HOW-TOs

Turn Make Options into Tool Flags

July 21st, 2008 by Mitch Frazier in

Often times when developing programs there is a need to build the program in/for multiple configurations. Many times, autoconf and its resulting configure script do what you need. Other times you can just change a #define in your code. But sometimes, autoconf isn't an option and changing a define doesn't quite work (say you need to pass your defines/undefines to m4 or some other tool that can't handle include files). The solution is probably to change your makefile. The method presented here results in a fairly compact change to your makefile.

Add an Auto-Incrementing Build-Number to Your Build Process

July 8th, 2008 by Mitch Frazier in

When building software it's often useful to give each iteration of your build process a unique number. Many IDEs and RAD tools do this for you automatically. If yours doesn't and you're using a make file to build your code you can add an auto-incrementing build number to your project with a few simple changes to your make file.

GPS and GIS: A Great Combination, Part I

July 8th, 2008 by James Gray in

A GPS unit and a Geographic Information System (GIS) program are a great team. With a GPS receiver in hand, you can tap into the network of government satellites to calculate your position on Earth to within meters. With a GIS on your desktop, you can import acquired GPS data onto to your desktop and combine it with other geospatial features such as maps, aerial photos and satellite imagery.

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Product Review

OpenOffice.org Template Collections

June 9th, 2008 by Bruce Byfield in

Stubbornly, OpenOffice.org continues to ship with only a handful of templates. Despite the efforts of several sub-projects and individuals to change the situation, the standard OpenOffice.org download includes only a couple of slide show presentations and a few templates to accompany the wizards available in the file menu. This lack of templates is a serious handicap for many users, and often leaves a poor impression on new users who are accustomed to the selection of templates found in other office suites.

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More From LinuxJournal.com

Google Gadgets for Linux

July 21st, 2008 by LJ Staff in

Google Gadgets for Linux are simple HTML and JavaScript applications that can be embedded in web pages and other applications. By all accounts, Gadget support for Linux was a major undertaking for the Google team as it is an entire platform for mini applications.

Man vs. Myth: Greg Kroah-Hartman and the Kernel Driver Project

July 21st, 2008 by LJ Staff in

Don't tell Greg Kroah-Hartman that Linux hurts for device drivers. He's heard too much of that rap, and he's already done plenty to stop it. We should thank him and help pick up the ball. I'm doing both here.

Linux Product Insider: "Robot, Gizmo & Gadget Show"

July 21st, 2008 by James Gray in

This "Linux Product Insider" features the Robot, Gizmo & Gadget Show, Microway's NumberSmasher vSMP servers, Excito's Bubba Two Home Server, Van Lindberg's Intellectual Property and Open Source and Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization.

Linux Journal Flickr Pool Roundup

July 17th, 2008 by LJ Staff in

Linux Journal's Flickr pool regularly brings in fun photos from readers around the world. We encourage you to add to the pool anything "Linux-ey" (up for interpretation but frankly that's half of the fun). Here are some of the most recent additions:

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Blogs and Opinion

Why We Must React to ACTA

July 24th, 2008 by Glyn Moody

A new global standard for the enforcement of intellectual monopolies is currently being discussed by representatives of the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Korea, Mexico and New Zealand. This new agreement is so important that it must be drawn up in secret, safe from the prying eyes of little people like you and me. Thanks, however, to the indispensable Wikileaks, a discussion paper outlining some of its possible proposals has surfaced, and from this it is clear that it represents a serious threat to online liberty in general, and to the practice of free software in particular.

Profit in Health Care

July 22nd, 2008 by Phil Hughes

I am on the DrWeil.com newsletter list—and it isn't because he looks like me. It actually has some useful information. But, like most newsletters, it has ads.

Do we really have options?

July 18th, 2008 by David Lane

I was going to explore the new trend of green IT or perhaps talk about the morality of threatening or blackmailing (your choice) software companies into fixing security holes, but an article in Computerworld about a hospital selecting a Linux-based email sys

Who are the Open Source All-Stars?

July 16th, 2008 by David Lane

As I watched the opening of last night’s All-Star Game, I could not help but think of an article I read several days before where the inventor of DNS, a man named Paul Mockapetris, was telling us how serious we should be taking the DNS security issue that had been announced.

An open letter to Adobe

July 15th, 2008 by marcel

Hello, oh great and powerful Adobe people.

Thank you so much for releasing Flash Player 10 beta 2 for Linux. Thanks even more for (finally) building in support for video4linux2 Webcam technology. You have no idea how much we appreciate that. The only problem is that many (if not most) of us can't use it. You see, it crashes our browsers within seconds.

Contingency Plans

July 14th, 2008 by David Lane

"The standard guide for vi since 1986, this book has been expanded to include detailed information on vim, the leading vi clone that includes extra features for both beginners and power users."

Missing Code Challenge

July 13th, 2008 by Doc Searls

Online identity management and single sign-on still doesn't work. Not well enough, anyway. OpenID is a good step forward. So are a bunch of other less familiar approaches. But we still haven't arrived.

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Featured Videos

Linux HOWTO: Video Editing Magic with ffmpeg

Non-linear video editing tools are great, but they're not always the best tool for the job. This is where a powerful tool like ffmpeg becomes useful. This tutorial by Elliot Isaacson covers the basics of transcoding video, as well as more advanced tricks like creating animations, screen captures, and slow motion effects.

Review: HP 2133 Mini-Note

Shawn Powers reviews the HP Mini-Note portable computer.

Thanks to our sponsor: Silicon Mechanics

Silicon Mechanics is a leading manufacturer of rackmount servers, storage, and high performance computing hardware. The best warranty offerings available are backed by experts dedicated to customer satisfaction.

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From the Magazine

August 2008, #172

There's nuttin like a Cool Project to give you some relief from the summer heat, so get out your parka cuz we got a bunch of em. First up is the BUG, not a bug, The BUG. It's got a GPS, camera and more, in a hand-sized package that's user programmable. The BUG does everything. It's both a floor wax and a dessert topping. Get one now. Need a software version of a Swiss Army knife? Take a look at Billix, and don't leave home without it. Then, chew on this one, an X server on a Gumstix device driving an E-Ink display. Need more storage? How about 16 Terabytes? Can do.

And, of course, we have the usual cast of characters: Marcel, Reuven, Dave, Kyle, Doc, plus the new kid on the block Shawn Powers. But it doesn't stop there: build a MythTV box on a budget, build your own GIS system, set up the tools to monitor your enterprise and more. Finally, remember The War of the Worlds? Now you can play too.

Read this issue