Practical Technology

for practical people.

February 9, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

Best Linux distros for beginners 2022: You can do this!

Some people still insist that using Linux is hard. Sure, it was difficult — when I started with the Linux desktop back in the 1990s. But that was a long time ago. Today, the easiest desktop of all, Chrome OS, is simply Linux with the Chrome web browser on top of it. The more full-featured Linux desktop distributions are as easy to use in 2021 as Windows or macOS.

Yes, you can get a lot more from Linux if you know how to do shell programming and the like. But that’s also true of Windows and PowerShell. With both operating systems, you don’t need to know the deep ins and outs of either one to get your work done.

So why would you move? Well, for starters, Linux is far more secure than its rivals. Looking ahead, as Ed Bott points out, many of you may end up facing a security disaster if you keep using Windows 10.

Also, Linux, unlike Windows 11, will run on pretty much any PC you’ve got lying around. Linux doesn’t require much in the way of a computer to do just fine. For example, I have a 2007-vintage HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7360n PC with a 2.8GHz Pentium D 920 dual-core processor, and 2GBs of RAM and a 300GB SATA drive PC that’s still running Linux to this day. Good luck running any modern version of Windows on that.

Best Linux distros for beginners 2022: You can do this! More>

February 9, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

Best desktop Linux for pros 2022: Our top 5 choices

I get so, so tired of explaining that Linux isn’t that hard. Indeed, if you’re reading this on an Android phone or on a Chromebook, congratulations! You’re using Linux, and you very well might not have known it. But then there are the Linux distributions that do require expertise to make the most of.

Why would you want to go to the trouble? Because you’re a programmer, an engineer, or a system administrator who wants to get the most from Linux. Or, you’re a power user, and you want to push your computer as far as you can take it. If that’s you, then these are the distributions for you.

Best desktop Linux for pros 2022: Our top 5 choices

February 9, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

Best Linux distros for beginners 2022: You can do this!

Some people still insist that using Linux is hard. Sure, it was difficult — when I started with the Linux desktop back in the 1990s. But that was a long time ago. Today, the easiest desktop of all, Chrome OS, is simply Linux with the Chrome web browser on top of it. The more full-featured Linux desktop distributions are as easy to use in 2021 as Windows or macOS.

Yes, you can get a lot more from Linux if you know how to do shell programming and the like. But that’s also true of Windows and PowerShell. With both operating systems, you don’t need to know the deep ins and outs of either one to get your work done.

Best Linux distros for beginners 2022: You can do this! More>

February 8, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

5G is finally ready for business

For years, I’ve been writing about 5G and telling you why you shouldn’t invest in it. The bottom line has been that 5G simply hasn’t been able to deliver on its high-speed, low-latency promises. But, finally, things have changed. Today, 5G can at last deliver much better performance—sometimes—with certain versions of 5G only offered in specific places.

5G is finally ready for business. More>

February 7, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

Intel invests in open-source RISC-V processors, creates billion-dollar fund

RISC-V International, the global open hardware standards organization, has announced that Intel has joined RISC-V at the Premier membership level. Let that sink in for a minute.

Intel, which has made billions from its closed-source, complex instruction set computer (CISC) x86 processors, is joining forces with RISC-V, the open-source reduced instruction set computer (RISC) CPU group. What next? Dogs and cats living together!?

Dr. David Patterson, co-creator of RISC-V, helped make it an open lingua franca for computer chips, a set of instructions that would be used by all chipmakers and owned by none. Today, Patterson said, “I’m delighted that Intel, the company that pioneered the microprocessor 50 years ago, is now a member of RISC-V International.”

Why? Because Intel sees a future in which ARM, x86, and RISC-V all play major roles.  In particular, Intel has already seen strong demand for more RISC-V intellectual property (IP) and chip offerings.

Intel invests in open-source RISC-V processors, creates billion-dollar fund. More>

February 7, 2022
by sjvn01
0 comments

StarlingX 6.0, the Edge-Computing Cloud Stack Arrives

The OpenInfra Foundation‘s open source, edge-computing cloud stack StarlingX‘s latest version, StarlingX 6.0 is out and ready to run. It’s optimized for low-latency and high-performance applications. In other words, it’s meant for Edge and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. It does this by combining Ceph, OpenStack, Kubernetes, and other open source packages.

StarlingX’s main market to date has been telecom carriers, such as T-Systems, Verizon, and Vodafone. But enterprises, which need to deploy an edge cloud on a few to hundreds of servers are also embracing it.

Its most fundamental new feature is that StarlingX upgraded its core Linux operating system to the Linux kernel 5.10. This was done primarily for this kernel’s support of Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF). With VRF, you gain the power to create virtual routing and forwarding domains in the network stack. One use case is the multitenancy problem where each tenant has its own unique routing tables, or at the very least, needs different default gateways. The Linux kernel 5.10 also has user-space tooling to configure VRF’s routing and forwarding interfaces.

StarlingX 6.0, the Edge-Computing Cloud Stack Arrives. More>