Eight Reasons for Linux OS Is Like a Religion

1. Christianity has Jesus as Lord and Savior. Linux has Linus Torvalds.

2. Jesus Christ was followed by the disciples, while Linux Torvalds was assisted by the original programmers.

3.  Christianity has different Denominations. Linux has Distributions.

4. Accepting Jesus as your savior saves you from the fires of hell and demons, while installing Linux on your computer will protect you from the hell of data loss, viruses, and malware.

5. Christianity views Satan as the being of ultimate evil, while Linux perceives Bill Gates as the Evil One.

6. Linux is defined by its source code, while Christianity follows the Bible.

7. Christianity offers salvation for no cost at all other than the occasional tithe and charity donation. Linux is also free with only the occasional shipping charge or support fee.

8. Religious folks are instructed to go out into the world and teach others the good news. Linux users also do their part in converting those that have been drawn in to the evil darkness of Microsoft.

Credit : divinecaroline.com

10 Linux Commands You Use More Offen

cat

cat tells the system to "concatenate" the content of a file to the standard output, usually the screen. If that file happens to be binary, the cat gets a hairball and the output can be a bit ugly. Typically, this is a noisy process as well. what is actually happening is that the cat command is scrolling the characters of the file, and the terminal is doing all it can to interpret and display the data in the file. The interpretation can include the character used to create the bell signal, which is where the noise comes from. the cat command have the following format.

  #   cat filename

cd

cd stands for change directory. You will find this command extremely useful. There are three typicla ways you can use this command

• cd .. :    Move one directory up the directory tree.
• cd - :   Moves to your home directory from wherever you currently are.
• cd directory name :   Change to a specific directory. This can be directory relative to your current location or can be based on the root directory by placing the forward slash(/) before the directory name.

cp

cp command is the abbrevation for copy; therefore , this command enables to copy objects. For eg : to copy the file from file1 to file2, issue the following command.

  #   cp file1 file2

find

The find command will look in whatever directory you tell it to, as well as subdirectories under that directory, for that file specified. In the following example, the find command searches for files ending with .pl in the current directory.

  #   find *.pl

grep

The grep (global regular expression parse) command searches the object you specify for the text that you specify. The syntax for the following command.

  #   grep text file

ls

The ls command lists the contents of the directory. The format of the output is manipulated with options. In the following example, the ls command, with no options, list all unhidden files (the file that begin with a dot is a hidden file) in a alphabetical order, filling as many column as will fit in the window.

  #   ls

more

more is a filter for paging through text one screen at a time. This command can only page down through the text, as apposed to less, which can page both up and down through the text.

rm

rm is used to delete specified files. with the -r option (Warning: This can be dangerous!), rm will recursively remove files. therefore if as root, when you type rm -r , all your files will be gone. By default, rm command will not remove directories.

tar

tar is an archiving program designed to store and extract files from an archive file. This tarred file (called as tar file) can be archived to any media including a tape drive and a hard disk. the syntax for the tar command as follows

  #   tar action optional functions file(s)/director(ies).

vi

vi is an extremely powerful text editor (not to be confused with a word processor). Using vi,you can see your file on the screen (this is not the case with a line editor, for example), move from point to point in the file, and make changes. But that's where the similarities end. Cryptic commands, a frustrating user interface, and the absence of prompts can all drive you up a wall. Still, if you focus on a few basics, you'll get the job done.

If i have missed any Linux command that fit in the above list, please let me know.

10 Reasons why i love GIMP Graphics Tool?

One of the best and the most widely used graphics tool for linux is GIMP , the GNU Image Manipulation Program. This GIMP is a full featured image editing program with many menus, tools and filters.



Below summarize my ten reason 'WHY I LOVE GIMP'.

• Floating Menus (which you access by right-clicking an image window.
• Graphics Layer (so that effects can be superimposed.
• More than 100 plug-in filters and tools.
• More than 20 editing tools.
• Multiple image windows (for cutting and pasting graphics, or for multiple views of a file).
• Multiple undo levels.
• Scripting language to automate image processing or to create new filters.
• More than six floating tools, brush, colors and pattern windows.
• Support for importing and exporting of 24 graphics format.
• Multi-Platform Support (GIMP runs in windows, linix and MAC).

8 Reasons why i love Ubuntu?

Here are the 8 Reasons 'why i love Ubuntu'?.

• It's free and very fast.
• It's based on Debian and it uses the fastest package manager out there, APT;
• APT package management is sooo easy.
• It's takes about 1 minute to install a software and 10 to 20 seconds to uninstall or completely remove a software.
• Firefox, Open Office, Gimp, and a huge repository of free softwares
• Live CD/Install combo- I liked being able to use the operating system before it even started installing!
• It's KDE-based, i hate Gnome.
• It's perfect for low-end PC's.

THE BEST ever Linux operating system out there; and this way, we can compete with big operating system like Windows and Mac. It's time for Linux users to have a strong, easy to use and powerful desktop operating system, and Ubuntu can help us.

please write your comment WHY YOU LOVE UBUNTU? .

Comparison of Evolution and Thunderbird

It didn't take time for me to throw out the Evolution email client from my Ubuntu platform. Instead, I installed Mozilla’s Thunderbird, an email client which I’m very familiar with. What caused the switch? Well, I was trying to configure an email account running on an IMAP server. I had a terrible time in getting it to work. After so many unsuccessful tries, it was time for me to kiss the Evolution package goodbye. I’m glad it’s gone because Thunderbird is working just fine in Ubuntu.

Feature	Evolution 2.6	Thunderbird 1.5.0.5
Protocols	POP, IMAP, Exchange, Hula, Files	POP, IMAP, Files
Security	SSL and TLS	SSL and TLS; only available by Edit->Acccount Settings->Security Settings after creating account
LDAP	Yes	Yes
E-mail Security Options
Load Images	Can be disabled, enabled for all, or enabled for known contacts; default: enabled	Can be disabled, enabled for all, or enabled for known contacts; default: enabled
JavaScript	No	No
E-mail Scam Detection	No	Yes
Antivirus Support	No	Yes; default: disabled
Additional Functionality
Address Book	Yes	Yes
Calendar	Yes	No; available as plug-in
Task List	Yes	No
Memos	Yes	No

Why do I need anti-virus software for Linux?

In the most part, Linux is engineered in a fashion that makes it hard for viruses to run. Also, because more PCs currently run Windows, it is more worthwhile writing viruses for the Windows platform. However, there are many reasons you might want a virus scanner on your Linux PC:

• to scan a Windows drive in your PC

• to scan Windows machines over a network

• to scan files you are going to send to other people

• to scan e-mail you are going to forward to other people

• some Windows viruses can run with Wine.

Open Source Antivirus

• ClamAV Antivirus

Free version of commercial Antivirus

• AVG Antivirus

• Panda Antivirus

• F-Prot Antivirus

• BitDefender Antivirus

Tips for maintaining a secure Ubuntu system

There are a few basic steps to maintaining a secure Ubuntu system:

• Don't use root - The default Ubuntu installation does not assign a root password and you cannot log in as root. Instead, the default user account can use Sudo to run commands as root. Additional user accounts cannot even run Sudo unless they are given explicit permission. Restricting root access limits your ability to accidentally (or intentionally) screw up the entire operating system.


• Limit network services - Only enable services that you need. If you don't need a mail server, then don't install one. If you do not host web pages, then don't install a web server. Attackers can only exploit network services that are running on your system.


• Use trusted software sources - There are literally hundreds of unofficial repositories. Installing software from an unknown and untrusted repository could result in the installation of hostile software. Don't change the default repository settings or install software from untrusted providers unless you know what you are doing. Remember: just because they say it is safe does not mean it really is safe.


• Limit scripts - web browsers, chat room software, and other programs can transfer potentially hostile software from the network, download files, and run programs. If you don't need this functionality, then disable it.


• Use strong passwords - If you are the only person with physical access to your computer and you do not allow remote network access, then you can probably get away with having abcd or your pet's name as your password. (One of my home computers is usually logged in and the screen saver does not demand a password-this is as effective as having no password.) However, if you are in a corporate environment with many users, or enable remote access, or are at home with young kids (or cats) who like to press the delete button, then consider a strong password. Please visit this link to know how to choose a strong password .


• Programs like John the Ripper (sudo apt-get install john) are designed to crack passwords through dictionary attacks and common password patterns like the ones listed above. In my experience, John can crack about 20 percent of user-chosen passwords in the first few minutes, and up to 80 percent in a few hours. The best passwords will not be based on dictionary words or simple patterns, and will be memorable. Good passwords should make sense to only you and not anyone else.


• Don't compromise your security - Telling people "I have a really cool password-it's my student ID number from high school and nobody will guess that!" is a huge hint to an attacker. Don't hint at your password, don't e-mail it, and don't tell it to anyone in public. If you think that somebody might have a clue about your password, then change it immediately. Remember: the only person inconvenienced by a password change will be you. Beyond passwords, don't give accounts with Sudo access to anyone, don't install software from strangers, and don't run with scissors. Your security is as strong as its weakest link, and that is often the user.

Windows on Linux

Under Linux, it is possible to run a number of Windows applications without having Windows installed at all. This is done with Wine. I'm not talking about the fermented beverage some of us are quite fond of, but a package that runs on Linux. Allow me to paraphrase from the Wine Web site . Wine Is Not an Emulator. Wine is a compatibility layer, a set of APIs that enable some Windows applications to operate on a Linux system running the X window system (the Linux graphical environment).

Wine will not run every Windows application, but the number of applications it is capable of running is increasing all the time. Some commercial vendors have ported certain Windows applications to Linux by making some of the code run in Wine. This has sped up the normal production cycle and made it possible for them to get their programs to Linux users faster. If you really need to run a Windows application under Linux and you would like to go this route, the commercial Wines tend to be a better approach.

Many Linux distributions include a version of Wine on the CDs, and some let you select Windows compatibility applications as part of the installation procedure. Keep in mind that the newer your Wine, the better. For the latest and greatest on Wine development, visit the Wine web site ( http://www.winehq.org). A great deal of Wine development is being done at CodeWeavers (http://www.codeweavers.com). Its version provides an installation wizard to guide you through the installation and configuration process for Wine. It makes the whole process extremely simple.

VMware

The Wine project has done some impressive work, but it will not run all Windows applications. Sometimes you just need to run the whole shebang, and that means a full copy of Windows. Because you don't want to boot back and forth between Linux and Windows, it would be great if you could run Windows entirely on your Linux machine. This is the philosophy behind VMware—and it doesn't stop there.

Mware enables you to create virtual machines on your computer. Complete with boot-up BIOS and memory checks, VMware virtualizes your entire hardware configuration, making the PC inside the PC as real as the one you are running. Furthermore, VMware enables you to run (not emulate) Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, FreeBSD, or other Linuxes. For the developer or support person who needs to work (or write code) on different platforms, this is an incredible package. Yes, you can even run another Linux on your Linux, making it possible to test (or play with) different releases without reinstalling on a separate machine. VMware knows enough to share your printers, network cards, and so on. You can even network between the "real" machine and the virtual machine as though they were two separate systems.

VMware comes in a variety of packages and price points. Visit the VMware Web site (http://www.vmware.com) for details.

Win4Lin

Another alternative still requires a licensed copy of Windows. Win4Lin, formerly Netraverse ( http://www.win4lin.com), sells a package called (you guessed it) Win4Lin. This is a package designed to let you run Windows on your system but, unlike VMware, only Windows. The classic Win4Lin product only supported Windows 95, 98, and ME, but with the introduction of Win4Lin Pro, Windows 2000 and XP are also supported. It is, however, somewhat less expensive than VMware. Once again, remember that because you aren't emulating Windows but actually running a copy, you still need that licensed copy of Windows.

Win4Lin's magic is performed at the kernel level. Consequently, this requires that you download a patched kernel equivalent to what you are currently running or that you patch and rebuild your own. If you have compiled custom drivers into your kernel, you are going to have to go through the process again to get Win4Lin going. This whole process is no longer necessary if you choose to purchase Win4Lin Pro.

How to change from Gnome to KDE in Ubuntu

Inorder to change your Ubuntu Desktop environment from Gnome to KDE: please follow the below steps.

• Install KDE.
  
  

  sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop kde-core

  
  This requires about 360 MB of disk space. The installation will ask if you want Gnome (gdm) or KDE (kdm) as the default desktop.
• Log out. This gets you out of the active Gnome desktop.
• On the login page, click Options (bottom left corner).
• Select the Sessions menu item.
• Select KDE from the Sessions menu and use Change Session to accept it.
• Log in using KDE.
  
  If you no longer need Gnome, you have the option to remove it by removing every Gnome package on the system.
  
  

   dpkg --get-selections '*gnome*' | awk '{print $1}' | \ 
   xargs sudo apt-get remove

Tip - Many Gnome applications only need the Gnome libraries to run. If you keep both desktops on the same system, then you can use many of the applications under the same desktop.

Ubuntu Compared to Other Linux Distributions

Let's see how Ubuntu differs from other Linux Distributions - Redhat or Fedora, Debian ,Suse ,Knoppix.

If you log into the command line of both an Ubuntu system and a Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora system, very little will look different. There are common directories and utilities between the two, and functionality is fundamentally the same. So what makes Ubuntu different from other Linux distributions?
One difference is the installer.

The complexity of booting and installing Ubuntu has been narrowed down to a handful of mouse clicks, making many of the install decisions automatic based on assumptions as to what the average user may need and want. In contrast, a Red Hat system presents the user with many install options, such as setting up a workstation or server, individually selecting packages to install, and setting administrative options.

Another major difference among Linux distributions is in software management tools. The aim of the utilities and packaging systems is the same for Debian as for other Linux distributions, however the operation and implementations are significantly different. Ubuntu and most other Debian-based systems use the APT (Advanced Package Tool) family of utilities for managing software. You use APT to install, remove, query, and update Debian (deb) packages. Red Hat uses an RPM packaging system to handle the same tasks with its rpm packages.

Another big difference is the way the systems look in regards to initialization, login
screen, default desktop, wallpaper, icon set, and more. From this look-and-feel perspective, there are a lot of differences. Although Red Hat and Ubuntu both use the GNOME desktop as the default Window Manager, the GUI tools used for administering the system and their locations on the drop-down menus are entirely different.

The login screen and autumn-colored theme of a default Ubuntu system set it apart from other distributions as well. When you drop down the menus of an Ubuntu desktop, you are not presented with a huge list of applications and utilities. What you get is a rather simple and elegant mixture of some of the best and most functional applications available for the Linux desktop. This approach is characteristic of Ubuntu and is done with the intent of keeping the user from feeling overwhelmed.

Another unique characteristic of a Ubuntu system is the intentional practice of locking the root user account, Most Linux distributions require the user to log in or su to root to perform administration tasks, however a user on a Ubuntu does this through sudo using their own login password, and not a separate one for the root user.

Do you have any comparison to share? Please post them in the comments below.

Choosing the Right Linux Distribution

Ever since the first Linux distributions appeared, people have been having a hard time trying to choose the "right one" to use.

Many people end up asking "Which distribution should I use?" on the web, only to receive heaps of different suggestions (usually just the distributions that the posters like), a few arguments, and inevitably, the RPM vs DEB debate.

The problem is, that even after you filter out the posts to just the suggestions of distributions, you will find that you end up with just a big list of distributions, with usually only a comment like "This is good" to guide you in your choice.

This is a really bad way to choose a distribution, since you have no real advice on WHY you should choose distribution X over distribution Y. This article aims to give you the advice you need to choose the distribution that best suits you.

DISTRIBUTION PURPOSE

One of the key things in choosing a distribution is what you are using it for. Most uses fall into one of the 3 categories below:

• Desktop usage.
• Desktop and Server usage.
• Server usage.

"Desktop usage" or "desktop distribution" is a very commonly used term to describe a Linux distribution which provides a GUI and is suitable for usage on desktop or laptop computers.

DESKTOP DISTRIBUTION

If you want a desktop distribution, some of the main requirements are:

• Ease of adjusting settings - in the case of laptops, easy network changing is important.
• Age of the software (you want the programs to be fairly recent)
• Range of GUI applications.

SERVER DISTRIBUTION

If you are looking for a server distribution, you want to look for:

• Software api stability - do updates ever change the way the distribution works mid-release?
• Software life - how long will it get updates?
• Security - servers are often open to the public - it needs to be very well secured.

Do you have anything to share? Please post them in the comments below.

Article Source - reallylinux.com

Why Linux won the embedded market?

One story not told often enough involves Linux’ growing domination of the embedded market.

In this space Linux usually stacks up against older Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS). The decision by Wind River, the largest RTOS vendor, to migrate toward Linux was a turning point.

There has been no turning back. But this is not an open source story. In fact, the embedded Linux business looks a lot like the rest of the embedded market.

Here is an example, Timesys providing subscriptions to its LinuxLink in order to help Tensilica customers get to market faster. Tensilica calls this a strategic partnership, alongside a deal with Embedded Alley Solutions to provide consulting and training.

The deals are not noteworthy in themselves, except that they point to how Linux has become the mainstream embedded technology of choice.

It’s Linux’ modular design, a kernel whose features designers can pick-and-choose among, which is causing this revolution in embedded systems.

As chip densities increase manufacturers outgrow the old RTOS systems, and a full-fledged operating system delivers better time to market. Microsoft is not considered viable because it lacks this key modularity, and is years from implementing it.

Microsoft is only now talking about a kernel-based design in Windows 7, which is still in the planning stages.

Outside branded areas like game machines or phones, the embedded market will have sailed away from Redmond long before it’s serious about it.

Do you have anything to share? Please post them in the comments below.

Article Source - blogs.zdnet.com

How To Speed Up Linux Desktop by 30%

I am using Linux (Fedora Core 6) on a pretty high end hardware (at least when I bought it) - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz (4M shared L2 Cache) with 2 GB DDR2RAM, nVidia dual-head graphics card for over a year now. And yet a simple change made it at least 20-40% faster. Even my firefox (with 100+ tabs always open) feels much faster. So what is this magic change?

I switched to Xfce desktop from Gnome desktop (default). That’s it folks!

Contrary to popular belief Xfce doesn’t only make low end hardware faster, it makes pretty high end hardware faster too and by a significant margin. I also didn’t notice any UI issues after migration. Yes, the desktop looks a little different but you can easily get used to it.

Try it, you won’t regret it, especially if you are a power user.

Notes:
1. You can always switch your desktop environment to a different one while logging in by changing your session.
2. You get same applications in both environment.

How To Automatically Reply To Email in ThunderBird

Thunderbird 2 added the exciting feature to automatically respond to messages (yeah, I can hear Microsoft Outlook folks shaking their heads in irritation, we had it for years in MS Outlook) with an email template. Let’s see how we can set it up.

1. First you need to write a normal email message with a subject. However instead of sending it to anyone, save it as a template by going to File -> Save As -> Template.

2. Now go to Tools -> Message Filters and click on New to create you own filter.

3. Create the filter by specifying one or more criteria. For example I just created for filter for all support emails. To do that I specified that To contains support@tarag…

4. Now you need to create one or more actions for it. To automatically send a reply you should choose Reply with Template and then select the template you have created earlier.

5. Give your filter a name.

6. Now click OK to create the filter.

You are done. Now any email which matches the filter criteria will be automatically sent a response with your specified template.

Do you have any such tips to share? Please post them in the comments below.

Linux Tax

Most of us know about the "Windows Tax" -- the extra cash you shell out to pay for the cost of a Windows license when you buy a new PC.  But what about a (so-called) "Linux Tax," the cost incurred by an ordinary user switching to Linux from Windows?

The concept: An average user's switch from, say, Windows to Linux will involve some kind of cost, whether that cost is in the form of time, effort, money (i.e., paying an expert, buying a commercial-grade Linux distro), or what have you.  This might also include the effort involved to find a reputable manufacturer who'll sell you a machine with Linux preloaded, although that's become far easier as of late.  Dell and IBM come to mind, of course, although there has been a slew of smaller manufacturers who have done this for a long time -- just not as visibly.

The word "tax" -- with all of its negative connotations -- comes into play because it's assumed that the switch will in fact come at a cost.  This is generally true if you're an entrenched Windows user, but far less so for people who are not specifically Windows- or even PC-centric.  Every year thousands of people sit down at a computer for the first time ever, and do so with no preconceptions about how a computer is supposed to behave.  For them, Windows, Linux, and Macintosh are all on theoretically equal footing; the only tax for them is the time they're willing to invest in learning how to use a computer, period.

This brings us to the other big assertion: that Linux is markedly more complex than the other operating systems, and therefore requires that much more effort to use.  That's become far more debatable than ever, and not just because Linux GUIs are that much more polished than they used to be -- although that's probably one of the biggest reasons.  The whole concept of a flat "Linux tax" only works if Linux presents everyone with that much more of a challenge.

So is there a Linux tax after all?  For people switching away from proprietary software, yes -- since they have to perform discovery, so to speak, to find out what they can and can't do.  Sometimes the losses are nothing they needed anyway, like the lack of protected HD content support on Linux.  But the process of finding out, the investment of time and effort -- that's effort in their eyes that might be better spent actually getting work done.  If they see a switch to Linux or a switch to open source as an extended process of re-educating themselves, they'll be that much less likely to ever do it.  It's perceptual, but perceptions mean a lot. The lower the bar for everyone, expert and amateur, business user and code wizard alike, the better.

A Quick Look At Facebook's Open Source

The other week, when representatives from Facebook mentioned that they'd be open-sourcing significant portions of their platform, I hazarded a guess that they would be providing at most a set of APIs. Now that Facebook's actually released some code under the aegis of the Facebook Open Platform, I had a look-see. To my delight, I saw more than just APIs.

Once you download the code and unpack it, the first thing that will probably draw your attention is the README file: "This package contains the basic functionality needed to implement and expose the Facebook platform, including support for the Facebook API, FQL, and FBML." Also included is a list of ingredients you'll need to bake your own Facebook cake -- PHP 5, Apache 1.3 or a Web server that supports some of the same basic functionality, MySQL, and the optional but useful Thrift binary.

One thing I looked at most closely was the licensing. The majority of the code is not under the GPL but instead a slight variant of the Common Public Attribution License -- which is an OSI-approved license all the same. The changes: a) you have to attribute Facebook to the original work, and b) making the code into a Web service counts as distribution. The latter is, I take it, Facebook's way to close the ASP loophole and prevent its work from being capitalized upon unfairly. (Thrift, Facebook's platform for cross-language services, is available under its own licensing, which is reminiscent of the MIT license ... although that does make me wonder why they bothered with their own iteration of the license save for the sake of brand recognition. Wait, that's it!)

Facebook's open source projects aren't limited to opening up their platform per se. Other goodies include a Firefox toolbar -- something that you could use as a learning tool for building your own such add-on; I know I plan to -- as well as various libraries and JavaScript bits 'n pieces that ought to come in handy.

So how's all this shape up against OpenSocial? The latter seems to have wider use, at least in terms of who's using the API, but Facebook has a brand recognition (yup, that again) that's tough to ignore. I suspect both OpenSocial and the FaceBook code will end up getting used -- maybe even both together on the same sites! -- but it will be most instructive when some developers actually step up and talk about their experiences with the code.

Mobile next battleground for Linux

The co-founder of one of the most popular mobile Linux platforms has predicted a "revolution" in the use of open-source software on phones and handheld devices.

Trolltech's Eirik Chambe-Eng told delegates at the Open Source Business Conference in London that Linux is set to "make a lot of headlines going forward on embedded devices and mobile phones".

"We believe we are just now at the beginning of a revolution," he said on Wednesday, citing what he called the five Cs--complexity, control, customisation, cost and community--as motivating factors for manufacturers to switch to Linux.

"Linux gives manufacturers and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) complete control," said Chambe-Eng, who also claimed that Windows Mobile and Symbian--Linux's two great competitors in the mobile phone market--come with "agendas attached".

"Manufacturers are scared of Microsoft coming in and pushing margins away from the hardware. There are very thin margins in this business, and Symbian and Windows Mobile are typically expensive," he said.

Chambe-Eng claimed that the sale last year of Siemens' handset unit to BenQ was an example of a company giving up due to the "headaches" caused by proprietary operating systems, saying: "Software complexity today has become the Achilles' heel of the mobile phone industry".

Nokia's use of Linux in its 770 Web tablet is a tribute to the scalability and configurability of open source platforms, said Chambe-Eng.

While Linux had a lot to offer in comparison to proprietary systems, such as improved scalability and flexibility, it is lacking in other areas, according to industry watchers.

Ovum telecoms analyst Tony Cripps said that Linux-based smart phones are currently inhibited by the lack of a standardised application environment for third parties to write to, unlike Symbian's offerings.

Also, the hardware specifications required by Linux are still too high to make it a sensible proposition for lower-end phones, according to Cripps. "The hardware requirements of Linux need to come down to the point where it becomes a simple equation around numbers, where it's financially more viable to do it with Linux," he said.

But a recent alliance between handset manufacturers and network operators, including Vodafone, could be a step toward making Linux more viable. "Once a carrier like Vodafone, which has absolutely massive spending power for procuring terminals, says it's interested in a standardised environment based around Linux, then you've got to take it seriously, even though they haven't really elaborated on how they're going to do this," said Cripps.

Linux has recently seen its popularity as a smart-phone platform rise dramatically in the Asian market, but Chambe-Eng also predicted a great deal of success for the forthcoming Rokr E2 music-centric handset, the first Linux-driven handset to be properly marketed in Europe.

The Rokr E2 is Motorola's independent follow-up to the Rokr E1, an iTunes-sporting collaboration with Apple that saw poor sales due to limited storage.

Norwegian software house Trolltech produces an application platform called Qtopia, for embedded devices. Qtopia is in turn based on the company's Qt platform, which has been used to develop applications as diverse as Google Earth, Skype, the Opera Web browser, Adobe Photoshop Elements and space flight simulation modules for NASA.

Top 10 Video Players for Linux

MPlayer – Every time I give MPlayer the deep six, in search for a better multimedia player, I eventually end up "embracing" it again, and thinking that I'll never let it go. MPlayer is, was and will be the best video player Linux ever had. Even if the default user interface is old and needs to be rewritten, it can play anything you want, even the latest Windows Media Video in 720p and 1080p video streams. It is also the base for many projects that you can find on the big download websites.

VLC – Being able to decode almost any video stream by itself, VLC, this cross-platform media player and streaming server, deserves the second place on my favorite video player applications list. It is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

Kaffeine – It’s the default media player for many KDE-based Linux distributions you can find these days. But being based on the xine engine, it lacks a few modern features and I had some problems with HD videos. Moreover, the interface has no more than 4 useless (for me) settings; the only real configuration you can make is for the xine engine, but you have to know what you're doing when you play with those settings.

SMPlayer – Even if it's new, SMPlayer's charm has enraptured me and wins the forth place on my favorite video player applications list. It tries to be a complete front-end for MPlayer, and, until now, it did a very good job by providing features you can't find in other MPlayer front-ends; for example, it remembers the settings of all the files you play.

KMPlayer – This was and will be one of my favorite multimedia front-ends, because it integrates very well the mplayer and xine engines and it supports the GStreamer engine as well. It's very fast, light and it integrates very well with Konqueror web browser, in order to play embedded content. It also plays and records TV streams.

KPlayer – Not so popular, this one is an MPlayer powered multimedia player for the K Desktop Environment that can easily play a wide variety of video/audio files and streams using a rich, powerful and friendly interface that follows KDE standards. I recommend this video player to all the Linux beginners out there.

Totem – Some will agree with me, others will not, but the GNOME desktop deserves a better video player than Totem. Not only does it lack many features, but it does not even let you setup the xine backend like GXine, Kaffeine and KMplayer do.

GNOME Mplayer – Yet another GUI (graphical user interface) for MPlayer, only this time is for GNOME users. It provides a simple and very easy to use user interface for the best video player Linux ever had, MPlayer. If you're a Linux newbie, than you should definitely give this application a try.

GXine – It's the official GUI (graphical user interface) for xine. It plays back CDs, DVDs, and VCDs. It also decodes multimedia files like AVI, MOV, WMV, and MP3 from local disk drives, and displays multimedia streamed over the Internet. But the interface is very old and hard to use.

MplayerXP – I bet not many of you knew about MplayerXP, which is a branch of the powerful mplayer multimedia player, but based on the new (thread-based) core. The new core provides better CPU utilization and excellently improves performance of video decoding. The main goal of MplayerXP is to get monotonous CPU loading during movie playback. Unfortunately, this player doesn't have a GUI front-end as far as I know.

Red Hat: Enterprise Linux 5.2

Linux vendor Red Hat has updated its enterprise Linux version with features for big servers and some green improvements. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 includes virtualisation support for bigger systems and more memory architectures.

The new version supports up to 64 CPUs and 512GB of memory, and can virtualise across non-uniform memory access (NUMA) systems. It also has new drivers to improve support for x86/64, Itanium, IBM Power and IBM System Z.

Linux vendors are addressing the issues of energy efficiency and virtualisation, in parallel, in their community ("free") releases and commercial supported software. Red Hat updates its enterprise version twice a year, and recently delivered Fedora 9 for the free community.

Novell recently previewed version 11 of its Suse Linux Enterprise Server, and delivered a second service pack to version 10 of the operating system this week. This, like Red Hat's new version, tweaks virtualisation and hardware support.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 has green improvements that should reduce power consumption. It supports CPU frequency scaling in virtualised environments, and includes support for Intel's Dynamic Acceleration Technology, which can idle or, as Red Hat describes it, "quiesce" CPU cores. The system can also overclock busy cores to get more work out of them within safe thermal levels, Red Hat said.

On the desktop, it has better support for laptop hibernation and updated versions of OpenOffice (2.3) and Firefox (3).

"Today's availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2, with its many technology enhancements, re-emphasises the value that we offer to customers through our subscription model," said Scott Crenshaw, vice president, Enterprise Linux Business at Red Hat. "These new capabilities should allow managers to extract more value out of their IT budget."

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 is available automatically to customers with a Red Hat Network subscription.

Mozilla joins LiMo for enterprise Linux-phone push

The LiMo Foundation, a broad industry consortium of manufacturers, operators and software developers working to put Linux onto the mobile phone, is to launch a major enterprise push later this year.

LiMo on Wednesday announced a raft of new members, the most significant being the Mozilla Foundation, which is currently developing a mobile version of its popular Firefox browser. However, the head of LiMo claimed two more open-source enterprise vendors will join this year but he was not yet prepared to name names.

"We're looking at two of the very well-known Linux-distribution companies that currently operate in the enterprise space but are interested in bridging between the enterprise and mobile," Morgan Gillis told ZDNet.com.au sister site ZDNet.co.uk last week.

"The principle area of interest [regarding these two companies] is evolving the software stack such that it's really fit for purpose as a mobile platform in the enterprise segment, and will support applications and services for enterprise which interoperate comfortably on mobile devices and desktop devices," said Gillis. "It's seamless enterprise computing, basically."

Ovum analyst Adam Leach expressed surprise at the news, saying the largest opportunity for the mobile Linux initiative was generally seen as being in the consumer space.

"I'm surprised they're going out to specifically target the enterprise," Leach said. "The consumer opportunity is quite a lot larger [but], if you get the right companies involved to shape the platform in the right way, there's no reason why it shouldn't be [an enterprise play]. I'm forecasting quite an aggressive uptake of mobile Linux over the next three years."

Asked whether a serious mobile Linux push into the enterprise would have implications for the current leaders in the business mobile market, such as Microsoft and RIM, Leach said the development would be unlikely to "give them too much to worry about just yet", as such a push would need "the right manufacturers to drive the right devices".

On the addition of the Mozilla Foundation to LiMo's roster, Leach said the deal was "of significant strategic importance to both foundations".

"For LiMo it is a validation of its collaborative-development model and the [intellectual property] safe harbour that it creates, allowing proprietary and open-source software to co-exist within a single platform," Leach said. "Mozilla also brings an established and much-respected developer community to the platform."

"For Mozilla, joining LiMo represents an opportunity to establish a Mozilla-based mobile browser in the market by using LiMo as a distribution channel," Leach continued. "The market for full Web browsers on mobile is set to grow substantially over the next three years and this provides Mozilla with a chance to catch-up with WebKit-based browsers such as those used within Safari on the iPhone and by Nokia on S60 phones, Opera Mobile and Access NetFront."

Leach added that LiMo's latest announcements reflected badly on its main competitor, the Google-led Open Handset Alliance (OHA), which intends to bring out the Android stack later this year.

"I think it's been a bit of a poor showing [for Android]," said Leach. "After a good start and big fanfare, we've just seen prototype demos. It seems to me that they're not making the progress that we would expect."

Leach noted, however, that the currently available devices running parts of LiMo's middleware did not amount to a consistent platform for developers. "Where this really will be judged is on devices," he said. "This is good momentum for LiMo, but its not devices. We have to see the devices in the market and they have to be open to developers. [LiMo and the OHA are] head-to-head in my mind, but LiMo seems to be making more serious progress."

Other new additions to LiMo announced on Wednesday include the US operator Verizon and France's SFR, which are both closely aligned with Vodafone — the most involved operator in LiMo. South Korea's SK Telecom has also joined, representing — along with Verizon — a major push into the CDMA market for LiMo. The manufacturer Sagem has also joined, as have the semiconductor firm Infineon and the software developer Red Bend.