Vmware 2.0 Server Beta is now out for public consumption.

I’ve just installed it on my personal pc, I’ll need to post later on what I think about it, but I know it lacks a standard GUI  client and the new client is web-based.  More to come later!

http://vmware.com/beta/server/

-Dhashi

Today I got this email from Faronics that they have officially launched a Deep Freeze product for Linux – well specifically Suse Linux today. Here is the blurb off there site:

Deep Freeze Linux brings absolute system protection to Linux environments

Deep Freeze Linux allows administrators to leverage the strengths of Linux with the ease of use that they have grown to love in Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze Linux provides a completely non-restrictive working environment where there is no need to be concerned about system damage or corruption; a simple restart eradicates all changes and ensures that the standard system configuration is available at all times.

All changes to a machine are temporary for that working session. The need for IT professionals to perform rebuilds, re-image, or troubleshoot computers is eliminated, resulting in a reduction in IT expenditures and an increase in computer uptime.

Offering a similar feature set as Deep Freeze Standard, Deep Freeze Linux requires SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 with the ext2 or ext3 file system running on IDE and SATA hard drives, and the KDE or GNOME desktop environments.

Protection and Security

• • Guarantees 100% workstation recovery on restart
  • Provides password protection and complete security
  • Protects multiple hard drives and partitions

Configuration Options

• • Supports installation via command line or YaST
  • Stealth Mode allows Deep Freeze Linux to run without user awareness

Control and Flexibility

• • Selectively Freeze or Thaw fixed hard disk partitions
  • Deep Freeze Linux can be remotely managed via command line or through several desktop management solutions

You’ll have to visit the site for screenshots of the interface.

This is a perfect solution in providing a Linux system that would be protected by malicious users in a kiosk or computer lab situation. We use Centurion Guard for Windows, and it saves us a lot of work. I would expect the same for Deep Freeze.

http://www.faronics.com/html/DFLinux.asp

-dhashi

Well, it’s been a while since I posted. I’ve been busy, and distracted due to personal reasons and work, but today I got a package in the mail which I ordered a while back from Canonical. Just wanted to share : P

Yeah that’s my messy desk at work!

Everybody, Have a Happy 4th of July!

-dhashi

I stumbled upon this post and have to put in my two cents on the matter of an web os being the next generation. It’s been talked about back during the dotcom days (1999) and it never really got off the ground due to the so-so user experience and of course the “Dot-Com Bubble”. As an ex-avid user of the now extinct – myinternetdesktop.com – despite it’s impressive capabilities at the time, it was far from being comparable to an OS. There were also other online OS’s but they very similar in experience. If your curious what MID was about check out this shell of what it use to be.

Now, I have to admit that new technologies might change what we see in the very near future, but I think the responsiveness and the rich experience of an actual OS will remain dominant for quite a while. I think the Steve Job & Gates interview during the All Things D is a good example. Steve Jobs noted that the Google Maps application on the iPhone blew away the Google folks when they used it on a more rich client. I agree that rich clients using web services like Steve Jobs stated is definitely the way things are going to go.

Another thing is how we are going to interact with computers or devices will be changing, as we see at home with the Nintendo Wii, Apple iPhone, the post-pc device and in industry – Jeff Hans Multi-touch, Microsoft Surface. I think this emerging level of experience can’t be replaced by any browser.

Ok, I got that off my chest.

-dhashi

A post by rulus on digg.com where the feature list for Gusty has been finalized and announced by Scott James Remnant -
Ubuntu Development Manager on the Ubuntu-devel-announce maillist. Check out the release schedule here too.

-dhashi

Another post from Digg by AndyMeows

There’s a poll on Dell’s Ideastorm website for a Dell Ubuntu commerical. Please Vote for one!

-dhashi

I found great post from digg.com about Ubuntu Live Stats posted by Vinvin that allows you to see whats happening in the World of Ubuntu in real-time. Also check out Vinvin’s Blogsite – he’s got a How-To on getting Ubuntu Feisty to run off a USB memory stick.

I still have to try it out myself – I gotta find a time today to do so. I keep misplacing my Feisty iso.

-dhashi

So lets pick up where we left off. I’m gonna digress from using Ubuntu today because I don’t have an Ubuntu .iso on hand. Instead today, I will be using a Slax distro I have handy.

So in order to start I realized that it is easier to have Virtualbox run under using sudo. So from a terminal launch Virtualbox with the following command. You will need to enter a password.

sudo VirtualBox

VirtualBox should start up like before.

Now click on New to start the OS install wizard.

Proceed by clicking Next.

Here you want to give your Guest OS a friendly name and select the type of OS it is. Note the long list of potential Guest OS’s. Click Next to continue.

Next you can set how much of your free memory you want to use on the OS. I recommend at least 512 MB if you can spare it. Keep in mind your Host OS needs at least 512 MB most likely to run fairly smooth. So if you have GB of memory installed, then I would suggest 512MB for the Guest OS using the slider bar in order to have a decent experience level.

Next we need to create to a virtual drive – this will launch a new wizard to setup the drive itself.

Click on Next to continue.

You have a choice of dynamically growing virtual drive – I find this nice if you don’t want to preallocate all the space for the drive in advance – the downside is less performance. If you set a static drive – you’ll have a better OS experience.

Now give the new virtual drive a friendly name and select how much space you want to specify for it. Click next to continue.

Click Finish to finalize the virtual drive wizard.

Now you can see your newly created drive selected – Click on Next to continue with the install.

This will give you an overview of your choices and finalizes the setup of the new Guest OS. Back on the main screen select the newly created OS in the list and click on the CD/DVD-ROM link on the right side menu.

Select the checkbox to activate your CD-ROM to be mounted in the virtual guest OS.

Click on Ok to return to the main screen and click on Start on the top menu to launch your Guest OS.

Read the message which informs you on how to jump the mouse out of the Guest OS screen (Right Ctrl button). Just click Ok to this message.

The First Run Wizard runs – continue by clicking on Next.

Select your choice of Media choice for install – I chose CD-ROM. Click Next to continue.

Click finish. Now I booted off a bootable Slax Distro of Backtrack (Penetration Testing Toolkit).

Here is Backtrack starting up and loading in the next few screens. Just for any other OS, just load and install if it was a regular OS install.

I hope this quick overview helps.

-dhashi

I almost forgot to post about Virtualbox this week. This is a great program to try out side by side with Vmware. I’ve setup Virtualbox along side my Vmware Player 2.0 on my Ubuntu Studio installation at work. Of course I won’t recommend running both at the same time, but separately I haven’t experienced any problems. During the past week – I managed to install quite a few basic installations of Vista Business edition, Windows 2008 (aka Longhorn), Ubuntu Gusty Gibbon, and Windows XP. I can’t say I like one over the other at this point, I always like to try new virtualization products when I get a chance

Enough about my experiences, Virtualbox from Innotek can be downloaded from their website. They offer an install path for just about every OS: Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Of course there is a Feisty installer for my i386. If you have Automatix – you have the option of installing the software from there as shown below. If you choose to use Automatix, it may not be the latest version you are installing.

If you chose a manual install, download the .deb installer file to your desktop and open a terminal shell and run the following command.

sudo dpkg -i Desktop/virtualbox_1.4.0-21864_Ubuntu_feisty_i386.deb

You will be prompted with the following screens – just use the Tab key to toggle between selections and Enter to confirm.

Once installed you will see that Virtualbox was added to your menu under Applications > System Tools > innotek Virtualbox

Once you launch Virtualbox – you will be greeted by the Welcome message. I will go over setting up a Virtualbox Guest OS in the next post. For now read up on the user manual from their website and if you have any questions – post them up on their forum.

Update: 6/18/07 – Here is the continuation of this post – http://dhashi.wordpress.com/2007/06/17/virtualbox-140-on-ubuntu-feisty-fawn-installing-an-os/

-dhashi

My wife has been an avid user of Skype lately for conference calls with her club. Typically running her calls on the Windows platform, I had to find an alternative solution for myself. Nice to know that Skype supports Linux and their most recent Beta has Feisty Fawn listed at the top of the list of several distributions. Just a simple Debian package you download and install as I’ll show. Skype for Linux website.

Please note the requirements:

Hardware requirements

• 400 Mhz processor or faster.
• 256 MB RAM.
• 20 MB free disk space on your hard drive.
• Microphone and speakers or headset.
• Internet connection (broadband is best, GPRS is not supported for voice calls, and results may vary on a satellite connection).

Software requirements

• Qt 4.2.1+
• D-Bus 1.0.0
• libsigc++ 2.0.2
• libasound2 1.0.12

Next, just click on the Feisty link to download the skype-1.4.0.74.deb file and open the file by clicking Ok. Ubuntu should try opening it with the default – GDebi Package Installer.

So click on the Install Package Button to install Skype.

Once installed, you will see Skype in your menu under Application > Internet> Skype

Upon launching Skype you’ll be greeted by the license agreement.

Next upon agreeing, you will see Skype ready to accept you login information – if you don’t have an account – just sign up for a free one.

Here is my Skype account running – I did remove some information from the screen – so yours shouldn’t look all empty like mine.

For more information, screenshots and faqs – check out the Skype Website.

-dhashi