LINUX MAGAZINESLINUX MAGAZINES: Open Source News, Articles and Reviews

There are several options when it comes to choosing an operating system for your computer. Of course Windows is the overwhelming heavyweight in the market place and it isn’t a bad choice in some ways, especially for those not interested in the nuts and bolts of things. Also looking for users are Linux, BSD and Leopard.

1. Windows

The good side of Windows is that it is made to operate programs. The rich variety of software that works here is a huge selling point. You don’t have to be a programmer or even a techie to be a user. Everything comes from a disc or a download. Click the install button and away you go. Word processors, Spreadsheets, Games, Synthesizers, Photo Editors, Art Creators, Email Handlers, Bookkeepers and Website Makers are some of the most common. Then there are the not so popular yet also intriguing out of the mainstream volumes such as File Converters, Iso File Makers, Virus Hunters, Adware Killers and endless utilities you may discover once you start looking. There is a small utility that saves clips (as many as you want) that can be pasted anywhere so you don’t have to retype all the time.

That’s the good side of Windows. Just so you know it’s not all roses and candlelight you should know there are some drawbacks too. Everything you do on Windows should be backed up regularly. Why? Because just about the time your five week project is within a few paragraphs of completion, Windows will have a hiccup and lose the whole thing or some virus will erase your hard drive, or you’ll press the delete button accidentally. Boom, it’s all toast. Another thing about Windows is that it’s already programmed, you have to accept it as it is. If it doesn’t have a feature you need, you’re out of luck. If the button arrangement is not convenient (although there is some flexibility), you must adapt. Don’t need all the bells and whistles? Your stuck with them. Then there are the slow days when it all just seems to sit there and mock you taking it’s sweet time. It’s no wonder someone occasionally tosses one out the 10th story window.

2. Leopard

So, what are the other options? Well, first is Leopard which is the Macintosh operating system. Macintosh is made by Apple Computers. If you don’t know who Steve Jobs is, you must live in a dark and deprived world. Macs, as they are known, cost a little more than others systems (about twice the price of a Windows machine). I will tell you right here that I have yet to meet a Mac user that has a bad word to say about his or her machine. If you get one, you are practically guaranteed to love it. They are the choice of graphic artists almost universally. The local ad sheet for the city is made on them, so they make commercially viable tools.

The negative side. Not a lot really. There isn’t as much software made for them, but the ones you get are extremely well made. A lot of the less popular stuff doesn’t exist for Macs. That along with the higher price are the main hitches.

3. Linux

Another option is Linux. The Linux operating system is actually free at this time so the price is right. There are many flavors (versions) of Linux, so you don’t have to use the same thing everyone else has. Some that I know of are:

* Red Hat
* Ubuntu
* Suse
* Damn Small

Each one has advantages and limitations because they are geared toward a certain area such as games or internet or servers. They have a ways to go to become popular, yet are making great strides in market share. Also, if you can do the programming, Linux offers wonderful access to the code. In the last year or so, it has become quite easy to obtain and install Linux on any computer. In fact it will coexist right alongside Windows, so now there is little excuse for not trying it out. They offer a GUI similar to Windows and Leopard which is fairly intuitive. Some software is quite comparable to the bigger fish. OpenOffice will take Office on and come through looking pretty good. Gimp has a learning curve, but can do much of what Photoshop does for free.

The downside is that Linux is just not as developed. It is a terrific platform for geeks that love to swim through code and troubleshoot glitches. The creative potential is unlimited which is the main drawback at the same time. Most people want something ready to go, not something they have to create before they can operate. The number of programs (though growing) is quite limited.

4. BSD

The last of our operating systems to consider is BSD. Just like Linux, it is free (though there is a commercial version). The major selling point is that it is the most modern system. It doesn’t have the backward compatibility issues of Windows. So many advances in hardware have been made since windows was introduced that you wouldn’t believe some of it. BSD was created to take advantage of these advances. It has the most potential of all these systems because of it’s modern design. It is quite compatible with and similar to Linux, just more modern.

That at the same time is it’s largest problem. Most of the accessories that go with an operating system (software and interface) are lacking at this time. It’s like having a Ferrari engine and framework without the rest of the drive train.

Author: Dean Walden
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smart cooker

Unlike Windows, Linux users must have an account. This account is accorded permission to do things such as read and write files and execute programs. For ease in account management, accounts are combined into groups. Users belonging to a group may be assigned additional permissions that smooth the process of accessing common files. Let’s take a closer look at how Linux handles these users. Another article will examine permissions and groups.

Linux provides two categories of users, ordinary users essentially restricted to working with files of their own creation, and the superuser, or root, who administers the system and is allowed to do almost anything. The real situation is a bit more complex. For example, ordinary users may be accorded restricted access to additional files deemed to be of interest to everyone. The superuser can assign some privileges to deputies reducing an otherwise crushing workload.

The root user is the only one authorized to run the adduser or the more complicated useradd command. If you have downloaded Damn Small Linux you can test these commands on your Windows computer. In response to the adduser command Linux requests the user name, the password, and then a few optional fields that may be skipped. An organization with many users has or should have a policy for composing user names.

The password is a key element in protecting the computer’s security. We could easily write an article discussing the password and password selection. Remember that Linux distinguishes between lower-case and upper-case letters. If you’re new to computing you may try working with easily remembered passwords at first. But to protect your account and account information you will have to choose passwords that no one can guess.

As Linux creates your account it creates a directory whose name is easy to remember. If your account name is lucy then your working directory is /home/lucy . I’m leaving it up to you to find out the location of lucy’s working directory when she uses Windows systems.

Damn Small Linux shares an interesting feature with many other Linux systems. If the system administrator wants new users to have copies of some directories and folders, she or he simply places them in the /etc/skel directory before launching the adduser command.

How is the system administrator supposed to handle creating dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of new users, for example at the beginning of the semester? He or she won’t have the time to undertake this backbreaking task. And there is no way that the root password should be revealed to the employee who is assigned this task. The answer is simple: write a program to create these new accounts. This program can even spiff up the account creation interface and perhaps grab some necessary information from sources such as the student registration file.

Of course we don’t want to create users without the possibility of removing them. The live process is fairly complicated and includes removing the user’s password from the /etc/passwd directory, removing all files from the user directory, and other activities such as making backups of essential information. The next article discusses the related concepts of permissions and groups.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

Currently, IE (=Internet Explorer) is the most popular Internet browser. As such, malicious hackers made it their number one target and set out to exploit its flaws. It also has the disadvantage of relying on ActiveX technology, which allows web sites to run executable programs on your PC via your browser. Although there is an improvement in security in IE7 and IE8 compared to older versions, this technology is still vulnerable.

In order to improve security you may choose to use a less popular browser such as, Mozilla’s Firefox or Google Chrome.

Both Firefox and Chrome use a different technology from Internet explorer. They both built on open source code from other platforms. Chrome browser is based on the open-source Webkit engine, which is an open-source web browser layout engine developed by the WebKit Foundation. Firefox is based on the open source Gecko engine, which is a layout engine currently developed by Mozilla Corporation.

For now the most popular alternative to Internet explorer is Firefox. I have a lot of respect to Mozilla and the open source community, but when I have tried to use Firefox 3.5 I had a frustrating experience. It has kept crashing down on me, crashing my PC along with it.

As result of this experience I have decided to give Google Chrome a chance. Google Company has stated in many occasions that Chrome browser has innovative security features.

When investigating these announcements I have noticed four major security features in Google chrome.

1. Safe browsing software (it is also being used by Firefox browser) – Safe browsing features protect users against phishing and malware attacks. It uses a blacklist approach that gets downloaded to the user’s PC on a regular basis. How does it work? Well Google is constantly crawling the web, finding new and changed websites. During this crawling if they encounter a suspicious site that seems to be a phishing site (designed to steal personal information of unsuspecting users), it is being added to a list of suspected phishing websites. If a site contains hints to potentially malicious activity, Google tracks this site for a while and if a clear evidence of malicious activity is discovered, such as, computer viruses being downloaded and installed, it is being added to a list of suspected malware-infected websites.

   If you use Chrome browser and you have safe browsing mode enable, then Google Chrome will contact servers at Google, approximately every half hour, to download updated lists of suspected phishing and malware websites. These lists are being stored on your PC so when you surf the Web each site you browse to is being checked against these black lists locally (This is designed to offer performance). If the requested site is in the black list a warning message will appear stating that the requested site is suspected to be a phishing site or a malicious site and the user can choose to go back to safety.

   This feature seems to help the fight against malware and phishing, but there is a disadvantage. A few bloggers have raise questions about privacy implications. Bloggers have notice that every few hours when an update of the black lists is being done, two parameters are being sent to Google servers – “machineid” and “userid” – both computed information based on machine/user information. This information is sent along with a bunch of other browser information to ask Google if they should download an update. This information can be used for tracking. Google is of course obligated to privacy agreement with Internet users stating it will not use any of the personal information being collected, but would this obligation stand against a court order? I really don’t know. In short, safe browsing seems like a great security feature fighting phishing and malware attacks, but users who are passionate regarding their privacy should think twice before using it.

2. A privacy mode (Incognito) – this feature manages privacy settings and designed to suit users who use public computers, or otherwise wish to keep their browsing habits confidential. When enabled (Click the wrench menu -> Select New incognito window menu item) Chrome browser will not remember visited pages, form and search bar entries, passwords, download List entries, cookies and cached files.You can still create bookmarks, and these will be retained when exiting incognito window.

   A similar feature exists also in Internet Explorer 8 browser and Firefox 3.5 browser. These features probably make live easier for Internet users who want to keep their surfing habits to themselves, but in the same way it helps the adults in the group it also may allow children to surf unsupervised. Internet savvy kids can easily hide their Internet activities from their parents. So it is very important for parents to understand that monitoring of their children Internet activities by viewing the browser history on the child’s PC might not work.

3. Clear Browsing Data – There is a feature in Google chrome which allow the user to clear browsing data, such as, browsing history, downloads history, cache, cookies, saved passwords and saved form data (Click the Wrench menu -> select Clear browsing data -> Select the checkboxes for the types of information you wish to remove). This feature allows you to keep your browsing habits to yourself even if you are not using the Incognito window. Parents should be aware that similar to the Incognito mode their kids can use this feature to delete their browsing history so parents should not rely on browsing history as something that can help them get involved in their children Internet activities.
4. Sandbox security mechanism – This feature, as I see it, is the most significant one. A sandbox is a security mechanism used to run an application in a restricted environment. Browsers are dealing with malicious attacks on a regular basis. The most popular vectors for browser attacks are HTML Rendering and JavaScript execution. The sandbox security mechanism is designed to protect the user’s PC and files against these kinds of malicious attacks. If there is an attack that exploits the browser vulnerabilities and an arbitrary code is being executed on the machine, it will be executed in an isolated environment and the user’s PC will not be harmed. This security mechanism will also prevent access to the user’s files. The sandbox mechanism itself is not a new security model; It uses the security features of Windows extensively. You should be aware that since the sandbox mechanism relies on Windows to achieve its security, it is impossible for it to protect against a flaw in the OS security model itself.

In a nutshell, these four security features seem to be helpful and contributing to a safe Internet experience, but I am not seeing any innovative new security models here. Three of these features – Safe browsing software, privacy mode and Clear Browsing Data, already exist in IE8 and Firefox 3.5, and the sandbox security mechanism can be added to IE8 and Firefox by a plugin/addon.

I think the greatest advantage of Google Chrome is that currently it is not targeted as much by malicious individuals, as IE and Firefox are. Additional advantage is in the usability factor which seems to be in my opinion better than IE or Firefox, but I think this issue is a matter of taste…

For now, if you are looking for a less targeted browser, Google Chrome seems to be a good alternative.

Author: Sara Moses
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

Installation and Usage:

1. You can download directly to the vendor’s website (link download will appear in the bottom of this article) and choose the Operating System you have used. I am using OS SUSE Linux 11.0. For speed installation, I choose RPM package file Linux i386.

2. After downloading these files, click testdisk-6.10-1.i386.rpm and type your password as a root user, you can wait while the installation is in process. To check the testdisk has been installed or not, just type ‘rpm -qa | grep testdisk‘ (without quote) in the console window. TestDisk-6.10-1 has been successfully installed.

3. Still in Console window, login as a root and type ‘su‘ (without quote) then type your root password, type ‘testdisk‘ (without quote). TestDisk 6.10 Data Recovery Utility will run. Press Enter.

4. Testdisk will detect your storage media/hard drive include my flashdisk Kingston DT Mini Slim. In this case I want to recover my files which have been deleted from my Flashdisk. Choose media using the Arrow keys on your keyboard, then press Enter.

5. Choose the partition type, I choose Intel.

6. Choose Analyse, then press Enter.

7. Choose Quick Search, then press Enter.

8. Type ‘Y‘ (without quote)

9. Press Enter.

10. Type ‘P‘ (without quote) to List/Preview Files

11. You can see, there are 2 different color text in the Console window, Red and White text, the red text is mean the deleted files (which will be restored soon) and the white text is mean the currently files. Type ‘h‘ (without quote) to hide the red text if you want.

12. Select the files you want to restore then press ‘c‘ (without quote) to copy it, and choose the destination of files you want to copy it to, using Arrow keys, then press ‘y‘ (without quote) to confirm the copy process.

13. To copy another files you can select the files and press ‘c‘ (without quote) again, this process is absolutely simple, it’s not difficult. 14. Well done, you have recovered/restored your deleted files.

Note: The usage of Testdisk is not limited for recovery deleted files only. According to the vendor’s website, you can use this tool to repairing harddisk which have bad sector, repairing hard disk which can not boot or bootable, etc. I hope in the next article I will try to explore the usage of this tool more deeper than before.

Author: Harun Abdurrazaq
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Bumper guardian

Isn’t it great that the open source world gives you a lot of choices? When it comes to Linux distributions, shortly known as distros, there are hundreds of them. Once you have selected a distro, you are up against a decision regarding the desktop. You need to know enough about the pros and cons of these choices so that you can pick the one that is right for you.

Let us briefly revisit the requirements for a successful migration.

You have to meet three requirements before installing Linux on your home PC:

1. You have identified a demonstrable benefit you can gain by migrating to Linux
2. You have done your prep work
3. You have realistic expectations

By following these three steps, you will maximize your chances of success.

However, there is a mind boggling variety of Linux distros available.

Let us try and shortlist the Linux distros based on the following five criteria:

1. Is it backed by a commercial vendor?
2. Is desktop Linux for home a stated focus area for this vendor?
3. Is a retail product available in the form of a CD/DVD?
4. Are branded PC vendors shipping this distro pre-installed?
5. Is paid support available, if needed?

We find that there are only two Linux distros that meet these five qualifications largely – Ubuntu and SUSE Linux.

Ubuntu

• Sponsored by Canonical.
• You can download it free, buy it on DVD from Amazon or get a free CD shipped (takes 6 to 10 weeks).
• Starter support for Ubuntu Desktop Edition is available for one year at $ 54.99 (as of Sept 2009).
• Security update is available for 18 months from release.

SUSE

• Sponsored by Novell.
• You can download it free, buy it on DVD from Amazon.
• You can buy a package from Novell consisting of a DVD with printed manual and 90-Day installation support (by phone or e-mail) for $59.95 (as of Sept 2009).
• Security update is available for 2 years from release.

Can I buy Linux pre-installed from a branded PC vendor? Dell offers PCs for the home and home office market pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux. HP and MSI offer PCs with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop pre-installed. Asus offers notebooks with Xandros Linux pre-installed. Acer offers notebooks with Linpus Linux.

Can I get Linux pre-installed from another vendor? Zareason, Berkley, CA and System76, Denver, CO sell Ubuntu Linux desktops and laptops.

Which desktop? Though there are other options available, we will restrict our selection to the two leading desktops, namely GNOME and KDE.

GNOME

• GNOME is a very mature and stable desktop.
• The GNOME project has well defined human interface guidelines to make the desktop and applications easy to use. Most GNOME applications follow these guidelines, resulting in common usability between applications.
• GNOME doesn’t provide a graphical interface for some of the settings. Users will have to use the command line interface for these.

KDE

• KDE is also a very mature desktop. However, KDE 4 was completely rewritten and so had some issues. The recent 4.3 version seems to be more stable.
• KDE is also better for new users switching from Windows, and relies less on the command line interface.
• Unfortunately, KDE does not use Firefox as the default web browser or OpenOffice as the default office suite. You will have to install Firefox and OpenOffice subsequently.

If you are planning to use an older machine and just require stability and an uncluttered approach then you can go with GNOME. However, if you have a newer machine, looking for a desktop closer to Windows and avoid the command line interface, then KDE is your best bet.

Author: Ashok Ramachandran
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger

Web Site Promotion – Google Chrome Operating System

What will be the effect of Google’s new Chrome Operating system on web site promotion efforts ? The simple answer to this question is that it probably will have little or no effect. Google’s search engine rules and methods will not change appreciably under a new operating system. What will be the impact of a new Chrome Operating System on the computing world ? It may significantly affect the type of computer you buy in the future. It may also have a significant affect on Microsoft, and this is why.

We have yet to see really low-cost netbooks hit the market, but it is quite possible that we will see sub $ 200.00 netboooks in the very near future. We already see cell phones with multi-function capability, namely Internet and e-mail capability, and this trend will likely continue. We probably will also see hybrid types of devices that are not quite a computer, but more than a cell phone.

In order to keep the price of netbooks and hybrid devices as low as possible, it will necessary to eliminate the cost of software. The only practical way to do this is to use Open Source software with this type of appliance computer. It is quite impossible to bundle any of Microsoft’s operating systems, or Office Productivity software in at such a low price. Windows plus any other piece of software is already more than $ 200.00 retail, even in OEM versions.

Linux is an alternative, but it doesn’t quite measure up to Windows in terms of usability and user-friendliness. It has been around for quite a while, and although servers run Linux quite effectively, Linux has not really shown it’s strength as a personal computer operating system in the way it has as a network operating system. Google Chrome actually sits on top of a Linux kernel, but it is not Linux itself, but something new.

If you think for a moment about how many computers are used mainly to access the Internet, read e-mail, and for some kind of simple office-related task; that accounts for a very large number of computers, easily fifty percent, or more, of the PC’s in use right now. Microsoft products dominate this market today, but 5 or 10 years from now, there may be a much different looking landscape in the world of personal computers. There are computers in libraries, schools, second and third family computers at home, Internet cafes, and guest computers in offices, that really have no compelling reason to run Windows or other Microsoft software. (Sorry Microsoft, but that’s the way I see it).

It is these types of shared computers, that would benefit the most from a Google Chrome Operating System. Especially if this kind of computer could be made to access the Internet faster, start nearly immediately on boot-up, and run on-line applications faster than the equivalent software running under Windows, wouldn’t that be rather obvious choice to opt for the free, (and faster), alternative ?

The keys to the success of this new operating system are threefold.

1) It must run an Internet browser and Internet applications faster than Windows.

2) It must be more stable than Windows. This means it must have bullet-proof security. This is a tall order for any operating system, but it should have built-in protection against viruses, spyware, and other type of intrusions. This could easily be the key differentiation between Windows and Chrome. since Windows has had, (and continues to have), so many security vulnerabilities. It should be a top priority for Chrome.

3) It should run the widest possible array of software programs. Google has done a good job of providing internet applications up until now, but there needs to be a Chrome, (or online) application to match, or nearly match most of the software that currently runs on Windows. Chrome will not go head-to-head with Windows across the software spectrum, but the wider the choice of Internet-based software available, the more success Chrome will enjoy. It it not intended to be a network server operating system in the same way that Windows server is, but just the operating system of choice for computers connected to the Internet.

Google is probably the only company in the world today with the resources to be able to develop and maintain an operating system like Chrome. On the other hand, since it is open source, Google may be content to manage from the sidelines and eventually let the Open Source community take it over. Note: At least that way Google may not be tempted to have sponsored links pop up on your screen as you work. (lol – Sorry Google)

It is true that Google as a company cares little how you access the Internet. In other words, they are computer hardware and operating system neutral. Of course, I’m sure Google’s management and software engineers will be smiling ear to ear if they are able to compete head to head with Microsoft, (Google’s main search rival), on Microsoft’s home turf of the PC operating system. Nothing would be sweeter for Google than to have Google Chrome enjoy a resounding success in the marketplace. Google has everything to gain, the more computers there are on the Internet, and nothing to lose.

We will have to wait until the second half of 2010 to see Google Chrome, according the Official Google Blog. It is possible that the most significant beneficiaries of Google Chrome will be thirld world computer users. The dream of a $ 100.00 computer is not yet a reality, and remember that 75 % of the world’s population does not yet have e-mail.

The availability of free computer operating systems and software is essential to begin to close the gap between have’s and have not’s in this world. This author, for one, hopes that Google Chrome becomes the operating system of choice for many of the world’s PC’s, and helps to hasten the day when the vast majority of the word’s people have access to computers and the Internet.

Good Luck in all your web site promotion efforts.

Author: John Lombaerde
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Mobile device news

When you figure out the requirement to form a website, you will also have to zero out which web hosting firm to select. There are several platforms which you are open to make your pick from. The most famous amongst them is Linux Web Hosting. Linux hosting is taken to be as an alternate for making use of technology based on Microsoft Windows for working a website. Linux, an open source system was designed subsequent to Unix. This suggests that Linux is absolutely free, which a factor is considered by some people while making a choice. Apart from being free, it is also taken as extremely steady even in between long-lasting multitasking. Its flexibility, portability as well as power make it more credible in usage.

Other factor which contributes in making Linux Web Hosting a hit among the users is that the distribution cost is very small. With this you also avail free applications to assist the server run swiftly and consistently. Some of these applications you will also very well acquainted with such as HTTP server, File Server, FTP, DNS server among various others. With the technology of PHP, it is able to produce web pages having dynamic content and is also visually attractive. Such pages can change in terms of appearance as well as content. This is mainly keeping in consideration the interest of the person watching it has to so something like getting a form filled. Another most important advantage that plays a crucial role is that it is extremely easy in terms of its scalability. The provider of Linux based services offers practically a website, small as well as large as per your needs.

The system of data base which is used by Linux web hosts for varied websites is MySQL. Python, the programming language that is much valued by the programmers is also used in Linux hosting. It is comparatively refined and at the same time is very simple to learn too. It often makes use of words commonly used in English unlike other programming languages which make use of symbols.

It also renders you with the flexibility to make alterations and check them instantly without even making those changes everlasting. Extensible Markup Language, abbreviated as, XML is another technology made use by the Linux Web hosting. It is an extremely flexible way of regulating the information that contributes in formation of a website. With HTML, the previous system that was used every information piece was marked mainly for manifestation. With XML, this phenomenon has undergone a change and now you can use any kind of marker that pleases you. The owner of the website can now manage the website in their own way with XML. With Linux web hosting you can own all these benefits and mould them according to your needs.

Author: Anand Maheshwari
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cellphone news

Ubuntu comes pre-installed with a few Desktop themes. The default is referred to as “Human”, and is what defines the characteristic Ubuntu earth-tone colors. Some people love the default theme while others don’t like it at all. The most common complaint that I’ve heard is that it’s “too brown”. If you’d prefer to modify your theme, follow the steps below.

To switch your theme, you need to navigate to System > Preferences > Appearance

This will launch the GNOME Appearance utility, which will default to a list of installed themes. You can simply change your theme in on-the-fly by simply choosing a another theme from the list. The default installed themes are:

Clearlooks
Dark Room
Dust
Dust Sand
High Contrast Inverse
High Contrast Large Print Inverse
Human
Human-Clearlooks
New Wave

On a default installation of Ubuntu 9.10, you should have nine default themes installed to pick from.

You can quickly change your theme by choosing one of the listed themes within the window.

You can make other theme modifications, including Backgrounds, Fonts, Interface, and Visual Effects. Remember, if you decide to set the theme back , simply select “Human” from the list.

Original source: Linux Magazines

Many companies, especially the large ones, have their very own websites. Why do they have websites? That is because there are many advantages of having a website for a business. One advantage is that many people can browse your latest products and services easily. Consumers can also communicate with you faster if your website can provide contact information. You can give any information a customer would need from your company to help them decide to avail of the products and services that your company offers. A website truly is an important part of businesses these days.

So if you are planning to have a website, then the first thing that you should do is to look for a web hosting company. The web hosting company that you choose must be reliable. It must have an almost perfect uptime so that your website will be accessible anytime. You need to carefully search for a good web hosting company that can offer you the features that you need and can secure your data from hackers.

While you search for a hosting company, you might find some offering Windows Hosting and Linux Hosting. For many people, there really is not much of a difference between these two. While it is true that the performance and features that the two offer are almost the same, the question is the security. Many people are asking, “Is Linux web hosting secure?” As you probably already know, there are many malwares on the Windows Platform. Malware such as viruses, Trojan, worms and spyware threaten a system. A web server using Windows is open to these threats. A good Windows Hosting can protect their servers from this. What about Linux?

With so many people asking the question “is Linux web hosting secure?” many people have began to doubt Linux web hosting. The Linux platform is also open to different malwares, but there are only a few malwares that can harm Linux. Still, these malware can potentially harm a server hosting your website, which will lead to downtime. If you do not want this to happen, then you must know the answer to the question, “Is Linux web hosting secure?”

So when the developers of Linux was asked the same question, they answered by showing all the security features of Linux web hosting. What are these features? Here are some:

IP (Internet Protocol) Addresses – IP addresses of the visitors of the website are logged. This is used to identify the problems of the server and to prevent fraud.

Data Integrity – Linux ensures that the information on the websites of the customers remains accurate. Their hosting service can prevent unauthorized access, guarantee the correct use of information and preserve data accuracy.

Data Security – Linux also protects the information collected from their customers. They use industry-standard security measures like the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and Encryption of vital information using Hosting VentureOS web sites.

Data Access – Linux also offers a 24/7 customer support. With it, customers can have access to identifiable information and correct errors regarding this information. Linux takes steps to identify the customer before giving access to the said information.

With all these features, you should now know the answer to the question, “Is Linux web hosting secure?” Looking at all these features, you can say that Linux can do an excellent job at not only providing you with an accessible website, but also one that is secured enough to protect information from leaking out as well as other cyber crimes that can threaten your business. So if you asked me the question, “Is Linux web hosting secure?”, then I shall answer it with a “Yes.”

Author: Mark Andrews S
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Credit card currency-exchange fees

Ubuntu, a user-friendly version of Linux, has been running so nicely on my home PC that I decided to do an experiment. I wrote down a list of tasks I normally do with Windows XP and decided to see how many of them I could do on Linux.

Heres what my list looked like: 1) Write this column; 2) Browse the Web; 3) Get new software and install it; 4) Download files; 5) Play music and video files; 6) Burn CDs; and 7) Print my documents.

Of all these, the first was the easiest. Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice.org 2.0, an excellent personal productivity suite that works much like Microsoft Office, with its own word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation programs. It reads and writes files in MS Word, RTF and a variety of other formats, so sharing your files with colleagues who use Windows or Mac PCs wont be a problem. Unlike earlier versions, too, the program seems to load and run much faster.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 seems to run much faster now. I open up XMMS to listen to some music while I work.

Browsing was just as easy. Ubuntu lets you take your pick from several Web browsers, including Firefox. I experienced some glitches initially with YouTube the videos were playing without sound but that worked itself out after I rebooted the system.

For Windows users, downloading and installing new software on Linux can be rather daunting. Wheres the .EXE file? What do you do with the downloaded file (called a package, in Linux)? What file do you run? Fortunately, Ubuntu takes care of most of these problems for you. A program called Synaptic Package Manager takes care of finding new programs and installing them for you. These are sorted by program types, but the sheer number may be overwhelming. When I ran Synaptic Package Manager, it happily reported that there were more than 18,808 programs available, only 1,221 of which I had installed.

Downloading music and videos? Check. My favorite BitTorrent client, uTorrent, isnt available on Linux but KTorrent, which works much the same way, already comes with Ubuntu. I put the program through its paces and found it held up quite nicely against my trusted file-sharing utility.

To play music and videos, Ubuntu comes with a number of multimedia players. For MP3 files, I like XMMS, which looks like WinAmp. Downloaded AVI files wont play properly on the default Movie Player, but installing VLC Media Player (using Synaptic) will take care of that.

Burning CDs proved to be trickier.

Ubuntu is smart enough to detect a blank CD when its inserted and will ask if youd like to burn a data or an audio CD. If you choose data, it will open a window into which you can drag files youd like burned. Burning a data CD in this manner is simplicity itself, but it might be a bit too simple. The program, Nautilus, doesnt even tell you how much disc space youre using.

If you choose to burn an audio CD, Ubuntu will start a program called Serpentine, which enables you to add audio files to an audio CD compilation. The puzzling thing is, Serpentine will not accept MP3 files by default! All is not lost, however. You need to install the LAME encoder for the Gstreamer package (gstreamer0.8-lame), again using Synaptic. Once youve done that, Serpentine will burn your MP3 files into an audio CD without a hitch.

Serpentine burns an audio CD.

Burning a VCD from AVI files is even trickier. In very broad strokes, youll need to install K3b, a CD burning program, and a package called VCDimager, and tell K3b where its located. Youll also need a command-line program called FFmpeg to convert AVI files to MPG, which is the format that K3b uses. Sounds complicated? It is, but its doable.

Finally, I wanted to print documents on my Epson Stylus C50 inkjet printer. Simple as it sounds, this last task almost stumped me. Even though Ubuntu detected my printer and said it was using the correct printer driver from a program called Gimp-print, my C50 kept spewing out garbled, unreadable text. Hours of online research about Gimp-print only confused me further with what seemed to be gobbledygook. Many sheets of wasted paper later, I remembered a snippet of information from a mailing list. It was written before the C50 driver was available and suggested that the driver for an earlier Epson model, the C44UX might work. I went to Ubuntus printer setup utility and told it to use that driver and voila!I was finally able to print. Frustration faded away and a sense of satisfaction set in. I had survived the weekend without Windows.

Author: Chin Wong
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

When you search for a web hosting company, you often find the word “Linux Web Hosting”. If you are a little technical person then you might know what is linux web hosting. In this article, I am going to give you details about Linux web hosting.

What Is Linux?

To understand about Linux web hosting, you need to understand what is Linux? In simple words, Linux is an operating system just like Windows 98, Windows XP or Windows Vista. You can do your daily computer task by installing Linux on your system.

History

Linux is a Unix like operating system. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Torvald wanted to make a non-commercial replacement of Minix. Eventually, he came up with Linux kernel. A kernel is a core part of Linux operating system.

Free Source Code

Linux source code is freely available to everyone. Those who have slight idea about Linux always misunderstand things. Linux itself may not be free. The source code is free if you purchase any Linux distribution like RedHat or Ubuntu. Linux might cost you but you will get a source code free with Linux distribution. You are free to edit that source code as long as you follow the guidelines under GNU’s General Public License.

What You Will Get With Linux Web Hosting?

Now you know what Linux is. You need to understand what you will get with Linux hosting and how Linux hosting works.

LAMP software bundle is used in any company providing Linux web hosting. LAMP stands for Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Perl/Python

Linux, you know, is an operating system. Apache is a web server. Like Linux, Apache is also an open source project. Apache is widely used web server. It’s not that Apache only runs on Linux. For Windows also, Apache is available. For serving HTML pages, web server is needed. Most Linux shared hosting uses Apache to server pages.

MySQL is a database. MySQL provides multi users access to many databases. For implementing an advance application, you need database access.

PHP/Perl/Python are programming language used for making very advance web application. Most of Linux web hosting supports PHP. Perl and Python are not supported by all web hosting providers. Only few web hosting providers support Perl and Python language.

Windows Hosting Vs Linux Hosting

When you want to host your web site, you might be confused about whether to choose Windows hosting or Linux hosting. There is not a major difference between Windows hosting and Linux hosting.

Windows is a property of Microsoft. If you are going to use any Microsoft applications like ASP.Net, Visual C++ or Frontpage, then it’s advisable that you use Windows hosting.

From performance point of view there is not much difference between Windows and Linux hosting. Linux systems are more stable and less vulnerable to security breach. So with Linux hosting, you can expect more up time. Linux system runs for long time without rebooting. Windows need frequent rebooting after upgrade.

Major difference comes in price. Linux hosting is cheaper than Windows hosting. So if you are looking for cheap and reliable web hosting with no special usage of any Microsoft application then you should choose Linux web hosting.

Author: Dhruv Patel
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Creditcard Currency Conversion Fee

Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system (OS); thus, most web hosting companies cater to sites running on Windows, as expected. However, there is an increasing demand for hosts that can support websites running on other platforms such as Mac OS and Linux, just to name a few. For this article, we will focus on Linux web hosting.

Why do some people choose Linux web hosting? To start with, Linux is an open source OS designed after Unix. It means Linux is free, which is a fact that is easily a factor in some people’s choice of operating system. Aside from being free, Linux is also known to be very stable even in the midst of some heavy-duty multitasking. It’s also known to be flexible, powerful, and portable. The graphical user interface (GUI) looks great, too.

Whatever the reason may be, there’s no denying that more and more people are turning to Linux web hosting. If you’re comfortable with using Linux with Perl programming language, now is the right time to go for Linux web hosting. It has its place in mainstream, so any worries you may have about lack of suitable choices for Linux web hosting should be thrown out the window. There are a lot of affordable packages being marketed by web hosting companies for the Linux user.

Surprisingly, even if Windows is the most popular OS, Linux web hosting has more presence on the internet than Windows web hosting. The reason behind this is Linux’s open source nature. A lot of technological developments in web hosting are also open source. It’s easier for developers and programmers to experiment with different innovations when high fees and licenses are not part of the equation. Thus, Linux web hosting provides you with a lot of flexibility at almost no cost. When technologies update, you can go along with them without worrying about your budget because they are free.

Linux web hosting is also highly standardized because Linux, as an OS, is a standard platform. Thus, you can easily add to your website without too much hassle since everything is streamlined. You’ll appreciate this more as your website steadily and quickly grows. Long-term management with diligent maintenance is one of the most difficult things you need to do as a webmaster; luckily Linux web hosting can help in that aspect.

Take note, though, that there’s a downside to all the good stuff, and it’s up to you if it’s worth looking over when you finally choose Linux web hosting. Since Windows still dominates as the number one OS, Linux web hosting does not have a lot of technical support available for applications and languages that are based on Windows. Sure, you have a wide range of Linux-based applications and languages to choose from, but there are very useful ones that are Windows-based. You either don’t use them at all, or prepare yourself to encounter difficulties when you do.

Weigh your needs and wants before choosing Linux web hosting over Windows web hosting. Both have positive and negative aspects to them, and choosing what works better for your website is something only you can decide.

Author: Charles Yarbrough
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Import duty tariff

Ubuntu Mobile is an Ubuntu edition targeting an exciting new range of computers known as Mobile Internet Devices. It is based on the world’s most popular Linux distribution with MID hardware from OEMs and ODMs and is all set to redefine mobile computing.

The biggest utility of this model is that it gives full Internet to its users. The following are some of the main features of this model:

1. Full Web 2.0/AJAX fidelity, with custom options of Adobe Flash, Java.

2. Outstanding media playback in order to provide full enjoyment to videos, music and photos with best quality and easy navigation.

3. Set of applications that work seamlessly to meet need of every age group of people.

4. Full Web 2.0 experience etc. It is the product of Canonical collaboration with Intel and the open source community.

All in one:

This mobile is just the right applications providing Web 2.0 experience. User can do at his ease Web browsing, email, media, camera, VoIP, instant messaging, GPS, blogging, digital TV, games, contacts, dates/calendar, simple software updates and much more. Thus it is all in one set.

Structure and feel:

It is a finger friendly, with no stylus needed. It works on just gentle touch. One is just required to tap the screen or drag a finger to make gestures for intuitive navigation and control. It’s very easy to operate as well.

Following are the ways to operate it:

1. One needs just to tap an application with his/her finger to launch it, and have to use tap menus and buttons to use them.

2. Just what all is required is simply to swipe a web page to pan up, down or sideways.

3. In addition just one needs to swipe a video, photo, song or thumbnail page to move to the next or the previous one.

Author: Bill Pratt
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker

I spoke about IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems) and IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems) a few days ago in a question posted by a user. So I thought I would dive a little deeper into the subject with a specific application that I have personally used – Snort. Snort is a very powerful IDS that in later versions can act like an IPS. Snort is free to download and use in the personal environment as well as in the business environment. In fact Snort is used by many enterprises as a very effective option for their business because not only is it free, but it is one of the most powerful IDS’s out there if you know what you are doing when you configure it. Snort can be created as a program that you run when you want on a personal computer or it can be setup to run when your OS starts and protect all computers on your network from attacks.

If you want to use Snort to protect your entire network it will need to be placed in line with your Internet connection. So as an example lets say that you have a business Internet account with your local cable company and you want to protect it with a computer running Snort. The computer running Snort needs to be placed between the cable modem and the router, this way Snort is able to monitor every piece of traffic that comes into your network and is in the best place to discover possible attacks.

Installation:

We are going to be installing Snort on a computer running Ubuntu 9.04 which at the time of this article is the newest version of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is also a free OS that is available to download, making this IDS a totally free appliance for you, except the cost of the computer. There are two ways to install Snort onto a Ubuntu Distribution and the easiest is to do it through a command line. If your computer is up to date you can simply type:

sudo apt-get install snort

This will then download and install the newest version of snort on your computer through command line. As soon as it is done you will be ready to use snort. But if you run into an error or cannot install Snort through command line you can always go to the Snort website and download the newest version, but make sure that you are downloading the tar.gz file and follow their installation guide to completely setup Snort.

Once installed you can run snort as just a sniffer and have all packets captured and logged but that will create an enormous log file that you would then have to view. Snort works so well because of its use of rules to know which traffic to log and which traffic to ignore. Rules are going to be beyond the scope of this article but I plan on writing an article in the near future on creating rules for Snort.

How Snort runs depends on the flags that you specify when you launch Snort from command line.

Flag Function

-v View packet headers at the console.
-d View application data with IP headers.
-D Run Snort as a daemon.
-e Show data-link layer headers.
-l Run in packet logger mode.
-h Log information relative to the home network.
-b Log information to a single binary file in the logging directory.
-r Read packets contained in a log file.
N Disable packet logging.
-c Specifies which file will be used to provide a rule-set for intrusion detection.
-i Specifies which port you would like Snort to look at when running.

As you can see from above we have a few different options when it comes to flags used with Snort. Lets start with just viewing IP packet headers by using the command sudo snort -v. Be sure to use the sudo command before snort so that it runs in administrative mode, this is needed to open the appropriate port. Now since we did not specify a port for snort to look at it is going to use the eth0 port by default, well I am not using the eth0 port right now as I write this article I am using the wlan0 port which is my wireless card. We will need to us the -i flag to tell Snort to use my wireless card to check for traffic, sudo snort -v -i wlan0. Now Snort will run and display on the screen every packet header that comes across my wlan0 or wireless card, as you can see this is very useful if you want to monitor all traffic across your network but very impractical if you want to protect your network. To end the application once it has started you can simply hit CTRL+C to end the program and bring you back to a command prompt.

We have quickly discussed installing Snort and then running some basic Snort commands to get some output from the program onto our screen. Stay tuned for the next article on configuring Snort rules and running Snort as true IDS with alerting.

Author: Mike L Walton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: PCB Prototype & Manufacturing

Regular Ubuntu Linux Users and the (Lack of Use of the) root User

When you install Ubuntu Linux, you create a user, which is the “first” user and you can also create more users if you need to. When you create the “first” user, you assign this user a password – and this one is very important!

It is required to log in to the desktop (at the Linux GUI login prompt) as the “regular” (non-root) user – and this password is also required to be able to do the equivalent of logging in as the root user – when you’re working at the Linux prompt a terminal emulation window on the desktop.

By default, the root use is not “enabled” (not available) in Ubuntu and so you can’t log in as this user – which is an innovative thing – as it stops anyone from logging in to the desktop as this user – which should never be done!

Example of Running the Linux sudo Command – To Start Working as the root User

You type in: sudo -i and then press Enter to change from working as a “regular” user to working as (the equivalent of) the root user in Ubuntu (and variations or derivatives, such as Kubuntu – see more on this further below).

And then you provide the password of the first user that was created on the system. After running the Linux sudo command, the prompt changes from a dollar sign to a number or hash sign (press Shift 3). To “go back” to working as a “regular”, run the exit command by entering the command name and pressing the Enter key.

This Linux version has its own “derivatives” (variations), and many of these end in “ubuntu”, such as Kubuntu.

Linux Commands Training Tips: The “K” in Kubuntu stands for “KDE” – it is the “K” in “KDE”, for the KDE desktop.

The Ubuntu distro uses the GNOME desktop by default and Kubuntu uses the KDE desktop by default.

Ubuntu Linux and it’s derivatives are some of the few distributions that require the use of the sudo command with the -i option as shown above – as opposed to using the su command with the – “dash” option and then typing in the password of the root user.

Author: Clyde E. Boom
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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