Linux Community Magazine

Android, also know as Droid, is an operating system for last generation mobile phones. The OS has been developed by Google and is currently the most spread operating system for smartphones in the world, used by more than 33% of the market. Android also runs on tablets developed by Google Inc. as well.

The purchase of Android by Google happened six years ago, in 2005, and the first time it was distributed was in November 2007. The unveiling was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, which is a consortium of 80 IT companies working for mobile phones improvements. Most of the code for Android was released by Google under the Apache License, which makes Android licensed as free software.

The OS is based on the Linux kernel and is written with middleware, libraries and APIs in C language, and includes Java-compatible libraries as well. Like the other very popular OS on the market, Apple's iOS, Android has a large database of third-party applications developed by independent programmers or companies, most of them written in Java. More than 250.000 applications are currently available in the Android Market ran by Google. The applications can also be downloaded from other sites, but it is recommended to use the versions from the official market of the OS.

Android is right now the most popular and best-selling smartphone platform in the world, according to Canalys and comScore. Google's OS was the best sold in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Since its original release, several updates were made for Android. Each version of Android has a code number and a nickname, and the most recent versions are the following: 2.0 Eclair, 2.1 Eclair, 2.2 Froyo, 2.3 Gingerbread, 3.0 Honeycomb, 3.1 Honeycomb and 3.2 Honeycomb. The 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version is set to be released in Q4 of 2011, being currently in the development and testing process.

Android is mainly powered up by hardware from the ARM architecture. The Android-x86 project offers support for x86 and Google TV uses a special version of Android, working on x86 as well. The first smartphone to use Android was HTC Dream, released in October 2008. Google collaborated with HTC for its first Android device, Google Nexus One, while the 2010 version was made in collaboration with Samsung: Google Nexus S.

Though it works on the Linux kernel, Android had some security issues over the time. In August 2010, a SMS Trojan infected a large number of devices, while in March 2011 Google found 58 malicious applications in the Android Market, which were downloaded to around 260.000 devices. Most of the applications were hiding Trojans and infected many devices. The latest study made in August 2011 stated that around half a million Android users were infected by malware in the first half of 2011.

Nevertheless, Android still remains one of the most popular operating systems in the world, and the only competitor, Apple's iOS, is still placed quite at a distance in the ranks.

Abstract: android is the open source Linux-based mobile phone operating system, the name of the platform from the operating system, middleware, user interface and application form, and there is no past hinder exclusive mobile industry innovation barriers claims to be the first to create a truly open mobile terminal and complete mobile software. Android's bright future in China, domestic manufacturers and operators have also joined the android camp, including the Meizu, China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei Communications, Lenovo and other large enterprises. Youyou phone networks have introduced a lot of Android phones, such as HTCG2, Philips, V808, etc.. So what is Android? Android in the end what is it? I tried to sum up under the following for you readers. Android original meaning of that term "robot", is also Google on November 5, 2007 announced the open source Linux-based mobile phone operating system, the name of the platform by the operating system, middleware, user int erface and application form and do not hinder any previous mobile industry exclusive innovation barriers, known as the mobile terminal is the first to create a truly open and complete mobile software. September 22, 2008, U.S. carrier T-MobileUSA officially released in New York, the first Google phone?? T-MobileG1. HTC handset OEM in Taiwan, is the world's first phone to use Android operating system, supports WCDMA / HSPA network, theoretical download speeds of 7.2Mbps, and supports Wi-Fi. Android platform R & D team lineup, including Google, HTC (HTC), PHILIPS, T-Mobile, Qualcomm, Meizu, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and China Mobile, including 34 enterprises will be based on the new mobile phone platform business, interoperability between applications and connectivity will be preserved to the maximum extent. Android's bright future in China, first of all there is mature consumers, at home, Android is prosperous community such as androidin.net, these communities popular in China fo r the android to do a very good promotional effect. Domestic manufacturers and operators have also joined the android camp, including the Meizu, China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei Communications, Lenovo and other large enterprises. Android platform for mobile phones five major advantages: 1, open The dominant side, Android platform is the development of the first to develop the platform allows any mobile device manufacturers to join Android alliance. Remarkable openness can make it have more developers, as users and applications become richer and richer, a new platform will soon mature. Development of the Android development is conducive to accumulation of popularity, where popularity including consumers and manufacturers, and for the consumer is concerned, with the big benefit is the rich software resources. The open platform will bring greater competition, this way, consumers will be able to buy at lower price favorite phone. 2, break away from the shackles of operators In the past for a long period of time, especially in the U.S. and Europe, cell phone use is often restricted by the operator, what features to use any network access, almost all controlled by the operator. Since the iPhone market, users can more easily connect to the network, operators with fewer constraints. With EDGE, HSDPA 2G to 3G mobile networks such gradual transition and promotion of free access to mobile network operators in the mouth is not the joke, when you can easily mobile IM software, real-time chat, think back to the recent high price of MMS and ringtone download service, is not like a nightmare? Internet giant Google's Android devices come naturally to promote the network characteristics, will allow users from the Internet more recently.

Ext3 (or extended file system) is used as the default file system for many of the Linux distributions. Since it is a journaled file system, it removes the need of running file system check after you encounter unexpected system shutdown. It also supports online file system growth and HTree indexing for large-sized directories. But irrespective of different security features it involves, the file system is prone to corruption. Its metadata structures might get corrupted due to several external and internal reasons. To solve such inconsistencies, Linux runs a boot-time fsck to detect and repair file system errors, if any. However, if it cannot resolve specific file system issues, you will need to run fsck manually or else use Linux Data Recovery applications to extract the lost data. As an instance, when you try to boot-up a Linux-based system with hard disk formatted to Ext3 file system, you might receive the similar error message:"fsck.ext3 Unable to resolve 'LABEL=boot"You encounter such errors after all hardware have been initialized and boot-time fsck is launched. CauseThe above error is likely to occur in any of the following conditions:Wrong entry of boot partition in /etc/fstab fileBoot partition is corruptedHard disk contains bad sectorsSolution You should apply these methods to troubleshoot such problems:Make sure that you have marked the correct entry of boot partition. To do so, you can boot into the system through installation disk and access the Rescue Mode.If boot partition corruption is the issue, boot the system using Linux installation disk and run fsck on /boot partition in Rescue Mode. Make sure that it is not mounted. Replace the hard disk if bad sectors are physical or first reformat it as bad sector might be logical too. After reformatting, restore data from backup.If fsck is unable to fix file system corruption and data is still inaccessible or you don't have valid data backup after reformatting the disk, it is recommende d to use Linux Recovery tools for data recovery purposes. Such Linux Data Recovery applications are competent to scan a logically crashed drive and restore original data safely.Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is a comprehensive data recovery tool for Linux-based system that provides safe Linux Recovery for Ext2, Ext3, and ReiserFS file systems. The application empowers you with advanced features such as, Ext3 Recovery, File Filter, Append File Header etc. It is compatible with almost all Linux distributions including Gentoo, SlackWare, Mandrake, Ubuntu, SUSE etc.

Hi everybody

Complete process is mostly done automatically. That doesn't imply that you just watch the computer do all work for you from start to finish.

At certain stages of the process, you are prompted to choose some options the system presents. Most questions you can answer easily, but there are some options which needs careful consideration to pick.

The options above are critical and can make the installation a total failure.

How do I know it?????

I tried it many times, and I found out the big difference. There are only two outcome of installing Linux and Windows XP on the same computer: Success or failure. No other choices.

If you want to ensure successful installations, here are 4 simple basic steps that will help you tremendously, and will make a huge difference in making the installation run smooth and produce the desired result:

1rst - MUST partition your hard disk in to 2 partitions using Windows XP.

This should be done, because in most cases each operating system should be on a separate partition.

There are some exceptions that two operating systems can work in the same partition, but it is not the proper method..

It is possible two have two Microsoft operating system on the same partition depending on their versions, but this will never work if one operating system is Linux.

So, if you need to install Linux and Windows XP on the same computer hard disk, you must use separate partition for each.

2nd -Install Windows XP First on a partition of at least 3Gigs. This is because Linux will recognize the NTFS file system used by Windows XP. So, Linux will prompted you to leave the NTFS file system intact or format it..

Once prompted if you need to format the whole drive, you will choose the option that keeps Windows XP installed.

3rd -Install Linux after you are done totally with Windows XP installation.

When you are done installing Windows XP, you will install Linux an another partition. Up until now, you have installed Windows XP and Linux on different partitions.

This will enable you to have a computer ready to be rendered a dual boot system that will give you the options of loading either operating systems: Windows XP or Linux.

However, you still have to complete one step to ensure a successful dual boot set up on your computer. In step four, I will explain what completes your successful dual boot installation.

4th -Edit lilo.conf file. After you are done installing both operating system, Linux and Windows XP, your computer will reboot. You will be amazed to find out that your computer is loading Linux without giving you the choice of loading Windows XP..

This situation is tricky and makes you think that the installation of the dual boot did not take place. This problem is resolved by editing a Linux file called lilo.conf.

Once lilo.conf is edited properly by adding a line of code that points to Windows XP operating system, you will be able to resolve the problem in order to be able to have a choice of two operating systems. Linux or Windows XP.

In Summary, don't spend countless hours installing two operating systems unless you take into account the 4 simple steps above. Hope it helped you.

In most cases, your email server is hosted by the same company that your website is hosted with. However, some companies prefer internal email servers. This ensures the ability to have permanent mail storage as well as having the ability to customise the size limits without incurring extra costs. Linux email servers are stable, feature rich and completely scalable.

Web-based Email

Linux email servers support POP3, IMAP, and Webmail access. These are universal standards that need to be available for flexible email access. With web-based email access you can access your emails in the office, or on the go.

Spam filtering

Spam has become a major issue on the net today and consumes costs and time. Linux email servers are robust enough to supply customizable features such as spam filtering.

Virus scanning

No business should go without fully-integrated virus scanning software and this is easily done within a Linux email server. With options such AmaViS and Clam AV your networked computers will stay safe from those nasty viruses.

Security

Linux email servers offer SMTP SSL Authentication and domain keys which help keep your server and emails secure. It is very difficult to exploit the Linux operating system, therefore your emails are safe and secure at all times.

Speed and Stability

Linux is a one of the most stable operating systems known today. Linux email servers are well known for their amazing up-time statistics and when it comes to efficiency you cannot go wrong as Linux boasts amazing speeds.

Scalability

With the Linux email servers using MySQL or Postgres as their back end storage, you can ensure that you will have enough room to keep expanding. Storage space is definitely not a problem when choosing Linux. With current common technology, your Linux email server can reach sizes of up to 16TB (terabytes).

Let CCS Africa help you set up your Linux email server today and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with the stability, speed and scalability of your new email server. Contact us on 0861 22 77 29 or email to get a quote today!