History of Programming Languages -- For 50 years, computer programmers have been writing code, and now, there are more than 2,500 documented programming languages. O'Reilly has produced a poster called History of Programming Languages, which plots over 50 programming languages on a multi-layered, color-coded timeline. The poster is available online in PDF format, but while supplies last, U.S. residents can also get a hard copy of the poster free when purchasing two books through oreilly.com.

Special Offer: Linux/Unix SysAdmin Certificate -- Learn system administration skills online and receive certification from the University of Illinois Office of Continuing Education. Courses include: The Unix File System, Networking and DNS, Unix Services (including email and web servers), and Scripting for Administrators with Sed, Awk, and Perl. It's all at the O'Reilly Learning Lab. Enroll now and save 40%. Offer ends June 30th.

Hacking the Linux Desktop -- Modifying stuff to suit individual desire is the credo of hackers everywhere. In these two excerpts, Nicholas Petreley and Jono Bacon let you modify Linux to suit your desires. The first hack uses Virtual Network Computer (VNC) to access Windows and Mac OS X from your Linux desktop. The second shows how to lock down KDE with Kiosk mode, allowing you to control exactly what users can and can't change. Nicolas and Jono are the authors of Linux Desktop Hacks.

Trust and Zeal in Open Source Advocacy -- Advocacy is critical to the spread of open source and free software. Good advocates build trust in their audiences, explaining how, and if, F/OSS can help them solve their problems. Jono Bacon explains how to build trust and avoid overzealous advocacy. Jono is the author of Linux Desktop Hacks.

New Titles on Safari -- Search, annotate, read, and download chapters from your favorite technical books through Safari Bookshelf. New titles from O'Reilly include: Linux Desktop Hacks, IPv6 Network Administration, Apache Security, Jakarta Struts Cookbook, Firefox Hacks, Hackers & Painters, and Linux in a Windows World. If you haven't gone on Safari yet, get a free trial.

Linux Cookbook: Installing Programs from Source Code --Even with all the package managers out there, there are times when building from sources is preferable. For example, a program you want may not be available in a packaged version or you may want to optimize it for your architecture. In Chapter 4 of Linux Cookbook, you’ll be introduced to the basics, including preparing your system and using CheckInstall. If you like this chapter, read the whole book (and up to nine others) on Safari with a free trial subscription.

Freedom, Innovation, and Convenience: The RMS Interview -- Since 1984, Richard M. Stallman has fought for software freedom as coder, project leader, and philosopher. Read about Stallman's views on freedom, the GNU project, the Linux kernel, and GNU/Linux distributions, in this interview by Federico Biancuzzi on LinuxDevCenter.com.

Fear and Loathing in Information Security -- "Society has always treated innovators and whistle blowers with ambivalence," writes author Michael D. Bauer in reference to hackers. In this article, Michael defines and analyzes hacking. He then discusses why information security professionals demonize hackers and why that tendency is both irrational and counterproductive. Michael is the author of Linux Server Security, 2nd Edition.

Download Chapters Through Safari -- There are over 2,000 books from the industry's leading technical publishers available on Safari Bookshelf. As the library grows, so does its functionality. Do you ever wish you could download content from O'Reilly books? Just the chapters you want? Now you can, with a Safari Max subscription. Save time, reduce errors, keep current, and save money. If you haven't yet gone on Safari, try a free trial subscription.

Network Installation of Windows Printers from Samba -- The combination of Samba and CUPS makes network printing on a mixed Linux/Windows LAN easier than ever. You can share Linux printers with Windows clients, and Windows printers with Linux clients. Carla Schroder shows how to set up and maintain this reliable printer server. Carla is the author of Linux Cookbook.

BSD Success Stories (PDF) -- The BSDs--FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Darwin, and others--have earned a reputation for stability, security, performance, and ease of administration. In the process, they've gathered enthusiastic advocates. This collection speaks to that enthusiasm. These are the stories of ordinary users who discovered flexibility, value, and power in this extraordinary operating system. Dru Lavigne, who helped collect these stories, is the author of BSD Hacks.

Adding Permissions Using SELinux -- As an SELinux administrator, one of the most frequent SELinux policy customizations you're likely to perform is adding permissions to coax the security engine into accepting an operation. Bill McCarty considers an actual situation based on Fedora Core 2's SELinux implementation and shows how it's resolved, in this excerpt from O'Reilly's SELinux.

PC Hacks for Linux -- If Linux just won't boot or isn't as zippy as you'd expect, help is merely a hack away. Learn how to recover your system's boot-ability and how to test and optimize your Linux settings for the best hard-drive performance, in these sample hacks from O'Reilly's upcoming PC Hacks.

Cooking with Linux -- Learn how to generate a list of files from a source install for smooth uninstalls, how to kill user processes the easy way, and how to use keychain to create better logins without passwords, all in these sample recipes from O'Reilly's recently released Linux Cookbook.

Putting the Linux Desktop Closer to the User -- Sun's JDS LiveCD has helped many curious people discover Linux without having to install the distribution on their hard drives. But the LiveCD doesn't necessarily help new users navigate around the system or really understand Linux. New users could use a blueprint. Now there is one, and this LXer.com article by O'Reilly author Tom Adelstein explains just how and why it was developed. Tom cowrote Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop.