New GNOME 2.24 is an incremental improvement.
Last week marked the release of GNOME 2.24. Those who already use GNOME will appreciate the new additions, but there's nothing compelling enough in the new version to convince fans of other desktop environments to make a switch. more... and GNOME 2.24 Released and GNOME 2.24 released, mobile development platform emerges.

Richard Stallman looks back at 25 years of the GNU project.
On September 27, 1983, Richard M. Stallman announced his intention to found the GNU project in order to build a free operating system. Now, 25 years later, the Free Software Foundation is marking the anniversary of the announcement with a month-long celebration. Looking back at the last quarter century, Stallman expresses some guarded satisfaction with the growth of the free software movement, but also some bemusement about how it has grown more complex as it has faced new challenges from within and without, and an awareness of how far it still has to go to reach its goals. more...

Tools for editing vector graphics in GNU/Linux.
Over the last decade, vector graphics have gone from being a revolutionary format to a standard method of rendering computer images -- so much so that they are standard in the KDE 4 desktops. This popularity is based on the fact that, because they represent images as mathematical equations -- usually in SVG format -- vector graphics open faster, render better on screen, and can be resized more readily than raster graphics, in which an image is created pixel by pixel. more...

MEPIS Linux 8.0 nears release.
A new version of MEPIS Linux, one of my favorite KDE-based distributions, is nearing final release. Roughly a year after the arrival of version 7.0, distribution founder and maintainer Warren Woodford has just issued MEPIS 8.0 beta 2, based on a Debian Lenny core. more... and Second MEPIS 8.0 Beta Uploaded For Testing.

And Walmart Makes Three: Another Music Service Plans to Shut Down DRM Support.
Following in the footsteps of MSN Music and Yahoo! Music, Walmart has notified customers that it will be shutting off its DRM servers in less than two weeks. Walmart's been selling DRM-free music since February, but anyone who bought music before that date will not be able to transfer those songs to “unauthorized computers,” or access the songs after changing operating systems. more...

Lessons learned from five years of Fedora.
The Fedora Project is celebrating its fifth birthday today. Congrats, Fedora! It seems like just yesterday I was covering the first release to see how (or if) Fedora would distinguish itself from Red Hat Linux. more...

VLC goes to nine point two.
Sometimes I get the feeling that I only know about 5% of what VLC can do. Everyone knows it's a dependable, free, cross-platform media player. But read through the release notes for the latest version, 0.9.2, and you will see a dizzying array of server, network streaming, and conversion functions, most of which I have never even touched -- and the new VLC exposes a lot more of that functionality. more...

Misc.
digiKam has a new tool to convert RAW camera files to DNG...
Java Sound & Music Software for Linux, Part 3.
Interview With TualatriX - Maker of Ubuntu Tweak!
A Guide Through The Linux Sound API Jungle.
21 of the Best Free Linux Financial Software.
Nokia renames Trolltech and Qtopia.

How To Tips.

How To VBoxHeadless - Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 2.0 Ubuntu 8.04 Server.
How To Turn The Touchpad Off And On With One Shortcut Key In Kubuntu.
How To Install VMware Server 2 On An Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop.
How To Control Apache with the apachectl command.
How To Mounting ISO Images With Furius ISO Mount On Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop.
How To Installing Google Android SDK 1.0 On Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop.
How To Easy file uploads with Droopy.
How To Setup Yahoo!zimbra Desktop in Ubuntu 8.04.
How To Getting access to home servers despite having a dynamic IP.
How To Recover Deleted Files with Foremost,scalpel in Ubuntu.
How To Backing up your OS with dd.

See you next Thursday 7 P.M. at 420 Cafe, 420 Washington Ave, Eau Claire, WI.

EC_LUG