What do the BlueGene/L System, the BlueGene/P system and the New Mexico Computing Applications Center SGI system, based on the Altix ICE Integrated Compute Environment 8200 model, have in common? First, they're the top three fastest computers in the world, according to the latest Top 500 supercomputer list. Second, they all run Linux.

Today I will show you the iptables rules I set on my main personal computer, with detailed comments about why I came to use these rules after several years of Linux desktop usage.

There are fast computers, and then there are Linux fast computers. Every six months, the Top 500 organization announces "its ranked list of general purpose systems that are in common use for high end applications."

No doubt about it. Linux is the fastest operating system in use today. And you can have it all for free. Ever since its humble beginnings, written by a guy crazed with the bite of a charging penguin, Linux has improved by leaps and bounds.

The M45, named for a star cluster, is considered one of the world's 50 fastest supercomputers. The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's Big Ben system, by comparison, debuted two years ago with capabilities for 10 trillion calculations per second.

Frankly, this was a selfish move on Sony's part, and a big hit to low-cost supercomputing.

This is supposed to be a political blog, but it's Linux Monday and that means it's time for a look at the politics of software. Nothing's a hotter issue these days, literally, than global warming, and today we'll see how Linux can save the planet.

A few weeks ago, the top500 Supercomputer list came out, as it does each November. As expected, Linux is still the most used OS for supercomputing, as it has been since taking the list by storm in the early 2000s.

IBM Tuesday marked its 10 years of participation in Linux and open source by introducing new software, upgrades to existing platforms and an open source code contribution focused on supercomputing.