Aug 212010
 

fear of Linux ?I was driving down the road thinking about writing a bit about reliable and inexpensive backup solutions, and my thoughts kept getting interrupted with a “giant elephant in the room”, or perhaps we should call it a “Giant Penguin”? So yeah, it became clear to me I needed to tackle the giant elephant first. Clear the room of an uncomfortable silence and try and break the ice barriers surrounding the fear of using or switching to Linux as a side-by-side, head-to-head or mano a mano server platform.

So, tackle it we shall. Let’s consider what are probably the top 5 Linux fears:

  1. Linux what? Yeah, I know ‘nada’ about Linux.
  2. Cost! Considering most Linux platforms are free, I am talking about the expertise factor, the affordability of a Linux Admin employee.
  3. Employee knowledge transfer. What if my Linux employee leaves?
  4. Support! Can I get server support? And how much is that going to set me back?
  5. Can it do the job? Can it reliably replace my Windows Server job functions?
  6. Continue reading »

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Aug 192010
 

wget-screenGNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, the most widely-used Internet protocols. It is a non-interactive commandline tool, so it may easily be called from scripts, cron jobs, terminals without X-Windows support, etc.

GNU Wget has many features to make retrieving large files or mirroring entire web or FTP sites easy, here are some interesting options.

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Aug 182010
 

Getting Started with Ubuntu 10.04 is a comprehensive beginners guide for the Ubuntu operating system. It is written under an open source license and is free for you to download, read, modify and share.

The manual will help you become familiar with everyday tasks such as surfing the web, listening to music and scanning documents. With an emphasis on easy to follow instructions, it is suitable for all levels of experience.

If you want to help the project consider buy it at www.lulu.com

Getting Started with Ubuntu 10.04

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Aug 172010
 

google dnsIn recent years we heard most often about using alternate DNS to those provided by your ISP.

But why not use your ISP’s DNS in theory it should be as fast as possible since there are fewer network hops to reach it, but the alternate DNS, provide additional services (such domains are known to report scams) are redundant worldwide and therefore offer greater stability.

opendns

Among the many DNS providers the best known are undoubtedly Opendns and Google Dns, the first is historically the market leader, offers additional services for a fee or the possibility of using their DNS servers for free, for some years I’ve used  with satisfaction this service.

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