Mike Clements has been having some fun with Telecom's T3G mobile broadband service and getting it to work with Linux (namely Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop). He was using the Sierra Aircard 580 and information on how to get it working on Linux can be found on debiana.net.

For those who do not want spend time reading about the basics or learn by trial and error here is a step by step guide from Mike...

If you have tried setting up LVM on top of a LVM-enabled software-RAID partition during a standard Suse installation you may have hit a brick wall where the installer tells you that there are no available LVM partitions. This is a bug in the installer, it looks as if the LVM setup tool only checks physical partitions for LVM labels and ignores software-RAID partitions that have LVM labels.

Steve Wray has pointed out that you can get this functionality to work by creating a small physical partition and giving it an LVM label. The LVM setup tool will see this partition and allow the configuration to continue quite happily with the software-RAID partitions available for use. I have not tested this but I think it is worth giving a spin as the data integrity of RAID-1 coupled with the flexibility of LVM is a compelling combination (though performance maybe an issue).

There is a case being heard in a California courtroom at the moment that may have serious implications on the future of pure visual corporate/government websites built on technologies like Flash. There are a number of these websites like this around that typically comprise of a fairly featureless HTML wrapper page for an all-singing and dancing Flash animation. The class action lawsuit brought against Target Corp (the website owner) is on the grounds of its online store not meeting the same accessibility standards as their physical equivalents or California legal guidelines for shopping outlets. Whilst many Flash websites have an HTML equivalent for Target did not and consequently vision and physically impaired users could not purchase goods as screen readers and keyboard shortcuts do not work in Flash environments.

There was a posting on the Linux forums that caught my attention mainly because its title and subsequent logic was so twisted that it was hard to ignore. Why Ubuntu Got It All Wrong is a fairly lengthy posting about how Ubuntu Linux, arguably the most successful Linux of the last few years, is completely wrong and should be viewed as a dismal failure. It is an interesting concept, Ubuntu is certainly showing signs of being too popular too fast, but the logic behind the argument is wrong. The weirdest statement made is that a 'revolutionary' Linux desktop should not resemble the current desktop (i.e. Windows/OSX) at all. In fact in the eyes of the author Ubuntu seems to fail because it is too conventional and the money invested by Mark Shuttleworth would have been better spent on experimental, never to be seriously adopted concepts like Project Looking Glass.

NetworkWorld is running a good article on the competition between Novell and Red Hat in the Linux marketplace and how for once Novell may not be the worst marketing department in the game. The article makes some good points, Red Hat largely has its dominant position in the Linux market through being first and not because of tremendous marketing initiative or product direction. In fact for the last couple of years it kind of feels like they have been stationery bystanders compared to the frenetic activity within the Novell and Ubuntu camps recently.

The s3DAV looks like an interesting project. It is written in Java and exposes the Amazon S3 online storage service via WebDAV. It is promising because it looks like it can seamlessly expose S3 storage to users via most operating system's native WebDAV support. This will make using S3 as simple as using a network drive. Being Java it can run on just about any platform and either operate at the server or client level. If I had the time I would like to add authentication code to the project, it authentication to OpenLDAP/eDirectory and SQL databases would be a very handy feature to have if you wanted to expose the service to a number of users.
 

CrossOver Office will soon be available on OSX Intel machines and it is looking pretty good. CrossOver use the Wine libraries to reproduce the Win32 command set on non-Win32 operating systems (most famously Linux). It all runs quite well but the result does look ugly at times as the Windows look and feel often doesn't sit well with more up to date visual styles. Whilst what comes out of this latest pairing may at times have the visual characteristics of a swan/pig mutant it will at least get useful tools like Microsoft Visio running in OSX without virtualisation. This is good as running virtualised software is expensive on both the processor and your wallet (technically you should buy two operating systems). Hopefully this means with Wine on OSX maturing we may see a OSX version of Picasa from Google based on Wine, I don't think it could seriously compete with iPhoto in terms of OSX integration but at least it would provide an worthwhile alternative for people who do not like iPhoto or who are used to Picasa on other platforms.

The MicroClient Jr. looks really neat. It is not the most powerful machine in the world but in a space only slightly larger than your palm you get a fully functional PC complete with graphics, sound, ethernet, USB, CompactFlash and a 166mhz Pentium. Sure it is not the most powerful thing in the world but it is really cheap and ideal for console or light-weight X-environments or as a terminal services client running a traditional flat client. It has an expansion module for a 2.5" hard drive but by default it ships with a limited amount of memory rather than a bulky and expensive drive. It looks tidy, doesn't cost a fortune and runs Linux, what more can you ask for?

It sounds like all those OSX users out there will finally be able to run OpenOffice native in Aqua from the mid-September. This is well overdue news considering the platform already runs 'natively' in the Windows and Linux environments. Sure you can run OpenOffice in OSX through the X-Windows system but it is ugly and unintegrated with the rest of the system but what self respecting, sunglass wearing Apple user wants to ruin the look of their desktop by doing that?

A few months back I switched to using NeoOffice, a port of OpenOffice that achieves Aqua-like integration through careful use of Java. It is a great choice for OSX users who cannot wait until the 'pure' version becomes available and even then NeoOffice maybe a better choice for a while longer as it is more mature. What I would really like to see that I know will not be in the initial release is some Aqua goodness shining through. OpenOffice is one of those useful but really boring applications that could be brought to life with a couple of well placed animations, some window transparency and a side-helping of Aqua class.

I was worried when I first heard about Novell Open Audio because based on their past performances I felt there was a real danger Novell would goof this up and produce a series of gutless, infomercial-type marketing clips complete with poorly written scripts about boring products that people do not care about. However I really liked the concept as Novell in general is just terrible at getting any type of message across. Just take a look at a few of their product pages and ask yourself what exactly is Novell trying to communicate about these products based solely on the information presented onscreen (and what is the deal with paragraphed sized hyperlinks?).

With this in mind the first show (or two) were a little sketchy. It did sound like there was a subtle script at play in the first few interviews. Ted Haeger (the show lead) seemed to know a little too much about the products in question and the topics of conversation appeared to lead a little too nicely from one to the next. What kept me listening however was the topics covered, they were genuinely interesting and covered the broad range of Novell’s product line from Suse to Groupwise.

Over time Ted has gained in confidence (it seems like he has left scripts behind) and the inclusion of co-host Erin Quill has also added a degree of dynamism to the podcast. As the shows have progressed I’ve also begun to realise Ted knows a lot more about the products and topics in question than your casual podcast host thanks to his prior work at Novell. The people interviewed have been also been great. I could honesty listen to Jeremy Alison bash Microsoft all day and I just wish they didn’t have to censor his language. What has also added to the shows ‘street-cred’ has been Ted’s involvement in other open-source activities like GUADEC and LugRadio. This has helped transform the podcaster’s image from potential corporate puppet to slightly alcoholic jet-setter (which deep down we all want to be).

One thing that I would really like to hear is more aggression (some would say crankiness) from Ted or someone else as the audio paints an altogether too rosy image of Novell and its products. Let’s be honest, this is a company that has gone from monopoly to minority in the server business and has made making stupid decisions that ruin a great product into an art-form.
Hearing from Jeremy Allison and Nat Friedman about Samba/desktop Linux is great but it is only half the story. The law of averages (and past business decisions) implies there are some real idiots working within the company and I would not mind hearing from them too, even if it was the sound of silence followed by some uncomfortable microphone dribbling.