A pint-sized, multi-functional Linux server small enough to hold in the palm of your hand, was released this week into the North American market by Japan-based Plat'Home.

Plat'Home's latest product, OpenBloks is a pint-sized Linux server that weighs in at a measly 225 grams. It's not much bigger than a deck of cards, but it can run many of the same server applications full-sized machines run. It's ideal for many surveillance and automation processes that rely heavily on reliability.

Eager to add Penguin-power to your pint-sized portable? New releases of Mandriva and KDE Desktop are being optimised for a better netbook experience.

As a kind of pint-sized free software fidei defensor I feel obliged to counter some of the misconceptions that are put about on the subject around the Web. But I find myself in a slightly embarrassing situation here, in that I need to comment on some statements that have appeared in the virtual pages of Computerworld UK.

In 2007 we ran a story on the tiny linux PC The Linutop. Now the diminutive system has hit version 2.4 and with it an official launch in the UK. The pint-sized, open source Linux PC is designed to run silently and is highly energy efficient at just 8 watts.

We are beginning to see two interesting and related trends: quick-boot second computers within laptops and wall-wart sized, very inexpensive, Linux-based computers. The overall trend across both of these are cheap, small Linux computers built in to various other devices. How will this go, though?

If you’re running a small business and you’re in the market for server, you might want to consider SME Server, a Linux distribution customised specifically for the small and medium sized business environment.

I've been seeing an increasing attitude rising in the blogsphere lately that I think needs to be addressed, as it echoes a growing sentiment within the Linux and Open Source community. One of the biggest things we've been telling the world to do for years is to switch to Linux and Open Source.

"Governments, Medium and Large sized companies are benefiting from FOSS-work, which represents a market value of about Euro 12 billion..."