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Best Linux Distro Award: The Envelope Please…

By FOSS Force on February 6, 2017 |

Distros, Polls and Site News

Best Linux Distro Award: The Envelope Please…Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2016

For the second year in a row, Arch Linux wins both rounds in our poll to determine the winner of our Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro.

The FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Awards Poll

Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2016The readers of FOSS Force have made their voices heard and for the second year in a row you have chosen Arch Linux to be the recipient of the FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro. The recipient was determined by the results of a poll that opened on January 30 and closed at noon EST today.

The selection was a two part process that began with a qualifying poll in which readers could suggest distros to be included in the just ended final round of voting. The final round asked the question, “Which of the GNU/Linux distros listed below would you choose to win the FOSS Force ‘Best Desktop Distro’ Award for 2016?”

This year, both rounds of polling set records for our site. As they like to say after political elections, voter turnout was very heavy.

Continue readingBest Linux Distro Award: The Envelope Please…
Open Source Eye for the Android GuyAndroid FOSS free software

Open Source Eye for the Android Guy

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 2, 2017 |

Distros, Mobile, Operating Systems and Software

Android may be a free operating system, but unlike GNU/Linux, keeping it free is next to impossible if you want to make it useful.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Android FOSS free software

Do you ever look at your Android phone and wonder how much of the software on it is open source? I just did, and I was surprised at how little FOSS I had on it. Could I change that? After a bunch of searching, I did. But only a little.

Android itself is an open source project. Google controls the main branch and can keep you from using the “Android” trademark if you fork the project, but otherwise you can do anything you like with the code.

Now let’s talk about Android applications. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this in public, but until the idea for this essay came up last week in a conversation with FOSS Force editor Christine Hall, I hadn’t thought much about Android app licenses, not even when choosing apps for my own use.

Continue readingOpen Source Eye for the Android Guy
Leon Anavi’s Open Source News VlogLeon Anavi Open Source News

Leon Anavi’s Open Source News Vlog

By Phil Shapiro on January 31, 2017 |

News and Video

All of us at the FOSS Force office have become big fans of this new open source news blog from Leon Anavi and can’t wait until the next edition comes out in February. Don’t worry Leon, your English is fine. Keep ’em coming.

The Screening Room

Leon Anavi Open Source Video Blog

One of the nice things about open source is that contributions to open source culture come from around the world. Today, I’ve been watching an informative new video blog from Leon Anavi, in Bulgaria. Leon decided to flex his muscle as a journalist. The only thing he needs in order to succeed is willing viewers. Guess what? I’m a willing viewer and I like what I see.

Continue readingLeon Anavi’s Open Source News Vlog
Best Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has BegunArch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015

Best Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has Begun

By FOSS Force on January 30, 2017 |

Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

Arch Linux wins the qualifying round for the second year, followed by Linux Mint. In addition, eight distros qualified by write-in votes to be included in our final round. Now it’s time to get out the vote in the all-important final round to determine the Best Linux Distro according to our readers.

The FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Awards Poll

Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015Through our qualifying round of voting, you have decided the final slate of candidates for our annual FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro. At 11 a.m. EST, final round voting began to determine which desktop Linux distro gets the prize for this year’s award.

Admittedly, there’s not much at stake here; the winning distro receives nothing more than bragging rights and a heartfelt symbolic pat on the back from our readers — which has to count for something.

Continue readingBest Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has Begun
The Man Who Didn’t Invent Email Attacks Free Speechemail to remove Ayyadurai post from diaspora

The Man Who Didn’t Invent Email Attacks Free Speech

By Christine Hall on January 29, 2017 |

Business, Internet and News

The man whose much disputed claim to have invented email when he was a 14-year-old is taking legal actions, or threatening such, against anyone who publicly disagrees with his version of history.

email to remove Ayyadurai post from diaspora

Shiva Ayyadurai says he invented email and will sue the pants off anyone who says he didn’t. He’s already picked up a fat $750,000 settlement check from Gawker, which decided to settle because another lawsuit by Hulk Hogan had already put the site out of business. There is currently a suit pending against Techdirt, a site that mainly reports on threats to free speech. Now he’s going after social media, by sending a demand to a node of Diaspora to remove three posts by Roy Schestowitz, publisher of the popular FOSS site Tux Machines and the iconoclastic blog Techrights.

Continue readingThe Man Who Didn’t Invent Email Attacks Free Speech
Take Linux From Zero to Boot in Less Than a SecondBooting Linux

Take Linux From Zero to Boot in Less Than a Second

By Phil Shapiro on January 27, 2017 |

Operating Systems, Tutorial and Video

Some of us here at FOSS Force don’t mind waiting for a computer to boot. It reminds us of the old days when, after turning on the TV, radio or record player, we had to wait for the tubes to warm up.

The Screening Room

Booting Linux

At 2015’s Embedded Linux Conference Europe, Jan Altenberg, who works for Linutronix in Germany, explains how Linux can be optimized to boot in less than one second. Find out more in this fascinating video.

Continue readingTake Linux From Zero to Boot in Less Than a Second
In Search of an Open Source DNS ServerDNS The Internet's Phone Book

In Search of an Open Source DNS Server

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on January 26, 2017 |

Internet

You’d think that in this day and age finding a free and open DNS server would be easy, no? Evidently, not so much. That didn’t keep Roblimo from finding one, however.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

DNS server The Internet's Phone Book

Does it matter whether the DNS server you use is open source? Most of the good ones run proprietary code. But after some tedious shopping and testing, I finally found one that’s open source, community-owned, and (so far, at least) as reliable as its proprietary competitors.

Continue readingIn Search of an Open Source DNS Server
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