Monday, 22. February 2010
The Technology of SCALE8x – A Post Event Review. PART – 1
Every February in Los Angeles CA, a group of dedicated volunteers get together to put on what many believe to be the largest all volunteer organized open source technology conventions in the US. This three day event features talks and exhibits specifically targeted at Open Source users, programmers, and system administrators.
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Posted in IPv6, IT, Internet, Linux, Networking, Open Source by Stuart Sheldon -
Monday, 11. January 2010
Adventures in IPv6… Or how I spent my Xmas Vacation!
Whether you are a network administrator, an end user, or someone that falls in between, you are going to be hearing a lot about IPv6 in the coming years. If you’re in the business of delivering network services, then you need to get up to speed on this… Because before you know it, you will have a client or end user come up to you with a problem that IPv6 is involved in.
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Posted in Desktop, IPv6, IT, Internet, Linux, Networking by Stuart Sheldon -
Monday, 14. December 2009
Change is hard.
After a few unexpected road blocks, we are moving forward. The client has been working with the Ubuntu install we provided, and has come back to us with a list of questions.
- How do I print to PDF?
- I need to use MSN Instant Messaging, how do I do that?
- I need a 3270 emulator, the windows one we bought won’t work.
- I need a password manager.
- I can’t seem to make Go To My PC work with Linux.
- I really need a quick tutorial on basic navigation, I’m finding things like creating shortcuts and attaching to network shares challenging.
So, after a quick install of CUPS PDF, Pidgin, x3270, KeePass, and VNC-Server, as well as a 30 minute tutorial on desktop operation, we were back on track.
The next step.
Once the client is comfortable with the desktop, we will be moving to the next stage of testing. This will be a full operational test of Linux on his desk full time. I had hoped to be at this point already, but many things go into testing, and we need to get this right the first time if we have any hope of total conversion.
Check back soon, I’ll have more in a few weeks.
– Stu
Posted in Desktop, IT, Linux, Networking, Open Source by Stuart Sheldon -
Thursday, 12. November 2009
Turning a small business into a Windows Free environment.
With many of our customers looking at yet another Microsoft upgrade, and all the costs associated with it, we are encouraging our customers to evaluate “other” solutions. In the current economic downturn, it is no surprise that we are seeing positive responses to this idea.
One company has expressed interest in evaluating a new solution. Over the upcoming weeks and months, I’ll be reporting on the progress of this project. This is the first post in this series.
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Posted in Desktop, IT, Linux, Networking, Open Source by Stuart Sheldon -
Monday, 12. October 2009
The temptation of the cloud…
In today’s everything digital world, it seems like a natural thing to store your data where you can get to it from anywhere. But who is insuring that all those photos, contacts, videos, calendar entries, and other digital info will be there in ten years? Or in five years? Or even next year? Actually, who is making sure it will be there and accessible tomorrow? With Microsoft/Danger’s announcement of a total data storage failure on the T-Mobile Sidekick Network:
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Posted in IT, Internet, Networking, Security by Stuart Sheldon -
Tuesday, 29. September 2009
This story might not be for everyone.
I often have trouble thinking of things to write about that will fit in to the “Everyone can benefit from” category. This little blog post is really aimed at IT folks and their families. It is an effort in explaining some of the strange thought processes we as IT people need to use in our jobs, and how they leak into our home and social lives sometimes.
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Posted in IT, Internet, Networking, Security by Stuart Sheldon -
Tuesday, 8. September 2009
Microsoft training, where the fear begins.
A recent blog story from Daily Finance tells of leaked slides from Microsoft’s Expert Zone training class used to train Best Buy employees, contains out and out lies regarding security and compatibility comparisons between Windows 7 and Linux. For many Linux advocates, this is equivalent to a smoking gun in regards to Microsoft’s unethical methods of promoting it’s products. They point to the fact that Microsoft uses it’s technical training and certification programs to spread false information. WELL DUH!
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Posted in Internet, Linux, Networking, Open Source by Stuart Sheldon -
Friday, 28. August 2009
This can’t be right. It’s going to cost $1000.00 just for software?
I must admit, this is quite a surprise, even for me. While pricing a PC for a client, I was shocked when I calculated the total cost of the software that they are required to use for their business.
The cost of software is one of those things that most business owners understand, but very few employees grasp. While there are open source alternatives available for these software packages, chances are that the client will elect to purchase this software, but as always, I’ll sure give him the option to try something different.
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Posted in Desktop, Linux, Networking, Open Source by Stuart Sheldon -
Monday, 24. August 2009
Thousands report receiving health care email from White House without requesting it.
Over the last few days, news agencies have been reporting that the office of the president used a third party email service to deliver a political email to email accounts that were not subscribed or ever requested government email. This has lead to all sorts of questions regarding if tax payer money was used, or if the White House over stepped it’s bounds by sending what many are calling “SPAM” emails under the presidential umbrella.
This event has brought to the forefront a company that is engaged in managing mass emails for different government agencies called Gov Delivery. Caught in the middle of this whole thing, Gov Delivery is doing it’s best to protect both it’s clients, and it’s own back end. But I think everyone is missing the real story here.
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Posted in Internet, Networking, Security by Stuart Sheldon -
Thursday, 20. August 2009
Who’s really behind the idea.
First off, let me be clear that this was not my idea. I was told about this whole concept by Mike Rubel @ Cal Tech. He’s the rocket scientist behind this whole idea. Now that we have our “Credit Where Credit is Due” portion out of the way, let’s get into the whole rsync backup concept.
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Posted in Desktop, Free BSD, Linux, Networking, Open Source, Security by Stuart Sheldon -