Linus on Linux, 20 Years In Slashdot 5/5/11. Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall during a conversation between Linus Torvalds, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs about the future of desktop computing?

Kodiak to Lion: 10 years of Mac OS X Steven Borden-Weil, InfoWorld, 4/23/11. Hate to say it, but jumping right onto the latest version of OS X is like using the evil Sid of Debian Linux. It breaks everything, you have to buy new software, and you need to wait until version 10.x.6 before everything works right again.

Camino, a Fast Alternative to Bloated Heavyweight Browsers Simon Royal, Low End Mac, 4/19/11. Simon reviews a great browser that still works on PowerPC and OS X Tiger. He also gives us a quick run-down of popular browsers and their pros and cons.

Computer Factories Are the Energy Hogs Slashdot, 4/15/11. "The main idea behind saving energy in the high-tech world has been to buy newer, more energy efficient devices, but researchers say that may be the wrong way to look at the issue, since as much as 70% of the energy a typical laptop will consume during its life span is used in the manufacturing of the computer.”

Can Vintage Be Bad For The Environment? Lloyd Alter, Tree Hugger, 4/12/11. This article is about old cars but the same goes for old computers. Is it better to keep using that old Mac, or should you buy a new one that uses less energy, but is made in and shipped from China where environmental laws are lax?

Celebrating 20 Years of Linux Slashdot, 4/7/11. Back in 1991, while Apple was migrating to System 7, and Steve Jobs was trying to get NeXT off the ground, an obscure Finnish computer genius, Linus Torvalds, was putting out the first version of Linux. It became the passion of many Mac users to get that operating system working on their machines, starting with Apple-supported MkLinux back in 1996.

Installing Mac OS 9 on the Mirrored Drive Doors Power Mac G4 Adam Rosen, Low End Mac, 3/21/11. A similar problem exists with trying to install Mac OS 9.1 on a PowerMac G4 (Digital Audio).

Moving data from an ancient laptop Christopher Breen, MacWorld, 3/16/11. Technologies change over time. SCSI gives way to USB and filesharing on the old machines can't "talk" to the new ones. But, it can be done.

Safari 4.1.3 for Tiger: Fast, but Not Perfect Charles Moore, Low End Mac, 3/15/11. A tip of the hat to Apple for providing one more update to their Safari browser that runs on OS X Tiger.

Dedo Does Debian - Review Dedoimedo, 3/1/11. Debian Linux could position itself as a replacement for OS X Tiger on older PPC Macs (if they had a little nudge from PPC Mac users). It's one of the few Linux distributions for PPC where active development is still going on, including security updates, up-to-date software, etc. Squeeze is just out, now it's on to Wheezy. But, as always, beware the evil Sid!

Workers Sickened at Apple Supplier in China David Barboza, New York Times, 2/22/11. Curiously, among the Apple fan boys... mostly silence on this issue. Best thing to do is to keep that old Mac running and working for you, and hope that Apple will come to its senses and bring those jobs back home where they belong.