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Slackware forum has a link to the white hat's page. Here you can get a very neat proggy that will root you in less than 200 if you are still unpatched.

Personally, I love the new OSS. What I don't love, is the pain in the ass procedure to get it installed. I'm no guru, but I'm no dummy either. It took me about 3 hours to get OSS4 installed. Yeah, it was GREAT - but it was just to much sweat. Every once in a while, I do another search for a distro that ships with OSS4 instead of PA/ALSA. No luck so far.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/list-of-distributions-that-have-oss4-in-their-repos-683617/

You should probably mention that to the nVidia, ATI, and Linux folks so they can stop working on it.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/programming-9/opencl-on-linux-693926/

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/opencl-download.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/03/ati_stream_sdk_2_dot_1/

I've been running current, which is now equivalent to 13.1 and it's working well.

A reminder to all: please seed the SW torrents and come to Linux Questions to discuss problems.

There are going to be quite a few storage service names thrown out as well as compression schemes.

1. Storage vendors you run real risk of having the data go away. There's a huge liability balancing act going this route.
2. Compression schemes. As someone who has lost data to compression errors, the consequences of 'just' compressing a file can be huge. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/recovering-files-from-corrupt-tar-archive...-326716/ (not my post, but similar story)

I would suggest building tape archives, but as I mentioned above, this can be more hazardous than it should be. (ANY backup exec admin who have blindly relied on Symantec's solution without testing, testing, testing have horror stories)

Finally, I'd probably go with WORM optical media as the final storage media with a tape backup. There are lots of process decisions after just recommending hardware, so you are hardly done.

Hm, to quote a near-forgotten troll; "You Do It Wrong"

ProTip: Hit linuxquestions.org and post a detailed outline of your problem. Be sure to include things like versions, names of distributions, and how many servers^H^H^H^H^H^H^H desktops you're having this issue on.

I'm sure you're not running X on bootup on a server, right?

In another instance,

Nicholas Harbour, who at the time was working for the Department of Defense Computer Forensics Lab (DCFL)

wrote a loving modified dd that writes to multiple files and streams to multiple programs at the same time. The program, dcfldd, also introduces the sorely missed VERIFY operation, and even block-by-block hashes, ( dcfldd Man page)

Maybe someone will combine this with dd_rescue, ddrescue and dd_rhelp to make the ultimate "Convert and Copy" utility :-)

Ah and I can dream of SCTP support too :-)

I play BSD-games, insensitive clod.

I bought an HL-1240 in 2001 for $300 ($100 less than HP's cheapest laser at the time). The printer (and the stock toner cartridge) have lasted me through 2009 without any issues (I print occasionally, and it's nice to never have toner dry-out). Over the years, Brother supplied XP and Vista drivers (despite the fact that none of these OSes were out when I bought the thing), and good CUPS support meant it worked well on OS X and Linux.

I only had to buy a replacement recently because the toner cart got damaged, and I had to choose between a new cart ($50 or more) or a new printer ($120). I decided to see how much the technology had improved in 8 years, so I bought the Brother HL-2170W. On XP and OS X, the wireless configuration was a breeze, and it has worked without a hitch. The Linux support for the wireless is more involved - there is a CUPS driver, but you'll have to configure the wireless manually.

The new printer is even faster than my old one, and because it's wireless, I can stick it in whatever damn room I please. And the networking already supports IPv6, so I can depend on this network printer being future-proof.

Someone please start one of these sites for Linux questions, particularly with regard to questions about install, graphics, sound, and drivers. It could actually make the Linux experience much smoother for someone just getting started.

I appreciate sites such as LinuxQuestions.org, but the StackOverflow approach could really bring some improvements. Looking at the highest ranked answer is a much nicer approach than scanning through 14 pages of comments.

If your ISP is blocking outbound port 25, all you need to do is configure your mailer to forward to their server. For Sendmail, if your ISP's mail server doesn't require SMTP AUTH, just add one line defining SMART_HOST to your site's .mc file. Otherwise, you have to compile Sendmail with SASL support (which allows you to use inbound SMTP auth as well), and configure SMTP AUTH for outbound mail. (If you're one of those neanderthals who edit sendmail.cf directly, you should be hit over the head with the bat book.)

But if your ISP is blocking inbound port 25, they are stupid. There is no point in blocking inbound port 25 to customers, at least not for preventing spam or malware.

From http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/sid-adobe-flasplugin-is-reinstall-required-but-apt-cant-find-archive-for-it-727572/ and http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/cant-open-synaptic-after-trying-install-flash-deb-of-ubuntu-739384/:

"... edit file /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin.prerm and removed all lines after set -e. This solved the problem."

I guess deb file was for Ubuntu and not Debian. :(

From http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/sid-adobe-flasplugin-is-reinstall-required-but-apt-cant-find-archive-for-it-727572/ and http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/debian-26/cant-open-synaptic-after-trying-install-flash-deb-of-ubuntu-739384/:

"... edit file /var/lib/dpkg/info/adobe-flashplugin.prerm and removed all lines after set -e. This solved the problem."

I guess deb file was for Ubuntu and not Debian. :(

Microsoft Money is the one app I still miss from the Microsoft platform. There's nothing like it for Linux.

Well if you really want to run Linux on your PC and still want to lock yourself into products that only run under an Microsoft OS there are two ways of approaching this problem. Obviously the first step is to install a recent Linux distribution on your PC then.

1. Run Microsoft Money under Wine (it does work) or
2. Run a (cough!) legitimate version of MS Windows under virtualisation such as Vmware or Virtualbox (there are others as well) and install MS Money as normal. At least the installed MS Windows will be sand boxed.

The total cost of installing MS Money under Linux is exactly the same as if you installed it under MS Windows and the same is true for all MS Windows centric software.

Of course a quick Google search will display Linux software equivalents to MS Windows software. In the case of MS Money you have GnuCash, KMyMoney, jGnash, MoneyDance, Grisbi, PLCash, CrossOver Office with Quicken, lazy8ledger. All run natively under Linux on the Intel architecture and if you don't like the free solutions you can pay for a proprietary solution that will work under Linux.

Mind you, I have to help out my Windows-using friends as well :(

You didn't hear? The best IT friend excuse was formed, it goes by: "I'm sorry man, I never learned Vista so I can't help you. :(". Seriously though it's the best excuse I've found for bailing out of those people-taking-advantage-of-your-juicy-brain situations.

Back to the topic though. I understand your argument about scattered and misleading information, but this is a self solving problem caused by the small magnitude of Linux. As Linux grows, so will this problem shrink. However there are still many detailed and very helpful resources for your distro, if you're using any major distro. My favourite being gentoo wiki. Apart from you have the regular Ubuntu resources, launchpad, ubuntuforums etc. In addition to this you have great independent resources such as linuxquestions.org

I like to use Ubuntu a lot, as you might notice, in my examples. Not because it's "the master distro", not at all actually. But it's unique in a way where "automagic" is a key word. This is what the common user wants, and we will see more ubuntu-like distros coming as time goes. For now I support Ubuntu as much as I support FOSS simply because it's a milestone in FOSS development that has already made it to history, any person whom doesn't recognize that fact is lying to himself. You don't have to promote it, you don't have to use it, you don't even have to like it, but you should never lie about what it is.

Retired? Really? Not a week ago. He may have given the CEO reins over to our favorite chair tosser, but he's still Chairman of Microsoft. No doubt his stock option package is quite good.

That's good for Microsoft, too. Three nines of companies don't long survive the loss of their founders. As Damon Runyon said, "The race may not always be to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet".

The fall may have even begun before he retired as CEO. When SCO's backstop with Baystar dried up, Microsoft lost all of its credibility in the smoke filled rooms where the real money makes deals. Who knows how much this cost RBC and the other partners? Gates will spend the rest of his life trying to make amends, but those who suffered will never forget. You can't swing a billion dollars without somebody dies, and the dead stay dead no matter how many soup kitchens you volunteer in afterward.

Eventually, pigeons come home to roost. The devil will have his due.

Yet there's no such thing as fsync() in standard ANSI C. But there is fflush().
A few years back there was a discussion about the confusion on Linux: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/programming-9/fflush-and-fsync-378849/

[Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim] Zemlin says the Linux Foundation wants to build a collaborative forum where Linux users can share ideas and get information on the Linux operating system.

Great, but do we really need a new linux forum?

Right now, pointing newbies at Google is one of the big linux turnoffs for them.

They DO need to learn that "The only stupid question is one that you could easily answer yourself." I have said that for 20 years or so. Google and forum searches should be their first thought. Understanding the results comes after asking better questions. I myself still need help from time to time, but instead of asking what I call stupid questions, I go to a search function. Only after such do I ask a better, more informed question if needed. You could, in your answer, post that you found the result on google.com or a forum search by searching for what they asked. Don't just tell them to search, show them that they can! After all, are we not the admin of our own computers? Yes, just telling them to RTFM is the worst idea. Instead, tell them how to find TFM and that you are there to help them understand what they found. If they found nothing, there might not be a FM, then help them anyway.

Apache is a different situation. Apache has been around since the Internet and as such has fought the battles.

The problem with Linux and Open Office is that they have not been in broad use in the context of a desktop. And as such the traps related to the desktop have not been exposed.

Many of the worst problems are because people click on things that they should not be clicking on. Linux does not have that type of idiocy proof technology built in. Windows and Vista have that built in. It is also a reason why I hate Vista.

Here is a very simple example. If I want to open a port below 1024 I need admin rights. Well what about above? Nope don't need it. This was done in the days when anything below 1024 was considered important. Though now it has become irrelevant and as such could be a security threat.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/node/2179

From the article...

> I wonder why. Isn't it time to declare the port 1024 limit as obsolete too and remove it?

I use linux exclusively at home. I know that with a little google searching I could reconfigure my keyboard to behave how I want it to,

Yep

but I would prefer a hardware device to work out of the box correctly, without needing software work-arounds

Hey, it's not like you can take any printer off the shelf at your favourite computer hardware vendor and expect it to work with Linux either, is it? Sure you can get printers that will work with Linux but they may not always have your favourite feature set either. Let's face it, that won't change until Linux grabs enough market share to make it too important for hardware manufacturers to ignore when it comes to writing drivers. Even then, some market structures (such as the printer ink razor/razorblade model) encourage protection measures that also actively discourage the production of FOSS drivers. That won't change until the hoi polloi start being intelligent in their purchases and, even in the nasty economic conditions coming down the pipe, I'm just not holding my breath.

Maybe the next bios patch for my Toshiba will not completely fux Linux access to hardware again. Do I dare chance it? They might even have re-enabled VT. I'm soooo tempted. But the last 4 times I had to rebuild, hack, and rebuild to get hardware to work again. But if they are going to support OpenSolaris... But what if my fears are correct and the bios update makes my machine a Vista only POS. I'm soooo torn.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/warning-there-is-windows-in-my..-bios-544779/#post2705017

http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/message.jspa?messageID=61084

I will never buy a Toshiba Laptop EVER again. The assembly is shoddy, the hardware is the cheapest low grade crap they can put together, and the support is the worst on earth.

They are hunting for an Open Source OS that they can put on it for free (but charge you), that has very little hardware support so they don't have the shit storm of "why did you fuck this up" questions on their Linux support forums. It will take 2 years, max, for OpenSolaris to get to the same place (hardware support wise) as Linux. By then the laptop will no longer be supported.

Then again, we have a slew of helpful people willing to answer just about any question, no matter how trivial it may seem, over at places like LinuxQuestions.org or the Ubuntu Forums. What I'm really looking forward to is the "Year of the Helpful Experts", where new users can get all the help they need with using Linux without being insulted.

I have an old AMD K6 machine (333 megahertz). Would a Linux installation run slower or faster than the current Windows 98 setup?

you want to be over at http://linuxquestions.org/

TV Band/whitespace Devices will block my Baltimore/Philly stations. No more channels 2,3,6,10,11,12,13,17,35,45,57,61,65

Internet can replace TV. TV can't replace Internet.

'I keep on getting pop-up messages from the packagekitd: "Update Applet Failed to reset client"'

You must be the only one, I googled on it and got only the one hit .. :) It was posted at 10:22 and the responce at 12:23 ...

"Fedora Core people, are you listening ?!"

Was it you that posted the question ?

He's been unapologetic. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

"duh just type ~rf - m" or something something, because yeah, a menu to do that would kill someone

For no one thing would a menu item to do that thing be particularly bad. But you can't put _every_ task in a menu, because there are infinitely many tasks.

If you find people often tell you to type in commands you don't understand, it's probably because it's the most efficient way to do something once you do master it. See for instance http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/modifying-functions-678643/. I've built a 1650-byte podcatcher in #!sh [and that's including proper error-checking and all].

It's also dense communication-wise; compare "sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1" with "System -> Administration -> Network; unlock, wired connection, properties, enable, static ip, 192.168.0.1".

That being said, though, deskenvs should support the most common and important tasks in an easy-to-use way.

Drop the case like they did with Microsoft? Ohh, I bet Google are real scared.

If the DOJ want to start taking on anti-trust cases, they have to treat all companies equally and that means splitting up Microsoft. Google isn't abusing its market position to expand into other markets, expanding into other markets feeds back directly into its core business. This is exactly the opposite of Microsofts past and ongoing abuses (eg: how the Windows desktop monopoly and DirectX was used as a base for sideways move into the console market).

It's no secret that Microsoft are behind Google's antitrust rumblings; the outright audacity of these slimy fuckers is astounding...

I still have one now as a laptop, it's the TC1100 model to be precise. The detachable keyboard is genius. Every device on this one works under Linux except the SD card reader, but that's due to Texas Instruments being evil and providing this function via encrypted firmware, and probably the winmodem but I doubt it would be of any use today. The only thing that's missing on the software side is the cursive handwriting recognition, but even on Windows it wasn't available in my language. There are still new Chinese-made batteries available for them.

HP's new tablets have a hinged screen which you can turn around and fold over the keyboard (which is fixed), and the screen is flimsier - no bulletproof glass cover.

Is there any good Linux functionality for tablet PCs?

Yes, there's plenty.

1. Notetaking - Xournal (it's better than Windows Journal since you can annotate PDFs, though it doesn't have pressure-sensitive strokes)
2. Cell-based handwriting recognition - Cellwriter
3. Onscreen keyboard - Onboard
4. Screen rotation and tablet rotation are supported.
5. For an overview of things you may need to modify from a stock Ubuntu install, see LQWiki entry for TC1100.

For some exotic functionality you may have problems getting it to work, but overall Linux works pretty well with tablets.

Look here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=265962
It seems that a bios update in Q1 2007 fixed the problem for some people. Unfortunately not for everyone, but that is something you could try.
Or maybe this one helps: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-newbie-8/ubuntu-on-dell-inspiron-2600-laptop-595259/
Or this one: http://www.apfrod.com/works/2008/03/15/ubuntu_8_04_hardy_heron_on_dell_inspiron_2600

All of it a bit more tricky than clicking on a setup program. So you get a taste of what Linux was like 10 years ago. Back then editing config files to get your drivers running was normal. Today, it is an exception with distributions like Ubuntu, and only needed in problem cases.

Rob Enderele, Rob Enderele, Rob Enderele, where do I know that name?

ah, thats where
http://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2007/09/24/sco-linux-and-rob-enderle-a-conclusion/
http://daringfireball.net/2003/12/enderle
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34004/128

As far as i'm concerned, that man has ZERO credibility.

and then it will be broken up into pieces again. The wheel of reincarnation always seems to keep turning.

A DSL router will allow you to connect all three computers to the internet at the same time. It seems like it would be very slow with three sharing but it is not. This is your best answer if you can do it. Is your provider cellular though? That is trickier because a router won't work with cellular. It is much easier to connect your Linux computer to a router than to the DSL modem.

About Dosbox I can't help you. When I want a DOS box, I build a DOS box. It's been a long time since I felt the urge to do that though.

Linuxquestion.org has forums tutorials and many other helpful things. You can also get help at Ubuntu forums.

For programming C++ I think the best reference is the book by Stroustrup. You might want to combine that with the C standard library tutorial and reference. These are mostly references to have when you really need to do something. When you master these books you will have a good understanding of C++.

For an easy introduction or to meet specific fields of interest you might try C++ In-Depth Series.

As you learn C++ you will want a good editor or integrated development environment. I like Eclipse. Don't download it from there though. Get it from the Add Programs in your menu -- that one has other stuff you can add to your C++ environment too and they're customized for your specific version of Ubuntu. Always look there first.

It was the helpful people on the comment forums that got me started on my way oh so long ago. I wish you luck. When you see how free you are to do stuff with it I think you'll see why people are so enthusiastic about it.

A DSL router will allow you to connect all three computers to the internet at the same time. It seems like it would be very slow with three sharing but it is not. This is your best answer if you can do it. Is your provider cellular though? That is trickier because a router won't work with cellular. It is much easier to connect your Linux computer to a router than to the DSL modem.

About Dosbox I can't help you. When I want a DOS box, I build a DOS box. It's been a long time since I felt the urge to do that though.

Linuxquestion.org has forums tutorials and many other helpful things. You can also get help at Ubuntu forums.

For programming C++ I think the best reference is the book by Stroustrup. You might want to combine that with the C standard library tutorial and reference. These are mostly references to have when you really need to do something. When you master these books you will have a good understanding of C++.

For an easy introduction or to meet specific fields of interest you might try C++ In-Depth Series.

As you learn C++ you will want a good editor or integrated development environment. I like Eclipse. Don't download it from there though. Get it from the Add Programs in your menu -- that one has other stuff you can add to your C++ environment too and they're customized for your specific version of Ubuntu. Always look there first.

It was the helpful people on the comment forums that got me started on my way oh so long ago. I wish you luck. When you see how free you are to do stuff with it I think you'll see why people are so enthusiastic about it.

A DSL router will allow you to connect all three computers to the internet at the same time. It seems like it would be very slow with three sharing but it is not. This is your best answer if you can do it. Is your provider cellular though? That is trickier because a router won't work with cellular. It is much easier to connect your Linux computer to a router than to the DSL modem.

About Dosbox I can't help you. When I want a DOS box, I build a DOS box. It's been a long time since I felt the urge to do that though.

Linuxquestion.org has forums tutorials and many other helpful things. You can also get help at Ubuntu forums.

For programming C++ I think the best reference is the book by Stroustrup. You might want to combine that with the C standard library tutorial and reference. These are mostly references to have when you really need to do something. When you master these books you will have a good understanding of C++.

For an easy introduction or to meet specific fields of interest you might try C++ In-Depth Series.

As you learn C++ you will want a good editor or integrated development environment. I like Eclipse. Don't download it from there though. Get it from the Add Programs in your menu -- that one has other stuff you can add to your C++ environment too and they're customized for your specific version of Ubuntu. Always look there first.

It was the helpful people on the comment forums that got me started on my way oh so long ago. I wish you luck. When you see how free you are to do stuff with it I think you'll see why people are so enthusiastic about it.

Tue 2006-09-05, 2:30 PM: Doren, turns up at the Joaquin Miller school to pick up the children from day care, but does not have permission for this and leaves without them. She tells school employees that "Nina is out of town." On Jan. 2, 2007, a teacher at the day care program, Natalie Potter, testifies that Nina's daughter, Niorline, was with Doren and that Doren made the remark "for the benefit of the child."

So, we are to believe that Doren, who is worried sick about her missing friend Nina, does not ask Niorline if she has seen her mother recently, or otherwise knows where she is. Doreen appears to be absolutely certain that Niorline does not know. How is this? Is this because Doreen already knows where Nina is?

Apparently, Potter does not ask either children if they know where their mother is. It should be emphasized that, as far as we know, the children attend a whole day of day care, without worrying about their mom. In all, it is clear that the daughter and probably the son, have no idea their mother is missing.

Tue 2006-09-05, 5:00 PM: Reiser, arrives at the Joaquin Miller school and sets up a meeting to discuss the program's enrollment policies. He speaks with Natalie Potter. Although Potter knows that Nina is missing, she neither tells Reiser this, nor asks Reiser if he knows where Nina is. Reiser states that he is not there to pick up the children and he gives his permission for Doren to pick them up, which she does a few minutes later, at about 5:15 PM. Reiser is at the school for about 10 minutes.

Tue 2006-09-05: At an unknown time, but supposedly after Nina does not pick up the children from day care, Ellen Doren files a missing-persons report.

At an unknown time, police conduct a phone interview with Reiser. Later, much of the press, repeatedly claim, "they have not been able to reach Hans Reiser since their investigation began." The police interview probably occurs before Doren calls.

At an unknown time, Doren phones Hans. She tells him she has the children and asks if he knows where Nina is, mentioning that Nina was last seen at his home. (It is not know why Doren has not called Reiser earlier.) This implicit accusation was noted by Reiser, who said, "I need to talk to my lawyer." This may be the first time that Reiser hears that Nina is missing.

Reiser drives his mother's, Honda Civic, to McGothigan's house near Mills College in Oakland to pick up his mom. Reiser spends about an hour at McGothigan's home. Reiser explains he is using the Honda Civic, as he is having trouble getting the CRX to start. He does not tell his mother, that Nina is missing, till the next day.

If you have anything that contradicts this account, please provide a link to it. I haven't been able to turn up anything that supports what you've been saying.

Apparently Shrike is Red Hat Linux 9. http://iso.linuxquestions.org/red-hat/red-hat-linux-9-shrike/

I personally haven't tried Gnome much. Everytime I wanted to use it, I felt like my productivity is being hindered.

All my friends have used KDE exclusively. Those who know, install kde as first thing when they get Ubuntu. Those who know more, install kubuntu.

Ofcourse there are people using Gnome, and rise in Ubuntu means a lot for Gnome users, but look at these results from linuxquestions.org:
1) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2005-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-69/desktop-environment-of-the-year-409028/
3) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2004-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-62/desktop-environment-of-the-year-272100/
4) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/lq-suggestions-and-feedback-7/2003-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-award-winners-133391/
5) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/2001-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-winners-15903/?highlight=LinuxQuestions.org+Members+Choice+Awards

KDE all the way.

I personally haven't tried Gnome much. Everytime I wanted to use it, I felt like my productivity is being hindered.

All my friends have used KDE exclusively. Those who know, install kde as first thing when they get Ubuntu. Those who know more, install kubuntu.

Ofcourse there are people using Gnome, and rise in Ubuntu means a lot for Gnome users, but look at these results from linuxquestions.org:
1) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2005-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-69/desktop-environment-of-the-year-409028/
3) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2004-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-62/desktop-environment-of-the-year-272100/
4) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/lq-suggestions-and-feedback-7/2003-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-award-winners-133391/
5) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/2001-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-winners-15903/?highlight=LinuxQuestions.org+Members+Choice+Awards

KDE all the way.

I personally haven't tried Gnome much. Everytime I wanted to use it, I felt like my productivity is being hindered.

All my friends have used KDE exclusively. Those who know, install kde as first thing when they get Ubuntu. Those who know more, install kubuntu.

Ofcourse there are people using Gnome, and rise in Ubuntu means a lot for Gnome users, but look at these results from linuxquestions.org:
1) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2005-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-69/desktop-environment-of-the-year-409028/
3) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2004-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-62/desktop-environment-of-the-year-272100/
4) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/lq-suggestions-and-feedback-7/2003-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-award-winners-133391/
5) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/2001-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-winners-15903/?highlight=LinuxQuestions.org+Members+Choice+Awards

KDE all the way.

I personally haven't tried Gnome much. Everytime I wanted to use it, I felt like my productivity is being hindered.

All my friends have used KDE exclusively. Those who know, install kde as first thing when they get Ubuntu. Those who know more, install kubuntu.

Ofcourse there are people using Gnome, and rise in Ubuntu means a lot for Gnome users, but look at these results from linuxquestions.org:
1) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2005-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-69/desktop-environment-of-the-year-409028/
3) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2004-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-62/desktop-environment-of-the-year-272100/
4) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/lq-suggestions-and-feedback-7/2003-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-award-winners-133391/
5) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/2001-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-winners-15903/?highlight=LinuxQuestions.org+Members+Choice+Awards

KDE all the way.

I personally haven't tried Gnome much. Everytime I wanted to use it, I felt like my productivity is being hindered.

All my friends have used KDE exclusively. Those who know, install kde as first thing when they get Ubuntu. Those who know more, install kubuntu.

Ofcourse there are people using Gnome, and rise in Ubuntu means a lot for Gnome users, but look at these results from linuxquestions.org:
1) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2005-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-69/desktop-environment-of-the-year-409028/
3) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2004-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-62/desktop-environment-of-the-year-272100/
4) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/lq-suggestions-and-feedback-7/2003-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-award-winners-133391/
5) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/2001-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-winners-15903/?highlight=LinuxQuestions.org+Members+Choice+Awards

KDE all the way.

Linux supports more hardware than any other operating system and is virtually virus free.

That some manufacturers make closed hardware that cannot be supported without extreme reverse engineering, if at all, is not Linux's fault. It's yours for buying that stuff. If you can't be bothered to check the HCL then at least quit whining.

It's no secret that Microsoft expends considerable capital to get manufacturers to keep their devices closed. The net benefit to those manufacturers should be that their products don't sell. If they want my money, they're open. I'm not paying for my own chains and neither should you.

Look at this links for some idea of DE/WM usage.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
But don't draw your conclusion to far because it's not a statistical correct survey. LinuxQustions members aren't stocastical picked & the people who votes aren't for sure. Furthermore I think I saw another user poll where GNOME was slightly more used than KDE. By the way Fluxbox Rocks (or do you spell Rox ;-))

Look at this links for some idea of DE/WM usage.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2006-linuxquestions.org-members-choice-awards-76/desktop-environment-of-the-year-514945/
But don't draw your conclusion to far because it's not a statistical correct survey. LinuxQustions members aren't stocastical picked & the people who votes aren't for sure. Furthermore I think I saw another user poll where GNOME was slightly more used than KDE. By the way Fluxbox Rocks (or do you spell Rox ;-))

Wal-Mart has been experimenting with Linux PCs for a long, long time. Here are just a few examples:

2002 Walmart sells Lindows PCs:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/general-10/wal-mart-ships-linux-pcs-23619/

2003 Microtel computers with SUSE Linux:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,111557-page,1/article.html

2004 Linspire computers on sale at Wal-Mart for $498.00

http://www.news.com/Wal-Mart-debuts-498-Linux-laptop/2100-1044_3-5498006.html

May of 2007, Dell computers on sale at Wal-Mart:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/15701

Wal-Mart is not stupid. They know that as the price of PCs falls, their sales volume rises. They have a vested interested in commoditizing PCs. With Microsoft, Wal-Mart gets a limited mark-up. With Linux PCs made by small vendors, Wal-Mart gets to call the shots. Wal-Mart has dollars signs in their eyes, and those dollars signs are dancing with Tux.

No, this is the place to mention that, and then your peers will vote for it here.

Also, while it's nice to see widespread support, Vendetta Online has been doing this for quite a while, and you can find a comprehensive list of Linux-supporting MMO's here. Submitting that as a story would have born that out, no doubt.

Surly you could have accused linux of being non-standard, unsupported, toy-like OS out in the open coward.

Unsupported: http://www.linuxquestions.org/ among hundreds of other FREE choices, not to mention the paid support that can be obtained.

non-standard: You think windows is standard? Windows is embrace and extend. They take standards and break them to people in.

Toy-like: Vista, when it works, it toy-like. Unix, Linux's grandfather, was a mature os before windows was a gleam in Bill's eye. Phht toylike.

Go back to your shadows AC.

I can't videoconference, edit videos, make mp3s, play video games or make a slideshow in Linux. How about a couple of kernel devs drop off and help Linux go the last mile.

Other than video conferencing (haven't tried), my wife and 13 year old son can do everything on your list (using SuSE, Fedora or Ubuntu).

Shouldn't you be posting questions to http://www.linuxquestions.org/ or http://www.justlinux.com/ ?
You wont get a RTFM response.

Slashdot isn't a Linux help forum.

Enjoy,