Archive for the 'Linux' category

After years of preparation and beta-phase, finally, Wine has been able to reach launch as Wine 1.0. Why is it significant? Because this is the software package designed to be able to run many Windows applications from a GNU/Linux distribution. If you want to switch to Linux, you may not be willing to abandon some of the applications that were developped for Windows.

Wine is there to solve the problem. It runs many games and it runs Photoshop CS2 and CS3 from the box (I did not test it myself, though). It was the plain objective of Google when they allocated money and developers to support this project. They reached their goal.

It is probably the right time to try OpenSuse 11.0 (one of the best new Linux distributions) with Wine.

See also: Run Windows Apps in Linux with Wine 1.0.

As you certainly already know if you follow regularly this web site, the Internet addresses will soon be depleted (all used). The end of the Internet world as we know it should be reached around 2011 or 2012. That is the reason why some companies are working to push out the most common Internet protocol (IPv4) and to make space for its successor (IPv6).

This is why, while the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) was preparing a night without IPv4 to reach the largest possible public, Google launched a version of its search engine reserved to IPv6: ipv6.google.com (If you are like almost everybody, you will not see anything at the end of the link).

Now, we all have to switch as soon as possible.

Usually, I would not comment about upcoming software applications and tools, but today there is an rumour that may be very important. We all know that switching from Windows to Linux is a difficult move because we have been used to so many applications available on one Operating System but not on the other (in my case, how could I do without Photoshop?)

Here comes Wine, an open source tool supposed to allow you to run native Windows applications in your Linux PC. In beta during years, Wine was incomplete and unable to provide the ultimate dream of OS migration, but things seem to be changing. Google invested a lot of effort, and it is said that version 1.0 of Wine is upcoming.

One of the important things I noticed, of course, is that there are plenty of games now supported (Baldur’s Gate II - Throne of Baal, Call of Duty 2, World of Warcraft, etc.) and I see that both Photoshop CS2 and CS3 are also in the list.

You (and I) should be trying this…

We never can get enough of them, but our computers are sometimes overflowing. Software applications are everywhere, but how to choose the right one for the task at hand? I built a real collection of pages where you will be able to find nearly all you can dream for nearly all computers:

• Five important security apps for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows
• Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software
• The Windows Apps You Never Need To Install
• Battle of the Free Windows Software Firewalls; We have to admit that there is no longer any good reason to pay for your computer security under Windows.
• Top 100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications
• Logiciels gratuits from TutoWeb.
• Now, to look into the future, Sneak peek at OpenOffice.org 3.0
• And, last but not least, for old dinosaurs, let’s remind you that you can still use VAX-VMS on your Linux PC. If you don’t know what I am saying, either you’re too young, or you never received a hacker education. Or both.

If you have an old collection of PC MS-DOS games that has been sleeping at the bottom of a drawer, you may have two approaches: A/ you prefer to forget the old pixels and buy new games, B/ you were so found of those that you want to play even on your newest PC. However, it is difficult because most of these run only in a DOS box, but are so unusable because of the speed of the processor and the limited compatibility of the sound and graphics.

Now DOSBox.com offers a real solution with a free emulator.

Usable for MS-Windows, most Linux boxes, some Apple OS and OS/2.

Some GNU/Linux lovers like to optimize their Linux kernel with many recompilations. This is not absolutely needed, but a quite common hobby there. However, it is quite difficult to do correctly. Tips for successful Kernel Recompilation in Linux by bobcares.com.

Your good old laptop PC went back to meet its maker and you can’t accept the idea of dumping it into the next waste basket (not even considering recycling, would you really want to part in such a harsh way?). Let’s not forget some of the few uses that you can still have from the old mate:

If you are interested in GNU/Linux and want some useful e-reading, you should jump to this list of free ebooks related to Linux from LinuxHaxor.net.

When you have a computer with multiple partitions on the same disk or several disks with different partitions, things start getting bad if one of them is a Linux Ext or Ext2 partition: Usually, you can’t access the Linux partition from your Windows computer, Microsoft totally ignore your disk/partition.

In order to correct this, you can/must use a special Windows driver able to recognize correctly those Linux Ext/Ext2 partitions. Ext2 IFS provides full read/write access. It’s is essentially a kernel ext2/ext3 filesystem driver for Windows. When installed in your Windows computer, it simply becomes able to natively access the Linux disk. After installing, you can mount your Linux partition under a drive letter, just like you would an NTFS partition. The drive will be available in Explorer and within any file browser dialog in your favorite Windows applications.

Download from fs-driver.org.

A good 2-part tutorial from C|net.

• Dual-Boot Windows and Linux, Step 1: Get Ubuntu
• Dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu Linux

You install your PC some time ago, it may be necessary to clean it up a little in order to keep or improve its raw speed. As a matter of fact, even if we are no longer in the old times of Windows 98 that were nearly forcing you to a re-install once or twice a year, it is not unusual to see that installing many new software packages (voluntarily or indirectly) leads to tons of data and roadblacks for your PC.

Here are a few solutions to improve the situation:

• Optimize Windows start with the help of Microsoft BootVis (source: LH).
• Optimize Linux start (a previous article on Roumazeilles.net: Linux boot sequence in images).
• Clean up a Linux installation with FSLint which will find -for example- duplicate files (source: DS).
• CCleaner for Windows.
• Slim Down and Speed Up Linux (LH)

I hope it will help you in securing a faster PC whatever your prefered Operating System.