Linux and free software will get some prominence at the upcoming CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany, March 3-8. A star-studded preview event will open the show, and a press conference has already taken place in Munich.

Hardware provider Hewlett-Packard has released a Linux version for its mini-laptop. HP wants to be clear from the outset that disabling the Linux command line interface in the product is not an act of heresy.

The NVIDIA proprietary drivers for Linux are now out of beta phase and into a stable version. The new generation includes a number of new features.

Former president of Novell's EMEA operations Volker Smid has taken over as head of operations at HP in Germany. Javier Colado assumes Smid's old role at Novell.

Sun Microsystems has acquired Belgian company Q-Layer, which specializes in cloud computing.

The Ubuntu Eee Linux variant optimized for netbooks is now known as Easy Peasy. Version 1.0 is on the same level as Ubuntu 8.10.

Acer has put the source RPM packages and a recovery DVD for its increasingly popular Aspire One Linux netbook online for free download. Sources for the kernel and further components are also available.

The Android OS from Google is optimized for ARM processors and smaller displays, but, with some adjustment, can also run on netbooks.

Close to year's end, U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has released the Linux code for its ATI R600 and R700 microprocessors.