OSWeekly.com posted 10 Must-Have Linux Applications

"I have been using Linux in one capacity or another since I first downloaded a Red Hat ISO a number of years ago. What finally allowed me to go full-time with my chosen distro was not so much the progression of hardware detection and self-mounting partitions but the applications. Today, I would like to share some of my personal favorites with you."

>> 10 Must-Have Linux Applications

Phoronix posted Linux 2.6.26 Kernel Benchmarks

"Over the weekend the Linux 2.6.26 kernel was released. This quarterly update to the Linux kernel introduced Kernel-based Virtual Machine improvements, new One Laptop Per Child support, a new video web camera driver, updates to the Direct Rendering Manager, and other improvements. In this article we have done some quick benchmarks of this new kernel from within the Phoronix Test Suite."

>> [url= http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=12618]Linux 2.6.26 Kernel Benchmarks[/url]

Tech Source from Bohol posted a comparison review between Ubuntu 8.04 and openSUSE 11

"All things are set for today’s epic battle. Two major release versions of two major Linux distributions will take the stage for what could be the fight of the year. Dubbed as the Battle Royale, it’s Ubuntu 8.04 vs. openSUSE 11 for our mega main event."

>> Battle Royale: Ubuntu 8.04 vs. openSUSE 11

WINE 1.1.0 has been released

"The Wine development release 1.1.0 is now available.

What's new in this release (see below for details):
- Many more gdiplus functions implemented.
- Improved graphics tablet support.
- Many Richedit fixes and improvements.
- Support for HWND_MESSAGE windows.
- A lot of new MSHTML functions.
- Many fixes in MSI registry handling.
- Initial implementation of the inetmib1 DLL.
- Improvements to the quartz renderers.
- Various bug fixes."

>> WINE 1.1.0 released

Phoronix tested the Radeon HD 4850 under Linux

"Last week we exclusively shared the steps AMD was taking to make an evolutionary leap in Linux support with same-day support for their brand-new Radeon HD 4800 series, Linux drivers shipping on the product CD, some manufacturers showcasing Tux on the product packaging, and their proprietary Linux driver reaching a feature parity with their Windows driver. We had also shared that the Radeon HD 4850 works with open-source xf86-video-ati driver since day one. Now that we have had time to complete testing of the Radeon HD 4850, today we are sharing the first Linux results from this brand-new ATI graphics processor. Before you think the Windows and Linux performance is equal for the Radeon HD 4800 series, this isn't the case, at least not yet."

>> Radeon HD 4850 Linux Performance

Phoronix reports that AMD is in the process of pushing new high-end features into their Linux driver such as Multi-GPU CrossFire support

"Less than a year ago we shared with you the revolutionary steps AMD was taking to deliver significant improvements to their once infamous proprietary Linux display driver and at the same time the work they were doing to foster the growth of an open-source driver for their latest graphics card families. These steps have certainly paid off for both AMD and the Linux community at large. AMD's proprietary driver is now on par with NVIDIA's Linux driver and there are two open-source ATI drivers picking up new features and improvements on an almost daily basis. AMD also continues to publish new programming guides and register information on a routine basis for their latest and greatest hardware. This has been truly phenomenal to see, but AMD has now evolved their Linux support by taking it a large step further. AMD is in the process of pushing new high-end features into their Linux driver -- such as Multi-GPU CrossFire support -- and with the ATI Radeon HD 4850 they have even begun showing off Tux, the Linux mascot, on their product packaging and providing Linux drivers on their product CDs!"

>> AMD Makes An Evolutionary Leap In Linux Support

The final release candidate for Wine 1.0 has been released

"This should be the last release candidate for Wine 1.0, please give it a good testing.

What's new in this release (see below for details):
- Bug fixes only, we are in code freeze.

The source is available from the following locations:

http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/wine-1.0-rc5.tar.bz2
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-1.0-rc5.tar.bz2

Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

http://www.winehq.org/site/download

You will find documentation on http://www.winehq.org/site/documentation

You can also get the current source directly from the git repository. Check http://www.winehq.org/site/git for details.

Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list."

>> Wine 1.0-rc5

TechieMoe.com posted a review on PCLinuxOS 2007

"The last time I looked at PCLinuxOS was version 0.92, which according to DistroWatch was about 3 years ago. I was asked to take a look at it again, so here I go.

I'm aware that this version is pretty old by now (June 2008), but as of this writing it was the latest full non-beta version available. I don't like to rant on betas. I'm puzzled to see that there has been no obvious word given on when we can expect a new version."

>> PCLinuxOS 2007 Review

Damn Small Linux 4.4 has been released

"Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:
Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
Boot from a USB pen drive
Boot from within a host operating system (that's right, it can run *inside* Windows)
Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call "frugal install"
Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
Modularly grow -- DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize

Changes for v4.4
* New Lua/Fltk refactored for enhanced performance.
* New Fltk library now available for C/C++ programs.
* New fldiff - File Diff GUI Viewer.
* Update to rsync to v3.0.2
* Updated mydslBrowser - new feature "Download Only"
* Modified "X Window Snapshot" to save image file with date.
* Added dfm association for easy display of "X Window Snapshot" images.
* Updated .torsmorc for more consistent "used/free/total"
* Restored Firefox default search engines.
* New low resource background & theme.
* New font added smoothansi - used in jwm menu.
* New .luafltkrc for Lua/Fltk theme and defaults.
* Updated dmix.
* Updated man script, new -o -b options and site.
* Fixed permissions on fusermount.
* Fixed cpanel bug to turn off ssh daemon.
* Modified nfs-common to also start portmap when needed.
* Patched kbdconfig to properly select keymaps.
* Modified .bash_profile to eliminate an extra login shell.
* Updated cgi example test.lua to call proper cgi.lua
* Removed stray line in Fluxbox menu.
* Updated "Getting Started" document with Wiki link and wireless info link."

>> Damn Small Linux 4.4

Phoronix compared the performance of Ubuntu, Fedora, and Mandriva

"Last week we released Phoronix Test Suite 1.0 and one of the article requests we received as a result was to do a side-by-side comparison between the popular desktop Linux distributions. Ask and you shall receive. Today we have up 28 test results from Ubuntu 8.04, Fedora 9, and Mandriva 2008.1."

>> Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva Performance Compared

Abandoned Zone takes a look at Lightweight Linux distributions

"It wasn't as easy as I thought, so I decided to write my experiences down in this review. The following distributions were tested:

Arch 2007.08-2
Damn Small Linux 4.2.5
Puppy 4.0
TinyMe Test7-KD
Xubuntu 8.04
Zenwalk 5.0"

>> Lightweight Linux distributions

Damn Small Linux 4.4 Release Candidate 1 has been released

"Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:
Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
Boot from a USB pen drive
Boot from within a host operating system (that's right, it can run *inside* Windows)
Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call "frugal install"
Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
Modularly grow -- DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize

Change log for v4.4RC1:

* New Lua/Fltk refactored for enhanced performance.
* New Fltk library now available for C/C++ programs.
* Update to rsync to v3.0.2
* Restored Firefox default search engines.
* New low resource background & theme.
* New default system font, smoothansi.
* New .luafltkrc for Lua/Fltk theme and defaults.
* Updated dmix.
* Updated man script, new -o -b options and site.
* Fixed permissions on fusermount.
* Updated all Lua & Lua/FLtk scripts to the new Lua/Fltk system.

Files that have changed that are likely in your backup.
.Xdefaults
.jwm.inc
.jwmrc-theme
.dfminfo
.fluxbox.inc"

>> Damn Small Linux 4.4 Release Candidate 1

Puppy Linux 4.00 has been released

"Finally it has happened! The last 'official' release of Puppy was version 3.01, released October 15, 2007. Version 4.00 is happening 6 months later, which is an incredibly long time considering the previous frenetic schedule of releases. Anyway, here it is: the live-CD file is 'puppy-4.00-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso' and is just 87.1MB. "

>> Puppy Linux 4.00

Linux Kernel 2.6.25 has been released

"It's been long promised, but there it is now. Special thanks to Ingo who
found and fixed a nasty-looking regression that turned out to not be a
regression at all, but an old bug that just had not been triggering as
reliably before.

That said, that was just the last particular regression fix I was holding
things up for, and it's not like there weren't a lot of other fixes too,
they just didn't end up being the final things that triggered my
particular worries.

The full changelog from 2.6.24 is 7.5M, with a 12MB compressed patch. Tons
and tons has changed, but if you've been following the -rc releases,
you'll already know about the big things. The changes from the last rc
(-rc9) are fairly small and mostly pretty trivial, and the shortlog is
appended."

>> Linux 2.6.25

Hardwaresites posted an introduction to Damn Small Linux

"Damn Small Linux is almost as small as they get for operating systems. At under 50mb, it really is Damn Small. We give an introduction to the world of Damn Small Linux."

>> Top Ten Reasons for Learning Damn Small Linux

Knoppix V5.3.1 has been released

"KNOPPIX is a bootable CD or DVD with a collection of GNU/Linux software, automatic hardware detection, and support for many graphics cards, sound cards, SCSI and USB devices and other peripherals. KNOPPIX can be used as a productive Linux desktop, educational CD, rescue system, or adapted and used as a platform for commercial software product demos. It is not necessary to install anything on a hard disk. Due to on-the-fly decompression, the CD can have up to 2 GB of executable software installed on it. (over 8 GB on the DVD "Maxi" edition).

Change log:
- Dist-upgrade to Debian/lenny (testing+unstable)
- Changed initial boot system from initrd to initramfs for easier customization
- Kernel 2.6.24.4 with custom modules: gspca, qemu, kvm, virtualbox, ndiswrapper, avm (untested)
- Updated wifi drivers and firmware for ipw*
- compiz 3D windowmanager 0.7.3 with experimental compiz-fusion modules, compiz will start automatically if hardware detection recognizes the needed features of graphics adapters, use "no3d" or "3d" bot option to disable or enforce compiz
- KDE 3.5.9, KDE 4.0 as experimental bootoption
- ADRIANE, Audio Desktop with text-to-speech and braille support, first release (not fully complete yet), bootoption "adriane", see http://knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html. Known bug: even theenglish version talks in german, this can be fixed by removing all the language-related lines in /etc/adriane/adriane.conf, and restarting the screenreader with "adriane-screenreader" from the shell.
- cloop 2.624 realtime decompression with threads and experimental "suspend" feature
- OpenOffice 2.3.1
- Virtualbox OSE edition
- Orca as screenreader for GTK+ programs, use "startorca soffice" for a try (in case of tiing problems with orca being to slow, try "startorca" again without parameters)
- Updated harddisk-installer "0wn" ("zero work needed")
- Updated ntfs-3g with "visible alternate data streams" extension (to discover files in other files, mount option streams_interface=visible)
- Lots of updates."

>> Knoppix V5.3.1

TechwareLabs has published an editorial entitled Introduction to Linux

"Interested in a free, usable, quality alternative to Microsoft's Windows? Almost everyone is. . . And the good news is there is one. This operating system known as Linux does amost everything that windows does and in some cases better. Read our introduction to Linux to get started and find out if this alternative works for you. "

>> Introduction to Linux

Damn Small Linux v4.3 RC1 has been released

"Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:
Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
Boot from a USB pen drive
Boot from within a host operating system (that's right, it can run *inside* Windows)
Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call "frugal install"
Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
Modularly grow -- DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize

Change log for v4.3RC1

* Updated murgaLua to v0.6.6.
* Updated nano-tiny to v2.0.7.
* Updated and consolidation of mydslBrowser with new mydslBrowser.lua.
* New picture puzzle added to Games collection.
* New calculator.lua replaces calcoo.
* Optomized minirt24.gz - much smaller.
* New background and theme for both JWM and Fluxbox.
* Improved removal of mydsl extensions on traditional hard drive installations.
* Dropped SCSI modules for needed space - available in the modules section.

Thanks goes to many community members for ideas, suggestions and contributions that make this release possible."

>> Damn Small Linux v4.3 RC1

Sabayon Linux 3.5 Beta 2 has been released

"Distribution features:
This is a beta release.
Entropy Binary Package Managing infrastructure 0.12.24.13 (our pre-Release_Candidate binary package manager):
- Sabayon Linux Online Repository Browser now at 6500 packages per architecture
- Entropy Project Manifesto
- Entropy interface has been completely rewritten in an Object Oriented way allowing any frontend to be interfaced easily
- Improved Equo textual client reliability and speed [pre-RC release]
- Introduced Spritz, our Official Entropy Graphical Package Manager [BETA release], featuring Italian, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Catalan, English localizations
- Introduced the Official Entropy Updates Notification Applet [ALPHA release]
- Added a Package Masking interface (/etc/entropy/packages/*)
- Added a GLSA [Gentoo Linux Security Advisories] interface (accessible through "equo security": equo --help for more info)
- Added a Package Licenses interface (any non-free license is required to be read and accepted)
- Reduced repository database size by a good 90% keeping backward compatibility. Size dropped from 13,5 to 6,5Mb
- Around 900 bug fixed and 120 improvements since the previous distributed release (available Sabayon Linux 3.5 Loop1) [800 commits]
Sabayon Linux Installer updates:
- NOTE: a full packages selector will come in Sabayon Linux 3.5 Loop3
- Entropy interface rewritten to work with 0.12.x branch
- Removed pre-compiled isys module substituting it with our Python-only implementation (called freesys)
- Graphical Installer can NOW be easily used on small displays (starting from 640x480)
- Introduced the XFCE Install Method (Featuring XFCE 4.2.2 desktop)
- Introduced the EeePC/UMPC Install Method allowing you to install Sabayon Linux on a 4GB drive!
- Improved System Upgrades speed and reliability (tested 3.4F to 3.5 Loop2 and 3.5 Loop1 to 3.5 Loop2)
Linux Kernel 2.6.24.2 featuring:
- Extended wireless and laptop support
- Switched from ipw3945 to iwlwifi driver supporting every new Intel PCI-X wireless card
- Added ATL2 Network driver
- EeePC support (experimental)
- Ext4 filesystem support
- UnionFS support
- AUFS support
- Highly Experimental LogFS support (2.6.24-744 patch - http://logfs.org)
X.Org 7.3 featuring
- NVIDIA: 169.12, 96.43.05 and 71.86.04 - automatic selection - 3D desktop fully supported
- AMD/ATI: 8.471.3 - 3D desktop fully supported
- Keyboard detection is now completely dynamic - Evdev based, any change should be made inside your Desktop Environment. Eventually xorg.conf will be next to be deprecated!
Enhanced Desktop featuring:
- Compiz 0.7.2
- Compiz Fusion 0.7.2 supporting GNOME, KDE, a lot of plugins already included
- Fusion Icon, to enable/disable 3D effects on the fly!
Gaming! Sauerbraten, Warsow, Dangerdeep, Nexuiz, Second Life! included as top-tier 3D games!
GeeXboX 1.1 to transform your PC into a full Media Center
K Desktop Environment 3.5.9 featuring KDE 4.0.2 games
Full KDE 4.0.2 available in our Entropy repository!
GNOME 2.20.1
XFCE 4.2.2
OpenOffice 2.3.1
Elisa Media Center 0.3.4 (fully working!)
SSH keys are now always randomly generated (fixing possible MITM attacks)
A lot of updated applications and bug fixes (all the ones reported have been solved)

Known issues:
No known issues at release time."

>> Sabayon Linux 3.5 Beta 2

Wine 0.9.57 has been released

"This is release 0.9.57 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix.

What's new in this release (see below for details):
- Support for multiple OpenGL pixel formats.
- Improved support for color profiles.
- Many window management fixes.
- Better fullscreen support.
- Lots of bug fixes.

Because of lags created by using mirrors, this message may reach you before the release is available at the public sites. The sources will be available from the following locations:

http://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/emulators/wine/wine-0.9.57.tar.bz2
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/wine/wine-0.9.57.tar.bz2

Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

http://www.winehq.org/site/download

You will find documentation on

http://www.winehq.org/site/documentation

You can also get the current source directly from the git or CVS repositories. Check respectively http://www.winehq.org/site/git or http://www.winehq.org/site/cvs for details.

If you fix something, please submit a patch; instructions on how to do this can be found at http://www.winehq.org/site/sending_patches

Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list."

>> Wine 0.9.57 released