LINUX MAGAZINESLINUX MAGAZINES: Open Source News, Articles and Reviews

Ubuntu is a community developed operating system, supported by Canonical, Mark Shuttleworth’s company.

Law enforcement recently has been following the general tide of government and public service groundswell by seeking computing solutions in the Linux direction. Particularly in law enforcement, their needs match well with open source software. They have to work lean on a taxpayer’s budget, and open source is free or low cost. They need top security, and Linux is still the highest-scoring operating software in official government assessments. They need mission-critical reliability, and Linux is so stable, it doesn’t just outrank the competition in stability – it makes the competition disappear!
Some recent examples of law enforcement agencies finding a solution in open source:
* Kent Police have lowered the cost of running their major criminal investigations system by a factor of 90% using Novell Linux Open Enterprise Server. The migration to Novell enabled Kent to scale up their Holmes II investigation system to work on larger projects with a broader scope – something they’d never been able to do before. They were also able to run it on their cheapest hardware they could find, thanks to Linux’s light requirements. A new policing operating system, named Genesis, is now being tested for scalability on Linux servers.
* Delivery of the first Linux systems to the West Yorkshire police force could see police forces throughout England and Wales unanimously switching to Linux desktops in a new pilot scheme. The deployment is taking place under a contract awarded by the UK Police IT Organization. If successful, it will lead to over 60,000 desktops deployed. In West Yorkshire alone, the installed base is around 3,500, and a spokesman reckoned that the savings from this would be around one million pounds per year!
* The New South Wales Police department is currently undertaking a major upgrade to its information infrastructure, made necessary due to the increasing volume of data handled by the force, and they’re switching to Linux systems to handle the load. Because the Linux systems are proving so reliable, they are looking forward to the higher capacity network more efficiently archiving and transmitting data stored as evidence, such as surveillance videos and audio material.
* Scottish police forces have also developed a Linux-based system for ensuring that they comply with the Freedom of Information Act legislation, an act which is intended to facilitate ‘open government’ by allowing the public to request access to government data. Since open source and open information go hand in hand, the system has scaled easily and saved tons of labor. The force doesn’t have to worry about proprietary media formats interfering with the public’s ability to access the data, and the efficiency of the Linux system allows a lot of manual tasks to be automated where they couldn’t before. The system is literally returning officers to the streets because it has saved everyone so much work.
* Police in the city of Munich have switched 14,000 of their department computers from Microsoft’s Windows operating system to Linux. The motivation for the decision was to make the government less dependent on one information technology supplier, and to save money while increasing capabilities. One technology analyst even compared the break-through migration to the fall of the Berlin wall, referring to the oppressive requirements of dealing with a proprietary software company’s agenda.
That government feels friendly with open source should come as no surprise. Traditionally, the Internet has been 80% Linux and Unix-based systems since its creation. The first Internet services were started and maintained by government providers, who used Unix system’s built-in multitasking features and excellent speed to create a fast, reliable network. Linux, a modern version of that Unix ideal, has already established itself as the leading system for server-room deployment, but now the effects are beginning to trickle down to the desktop user level and workstation deployments, where they are discovering that Linux systems have workspace-ready features built in which other commercial operating systems are just now beginning to discover and implement.
Furthermore, Linux systems come with the guarantee that because they are open source, no commercial company can restrict their usage in the future. A platform ported to Linux can stay on Linux, without support dying out and constant upgrades creating problems down the road.
Finally, the inherent security of the Unix computing model guarantees the effectiveness of Linux without the worries over security problems. Because there are in effect no viruses which can infect a Linux system known, and no critical security exploits found in the systems even by government security standards, departments are also considering Linux as a measure to protect our national data under concerns over national security and the terrorist threat in our modern times.

The best thing and the worst thing about moving to a brand new operating system is all of the new applications that are immediately available to you. With Ubuntu, an open-source GNU/Linux based operating system, this is compounded even more by the astounding number of options along with the close-to automated package management system and strong community support.

Therefore, it’s helpful to have a basic guide to guide new and returning users through the varied software options by highlighted specific popular packages and providing installation directions, along with information about where users can look for more options and support. By showing the new Ubuntu user the best of the software repository from the start, we can ensure retention and thereby further undercut the market share of the 8,000 pound gorillas in the OS market.

Seeing all of the software available for Ubuntu through the official repositories is an easy and enjoyable experience. In fact, you don’t even need to open an internet browser. You can see the repositories (or repo’s) in two different ways:

1. Click on the Add/Remove Programs option in the Applications menu. This will most of the more popular items, along with each package’s estimated popularity. The option to install is provided right through the dialog screen.

2. Use the Synaptic Package Manager, which is available through selecting System–>Administration–>Synaptic Package Manager. A search function is included, making this process even easier. Also, you can choose to update all of your current packages through the click of the button. More often than not, no restart or reboot is required.

Without further ado, here are some common applications for Ubuntu, and directions on how to install them.BitTorrent

qBitTorrent is an application used to connect to the BitTorrent file sharing network, which acts as an uncentralized way to distribute and download large files without much hassle. Many sites on the internet provide these torrent files, and it is the responsibility of the user to make sure they are not violating the copyright laws of their respective nation by using them.

qBitTorrent is not available in the official repositories, so you’ll have to use the Terminal to install it. You can access the Terminal through Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. As soon as it opens, enter the following commands (a root password may be required).

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.lst

Copy the following lines to the end of the file:

deb http://hydr0g3n.free.fr/qbittorrent/feisty/ ./

deb-src http://hydr0g3n.free.fr/qbittorrent/feisty/ ./

Close the window, and copy and paste the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install qbittorrentEvolution

Check your e-mail in style with this client. Evolution comes pre-installed with Ubuntu, and you can open it from the Applications menu. This program is ideal for calendaring, keeping track of contacts, and checking e-mail. If it isn’t installed for some reason, you can install it with the Synaptic Package Manager.Pan

Pan is a way to connect to UseNet. It’s one of the few for Ubuntu that has a graphical display.

Type this in to install it:

sudo apt-get install pan

Pan rivals the XNews program for Windows, and it’s completely open-source.Firefox

Firefox is a really quick web browser developed by Mozilla. Yep, it definitely knocks the socks off of Internet Explorer, and it’s way more compatible with most websites than Safari. Based on the latest statistics, more people than ever before are moving over to Firefox from other browsers, and almost everything on the internet is compatible with it. Though it comes pre-installed with Ubuntu, I definitely think it’s worth a mention. If it’s not preinstalled, type this in the command line:

sudo apt-get install firefoxPidgin

Multi-protocol Instant Messaging, baby! Includes support for AIM, Yahoo!, GMail, and MSN. I know, I know, it’s amazing. And trust me, it is EASY to install!

Here’s the directions: Insert this stuff into your command line.

wget http://vicox.net/ubuntu/pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i pidgin_2.0.0beta7devel.vicox-1_i386.deb

I hope this was a useful start. For more application ideas, you can try the official documentation or the forums. Good luck, and enjoy your new experience with Ubuntu!

The Basics of Linux & Windows : Linux (and its close relation
Unix) and Windows 2000 (and its close cousin Windows NT) are
types of software (known as operating systems) that web servers
use to do the kind of things that web servers do. You do not
need to know any real detail of either to make a decision as to
which you need but here a few guidelines.

Just because you use a windows desktop PC doesn’t mean you have
to opt for Windows web hosting (and the reverse is true as
well). The operating system you use on your desktop has little
to do with your choice of web hosts. As long as you understand
how to use your FTP or web publishing software, your can use
either operating system.

But what is important is that you know what you want your
website to do and what you want to offer on it. This is what
will ultimately help determine the type of web hosting that will
work best for you. As mentioned earlier, interactive websites
usually rely on ASP, PHP, or Perl type languages.

Linux Web Hosting or Windows 2000 Web Hosting ? Make your Choice
!

When it comes to Web hosting, Linux has, for some time, been
widely considered the best OS for Web servers. It’s typically
found to be the most reliable, stable and efficient system and,
as such, it’s commonly used for the demanding environment of Web
and mail servers. Indeed,Most of the clients websites of aalpha
NET runs on the Linux OS precisely because of this traditional
stability.

The million-dollar question is what application are you looking
to use for your hosting? Consider the tools and scripting
languages you plan to use – if you use PHP, Perl or MySQL, Linux
is the way forward. If apps are Microsoft-specific, then Windows
is what you need.

If your site, like most web sites, is what might be termed
“brochure-ware” then Linux servers are ideal. By brochure-ware I
mean a site that offers the kind of information that in the past
might have been provided on paper in the form of brochures,
newsletters or data sheets. Brochure-ware sites will offer some
interaction through enquiry forms and can certainly incorporate
online purchasing and other routine e-commerce functions.

If however your site incorporates an online searchable database
or interactive chat facilities then Windows 2000 or NT will be a
better bet in most cases. It will cost a bit more but you’ll get
that back in reduced development time and simply better
functionality.

The following are the advantages of using Linux based web server
compared to Windows based web server :

Stable: Linux/Unix operating systems has traditionally been
believed to be very stable and robust. A web site housed on a
Linux operating system will have very high up-time (of the order
of 99.9%). Of course, other factors such as power supply,
network admin skills, and network load etc. also matter when it
comes to maintaining the system uptime.

Low cost of ownership: The Linux OS comes free of cost (or at
very insignificant cost, usually cost of distribution). Also, it
has full fledged server, and desk top applications that comes
free along with the OS. These server applications (such as FTP,
Web Server, DNS Server, File Server etc.) being free, are also
very stable.

Ease of use : When it comes to web hosting, it is easy to host
on Linux web servers. The process of uploading and hosting is
almost same for both Linux and Windows web servers. If you want
to use a Windows based tool such as Front Page for uploading a
web site on to a Linux based web server, make sure that the
Front Page extensions are enabled. This is only required if you
are uploading using HTTP feature (http://www.yourwebsite.com) of
Front Page. Front Page also makes it possible to upload a web
site using FTP. You need to select ftp://www.yourwebsite.com for
up loading using front page FTP option. Note that if you select
“Front Page Extensions” during web site design, you must enable
Front Page extensions on a Linux web server also. These days,
all Linux web servers are coming with installable Front Page
extensions, and this should pose no problem for hosting on a
Linux platform.

You can use almost all types of file extensions (or scripts)
when using Linux web server. Commonly, the following extensions
are supported: .cgi, .html, .htm, .pl, .php, .shtml, .xml, and
others. Basically it means that you can host web sites that use
different types of server side scripts including .cgi, .pl,
..php, and .asp (with plug-in).

Easy to move between hosts : A web site designed to be hosted on
a Linux based web server can be hosted on a Windows web server
easily, where as the reverse is not always true.

Most widely used : Linux/Unix based web hosting is most widely
used compared to Windows based web hosting.

Scalability : A web site is dynamic. Usually, a web site starts
with a few pages of html and grows over a period of time to suit
the customers requirements. It is preferable to design a web
site keeping this requirements in mind. A web site designed for
compatibility with a Linux/Unix based web server meets the
scalability requirement easily without making any site wide
design changes.

On the downside, Linux based web server is not fully compatible
with Microsoft technologies. If you are using any specialized
applications or VB for development of your web site, it is
preferable to host with a Windows based web server.

For more articles Please visit Articles at
All Web Hosts.

Thank You

If you have any involvement with Information Technology, you’re probably already familiar with Linux as a server operating system. Indeed, for many applications Linux is an accepted and even preferred platform. Google has built and is expanding one of the world’s largest cluster of Linux servers to host its pervasive search engine system. Major hardware vendors, including IBM and Hewlett-Packard, sell servers preloaded with Linux and provide premium support for the operating system. Oracle is the largest commercial database running on Linux with more than 80% market share. Successful commercial applications like VMware ESX are built on Linux foundations. And many of the largest Internet hosting providers run on Linux.

On the other hand, if your computer experience is limited to your own home PC, you may never have even heard of Linux and may be wondering what all the fuss is about. If that’s the case, listen up because Linux may be coming to a desktop near you!What is Linux?

Simply put, Linux is a computer operating system like the Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows. The difference is that Linux is open source; anyone can view, modify, and redistribute the underlying code. Further, while OS X is designed to run only on Apple hardware, and while Windows runs primarily on x86 processors from Intel and AMD, there are many distributions or flavors of Linux, compiled to run on a wide array of hardware, everything from high-end corporate servers and mainframes, to home PC’s, to cell phones.

Linux began as a pet project of a Finnish university student, Linus Torvalds, in 1991 as an alternative to the server operating system Unix. He made it freely available to anyone who wished to modify it and it was quickly adopted and grew. Still, it remained primarily a server-based system. Few home users would have chosen its complex command-line interface over the comfortable and easy-to-use point-and-click GUI of the Macintosh or Windows.

However, Linux now also sports a graphical front-end and a plethora of user-friendly applications.Going GUI

Since Linux is all about choice, it’s not surprising that there are a number of graphical environments available. The two most popular that come preloaded on many distributions targeted for desktop or workstation use are Gnome and KDE. Both offer features home users have come to expect: menus, icons from which to launch applications and documents, desktop wallpaper, screen savers, trash icons, and the like.

Connecting to printers is a simple process of selecting the printer type from a menu and telling the system where to find it, either on a local port or a network queue. To print from most applications simply select File, Print. No surprises there.

Sharing folders is equally simple and relies upon standard protocols that interface well with Macintosh and Windows systems.

For security, you can create multiple user accounts; each user gets their own desktop they can customize as they wish. There’s also a built-in firewall to protect you from Internet intruders.

Of course, most people are more interested in the applications they can run, rather than the underlying operating system. Here, Linux is in no way deprived.Applications

For browsing the Internet, there’s Mozilla’s Firefox and Konqueror. For e-mail there’s Thunderbird and Evolution. The popular OpenOffice.org suite provides typical office functionality including word processing, spreadsheet, database, drawing, and presentations. The Gimp and Inkscape offer advanced graphics capabilities. And there’s a variety of utilities for burning CDs and DVDs, listening to music, watching videos, and chatting via services like AOL’s Instant Messenger.

This list is by no means complete. There are thousands of open source applications for Linux; you’d be hard-pressed not to find one that could do what you need. But there are also many commercial applications available.Drawbacks

If Linux offers so much of the same functionality as Windows, why isn’t it more widely used? Why do many home and corporate users reject it?

Microsoft Windows, while it has many faults, has become so widespread in its use as to be nearly ubiquitous. It has become the de facto standard by which other systems are measured. For those people already familiar with and comfortable with Windows, anything else is a step back, even if it is faster, more intuitive, more stable, and more secure.

Also, it must be admitted, there are still situations where you may need to venture into the cryptic world of the Linux command shell. For those used to living with a mouse in one hand, typing commands like awk and grep at a flashing cursor is unacceptable.

And, while there are enough applications to satisfy all but the most demanding of users, there are a few notable exceptions. Microsoft Office is not available on Linux, and likely never will be. Adobe Photoshop is also missing. In both cases, nearly all of the functionality these two giants provide is available in other applications, but for some die hards, that’s not good enough. While there are ways of running some Windows applications on Linux, they’re not usually as fast or as stable — or as easy to implement — as native Linux applications.

The situation is even dimmer for games. While the console market — PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox — is growing, the PC and Mac game market is shrinking. The commercial Linux game market is even smaller. Oh, there are plenty of games for Linux, but most are modest efforts, with few of the heavy hitters widely available on other platforms. Those that have been ported to Linux are not always fully supported — if they’re supported at all — by the original producer. For example, while you can purchase Quake 4 for Linux, don’t expect id Software to help you get it running, a task not for neophytes or those who shy away from the command line.Vendors

Despite any apparent drawbacks, some major vendors are actively promoting Linux on the desktop. Novell now offers the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, while Red Hat offers Enterprise Linux WS, both targeted at corporations. Since users in this environment are likely to have a fixed set of applications without a heavy gaming need, Linux is often ideal. And a number of organizations are taking advantage of the potential savings offered by these open source options. Governments especially, under scrutiny for how they handle the public purse, are often quick to make the move. Among them are the cities of Largo, Florida, USA; Bristol, UK; and Bergen, Norway. They have each made their taxpayers happy with significant savings over the closed source, proprietary systems they used to use.Choices

If you’re a heavy gamer, then you’ll probably want to stick with Windows or a dedicated console. If your focus is advanced graphics and video editing, then Linux may be an option, if you’re willing to give up certain commercial applications. Otherwise, you’d be better off with a Macintosh. If you’re just surfing the Internet, sending e-mail, writing letters, and editing spreadsheets, then Linux and the open source software that comes with many distributions will do everything you need.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to ever see a command line or edit configuration files by hand, then Linux probably isn’t for you just yet. But it may be soon.