Operating System

School switches to Linux, hopes to keep MS funds

Submitted by k4tz on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 10:59

Warrington School, in Otago, has decided to jump ship and deploy the GNU/Linux operating system with free software across the board by a target date of 2010, says the school’s principal, Nathan Parker. The complete switch to Linux has been approved by the Ministry of Education, and Parker is now hoping that a portion of the money that would normally be paid to Microsoft for software licences will continue to be paid to the school. Parker says he would use the money to employ a local technician and further develop the Linux environment.

“Otherwise we are being disadvantaged,” he says.

In addition, that money would be used locally instead of going out of the country, he says.

About Multiple Ubuntu

Submitted by k4tz on Wed, 07/09/2008 - 11:29

Question:

Hi, I already have ubuntu installed on my Laptop by Wubi. But Im wondering if I can install ubuntu studio, even with my previous ubuntu. Will this erase my previous programs and apps, like amsn or compiz fusion?

 

Answer:

Of course. It should be as simple as typing the following into a terminal:

Code:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-studio

The software is already available to you. There is no need to re-install to simply add more or different programs, which is what ubuntu-studio really is. This command will install the ubuntu studio packages along with the theme.

Training Tips for New Linux Users

Submitted by k4tz on Wed, 07/09/2008 - 10:35

At my college, I have volunteered to teach faculty, staff, and students the advantages of using Linux. After doing it for a couple of years, I have come up with a few tips that others might find helpful when showing new Linux users the ropes.

Step 1: Know Your Audience:

I can’t stress this one enough. Your presentations and instructions need to be tailored to your audience. If it isn’t, you can loose the interest of your audience or cause them to become lost. Who do you plan on training? I find that most users fall into one of three categories:

How To Roll A Kernel with the Ubuntu Way

Submitted by k4tz on Tue, 07/01/2008 - 11:38

Instructions on how to build a kernel 2.6

Last edited 1 month ago by Oliver Grawert

The Linux kernel is the heart of your Ubuntu Operating System. The kernel that comes with Ubuntu should contain all of the drivers you need, but just in case you would like to tweak your kernel or if for some reason you need to recompile for some special reason this guide will help you.

A less detailed document that shows essentially the same steps as this one can be found in the KernelCompileHowto.
Preperation

You will need the build-essential fakeroot and kernel-package packages, to build a kernel.

bash:~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential fakeroot kernel-package

Kernels are built in the /usr/src/ directory. To work there, add yourself to the src group.

bash:~$ sudo adduser my_username src

Adding user my_username to group src...
Done.

Coders now can try mobile Ubuntu Linux

Submitted by k4tz on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 11:37

Canonical on Tuesday released its first publicly available developer edition of Ubuntu for mobile Internet devices.

 

One option for Ubuntu MID's user interface.

One option for Ubuntu MID's user interface.

Nokia buys Symbian, will open Symbian OS

Submitted by k4tz on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 11:04

Symbian, the company behind the popular proprietary mobile/embedded operating system of the same name, just turned 10, but it won't see its next birthday. Nokia, which had long owned a substantial portion of Symbian, announced today that it would be buying the rest of the company, 52% for about &euro264 million, or approximately $410 million. In addition to purchasing Symbian, Nokia says it will be open-sourcing the Symbian operating system.

Funny Side of Linux

Submitted by k4tz on Wed, 06/25/2008 - 11:59

In all seriousness of being a linux user we sometimes forget the fun side of it all, here is an attempt to capture some of it.

A history lesson

Who would think that Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, himself never thought much about linux being so famous and powerful and in its current form as it is now? Linus, in his famous message at comp.os.minix wrote in August 26 1991:

PS. Yes - it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.