Last month's release of the KDE 4.4 desktop environment restored the faith of many after what has been something of a roller coaster two years. Even the most loyal KDEians found that loyalty stretched by the debut of version 4.0 in 2008. Reassessing, and with hindsight, I think it's fair to characterize the whole saga as both a cautionary tale and an admirable example.

According to the peekabot project's Web site: "peekabot is a distributed real-time 3-D visualization tool for robotics researchers and developers, written in C++. Its purpose is to simplify the visualization needs faced by a roboticist daily—using visualization as a debugging aid or making fancy slides for a presentation, for example.

Even with modern Linux distributions, the inconsistency with onboard audio devices makes using headphones and microphones a hit-or-miss venture. When things work, they work great, but when things don’t work, it’s generally tough to get them going.

What do you think each Linux distribution is "best for"? You can only pick one selection for each distribution (which, by the way, we know is going to be difficult). We'll compile results and share them in an upcoming article. Make sure your voice is heard!

For a few years I have been trying to create a "distributed cluster storage system" (see below) on standard Linux hardware. I have been unsuccessful. I have looked into buying one and they do exist, but are so expensive I can't afford one. They also are designed for much larger enterprises and have tons of features I don't want or need. I am hoping the Linux community can help me create this low cost "distributed cluster storage system" which I think other small businesses could use. Please help me solve this so we can publish the solution to the open source community.

This article is an excerpt from the new 2nd Ed. of Mark Sobell's book, A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming, published Nov. 2009 by Prentice Hall Professional, ISBN 0131367366, Copyright 2010 Mark G. Sobell. For additional sample content from a selection of chapters, please visit the publisher site: www.informit.com/title/0131367366

One of the least understood features of OpenOffice.org is graphics text. People understand vaguely that it differs from regular text, but exactly how it differs or why anyone should care is mostly unknown. However, if you know the distinction, graphics text can work for you in ways that regular text cannot.

Recently I wrote about controlling konsole with dbus. As I've begun to use that script for setting up my konsoles I, like others, have discovered that the tab title that you set with dbus doesn't stick. This short note shows you a workaround to make your tab titles stay put.

The internet is one thing but you know you've arrived when you see your face on the cover of a tabloid. Although we can't quite offer you that experience, we are bringing back tech-tips in the magazine.

This chapter excerpt is from Citizen Engineer: A Handbook for Socially Responsible Engineering by David Douglas and Greg Papadopoulos, with John Boutelle, published by Prentice Hall Professional, ISBN 0137143923, Copyright 2010 David Douglas and Greg Papadopoulos. For more info, please visit the publisher page: www.informit.com/title/0137143923