Practical Technology

for practical people.

April 28, 2011
by sjvn01
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What you need to know about the new Ubuntu

The latest release of Ubuntu 11.04, the world’s most popular desktop Linux is out today. But, this is not just a one step forward update. No, it’s a giant leap to a new kind of Linux desktop thanks to its Unity desktop interface. Here’s what you need to know today about it.

First, as before, you can download Ubuntu 11.04 from the Web to your PC. In the next few weeks, you’ll also be able to run the Ubuntu 11.04 desktop from the cloud, but that’s not available yet. You can, however, give Ubuntu 11.04 server a try from the cloud today though.

Finally, you can also try Ubuntu 11.04 within Windows using Wubi. With this approach, you treat Ubuntu just as if it were a Windows application and run it within Windows. While this isn’t as fast as running Ubuntu as a native operating system or on a virtual machine, such as VirtualBox or VMware Player, it’s the easiest way for Windows users to give Ubuntu a try.

Most users though will want to download Ubuntu 11.04 and then use the operating system’s ISO image on a CD or a USB stick to either try it out or install it on their PC. If you use this way, you can install Ubuntu beside your existing operating system.

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April 27, 2011
by sjvn01
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What works, and what doesn’t work, with IPv6

As you may know, a lot of SOHO/consumer network gear doesn’t support IPv6 yet. At the same time, some vendors claims that their Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) works with IPv6, but it’s compatibility is, shall we say, a little questionable. Now, the RIPE Network Coordination Centre, the technical arm of RIPE, the Internet’s Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe, is conducting a global survey to see what’s what with the devices people are using today and IPv6 compatibility.

They’ve done this survey before–IPv6 CPE Survey – Updated (January 2011)–but they’d like to make it more complete and useful.

Specifically, RIPE say that “we would like to receive more feedback on the IPv6 capabilities of currently available CPE. This will make the evaluations of the CPEs and the information we publish in the IPv6 CPE matrix more useful.”

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April 27, 2011
by sjvn01
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Novell Deals Done

As expected, the buyout of Linux power Novell by Attachmate has finally gone through. On April 27th, Attachmate acquired Novell for $6.10 per share in cash–approximately $2.2-billion. With this deal completed, Novell is now a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group, the parent company of Attachmate Corporation. Immediately prior to the merger Novell completed it’s “previously announced sale of certain identified issued patents and patent applications to CPTN Holdings LLC for $450 million in cash.”

According to the company, “As a result of the merger, Novell’s common stock will cease trading on The NASDAQ Global Select Market at the close of business on April 27, 2011, and Novell expects to de-register and suspend its reporting obligations. BNY Mellon Shareowner Services has been appointed to serve as the agent for payment of the merger consideration to Novell’s stockholders, and will promptly mail to stockholders of record instructions on how to surrender their stock certificates and receive payment for their shares.”

Attachmate has attempted to assure Novell customers and openSUSE users that it will be business as usual under the new regime. One interesting change though has already popped up, according to the Attachmate Group site, Novell and SuSE will be separate companies. Novell acquired SuSE for its Linux operating system in 2003.

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April 26, 2011
by sjvn01
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Browser Wars: 2011

It wasn’t that long ago that things were as dull as used dishwater when it came to Web browsers. Then, along came Firefox and suddenly it wasn’t just an Internet Explorer world anymore. Today, in 2011, Google’s Chrome Web browser, not to mention Apple’s Safari and Opera Software’s Opera, are all good choices for your Web browser.

In particular, over the last few months, Chrome, Firefox and IE have all come out with great new versions. Today, you have a richer choice of top-quality Web browsers than ever before for your Linux PC, Mac, or Windows PC. So, how do you decide which browser is best for you? Well, I bravely installed the whole lot of the latest generation of Web browsers and this is what I found.

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April 26, 2011
by sjvn01
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Netflix: Bigger than cable. Too big for the Internet?

According to the DVD and online video rental king Netflix’s last quarterly report, Netflix now has more subscribers than Comcast, the largest cable U.S. TV operator. 7% of all U.S. citizens now subscribe to Netflix. That’s great for Netflix but what about the Internet, on which it increasingly relies for its video transport?

Back in October, Netflix, and other video content were already taking up more bandwidth than any other single Internet service Gaming, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing, and Web surfing were all falling behind. It’s only gotten worse since then. When I recently looked at how much traffic IPv6 was transporting on the Internet, I found that Netflix, all by itself, was taking up 20%–the largest single share-of all Internet traffic.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but is there enough bandwidth on the Internet to support this if this video trend continues? I doubt it.

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April 25, 2011
by sjvn01
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Review: Barnes & Nobles’ Nook Color goes Android Tablet

If you must have a great tablet, and you’re willing to pay the price for it, Apple’s iPad 2 is still the one to get. But, if you’d like a good tablet at half-the-price, the newly firmware renovated Barnes & Noble Nook Color may be all the tablet you need.

Today, April 25th, as has long been expected, the Nook Color got its 1.2 update. This transforms the Nook Color from being an e-reader to being a low-end Android tablet by replacing its operating system with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and adding an App Store.

Since I’ve been waiting for the Nook Color update for weeks, I immediately downloaded the firmware, which for now you must do to make the jump and put it to work. If you’d rather not jump in where non-computer savvy users fear to tread you can wait for the download and upgrade to be made automatically.

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