Issue 13
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Issue 13 of Free Software Magazine brings you a bunch of fine articles covering various aspects of the free software world. We have Richard Fennimore showing us how to spruce up Ubuntu, Robin Monks plays with a few of the best Tetris clones and John Goerzen tells you who to call for your free software phone needs. Plus, Robert Pogson teaches us how to set up class using Edubuntu, LTS and thin clients and much more...
Editorial
Editorial
Why Red Hat will go bust because of Ubuntu
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I don’t like writing controversial editorials. Controversy is an effective means to get a lot of accesses: most people seem to enjoy reading controversial articles, maybe because they like torturing themselves. (And yes, I used to read a lot of Maureen O’Gara’s articles myself!). Besides, controversy is a double edged sword: there’s very little chance that I would ever go back to those sites!
And yet here I am.
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User space
Changing the Ubuntu look
This article will detail how to mold the Ubuntu Gnome desktop into anything you want it to be
- 2006-08-23
- User space | Easy
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Follow along and watch while I take a stock Ubuntu desktop and transform it something really slick!
Introduction
Window borders, icons, splash images and other graphical user interface (GUI) preferences are largely a subjective thing. Still, it’s nice to have the tools available to transform the GUI into something that is more pleasing to your eye. Fortunately, GNU/Linux makes it relatively easy to mould your desktop environment into whatever suits your taste, and Ubuntu is no exception.
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Free software games: Tetris clones
Free software need not be boring
- 2006-08-16
- User space | Easy
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Free software has populated almost every sector of the computer software arena: from office suites to encyclopedias to full operating systems. One genre of computer software that most people overlook when thinking of free software is gaming. The fact is, sites such as Freshmeat have literally thousands of free software and freeware games for a huge variety of operating systems.
Free software has populated almost every sector of the computer software arena
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Printing with Ubuntu
Insights for a quick and easy Ubuntu printer installation
- 2006-06-02
- User space | Easy
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Ubuntu makes printing reasonably easy and straightforward. This brief article is for those who need a specific and encouraging step-by-step guide. I hope that this article will not only ensure that you print with ease, but that you have every reason to enjoy a productive GNU/Linux desktop.
Before you begin the installation steps below, connect your printer/s. You need to do this prior to turning your system on. This helps to ensure Ubuntu recognizes how the printer is connected to the system, and it allows Ubuntu to identify the specific printer port.
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Server side
Asterisk
The software phone company
- 2006-09-01
- Server side | Intermediate
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Asterisk is a phone system in software. It can replace large and expensive business phone systems, powering thousands of extensions, or it can help home users save money on long distance. Because it’s implemented in software, it is extremely versatile, easy to customize, and easy to extend.
The need for Asterisk
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- 55531 reads
Edubuntu, Linux Terminal Server and thin clients
Magic on your LAN
- 2006-08-30
- Server side | Intermediate
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You walk into the room. It’s cool and quiet. You see thirty new workstations giving great service. Your cost of hardware was CAD$350 for each workstation, CAD$10 to connect it to an existing 100Mbps LAN, and about CAD$60 for a share of a server in another room (CAD$1 = US$0.87). Your software costs were only some download and CD burn time and forty minutes for installation. Your operating costs are virtually nil. The server runs for months without a reboot. The workstations have nothing but network boot loaders. You back up only one machine, the server.
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Introduction to Content Management Systems
Spend your time managing information, not technology
- 2006-08-25
- Server side | Intermediate
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In the beginning, the web was simple. You used Mosaic to browse it. You used a text editor to construct pages on it in a language called HTML. If you weren’t a techie, you probably didn’t even know it existed. Then people realised that even non-techies had useful information (“content”) to share. So the Content Management System (CMS) was born.
What is a CMS?
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- 26347 reads
Mind set
Security bulletins, computers, and cars
Changing the oil in your computer
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If you’re connected to the internet, you are vulnerable to attacks. I don’t care what operating system, which browser, what firewall, anti-virus, or anti-spyware you have installed—there’s a vulnerability on your system somewhere. Even the tools security researchers use to analyze attacks can be used against their owners as a way of breaking into their machines.
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Towards a free matter economy—part 7
A free future in space
- 2006-08-18
- Mind set | Intermediate
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If you had a matter economy based on free-licensed design, what would you do with it? Why does this apply to space settlements? Are there practical projects? Who would need them? Why is free-design the right way to go? This final installment in the free matter economy series will attempt to answer these questions by taking a brief tour of the kinds of roadblocks that lead to the concept of applying free software methods to space.
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Software patents
An adventure in US patents for software and business methods
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Demonstrations over the proposed “Software Patent Directive” in Europe (since rejected by the EU Parliament) were sometimes quite theatrical, and involved at least one “naval battle”. Mikko Rauhala created an ingenious way to counteract the influence of large corporations who were promoting the idea that software patents should be allowed in Europe—he collected pledges of money from the public to offer as bribes to politicians. A “Software Patent Violation Contest” was also organised.
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Yah , we digg it
Submitted by khangtoh on Tue, 2006-08-01 15:25.
Vote!but now the site is so slow and I can't download my mag.... bummer...
Thanks!
Submitted by Mauro Bieg on Tue, 2006-08-01 20:34.
Vote!Great! A new issue!
I'm glad to see that the recent increase in blog posts wasn't at the expense of high quality issues.
Thanks!
Tetris Clone
Submitted by timothyp on Wed, 2006-08-02 14:25.
Vote!I made an open source tetris clone once :p
http://blogs.homelinux.org/docs/doku.php?id=projects:netris
Thanks
Submitted by G. van Essen on Thu, 2006-08-03 16:24.
Vote!Great issue again this time. Keep up the good work guys.
Just dugg.
Gerard
www.gvanessen.com
great people still lives
Submitted by Ujwal on Fri, 2006-08-04 00:42.
Vote!great then the greatest.
well it lost minds.
thanks
DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM DOWNLOADING?
Submitted by admin on Fri, 2006-08-04 07:40.
Vote!Please don't post the problem here!
If you need assistance of a technical nature, read this.
This is the place to post comments/feedback about the content of Issue 13 as a whole.
Thanks for your feedback!
The magazine is improving
Submitted by Sidheeque on Thu, 2007-04-12 07:36.
Vote!The magazine is improving month by month.I find every article very interesting
very good magazine
Submitted by ankojirao on Fri, 2007-04-13 07:24.
Vote!this is a very good magazine that describes all the latest technologies.