outanowhere writes "The author of the Philips webcams kernel module has thrown in the towel and quit providing the pwc and pwcx kernel modules which make using Philips-based USB cameras such as those from Logitech and Philips possible with Linux. According to the author, the last straw was when a kernel maintainer changed his pwc module to make using the binary-only pwcx compression module impossible. It is a victory for obsessive kernel-purists but a major loss for all Linux users."

Damin writes "The Ohio LinuxFest is a free event, open to all interested on a first-come, first-serve basis. Aside from the impressive lineup of speakers, what makes this event so cool is that it is organized entirely by volunteers from all of the Ohio LUGS. Last year, people travelled from nine states to participate. The event will be hosted at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, October 2nd, from 10:00AM until 6:00PM. While this is a free event, registration is required. Full details & registration information can be found at the event's website."

jesuscash writes "Linspire today announced the availability of Internet dialer software that provides direct access to the Internet for desktop Linux users via AOL's dial-up ISP service."

4A6F656C writes "In an article on LinuxWorld.com.au, Kieren O'Shaughnessy, director of SCO Australia and New Zealand, details SCO's plans for Australia, stating that they have 'prepared a hit list' and "would approach Australian Linux users to ensure they had an IP licence." In closing, he adds 'Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix'." UnknowingFool writes "IBM's lawyers have been busy the last few days. Groklaw has reported a number of different filings. On the heels of last week's motions (1) and (2) for summary judgement, they have filed more documents. First, IBM wants large portions of SCO's testimonies striken (removed) on multiple grounds. Deep in the motion, they call out SCO to produce the 'experts' that did the code comparison analysis. If IBM wins on most of these points, SCO will have very little left in the way of legal evidence. SCO answers on IBMs 10th counterclaim. IANAL but from I understand SCO says this copyright infringment that SCO has allegedly committed on one of IBM's patents is irrelevant to the case and the court doesn't need to decide on it. So SCO is saying that they can sue IBM for infringing on their Unix copyrights and patents but IBM can't counter sue on a specific patent. IBM also filed another memo to support summary judgement. As a matter of law, SCO has to produce evidence to backup its claims. This mountain of evidence SCO has claimed all this time: If they don't produce it, the court has to rule in IBM's favor."

An anonymous reader writes "The license changes in the last version of Xfree86 have caused many distributions to reject the project in favor of the forked X.Org X server. As X.Org prepares to release the second version of the X.Org "monolithic" X Server (dubbed version 6.8), Ars Technica investigates the future of the X platform, as cooperation between X.Org and projects like GNOME and KDE begin to take take hold at freedesktop.org. Already host to an impressive array of projects, it appears that freedesktop.org will become the hub in which other Free Desktop projects can collaborate. Daniel Stone, release manager for freedesktop.org, gets into the details on how it's all going to work, in conjunction with freedesktop.org's upcoming platform release."

depechemodem writes "In a follow-up to Microsoft Leaves U.N. Standards Group, it appears that it may have been in reaction to the UN's sponsorship of the 1st annual Software Freedom Day in which its International Open Source Network (IOSN) will educate Asian users on the benefits of Free and Open source Software (FOSS). FOSS promotes several high-profile applications including OpenOffice, Mozilla, MySQL, and Apache." An anonymous reader says of the U.N. effort, "Events will be organised in Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam on Saturday, August 28th." According to another anonymous reader, "Go Open Source, funded by the Shuttleworth Foundation and HP, expects up to 10,000 visitors at the various Linux install-fests around South Africa this Saturday, says the Mail & Guardian."

Jonathan Lassoff writes "The Linux Incompatibility list is a wiki project that attempts to document hardware that is incompatible with Linux rather than list what is compatible. In the wiki, it is possible to add alternitives so as to push hardware manufacturers to make good binary drivers, publish specifications, or even better, publish open drivers."

carlmenezes writes "On August 25, 2001 we celebrated the 10th birthday of Linux. Today, it's year 13. Lucky for Linux, maybe?" Congrats to everyone who managed to get their name in the credits! You must be very proud parents.

Anonymous Coward writes "The Enlightenment Project, far from dead, is pleased to announce the DR16.7.1 release of the Enlightenment Window Manager. With tons of fixes, a massive overhaul of the internals, and several new features this release is a must try for those who haven't run E in a long time. The window manager that redefined the way a desktop can look is still going strong."

hqm writes "Maybe this is the real way Windows will be made irrelevant, not by a Linux desktop, but by Linux embedded software. LinuxDevices has an article stating 'NEC is the latest vendor to announce a laptop with a built-in embedded Linux based media player option. The NEC Versa S3000 will use InterVideo's InstantOn technology to enable users to listen to music, watch DVDs, and more without having to wait for Windows to load. Another major laptop vendor, Toshiba, in July launched its Qosmio laptop, which also includes a Linux-based media player environment. NEC will market the S3000 in Hong Kong and China. The laptop also includes InterVideo's popular WinDVD DVD playing software, which is also available for Linux.'"

Lord Byron II writes "Mandrake has announced the latest beta of the upcoming 10.1 release. This beta fixes several bugs and introduces a few new features. Get your copy from one of the many mirrors or this torrent."

Errtu76 writes "ZDnet says Cherry has announced a specially designed Linux keyboard that will be available in the UK, Ireland and Germany later this year. The Cherry CyMotion Master Linux keyboard has the Linux penguin logo, Tux, instead of the Windows start key and features 29 hot keys. The hot keys are configured for the Linux operating system and desktop applications, simplifying actions such as cutting, copying and pasting text, and moving between Web pages. PCworld has a little more info on the keyboard."

Stuart Herbert writes "I'm pleased to announce that, in conjunction with FreeNode IRC, we're holding Gentoo UK 2004 at Salford University on Saturday 4th September 2004. The day's events include talks from UK-based Gentoo Devs and from Manchester Wireless, and breakout sessions where users can get their Gentoo questions answered directly by the Gentoo Devs who are attending. A car-pool is being organised to help people get to and from the event."

trixie_czech writes "It's finally arrived. Go to namesys for reasons to use reiser4 as a filesystem and benchmarks. Go here to download. Enjoy!" The Namesys homepage in its current stage reminds me of a cross between The Secret Guide to Computers and the GNU Manifesto -- which is to say, there is a lot to read here, not just a bullet-pointed feature list.

dokey writes "In an interview with Builder AU, usability expert Jakob Nielsen gives his opinion of usability in Free and open source software. The article echoed what Jon "Maddog" Hall said earlier this year in a keynote at Linux.conf.au -- "Programmers Are From Mars, Users/Managers/Companies are from Venus". Is it time to pay more attention to end-users?(who aren't geeks)"

Reyk Floeter writes "AMSEL (Advanced Modular Secure Embedded Linux) is a new operating system, based on the Linux kernel, which was developed and optimized especially for the deployment in security critical embedded environments. The typical functions for an AMSEL installation are for example the deployment as firewall device or as a crypto gateway (VPN, SSH-to-Telnet).
AMSEL is Open Source Software, covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2. In contrast to most other embedded Linux solutions, AMSEL provides a broad range of security features and -extensions. AMSEL comes with specially hardened kernel, userland and in a secure by default state. Different security mechanisms, for example a non-executable stack (x86 only), Linux capability support and privilege separation throughout many of the system's daemons, have been directly and seamlessly integrated into the distribution. Through own developments like amcli, amwall and amselect the configuration and maintainance of the system is doable even by non-Linux professionals without much effort, effectively saving time and money and providing mechanisms for revision control for the complete configuration set of a machine. AMSEL runs on a wide variety of system boards and processors that are used in the industrial embedded sector and does not require much system resources.http://www.amselinux.com"

rmohr02 writes "Registration for the Ohio LinuxFest is now open." Small shows are always the most fun.

An anonymous reader writes "Knoppix-3.6 has been released. It is supposed to have the announced FreeNX Server, Kernel 2.4.27 and 2.6.7, KDE 3.2.3. It also includes ndiswrapper to use windows drivers for wlan cards. Download using bittorrent tracker at http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/. Remember: Leave your bittorrent client running after the download is finished! Distribution to ftp mirrors will follow tomorrow."

codergeek42 writes "The International Open-Source Network has created a desktop manual aimed at end-users with little or no prior knowledge of PCs. This manual goes through using The Fedora Project to do things from file-management to using the internet (as in browsing the WWW and using email), how to use the OpenOffice.org office suite, and even a basic intro to using the shell. This is definitely a step in the right direction for GNU/Linux, and the Free Software and Open-Source Software movements. And the cool part is that the entire thing is under an attributions-required OSI-approved Creative Common license, and is available in .sxw (OpenOffice.org Writer) or PDF formats."

MadFarmAnimalz writes "BusinessWeek has an article about the perceived threat of patents to linux, citing the SCO case, the opening of OSRM, and the Munich situation as evidence for the veracity of their conclusion that Linux isn't safe. Their solution? Relicense to the BSD license or the Mozilla license. On a positive note, the article's author does link to RMS' article Why Software Should Not Have Owners; good to see Stallman being quoted and linked to in a publication Like BusinessWeek."