Southend Linux Wiki Site

Web Server & Software.

Introduction.

So now the server is built and RAID5 configured. http://wiki.soslug.org/wiki/raid_5 I'm slowly beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. All I have to do now, is select the server software and that's it; or is it?

This project has seen its fair share of setbacks; smoke pouring out - frightening; a failed brand new hard drive - frustrating, to name but two! Surely now, all I had to do to complete the project would be completed in an hour or so, with time for a little self congratulation on a job well done.

OpenSUSE 11.1

Roger Whittaker (Technical Support Engineer) from Novell has kindly offered 10 off "Novell OpenSUSE 11.1" Linux Operating System CD's which we presume are a liveCD version. So new we haven't tried it yet. OpenSUSE claims with this distro version * Open Office - Office suite * Immune to Windows viruses (spyware and malware) * Instant Messaging, e-mail and web browsing * Powerful desktop search built in * Hundreds of productivity applications, games and utilities

I first heard about this distro on Linux Outlaws podcast, checked out the EEE user forums and found poeple had got it installed on their Asus EEE's, so I decided to download and install on my 701. This is what the official website has to say about Crunchbang :- "CrunchBang Linux" is an Ubuntu based distribution featuring the lightweight Openbox window manager and GTK+ applications. The distribution has been built and customised from a minimal Ubuntu install. The distribution has been designed to offer a good balance of speed and functionality."

Mint - Felicia version 8.10 RC1

Introduction

As many of you will know, recently Ubuntu released its latest operating system and at the time of writting this review the latest Ubuntu offering was that of Intrepid Ibex version "8.10" Mint latest offering towards the Ubuntu flavours is known as "Felicia" so thought it useful to take a look at the Mint Gnome version or version "8.10". You should note this review only covers the RC1 version of this software this effectively is the pre-release version of there OS and not the final release

Mint Distro

Introduction 32Bit

Mint is a distro - German of course - that has a wonderful appeal about it, although not a Ferrari it certainly looks as good as one, perhaps a better analogy would be a BMW, a masterpiece of German engineering thats Mint not the car. Most Linux distro's are derivatives and Mint is no exception it is Debian based ie "Ubuntu", one of Ubuntu criticisms is that whilst it works very well, is stable and reliable it just does not have great looks. Mint does have looks and really good one at that, it has a certain wow factor which appeals to many, it also has many of the features from the box that many spend time and effort to install on other flavours.

Like a lot of people I have at least one old pc kicking around in the loft, so I decided to put it to better use than gathering dust and install some linux on it! I have a home network and have never got round to buying a router for it, instead relying on pc to share the internet connection.

Ubuntu Studio 8.04 (Hardy Heron) 64Bit

[http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/8.04/beta/ubuntustudio-8.04-beta-alternate-amd64.iso] Live DVD and Installation on one 1Gb disk

Introduction.

What is a firewall?

Just as a building has a firewall and possibly a fire door to try to isolate a fire on one side of the wall, preventing it spreading to the other side, a computer firewall does much the same. However, it's not concerned with fires, but more to the point, unauthorised entry and use. It most commonly, sits between the computer and the Internet, although in complex networks, there can be others within the overall system.

Linux on Compact Flash Card

For some reason we at SoSLUG seemed to have great difficulty finding information that would enable us to install a Linux system to a Compact Flash Card.

Identified Problems and Observations

# Locate obtain or build an Operating System for use on Compact Flash. # Install (somehow) to Compact Flash the Linux Operating System obtained. # Not all CF Cards are the same or to be more precise what will work on one set of equipment will not necessarily work on another set. We used both a 512Mb and 128Mb Compact Flash Cards.

Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

[http://ubuntu.com Ubuntu.com] Live CD and Installation on one 700Mb disk Version 7.10 is another great advance for the first time in this distro version we have Eye Candy already installed by default. Ok it's subtle and you may not notice at first any changes but it is different, with a better graphics card such as NVidia or ATI sometimes the Eye Candy is even more remarkable.