Writers at MakeTechEasier taken more screen shots than many other computer users will take in their lifetimes. We all use our favorite programs and usually do not give them a second thought. The user who might occasionally want to give an instructional lesson or just show off some desktop eye candy will probably need a little more guidance. After all, there are many screen shot programs to choose from, and not all of them are equal. KSnapshot for KDE stands out as one of the best screen shot tools available and is unquestionably the best one for KDE. It is a standard KDE program and should come packaged with any Linux distributions that offer KDE. It is very easy to learn, but as we always do at MTE, we are about to make it easier.

Concurrent has revised its Red Hat-based real-time Linux distribution, adding support for Intel Nehalem and AMD Opteron processors with up to 48 cores, among other enhancements. RedHawk Linux 5.4 also improves NUMA performance and provides enhanced Nvidia drivers that support Nvidia’s “Cuda” parallel computing technology, says the company.

Dell has released an experimental version of Google’s Chrome OS adapted for its own Mini 10v Netbook.

Dell Technology Strategist Doug Anson has announced that, after “doing some tinkering”, he has gotten Dell’s Mini 10v netbook working with Google’s Chromium OS, the open source branch of the Chrome OS. In a post on the Direct2Dell Blog, Anson says that “Without a network connection, Chromium OS is not very interesting. With a network connection, Chromium OS shines.”

Sometimes it’s the little things that trip us up, like a filename that begins with the wrong character. Juliet Kemp knows what to do when Linux becomes confused and won’t operate on a file the way we want it to.

From Washington, D.C., to Silicon Valley, senators and software industry CEOs are pressuring the European Union to make a decision on Oracle’s proposed buyout of Sun Microsystems and the MySQL open source database. Here’s the latest chatter, including a letter from JasperSoft CEO Brian Gentile to the EU.

Mainstream Linux distro developers have to make decisions that affect thousands of potential users. Should they include or remove a particular package? Should they apply a patch that may break compatibility with older machines? These matters are discussed fiercely in forums where trolls growl, flames burn and project leaders defend their decisions against an onslaught of dissident. But as an individual you have none of these issues. You can install and remove packages as and when you want to, and you can choose whether to install free or non-free software on your system. Why should you have to live with community decisions when you can make Linux work your way?

LXer Feature: 30-Nov-2009

An updated dstat package that fixes one security issue is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. This update has been rated as having moderate security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

A team of Dell engineers has released a very unofficial version of Google’s Chrome OS for use on the PC manufacturer’s Mini 10v netbooks. Dell isn’t on the official list of Chrome OS hardware partners. And the company’s founder and CEO believes his netbooks go sour after 36 hours. But you now have ready access to an early open source incarnation of Google’s browser-happy “operating system” that’s been tweaked specifically for those 36-hour machines.