of the kernel has changed, and Linux is just getting better and better. However, with a community as large and fractured as the Linux community, it can sometimes be hard to get a big picture overview of where Linux is going: what's happening with kernel version 2.6? Will there be a version 3.0? What has Linus been up to lately? What does he get up to in his spare time?

I had the opportunity to chat with Linus Torvalds, in a number of email exchanges.

APC: Writing an operating system kernel is a hard job. Why did you write Linux in the first place?

LT: Kernels may be hard, but partly because of that they are also interesting. I've always been more interested in "down to the hardware" details than in fluffy stuff like user interfaces etc, and an operating system kernel is about as down to the hardware as you can get without actually building it yourself (which I've also done - I was at a CPU company for seven years, after all). So I'm not into soldering irons etc, but I very much enjoy working at a low level, and thinking about how my software actually interacts with the CPU and other parts of the system. Besides, I really didn't realize how hard it would be. I really never expected to be still working on it 15+ years later ;)

APC: What's the Linux Foundation?

LT: Heh. I just work here, you should ask some of the people who are actually involved in all the other things that LF does. It's basically the combination of OSDL ("Open Source Development Labs") and FSG ("Free Standards Group"), and is a vendor-neutral place for different organizations to discuss the issues they have, and trying to help Linux along. Part of what LF does is pay me to maintain the kernel.

APC: What are you doing with the kernel now? Are you working on it full time? What parts of it do you work on the most?

LT: I very much work on it full time, but I no longer really work on any particular "part"of it - I end up spending almost all my time on not writing kernel code myself, but on working with the flow of code and merging it all.

In fact, the biggest amount of actual source code I've written in the last two years is not in the kernel itself, but in the tool I use to just track the kernel development (called "git" - a source control management system).

So I still get to write code (and I send out suggested patches quite often - but usually they are along the lines of "so here's how we could handle this issue..." in order to prod others to actually do the final patch and testing). But what I do a lot more is go through other peoples changes and say "yes" or "no".

APC: The 2.6 series kernel has been around for a long time. Why?

LT: We used to have these big and painful development releases that took several years, and it worked reasonably well and people got very used to it ("2. is stable, 2. is development"), but it had serious downsides too.

In particular, the release cycles were so long that all the commercial vendors effectively had to back-port a fair amount of new code from the development kernels, and so development code ended up in the stable releases. Also, conversely, the vendors fixed problems in the stable versions, and sometimes the fixes were missed or weren't easy to then forward-port to the development series, because the two were just very far apart.

Basically, a multi-year development cycle simply doesn't work. It was reasonable and required for a while (we did some pretty radical changes there too), but with 2.6, the base kernel is in good shape, and we've improved our development process enough that we just don't have any pressing reason to go back to that kind of "everything changes" model.

So instead of having two or three years between stable releases, we now have two or three months. Which means that the vendor kernels are much closer to the development kernels, and avoids a lot of the problems we used to have. Everybody is happier.

So we'll probably stay with that model unless something really radical happens, and that means that we'll keep with the "2.6.x" codebase, and just incrementally improve on it.

Of course, if we had a marketing department that had a strong say, they'd make us call it some sexy name ("Panther" or "Vista" or whatever), but as it is, the technical people are in charge of version names, and the sexy naming is up to the distribution makers that can call their offerings whatever they want ("Fedora" or "Feisty Fawn").

APC: When do you expect to see a kernel version 3.0? What will be the major changes or differences from the 2.6 series?

LT: We really don't expect to need to go to a 3.0.x version at all: we've been very good at introducing even pretty big new features without impacting the code-base in a disruptive manner, and without breaking any old functionality.

That, together with the aforementioned lack of a marketing department that says "You have to increase the version number to show how good you are!" just means that we tend to just improve everything we can, but you're not likely to see a big "Get the new-and-improved version 3!" campaign.

APC: There doesn't seem to be a Linus kernel anymore and an experimental (e.g. Alan Cox kernel, etc) anymore. Is this true? If so, is it because you have the 2.6 series pretty much exactly where you want it?

LT: Well, part of it may be that we've gotten better at handling the code flow issues, and so maybe there's less reason for various experimental kernels. That said, there's still the -mm tree (Andrew Morton's kernel) where a lot of new code goes first. It's maybe less about "experimental" than about "a first testing ground before merging into Linus' tree", but that's not so different from what -ac (Alan Cox's tree) was about.

And there are still a lot of specialized trees for specific things. In fact, it's one of the things I wanted git to make easier to do, and if you want to follow network driver development before it gets merged into my tree, there are trees for that, and for sound drivers etc etc.

But I do think that part of it is that over the years we've found what works, and that the current development model is reasonably good.

That said, I'm sure we'll eventually hit some issue that gets peoples blood boiling, and we'll have a tree for some changes that I don't think are appropriate and am not willing to merge, and that's as it should be: unlike a lot of other open source projects, I've always encouraged people to try their hand at forking off a kernel project of their own to scratch their own itch.

So I don't think such project forks are bad at all, it's how a lot of development is done. Obviously, most development is about "micro-forks" and people don't even think of them as real forks at all, but I actually think it's good to encourage experimentation - and by keeping it friendly, if some experimental kernel shows that it was actually the right direction, we don't end up having psychological road-blocks to switching over or to merging the code...

May the best code win.

APC: Do you think Linux has had an impact on computing in the past decade? If so, what stands out the most?

LT: I think Linux has affected the OS landscape a lot, but even more than that, I think Linux was instrumental in making the whole issue of Open Source move into the mainstream software development consciousness.

There had certainly been Open Source projects before Linux, but Linux was big and successful, and actually changed how people viewed them. Part of that was that Linux took a lot more pragmatic approach to what used to be called "Free Software" (and is still called that by some), and moved it from being a fringe and sometimes pretty extreme ideology to be something that was just "technically better".

And I'll certainly take some of the credit for that personally. I dislike the frothing-at-the-mouth ideology (to me, ideology should be something personal, not something you push on other people) and I think it's much more interesting to see how Open Source actually generates a better process for doing complex technology, than push the "freedom" angle and push an ideology.

And I think that pragmatic approach was what made Linux and Open Source also much more palatable to many more people, and helped make it mainstream.

APC: For those eager to make their first contribution to the kernel and have it accepted, what would your recommendations be? (Any areas that need help more than others, any good books for kernel hackers; however you'd like to interpret this question).

LT: It's hard to give advice, because it's different for different people. The big thing is to not think too big - you don't start out by rewriting some subsystem. Start out with some small annoyance, and see if you can fix it. And do something you're really interested in - kernel programming is easily complex enough that if you're not really interested, you'll lose your motivation before you really get anywhere.

Note from James: I recommend you first read "Linux Kernel Development" 2nd Edition by Robert Love, published by Novell Press, ISBN 0672327201. Written by a professional Linux developer and "insider," it focuses on the 2.6 series kernels. This book gives you the essential "big picture" before plunging you into mind-boggling details.

APC: Out of curiosity, do you have anything to say to hardware manufacturers who refuse to release datasheets or specifications about the functioning of their hardware so it could operate with the Linux kernel?

LT: Is "I hope you all die a painful death" too strong?

The good news is that a lot of hw manufacturers are actually doing the right thing. Intel in particular has improved wrt open source a lot, and for that reason I tend to suggest that when buying a machine, just make sure that you buy one with Intel graphics and wireless. That takes care of the two biggest annoyances right there.

But Intel certainly isn't the only one, and we're doing fairly well in general - with just a few dark spots.

APC: You've made an enormous contribution to community service and to the lives of countless people with Linux. People in third-world countries are donating old or second hand machines, and Linux distributions are free of charge and come with sometimes tens of thousands of free programs. Is there anything else about Linux you are really proud of?

LT: Actually, I'm not all that proud of the "community service" and "third-world countries are using Linux". Simply because it wasn't really what I was aiming for. So that feels like a great bonus, but it's not something I see myself patting myself on the back for. The credit for that goes to a lot of other people.

So the thing I tend to be personally proud over is just the fact that I've had the tenacity to "just do it" for over fifteen years, and that Linux has fostered a culture of good open source technology. I'm proud of a lot of the technology too, of course.

APC: You said you were proud of the technology. What do you mean by this - something like better memory management algorithms than those in commercial UnixTM kernels, better flow of control in a complex process like a kernel?

LT: I think we have tons of areas where we're just better than anybody else. We handle portability better, we handle the development process better, and yes, we also end up having better memory management and a better filesystem layer than anybody else.

So there's tons of things on the technical side that I'm really proud of how we handle. And hey, I'm obviously biased, and some people will disagree on any particular feature, but that's what makes things interesting.

APC: Before you wrote the kernel, you wrote a clone of Pacman. Do you play games at all and if you do, which ones?

LT: I don't games that much, I don't tend to find it interesting enough. And when I do play, I tend to play things that are more kids or teenager games: more of a "platformer" kind of thing. I played the original Prince of Persia a long time ago before I started Linux, and for that reason I tried out the modern versions, and liked those too ("Sands of Time" in particular, the later ones were a bit too serious).

APC: Would you write another game if you had the time? If yes, what would it be? Do you have a favourite type of game, such as adventure?

LT: I really only wrote some (fairly bad) games because I was interested in the programming, not so much the playing. I found it more interesting to just do flicker-free graphics at high performance than the actual game-play.

So no, I'd probably never do a game again. Especially in these times, when games are a lot more about the content, and less about the things I used to worry about.

APC: What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you have any particular hobbies or interests outside of computing?

LT: I spend a lot of time at the computer. But I'm writing this one-handed, because our puppy is sitting in my lap right now. And when not at the computer or with the family, I tend to read a lot.

APC: What books do you like reading, and what have you read over the past few months?

LT: I read mostly just random pocket-books - horror, sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, you name it. I tend to not really remember the books, it's not like I read them because they leave a lasting impression...

The more serious stuff I read tends to be biology and especially genetics. Richard Dawkins was a big hero of mine even before he became an internet cult figure - I really enjoyed his The Selfish Gene (and I find his books on evolution more interesting than "The God Delusion", even if his atheist worldview is perhaps what he's now most famous for - probably because I just find genetics more interesting than religion ;)

APC: You like to use your computer, as you said. Aside from writing kernel code, what do you like to do on your computer?

LT: These days, most of the time I write less kernel code than I write code for git, and in fact for the last year, even that has no longer been a full time job. What I really end up doing most of the time is just communicating. Reading emails, forwarding them, writing replies...

And reading other peoples patches (and bug-reports - most of them never get elevated to "let's bring Linus into this", but it happens often enough that I end up being personally involved enough with some regression most days..)

And that really does fill my computer time. I waste time browsing the web when I'm bored, of course, and I have my classic rock going on random selection in the back-ground, but what I do most of the time is literally revolving around email and the kernel.

APC: Do you use a specific distribution of Linux at home or work?

LT: A "specific" one? No. I have changed distributions over the years, and it tends to really end up depending on various random circumstances, like just when I switch machines around and what happens to be convenient.

So right now I happen to run Fedora on my machines, which largely came about from me running on POWER for a few years, and Fedora supported it pretty well (and since I actually don't care that deeply about the distribution, I tend to prefer running the same thing on everything, just to keep any distro issues away).

Before Fedora had PowerPC support, I ran YDL for a while, and before that I had SuSE. Funnily enough, the only distributions I tend to refuse to touch are the "technical" ones, so I've never run Debian, because as far as I'm concerned, the whole and only point of a distribution is to make it easy to install (so that I can then get to the part I care about, namely the kernel), so Debian or one of the "compile everything by hand" ones simply weren't interesting to me.

APC: What software do you use everyday? Your browser, desktop (if any), email client and so on?

LT: Well, ignoring the actual development stuff (make, compiler, editor etc), it ends up being mostly just xterms and "alpine" (the newer version of the venerable old "pine" email reader. Strictly text-based, thank you very much).

And yes, a browser is mostly open in the background. There's a few technical discussion forums I'm active on when I have nothing better to do (or when I do have better things to do but get frustrated with them ;) , and then the normal "random" sites (boing boing etc).

APC: You've worked on Linux for 15+ years. Do you think you'll ever stop working on it? If you did, what do you think you'd do?

LT: "Ever" is a long, long time. I didn't expect it to end up being 15+ years when I started, and I still don't really have any plan on what I'll do in the future. But one reason I've done it for 15+ years is that I like concentrating on something, and don't like flittering from one project to another. And I simply like doing Linux.

So no, I'm not planning on ever stopping working on it, but maybe some day somebody better simply comes along, and I certainly hope I'll just have the good grace to realize when I'm simply not needed any more and not adding anything to it.

APC: You've been to Australia, and rumour has it that you were bitten by a penguin. Is that true? How did you find Australia, how many times have you been there, any favourite town or city? Was there any kind of activity like bush-walking and things like that which you really took to in Australia?

LT: I've been to Australia several times, these days mostly for Linux.Conf.Au. But my first trip - and the one when I was bitten by a ferocious fairy penguin: you really should keep those things locked up! - was in 93 or so, talking about Linux for the Australian Unix Users Group.

And I'd never go bush walking. Not that I mind the idea of poisonous animals (or the drop-bears), but simply because I'm just not into that whole outdoor thing. I tend to go to zoos, and I love walking around the strange creatures you have down there, but let's face it - one of the biggest draws is that it's warm and sunny there when it's nasty and horrible in the northern hemisphere. I'm from Finland, so "warm and sunny" means more to me than it may do to some other people.

One of these days I hope to find myself on the Great Barrier Reef and do scuba diving (which I love), but for some reason I've always ended up in other parts.

APC. Thank you Linus. Linuxus Victa! (Heh!)

Recommended reading for how Linus' terminal emulator ended up a kernel in glorious technical detail: Just For Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary , by Linus Torvalds with David Diamond. TEXERE Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1587990806.This particular chapter also pretty much details how to write a kernel and how he did it. The book also contains a lot of extra interesting information on Linus and his background.

APC Interviewer, James Buchanan, is an Australian programmer, writer and cartoonist.

(APCMAGZ)

New Flash Player from Adobe Supports H.264 and AAC - ...and fullscreen video playback!

Adobe Labs announced yesterday yet another prerelease version of their award winning Flash Player 9 Update software, for Linux, Windows and Macintosh. This beta version brings new features and improvements over the previous releases, such as:

• Support for H.264 video and HE-AAC audio codecs.
• Support for full-screen mode on Linux.
• Faster rendering of vector graphics on multi-core CPUs.
• Higher quality and performance for downscaling large bitmaps (SWF 9 only).
• Support for caching common platform components, such as the Flex framework, to reduce average application sizes. This feature is enabled in the Flex 3
beta available on Adobe Labs.

Other bugfixes:

• If you use hardware scaling when you send Flash content to full-screen mode, some elements may not render correctly when you return to the normal (in the browser window) mode.
• Hardware scaling is not available on Linux.
• On Linux, mouse events do not work as expected when "Select windows when the mouse moves over them" is enabled.

Known issues:

• H.264 support and full-screen hardware scaling on the Linux platform are at alpha quality.
• In full-screen mode on Linux, playing odd-width movies (with screen widths not divisible by 16) may cause a crash.

Developers and consumers can use this version to test the content to make sure that new features function as expected, existing content plays back correctly, and there are no compatibility issues. If you don't know how to install (for testing purposes only) this development version of the Flash Player plugin in Linux systems, please follow the instructions below:

• Download the tar.gz archive and extract it.
• Enter the install_flash_player_9_linux directory, open a terminal and type ./flashplayer-installer to run the installer.
• Hit Enter and the installer will instruct you to close any opened browsers.
• Hit Enter again, choose an installation method and follow the instructions.
• Once the installation is complete, the plug-in will be installed in your Firefox or Opera browsers.


(softpedia.com)

Second-rate Vista has Windows fans looking to Linux

Ini cerita yang cukup seru yang saya ambil dari dekstoplinux.com

Aug. 20, 2007

The year is 1993, and I'm at the Spencer Katt party at Fall Comdex, back when Comdex was "the" technology show of technology shows. There, I, a freelance technology journalist, meet Jim Louderback, then the director of PC Weeks Labs. We end up talking about operating systems. He rather liked Windows for Workgroups for the desktop; I sang the praises of SCO Open Desktop 2.0. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, even though we completely disagree about operating systems.

Now, almost 15 years later, Jim and I are still friends. I'm now editor at large for Ziff Davis Enterprise, which means I get to stick my nose into just about any technology that interests me, and Jim's just left being the editor in chief of PC Magazine to take over Revision3, an Internet television network focused on developing programming for the on-demand generation. When it comes to operating systems these days, I'm now using SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10 SP 1 and MEPIS 6.5 on my work desktops and Jim's switching back from Vista to XP on his workday machines.

Yes, that's right. A loyal Windows user of more than 15-years is throwing in the towel on Vista. You can read his story for why he finds Vista so annoying, but I'll sum it up for you: Vista sucks.

The drivers don't drive, running programs won't run or won't stop running, applications don't apply and networking won't net. I feel his pain.

I keep two copies of Vista Ultimate up so that when I want to compare Vista with a Linux desktop I'm able to actually use Vista so I can make a fair comparison between Vista and its Linux competition. Vista just doesn't cut it.

I'll take any up-to-date desktop Linux--SLED, MEPIS, Ubuntu, Xandros, Mint--over Vista. Why? Because while some of them may not able be to play Windows Media Files or the like, they all do what they're supposed to do and do it without throwing a fit while doing it.

For example, months after its release, I still can't get Vista to work properly with my plain-Jane RealTek ALC 882 audio chipset. Networking started out OK for me on Vista, but, like Jim, it's become a real problem child.

I do a lot with networking. Long before I was writing about computers, I was managing networks. In short, Steven knows networks. When it comes to Vista, though, I feel like I'm back in the '80s and no one's invented NetWare or TCP/IP yet. I've found that Vista workstations can disappear off AD (Active Directory), NT domains or even Vista-based workgroups at any time without any rhyme or reason.

And then, when I need to get to the Vista's stations network controls. Ugh. It's like trying to drive a race car with oven mitts on my hands. With Linux, I can do anything I want when I want to without any trouble. And, no, I'm not talking about the fact that I know how to dive into the configuration files with vi to make manual corrections. With graphical programs like mnetwork, networkmanager, and SWAT, if you can set up an XP box on a network, you can set up a Linux box on a network.

People sometimes accuse me of being anti-Vista because I dislike Microsoft. Not true. I'm not anti-Microsoft software. I'm not really, when you get right down to it, pro-Linux. I'm pro software and operating systems that work. Vista, as Louderback knows all too well now, simply doesn't work. Linux does.

At the end of his column, Louderback wrote, "If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux."

Louderback, it's not unthinkable. To make it as easy as possible, I recommend you check out Lenovo's new line of SLED-powered ThinkPads.

Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

setelah perhatiin bacaan diatas saya jadi berpikir saya cinta software yang bisa jalan dan gampang dikonfigurasi..
setuju banget dech ma tulisan nie

Vulnerabilities Disclosed within ClamAV - Anti-Virus' flaws can cause DoS

This software has been disclosed to have a couple of vulnerabilities that, if exploited by malicious users, could cause Denial of Service.

The DoS attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable
to a certain user. It is generally used to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely. Such attacks are implemented by forcing the target computer to reset, or consume its resources such that it can no longer provide its intended service. But this is not the only way one malicious user could obstruct the communication media between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.

In ClamAv's case, Secunia reports a NULL-pointer dereference error to exist within the "cli_scanrtf()" function in libclamav/rtf.c. This can potentially be exploited to crash ClamAV via a specially crafted RTF file. A second vulnerability reported by the same site consists in a NULL-pointer dereference error existing within the "cli_html_normalise()" function in libclamav/htmlnorm.c. This can potentially be exploited to crash ClamAv via a specially crafted HTML file containing a "data" URL scheme.

These errors are only reported in versions that have been developed before 0.91.2, so if you have the latest version, you are secure. Of course, the solution to these issues is updating to version 0.91.2, so please do it. You can get your PC infected really fast with your anti-virus down, fact which can happen, considering these 2 flaws.

You may download the 0.91.2 version from the official Sourceforge site, clicking on this link will lead you directly to the download page.

(softpedia)

WordPress Vulnerable - Pool Theme has flaws

Surely, a lot of you people have heard of WordPress, and some of you just might be using it, but for those of you who don't know, it's a blog publishing system, written in PHP
and backed by a MySQL database. Best thing about it is that it's free!

A certain part of WordPress is vulnerable, and I'm talking here about a certain theme, Pool 1.x to be more exact. As I've red on Secunia, this flaw could be exploited by malicious users to conduct cross-site scripting attacks.

This type of vulnerability (CSS) can allow code injection (HTML or client-side scripts, for example) by hackers into websites viewed by other users. Attackers could also use this to exploit browsers or craft phishing attacks, and threats are not limited to this.

As Secunia tells us, input passed via the URL through the WordPress installation's index.php script to header.php is not properly sanitized before being returned to the user.

This vulnerability is known to affect version 1.0.7 but other versions may be flawed as well. This has been patched up by WordPress yet and it has been ranked as "less critical" by Secunia experts. There is a solution, tough – the source code could be edited to ensure that input is properly sanitized. You can find the original advisory on this link . The only problem with this is the fact that I can't tell for sure in what language it is written, though I suspect it's Ukrainian; anyway, if you do click on the link, besides all of the stuff you might not understand, there is also a piece of code posted there.

Since they say that it only affects one theme for WordPress, and not the whole software, I would just wait for a while, until they fix this issue.

(softpedia)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBIAN - The Universal OS

NuJumah Personal wishes happy birthday to Debian, selamat ulang tahun yang ke 14.
We are waiting the next release of Debian "Lenny".

This is the short story about Debian was taken on Sofpedia Website:
Fellow Linuxers, prepare your champagne and let’s party, as last night the famous Debian Linux distribution has just turned 14. Debian is well known for its adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies, and for its software packages which satisfy most of the computer architectures on the market. The name Debian has a romantic story, coming from the combination of the names of it creator, Ian (Murdock), and his girlfriend, Debra.

First announced
14 years ago, on August 16, 1993 by Ian, Debian was created basically from scratch. Ian Murdock, back then a student, claimed that he wasn’t quite satisfied with the Softlanding Linux System he was using and decided to create a better distro by himself. And I think he managed to do that quite well. Its Debian became today the father and mother of other famous Linux releases such as Knoppix, Xandros, Linspire, MEPIS, and last but not least the Ubuntu family.

When it was first announced, Debian was quite limited and didn’t have too many exquisite features. Fourteen years later, we see Debian as being one of the best examples of a good, stable, easy to use and reliable Linux distributions. Sleek and slim, without multiplied binaries and manpages, Debian is also one of the best documented distros.

Providing almost 20,000 precompiled packages, the Debian OS and its packages are very stable. There is also another release of Debian, called Sid, which doesn’t address the common users, but rather the programmers interested in software development. The Sid version is known as an experimental unstable version where different ideas are implemented and tested before they should be included in the final stable version. However, this branch is much more stable than it seems at a first glance and it also receives highly frequent software updates.

Indonesian forest fires turning into a global menace - Greenpeace calls on Indonesian government to end conversion of peatland forests

Jakarta, Indonesia — Greenpeace challenged the Indonesian government to immediately declare a moratorium on the conversion and destruction of peatland forests to put a stop to the country’s annual cycle of forest fires, which has now become a global menace given its significant contributions to the problem of climate change. A team dispatched by Greenpeace to Riau recently witnessed forest fires flaring up yet again in the province despite frequent government pledges to stop the annual catastrophe from recurring. Indonesia is currently the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide trailing only China and the US, according to the World Bank, and this is mainly due to deforestation, land conversion and forest fires (1).

"The endless cycle of forest fires and forest destruction in Indonesia must now be seen as a global problem because our country contributes a lot to climate change. Beyond the frequent lip service and rhetoric coming from officials whenever these fires flare up, the government must take bolder measures to prevent the problem from taking place, starting with a moratorium on the destruction and conversion of peatland forest areas all over the country,” said Hapsoro, Forest Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has put Indonesia on the global spotlight when it said that about 50 percent of the world’s total mitigation potential could be achieved by reducing emissions from deforestation (2). Indonesia has the largest intact ancient forests in Asia, but these are being destroyed faster than anywhere else on the planet.

The recent field documentation conducted by Greenpeace in Riau also established the links between forest fires and the conversion of peatland forests by oil palm companies operating in the province. Recent satellite maps of the areas affected by the forest fires also suggest a strong correlation between the fires and the different plantations operating in the area.

The combination of peatland conversion and forest fires is causing global environmental damage by releasing massive quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere, further adding to the problem of climate change.

“Indonesia is playing host to the most important inter-governmental meeting on climate change in Bali this December. We hope that the government will take this opportunity to showcase to the world how it can help avert this global crisis. Aside from seeking the support of the international community, the government must show good faith by stopping the further destruction of peatland forests. It must strictly enforce laws against violators including oil palm companies and plantations which deliberately start these fires as part of their land clearing operations,” Hapsoro added.

(http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/news/indonesian)

Warga Korban Lumpur Panas Lapindo Beri Kesaksian

Jakarta- Kali kedelapan persidangan kasus lumpur panas Lapindo digelar di Pengadilan Negeri (PN) Jakarta Selatan kemarin sore (01/08). Meski berlangsung kendur melebihi jadwal awal (pukul 10.00 wib), sidang tetap dilangsungkan dengan agenda kesaksian warga korban lumpur panas Lapindo yang diajukan oleh penggugat (WALHI) pada pukul 14.30 wib. Kedua saksi yang diajukan adalah Rudi Budiarjo (42), warga Jatirejo, dan Kudori (56), warga Renokenongo.

Dalam penjelasannya, kedua saksi banyak menceritakan perihal fakta-fakta di lapangan. Dari sederet pertanyaan yang diajukan, baik oleh kuasa hukum penggugat maupun kuasa hukum tergugat, kedua saksi mampu memberikan klarifikasi fakta secara jelas. Meski demikian, ekspresi kekesalan korban lumpur panas Lapindo tak bisa ditutupi. Hal ini nampak dalam tanggapan Bapak Rudi Budiarjo kepada kuasa hukum penggugat saat ditanya, “apakah PT Lapindo Brantas dan aparat pemerintah (pusat dan daerah) melakukan sosialisasi terkait aktivitas pertambangan kepada warga Porong?” Sontak, dengan nada keras, Bapak Rudi menjawab, “bohong”.

Kekesalan yang ditumpahkan oleh Bapak Rudi Budiarjo (42) sempat menjadikan ketegangan suasana sidang berlipat. Dengan sigap, hakim menasehati saksi. Cukup mencengangkan, saksi dapat mengendalikan emosinya yang sempat meluap. Akhirnya, sidang pun dapat dilanjutkan kembali. Fakta di persidangan ini menunjukkan, meski dilanda ketidakpastian selang 14 bulan, kepatuhan pada hukum mampu ditunjukkan oleh Bapak Rudi Budiarjo (42) dan Bapak Kudori (56), korban lumpur panas Lapindo. Sungguh ironis. Tepat pukul 17.30 wib, sidang pun diketok palu. Selanjutnya, sidang akan dilanjutkan pada Selasa, 7 Agustus 2007, dengan agenda pengajuan saksi ahli oleh kuasa hukum penggugat (WALHI).

Di luar persidangan, aksi teatrikal mencuri perhatian pengunjung Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan. Aksi ini dilangsungkan jauh sebelum sidang kasus lumpur panas Lapindo digelar pada pukul 14.30 wib di depan pintu masuk PN Jakarta Selatan. Tepatnya, pukul 11.00 wib. Dengan membentangkan pelbagai papan berbunyi “Adili Lapindo”, “Lapindo Menghancurkan Masa Depan Sidoarjo,” dan banyak lagi.

(walhi.or.id)

Mengalirnya Lumpindo dan Kesengsaraan Warga

Ingar-bingar rencana pembangunan PLTN di Semenanjung Muria, Jepara, Jawa Tengah, juga di beberapa wilayah lain, seperti Madura, sontak memicu ‘amarah’ publik. Hal ini dilatari oleh pemanfaatan teknologi eksplorasi alam bernilai ekonomi tinggi yang tidak dibarengi ketersediaan informasi dan pengetahuan tentang dampak buruk di kemudian hari. Salah satu potretnya, semburan lumpur panas Lapindo yang menenggelamkan ribuan rumah, kampung, makam leluhur, sekolah dan mata pencaharian warga Porong. Pun dengan infrastruktur publik, seperti jalan tol, rumah ibadah, irigasi sawah, dan Kali Porong.

Berbilang sudah penantian korban lumpur panas Lapindo. Tepatnya, 14 bulan berselang korban lumpur panas Lapindo terus meratapi satu per satu wujud ‘ekspresi’ kehidupannya tergerus oleh berkubik-kubik lumpur yang mengalir deras dari bekas titik pengeboran PT Lapindo Brantas di Sumur Banjar Panji 1 Porong. Tentu saja, sebab destruktif ini diakibatkan oleh kelalaian aktivitas pengeboran PT Lapindo Brantas. Dengan lain kata, penggunaan teknologi tinggi yang dipakai oleh PT Lapindo Brantas dalam mengeksploitasi sumber daya alam nampak dipaksakan, bahkan tak mengindahkan kaidah-kaidah baku pertambangan.

Andai sejak awal keterbukaan informasi dilangsungkan dalam proyek PT Lapindo Brantas, kecelakaan fatal mungkin bisa dihindari dan ratusan ribu orang tidak harus kehilangan sandaran hidup dan pundi-pundi penghidupan untuk proyek yang justru menyengsarakan, bukan menyejahterakan.

Absennya pemerintah

Tenggelamnya ribuan rumah, kampung, makam leluhur, sekolah dan mata pencaharian warga Porong cukup menjadi bukti kesengsaraan warga Porong. Mereka adalah rakyat, bagian dari negara. Tanpa rakyat, mustahil ada negara.

Secara harfiah, kata “rakyat” diartikan sebagai penduduk suatu negara (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, 2001: 924). Dalam pengertian ini, rakyat dan negara merupakan kesatuan. Rakyat tak mungkin ada tanpa negara, sebaliknya negara tidak mungkin berdiri tanpa rakyat.

Namun, melihat fakta semburan lumpur panas Lapindo, pengertian harfiah ini bergeser. Rakyat dan negara bukan lagi merupakan kesatuan. Negara acapkali mengedepankan kepentingan internalnya ketimbang memproduksi kebijakan dan kinerja eksternal yang maksimal dalam menyejahterakan kehidupan rakyat. Amat ironis, negara justru ‘mendurhakai’ ibu kandungnya, rakyat.

Kesengsaraan warga korban lumpur Lapindo adalah wujud pendurhakaan negara atas rakyat. Meski fakta menyebut ada kesalahan prosedur dalam pengeboran migas oleh PT Lapindo Brantas di Sumur Banjar Panji 1, Porong, Sidoarjo, pemerintah tak bergeming sedikit pun. Bahkan, pakar geologi dari Universitas Kyoto, Jepang, Prof J Mori menyatakan, “munculnya semburan lumpur panas (di Sumur Banjar Panji 1 Porong, Sidoarjo) sebagai akibat kesalahan prosedur dalam pengeboran migas oleh PT Lapindo Brantas,” Februari 2007 lalu. Alih-alih ‘memerdekakan’ rakyat dari kesengsaraan akibat lumpur, pemerintah justru melegalisasi Perpres 14/2007 guna mengendorkan tanggung jawab PT Lapindo Brantas.

Di mata korban lumpur panas Lapindo, negara “melindungi tiap orang (baca: warga negara) untuk hidup dengan cara yang layak dan harus mencegah kemungkinan bahwa seseorang menjadi terlunta-lunta dan sengsara dalam kehidupan materiilnya” (Kleden, 2004: xxi).

Jika demikian, Perpres No. 14/2007 dapat dibaca sebagai kebijakan yang memihak kepada kepentingan korporasi, bukan kepentingan rakyat. Saat negara tidak berfungsi dalam menyejahterakan rakyatnya, saat itulah rakyat kehilangan negara. Akhirnya, mereka tak lebih dari segerombolan orang tanpa arah. Wajah buram itu terpampang jelas di Pasar Baru Porong, Sidoarjo, kampung pengungsian korban lumpur panas Lapindo.

Langkah WALHI

Melihat kelambanan negara, WALHI, salah satu kekuatan masyarakat madani (civil society) mengambil peran. Tepat pada tanggal 12 Februari 2007, WALHI mendaftarkan gugatan terhadap PT Lapindo Brantas dan pihak-pihak terkait, seperti PT. Energi Mega Persada, Tbk., Kalila Energy Limited, Pan Asia Enterprise, PT. Medco Energi Tbk., Santos Australia Ltd., Presiden R.I., Menteri Energi Sumber Daya Mineral R.I., Badan Pelaksana Kegiatan Usaha Hulu Minyak dan Gas Bumi, Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup R.I., Gubernur Provinsi Jawa Timur dan Bupati Kabupaten Sidoarjo, terkait kerusakan lingkungan akibat semburan lumpur panas Lapindo di Porong, Sidoarjo, di Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan.
Hingga saat ini, proses penyelesaian kejadian luar biasa lumpur panas Lapindo Brantas ini tidak pernah menyentuh kepentingan lingkungan dan tidak menunjuk siapa yang bertanggung jawab untuk mencegah dampak dan meluasnya kerusakan lingkungan. Alhasil, penyelesaiannya memakan waktu lama. Hal ini dipicu oleh belum maksimalnya tekanan pemerintah kepada PT Lapindo Brantas sebagai pihak yang paling bertanggung jawab.

Dalam gugatannya, PT Lapindo Brantas ‘didakwa’ dengan menggunakan asas tanggung jawab mutlak seperti yang tertuang dalam pasal 35 ayat 1 UU Lingkungan Hidup No 23/1997. Asas ini mensyaratkan pertanggungjawaban yang dilakukan oleh pihak pencemar/perusak lingkungan, dimana pihak penggugat tidak harus membuktikan unsur kesalahannya.

Dalam gugatan ini, WALHI antara lain mendesak pemerintah untuk segera memerintahkan Lapindo Brantas Inc beserta perusahaan induknya untuk segera mengalokasikan anggaran dan sumber daya dalam mengatasi semburan lumpur serta menanggulangi kerusakan lingkungan hidup yang terjadi serta mengembalikan fungsi lingkungan hidup yang telah rusak tersebut sehingga berfungsi sebagaimana awalnya sebelum terjadi semburan lumpur, termasuk di wilayah-wilayah lainnya yang nantinya mengalami kerusakan akibat semburan lumpur tersebut.

Selasa siang (07/08) adalah pelaksanaan sidang gugatan WALHI kepada Lapindo Brantas Inc dan pihak-pihak terkait lainnya di Pengadilan Negeri Jakarta Selatan. Dalam persidangan kedelapan nanti, WALHI (sebagai penggugat) akan menghadirkan saksi fakta dan saksi ahli. Diharapkan, kesaksian para ahli dan saksi fakta ini dapat memperkuat dalil, “PT Lapindo Brantas harus bertanggung jawab penuh atas kerusakan lingkungan hidup akibat luapan lumpur panas Lapindo Brantas dan mengembalikan fungsi lingkungan hidup yang rusak sebagaimana mulanya”.

Dengan demikian, tetes air tangis Presiden Yudhoyono di Cikeas (24/06/2007) takkan mengubah kondisi hidup warga tanpa upaya terobosan di bidang ekonomi-politik sehingga kesalahan Lapindo dapat berfokus dan dibebankan ke pundak petinggi korporasi ini, bukan melulu operator lapangan. Jika ikhtiar ini tak kunjung dikonkretkan, sejarah akan mencatat: mangkirnya pemerintah SBY-JK dalam menangani tragedi kemanusiaan luar biasa, yakni luapan lumpur panas PT Lapindo Brantas.

(walhi.or.id)

FreeBSD - One of Top Ten Distribution

FreeBSD, a direct descendant of AT&T UNIX, has a long and turbulent history dating back to 1993. Unlike Linux distributions, which are defined as integrated software solutions consisting of the Linux kernel and thousands of software applications, FreeBSD is a tightly integrated operating system built from a BSD kernel and the so-called "userland" (therefore usable even without extra applications). This distinction is largely lost once installed on an average computer system - like many Linux distributions, a large collection of easily installed, (mostly) open source applications are available for extending the FreeBSD core, but these are usually provided by third-party contributors and aren't strictly part of FreeBSD.

FreeBSD has developed a reputation for being a fast, high-performance and extremely stable operating system, especially suitable for web serving and similar tasks. Many large web search engines and organisations with mission-critical computing infrastructures have deployed and used FreeBSD on their computer systems for years. Compared to Linux, FreeBSD is distributed under a much less restrictive license, which allows virtually unrestricted re-use and modification of the source code for any purpose. Even Apple's Mac OS X is known to have been derived from BSD. Besides the core operating system, the project also provides over 15,000 software applications in binary and source code forms for easy installation on top of the core FreeBSD.

While FreeBSD can certainly be used as a desktop operating system, it doesn't compare well with popular Linux distributions in this department. The text-mode system installer offers little in terms of hardware detection or system configuration, leaving much of the dirty work to the user in a post-installation setup. In terms of support for modern hardware, FreeBSD generally lags behind Linux, especially in supporting popular desktop and laptop gadgets, such as wireless network cards or digital cameras. Those users seeking to exploit the speed and stability of FreeBSD on a desktop or workstation should consider one of the available desktop FreeBSD projects, rather than FreeBSD itself.

• Pros: Fast and stable; availability of over 15,000 software applications (or "ports") for installation; very good documentation
  
• Cons: Tends to lag behind Linux in terms of support for exotic hardware, limited availability of commercial applications; lacks graphical configuration tools
  
• Software package management: A complete command-line package management infrastructure using either binary packages or source-based "ports" (TBZ)
  
• Available editions: Installation CDs for Alpha, AMD64, i386, IA64, PC98 and SPARC64 processors
  
• Suggested FreeBSD-based alternatives: PC-BSD (desktop), DesktopBSD (desktop), FreeSBIE (live CD)
  
• Other BSD alternatives: OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly BSD

Gentoo - One of Top Ten Distribution

The concept of Gentoo Linux was devised in around the year 2000 by Daniel Robbins, a former Stampede Linux and FreeBSD developer. It was the author's exposure to FreeBSD and its "autobuild" feature called "ports", which inspired him to incorporate some of the FreeBSD software management principles into Gentoo under the name of "portage". The idea was to develop a Linux distribution that would allow users to compile the Linux kernel and applications from source code directly on their own computers, thus maintaining a highly-optimised and always up-to-date system. By the time the project released its 1.0 version in March 2002, Gentoo's package management was considered a superior alternative to some binary package management systems, especially the then widely-used RPM.

Gentoo Linux was designed for power users. Originally, the installation was cumbersome and tedious, requiring hours or even days of compiling on the command line to build a complete Linux distribution; however, in 2006 the project simplified the installation procedure by developing an installable Gentoo live CD with a point-and-click installer. Besides providing an always up-to-date set of packages for installation with a single command, the other important features of the distribution are excellent security, extensive configuration options, support for many architectures, and the ability to keep the system up-to-date without re-installing. The Gentoo documentation was repeatedly labelled as the best online documentation of any distribution.

Gentoo Linux has lost much of its original glory in recent years. Some Gentoo users have come to a realisation that the time-consuming compiling of software packages brings only marginal speed and optimisation benefits. Ever since the resignation of Gentoo's founder and benevolent dictator from the project in 2004, the newly established Gentoo Foundation has been battling with lack of clear directions and frequent developer conflicts, which resulted in several high-profile departures of well-known Gentoo personalities. It remains to be seen whether Gentoo can regain its innovative qualities of the past or whether it will slowly disintegrate into a loose collection of personal sub-projects lacking clearly-defined goals.

• Pros: Excellent software management infrastructure, unparalleled customisation and tweaking options, superb online documentation
  
• Cons: Occasional instability and risk of breakdown, the project suffers from lack of directions and frequent infighting between its developers
  
• Software package management: "Portage" using source (SRC) packages
  
• Available editions: Minimal installation CD and live CD (with GNOME) for Alpha, AMD64, HPPA, IA64, MIPS, PPC, SPARC and x86 processors; also "stages" for manual installation from command line
  
• Suggested Gentoo-based alternatives: SabayonLinux (desktop, live CD/DVD), VLOS (desktop), Ututo (desktop, free software only)
  
• Other source-based distributions: Lunar Linux, Source Mage GNU/Linux, Sorcerer, Linux From Scratch

Slackware - One of Top Ten Distribution

Slackware Linux, created by Patrick Volkerding in 1992, is the oldest surviving Linux distribution. Forked from the now-discontinued SLS project, Slackware 1.0 came on 24 floppy disks and was built on top of Linux kernel version 0.99pl11-alpha. It quickly became the most popular Linux distribution, with some estimates putting its market share to as much as 80% of all Linux installations in 1995. Its popularity decreased dramatically with the arrival of Red Hat Linux and other, more user-friendly distributions, but Slackware Linux still remains a much-appreciated operating system among the more technically-oriented system administrators and desktop users.

Slackware Linux is a highly technical, clean distribution, with only a very limited number of custom utilities. It uses a simple, text-based system installer and a comparatively primitive package management system that does not resolve software dependencies. As a result, Slackware is considered one of the cleanest and least buggy distributions available today - the lack of Slackware-specific enhancements reduces the likelihood of new bugs being introduced into the system. All configuration is done by editing text files. There is a saying in the Linux community that if you learn Red Hat, you'll know Red Hat, but if you learn Slackware, you'll know Linux. This is particularly true today when many other Linux distributions keep developing heavily customised products to meet the needs of less technical Linux users.

While this philosophy of simplicity has its fans, the fact is that in today's world, Slackware Linux is increasingly becoming a "core system" upon which new, custom solutions are built, rather than a complete distribution with a wide variety of supported software. The only exception is the server market, where Slackware remains popular, though even here, the distribution's complex upgrade procedure and lack of officially supported automated tools for security updates makes it increasingly uncompetitive. Slackware's conservative attitude towards the system's base components means that it requires much manual post-installation work before it can be tuned into a modern desktop system.

• Pros: Highly stable, clean and bug-free, strong adherence to UNIX principles
  
• Cons: Limited number of officially supported applications; conservative in terms of base package selection; complex upgrade procedure; no official 64-bit edition
  
• Software package management: "pkgtools" using TGZ (TAR.GZ) packages
  
• Available editions: Installation CDs and DVD for 32-bit (i486) processors
  
• Suggested Slackware-based alternatives: Zenwalk Linux (desktop), VectorLinux (desktop), SLAX (live CD), Slamd64 Linux (64-bit), Bluewhite64 Linux (64-bit), Wolvix (desktop, live CD), GoblinX (desktop, live CD)
  
• Other distributions with similar philosophies: Arch Linux, Frugalware Linux, KateOS

Knoppix - One of Top Ten Distribution

The first public release of KNOPPIX was made in early 2003. This event was quickly followed by an astonishing number of highly positive reviews in the Linux media; this was the first Linux live CD that required no manual configuration. The KNOPPIX CD was meant to be placed in the CD-ROM drive and a few minutes after boot, the computer would run a full-featured, graphical Linux operating system with thousands of applications - all without the need to install anything on the computer's hard disk. Although KNOPPIX certainly wasn't the first Linux live CD, its creator, Klaus Knopper, went further than any other developer before him in scripting a hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration routine that put similar scripts produced by commercial Linux companies to shame.

The Debian-based KNOPPIX became such a huge success that many Linux users found it an indispensable and portable tool for a variety of tasks. It could be used to recover files and data from hard disks, to demonstrate the capabilities of Linux to new users, to test Linux hardware compatibility of laptops and desktop computers before purchase, or to boot it in Internet cafés and use it as a full-blown Linux operating system for every-day tasks. In fact, it became such a popular tool that within a short period of time dozens of similar projects sprouted all over the Internet, using Klaus Knopper's hardware auto-detection scripts and developing KNOPPIX-based variants ranging from full desktop systems to highly specialised forensics, testing and recovery tasks.

While KNOPPIX can be considered beginner-friendly in terms of its hands-off auto-configuration, it also includes many advanced features better suited for more technical users. Especially the recent DVD editions of the product came with a large number of software packages, including all popular desktops and many server applications pulled from Debian's unstable and testing archives. This increase in software numbers brought some problems, however; KNOPPIX has become slow (especially the DVD edition), buggy (Klaus Knopper does not seem to believe in public beta testing) and messy (in terms of menu arrangements on the different desktop systems). There is no release planning, but new KNOPPIX versions appear roughly twice a year, usually shortly after major Linux exhibitions in Germany, where new KNOPPIX versions are first unveiled to the public. It has lost some of its original glory due to the fact that most major Linux distributions now also offer live CD/DVD editions of their product.

• Pros: Unparalleled hardware auto-detection and auto-configuration; portable operating system that can be used for rescue, demonstration and testing tasks; provides a hard-disk installation script
  
• Cons: Recent releases somewhat buggy; lack of polish and unification of menus across the different desktop environments; slow when run from DVD
  
• Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
  
• Available editions: Live CD and Live DVD editions for 32-bit (i386) processors
  
• Suggested Debian/KNOPPIX-based alternatives: Damn Small Linux, sidux, Xandros Desktop, Elive, Dreamlinux, Parsix GNU/Linux, grml

Mepis - One of Top Ten Distribution

MEPIS Linux was first announced in 2003 by Warren Woodford and his company, MEPIS LLC. The idea was to turn the Debian unstable branch into a beginner-friendly distribution, complete with automatic hardware configuration, support for popular media formats, and latest software packages. MEPIS Linux pioneered the concept of an easily installable live CD - a user could simply boot the CD, investigate the content, and then install it to a hard disk with just a few mouse clicks.

In the following years the developers focused on providing reliable hardware support for all kinds of troublesome hardware, including software modems and wireless network cards. In 2006, largely due to the volatility of Debian's unstable branch, the base system of MEPIS Linux was switched from Debian to Ubuntu, which freed the development team from fixing the Debian bugs and to concentrate on usability enhancements. Originally MEPIS Linux consisted of two editions - a desktop-oriented SimplyMEPIS and a developer-oriented ProMEPIS, but the latter edition was later dropped. Currently, the project provides both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of SimplyMEPIS.

On the negative side, the distribution lacks any clear roadmap or release schedule, but it appears that periodically updated versions will be released with older code base and newer technologies, such as the 3D desktop features. As a consequence, SimplyMEPIS is no longer as up-to-date as it once was. Beta testing tends to be extremely long and final releases are frequently delayed by months from the original projection. While SimplyMEPIS CD images are available for free download, MEPIS LLC encourages satisfied users to sign up for paid-for access to a premium server, which constitutes the company's only source of income.

• Pros: Beginner-friendly; excellent hardware auto-detection and support; intuitive, installable live CD
  
• Cons: Software in its repositories not always up-to-date, lacks development roadmap
  
• Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
  
• Available editions: SimplyMEPIS for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors

PCLinuxOS - One of Top Ten Distribution

PCLinuxOS was first announced in 2003 by Bill Reynolds, better known as "Texstar". Prior to creating his own distribution, Texstar was already a well-known developer in the Mandrake Linux community of users for building up-to-date RPM packages for the popular distribution and providing them as a free download. In 2003 he decided to build a new distribution, initially based on Mandrake Linux, but with several significant usability improvements. The goals? It should be beginner-friendly, have out-of-the box support for proprietary kernel modules, browser plugins and media codecs, and should function as a live CD with a simple and intuitive graphical installer.

Several years and development releases later, PCLinuxOS is rapidly approaching its intended state. In terms of usability, the project offers out-of-the-box support for many technologies most Windows-to-Linux migrants would expect from their new operating system. On the software side of things, PCLinuxOS is a KDE-oriented distribution, with a customised and always up-to-date version of the popular desktop environment. Its growing software repository contains other desktops, however, and offers a great variety of desktop packages for many common tasks. For system configuration, PCLinuxOS has retained much of Mandriva's excellent Control Centre, but has replaced its package management system with APT and Synaptic, a graphical package management front-end.

On the negative side, PCLinuxOS lacks any form of roadmap or release goals. Despite the growing community involvement in the project, most development and decision-making remains in the hands of Texstar who tends to be on the conservative side when judging the stability of a release. As a result, the development process of PCLinuxOS tends to be long and a new version is not released until all known bugs are solved. There are currently no plans for a 64-bit edition of PCLinuxOS.

• Pros: Out-of-the-box support for graphics drivers, browser plugins and media codecs; fast boot times; up-to-date software
  
• Cons: No 64-bit edition offered; no out-of-the-box support for non-English languages; lacks release planning
  
• Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using RPM packages
  
• Available editions: MiniMe, Junior and BigDaddy editions for 32-bit (i586) processor architectures
  
• Suggested PCLinuxOS-based alternative: SAM Linux Desktop

Mandriva - One of Top Ten Distribution

Mandriva Linux was launched by Gaël Duval in July 1998 under the name of Mandrake Linux. At first, it was just a re-mastered edition of Red Hat Linux with the more user-friendly KDE desktop, but the subsequent releases also added various user-friendly touches, such as a new installer, improved hardware detection, and intuitive disk partitioning utility. As a result of these enhancements, Mandrake Linux flourished. After attracting venture capital and turning into a business, the fortunes of the newly established MandrakeSoft fluctuated widely between a near bankruptcy in early 2003 to a flurry of acquisitions in 2005. The latter, after merging with Brazil's Conectiva, saw the company change its name to Mandriva.

Mandriva Linux is primarily a desktop distribution. Its best loved features are cutting edge software, superb system administration suite (DrakConf), excellent implementation of its 64-bit edition, and extensive internationalisation support. It had an open development model long before many other popular distributions, with intensive beta testing and frequent stable releases. In recent years, it has also developed an array of installable live CDs and has launched Mandriva Flash - a complete Mandriva Linux system on a bootable USB Flash device.

Despite the technical excellence, Mandriva Linux has been losing momentum in recent years. This has partly to do with the emergence of other user-friendly distributions that have caught up with Mandriva, but also with some controversial decisions by the company which have alienated a large sector of the distribution's user base. Mandriva's web presence is a messy conglomeration of several different web sites, while its "Mandriva Club", originally designed to provide added value to paying customers, has been getting mixed reviews. Although the company has been addressing some of the criticism, it continues to face an uphill battle in persuading new Linux users or users of other distributions to try (and buy) its products.

• Pros: Beginner-friendly, especially the commercial editions; excellent central configuration utility; very good out-of-the-box support for dozens of languages; installable live CD
  
• Cons: The company's customer service has developed bad reputation over the years; complex, confusing web site infrastructure; dropping popularity due to its commercial nature and unpopular corporate decisions in the past
  
• Software package management: URPMI with Rpmdrake (a graphical front-end for URPMI) using RPM packages; "SMART" available as an alternative method
  
• Available editions: Freely downloadable Mandriva Free and One editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; commercial Mandriva Discovery, PowerPack and PowerPack Plus editions for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64); also high-end "Corporate" solutions for desktops, servers and firewalls, all with long-term support options
  
• Suggested Mandriva-based alternatives: PCLinuxOS (desktop), MCNLive (live CD)

Debian - One of Top Ten Distribution

Debian GNU/Linux was first announced in 1993. Its founder, Ian Murdock, envisaged the creation of a completely non-commercial project developed by hundreds of volunteer developers in their spare time. With sceptics far outnumbering optimists at the time, it was destined to disintegrate and collapse, but the reality was very different. Debian not only survived, it thrived and, in less than a decade, it became the largest Linux distribution and possibly the largest collaborative software project ever created!

The success of Debian GNU/Linux can be illustrated by the following numbers. It is developed by over 1,000 volunteer developers, its software repositories contain more than 20,000 packages (compiled for 11 processor architectures), and it is responsible for inspiring over 120 Debian-based distributions and live CDs. These figures are unmatched by any other Linux-based operating system. The actual development of Debian takes place in three main branches (or four if one includes the bleeding-edge "experimental" branch) of increasing levels of stability: "unstable" (also known as "sid"), "testing" and "stable". This progressive integration and stabilisation of packages and features, together with the project's well-established quality control mechanisms, has earned Debian its reputation of being one of the best-tested and most bug-free distributions available today.

However, this lengthy and complex development style also has some drawbacks: the stable releases of Debian are not particularly up-to-date and they age rapidly, especially since new stable releases are only published once every 1 - 3 years. Those users who prefer the latest packages and technologies are forced to use the potentially buggy Debian testing or unstable branches. The highly democratic structures of Debian have led to controversial decisions and gave rise to infighting among the developers. This has contributed to stagnation and reluctance to make radical decisions that would take the project forward.

• Pros: Very stable; remarkable quality control; includes over 20,000 software packages; supports more processor architectures than any other Linux distribution
  
• Cons: Conservative - due to its support for many processor architectures, newest technologies are not always included; slow release cycle (one stable release every 1 - 3 years); discussions on developer mailing lists and blogs can be uncultured at times
  
• Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
  
• Available editions: Installation CD/DVD and live CD images for 11 processor architectures, including all 32-bit and 64-bit processors from Intel, AMD, Power and others
  
• Suggested Debian-based alternatives: Ubuntu, Damn Small Linux, KNOPPIX, sidux, Dreamlinux, Elive, Xandros, 64 Studio

Fedora - One of Top Ten Distribution

Although Fedora was formally unveiled only in September 2004, its origins effectively date back to 1995 when it was launched by two Linux visionaries -- Bob Young and Marc Ewing -- under the name of Red Hat Linux. The company's first product, Red Hat Linux 1.0 "Mother's Day", was released in the same year and was quickly followed by several bug-fix updates. In 1997, Red Hat introduced its revolutionary RPM package management system with dependency resolution and other advanced features which greatly contributed to the distribution's rapid rise in popularity and its overtaking of Slackware Linux as the most widely-used Linux distribution in the world. In later years, Red Hat standardised on a regular, 6-month release schedule.

In 2003, just after the release of Red Hat Linux 9, the company introduced some radical changes to its product line-up. It retained the Red Hat trademark for its commercial products, notably Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and introduced Fedora Core, a Red Hat-sponsored, but community-oriented distribution designed for the "Linux hobbyist". After the initial criticism of the changes, the Linux community accepted the "new" distribution as a logical continuation of Red Hat Linux. A few quality releases was all it took for Fedora to regain its former status as one of the best-loved operating systems on the market. At the same time, Red Hat quickly became the biggest and most profitable Linux company in the world, with an innovative product line-up and other interesting initiatives, such as its Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) certification programme.

Although Fedora's direction is still largely controlled by Red Hat, Inc. and the product is sometimes seen -- rightly or wrongly -- as a test bed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, there is no denying that Fedora is one of the most innovative distributions available today. Its contributions to the Linux kernel, glibc and GCC are well-known and its more recent integration of SELinux functionality, Xen virtualisation technologies and other enterprise-level features are much appreciated among the company's customers. On a negative side, Fedora still lacks a clear desktop-oriented strategy that would make the product easier to use for those beyond the "Linux hobbyist" target.

• Pros: Highly innovative; outstanding security features; large number of supported packages; strict adherence to the Free Software philosophy
  
• Cons: Fedora's priorities tend to lean towards enterprise features, rather than desktop usability
  
• Software package management: YUM graphical and command line utility using RPM packages
  
• Available editions: Fedora for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors; Red Hat Enterprise Linux for i386, IA64, PowerPC, s390x and x86_64 architectures; also live CD and live DVD editions
  
• Suggested Fedora-based alternatives: BLAG Linux And GNU (desktop, free software), Berry Linux (live CD), Yellow Dog Linux (Apple's PowerPC-based systems)
  
• Suggested Red Hat-based alternatives: CentOS, Scientific Linux, StartCom Enterprise Linux, Lineox
  

openSUSE - One of Top Ten Distribution

Mempublikasikan Posting
The beginnings of openSUSE date back to 1992 when four German Linux enthusiasts -- Roland Dyroff, Thomas Fehr, Hubert Mantel and Burchard Steinbild -- launched the project under the name of SuSE (Software und System Entwicklung) Linux. In the early days, the young company sold sets of floppy disks containing a German edition of Slackware Linux, but it wasn't long before SuSE Linux became an independent distribution with the launch of version 4.2 in May 1996. In the following years, the developers adopted the RPM package management format and introduced YaST, an easy-to-use graphical system administration tool. Frequent releases, excellent printed documentation, and easy availability of SuSE Linux in stores across Europe and North America resulted in growing popularity of the distribution.

SuSE Linux was acquired by Novell, Inc. in late 2003. Major changes in the development, licensing and availability of SUSE Linux followed shortly afterwards - YaST was released under the General Public License, the ISO images were freely distributed from public download servers, and, most significantly, the development of the distribution was opened to public participation for the first time ever. Since the launch of the openSUSE project and the release of version 10.0 in October 2005, the distribution became completely free in both senses of the word. The openSUSE code has become a base system for Novell's commercial products, first named as Novell Linux, but later renamed to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Today, openSUSE has a large following of satisfied users. The principal reason for openSUSE getting high marks from its users are pleasant and polished desktop environments (KDE and GNOME), excellent system administration utility (YaST), and, for those who buy the boxed edition, some of the best printed documentation available with any distribution. However, the recent deal between Novell and Microsoft, which apparently concedes to Microsoft's argument that it has intellectual property rights over Linux, has resulted in a string of condemnation by many Linux personalities and has prompted some users to switch distributions. Although Novell has downplayed the deal and Microsoft has yet to exercise any rights, this issue remains a thorn in the side of the otherwise very community-friendly Linux company.

• Pros: Comprehensive and intuitive configuration tool; large repository of software packages, excellent web site infrastructure and printed documentation
  
• Cons: Novell's patent deal with Microsoft in November 2006 seemingly legitimised Microsoft's intellectual property claims over Linux; its resource-heavy desktop setup and graphical utilities are sometimes seen as "bloated and slow"
  
• Software package management: YaST graphical and command line utility using RPM packages
  
• Available editions: openSUSE for 32-bit (i386), 64-bit (x86_64) and PowerPC (ppc) processors (also a non-installable live DVD edition); SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop/Server for i586, IA64, PowerPC, s390, s390x and x86_64 architectures

Ubuntu - One of Top Ten Distribution

The launch of Ubuntu was first announced in September 2004. Although a relative newcomer to the Linux distribution scene, the project took off like no other before, with its mailing lists soon filled in with discussions by eager users and enthusiastic developers. In the few years that followed, Ubuntu has grown to become the most popular desktop Linux distribution and has greatly contributed towards developing an easy-to-use and free desktop operating system that can compete well with any proprietary ones available on the market.

What was the reason for Ubuntu's stunning success? Firstly, the project was created by Mark Shuttleworth, a charismatic South African multimillionaire, a former Debian developer and the world's second space tourist, whose company, the Isle of Man-based Canonical Ltd, is currently financing the project. Secondly, Ubuntu had learnt from the mistakes of other similar projects and avoided them from the start - it created an excellent web-based infrastructure with a Wiki-style documentation, creative bug-reporting facility, and professional approach to the end users. And thirdly, thanks to its wealthy founder, Ubuntu has been able to ship free CDs to all interested users, thus contributing to the rapid spread of the distribution.

On the technical side of things, Ubuntu is based on Debian "Sid" (unstable branch), but with some prominent packages, such as GNOME, Firefox and OpenOffice.org, updated to their latest versions. It has a predictable, 6-month release schedule, with an occasional Long Term Support (LTS) release that is supported with security updates for 3 - 5 years, depending on the edition (non-LTS release are supported for 18 months). Other special features of Ubuntu include an installable live CD, creative artwork and desktop themes, migration assistant for Windows users, support for the latest technologies, such as 3D desktop effects, easy installation of proprietary device drivers for ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards and wireless networking, and on-demand support for non-free or patent-encumbered media codecs.

• Pros: Fixed release cycle and support period; novice-friendly; wealth of documentation, both official and user-contributed
  
• Cons: Some of Ubuntu's own software (e.g. Launchpad, Rosetta) are proprietary; lacks compatibility with Debian
  
• Software package management: Advanced Package Tool (APT) using DEB packages
  
• Available editions: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu for 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; Ubuntu Server edition also for SPARC processors
  
• Suggested Ubuntu-based alternatives: MEPIS Linux (desktop), Linux Mint (desktop), Freespire (desktop), gNewSense (free software)

DISTRO LINUX YG UDA GEDE -- Menurut DISTROWATCH.COM

Setelah Baca 2 di distrowatch berikut sejarah tentang distro besar linux

MYPCLinuxOS 2007

NAH Ini gambar dekstop KDE with PCLOS 2007

Beryl with PCLinuxOS2007

This Is my dekstop screenshot. I'm using beryl with powerfull PCLinuxOS 2007.

Sabayon & Sam Linux gw datang

Hari ini pesenan gw datang. mo nyoba sabayon dulu, baru SAM

Conexant Modem di PClinuxOS

Nginstall winmodem emang susah man, tapi dengan pengalam ngistal di ubuntu di PCLOS kaga beda jauh.

berikut alamat paket yang bisa digunakan untuk mengintstal versi full

Conexant Hsf, Driver untuk Conexant

hsfpatch, biar modem versi full version bisa dipake

key generator, untuk buat license key

selamat, mencoba

ps: sesudah install driver ingat di restart dulu baru di patch, biar kaga terjadi error

K3b , The Best Burner On Linux - my opinion

Nero Burning Room, mungkin bagi pengguna window sangat akrab makenya. dulu waktu masih make XP, saya sangat bergantung dengan Nero. Bagi saya nero sangat powerfull dengan banyak feature. hampir setiap release terbaru saya coba (yang jelas bajakannya).
Nah ketika migrasi pake linux, disanalah saya bingung mau make apa ya. Ketika masih pake Ubuntu hampir semua burner gui saya coba. Gnomebaker, k3b, graveman, dll (except text burner --kaga ngarti). Dan ketika saya mendapatkan Nero yang jalan di linux, yang jelas agak kecewa dimana tampilannya sangat2 jauh dari yang saya bayangkan (maklum biasa pake yang di window). akhirnya pilihan jatuh kepada K3B.
k3b bawaan ubuntu rada suka error, saya coba nginstall pake sourcenya kurang sreg makenya.
pada saat itu saya lalu mencari distro yang make KDE sebagai platform GUI agar k3b sepadan dengan GUInya.
pilihan saya jatuh pada PCLinuxOS. Awal make distro ini Nero saya install juga untuk jaga karena menurut info K3b rada error ketika dipake burn cd multisession. Namun akhirnya Nero saya hapus dari system saya, dan K3b pilihan utama sampai sekarang ini

Banyak Distro Buat Bingung,

Dua hari yang lalu, aku sempet bingung mau make distro apa. sampe sampe aku bengong di warnet selama empat jam sambli buka Distrowatch untuk membandingkan antara satu distro dengan distro yang laen.
Padahal Tiga bulan terakhir saya terus pake PCLinuxOs 2007, yang bagiku cukup stabil dan ga begitu ribet download repo dari warnet. sebelum itu aku make Ubuntu feisty yang memiliki paket yang sangat lengkap dan update tiap hari, tapi yang jadi masalah meski uda punya dvd repo yang namanya program baru selalu pengen nyoba. akhirnya aku bingung sendiri tuk donlot.
Sempat berniat pake fedora, sabayon, linux mint, debian hingga slackware dengan turunannya , namun masalahnya kembali lagi nemuin reponya n kaga biasa makenya... wah ribet amat kalo kaga punya koneksi internet sendiri...ini susah itu susah.
dan akhirnya setelah mempertimbangkan dengan matang akhirnya PCLOS tetep bersemayam dalam dekstopku.

Firefox 2.0.0.6 was release

On July 30, 2007, Firefox 2.0.0.6 was release.This release include :
Security Fixed
-MFSA 2007-27 Unescaped URIs passed to external programs
-MFSA 2007-26 Privilege escalation through chrome-loaded about:blank windows

Features
Enjoy a Better Web Experience
There’s a lot to do on the Web, and Firefox 2 is full of helpful features to make your time online more productive.

Improved Tabbed Browsing
We love tabs as much as you do, so Firefox 2 will open new web pages in tabs by default. Each of those tabs has its own close button, but don’t worry - if you accidentally close a tab, just go to the History menu to bring it back from the list of “Recently Closed Tabs.” You’ll never be crunched for space anymore, either. When you have too many tabs open to comfortably fit in a single window, scroll arrows will appear on either side, and a button on the right side will always show you an easy-to-read list of all your open tabs.

Spell Checking
Sometimes you’re in a rush, and can’t remember if it’s “i” before “e” or the other way around. Firefox 2 has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email, so you can worry about more important things.

Search Suggestions
Some of the search engines in Firefox 2 can read your mind, and actually suggest search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.)

Session Restore
Losing your place while you’re doing things on the Web is a pain. Now, with Session Restore, if Firefox has to restart or closes when it comes back you’ll pick up exactly where you left off. The windows and tabs you were using, the text you typed into forms, and the in-progress downloads you had running will all be restored. You can even set Firefox 2 to always restore your previous session instead of loading a home page, so you’ll never lose your place again.

Web Feeds (RSS)
What do news headlines, indie rock podcasts, and pictures of kittens have in common? They’re all things that you can subscribe to with Web feeds. Firefox 2 gives you full control over Web feeds, showing you a preview and letting you choose how you want to subscribe. You can use a Firefox Live Bookmark, or a feed reader that you’ve installed on your computer, or through a Web service such as My Yahoo!, Bloglines or Google Reader.
Live Titles
Keep an eye on that auction or the status of a delivery using the new Live Titles feature in Firefox 2. Compact enough to fit as a bookmark label, Live Titles are regularly updated summaries of the most important information on a Web page. As the information on the page gets updated, so does your Live Title. Try one out in Firefox 2 by bookmarking www.woot.com.

Integrated Search
Firefox helps you find whatever it is that you’re looking for. The Search bar comes pre-loaded with search engines for Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Answers.com, and Creative Commons. Wherever you are on the Web, you can enter a search term in the Search bar and receive immediate answers from the search engine you’ve chosen. You can select a new search engine from the Search bar menu at any time, and add search engines from hundreds of your favorite Web sites.

Live Bookmarks
Firefox Live Bookmarks let you view Web feeds such as news and blog headlines in the bookmarks toolbar or menu. With one glance, quickly review the latest headlines from your favorite sites and click to go directly to the articles that interest you.

Pop-up Blocker
Firefox keeps you in control of the Web pages you’re viewing, blocking annoying pop-ups. Firefox’s pop-up blocker notifies you when pop-ups are blocked via the information bar or icon on the lower right of the screen.
Streamlined Interface
The user interface in Firefox 2 has been updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity of the browsing experience.

Accessibility
Firefox delivers a better browsing experience for everyone - including those who are visually impaired. Firefox includes support for DHTML accessibility. Web developers can create pages that reduce the amount of tabbing required to navigate a document to minimize keystrokes for those with mobility disabilities. Firefox also includes support for Microsoft Active Accessibility, Microsoft’s accessibility API standard for Windows. This support allows Firefox to work with screen readers such as GW Micro’s Window-Eyes and Freedom Scientific’s JAWS. Firefox 2 (Windows version) meets US federal government requirements that software be easily accessible to users with physical impairments.

Stay Secure on the Web
The Web is a great place, but sometimes you’ll encounter bad people. Firefox keeps you safe from spyware, hackers, scammers and spammers, using the power of a vigilant and passionate community to protect you 24/7.

Phishing Protection
Phishing Protection takes Firefox’s security to a new level, helping to safeguard your financial information and protect you from identity theft. When you encounter a Web site that is a suspected forgery (known as a “phishing” site) Firefox will warn you and offer to take you to a search page so you can find the real Web site you were looking for.

Open Source, More Secure
At the heart of Firefox is an open source development process driven by thousands of passionate, experienced developers and security experts spread all over the world. Our openness and active community of experts helps to ensure our products are more secure and updated quickly, while also enabling us to take advantage of the best third party security scanning and evaluation tools to further bolster overall security.

Automated Update
Firefox’s update system always checks to see if you’re running the latest version, and notifies you when a security update is available. These security updates are small (usually 200KB - 700KB), giving you only what you need and making the security update quick to download and install. The automated update system provides updates for Firefox on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in over 40 different languages.

Protection from Spyware
Firefox will not allow a Web site to download, install, or run programs on your computer without your explicit agreement. Period. You will be notified whenever downloading or installing software, and Firefox will always tell you what’s happening so that you can stay in control of your computer.

Clear Private Data
Firefox offers the ability to clear all your private Web browsing data with just one click with the “Clear Private Data” tool. You can be confident that when you clear your private data in Firefox it’s gone - whether you are using your own computer or one at the library.

Personalize Your Browser
Choose from thousands of useful Add-ons that enhance Firefox. It’s easy to personalize Firefox 2 to make it your own.

An Add-on for Everyone
You can choose from over 1,000 add-ons at the Firefox Add-ons Web site. A Firefox add-on can help you comparison shop, share bookmarks with your friends, see the weather in a corner of your browser, write to your weblog, get news, listen to music - all from inside the browser you already love. You can even change the appearance of your browser - from buttons to colors and fonts - so that it matches your own personal style.

Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes
The new Add-ons Manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, making it even easier for you to customize Firefox 2. Install, uninstall, enable and disable your add-ons in a single place.

Search Engine Manager
You can now quickly add, remove and re-order your search engines in the Search bar. Firefox 2 will also detect when a Web site has a search engine that can be installed, and will install it for you with a single click in the drop-down menu.

You can get the latest version of Firefox 2 here.

fullcircle magazine Issue 3 Released!

Full Circle Magazine is proud to announce our third issue.
It contains:
Xubuntu install step-by-step - Alternative Disc!
How-To: Get a Stunning Ubuntu Desktop, Learning Scribus part 3 and Ubuntu in Photography.
Review of Ubuntu on a Macbook.
Preview of several new Compiz Fusion effects.
Letters, Q&A, MyDesktop, MyPC, Top5 and more!

Get it while it’s hot!
http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-3/
English language only at the moment, but translations are on the way.

FREE SOFTWARE MAGAZINE ISSUES 18 WAS RELEASE!

Issue 18 is here and with it another bunch of great articles all about free software. We have Andrew Min showing us how to dual-boot Windows and Kubuntu. There's Mitch Meyran's in depth article on 3D desktops and Xavier Calbet's one on Fractal generation. Rosalyn Hunter breaks in new users with her follow up article on using the CLI and Jonathan Roberts gives us all the low down on how to get help with free software. Of course, I'm only scratching the surface... there's a lot more in this fine issue of Free Software Magazine.

PCLinuxOS Magazine August 2007 Issue 12 Released!

PCLinuxOS Magazine has reached an important milestone today with the release of our August 2007 issue (#12) which marks one year PCLinuxOS Magazine has been in print! Our previous issues can also be downloaded.

We are simultaneously publishing the HTML Version of the Magazine as well for our low bandwidth users. The HTML Site is W3C standards compliant for easy browsing.

Some highlights include:
KDE User Guide Part 7
Using Amarok to Transfer Music Files to Zen
MS Vista/Linux Dual Boot Tutorial
Installing and Using Peerguardian on PCLinuxOS
Your Friend, the Alias, part 1
As always, much more


Please note that the magazine is released under the Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license unless otherwise stated on the articles themselves. By downloading this magazine you acknowledge and accept this license agreement.

MEPIS Goes Back to Debian

SimplyMEPIS is yet another Linux distribution, initially based on the famous Debian. When it reached the 6.0 version MEPIS switched from Debian to Ubuntu 6.06, mainly because of the long time support and the stable release cycle of Ubuntu.

However, it seems that Warren Woodford, founder of MEPIS, is no longer satisfied with the Ubuntu distro and he considers going back to Debian. According to Warren:

"Dapper was not updated in the way our users expected. Personally, I think the Ubuntu people spoke sincerely and accurately, but perhaps ambiguously. So there was a misunderstanding among users. The fact is Dapper was updated with security fixes, but not with new versions of the applications." "

Wooodford has also stated the fact that Ubuntu is being rebuilt from scratch every six months by using packages from experimental Debian versions but this makes it unstable as a code for new releases.

"By using the EXPERIMENTAL code, each and every time, the Ubuntu code tree is inherently less stable than the Debian code tree, which contains additional levels of testing and vetting and fixing of code.", stated Mr. Woodford.

Therefore, Warren Woodford said he will be using the Debian Linux 4.0 (codename Etch) version for the next MEPIS release. Regarding the forthcoming release, Woodford wanted to also mention it will also feature a MEPIS kernel optimized for performance and it will benefit from an out-of-the-box hardware compatibility. This new version is expected to be released this August and regarding the featured applications, there are said to be up-to-date binaries, either Debian/Ubuntu source code.

MEPIS was designed as an alternative to SUSE Linux, Red Hat Linux and Mandriva Linux (formerly known as Mandrake) which, in the creator Warren Woodford's opinion, were too difficult for the average user.

Ubuntu Christian Edition 3.3 Released

The Ubuntu CE team announced yesterday the availability of the Ubuntu Christian Edition 3.3. This release includes some new features and the usual updates and fixes:

"We are excited to announce the release of Ubuntu CE v3.3. This release comes just after Ubuntu CE's 1st Birthday! We have had a great year and are looking forward to the continued development in the year to come.", says the Ubuntu CE team.

Highlights of this release include:

• WhatWouldJesusDownload Toolbar to Firefox which gives users access to many great utilities available at WhatWouldJesusDownload.com.
• The Ubuntu Christian Edition main menu icon has been enhanced, in order to give it a particular look.
• The Dansguardian GUI received some minor adjustments.
• IEs4Linux will now work with Ubuntu Christian Edition Parental Controls.
• Bible Fox theme was updated.
• Firefox was set to open new windows in tabs.

Ubuntu Christian Edition is an installable LiveCD based on the very popular Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04). It is a free, open source operating system created for Christians. The main goal of this distribution is to bring the security and power of Ubuntu to Christians. It can be used for both server and desktop environments.

Ubuntu Christian Edition includes more than 16,000 pieces of software, but the core desktop installation fits on a single CD. Apart from the usual applications found in a regular Ubuntu distribution, this one contains GnomeSword, a top of the line Bible study program for Linux based on the Sword Project and several modules, installed with GnomeSword, including Bibles, Commentaries, and Dictionaries.

Ubuntu Christian Edition also includes fully integrated web content parental controls powered by Dansguardian, which is a graphical tool designed to adjust the parental control settings.

64 Studio 2.0 Stable Release

Based on the famous Debian Etch Linux distribution, the Studio release has now reached its 2.0 version. Addressing both the 64 and 32 architectures for the Intel and AMD processors, 64 Studio also comes with high compatibility with its ancestor, Debian Etch but also with the other Debian or Debian-based distributions.

As its development team was stating in their official press release, 64 Studio "combines the stability and quality of Etch with a specialised real-time preemption kernel and the latest creative tools demanded by multimedia artists. The tweaks to Debian include simplified installation and default settings which help get production underway quickly.". The team also said that the package improvements are returned directly to Debian Sid while the release is built directly from Debian sources.

Codenamed Electric, 64 Studio is said to have a large compatibility with a variety of hardware configurations, but the developers team does not offer any warranty for that. However, the 32-bit version has already been successfully installed and used on many PCs, including a Via C3 and a dual Pentium Pro. A minimum configuration is recommended, based on a 1GHz processor and at least 256MB RAM, in order to properly take advantage of the distribution's features. The 64 version has been tested by the community members on a dual processor Opteron and dual core Athlon 64 and it was also successfully installed and run on a single-core Turion test hardware.

The 64 Studio release comes with X.org and Gnome desktop, Linux kernel 2.6.21 with real-time preemption patches (supporting both single-core and SMP systems) and a selection of creative applications, as well as the internet and office tools. There is also available a Live CD version for 64 Studio, which is based on the Debian Live framework. As it has been designed to fit on a regular CD-R, this version does not contain all of the tools included on the install DVD.

KDE 4.0 Beta 1 Available Now

The first beta release of the most awaited project of this year, KDE 4.0, was just announced today by the hard-working people behind the KDE project: "The KDE Community is happy to announce the first Beta release for KDE 4.0 is available now. This release marks the beginning of the integration process which will bring the powerful new technologies included in the now frozen KDE 4 libraries to the applications. Simultaneously KOffice have released the second Alpha of KOffice version 2."

This first beta version includes improved text rendering & layout and the new Flake library. Other highlights are:

• Marble widget can be used in Qt Designer;
• KWin has been greatly improved;
• Integration between Dolphin filemanager in KDE and Konqueror has been improved;
• Gwenview received usability work and features;
• Konsole has improved automatic tab titles, support for random background colors per-tab, clickable URLs and a new default color scheme;
• Okular, the universal document viewer of KDE4 introduces usability improvements, better multithreading and work on the print preview component;
• KRDC will be rewritten by Urs Wolfer, solving many longstanding issues and adding features like tabbed view and KWallet support;
• KOffice Alpha 2 is also available now.

The KDE 4.0 schedule:

1 April 2007 - Subsystem freeze
15 Apr 2007 - kdelibs Hackathon week
1 May 2007 - Alpha release + kdelibs soft API freeze
8 May 2007 - Usability and Accessibility review
1 June 2007 - Feature freeze
25 June 2007 until 24 September 2007 - Beta cycle, full kdelibs API freeze
25 September 2007 until 22 October 2007 - Release Candidate cycle
23 October 2007 - KDE 4.0 released

KDE is a powerful Free Software graphical desktop environment for Linux and Unix workstations. It combines ease of use, contemporary functionality and outstanding graphical design with the technological superiority of the Unix operating system. KDE is a network transparent contemporary desktop environment for UNIX workstations. KDE seeks to fill the need for an easy to use desktop for Unix workstations, similar to the desktop environments found under the Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows.

For more details on this beta release, please visit the KDE 4.0 Beta 1 official webpage