Apr 122015
 

systemd is a suite of system management daemons, libraries, and utilities designed as a central management and configuration platform for the GNU/Linux computer operating system.
It provides a system and service manager that runs as PID 1 and starts the rest of the system as alternative to the traditional sysVinit.
systemd provides aggressive parallelization capabilities, uses socket and D-Bus activation for starting services, offers on-demand starting of daemons,

It’s becoming the standard of all the major GNU/Linux distributions and at the moment it’s the default for Arch Linux, Red Hat Enterprise/Centos (version 7), Fedora, Mageia and Suse Enterprise, it’s planned to be used on Debian 8 and Ubuntu 15.04.

There is a lot of people talking for and against systemd on the net as some see it as too intrusive, complex and against the Unix philosophy to keep things simple and make them do just one task.

Using Red Hat 7 at work and Arch Linux on my laptop I’ve started to use it and I must agree that it’s not so simple in the start, but let’s try to take the good thing from it and in this article I’d like to show you some commands that you can use with systemd to manage the processes on a GNU/Linux system and that I’ve found really useful.
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Apr 072015
 

mapsWe live in a day when having a map is a very important thing, but technology has advanced so much that we can literally enjoy having the most detailed maps in front of our eyes, be it on the computer or laptop. If you have Linux installed on your computer already, then it can be a refreshing and very interesting thing to do. With the help of the GNOME desktop environment and the new concept of GNOME Maps, all those much-needed maps are closer to us than they have ever been.

GNOME Maps is designed as a graphical front-end for the OpenStreetMap concept that has been created in JavaScript, so all those maps can be accessed from the browser like interface, which is a great and astounding achievement.

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Apr 052015
 

linux_steam
When it comes to gaming on a PC, Windows is pretty much the only operating system of choice suitable for the job. Sure, there are a few titles that can run on Linux at the moment, but the list is fairly thin. However, things may not stay this way for long, as Linux is making tremendous efforts to step into the game, with the upcoming SteamOS being the pièce de résistance. With no official released date available yet, Linux’s swing at Microsoft’s domination over the gaming industry may have to wait a bit longer. That doesn’t make its efforts any less remarkable, though, as Linux came a long way when it comes to gaming.
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Mar 172015
 

Guest post by Dane O’Leary

Home automation is all the rage. Over the past couple of years, this relatively new gadgetry has grown from a subset of consumer electronics into an extensive and thriving tech industry. Part of what makes home automation so popular is its promise of convenience, security, and its ability to streamline what, until recently, had been disparate, incompatible technology throughout your home. It doesn’t hurt that home automation has become more affordable with many of the available options being versatile, compatible with most products on the market, and just plain cool.

Many home automation systems are based on the Linux operating system. In fact, many of the earliest mainstream home automation systems — like CorAccess Companion and Control4 Home Controller — were developed based on a Linux variant. Today’s models offer built-in processors and much more power, but with a much more accessible price tag. Here are some of the best Linux-based home automation systems that $300 or less can buy.

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Mar 102015
 

calibreReading books is still one of the most preferred activities by a lot of people, but with ebooks things became even easier. However, if you are an avid reader you do want to make sure that your books are organized efficiently, so this is where the importance of Calibre comes into play.

This application has been created with the main purpose of keeping your books in a single, organized place, but as time has passed, the app has definitely become much more than that. One of the things you will like in Calibre right from the start is the fact that it comes with complete support for a variety of ebook types. No matter if you use an Amazon device such as the Kindle, a Nook, Kobo or Sony based reader, you can easily organize and view the content of these files with ease.

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