Our company, US Auto Parts Philippines (formerly MBS Tek Corporation), is in need of two (2) Level 2 Linux Administrators with the following qualifications:

* Passion for *Linux* and Open Source technologies!
* 3+ years of intensive Linux Systems administration (any redhat variant) in production and development servers
* Knowledge or experience with Php, Perl and Shell scripting for automation tasks.
* Knowledge or experience in e-commerce services (DNS, Web, SSL, Mysql, TCP/IP, etc)
* System security implementation, performance tuning and rollout of projects or updates.
* Strategic, cross-functional, thinker
Linux Administrators are responsible for delivering 24×7 uptime of all e-commerce and development servers. They also provide technical assistance and implementation of technology solutions to ensure system reliability and optimum performance of the servers and work with developers for application and system performance analysis and tuning.

Starting salary for Linux Administrator is Php35,000 (with semi-annual, performance-based salary increase).

If you know you got what it takes and have the desire to work in a fun, fast-paced, dynamic environment, send me your resume and you will be contacted for interview and actual exam.

You can also check out our company preview:

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Here is another amatuer video of my Acer notebook with Kubuntu Linux, KDE 4,0 and Compiz Fusion.

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This commentary made by John Dvorak points out that the deal between Sun and MySQL favors Sun.

The move, announced earlier this week, is potentially a disaster for the entire sector for reasons I’ll outline here.

Let’s begin by putting MySQL in perspective: It’s the most competitive and biggest threat to Oracle Corp., if for no other reason than it’s cheaper, and in many applications, more practical.

It’s used extensively by the open-source community and is the engine that runs almost all the blogging software — including the successful WordPress, which is used as the blogging-content back end for the New York Times, among other large commercial enterprises.

Sun has an awful track record with its acquisitions. Here is a recent official list.

Sun’s crummy results go way back and include unique and useful products such as TOPS — a PC to Mac file-sharing OS, which was bought by Sun in 1987, then rotted from neglect.

From another perspective, you have to wonder why MySQL was sold in the first place and who orchestrated this deal.

If anyone actually knew that MySQL was up for grabs, I expect that Google, Yahoo and certainly Microsoft Corp. would have been interested, and there should have been a publicized bidding war resulting in a much higher price than $1 billion.

I’m close to being convinced that Oracle wanted to buy MySQL to kill the product, but knew that it couldn’t pull off the stunt itself. It would be too obvious, especially to European Union regulators. So it sent in a stooge to do the job.

The two companies, Sun and Oracle, have been strategic partners for years. On top of that, Sun cannot actually afford to spend a $1 billion on a company producing a mere $60 million in revenue and working outside its core competencies.

So who can afford it? Oracle, that’s who. This deal stinks from top to bottom.

So there you have it. Somehow, Dvorak made some points but then again, maybe we are overanalyzing things.

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cnn.com reports:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sun Microsystems Inc. has agreed to buy open-source software maker MySQL AB for $1 billion, beefing up the server maker’s database offerings with a company whose technology is used by some of the world’s biggest Web sites.

Santa Clara-based Sun, in separate announcements before the market opened, said its second quarter revenue would narrowly exceed Wall Street estimates. It also said profit would fall at the high end of analysts’ expectations. The company revealed its preliminary results ahead of schedule.

The acquisition, expected to close in the third or fourth quarter, takes pressure off Sun to spend some of the cash it’s been accumulating. It also bolsters its software offerings with a well-known name in Internet data retrieval.

What will become of MySQL after the acquisition? In my super humble opinion, there are only two things that could happen: MySQL’s growth will surpass its previous records or MySQL will go down the drain. Fighting my inner pessimist, I hope that MySQL will continue to be what it is today or even better for the sake of this blog

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This nice Wiki Page describes how to make your plain and simple EeePC into a super fancy notebook by doing some internal upgrades. Soldering experience required!

(Because of the extensibility of the article and EeePC, I will just put some of the upgrades here.)

• USB hub

• GPS with antenna

• Bluetooth

• FM transmitter
• Power switch
• Card reader

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Still looking for a backup program for your Linux files? Finally, FlyBack is available to Linux users to backup our stuff and save our a$$es from humiliating and headache-producing data loss.

FlyBack is a snapshot-based backup tool based on rsync It creates successive backup directories mirroring the files you wish to backup, but hard-links unchanged files to the previous backup. This prevents wasting disk space while providing you with full access to all your files without any sort of recovery program. If your machine crashes, just move your external drive to your new machine and copy the latest backup using whatever file browser you normally use.

Bernaz’s Weblog writes about FlyBack and you can continue reading here.

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I did this obviously amateur video while playing around with my Acer 5570 notebook running Kubuntu Linux with Compiz Fusion and KDE 4.0. Enjoy

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Senator Ed Angara passed Bill 880: “AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8293 OR THE “THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES” AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES” (the bill’s short title: “AMENDING R.A. NO. 8293, TO INCLUDE INTERNET PIRACY”).

The bill mostly changes some minor laws about copyright laws, fair use, personal importation of copyrighted works, registration of copyright, copyright infringement, and related procedural matters. Infoweapons writes that Bill 880, however, also introduces new concepts and a new chapter, numbered XXI, which gives legal protection to DRM measures and prohibits means to circumvent them. DRM seems to be effectively included in the bill with the following definitions stated at the beginning of Bill 880:

171.12 “EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE” MEANS ANY TECHNOLOGY, DEVICE OR COMPONENT THAT, IN THE NORMAL COURSE OF ITS OPERATION, CONTROLS ACCESS TO A PROTECTED WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR OTHER SUBJECT MATTER, OR PROTECTS ANY COPYRIGHT OR ANY RIGHTS RELATED TO COPYRIGHT AS PROVIDED BY THIS ACT.

171.13 “RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION” MEANS INFORMATION WHICH IDENTIFIES THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; THE AUTHOR OF THE WORK, PRODUCER OF THE SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMER OF THE PERFORMANCE; THE OWNER OF ANY RIGHT IN THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; OR INFORMATION ABOUT THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE USE OF THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE; AND ANY NUMBERS OR CODES THAT REPRESENT SUCH INFORMATION, WHEN ANY OF THESE ITEMS IS ATTACHED TO A COPY OF THE SOUND RECORDING OR FIXATION OF WORK, PERFORMANCE OR APPEARS IN CONNECTION WITH THE COMMUNICATION TO THE PUBLIC OF A WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE. NOTHING IN THIS ACT REQUIRES THE OWNER OF ANY R IGHT IN THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR PERFORMANCE TO ATTACH RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TO COPIES OF IT OR TO CAUSE RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TO APPEAR IN CONNECTION WITH A COMMUNICATION OF THE WORK, SOUND RECORDING OR PERFORMANCE TO THE PUBLIC.

Chapter XXI, on the other hand reads as follows:

CHAPTER XXI. TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES AND RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

SECTION 229A TECHNOLOGICAL PROTECTION MEASURES

229A.1. ANY PERSON WHO DOES EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING SHALL BE GUILTY OF A CRIME, PUNISHABLE TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1(B) OF THIS ACT FOR THE FIRST OFFENSE, AND TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1(C) FOR THE SECOND OR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSE, AND SHALL ALSO BE LIABLE UPON THE SUIT OF ANY INJURED PARTY, TO A RELIEF, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES, INJUNCTION, IMPOUNDMENT, AND DESTRUCTION. THE REMEDIES PROVIDED IN SECTION 216 SHALL APPLY, MUTATIS MUTANDIS, TO VIOLATIONS OF THIS SECTION:

(a) KNOWINGLY, OR HAVING REASONABLE GROUNDS TO KNOW, CIRCUMVENTS WITHOUT AUTHORITY ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE;

(b) OR MANUFACTURES, IMPORTS, EXPORTS, THE PUBLIC, DISTRIBUTES, OFFERS TO PROVIDES, OR OTHERWISE TRAFFICS IN DEVICES, PRODUCTS OR COMPONENTS OR OFFERS TO THE PUBLIC OR PROVIDES SERVICES:

(i) THAT ARE PROMOTED, ADVERTISED OR MARKETED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CIRCUMVENTION OF ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE;

(ii) OR THAT HAVE ONLY A LIMITED COMMERCIALLY SIGNIFICANT PURPOSE OR USE OTHER THAN TO CIRCUMVENT ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE: OR

(iii) THAT ARE PRIMARILY DESIGNED, PRODUCED, ADAPTED OR PERFORMED FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENABLING OR FACILITATING THE CIRCUMVENTION OF ANY EFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE.

229A.2. THIS SECTION PROHIBITS CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE AN AFFIRMATIVE RESPONSE TO SUCH MEASURES. THIS SECTION DOES NOT REQUIRE THAT THE DESIGN OF, OR THE DESIGN AND SELECTION OF PARTS AND COMPONENTS FOR A CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS OR COMPUTING PRODUCT PROVIDE FOR A RESPONSE TO ANY PARTICULAR TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURE. THIS PARAGRAPH DOES NOT PROVIDE A DEFENSE TO A CLAIM OF VIOLATION OF PARAGRAPH (1)(B).

229A.3. A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION IS INDEPENDENT OF ANY INFRINGEMENT THAT MIGHT OCCUR UNDER THIS ACT.

SECTION 229B INTEGRITY OF RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

ANY PERSON WHO DOES EITHER BE FOLLOWING SHALL BE GUILTY OF A CRIME, PUNISHABLE TO THE SAME EXTENT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 217.1 OF THIS ACT, AND SHALL ALSO BE LIABLE UPON THE SUIT OF ANY INJURED PARTY, TO RELIEF BY WAY OF DAMAGES, INJUNCTION, IMPOUNDMENT, DESTRUCTION OR OTHERWISE, AND THE REMEDIES PROVIDED IN SECTION 216 SHALL APPLY, MUTATIS MUTANDIS, TO VIOLATIONS OF THIS SECTION.

(a) KNOWINGLY AND WITHOUT AUTHORITY REMOVES ALTERS ANY ELECTRONIC RIGHTS OR MANAGEMENT INFORMATION FROM A COPY OF A WORK, SOUND RECORDING, OR FIXATION OF A PERFORMANCE, OR KNOWINGLY AND WITHOUT AUTHORITY DISTRIBUTES, IMPORTS FOR DISTRIBUTION, BROADCASTS, COMMUNICATES OR MAKES AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC COPIES OF WORKS, SOUND RECORDINGS, OR FIXATIONS OF PERFORMANCES FROM WHICH ELECTRONIC RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION HAS BEEN REMOVED; OR

(b) ALTERS ELECTRONIC RIGHTS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION WITHOUT AUTHORITY, KNOWING OR (WITH RESPECT TO CIVIL REMEDIES) HAVING REASONABLE GROUNDS TO KNOW THAT SUCH ACTIVITY WILL ENABLE OR FACILITATE AN INFRINGEMENT OF ANY RIGHT PROTECTED UNDER THIS LAW.

More information on this bill is available here.

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I came across this nice article from news.com which is another piece of technology about to hit the stores that comes with Linux - Shuttle’s $199 KPC Linux PC.

It’ll have an Intel Celeron processor, a 945GC chipset, 512MB of memory and either a 60GB or 80GB hard drive. What it won’t have: an optical drive or a PCI Express slot. Despite that, it’s a pretty good-looking box, and comes in red, blue, white, and black, each with a different icon stamped on the front.

Shuttle also says there will be a $99 barebones version of the KPC. That version will have the option of upgrading to a Core2Duo processor and 1GB of memory. Both will be available for purchase near the end of the first quarter.

Shuttle is known for its high performance, small form factor (barebone) computers distributed around the world.

Popularity: 10% [?]