For a Linux distribution, the soul is the Linux kernel, the brains are the GNU system services, and the look is a function of the desktop manager. So what differentiates one distribution from another? Its the "feel" and that's no mean matter.
The alphaWorks Enhanced Cluster Tools (ECT) for Linux is a set of additional tools for the enhancement of Cluster Systems Management (CSM). CSM includes features that help make it easier for an administrator to set up and maintain clusters. ECT provides additional features such as an xCAT-to-CSM transitional tool and scripts for easily collecting data from service processors. This download is from IBM’s research and is free. It includes new commands, many ported from xCAT: clearmmlog, mpasetup, mpascan, mpacheck…
IBM has recently released Domino 6.5 server for Linux. Major features of Lotus Domino 6.5 server that are included in the Milestone 2 build are: Domino Designer(with ready to use Web themes), Domino Web Access Email(iNotes), Lotus Enterprise Integrator 6.5, Server side caching, Mozilla (Linux) browser support, Support for Windows Server 2003, improved security, Support for Linux RedHat 7.2, United Linux 1.0 and Solaris 9.
Lindows.com on Tuesday announced the immediate availability of Lindows DVD Player, a licensed DVD applet that allows commercial DVDs to be played on LindowsOS computers.
Under LindowsOS 4.0 DVDs are automatically detected and launched by the Lindows DVD player. Lindows.com DVD player plays CDs, DVDs, and VCDs as well as multimedia files like AVI, MOV, WMV, and MP3 from local disk drives, and video streamed over the Internet.
xCAT (Extreme Cluster Administration Toolkit) is a tool kit that can be used for the deployment and administration of Linux clusters. Its features are based on user requirements, and many of its features take advantage of IBM xSeries hardware. This download is from IBM’s alphaWorks research and is free. It includes a completely rewritten installation system and support for more versions of RedHat and SUSE.
I tend to think the latter. Not because I am not a Linux fan (I happily set up my Computer with Mandrake about two years ago, they are still merrily in love), but because I have not heard anything new in the past two years. It is always "my god, not another security hole in Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/2000/XP/Server 2003", "Microsoft aggressively bought company X", "Microsoft launches another way to protect their software" and "Microsoft software is too exspensive". And Linux, on the other hand, is all bliss.
SCO's legal threats have prompted Gartner Group to recommend that companies delay deployment of critical Linux applications, determine "whether Unix or Windows will provide functions equivalent to those of Linux deployments", and take a "go-slow" approach to Linux in high-value or mission-critical production systems.
Intel-based servers are now moving out of the realm of personal computing and are morphing into industrial-strength servers. The low cost of Intel-based servers is taking the IT industry by storm. With costs as little as one-tenth of proprietary UNIX such as AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris, companies are saving millions of dollars by migrating to Intel platforms.
At CA World in Las Vegas, CA devoted a day to Linux, writes Robin Bloor of Bloor Research. This included a panel session for press and analysts, chaired by Sam Greenblatt, SVP and Chief Architect of CA's Linux Technology Group.
The panel was made up of a selection of the great and the good from the Linux community. It included: Linux Torvalds, living legend and creator of Linux, Jon MadDog Hall, President of Linux International, Larry Augustin, Chairman of VA Software Corp, Jay Peretz, VP Oracle Corp, Michael Evans VP, Red Hat and Juergen Geck, CTO of SuSE Linux.
Many organizations have assembled Intel (and other) processor-based servers into clusters of various types. Proprietary solutions such as Microsoft Wolfpack and HP/Compaq Alpha TruCluster compete for mind share with the generic Beowulf clusters on Linux Intel boxes. Beowulf, in fact, was the outgrowth of NASA researcher Donald Becker's solution to the problem of creating a supercomputing resource without having a supercomputing budget. It is the latter type of cluster that will be addressed in this paper.
