Linux has come a long way in those intervening 17 years, which are a bit like dog years with respect to how computer technology (both hardware and software) moves at an accelerated pace compared to other technologies and areas of the economy. It is hard to say if Linux is middle-aged or not, since the successors to OS/360 are still around…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/09/linux_at_17/
Linux 2.6.27 has been released. It adds a new filesystem (UBIFS) for “pure” flash-based storage, the page-cache is now lockless, much improved Direct I/O scalability and performance, delayed allocation support for ext4, multiqueue networking, data integrity support in the block layer, a function tracer, a mmio tracer, sysprof support, improved webcam support, support for the Intel wifi 5000 series and RTL8187B network cards, a new ath9k driver for the Atheros AR5008 and AR9001 chipsets, more new drivers, and many other improvements and fixes. Full list of changes can be found here.
diegocgteleline.es writes “Linux 2.6.27 has been released. It adds a new filesystem (UBIFS) for ‘pure’ flash-based storage, the page-cache is now lockless, much improved Direct I/O scalability and performance, delayed allocation support for ext4, multiqueue networking, data integrity support in the block layer, a function tracer, a mmio tracer, sysprof support, improved webcam support, support for the Intel wifi 5000 series and RTL8187B network cards, a new ath9k driver for the Atheros AR5008 and AR9001 chipsets, more new drivers, and many other improvements and fixes. Full list of changes can be found here.”
Mandriva has today released Mandriva Linux 2009, the new major release of the popular distribution. 2009 is a bold release which brings the new KDE 4 as the default desktop, along with a re-designed installer and Mandriva Control Center and many other new features. Other significant updates include GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3, Mozilla Firefox 3, and kernel 2.6.27. Key features include new graphical in-line upgrade capability, netbook compatibility, class-leading hardware support, and further improved support for working with mobile devices. For more details, see the Release Tour and the Release Notes. Get it at the download page, or go straight to the torrent list.
Every year, every major Linux development, every major distribution release sparks a volley of so-called expert opinion of this being finally the year of the Linux.
http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/10/08/linux-for-the-masses-are-we-there-yet/
An interview with Linus Torvalds in which he talked about what he likes and doesn’t like in a Linux distribution
http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/linux-torvalds-on-linux-distri.html
Reports have emerged indicating that Motorola is hiring developers with Java and Android expertise in preparation for launching a major mobile initiative on top of Google’s software platform.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081007-motorolas-linux-strategy-evolves-with-android.html
Linux is a secure and stable OS but is still vulnerable to bugs, security leaks and intrusion attacks specially if you are using it as a web server. To detect such attacks and security holes, security tools are needed. These can be used to patch up bugs, fix network leaks, prevent viruses, trojan horses and remote exploits.
http://www.dailyartisan.com/news/linux-security-tools/
The Mono project, which builds a cross-platform open-source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET framework, has announced the availability of version 2.0. This milestone release delivers compatibility with .NET 2.0 and C# 3.0 on a broad range of platforms and architectures.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081006-mono-2-0-released-brings-c-3-0-to-linux-and-other-platforms.html
Linux has had a hate/hate relationship with Broadcom. Linux users need Broadcom Wi-Fi drivers. Broadcom does a lousy job of supporting Linux. Now, a combined effort from Dell, Canonical, and Broadcom has lead to a new Linux driver for many popular Broadcom chipsets.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/new_linux_broadcom_wi_fi_drivers_arrive