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Astronomy on the Desktop By Joey Bernard Many people's initial exposure to science is through astronomy, and they are inspired by that first look through a telescope or their first glimpse of a Hubble image. Several software packages are available for the Linux desktop that allow users to enjoy their love of the stars. I look at several packages in this article that should be available for most distributions. more Dia - The Diagram Creation Tool By Michael Reed Dia is an application designed for quick creation of structured diagrams such as simple, line-based illustrations, flowcharts, UML charts and network diagrams. Being a vector based tool, there is some overlap with other applications such as Inkscape, but Dia's focus is on diagrams that are more functional than aesthetic. more Just published: the new Linux Journal 2011 eBook By LJ Staff We are pleased to announce the brand-new Linux Journal 2011 eBook. This eBook includes all 12 issues published in 2011, and is available in EPUB and MOBI formats. In addition to convenient reflowing text, enjoy search, bookmarking and other features using your favorite eReader software. more Poll By LJ Staff Are you planning to or have you recently migrated to Linux from another development platform? more Spotlight On Linux: wattOS By Michael Reed So many computers head for landfill when they are still able to carry out useful work. However, some organizations and individuals do what they can to put these machines into the hands of people who can use them. Naturally, this is an ideal application for Linux, and having had a quick look at it, I suspect that wattOS would make a good choice for refurbishing older computers. more

Using Plop Boot Manager for USB Boot By Michael Reed Portability is a huge advantage that Linux enjoys over most other desktop operating systems as most major distros work very well when installed to a flash drive. However, there are still machines in service that just won't play ball when it comes to USB booting. Fortunately, I found a nice little utility that can work around this problem. more

It appears Microsoft has chosen a more literal interpretation of the "Secure Boot" technology and is using it to "boot" competing operating systems from PCs pre-installed with its Windows 8 OS, in particular from the new ARM-processor based PCs.
Microsoft Boots Linux from ARM PCs