First Karmic Koala alpha is released, May 15, 2009

The first alpha release of Ubuntu Karmic Koala - also known as Ubuntu 9.10 - was released yesterday. As a first alpha release it is not recommended for most users, just those happy to live on the bleeding edge.

The East Rand Linux Users Group (Elug) and SA Linux have agreed to work together to jointly promote Linux and open source software in South Africa and increase collaboration between open source companies.

As the Internet becomes more vast open source communities need to be not only educating potential users on the benefits of open source software but also encouraging them to become part of the community.

Need a Linux cluster for an hour or two? Powua is a new cloud computing service that uses open source software to allow users to rent up to 64 CPUs for high-demand graphics rendering or scientific applications.

Following the announcement earlier that month by the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) that it was updating its certifications to bring them in line with current Linux developments, Canonical has announced changes to its Ubuntu Certified Professional (UCP) qualification.

Question of the week: Some of us are lucky. We get to use Linux every day as our primary - or even our only - operating system. But many users are forced - or even choose - to use a different operating system throughout their work day and then switch to Linux once they have knocked off. Tell us which of these you use the most on an average day

Buying a netbook with Linux is not as easy as it initially promised to be. Here is a selection of mid-level netbooks that could be bought with Linux pre-installed. Most of the specs on the machines below are comparable - some may have slightly more hard drive space and others an extra 512MB memory - but none of them ship with built-in 3G which would make them simply too expensive.

More than 50% of IT executives in a recent survey said that they were planning to accelerate Linux adoption in 2009.

Here is a short list of books that users - from newbies to gurus - can download and read at their leisure: from introductions to Linux, books on implementing open source in schools and in Africa, to books that defined the evolution of free software.

Gnome fans are today looking forward to the release of Gnome 2.26, the latest release of the popular desktop environment.

There are small Linux distributions, and then there are tiny Linux distributions. In what must be one of the smallest Linux versions ever, Tiny Core Linux is a portable Linux desktop that is just 10MB in size. With the 10MB disk image in hand users can run it from a CD, USB drive or just as a minimal hard drive installation.

Google’s Android operating system gave Linux-on-mobile sales a healthy boost in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Originally from Cape Town, Stevan Lockhart now lives in the north west of Scotland in a house that is off the electricity grid. Using a wind generator, some solar panels and free and open source software he and his wife both run their businesses off just 20W of power. Here Stevan explains the software and hardware decisions that made this lifestyle possible.

One of the intriguing battles over the past couple of months is a silent battle between Sun Microsystems and Red Hat. It’s silent because it is being played out deep inside the New York Stock Exchange and, unless you’re actively watching, you’ll have missed the tussle. At the same time it is an fascinating battle that represents many things: the old versus the new, Linux versus Unix and investor sentiment.

Linux Mint, an Ubuntu-based distribution that prides itself on its good looks and ease-of-use, has just upped the ante with its Linux Mint 6 Felicia release candidate.

Many retail outlets in South Africa are now selling notebook and netbook computers with Linux pre-installed.

Last week Red Hat announced a virtualisation pact with Microsoft and this week Red Hat announced an entire lineup of open source virtualisation tools.

Do you want to give your kids a good open source start in life? Then maybe you should be introducing them to Qimo, an Ubuntu-based desktop designed for younger users.

When it comes to open source software migration, SA freight-forwarding company Megafreight has done more than most. Over the years the company has migrated its employees over to full Linux desktops and open source applications, including OpenOffice, Thunderbird and Firefox.

Following the kernel bug that plagued Linux distros earlier this week, Mandriva Linux has issued a second release candidate for its upcoming Mandriva Linux 2009 release.