Linux Solutions

The article will provide a user with information on SARDU. SARDU is a free software that can build one multiboot support CD, DVD or a USB device (USB stick/pendrive and all removable are supported). The name is the short of Shardana Antivirus Rescue Disk Utility. The disk or USB device may include comprehensive collections of “antivirus rescue cd”, collections of utilities, popular distributions of Linux Live, the best known Windows PE , recovery disks and Install of Windows XP , Windows Vista and Windows Seven .

SARDU includes a few utilities, but is primarily a tool for managing the software (ISO image files) that a user can download from other companies and developers.
SARDU has multilanguage support. At startup it checks to see if a system language exists, then sets the software language accordingly. If a system language does not exist, the language is set to English.

Software manageable by SARDU
The user must download all the ISO image who wants to integrate in the support. Downloaded the ISO images, have to be placed inside the “ISO” folder. Alternatively user can select a different path by selecting the “ISO icon” at the top of the GUI.

SARDU’s menu is divided into four categories:
• Antivirus
• Utility
• Linux
• Windows

User-friendliness
With a few clicks the media is ready. If a user wants to make a multiboot USB a user has to press the ‘Search USB’ button. The software will then look for all devices with FAT32. Only FAT 32 is supported. The device can be chosen from the combo box. By default the combo boxes of devices are disabled, and is activated only when one (or more) devices with FAT32 are detected. In the tab `Report` a user can find details about the selected USB: Type (Removable or Hard Disk), Serial, Label, Space used and free.

Pressing the button with the ‘USB icon’ causes SARDU to extract the needed files from one ISO at a time. After a careful examination it builds the menu and makes a multiboot USB device. If a user wants to make a multibootable CD or DVD a user will have to press the button with `disk`. SARDU then extracts the needed files one ISO at a time and, after a careful examination, builds the menu and makes a multibootable ISO. The ISO must then be burned to disk using the burning software or the burn option of SARDU.

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about SARDU.

The article will provide a user with information on controlling Tor with Vidalia. It will cover network map information and also new identity feature. Vidalia is an anonymity manager. Basically this means that it can be used to control Tor, and is automatically launched on network connection.

As soon as the Tor client managed to establish a route to the Tor network, Vidalia hides as an onion icon on the upper right corner of the screen. By right-clicking this icon displays a configuration menu.

Please note that vidalia menu proposes essentialy two features:
• a Network map which displays a window showing a map of the Tor network, a list of Tor relays and a the list of currently used routes and their status.
• a New identity entry, which will make Tor use a different route for future connections, so that they will appear to come from a different address. A user should be careful as some software might still continue to use the old route, depending on how it behaves with network connections. If a user wants to be sure a software is using a new route, a user may want to close it, hit the New identity button, and then start the software again once the popup window disappears.

The network map
Now, let’s have a look at the network map. All the Tor nodes in the Tor network are listed, as are all a users circuits and connections that go through the Tor network. All this requires a bit of technical knowledge of how Tor works in order to understand and use, but it is not at all necessary. From the connection listing it should at least be relatively easy for a user to see which exit node and country it appears a users connections come from. Right-clicking on any established circuits enable a user to close it in case this one is too slow.

The New identity featureA user will not a very useful thing when he/she is working with Tor is the following option, found in the Vidalia menu that a user can get by right-clicking its systray icon.

By clicking on the “New Identity” option will tear down all users current circuits and build new ones which means that the set of computers a users route his/her Internet traffic through will exchanged by some others. This is very useful if a user experiences bad performance or even time-outs accessing some Internet resource as a user might have better luck with the new circuits that are built.

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about controlling Tor with Vidalia.

The article will provide a user with information on how to use Tails. Please note that starting a computer on a media containing Tails doesn’t change anything on the operating system actually installed on the hard drive: as a live system, Tails doesn’t use a users hard drive during the whole session. Whether the hard drive is absent or damaged, it wouldn’t prevent the computer to start Tails. Consequently, removing the CD or USB stick containing Tails is enough to retrieve the usual operating system.

A consequence of this amnesia is that a user can’t save anything on the device containing Tails be it files that user create or download or any configuration. A user should save anything that he/she wants to keep for later access into a separate device (other USB stck, other CD or any device a user would choose). Tails is based on alpha software and is always being developped, which means it might contain programming errors or obsolete protections.

Please note that the graphical user interface used in Tails is called GNOME and shares many fundamentals with that of Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and most other modern operating systems, so if a user has used any of them, getting used to GNOME will take no time. A user will note that in the upper left corner of the screen there is a button with a logo in it, followed by three menus: Applications, Places and System.

The Applications menu is where a user will find short cuts to the installed applications. Please explore the different categories of applications and try out those that seem interesting.

The Places menu is to make it easy to access storage media.

The System menu allows to:
• customize some aspects of the GNOME desktop (Preferences);
• change some important aspects of the system and hardware behavior (Administration);
• shutdown the computer.
On the right of these three menu entries, a few shortcuts allow to launch the most frequently used applications. Passing the mouse cursor over one of these shortcut will display the application name and its function.

In the upper right corner a user will find a couple of icons, each which offers an interface for some running application : the onion icon is made to control Tor, the two computer screens are for the network settings. Other icons help a user keep an eye on the battery level if he/she runs from a laptop, one allows to instantly change the keyboard layout, another controls the sound level. Please note that the clock icon allows to change the current timezone to make it show the local time.
At the centre of the screen, a user will note a vast area called the Desktop. A Computer icon provides access to storage media and the Trash is the place where “deleted” files are moved. Please note that when media storage is connected to the computer, additional icons appear on the Desktop.

On the bottom of the screen is another panel: on its left, an icon allows to minimize all open windows to show the Desktop; then come the buttons for open windows; on the right, a set of four similar rectangle icons gives access to four different workspaces.

The article will provide a user with information and guidance on Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL).

DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux) is a NFS-/NIS server providing a diskless or systemless environment for client machines.

DRBL can be used for:
• cloning machines with Clonezilla software inbuilt,
• providing for a network installation of Linux distributions like Fedora, Debian, etc.,
• providing machines via PXE boot (or similar means) with a small size operation system (e. g. DSL, Puppy Linux, FreeDOS).

Providing a DRBL-Server
• Installation on a machine running a supported Linux distribution via installation script,
• Live CD.

A user should note that installation is possible on a machine with Debian, Ubuntu, Mandriva, Red Hat Linux, Fedora, CentOS or SuSE already installed. DRBL comes under the terms of a GPL license so providing the user with the ability to customize it.

DRBL’s categories
Disk Cloning
Clonezilla (packaged with DRBL) uses partimage to avoid copying free space, and gzip to compress Hard Disk images. The stored image can then be restored to multiple machines simultaneously using Multicast packets, thus greatly reducing the time it takes to image large numbers of computers. The DRBL Live CD allows a user to do all of this without actually installing anything on any of the machines, by simply booting one machine (the server) from the CD, and PXE booting the rest of the machines.

Hybrid Client
Using old hardware as Thin Clients is a good solution, but has some disadvantages that a Hybrid Client can make up for.
• Streaming Audio/Video - A Terminal Server must decompress, recompress, and send video over the network to the client. A Hybrid does all decompression locally, and can make use of any graphics hardware capabilities on the local machine.
• Software that requires real-time input - Since all input at a thin client is sent over the network before it is registered by the operating system, there can be substantial delay. This is a major problem in software that requires real-time input (i.e. video games). Hybrid clients run the software locally, and as such, do not have this problem.

DRBL allows a user to set up multiple Hybrid Clients with relative ease. The client computer is set to boot from the network card using PXE or Etherboot. The client requests an IP address, and tftp image to boot from, both are provided by the DRBL server. The client boots the initial RAM disk provided by the DRBL server via tftp, and proceeds to map an nfs share (also provided by the DRBL server) as its root (/) partition. From there, the client boots either the linux distribution in which the DRBL server is installed, Clonezilla, or an installer for various Linux distributions, depending on how that particular client was configured on the DRBL server.

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about DRBL.

The article will provide a reader with information on YUMI. YUMI is the successor to MultibootISOs. It can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.

Creating a YUMI Multiboot MultiSystem USB Flash Drive
Let’s learn how to create a YUMI Multiboot MultiSYstem USB Flash Drive. Please note that YUMI stands for Your Universal Multiboot Installer. YUMI works much like Universal USB Installer, except it can be used to install more than one distribution to run from the USB. Distributions can also be uninstalled using the same tool.

If a user wants to create a MultiBoot USB Flash Drive, then he/she has to follow the steps as provided below:
1. First of all, please run* YUMI-0.0.2.9.exe
2. Now, run the tool again to Add More ISOs/Distributions to the Drive
3. Then restart the PC setting it to boot from the USB device
4. Finally, select a distribution to Boot from the Menu and enjoy!

It is good to learn how it works. YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) enables each user to create their own custom Multiboot UFD containing only the distributions they want, in the order by which they are installed. A new distribution can be added to the UFD each time the tool is run.
If a user runs YUMI from the same location where it is stored, ISO downloads, they should be auto-detected, eliminating the need to browse for each ISO.

Please note that Windows Vista or 7 Installers will cause Ubuntu or any remix based on Ubuntu (I.E. Linux Mint) to hang during boot. A quick fix is to temporarily rename the Windows SOURCES folder found at the root of the USB device. A user should also note that if MultibootISOs was previously used, then he/she must reformat the drive and start over. YUMI uses Syslinux directly, and chainloads to grub only if necessary, so it is not compatible with the older Multiboot ISO tool.

The Basic Requirements or Essentials
Now, let’s have a look at the basic essentials to create a MultiSystem Bootable USB Drive
• Fat32 Formatted USB Flash or USB Hard Drive
• PC that can boot from USB
• Windows XP/Vista/7 host to create the Bootable USB
• YUMI-0.0.2.9.exe
• Selection of ISO Files

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (Windows).

The article will educate a user with information and a brief history of Quake ports.

Please note that in 1996, there was a port of Quake to Linux by an id software employee working in his free time. It was not until 1999 that a retail version for Linux was distributed by Macmillan Digital Publishing USA in a bundle with the two add-ons as Quake: The Offering for Linux and in 1997, the official port to Mac OS was done by MacSoft and a port of Quake to SPARC Solaris was released.
Quake was also ported to console systems. In 1997, it was ported to Sega Saturn by Lobotomy. The Saturn port used Lobotomy’s own Slavedriver engine (the same engine that powers the Saturn port of Duke Nukem 3D and Powerslave) instead of the original Quake engine. It is also the only version of Quake that is rated “T” for Teen instead of “M” for Mature. The Saturn version also contains four exclusive levels not seen in any other version. In 1998, Quake was brought to Nintendo 64 by Midway Games.

Both console ports required some compromises because of the limited CPU power and ROM storage space for maps. The Saturn version lacked multiplayer but had most of the maps from the original game, with only the secret levels (Ziggurat Vertigo (E1M8), The Underearth (E2M7), The Haunted Halls (E3M7) and The Nameless City (E4M8)) not making the cut. Instead, it had four new maps: Purgatorium, Hell’s Aerie, The Coliseum and Watery Grave. The N64 version had multiplayer, but was missing The Grisly Grotto (E1M4), The Installation (E2M1), The Ebon Fortress (E2M4), The Wind Tunnels (E3M5), The Sewage System (E4M1) and Hell’s Atrium (E4M5).

It also did not use the “START” map where the player chooses difficulty and episode; difficulty is chosen when starting the game, and all the levels play in sequential order from The Slipgate Complex (E1M1) to Shub Niggurath’s Pit (END). A port for the Commodore Amiga was also made available in 1998 by clickBOOM Software. It is currently only available in a 68K version.

After reading the article a user would have learnt about the ports of Quake and a brief history for it.

The tutorial will provide a user with information on Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (Qucs).
Quite Universal Circuit Simulator (Qucs) is an open source electronics circuit simulator software released under GPL. It provides a user with an ability to set up a circuit with a graphical user interface and simulate the large-signal, small-signal and noise behaviour of the circuit. Pure digital simulations are also supported using VHDL and/or Verilog.

Qucs supports a growing list of analog and digital components as well as SPICE sub-circuits. It is much simpler to use and handle than other circuit simulators like gEDA or PSPICE. QUCS has a graphical interface for schematic capture. Simulation data can be represented in various types of diagrams, including Smith-Chart, Cartesian, Tabular, Polar, Smith-Polar combination, 3D-Cartesian, Locus Curve, Timing Diagram and Truth Table.

Qucs consists of several standalone programs interacting with each other through the GUCS.
The GUI is used to create schematics, setup simulations, display simulation results, writing VHDL code, etc. The analog simulator is a command line program which is run by the GUI in order to simulate the schematic which a user has previously setup. It takes a netlist, checks it for errors, performs the required simulation actions, and finally produces a dataset.

- The text editor is used to display netlists and simulation logging information, and to edit files included by certain components (e.g. SPICE netlists, or Touchstone files).
- The filter synthesis application can be used to design various types of filters.
- The transmission line calculator can be used to design and analyze different types of transmission lines (e.g. microstrips, coaxial cables).
- The component library manager holds models for real life devices (e.g. transistors, diodes, bridges, opamps). It can be extended by the user.
- The attenuator synthesis application can be used to design various types of passive attenuators.
The command line conversion program tool is used by the GUI to import and export datasets, netlists and schematics from and to other CAD/EDA software. The supported file formats as well as usage information can be found on the manpage of qucsconv.

Components
The following categories of components are provided:
• Lumped components (R, L, C, amplifier, phase shifter, etc.)
• Sources
• Probes
• Transmission lines
• Nonlinear components (diodes, transistors, etc.)
• Digital components
• File containers (S-parameter datasets, SPICE netlists)
• Paintings

There is also a Component library that includes various standard components available in the market (bridges, diodes, varistors, LEDs, JFETs, MOSFETS, and so on). QUCS provides many transistor models. These include FBH-HBT, HICUM L0 v1.12, HICUM L0 v1.2, HICUM L2 v2.1, HICUM L2 v2.22, HICUM L2 v2.23, MESFET (Curtice, Statz, TOM-1 and TOM-2), SGP (SPICE Gummel-Poon), MOSFET, JFET and EPFL-EKV MOSFET v2.6.

If a user has read the article then he/she would have learnt about Quite Universal Circuit Simulator.

The article will provide a user with information on application virtualization software the technology that falls under the application virtualization. The Application virtualization is an umbrella term that describes software technologies that improve portability, manageability and compatibility of applications by encapsulating them from the underlying operating system on which they are executed.

Let’s see what virtualization refers to. The term virtualization refers to the artifact being encapsulated (application), which is quite different to its meaning in hardware virtualization, where it refers to the artifact being abstracted (physical hardware).

Please note that limited application virtualization is used in modern operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Linux. Please note that full application virtualization requires a virtualization layer and the Application virtualization layers replace part of the runtime environment normally provided by the operating system. The layer intercepts all file and Registry operations of virtualized applications and transparently redirects them to a virtualized location, often a single file.

The technology categories that fall under application virtualization include:

• Application Streaming.
The pieces of the application’s code, data, and settings are delivered when they’re first needed, instead of the entire application being delivered before startup. Running the packaged application may require the installation of a lightweight client application. Packages are usually delivered over a protocol such as HTTP, CIFS or RTSP.

• Desktop Virtualization/Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).
The application is hosted in a VM or blade PC that also includes the operating system (OS). These solutions include a management infrastructure for automating the creation of virtual desktops, and providing for access control to target virtual desktop. VDI solutions can usually fill the gaps where application streaming falls short.

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about the application virtualization and the technology that falls under the application virtualization.

The article will provide a user with information on user interface for the Blender software. Blender has had a reputation as being difficult to learn for users accustomed to other 3D graphics software. Every function has a direct keyboard shortcut and there can be several different shortcuts per key. The software user interface has been visually enhanced with the introduction of colour themes, transparent floating widgets, a new and improved object tree overview, and other small improvements. Blender’s user interface incorporates the following concepts:

Editing modes
The two primary modes of work are Object Mode and Edit Mode, which are toggled with the Tab key. Object mode is used to manipulate individual objects as a unit, while Edit mode is used to manipulate the actual object data. For example, Object Mode can be used to move, scale, and rotate entire polygon meshes, and Edit Mode can be used to manipulate the individual vertices of a single mesh. There are also several other modes, such as Vertex Paint, Weight Paint, and Sculpt Mode. The 2.45 release also had the UV Mapping Mode, but it was merged with the Edit Mode in 2.46 Release Candidate 1.

Hotkey utilization
Most of the commands are accessible via hotkeys. Until the 2.x and especially the 2.3x versions, this was in fact the only way to give commands, and this was largely responsible for creating Blender’s reputation as a difficult-to-learn program. The latest versions have more comprehensive GUI menus.

Numeric input
Numeric buttons can be dragged to change their value directly without the need to aim at a particular widget, thus saving screen real estate and time. Both sliders and number buttons can be constrained to various step sizes with modifiers like the Ctrl and Shift keys. Python expressions can also be typed directly into number entry fields, allowing mathematical expressions to be used to specify values.
Workspace management.

The Blender GUI is made up of one or more screens, each of which can be divided into sections and subsections that can be of any type of Blender’s views or window-types. Each window-type’s own GUI elements can be controlled with the same tools that manipulate 3D view. For example, one can zoom in and out of GUI-buttons in the same way one zooms in and out in the 3D viewport. The GUI viewport and screen layout is fully user-customizable. It is possible to set up the interface for specific tasks such as video editing or UV mapping or texturing by hiding features not utilized for the task.

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about the Blender software - User interface.

The article will provide a user with information on why Linux don’t support mp3 and selected wifi cards.

The main reason is that the copyright/IP laws prevent shipping all these softwares and technologies/plugins with each Linux distribution. However some distribution comes with all these goodies but they are not free.

In the United States and many other countries, companies or developers or manufacturers have to pay patent royalties to use an MP3 player or MP3 Encoder or Windows movie decoders. Most of these drivers are restricted because they are not available under a completely free licence.

GNU/Linux and other distro try to follow rule:
1. If something is proprietary, it cannot be included in Linux
2. If it violates United States federal law, it cannot be included in Linux
3. Patent-encumbered software etc

Following packages/drivers/encoder are not included in most distros:
• Nvidia /ATI graphics card
• Vmware player kernel modules
• Wifi chipsets
• MP3 Support
• Real Media and Player
• Adobe Flash Player
• CSS encrypted DVDs (DVD Playback)
• Cryptography
• SUN JAVA, etc
The patent holder is not ready to give an unrestricted patent grant, as required by the GPL license. If a user wants to get mp3 support for the distribution then he/she must use third party repositories (or vendor site) to download application.
If a user wants to get working mp3 then he/she should download RPM files or add selected repositories to the distributions. Following list summaries the work around for popular distribution:

For Debian Linux, a user should use apt-get to install required software and also a user will find Debian-multimedia repo good to install few codecs.

If a user has read this article then he/she would have learnt about why Linux don’t support mp3 and selected wifi cards?