When Dell first announced that it would offer Ubuntu--a free open-source, Linux-based operating system--on select notebooks, millions of tech-heads unleashed victory cries. Linux, the longtime OS of choice for the hardcore techie, was poised to go mainstream.

Chris Bailey, UK ICT Hub FOSS in the VCS project, writes: As part of the work for the UK ICT Hub's FOSS in the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) project we are developing a new certification for FOSS use by not for profits, Free and Open Source Knowledge (FOSK).

For normal users, Ubuntu is the only "poster boy" of Linux camp. This article compares Ubuntu with PCLOS .

Linux already powers everything from supercomputers to mobile phones. Google runs more than 10,000 Linux servers. Amazon.com switched to Linux and saved a cool $17 million. The French National Assembly has started using Ubuntu on more than 1,000 computers. Since the blockbuster movie "Shrek," the DreamWorks studio has been using Linux to render its 3-D graphics and special effects.

Audacity is a sound editing program that puts the freedom to create into the hands of the user. It is a vital tool for audiophiles everywhere who love to record, mix and edit their own music or sound files, and for the average joe who just wants to do a little audio editing.

Unix systems provide a number of commands to manage files and directories. Their strong point is the ability to use them in a rather simple manner against a group of files/directories meeting certain conditions. For example all the files satisfying specific criteria can be deleted or have their names changed en masse.

"Setting up a new workstation is the easiest time to choose a new GNU/Linux distribution. Having just installed Fedora 7 on my laptop so I’d have an RPM-based system available for my work, I seriously considered ending my five-year endorsement of Debian on my workstation. Perhaps I should follow the crowd and go to Ubuntu? Some other DEB-based distribution?

"...GIMP can be used for professional graphics, logo and Web design, photo editing, batch processing of image files, photo effects, and much more. The following list contains many cool GIMP resources."