Linux Format

As we all look ahead to the future of Linux in 2009, it's worth refreshing our memories with the big developments of 2008. CRN sums up the 10 Coolest Open Source 'Products' of the last 12 months, harking back to the releases of OpenOffice.org 3, Firefox 3 and various distros.

Fancy trying a new distro for Christmas? OpenSUSE 11.1 is now available, and Andy Hudson has been kicking its tyres -- read on for first impressions of the new features and changes...

While many pundits initially dismissed netbooks as a fad, this report for DisplaySearch shows that micro-netbooks are here to stay, with 160% market growth in the third quarter of this year (over quarter two). Most major PC vendors now have a netbook or two in their lineup, and given the widespread use of Linux on these machines, we can expect our favourite OS to win over many more users in 2009. Fingers crossed!

Slackware may not get much attention thesedays, but the longest-running distro still has an army of hardcore fans who love its simplicity and stability. Version 12.2 includes kernel 2.6.27.7, KDE 3.5.10 and Xfce 4.4.3, all built with GCC 4.2.4. Snag a copy from here or support development with a shiny boxed set (coming soon).

Which Linux/Unix desktop environment will make you work and play faster? Marco Fioretti gets benchmarking to find out what's leading the pack, and what needs to go on a diet. On the scales: Gnome, KDE and Xfce, along with their file managers, terminals and text editors...

Yes, the most discussed gadget in the history of anything is now Tux-enabled. Well, there's no support for the touchscreen, phone transmitter, wireless or sound, but a basic framebuffer has been implemented along with the Busybox shell utils. Could this be the tiny acorn that grows into a full-on Android port? (Usual disclaimer: if you try this, you risk bricking your iPhone and making Steve Jobs frown.)

Codenamed "Caterpillar", the first beta point on the development path to KDE 4.2 has been reached. The release announcement details the changes, including new desktop effects, task bar grouping, new Plasma applets and Google Gadgets support. KDE fans who're familiar with building the source are encouraged to try it out and submit bug reports.

Fedora 10 has just been released to the waiting masses. Andy Hudson takes the distro for an early test run, exploring the new features and seeing how it stacks up against the other major players in the Linux league...

It's finally over. After more than five years of legal wranglings, courtroom antics and FUD, The SCO Group has received a final judgement. In short, SCO owes Novell over $2.54 million (plus interest) for unjust enrichment. Novell is the rightful owner of the UNIX SVRX copyrights. Pretty much everyone in the Linux community expected this, but we're all glad it has come to an end.

If you've been the unfortunate victim of job cuts in this economic wrongness, you may be tempted to while away the mornings eating Super Noodles and watching Judge Judy. But OpenSUSE Community Manager Joe Brockmeier is urging unemployed IT folks to get involved with FOSS projects as a more valuable use of time. The idea is this: helping out with Free Software brings you new skills and contacts that you can use when the financial facepalms end.

Love Mandriva? Fancy a version with a snappier GUI? XFCELive is a community-based effort to bring the distro and desktop environment closer together, and the 2009.0 release is now available (albeit with a few rough edges -- see the 'Known Issues' bit in the link).

Make Blog has a fascinating picture representing the Linux boot sequence, in which 'nodes' (system calls) are "are laid out using an unweighted force-directed layout algorithm, where each node is simulated as if it were electrically repulsive and had springs between nodes". Yipes. But is it art?

Debian 5.0, aka Lenny, inches closer with the first release candidate of the installer. This page details the most recent improvements and gotchas, and the team is looking for more testers to ensure Debian's famous stability is maintained.

LinuxDevices notes a 49% leap in Linux-powered smartphone shipments over last year, as the market flourishes (with the exception of Symbian). Analysts expect more Linux gains in the next year as Android-based devices get stronger footholds.

The end of October saw the much anticipated release of Ubuntu 8.10 - affectionately called the Intrepid Ibex. It's a release that sees Ubuntu going from strength to strength. And with its popularity reaching stratospheric proportions, TechRadar thought that now was the perfect time to pool together its favourite tips into one place - read more here.

Packed with speakers - some from overseas - the UK Unix User Group's annual Linux Technical Conference visits Manchester (north England) from 7th to 9th November. There's a 25% discount for Linux Format readers! Topics include Grids and Clusters, Power Management, Filesystems, Web Development with Python, Web security... and even how to use Linux to automate your home!

Ubuntu 8.10 is here! Neil Bothwick takes it for an early test run, looking at the new netbook version and installer updates...

Open source/Free Software often gets a bad rap for innovation. It just copies commercial software, right? Not so, as Neil Bothwick explains -- from eye candy to the internet, FOSS has pioneered new technologies and ways of working...

Simple Minds has a detailed look at 13 features and updates in the upcoming Fedora 10 release. These include a faster boot up sequence (yay), better PulseAudio support (woo) and Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (huh? Actually, it's explained in the article). We like.

Three million downoads in the first week -- not too shabby, OOo. PC World reports that 80% of the downloads were on Windows, which isn't really surprising given the state of the market, and that most Linux users will get updates via their distros. We're also hearing that 40% of 3.0 downloaders are now actually using the suite -- the rest are waiting for it to start up.