Practical Technology

for practical people.

June 23, 2009
by sjvn01
4 Comments

Cisco releases Linux-powered 802.11n router and media-server

This just came in over the press-wire, and I’m already interested. Cisco has announced on June 23 that a new Linux powered router, the Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link, the WRT160NL is out.

At first glance that may not seem that interesting. But, this isn’t just a new Wi-Fi router with Linux. Cisco, via its Linksys subsidiary has long been offering users Linux-powered, hackable Wi-Fi routers like the WRT54GL. But, this one also includes integrated Storage Link functionality that lets you use inexpensive USB storage devices as NAS (Network Attached Storage) and a built-in media-sharing server that Cisco says can handle video, photo, and music sharing.

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June 23, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Linux: It doesn’t get any faster

The Windows’ fan club likes to point out that Windows is far more popular than Linux. The reason for that has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with monopoly. Nothing shows that better than the semi-annual TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. In the latest ranking, where performance is everything and nothing else matters, Windows is stalled out at the starting line, and Linux is lapping the field.

Specifically, Linux has increased its already substantial supercomputer market share to 88.6%. Linux is followed by hybrid Unix/Linux systems with 5.8%; Unix, mostly IBM’s AIX, with 4.4%; and running close to last, Windows HPC (high-performance computing) with 1%. Only BSD, with a single representative on the list, trails Windows.

In the lead at the number 1 spot with 1.105 petaflop/s (quadrillions of floating point operations per second) is the Los Alamos National Laboratory Roadrunner system by IBM. Roadrunner was the first system, to break the petaflop/s Linpack barrier in June 2008.

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June 22, 2009
by sjvn01
0 comments

Easily run Windows apps on Linux with CrossOver Linux 8

I was running Windows, and before it came along, MS-DOS, applications on Unix and Linux for ages. It was never especially easy, but experts could do it. With CodeWeavers’ latest CrossOver Linux 8, though, it’s become so easy that anyone should be able to do it.

Now, if all your desktop needs are already being met by Linux applications, you don’t need to worry with Crossover. But, if like many of us, you still want to use Quicken for your banking or you’re stuck with a Web site that refused to work with any Web browser except Internet Explorer, then Crossover Linux 8 is for you.

CrossOver Linux 8 is built on top of the open-source project Wine. This is an implementation of the Windows API (application programming interface) on top of the Unix/Linux operating system family. As far as any given program is concerned, it’s running on Windows so you don’t have to tweak the applicaton itself to run on Linux. Wine is a very active project, with 16 years of development behind it. In other words, this program has been better-tested for Windows compatibility than almost any native Windows operating system.

You can use Wine alone to run Windows programs, but it requires a fair amount of technical expertise. With CrossOver, you don’t need to be an expert.

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June 21, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Jobs, cancer, and transplants

Let me open by saying I’m not a doctor nor do I have special knowledge of Steve Jobs’ health. What I do have is family history with pancreatic cancer, how it can involve the liver, and what that means for long-term survival.

We now know that Jobs recently had a liver transplant. This is not terribly surprising. Liver disorders and cancer go hand-in-hand with pancreatic cancer. Jobs as you may recall, had a cancerous tumor removed from his pancreas in 2004. He was remarkably lucky, if you can use a word like that for a situation like this, in having a very rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.

Unlike the far more common kinds of pancreatic cancers, which even with good, timely treatment has a median survival period of about six months, the islet cell variant can be beat, or at least held in check. With excellent care, patents can see a median survival rate of five years. I think we can safely presume that Jobs got the best care money can buy.

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June 19, 2009
by sjvn01
0 comments

How old does your hardware go?

Over the years, more than a 1,000 computers have made their way through my office and lab. They’ve included a $25,000 PC, Gateway’s very first 486; several SPARCstations; an IBM AS/400 mini-computer; and a NeXTStation Turbo Color, which I wish I still had. Most of them only stayed long enough for me to review them for magazines like Computer Shopper, Byte, or PC Magazine. I’ve also owned close to a 100 computers, and some of those have stuck around.

I just completed an epic office and lab clean-up. During it I got rid of 386s, 486s, and old Pentium PCs, but kept a 4MHz Z80 KayPro II from 1982. I kept that one because it was my first PC, and I actually still use it to this day as a terminal for switches and the like. This led me to the question: “What’s the oldest PC that you’re still using?”

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June 18, 2009
by sjvn01
2 Comments

HP is business Linux friendly

HP has long had a love/hate affair with Linux. On the one hand, HP has long supported Linux on servers. For example, they’re the one major server company that supports Debian. On the other hand, it took HP forever to finally start shipping pre-installed desktop Linux. Recently, for business users anyway, HP has been making it a lot easier to get Linux on their desktops and servers.

On the server side, for example, HP and Canonical, the company that stands behind Ubuntu, just announced that the newest version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.04 has been certified the new HP ProLiant G6 servers.

According to Canonical, “This extends Canonical’s existing support of Ubuntu Server Edition on the HP ProLiant servers to 17 configurations, enabling Ubuntu users to run their business applications on the world’s most energy-efficient servers. Additionally, HP will release the ProLiant Support Pack for Ubuntu, which includes agents, drivers, and utilities that can enhance the manageability of Ubuntu server on HP ProLiant servers.”

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