Caitlyn Martin
Caitlyn Martin is a Linux/Unix and information security consultant based near Raleigh, North Carolina. She has 30 years of professional experience in Information Technology. Caitlyn was introduced to Red Hat Linux in 1995 and has been using Linux professionally since 1998, during which time she has served as a systems administrator, security analyst, programmer/analyst, and network engineer. She also does freelance writing on Free and Open Source software, primarily Linux, and related technologies. She is currently heavily involved in the Linux Yarok project as a developer.
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Caitlyn blogs at:
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The Russians Are Coming: A First Look At Rosa 2012 Marathon
May 21 2012
ROSA Labs has forked the Mandriva distribution, creating a distribution that, while still resembling Mandriva 2011 at first glance, actually has gone its own way in many important respects. The first post-Mandriva release, ROSA 2012 Marathon, was officially unveiled last Monday. This is also the first ROSA LTS (long term… read moreLinux Hardware Support Myths and Legends
May 10 2012
With a new major Windows release just around the corner we are being treated to an onslaught of articles proclaiming the failings of Linux on the desktop. You'd think that such articles wouldn't be necessary if the Linux desktop had indeed failed. One recurring theme is the idea that Linux… read moreThe New Desktop Paradigm: Blame the Success of Linux on the Desktop
April 26 2012
The new Windows 8 Metro desktop, the latest incarnation of Mac OSX, Android, Ubuntu's Unity desktop and GNOME 3, love them or hate them, all came about because of the success of Linux on the desktop. read moreSolving Display Problems With Some NVIDIA Chipsets After Installing Slackware 13.37 or SalixOS 13.37
April 05 2012
Slackware 13.37 and SalixOS 13.37, like most current Linux distributions, use the Open Source nouveau driver by default if an NVIDIA graphics chipset is detected. Nouveau works well with most NVIDIA graphics cards and chipsets but by no means all of them. In some cases the hardware detection works as… read moreHelios Project Director Felled By Stroke; Linux Community Support Sought
June 14 2011
One of the people behind the scenes has been Mr. Stark's partner, Diane Franklin, who has served as Logistics and Planning Director for the Helios Project for the past year. Ms. Franklin is retired and has served in this capacity without pay. Her skills allowed the project to better organize… read moreAdobe: 64-bit Flash Player Later This Year
June 09 2011
The note from Mr. Offerman reads, in part: "I can confirm that Adobe will make 64-bit support in Flash Player "Square" available in a shipping release of Flash Player later this year." read moreOn Virtualization and The Cloud: The Most Ridiculous Article I've Read in a Very Long Time
June 08 2011
In a piece published this morning called Don't Throw Away Your Physical Servers Just Yet, the author, Ken Hess, wrote a piece that ridicules and derides anyone who doesn't virtualize literally all, as in every last one, of their servers. No, I'm not exaggerating. read moreOne Year Later: Adobe Abandons 64-bit Linux Again
June 07 2011
Once again there are known security vulnerabilities in the now eight month old beta and no patches are available. In addition, the community forum page for discussing Flash Player "Square" has been deleted from the Adobe Labs website. If Adobe is continuing development on a 64-bit version of Flash Player… read moreA Good Technical Recruiter Is Worth Their Weight In Gold
March 05 2011
For those who are looking for an IT position right now one thing the improving economy won't help: the sad state of technical recruiting today. read moreGetting Drupal and mod_security to Play Nicely Together on Red Hat 5.x Servers
November 03 2010
Deploying Drupal on an Apache web server with mod_security or adding mod_security to an Apache server with Drupal running should be as easy as installing the relevant packages. Unfortunately, on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.4 and 5.5 servers it just isn't so. read moreSeptember 28 2010
I bought a low-end, small footprint desktop: an eMachines EL-1300G. The cost at a local big box retailer was $159. A friend of mine was so impressed she went to the store right before Christmas to buy one as a gift for her sister. The price had dropped to $149.… read moreControlling Interest in Mandriva Sold To Russian Firm; Former Developers Fork Distribution
September 20 2010
Last Friday the newspaper Vedomosti reported that a Russian firm, NGI, has purchased a controlling interest in Mandriva. read moreSeptember 07 2010
It seems like almost every day someone in the tech press or someone commenting in a technical forum will claim that Linux adoption on the desktop (including laptops) is insignificant. The number that is thrown around is 1%. These claims are even repeated by some who advocate for Linux adoption.… read moreAre You Intimidated By Breakfast Cereal?
September 04 2010
An article by Graham Morrison for Tech Radar UK this past week struck a bit of a raw nerve for me. It was one of a type we see periodically in the tech press and the title pretty much tells the story: The trouble with Linux: there's too much choice.… read moreGnash 0.8.8: A Huge Improvement Over Previous Versions
August 27 2010
Early this week Gnash 0.8.8 was released. Despite the small increment in version number, which would make this seem like a minor maintenance release, the difference between version 0.8.8 and the earlier 0.8.7 is like night and day. read moreMandriva Saved By New Investors
June 22 2010
After weeks of concern about the "catastrophic state of it's finances" and an indefiniete delay in the release of version 2010.1, the French website LeMagIT is reporting that Mandriva has been saved by new investors. read moreRunning 64-bit Linux? No Flash For You!
June 18 2010
Adobe has, at least temporarily, ended support for Flash Player on 64-bit Linux. No updated version is available. Adobe's message for 64-bit Linux users, at least for now, is "No Flash for you!" read moreAvoiding Linux Installation Problems on the HP Mini 110 and Mini 210 Netbooks
June 13 2010
I first ran into what turns out to be a recurring problem when I installed Pardus 2009 last fall. The installer would lock up... Since then I have run into an almost identical problem in openSUSE11.2, Slackware 13.1 and SalixOS 13.1... It appears that the wireless chipset as implemented in… read moreThis Takes The Cake: Sam Varghese of IT Wire Goes On The Offensive Again
April 15 2010
He has now, on three separate occasions this year, written pieces which are harshly critical of Ubuntu's detractors. If you dare say anything negative about his favorite Linux distribution you will be in Mr. Varghese's cross hairs. [...] Indeed, in a piece published today Sam Varghese spends three pages explaining… read moreHow Canonical Can Do Ubuntu Right: It Isn't a Technical Problem
April 11 2010
I knew in advance that venting my frustrations with Ubuntu in the form of an article yesterday would stir up a hornet's nest. [...] Having read all the comments I'd like to clarify my thoughts on the subject. read moreUbuntu Is A Poor Standard Bearer For Linux
April 10 2010
To whatever part of the general non-geek public is even aware of Linux the names "Linux" and "Ubuntu" are all but interchangeable. Over the past few years I've come to the conclusion that this state of affairs is, at best, unfortunate. read moreLinux Regaining Netbook Market Share
December 05 2009
ABI Research published some new data last month and the results may surprise you. They place the 2009 market share for Linux on netbooks at 32% with 11 million units preloaded with Linux shipping this year. read moreThe Problem With The Linux Community
November 20 2009
While I'm very positive about the openSUSE team I must say that I am a lot less sanguine about some in their community. Some fans (or really fanatics) came out in force ready to attack the reviewer (me), to question my skills and even my sanity, to attack Ladislav Bodnar… read moreLinux Netbooks: They're Still Out There
October 23 2009
I found a wide variety of systems with Linux available from mainstream outlets and factory direct, at least here in the United States where I live. While I don't have updated market share figures it's clear, despite claims by Microsoft and their supporters, that Linux remains entrenched in the netbook… read moreOctober 07 2009
On that Friday, with no warning, the little netbook failed to boot up. I couldn't even get to the BIOS. For the third time a Sylvania netbook I owned had suffered a premature hardware failure. read moreReport: Facebook A Haven For Hate Groups
September 18 2009
Dr. Oboler published a new report on Tuesday and this time he has targeted Facebook and with good reason. Despite a prohibition in the popular social networking website's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, it's terms of service, Facebook has remained a happy home for Holocaust denial and racist "white pride"… read moreThe Future of CentOS and Criteria For Choosing a Business Distribution
August 06 2009
The whole time the dispute between the CentOS developers was in the news development moved forward and patches were released. CentOS was never a one man show. It was perhaps in danger of forking or a name change but it never really was anywhere near point of death. read moreLow End Linux Netbook Prices Continue To Drop
June 29 2009
It almost goes without saying that you won't find anything that runs Windows at anywhere near these prices. Oh, and no, that doesn't mean that Linux is somehow inferior as Windows fans would want you to believe. It is, however, free of charge. read moreHigh Netbook Return Rate? Windows Is the Problem
June 09 2009
Note that the quoted story wasn't referring to netbooks running Linux. It was referring to all Intel Atom powered netbooks. I am assured over and over again by tech pundits like Mr. Weinberg that nowadays almost all those netbooks run Windows, not Linux. Did it ever occur to people that… read moreThe MIPS Processor and the $150 Linux Netbook
May 29 2009
Last week I wrote about two different projections claiming that Linux will recapture 50% of the netbook market, either in three years or by next year. Compelling MIPS and ARM based systems are the reason I believe those projections are correct. Current versions of Windows won't run on ARM or… read moreLinux To Regain 50% Netbook Market Share
May 21 2009
Stephen Lim, the General Manager of Taiwan based Linpus Technologies, made the surprising prediction that Linux will regain 50% market share from Windows on netbooks by next year. read moreA Linux Netbook Done The Right Way: the Sylvania g Netbook Meso
April 01 2009
In just over two months of use so far I have been very impressed with the Sylvania g Netbook Meso. None of the issues, hardware or software, that I encountered with the original g Netbook, are seen in the somewhat newer model. The Meso has proven to be an upgrade… read moreLinux Performance: Different Distributions, Very Different Results
March 09 2009
I almost invariably get a comment to the effect that all Linux distros are essentially the same: running the same kernel, the same libraries, the same filesystems. Performance should be essentially the same, right? The answer is a resounding no. The performance results of different distributions, even ones running the… read moreImproved Linux Screen Space Management With PekWM
March 07 2009
PekWM offers an additional solution: window grouping. It allows a variety of different applications to be grouped together in a single window. Most everyone is familiar with tabbed browsing by now. Window grouping takes this one step further. When window grouping is used in PekWM the title bar in the… read moreVL-Hot: A Non-polling Alternative To HAL
February 21 2009
VL-Hot is an automounter which provides an alternative to the HAL daemon that provides some but not all of the functionality of HAL without continuously polling hardware. read moreNetbook Nightmare: My Experience With the Sylvania g Netbook
February 13 2009
I would have rated the hardware in this unit highly if it hadn't failed on me on two consecutive systems. I understand that two units is hardly a scientific sample and that I may just have had really bad luck. Unfortunately the software proved to be a disaster as well. read moreMaking Slackware and Slackware Derivative Linux Distros Speak Your Language
January 29 2009
...if you're willing to edit one or two configuration files and install a few packages you can make Slackware speak your language, working in whatever language you are most comfortable with. read moreJanuary 01 2009
After eight years in business California-based MadTux, an online retailer specializing in systems preloaded with Linux, has closed. read moreVector Linux SOHO Is Free Again
September 28 2008
After stripping away the marketing hype the net result is that SOHO is once again free. I also have to wonder if there was some push back from the community when SOHO, which was free for download when version 5.8 was current, was moved to a paid-only status. read moreFinding Linux Systems Where They Never Were Found Before
September 10 2008
Up until very recently every system, desktop and laptop, in their catalog ran Windows and sported a Windows logo in the ad. While the majority still do a half a dozen laptops, all low-end netbooks, are sold with Linux preinstalled and the Tux logo is prominently featured in some of… read moreVector Linux Partners With SQI To Provide Support Infrastructure
September 09 2008
SQI is providing and hosting their Incident Manager software, a ticketing system specifically for paid support customers, as well as a blowledge base available to all Vector Linux users. In addition to providing the software for the knowledge base they are assisting with content creation. The new Vector Linux website… read moreRecent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
