Linux Blog

Mythbuntu - MythTV based PVR system

MythTV is a GPL licensed suite of programs that allow you to build the mythical home media convergence box on your own using Open Source software and operating systems. MythTV is known to work on Linux and Mac OS X (PowerPC and Intel). It does not run on Windows.

After long hours and endless work the Mythbuntu team is excited about the release of Mythbuntu 8.04. This release is built on the LTS base of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. We would like to thank everyone that contributed in getting to this second release.

Features
* Frontend can be run from the live CD
* Complete installations(Backend, Frontend, Backend/Frontend, etc)
* Xfce4 Linux Desktop Environment
* Easily upgrade from Ubuntu Hardy to Mythbuntu
* Custom Mythbuntu MythTV theme
* GUI setup of LIRC
* Setup MythTV optimizations through MCC
* Diskless Server setup through MCC

Recommended System Requirements:
* 2.0 Ghz x86 or x86_64 Processor*
* 1024 MB of system memory (RAM)
* 10 GB disk space (Frontend Role)
* 80 GB+ disk space (Backend Role)**
* nVidia 128MB Graphics Card w/ TV-Out or equivalent***
* Supported TV Tuner Card (Backend Role)

Download Mythbuntu: here

What is the difference between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or Edubuntu?

Ubuntu uses a user interface (or desktop environment) called Gnome. Gnome is focused on simplicity and usability. Ubuntu includes a bunch of Gnome-native applications such as Rhythmbox (music player), Sound Juicer (CD player and ripper), Evolution (email client and calendar), and Gedit (text editor). You can find the full list of software packages in ubuntu-desktop here.

Kubuntu uses the K Desktop Environment (also known as KDE). KDE is focused on including a lot of point-and-click configuration options immediately available to end users. Kubuntu includes a bunch of KDE-native applications such as AmaroK (music player), K3B (CD burning), Konqueror (web browser and file manager), and Kopete (instant messenger). You can find the full list of software packages in kubuntu-desktop here.

Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment, which is a lighter one than Gnome or KDE. In terms of its design principles, it has a bit of a balance—presenting in some ways more point-and-click configuration options than Gnome but also retaining some of the simplicity of Gnome. Its main appeal is its speed, though, and it's ideal for systems with 128 to 256 MB of RAM. Both Ubuntu and Kubuntu can run on 256 MB of RAM, but they're more ideal for 512 MB of RAM or more. Xfce includes Thunar (file manager), Thunderbird (email client), and Mousepad (text editor). You can find a full list of software packages in xubuntu-desktop here.

Edubuntu uses the Gnome desktop environment but has a different set of default applications from Ubuntu. Its focus is on educational tools. It includes GPaint (an easy to use paint program), Atomix (a puzzle game for building molecules out of isolated atoms), and Xaos (a real-time interactive fractal zoomer). You can find a full list of software packages in edubuntu-desktop here.

Gobuntu is a GNU/Linux operating system, derived from Ubuntu, that endeavors to adhere to the Free Software Foundation's four freedoms and intends to provide a base for other free software platforms to build upon with minimal modification required. It does this by only including open-source non-restricted software. This means there will be no firmware, drivers, applications, or content included in Gobuntu that does not include the full source or whose license does not provide the right to use, study, modify, and redistribute the body of work.

Gobuntu shares the same system requirements as Ubuntu. At present, this means Gobuntu is available for 32-bit and 64-Bit PC architectures and the install requires at least 4 GB of disk space. you can get Gobuntu here

Open source graphics card open for orders

The Open Graphics Project's long-awaited open source graphics card is ready for order by developers. Designed by Traversal Technology, the OGD1 boasts an open source hardware design based on a Xilinx Spartan-3 XC3S4000 FPGA, and is intended as an FPGA development platform, says the OGP.

The Open Graphics Project announced its plan back in 2005 to develop a basic graphics card with an open source hardware design. A central goal of the OGP is to streamline driver development, since binary drivers from graphics manufacturers are typically difficult to work with. The group hopes eventually to release a commercial version suitable for consumers.

Availability

The OGD1 is available for order now for $1,500 (or $1,400 for the first 100 orders). Manufacturing will begin once 100 orders have been received, says the group. More information may be found here.

Rest of story: Here

Google Anti-Malware Diagnostic Pages

ZDNet's security blog points to an update to Google's malware warnings. Like McAfee SiteAdvisor, now each web site has a special diagnostic page that lists answers to four questions:

1. What is the current listing status?
2. What happened when Google visited this site?
3. Has this site acted as an intermediary resulting in further distribution of malware?
4. Has this site hosted malware?

Here's, for example, the diagnostic page for google.com:

http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=google.com, which lists some interesting facts.

"Of the 274621 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 4 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 05/22/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 03/13/2008. Malicious software includes 4 scripting exploit(s), 4 trojan(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 10 new processes on the target machine. Malicious software is hosted on 4 domain(s), including 58.65.239.0, truemaybe.com, abc-powers.com. 5 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including xtraff.biz, x-traffic.ws, smartvideochannel.com."

Despite all of these findings, google.com is not listed as suspicious, probably because the domain is whitelisted or the suspicious content is not very significant. It's likely that the domains listed above are from Google's search results, so that means the anti-malware system doesn't respect robots.txt.

HowTo Split the files

Below is an example on how to use the split command: Using split on a 600MB image.iso file:

split -b 200mb image.iso

It will generate 3 files with the following file sizes:

200MB xaa
200MB xab
200MB xac

after split use: cat for combine a file

cat xa* > new-image.iso