Okay, it’s an open question as to whether Jolicloud, the Linux/Ubuntu distro is the best OS for a netbook out there, but Dale Dougherty makes a pretty good case for it.
Conceived as a “internet operating system” and flavored by the Prism project from Mozilla Labs, with Jolicloud websites can function like desktop applications, and you can make use of cloud-based services for data storage. Let’s call it an alternative to Windows 7, a different kind of netbook OS.

Interesting article at Cnet by Matt Asay on the difficulty in bringing Linux to the non-technical masses– the ongoing dilemma is that adoption of a mainstream Linux by people without technical backgrounds would likely be unacceptable for Linux purists.

Asay’s opinion is that eliminating some degree of choice in favor of increased ease of use, coupled with corporate involvement, might be the way forward, concluding:

So, the Linux “desktop” can work. But to do so, I think we need companies involved, companies that are trying to scratch a very different itch than the one developers may be inclined to scratch themselves. That itch is usability for average end users. It’s an experience that is high on ease of use and trades away choice. This is not a bad thing.

A further problem that I see with Linux adoption by the technically less-inclined is that to the extent that they now regard their computers as internet appliances, non-geeks might be desensitized to choices regarding operating systems, and less willing to learn.

I just now noticed that Parallels for OSX now has a Directory of Virtual Appliances that offers over 50 open source operating systems with specific features. For example there is an AMP Web Developer Suite that contains PHP/PERL/Python, MySQL and PostgreSQL all installed, configured, and ready to use.

Do you hack your way around a terminal window in Linux? If so, here are a bunch of Linux keyboard shortcuts you should know about.

Why doesn’t Linux need defragmenting? is one of the better explanations of the inner workings of the Windows and Linux filesystems. It is a quick but interesting read.

Are you a little bit paraniod when it comes to your Internet activities? If you are, you should check out a Linix distribution named Everything Leaves Encrypted (ELE). ELE is a bootable Live CD Linux distribution with focus on privacy related software that includes Gaim, Dillo, Firefox, SSH, VNCviewer, Xpdf, most of the standard Linux apps like wget and vi. You Internet traffic is encrypted and your IP address is hidden by TOR.

Here is a great way to get started with Ruby on Rails Developement. The Rails Live CD is a live Linux distribution (based on Mandrake) that includes everything you need to get started with Rails. Some preinstalled goodness:

• Ruby 1.8.4
• Rails 1.1.2
• Mongrel 0.3.13
• Rake 0.7.1
• Subversion
• MySQL 4.1.12
• MySQL Administrator

RadRails

Six Things You Didn’t Know About Linux is a great beginners guide to using the open source Linux operating systems. It answers questions ranging from which distribution you should choose, what desktop to pick, and how to play multimedia files.

Earlier this week, RedHat announced the release of their latest Linux distribution – Fedora Core 5. Some new features include updated versions of the GNOME and KDE desktops, native MONO support, and the latest versions of Apache and Open Office.

It looks like the next version of the KDE Linux desktop shell will fully Support Apple Dashboard Widgets.  This will largely happen because of Apple’s use and development of KHTML which is the foundation for KDE’s Konquerer web browser.