LXer Linux NewsLinux and Open Source news headlinesQGIS earns a spot on GIS software map- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Quantum GIS 0.11.0, released last month, is a free geographic information system (GIS) application released under the GPL that runs on multiple platforms, including Linux. QGIS can read, edit, and export common GIS file formats. After installing it and using it to work with existing data layers available from official data repositories, performing common spatial analysis tasks, and sharing files and data with the commercial GIS products, I found QGIS has the potential to be a viable alternative.http://www.linux.com/feature/144178 Interview with Scott James Remnant, Lead-developer of Ubuntu Desktop Linux- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Previously, we've interviewed the lead-developers of Arch and Gobo Linux. Two distributions for the more advanced users out there. This time, we're going in the complete opposite direction to understand more about a user friendly Linux-distribution: Ubuntu.http://www.hardware.no/artikler/scott_james_remnant_english/54571 Testing Debians Lenny KDE beta- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Lenny (aka 'testing') appears poised to displace Etch as the popular Linux distribution's "stable" branch next month. To see how Lenny was coming along, I loaded the latest preview (beta 2) of its KDE system image onto an available Thinkpad, and took it for a spin.http://www.deviceguru.com/2008/08/14/testing-debians-lenny-kde-beta/ Fluendo walks the line between free and proprietary codecs- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Despite all its advances, GNULinux remains weak in its support for proprietary audio and video codecs. Because these codecs are often encumbered by patents, distributions must choose either to include support of questionable legality or else exclude it altogether. In the middle of this controversy sits Fluendo, a Catalan company of about 50 employees that is a main contributor to projects like GStreamer, and supports open formats, but also offers licensed, proprietary codecs such as Windows...http://www.linux.com/feature/143418 Open Source Copyrights Legally Enforceable- (Found August 15, 2008 ) A federal appeals court has struck down a lower court ruling that found that open source copyrights may not be legally enforceable if they're licensed under terms that are "intentionally broad." Ruling on an appeal brought by software developer Robert Jacobsen, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Wednesday that open source users that do not comply with the software's strict licensing terms can, in fact, be sued for copyright infringement -- even if the software is free.http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/open_source/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=21000... Open Source Wins Landmark Legal Validation- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Open source developers now have newly clarified protection, thanks to an appeals court ruling over the validity of their licenses. A judge with U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Wednesday that programmers who"engage in open source licensing" and copyright their work do"have the right to control the modification and distribution" of their products.http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/64164.html Easy Ruby development, the Eclipse way- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Almost three years ago, developerWorks published "Using the Ruby Development Tools plug-in for Eclipse," which introduced some of the features found in the Ruby Development Tools (RDT) plug-in for Eclipse. Current at the time was V0.5. We revisit that tool in this article. Today, RDT is called Aptana RadRails and is available as a plug-in for Aptana Studio or Eclipse. This article introduces some of the plug-in's new features. Screenshots are from the Windows version, but it works the same on...http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-eclipse-rdt/index.html?ca=dgr-lnxw... How To Create A Bash Install Script- (Found August 15, 2008 ) Have you ever wanted to create an installer program on a Linux system, but didnt want all the hassle of an actual install builder I have. So Im going to show you how you can create such an installer with very little hassle. I cant actually claim credit for this method though; I actually got the idea from Suns JDK installer for the Linux platform. You download a .bin file, change the file mode so that it is executable and then run it. It displays the end user license agreement, gets some...http://www.franzone.com/2008/08/14/how-to-create-a-bash-install-script/ My latest warning against dual- and triple-booting Linux and BSDs- (Found August 15, 2008 ) My advice is to avoid dual-booting, and especially triple-booting (or even more than that). If you set up a box to dual-boot with two Linux distros, Linux and Windows, or even a BSD (OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD) and Linux, and you leave it alone, you'll probably be OK. But me, I'm testing things all the time, and lately I've been playing around with triple-booting on my Gateway Solo 1450 laptop. I've done this a lot, and I generally know how to do it so I don't hose one partition or another. But I.http://www.insidesocal.com/click/2008/08/my-latest-warning-against-dual.html Tutorial: Linux RAID Smackdown: Crush RAID 5 with RAID 10- (Found August 15, 2008 ) I was already mourning the destruction of my Saturday, thanks to some blown deadlines, and was resigned to spending at least part of the day working. Then I made a fatal error: I read my email. There were two messages from readers that said, in essence, another article about RAID 5 was about as interesting as yet another fawning review of Ubuntu Retching Rabbit or Pooping Penguin or whatever the newest coolest release is, and RAID 5 has some serious flaws anyway, and if I really wanted to be...http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6514/1/ |