When I first set up this site, which is administered using cPanel, I was blocked access to a terminal (AKA shell, console, command-line) and denied telnet/SSH access by the Web host. By default, most hosts do likewise, depriving site owners from excessive flexibility in hope that security will not be jeopardised and sites will rarely ‘break’. Nonethess, I found a terminal workaround, which I would like to share.

Run command as a cron job (widget/icon shown above). Have it scheduled to run a minute later with output to get sent by E-mail (default option) or saved to a file, e.g.

du -all >~/output_file

output_file, which gets created in your home directory, should then contain text that otherwise will have appeared in a terminal. Likewise, virtually anything including installations can be carried out. System administrators would become distressed if this practice became commonplace. In essence, this is the same as having a terminal-based interface, albeit it is slower and unresponsive.

Example cron job in cPanel – periodic mySQL backups (click image for full-sized equivalent)

Debian on a Compaq. Compaq were
acquired by HP and Ubuntu is based on Debian Linux.

NE of the key challenges that Linux has faced lately was its inability to get shipped by giant hardware distributors. A milestone can now be marked as Hewlett Packard begins to sell Ubuntu Linux, pre-installed on both desktops and laptops.

HP’s Sean Owen-Jones… said the company would shortly be releasing desktop and notebook PCs running Ubuntu Linux. The NX6110 notebook would be available shortly with Ubuntu and a desktop PC would also be available.

…

[HP's] Schulz said that HP’s entire email infrastructure… is run on Linux and delivers in the region of three terrabytes [sic] of mail annually.

Next up: Dell Computers.

Why you might ask?

Rather recently, Michael Dell asked Steve Job (of Apple) if he could take advantage of Mac OS X, which is now compatible with x86 architectures. Mac OS X , which is Linux-based (see correction in comment), can easily be incorporated into a massive stock of Dell machines. Tiger, being the most recent version of Mac OS, is taking some niches by storm already, security and eye candy being a major pro.

More importantly, as I pointed out 2 months ago, Michael Dell gave $100,000,000 to RedHat Linux out of his own pocket while Fujitsu opted for SuSE Linux and server support services.

To spice up this discussion, a Gartner Group study concluded that mainstream use of open source in IT environments may be just 5 years away. What a glorious turn of events.

Your eyes do not mislead you. This is Linux.

DE-LOOK.ORG is already including some themes for KDE version 4, which I impatiently anticipate. Shown above is Black Halloween, a Mac OS X-like theme.

The theme loosely relates to a previous item on Mac OS X-like themes for KDE (notice the clean shadow casting). While on the subject of Apple themes, my Jaguar-reminiscent Firefox theme is shown below and is available for download/installation. I believe it will remain compatible with Mozilla Firefox 1.5 (I am yet to test it tonight), which is now in release candidate phase!

Mac OS X theme for Firefox

The new looks of Slashdot?

LASHDOT will become standards-compliant XHTML/CSS rather soon as new code is currently being tested. If these changes were to be confirmed, one wonders how the vast audience would react. Perhaps the new layout would have slow penetration as it gets exposed to the community already. Looking at the Web Archive and making a comparsion with the new layout, long tradition definitely gets broken. I, for one, welcome the change reluctantly.

Bill Gates arrested in his younger days (photo in public domain)

ECENTLY I came to discover more about the personaility of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, perhaps possessed by the measles. He has become yet another one of the ugly guys in the block, perhaps even topping the man above. He was caught yelling “I’m going to f—ing kill Google” and throwing a chair across his office. Anger management comes to mind.

Given the aggressive behaviour of Microsoft, it was not too surprising when Massachusetts prepared a proposal that will drop Office in favour of Open Source solutions. I wish them to best of luck in their future endeavours, which are sure to insire the remainder of the country over the long term.

Massachusetts is preparing to deliver another challenge to Microsoft’s core PC software business: a directive to force all 50,000 desktop computers used by state employees to be stripped of Microsoft’s Office, the suite of applications used on an estimated 95 per cent of PCs the world over. Instead, they would be required to run an open-source version, such as OpenOffice or StarOffice – software produced by volunteer programmers and distributed free of charge.

A comparison to evaluate running costs over a length of time

ECENTLY, a fair bit of discusion focused on costs of Windows in the enterprise versus Open Source solutions. There are still many arguments between those whose familiarity with Open Source-based systems does not coincide with that of the manager. Furthermore, heavy advertising campaigns which Microsoft launched make it difficult to avoid deceit. More than ever before, there are vicious attempts to convince the public that Open Source is more costly, less secure and even bound to vanish.

One of the more disturbing facts is that a large corporation, which at present feeds on billions from the public, is able to run a propaganda whose budget is merely infinite. Despite all, we now come to discover that IBM have run their own independent TCO study, in which they compare cost (taking effectiveness into account) of the different solutions available. The study concludes that:

Linux is 40% less expensive than a comparable x86-based Windows server and 54% less than a comparable Sparc-based Solaris server.

This provides a long-anticipated answer to many who required it. A typical system administrator, who is inclined to favour Linux, can now use the above as concrete backing. The manager who makes the final decisions will sooner or later digest these facts and figures.

Related items:

• Microsoft-funded Benchmarks
• Reasons to Use Linux

A humorous article, which was sarcastically called “Five Reasons NOT to Use Linux” in fact talks about why Linux is better than Windows.

In short, here are the arguments listed by the article’s author:

• The Windows Registry has deficiencies
• Windows is hard to install due to patching, AV, etc.
• Windows lacks built-in applications
• Windows is not secure
• Windows is more expensive

Is you are not convinced about any of the above, have a look at the essay. It provides compelling arguments and includes references to support them.