Ubuntu 9.04 Linux Beta Released

This week, Ubuntu 9.04 beta was released for general public. By the last week of April, the final release will be available for download for Ubuntu 9.04 Linux distribution.

Ubuntu is slowly gaining ground not only on the desktop but also beginning to flex its muscles on the server side as well. It is now taking on the SUSE and Red Hats of the world for its own pie in the sky. There are many great features unique to Ubuntu for corporations including:

• It has a regular release cycle (April and October annually) and the product is supported for three years. This gives organizations the ability to install and maintain a release for almost the length of the PC/laptop that they are using without the need to reinstall.
• It also supports easy upgrades from one version to the other, which some distributions struggle to do nicely. This once again gives users the ability to seamlessly move from one version to the other without needing to redo the whole install.
• Numerous versions to whet ones apetite. There is the regular Ubuntu (with gnome desktop) and then Kubuntu (with KDE), then Xubuntu (for older systems) and Edubuntu (for educational purposes).
• There are also numerous distributions based on Ubuntu, namely Mythbuntu (an open source Tivo to say the least). Even XenStreet's favorite Linux, gOS relies on Ubuntu to function.
• A huge repository (over 25,000 in default configuration) of applications which come pre-compiled and ready to use on Ubuntu through packages.
• Available on Amazon EC2 cloud computing. But I guess many other Linux and Windows versions are too. But still, it is out there.
• It is a Debian release!
  

The latest release 9.04 is packed with lots of new features that will further strengthen its hold in the Linux market. Some of the most interesting features that the new release will feature on the server includes the open source cloud technology, Eucalyptus. It will give us techies a chance to build a cloud in our office (there goes another weekend), and then we will try to find some application to use it. Maybe a gaming cloud for the office. Hmm.

It also includes out of the box and fully configured dovecot-postfix package. It provides an easy-to-deploy mail server stack, with support for SMTP, POP3, and IMAP with TLS and SASL.

There is also support for ext4 file system. Not sure we need this but it is supposed to help protect files when the system suffers from sudden outages. A nice feature for developing economies like India, Pakistan and China where electricity is as reliable as the weather in England.

The desktop edition will feature an updated Gnome for better desktop experience and updated Xorg library with (hopefully) better support for wide screen monitors, graphics drivers and S-video interfaces.

If you ask my opinion which Linux flavor will dominate the Linux distros for the next few years, then my vote is hands down for Ubuntu.

KnowledgeTree – Open Source Document Management System

Every organization these days produces lots of electronic documents. Even a one man home office will generate enough files in various formats (including Office and PDF formats) over the course of the year that it will become a nightmare just finding the right file in the nick of time.

KnowledgeTree, Document Management System, is web based and therefore easily accessible from across the organization without the need to install any client software on users machines. It supports multiple users within groups with proper permissions and role definitions. It allows for easy upload of documents including support for bulk upload through a one large zip file. There is support for search within all the popular file formats as well. Email alerts can also be generated on various criteria including when a document is available to be viewed by the group. The software supports an organization work flow and even generates it automatically on specific folders and document types. The document's are version controlled to minimize overwriting of documents when shared within a distributed environment.

The software now is supported across various platforms including Linux, Windows and even Mac. There are installers for each of these platforms (yes even for Linux a self installing binary) which guides you through the whole process with little or no glitch. Source code version is also available for those who prefer to tweak install it based on their own requirements.

I used the binary to install it on my Ubuntu Linux computer. The installation went smoothly but I ran into a small problem. It forced me to install a separate copy Apache and Mysql (on custom ports) for this software and did not give me an option to integrate it with the existing Apache and Mysql running on my machine. With the result, now I have two instances of each running on my machine on different ports. It would be nice if the installer gave us an option to choose whether we prefer to integrate and run one instance of each or not.

KnowledgeTree document management system is definitely the right choice for not only large corporations but even for Small and Medium Enterprises. It will greatly improve the organizations productivity and easy of share of knowledge within their organization.

Elisa - A Great Open Media Center

I recently installed and started using open source Elisa Media Center. Its a great little media player that works wonderfully well with all my media types for video, music, dvd and photos. It even connects to the internet and imports media from websites like youtube and flickr. The configuration is still command line based and is stored in “elisa.conf” file. All configuration information is stored in your home folder as mentioned below:

/home/username/.elisa

There are lots of interesting perimeters that you can configure but most importantly, you may want to specify specific directories from where to read your media. It can be done easily by configuring it as follows in the xmlmenu section:

[xmlmenu:locations_builder]
locations = ['file://media/da/videos', 'file:///media/da/itunes']

Specify as many directories as you want by separating them with comma across your network.

Elisa website mentions lots of features including support for remote controls and touch screen. There are even ports available for Windows and MacOS platforms along with Linux.

Download your copy from its official website at http://elisa.fluendo.com

ClamAV - A Must Antivirus for Linux Systems

You may have heard that Linux machines do not need an anti-virus software. That may be true generally, but what if using our USB flash drive on a public computer and inadvertently copying a virus onto our system? Granted, the virus may not work on Linux but what if we inadvertently forward that file to a friend (with Windows) and send the virus along. What if we still use POP to access our email and get a virus infected email that we forward to others (along with the virus)?

To overcome such issues, especially shared USB drives, ClamAV is the simple but ideal solution. It is still command line so one has to power up their Terminal (or ssh if you prefer to remotely manage it) to run the software.

Installation is a breeze on any Linux system. On Debian release try the following:

~$ apt-get install clamav

Once installed, just type the following on command line to fire it up.

~$ clamscan -r /home

where -r option lets u scan recursively in your specified /home directory.

You can find out other options by typing clamscan –help on command line.

Once the scan is complete, it prints out the result in a neat report. Similar to the one I got from scanning my /home folder.

----------- SCAN SUMMARY -----------
Known viruses: 513569
Engine version: 0.92.1
Scanned directories: 3454
Scanned files: 15656
Infected files: 0
Data scanned: 33120.57 MB
Time: 3503.674 sec (58 m 23 s)

The software keeps its virus database up to date automatically by using freshclam to download the latest definitions. Freshclam is automatically installed with ClamAV.

So my advice is to keep this software handy especially when you are copying files back and forth from a public PC.