With all the hubbub about Snow Leopard and Windows 7, there's another operating system out there you may not have noticed that's getting a significant update: Ubuntu Linux.
Ubuntu backer Canonical plans to release its "Karmic Koala" version on Thursday, and both the desktop and server versions of the open-source operating system take significant steps toward cloud computing. The concept of moving work away from the computer in front of you and into the network does have some merit, but cloud computing is today's fashionable buzzword, and Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth is sensitive to its overuse.
Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth speaking at the Intel Developer Forum
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)"What frustrates me is the term 'cloud' has come to mean anything with an Internet connection, including some stuff that really looks familiar like internal IT," said Shuttleworth in an interview. It's fair to say that in Ubuntu's case, though, it's not a stretch.
Built into the server version of Ubuntu 9.10 is Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, technology built atop the Eucalyptus software package. Amazon Web Services (AWS), a collection of computing infrastructure accessible over the Net on a pay-as-you-go basis, is among today's most significant cloud-computing efforts, and Eucalyptus implements many of its functions so companies can build their own "private clouds" using the same services.
And in the desktop version of Ubuntu, the cloud connection is a service called Ubuntu One, which lets Ubuntu users synchronize files stored on different machines and back them up on the central service. Storage space of 2GB is free, and 50GB costs $10 per month.
The Ubuntu software itself is free; Canonical sells Ubuntu support services.
... Read more
One of the things that has been most-surprising about the advent of Netbooks is that it has become less about the hardware as much as how mainstream operating systems and applications have had to adapt to fit within their confines. In the earlier generations of these machines, operating systems like Windows Vista just didn't cut the mustard, which is why most Netbooks you can buy right now are either running Windows XP or a variant of Linux.
While that is certain to change with the release of Windows 7 in late October, which runs leaner and meaner than Vista ever did (and could even come on a thumb drive), Microsoft's stumble opened things up for other operating systems to come in and fill the gap. Many consumers have more of a choice than ever with alternate operating systems that are becoming easier to install and use on these smaller machines.
One of those, called Jolicloud is launching in beta in the next few months. Created by Tariq Krim, who founded and later left widget-based start page Netvibes, the alternate OS has been designed for Web workers, or people who do most of their work (or play) on Web applications and services.
I've been giving it a thorough run-though over the past few days and have come away impressed at what it's trying to do. Some bits and pieces are definitely still beta, but the underlying approach of making Web sites and software applications feel the same, as well as introducing users to new ones to use is really innovative.
How it works
Jolicloud centers on a directory of applications that can be sorted by genre, release date, and popularity. To download or remove them from your computer, you just click on their icon and it does the rest. Jolicloud groups both Web apps and software programs under the same name umbrella, and both are added and removed from your system in the same manner. There's also a normal add and remove programs tool just like you get in Windows, but it's easier to do it from Jolicloud's rounded and simplistic interface.
To install or uninstall "applications" you can head to Jolicloud's online directory.
(Credit: Jolicloud)Jolicloud is designed to let users hop back and forth between apps that all use the entire screen. Apps you have open stay in a top menu bar and can be switched back and forth just by clicking on them. Alt+tab works too.
Interestingly enough, you don't actually launch any downloaded app from the directory screen. Instead... Read more
The latest Ubuntu release--code named Jaunty Jackalope--boots faster, shuts down faster, and includes numerous improvements that help it become even easier to use than before. If you like open-source software like Firefox, you owe it to yourself to see what an open-source operating system can do.
New features include Exchange-server support for e-mail client Evolution, a revamped program for disc burning, improved multiple-monitor support, a new notification pop-up style, and the ability to create customized hot keys. You can read the full list of changes here.
If you're looking for a safe and easy way to test out the switch from Windows to Linux, Wubi might be the program for you. Wubi's dialog interface requires users to select a mere six options to install Ubuntu, but don't expect direct help with this utility. Users are expected to have a basic understanding of Linux and booting into alternate operating systems, and you'll have to rely on the Wubi FAQ and forums for assistance.
Selecting the install drive, hard-drive space, language, username, and password is quick with pull-down selectors. The most difficult decision is choosing the environment from Ubuntu, Kbuntu, Xubuntu, and UbuntuStudio, and you should do your research before making a selection.
While this is truly a one-click install of Linux, it isn't fast. The first step downloads an almost 700MB ISO image used to install Linux. After the download, the app takes a considerable time unpacking and installing the operating system. Boot into Ubuntu, and there is another wait as the OS completes setting preferences and options. It is all without user intervention, though, and the numerous preinstalled and preconfigured apps make the switch to Linux about as painless as you can get it.
Red Hat on Tuesday released the ninth incarnation of its enthusiast version of Linux, making a move that rival Ubuntu couldn't: the inclusion of the KDE 4 user interface.
That's because Fedora and Ubuntu have different approaches to new projects such as KDE 4, which is new, significantly different from KDE 3.5, and not yet settled down.
(Credit:
Red Hat)
Red Hat has two versions of Linux, the free
There's only one Ubuntu, in contrast, and it's free; support can be purchased separately. Founder Mark Shuttleworth deliberately founded Ubuntu with that philosophy because he wasn't happy with the way Red Hat and Novell's Suse Linux had split their products into separate lines.
Ubuntu's Hardy Heron, though, Canonical's latest version of Linux and only its second to come with long-term support, couldn't support KDE 4 because the company needed it to be more mature. With no real support requirements and a short product lifespan, Fedora can accommodate bleeding-edge projects.
To address KDE 4 demand--roughly a third of Ubuntu users prefer it to the more widely used GNOME--Ubuntu programmers took a Fedora-like approach. They're working on a KDE 4 version of Hardy Heron, but it doesn't come with the support promised regular Ubuntu.
Fedora 9 also includes OpenJDK, the open-source Java software from Sun Microsystems, GNOME 2.22, the Firefox 3 beta 5 Web browser, FreeIPA to let sysadmins manage identity policy, and an improved NetworkManager package to deal with better use of multiple networks.
The software can be downloaded through the Fedora Web site. The site also has a link to the Fedora 9 release notes.
Submitted by Chris, U.S.A
I was--and still am--running UbuntuStudio 7.10. Now, even though this is Ubuntu, I can run Windows programs with Wine.
My friend's brother was playing on my computer and got into my e-mail. He opened up the Elvis e-mail, which contains a virus. I found out later that the virus got into Wine. Not too much later after the contamination, I started running Microsoft Office, when Ubuntu came up with an error. Firefox randomly crashed. Then Wine started running Notepad instead of the application I wanted.
I used Ubuntu's virus scanner and it found one virus in the Wine folder, one virus in the Apt folder, and one in the Root folder. It, unlike Norton, deleted all three without any problem. Now I have a special program, BlueProximity, that locks the computer whenever my Palm Treo, bluetooth phone, or bluetooth censor, enters or leaves the computer's range. I also have my computer auto-lock itself. I was able to recover some files on the Virutal C:\ drive, but most were lost to the virus.
Editor's response
We're not exactly sure what Chris means by the "Elvis virus," (the first four pages of Google search results list it as the condition by which "your computer gets fat, slow and lazy, and then self-destructs, only to resurface at shopping malls and service stations across rural America,") but we're certain Chris' friend's brother shouldn't have been poking around Chris' in-box. Why was he tampering with Chris' e-mail anyway? His first problem is a rude house guest.
Incidentally, why was there a link to a live virus stewing in said e-mail message? Before pointing a finger at any antivirus program, Chris should consider implementing a guest account to keep bratty brothers in check, and ramping up the spam filters in his e-mail. If constant spam makes the current account unwieldy, it's easy enough to start fresh with a new account.
I dove into some Ubuntu forums to get a better understanding of the extent to which a virus can infect a Linux box running Wine, the Windows-like environment. There were differing opinions, experiences, suppositions, and authorities, but from the multitude of propositions there was this silver thread: that some malware can indeed infect Wine, including manifesting in the crashes Chris described. The majority of infections, however, will not be able to spread into the Linux operating system. That is, unless you're running Wine as root. According to the Wine wiki, this will throw open the gateway for viruses to access your computer, and if Chris found a virus file in the root folder, there's a good chance that's what happened.
To purge the virus, try killing your Wine processes, delete the contents of the ~/.wine directory, and when you re-start, make certain it's in regular mode, and not as root (or sudo.) If nothing rights itself immediately, try rebooting; and if you still have the heebie-jeebies, you can always run a firewall.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
David's friend calls him in a panic. There's something wrong with his computer, and it's clearly malware.
However, when David attempts to reboot the Windows machine, he discovers that the problem lies much deeper--the whole operating system, it seems, has been corrupted beyond repair.
How does David resuscitate his friend's computer and save his important data in the process? Learn David's creative solution in this week's Spyware Horror Story.
Is Linux becoming more compatible with Microsoft Windows?
(Credit: CNET Networks)The alternative, open-source operating system Linux has been making news recently. Last week, Dell began shipping PCs with the Linux distribution Ubuntu pre-installed, and on Friday I took a look at Wubi, free Windows software that lets you install and run Ubuntu on your Windows machine without creating a boot CD or partitioning your hard drive.
According to recent stats from W3Counter, Linux still holds only a tiny fraction of the personal-computing market share (slightly less than Windows 98!), but there's definitely a convergence going on within Windows, Mac, and Linux software development. The excellent personal-finance software GnuCash was recently ported from Linux to Windows, and the Lina project plans to soon release software that will let Windows and Mac users run Linux software on the OS of their choice.
Are you curious about Ubuntu or Linux? Have you had any personal experience with Linux software, or could you not care less? Tell me about it in the comments.
Wubi
(Credit: CNET Networks)Computer giant Dell made big news yesterday when it began shipping desktops and laptops pre-installed with Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution. I'm not sure who the heck is going to buy a Linux Dell, but it certainly marks a sea change in retail computing. In terms of prepackaged operating systems, users have basically been stuck for a long time with the solitary choice of Windows vs. Mac. The fact that consumers can now purchase a Linux machine with support from the distributor certainly validates the open-source movement and Ubuntu in particular.
Yet if you're curious about Linux or Ubuntu, it hasn't been very simple to install it on your Windows machine. Up until recently, the process has usually involved partitioning your hard drive for the Linux install and creating a boot CD from a downloaded ISO file.
Luckily, for those of us who are Linux-curious and either too lazy or too inexperienced to install a distro on our own, beta software called Wubi literally takes all of the hassle out of running Ubuntu on your Windows machine, and it can be removed from your system as easily as any other Windows application. All it takes to run Wubi is a recommended 1GHz CPU, 128MB RAM, and 3GB of disk space for the initial Ubuntu installation.
Wubi is a front-end installer for the loop installer Lupin. Without getting too technical (and over my head), Lupin is back-end software for installing Debian-based Linux distributions inside of a specific file, without affecting any existing partitions on the hard drive. In conjunction with Wubi, it installs Ubuntu into a file in your Windows system.
Getting started with Ubuntu using the Wubi front-end interface is as simple as running any other self-extracting Windows installer. Double-click the "Wubi-7.04-test2.exe" file and you'll be presented with only a few options. Enter your language of choice, your new Ubuntu username and password (twice), and hit "Install." That's literally all you have to do to install Ubuntu, but there are a few options that you should consider.
The Advanced Settings dialog lets you specify the location and type of your Ubuntu install.
(Credit: Wubi)Hitting the Settings button from the Ubuntu Setup dialog will provide you with a few more choices. You can tweak your system size, home size, or swap size, as well as select the local drive where you'd like to install Ubuntu. The default selections are 6GB, 1GB, 1GB, and the C drive. If you have a foreign keyboard, you can specific that in the Advanced Settings as well. You can also decide to install Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or UbuntuStudio, three Ubuntu derivatives. If you don't know what any of those are, I'd recommend sticking with the vanilla Ubuntu installation.
Now, before you hit Install, a quick warning: you may want to download the Ubuntu ISO file from a different source than the one that the Wubi installer uses. Right now, Wubi downloads the ubuntu-7.04-alternate-i386.iso file from releases.ubuntu.com, and depending on your connection, it can be very slow. When I installed it on my laptop computer, the 698MB ISO file took over nine hours (!!) to download at an average of 25Kbps on a 300Kbps Wi-Fi connection.
From the CNET corporate network (a fat pipe), I'm still seeing that file downloading at 100Kbps, which isn't horrible, but it will still take a few hours to download. If you can acquire the Ubuntu ISO file separately, you can skip the Wubi downloading process by placing the Ubuntu ISO file in the same directory as the Wubi installer before you run it.
Once the long download process completed, installation was extremely quick. I accessed my bootup menu during startup and immediately noticed an "Ubuntu" selection under the usual Windows XP. I selected Ubuntu, and a blue screen quickly ran through a series of steps such as formatting the virtual disk, detecting system hardware, configuring the DHCP connections, installing the base system, and installing the application suite. Ubuntu comes prebundled with a variety of software, including Mozilla Firefox and OpenOffice.org.
The final stage of the installation process only took about 15 to 20 minutes. As the developers say on their Web site, go grab a cup of coffee and come back to Ubuntu. After that, I was off and running, using Firefox to cruise the Web for cool software for Ubuntu and setting up my e-mail and document preferences.
Replacing Windows with Ubuntu is a major step, and I'm not going to get into the pros and cons here. Suffice it to say that my experiences trying to install Java to run the CNET corporate VPN software on Ubuntu have convinced me that I'm probably going to need Windows for a little while longer. However, it's wonderful to have a dual-boot system, and I didn't even have to partition my hard drive to do it. Thanks, Wubi!
- prev
- 1
- next
