Red Hat Unveils Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Redefining the Enterprise Operating System

• Red Hat further raises the bar for enterprise IT infrastructure - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 designed to meet both modern datacenter and next-generation IT requirements for cloud, Linux Containers, and big data
• Now generally available, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 delivers a single platform for enterprises to realize the convergence of computing across the open hybrid cloud, from bare metal and virtual machines to the cloud

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the latest major release of the company’s flagship platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 not only lays the foundation for the open hybrid cloud and serves enterprise workloads across converged infrastructures, but it also pushes the operating system beyond today’s position as a commodity platform. Built to meet modern datacenter demands along with next-generation IT requirements, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 powers the spectrum of enterprise IT, from application containers to cloud services.

Since its introduction more than a decade ago, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has become the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform, and it has set industry standards for performance, capacity, and security. Today, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a leading force in the enterprise datacenter and in the cloud. More than 90 percent of 2013 Fortune 500 companies, along with organizations in nearly every industry and around the globe, rely on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Bare metal servers, virtual machines, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) are converging to form a robust, powerful datacenter environment to meet constantly changing business needs. Answering the heterogeneous realities of modern enterprise IT, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 offers a cohesive, unified foundation that enables customers to balance modern demands while reaping the benefits of computing innovation, like Linux Containers and big data, across physical systems, virtual machines and the cloud – the open hybrid cloud.

Addressing Next-Generation IT Requirements
Enterprise IT does not exist in a static vacuum; technology is dynamic, with new innovations emerging almost daily, promising improved operational efficiencies as well as providing the ability to respond to radically-evolving business requirements. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 offers customers the agility and the flexibility to meet these new needs head-on without increasing complexity, from rapidly delivering new applications via secure, lightweight containers to scaling infrastructure to meet big data requirements with new and enhanced file systems. Key Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 features to address next-generation IT needs include:

• Enhanced application development, delivery, portability and isolation through Linux Containers, including Docker, across physical, virtual, and cloud deployments as well as development, test and production environments.
• Significant file system improvements, including XFS as the default file system, scaling to 500 TB.
• Cross-realm trust to easily enable secure access for Microsoft Active Directory users across Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux domains, providing the flexibility for Red Hat Enterprise Linux to co-exist within heterogeneous datacenters.
• Powerful and secure application runtimes and development, delivery and troubleshooting tools, integrated into the platform and container-ready.

Managing the Modern Datacenter
Beyond providing the capabilities to meet emerging IT innovation, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 also addresses today’s technology needs. With growing requests for complex systems, on-demand services and robust security, IT teams need more control, more clarity and more scalability without having to deploy dozens of specialized tools. Independent of deployment scale, scope or complexity, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 serves as not only a catalyst for enterprise innovation, but also delivers the military-grade security and the mission-critical reliability, as well as the performance, the features and the ease-of-use to efficiently “keep the lights on,” including:

• Innovative infrastructure components like systemd, a leading standard for modernizing the management of processes, services, security and other resources.
• Built-in performance profiles, tuning and instrumentation for optimized performance and easy scalability.
• Unified management tooling and an industry-standard management framework with OpenLMI for streamlined administration and system configuration.
• Enhanced application isolation and security applied via containerization to protect against both unintentional interference and malicious attacks.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Ecosystem
As with all of Red Hat’s enterprise open source solutions, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is backed by Red Hat’s extensive global ecosystem of services and support. Read more about the global technology leaders that are rallying behind Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Additionally, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 will be supported by Red Hat’s robust hands-on training and certification program, featuring classroom, virtual and on-site team courses. More details about the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 training and certification portfolio will be available soon.

Virtual Event and Press Webcast
Red Hat will host a virtual event - Redefining the Enterprise OS - to share more about Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 today, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT. Following keynote remarks from Red Hat’s Paul Cormier, president, Products and Technologies; Tim Yeaton, senior vice president, Infrastructure Group; and Jim Totton, vice president and general manager, Platform Business Unit, press and analysts are invited to participate in a question and answer session.

To join the virtual event or view the replay after the event, visithttp://bit.ly/RHELpress.

Supporting Quotes
Paul Cormier, president, Products and Technologies, Red Hat
“Over the course of the last 12 years, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has helped disrupt and define modern enterprise computing. From the Fortune 500 and global stock exchanges to government agencies, web start-ups, and many of the world’s biggest clouds, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has set the standard for the enterprise operating system. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, we’re raising the bar again and bringing the next-generation of IT to customers. As the worlds of physical, virtual and cloud systems converge, Red Hat is delivering a true open hybrid cloud platform that gives both ISVs and applications a consistent runtime platform across bare metal systems, virtual machines, and public and private clouds. This will be essential as applications move from on-premises to the cloud.”

Jay Lyman, senior analyst, 451 Research
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 helps to introduce newer technology, such as Linux Containers and related Docker software, to large enterprise environments along with the stability and certifications that enterprises demand. This is critical given the growing number of organizations mixing new technology and methodology – such as cloud, agile and DevOps approaches – with their existing infrastructure, processes and governance."

Richard Fichera blog post,Red Hat Releases Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 - Linux Continues its March to the Top
Forrester Research, Inc., June 2014
"Linux has continued to mature nicely as both a foundation for large scale-out clouds as well as a strong contender for the kind of enterprise workloads that previously were only comfortable on either RISC/UNIX systems or large Microsoft Server systems."

Mark Driver, vice president and research director, Gartner1
"By 2015, Gartner believes that at least 95% of all mainstream IT organizations will leverage some element of OSS --- directly or indirectly --- within their mission-critical IT solutions."

Al Gillen, program vice president, Servers and System Software, IDC
“Red Hat has systematically grown the capabilities and value proposition of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with each new release. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is no exception, and layers features and support for Linux Containers on top of an operating system that has seen major virtualization and cloud enhancements in the past two years. The addition of cross-realm trust with Active Directory is a pragmatic move, especially given the widespread use of Active Directory as a primary identity store."

Laurent Lachal, senior analyst, Ovum
"Owing to its position as the largest and most important open source technology provider and promoter, Red Hat punches above its weight against much larger incumbents. Enterprises have now accepted Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a mainstream enterprise OS. They want to understand how it will evolve not just on its own but also in a broader virtualized and cloudified data center context as well as in a public cloud context."

Munjeet Singh, principal, Digital Platform Infrastructure, Booz Allen Hamilton
“At Booz Allen Hamilton, we view Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as a foundational component for modern cloud infrastructure. We are pleased to see Red Hat positioning Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for the future of cloud consumption such as DevOps and PaaS, particularly with the integration of Docker and Linux container elements in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Like Red Hat, we look to containerized applications as the evolution of application delivery.”

Vinod Kutty, senior director, Enterprise Server Platforms, CME Group
"We want to get into a faster pace of adopting upstream features, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 brings us capabilities that we are very interested in, like containers and Docker. Additionally, we support both Linux and Windows, so we are interested in cross-platform support and interoperability within Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. We've been with Red Hat for the last 10 years because they have provided value, and we expect that relationship to continue with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.”

Masahiko Iwata, general manager, NTT Open Source Software Center, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.
“Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides the robust platform upon which a substantial number of NTT Group's services, ranging from our core communication business to the cloud, and supporting IT infrastructure have been built. We believe that open source is an engine of innovation that brings the best minds and companies together to create exciting new software and services. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is the crystallization of four years' worth of such collaborative efforts across all the stack into an enterprise-class distribution, which we view as a rock-solid foundation for new services in the cloud era.”

Chris Wojdak, senior architect, Symcor
"Because of our position with the financial processing industry, user and identity control across a wide range of systems is very important to us and our customers. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 will provide us with a cost effective and easy to use Corporate Wide Identity management solution, substantially reducing the time it takes to secure and administer our Hadoop cluster, SSO platforms, databases and Red Hat Enterprise Linux logins, among other systems."

Installing Samba4 As An Active Directory Domain Controller On CentOS 6

With the last version of samba 4 comes with Active directory logon and administration protocols, including typical active directory support and full interoperability with Microsoft Active Directory servers. This is possible with the combination of a LDAP directory, kerberos authentication, BIND DNS server and the remote procedure calls RPC.

When running as an Active Directory DC, you only need to run 'samba' (not smbd/nmbd/winbindd), as the required services are co-coordinated by this master binary. The tool to administer the Active Directory services is called 'samba-tool'.

I have a CentOS 6 x86_64 Minimal install. This post covers the initial installation and configuration of samba 4 as Active Directory domain controller on Centos 6 using BIND 9 as DNS backend and NTP server used by the clients.

1) Disable SELinux
[root@ad ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/selinux
             selinux=disabled

 2) Install the pre-requisites (or dependencies) for Samba 4 installation
[root@ad ~]# yum -y install wget gcc make wget python-devel gnutls-devel openssl-devel libacl-devel krb5-server krb5-libs krb5-workstation bind bind-libs bind-utils ntp

3) Configure NTP to use the local time server
[root@ad ~]# vi /etc/ntp.conf
Comment line numbers 22,23,24 and uncomment the below lines in the configuration file
server  127.127.1.0     # local clock
fudge   127.127.1.0 stratum 10

4) Download and compile Samba 4 from the following link
[root@ad ~]# wget ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/samba/samba-4.1.0.tar.gz
[root@ad ~]# tar -xvzf samba-4.1.0.tar.gz
[root@ad ~]# cd samba-4.1.0
[root@ad samba-4.1.0]# ./configure --enable-selftest --enable-debug
[root@ad samba-4.1.0]# make
[root@ad samba-4.1.0]# make install

5) Configuring Samba 4 to be a domain controller using samba-tool command
[root@ad ~]# /usr/local/samba/bin/samba-tool domain provision
Realm [ITGURUINDIA.COM]: ITGURUINDIA.COM       (All Caps) 
Domain [ITGURUINDIA]:
Server Role (dc, member, standalone) [dc]:
DNS backend (SAMBA_INTERNAL, BIND9_FLATFILE, BIND9_DLZ, NONE) [SAMBA_INTERNAL]: BIND9_DLZ
DNS forwarder IP address (write 'none' to disable forwarding) [192.168.124.252]: none
Administrator password: secret!1234
Retype password: secret!1234
Looking up IPv4 addresses
Looking up IPv6 addresses
No IPv6 address will be assigned
Setting up secrets.ldb
Setting up the registry
Setting up the privileges database
Setting up idmap db
Setting up SAM db
Setting up sam.ldb partitions and settings
Setting up sam.ldb rootDSE
Pre-loading the Samba 4 and AD schema
Adding DomainDN: DC=itguruindia,DC=com
Adding configuration container
Setting up sam.ldb schema
Setting up sam.ldb configuration data
Setting up display specifiers
Modifying display specifiers
Adding users container
Modifying users container
Adding computers container
Modifying computers container
Setting up sam.ldb data
Setting up well known security principals
Setting up sam.ldb users and groups
Setting up self join
Adding DNS accounts
Creating CN=MicrosoftDNS,CN=System,DC=itguruindia,DC=com
Creating DomainDnsZones and ForestDnsZones partitions
Populating DomainDnsZones and ForestDnsZones partitions
Setting up sam.ldb rootDSE marking as synchronized
Fixing provision GUIDs
A Kerberos configuration suitable for Samba 4 has been generated at /usr/local/samba/private/krb5.conf
Once the above files are installed, your Samba4 server will be ready to use
Server Role:           active directory domain controller
Hostname:              ad
NetBIOS Domain:        ITGURUINDIA
DNS Domain:            itguruindia.com
DOMAIN SID:            S-1-5-21-3335388306-1463729434-941727365

6) Configuring BIND as Samba Active Directory backend
Note: Bind must be installed on the same machine as Samba 4 is installed.
The dns backend BIND9_DLZ uses Samba 4 AD to store zone information
[root@ad ~]# rndc-confgen -a -r /dev/urandom
wrote key file "/etc/rndc.key"

A DNS keytab file was automatically created during provisioning/updating. Add the following' tkey-gssapi-keytab' option to the 'options' section of named.conf file. 
[root@ad ~]# vim /etc/named.conf
options {
listen-on port 53 { 192.168.1.100; };
allow-query { any; };
tkey-gssapi-keytab "/usr/local/samba/private/dns.keytab";
};
include "/usr/local/samba/private/named.conf";
include "/etc/rndc.key";

6) Change the resolv.conf file to the IP address of Samba server
[root@ad ~]# vim /etc/resolv.conf
domain Iitguruindia.com
nameserver 192.168.1.100

7) Configure the kerberos configuration file as below
[root@ad ~]# cp /usr/local/samba/share/setup/krb5.conf /etc/krb5.conf
[root@ad ~]# vim /etc/krb5.conf
[libdefaults]
        default_realm = ITGURUINDIA.COM    (All Caps)
        dns_lookup_realm = false
        dns_lookup_kdc = true

8) Set the permissions for named on the below files
[root@ad ~]# chgrp named /etc/krb5.conf
[root@ad ~]# chown named:named /usr/local/samba/private/dns 
[root@ad ~]# chown named:named /usr/local/samba/private/dns.keytab
[root@ad ~]# chmod 775 /usr/local/samba/private/dns

9) Configuring the Samba 4 init.d script and set permissions to it.
[root@ad ~]# vim /etc/init.d/samba4
#! /bin/bash
#
# samba4 Bring up/down samba4 service
#
# chkconfig: - 90 10
# description: Activates/Deactivates all samba4 interfaces configured to
# start at boot time.
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:
# Should-Start:
# Short-Description: Bring up/down samba4
# Description: Bring up/down samba4
### END INIT INFO
# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions

if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/samba4 ]; then
. /etc/sysconfig/samba4
fi

CWD=$(pwd)
prog="samba4"

start() {
# Attach irda device
echo -n $"Starting $prog: "
/usr/local/samba/sbin/samba
sleep 2
if ps ax | grep -v "grep" | grep -q /samba/sbin/samba ; then success $"samba4 startup"; else failure $"samba4 startup"; fi
echo
}
stop() {
# Stop service.
echo -n $"Shutting down $prog: "
killall samba
sleep 2
if ps ax | grep -v "grep" | grep -q /samba/sbin/samba ; then failure $"samba4 shutdown"; else success $"samba4 shutdown"; fi
echo
}
status() {
/usr/local/samba/sbin/samba --show-build
}

# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
status)
status irattach
;;
restart|reload)
stop
start
;;
*)
echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|status}"
exit 1
esac

exit 0

[root@ad ~]# chmod 755 /etc/init.d/samba4

10) Configure  the services to start at boot and start the below services.
[root@ad ~]# chkconfig ntpd on
[root@ad ~]# chkconfig named on
[root@ad ~]# chkconfig samba4 on
[root@ad ~]# service ntpd start
[root@ad ~]# service named on
[root@ad ~]# service samba4 on

11) If iptables is enabled then the below ports need to allowed through firewall.
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 53 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 123 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 135 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 138 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 389 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 88 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 139 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 389 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 445 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 464 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 636 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 1024:1032 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 3268 -j ACCEPT
[root@ad ~]# iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth0 -s 192.168.1.0/24 --dport 3269 -j ACCEPT

[root@ad ~]# service iptables save

12) Reboot the system to check services are working after reboot are not.
[root@ad ~]# reboot

13) Join a Windows PC to this domain controller 

14) Troubleshooting incase debugging dynamic DNS updates are not working
[root@ad ~]# /usr/local/samba/sbin/samba_dnsupdate --verbose --all-names

15) Port numbers used in iptables and their use.
53 - UDP - DNS (Domain Naming System)
123 - UDP - NTP (Network Time Protocol)
135 - UDP - RPC (Remote Procedure Calls)
138 - UDP - NetBIOS Logon
389 - UDP - LDAP UDP (LightWeight Directory Access Protocol)
88 - TCP - Kerberos 
139 - TCP - NetBIOS Session
389 - TCP - LDAP TCP (LightWeight Directory Access Protocol)
445 - TCP - SMB CIFS (Server Message Block / Common Internet File System)
464 - TCP - Kerberos Password Management 
636 - TCP - LDAP SSL (LightWeight Directory Access Protocol)
3268 - TCP - LDAP Global Catalog 
3269 - TCP - LDAP Global Catalog SSL

create repo-metadata.sh

 create-repo-metadata.sh

#!/bin/sh

# This is for Redhat 64 bit versions of Linux with `createrepo` installed. If you
# do not have createrepo, you can install it with:
# yum install -y createrepo

# Change DESTDIR path to RPMS directory of your repo
DESTDIR="/var/www/repo/rhel/6"

for ARCH in x86_64
do
    pushd ${DESTDIR}/${ARCH} >/dev/null 2>&1
        createrepo .
    popd >/dev/null 2>&1
done

how to create an rpm-repository.sh

how-to-create-an-rpm-repository.s 

# How to create an RPM repository

# This is for Redhat 64 bit versions of Linux. You can create your own RPM repository # to host your custom RPM packages.
#
# See "How to create an RPM from source with spec file" for more information.
# https://gist.github.com/1376973

# Step: 1
# Install createrepo

yum install -y createrepo

# Step: 2
# Create repo directories for hosting your rpms.
#
# Create your repository inside your base directory. You will also need some rpms for
# your repo. For this example, I am using RHEL6 and /var/www/repo as base directory.

mkdir -p /var/www/repo/rhel/6/{SRPMS,x86_64}

# Step: 3
# Create `create-repo-metadata` executable file
# 
# Use the `create-repo-metadata` command, which can create by downloading a shell
# script and making it an executable file. Make sure this file is in a directory in
# your $PATH. Run the command `echo $PATH` to list them. Install in /usr/local/bin
#
# IMPORTANT: In the script above, replace the path in 'DESTDIR' with:
# /var/www/repo/rhel/6

curl http://bit.ly/sZpx8f > /usr/local/bin/create-repo-metadata
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/create-repo-metadata

# Step: 4
# Create the repository metadata
#
# After creating the metadata, your repository will be ready for use

create-repo-metadata

# Tip!
#
# If you have made this repo publicly available, others can use this yum repo config
# file to update their own systems.
#
# Run `vi /etc/yum.repos.d/my.repo` to create the file

[myrepo]
name=My Repository
baseurl=http://mywebsite.com/rhel/6/$basesearch
enabled=1

# Then simply run `yum update` to install the rpms.

yum update

How To Configure Static IP On CentOS 6

  Linux Static IP

## Configure eth0
#
# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

DEVICE="eth0"
NM_CONTROLLED="yes"
ONBOOT=yes
HWADDR=A4:BA:DB:37:F1:04
TYPE=Ethernet
BOOTPROTO=static
NAME="System eth0"
UUID=5fb06bd0-0bb0-7ffb-45f1-d6edd65f3e03
IPADDR=192.168.1.44
NETMASK=255.255.255.0


## Configure Default Gateway
#
# vi /etc/sysconfig/network

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=centos6
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1


## Restart Network Interface
#

/etc/init.d/network restart

## Configure DNS Server
#
# vi /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 8.8.8.8      # Replace with your nameserver ip
nameserver 192.168.1.1  # Replace with your nameserver ip

Install Self-Signed Certificate in Zimbra Mail Server

When we install zimbra mail server, then automatically performs zimbra generate Self-Signed Certificate for webmail clients, webmail console, smtp, pop and imap. Self-Signed Certificate valid for one year from installation zimbra mail server. If the expiry date Self-Signed Certificate is not renewed automatically zimbra mail server can not be used to send and receive e-mail because it is considered less safe by zimbra.

To check the validity period on a Self-Signed Certificate zimbra mail server, please do the following :

 mail:~ # su - zimbra
zimbra@mail:~> su
Password:
mail:/opt/zimbra # zmcertmgr viewdeployedcrt

To install the Self-Signed Certificate on the mail server zimbra is already expired, please run the step-by-step below :

Before installing the Self-Signed Certificate is new, we should first backup the Self-Signed Certificate old with the command :

 mail:~ # cp -rf /opt/zimbra/ssl /opt/zimbra/backup

The next is to generate a new Certificate Authority (zmssl.cnf, ca.key, and ca.pem) :

 mail:~ # cd /opt/zimbra/bin
mail:/opt/zimbra/bin # ./zmcertmgr createca -new

Then we request the validity period of the Self-Signed Certificate for zimbra mail server, for example for 1 year (365 days) or 2 years (730 days) :

 mail:/opt/zimbra/bin # ./zmcertmgr createcrt -new -days 730

Then install deploycrt self & deploy ca :

 mail:/opt/zimbra/bin # ./zmcertmgr deploycrt self
mail:/opt/zimbra/bin # ./zmcertmgr deployca

Restart daemon zimbra mail server :

 mail:~ # su - zimbra
zimbra@mail:~> zmcontrol restart

Finally It's finished installation Self-Signed Certificate on the mail server zimbra. 

A USB Scope For Linux Users

Pico Technology has reportedly restored the numbers of Linux users, by offering a software that will run under their preferred OS. The USB oscilloscopes are famous but its demand supply is majority wise restricted to Windows platforms.

The PicoScope 6 will now convert a Linux PC into an oscilloscope, FFT spectrum analyser and measuring device. The On-device buffering, which uses deep memory on some devices, enables the display to be updated frequently and smoothly, even for long time-bases.

It is to be noted that the most important features from PicoScope, for Windows, are include in PicoScope 6, like the scope, spectrum and persistence modes, interactive zoom, simple, delayed and advanced triggers, automatic measurements, and signal generator control.

The oscilloscope software is available for the Debian 7.0, which is code named as wheezy, Ubuntu 12.xx / 13.xx, as well as other Debian-based distributions with mono-runtime version 2.10.81. or higher. The drivers are available for the current scopes from the PicoScope 2000 to 6000 series.

The PicoScope software involves an USB oscilloscope from the PicoScope range. These oscilloscopes are available with the bandwidths of up to 1 GHz, up to 4 input channels, with hardware vertical resolutions up to 16 bits, sampling rates up to 5 GS/s, buffer sizes up to 2 GS, and built-in signal generators.

Some more features that are available on some models are flexible hardware resolution, switchable bandwidth limiters, switchable high-impedance and 50 ohm inputs, and differential inputs. The company has asserted that more functions will be added soon. For now, the users can save the captures for off-line analysis, share them with the other PicoScope for Windows and also with PicoScope for Linux users. They can export them in text, CSV and Mathworks MATLAB 4 formats.

Here Are 6 Things That Cinnamon Can Learn From KDE...

There's no age and time to start learning, you practically learn all your life. The same set of rules are followed by the tech world as well. KDE and Cinnamon are undoubtedly the two leading desktop environments in the Linux world today. The two are 'tough' competitors when it comes to functionality and user share. Cinnamon offers a pretty neat development speed, is widely acknowledged within the user community and provides noticeable chunks of control and simplicity. However, does it outsmart KDE? Well, not really!

Here are 6 things that Cinnamon can learn from KDE:

1. Cross-platform support

-Cinnamon is a Linux only desktop environment, on the other hand KDE is a truly cross-platform solution (its framework available on Solaris, FreeBSD, OSX, and even Windows).

-Now, Cinnamon will keep you happily busy as long as you have some form of Linux under the hood, however, with KDE users can test and explore its various options, tools and programs before thinking about switching fully!

2. Attention to detail

-Being a German idea, KDE is pretty neat (as tidy as 'tidy' could be!) and boasts of a very careful attention to detail. With KDE, everything seems to fit everything else.

-Whatever distribution it might be, if it runs KDE, you know you will have a solid, familiar behavior and an expected level of precision.

3. Full stack

-KDE desktop is a complete stack, no matter how deeply you search through the menus and options, the uniformity persists.

-You can search for additional content and supplemental software without leaving the comfort of your desktop environment.

4. Applications

-KDE comes with the most complete and most uniform set of applications that users could ever imagine, non-Linux operating systems included.

-On the other hand, with Cinnamon the system menu choice reflects the particular distro developers bundling their favorite set. Move from one Cinnamon to another and you will know!

5. Powerful services and social integration

-KDE programs are acclaimed for their highly detailed menus and options. Whatever application it might be, it comes with a set of extras and easy social integration.

6. Professional touch

-A powerful set of applications and a complete stack of tools and options bundled together with an extremely consistent behavior make KDE the most professional of all Linux desktop environments.

-Furthermore, thanks to Qt one day we may see more and more of this framework on non-desktop computing devices.

Source: Netrunner

You think Linux is not for you and only for the tech savvy and those who are trained? Well, think again! The way things stand right now, laptops and PCs are becoming passé and mobile operating systems are gaining popularity. Linux is being adopted like never before! When it comes to choosing your operating system, you must focus on what your usage is. However, if your using Windows, you can still try out the 'goodness' of Linux without having to give up on your first love!

Here are six ways to set up multi-booting with Windows 8 and Linux:

1. Install the Linux GRUB bootloader

-Install the Linux GRUB bootloader as the default boot object.

-The catch here is you need to have a UEFI-compatible Linux distribution (openSuSE, Fedora, Linux Mint and Ubuntu).

-When you install a UEFI-compatible Linux distribution and everything works well, you will get the GRUB boot menu after a reboot. You can then choose either Linux or Windows 8 to boot from it.

2. Use the BIOS Boot Select Key

-There's a possibility that doing everything of the above still gets you nowhere, and you're still getting Windows rather than Linux after reboot.

-In that case you can use the BIOS Boot Selection option (activated by pressing a special key that varies between systems during the power-on or reboot process.)

-Pressing the special key will interrupt the Windows boot process and you will get a list of available operating systems (Windows 8 and Linux).

3. Enable 'Legacy Boot'

-Some systems make it difficult to enable Legacy Boot. The option might be well hidden in the BIOS configuration, or require a BIOS password before they will let you change it.

-Legacy Boot allows you to install more or less any Linux distribution, without worrying about UEFI compatbility.

4. Try a workaround

-There is a "next boot" option available, which specifices a one time boot configuration.

-If it is set the system will try to boot that item first, and will also clear that setting so that on the next boot it goes back to using the default boot sequence list.

-The next boot configuration can be set from Linux using efibootmgr -n XXXX, where XXXX is the item number from the boot list.

-Add the efibootmgr command to the Linux startup scripts. Every time you boot Linux, it would reset the value so that it would boot Linux again the following time.

5. Trick the default boot process

-Put the Linux shim.efi (or grubx64.efi) image where the Windows Boot Manager is normally located. This is a cleaver trick to trick the default boot process.

6. Install a different Boot Manager

-rEFInd has the advantage of being able to boot almost anything - Windows, Linux, MacOS. It automatically finds whatever might be on the disk and then presents you with a boot selection list.

Source: ZDNet    

How to Use a Mobile Phone as Modem in Linux

Last month, my home internet connection got disconnected a couple of times. However, I'm glad and lucky that I have a cell phone that I can use as a modem for my Linux box every time my internet provider messes up.

I'm going to share to all of you how I use my Nokia 9500Communicator mobile phone as Modem.

Note: this may also work with other Nokia cellular phone models that have internet capability.

1. Connect your phone to the computer via USB cable.

2. Open a terminal and type:

lsusb

3. You will get an output almost similar to this one:

jda@linux-lab:~$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 0421:0405 Nokia Mobile Phones 9500 GSM Communicator
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 05e3:0606 Genesys Logic, Inc.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

4. Notice the numbers 0421 & 0405 on the line in which 'Nokia Mobile Phones' is displayed. 0421 is the Vendor ID (VID), while 0405 is the Product ID (PID). We will use these numbers later as 0x421 & 0x405.

5. Enter this command:

sudo /sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x(VID) product=0x(PID)

eg, in my case: sudo /sbin/modprobe usbserial vendor=0x421 product=0x405

6. Now enter this command:

wvdialconf create

7. You will get an output which will be similar to this:

Editing `create'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

WvModem<*1>: Cannot set information for serial port.
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S1 S2 S3
WvModem<*1>: Cannot get information for serial port.
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- Nokia
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 230400: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Speed 460800: AT -- OK
ttyACM0<*1>: Max speed is 460800; that should be safe.
ttyACM0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK

Found an USB modem on /dev/ttyACM0.
Modem configuration written to create.
ttyACM0: Speed 460800; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

8. Find the location of the modem, in my case at /dev/ttyACM0, and also the Max speed which is 460800.

9. Now enter this command:

sudo vi /etc/wvdial.conf

Note: You can use any text editors. I used Vi here.

10. A file will open. Delete everything in that file and replace it with the following: (Don't forget to put the 'modem location' and 'max speed')

[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = PUT MODEM LOCATION HERE
Baud = PUT MAX SPEED HERE
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Modem
Phone = *99#
Username = username
Password = password
Stupid Mode = 1

11. Save the file, and the setup is done.

12. You can connect by opening a terminal and then typing the command: wvdial. You will then get an output like shown below if everything worked as expected.

jda@linux-lab:~$ wvdial
WvDial<*1>: WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.56
WvModem<*1>: Cannot get information for serial port.
WvDial<*1>: Initializing modem.
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATZ
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATZ
WvDial Modem<*1>: OK
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
WvDial Modem<*1>: OK
WvDial<*1>: Modem initialized.
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATDT*99#
WvDial<*1>: Waiting for carrier.
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATDT*99#
WvDial Modem<*1>: CONNECT
WvDial Modem<*1>: ~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}"}&} }*} } g}%~
WvDial<*1>: Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
WvDial: Starting pppd at Wed Feb 6 21:53:10 2008
WvDial: Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/pap-secrets: Permission denied
WvDial: --> PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) may be flaky.
WvDial: Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/chap-secrets: Permission denied
WvDial: --> CHAP (Challenge Handshake) may be flaky.
WvDial: Pid of pppd: 5936
WvDial<*1>: Using interface ppp0
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: local IP address 10.157.42.199
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: remote IP address 10.6.6.6
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: primary DNS address 121.1.3.208
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]
WvDial<*1>: secondary DNS address 121.1.3.199
WvDial<*1>: pppd: ��[06][08]ؗ[06][08]

13. You are now connected. Disconnect by hitting Ctrl+c.

Overcoming the Fear of Linux Terminal

Fear is a painful emotion by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread; like our fear of ghosts and zombies as a child, and our fear of failure and death as an adult. I’m here to help Linux newbies defeat their fear, but not the kind of fear that I was talking about. Instead, I’m here to assist those who are suffering from CLI-phobia, or the “fear of Command Line Interface”. I will list some indispensable commands and keyboard shortcuts with their corresponding functions to guide the fearful in their journey to conquer the horror of using the Linux terminal.

Here are some of the most essential Linux terminal commands andkeyboard shortcuts:

*Essential Commands

Commands - Functions

Directory navigation

Pwd - "Print working directory" - show what dir you're in.

ls - List the contents of a dir.

ls –l - List the contents of a dir and show additional info of the files.

ls –a - List all files, including hidden files.

cd - Change directory.

cd - Go to the parent directory.

Examining files

file - Determine the type of a file.

cat - Concatenate a file.

less - View text files and paginate them if needed.

Manipulating files and directories

p - Copy a file.

cp –i - Copy a file and ask before overwriting.

cp –r - Copy a directory with its contents.

mv - Move or rename a file.

mv –i - Move or rename a file and ask before overwriting.

rm - Remove a file.

rm –r - Remove a directory with its contents.

rm –i - Ask before removing a file. Good to use with the -r option.

mkdir - Make a directory.

rmdir - Remove an empty directory.

*Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + Alt + F1
Switch to the first virtual terminal. In Linux, you can have several virtual terminals at the same time. The default is 6.

Ctrl + Alt + Fn
Switch to the nth virtual terminal. Because the number of virtual terminals is 6 by default, n = 1...6.

tty
Typing the tty command tells you what virtual terminal you're currently working in.

Ctrl + Alt + F7
Switch to the GUI. If you have X Window System running, it runs in the seventh virtual terminal by default. If X isn't running, this terminal is empty.

Ctrl + Alt + +
Switch to the next resolution in the X Window System. This works if you've configured more than one resolution for your X server. Note that you must use the + in your numpad.

Ctrl + Alt + -
Switch to the previous X resolution. Use the - in your numpad.

MiddleMouseButton
Paste the highlighted text. You can highlight the text with your left mouse button (or with some other highlighting method, depending on the application you're using), and then press the middle mouse button to paste. This is the traditional way of copying and pasting in the X Window System, but it may not work in some X applications.

If you have a two-button mouse, pressing both of the buttons at the same time has the same effect as pressing the middle one. If it doesn't, you must enable 3-mouse-button emulation.

This works also in text terminals if you enable the gpm service.

Ctrl + Alt + Backspace
Kill the X server. Use this if X crashes and you can't exit it normally. If you've configured your X Window System to start automatically at bootup, this restarts the server and throws you back to the graphical login screen.

Home or Ctrl + a
Move the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

End or Ctrl + e
Move the cursor to the end of the current line.

Alt + b
Move the cursor to the beginning of the current or previous word. Note that while this works in virtual terminals, it may not work in all graphical terminal emulators, because many graphical applications already use this as a menu shortcut by default.

Alt + f
Move the cursor to the end of the next word. Again, like with all shortcuts that use Alt as the modifier, this may not work in all graphical terminal emulators.

Tab
Autocomplete commands and file names. Type the first letter(s) of a command, directory or file name, press Tab and the rest is completed automatically! If there are more commands starting with the same letters, the shell completes as much as it can and beeps. If you then press Tab again, it shows you all the alternatives.

This shortcut is really helpful and saves a lot of typing! It even works at the lilo prompt and in some X applications.

Ctrl + u
Erase the current line.

Ctrl + k
Delete the line from the position of the cursor to the end of the line.

Ctrl + w
Delete the word before the cursor.

Shift + PageUp
Scroll terminal output up.

Shift + PageDown
Scroll terminal output down.

clear
The clear command clears all previously executed commands and their output from the current terminal.

Ctrl + l
Does exactly the same as typing the clear command.

reset
If you mess up your terminal, use the reset command. For example, if you try to cat a binary file, the terminal starts showing weird characters. Note that you may not be able to see the command when you're typing it.

history
When you type the history command, you'll see a list of the commands you executed previously.

ArrowUp or Ctrl + p
Scroll up in the history and edit the previously executed commands. To execute them, press Enter like you normally do.

ArrowDown or Ctrl + n
Scroll down in the history and edit the next commands.

Ctrl + r
Find the last command that contained the letters you're typing. For example, if you want to find out the last action you did to a file called "file42.txt", you'll press Ctrl + r and start typing the file name. Or, if you want to find out the last parameters you gave to the "cp" command, you'll press Ctrl + r and type in "cp".

Ctrl + c
Kill the current process.

Ctrl + z
Send the current process to background. This is useful if you have a program running, and you need the terminal for awhile but don't want to exit the program completely. Then just send it to background with Ctrl+z, do whatever you want, and type the command fg to get the process back.

Ctrl + d
Log out from the current terminal. If you use this in a terminal emulator under X, this usually shuts down the terminal emulator after logging you out.

Ctrl + Alt + Del
Reboot the system. You can change this behavior by editing /etc/inittab if you want the system to shut down instead of rebooting.

Other Essential CLI Related Help Sites:

http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r10735/unixcomm.html

http://www.computerhope.com/unix.htm

http://www.tuxfiles.org/

http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/command_line_intro

http://linux.about.com/od/linux101/l/blnewbie5_1.htm

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."

Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), Unpopular Essays (1950), "Outline of Intellectual Rubbish"

Happy Halloween!

You may also want to check out our list of Linux terminal emulators.