Ghost for Linux

Create a ghost image of your Linux machine locally or on FTP Server

You must have heard about Norton Ghost, which makes a snapshot of a hard disk allowing you to restore your system in case of a crash. However, Norton Ghost is a commercial tool that costs a lot of money. 'Ghost for Linux' is a free and open source equivalent of this tool. It allows you to create your disk image either on a different hard disk or via FTP on another machine.

This is a mini-distro of Linux and its kernel includes support for Parallel ATA and Serial ATA IDE drives. In our environment, we were not able to use it with SCSI drives. It comes with support for most common network cards.

Usage
It runs from a bootable CD and gives you a simple menu-based interface to navigate. We have given an ISO image of this distro on this month's PCQEssential CD. You may use Nero or other CD burning software to transfer this to a CD.

Before booting with it, make sure you have a secondary hard disk installed on the machine you want to ghost, with either Windows or Linux partitions. The tool creates an image of the active Linux partitions on the second hard disk. Now to use this tool, just boot your PC or server with the CD you created. At the login prompt, give the username as 'g4l' and execute the following command.

# ./g4l

This will give you a blue-colored menu system showing four options-RAW mode, File mode, Utilities and Show Help.

In RAW mode you can create or restore ghost images locally or through FTP server.

This will give you a blue-colored menu system showing four options-RAW mode, File mode, Utilities and Show Help.

In RAW mode you can create or restore ghost images locally or through FTP server.

The File mode lets you create or restore ghost images based on the partition that you want.

Utilities section offers various tools such as System Info, HD Parm, zero-tool, dd_rescue and parted. Here System Info gives you information about the connected hard disk, HD Parm lets you set the hard drives into 32-bit UDMA/66, zero-tool creates free space on partitions, dd_rescue makes a clone of a damaged hard drive to another drive, and parted allows you to play with your partition table.

Now let's see how we can create or restore images from your local hard disk or via FTP.

With a local hard disk
To create the ghost image of a Linux machine on another drive, just select RAW Mode> Local use>Pick Device. Here you need to select the source drive or partition (hda, hda1, hda2) that you want to take a snapshot of.

Here select the source hard disk that you want to make a snapshot of

Now from the same menu, select 'File Config' and give a name for the snapshot image file. If you have a large volume of data and want to split the image into multiple image files, then select 'Toggle split' and choose 'splitting on'.

The RAW disk image can be huge in size, because it's a clone of your entire hard disk. To overcome this problem, you can compress the RAW image into gzip or gzip2 formats. For this, select 'Toggle Compression' and choose the compression format that you want.

Finally, select 'Backup Drive/Partition to local drive' and you will be prompted to select the destination drive that you want to use for storing the image file on (hdb, hdb1, hdb2). After setting it up, you will be shown a summary of configurations you have chosen. Select 'Yes' to confirm the selections. Ghost for Linux will then start the imaging process.

To restore the drive from the created image, just choose the source drive from the 'Pick Device' option, where you have stored the image. Set the image file name that you want to restore from 'File Config' option and choose the compression selected earlier from the 'Toggle Compression' option. Sadly, the utility has no way of browsing to and selecting the image file. Thus, you must know and provide the complete path to it yourself. Now select 'Restore Drive/Partition from local Drive' and in a few minutes your drive will be restored as it is.

Using an FTP server
As discussed above, Ghost for Linux also allows you to back up and restore the hard drive images on an FTP server. While this consumes both time and bandwidth, the advantage is that you do not need to spend for an extra hard disk for storing images. To back up your machine onto an FTP server, first configure an FTP server and create a virtual folder named 'img'. Set its permissions on this folder for Read and Write, for anonymous users.

A note During testing, do not use Win XP's FTP server, since it seems to have a limit on the size (only up to 2 GB) of the created image file. You can use either the ones in any of the Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 if you want to use Windows. Or use the FTP server available with Linux.

On the Linux machine, boot off the 'Ghost for Linux' CD and perform the steps mentioned in the Usage section. Now, select RAW Mode>Network Use>Pick Device, here choose the network card detected by Ghost for Linux. From the same menu, select 'Config Device' and give a static IP to this machine according to your subnet. Now select 'Config FTP' and here give the IP address of your FTP server. Next, you need to set the image file name that will be created on the FTP server.

To do so select 'Config File name'. If you want to compress the image file, then select 'Toggle Compression' and set the compression parameter same like we did while taking snapshot on a local disk. Finally, select 'Backup Drive/Partition to FTP server' and you will be prompted to select the source drive that you want to take a snapshot of. Now, from the list select hard drive or partition (hda, hda1, hda2) and it will start the imaging process.

To restore from this FTP image, keep all the FTP settings as it is and select 'Restore Drive/Partition to FTP server'.

You will be asked to select the drive on which you want to restore the ghost image. Select the drive or partition (hdb, hdb1.hdb2). Now it will show you a template of the configuration that you have made for FTP restoration. Next click on OK to start the restoration process.

Ghost for Linux tool would be very helpful for system administrators, in situations when they have to deploy base Linux server frequently. The administrators just need to create an image of a base Linux or UNIX server and the same image will then be used to deploy multiple Linux servers simultaneously in one go via an FTP server.

Taking Screenshots in Gnome..

One can take screenshots using gnome-screenshot tool.
open console and enter
gnome-screenshot and it will take screenshot of whole screen. If you need to take a delayed screen show enter

$gnome-screenshot -d 10


The above command delays the screenshot by 10 secs.. This is useful if you
want to take a screenshot when the system menus are open. When you open
Applications menu and press on printscreen button the menu gets closed
or you cannot take a screenshot of the opened menu. If you use above
command you can take screenshot of the opened menu.

if you need to take screenshot of a window enter

$gnome-screenshot -w -d 5

and select the wind which you need to take a screenshot. Or you can press alt+printscreen.

You can also use gimp for taking screenshots. Open gimp and goto
file-->acquire-->screenshot and you will see a small window
with options to take screenshot of an active window or to take
screenshot of full screen or of a selected area.. Select the option of your choice and click on snap button to take screen shot.

Howto Setup advanced TFTP server in Ubuntu

tftp is Multi-threaded TFTP server implementing all options (option extension and multicast) as specified in RFC1350, RFC2090, RFC2347, RFC2348 and RFC2349. Atftpd also supports multicast protocol known as mtftp, defined in the PXE specification. The server supports being started from inetd as well as in daemon mode using init scripts.

Install atftp Server in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install atftpd

This will complete the installation

Using atftpd

By default atftpd server starts using inetd so we need to tell atftpd to run as a server directly, not through inetd.Edit /etc/default/atftpd file using the following command

sudo gedit /etc/default/atftpd

Change the following line

USE_INETD=true

to

USE_INETD=false

save and exit the file

Now you need to run the following command

sudo invoke-rc.d atftpd start

Configuring atftpd

First you need to create a directory where you can place the files

sudo mkdir /tftpboot

sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot

sudo chown -R nobody /tftpboot

sudo /etc/init.d/atftpd restart

Security configuration for atftp

Some level of security can be gained using atftp libwrap support. Adding proper entry to /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny will restrict access to trusted hosts. Daemon name to use in these files is in.tftpd.

/etc/hosts.allow /etc/hosts.deny

in.tftpd : FQD or IP

atftp client installation

Advance Trivial file transfer protocol client,atftp is the user interface to the Internet ATFTP (Advanced Trivial File Transfer Protocol), which allows users to transfer files to and from a remote machine. The remote host may be specified on the command line, in which case atftp uses host as the default host for future transfers.

sudo aptitude install atftp

That’s it you are ready to transfer your files using tftp clients

Testing tftp server

Tranfering file hda.txt from 192.168.1.100 (Client using tftp) to 192.168.1.2 (Server 192.168.1.100). Get an example file to transfer (eg. hda.txt)

touch /tftpboot/hda.txt

chmod 777 /tftpboot/hda.txt

ls -l /tftpboot/

total 0
-rwxrwxrwx 1 ruchi ruchi 223 hda.txt

atftp 192.168.1.2

atftp> put hda.txt

Sent 722 bytes in 0.0 seconds

atftp> quit

ls -l /tftpboot/

total 4
-rwxrwxrwx 1 ruchi ruchi 707 2008-07-07 23:07 hda.txt

ubuntu package

Installing packages (programs) and libraries

In Ubuntu there are two ways to install packages into your system.

You can install packages from the command-line Terminal or from the Synaptic Package Manager

[edit]

How to install a package with Apt (from the command-line terminal)

• Apt is the Debian Package Manager and is used in Ubuntu as well.

• Start the command line terminal:

 System --> Accessories --> Terminal

• Install a package by typing:

 sudo apt-get install package

• To install the music player Amarok, for example:

 sudo apt-get install amarok

• Remove a package:

 sudo apt-get remove package

• To remove the Exaile music player, for example:

 sudo apt-get remove exaile

• Apt checks the dependencies of a program automatically it is installed or removed.

[edit]

How to install a package with Synaptic Package Manager

• Start Synaptic Package Manager:

System --> Administration --> Synaptic Package Manager

• Search for a complete or package using the Search Button.

• Click the box(es) of the package(s) to be installed; it/(they) will be entered into the installation queue.

• Press "Apply". Synaptic calculates the dependencies and installs the selected package as well as the packages on which it is dependent.

[edit]

Searching for a package/program

There are several ways to find packages in the repositories.

[edit]

Find a package in Synaptic

• Open Synaptic:

System --> Administration --> Synaptic Package Manager

• Press the Search button.

[edit]

Select the fastest mirror

• See How to select the fastest mirror.

[edit]

Find a package on the Ubuntu website

• Go to the Ubuntu Packages website.

• Search the Hardy packages at:

• http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/
• http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy-updates/
• http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy-backports/ :*http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy-backports/main/newpkg

[edit]

Find a package with Apt

• Open a command-line terminal:

 Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal

• Search for a package-name in the cache.

  sudo apt-cache search 

• Example:

  sudo apt-cache search music player

[edit]

Find a package in Aptitude

• Aptitude is a menu-driven version of apt. It is invoked from the command-line terminal.

Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal
user> aptitude

• Use the Search option similar to Synaptic Package Manager.

[edit]

Add a program to the Applications menu

• Right click on the menu bar to edit the menus.

• Optionally, from the command-line terminal:

alacarte

• To find the location of the application on the hard drive:

  locate 

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 on ASUS Eee PC 900

In June 2008, the Debian project announced that it had started a cooperation project with ASUS in order to bring full support for the company's Eee PC to Debian. It had set up a Debian Eee PC page on the distribution's Wiki and has since released an installation image based on Debian's upcoming release - version 5.0 and code name "Lenny". While many other distributions have announced support for the Eee PC and released various CD and USB images claiming full or partial support for the popular netbook, Debian was the first project with an active communication channel between a Linux distribution and the Taiwan-based hardware manufacturer. So how does Debian GNU/Linux fare on the ASUS Eee PC some three months later?

First, I was curious to see whether any Eee PC support was being integrated into the mainstream Debian GNU/Linux 5.0. To test this, I downloaded the recently released Debian Live, another Debian's sub-project that promises to deliver a set of live Lenny images for those who prefer to install their distribution from a live CD, DVD or USB media. I used the live USB image, which I transferred to a 4 GB USB key in order to boot the ASUS Eee PC 900. While the boot process went well and the system came up with a working sound and correct screen resolution, neither the wired, nor the wireless network was active. As I discovered later, the kernel modules of the two network devices were not available on the stock Debian Lenny system and while it was possible to download the required modules from ASUS's web site, the lack of any development tools on the live media meant that it was not possible to compile them. That brought an end to my experimentation with Debian Live, which clearly is nowhere near ready for the Eee PC.

Next, I downloaded the 16 MB custom Debian USB image specifically designed for the Eee PC. My plan was to use an external SD card to boot the image, then install it to an external USB storage device, leaving the internal Solid State Drives (SSD) unmodified. This worked well; I used one of those SD card USB adapters to write the Debian Eee PC image to it:

dd if=debian-eeepc_20080729.img oflag=direct of=/dev/sdc

The installation went without a hitch. After I booted the machine from the external SD card (/dev/sdd), the system correctly detected the two internal solid state disks (the 4 GB disk as /dev/sda and the 16 GB one as /dev/sdb), and asked where to install the system. I chose the 4 GB external USB drive (/dev/sdc). The installer also asked which network adapter I preferred to use for system installation - the options were eth0 (Attansic Technology Corp. L2 100 Mbit Ethernet Adapter) or the wireless ath0 (Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI E). I chose the latter, then confirmed all the remaining options and went to get myself a cup of coffee. By the time the installer finished I could have had a dozen as installing the system to the external USB drive turned out to be a very lengthy process - it took more than four hours! And it definitely wasn't due to the slow download of packages over the network.

However, before rebooting the system, it was necessary to manually make some changes to the /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst - the details are available here. If you are planning to follow these instructions, then one more warning - different models of Eee PC require a different set of changes so pay close attention to the note in the "Fixing GRUB configuration and /etc/fstab" chapter of the above page. In any case, if you reboot before making the required changes to these files, it is possible to fix them by mounting the USB drive on another computer.

First boot after installation. Once again, the sound and screen resolutions were correct, but still no networking. Even though the entire installation was performed over the wireless network, once booted into the newly installed system, the ifconfig command revealed that there was no device named ath0 and no kernel module corresponding to it. As I was to find out, to get the wireless network up, it was necessary to install the MadWifi package (the instructions are here). Luckily, the eth0 network interface worked as a "hotplug", so as soon as I plugged in the network cable, the system was all set up for some serious apt-get action. Installing MadWifi worked fine and soon I was able to surf the Internet from the balcony.

However, there were a few glitches. While having to do all the extra manual work, such as configuring GRUB and installing MadWifi, was unexpected from a system that claimed to provide support the Eee PC, more disappointments followed. Firstly, the network applet (nm-applet 0.6.6) present by default in the GNOME panel only registered the wired network, so if connected through the wireless one, it claimed "no networking" available. Secondly, the battery applet also gave an error, something to the effect of having only 1% of battery power. And the package update applet claimed that there were two updates ready for the system, but after launching the Update Manager, I was told that "your system is up-to-date" (see screenshot below). Some of these problems were the result of a recent kernel upgrade in Debian, which brought a new set of bugs and for which there are some known workarounds. So even though the system is usable in this state, those wanting a more authentic Eee PC experience with Debian need to be prepared to do much manual work on the command line.

Despite all the trouble that makes Lenny on the Eee PC somewhat hard to install and use at this stage, the good news is that the Debian Eee PC team continues to work on the existing issues. As I started typing this report, I noticed a new Eee PC image released just yesterday (Sunday). Labelled as debian-eeepc_20080907.img, it didn't take long before it found itself on the external SD card for the repeat of the 4+-hour installation process to see if anything has improved. Unfortunately, the same problems showed up again - the "broken battery" error, no wireless network, and the package update issues were still very much present in the new image.

Conclusions? The Debian Eee PC team has made it possible to run Debian Lenny on the ultra-portable, all right. All it takes is a bit of command-line work, some module compilation, and a few workarounds here and there and it will work - thanks also to the excellent documentation on the Debian Wiki pages. But the entire experience isn't particularly positive. Firstly, it's clear that, unlike Mandriva, Debian has not integrated the work done by its Eee PC team into the main Debian kernel. Secondly, getting Debian work on the Eee PC requires many unnecessary steps. If the installer has support for the Atheros wireless network card, why is it not available in the installed product? And if the installer is capable of detecting the installation target, why is it necessary to modify some critical system files after the installation is completed?

At the end of the day, it's obvious that Debian's support for the Eee PC is still very much work in progress. Until this work is completed, there are better distributions to run on the little laptop.

The Top Ten Reasons for Learning Linux, Number 9, Linux Certifications

People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. This article discusses Linux certifications. Other articles talk about Linux's free applications, its integration with the Internet, its resistance to viruses, integration with Apache, MySQL and PHP, how Linux can revive your obsolete computers, how it improves your control over the computer, and more. There are currently four programs that enable people to become certified as Linux Systems Administrators. These programs are offered by the Computing Technology Industry Association, the Linux Professional Institute, the Novell Corporation, and Red Hat, Inc. The first two are professional industry associations whose certification programs do not depend on any specific Linux distribution. Novell and Red Hat Linux certifications are closely associated with their popular Linux distributions. Should you wish to prepare for either of these two certifications you will definitely need access to their Linux version.

What’s involved in obtaining a Linux Certification? You must pass one or more extensive tests that demonstrate your prowess in dealing with the typical and some atypical problems faced by Linux systems administrators. We’ll take a closer look at the CompTIA Linux+ Certification, the one often recommended as the first certification for people new to Linux. This certification does not apply to any specific Linux version. The test is designed to validate the knowledge of individuals with a minimum of six to twelve months of practical Linux experience. According to the Computing Technology Industry Association, professionals achieving the CompTIA Linux+ certification can explain fundamental management of Linux systems from the command line, demonstrate knowledge of user administration, understand file permissions, software configurations, and management of Linux-based clients, server systems, and security. Many of these functions are available on Damn Small Linux.

The Linux+ certification is a basic, entry-level certification for Linux system administrators. It is intended for people with six-months experience installing, operating and maintaining Linux operating systems. To achieve Linux+ certification, candidates must pass the 98 question Linux+ exam which covers seven areas: Planning and Implementation; Installation; Configuration; Administration; System Maintenance; Troubleshooting; and Identify, Install and Maintain System Hardware. This multiple-choice exam costs about $232 and is a good starting point for those who want to continue with other Linux certifications including those from Novell and Red Hat.

Why would anybody want to start preparing Linux certification on a limited version of Linux? The answer is simple – certification is not to be taken lightly. Don’t make a major financial and time investment unless you know that you really want to be certified and that you possess the required skill set. It’s not hard to find schools that promise you success in Linux certification and in any of their course offerings. But Linux certification may not be for you. Don’t make a major certification investment only to find that it wasn’t what you had in mind. Work your way through my tutorials including the suggestions for going further. Get your hands on a variety of Linux books. I would start with books designed for learning Linux and for running Linux systems before working with Linux certification books.

Don’t be satisfied with running computer exercises in your mind, and nodding your head at the appropriate times. To succeed you must do the exercises on a computer running Linux. Since installation is a component of all Linux Certification exams don’t stint on installing several versions of Linux on your computer. An external USB hard drive is not very expensive. Try to make friends with someone who knows better than you how to do things. Ask a lot of questions. And good luck!

And while you’re working on your certifications take a look at some of Damn Small Linux’s other advantages in our final article in this series.

The Top Ten Reasons For Learning Linux, Number 5 Linux, Apache, And MySQL

People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. This article discusses integration with the popular Apache and MySQL programs. Other articles talk about Linux's free applications, its integration with the Internet, its resistance to viruses, integration with PHP, how Linux can revive your obsolete computers, how it improves your control over the computer, Linux certification, and more Linux and Windows have many things in common. One major similarity is that most people aren’t very interested in knowing how they work. Both of these operating systems make the computer available for the applications that people want to apply; for example running an Internet server, browsing the Internet, creating and accessing data bases, writing programs, playing music, or, or, or. All these tasks are coordinated by the operating system and require specialized programs that drive hardware efficiently and correctly. We’ll talk about Linux’s closely integrated "friends" and compare them to the similar but oh so different Microsoft offerings.

The Linux group is called LAMP, which stands for Linux, Apache, MySql, and PHP. There is no similar Microsoft acronym for their set of interacting products. Could that be a sign of their relatively low level of integration? In contrast Linux is closely integrated with the other LAMP components. In a sense these companions grew up together. Improvements to one component are easily transmitted to the others. They are all Open Source meaning that the actual code for all components is readily available. When a problem such as a security breach occurs (don’t let anybody tell you there are no security breaches in Linux and friends) people work on the problem and may post corrections rapidly. Now let’s look at the other LAMP components.

Apache is a highly regarded web server. It has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April, 1996. Believe me, if Microsoft with its virtually unlimited resources cannot dislodge Apache from the top of the pack this software must be doing a lot of things right. Of the four LAMP components Apache is the one that non-specialists are least likely to try to learn. But if you want to play with it, guess how much it costs. You can download a version that runs under Windows but it is unlikely to contain the full functionality. At the time of this writing the Windows version of Apache has problems with its cryptographic functions. Apache is undergoing constant development; its new features, security enhancements, and bug fixes will be available first on the Open Source (LAMP) version. And then filter down to the Windows version.

MySQL is the most popular Open Source Database Management System. The MySQL Community Server is free. The more powerful MySQL Enterprise Server starts at $595 per server per year, a very reasonable price for a commercial product. Microsoft’s competitive database management system is Microsoft SQL Server. Licensing of this software is fairly complicated and believe me, costs a lot, lot more than does MySQL Enterprise Server. Microsoft often makes you pay for purchasing the server and client software and then pay annual server licenses and client licenses for system access.

MySQL runs on a wide range of hardware in conjunction with various operating systems. You can guess from its name that Microsoft SQL Server runs only Windows. Both of these database management products are constantly upgraded and many technical features that once were available only on SQL Server now run on MySQL. In the past SQL Server clearly surpassed MySQL for enterprise-level systems, while itself often losing out to Oracle or other database management systems. Today’s reality is more complicated and MySQL Enterprise Server manages many huge database systems.

Talking about size, we didn’t finish discussing LAMP components in this article. PHP is the subject of the next one in this series.

The Top Ten Reasons For Learning Linux, Number 4, Resistance To Viruses

The Linux operating system runs computers of all sizes including home computers. People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. This article discusses its resistance to viruses. Other articles talk about Linux's free applications, its integration with the Internet, , LAMP, how Linux can revive your obsolete computers, how it improves your control over the computer, Linux certification, and more. Let’s start by mentioning a few facts that can be very disconcerting to die-hard Linux and Unix fans. Serious computer viruses appeared first in Unix systems. And arguably the worst computer virus attack in history occurred on Unix systems about twenty years ago. The good news is that the lessons learned from this attack were integrated into the constantly evolving Unix and Linux systems. Of course, to some extent they have been integrated into protecting Windows systems, and that’s also good news.

One of the reasons Linux surpasses Windows for virus resistance is that it, Linux, is open source. When an attack occurs hundreds if not thousands of techies start working on solutions and post them to the Internet. You won’t have to wait for an anti-virus company to come up with something.

What other factors make Linux systems more virus resistant? For a virus to take effect it must be part of a running program. Simply opening an attachment in the Microsoft Windows environment does the trick. The last time (pun intended) I opened an electronic greeting card on my Windows computer I got a nasty virus and it took some time to remove it even with the aid of technical support. Linux systems won’t launch the virus unless the user reads the email, saves the attachment, modifies the appropriate permission assigning execution permission to the attachment, and then explicitly executes the attachment. Unless all these steps are performed the virus just remains in quarantine. Of course an educated Linux user could carry out all these steps unleashing the virus but this unhappy state of events doesn’t occur often in properly organized systems.

Another factor limits virus impact in the Linux world. Regular Linux users don’t have permission to do a lot. Even if they unleashed a virus it wouldn’t go very far. Getting beyond the individual computer requires administrative power – the kind held by Root Users in Linux and Administrators in Windows. Regular users of Linux are usually not accorded root permission. In contrast, on a newly installed Windows system the first user created is automatically an Administrator. We call that asking for trouble.

Just think - a regular Windows user has permission to install files that can run amok and destroy lots of good things. It seems that in Windows the operating system, the applications, and the data are inextricably intertwined. As if they were asking for trouble.

I have read that bananas are in danger. It seems that biodiversity is a thing of the past in banana-land or at least in the commercial banana world. So there is the possibility that one powerful banana virus can make banana splits a thing of the past. The very diversity of Linux systems offers some protection. And it’s a LAMP onto the world as discussed in the next two articles.

The Top Ten Reasons For Learning Linux, Number 3, Integration With The Internet

The Linux operating system runs computers of all sizes including home computers. People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. This article discusses its integration with the Internet. Other articles talk about Linux's free applications, its resistance to viruses, LAMP, how Linux can revive your obsolete computers, how it improves your control over the computer, Linux certification, and more. And here is today’s technology history lesson. No, Bill Gates and Microsoft did not invent the Internet. In fact, these visionaries actually jumped aboard the information highway fairly late after vainly trying to counterpose their own MSN to the Internet.

In contrast Unix computers have been accessing the Internet and what’s more running the Internet for decades. Unix and the Internet have had plenty of time to evolve together. Of course you can access the Internet from Windows with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and numerous other browsers. Many sites do use Windows-based Internet servers. Whether you are just an Internet user or an Internet Service Provider you probably want to know the concrete differences for you and your associates to help choosing between Linux and Windows for meeting your Internet needs. (Actually Internet Service Providers tend to know the differences and have made their choice, which is usually Linux. In the interest of fairness I must tell you that their choice is definitely not Damn Small Linux – it’s just too small.) Let’s examine some of the differences between Linux and Windows with respect to the Internet.

Linux browsers are much less likely to stall than their Windows competitors. This increased stability reduces those annoying Internet browser restarts and even more annoying operating system restarts. This latter advantage is particularly important for Internet Service Providers but is also important for individual Internet users.

The Linux Internet experience is much less likely to be interrupted by Adware, in which intruders foist their junk on unwilling victims. As far as I’m concerned Adware is theft of my time and energy. I happen to know that I’m not the 10 millionth visitor to their site and even if I were there is no way that I won any free vacation to Las Vegas or Never-Never Land. Linux systems far outdo Windows when it comes to blocking these criminals and letting me do my Internet work or have my Internet fun.

I don’t want people snooping around my stuff, whether on the computer or not. Spyware is often a major problem with Internet browsers that run on Windows computers. Linux systems are more resistant to Spyware than are Windows systems. But in the interest of fairness I don’t believe those silly claims that Linux computers are completely resistant to Adware, Spyware, hacking, viruses and the like. Whatever some people can build, others can tear down or worm their way in.

This leads to our next subject, computer viruses. Can you guess which operating system is better equipped to combat this major problem?

The Top Ten Concepts For Linux Beginners - Number 2, Directories

People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. Of course, you should be familiar with some basic Linux concepts. This article discusses Linux directories. Other articles discuss files, permissions, users, inodes, processes, shells, programming, the graphical user interface, and LAMP, the open-source (free) suite Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Look for our articles on Linux advantages over Windows.

Linux people are fond of saying that directories are just another type of file. This statement can be misleading. We saw in the previous article that you use a file editor to create a file. We will see later in this article how to create a directory.

So what exactly is a Linux directory? A directory is a collection that may include one or more directories, one or more files, or in fact be empty. You can think of a directory as a file folder, or as a loose-leaf notebook that contains dividers (themselves directories) and pages (files.) Just like a notebook page may not contain a divider, a Linux file may not contain a directory.

Up to now our comments about Linux directories hold for Windows directories as well. Now let’s take a look at some differences between these two systems. First come the naming conventions. Linux distinguishes between lower-case and upper-case characters in directory names. Microsoft Windows does not. For example, Linux treats pay12june and Pay12june are as two different directories, as different as pay12june and heighho. These directory names were used as file names in the previous article. While Linux does have some reserved directory and file names, in general one cannot tell by the name whether it is a file name or a directory name. So be careful. Linux helps you out here – the ls command that lists the contents of a given directory usually displays files and directories in different colors.

Directories are hierarchical. They are similar to a tree or a family tree. But unlike a tree (or Microsoft Windows) Linux has only one root. The root, designated as / lies at the top, rather than at the bottom, of the hierarchy. Right underneath the root directory you will find several subdirectories. For example, the /home directory is a child of / the root directory. The number and names of the first-level subdirectories vary from one version of Linux to another. For example, some Linux distributions include a /root directory while others do not. The /root directory (or subdirectory, both terms are used) is a child of /, the actual root directory.

The /home directory is an important directory. It is divided into subdirectories, one for each user. We like to work with Damn Small Linux, a free version of Linux that runs on the Windows desktop and requires only 50 Megabytes of disk space. Damn Small Linux automatically creates a user called dsl whose home directory is /home/dsl ; a working area essentially reserved for this user. All versions of Linux subdivide the /home directory into user subdirectories applying this simple naming convention.

Linux provides several commands for working with directories. For example, the mkdir command creates a directory. The rmdir command removes a directory, but in the simplest case only if it is empty. The cd command changes the working directory, the directory in which you are positioned. The pwd (print working directory) command displays (not prints) the working directory. Beginners should use this command a lot to reduce errors. For example, if you, the dsl user, think that you are positioned in the /home/dsl directory but in fact are positioned in the / directory you won’t be able save your files with a simple command. Why? Because you lack the requisite permission, the subject of our next article.

The Top Ten Reasons For Learning Linux, Number 1 It's Free

The Linux operating system runs computers of all sizes including home computers. People realize Linux's many advantages over Microsoft Windows. This article discusses a free version, Damn Small Linux. Future articles talk about its free applications, Linux's integration with the Internet, its resistance to viruses, LAMP, how Linux can revive your obsolete computers, how it improves your control over the computer, Linux certification, and more. Are you old enough to remember the 1992 Janet Jackson song entitled The Best Things In Life Are Free? Or maybe you are so old that you can remember the 1956 Hollywood movie of the same name. In any case we do not guarantee that you will find Damn Small Linux and our associated tutorials to be among the best things in your life. But we do guarantee that they are both completely free. Well, wait a minute. They are both free, but…

You may have to shell out some of your hard-earned cash to learn Linux, especially if you are downloading the software and running the tutorials on your home computer. Yes, you will have to pay for an Internet connection at least during the time devoted to downloading the files. Now by today’s bloated standards Damn Small Linux is really small; it weighs in at a mere 50 Megabytes. So downloading this software distribution is fairly quick, especially if you have a high-speed connection. And yet as we all know, sometime during the following month your Internet Service Provider will want money.

Once you have downloaded Damn Small Linux you won’t need the Internet to run it. But you may want to activate one or both of the Internet browsers that are part of the Damn Small Linux distribution. And you may want to download additional applications; there are lots of them and since Damn Small Linux is so small, you should still have scads of disk space available.

Your Damn Small Linux costs don’t end with the Internet. I don’t think that the electricity that powers your computer is free. And the longer your days and nights spent in front of the computer the higher your light and heat bill. Furthermore, the more time you spend on Linux the more money you may end up spending on snacks, new eyeglasses, and taxis when you miss the bus to work because you just couldn’t tear yourself away from the computer in time. I think you get my drift. But we repeat. Damn Small Linux, this website, and many of the references on the web are free. Should you outgrow Damn Small Linux the larger versions of Linux are free, or at least quite inexpensive when compared to ostensibly similar versions of Microsoft Windows.

Most people don’t run operating systems for their features but for the applications they enable. Reason number two: Damn Small Linux provides lots of free applications as discussed in our next article.

Linux vs. Windows

Operating system or OS is system software that manages and controls the computer resources and gives users with an interface used to access these resources. OS can be found for almost every device that is made with ICs like PC, Internet Servers, portable music players, cell phones, digital cameras and video games. There are five most popular computer operating systems including Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac and Novell. Among these Windows and Linux are the most widely used and most popular operating systems.

But both these operating systems, Windows and Linux, are completely different in technology, interface and reliability. The main differences between Windows and Linux are as follows:

1. Linux is an open source operating system whereas Windows is a closed source operating system. You can reproduce and copy the Linux codes at very low cost but not of windows.

2. Windows is very costly as compared to Linux. Linux is completely free operating system. But both these operating systems are very expensive to maintain.

3. Linux is more reliable operating system as compared to Windows. Windows creates several hidden problems that can lead to system failure. Time pressure for development of the publicized closed source product to fulfill a sales target is also a thought to play a big role in the number of errors.

Reliability is the major problem with windows operating system. It causes hidden errors that can lead to system failure and ultimately can cause data loss.

Data loss is one of the biggest problems for computer users where he/she losses all of the important data stored on computer that can lead their business to destroy. In these situations, it becomes very important to recover these data.

You can recover your lost data with the help of software. Data recovery software can be different for different operating systems. For Windows operating system, these software are known as windows data recovery software. These are the hard drive data recovery software that can help you in recovering all of your lost data from computer hard drive no matter what is the reason of data loss.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is robust and powerful data recovery software that you can use in all possible cases of data loss from windows computer. This data recovery software uses advanced scanning algorithms to search and locate the lost data and recover them in the original format. This software also works as Partition recovery software and can recover the lost or missing windows hard drive partitions based on FAT and NTFS file system.

Stellar Phoenix Windows data recovery software is compatible with all file versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 98, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista.

Linux - History

Linux - History

Unix was the third operating system to CTSS, the first one followed by MULTICS. A team of programmers led by Prof. Fernando J. Corbato at the MIT Computation Center, wrote the CTSS, the first operating system supporting the concept of time-sharing. AT&T started working on the MULTICS operating system but had to leave the project as they were failing to meet deadlines. Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kerngham at Bell Labs, used the ideas on the MULTICS project to develop the first version of Unix.

MINIX was a Unix-like system released by Andrew Tenenbaum. The source code was made available to the users but there were restrictions on the modification and distribution of the software. On August 25, 1991, Linus Torvalds, a second year computer engineering student studying in the University of Helsinki made an announcement that he was going to write an operating system. With an intent to replace MINIX, Torvalds started writing the Linux kernel. With this announcement of Torvalds, a success story had begun! Linux was previously dependent on the MINIX user space but with the introduction of the GNU GPL, the GNU developers worked towards the integration of Linux and the GNU components.

Linux - Introduction

The Unix-like operating system that uses the Linux kernel is known as the Linux operating system. In 1991, Linus Torvalds came up with the Linux kernel. He started writing the Linux kernel after which, around 250 programmers contributed to the kernel code. Richard Stallman, an American software developer, who was a part of the GNU project, created the General Public License, under which Linux is distributed. The utilities and libraries of Linux come from the GNU operating system.

By the term 'free software', we mean that Linux can be copied and redistributed in the altered or unaltered form without many restrictions. Each recipient of the Linux software is entitled to obtain the human readable form of the software and a notice granting the person the permissions to modify its source code. In other words, the distribution of the Linux software implies the distribution of a free software license to its recipients. Linux supports open source development by which we mean that all its underlying source code can be freely modified, used and distributed. The open source method of development enables the users of the software to access its source code.

A Linux distribution is a project that manages the collection of Linux software and the installation of the OS. It includes the system software and the application software in the form of packages and the initial installation and configuration details. There are around 300 different Linux distributions. The most prominent of the Linux distributions include Red Hat, Fedora and Mandrake. Fedora Core came up after the ninth version of Red Hat Linux. Fedora Core is a rapidly updated Linux distribution. Most of the Linux distributions support a diverse range of programming languages. Most of them include Perl, Python, Ruby and other dynamic languages. Linux supports a number of Java virtual machines and development kits as also the C++ compilers.

Linux is a freely available OS based on the Linux kernel. It is an inexpensive and effective alternative to the UNIX programs and utilities. Its open source implementation enables any programmer to modify its code. Linux supports a multi-tasking and multi-user environment as also the copy-on-write functionality. The monolithic Linux kernel handles the process control, networking and the file system. Device drivers are integrated in the kernel. The Linux operating system is equipped with libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell and a windowing system. Linux supports both the command line as well and the graphical user interfaces. Linux is popularly used in servers and also with desktop computers, supercomputers, video games and embedded systems. I have always enjoyed working on the Linux platform, have you?