Ever wondered “what the hell is that mysql server doing”? Search no longer, My top is the answer. Mytop is a clone of top, a utility every sysadmin knows about, but instead of monitoring the system, it follows MySQL threads. In a nutshell, it’s a nifty command line tool that will connect to a MySql server and periodically run the SHOW PROCESSLIST and SHOW STATUS commands. It will then provide nice summaries of the results, and let the user apply various filters.

Season's Greetings to one and all in the Linux community, the technology world, and Internet nation. I've just finished the big paid-work project (mere hours ago), so it will be time again soon to blow the dust off this blog and get back to posting. So, post something, something... I guess I'll make a Christmas tradition out of posting links to online game sites that I've found enjoyable this year.

As promised, the second part of this series presents still more commercially available music and sound software for Linux. Come see (and hear) what your money will buy...

3D computer graphics software refers to programs used to create 3D computer-generated imagery. There are typically many stages in the "pipeline" that studios use to create 3D objects for film and games, and this article only covers some of the software used.

Yes, I’m talking about amaroK, the free, open source music player, currently only for Linux and Unix, but soon to be available for Windows and Mac OS X. As the saying goes, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who use amaroK, and those who don’t. amaroK is the ultimate music management software, and for a casual music buff like me, it’s the best you can get out there.

I debated long and hard before deciding to take a stab at this article idea. Because KDE and GNOME users are so furiously loyal to their preferred desktop environment, I had to take into account that no matter how I stated my case, someone was going to come away feeling let down.

There is an interesting class of programs: audioplayers. What we expected from them? Playing music. What is required for this? Codecs, simple interface, playlist, equalizer. May be themes and control from keyboard. Many things can be applied to it, but audioplayer must stay a-music-player. This is primary task for such kind of program, and afterwards - cataloguer, tag converter, music collection organizer and so on. For this, spartanians and ancient-lovers remembers and likes simple yet powerful XMMS.

Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 2 is due out tomorrow, and while we'll have more extensive testing as the Hardy Heron release nears in April, today we are publishing our first -- very initial -- benchmarks of Ubuntu 8.04 using the 12-19-2007 daily build and comparing these results to Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. These tests are focused upon OpenGL gaming, encoding, disk, and memory performance.

Mozilla has released the Firefox 3 Beta 2. As expected, this release is more about polishing the long list of features and improvements introduced during the previous nine milestones (eight alphas and a beta). But, as usual, there’s room for some noticeable changes.

Mozilla has announced the official release of Firefox 3 beta 2, the tenth major developer milestone in the Firefox 3 development timeline. The new beta, which is available for download from Mozilla's web site, includes interface improvements and a lot of extra polish.

I've just downloaded and had a casual fool around with Firefox 3 Beta 2 and I'm told that it has approximately 900 improvements over the previous beta, including fixes for stability, performance, memory usage, platform enhancements and user interface improvements. However, what it boils down to is that it's even faster than the Beta 1 version and it is even easier to navigate.

I was unable to attend the KDE release party at Google headquarters. I was thrilled to get the invite, but I just couldn't make it. And to be honest, that's a shame because the latest release has impressed me, despite me being seen as a crusty GNOME fan. I guess in the end we are all Linux users at heart.

BBC iPlayer after a lot of complains, petitions, talks and discussions is finally available for GNU/Linux as beta. I took a look at what BBC has prepared and in general I have to say: good job!

You love it as the world’s most popular desktop Linux distribution, and now Ubuntu is available at a server near you. Embracing the very same features desktop users have grown to love, system administrators are rapidly adopting Ubuntu due to their ability to configure, deploy, and manage network services more effectively than ever.

After some raving blogs about how memory-efficient and fast KDE 4 is, I decided to test something myself.

I have both OS X 10.x and Ubuntu 7.x running on separate laptops, and have used them for over 2 years now. The similarities are outstanding in more than a few ways. Below is PART 2 of my reviews and summary of main features of the latest Ubuntu 7.10 (codename Gutsy Gibbon) which have made it so appealing over Apple's OS X.

Today we have a technological cage match involving two operating systems, both UNIX- based, both mature, both with passionate detractors and even more passionate defenders, and both released just a week apart. I'm talking, of course, about Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), with its final release on October 18, and Apple' s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, which was available for purchase on October 26.

Welcome to the last part of our Linux media player roundup. Today we'll be covering VLC, XMMS, Xfmedia, Xine and one more previously missed media player, the "Listen Media Player". But even though this is our last part, we still hope you enjoy what we have to offer you here and that you've enjoyed the series so far. So, without further delay, let's dive into part 7 and see what each of these players can offer you!

In the past, I have been particularly hard on KINO and its choice of UI schemes. However, one thing I really appreciate is despite KDENLive 0.4 and 0.5/0.6 crashes and other mindless anomalies, it works.

A Win/Mac developer recently asked me what I thought about his plan to create a binary of his application and sell it to interested Linux sound and music people. He asked with some trepidation, having already received a rather critical chorus of objection from some overly enthusiastic Linux users.