NASA Uses Linux – A Lot!

Rai    Linux     fedora, Linux, nasa, redhat, rhel, servers, shuttle, space

Jack Aboutboul writes an insider’s scoop as he unravels the truth behind the urban myth about NASA using Fedora and RHEL for their mission-critical machines.

Jack writes:

 There has been a long standing rumor regarding NASA running Fedora which all of us in the Fedora community have been always intrigued by. Is it true? What are they doing with it there? Why don’t they run RHEL. Fortunately enough, a couple of weeks ago, I got to experience NASA behind the scenes, first hand, and hang out with the coolest members of the Fedora community, and find out the answer to these questions and lots more.

Read more about his trip-to-die-for to NASA including the pictures here.

Setting Up Remote Connection Using FreeNX

Rai    How-To's, Linux, Tips     fedora, freenx, Linux, nomachine, remote access, remote desktop, windows

Want to remote access your Linux desktop? Or access your workstation similar the way Remote Desktop does it?

While Linux offers a wide array of ways to connect to a remote computer, some people still prefer to connect the traditional way by using ssh. Not only it is secure, it is sure is a fast way of connecting a remote terminal. However, if you want to remotely access your Linux desktop, freeNX can do the job along with NoMachine client.

What is freeNX?

From the official website:

NX is an exciting new technology for remote display. It provides near local speed application responsiveness over high latency, low bandwidth links. The core libraries for NX are provided by NoMachine under the GPL. FreeNX is a GPL implementation of the NX Server.

Linux is to freeNX as Windows is to Remote Desktop. I decided to use freeNX to access my Linux desktop in office if ever I need to.

Setting up freeNx:

freeNX is available for download in source tarballs and distribution packages.I personally use the distribution package for Fedora/Redhat which is available via yum. I am using Fedora 7 so in this case, I will use the steps of setting up freeNX for my distro.

# Make sure you are up-to-date
yum update

# Install FreeNX and all dependencies
yum install freenx

#SERVER SETUP IS DONE! The RPM takes care of the required setup.

That’s it! However, if you are using Fedora versions older than Fedora 5, there is a special how-to for freeNX setup that you might want to check.

Install NoMachine client:

Remote connection also needs a client which is the program you use that connects to your remote server, in this case the freeNX server. In this tutorial, we will be using NoMachine as the client. You can download the NoMachine client here. In my example, I will be using Windows XP for my workstation client so I have to download and install the NoMachine client for Windows. Install the client and run the NX Client for Windows. This will open up a dialog box for your client configuration. Here are the steps you need to setup your client:

•  When the dialog box opens, enter the Session and Host name for your connection. Session name is the name of your connection and your settings will be saved under this name. Host name is the ip address or hostname and port of the remote machine. The default port is 22 (SSH). Click Next.
• In the next dialog box, select Unix and choose which type of window manager you want to use and the resolution. In this case I user KDE and Available Area for my resolution. Check the box for Enable SSL encryption. Click Next.
• If you want to put a shortcut to this connection on your desktop, put a tick on the Create shortcut on desktop checkbox and click Finish.

If you want to open the session, double click the shortcut on your Desktop and type in your username and password for this session. You will be connecting now to your freeNX server and you will see your Available sessions box. Select New to create a new session to begin connecting to your remote desktop. Wait for the desktop to load and voila! You are now connected to your remote desktop.

VMware: Failed to Open Sound Device

Rai    Linux, Microsoft, Troubleshooting     esd, fedora, Linux, sound, virtualization, vmware, windows

When using VMware for virtualization, you might encounter an error related to your sound device:

Failed to open sound device /dev/dsp: Device or resource busy

If you see this error, this means the sound device in your host machine is currently in use and the VMware client is not able to access the device. Here is also a little bit of information from the vmware knowledge base:

Some other program is using the sound device. You must quit that program first. While every virtual machine on a host can be configured with a sound device, only one virtual machine at a time can actively use the device. If another virtual machine is currently using it, simply terminate the application inside it that is producing sound.

Another possible cause is that the Enlightenment Sound Daemon is running and using the sound device. VMware recommends you turn off the Enlightenment Sound Daemon.

Though I have not found a way to fix this yet, there is a workaround that might help if you want to use sounds in your virtual machine. You might want to kill all esd processes:

# killall esd

You might need to restart your VMware service for the changes to take effect. This method will get the sound device available for your guest OS.

I have tested this on my machine running Fedora 7on my host machine and VMware Server 1.04 with Windows XP as guest OS. Works like a charm.

Fedora 8: Code Name Werewolf

Rai    Linux, News     distro, fedora, iso, Linux, update, version

Yes, you read it right. Fedora 8 has arrived to rock our worlds, armed with new features and updates to make your daily computing more secure and fun. To those who have become intrigued by this news, you probably ask me (or yourself), “what is new with this release?”. So to satisfy your cravings for more information, I am listing some of note-worthy features of Fedora :

• Fedora includes several different spins, which are variations of Fedora built from a specific set of software packages. Each spin has a combination of software to meet the requirements of a specific kind of end user. In addition to a very small boot.iso image for network installation, users have the following spin choices: 1) A regular Fedora image for desktops, workstations, and server users. This spin provides a good upgrade path and similar environment for users of previous releases of Fedora. 2) One of four Live images that can be run from a disc or USB flash device, and can be installed to hard disk as desired.
• CodecBuddy is now included, and promotes free, superior quality, open formats to end users trying to play multimedia content under patent encumbered or proprietary formats.
• Compiz Fusion, the compositing window manager that re-merges Compiz and Beryl, is installed by default. (OMG! OMG! OMG!)
• The completely free and open source Java environment called IcedTea is installed by default.
• OpenOffice.org 2.3, with many new features, is available as part of Fedora 8
• Laptop users benefit from the “quirks” feature in HAL, including better suspend/resume and multimedia keyboard support.
• This release of Fedora has a new look and feel, called Infinity, from the Fedora Art team.
• Fedora 8 features a 2.6.23 based kernel.
• Fedora provides a default firewall that can limit both incoming and outgoing connections and Fedora 8 and above includes a very user friendly system-config-firewall utility.
• Following all the other security enhancements comes PolicyKit. PolicyKit is a new toolkit from Fedora developers for controlling privileges of system-wide services.

If you are wondering what spins means, in a nutshell, it is a variation from your typical Fedora installation that matches a specific function like an installation made for games or for software development. There are a couple of pre-built spins available for download if you want to try it out.

Another thing that should be noted with this distribution is Fedora 8 is released with a new feature that enables a user to boot from a USB storage device. This is a total turn-on for Fedora 8 because it does not only made LiveCD available (this feature has been made available since Fedora 7) but a LiveUSB (I daresay) as well. Now that is one more reason to get a lovely teeny-weeny USB flash drive – aside from being a cute keychain .

Another program is also new to this release, PulseAudio. PulseAudio sound daemon makes the user have control over the sound settings and can even be used as a music server so you can stream music over your local network. It can also control the volume of each program you use, in my case, I can turn on the volume to high for my Gaim so I can hear my Jabber alerts (we have server alerts coming in from Jabber) over my music which is played by XMMS. You can also make PulseAudio hush out your music when another desktop session is opened.

Here are some of the screenshots provided by the Fedora Official website:

Isn’t that exciting? If you want more, then head to Fedora’s official website and read their release notes and security features of Fedora 8.

Of course, I will not forget to tell you where to get a copy of this fabulous release. Here are some of the many ways you can get hold of Fedora 8:

Official Direct Download Site

Official Bittorrent Tracker (You need a bittorrent client for this)

Fedora Free Media Program (Limited free copies of Fedora)

Local burnfests and FOSS conferences (check your local area for the schedules of FOSS events)