Radados Linux

Programming with PerlQt: Introduction to PerlQt

If you are just learning to program computers then you may want to start with an easy to use GUI developer that produces results quickly. PerlQt is an extremely fast and easy way to make nice little GUI programs. It is super simple and I am about to show you how easy it truly is.

ViceWM 1.3.0 is available

Persistant desktop and auto log out with ViceWM.

ViceWM was designed for use on LTSP terminals it uses IceWM as a light and fast desktop.
VNC is used to provide persistent desktops. You can log out and back in
and your desktop and programs stay running. xscreensaver calls a bash
script to suspend users session and log them out after some time.
ViceWM now includes a wrapper for KDE to provide persistant desktop sessions called vKDE.

SleepMyApps.bsh is a script that is invoked when a user logs out or suspends their desktop
session in ViceWM or vKDE by pressing F12. This script suspends a users programs effectively
halting them so that will not use any CPU or RAM until the next time the user logs in
and the apps are woken up. Members of the netadmin or nosleep groups are exempt from this.

Limits of CPU resources can be set in /etc/vicewm/vicewm.conf so user applications will not
take down an entire network of terminals.

PerlQt Wiki is online

There is now a Wiki to help you get started with programming in PerlQt.

PerlQt Wiki

PerlQt fast programming gets even faster for beginners

PerlQt is a very easy to use programming tool that is powerful enough for advanced developers and now it super easy for beginners as well.

Radados developers have created a PerlQt project manager that makes it very easy to learn the starting steps of computer programming by reducing the complex steps of project creation to a few simple buttons. This tool does not teach anyone how to program in Perl or C++ with Qt but it does enable users to explore their possibilities with out feeling intimidated by the complexities that PerlQt is handling for them automatically in the background.

Radados users can install it using synaptic search for the package name radados-perlqt. PerlQt can be made available for other Linux system and for Windows(cygwin) but the Radados install is the easiest way to get up and going in a mater of seconds. Radados users will have a new PerlQt icon on their ViceWM desktop or can start the project manager by running PerlQt.pl.

Ubuntu 8 fixes and Samba authentication

Radados packages ported to Gutsy for fixing small issues with the command line and SMB clients are now available for Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10.

Ubuntu Gutsy fixes (download here)

Add vi syntax highlights
Make use of ssh-agent
Require PKI for SSH login
Fix Zenity focus bug
Set TTY getty's to readable font size
Add much needed CLI aliases
Set PS1 colors

Radados Samba Client (download here)

Configure your Linux system to authenticate to a SMB domain controller.
Added pam_mount.conf.xml changes needed for Ubuntu 8.04 and 8.10

Install and Manage the CUPS Server with New Book from Packt

Packt is pleased to announce a new book on the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) that teaches users to monitor and secure its server. Written by Ankur Shah, CUPS Administrative Guide will show users to manage printers through the command line and web interface. The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems that allows a computer to act as a print server. It consists of a print spooler and scheduler, filters to convert print jobs to the format required by each printer, and a backend system to send the data to the chosen printer from client applications. By providing a portable, modular printing layer, CUPS brings printing for UNIX into the modern age.

Building RAID1 for IPcop 1.4.20

IPcop does not ship with RAID1 support. I like to use RAID1 for my firewalls because IPcop only needs about 5G to work and you cannot buy new hard drives that small.

It is a waste to use a large hard drive when there are so many small older drives that would work just fine so if you use older drives RAID1 is a good idea.

I used Radados linux for this but another live CD may work. The kernel must be recompiled and custom IPcop modules, like IP filters for h323 are missing because I tried many times to follow the IPcop directions to build the IPcop source files but it dies with errors every time.

Steps
1) Install two IDE hard drives as HDA and HDB to your new firewall
2) Install IPcop 1.4.20 to the HDA (other versions of IPcop may need to adjust this script)
3) Reboot with a live CD and run this script

Download here

Debian 4.0r3 available in the Linux Identity Set magazine

Linux Identity Set magazine includes 3 DVDs, or 18 000 packages, amongst
which you should find all what you need. These DVDs are optimized for
32-bit Intel architecture, which is the most compatible architecture
used today, working even with Core 2 Duo or AMD64 processors. The
magazine will help you apprehend Debian in the simplest way possible.

You can find more information here

Radados SSH keys are safe.

Debian and Ubuntu systems maybe susceptible to a weakness in encryption used by SSH and SSL. Details here http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1571

Radados is not affected by this but keys generated on affected systems could be in place on Radados that could be exploited.

Easy and fast GUI development with Perl-Qt

I don't like Perl much, but I love Perl-Qt. It is by far the fastest tool I have ever used to develop & debug high quality GUI applications. So when the time came to make the Radados Linux distribution I just had to use Perl-Qt to write the installer front end.

Radados Linux also has a few extra tools to ease in the developing Perl-Qt programs.