Tech tools Tech Tools Professional users are always searching for an edge. Whether you work with Linux as a webmaster, programmer, system administrator, or secu- rity consultant, you know the best solution depends on finding the right tool for the job. We thought you might be interested in the following new products and updates.
Secure Data on diskGenie MSI Wind Box Intel Atom Portable Hard Drive Nettop Runs Linux diskGenie looks more like a keypad with The MSI Wind Box is yet another all-in- a USB connector than a hard drive, but one mini-PC product that runs on either the keyboard is what lets you into your a Windows or Linux kernel. The Win- data and what keeps others out. dows OS products were readily available Whether you store portable data on a on the MSI Global site, but I had to hunt Build Your CSS with thumb drive, a laptop, or anything in be- a bit to find the Wind Nettop boxes that Construct tween, you know that anyone can poten- use Linux. The Wind Box barebones Construct is a visual layout editor based tially get access to your sensitive infor- line, depending on series, uses Intel on Blueprint and jQuery. Version 1.0 was mation by physically making off with Atom processors from 230 to 510/410, recently finalized and released to the your device. diskGenie claims to protect supports between 1 and 4GB of DDR2 public under the FreeBSD license. The such data with the use of AES 256-bit SDRAM, and includes either IDE or SATA editor is a handy utility for CSS design- real-time hardware encryption. drives. The SLED 10.1 Linux Wind Net- ers who need a visual layout editor that The only way to access data on the de- top series sported comparable hardware can achieve clean CSS and semantic vice is to input a PIN code on the key- specifications. HTML. Construct seems to be in the pad, in the same way you use an ATM The most noteworthy advantages to early stages of development but could machine. The device uses no software, the Nettops include a relatively low well become an exciting tool as it ma- so it’s easy to use but hard to crack. Up- noise level, power-conserving Atom pro- tures. To keep an eye on how Construct loading and downloading data from cessors, and an “ultra-small” chassis. progresses and give it a try, go to http:// other devices only requires that you plug The key selling point for the environ- www.constructyourcss.com/. in the diskGenie via the attached USB mentally aware customer is the minimal cable. power usage of these boxes, which boast Banshee 1.5.6 Media Player Storage availability for diskGenie a low carbon footprint. The economi- is Here! comes in 250, 320, and 500GB, depend- cally sensitive customer will also appre- The fine folks at Banshee have been up- ing on price. Power is totally bus sup- ciate that less power usage means dating versions of their media player so plied, and data transfer rates over USB smaller power bills. quickly that it’s like watching popcorn 2.0 are up to 480Mbps. You can connect Depending on exactly which product pop. Many of the changes are bug fixes, diskGenie to any PC running Microsoft you desire, pricing is around US$ 250. To but you can also enjoy new features, Windows XP and Windows Vista or see if any of MSI Global’s wares are right such as a YouTube extension, gapless Linux, as well as Mac OS 10.2 or higher. for you, go to http://www.msi.com/ playback, and a grid album browser. The price ranges from UK£ 116.33 to index.php. Also, you can sync your Android and 175.08, depending on the amount of iPod device against Banshee. storage you require. Visit http://www. Downloading is easy and free, and you istorage‑uk.com/diskgenie.htm for more. can install v1.5.6 on a number of Linux distros, including Debian, Fedora, open- SUSE, Mandriva, and Ubuntu. Banshee also supports Mac OS X. Keep up with the Banshee project and use the latest and greatest version by going to http://banshee‑project.org/.
16 ISSUE 115 June 2010 Tech Tools
Use eBox for Server Adding Spring to the Infrastructure Tomcat Server Administration SpringSource, a division of VMware, The eBox Platform is a Linux has added tools and procedures to their small business server (SMS) Apache Tomcat server that let applica- designed to act as a gateway, tion developers build, deploy, and moni- infrastructure manager, threat tor software on a lightweight run-time manager, office server, and uni- platform. The new SpringSource tc fied communication server. Server Spring Edition includes a dash- That’s quite a lot to take onboard, board that offers data on the code-level but that’s only the beginning. Version Reinvent JavaScript with performance of applications. Manage- 1.4, the latest incarnation of eBox, sup- RequireJS ment tools are also available that let you ports Active Directory synchronization, Once a coding project gets past a certain analyze an application’s real-world per- dynamic DNS updates, and RADIUS mo- size, managing the code and script mod- formance. The current tc Server Stan- bile, just to name a few of the current ules can become a little difficult. At that dard Edition starts at US$ 500 per CPU. features. stage, you need to make sure the scripts An updated version, available in April You can download and install eBox are sequenced correctly, and you might 2010, is expected to price at US$ 750. A on your hardware for free, and basic even want to start combining your 90-day free trial version is available at support via a discussion forum is readily scripts together into a bundle for deploy- http://www.springsource.com/. available. Professional support must be ment. purchased. Pricing wasn’t available on RequireJS is designed to use its mod- Amarok 2.3.0 “Clear the eBox site, and potential customers ule system to define well-scoped mod- Light” Has Been Released are directed to contact the sales depart- ules. Also, the RequireJS module format If KDE is your Linux desktop of choice ment. makes it easy to write encapsulated code or you just like to run some really cool Learn more about the eBox Platform that you can then load on the fly. Addi- KDE apps on Gnome, you’ll want to pay and give it a try at http://www. tionally, RequireJS is scalable, growing attention to Amarok 2.3.0. Podcast sup- ebox‑platform.com/. with your project requirements, particu- port is now available, as are improved larly if you need to add internationaliza- saved playlists and generic MP3 player Open-Xchange Groupware tion string bundles. support. Other new features include a re- with Integrated VoIP RequireJS also integrates with jQuery vised main toolbar and an easier to use Open-Xchange provides integrated, for added value. Downloading, adding, file browser. With the new features and scalable, open source email and colla and optimizing RequireJS is easy and numerous bugfixes in this release, Ama- boration solutions for the enterprise comes at no cost. Get started with Re- rok is maturing as an application, so if environment. Its latest offering, the quireJS by visiting http://requirejs.org/. you tried Amarok early in its develop- Open-Xchange 4PSA VoipNow Bundle, ment, take another look now. To find out is available on both Open-Xchange MonoDevelop 2.2.1 more and download Amarok onto your Server and Open-Xchange Hosting Edi- Released with Improved UI Linux, Mac, or Windows free, go to tion and provides an integrated VoIP so- MonoDevelop is an IDE mainly designed http://amarok.kde.org/en/. lution, as well as calendar subscription for C# and other .NET languages and for Google calendar, optimized calendar has the goal of making it easy for devel- Zend Server 5.0 PHP Web invitation and confirmation, and other opers to write desktop and ASP.NET web Adds Code Tracing usability improvements. applications quickly on Linux, Windows, Zend Technologies announced Zend The partnership between Open- and Mac OS X platforms. Among the re- Server 5.0 PHP web application server, Xchange and 4PSA, which makes the cent updates to MonoDevelop are now with code-tracing technology that VoIP integration feature possible, will changes to the GUI to improve its func- allows users to “see into” code in pro- likely result in further innovations to this tionality and ease of use. Specific duction environments and potentially lo- product in the near future, so you’ll want changes include the status bar, output cate the cause of issues occurring in an to keep an eye on Open-Xchange for new pads, and zoomable tree views. application. Also available in this ver- developments. Other improvements to version v2.2.1 sion are PHP caching, acceleration, and Product pricing starts at US$ 675 per include bug fixes for Mac users, such as Job Queue abilities, all designed to im- server for the Appliance Edition and a new help browser and an improved prove application performance. Version US$ 1,312.50 for the Server Edition. updater. An iPad app template and other 5.0 includes code tracing in its base an- You are encouraged by Open-Xchange fixes are now available for iPhone. nual subscription price of US$ 1,195, to contact their sales department to dis- You can download MonoDevelop for which comes with web-based support. cuss how to acquire their Hosting Edi- free and supported Linux distros, includ- For 24/7 support for mission-critical ap- tion. To find out more about Open- ing Debian, openSUSE, SLED, and plications, the subscription fee jumps to Xchange, go to http://www. Ubuntu. Find out more by going to US$ 3,195. To learn more, go to http:// open‑xchange.com/. http://monodevelop. com/. www.zend.com/en/.
June 2010 ISSUE 115 17