"For the past 10 years, we (embedded engineers) have lived in the wake of the PC and Windows (WINTEL). I feel that the PC is taking a market-driven path that we will no longer be willing or able to follow. Linux today has everything we need and will only keep getting better. It’s virtually free and open-sourced. And, Linux is text-based so the compilers and editors really scream."

"If you're in a position where you need or want to maximize your computer's speed, all but the most compute-bound tasks will likely benefit from a faster disk drive system. Which raises the question: Aside from reading specs (which are really just a first cousin to statistics in terms of veracity), how do you evaluate the performance of a disk drive?"

"In fact, Windows (and the Mac OS) was invented in order to escape the blinking command line cursor. So why ever, even in a more stable operating system, would I choose to go back to it? Yet, that is what Linux use demands. No thank you. With all its faults, I'll stick with Windows."

"I have been running Linux for two years now and, in that time, have spent $0 on it. Linux IS free, and will always be free. Free to download, free to use and free to duplicate. Nothing Microsoft can do will stop that, and really, this is why statements like these are being made."

Open source coders can happily hack away in isolation, but if the Linux and open source community is to grow -- and finally reap some desktop apps -- somebody has to succeed on the business end.

Thirty-three year old Theodore Ts'o remembers when the Linux kernel was small enough to print out and read cover to cover, when "it was about an inch thick." That was around 1991, when he first joined the then scanty ranks of kernel hackers.

This article describes how to build a LAN using Red Hat. The article begins with the basics: an overview of the TCP/IP suite, and an explanation of assigning IP addresses in a LAN. Then the article covers the LAN hardware and configuration using a tool called LinuxConf. Lastly, the article walks you through the critical steps of testing and troubleshooting your LAN.

"As far as hardware installations go, USB Audio is one of the most painless Linux experiences I've ever had. My Microsoft speakers worked the first time they were plugged in (louder than planned, but functional)."

"While the search for truly workable open source business models remains a challenge, the SSH experience offers a textbook case of a business practice that, from what I can see, is doomed to fail."

So we decided to look around and what better place than Freshmeat (www.freshmeat.net). A little sniffing around Freshmeat and we came up with some good tools to make simple and handsome presentations. We downloaded the following software:

Prestimel

PPresenter

Magic Point