The Linux Newb is looking for some people to help with blogging!!
If you feel that you write good content, but your site just isn't being seen by enough people, or if you don't have a site but a passion for our topic; please email me with a sample of your work. We can discuss the terms, and hopefully make this a better source of information/entertainment for everyone!
These positions are currently unpaid, and on a volunteer basis, but that may change after not too long.
Email: blake@thelinuxnewb.com
Friday, March 20, 2009
Its Up!!!!!
The new site is up!!! I hope everyone likes it, if you have any suggestions please let me know!!!
Regards,
Blake
Regards,
Blake
Review - Dream Linux 3.5
Dream Linux, the dream of every new user, or at least the distro that's a dream to use has taken another jump forward and released a newer version. But as with every new version, questions remain as to how well the new version stacks up against the older ones. And how does this one do against it's predecessors? Let's find out.
Live CD
The LiveCD boots up quite fast and gets you to a rather nice looking XFCE desktop complete with numerous icons and a quick launch bar very reminiscent of MacOSX. One thing though that really stood out during the bootup sequence was a series of words that would scroll in from the left announcing each major thing that was happening, such as doing auto start or loading the desktop.
It would then scroll out to the right and another would come in behind it. That was a rather nice and somewhat eye candy'ed touch.
Another interesting thing you notice right away upon reaching the desktop is the notation along the right side (at a sideways angle) announcing three noteworthy features of DreamLinux 3.5: Powered by Debian, Boosted by Flexiboost, and Install USB FlashDrive.
Of the three, the one that catches my attention the most is the Boosted by Flexiboost. This is obviously a speed improvement system, and leads one to believe that it's there to provide a lot of help in performance.
The desktop includes your standard home, computer, trash and other items, but also has several interesting additions. The first is Live Dream, a point and click LiveUSB installer. Across the screen from it is it's counterpart, Persistent Dream, that provides a LiveUSB install that keeps all of your settings, even after reboot. The second is DL Installer. This is just the standard DreamLinux installer that will walk you through everything you need to do to install DreamLinux.
Next to it is an Easy Install icon. This one allows you to point, click, and install a selection of popular and obscure applications not included in the default install with the least amount of effort possible. There's also an OEM installer. This will create an OEM like install on your computer, which makes this perfect for any computer builder or OEM to use when building PC's to create a ready to go, out of the box PC installed with DreamLinux. (I think this is a fabulous idea other distros should pick up to increase OEM usage of their distro)
The last item of interest is the CD remastering tool that allows you to make your own custom mixed version of DreamLinux that you can use wherever you want.
The overall system in LiveCD mode is very fast, easily within the upper half of LiveCD speeds. The number of installed applications are a bit on the lean side, but all the important ones are there, including many of the lightest weight internet, multimedia, and graphics apps available.
Stability in the LiveCD is fantastic. Trying to crash this is like trying to crash a bumper car. You can bang around all you want, but you aren't going to dent any fenders. One annoying thing I did find was that the screensaver was set a little too short, and came on at some rather inconvenient or inappropriate times. Otherwise it was fine. Now, let's move on to the installer and see how that does.
And for those of you who aren't too fond of XFCE, or are fanatical for Gnome, there is also a Gnome version of Dream Linux 3.5 now. Now not as a knocking against Gnome by any means, but the disk for Gnome booted noticeably slower into the desktop and ran noticeably slower as well. Feature wise however, it was essentially the same as the primary XFCE version, save for the Desktop Environment and a few UI tweaks consistent with the use of Gnome. Otherwise they're almost identical.
Installation
Using the DreamLinux installer is fairly easy. It starts you out with a single screen that asks you for the root and user login, as well as how you would like your disk partitioned. It's not directly explanatory on how to use, but a few seconds of clicking around will allow almost any user to figure it out.
Once you're ready to begin, just click Apply and let the installer do the rest. Really, this is one of the simpler installers, as far as steps go. However, it's anything but one of the fastest, as it took well over 40 minutes to complete the install, which easily puts it in the bottom third of installer speeds.
The only thing you have to do at the end is simply reboot and you're all set to go. Installation to USB pen drive is amazingly fast and easy. Almost in a way it's easier than the hard drive install. The OEM install is also fairly easy, as it more or less just dumps a default configuration onto the system.
Overview
Now although everything prior to this worked fine, including the LiveCD, I had some really ugly issues trying to get the system to boot. Had to actually run the install twice just to get it to take, since I got an unbootable drive the first time. Once the second install succeeded, I rebooted and found that it crashed on the first two tries at booting.
I got some weird segment fault, but no explanation what faulted or why. It did finally boot on the third try, but took an immeasurable amount of time to complete that. Subsequent boots were a hit or miss proposition. And I know it wasn't the hardware, since the system booted just fine on the LiveCD and the previously installed copy of PCLOS.
But on the times when it did succeed in booting, the desktop ran just fine. I expected it to get flakey on me, but interestingly enough, it didn't. I don't really know how to explain it, but once it was past all the boot problems, it ran just as clean as the LiveCD.
Software selection in the installed selection is identical to the LiveCD, as is the desktop as well. So if you need to test drive DreamLinux 3.5, you can pop in the LiveCD and see if it fits your needs. Load times for applications aren't noticeably different than the LiveCD. Maybe a tad faster, but not much.
One positive note is that the DreamLinux control panel looks both simple and beautiful. It's well laid out and pretty much point and click easy to use. Also, the dream Linux Easy Install, USB installers, and OEM installer are all still available in the installed desktop, including the remastering tool.
For those who are curious, the Easy Install is there to make adding certain programs and drivers to the system very easy. These are things that normally wouldn't come with the system due to legal or other reasons. Thus you, the end user, are given the option of installing them manually yourself. Some of these items are things like the Nvidia drivers, Libdvdcss, Acrobat and others.
Another little surprise is that XBMC is installed by default, so you can fire it up and watch your favorite movies right from your PC. It could also easily turn a small PC into a DVR of sorts too if you really wanted it to. Oh, and before I forget, DreamLinux is eyecandy heaven. There's eyecandy everywhere. No fancy Compiz like effects, but rather just a lot of really great looking graphics.
Anywho, getting back to the gagging that happened earlier in the boot, I checked and I can't find a reason for it. It's not a hardware issue, as it found every single bit of my hardware, including sound, network and everything else. So aside from it's boot problems, which may not be a problem for everyone, it's really not a bad distro. As for the boot issues, I suspect to see an update soon that will address those. So if you want to hold off for a little bit until that update hits the repositories, that'd be fine.
Conclusion
Overall, other than what I listed above, I see no real reason why a new user couldn't just dive right into DreamLinux 3.5 and start having fun with it. It's really not bad. Again, it's not as fast as other XFCE centered distros, a real surprise given the speed boost claimed by the desktop wallpaper, but still it's fast enough to work well for most users.
For more information, check out their homepage: http://www.dreamlinux.com.br/
Source of this article
Live CD
The LiveCD boots up quite fast and gets you to a rather nice looking XFCE desktop complete with numerous icons and a quick launch bar very reminiscent of MacOSX. One thing though that really stood out during the bootup sequence was a series of words that would scroll in from the left announcing each major thing that was happening, such as doing auto start or loading the desktop.
It would then scroll out to the right and another would come in behind it. That was a rather nice and somewhat eye candy'ed touch.
Another interesting thing you notice right away upon reaching the desktop is the notation along the right side (at a sideways angle) announcing three noteworthy features of DreamLinux 3.5: Powered by Debian, Boosted by Flexiboost, and Install USB FlashDrive.Of the three, the one that catches my attention the most is the Boosted by Flexiboost. This is obviously a speed improvement system, and leads one to believe that it's there to provide a lot of help in performance.
The desktop includes your standard home, computer, trash and other items, but also has several interesting additions. The first is Live Dream, a point and click LiveUSB installer. Across the screen from it is it's counterpart, Persistent Dream, that provides a LiveUSB install that keeps all of your settings, even after reboot. The second is DL Installer. This is just the standard DreamLinux installer that will walk you through everything you need to do to install DreamLinux.
Next to it is an Easy Install icon. This one allows you to point, click, and install a selection of popular and obscure applications not included in the default install with the least amount of effort possible. There's also an OEM installer. This will create an OEM like install on your computer, which makes this perfect for any computer builder or OEM to use when building PC's to create a ready to go, out of the box PC installed with DreamLinux. (I think this is a fabulous idea other distros should pick up to increase OEM usage of their distro)
The last item of interest is the CD remastering tool that allows you to make your own custom mixed version of DreamLinux that you can use wherever you want.
The overall system in LiveCD mode is very fast, easily within the upper half of LiveCD speeds. The number of installed applications are a bit on the lean side, but all the important ones are there, including many of the lightest weight internet, multimedia, and graphics apps available.
Stability in the LiveCD is fantastic. Trying to crash this is like trying to crash a bumper car. You can bang around all you want, but you aren't going to dent any fenders. One annoying thing I did find was that the screensaver was set a little too short, and came on at some rather inconvenient or inappropriate times. Otherwise it was fine. Now, let's move on to the installer and see how that does.
And for those of you who aren't too fond of XFCE, or are fanatical for Gnome, there is also a Gnome version of Dream Linux 3.5 now. Now not as a knocking against Gnome by any means, but the disk for Gnome booted noticeably slower into the desktop and ran noticeably slower as well. Feature wise however, it was essentially the same as the primary XFCE version, save for the Desktop Environment and a few UI tweaks consistent with the use of Gnome. Otherwise they're almost identical.
Installation
Using the DreamLinux installer is fairly easy. It starts you out with a single screen that asks you for the root and user login, as well as how you would like your disk partitioned. It's not directly explanatory on how to use, but a few seconds of clicking around will allow almost any user to figure it out.
Once you're ready to begin, just click Apply and let the installer do the rest. Really, this is one of the simpler installers, as far as steps go. However, it's anything but one of the fastest, as it took well over 40 minutes to complete the install, which easily puts it in the bottom third of installer speeds.
The only thing you have to do at the end is simply reboot and you're all set to go. Installation to USB pen drive is amazingly fast and easy. Almost in a way it's easier than the hard drive install. The OEM install is also fairly easy, as it more or less just dumps a default configuration onto the system.
Overview
Now although everything prior to this worked fine, including the LiveCD, I had some really ugly issues trying to get the system to boot. Had to actually run the install twice just to get it to take, since I got an unbootable drive the first time. Once the second install succeeded, I rebooted and found that it crashed on the first two tries at booting.
I got some weird segment fault, but no explanation what faulted or why. It did finally boot on the third try, but took an immeasurable amount of time to complete that. Subsequent boots were a hit or miss proposition. And I know it wasn't the hardware, since the system booted just fine on the LiveCD and the previously installed copy of PCLOS.
But on the times when it did succeed in booting, the desktop ran just fine. I expected it to get flakey on me, but interestingly enough, it didn't. I don't really know how to explain it, but once it was past all the boot problems, it ran just as clean as the LiveCD.
Software selection in the installed selection is identical to the LiveCD, as is the desktop as well. So if you need to test drive DreamLinux 3.5, you can pop in the LiveCD and see if it fits your needs. Load times for applications aren't noticeably different than the LiveCD. Maybe a tad faster, but not much.
One positive note is that the DreamLinux control panel looks both simple and beautiful. It's well laid out and pretty much point and click easy to use. Also, the dream Linux Easy Install, USB installers, and OEM installer are all still available in the installed desktop, including the remastering tool.
For those who are curious, the Easy Install is there to make adding certain programs and drivers to the system very easy. These are things that normally wouldn't come with the system due to legal or other reasons. Thus you, the end user, are given the option of installing them manually yourself. Some of these items are things like the Nvidia drivers, Libdvdcss, Acrobat and others.
Another little surprise is that XBMC is installed by default, so you can fire it up and watch your favorite movies right from your PC. It could also easily turn a small PC into a DVR of sorts too if you really wanted it to. Oh, and before I forget, DreamLinux is eyecandy heaven. There's eyecandy everywhere. No fancy Compiz like effects, but rather just a lot of really great looking graphics.
Anywho, getting back to the gagging that happened earlier in the boot, I checked and I can't find a reason for it. It's not a hardware issue, as it found every single bit of my hardware, including sound, network and everything else. So aside from it's boot problems, which may not be a problem for everyone, it's really not a bad distro. As for the boot issues, I suspect to see an update soon that will address those. So if you want to hold off for a little bit until that update hits the repositories, that'd be fine.
Conclusion
Overall, other than what I listed above, I see no real reason why a new user couldn't just dive right into DreamLinux 3.5 and start having fun with it. It's really not bad. Again, it's not as fast as other XFCE centered distros, a real surprise given the speed boost claimed by the desktop wallpaper, but still it's fast enough to work well for most users.
For more information, check out their homepage: http://www.dreamlinux.com.br/
Source of this article
Advertise
The Linux Newb is quickly growing past 1000 visitors a day, and targets a niche group of consumers. If you think your product is a fit, we offer specials to first time advertisers without contracts.
If you are interested in advertising with us. please contact Blake (founder of TheLinuxNewb) at blake@thelinuxnewb.com
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About
The Linux Newb is still a new and growing blog! We talk about everything & anything Open-Source. Which includes, but is not limited to, Linux builds, mobile solutions (Android), and Open-Source software.
From time to time we will be reviewing hardware, software, and games. Truthfully, this is an all around tech blog, with a focus on Linux and Open-Source.
If you are interested in blogging for TheLinuxNewb.com please contact me by email at blake@thelinuxnewb.com with a sample post. If approved I will create a login for you, and you can begin to contribute.
Hopefully everyone enjoys the new site!
Regards,
Blake
Founder
blake@thelinuxnewb.com
From time to time we will be reviewing hardware, software, and games. Truthfully, this is an all around tech blog, with a focus on Linux and Open-Source.
If you are interested in blogging for TheLinuxNewb.com please contact me by email at blake@thelinuxnewb.com with a sample post. If approved I will create a login for you, and you can begin to contribute.
Hopefully everyone enjoys the new site!
Regards,
Blake
Founder
blake@thelinuxnewb.com
Linux Newb Upgrades
As many of you know, I took a bit of a break from blogging, but heres the good news. Now that I'm back I will be finishing up the new site desgin...in fact, im so close that all i have left to do is clean up the side bars and it should be good to go. I plan on rolling out the new site next week! I am hoping that the process will go smoothly and have minimal downtime, but we all know how that goes.
So stay tuned, once the new site is up and running, I have some pretty exciting blog posts for you. I'm going to disect KDE and Gnome...both of the new versions, as well as some posts on Android, and the o-so-anticipated "cupcake" upgrade.
I will be reviewing some new apps for the G1, and apps for linux as well...stay tuned...
So stay tuned, once the new site is up and running, I have some pretty exciting blog posts for you. I'm going to disect KDE and Gnome...both of the new versions, as well as some posts on Android, and the o-so-anticipated "cupcake" upgrade.
I will be reviewing some new apps for the G1, and apps for linux as well...stay tuned...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Blogging with Android
So about 2 weeks ago I made the jump and bought myself a G1 "Google phone" for T-Mobile. The first thing I tried to do was login to blogger and make a post...well, that didnt go over that great with the standard browser. The only way I could make a post was in the html editing screen, and even that was iffy sense you cant really scroll around while typing etc etc. needless to say, I started searching for a new way.
As most of you know, thelinuxnewb.com uses the Blogger platform...so being that Google was involved with both the G-Phone, and Blogger, you would think that they would have an app made up for this very purpose....no such luck, and honestly it was just by a stroke of luck that I figured it out.
At work I can only pick up the 2G EDGE network, so browsing the internet can be sluggish. To fix the problem I started the search for a new web browser to speed things up for me....sooo to the Android App Market I went...after a few failed attempts I decided that I would grab Opera Mini (which I had on my Blackberry), and wow what a difference this made.
I will post up a full review of Opera Mini in an upcoming post, but in short, if you have a G1.....Get Opera Mini!!! Its not the same experience you have on a Blackberry, its better.
Anyways, so I was busy being amazed by the speed when I decided to go to www.blogger.com and see if i could make a post. Voila, here I am writing a post on my Android phone. Yes, I wrote this whole post on my phone. I didnt add any pictures, because I can effertlessly do that later on a PC...but this make for a very nice way to get a head start on blog posts, kill time, or just act like you have friends to text.
For the next few posts I will be writing on various Android related apps, tips, tricks, and reviews. Fear not though, my next Linux posts are coming, especially with a new build of Ubuntu coming.....
As most of you know, thelinuxnewb.com uses the Blogger platform...so being that Google was involved with both the G-Phone, and Blogger, you would think that they would have an app made up for this very purpose....no such luck, and honestly it was just by a stroke of luck that I figured it out.
At work I can only pick up the 2G EDGE network, so browsing the internet can be sluggish. To fix the problem I started the search for a new web browser to speed things up for me....sooo to the Android App Market I went...after a few failed attempts I decided that I would grab Opera Mini (which I had on my Blackberry), and wow what a difference this made.
I will post up a full review of Opera Mini in an upcoming post, but in short, if you have a G1.....Get Opera Mini!!! Its not the same experience you have on a Blackberry, its better.
Anyways, so I was busy being amazed by the speed when I decided to go to www.blogger.com and see if i could make a post. Voila, here I am writing a post on my Android phone. Yes, I wrote this whole post on my phone. I didnt add any pictures, because I can effertlessly do that later on a PC...but this make for a very nice way to get a head start on blog posts, kill time, or just act like you have friends to text.
For the next few posts I will be writing on various Android related apps, tips, tricks, and reviews. Fear not though, my next Linux posts are coming, especially with a new build of Ubuntu coming.....
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
10 Obscure Linux Apps You Need To Try
Search for Linux applications on Freshmeatand you'll get more than 11,000 hits. Of those thousands of applications, which are worth using? Certainly not all of them. Still, buried within that grand total you will find gems that get no publicity, but are worth trying. Here are 10 of those little-known apps, which range from multimedia to certificate authority tools, and anything and everything in between.
1. Floola
Floola is not an open-source application, but it does run on Linux, as well as OS X and Windows. Floola takes music management — in particular, synching iPods — one step further. With this nifty application, you can download and convert YouTube videos for playback on your iPod.
However, unlike clunkier alternatives, Floola does this seamlessly and simply. No commands to enter, it's all GUI. The only possible catch is that before you can add videos from YouTube, you have to install FFmpeg on your Linux box. Floola uses FFmpeg for the conversion process.
Don't expect Floola to have all the bells and whistles available with iTunes. Floola offers Photo support, but Snarl support is Windows-only, and Growl support is Mac-only. Floola also offers Notes, repair iPods, export lists to HTML, language support, lyrics, duplicate and lost file search, artwork support, video support, Google calendar support, playlists, podcast, Last.fm support, and more.
Floola is simple to use in Linux, as it comes in an executable binary that you can simply copy to the /usr/bin directory and run with the command Floola.
2. TransKode
Sticking with the multimedia theme, TransKode is a front end for the highly flexible, modular command-line toolset Transcode, which is one of the most versatile audio and video-converting tools available.
Transcode has both a graphical and a text-only interface and supports a vast number of formats including DV, Mpeg-2, Mpeg-2 Part 2, H.264, Quicktime, AC3 and any format included under Libavcodec. Transcode can import DVDs on the fly and record from Video4Linux devices.
The problem with Transcode is that the commands can become a bit overwhelming for the average user. TransKode remedies that problem by using a user-friendly interface that makes the complex business of converting multimedia format files as simple as it can be.
3. Giver
This is one of those brilliant little pieces of software that you won't be able to live without once you've sampled it. Giver allows you to drag and drop files to users on your network. It will also automatically detect other Giver users on your network.
When you drag a file, or multiple files, to a user represented by an avatar on the Giver window, the files are automatically transferred. The recipient of the files is warned that a user wishes to send files. The user can accept or decline them. The only downside to Giver is that there is only a candidate available for Ubuntu.
I have tried to install the software on both Fedora and Mandriva with no luck. Ubuntu installation is as simple as apt-get install giver. This application makes transferring files literally as simple as drag and drop. A must-have for company file-sharing.
4. Transmission
Sticking with the file-sharing theme, Transmission is an outstanding BitTorrent client that simplifies torrent management. To seed the client, you just click the torrent link to open up Transmission.
We all know that downloading copyrighted data is illegal. But that doesn't mean clients such as Transmission have no use. In enterprises where large-scale data transmission is a must, using applications such as Transmission can enable end-users or clients to download large pieces of data much more easily. And having a client such as Transmission to make this a no-brainer is a must.
5. BloGTK
No matter what business you're in, you are likely to be affected by a blog of some sort. And a lot of people do blog. Many companies allow employees to blog, and many employees blog even if they aren't supposed to.
There are times when your blogging fix must come in bits and bites, and you have complete your blog in chunks and offline. For this you need a client such as BloGTK. BlogGTK can connect to WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog API, Blogger, and more.
This client allows formatting, custom tags, categorising, inserting tables, images and links, and offers a spell-check. You can also add excerpts and preview your posts before you upload them.
6. Ark
The Ark application is often overlooked, especially by Linux veterans. Ark is an archival manager. When you click in your browser on an archive package link with file extensions such as .tar or .tgz, typically you can either save the file or open the file with Ark. Most users just save the file and then drop into the command line and use the Tar utility to unpack the archive.
Why do this when Ark can handle the task quickly and cleanly? When efficiency becomes a necessity, tools such as Ark should not be overlooked, even by expert users. One useful feature of Ark is that you can open an archive and extract a single file from the package without unpacking the file.
That task can be performed from command line, but for most people it is much easier to have a GUI that lets you right-click a file and select Extract.
7. Tea
Tea is a text editor for programmers working in nearly any language. Tea was created with bits of GPLed code from a number of other applications to create a one-stop-shop for coders.
Tea supports built-in file manager, spell-check, built-in search, tabbed layout, multiple encodings, code snippet/session/template support, OpenDoc, RTF, KWord, AbiWord, OpenOffice support, SRT-subtitle preview, text analyser, key customisation, HTML tools, bracket matching, Wikipedia/DocBook/LaTeX support, string-handling functions, bookmarks, and more.
8. Nano
Nano is one of my favourite editors. For years I used Pico, until it was crippled by licensing issues. Nano took Pico's place. Nano is an Ncurses-based text editor that is far easier to use than either Vi or Emacs.
Nano takes Pico and improves it, offering UTF-8 support, better colour syntax highlighting, copy text without cutting, verbatim input, repeat last search, spell-check, indent marked text, search within file browser, and more. Nano works within any terminal window, has an incredibly small footprint, and is as reliable as any editor available. And unlike Pico, Nano is simple to install on nearly any distribution.
9. MultiTail
Imagine being able to use the Tail command to follow multiple files in one window. That facility is exactly what MultiTail offers. MultiTail is a Linux administrator's dream come true.
With the ability to follow any, and as many log files as you can stand in one window, MultiTail can stack multiple tails of log files vertically or horizontally, with colours or without. Commands, such as multitail -s 2 /var/log/messages /var/log/security.log, will follow the Messages and the Security.log logs in two vertical columns in one window. MultiTail is very easy to use.
10. TinyCA
The command-line creation of certificate authorities requires a veritable dance of the fingers at the keyboard. The TinyCA application takes care of all of that typing for you. TinyCA makes the creation of certificate authorities a breeze. With TinyCA, you can create unlimited CAs and SubCAs, server and client certificates with multiple language support. If your IT department needs a CA-management tool, you should look at TinyCA first. TinyCA is open source, written in Perl/Gtk, and works with OpenSSL.
What tools are you hiding? Most of us rely on at least one tool that nobody seems to have heard of. What's in your toolkit that more administrators should know about?
Linux losing ground on netbook
Linux is losing ground on the netbook front, but there lies opportunity for it in smaller, dedicated Internet-enabled appliances, said an Ovum analyst.
Laurent Lachal, open source research director at the U.K.-based analyst firm, said in a research note, Linux is not doing as well in terms of market share, compared to when it made its debut on the netbook market.
Lachal said: "After a strong start, Linux netbooks have now been overtaken by Windows netbooks and Linux is lagging increasingly behind in terms of sales."
While the first netbooks came with Linux OSes, manufacturers started finding Windows-based devices more popular, with customers finding they could not get accustomed to the Linux interfaces.
In the Philippines, Asus dropped Linux on all of its Eee PC models in the country because Filipinos were not taking to the Linux OS well.
But Linux could find its market as an OS for smaller, handheld Internet-enabled appliances such as Apple iPod Touch, said Lachal. The iPod Touch is a device similar to the iPhone but without telephony capabilities.
Linux, having had more success and a longer history as a phone OS, may be more suitable for such devices, said Lachal.
He added that Linux-based Android could be better positioned in this segment, with "increasing support" from the developer and ISV (independent software vendor) communities.
Google's recent revenue-sharing announcement for the Android app market is also expected to help raise developer interest in the platform. The increased variety of apps may also make Android more attractive to consumers.
Woah, wtf happened to you?
I suppose some of you are wondering where I went. Well, let me be perfectly honest.
Busy, but here is the good news......drumroll......I'M BACK! I will keep digging up good Linux and Open source news, as well as reviewing new Builds of Linux. I intend to toss up a podcast here and there for you folks as well.
In otherwords, things are going to be back in full swing!
I appreciate all of you that have hung in there through the slow times.
Cheers,
Blake
Thursday, March 5, 2009
10 ways to go green with linux
If you’re not beginning to think green, you’re a release behind. In today’s world you have to think green. But how do you do that without installing a roof of solar panels? If you are using (or thinking of using) Linux, you’re one step ahead of the competition.
In this article, you will find 10 solid ways to start thinking green in your IT department. It’s responsible, it’s smart, and it’ll save you money and time on this great planet.
1: Reduced landfill
With Linux, you can keep using that older hardware even while using the latest version of your distribution. When you use Linux, you don’t have to throw away ugly packaging that typically comes with software. And there are no transportation costs required to ship distributions from a warehouse to your retail store. According to a UK study in 2004, Windows users are required to upgrade their computers twice as often as Linux users: “Industry observers quote a typical hardware refresh period for Microsoft Windows systems as 3 - 4 years; a major UK manufacturing organization quotes its hardware refresh period for Linux systems as 6 - -8 years.”
2: Powertop
This little gem of an application can help you learn how to make your laptops (and desktops) more efficient. When you run Powertop, it will examine your system and give you tips on how to better your energy performance. When I run Powertop on my laptop, I get: “Suggestion: Disable ‘hal’ from polling your cdrom with: hal-disable-polling –device /dev/scd0 ‘hal’ is the component that auto-opens a window if you plug in a CD but disables SATA power saving from kicking in.” Some of the suggestions will even tell you how much wattage you can save by killing (or configuring) services. Even though the man page for Powertop states it is for Intel-based machines, it will work on AMD machines as well.
3: Netbooks
No matter how much you deny this, netbooks are not only here to stay but are growing faster than many predicted. Many of these netbooks are optimized for long battery life through minimal power usage. Intel has finally put a hand of cards into this game with its Moblin OS. Moblin’s primary goal is low-power and high battery life. Moblin is a Linux-based operating system and is only for netbooks. Another netbook feature that makes them especially green is their no-moving-parts-storage — which means they should exceed the lifespan of the standard notebook. So netbooks are one of the greener options available. And no matter how well Windows 7 is received, it can’t beat the cost of Linux on a netbook.
4: Zonbu
I have used the Zonbu (both the desktop and the laptop flavor), and I can attest that these pieces of hardware are in fact some of the greenest computers I have ever used. The Zonbu laptop has some of the best battery life I have ever experienced on a laptop (especially when running a lightweight desktop like Enlightenment). And the Zonbu Mini is like a netbook for your desktop. When using Zonbu, you can enjoy its Elastic Drive, which is basically remote storage. No extra hardware to purchase (or toss when it goes bad). And the Zonbu OS is Energy Star compliant and optimized for low power consumption.
5: Money savings
This may not seem green, but you can use all the money you save using Linux to “green up” other aspects of your business or home. Also, because you’re not spending money on boxed software, you’re not increasing the carbon footprint of the companies putting CDs and printed versions of EULAs (which no one will read anyway) in shrink-wrapped boxes and shipping via smoke-belching semis. Instead, just download an ISO of a Linux distribution (or binary of an application) and install away. No waste. No guilt.
6: Less energy-demanding desktops
If you’re like me, you enjoy using alternative desktops. In nearly every laptop I use, one of the first things I do is install Enlightenment because it uses far less CPU (hence far less energy) than GNOME or KDE. Using these desktops has another benefit. Because they will use fewer CPU cycles, they could, theoretically, extend the life of your machine. But even though these desktops will require fewer resources, don’t be tricked into using less RAM. Less RAM means more disk swapping and more disk swapping means more energy.
7: Custom-compiled kernel
If you have the skills for kernel compilation, you can roll your own kernel to fit your hardware perfectly. With a good kernel compilation, you can take out services and features you don’t need and add in services you want (such as the tickless kernel). Naturally, many Linux users have never compiled a kernel. But if you haven’t, you should look into it. It’s a real treat to have compiled your own kernel on your system.
8: Kpowersave, ACPI, and other power-saving tools
Some laptops will suspend and hibernate out of the box with Linux. But others can be a real head-scratcher. Having a laptop that will not suspend or hibernate is nothing more than a waste of power and battery life. Fortunately, tools are available to help you solve these problems. One of those tools is a simple user-grasp of ACPI will help you understand why your laptop will not suspend or hibernate.
9: Migration from Windows Server
Red Hat Linux has proven to beat Windows Server 2008 in 13 out of 16 power consumption tests. The tests included Quiescent test without power savings applied (Red Hat won three out of four); Quiescent test with power savings applied (Red Hat won four out of four); Active test without power saving applied (Red Hat won three out of four); and Active test with power savings applied (Red Hat won three out of four). When you’re looking for the most in power-saving, green computing, why wouldn’t you migrate to Linux? With the ability to tune your machine to specific needs (either by installing software or compiling your kernel), you can eke out every drop of power. With Windows, however, you take what you get and hope that Microsoft has tuned the kernel to save as much energy as possible. If not, you hope you can find efficient hardware to run the operating system on.
10: Only the daemons you need to run
This should be a no-brainer. There are always background processes you do not need. Bluetooth is one of the culprits. To find out what services are running, issue the chkconfig -list command, which will list every running service on your machine. You can dig through this listing to find out all the services you do not need. For instance, if you’re running a desktop machine and you see laptop-mode listed, you can kill that service. There might well be plenty of other unnecessary services.
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In this article, you will find 10 solid ways to start thinking green in your IT department. It’s responsible, it’s smart, and it’ll save you money and time on this great planet.
1: Reduced landfill
With Linux, you can keep using that older hardware even while using the latest version of your distribution. When you use Linux, you don’t have to throw away ugly packaging that typically comes with software. And there are no transportation costs required to ship distributions from a warehouse to your retail store. According to a UK study in 2004, Windows users are required to upgrade their computers twice as often as Linux users: “Industry observers quote a typical hardware refresh period for Microsoft Windows systems as 3 - 4 years; a major UK manufacturing organization quotes its hardware refresh period for Linux systems as 6 - -8 years.”
2: Powertop
This little gem of an application can help you learn how to make your laptops (and desktops) more efficient. When you run Powertop, it will examine your system and give you tips on how to better your energy performance. When I run Powertop on my laptop, I get: “Suggestion: Disable ‘hal’ from polling your cdrom with: hal-disable-polling –device /dev/scd0 ‘hal’ is the component that auto-opens a window if you plug in a CD but disables SATA power saving from kicking in.” Some of the suggestions will even tell you how much wattage you can save by killing (or configuring) services. Even though the man page for Powertop states it is for Intel-based machines, it will work on AMD machines as well.
3: Netbooks
No matter how much you deny this, netbooks are not only here to stay but are growing faster than many predicted. Many of these netbooks are optimized for long battery life through minimal power usage. Intel has finally put a hand of cards into this game with its Moblin OS. Moblin’s primary goal is low-power and high battery life. Moblin is a Linux-based operating system and is only for netbooks. Another netbook feature that makes them especially green is their no-moving-parts-storage — which means they should exceed the lifespan of the standard notebook. So netbooks are one of the greener options available. And no matter how well Windows 7 is received, it can’t beat the cost of Linux on a netbook.
4: Zonbu
I have used the Zonbu (both the desktop and the laptop flavor), and I can attest that these pieces of hardware are in fact some of the greenest computers I have ever used. The Zonbu laptop has some of the best battery life I have ever experienced on a laptop (especially when running a lightweight desktop like Enlightenment). And the Zonbu Mini is like a netbook for your desktop. When using Zonbu, you can enjoy its Elastic Drive, which is basically remote storage. No extra hardware to purchase (or toss when it goes bad). And the Zonbu OS is Energy Star compliant and optimized for low power consumption.
5: Money savings
This may not seem green, but you can use all the money you save using Linux to “green up” other aspects of your business or home. Also, because you’re not spending money on boxed software, you’re not increasing the carbon footprint of the companies putting CDs and printed versions of EULAs (which no one will read anyway) in shrink-wrapped boxes and shipping via smoke-belching semis. Instead, just download an ISO of a Linux distribution (or binary of an application) and install away. No waste. No guilt.
6: Less energy-demanding desktops
If you’re like me, you enjoy using alternative desktops. In nearly every laptop I use, one of the first things I do is install Enlightenment because it uses far less CPU (hence far less energy) than GNOME or KDE. Using these desktops has another benefit. Because they will use fewer CPU cycles, they could, theoretically, extend the life of your machine. But even though these desktops will require fewer resources, don’t be tricked into using less RAM. Less RAM means more disk swapping and more disk swapping means more energy.
7: Custom-compiled kernel
If you have the skills for kernel compilation, you can roll your own kernel to fit your hardware perfectly. With a good kernel compilation, you can take out services and features you don’t need and add in services you want (such as the tickless kernel). Naturally, many Linux users have never compiled a kernel. But if you haven’t, you should look into it. It’s a real treat to have compiled your own kernel on your system.
8: Kpowersave, ACPI, and other power-saving tools
Some laptops will suspend and hibernate out of the box with Linux. But others can be a real head-scratcher. Having a laptop that will not suspend or hibernate is nothing more than a waste of power and battery life. Fortunately, tools are available to help you solve these problems. One of those tools is a simple user-grasp of ACPI will help you understand why your laptop will not suspend or hibernate.
9: Migration from Windows Server
Red Hat Linux has proven to beat Windows Server 2008 in 13 out of 16 power consumption tests. The tests included Quiescent test without power savings applied (Red Hat won three out of four); Quiescent test with power savings applied (Red Hat won four out of four); Active test without power saving applied (Red Hat won three out of four); and Active test with power savings applied (Red Hat won three out of four). When you’re looking for the most in power-saving, green computing, why wouldn’t you migrate to Linux? With the ability to tune your machine to specific needs (either by installing software or compiling your kernel), you can eke out every drop of power. With Windows, however, you take what you get and hope that Microsoft has tuned the kernel to save as much energy as possible. If not, you hope you can find efficient hardware to run the operating system on.
10: Only the daemons you need to run
This should be a no-brainer. There are always background processes you do not need. Bluetooth is one of the culprits. To find out what services are running, issue the chkconfig -list command, which will list every running service on your machine. You can dig through this listing to find out all the services you do not need. For instance, if you’re running a desktop machine and you see laptop-mode listed, you can kill that service. There might well be plenty of other unnecessary services.
source of this article
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