Wyse Technology today broadened its Linux-based thin-client portfolio with the introduction of two new thin clients, the Wyse Winterm 5125XE and the Winterm 5455XL.

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)

Joe Barr is happy to have a Ximian desktop again, and hopes he doesn't have to go a long time without it in the future. Want a polished desktop? Give it a try!

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 copy of Windows 98 SE or one of the other supported Windows versions. (2,000 words)

At the risk of sounding blasé, Mandrake 9.1 is a pretty standard distribution, and consists of the latest KDE, GNOME, OpenOffice.org, Xine, Apache, MySQL, PHP, and PostgreSQL. The PowerPack version comes with 60-days of support via e-mail. The higher-priced ProSuite version of Mandrake comes with 60 days of telephone support and some additional server software. (1900 words)

In the late 1980s, I wrote an online bridge game for Portal. The world has changed a lot since then, but the itch remains. I decided to scratch the old itch again: I'm writing a bridge game, this time for online play over the Internet and on Linux.

I decided to put my Red Hat Network subscription to greater use. I normally use RHN to run up2date at least weekly so I can keep up with the latest security fixes and updates. This week, I decided to download the iso images of 'shrike' (Red Hat's code-word for its new release) and upgrade my desktop from Red Hat 8 to Red Hat 9. (1,560 words)

With all the chatter accompanying two WINE-related announcements over the past week or so, Joe Barr thought it might be a good time to take a long look at the WINE project to see what all the fuss has been about. (1,400 words)

Here are the basic steps to adding 120 gigabytes of storage to your

I've been hanging around all the gaming channels I can find on irc.freenode.net over the past week or so, trying to learn more about the Linux gaming scene. There are more top-quality games available today than ever before, and the pipeline is filled with more jewels to come. (1,500 words)

I assumed I could boot the well-known Linux distributions from a CD-ROM drive, make some on-screen selections, let the distribution know what hardware to use, twiddle my thumbs for a while as it loaded software and configured itself, and then have a working system. Was I ever wrong. (8,000 words) © Tsu Dho Nimh

Tricks, tips and techniques for installing one of the greatest timesinks ever invented on Linux. Hurry, Lady Aribeth has a secret mission, and you need to find and recover the Waterdhavian creatures! (1,400 words)

Now that Linux boasts full-featured office suites, there's no reason it can't become a boon for small- and home-offices. Joe Barr compares two Optical Character Recognition packages -- Kooka & Gocr (free software) and OCR Shop (proprietary) -- that may be of special value in the legal and medical fields. While Joe finds one of the packages to be clearly superior in terms of performance, his personal pick of the two applications might surprise you. (1,500 words)

In the Browser Wars' latest scrap, MSN 'optimized' Opera browsers by sending instructions to shift text 30 pixels to the left. Opera responded by releasing a humorous 'Bork version' of its Windows browser, but Microsoft's track record in dealing with competitors isn't so funny -- and neither are the possible repercussions. (1,600 words)

OpenOffice.org is more sophisticated and powerful than I realized. It can be made to work with various database-management systems, and it can do the mailmerge functions required by many SOHO types. Ease-of-use issues need attention.

Thanks in no small part to a helpful how-to piece by John McCreesh, Joe Barr shows us how to get ODBC, MySQL and OpenOffice to treat each other with respect. And don't forget to tune in next week, when Joe tells all regarding his attempts to use MySQL from within OpenOffice (1,500 words)

Looking for a software solution to help him access his home desktop remotely, Joe Barr finds even more than he'd hoped for in TightVNC. (1,470 words)

Maybe we're taking the whole recycling thing too far, but the Linux.SYS-CON.com editors decided to do a little archive-diving for the most interesting, popular, controversial and recyclable Linux stories of 2002. As a year-end treat, we've posted our list of standout stories here and added a few insights from the authors, as well. (2,000 words)

At wit's end due to crowded shopping malls, miserable weather and that FAO Schwartz song that plays over and over and over until you lose your mind? Have no fear: an open-source, first-person-shooter game called Cube can help relieve some of your stress, and Joe Barr is here to tell you how. (1,300 words)

A reader asks, 'Can I run any Linux application on Windows and any Windows application on Linux? If yes, how? Where can I get a tutorial on starting with Linux and its benefits? How can I install Linux on my system? From where I can get Linux applications?' Here's our shot at answering this reader's questions. (1,500 words)

Ever since his own jump to open source, Joe Barr has been hearing complaints from Linux newbies and never really bought into any of them. Until now. Joe points out three major obstacles for anyone making the jump to Linux and explains how the operating system's usability can improve. (1,700 words)

The pluses for Mandrake installation are its speed and the absolute ease of obtaining and applying updates. It completely obliterates the Windows contenders in both the update category and the installation of attached devices. (1,900 words)

Joe Barr tests the installation process for the sample version of Xandros 1.0. Our hero finds that the Distribution Formerly Known As Corel Linux isn't just pretty... it's pretty darn easy to install, too. (2,200 words)

I am one of those people that just love to get their hands on new operating systems, distributions of operating systems, anything about operating systems just simply fascinates me. . . . Out of all the programs, applications, gadgets, and peripherals that abound for computers, operating systems seem to intrigue me the most. Why? I don't know for sure, other than they are the base of all that will or can happen in your PC environment. I received a copy of the personal Lycoris Desktop/LX (Amethyst). So after trying out ELX I decided to give Lycoris a shot at sitting in control of my Dell Desktop.

First, we compared the reinstallation of Windows 2000 to a fresh installation of Red Hat 7.3. Then we brought in a newbie to install Windows XP, on the theory that the latest Windows would be the state of the art in convenience and speed. In this installment, we compare all to the latest release from Red Hat. (1,600 words)

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)

Have you ever heard of this distro? Not many have. I ran across it by accident one day, and since I'm always looking at what's available - both mainstream and not as well publicized - I decided to check it out.

Joe Barr responds to reader feedback about his recent Red Hat vs. Win2000 install comparison and accepts the challenge to put Windows XP installation up to the test. Will Windows enthusiasts win out and force Joe to eat crow, or will Red Hat remain the quickest and easiest install tested yet? Part two in a continuing series (2,000 words)

If you are a committed Linux user running an RPM-based distribution with a need for ViaVoice Dictation, I recommend that you beg, borrow, or steal a copy of the Mandrake PowerPack Edition 8.0 instead of trying the IBM commercial offering. Part 2 in a series. (1,200 words)

The boxed version of IBM's ViaVoice Dictation for Linux is one of the most poorly delivered commercial offerings I have seen for Linux or any other platform. If you need voice recognition software, get Mandrake or SuSE, which bundle ViaVoice Dictation.

Joe Barr walks us through his experience with GnuCash personal-accounting software. His conclusion? GnuCash is good enough to trust with his miniature donkey farm’s bookkeeping.

Knoppix is an 'instant demo' distribution. You make (or buy) a bootable CD, plop it in your CD drive, and reboot. Voila, THAT is your installation. (1,200 words)

I expected Windows 2000's installation would be seamless, fast, and lightyears ahead of upstart Red Hat's by any measure I could concoct. It turns out the Windows 2000 Pro installation is superior to Linux, but in two dubious categories. (2,000 words)

I called my local Staples Store and asked when they were expecting delivery of the New Red Hat Linux 7.3. I was put on hold, as usual, and waited a minute. When a sales representative came on line, I repeated the question, and was placed back on hold. Again, about another minute. Don't they realize how important this is? The sales representative came back on line and told me they don't have it, they're expecting it in, but he couldn't tell me when that would be. I thanked him for his time and promptly hung up. I then went to my computer and went online to http://www.redhat.com. I surfed to the products window, reading about all the goodies and neat stuff that would be included in this distribution. I wanted the Red Hat Linux Professional, but it was little too rich for my blood, so I ordered the Red Hat Personal 7.3. Took about 10 minutes, received a confirmation e-mail and was told it would be here in just two days. I could handle that.

Have you ever received offers by mail, e-mail, or phone to the point you just wanted to scream? I have. It got to the point where no matter what I received I would set it aside for later. (Later being the next day or the next Millennium). I appreciated receiving all the CDs and products for use, demo and evaluation, however, at times.it became overwhelming. Due to this I almost missed one of the most fantastic products I have ever used; CrossTecCorp's 'NetOp Remote Access'.

Real Linux geeks do everything from the command line. Run programs, manage files, administer networks-all that fun stuff. We don't need no stinkin' mouse clicks.

The Linux desktop world reached another milestone in April when the third major version of the K Desktop Environment (KDE 3.0) hit download servers.

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)