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Linux and Open Source
Selena Frye
TechRepublic Staff
Selena Frye

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Redundancy and flexibility with RAID1+LVM
Vincent Danen tells you how to get reliable and flexible storage options when you combine RAID with LVM, which allows you to resize partitions inside a physical volume easily.
Posted by Vincent Danen | April 12, 2011, 5:30 AM PDT | Latest comment by TCBsclathrop
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Ubuntu 11.04: Small issues, big win
Jack Wallen recants his original take on Ubuntu 11.04 and Ubuntu Unity. See what happened to make him so drastically change his mind about the upcoming release from Canonical.
Posted by Jack Wallen | April 11, 2011, 8:47 AM PDT | Latest comment by apotheon
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Printing to AirPort shared printers from Linux
While the Airport Extreme wireless base makes sharing printers easy with a Mac, it's not so simple to make a printer directly available for Linux. Vincent Danen shows you the best way to do it.
Posted by Vincent Danen | April 4, 2011, 12:30 PM PDT | Latest comment by dick.dunbar@...
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Google clamps down on Android
Google is laying down some rules on what Android carriers are allowed to do with the platform and what they're not. Jack Wallen looks at the new restrictions and what they mean to the spirit of...
Posted by Jack Wallen | April 4, 2011, 7:14 AM PDT | Latest comment by lasvegasbacon
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Check out NX remote access for Linux and Solaris systems
Vincent Danen shows you the basics to using the NX remote desktop system for Linux and Solaris. It is fast, secure, and has free clients available for Linux, Windows, OS X, and Solaris.
Posted by Vincent Danen | March 29, 2011, 5:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by pgit
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Bodhi Linux: Interview with Jeff Hoogland
Smitten with Bodhi Linux, Jack Wallen poses some questions to Jeff Hoogland, one of the Bodhi developers. Is it time for you to give a new distribution a try? Jack thinks so.
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 28, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by Jaqui
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Bodhi Linux: E17 and Ubuntu make a great combination
Jack Wallen returns to his roots - Enlightenment - thanks to the new Ubuntu re-spin Bodhi Linux. See if you think Bodhi should be your next Linux distribution of choice.
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 21, 2011, 12:00 PM PDT | Latest comment by RichardSanches
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Will new openSUSE with KDE 4.6 bring distro back from obscurity?
The openSUSE distribution nearly faded away into obscurity. But 11.4 brings this distribution back to serious relevancy. See what Jack Wallen thinks about the latest from the openSUSE developers.
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 21, 2011, 8:55 AM PDT | Latest comment by Jaqui
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Three features you may not know XTerm has
XTerm is widely dismissed as "primitive," but its capabilities are actually quite sophisticated. Read about three handy features many people never knew XTerm had.
Posted by Chad Perrin | March 14, 2011, 9:45 AM PDT | Latest comment by apotheon
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10 Ubuntu re-spins I'd like to see
Jack Wallen let's his imagination go wild and creates some Ubuntu-based distributions that could have real world applications. Along the way, he creates some just for fun. Let us know which ones...
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 14, 2011, 6:22 AM PDT | Latest comment by LeonBA
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Use Getting Things GNOME to get things done
For Getting Things Done adherents, a new GTD app for Gnome provides a straightforward interface and easy-to-use features. Vincent Danen gives an overview.
Posted by Vincent Danen | March 14, 2011, 6:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by Neon Samurai
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Use APF to manage your firewall
Vincent Danen shares one option for managing your Linux firewall, the Advanced Policy Firewall (AFP). Here are some tips on installation and configuration.
Posted by Vincent Danen | March 7, 2011, 9:00 AM PST | Latest comment by m.immer
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Linux is losing the race to the tablet
The tablet PC race is on and Linux still doesn't have a contestant. Jack Wallen believes Linux can win this race, but in order to do so, someone has to step up quickly.
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 7, 2011, 7:57 AM PST | Latest comment by victoria2403
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How to use Calibre to access your ebook collection online
Calibre is one of the most powerful ebook managers available. But did you know that Calibre has a built in server that allows you to access your library from a web browser? In this how-to, Jack...
Posted by Jack Wallen | February 28, 2011, 12:00 PM PST | Latest comment by Deadly Ernest
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GNOME Shell vs. Ubuntu Unity: Which desktop wins?
The war is almost on: GNOME Shell vs. Ubuntu Unity. Both have been available long enough to draw the conclusion as to which will rise above and find success. Jack Wallen offers up his take on the...
Posted by Jack Wallen | February 28, 2011, 8:00 AM PST | Latest comment by tuxfan
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What is Android missing?
Google Android initially looked like the realization of an open source dream; a highly network-connected Unix-like OS in your pocket. In practice, it has fallen well short of that dream.
Posted by Chad Perrin | February 28, 2011, 6:00 AM PST | Latest comment by kotoku@...
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Banshee's Amazon MP3 store support hits a snag
Amazon.com MP3 store integration has finally made its way into a Linux music player. But all is not rosy on the Banshee frontier. Read Jack Wallen's take on a possible move by Canonical that could...
Posted by Jack Wallen | February 22, 2011, 6:22 AM PST | Latest comment by daboochmeister
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Nagios monitoring with NRPE allows better tracking of remote systems
The NRPE plugin allows you to track exactly what is going on with remote servers, both from an external view and an internal view, including disk usage, CPU spiking, and memory issues.
Posted by Vincent Danen | February 22, 2011, 5:30 AM PST | Latest comment by shahbaz.ali@...
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Promote openness: Custom applications and standardized formats
Open source software licenses promote good development practice and widespread use, but that is not the whole story for openness. Beyond licensing, we should promote standard formats and a...
Posted by Chad Perrin | February 21, 2011, 6:00 AM PST | Latest comment by ngocbich3
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Linux scores big in large-format printing
Jack Wallen recently had to help out a large-format print house to get their most trust-worthy machine back up and running. Can you guess what OS ran that particular money maker?
Posted by Jack Wallen | February 14, 2011, 11:09 AM PST | Latest comment by Slayer_
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Seven great features of OpenOffice and Libre Office that you probably ignore
Free office suite tools like OpenOffice and Libre Office have more advanced features than you might expect. Here are seven that go beyond the common tasks.
Posted by Marco Fioretti | May 21, 2013, 6:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by wnematollahi@...
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How to get Netflix streaming on Ubuntu 12.10
It's taken quite some time, but Netflix streaming video has finally arrived on the Ubuntu Linux desktop. In this easy, step-by-step, Jack Wallen shows you how.
Posted by Jack Wallen | December 10, 2012, 7:00 AM PST | Latest comment by paulshearer@...
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Best Linux distributions for enterprise computing needs
There are a lot of Linux distributions out there. Out of those hundreds of variations, which are best suited for enterprise-level servers and desktops?
Posted by Jack Wallen | May 28, 2013, 5:45 AM PDT | Latest comment by Knighthawk5193@...
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How to install GNOME 3.8 on Ubuntu
If you want to try Ubuntu 13.04, but prefer a different desktop than Unity, Jack Wallen shows you how you can install the latest iteration of GNOME Shell (3.8) and why you should give it a try.
Posted by Jack Wallen | April 29, 2013, 8:13 AM PDT | Latest comment by kitico@...
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A house divided: Linux factions threaten success
Linux is at a major tipping point, yet it faces being undermined from within. Jack Wallen calls for the Linux community to end the fighting between the Linux camps.
Posted by Jack Wallen | June 3, 2013, 8:01 AM PDT | Latest comment by Robynsveil
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Linux 101: Easy VNC server setup
If you need to remote into your Linux server, VNC might be the best option. Jack Wallen walks you through the steps of setting up a VNC server on an rpm-based distribution.
Posted by Jack Wallen | March 18, 2013, 7:20 AM PDT | Latest comment by maszsam@...
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Using smartctl to get SMART status information on your hard drives
Vincent Danen has some tips for using the smartmontools package to obtain important information about the health of your hard drives that could provide early warning signs of problems.
Posted by Vincent Danen | March 30, 2010, 5:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by jack6666
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Better than BackTrack? Kali Linux offers new brand of pen-testing tools
BackTrack Linux no more. The popular open source package of penetration testing tools now has a new platform and a new name.
Posted by Selena Frye | March 25, 2013, 2:22 PM PDT | Latest comment by iT_BANDiT
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Lightworks video editor: Another missing piece for Linux
Lightworks has ported its video editing product to the Linux platform, and although it's still in beta, it shows some serious polish and potential.
Posted by Jack Wallen | June 10, 2013, 11:09 AM PDT | Latest comment by emenau
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How to tag all your audio files in the fastest possible way
Marco Fioretti shows you his method for tagging MP3 files with as much automation as possible so that you can impose a little order on music or other audio collections.
Posted by Marco Fioretti | February 23, 2012, 9:00 AM PST | Latest comment by egamingpark
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Chroot users with OpenSSH: An easier way to confine users to their home directories
With the release of OpenSSH 4.9p1, you no longer have to rely on third-party hacks or complicated chroot setups to confine users to their home directories or give them access to SFTP services....
Posted by Vincent Danen | June 24, 2008, 6:07 AM PDT | Latest comment by infam0us1
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Best open source HRM and ERP solutions
There's a reason why enterprise companies "get" Linux and open source. It's not just because of the security and reliability -- it's for the software. Check out this list of best in breed tools...
Posted by Jack Wallen | May 20, 2013, 7:27 AM PDT | Latest comment by mutisokimanzi
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Set up easy file sharing with NFS on Linux
Particularly for Windows-less environments where Samba is not needed, NFS is an easy and reliable way to share files between Linux and UNIX systems. Vincent Danen takes you through the setup.
Posted by Vincent Danen | October 26, 2010, 6:25 AM PDT | Latest comment by techrepublic@...
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Encrypting and decrypting files with GnuPG
GnuPG, the open replacement for PGP, is an excellent tool to manage cryptographic signatures to files or e-mails for validity and integrity, as well as a tool to encrypt and decrypt sensitive...
Posted by Vincent Danen | February 15, 2008, 12:00 AM PST | Latest comment by jack6666
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How to set up an OpenVPN server
Vincent Danen shows you how to set up OpenVPN and takes you through some of the tricky configuration steps to get you up and running quickly.
Posted by Vincent Danen | October 12, 2010, 6:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by tsepty
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Tweak Ubuntu Unity: Get a dock-style launcher and Unity Dash
One of the biggest criticisms of Ubuntu Unity is the inability to move the Launcher. After having an epiphany, Jack Wallen illustrates one way you can have the best of both worlds.
Posted by Jack Wallen | June 17, 2013, 6:48 AM PDT | Latest comment by Ajax4Hire
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Create your own yum repository
Vincent Danen explains how to create your own yum repository with the createrepo tool. One thing it allows you to do is to distribute specialized packages within an organization.
Posted by Vincent Danen | May 11, 2009, 1:30 PM PDT | Latest comment by gigi.mathew-1@...
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How to set up a Linux OpenVPN client
Vincent Danen follows up his tip on setting up OpenVPN server with these steps to set up a Linux client on OpenVPN.
Posted by Vincent Danen | October 18, 2010, 5:00 AM PDT
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Configure Apache to support multiple SSL sites on a single IP address
With Apache 2.2.12 and support for the SNI (Server Name Indication) extension to the SSL protocol, you can configure name-based HTTPS sites, just as you can name-based HTTP sites. Vincent Danen...
Posted by Vincent Danen | October 19, 2009, 6:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by Lunfa
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Arch-based Manjaro Linux touts user-friendliness
Looking for a new Linux flavor to try? The Manjaro team targets newcomers and pros alike, promising ease-of-use and performance.
Posted by Selena Frye | May 15, 2013, 1:21 PM PDT | Latest comment by cvarin

































