Linux Community Magazine

It's Linux, Mom! Not Lennox.

Lennox is a global corporation specializing in air conditioning, heating, and commercial refrigeration. Dave Lennox helped to develop what has been described as the first riveted-steel furnace in 1895.

His "machine" having come a long way is amazing in it's own right, but it is not necessarily suited for business productivity. While it is surely compatible with outsourced services, Old Dave's Lennox may not readily lend itself to remote helpdesk or repair over the internet.

Linux, on the other hand, is a Unix-like computer operating system which not only fully lends itself to remote helpdesk, outsourced IT services, and computer repair over the internet, but can also be used to accomplish those tasks.

Unlike Lennox hardware, Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development; its underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone (try that with Lennox).

Although it had already been around a few years, the Linux kernel was first released to the public 17 September 1991, for the Intel x86 PC architecture.

The kernel was augmented with system utilities and libraries from the GNU project to create a usable operating system, which later led to an alternate term, GNU/Linux.

Linux is now packaged for different uses in Linux distributions, which contain the sometimes modified kernel along with a variety of other software packages tailored to different requirements.

Predominantly known for its use in servers, Linux in gaining more and more popularity as a desktop operating system garnering the support of corporations such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Novell.

It is used as an operating system for a wide variety of computer hardware, including desktop computers, supercomputers, video game systems (PlayStation 2 and 3 for example) and embedded devices such as mobile phones and routers most if not all of which lend themselves readily to repair over the internet, outsourced repair and even remote helpdesk services.

1960ish: A computer operating system known as UNIX was conceived.

1970: UNIX was released and widely used, modified and improved by business, academia, and the government.

1984; Richard Stallman quits his job at MIT and starts working on the GNU Project.

1985: Free Software Foundation, an organization for creating and promoting free software, is founded by Richard Stallman.

The GNU manifesto, a statement by Richard Stallman advocating the cause of free software movement, is published in the March 1985 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal

1991: MINIX was written from scratch by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, a US-born Dutch professor who wanted to teach his students the inner workings of a real operating system. It was designed to run on the Intel 8086 microprocessors that had flooded the world market.

MINIX was by no stretch of the imagination a supberb operating system. But for the first time the source code was available. Anyone who happened to get the book 'Operating Systems: Design and Implementation' by Tanenbaum could get hold of the 12,000 lines of code, written in C and assembly language. For the first time, an aspiring programmer or hacker could read the source codes of the operating system, which to that time the software vendors had guarded vigorously.

Following in quick succession, Linux was first envisaged by a a second year student of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki and a self-taught hacker, Linus Torvalds. At the time it was just another hackers hobby. But from the humble Intel 386 machine of Linus that ran the first kernel, Linux has come a long way. Its most notable use now is in the field of massively parallel supercomputing clusters.

Version 0.01 is released on the Internet in September.

1992:

January: First Linux Newsgroup: alt.os.linux founded in the UseNet

April: Ari Lemmke starts the popular Linux newsgroup comp.os.linux in the UseNet

November: Adam Richter announces the release of the first Linux Distribution from his company: Yggdrasil

1993:

June: Slackware, the famous Linux distribution is released by Peter Volkerding

August: Matt Welsh releases Linux Installation and getting started: version 1

1994: Linux kernel version 1.0 is released in March.

While Lennox has several models, Linux has many more. And even though Lennox has been around a lot longer (you know Dave Lennox died in 1947), Linux has achieved between 50-80% market share of the web server, render farm, and supercomputer markets and is growing daily on desktops a feat even old Dave couldn't pull off.

So, Mom, now do you understand? Mom! Mom!

tmm

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Linux is the most popular open source operating system. You can use Linux on same system on which you are already using Windows operating system. The method is known as Dual Boot. It gives you the facility to have the features of both operating systems on same computer. If you are working on Windows operating system and want to access data from Linux volume, you can mount the drive and can use it. In this way, you can use all of the data stored on your hard drive by using any of the operating system.But sometimes, using Dual Boot can become problematic. When you try to access Linux volumes, by mounting them, you can fail to do it and can get some sort of error messages. The common error messages are:"can't find ext2 File System on dev ide1 (22, 65)"Or "mount: wrong file system type, bad option, bad superblock, or too many mounted file systems"After these error messages, you can't use the Linux partitions. And when you boot your system using Linux operting system, the syste m just can't boot up and shows the boot errors or some like this. This problem most probably occurs due to file system corruption or volume corruption. The file system or volume can get corrupted due to a number of reasons including improper mounting of hard drive, unexpected system shutdown, virus attack and many others. It doesn't matter what the reason of file system corruption or the error messages is. The only and the most important thing that matters is your precious and significant data. All of your data is at stake of loss and it can possibly put you out of the business. In order to save you and your business, you need to recover your data. The data recovery is feasible by using Linux recovery solutions. Linux recovery solutions are available in the form of Linux data recovery software to perform data recovery Linux. Linux data recovery software are the easiest, cheapet and quickest solution of data recovery Linux. These software can be used in each data loss situat ion to recover all kinds of lost data. You should opt for the good data recovery software to prevent further data loss and carry out absolute data recovery Linux. Stellar Phoenix Linux is a great and fabulousLinux recovery software. This Linux recovery software is fully automatic and is useful for Ext2, Ext3, and Reiser FS file system based hard drive volumes. The hard drive scanning method of this Linux recovery software is distinct. It automatically places the lost hard drive volumes and recovers it along with the data. If you don't have sound technical knowledge, then no need to worry at all. This Linux recovery software can be used very easily and doesn't demand any high technical skill. You can recover data from all Linux flavours such as Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu, Linspire etc. using this data recovery Linux soon.

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How to find the cheap linux web site hostingLooking for and buying a cheap linux web site hosting solution is an imperative decision. The best way to select a cheap linux web site hosting is to take the selection process one step at a time.This is probably the most important consideration to start finding a cheap linux web site hosting for your site. You need to decide the technical requirements for your website, this including. While these are easy to setup and free of charge, they do have limitations. Most cheap linux web site hosting offer all the nice features that paid hosts do such as FTP access, CGI-BIN and your own personal domain name.cheap linux web site hosting companies offer a large variety of rates. Companies offering dedicated servers will be substantially higher than others offering budget hosting with limited bandwidth. Competition from overseas is priced temptingly low for many, but there are many factors to consider. The general trend appears to be in fa vor of cheap linux web site hosting that offer many integrated services (built-in); it makes perfect sense getting all the services you'll need from one location. Once you have determined and identified what cheap linux web site hosting services you require for your online business, it is then time to enlist certain web hosting features and options you must consider. You can find below some of the most important aspects of web hosting: Depending upon your website requirement, choosing a cheap linux web site hosting service that provide sufficient amount of disk space and bandwidth is crucial consideration to prevent paying extra costs in the future should you overuse the monthly disk space and bandwidth allowance.Services, room for growth and price are the basic elements of your cheap linux web site hosting purchase decision. The first factor that should fuel your decision is the amount of web space the cheap linux web site hosting provider can give you. Take into considerat ion the amount of space your website needs and how much space you will eventually need for future expansion from cheap linux web site hosting It is very important to be able to reach the cheap linux web site hosting company if your website begins experiencing problems. The cheap linux web site hosting support one can hope for is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Most companies know this, so take their stated hours with a grain of salt. Always spot check the companies with email at random times to see if they really have someone available to help 24/7.Pricing: When considering how much to spend, you have to take into account all of the above plus your financial situation. Only you know how much you can afford to pay for a cheap linux web site hosting. It's not necessarily true that the most expensive hosts are the best. Simply compare prices and services before you find cheap linux web site hosting.Control Panel: How much control does the cheap linux web s ite hosting company offer webmasters? It is inconvenient to work through customer service every time to modify a password or to change email addresses. Be sure cheap linux web site hosting companies offer some form of a control panel accompanying hosting. Cheap Linux Web Site Hosting and a source of Income: There are some providers that will offer you discounts or financial incentives to bring in subscribers. A point to consider because you get two birds with one stone: A home for your enterprise and a way to make a steady monthly income from your referrals. I've heard some folks are making a very good living doing that!You can order Linux hosting here

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Professional Computer Certification

Professional computer certification documents you completing the steps and acquired the knowledge to perform at a specified level as an IT professional. Certification proves to clients, co-workers and employers that your expertise is confirmed by a recognized industry organization. Today, virtually every technology professional can benefit from a well-chosen certification. Becoming certified can increase your salary, enhance your skills and make your job more satisfying.

There are several specific situations where I've found computer certification in general to be of benefit. By requiring you to study to pass an exam, even just a multiple choice test, a certification course provides better knowledge retention than the traditional corporate training course where one simply tries to stay awake for up to a week to get one's ticket punched. Another is where you have related experience and are moving (or were moved) into a new environment. In my case I was re-orged from a Unix-centric to a Windows-centric IT environment. Getting a Microsoft System Administrator cert definitely helped come review time. Finally, if you have a discrimination issue, such as the common one that as an older tech worker you're skills aren't up to date. If push comes to legal shove human relations people, lawyers, and judges do take evidence of continuing education very seriously.

Why a Linux certification?

The number of job ads calling for some knowledge of Linux has risen by nearly 100% over the last year. On the other hand the number of applicants choosing Linux certification hasnt risen proportionally. Part of the reason for this anomaly is that employers generally havent put much faith in Linux certifications and therefore there has been little demand for them. Also, many of the Linux jobs advertised are for more senior and technical roles such as programmers and developers skills that far outweigh the level that are tested on some Linux certification tracks. All that appears to be changing however, with Linux becoming ever more mainstream and people with Linux skills becoming more in demand.

Will Linux certification land me a job?

While actual work experience with Linux or any computer technology will always count for so much more than any piece of paper, gaining Linux certification certainly wont do your credentials any harm. The demand for credentials in everyfield, computer-related or not, is increasing and one has to keep up with the pack. Having that certification ticket punched may not make your resume stand out in a positive way, but not having it might make it stand out in a negative one.Large bureaucratic IT organizations take them more seriously than groovy startups if that's the environment you're looking to work for.

Which Linux certification?

There are several options to choose from and, given the amount of time and money that youll need to invest into gaining your Linux certification, youll want to be sure that you make the right certification track choice to begin with.

For those new to Linux then the entry-level, vendor-neutral certifications offered by CompTIA and LPI the best choice. However, these involve only multiple-choice tests and as a result have rather less credibility with technical managers.

If you are already working with Linux then one of the proprietary Linux certifications (Red Hat, Novell) would be better suited. Like the respected Cisco certifications these certs involve rigorous hands-on practical exercises under severe time constraints and have much more credibility with technical managers. They are also more expensive, especially if you have to retake the test, as almost 50% of Red Hat wannabes fail the first time around.

Given that there are numerous distributions of Linux available one problem of Linux certifications is that there is no central organization that can set the certification standards and ensure that the candidates meet those standards. What this meansis that you have quite a degree of freedom to choose which certification track is right for you, but you equally need to be sure that the one you choose will meet your end needs. As with any other certification track that you take, Linux certifications can be taken by way of instructor led courses or you can undertake a regime of self-study on your own. Dont get too bogged down on deciding which distribution is better or is more likely to result in a job at the end of the day. While there are obvious differences between the various Linux distributions a degree of competency in one flavour will set you up to transition to the others if need be at a later stage.

John Reece

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There are some situations in Linux operating system where you can not mount the file system and logical volumes to access data from it. It specifically occurs in dual boot systems. When you attempt to repair the file system on your root partition, the process gets failed. In such situations, you system becomes inaccessible. When you try to repair your disk and file system without L, it does not work and gives you the following error message:Leonzwei root # xfs_repair -nLv /dev/hdc3Phase 1 - find and verify super block...Bad primary super block - bad magic number!!!Attempting to find secondary super block...Found candidate secondary super block...error reading super block 54 -- seek to offset 57982058496 failedunable to verify super block, continuingCauseThis problem occurs due to errors or corruption into the Super Block of your Linux file system. Due to corruption in the super block, the file system can not be mounted and thus the system does not start. Super Block is th e most important part of Linux file system which contains a complete description of the size, shape, type and all other important information related to file system. This information is sued by the file system manage to manage your Linux file system. In such situations, you may face the critical problems of data loss from your Linux computer. At this point of time, the only thing which can save you and your data is the data recovery Linux. Linux data recovery is the process of retrieving your inaccessible data from the failed Linux hard drive. It is possible using the data recovery software know and Linux recovery software. Linux recovery software provides easy interface for the user to handle even the severe data loss situations. Data recovery Linux software are made available by a number of data recovery companies. You should always go for the best Linux recovery software to ensure absolute Linux data recovery. Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is the ultimate s olution of all your Linux data loss worries. With interactive and cool looking user interface, this software allows you to have easy and smooth Linux recovery from all flavors of Linux operating system. It is a read only and non destructive data recovery Linux software.

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