Tag Archives | Linux

Windows XP ‘runs’ as well as new Linux distros on old hardware

By Ted Roche on January 9, 2006 in Linux, Microsoft, Technology

Ars Technica post: Microsoft study finds Linux to have no advantage on older hardware. “Microsoft has published a new study that attempts to refute the claims that Linux runs better than Windows on older hardware. Do they have a point, or are they just blowing smoke?” By jeremy@arstechnica.com (Jeremy Reimer).

“Curiously, if you look at these results closely, they seem to confirm the idea that Linux will run on older hardware, at least if you are talking about Slackware and Knoppix specifically. However, overall the two operating systems ended up about the same. While this does tend to discredit the idea that “Linux runs faster on older hardware,” at the very least, it runs no worse.”

“The other point that the study brings up is that some distributions fared significantly better than others. This leads into the third major benefit that Linux fans like to tout, the diversity and customization available with Linux that is not available with Windows.”

It’s good to hear that Microsoft is working to make their software work on existing hardware, rather than expecting customers to buy new. But the comparison still misses the choice factor: you’re more likely to want to run a 5-year-old machine as a file server in the back room, or a utility kiosk with very limited functionality. With Linux, you can run the machine without a GUI only (just text-mode) or with a minimal window manager. With WinXP, you’re pretty much stuck with what Microsoft provides you.

Yet another very cool GNHLUG meeting…

By Ted Roche on January 8, 2006 in Linux, OpenSource

What : Open Source Development and Productization

Who : Tim Burke, Director of Fedora Project and Kernel Development at Red Hat

When : Tue, 24 Jan 2006, at 5:00 PM

Where: Walker Auditorium, Robert Frost Hall, SNHU

GNHLUG, NH IEEE/ACM, and SwANH are privileged to host a joint presentation: Tim Burke, Director of Kernel Development for Red Hat Software, and Director of the Fedora Linux Project. He will be speaking on how Red Hat balances its role as community steward and purveyor of enterprise products. The event will take place at 5:00 PM, on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006. It will be in the Walker Auditorium, in Robert Frost Hall, at Southern New Hampshire University.

GETTING THERE

Campus Map: http://www.snhu.edu/212.asp

Robert Frost Hall is #2 on the map.

Directions: http://www.snhu.edu/209.asp

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

Open source development is rapidly gaining momentum due to developer interest as well as empowerment to end users. This presentation will describe Red Hat’s approach to balancing the interests of community, customers, and business partners. We will see how open source projects are integrated to form our distribution and how Red Hat fosters and contributes to the community development process. This approach can serve as a model to others who are trying to understand the intersection of free open source software and business.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Tim Burke is the Director of Kernel Development at Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise. The Kernel Development team is responsible for the core kernel portion of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Burke is also the Director of the Fedora Project, an open source project sponsored by Red Hat and supported by the Fedora community. In his role as Fedora Director, Tim leads both internal and external community projects with the ultimate goal of product incorporation. Prior to becoming a manager, Tim earned an honest living developing Linux high available cluster solutions and Unix kernel technology. When not juggling bugs, features and schedules, he enjoys running, rock climbing, bicycling, and paintball.

ABOUT GNHLUG

GNHLUG, the Greater New Hampshire Linux User Group, is a not-for-profit organization committed to furthering the cause of Linux and Free/Open Source Software in and around the Granite State. GNHLUG has chapters and regular meetings in Nashua, Durham/UNH, Concord, Peterborough/Monadnock, Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee, and Manchester, as well as a state-wide online community. http://www.gnhlug.org

ABOUT NH IEEE/ACM

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) promotes the engineering process of creating, developing, integrating, sharing, and applying knowledge about electro and information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity and the profession. The New Hampshire Section of the IEEE hosts periodic technical and professional talks, and provides professional networking for technology professionals. http://acadweb.snhu.edu/Isaak_James/ITseminars/

The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is a non-profit educational and scientific society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of information technology. The Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM (GBC/ACM) is a sponsor of monthly meetings, full-day professional development seminars, and publisher of The Real Times. http://www.gbcacm.org/

ABOUT SwANH

The Software Association of New Hampshire (SwANH) promotes and supports the software and information technology industries throughout the State. SwANH sponsors networking events, educational programs through its SIGs and affiliates, and discount programs that provide members with opportunities to gain information, connect with resources, grow their businesses, and succeed. http://www.swanh.org

Zero-Day Windows Meta File exploit

By Ted Roche on December 28, 2005 in Microsoft, Security, Technology

InfoWorld: Application development reports “Update: Malicious hackers busy exploiting zero-day Windows flaw. Fully-patched systems running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 can be successfully attacked by malicious hackers, various security firms warned Tuesday and Wednesday. By Juan_Carlos_Perez@idg.com (Juan Carlos Perez).”

Short form: IE seems to be subject to exploitation when navigating to a hostile site and received a Windows MetaFile (wmf). Site Admins should filter .wmf (and possibly .emf) files at the periphery. Limit IE use to a minimum, as always. FireFox users will receive a “what do I do with this file?” dialog. Doesn’t seem to affect Linux or Macintosh users.

Do LUGs matter? Yes!

By Ted Roche on December 26, 2005 in Linux, OpenSource, Python

Slashdot asks Do LUGs Still Matter?, pointing to an article by Joe Barr, writing for NewsForge. The answer for all UGs hasn’t changed: User Groups matter if they matter to you. If there’s something you want out of a LUG and you’re willing to put some effort into a LUG, amazing things can happen. Everyone knows of a LUG that’s faded: there’s a natural rhythm to LUGs like all organizations. A leader with fire in his/her belly drives the group to new heights, burns out or gets distracted, and the group declines. A new leader may emerge or the group may fade away like the Cheshire Cat, leaving nothing but an empty web page or two.

The Greater New Hampshire Linux User Group is on another power climb, not its first, nor hopefully its last. Active volunteers are running chapters in Nashua, Peterborough, Hanover, Concord and Durham. A Python Special Interest Group shares many of its members and the groups resources and gives us a presence in Manchester as well.

In the past year, member of the group were present at Linuxworld Boston, the Software Association of New Hampshire InfoeXchange annual conference, the Hosstraders ham radio swapfest, the McAuliffe annual teacher’s conference, and Software Freedom Day.

LUGs can matter as much as you want them to.

Linux Certification

By Ted Roche on December 19, 2005 in Linux, OpenSource

Over at Linux Watch, Stephen J. Vaughn-Nicholls opines “You don’t have to have a Linux certification to get a job working with Linux, but it can’t hurt.” I’m a big fan of certification, as I think eventually the vendor- and industry-level certification will be viewed as Continuing Education requirements for Licensed Software Practitioners. I’ve lectured about this years ago. I’ve also practiced what I’ve preached, earning a Novell CNA, Microsoft Certified Professional, Certified Solution Developer, Certified System Engineer and MySQL Core Certification through the years. I also worked as one of the lead authors for Microsoft’s Visual FoxPro 6.0 Distributed Applications exam, so I appreciate the difficulty of creating a legitimate certification.

Like a diploma, some certificates may just be an attendance report crossed with a good deal of bulk memorization, but it also shows a willingness to work within the system. A four-year degree generally indicates a bit of patience, too. But on the flip side, remember what they call they guy who graduates at the bottom of his class in med school: “Doctor”

Certification can be what you make of it. An educational opportunity, a means of self-evaluation, and a chance to distinguish yourself in the marketplace.

The Difference between Red Hat and Novell

By Ted Roche on December 17, 2005 in Linux, OpenSource

Over at Linux-Watch.com, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols posts The Difference between Red Hat and Novell which in turn points to Matt Asay’s essay by the same name. Interesting to read an inside and outside view of the situation.

ARM: Whil Announces GLGDW 2006

By Ted Roche on December 16, 2005 in FoxPro

Andrew MacNeill – AKSEL Solutions] reports: “Whil’s back: Moving from Windows to Linux and now back to Fox….. Whil just announced the return of the Great Lakes Great Database Workshop 2006 with one track of 14 sessions covering every major aspect of Fox development.”

Multiple machines off a single UPS?

By Ted Roche on December 10, 2005 in Technology

A client recently asked if we could add another server to their network without having to add another UPS — they had a UPS with plenty of surplus capacity, but the serial cable from the UPS went to a Windows Server 2003 to provide for the (essential!) soft shutdown. However, I would be installing a Linux server. How to get the two to get along?

One solution is using the Network UPS Tools or NUT for short. On this page Jeremy Herr explains how he set up one Linux machine and two Windows machines off a single UPS. One machine connects to the UPS and monitors the UPS status. NUT is set up as a couple of modules: the server (daemon) monitors the UPS, client software talks to the server. Normally, the client software is on the same machine as the server, but multiple machines can run the client software and communicate over a network to the server, provided each of the components is configured properly. Cool architecture!

MonadLUG, 8 Dec 2005: Tim Lind on anti-spam techniques

By Ted Roche on December 7, 2005 in LAMP, OpenSource, Technology

Guy Pardoe, the MonadLUG Coordinator-in-Chief, announces “The next meeting of the Monadnock Linux User Group (MonadLUG) will be this Thursday, December 8th, 7:00pm, at the SAU 1 Superintendent’s Office behind South Meadow School in Peterborough… Tim Lind discusses Anti-spam techniques – Using open source tools, how to build an anti-spam system that is self running, updating and allows your email users to configure their own whitelists/blacklists, etc…”

Tha hackable WRT-54 returns!

By Ted Roche on December 2, 2005 in Technology

Slashdot postL Linksys Adds Linux WRT54G Model Back. Glenn Fleishman writes “Last month, Slashdot and others wrote about how the Linksys WRT54G, a popular embedded Linux-based Wi-Fi gateway, had switched to VxWorks’s OS for its v5 release. Because the WRT54G has become the standard as a cheap commodity device for building your own platform (like Sveasoft, Fon, and many others), this seemed like a big blow to hackers and developers. If you could still manage to flash the device–not sure if that was possible–it had half the RAM and flash of the v4 model. It turns out Linksys wasn’t killing the Linux model. They’ve released it as the WRT54GL with v4.30.0(US) firmware and will sell it under that name for about $70 retail. It’s already in stock and the new firmware is on their GPL software download page. Linux sales represent a few percentage points of their overall volume, based on the Linksys product director’s remarks. The lesser quantity of RAM puts money back in their pockets on the mainstream model.”

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