Linux

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  • Review

    Dell's Linux laptop has good hardware, decent toolkit

    Posted May 6, 2013 - 11:28 am

    Our Linux pros check out the decked-out XPS 13 'Developer Edition' laptop, preloaded with Ubuntu and other tools.
  • Review

    Where's the beef? Fedora releases 'Spherical Cow'

    Posted April 8, 2013 - 11:12 am

    After being delayed seven times due to reported problems with the new installer, Fedora 18 has arrived.
  • Review

    Linux Live USB Creator makes it easier to install Linux

    Posted January 6, 2013 - 10:09 pm

    There used to be a time when Microsoft Windows ruled the operating system world. But in recent years, the free and open source Linux operating system has taken a big bite out of Windows' dominance. But Linux has always had an image problem of seeming too difficult and unwieldy to install and learn, with a steep learning curve attached.
  • Review

    GNOME 2: Still king of the Linux desktop

    Posted December 28, 2012 - 8:53 pm

    It seems fair to say that Linux users enjoy a degree of choice that's unmatched by the proprietary players in the desktop computing world, what with the wide variety of both distributions and desktop environments from which they can choose.
  • Review

    Raspberry Pi, Cotton Candy, and MK802 II face off in this battle of pint-size PCs

    Posted December 17, 2012 - 4:43 pm

    They're incredibly small and surprisingly powerful: We tell you what these devices are capable of, and how well they perform.
  • Review

    Two new Asus laptops offer an Ubuntu Linux option

    Posted October 16, 2012 - 8:33 pm

    As the arrival of Windows 8 draws ever nearer, it's not surprising to see the debut of a flurry of devices featuring the new OS.
  • Review

    DOSBox: Free, open-source DOS emulation

    Posted September 29, 2012 - 7:25 am

    Running games during the DOS era was trouble enough, and today exploring those old games can be a nightmare. Sound card issues, memory management and other peculiarities of early PC gaming amplified as OS technology progressed and passed these titles by, leaving many of them orphaned and unable to run on modern systems. Today's answer to this problem isn't digging up an old system or rooting around for special drivers, it's emulation: free and open-source DOSBox.
  • Review

    Linux Mint 13 leaves sour aftertaste

    Posted September 4, 2012 - 2:25 pm

    With Ubuntu 12.04 LTS as its underpinnings, Linux Mint 13 (Maya) was recently released in three versions, KDE (new), Xfce, and Gnome-Cinnamon. We tested each version separately and while we still like Mint, we're accumulating a nagging list of bugs -- some of which are the fault of Ubuntu, and some are the twists that Linux Mint takes on its own.
  • Review

    Linux favorite email client Claws Mail works well on Windows... once email is imported

    Posted July 10, 2012 - 7:11 pm

    Claws Mail is a great basic email client on its native Linux platform, and the Windows port I looked at is done very nicely. It lacks automatic account configuration à la Outlook, but it supports multiple accounts, filters, and has a threaded view of messages. It's attractively simple, but could use a better way to import existing email and addresses.
  • Review

    Ubuntu targets the mainstream

    Posted June 18, 2012 - 1:27 pm

    With Ubuntu 12.04, Canonical has delivered a much improved product that spans desktops, servers and the cloud in a bid to become the cross-platform mainstream product that Apple's Mac OS might have been had Apple not abandoned the server market.
  • Review

    Mint is fun, client-focused Linux distro

    Posted January 6, 2012 - 8:32 pm

    When Ubuntu decided last year to abruptly replace the familiar Gnome UI with its own Unity interface, many users were upset. And according to the latest numbers from DistroWatch, Linux Mint has been the major beneficiary, so we decided to test Linux Mint 12.
  • Review

    Ubuntu breaks from the Linux pack

    Posted June 13, 2011 - 6:45 am

    Ubuntu 11.04 (nicknamed Natty Narwhal) marks a decided change in direction for the Linux-based operating system. The biggest change is that Canonical, the organizer of Ubuntu, is replacing the Gnome/KDE desktop environment with a new user interface called Unity.
  • Review

    Ubuntu 11.04: Is Natty Narwhal the best Linux desktop ever?

    Posted May 5, 2011 - 8:29 am

    With its new Unity interface, Ubuntu 11.04 doesn't look or act like any other desktop Linux you've ever seen. It's not just a new take on the desktop, it's a new take on the interface for all devices.
  • Review

    Seven free security tools for Linux

    Posted April 12, 2011 - 3:22 pm

    One of the big advantages of using Linux is that its security tends to be so much better than that of the competing alternatives. That's due in large part to the way Linux assigns permissions, but it's also certainly true that the open source operating system is targeted by malware writers far less frequently than Windows is, in particular, simply because it's less widely used and so much more diverse.
  • Review

    Universal USB installer

    Posted March 30, 2011 - 12:58 pm

    "Live" distributions of Linux offer a wonderful convenience for those not quite ready to commit to the open-source operating system. By booting Linux directly from a CD (which you burn from a downloaded .iso file), you can try it out without first installing it onto your hard drive. But live Linux CDs have their problems. Optical media is slow. It's also read-only, limiting your ability to configure the operating system. Finally, many of today's netbooks and ultraportable laptops don't have an optical drive. The Universal USB Installer (free) offers a simple and elegant solution to those problems.
  • Review

    OpenSUSE 11.4: A blast from Linux past

    Posted March 21, 2011 - 3:56 pm

    OpenSUSE is back with a new, improved version, but it reminds me of how spoiled I've been by other Linux distributions. I've liked openSUSE since before it was named openSUSE and went by the unlikely name S.u.S.E Linux 4.2 back in 1996. It's come a long, long way since then.
  • Review

    Image gallery: OpenSUSE 11.4

    Posted March 21, 2011 - 3:43 pm

    This image gallery accompanies the ITworld review of OpenSUSE 11.4.
  • Review

    CrunchBang Linux

    Posted February 22, 2011 - 12:41 pm

    A lot of modern Linux distributions created with desktop users in mind go out of their way to be user friendly. Ubuntu, Mint, openSUSE, Fedora -- and many more. It is a sign of how desktop Linux has matured that even non-techy types can get a fully featured and easy-to-use open source operating system up and running in not much time at all. The creators of CrunchBang Linux, however, haven't quite gone in the same direction.
  • Review

    Red Hat builds gutsy, green virtualization machine

    Posted January 24, 2011 - 12:53 pm

    Three years in the making, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ( RHEL) 6 is a gutsy, green upgrade that features native support for KVM, the Linux kernel-based virtual machine.
  • Review

    RHEL 6 is built, and priced, for big shops

    Posted December 22, 2010 - 9:38 am

    Latest iteration of Red Hat's iconic Linux distribution offers some shops a substantial upgrade and, for others, a fork in the road
  • Review

    ITworld review: Arch Linux for Linux fundamentalists

    Posted December 9, 2010 - 8:26 am

    Are you a Linux user who likes to set things up 'just so,' but don't want to build it from source code? Then Arch Linux is for you.
  • Review

    ITworld review: Fedora 14 is leading-edge Linux

    Posted November 1, 2010 - 1:57 pm

    If you want to live right on the cutting edge of what Linux can do, then Fedora is the Linux distribution for you.
  • Review

    Image Gallery: Dropbox

    Posted October 6, 2010 - 12:50 pm

    No matter your platform, with Dropbox and an Internet connection you can get to your files.
  • Review

    ITworld Review: Dropbox on Linux

    Posted October 6, 2010 - 12:47 pm

    Dropbox, a popular cloud service, lets you store, sync, and share files over the Internet.
  • Review

    ITworld review: Ubuntu 10.10 scores close to a ten

    Posted October 1, 2010 - 1:16 pm

    Ubuntu 10.10 (a.k.a. Maverick Meerkat), the latest Ubuntu Linux distribution, isn't quite a perfect ten as its heads towards release, but it's pretty darn close.
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