I understand there are several different philosophies of application development. Some people prefer GTK not because it is the better tool kit, but because the approach makes more sense to them, because GTK is more granular than Qt, prefer C to C++, or another r...

Opera is $39 if you want to buy it. It's not worth purchasing just to get rid of its embedded banner ad, but Our Hero thinks it is well worth the money for other reasons. (1,200 words)

The SCO vs. IBM lawsuit gives off a subtle, unpleasant odor I couldn't quite place. When SCO set its sights on Linux distributors and even Linux itself, the source of the stench became unmistakable — Redmond. A humorous look at a potential smoking gun. (1,900 words)

CrossOver Office has matured to the point where I consider it equal to Win4Lin in desirability. Not equal in capability or ease of use, mind you, but equal in value. Win4Lin is still my favorite solution, and it's an excellent choice for those who already have a ...

The 'meta-distro' Gentoo makes it possible to compile and configure everything on your system exactly the way you like, providing you with more structure and tools to ease the process and automate updates. Do I still like Debian? I absolutely love it. But until fu...

If developers and packagers flesh out the details of these suggestions, modify them to iron out wrinkles and then adopt the practices, most if not all Linux software installations will be trouble-free and distribution-agnostic. (3,250 words)

If developers and packagers flesh out the details of these suggestions, modify them to iron out wrinkles and then adopt the practices, most if not all Linux software installations will be trouble-free and distribution-agnostic. (3,250 words)

Given that the GNU utilities accomplish the more difficult goal of cross-platform compatibility, it shouldn't be at all difficult to design a packaging system that solves the compatibility problems between distributions of the same Unix system. (2,000 words)

In Part 1, Our Hero examined many (though not all) of the problems with the current approaches to software-installation. This time, we take a closer look at the technological considerations behind one of the biggest issues for software-installation: shared libraries. (2,200 words)

Our Hero examines the problems with existing approaches to software installation, looks at the technical issues and alternatives, and proposes a framework for a solution. (2,100 words)

To each his own, but I like eye candy. For all its benefits and power, X11 and X Window System managers have been among the most drab and poorly rendered graphical environments for years. Recent versions of XFree86 began to support anti-aliased fonts, which helped...

There are dozens of reasons why people have underestimated how quickly Linux has been grabbing Windows' market share. Windows starts out with a false boost and maintains its illusory market share even as it gets replaced by Linux. In 2004, don't be surprised when ...

KDE is delivering a better version of what GNOME's goal has apparently morphed into: becoming a great component framework that you can write to in multiple languages. Nicholas Petreley rebuffs the common GNOME battle slogans and explains why the window-manager's n...

Our Hero installs and compares the two most popular window managers for Linux & other Unixes. His recommendation? It depends... (2,000 words)

Our Hero uncovers Microsoft's ingenious, covert marketing efforts to promote Linux and open source via its own products' security vulnerabilities. This column is intended for mature audiences with a keen eye for sarcasm. (1,600 words)

There are times when I want a lean, mean editor and times when I enjoy a good, bloated editor packed with wizards. We compare the programming editors Jext and J to Jedit and offer a revised opinion of the best Java for Linux. (2,500 words)

Java performance on Linux has yet to reach its potential. That said, I am still impressed with the current state of Java for client applications. If you want to get an feel for how much I believe Java has improved, here's a point of reference ('benchmark' is too s...

Although Mandrake 9.0 is a breeze to install, there are a few important things that Debian does better. Nicholas Petreley lists the pros and cons of Mandrake when compared to Debian and sets the record straight about his first Xoops column and his opinion of Britney...

Nicholas Petreley answers reader criticism regarding his overview of phpBB and shows how you can pass parameters back and forth between dynamically included files in spyce 1.2.8. Part four in a three-part series. (1,500 words)

How to get started working with databases, and an introduction to the Python lambda function. Third and final installment in our series on tricks, tips and techniques for making spyce work with your server. (2,000 words)

In my last article, I described a relative newcomer to the Python server-side scripting solution category: spyce. Spyce is a versatile means of integrating Python code into HTML and vice versa. Here are more tricks, tips, and techniques for making spyce work with ...

There's a new method for doing server-side Python scripting for Web applications in town, and its name is spyce. Spyce takes an approach similar to PHP. It lets you intermingle Python scripts, statements and variables with HTML to produce dynamically generated Web pages. (1,300 words)

phpBB is a good forum package despite its limitations. It's snappy, has all of the necessary features for a basic forum and is incredibly easy to set up and manage. (1,200 words)

FUDforum is a remarkable piece of work, from the installation to the actual quality of code (programmers could learn a lot from browsing the code to see how things are done). I recommend you try FUDforum for yourself if you are even the least bit intrigued by what...

The obvious solution to this problem is to lobby to get Linux pre-installed on as many PCs as possible, right? Wrong. That would help, of course, but it's not looking far enough into the future. (1,500 words)

A snapped tendon, Klingon attacks and DHCP woes had Nick Petreley in the doledrums last week at his new home in North Carolina. Luckily, a SOHOware DSL/cable router was able to fix one of these problems. Can you guess which one? (1,100 words)

Our hero heads East, and has a parting shot for PacBell's DSL service. He discovers Web hosting deals today offer good value, and free him from DSL and server worries. (1,070 words)

Debian doesn't get nearly as much attention as other distributions when it comes to updating software packages, least of all desktop environments like KDE and GNOME. If you're running Debian, here's how to install GNOME 2. (1,200 words)

I don't want to give up using Debian to run the bleeding edge versions of KDE and GNOME. I recently discovered how to have your Debian and eat recent versions of KDE and GNOME, too. You don't necessarily have to download and compile the source code to get them, either. (1,400 words)

When you give up GNOME and KDE for simpler tools like Ion, Pwm, and other minimalist window managers, you sometimes have to give up a few good things about GNOME and KDE along with the bad. File managers are one, but are easy to replace. A look at your options. (1,500 words)

I found interesting comments in a recent interview of Scott McNealy. Let me sum up McNealy's views, and what I think is right and wrong with them. We examine how open source screws up revenue models, and who cares about an OS. (1,500 words)

One of the biggest problems with desktop environments like Windows, KDE, GNOME, and others like them is that they're pretty, but they expect you to do all the work of arranging windows, minimizing applications, clicking on icons, and so on. (1,600 words)

Xfce is mostly a CDE clone, I recommend Icewm to those comfortable with the Windows 9x taskbar, Enlightenment runs quite fast & is stable, but I'm appalled by the garish look of the themes. (1,400 words)

Nicholas Petreley explores desktop Linux beyond GNOME and KDE. In this column, he examines and compares several window-managers, detailing which of these applications is best for different types of users. (1,800 words)

Despite his personal preference for GNOME/GTK and the shortcomings of current KDE applications, Nicholas Petreley explains why KDE/Qt developers are likely to outbattle GNOME/GTK developers in the quest for mainstream desktop applications. (1,300 words)

Continuing his discussion of GNOME/GTK vs. KDE/Qt, Nick Petreley explains why language support doesn't matter much, why technical merit doesn't necessarily translate to successful software and why he has a major problem with Trolltech's Qt-licensing scheme. (1,400 words)

A series on the strengths of GNOME & GTK, what programmers are getting into when they choose one over the other, and how the creators of GNOME & GTK can make their offerings better. (1,600 words)

Even if you don't have Exchange or an Exchange replacement as your back-end server, Evolution is still a powerful client for scheduling meetings with others who have similar tools. The Palm Pilot sync feature's the best for Linux users, too. (1,200 words)

Win4Lin lets you run Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes from a Linux desktop. It works well. You need a valid Windows 9x license to make it go, which points out the price of running Windows on Linux can range from less expensive to more expensive than running Windo...

Microsoft's Licensing 6.0 should make you want to avoid its software. If you can't or won't and want to run Office and Lotus Notes on your Linux desktop, Codeweaver's CrossOver Office is the best way to go. (1,200 words)