Linux Fanatics

How many Open Source apps does it take to screw in a light bulb? Here\'s the latest word from the Linux galaxy, Open Source projects, command line assistance, desktop environment downloads, distribution revisions, cross-platform tools, and general help for those exploring this fantastic OS!

NVIDIA 169.07 Linux Display Driver Released - December 21, 2007

&8220;Just in time for the holidays, NVIDIA has released a new Linux display driver, which is a stable version of their previous 169.04 beta last month. In addition, the new NVIDIA 169.07 Linux driver has a few changes, while most of the release highlights were already found in the 169.04 release. We are preparing additional Linux tests with this new driver, but for right now we have the details on this proprietary display driver. The NVIDIA 169.04 beta driver had introduced GeForce 8800GT...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/20/nvidia-16907-linux-display-driver-released/

KOffice vs OOXML: Practical, Not Political - December 20, 2007

Linux.com is running this story explaining why the KOffice stance against OOXML isn&8217;t political, it&8217;s practical: &8220;In the recent accusations that the GNOME Foundation has been supporting Microsoft&8217;s OOXML format at the expense of ODF, KDE has been presented as a counter-example. Based on a KDE News article, Richard Stallman suggested that &8220;major KDE developers&8221; had announced &8220;their rejection of OOXML&8221; and urged GNOME to do the same. More recently, a widely.
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/19/koffice-vs-ooxml-practical-not-political/

Dell Announces Ubuntu PCs with DVD Playback - December 19, 2007

DesktopLinux.com is reporting that Dell will now be offering DVD Playback with their Ubuntu 7.10 PCs: &8220;Dell has told DesktopLinux.com that it will be announcing later today, Dec. 19, that it will be releasing PCs with Ubuntu 7.10 (aka Gutsy Gibbon) as part of its Dell Consumer Linux lineup along with the ability to legally play DVDs. According to Dell spokesperson Anne B. Camden, the &8220;Dell Inspiron 530N desktop and Inspiron 1420N notebook PCs are now available with Ubuntu 7.10...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/18/dell-announces-ubuntu-pcs-with-dvd-playback/

How to Speed Up Linux - December 18, 2007

LifeHacker is carrying a story on how you can slim down and speed up your link installation: &8220;While Linux is pretty efficient with a computer&8217;s resources out of the box, there are still ways you can make it run leaner and meaner on your desktop. Using a little bit of know-how, a willingness to run a few terminal commands and a mind for efficiency, you can get every last bit of power from your Linux box, or get more life from an older system. Read on for a roundup of ways to slim down.
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/17/how-to-speed-up-linux/

GNOME Developer Kit - December 15, 2007

Look, SVN is a step up from CVS, but it&8217;s still a pain in the ass to manage large projects through SVN. In steps GNOME Developer Kit, which is supposedly better than SVN: &8220;The difficulty and frustration of building GNOME from source is a major impediment for many new contributors. Installing the dependencies, getting the tools working, and compiling major components of the desktop environment is a burden that detracts from time that could be spent making patches. In order to resolve...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/14/gnome-developer-kit/

Iran Tries to Hide AMD Supercomputer - December 14, 2007

Just a few days after exposing that Iran has built an AMD-based supercomputer, they&8217;re now trying to cover up this little fact: &8220;The Iranian computing research center that says it built a supercomputer with Advanced Micro Devices Inc.&8217;s Opteron processors has removed from its Web site photographs showing a possible link to the United Arab Emirates as a source of the chips. But something that can&8217;t be removed so easily are longstanding U.S. concerns about the UAE being a...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/13/iran-tries-to-hide-amd-supercomputer/

GNOME theme engine designer adds transparency to GTK - December 13, 2007

Andrea Cimitan implimented transparent widgets in the GTK theme engine. Finally. OK, well, maybe not finally, but it&8217;s about time GTK caught up with 2004: &8220;GNOME theme engine designer Andrea Cimitan has implemented support for transparent widgets in the Murrine GTK theme engine, bringing Vista-like translucent glass effects to the GNOME desktop. Cimitan used RGBA colormaps to implement the feature and says that, with only 10 or 20 extra lines of code, translucency can easily be added..
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/12/gnome-theme-engine-designer-adds-transparency-...

The Future of Linux with Ken Brebach - December 12, 2007

Open Source Society has put up an extensive interview with Ken Breback, author of two books and multiple articles covering Linux. In this interview Ken discusses what the future holds for Linux: &8220;Recently I had the unique pleasure of communicating with Kim Brebach. You may recognize him as the author of &8220;13 Reasons Why Linux Wont Make It to the Desktop&8221;, and &8220;13 Reasons Linux Should be on Your Desktop&8221;, as well as a series of insightful articles on the state of Linux as.
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/11/the-future-of-linux-with-ken-brebach/

Get Veoh Player Working in Ubuntu - December 10, 2007

CarloTheMan at the Ubuntu Forums on how you can get Veoh Player working in Ubuntu. The trick is setting Wine up properly (and that&8217;s always the trick, isn&8217;t it). &8220;As we know, Veoh Networks is a great place to trade productivity for entertainment, but usually, we as Linux users, feel a bit left out after five minutes at the most. Luckily, I found that the Veoh Player actually CAN work on Ubuntu, with the help of the infinitely compatible Wine. But to call that trivial would be a...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/10/get-veoh-player-working-in-ubuntu/

ArsTechnica is reporting that Verizon has been hit with a copyright lawsuit for violating portions of the GNU General Public License, for using an open source package in a wireless router: &8220;Open-source software is very attractive for companies looking to expand their services or quickly get new offerings to market, in part because it&8217;s free. Unfortunately, some companies tend to overlook the software license commonly attached to open-source software, the GPL. Verizon is the latest...
http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2007/12/07/verizon-hit-with-gpl-copyright-lawsuit/