Useful Links

Hewlett-Packard released version 4 of its Linux Common Operating Environment (LinuxCOE) software this month. LinuxCOE is a front end to a set of Perl scripts that helps administrators by building customized install images for various Linux distributions. The idea is to simplify the process of installing and maintaining several Linux systems irrespective of the distribution on any one particular system. The new version streamlines the process of maintaining Linux installations created using LinuxCOE.

WordNet is one of the best English language references available, but its command-line and rather primitive graphical interfaces don't really do it justice. WordNet would greatly benefit from a graphical front-end similar to Visual Thesaurus that allows you to view and explore the connections between different words. Fortunately, there is a tool that does exactly that.

Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota, Fla., has enjoyed great success with its Google Maps-based beach conditions reporting system. Covering the six public beaches of Sarasota county and operational for eight months, the system receives 1,200 hits per day and is regularly mentioned by local media. Pleased with the publicity, Mote scientists made plans to expand the coverage to Manatee and Collier counties. What they didn't realize was that the original design didn't provide easy access for a small but significant portion of the public: people who don't own computers.

Computers can make your life easier, but you may not think so if you use more than one and like to keep your workspace the same across them. For instance, if you browse the Web, switching to another computer is a hassle. Where are your bookmarks? What was your password again? What was that URL you were looking at yesterday? Google Browser Sync is a Firefox extension that can help.

I've been using OpenWrt on my Linksys router for a year or so. I take it for granted -- I ignore it because it just works. But back at X-Wrt.org, which is a related project, not a competitor to OpenWrt, developers have been busy creating a new user interface that both extends OpenWrt and makes it easier to use.

Ten years ago, when Metadot founder and CEO Daniel Guermeur was working for a large technology company, he discovered that the Web-based content management systems he was developing were too complicated for his customers, who kept saying they needed a Web-based portal application that was easy to learn and easy to use. Guermeur wanted to provide that, but he was stymied by the closed aspect of the technologies he was developing with: with no access to the source code and long waits for product upgrades from vendors, it would be too slow and expensive to roll out more efficient solutions. So Guermeur started looking at open source.

The RPM Package Manager (RPM), fundamental to an array of Linux distributions and the Linux Standard Base specification, has been on uncertain ground as a project in recent years. The versions of the utility shipped by the various RPM-based distros have slowly branched off in different directions, leading in some cases to stagnation. Longtime RPM maintainer Jeff Johnson took a big step this month toward revitalizing the application by relaunching rpm5.org, a site dedicated to reassembling the divergent RPM developer community and putting together a unified plan for future development.

All modern operating systems are able to run many programs at the same time. For example, a typical Linux server might include a Web server, an email server, and probably a database service. Each of these programs runs as a separate process. What do you do if one of your services stops working? Here are some handy command-line tools for managing processes.

The Baylor College Human Neuroimaging Lab (HNL) uses Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to record and research brain activity. The fMRI scans human brains at work, detecting areas of greater blood flow that indicate which part of the brain is active as subjects perform a variety of activities. The data flows from the scanners to a high-performance 32-node CentOS cluster to be analyzed and returned to researchers in statistical form. HNL Systems Administrator Justin King is a big fan of open source software and frequently writes his own applications when he can't find what he needs in the community. King also takes advantage of commercial open source projects.

I run a Postfix-based mail server that services a few hundred users with an average load of a couple of thousand legitimate messages a day -- but thanks to spam, the actual load on the server is much higher. I use Realtime Blackhole Lists (RBL) and Distributed Checksum Clearninghouse (DCC) clients on Postfix and SpamAssassin to reduce the impact of spam.

When you power on your computer, the first software that runs is a bootloader that invokes the computer's operating system. GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader, is an integral part of many Linux systems. It starts the Linux kernel. Here's some background on GRUB, and some tips on installing and configuring the software.

The press release started with the words, "Answering the call for an open source option from Information Technology professionals, Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) announced today that businesses will soon be able to operate QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions® from Linux servers. It is the first time the company has made one of its products available to users of open source systems." Except QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions itself is not now and may never be open source. And even though a Linux version of the server software is now available for Linux, you will still need Windows on your desktops to use it.

I find myself not browsing the Web as much as I used to, thanks to Liferea, a Linux-based aggregator for online news feeds.

Turbolinux's Linux-based wizpy music player is a beautiful device. It's slick, black, and slightly smaller than the smallest cell phones. Unfortunately, its value and functionality doesn't live up to its good looks.

The top leader of Linuxchix resigned yesterday in the midst of a controversy over her leadership style. In a statement released to all Linuxchix mailing lists, coordinator Mary Gardiner said her decision was a difficult one, but because of a "mismatch in goals, LinuxChix should be run by someone with a better relationship with its current (implicit) goals."

"Do you offer a program like Microsoft Publisher?" Some version of this question appears regularly on the OpenOffice.org mailing lists. Many people automatic answer "no," and say that Scribus is more suitable for desktop publishing. But, in fact, OpenOffice.org boasts two mid-level layout programs -- Draw and Writer -- each of which is far more versatile than its name suggests.

OpenOffice.org released its first native packages for Mac OS X this week. These "development snapshots" aren't intended for end users, but are still an important milestone in porting the productivity suite to the Mac.

Newly released VMware Workstation 6 has lots of new features and improvements to ease collaboration between the host and guest operating systems. Add to that improved support for USB devices and rock solid performance and VMware Workstation 6 easily outshines competition and justifies its $189 price tag.

The OpenWengo project recently released version 2.1 of its WengoPhone VoIP softphone. It's a big step forward for Linux users.

For IT managers researching software purchases, the Internet is both a blessing and a curse. While there is an abundance of information available on virtually every piece of software on the market, knowing which software -- or whose -- to trust is part skill and part luck. The process is also difficult because typical software review Web sites don't allow users to customize search criteria based on their unique needs, so Internet-based research is often painstaking and sometimes fruitless. Nicolas Vandenberghe, founder and CEO of the new site ITerating, hopes to ease the pain of software comparison shopping by blending the usefulness of user reviews with the power of wiki-based search functionality.