Practical Technology

for practical people.

December 2, 2010
by sjvn01
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Super-Duper Linux Computers

Everyone who follows super-computers knows that they run on Linux. Just one look at the latest Top 500 SuperComputer list confirms that. Today 91.8% of all super-computers run Linux. Alas, if you look at the latest list, you’ll also see that the U.S. now trails China in the super-computers. IBM’s new CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics chips, though, should soon put the U.S. back in the lead.

Today the fastest of the fast computers is the Tianhe-1A Running full-out, it hits a peak performance of 2.57 petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second).and cruises along at 563.1 teraflops. To do this, it uses 14,336 Intel Xeon CPUs and 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla GPUs and Linux.

That’s impressive. The Tianhe-1A easily races past the Cray XT5 “Jaguar” system at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in Tennessee. That Cray XTS super-computer is now ranked in second place at 1.75 petaflop/s.

Don’t start weeping for the decline of American technology prowess yet, though. IBM’s new addition to its POWER7 chipset uses Silicon Integrated Nanophotonics to reach new heights in processor speed. In these chips, light instead of electronics is used for its input/output (I/O )interconnects.. This makes it possible to build faster–much faster–super-computers, and eventually servers and PCs.

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December 2, 2010
by sjvn01
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Preventing your own WikiLeaks

As I continue to watch the WikiLeaks saga, I can’ t help thinking, no matter what you think of WikiLeaks, it never would have become gotten so big if it wasn’t for some dumb security mistakes. It’s not, as Jason Perlow pointed out, that the system design itself was defective, it was how it was managed in the field that lead to a flood of secret documents being revealed.

No, Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) is about as secure as any network can be. But, US Army intelligence analyst, Private First Class Bradley Manning showed how even the best laid security plans are useless if they’re not followed. While SIPRNet materials seemed to have been shared over a secured network, the laptops that Manning used to vacuum down the gigabytes of data, now in WikiLeak’s hands, had a CD/DVD burner on it. According to a Wired report, Manning said, “I would come in with music on a CD-RW labeled with something like ‘Lady Gaga,’ erase the music then write a compressed split file.”

There was no need for any sophisticated network tapping or Mission Impossible heroics here; all he needed was a PC and a blank optical disc and he was in business. Argh!

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December 2, 2010
by sjvn01
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Xmarks finds Buyer: Free Web-Browser Service to continue

When I heard that Xmarks, the popular cross-browser plug-in that synchronizes bookmarks and passwords across multiple computers, was going out of business, I was really upset. For me, and many others, Xmarks is an invaluable resource. Well, we don’t have to worry anymore. LastPass, makers of an excellent password manager, has just announced that they’ve bought Xmarks. Hurrah!

Better still, for most users, both Xmarks and LastPass will continue to be free.

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December 1, 2010
by sjvn01
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Big Business backs Linux

Believe it or not, there is still this illusion that Linux and open-source software is written by counter-culture, C++ programming cultists living in their parent basements or huddled together in Cambridge, Mass. group-houses. Please. That is so twenty-years ago. Today, as the Linux Foundation reveals in its latest analysis, Linux Kernel Development: How Fast it is Going, Who is Doing It, What They are Doing, and Who is Sponsoring It (PDF Link), it’s big business that’s making Linux in 2010.

Yes, there is a political agenda that can go with Linux and free and open-source software. It tends to be a mix of libertarian and liberal ideas and its main focus is on free “as in speech, not as in beer” software. For more on that side of free/libre/open source software (FLOSS), I recommend you visit the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Still, while the FSF’s Gnu General Public License (GPL) was, and is, vital to Linux, businesses are what drive the day-in, day-out development of Linux, and most other open-source programs.

To be specific, the Linux Foundation found that “over 70% of all [Linux] kernel development is demonstrably done by developers who are being paid for their work.” There is still a lot of work being done by “amateurs,” about 18.9%; although I’m not sure how “amateur” a programmer can be whose work is accepted into the Linux kernel.

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December 1, 2010
by sjvn01
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Ubuntu’s Unity interface: What to expect

Recently, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu shocked the Ubuntu Linux world when he announced that the next release of the popular Linux, Ubuntu 11.04, would use Unity instead of GNOME as its default desktop interface.

Why move from pure GNOME to Unity? As Shuttleworth explained to the Ubuntu developers, “Lots of people are already committed to Unity — the community, desktop users, developers, and platform and hardware vendors.” In particular, he noted, “Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) favor Unity. They’re happy to ship it.”

That last part is important. Shuttleworth had told me that Dell, which he said had sold several million Ubuntu desktops, laptops, and netbooks, supports the project. In addition, Canonical has desktop deals in place with Lenovo and Acer. These arrangements may lead to these, and other, major PC OEMs finally releasing Ubuntu desktops in the U.S and European markets.

You see, Unity is Shuttleworth’s (and Ubuntu’s) attempt to capture not just a bigger share of the desktop market, but a lion’s share of the netbook, desktop, tablet, and even smartphone market. Shuttleworth said that providing one interface for all user devices will improve quality assurance and make it easier for OEMs to integrate and support Ubuntu across their PC platforms. In short, “There will be no fault-line for OEMs between desktops.”

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December 1, 2010
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Spending money for the best and newest isn’t always the best idea

It’s the holiday season, and if you’re like me, you’re being tempted by new toys. Who wouldn’t want a shiny new Apple iPad, a Motorola Droid II or an Amazon Kindle DX e-reader? I do — but I don’t actually need any of those things. I can still get a lot of use out of my first-generation Apple iPod Touch; my prehistoric, dumb-as-dirt cell phone; and a pile of paperbacks I haven’t read yet.

I recently wrote about Verizon’s latest ultra-high-speed home broadband plan, which offers a monthly deal of 150Mbit/sec. down and 35Mbit/sec. up for $194.99 a month. For me, with three Internet-compatible TVs and a LAN with two dozen PCs and servers, that kind of money can be justified. I’ve paid more for less — for example, having a fractional T1 with frame relay laid into my home office. For other people… not so much.

A friend of mine recently had a lot to say on this topic, and I’d like to share some of what she said: “I still own and use vinyl and VHS and cassettes, and a PC that has IDE cables and a floppy drive and a monitor that weighs more than a bowling ball. With my ever-shrinking, lower-middle-class income and my disdain for the must-have-new-toys, slavering, materialistic mentality of suburban America, I absolutely will never engage in this dance we do where the minute we buy things, they are already obsolete and their successor is on the way. We were raised by a generation of parents who would shriek to hear we need a new $200-to-$500 gadget every two years just to keep up. I haven’t left my roots. I also didn’t lose my shirt in the recession. I was already being frugal out of need.”

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