Jim Lynch: Off the Top of My Head…

I have very mixed feelings about this:
The Linux Foundation, the non-profit that supports the growth of the Linux kernel, is today announcing an affinity Visa Platinum credit card for people who want to contribute to advancing the OS through the organization’s initiatives. Reading the press release announcing the new credit card made me raise my [...]

Maximum PC has a great article about Linux desktop customization:
The days of ugly Linux desktops are a thing of the past. Modern distros include many tools and options that enable them to look good and be more useful.
Unlike Windows, Linux has several different widget toolkits. The most well-known widget engines are GTK+, (distributed with GNOME) [...]

I think these tips are pretty much right on about how to ease the transition for users from Windows to Linux:
Moving users to Linux can be tricky, but Jack Wallen has some practical measures that should ease the transition.
Sheer economics are making the use of the Linux operating system increasingly widespread. It is free, reliable [...]

Just a heads up that there are a number of new desktop Linux reviews up on the DLR blog:
Live Linux Gaming
Tiny Core Linux 2.1
Knoppix 6.0.1
Kubuntu 9.04
I’m pleased to note that Linux Today has linkedto the Kubuntu and TCL reviews and Distrowatch has linked to the TCL review. So traffic has been up significantly and I’ve [...]

I pitched it this morning and they linked to my Linux Mint 7 review over on my new Desktop Linux Reviews blog. Thanks so much Linux Today guys! It made my day to see that.

One of the nicer things about mintInstall in this release is Featured Applications which highlights some popular apps for [...]

Very cool but how practical is it?
A milestone has been reached in iPhone firmware modification on Friday with the first alternative operating system for the hardware, Linux, now running on the device.
The first build created by Dev Team is now running on iPhone, iPhone 3G, and the original iPod touch in what’s considered a “draft” [...]

Ars has a good look at the new Fedora 10.
Fedora 10 is built on Linux kernel version 2.6.27, which was officially released in October. This version of the kernel comes with improved compatibility for popular webcam devices and also includes the new Atheros ath9k wireless driver. Firefox 3.0.4, the latest bugfix release of the popular [...]

Good tips here.

How can you quickly produce a professional-looking report? If you’re using KDE, you can turn to KOffice’s KSpread spreadsheet and KWord word processor.
KSpread offers the standard spreadsheet elements: columns and rows of cells which can contain data or formulas, an entry box for putting information into the cells, and a set of toolbars [...]

Bug fix for Ark is out now. I may do a review of it for ET, it’s been in the back of my mind for a while. I just haven’t gotten around to it.
Ark Linux 2005.1-SR1 fixes the following problems:
* In some configurations, USB drivers were not loaded on startup
[...]

New magazine out for Linux users called Tux. So far the comments seem positive about it. I haven’t read it so I can’t tell you qhat the quality is but it seems like a good thing for Linux to have a new mag come out like this.