Practical Technology

for practical people.

September 30, 2008
by sjvn01
0 comments

Five programs you can afford in a financial meltdown

t’s the afternoon of September 30th and for reasons beyond my understanding the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) is up more than 3.5% after yesterday’s financial fiasco. Hello, Wall Street, what part of “No one has a new bailout deal; the House hated the old deal, and it’s the week of Rosh Hashanah so it won’t be a full week at Congress anyway” do you not understand? Even if you believe the bailout will magically work wonders for the economy — I don’t — it’s not going to happen this week.

No matter what happens to the bailout, it’s a safe bet that times are going to be hard. So what can you do if you’re not in Congress and you want to get new programs, but not pay an arm and a leg? After all, it’s not like you can print money. Unlike, say, the U.S. government. The choice is clear: switch to open-source software.

Like what you ask? Like these five prime examples of open-source software that’s every bit as good, if not better, than their proprietary equivalents.

More >

September 29, 2008
by sjvn01
1 Comment

When Linux goes bad: the e1000e Ethernet bug

I know some people think I only say wonderful things about Linux and bad things about Windows. Wrong. I call them like I see them. Most of the time, while wearing my operating system umpire’s cap, I see Linux making the right hits… Most of the time. Sometimes, though, Linux strikes out and it surely has with the recent e1000e Ethernet bug.

This bug is found only in the pre-release version of the 2.6.27 Linux kernel. If you’re using a conventional Linux, you don’t have to worry about it.

But, if you’re living on the bleeding edge of technology and want a run a beta Linux that’s using the 2.6.27 kernel, do not, do not run until you’re sure your machine doesn’t use the Intel ICH8 and ICH9 chipsets, with the 82566 and 82567 Ethernet chipsets. If you do, you’re very likely to fry your Ethernet’s firmware and you can say bye-bye to your network connection.

More >

September 28, 2008
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Who’s really contributing to Linux?

I wasn’t at the Linux Plumber Conference in Portland, OR, but everyone who pays close attention to Linux knows that Greg Kroah-Hartman, Linux kernel developer and Novell engineer, blasted Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, for contributing “In the past 3 years, from the 2.6.15 kernel to 2.6.27-rc6, Canonical has had 100 patches in the Linux kernel.” That, as Kroah-Hartman pointed out, means Canonical “did 00.10068% of all of the kernel development for the past 3 years.” In other words: almost nothing.

Kroah-Hartman then went out to blast Canonical for what he sees as its minimal contributions to what’s really important in Linux. These include programs like gcc (GNU Compiler Collection), the X.org, the fundamental building box of Linux graphic systems; and Binutils, a a collection of Linux’s primary binary tools. I’m sure Debian developers who resent Ubuntu’s popularity were nodding their heads. This song is right from their hymnal.

I’m certainly not going to disagree with them. Kroah-Hartman is right. When it comes to Linux’s foundation stones, Canonical has done little.

More >

September 28, 2008
by sjvn01
0 comments

Internet Radio gets a chance to live

I love Internet radio. I’m lucky enough to live near a great radio station, WNCW in Western NC, which plays a wide variety of music outside the mainstream, but many people aren’t so lucky. And, even as eclectic as WNCW is, they don’t play all the kinds of music I like. That’s why I spend more time listening to music over the Internet than I do over the airways. Recently, however, it looked like that was going to come to an end. Now, Internet radio is getting a chance to live.

Internet radio had been endangered when an increase in music royalty fees for Internet radio stations went through in 2007. The Library of Congress’ Copyright Royalty Board, changed the royalty rates for music carried over the Internet from a percentage of revenue to a per-song, per-listener fee. This ruling got everyone from pure play Internet radio stations, to stations like Pandora.com, which enable you to set up your own song lists, to broadcast stations that also stream their programs.

Continue Reading →

September 26, 2008
by sjvn01
2 Comments

Canonical wants to know what you want from Ubuntu Server

All too often companies decide what you want to see in a program, and only after it’s on the market do you get to see if it’s actually something you even care about, never mind want. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, has a different idea. Canonical is running a survey for Ubuntu Server edition users to see how they’re currently using Ubuntu and where they’re using it so they can make the next version even better for Linux system administrators.

The Ubuntu Server survey is not your a “What’s cool about Ubuntu or Linux survey.” It asks specific questions about system administration, directory services, and enterprise software use. The survey was co-authored by RedMonk Research (http://redmonk.com/), which all analyze the survey’s results. ?

While RedMonk analyst, Stephen O’Grady expects CIOs, CTOs, and Linux system administrators to answer the survey, RedMonk also expects others with little experience in Linux servers to answer, but O’Grady explains, “The nature of the questions does little to lend itself to the so-called fanboys, being relatively enterprise-focused.”

Continue Reading →

September 25, 2008
by sjvn01
0 comments

The five best desktop Linuxes you haven’t tried

One of the pleasures of Linux is that you can try out different distributions to see which one works best for you. You like Ubuntu, but you want to fine tune the desktop engine? OK, try Kubuntu with its KDE desktop then. Some worthwhile distributions, however, don’t get as much attention as they deserve. So, here’s my list of five great distributions that you might want to try.

Before launching into my list, let me preface it by saying that this is a list of what I consider relatively easy to use desktop distributions. So, while Debian is a great distribution, I haven’t included it because to get the most out of it you should be an experienced Linux user. I also haven’t included special purpose distributions like my favorite system repair Linux, SystemRescueCD. It’s a great system repair operating system. Even if you don’t care for Linux and your job is bringing misbehaving PCs back into line you really should get a copy. It, however, isn’t a good, general purpose desktop.

So, without further adieu, here’s my list of the five best desktop Linuxes you may not have tried.

More >