Articles by Jack M. Germain

Endless OS is an unusual Linux distro in that its user interface is more like an Android smartphone or tablet than a Linux desktop computer platform....

A new Linux OS gets to the core of Linux computing with a revamped desktop environment and a new way to have fun with your daily computing tasks Developer Jacque Montague Raymer on Monday debuted the MakuluLinux Core OS. He hopes Core becomes the crown jewel of the Series 15 release family....

Blackbird, Netrunner's version 19.01 release, hit the download servers on Jan. 14, and this distro deserves to be considered bleeding-edge.

Linux apps can now run in a Chromebook's Chrome OS environment. However, the process can be tricky, and it depends on your hardware's design and Google's whims Running Android apps on your Chromebook is somewhat similar, but the Linux connection is far less forgiving. If it works in your Chromebook's flavor, though, the computer becomes much more u...

Independent software vendors, along with Internet of Things and cloud vendors, are involved in a market transformation that is making them look more alike. The similarities are evident in the way they approach software security initiatives, according to a report from Synopsys Synopsys on Tuesday released its ninth annual Building Security in Maturi...

Sometimes it takes more than a few tweaks to turn an old-style desktop design into a fresh new Linux distribution. That is the case with the public release of Blue Collar Linux....

Keeping up to date with multiple daily activity calendars, tons of information, and long must-do lists can be a never-ending challenge. This week's Linux Picks and Pans reviews the best open source Personal Information Managers (PIMs) that will serve you well on whatever Linux distribution you run In theory, computer tools should make managing a fl...

Online and Internet security are not topics that typical computer users easily comprehend. All too often, Linux users put their blind trust in a particular distribution and assume that all Linux OSes are equally secure However, not all Linux distros are created with the same degree of attention to security and privacy control. A misconfiguration of...

Sometimes working with Linux distros is much like rustling through an old jewelry drawer. Every now and then, you find a diamond hidden among the rhinestones. That is the case with Q4OS.

Elementary OS is an easy-to-use operating system that offers a fresh approach to running Linux....

Linux and the open source business model are far different today than many of the early developers might have hoped. Neither can claim a rags-to-riches story. Rather, their growth cycles have been a series of hit-or-miss milestones The Linux desktop has yet to find a home on the majority of consumer and enterprise computers. However, Linux-powered ...

Deepin 15.8, released last month, is loaded with more efficient layout tweaks that give the distribution greater functionality and maturity.

Void Linux is a bit out of the ordinary. It offers an unusually interesting alternative to many of the traditional Linux distros affiliated with a larger Linux family, such as Debian or Ubuntu, or Arch Void Linux is an independently developed, rolling-release, general-purpose operating system. That means that its software is either homegrown or pla...

Today's Linux platform accommodates a number of really good financial applications that are more than capable of handling both personal and small-business accounting operations. That was not always the case, however. Not quite 10 years ago, I scoured Linux repositories in a quest for replacement applications for popular Microsoft Windows tools. Ba...

The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the Firefox web browser, is expanding a campaign begun last year to help consumers buy safe, secure connected toys and mobile gadgets this holiday season Mozilla's 2018 edition Privacy Not Included buyers' guide offers an assessment of the privacy and security qualities of 70 products, rangi...

The LF Deep Learning Foundation on Wednesday announced the availability of the first software from theAcumos AI Project. Dubbed "Athena," it supports open source innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning This is the first software release from the Acumos AI Project since its launch earlier this year. The goal is to m...

News flash: Private cloud economics can offer more cost efficiency than public cloud pricing structures Private (or on-premises) cloud solutions can be more cost-effective than public cloud options, according to "Busting the Myths of Private Cloud Economics," a report 451 Research and Canonical released Wednesday. That conclusion counters the notio...

An apparent prefix leak from an errant router misconfiguration caused Google to lose control of several million of its IP addresses for more than an hour on Monday During the event, Internet traffic was misrouted to China and Russia from Nigeria. The incident initially sparked concerns that it might have been a malicious hijacking attempt....

Google announced support for a range of new Android tools for application developers, chief among them the creation of a new support category for foldable devices, at last week's Developers Summit ...

GalliumOS is a Chromebook-specific Linux variant. It lets you put a real Linux distro on a Chromebook My recent review of a new Chromebook feature -- the ability to run Linux apps on some Chromebook models -- sparked my interest in other technologies that run complete Linux distros on some Chromebooks without using ChromeOS....