Category: Linux

Linux is my primary operating system. I used it on the servers, desktops, laptops, netbooks, and even mobile phones since approximately 1997. I’ve tried a number of distributions over the years, and even created a couple myself. I still look around sometimes to see what others are up to. But most of my machines are running some sort of Red Hat – either a quick and easy Fedora Linux, or a stable and secure Red Hat Enterprise Server, or a cheaper CentOS alternative.

And while by now I am very comfortable in the Linux environment (both graphical and command line), I still discover a lot of new and interesting things about it. When I come across something worthy, I usually share it with the rest of the Open Software world, using this category.

Linux distributions screenshot museum

Chris Haney has put together a simple application that allows one to browse through numerous Linux screenshots.  More than 400 different Linux distributions are presented, with many of them featuring screenshots from different releases.  This is interesting both in terms of how much a distribution has changed over time, and how one distribution compares to another.

I wish these were organized a bit differently, allowing more of a photo gallery experience.  But I’m sure the improvements will come over time.

Via habrahabr.ru.

Closing the Microsoft vs. Linux chapter

Slashdot reports:

After years of battling Linux as a competitive threat, Microsoft is now offering Linux-based operating systems on its Windows Azure cloud service. The Linux services will go live on Azure at 4 a.m. EDT on Thursday. At that time, the Azure portal will offer a number of Linux distributions, including Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, OpenSuse 12.01, CentOS 6.2 and Canonical Ubuntu 12.04. Azure users will be able to choose and deploy a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Windows Azure Image Gallery and be charged on an hourly pay-as-you-go basis.

Microsoft has been known to use Linux before, but this, I think, is one of those major milestones in accepting that Linux ain’t that bad after all. All these years, Open Source advocates have been known to quote Gandi (arguably):

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

And they were right.  I hope now we can close that chapter and move on to the next holy war.  Vim vs. emacs anyone?

Fedora 18 : Spherical Cow

First, the source:

Thank you to everyone who participated in voting for the Fedora 18
release name. The name for Fedora 18, the follow-up to Beefy Miracle,
is:

      Spherical Cow

Voting period:  Friday 2012-04-20 00:00:00 to Friday 2012-04-27 00:00:00
Number of valid ballots cast:  429

That offset a lot of people, it seems.  But personally I like it.  I think it’s always a good idea not to take yourself too seriously.

Vim navigation and Unix home explained

I came across an interesting (and useful!) bit of Unix history – an explanation for the vi navigation.  Until now all I knew was that HJKL keys were on the home row for those who touch type.  Apparently, there is more to that.  ADM-3A terminal which was used to create the original vi had the actual navigation arrows printed on the keyboard.  Here is a photo of how it looked:

Read the original post that also demonstrates why the Escape key was chosen for mode changing, and also why ~ is used for home directory in Unix operating systems.