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Posts published by “FOSS Force”

Take Our Quiz: Check Your Knowledge of Linux Distros

By FOSS Force on January 24, 2016 |

Distros, Operating Systems and Quiz

Take Our Quiz: Check Your Knowledge of Linux DistrosLinux Tux

The FOSS Force Quiz

Are you a distro hopper? Are you one of those people who knows what day of the week it is because of which distro you’re using? If so, this quiz is for you. But even if you’re one of those people who finds a distro you like and sticks with it until it becomes as comfortable as a well worn shoe, you’ve probably done your homework, and that’s why you were able to find the distro that was a perfect fit for you. In other words, you’ll probably do well on our quiz too — because it just might be a tortoise and hare sort of thing.

Anyway, now it’s time to test your knowledge in our FOSS Force Linux Distro Quiz. There are 18 questions about 18 distros and it’s pass/fail; either you make the grade or you don’t. 70 percent is the magic mark. Go over, and you’re off to study for your Linux certification. Go under, and it’s back to seventh grade for you. After you’re through you can check your answers. Each answer you get wrong will be underlined in red and all the right answers will be underlined in green.

And yes, this does count toward your final grade and will go on your permanent record. And no whining about questions being unclear. We’re the teachers. We’ll decide whether the questions are clear or not…

Continue readingTake Our Quiz: Check Your Knowledge of Linux Distros
Arch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ AwardArch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015

Arch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ Award

By FOSS Force on January 16, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Poll

The voting is all done for the second round of our poll to decide which GNU/Linux distro our readers would choose to receive our “Reader’s Choice Best Linux Distro” award for 2015. As in round one, Arch Linux won the day. The poll results are considered to be more a measure of a distro’s community support than any indication of a distro’s technical merits.

The first round of our poll was a qualifying round, which Arch won as well, racking up 1,376 votes. The second round of voting was “winner take all,” and with the voting lighter than in the first round, Arch still managed to put together 592 votes. In all, 2,625 votes were cast in round two, which was active for seven days.

Continue readingArch Linux Gets Reader’s Choice ‘Best Distro’ Award
Arch Wins First of Two Round PollFavorite distro poll results graph

Arch Wins First of Two Round Poll

By FOSS Force on January 9, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Poll

The voting is over in the first round of our annual GNU/Linux distro poll, which sought an answer to the simple question, “What Linux distro do you currently use most?” The result was a complete surprise, at least to us. By a decisive margin, you voted for Arch Linux. The poll was certainly one for the record books. By the time it was closed to voting, a total of 5,784 of you had cast votes, more than double from any previous FOSS Force poll. The poll was online for approximately one week.

Continue readingArch Wins First of Two Round Poll
FOSS Force’s Hot Nine for 20152015 on FOSS Force

FOSS Force’s Hot Nine for 2015

By FOSS Force on January 4, 2016 |

Business, Distros, Media, Operating Systems and Web Apps

We’re going to pretend like we’re AM disc jockeys from the golden days of top 40 radio and countdown the top nine stories that appeared on FOSS Force last year. Along the way, we’ll offer a bit of commentary, and maybe remind you a time or two that things were much different way back in 2015.

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It’s Time for ‘What’s Your Distro’ Round One

By FOSS Force on January 4, 2016 |

Community, Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

FOSS Force Best Distro 2015

The FOSS Force Poll

It’s time for our annual “What’s Your Distro” poll, to determine who gets the FOSS Force Best Distro Award for 2015. This year we’re pulling out all the stops. We want this one to be a metaphoric old fashioned slug fest that will be played until only one distro is standing.

Continue readingIt’s Time for ‘What’s Your Distro’ Round One

What Hardware Platforms Do You Use? All of Them.

By FOSS Force on January 2, 2016 |

Hardware, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Poll

The results of our hardware platform poll have been tallied and just as we suspected, FOSS Force readers in large part use every platform available. The poll, which asked what different hardware platforms you use, offered a slate of answers too long to list here. Let’s just say it covered the gamut, from smartphones to desktops, and included separate places to tic for different operating systems.

Continue readingWhat Hardware Platforms Do You Use? All of Them.

December’s Top Ten

By FOSS Force on January 1, 2016 |

Site News

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of December, 2015.

1. Is That Linux? No, It’s PC-BSD by Larry Cafiero. Published December 3, 2015. An encounter at a local coffee house causes a fellow customer to ask, “Is that Linux on your machine?” Nope, it wasn’t, but you know what it was. The title gives it away.

2. Linux Foundation’s Deal With the Devil by Christine Hall. Published December 14, 2015. The Linux Foundation made a deal to help Microsoft offer Linux certifications? Say it ain’t so, Joe.

3. Ubuntu Bugs That Won’t Go Away by Ken Starks. Published December 15, 2015. It’s one think when a bug needs fixing in an operating system. When the bug remains unfixed since 2012, that a whole ‘nother story.

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Debian Founder and Docker Employee Ian Murdock Dead at 42Ian Murdock

Debian Founder and Docker Employee Ian Murdock Dead at 42

By FOSS Force on December 30, 2015 |

News

Last updated 12/30/15 at 8:06 p.m. EST

FOSS Force has learned that the founder of Debian and current Docker employee Ian Murdock is dead at age 42.

The news of Murdock’s death was first made public in a blog post on the Docker website, where he worked. When the page became unreachable at approximately 4:20 p.m. EST, there was a glimmer of hope that perhaps the report had been an error, as the post made no mention of a cause of death, nor did it reference disturbing tweets on Murdock’s Twitter account on Monday. However, the page was back online by a little after 5:00 p.m.

Ian Murdock
Picture of Ian Murdock, taken from Docker page announcing his death.
Monday’s tweets indicated that Murdock, a San Francisco resident, was or had been in some kind of scuffle involving the police. During the series of tweets, he indicated that he might be a suicide risk. One rather cryptic, and ominous-with-hindsight, tweet: “@jacksormwriter wants me dead.” A search on Twitter shows no account with that handle. There has been speculation that the tweets were a hoax and not made by Murdock but by someone who had hacked his account.

Continue readingDebian Founder and Docker Employee Ian Murdock Dead at 42

What Computer Platforms Do You Use?

By FOSS Force on December 28, 2015 |

Hardware, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Poll

Star Trek Communicator computer
Photo by David Spalding
When Star Trek first hit the air back in the “swinging sixties,” that’d be the 1960s for those too young to remember, many of the technically minded took one look and said, “Impossible.” Or if not impossible, it’d be at least the 23rd century, the era in which the show was set, for the technology to arrive. They weren’t talking just the space travel science, stuff like warp drive, inertial dampers and the like, but were talking the small stuff too, like the communicators and tricorders. Today we have something akin to both, built into a single device called a smartphone. In hindsight, we should’ve seen it coming, but as some folks say, hindsight has perfect vision.

Continue readingWhat Computer Platforms Do You Use?