The /proc directory is a strange beast. It doesn't really exist, yet you can explore it. Its zero-length files are neither binary nor text, yet you can examine and display them. This special directory holds all the details about your Linux system, including its kernel, processes, and configuration parameters. By studying the /proc directory, you can learn how Linux commands work, and you can even do some administrative tasks.
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SSH Key Authentication Using seahorse (GUI)
Seahorse is a Gnome front end for GnuPG - the Gnu Privacy Guard program. It is a tool for secure communications and data storage. Data encryption and digital signature creation can easily be performed through a GUI and Key Management operations can easily be carried out through an intuitive interface.
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Google Sponsors Wine Improvements
As you may know, Google uses Wine to implement Linux support for Picasa. Beyond that, Google has been supporting Wine in several other ways.
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Tracing your way - ping, traceroute & mtr
There is a lot of information scattered across the Internet about the different utilities used for network troubleshooting. Yet, few articles detail the background processes taking place while using these utilities. To get a complete and precise idea on how tracing and troubleshooting work in a network, this article analyzes the internal working of 3 network utilities and checks what makes each of them unique.
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Acer plans new, low-cost laptop
Acer, the world’s third largest computer seller, said today that it will offer a new, low-cost laptop targeted primarily at emerging markets. Little is known about the model aside from the fact that will have a 7- or 9-inch display, cost about $470, and ship sometime in the second or third quarter. The specs and price would put it in direct competition with other low-cost models such as the Asus Eee PC and the Everex CloudBook, and to a lesser extent OLPC’s XO laptop.
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Would you do Open Source Marketing for Microsoft?
Microsoft’s partners team through its NXT initiative launched a campaign focused on open source ISVs in 2007 in conjunction with the Open Source Business Conference. The campaign is designed to encourage ISVs to explore how best to deliver their solutions to customers in the Microsoft world, recognizing that many high profile open source projects have 30%-50% of their installed base in the Windows world. The Microsoft program works through partners to assist ISVs.
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The scaling problem and open source
Most trends in the open source market come down to one word. Scaling. To stay worthwhile a project must grow. It must attract new developers, new community members, and new money. It must scale in complexity and functionality.
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The Demise Of Commercial Open Source
Steve Goodman, co-founder and CEO of network management startup PacketTrap Networks, is predicting that commercial open source companies are doomed to fail. Goodman's not railing against open source or commercial software, per se. It's converting the former into the latter that he sees as inherently flawed.
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KDE 4 Utilities: Falling in love all over again
Today we're going to look at the little tools in KDE 4, or at least some of them. There are far too many to be able to cover in one blog entry, and so I've decided to cover a few of the ones that I personally use and which have had visible improvements over their KDE 3 counterparts.
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' Linux Next ' Begins To Take Shape
Make no mistake about, the Linux 2.6.x kernel is a *large* undertaking that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Apparently it's also getting harder to maintain as well in terms of ensuring that regressions don't occur and that new code is fully tested.
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R.E.M. Releases New Videos Under Open Source License
R.E.M. today released 11 videos for the first song from their forthcoming album, all in MP4 format in HD and under an open source license. "Supernatural Serious," is the first single from the band's next album, "Accelerate," due to be released April 1st.
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Open for the Future
Programs such as the Army’s Future Combat Systems and organizations such as the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency are using open technologies using non-proprietary software.
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Have Unix Your Way
How long until someone finally figures out a way to really commoditize the server? And what will such a world look like?
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Why use downloads as an indicator of OSS success?
I continue to be surprised by the amount of weight given to downloads as a metric for OSS success. A topic Matt Asay also touched on recently over at The Open Road. Like Matt, I’m talking OSS at the product or company level (i.e., not OSS projects) and by success I mean sales.
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Measuring Ubuntu's Boot Performance
While we have published hundreds of articles looking at various aspects of Linux desktop performance, one area we haven't covered much with Ubuntu (or any other Linux distribution for that matter) is surrounding the boot performance.
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