Open Source in the Next Computing Wave

Today, a fresh set of trends and technologies is changing the way that we build computing systems and operate them. Two of the biggest are virtualization and cloud computing. Virtualization effectively decouples operating systems and their applications from server hardware, and thereby makes it easier to physically move them from one machine to another. Cloud computing is changing where applications run - from on-premise to out-in-the-network.

Business dynamics are also changing. Even if it’s often just a self-interested concern about their power bill, we are starting to see a greater awareness of environmental issues among those responsible for operating datacenters. The current economic climate is also forcing more systematic thinking about costs in general, including those associated with overall complexity and the security and resiliency of large distributed infrastructures.

These trends intersect in powerful ways; a new wave of computing is gathering momentum as a result. And open source is once again playing a major role.

Source: http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1245351934_644.html?psrc=RLT

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Red Hat and Intel: Moving Intelligence Forward

Put state-of-the-art intelligence to work on the challenges of tomorrow by running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the latest Intel® Xeon® processors. Red Hat’s open source, commercial-strength innovation delivers optimized results for performance, energy efficiency, and advanced virtualization on Intel platforms, all at an affordable price.

Modern business must deliver outstanding results every day, with an IT infrastructure that can meet extreme demands while staying nimble enough for the changes around the corner. Running Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Intel server platforms brings together the brilliance of open source software with standards-based hardware to meet those challenges. What’s more, this combination delivers the performance, stability, and support that come from a commercial relationship that stretches back many years.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 is highly optimized for the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series, creating excellent results:

* Intelligent performance. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 takes advantage of the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series to adapt throughput to the workload, delivering a greater than 2x performance compared to predecessors.

* Virtualization performance and efficiency. Taking advantage of next-generation Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT), Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers high consolidation ratios and virtualized performance.

* Automated energy efficiency. Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses Intel® Intelligent Power Technology to support low-latency changes among power states and to lower power consumption during off-peak times.

Source: http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1245356997_577.html?psrc=RLT

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Red Hat rumors sign of business as usual

The recent rumors of Oracle buying Red Hat are false, but are a good indication that business conditions are becoming normal again. (Picture from League City, Texas.) The source of the rumor, according to our own Matt Asay, is Katherine Egbert, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. She’s trying to scare up some merger work, create some action in a slow market.

Both are healthy signs. If brokers are fishing for merger work, it means there is capacity to do such work, and bankers have come in off the ledges they were on last fall. If action is seen as slow, that’s also good, because banking should be boring.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4818

Is Ubuntu Linux Ready for the Enterprise?

NEWS ANALYSIS: Ubuntu is the leader in the Linux environment and it’s slowly making its way into the mainstream. But is it ready to tackle the enterprise? While there is no chance of Ubuntu overtaking Microsoft Windows’ dominant market share or even making a dent compared to Apple’s Mac OS X, this open-source operating system can make a difference in the enterprise.

Linux is an enigma. It has a loyal following. It’s a robust operating system. It’s free. It’s superior to both Windows and Mac OS X on a variety of fronts. And in recent years, it has become more user-friendly than ever before. It’s a fantastic operating system with a slew of distributions that would satisfy any user.

Source: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/Is-Ubuntu-Linux-Ready-for-the-Enterprise-568056/

Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS to Achieve Highly Available, Load-Balanced Clusters

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS operating system integrates Cluster Manager and IP Load Balancing, the features that improve cluster functionality. This white paper describes how these features can be combined with Dell PowerEdge servers and other components to achieve high availability and high performance in clusters. A cluster running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS that combines Cluster Manager and IP Load Balancing functionality can provide excellent network services to clients.

Source: http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=79718&promo=100503

9 of the Best Free Linux Debuggers

Debugging is the process of finding and reducing the number of bugs in computer software and electronic hardware. When a program crashes, the debugger shows the position in the original code. A good debugger plays an essential role in software development. This article examines three different types of debuggers: source-level debuggers, memory debuggers and bug tracking software. To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 9 advanced Linux debugging tools. Hopefully, there will be something of interest here for anyone who wants to fix, and help fix, bugs.

Source: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/122339/

RealNetworks to build all-in-one media support into Linux Netbooks

Chalk up a victory for those who crave all-in-one media integration on their Netbooks, because RealNetworks has announced a licensing agreement with many of the major Linux software companies to have RealPlayer for Mobile preinstalled on Ubuntu and Instant-On Netbook OS systems made by Xandros, Phoenix Technologies, DeviceVM, and Canonical.

An “Instant-On” system, usually Linux-based, is a miniature OS that boots up quicker than the main OS, allowing quicker on-the-fly access of files. For Netbooks, the advantage to an Instant-On system is obvious, but often these environments are significantly hobbled in usability. Presto, HyperSpace, and Splashtop, made by Xandros, Phoenix Technologies, and Device VM, will all get RealPlayer-branded players. Splashtop already comes preinstalled on Lenovo, Asus, HP, and LG Netbooks.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10254125-1.html

Digg, Dug, Buried: How Linux news disappears

Like it or lump it, the major reason that determines whether any given online story will get read or not is how much play it gets on news link sharing sites and social networks like Digg, reddit, and StumbleUpon. Unlike earlier news sharing sites like Slashdot, these sites have no central editorial control. Instead, the stories that get prominent play on these sites is determined entirely by readers. That sounds like democracy in its most basic form, but in practice what it really means that stories can be buried from sight by abusive users with an ax to grind.

I became aware of this because in the last few weeks I’ve had several stories that were pro-Linux and anti-Microsoft-Linux, it doesn’t get any faster and Macs, Windows 7, and Linux–first became popular on Digg, and, an hour later they were buried.

Source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/digg_dug_buried_how_linux_news_disappears

Is There a Perfect Linux Filesystem?

Most often, when someone talks about a filesystem or file system, they’re referring to disk filesystems such as NTFS, FAT, ext2, ext3, ext4, ISO 9660 and many others but can also refer to network file systems such as CIFS (Common Internet File System aka Samba) and NFS. A filesystem is a specially-designed database of files, their disk location, definition and attributes. Everything on a Unix or Linux filesystem is a file: Directories, processes, links, programs, and device references. All files.

Distributed filesystems such as Google’s filesystem come pretty close. Ext4 is being praised as the best thing since French toast and VMware’s VMFS is responsible for its blazing speed and high security.

Source: http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4478.html

The little Linux School House

As I pointed out recently, open-source software in schools isn’t just a good idea, it’s becoming a financial necessity if we’re to keep enough teachers for our kids in classrooms. So, it’s particular good timing that Sugar Labs and openSUSE have released free Linux distributions expressly designed for education.

Sugar Labs, for those of you who don’t know them, is a software non-profit spin off from the OLPC (One Laptop per Child). Sugar Labs provides the Sugar desktop interface, which runs in turn, on top of a version of Fedora 10.

On June 24th, at LinuxTag in Berlin, Germany, Sugar Labs announced the immediate availability of Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry. As the name indicates, Sugar on a Stick is a live USB flash drive distribution. It requires at least a GB-sized drive. With it, you can boot Sugar on any PC. It was designed to work on older PCs, netbooks, and other low-end hardware. You can also run Sugar with the provided virtual machine software on both Intel-based Macs Windows PCs.

Source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/the_little_linux_school_house