Linux Community Magazine

iPods have become a very famous portable media player that is being used worldwide nowadays. It was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. These are new generation devices that have made the conventional world proud. Let us take a look.....................

iPods - A Quick Look:

iPods are nothing but portable media players that are used worldwide today. They store media in a internal hard disk. Other iPods store information in a Micro drive Miniature hard disk. The hard disk based ones include the iPod classic, iPod Touch which involves a touch screen system. iPod nano which is capable of storing videos. Others include iPod shuffle and iPhone. The iPod Shuffle has no screen so it cannot store videos. Also iPod mini and spin-off iPod Photo were used previously.

iPods - Are they Reliable?

However they have been sometimes subject to criticism for their life spans and for their hard disks which are not good enough. Their failure rate too is very high as found in a recent survey. They are mostly due to the reasons of poor durability of the hard disk which is the essential part of the iPod. Also the other reason why iPods are not suggested is their screen which can get affected by rough handling.

iPod Hacks:

If you want more from your iPod, more than music and multimedia, then you can go for hacking. An iPod hack is nothing but changing the inner workings. In broader terms, for hacking an iPod, you need to change its hardware, software, firmware or operating system. Though it is not advisable to do so, but it is still being done to bend the iPod to cater to one's needs. Most of the hacks are carried out by changing the operating system LINUX, which is an open source one. The LINUX user interface called podzilla helps LINUX to be ported in an iPod manually. By this way the iPod is made to play media files like Ogg files.

Also one can download the schemes and modules for the podzilla from the internet. The schemes allow the user to change the appearance of the podzilla. The Modules are important and are used with iPod LINUX operating system. You will feel that with LINUX installed, your iPod will become more like a handheld computer than a good MP3 Player.

This hacking process has been carried out only in the first, second and third generation iPods, but reports also assert say that these are now being carried out in fourth and fifth generation ones as well. To stop this process of hacking, nowadays iPod companies clear state that installing LINUX means "NO WARRANTY". Well as seen earlier, installing LINUX opens a new world of operating an iPod. The possibilities are endless and to make use of these possibilities, hacking is carried out.

Play games:

If you love playing games, then now you can plan in your iPod too. With these LINUX modules, now you can play your favorite games. The LINUX module iDoom allows the users to play a game called as Doom. Besides there are various other modules which allows the users to play games like iGems, Invaders, Magic-8 Ball, iPod MAME, Pod Pod Revolution.

Other Applications:

Looking for something better other than games, you can manually change your iPod's functions and make it look the way you want it to be. The iPodWizard now lets you change the style and icons in your iPod. With it you can also remove some of the error messages that may annoy you.

Also now you can turn your iPod into a virtual Remote Control that can be used anywhere. Just attach an infra red device on to your iPod's headphone part and software too is needed. By recording the Infra Red Pulses from the remote, you can now control your iPod the way you want.

Also if you thought hacking is a crime or something bad, think again as this method can save your data from getting lost. The Module Podsmith unlocks the screen, files and applications in your Macintosh Computer. So rest assured that your data and privacy are safe by carrying out this process and many say it is a very effective one.

Also now with this hacking process, you can make changes to the software options that you have in your iPod. You can now install software that is good to make your iPod rock!! For example you have software like TrailRunner, VoodooPad and Apollo. The TrailRunner software helps you keeping your personal agenda. The VoodooPad software helps in writing like it provides an interface similar to Notepad. The Apollo Software is used as a video converter and it helps in optimizing the video for playing in iPod.

Who is bothering to get a domain for their website by paying a ransom? Who wants to maintain old procedure of owning the domain for their websites? Besides, there is a new way to make the websites accessible through the internet. Web hosting service is a technique to make the websites available in the internet for lease or under an agreement of ownership for a certain period. It is provided as a general Internet access plan. There are many web hosting service providers who are ready to give you domains at very competitive prices. Make use of this facility and launch your website in an efficient prospect.

The current "use and throw" approach among the people on everything leads to the promotion of the web hosting network. There are many web hosting networks in the market today which help the individual or the organization by providing the domain name for their website, memory space for data, email services and bandwidth as a single package. Some companies offer free web hosting services with limited resources like memory spaces and bandwidth and they may support advertisement supported hosting. Shared web hosting is a technique where a website can be placed in the same server along with many other sites. This service enables shared usage of CPU, memory and other resources.

Ajax hosting is the practice which allows faster development and healthy applications. Some of the shared Ajax web hosting services is only enabled in windows platforms as they mainly require Windows servers. Almost all the Ajax web hosting companies provide money back guarantee. In competition with the Ajax hosting companies are the linux hosting service providers. Linux web hosting services are appropriate for websites which use linux hosting features like MySQL database, PHP programs and Perl programming. Linux web site hosting is powerful and reliable and also, it is open source software. Hence, cheap linux hosting services with better quality and reliability are available in the market. Another concept of Virtual dedicated servers or virtual Private servers use divided server resources into virtual servers. The resources are allocated in such a way that it does not directly reflect the underlying hardware. Dedicated hosting service provides the user the full control o ver the web server. The user is responsible for security and maintenance issues. Self managed service is a classification of dedicated service which is more accepted due to its less expensive schemes. Cluster hosting, as the name suggests, has several servers hosting the same content in order to utilize the resources in a better method.

Another new technique called cloud hosting permits reliable, scalable and powerful hosting and is clustered and balanced servers and follows utility billing system. So, if you have to avail for internet access for your website, then choose the web hosting service that best suits your budget and the website requirements. For a personal web page it is recommended to go for single page hosting services. For a website representing an organization, the complete package including database support, bandwidth, and email services and other resources is a wise option.

Linux Hosting Vs Windows Hosting

Linux hosting traces its birth from 'Linux', an open-source computer operating system based upon the concept of free software available to anyone to freely use, improve, modify and even redistribute. Windows hosting, on the other hand, relates to Windows operating system wherein the software is proprietary item of Microsoft.

Since being an open-source operating system, Linux hosting tends to be cheaper than Windows hosting. Besides, Linux hosting is considered as one of the main pillars of the LAMP server-software combination - Linux, Apache, MySQL and Php/Perl/Python. Popularity of Linux hosting among web developers can be judged from the fact that a great many open-source software have been created and are being continuously created for free use among discerning web enthusiasts.

Whether one chooses Linux hosting or Windows hosting will to a great extent depend on what the webmaster proposes to do with his website. Here is a quick rundown of both Linux hosting and Windows hosting.

Linux Hosting

Linux hosting is a good choice if you consider that you have perpetual options of using open-source software for your hosting needs. Linux hosting would mean that the operating system is fully compatible with PHP, which is steadily becoming the most popular programming language.

It is important to remember that Linux is a breeding ground of practicing programmers all over the globe and innumerable applications are being authored, re-written and tested all the time. What this means in simple terms is Linux hosting will always keep the door open to let in fresh air of new discoveries. For an avid user, nothing beats Linux hosting in this aspect.

The other advantage with Linux hosting is that it is cheap. Why? Since most application software are free to install and use, the hosting cost is reduced to only maintenance of servers. Since proprietary software are not installed, many overhead expenses are avoided in case of Linux hosting. This enables hosting providers to pass on the cost-advantage to its customers of Linux hosting.

Here are some examples of popular open-source application software, mostly in PHP, that can be easily used in Linux hosting.

Ecommerce Shopping Cart : OS Commerce, Zen-CartContent Management System : Drupal, PHP-Nuke, MamboBlog : Wordpress, Nucleus CMSPhoto Gallery : 4Images, Coppermine

Windows Hosting

Windows hosting makes use of Microsoft's proprietary Windows software for the host server. In contrast with Linux hosting, Windows hosting allows integration primarily with Microsoft's own products and services. For example, if you plan dynamic web content, you have to use ASP (Active Server Pages) or the advanced ASP.NET as your programming language, both created by Microsoft to be linked to SQL databases.

Interestingly, if you choose MySQL as your database, you may opt for either Linux hosting or Windows hosting, but in case your choice for database is MS Access, your option is only Windows hosting.

Windows hosting has limited support for CGI / Perl, so if your favorite scripts are in Perl, it has to be Linux hosting for you. On the other hand, good news for FrontPage users is that though it is essentially a proprietary Microsoft-owned software application, many Linux hosting do support FrontPage extensions.

There is an argument that the user interface for Windows hosting is much simpler between the two. However, of late Linux hosting too has improved on this score.

Coming to cost analysis, Windows hosting is costly not only because of proprietary software, but also due to the fact that Windows servers as such are costly, compared to servers used for Linux hosting.

Summing Up

Glossing over, what emerges is that it is the purpose of your website and its future plan that are the determining factors between choosing Linux hosting and Windows hosting. To be sure, all serious hosting providers will, in varying combination, offer a choice of both Windows hosting and Linux hosting.

Hosting makes you enable to be on internet, one of the more popular hosting plans is Linux Reseller Hosting. Unlimited domains can be hosted on Hi Speed Linux Servers. Linux system comes with tons of loaded features and some very popular control panels. If your requirements are PHP/My SQL then Linux hosting plan suits you best. Linux is known as the most dedicated services all around the world. It can be used for multi billion dollar business as well as for individuals.

Linux - The basics

Linux is a common name for various operating systems. Linux is marketed by various companies like Red Hat and Debian. Due to its compatibility with PHP Linux is proved to good for web servers. Linux is a stable operating system. Linux operating system is believed to be the most secure for web masters.

Advantages of Linux Web hosting are as follows:

Free or low cost software availableThere are low cost or free software available for Linux web hosting plan such as APF, Firewall, Apache, Sendmail, BIND. Linux servers are not as easy as windows to operate.

Price

Linux hosting plans are much cheaper than any other web hosting plans. This is because the low cost and free software available for Linux hosting plans. Windows server software is quite expensive as compared to Linux

The open sourceLinux is an Open Source code, people from all over the world can contribute to its development. This fact has boosted Linux to take precedence over windows hosting. Linux now is known to be most versatile hosting server in the industry.

Most Stable Operating System

Linux is believed to be more steady, secured efficient and meets the requirements of challenging environments of Web servers. On Linux system all the requirements to make a class website are available. Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP are being used together to provide the most well managed infrastructure to host a website on internet. Linux hosting is more compatible for updating an existing website or modifying it.

Tarun Gupta is Director of the Web Hosting India Company which offers complete Linux Hosting Services India using cPanel and Plesk Hosting Control Panel for Linux hosting.

Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel.

Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed, both commercially and non-commercially, by anyone under licenses such as the GNU General Public License.Linux can be installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from embedded devices such as mobile phones, smartphones and wristwatches to mainframes and supercomputers. Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers; in 2007 Linux's overall share of the server market was estimated at 12.7%, while a 2008 estimate suggested that 60% of all web servers ran Linux. Most desktop computers run either Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows, with Linux having only 1-2% of the desktop market. However, desktop use of Linux has become increasingly popular in recent years, partly owing to the popular Ubuntu distribution and the emergence of netbooks and smartbooks.Typically Linux is pac kaged in a format known as a Linux distribution for desktop and server use. Linux distributions include the Linux kernel and all of the supporting software required to run a complete system, such as utilities and libraries, the X Window system, the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and the Apache HTTP Server.Today Linux distributions are used in numerous domains, from embedded systems to supercomputers, and have secured a place in server installations with the popular LAMP application stack. Use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been expanding. They have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. The federal government of Brazil is well known for its support for Linux. News of the Russian military creating their own Linux distribution has also surfaced, and has come to fruition as the G.H.ost Project. The Indian state of has gone so far as to make it mandatory for all state high schools to run Linux on their computers. Chin a uses Linux exclusively as the operating system for its Loongson processor family to achieve technology independence. In Spain some regions have developed their own Linux distributions, which are widely used in education and official institutions, like gnuLinEx in Extremadura and Guadalinex in Andalusia. France and Germany.have also taken steps towards the adoption of Linux. Many quantitative studies of free / open source software focus on topics including market share and reliability, with numerous studies specifically examining Linux. The Linux market is growing rapidly, and the revenue of servers, desktops, and packaged software running Linux was expected to exceed $35.7 billion by 2008Linux distribution have long been used as server operating systems, and have risen to prominence in that area; Netcraft reported in September 2006 that eight of the ten most reliable internet hosting companies ran Linux distributions on their web servers. (As of June 2008, Linux distributi ons represented five of ten, Free BSD three of ten, and Microsoft two of ten.

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