Linux now an equal Flash player.
Welcome to the future. Linux is now a first-class desktop operating system citizen. Adobe today released version 10 of its Adobe Flash Player, available now in a variety of convenient packaging formats for Linux, as well as other popular desktop operating systems. more... and Benchmarking Flash Player 10.

9 Must-Have OpenOffice Extensions.
Like Firefox, OpenOffice also comes with extensions that you can use to improve its functionality. Here, we have tested all the extensions and sorted out those that are useful for everyday use. Some of them are for general use while some are only meant for Writer, Calc or Impress. (For those who haven’t heard about OpenOffice before, it’s a popular free alternative to Microsoft Office) more...

Ext4 completes development phase as interim step to btrfs.
Linus Torvalds has integrated a large collection of patches prepared by (Ext) filesystem developer Theodore Ts'o (tytso) into the main development branch of Linux. It contains a patch for Ext4 which allows it to present itself as ext4 instead of ext4dev. more... and What is ZFS? and Transactional Debian Upgrades with ZFS on Nexenta.

The five best things in Linux 2.6.27.
After a brief hardware hiccup with Intel's e1000e gigabyte Ethernet firmware, Linux 2.6.27 was released on October 9th. It's a good, but not ground-breaking, kernel. Still, it has at least five significant improvements. more...

Automatically process new files with fsniper.
fsniper lets you monitor specified directories and execute scripts on any new files that are created in them. Because fsniper uses inotify to monitor its directories, the actions you define are executed as soon as filesystem changes happen. This makes fsniper both more immediate than an hourly cron job and more efficient. more...

Cook up tasty custom Ubuntu live CDs with UCK.
Live CDs let you boot an operating system without installing any software on a hard drive. There are plenty of Linux live CDs and lots of tools to customize them. The Ubuntu Customization Kit, tastefully called UCK, lets you add your favorite applications into the distro. more...

Python 3.0 makes a big break.
Typically, each new version of the Python programming language has been gentle on users, more or less maintaining backward compatibility with previous versions. But in 2000, when Python creator Guido van Rossum announced that he was embarking on a new version of Python, he did not sugar coat his plan: Version 3.0 would not be backward-compatible. more...

Applications.
CoolPreviews is a free browser add-on that lets you preview links and rich media without clicking or leaving your current page.
Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, modify and share 3D models.
DropBox Store, Sync and share your files online.

Misc.
Symbian lays foundations for open source.
Intel 2.5.0 Graphics Driver Released.
Boxee Adds Hulu Support to Your Media Center.
Songbird 0.7.0 Review - Audio Player for Linux.
GIMP 2.6 changes are mostly internal.
Blender 2.48: It isn't all about play.
Totem BBC plugin.
Cross Platform thoughts through the lense of Banshee.

How To Tips.

How To Install Adobe Flash Player 10 in Ubuntu 8.04.
How To Install OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 On Ubuntu 8.04.
How To Install Picasa 3.0 beta in Ubuntu.
How To “No hassle” Linux install for VMware Workstation 6.5.
How To Making a Bootable USB from DVD image.
How To Some tips for correcting UUIDs in Ubuntu.

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

EC_LUG