Mark R. Hinkle

Last Monday at the Desktop Linux Consortium Conference at Boston University’s Tyngsboro, Massachusetts Campus there was a lot of talk about a “UserLinux” distribution. The topic was sparked by remarks by Bruce Perens who voiced a need for a distribution that was designed to meet community needs for a desktop operating system based on the Linux community favorite Debian distribution. I contacted Bruce who has been kind enough to interject some comments to my own text. They are marked [thus]. The thought of UserLinux sparked my thinking. The thing I like about Linux is that it’s infinitely customizable to meet the needs of almost any situation. However, for it to be a viable desktop for the masses there seems to me that there has to be some common features that a large number of Linux desktop users would appreciate. I thought about this quite a bit and started my li... (more)

Making Sure Migration Is an Option

As time passes, the base of Linux users is growing in the data center, desktop, and even embedded electronic devices. Numbers from industry analysts point out that Linux server shipments have shown double-digit growth every quarter for over two years. In many cases these servers are being used for expansion or new projects. Inevitably they will be put into service to replace systems that once ran Unix or Windows. In these cases there is usually an event like a hardware upgrade due to obsolescence or capacity concerns, software maintenance renewal, or other occasion that drives t... (more)

EOS Editorial —The Times They Are a Changing

In the 1964 Bob Dylan song The Time's They are A-Changin' it says, "Come gather 'round people, wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown, And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin' then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin." When the gifted songwriter first sang those words Linux didn't exist. For that matter neither did Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds. However, now halfway through 2006 the Open Source ranks are growing by leaps and bounds, and if you d... (more)

*SPECIAL Linux.SYS-CON.com ANALYSIS* Bruce Perens White Paper on UserLinux

Linux evangelist Bruce Perens has made available his first draft, UserLinux: Repairing the Economic Paradigm of Enterprise Linux. Which at first read sounds like a good idea, even though it seems to bear many similarities to United Linux. UnitedLinux to date seems to have had very little impact on the Linux user community - due to SCO’s participation and the lack of unilateral support by Linux distribution vendors, most notably Red Hat. Analysis of UnitedLinux’s results to date may be helpful to those thinking about jumping on the UserLinux bandwagon. This is not to say that UserLi... (more)

CPUBuilders by Stratitec Linux Computer System

Colleagues and friends often ask me about Linux since they see it referenced everywhere from Business Week to quirky IBM and Dell commercials during football games. I am always eager to share my experiences - I say that it takes a bit of time to get up to speed, but it's worth it in the end, especially for those people who have been victims of the latest computer virus. The biggest hurdle for them is usually installing Linux. However, recent home-user PCs are making it even more practical to take the first step into Linux. Wichita, Kansas-based PC builders Stratitec announced a ... (more)