Debian is well respected as a stable server distribution, and most of the reviews focus on aspects appropriate to server deployments. This article covers Debian on the desktop. It is not a step by step tutorial, but focuses on the highlights of the recent Etch release.

I just saw the news that Debian Etch will no longer receive updates from the Debian Security Team as of Feb. 15, 2010. As you may or may not know, the current Stable version of Debian is Lenny, which received that "Stable" designation on Feb. 15, 2009. See the pattern?

The current stable release of PC=BSD available for download is version 8.1. Version 8.2 is due sometime very early next year (mid to late January is the likely release time frame), and version 9 much later. A snapshot release of version 9 has just been made available for download and testing. SysInstaller, PC-BSD’s installation program, will pack more features than the current version.

"As per January 2009, the current stable version of GNU/Emacs is 22. However, there is a development version 23 available from CVS. The development version should become the next stable version in the not-too-distant future. I've been using emacs 23 for more than one year now, and have found it very reliable..."

This tutorial shows how to set up an Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS) based server that offers DNS services. This tutorial is written for the 32-bit version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, but should apply to the 64-bit version.

This multi-page Fedora desktop tutorial will outline the basics of using themes on the Fedora desktop. In addition to basic steps to finding, selecting, and customizing the pre-installed Fedora themes, students will also learn a few good places to find themes online and the steps to downloading and installing them.

This tutorial shows how to set up an Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS) based server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Courier POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.

After a year's development, a new, stable version 3.0 of Google's open source Chrome browser is now available. Developers promise "significant speed improvements," although current beneficiaries are Windows Vista and XP users only.

This tutorial shows how to set up a CentOS 5.5 server (x86_64) that offers all services needed by ISPs and web hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.