Stories about: APT

Over the past decade, Linux has emerged from a herd of obscure and nerdy operating systems to warrant a place in even the most technologically unsophisticated business environments. And in the past three years, a few distributions have made stupendous leaps in performance and usability, winning the affection of millions of mainstream desktop users.

I like screencasts. A well-made screencast can explain complex concepts more effectively than a written document. Watching a screencast about a topic you're trying to learn is like having a friendly expert by your side, showing you what you need to know. Recently, I stumbled upon PeepCode's screencast about Git.

I don't know about where you live, but where I live, it feels like October. Halloween orange has sprouted everywhere from the grocery store to the doctor's office, the weather has acquired a distinctive chill, and, of course, we have a new release of Ubuntu Linux. Version 7.10 hit the Net just last week, right on time. (Ubuntu releases tend to come each October and April.)

Kim Polese, CEO of SpikeSource, speaks about the open-source movement and new products SpikeSource introduced at LinuxWorld.

Providing location information to thousands of mobile phone users is all in a day's work for Ubuntu Linux, which has replaced popular enterprise distribution Red Hat for Locatrix Communications' mission-critical workloads.

So, you've just installed Ubuntu 7.04, otherwise known as the "Feisty Fawn" release of everyone's favorite (for now) flavor of Linux. You booted the installation disc , looked around the test environment to discover that your hardware was working, and double-clicked the Install icon on the desktop. The Ubuntu installer helped you make room for Linux on your hard drive, and even copied over some of your documents and settings from Windows.

After several months of delays, Debian developers have released Debian 4.0, code-named "etch".

Luke Kanies is a 31 year old system administrator turned developer living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been a Unix and Linux administrator for ten years, and has spent the last five years focused on developing automation frameworks. In 2003 he founded Reductive Labs to work on new open source automation and administration tools, and Puppet is its first major project. Kanies spoke with Computerworld about Puppet and what it offers IT administrators.

Feeling a little left behind in the storm of Second Life happenings? Here are some answers that will catch you up to the potentials of Linden Labs' virtual economy.

Open source router company Vyatta debuted earlier this year with a Red Hat-style alternative to Cisco and Juniper offerings: the Open Flexible Router, an open source-based WAN router and firewall stack, freely downloadable, with service and support offerings available for purchase. Since then the company has generated buzz in the network industry, while releasing products such as a pre-installed appliance-like version on Dell servers. Vyatta CEO Kelly Herrell and chief strategy officer Dave Roberts recently told Phil Hochmuth what Vyatta is, and is not, and what it hopes to become. (The following is an edited transcript.)

Virtual computing is the flavour of the moment. Scott Spanbauer lets you in on the best ways to keep your os at arm's length.