Linux-Watch: “Red Hat may be not be a super-computer company, but with its just-announced partnership with Platform Computing, it is ready to deliver the enterprise-grade high-performance computing goods…”

When Red Hat announced its upcoming Linux desktop at its annual summit in May, the company predicted the Red Hat Global Desktop would be out by September. Now, delayed a bit, the new desktop Linux will be appearing in November,

Red Hat is the Rodney Dangerfield of open source. (To which the cynic responds, “yeah, it’s dead.”

It don’t get no respect. We talk here a lot about Microsoft and Novell, about Sun and IBM. Red Hat just keeps plugging away.

Red Hat reported a 64% rise in profits yesterday. Revenues were up 28%. Business Week called it a “surge.” I think they meant that as a compliment.

But the stock can’t seem to get out of its own way. JMP Securities rates it a “market perform.” RBC Capital Markets calls it a “sector perform.” If you put $100 into both Red Hat and Microsoft at the start of the year, your Microsoft is doing better. Your Red Hat is worth $85.

While open source is considered a very sexy business, Red Hat does not do sexy. They sell Linux subscriptions to businesses. Their efforts to diversify have been only minimally successful. Slow growth at JBOSS has S&P rating Red Hat as only a “hold.” Can it do better with Metamatrix?

This may be the most inconvenient truth. Maybe enterprise open source is no sexier than enterprise anything else. Selling stuff to big businesses will get your kids through school, but it won’t get you on the Most Beautiful People list.

But if we wanted to do that we would have gone into the drama club, or majored in TV at journalism school.

So is it time to give Red Hat some respect?

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Vixta.org is a Fedora-based Linux distribution designed to be user-friendly and eye-catching, similar in look and feel to Windows Vista. Trying to bring linux to the “masses”, not just sysadmins

The Online Desktop effort is essentially just a recognition of the fact that more and more people are computing online or “in the cloud”. Yahoo! Mail or GMail have completely won in the consumer market over Thunderbird/Evolution type mail, and are in the process of moving into the enterprise. Google Docs and others like it are quickly growing in the “basic wordprocessing” market, and in fact adding new features like extremely simple collaborative editing.

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Not sure that it is a smart move. FC6 requires too much ram, updated hardware when they could be making real inroads on the Microsoft domination.

I really like FC5 and FC6 looked good but too much of the hardware out in the business market is not ready for either FC6 or Vista (ugh, even hate to say the word.)

The cpio command has two unusual features

Unlike tar , in which the files to back up are typed in as part of the command, cpio reads the files to work with from the standard input (in other words, the screen).

This feature means that cpio must be used as part of a multiple command or with a redirection pipe. Examples of this usage are shown in the tables below.

cpio must always be used with one of three flags. Flags are options that set the mode in which the command runs. Only one flag can be used at a time, and it must come before any other options. In addition, the choice of flags limits the options that can be used. Each flag also has a gnu option that can used in its place. The gnu option gives a convenient name for each flag: extract, create, and pass- through.

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Read Full article here

Additional improvements and new features in the popular, easy-to-use, cost-effective virtualization software include:
- A completely re-designed interface
- Better hardware support, including USB and wireless networking support, and support for PAE-enabled machines
- Better functionality, including the ability to suspend and resume VM (virtual machine) activity, a new “compact hard disk” feature that helps users manage available hard disk resources, and a more robust tools package that lets users personalize their experience
- Primary and guest support for SUSE Linux 10
- Guest OS support for Sun Solaris.
- Improved performance for guest OS/2 virtual machines

A complete list of Workstation 2.1’s new features and functions is available at http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/21/newfeatures/.

“Parallels Workstation 2.1 is everything you need in a virtualization solution; it offers superlative performance, stability and ease of use, and on top of that, it is by far the most cost-effective solution available,” said Benjamin Rudolph, Parallels’ Marketing Manager. “This release’s impressive performance, feature set and industry-leading, low price point, coupled with free upgrades for current customers and responsive support, reinforce our across-the-board commitment to building virtualization solutions that work for anyone, regardless of computer savvy or budget.”

Additionally, Parallels announced that future versions of Parallels virtualization products will offer full support for Intel’s next generation of hardware virtualization technology, Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d), which extends virtualization support into the platform by making it possible to robustly assign IO devices to virtual machines (VMs) in a virtualized system. This enables devices to be driven “directly” by the native/physical driver when assigned to a virtual machine, resulting in significantly faster virtual machine performance.

“Intel is delivering relevant innovations for virtualization solution providers including Intel Virtualization Technology for CPU (VTx) and Directed IO (VTd), Dual Core microprocessors and Intel(R) Core(R) Microarchitecture,“ said David Tuhy, General Manager of Intel’s Desktop Products Division. “Parallels has taken full advantage of VTx in Parallels Workstation 2.1, and we look forward to continued collaboration with Parallels on enabling new platform capabilities such as VTd which will help improve the reliability, performance and flexibility of I/O devices on virtual machines.”

As part of the company’s ongoing efforts to build powerful products that meet any IT budget, Parallels is offering registered Workstation 2.0 customers a free upgrade to version 2.1. Registered users will be receiving an email with instructions on how to receive their 2.1 permanent license key.

New users can purchase licenses at the industry-leading low price of $49.99 directly through the company’s online store at www.parallels.com/buyonline. New users are also welcome to download and evaluate a free, fully functional 15-day trial by visiting the Parallels Download Center at www.parallels.com/download.

About Parallels
Parallels is server and workstation virtualization solutions company committed to building powerful, user friendly, cost-effective products that can be used by anyone, from an experienced developer to a computer “newbie” to improve efficiency, lower hardware costs, and reduce operating expenses. The company’s products all feature hypervisor technology for strong, stable virtual machines, and an intuitive web-like interface that facilitates zero-training operation. Additionally, Parallels solutions fully support Intel Virtualization Technology architecture, which is optimized to provide superior virtual machine performance. The company is rapidly growing and employs a global team of experienced technical and business professionals. For more information, please visit www.parallels.com.

Media/Analyst Contact
Benjamin H. Rudolph
Marketing Manager, Parallels
703.234.5549 (direct)
202.437.6701 (mobile)
ben.rudolph@parallels.com

It seems that everyone has an opinion these days on Fedora. As parent Red Hat has moved further into the enterprise, the Linux hardcore – once the Red Hat backbone – have drifted a bit to other distributions that they see (right or wrong) as closer to the roots. For all that, the Fedora community is alive and well, releasing new versions with substantial changes and upgrades. Stacked on the rich code base of Red Hat, Fedora has managed to stay out at the front edge of Linux distributions that are easy to install, easy to maintain and a real pleasure to use.

I’ll quickly confess to having been a long-time Red Hat/Fedora user, extending back to the pre-Red Hat 6.0 days. I’ve not always been thrilled with what I’ve seen. 6.2 just wasn’t up to snuff. 7.0 was a mess. Red Hat 9 really stepped up the pace of Linux on the desktop, though, and the Fedora project has managed to extend that with every release.

Fedora Core 3 is no exception. The changes in FC3 are substantial though subtle. There’s the inclusion of Gnome 2.8. There’s the addition of SELinux for security. There are the latest 2.6 kernel upgrades. Overall, this is a very nice improvement over an already strong distribution.

The most significant of the changes is the addition of SELinux for security. Fedora has had firewall capabilities throughout its version, a legacy of the firewall app in Red Hat 9. But, anyone who’s used it will admit that it’s pretty basic. The default tool allows a user to select trusted protocols, trusted interfaces, or selected ports. SELinux, on the other hand, allows a user to drill down much more deeply into the services that can leave your system vulnerable. And, of course, it’s easy to configure from the Applications->System Settings->Security Level menu. To me, the addition of SELinux points to a deeper future focus on the home desktop, where there’s no IT department to protect systems at a higher level. The tool is robust and easy to configure, making it much more likely that home users will be able to effectively lock down the security of their systems.

Fedora now also includes the Helix player as an installation option. If you’re unfamiliar with Helix, they’re the open source developers for Real. Helix is a multimedia player in the mold of RealPlayer. The developers have also released RealPlayer 10 for Linux, though it’s not included in the Fedora installation package. The addition of Helix also helps further Fedora Core down the path toward a truly friendly and consumer ready home desktop system. Like the other changes, that addition isn’t huge news by itself. In the aggregate, though, they provide an interesting view of the future focus of Fedora.

Gnome 2.8 has some changes, as well, though they don’t represent an overhaul of my personal favorite desktop environment. Customized themes can now be saved. There are some changes to the underlying filesystem manager, Nautilus, that make it a bit easier to graphically navigate the filesystem. And, the ability to mount remote drives has gotten easier. Overall, though, it feels as though Gnome 2.8 is operating on a much more efficient code base. It’s quick, quick, quick, even on my 800 Mhz PIII desktop machine. Short of version 2.0, Gnome has always been my desktop. The changes in 2.8 further the loyalty of anyone who’s used the desktop enviornment over any period of time.

Another addition in Fedora Core 3 is the XFCE desktop. In the sense that it offers further flexibility, that’s a plus. I installed XFCE and gave it whirl. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it. Yes, it’s even more lightweight than Gnome or KDE. However, the overall look and feel isn’t nearly as polished. And, the applications aren’t as easily accessed as within either of the major desktops. If Fedora was looking to expand on the desktop possibilities by providing a lightweight option, I’d much rather have seen the Fluxbox desktop environment as the third alternative.

The installation is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Red Hat/Fedora. On my 800 Mhz machine, the entire installation took less than 45 minutes, from working desktop to working desktop. Every device worked out of the box – video, sound, mouse, usb hub, card reader, printer, and camera. It’s really a mark of the Fedora science of installation that there’s nothing of significance to talk about. It just works and works well.

In the winter release season, we’ve seen some strong contenders. SuSE’s new release is strong – and soon to be followed by the Novell Desktop distribution. Mandrake continues to refine what might be the prettiest distribution of the three majors. Other smaller distributions – Mepis and Ubuntu, in particular – are beginning to make some real headway in the Linux space. Fedora, though, remains the leader. For ease of installation, ease of use, pace of development, and community support, a Linux user simply can’t go wrong with a Fedora Core 3 installation.

I rushed to www.redhat.com. Picked the FEDORA site and after a couple of attempts, was able to get on a mirror and get the download to my hard drive. I then transferred them to cds and within a half hour, I was up and running FEDORA CORE 2.

As I began to think about the hours that had been spent with Red Hat and later Core 1, I opened the cd-rom on one of my machines, dropped in Disc 1 and rebooted. There it was, the familiar markings of the Anaconda installer. As the install began, I realized that I had answered some of the questions without even reading them. Keyboard-English…Language-English…Remove all Linux Partitions-Yes. Simplicity would dictate that the default install be performed, but I chose CUSTOM. The reason was to install the KDE desktop during the initial installation. In addition, I wanted to be able to do some Windows file sharing on our home network. Selections made, it was time to settle back and watch my old friend work.

About 15 minutes later, the message flashed that it was time to remove any install media and reboot. The install was just about complete.

Upon rebooting, another couple of questions ; time, sound card detection and test and I was ready to log in. Simple, complete and without a hitch.

Once logged in, I immediately logged onto the internet and went to www.freshrpms.com. Once there, I selected “APT”. For those not familiar with “APT” it is a program, that provides updates for everything available for Core. My download was to my home directory. While there, I also downloaded “SYNAPTIC.” This is a GUI that can be used for installing and removing selected packages.

Once both packages were in my home directory, I opened a console (Red Hat>System Tools>Console). With console opened, I changed to Root User. (su..enter..and password) Once I had Root privileges, I did an ls. (ls is to Linux what dir: is to DOS)

If you have never used the RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) before, you will find it quite simple. From root, type: rpm -i (name of package). For simplicity, highlight the package in the directory by moving your cursor over it with the left button depressed. Copy this to where the package is called for on the above line. Press enter and the Package Manager will begin installing the program.

Once installed, type: apt-get update. (all lower case) This will give you several messages and return you to root. Next, type: apt-upgrade. At this time, you might as well go to the refrigerator and get a soda as this is going to take a little while. What is happening is the apt package is scanning all programs in your system and upgrading them (as needed).

When this is complete, your system should have the latest and greatest. One of the upgrades was Mozilla. After running apt-get, I was on version 1.7.2. Previously, I had 1.6.

Next, if you intend to spend time on the internet, it is good to download Java. First, before leaving the console, type exit. This should take you from root to standard user. Once there, type mkdir (make directory) java. Hit enter and when you do ls (remember…checking directory) you should see a new directory called java.

While there are dozens of places to go to download java, I usually use: www.pikeus.freeserve.co.uk. Once there, you will see “download java for mozilla” listed on the right side. Once selected, you will be given two options…a zip file and a java file. I usually pass on the zip file, although it should install java in your mozilla directory. Sometimes it does…sometimes it doesn’t!!!

I click on the download, am taken to another screen, select downloads and then am ask if I would like the rpm or self extracting. I have always used the self extracting and will work with it here. Once selected, your program manager will ask where you want the file to appear. Double click on java, which should put it in a directory as: /home/(dir name)/java.

Once this is downloaded, close the browser and go to the console. At the console, type: cd /home/(dir name)/java.

This is where you will find your downloaded material.

Again, su to root.

Next you will see the file, however there are some changes to make prior to having a working java installation. First, type: chmod a+x (file name). Again, simplicity dictates that you copy the file name. Now you will have a file with a .bin extention. Use the following combination: ./(file name). This should start the install process. Use the space bar (after you see the agreement start printing) and at the end, you will be ask: YES or NO. Type yes and the install will take place.

CONGRATULATIONS: You have now made it to the bonus round! This is where your hard work pays off. We not create a symlink that will put java in the plugins directory of your browser. Ready? Here goes.

Do ls (enter.) You will see a directory highlighted in blue. Now type the following and I am going to use Sam as the name of the home directory for illustration purposes.

ln -s /home/sam/java/(insert file directory)/plugin/i386/ns610-gcc32/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla-1.7.2/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so. If you have everything alright, you should be able to type exit twice and be returned to your background screen.

Click on your browser, as if to go on the internet. In the tool bar (where the address to your home page is displayed) delete the address and type: about:plugins and enter.

This will display the plugins in your browser and you should see java prominently displayed.

While this seems quite difficult the first time, it is a very easy install.

Give it a try. There are dozens of places for help, if you need it, including this site. The Red Hat FEDORA project is growing rapidly and FEDORA is on the cutting edge of Linux technology.

As for me, I’m going to sit back with the guy in the FEDORA and enjoy some stable Linux computing!