Linux Foundation Says All Major Distros Are IPv6 Compliant

Linux Foundation Says All Major Distros Are IPv6 Compliant

ruphus13 points out news from the Linux Foundation, which announced that all major Linux distributions meet certification requirements for the US Department of Defense's IPv6 mandates. The announcement credits work done by the IPv6 Workgroup, whose members include IBM, HP, Nokia-Siemens, Novell and Red Hat. Quoting: "Linux has had relatively robust IPv6 support since 2005, but further work was needed for the open source platform to achieve full compliance with DoD standards. The Linux Foundation's IPv6 workgroup analyzed the DoD certification requirements and identified key areas where Linux's IPv6 stack needed adjustments in order to guarantee compliance. They collaboratively filled in the gaps and have succeeded in bringing the shared technology into alignment with the DoD's standards."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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On the State of Linux File Systems

On the State of Linux File Systems

kev009 writes to recommend his editorial overview of the past, present and future of Linux file systems: ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, Reiser4, ext4, Btrfs, and Tux3. "In hindsight it seems somewhat tragic that JFS or even XFS didn't gain the traction that ext3 did to pull us through the 'classic' era, but ext3 has proven very reliable and has received consistent care and feeding to keep it performing decently. ... With ext4 coming out in kernel 2.6.28, we should have a nice holdover until Btrfs or Tux3 begin to stabilize. The Btrfs developers have been working on a development sprint and it is likely that the code will be merged into Linus's kernel within the next cycle or two."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Proprietary Blobs and the Pursuit of a Free Kernel

Proprietary Blobs and the Pursuit of a Free Kernel

jammag writes "Ever since the GNewSense team pointed out that the Linux kernel contains proprietary firmware blobs, the question of whether a given distro is truly free software has gotten messier, notes Linux pundit Bruce Byfield. The FSF changed the definition of a free distribution, and a search for how to respond to this new definition is now well underway. Who wins and what solutions are implemented could have a major effect on the future of free and open source software. Debian has its own solution (by allowing users to choose their download), as do Ubuntu and Fedora (they include the offending firmware by default but make it possible to remove it). Meanwhile, the debate over firmware rages on. What resolves this issue?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Samba, Clamd, Samba-Vscan On CentOS 5.2

Samba + Clamd + Samba-Vscan On CentOS 5.2

Samba + Clamd + Samba-Vscan On CentOS 5.2

This is a howto on getting samba + clamav + samba-vscan to work on a CentOS 5.2 system.

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openDesktop.org provides super-portal to free software sites

openDesktop.org provides super-portal to free software sites

When users want the latest in free and open source software (FOSS), they are likely to think first of sites like freshmeat, or perhaps Softpedia or GnomeFiles. However, as the FOSS community has divided into specialized communities, sites for new releases have proliferated, to the point where it is difficult to keep track of them all. Since 2007, openDesktop.org has provided a portal for many of these specialized sites. Under the slogan "Let's build the desktop of the future," openDesktop.org provides a quick overview of new software that is independent of desktop or distribution.

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how to set up a Fedora 10 server

The Perfect Server - Fedora 10

The Perfect Server - Fedora 10

This is a detailed description about how to set up a Fedora 10 server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable) with PHP5/Ruby/Python, Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Dovecot POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.

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How To Upgrade From Fedora 9 To Fedora 10

How To Upgrade From Fedora 9 To Fedora 10 (Desktop & Server)

How To Upgrade From Fedora 9 To Fedora 10 (Desktop & Server)

This article describes how you can upgrade your Fedora 9 system to Fedora 10 (which was released yesterday - November 25, 2008). The upgrade procedure works for both desktop and server installations.

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10 most useful Linux commands

The 10 most useful Linux commands

Maybe the command line isn't your favorite place to hang out, but to be an effective Linux admin, you need to be able to wield a few essential commands. Jack Wallen says these 10 are guaranteed to simplify your Linux admin life -- and he explains why.This download is also...

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Run your NFS server in the user address space with NFS-GANESHA

Run your NFS server in the user address space with NFS-GANESHA

NFS-GANESHA is an NFS version 2-4 server that runs in the user address space instead of as part of the operating system kernel. Filesystem in Userspace (FUSE) lets you run a filesystem in the user address space instead of as part of the Linux kernel, but the FUSE support in the Linux kernel from many Linux distributions does not allow you to export FUSE through NFS. NFS-GANESHA lets you expose FUSE through NFS without patching your kernel.

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Three applications for making disc labels

Three applications for making disc labels

Making labels for DVDs and their cases is an often overlooked task. Many discs are lucky to have some terse information quickly scrawled on them after burning. But there are some fine open source applications available for creating labels for CD-ROM and DVD disks and printing jewel case inserts, including gLabels, kover, and cdlabelgen.

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Fedora 10 Released

Fedora 10 Released

ekimd writes "Fedora 10, aka 'Cambridge,' was released today. Some of the major features include: 'wireless connection sharing enables ad hoc network sharing, better setup and use of printers through improved management tools, virtualization storage provisioning for local and remote connections now simplified, SecTool is a new security audit and intrusion detection system.' Versions of major software include: Gnome 2.24, Eclipse 3.4 and RPM 4.6. A features list can be found here." Reader Nate2 suggests LinuxFormat's detailed look at the new release, and adds a few more details about the software it contains: the release includes "a new graphical boot-up sequence, OpenOffice.org 3, many improvements to sound support via PulseAudio and other updates."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Installing And Configuring ntop

Installing And Configuring ntop

Installing And Configuring ntop

This is a tool to collect the network information with simple configurations. Users may use the web browser to access the current network views that include charts and statistics.

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Upgrading to the newest Fedora release

Upgrading to the newest Fedora release

With Fedora 10 scheduled for release today, many users are thinking about how they are going to upgrade. A complete upgrade is something you do no more than twice a year, so the details are easy to forget. Also, the Fedora upgrade process, which centers on pointing to a new repository, is more complex than, say, the equivalent Debian process, in which repositories remain constant and only their contents change with a new release. But an even stronger reason for the uncertainty is that a Fedora system can be upgraded in at least four ways, each of which has its advantages and disadvantages.

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How To Install VMware Server 2 On Ubuntu 8.10

How To Install VMware Server 2 On Ubuntu 8.10

How To Install VMware Server 2 On Ubuntu 8.10

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server 2 on an Ubuntu 8.10 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free).

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Open source Untangle guard union's privacy

Open source Untangle guard union's privacy

When Maine State Employees Association SEIU Local 1989 needed software to safeguard confidential information and ward off online threats, it found an open source solution. The labor union, which represents more than 15,000 public and private sector workers throughout the State of Maine, chose Untangle's open source Gateway platform, a solution that not only helps keep confidential data away from prying eyes, but also protects against spam, spyware, phishing, and viruses.

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Ubuntu 8.10: Easily Install Inside Windows for Dual Booting

Ubuntu 8.10: Easily Install Inside Windows for Dual Booting

Dual booting your machine sounds like a complicated task, but if you want to run both Windows and Ubuntu, it is a piece of cake. In a short amount of time with minimum effort you can be set up to boot into either OS on your computer.

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DataForm adds efficient input to OpenOffice.org Calc

DataForm adds efficient input to OpenOffice.org Calc

Spreadsheets might be called databases for the timid, since they're more user-friendly than databases and do a good job working with limited amounts of data. Some tools for databases can work well with spreadsheets too. Take for instance DataForm, a new OpenOffice.org Calc extension that provides a form-like interface designed to make entering and finding spreadsheet data easier.

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Clone/Back Up/Restore OpenVZ VMs With vzdump

Clone/Back Up/Restore OpenVZ VMs With vzdump

Clone/Back Up/Restore OpenVZ VMs With vzdump

vzdump is a backup and restore utility for OpenVZ VMs. This tutorial shows how you can use it to clone/back up/restore virtual machines with vzdump.

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Red Hat's Max Spevack On Defending Linux Freedom

Red Hat's Max Spevack On Defending Linux Freedom

TRNick writes "How can developers who are working for free protect themselves and avoid getting exploited by business users of Linux? TechRadar has an interview with former Fedora project leader Max Spevack to find out how his new role as manager of the community architecture team is designed to help. Quoting: 'About two-thirds of the Fedora packages are maintained by community people, and if we didn't have that community, that chunk of work would either not get done, which would significantly harm Red Hat's entire value, or would have to made up by more [paid] engineers. The challenge on the flip side of that is to make sure that everyone in the Fedora community feels valued, that everyone who contributes can be proud of the way that Red Hat uses their code.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 2.0 On A Headless CentOS 5.2 Se

VBoxHeadless - Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 2.0 On A Headless CentOS 5.2 Server

VBoxHeadless - Running Virtual Machines With VirtualBox 2.0 On A Headless CentOS 5.2 Server

This guide explains how you can run virtual machines with Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0 on a headless CentOS 5.2 server. Normally you use the VirtualBox GUI to manage your virtual machines, but a server does not have a desktop environment. Fortunately, VirtualBox comes with a tool called VBoxHeadless that allows you to connect to the virtual machines over a remote desktop connection, so there's no need for the VirtualBox GUI.

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A graphical way to MySQL mastery

A graphical way to MySQL mastery

MySQL GUI Tools is a suite of graphical desktop applications for working with and administering MySQL servers. The suite consists of three tools: MySQL Query Browser, MySQL Administrator, and MySQL Migration Assistant (available only on Windows). We'll look at the first two to see how well they let us manage MySQL without using the command line.

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Using external commands in Nagios

Using external commands in Nagios

System monitoring tool Nagios offers a powerful mechanism for receiving events and commands from external applications. External commands are usually sent from event handlers or from the Nagios Web interface. You will find external commands most useful when writing event handlers for your system, or when writing an external application that interacts with Nagios.

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Ubuntu Studio 8.10

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu Studio 8.10

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu Studio 8.10

This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu Studio 8.10 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

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SoftMaker Office 2008 focuses on compatibility with Microsoft Office

SoftMaker Office 2008 focuses on compatibility with Microsoft Office

The free and open source office suite OpenOffice.org might be a killer app for many, but its inability to properly display documents created in the proprietary Microsoft Office formats hinders its widespread acceptance in multi-OS business environments with many legacy .doc and .xls files. If changing over to an open document format is not an option, try SoftMaker Office. It's no OpenOffice.org-killer, but it's a full featured office suite that has great compatibility with Microsoft Office. Sure, it costs $80, but you can increase your karma by running it on Linux.

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Anonymous Proxy Using SQUID 3 On CentOS 5.x

Anonymous Proxy Using SQUID 3 On CentOS 5.x

Anonymous Proxy Using SQUID 3 On CentOS 5.x

This howto describes step by step a method to install a SQUID 3 server as an Anonymous Proxy. An anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable. It accesses the Internet on the user's behalf, protecting personal information by hiding the source computer's identifying information. Simply say to hide your IP.

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Speed up your Internet access using Squid's refresh patterns

Speed up your Internet access using Squid's refresh patterns

Bandwidth limitation is still a problem for a lot of people who connect to the Internet. You can improve your available bandwidth by installing Squid caching proxy server on your network with configuration parameters that will increase your byte hit rate, giving you about 30-60% more bandwidth.

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Debian Packages Screenshots Repository Launched

Debian Packages Screenshots Repository Launched

Christoph Haas writes "A picture is worth a thousand words. And thanks to screenshots.debian.net this finally comes true for Debian packages. The new website was launched just a week ago and has already collected screenshots for 740 packages shipping with the Linux distribution — with new uploads pouring in every hour. Debian users can finally get an impression of how an application would look before installing it."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Setting Up Master-Master Replication On Four Nodes With MySQL 5 On Debian Etch

Setting Up Master-Master Replication On Four Nodes With MySQL 5 On Debian Etch

Setting Up Master-Master Replication On Four Nodes With MySQL 5 On Debian Etch

This tutorial explains how you can set up MySQL master-master replication on four MySQL nodes (running on Debian Etch). The difference to a two node master-master replication is that if you have more than two nodes, the replication goes in a circle, i.e., with four nodes, the replication goes from node1 to node2, from node2 to node3, from node3 to node4, and from node4 to node1.

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Doing a diff without touching the command line

Doing a diff without touching the command line

With diff-ext, GNOME users can compare and merge files from within Nautilus. If, instead, you use KDE 3, try out kdiff-ext from the same site, which works with Konqueror. Each utility handles paths to files and directories and invokes an external diff tool to perform the grunt work. With diff-ext you can easily compare two files with different names, from different directories, or whole directory trees.

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Hardening The Linux Kernel With Grsecurity (Debian)

Hardening The Linux Kernel With Grsecurity (Debian)

Hardening The Linux Kernel With Grsecurity (Debian)

Security is based on three characteristics: prevention, protection and detection. Grsecurity is a patch for Linux kernel that allows you to increase each of these points. This howto was performed on a Debian Lenny system. Thus some tools are Debian specific. However, tasks can be performed with other distro specific tools or even with universal tools (make).

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Adobe Releases Preview of 64-bit Flash For Linux

Adobe Releases Preview of 64-bit Flash For Linux

Rinisari writes "Finally, the day has come. Adobe has released a pre-release version of the 64-bit Flash player. It is available at the Adobe Labs Flash Player 10 download site immediately. Where are the Windows and Mac versions? "Release of this alpha version of 64-bit Flash Player on Linux is the first step in delivering upon Adobes commitment to make Flash Player native 64-bit across platforms. We chose Linux as our initial platform in response to numerous requests in our public Flash Player bug and issue management system and the fact that Linux distributions do not ship with a 32-bit browser or a comprehensive 32-bit emulation layer by default. Until this pre-release, use of 32-bit Flash Player on Linux has required the use of a plugin wrapper, which prevents full compatibility with 64-bit browsers. With this pre-release, Flash Player 10 is now a full native participant on 64-bit Linux distributions." Windows and Mac OS X 64-bit versions will follow, and the final versions all will be released simultaneously. Tamarin, the JIT compiler in Flash, is now capable of producing 64-bit code and nspluginwrapper is no longer required. There are, however, no plans to release a debugger version of the 64-bit plugin."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Setting Up ProFTPd + TLS On Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

Setting Up ProFTPd + TLS On Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

Setting Up ProFTPd + TLS On Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

FTP is a very insecure protocol because all passwords and all data are transferred in clear text. By using TLS, the whole communication can be encrypted, thus making FTP much more secure. This article explains how to set up ProFTPd with TLS on an Ubuntu 8.10 server.

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NVIDIA Releases New Video API For Linux

NVIDIA Releases New Video API For Linux

Ashmash writes "Phoronix is reporting on a new Linux driver nVidia is about to release that brings PureVideo features to Linux. This video API will reportedly be in nVidia's 180 series driver for Linux, Solaris, and *BSD. PureVideo has been around for several nVidia product generations, but it's the first time they're bringing this feature to these non-Windows operating systems to provide an improved multimedia experience. This new API is named VDPAU, and is described as: 'The Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) provides a complete solution for decoding, post-processing, compositing, and displaying compressed or uncompressed video streams. These video streams may be combined (composited) with bitmap content, to implement OSDs and other application user interfaces.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bug Labs creates open source Lego for software engineers

Bug Labs creates open source Lego for software engineers

Most of the new breed of open source hardware centers on specific products. Bug Labs is taking a different approach. Instead of developing particular devices, Bug Labs' goal is to provide a Lego-like collection of open source hardware and software that customers can use to build their own devices. According to CEO Peter Semmelhack, the result should be not only a higher degree of innovation, but also a forerunner of the hardware business of the future.

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How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Mandriva 2009.0 Desktop

How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Mandriva 2009.0 Desktop

How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Mandriva 2009.0 Desktop

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server 2 on a Mandriva 2009.0 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free).

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Set Mantis to track your bugs

Set Mantis to track your bugs

Mantis is that rare bug-tracking program for small projects that is neither too bloated nor too featureless. It's an excellent choice for developers who need a bug tracker that the average computer user can use. Its clean interface and numerous features make bug tracking fast and easy.

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Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier, MySQL And SquirrelMail (Ubuntu 8.10)

Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier, MySQL And SquirrelMail (Ubuntu 8.10)

Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier, MySQL And SquirrelMail (Ubuntu 8.10)

This document describes how to install a mail server based on Postfix that is based on virtual users and domains, i.e. users and domains that are in a MySQL database. I'll also demonstrate the installation and configuration of Courier (Courier-POP3, Courier-IMAP), so that Courier can authenticate against the same MySQL database Postfix uses. The resulting Postfix server is capable of SMTP-AUTH and TLS and quota (quota is not built into Postfix by default, I'll show how to patch your Postfix appropriately). Passwords are stored in encrypted form in the database (most documents I found were dealing with plain text passwords which is a security risk). In addition to that, this tutorial covers the installation of Amavisd, SpamAssassin and ClamAV so that emails will be scanned for spam and viruses. I will also show how to install SquirrelMail as a webmail interface so that users can read and send emails and change their passwords.

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Finding Out Hardware Details Without Opening The Computer Case

dmidecode: Finding Out Hardware Details Without Opening The Computer Case

dmidecode: Finding Out Hardware Details Without Opening The Computer Case

dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some say SMBIOS) table contents in a human-readable format. This table contains a description of the system's hardware components, as well as other useful pieces of information such as serial numbers and BIOS revision. Thanks to this table, you can retrieve this information without having to probe for the actual hardware.

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Tips and tricks for working on the command line

Tips and tricks for working on the command line

Vincent Danen believes in the power of the command line as being faster and more powerful than a GUI, once you get the hang of it. Here are some of his favorite tips and shortcuts for working from the CLI. by Vincent Danen

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How To Back Up An Ubuntu 8.10 System With SystemImager

How To Back Up An Ubuntu 8.10 System With SystemImager

How To Back Up An Ubuntu 8.10 System With SystemImager

SystemImager lets you create images of your Linux installations. To do so, you need an image server (should have enough disk space to store your images) and a so-called golden client (i.e., the system of which you want to make an image). This means that you have to install some software on your image server and on your golden client in order to run SystemImager. This tutorial shows how to install a SystemImager server and a SystemImager client, both using Ubuntu 8.10, and how to create/update/restore/delete images.

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Mantis Installation Tutorial - Fedora OS

Mantis Installation Tutorial - Fedora OS

Mantis Installation Tutorial - Fedora OS

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure Mantis - Defect Tracker on your Fedora operating system. Mantis is an open source free defect tracking utility that is really easy to configure and use. Its installation is also very easy if you follow the steps that I have mentioned below.

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Access remote network services with SSH tools

Access remote network services with SSH tools

You probably rely on the services on your own private network -- wikis, mail servers, Web sites, and other applications you've installed. What happens when you have to leave the friendly confines of your network? With minimum exposure and few simple tools, you can get all of the comforts of home anywhere you can find an Internet connection.

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Installing The Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Protocol Responder For Linux On Deb

Installing The Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Protocol Responder For Linux On Debian Lenny

Installing The Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Protocol Responder For Linux On Debian Lenny

This document describes how to install and configure the Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) Protocol - Responder Source Code from Microsoft. The lld2d daemon allows linux systems to display in Vista's Network Map. This How-To should be easily adaptable to other distros.

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KDEs big mistake

KDEs big mistake

With the birth of KDE 4 came a shuffling of some key applications that has caused some serious grumbling among the Linux community. But this shuffling goes well beyond the old-school Linux fans and can affect new users as well. See what Jack Wallen has to say about what the...

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Sun Presenter Console extension is useful but undocumented

Sun Presenter Console extension is useful but undocumented

Currently in late beta, the Sun Presenter Console (SPC) is Sun Microsystems' latest extension for OpenOffice.org and StarOffice. Other extensions from Sun in the last year, such as the Sun PDF Import Extension, Sun Presentation Minimizer, and Sun Weblog Publisher, have sometimes been lacking in design and sometimes buggy, but all of them are so invaluable that you might wonder why they are extensions instead of new features. SPC is no exception. It gives slide show presenters a separate view of their presentation and some tools to help them organize and deliver their talks, but includes no indication of how to set it up or use it.

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Installing And Using OpenVZ On Ubuntu 8.10

Installing And Using OpenVZ On Ubuntu 8.10

Installing And Using OpenVZ On Ubuntu 8.10

In this HowTo I will describe how to prepare an Ubuntu 8.10 server for OpenVZ. With OpenVZ you can create multiple Virtual Private Servers (VPS) on the same hardware, similar to Xen and the Linux Vserver project. OpenVZ is the open-source branch of Virtuozzo, a commercial virtualization solution used by many providers that offer virtual servers. The OpenVZ kernel patch is licensed under the GPL license, and the user-level tools are under the QPL license.

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Historical Linux, hardware for tomorrow

Ask Linux.com: Historical Linux, hardware for tomorrow

It's all about bipartisanship and unity in this week's roll call for the Linux.com forums. Old distro and new distro coming together, peripheral and computer learning how to work as one, and, just as the framers intended, a run-off between several distinguished "absentee answer" questions.

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Microsoft Pushes Interoperability at ApacheCon

Microsoft Pushes Interoperability at ApacheCon

Sam Ramji, Microsofts open source point man, promotes the companys efforts in the areas of interoperability and open source software at the Apache Software Foundations ApacheCon conference. In a keynote at the event, Ramji discussed various Microsoft interoperability efforts involving partnerships with WSO2, HBase, AMQP and the companys "Oslo" modeling technology.
- In a keynote at the ApacheCon conference of open source developers and users, Sam Ramji, senior director of platform strategy at Microsoft, outlined a series of new moves the software giant has made regarding interoperability and continuing to make nice with the open source community. At the Apache...

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Linux print server enhances library printing

Linux print server enhances library printing

My employer, Warnbro Community Library in Western Australia, had a problem with wasted paper from printing. Library patrons often sent unnecessary print jobs to the printers, then refused to pay for them, leaving reams of unclaimed paper. The library needed a print queue to enable library staff to control patrons' print jobs. It needed to be easy to set up and maintain and cost nothing. We found the answer in using Linux as a print server.

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Gollem: A Web-based file manager for back-end data

Gollem: A Web-based file manager for back-end data

There are many ways to share files with teams of people, but few require only a Web browser for access and let you choose from tens of different ways of authenticating user access to the files. Such lightweight and universal access is the promise of Gollem, a file manager that runs in your Web browser. With it you can connect to and manage your files on a WebDAV, FTP, or traditional filesystem or SQL database.

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RedHat and AMD Demo Live VM Migration Across CPU Vendors

RedHat & AMD Demo Live VM Migration Across CPU Vendors

An anonymous reader notes an Inquirer story reporting on something of a breakthrough in virtual machine management — a demonstration (not yet a product) of migrating a running virtual machine across CPUs from different vendors (video here). "RedHat and AMD have just done the so called impossible, and demonstrated VM live migration across CPU architectures. Not only that, they have demonstrated it across CPU vendors, potentially commoditizing server processors. This is quite a feat. Only a few months ago during VMworld, Intel and VMware claimed that this was impossible. Judging by an initial response, VMware is quite irked by this KVM accomplishment and they are pointing to stability concerns. This sound like scaremongering to me... All the interesting controversy aside, cross vendor migration is [obviously] a good thing for customers because it avoids platform lock-in."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Virtual Hosting With PureFTPd And MySQL (Incl. Quota And Bandwidth Management) On Mandr

Virtual Hosting With PureFTPd And MySQL (Incl. Quota And Bandwidth Management) On Mandriva 2009.0

Virtual Hosting With PureFTPd And MySQL (Incl. Quota And Bandwidth Management) On Mandriva 2009.0

This document describes how to install a PureFTPd server that uses virtual users from a MySQL database instead of real system users. This is much more performant and allows to have thousands of ftp users on a single machine. In addition to that I will show the use of quota and upload/download bandwidth limits with this setup. Passwords will be stored encrypted as MD5 strings in the database.

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Supercharging a home network with Amahi

Supercharging a home network with Amahi

Many network-attached storage (NAS) devices, in addition to offering network storage, offer features such as VPN access, calendaring, wikis, and even an iTunes server. The open source Amahi Linux Home Server provides all of that and more in a complete NAS box integrated with a Fedora 9 base.

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Collabora funds development of open source video editor PiTiVi

Collabora funds development of open source video editor PiTiVi

Open source multimedia specialist Collabora is hiring developers to work on the nonlinear video editor PiTiVi. The Cambridge, UK-based company contributes heavily to the GStreamer media framework and other GStreamer-dependent projects, so PiTiVi is a natural fit -- and it fills a sorely needed niche on the Linux desktop.

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Installing Xen On CentOS 5.2 (i386)

Installing Xen On CentOS 5.2 (i386)

Installing Xen On CentOS 5.2 (i386)

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install Xen (version 3.0.3) on a CentOS 5.2 system (i386). Xen lets you create guest operating systems (*nix operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD), so called "virtual machines" or domUs, under a host operating system (dom0). Using Xen you can separate your applications into different virtual machines that are totally independent from each other (e.g. a virtual machine for a mail server, a virtual machine for a high-traffic web site, another virtual machine that serves your customers' web sites, a virtual machine for DNS, etc.), but still use the same hardware. This saves money, and what is even more important, it's more secure. If the virtual machine of your DNS server gets hacked, it has no effect on your other virtual machines. Plus, you can move virtual machines from one Xen server to the next one.

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Creative GPLs X-Fi Sound Card Driver Code

Creative GPLs X-Fi Sound Card Driver Code

An anonymous reader writes "In a move that's a win for the free software community, Creative Labs has decided to release their binary Linux driver for the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium sound cards under the GPL license. This is coming after several failed attempts at delivering a working binary driver and years after these sound cards first hit the market."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Automatically mount encrypted filesystems at login with pam_mount

Automatically mount encrypted filesystems at login with pam_mount

The pam_mount project lets you unlock an encrypted filesystem automatically when you log in. The same password used to log in is used as the key to unlock the encrypted filesystem, so you only need to type it once. Using this method, you can easily share a laptop and have only a single user's home directory unlocked and mounted when he logs in. And pam_mount can mount any filesystem, not just encrypted filesystems, so you can use it, for example, with an NFS share that you are interested in but which you might not like to leave mounted when you are not logged in.

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Ubuntu 8.10 vs. Mac OS X 10.5.5 Benchmarks

Ubuntu 8.10 vs. Mac OS X 10.5.5 Benchmarks

An anonymous reader writes "As a sequel to their Is Ubuntu Getting Slower? Phoronix now has out an article that compares the performance of Ubuntu 8.10 to Apple Mac OS X 10.5.5. They tested both the x86 and x86_64 spins of Ubuntu and threw at both operating systems a number of graphics, disk, computational, and Java benchmarks, among others. With the Mac Mini used in some of the comparisons 'Leopard' was faster while in others it was a tight battle."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Zimbra Collaboration Server Open Source Edition is a promising low-end package

Zimbra Collaboration Server Open Source Edition is a promising low-end package

If you're looking to run a serious open source collaboration server, Yahoo's Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) should be on your short list. This Web 2.0 email and groupware server offers AJAX Web-based administrator and user interfaces, a variety of useful groupware features, and email import functionality.

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10 Linux desktops you shouldn't overlook

10 Linux desktops you shouldn't overlook

Even if you're happy with the Linux desktop you currently use, you might want to check out some alternatives to see what you could be missing. Jack Wallen highlights 10 of the best desktops here and explains what makes them stand out. by Jack Wallen

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Capture Sound With Audacity On CentOS 5.x

Capture Sound With Audacity On CentOS 5.x

Capture Sound With Audacity On CentOS 5.x

There are times when you need to save sounds playing over the web. This tutorial shows you how you can use Audacity to capture sound on CentOS 5.x. Of course, there are many other ways to capture sound, but this just works for me. As usual, no responsibilities are taken if anything goes awry at your end.

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phpsh, An Interactive Shell For PHP (Debian Etch)

phpsh, An Interactive Shell For PHP (Debian Etch)

phpsh, An Interactive Shell For PHP (Debian Etch)

phpsh is an interactive shell for php that features readline history, tab completion, quick access to documentation. It was developed at Facebook and ironically, is written mostly in python. This article explains how you can install/use it on a Debian Etch system.

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(Useful) Stupid Unix Tricks?

(Useful) Stupid Unix Tricks?

So the other day I messaged another admin from the console using the regular old 'write' command (as I've been doing for over 10 years). To my surprise he didn't know how to respond back to me (he had to call me on the phone) and had never even known you could do that. That got me thinking that there's probably lots of things like that, and likely things I've never heard of. What sorts of things do you take for granted as a natural part of Unix that other people are surprised at?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dillo 2.0 is fast, but limited

Dillo 2.0 is fast, but limited

The lightweight Dillo Web browser, in development for eight years, has always been a contender for the fastest browser available on GNU/Linux -- so much so that the Google's Chrome will have to be pretty nimble to outpace it. With last month's release of version 2.0, Dillo is faster than ever. If performance is your main priority, you might find Dillo's minimalistic tools and functional limitations an acceptable tradeoff -- but probably not.

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GNUveau Networks builds solar-powered Linux computer networks for remote villages (video)

GNUveau Networks builds solar-powered Linux computer networks for remote villages (video)

Scott Johnson of GNUveau Networks has developed a solar-powered Internet "hub" system (running Ubuntu GNU/Linux) that he builds to order in his Daytona Beach, Florida, home. His objective is to bring computers and the Internet to places that have no connectivity, no phone service, and no electricity. This is no pipe dream. There are real SolarNetOne installations running in Africa right now, providing wireless connectivity and "Internet Cafe" access to hundreds of people. The system uses off-the-shelf hardware that Scott modifies to run on 12V -- and to use a lot less power than the stock versions. As Scott says, in solar-powered computer installations, "The Watt is king."

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Linux Supports More Devices Than Any Other OS

Linux Supports More Devices Than Any Other OS

Linux Blog recommends an interview up on the O'Reilly site with Greg Kroah-Hartman, long-time Linux kernel hacker and the current Linux kernel maintainer for the USB driver core. He updates the free Linux driver program announced almost two years ago, which has really caught traction now with more than 300 developers volunteering. The interviewer begins by asking about Kroah-Hartman's claim that the Linux kernel now supports more devices than any other operating system ever has. "[One factor is] the ease of writing drivers; Linux drivers are at normally one-third smaller than Windows drivers or other operating system drivers. We have all the examples there, so it's trivial to write a new one if you have new hardware, usually because you can copy the code and go. We maintain them... forever, so the old ones don't disappear and we run on every single processor out there. I mean Linux is 80% of the world's top 500 super computers right now and we're also the number one embedded operating system today. We've got both sides of the market because it's — yeah it's pretty amazing. I don't know why, but we're doing something right."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Using IPv6 On Debian Etch

Using IPv6 On Debian Etch

Using IPv6 On Debian Etch

This document describes how you can configure a Debian Etch system for IPv6 so that a) it can connect to other IPv6 hosts and b) other IPv6 hosts can connect to it. IPv6 should become more important in the future as recent estimates assume that there will be no more IPv4 addresses left by 2010 or 2011. Therefore it's time time to learn IPv6.

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Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex raises the bar

Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex raises the bar

Each new Ubuntu release has raised the standard by which other Linux distros are judged. With the new Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex, the focus is on mobility and 3G network support. I found Intrepid to be a fast and stable release, yet I experienced some minor issues that keep it from absolute perfection.

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Enabling Compiz Fusion On An Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200)

Enabling Compiz Fusion On An Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200)

Enabling Compiz Fusion On An Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200)

This tutorial shows how you can enable Compiz Fusion on an Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) desktop (the system must have a 3D-capable graphics card - I'm using an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 here). With Compiz Fusion you can use beautiful 3D effects like wobbly windows or a desktop cube on your desktop.

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Four winning ways to monitor machines through Web interfaces

Four winning ways to monitor machines through Web interfaces

System administrators need to keep an eye on their servers to make sure things are running smoothly. If they find a problem, they need to see when it started, so investigations can focus on what happened at that time. That means logging information at regular intervals and having a quick way to analyse this data. Here's a look at several tools that let you monitor one or more servers from a Web interface.

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Wayland, a New X Server For Linux

Wayland, a New X Server For Linux

An anonymous reader writes "Phoronix has a new article out on Wayland: A New X Server For Linux. One of Red Hat's engineers has started writing a new X11 server around today's needs and to eliminate the cruft that has been in this critical piece of free software for more than a decade. This new server is called Wayland and it is designed with newer hardware features like kernel mode-setting and a kernel memory manager for graphics. Wayland is also dramatically simpler to target for in development. A compositing manager is embedded into the Wayland server and ensures 'every frame is perfect' according to the project's leader."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Fedora 9 Desktop

How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Fedora 9 Desktop

How To Install VMware Server 2 On A Fedora 9 Desktop

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server 2 on a Fedora 9 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free).

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TimeVault simplifies data backup for Ubuntu users

TimeVault simplifies data backup for Ubuntu users

Backing up data can be difficult, especially when you only want to copy files that changed since the last backup. It can be even more troublesome when you have to remember to start the process manually,or you have to delete old backups to make room for new ones. Because of these difficulties, some people decide not to back up data at all, and feel the pain when they accidentally delete the wrong file or their system crashes. TimeVault is a backup utility for Ubuntu that addresses these problems.

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How To Make Money With Free Software

How To Make Money With Free Software

bmsleight writes "The Dutch Ministry of Finance organized an architecture competition to design not a building, but rather the new 5-Euro commemorative coin. The theme was 'Netherlands and Architecture'. The winning design was made 100% with free software, mainly Python, but also including The Gimp, Inkscape, Phatch, and Ubuntu. The design is amazing — the head of Queen Beatrix is made up of the names of architects based on their popularity in Yahoo searches (rendered in a font of the artist's own devising). In the end the artist, Stani Michiels, had to collaborate closely on location with technicians of the Royal Dutch Mint, so all the last bits were done on his Asus Eee PC. Soon, 350,000 Dutch people will use and enjoy the fruits of free software."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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IBM, Sun Deliver OpenSolaris Prototype for IBM Mainframes

IBM, Sun Deliver OpenSolaris Prototype for IBM Mainframes

IBM and Sun Microsystems deliver a prototype of OpenSolaris running on the IBM System z mainframe, with the help of a consultancy named Sine Nomine Associates (SNA).
- IBM and Sun Microsystems have made good on a promise to make open source code from the OpenSolaris operating system available on IBM System z mainframes. Enlisting the help of Sine Nomine Associates (SNA), a consultancy out of Ashburn, Va., IBM and Sun on Nov. 3 announced the availability of OpenSo...

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Slow startup? Bootchart reveals all

Slow startup? Bootchart reveals all

Ever wondered what takes your Linux box so long to boot up? You can see for certain with the Bootchart package. Bootchart logs the entire startup process and produces a clean, graphical representation of its results suitable for everything from troubleshooting to good old-fashioned bragging rights.

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Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

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German Foreign Ministry Migrates Desktops To OSS

German Foreign Ministry Migrates Desktops To OSS

ruphus13 writes "Here's another example of 'German Engineering' — The Foreign Ministry in Germany is migrating all of its 11,000 desktops to GNU/Linux and other open source applications. According to the article, 'this has drastically reduced maintenance costs in comparison with other ministries. "The Foreign Ministry is running desktops in many far away and some very difficult locations. Yet we spend only one thousand euro per desktop per year. That is far lower than other ministries, that on average spend more than 3000 euro per desktop per year ... Open Source desktops are far cheaper to maintain than proprietary desktop configurations," says Rolf Schuster, a diplomat at the German Embassy in Madrid and the former head of IT at the Foreign Ministry ... "The embassies in Japan and Korea have completely switched over, the embassy in Madrid has been exclusively using GNU/Linux since October last year", Schuster added, calling the migration a success.' The Guardian has additional coverage of the move."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Motorola Moving to Android, Windows Mobile for Smartphones

Motorola Moving to Android, Windows Mobile for Smartphones

nerdyH writes "Motorola will ditch its MotoMAGX Linux stack and UIQ Symbian stack in favor of Google's Android Linux/Java stack and Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7, it announced today. The news comes after five years selling millions of Linux phones in Asia, and after a year during which many of Motorola's top US phones used the homegrown Linux stack. Motorola's current Linux phones in the US include the RAZR2 v8, E8, EM30, U9, ZN4, and ZN5." This also comes alongside news that Motorola's financial hardships are causing them to cut 3,000 jobs. It also puts into perspective their recent plans to hire hundreds of Android developers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Transparent compression of files on optical media

Transparent compression of files on optical media

Support for transparent decompression of files on optical media has been part of the Linux kernel since version 2.4.14. Here's how you can take advantage of this support when you burn your own optical media by using the mkzftree tool and the -z option to genisoimage. These commands compress files using zlib, which uses the same algorithm as gzip. Using the transparent compression Rock Ridge extension can allow you to fit much more data onto a DVD.

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