SoulSe

I was wrong - there is a Windows version available. CJNINE - I think you probably have the Windows version. You will need the Linux version. And the only way to get it legally is to pay $4999.

Shake is a Mac only application. I'm not sure how you would get it to run in Linux. Probably not possible since it relies on OS X' cocoa environment. But what puzzles me is that you have exe files. .exe is the Windows executable file format. You can run them using WINE (and some luck) - but Shake shouldn't have them.

Interesting move. I wonder what the uptake on these will be. Red Hat is pretty dominant on the server side with good enterprise-level support and certified partners that help pull in the big guys. When it comes to the desktop though, Linux is still nowhere, but it seems the big shift we've all been waiting for has begun. With pre-installed boxes possibly holding the answer to cracking business customers, I guess it'll be a two-horse race between Ubuntu on Dell and Red Hat.

On a server it is always a good idea to shut off the ports you don't need imho. Remember that in Linux iptables is your firewall tool, things like Shorewall are just applications that address iptables. So if you can get your head around iptables you can go direct and cut out the middle-man :P EDIT: Blocking off port 25 will not stop you from reading email from web-sites, no. Since that just needs your http and https ports to be open (80 and... 443... if I remember correctly)

No, you were being a sarcastic turd /me kicks iphitus in the shin.

He... he understands iptables. This must be the man the prophecies foretold...

I honestly don't think you can put FreeBSD above Linux and Mac as a desktop replacement. Besides, the article would've been pretty much the same for FBSD as it was for Linux, so why bother to write them both up? When it comes to open source desktop systems, Ubuntu is by far the best for n00bs, imho.

Shorewall can be configured from within the MCC. You probably know this, but just in case - port 25 is used for email, so you might not want to block it...

Very comprehensive article. My personal choice is, of course, OS X for desktop systems. My personal productivity on a Mac is at least triple what it was in Linux and blows Windows out of the water completely. It would be interesting to see the real figures of how many people are switching as a direct result of Vista.

I'll be impressed if the protest leads to anything. Lets hope it does.

Play with it before you buy it though. Apparently the screen is horrible and it has some other niggles.

They start around $200 and go up according to size of hdd, etc.

I was just adding my opinion of the Inquirer as an aside - you know me, can't keep my mouth shut :P I think Acer's move is out of desperation - they're up poo creek at the moment in terms of sales. Maybe it's because they make such dodgy machines. EDIT: That is, of course, if this is even happening. The Inquirer article points to a website with no such advertisement and is extrapolating based on one supposed advert for an Acer with Ubuntu on it. I'll be surprised if Acer is even considering it. And lets not forget that we are dealing with the most retarded news site in the world here...

The Inquirer is, imho, the worst news disseminator on the Internet. Their website is ugly and their news is not fact checked, makes blind, sweeping statements and they just generally suck. If the Inquirer says something, the opposite is usually true.

You know what the weird thing is - Microsoft probably still aren't worried. They're happily banking on Ballmer's delusional claims of a 1 billion Windows install base by the end of the year and continuing to try and fragment Linux on the server. Meanwhile the carpet is slowly being pulled out from under them.

Well obviously if you want to add your own apps it's not for you. They designed it for people who need a simple computing service - not power users who want to hack their boxes. So if you don't need it, don't buy it - but that doesn't make it a bad solution.

The site says it costs $99 with a $12.50 subscription, which is optional, but necessary to keep the unit up to date. Why bother with MCNL? It comes with a custom Linux-based OS that seems pretty cool. I don't think it'll take too kindly to other OSes... but I could be wrong. Looks like an awesome box and service, but I'd have to play with one before making up my mind.

You can install software packages from the Mandriva Control Centre. Also, to get the latest versions of software and a ton of other packages, set up your repositories using our Easy Urpmi facility - the link is at the top of this page. Urpmi is the package manager in Mandriva. It can be accessed from the Control Centre or invoked via the terminal. Welcome to the board :)

Is the sound working in your other applications? Is it just the audio out that's not working, or is it your microphone too? Have you tried setting the volume in the audio mixer?

I agree with you on Ubuntu - but I think it's because you're an advanced user. I can't use Ubuntu as my main distro - I prefer Gentoo. BUT - for newbs, Ubuntu is really good. They can always move onto full Debian or Gentoo or Arch or something else at a later stage.

If your install media is not corrupt, as Ix has suggested, you might find some clues over here - on Linux-laptop.com. The link I found is for your exact model, but is based on SuSe. Still, it might help. Otherwise you might have to install Linux from a text-based installation script. I'm not sure if there is still one included with Mandriva as I haven't used the distro recently.

I know you don't want to use Ubuntu, but I'd rethink that decision if I was you. The Ubuntu live CD is the best I've seen, especially with what you can do with it "out of the box". For newbies I doubt you'll find anything better than Ubuntu. And because it has a seriously robust kernel I haven't seen other live CD distributions with the same level of hardware detection accuracy and support.

Starting to take shape nicely. As logo's go, that one is more functional and will lend itself better to layout, I think. Attempt 5 is looking good :)

I like the logo in paul_attempt 2, 3, 4 - it just needs cleaning up. Otherwise the yeahnah_nico one is pretty cool too. Unfortunately I'm not much of a designer.

Not completely. Consider Red Hat for example - if you buy RHEL from them they will offer you insurance themselves. They have undertaken to cover all of their customers for patent infringement. And, of course, they have not signed with MS and never will. There are more than one ways to skin a cat ;)