Saving data on laptops allows us to take it anywhere, be it to office or some other place. As the technology is growing and businesses are seeking extra employee efforts and intercommunication, most of the companies nowadays issue laptops to their employees. But the fact that laptops may lose data more frequently than desktops, basically due to physical failure raises the need of Laptop Data Recovery. So, in order to avoid data loss, it is recommended to always have in-place backup of all important data.
Laptop hard drive is comparatively more prone to damages even after the available shock protection because of small size of the system. Accidental dropdown and improper handling are two main causes that cause laptop hard drive failure. Because of the reason that laptops are used everywhere like indoor and outdoor locations, jerks and shocks can break the hard drive components. Also damages can occur due heat, dust, water etc.
Due to the fact that laptop hard drives contain significant professional information, laptop hard drive failure needs technical and precise Laptop Hard Drive Recovery approach.
Laptop Recovery Service engineers apply careful procedures to repair damaged components of failed hard drive. As the laptop hard drives are quite difficult to detach for a normal user and also from data integrity point of view, it is generally recommended to send the laptop to Data Recovery Company. However the basic concerns about maintaining and treating the failed hard drive are same as for desktop hard drive. It is recommended not to attempt running the system with failed hard drive. The hard drive data may become irrecoverable if the platter portion is physically damaged like scratched which cause physical bad sectors.
Laptop Hard Drive Recovery service has set a trademark since the last decade in recovering data. The reasons are growing technologies and tools trends. The use of class 100 Clean Room technologies in data recovery field has also eased and made Laptop Recovery Service a contraceptive option.
Stellar Information Systems Limited offers you the safest Laptop Recovery Service of the industry. With the help of Class 100 Clean Rooms and technology driven set of tools and techniques, Stellar’s experts can recover data in most of the physical or logical crash cases. Stellar’s Laptop Hard Drive Recovery experts are known for their excellence in the field. They carefully examine the drive and use procedures to recover data. Stellar offers Laptop Recovery Service for all brands and interfaces (including SATA, PATA/EIDE and SCSI) of hard drives along with the modern SSDs (Solid State Drives: generally SATA).
Servesbest is the author of Laptop Hard Drive Recovery, is a regular author since 06 years back.
Selasa, 31 Maret 2009
Minggu, 15 Maret 2009
Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux showing the menu and the control panel (in French)
Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrakelinux or Mandrake Linux) is an operating system created by Mandriva (formerly Mandrakesoft). It uses the RPM Package Manager. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates (kernel, drivers etc.) and 12 months for desktop updates (window managers, desktop environments, web browsers etc.) . Server products receive full updates for at least 24 months after their release
History
The first release was based on Red Hat Linux (version 5.1) and KDE (version 1.0) in July 1998. It has since diverged from Red Hat and has included a number of original tools mostly to ease system configuration. Mandriva Linux was originated by Gaël Duval, and intended to focus on ease of use for new users. Duval was also a co-founder of Mandrakesoft, but was laid off from the company in 2006.[citation needed]
Name changes
From its inception to version 8.0, Mandrake named its flagship distribution Linux-Mandrake. From version 8.1 to 9.2 it was called Mandrake Linux.
In February 2004 MandrakeSoft lost a court case against Hearst Corporation, owners of King Features Syndicate. Hearst contended that MandrakeSoft infringed upon King Features' trademarked character Mandrake the Magician. As a precaution, MandrakeSoft renamed its products by removing the space between the brand name and the product name and changing the first letter of the product name to lower case, thus creating one word. Starting from version 10.0, Mandrake Linux became known as Mandrakelinux, and its logo changed accordingly. Similarly, MandrakeMove became Mandrakemove.
In April 2005 Mandrakesoft announced the corporate acquisition of Conectiva, a Brazilian based company that produced a Linux distribution for Portuguese-speaking (Brazil) and Spanish-speaking Latin America. As a result of this acquisition and the legal dispute with Hearst Corporation, Mandrakesoft announced that the new company name would be Mandriva, and that Mandriva Linux would be the new name covering products.
Features
The major features of Mandriva Linux are:
Installation, control and administration
Mandriva Linux contains the Mandriva Control Center, which eases configuration of some settings. It has many programs known as Drakes or Draks, collectively named drakxtools, to configure many different settings. Examples include MouseDrake to set up a mouse, DiskDrake to set up disk partitions and drakconnect to set up a network connection. They are written using GTK+ and Perl, and most of them can run in both graphical and text mode using the ncurses interface.
Desktops
Mandriva Linux is geared to use KDE or GNOME as the standard desktops, but includes others such as Xfce and twm.
[edit] Themes
A unique theme provides consistency between applications and desktop environments. Mandrakegalaxy debuted in version 9.1 and Mandrakegalaxy II appeared in 10.0. A variant of Mandrakegalaxy is "Mandrakegalaxy Squared", which uses square window buttons rather than round ones. A new default theme named "Ia Ora" was introduced with the release of Mandriva Linux 2007, but "Galaxy" remains available as an option for those who prefer it.
Package manager
Rpmdrake, Mandriva's graphical package manager
Mandriva Linux uses a package manager called urpmi, which functions as a wrapper to the RPM package management system. It is similar to apt-get or Yellow dog Updater, Modified in that it allows seamless installation of a given software package by automatically installing the other packages needed. It is also media-transparent due to its ability to retrieve packages from various media, including network/Internet, CD/DVD and local disk. Urpmi also has an easy-to-use graphical front-end called rpmdrake, which is integrated into the Mandriva Control Center.
Remote sources for urpmi / rpmdrake can be added during the installation of recent Mandriva Linux versions. After installation, they can be added through an option in the Software Sources Manager, or by using console commands generated either manually or by one of several helper sites such as Easy URPMI. This functionality allows the user to choose some or all of the various software repositories available for their version of Mandriva Linux and can greatly expand the amount of software that the user can install through the urpmi system. Instructions on adding repositories and installing software can be found on the Mandriva Wiki.
Live USB
A Live USB of Mandriva Linux can be created manually or with UNetbootin
Availability
Mandriva provides multiple editions of Linux. Some are freely-distributable, while others are sold online and via a network of authorized resellers.
Versions
Since 2007, Mandriva is released on a 6-month fixed-release cycle, similar to Ubuntu and Fedora. However, while newer features are added per release, the core internals[clarification needed] of the Spring release are the same as the first release, so as to ensure the stability of a yearly release.
Latest version
The latest stable version is Mandriva Linux 2009 (2009.0), released on 2008-10-09.
Development version
The development tree of Mandriva Linux has always been known as Cooker.This tree is directly released as a new stable version.
The current release is named 2009.0 and was released in October 2008.
Table of versions
Editions
Each release of Mandriva Linux is split into several different editions. Each edition is derived from the same master tree, most of which is available on the public mirrors: all free / open source software, and all non-free software which is under a license that allows unrestricted distribution to the general public, is available from the public mirrors. Only commercial software under a license that does not allow unrestricted distribution to the general public (but for which Mandriva has negotiated an agreement to distribute it with paid copies) is not available from public mirrors.
Mandriva Linux Free
Mandriva Linux Free is a 'traditional' distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer,[ named DrakX, which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is 'free' in both senses: it consists entirely of free and open-source software, and it is made available for public download at no charge. It is usually available in CD (three or four discs) and DVD editions for x86 32- and 64-bit CPU architectures. It is aimed at users to whom software freedom is important, and also at users who prefer a traditional installer to the installable live CD system used by One. The package selection is tailored towards regular desktop use. It consists of a subset of packages from the 'main' and 'contrib' sections of the master tree.
Mandriva Linux One
Mandriva One's Live CD
Mandriva Linux One is free to download. It is a hybrid, being both a Live CD and an installer (with an installation wizard that includes disk partitioning tools).
Several Mandriva Linux One versions were provided for each Mandriva Linux release preceding Mandriva 2008. Users could choose between different human languages, select either the KDE or GNOME desktops and include or exclude non-free (as in speech) software. (It is not possible to fit both KDE and GNOME desktops, or more than a few languages, on a single live CD.) The 'lead' version is the KDE version[citation needed] with non-free software included. The One images consist of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib' and 'non-free' sections of the master tree, with the documentation files stripped from the packages to save space.
Mandriva Linux One 2008 has a smaller range of versions. There are KDE and GNOME versions with the default set of languages. There are also two KDE versions with alternative sets of languages. All versions include non-free software.
Mandriva Linux Powerpack
Mandriva Linux Powerpack is a 'traditional' distribution (i.e. one that comes with a dedicated installer - named DrakX - which is first used to install the distribution to the hard disk of the computer before it is run). It is the main commercial edition of Mandriva Linux, and as such, requires payment for its use. It contains several non-free packages intended to add value for the end user, including non-free drivers like the NVIDIA and ATI graphics card drivers, non-free firmware for wireless chips and modems, some browser plugins such as Java and Flash, and some full applications such as Cedega, Adobe Reader and RealPlayer. It is sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers. It is also made available via a subscription service, which allows unlimited downloads of Powerpack editions for the last few Mandriva releases for a set yearly fee. It consists of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'restricted' sections of the master tree.
In Mandriva Linux 2008, the Discovery and Powerpack+ editions have been merged into Powerpack, which will become Mandriva's only commercial offering. Users will be able to choose between a novice-friendly Discovery-like setup or an installation process and desktop aimed at power users.
Discontinued
Mandriva Linux Discovery
Mandriva Linux Discovery was a commercial distribution aimed at first-time and novice Linux users. It was sold via the Mandriva Store website and authorized resellers, or could be downloaded by some subscribers to the Mandriva Club. Mandriva Linux 2008 does not include a Discovery edition, having added optional novice-friendly features to the Powerpack edition.
In releases prior to Mandriva Linux 2007, Discovery was a 'traditional' distribution built on the DrakX installer. In Mandriva Linux 2007 and 2007 Spring, Discovery is a hybrid "Live DVD" which can be booted without installation or installed to hard disk in the traditional manner.
Discovery was a DVD rather than a CD, allowing all languages to be provided on one disc. It consisted of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'non-free-restricted' sections of the master tree. The package selection was tailored towards novice desktop users. A theme chosen to be appealing to novice users was used, and the 'simplified' menu layout in which applications are described rather than named and not all applications are included was the default (for all other editions, the default menu layout was the 'traditional' layout, where all graphical applications installed on the system were included and were listed by name).
Mandriva Linux Powerpack+
Mandriva Linux Powerpack+ was a version of Powerpack with additional packages, mostly commercial software. Like Powerpack, it was sold directly from the Mandriva Store website and through authorized resellers; it was also a free download for Mandriva Club members of the Gold level and above. Powerpack+ was aimed at SOHO (small office / home office) users, with the expectation that it could be used to run a small home or office server machine as well as desktop and development workstations. The package selection was tailored with this in mind, including a wide range of server packages. It consisted of a subset of packages from the 'main', 'contrib', 'non-free' and 'restricted' sections of the master tree.
Mandriva 2008 no longer includes a Powerpack+ edition; instead, the Powerpack edition includes all the available packages.
Derivatives
Derivatives are distributions that are based on Mandriva Linux, some by Mandriva itself, others by independent projects. Some maintain compatibility with Mandriva Linux, so that installing a Mandriva Linux RPM also works on the offspring.
Current Derivatives
Mandriva Flash
Mandriva Flash is a pre-installed Mandriva Linux distribution on a 8GB USB key. The user can choose how much space is used for system files and how much is reserved for user files. An earlier version of Mandriva Flash was 4GB and before that 2GB in size with fixed ratios. It can be booted directly from the key on systems that support booting from USB devices, or from a 'kickstart' CD (the image for the CD is provided with the Flash) on systems that do not. Flash runs faster than live CDs due to the relative speed of flash memory, and the read/write nature of the medium allows users to save files, configuration options and even to install new packages.
Mandriva Corporate Server
Mandriva Corporate Server is a distribution specifically tailored for enterprise-level general purpose server usage. Development is started from the basis of a previous Mandriva Linux release, with the package selection altered, important packages updated, certain extra configuration tools and applications added, and some extra support for enterprise-level hardware. The maintenance lifetime of each release is five years. The current release of Corporate Server is 4.0.
Mandriva Corporate Desktop
Mandriva Corporate Desktop is the desktop counterpart to Corporate Server. Again it is based on a Mandriva Linux release with enterprise-specific modifications and a five-year maintenance lifetime. The current release of Corporate Desktop is 4.0.
Discontinued Derivatives
Multi Network Firewall
Linux Mandrake 7.2 had a version tailored specifically for use as a firewall, known as Single Network Firewall (SNF). Its successor, based on Mandrake 8.2, was titled Multi Network Firewall (MNF). The third iteration is named MNF 2 and is based upon Mandrakelinux 10.0.
These firewall distributions are designed to provide security for computer networks, and can be administered remotely via a browser-based interface or Secure Shell. MNF 2 is now counted as part of the Corporate product line and can only be bought, with support, from Mandriva.
GlobeTrotter
GlobeTrotter is a LaCie mobile USB drive loaded with a specific version of Mandriva Linux. Like Move, it can boot most PCs into Linux without installing first. The 40 GB hard drive makes it a convenient way to carry a Linux workstation around. GlobeTrotter was launched in August 2003 and can be ordered through Mandriva's online store. It is now superseded by Mandriva Flash and Linutop[citation needed].
Gaming edition
Mandrake Linux 8.1 had a Gaming Edition, which was a game oriented Linux distribution. It had a port of The Sims using the Transgaming WineX technology.
CLIC
CLIC (aka Cluster LInux pour le Calcul) is a dedicated version of Mandrakelinux created by MandrakeSoft specifically for clustering environments. It was sponsored by the RNTL, other partners were ID-IMAG, Groupe Bull and Mandrakesoft. This project's aim was to produce a HPC Linux Distribution for 32- and 64-bit processors.
The objective of project CLIC was to allow the realization of large scientific computers while being based on free software. The objective consists of the realization a Linux distribution for clusters of machines, meeting the needs for deployment, administration and programming of clusters within the framework of exploitation for intensive calculation.
It features an automated installation of a full cluster using the Ka tools, urpmi and the clusterscripts.
This project was finished on 1 December 2003 and Mandrakesoft decided to continue that project with a product called Mandrake Linux Clustering. This product included Drakcluster (GUI) for improved usability. It was dedicated to the HPC market but it could also be used (with some modifications) to all kinds of clusters (such as High Availability, applicative or grid). It features parallel commands (bash, copying tools), deployment (disks), software upgrade/downgrade (urpmi parallel), monitoring (ganglia), etc. Clustering was available on x86 and x86-64 architectures.
Windows 7
Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, netbooks and media center PCs. Microsoft stated in 2007 they were planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista. Microsoft has stated that the final release date would be determined by product quality.
Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade from Vista, with the goal of being fully compatible with device drivers, applications, and hardware with which Windows Vista is already compatible. Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately (free of charge) as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.
Development
Main article: Development of Windows 7
Originally, a version of Windows codenamed Blackcomb was planned as the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. Later, Blackcomb was delayed and an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn" was announced for 2003. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb. After three major viruses exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period in 2003, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold in order to develop new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn (Windows Vista) was also "reset" in September 2004.
Blackcomb was renamed Vienna in early 2006, and again to Windows 7 in 2007. In 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system. The first external release to select Microsoft partners came in January 2008 with Milestone 1 (build 6519).
Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric". Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements; Steven Sinofsky later expanded on this point, explaining in the Engineering Windows 7 blog that the company was using a variety of new tracing tools to measure the performance of many areas of the operating system on an ongoing basis, to help locate inefficient code paths and to help prevent performance regressions.
Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows 7 will not have the kind of compatibility issues with Windows Vista that Vista has with previous versions. Speaking about Windows 7 on 16 October 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7. Ballmer also confirmed the relationship between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 will be an improved version of Vista.
On 27 December 2008 Windows 7 Beta was leaked onto the Internet. According to a performance test by ZDNet, Windows 7 Beta has beaten both Windows XP and Vista in several key areas, including boot and shut down time, working with files and loading documents; others, including PC Pro benchmarks for typical office activities and video-editing, remain identical to Vista and slower than XP. On 7 January 2009, the 64-bit version of the Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) was leaked onto the web.
The official beta, announced at the CES 2009, was made available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers on 7 January 2009 and was made briefly available for public download on Microsoft TechNet on 9 January 2009 before being withdrawn and replaced with a coming soon message. The servers were experiencing difficulty in dealing with the number of users who wished to download the beta. Microsoft added additional servers to cope with the large volume of interest from the public. Due to the unexpectedly high demand, Microsoft also decided to remove its initial 2.5 million download limit and make it available to the public until January 24 2009, and later until February 10, from where it was no longer available to the public, although paused or deferred downloads of the DVD image files still worked until February 12.
Users can still download Windows 7 via the Microsoft Connect program. According to Neowin, the release candidate is scheduled to be released wordwide on 10 April 2009.
Features
New and changed features
Main article: Features new to Windows 7
WordPad in Windows 7 with the ribbon interface
The new Windows Action Center which replaces Windows Security Center Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.
Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors, a new version of Windows Media Center, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack and Windows PowerShell being included, and a redesigned Calculator with multiline capabilities including Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.
Many new items have been added to the Control Panel, including ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed to Windows Action Center (Windows Health Center and Windows Solution Center in earlier builds) which encompasses both security and maintenance of the computer.
The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch toolbar has been replaced with pinning applications to the taskbar. Buttons for pinned applications are integrated with the task buttons. These buttons also enable the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks. The revamped taskbar also allows the reordering of taskbar buttons.
Adjacent to the system clock is a small rectangle button for the new feature Peek. Hovering over this button makes all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. Clicking this button minimizes all windows.
Unlike Windows Vista, window borders, and the taskbar do not turn opaque when a window is maximized with Windows Aero applied. Instead, they remain transparent.
For developers, Windows 7 includes a new networking API with support for building SOAP based web services in native code (as opposed to .NET based WCF web services), new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages, and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API.
At WinHEC 2008 Microsoft announced that color depths of 30-bit and 48-bit would be supported in Windows 7 along with the wide color gamut scRGB (which for HDMI 1.3 can be converted and output as xvYCC). The video modes supported in Windows 7 are 16-bit sRGB, 24-bit sRGB, 30-bit sRGB, 30-bit with extended color gamut sRGB, and 48-bit scRGB. Microsoft is also investigating better support for Solid State Drives and Windows 7 will be able to identify a Solid State Drive uniquely.
Online versions of Spades, Backgammon and Checkers were removed from Windows Vista, but restored in Windows 7.
Windows 7 will include Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Media Player 12.
Users will also be able to disable many more Windows components than was possible in Windows Vista. New additions to this list of components include Internet Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Windows Search, and the Windows Gadget Platform.
Removed features
While Windows 7 contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows Vista are no longer present or have changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionality. The following is a list of features that were present in Windows Vista but have been removed in Windows 7.
• Several shell features including:
o Classic Start menu user interface
o Floating Deskbands (was deprecated in Windows Vista, now deskband can be only pinned to taskbar)
o Windows Media Player Mini-player (replaced with the new Jump list feature)
o Pinning default Internet Browser and E-mail client software programs on Start menu by default (programs can be manually pinned)
o The ability to disable grouping (placing next to each other) similar taskbar buttons
o Combined taskbar buttons no longer numerically show how many windows are in their stack.[citation needed]
o The Taskbar network icon does not show network activity animation.
o Advanced search builder UI.
• Some Windows Media Player features:
o Advanced Tag Editor
o Paste Album Art
o Recently added Auto playlist
• Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail and Windows Calendar (in favor of downloading or using online the free respective Windows Live counterparts, which lack some features) although the Photo Viewer module of Windows Photo Gallery has been retained.
• Software Explorer feature of Windows Defender
• Removable Storage Manager (RSM)[43] (applications dependent on it, such as NTBackup or the NTBackup Restore Tool, cannot run)
• Windows Meeting Space[citation needed]
• The ability to search contents of files using Windows Search.
• InkBall, a game
• The numeric keypad from On-Screen Keyboard
• Microsoft Agent 2.0 Technology
• Windows Sidebar (replaced with Desktop Gadget Gallery)
• Windows Ultimate Extras in the Ultimate edition
Antitrust regulatory attention
As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being studied by United States federal regulators who oversee the company's operations following the 2001 United States v. Microsoft settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in February 2008. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research said that, "[Microsoft's] challenge for Windows 7 will be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want that also don't run afoul of regulators."K:\Windows_7.htm - cite_note-ComputerWorld13mar08-44
It has been noted that in Europe Windows 7 may be required to ship with rival browsers including possibly Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. The reason for this suspicion is on the inclusion of Internet Explorer which is seen as harming competition. However, Microsoft announced on the Engineering Windows 7 blog that users will be able to turn off more features than in Windows Vista including Internet Explorer.
Editions
Main article: Windows 7 editions
Windows 7 will be released in six editions, although only two of them, the Home Premium and Professional editions, will be most emphasized. The names given to them will be the same as in Windows Vista, except for the Business edition which will become Windows 7 Professional.
Only Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions will be available at retail stores and through most OEMs. Home Basic will be only available to emerging markets, Enterprise only through Volume Licensing and Starter only to selected OEMs.[citation needed] Microsoft has yet to announce the pricing for the editions.
Each successive edition will include all the features of the more basic editions. As a result, upgrading from one edition to another will be simplified and more seamless.
Hardware requirements
Microsoft has published their recommended specifications for a system running Windows 7 beta. Since Windows 7 is similar to Windows Vista, the recommended specifications are much the same as for premium editions of Vista.
Windows 7 beta recommended specifications
Processor spedd : 1GHz (either 32-bit or 64 bit)
Memory RAM : 1GB
Graphics Card : DirectX 9.0 capable
Graphics memory : 128 MB (for Windows Aero)
HDD free space : 16GB
Other : DVD ROM, Audio Output
Sabtu, 14 Maret 2009
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux. Ubuntu's goals include providing an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. Ubuntu has been rated as the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop, claiming approximately 30% of desktop Linux installations in 2007.
Ubuntu is composed of free and open source software distributed under various licenses, especially the GNU General Public License (GPL) so that users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by selling technical support. By keeping Ubuntu free and open source, Canonical is able to take advantage of the talents of outside developers in Ubuntu's constituent components without developing the entire operating system itself.
Canonical endorses and provides support for four additional Ubuntu-based distributions: Kubuntu and Xubuntu, Edubuntu, a subproject and add-on for Ubuntu, designed for school environments and home use; and Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced "Juice"), a stripped-down version of Ubuntu, optimized for virtual appliances.
Canonical releases new versions of Ubuntu every six months and supports Ubuntu for eighteen months by submitting security fixes, patches to critical bugs and including minor updates to programs. LTS (Long Term Support) releases, which occur every two years, are supported for three years on the desktop and five years for servers. The current version of Ubuntu, Intrepid Ibex, was released on October 30, 2008, and the upcoming version, Jaunty Jackalope, will be released in April, 2009. The version after Jaunty will be Karmic Koala, which will possess several advanced features like Eucalyptus.
History and development process
Ubuntu was initially forked from the Debian project's code base. The aim was to release a new version of Ubuntu every six months, resulting in a more frequently updated system. Ubuntu's first release was on October 20, 2004. The name Ubuntu, pronounced IPA: [uːˈbuːntuː] in English, comes from the Zulu word "ubuntu" ([ùɓúntú]), translated as "humanity to others", describing the ubuntu philosophy: "I am what I am because of who we all are", a positive aspect of community.
New releases of Ubuntu coincide a month after GNOME releases. In contrast to previous general-purpose forks of Debian — such as MEPIS, Xandros, Linspire, Progeny and Libranet, many of which relied on proprietary and closed source add-ons as part of their business model — Ubuntu has stayed closer to Debian's philosophy and uses free (libre) software, making an exception only for some proprietary hardware drivers.
Ubuntu packages are based on packages from Debian's unstable branch: both distributions use Debian's deb package format and package management tools, APT and Synaptic, although Debian and Ubuntu packages are not necessarily binary compatible with each other, and may need to be rebuilt from source. Ubuntu cooperates with Debian — to some extent pushing changes back to Debian, although there has been criticism that this doesn't happen often enough. Many Ubuntu developers are also maintainers of key packages within Debian. However, Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, expressed concern about Ubuntu packages diverging too far from Debian Sarge to remain compatible.
Before release, packages are imported from Debian Unstable continuously and merged with Ubuntu-specific modifications. A month before release, imports are frozen, and soon after a feature freeze is instated, which allows for packages to work on ensuring that the current software works well, rather than supporting the moving target that is Unstable.
Ubuntu is currently funded by Canonical Ltd. On July 8, 2005, Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd announced the creation of the Ubuntu Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The purpose of the foundation is to ensure the support and development for all future versions of Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an emergency fund in case Canonical's involvement ends.
The Ubuntu logo and typography has remained the same since that first release. The hand-drawn, lowercase OpenType font used is called Ubuntu-Title and was created by Andy Fitzsimon. The font is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and use with logos derived from the Ubuntu logo is encouraged.[17] The font is available as a package for Ubuntu.
Ubuntu 8.04, released on April 24, 2008, is the current Long Term Support (LTS) release. Canonical has released previous LTS versions every two years, and has committed to releasing the next LTS version in 2010, two years after 8.04.Meanwhile, the current standard-support period release, Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), was released on October 30, 2008.
Feature
Installing and removing software in Ubuntu
Ubuntu focuses on usability, including the widespread use of the sudo tool for administrative tasks. The Ubiquity installer allows installing Ubuntu to the hard disk from within the Live CD environment without the need for restarting the computer prior to installation. Ubuntu also emphasizes accessibility and internationalization, to reach as many people as possible. Beginning with 5.04, UTF-8 became the default character encoding, which allows for support of a variety of non-Roman scripts. The default appearance of the user interface in the current version is called Human and is characterized by shades of brown and orange.
The most recent version of Ubuntu comes installed with a wide range of software including OpenOffice, Firefox, Pidgin, Transmission, and GIMP. Several lightweight card, puzzle, and board games are pre-installed, such as Sudoku and chess. Ubuntu has all networking ports closed by default for added security; its firewall offers fine-grained control of incoming and outgoing connections. GNOME 2.22—the default desktop environment of Ubuntu 8.04—offers support for 46 languages.[24] There are several ways to install Ubuntu, outlined below.
Live CD
Installation of Ubuntu is generally performed with the Live CD, which presents the system to the user as it would run off the hard drive (albeit with a performance hit from loading applications off the CD). This is particularly useful in testing for hardware compatibility and driver support. The CD also contains the Ubiquity installer, which guides the user through the permanent installation process. CD images of all current and past versions are available for download at the Ubuntu web site. Installing from the CD requires a minimum of 256 MB RAM. Users can download a disk image of the CD which can then be written to a physical medium, or run from a hard drive via UNetbootin.
Canonical offers Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu installation CDs at no cost, including paid postage for destinations in most countries around the world, via a service called ShipIt. Xubuntu is not offered due to lack of demand. After a request for CDs is made and approved, disks are sent via post. Delivery is estimated at six to ten weeks.
A Microsoft Windows migration tool was introduced in April 2007, when Ubuntu 7.04 was released. The new migration tool, called Migration Assistant, imports Windows users' bookmarks, desktop background (wallpaper), and various settings for immediate use in the Ubuntu installation.
Ubuntu and Kubuntu (from release 8.10 onwards) can be booted and run from a USB Flash drive (as long as the BIOS supports booting from USB), with the option of saving settings to the flashdrive or running without saving settings. This allows a portable installation that can be run on any PC which is capable of booting from a USB drive.
Wubi, which is included on the Live CD, allows the distribution to be installed on a virtual loop device. This requires no partitioning of a user's hard drive, allowing them to install Ubuntu to a file on their Windows drive. Wubi also makes use of the Migration Assistant to import users' settings. Wubi was initially developed as an independent project, and as such versions 7.04 and 7.10 were released separately from Ubuntu. Wubi was later merged with Ubuntu, and can be found in the Ubuntu Live CD as of the 8.04 release. A related program, USB creator, makes it possible to install Ubuntu on a USB drive without the need of burning a disc.
Remastering
See also: List of remastering software
Various programs exist to produce customised remasters of the Ubuntu Live CD, which some refer to as a "Custom Spin", such as remastersys and Reconstructor.
Package classification and support
Ubuntu divides all software into four domains to reflect differences in licensing and the degree of support available.[35] They are as follows:
free software
non-free software
supported Main Restricted
unsupported Universe Multiverse
Free software here includes only software that meets the Ubuntu licensing requirements, which roughly correspond to the Debian Free Software Guidelines. There is one exception for the Main category, however — it contains firmware and fonts which are not allowed to be modified, but are included because their distribution is otherwise unencumbered.
Non-free software is usually unsupported (Multiverse), but some exceptions (Restricted) are made for very important non-free software. Supported non-free software includes device drivers that can be used to run Ubuntu on some current hardware, such as binary-only graphics card drivers. The level of support in the Restricted category is more limited than that of Main, since the developers may not have access to the source code. It is intended that Main and Restricted should contain all software needed for a general-use Linux system. Alternative programs for the same tasks and programs for specialized applications are placed in the Universe and Multiverse categories.
In addition to the above, in which the software does not receive new features after an initial release, Ubuntu Backports is an officially recognized project to backport newer software from later versions of Ubuntu. The repository is not comprehensive; it consists primarily of user-requested packages, which are approved if they meet quality guidelines. Backports receives no support at all from Canonical, and is entirely community-maintained.
Availability of third-party software
See also: Linux distribution#Proprietary software, Medibuntu, Getdeb, and Ubuntu extras remix
Ubuntu has a certification system for third party software. Some third-party software that does not limit distribution is included in Ubuntu's multiverse component. The package ubuntu-restricted-extras additionally contains software that may be legally restricted, including support for MP3 and DVD playback, Microsoft TrueType core fonts, Sun's Java runtime environment, Adobe's Flash Player plugin, many common audio/video codecs, and unrar, an unarchiver for files compressed in the RAR file format.
Additionally, several third party application suites are available for purchase through the Canonical web-based store, including software for DVD playback and media codecs.
www.wikipedia.org
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X v10.5
Mac OS X version 10.5 "Leopard" is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers, and the successor to Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger". Leopard was released on 26 October 2007, and is available in two variants: a desktop version suitable for personal computers, and a server version, Mac OS X Server. Apple offers a reduced-cost upgrade to people who purchased new Apple computers after 1 October 2007 that do not already have Mac OS X v10.5 pre-installed or a Leopard upgrade DVD included. Steve Jobs stated at Macworld 2008 that over 20% of Macs use Leopard as their operating system. Leopard will be superseded by Mac OS X v10.6 "Snow Leopard".
According to Apple, Leopard contains over 300 changes and enhancements, covering core operating system components as well as included applications and developer tools. Leopard introduces a significantly revised desktop, with a redesigned Dock, Stacks, a semitransparent menu bar, and an updated Finder that incorporates the Cover Flow visual navigation interface first seen in iTunes. Other notable features include support for writing 64-bit graphical user interface applications, an automated backup utility called Time Machine, support for Spotlight searches across multiple machines, and the inclusion of Front Row and Photo Booth, which were previously included with only some Mac models.
Apple missed Mac OS X v10.5’s release time frame as originally announced by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs. When first discussed in June 2005, Jobs had stated that Apple intended to release Leopard at the end of 2006 or early 2007. A year later, this was amended to Spring 2007; however on 12 April 2007, Apple issued a statement that its release would be delayed until October 2007 because of the development of the iPhone.
New and changed features
Apple advertises that Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard has 300+ new features, including:
- A new improved Automator, with easy starting points to easily start a workflow. It also can quickly create or edit workflows with new interface improvements. Now it can use a new action called "Watch Me Do" that lets you record a user action (like pressing a button or controlling an application without built-in Automator support) and replay as an action in a workflow. It can create more useful Automator workflows with actions for RSS feeds, iSight camera video snapshots, PDF manipulation, and much more.
- Back to My Mac, a feature for MobileMe users that allows users to access files on their home computer while away from home via the internet.
- Boot Camp, a software assistant allowing for the installation of other operating systems, such as Windows XP (SP2 or later) or Windows Vista, on a separate partition (or separate internal drive) on Intel-based Macs.
- Dashboard enhancements, including Web Clip, a feature that allows users to turn a part of any Web page displayed in Safari into a live Dashboard widget, and Dashcode to help developers code widgets.
- New Desktop, comprises a redesigned 3-D dock with a new grouping feature called Stacks, which displays files in either a "fan" style, "grid" style, or (since 10.5.2) a "list" style.
The Dock, showing a Stack viewed as a "Fan" (left) and a "Grid" (right)
- Dictionary can now search Wikipedia, and a dictionary of Apple terminology as well. Also included is the Japanese-language dictionary Daijisen, Progressive E-J and Progressive J-E dictionaries, and the 25000-word thesaurus "Tsukaikata no Wakaru Ruigo Reikai Jiten" (使い方の分かる類語例解辞典 ?), all of which are provided by the Japanese publisher Shogakukan.[9][10]
- A redesigned Finder, with features similar to those seen in iTunes 7, including Cover Flow and a Source list-like sidebar.
- Front Row has been reworked to closely resemble the interface of the original Apple TV.
- iCal calendar sharing and group scheduling as well as syncing event invitations from Mail.[11] The icon also reflects the current date even when the application is not running. In previous versions of Mac OS X, the icon would show 17 July any time the application was not running but the current date when the application was running.
- iChat enhancements, including multiple logins, invisibility, animated icons, and tabbed chats, similar to features present in Pidgin, Adium and the iChat plugin Chax; iChat Theater, allowing users to incorporate images from iPhoto, presentations from Keynote, videos from QuickTime, and other Quick Look features into video chats; and Backdrops, which are similar to chroma keys, but use a real-time difference matte technique which does not require a green or blue screen. iChat also implements screen sharing, a feature previously available with Apple Remote Desktop.
- Mail enhancements including the additions of RSS feeds, Stationery, Notes, and to-dos. To-dos use a system-wide service that is available to all applications.
- Network file sharing improvements include more granular control over permissions, consolidation of AFP, FTP and SMB sharing into one control panel, and the ability to share individual folders, a feature that had not been available since Mac OS 9.
- Parental controls now include the ability to place restrictions on use of the Internet and to set parental controls from anywhere using remote setup.
- Photo Booth enhancements, including video recording with real-time filters and blue/green-screen technology.
- Podcast Capture, an application allowing users to record and distribute podcasts. It requires access to a computer running Mac OS X Server with Podcast Producer.
- Preview adds support for annotation, graphics, extraction, search, markup, Instant Alpha and size adjustment tools.
- Quick Look, a framework allowing documents to be viewed without opening them in an external application and can preview it in full screen.
The Finder, showing files in Cover Flow View and viewing a file using Quick Look
- Safari 3, which includes Web Clip.
- Spaces, an implementation of virtual desktops (individually called "Spaces"), allows multiple desktops per user, with certain applications and windows in each desktop. Users can organize certain Spaces for certain applications (e.g., one for work-related tasks and one for entertainment) and switch between them. Exposé works inside Spaces, allowing the user to see at a glance all desktops on one screen.) Users can create and control up to 16 spaces, and applications can be switched between each one, creating a very large workspace.
- Spotlight incorporates additional search capabilities such as Boolean operators, as well as the ability to search other computers (with permissions).
- Time Machine, an automated backup utility which allows the user to restore files that have been deleted or replaced by another version of a file.
- Universal Access enhancements: significant improvements to applications including VoiceOver, along with increased support for Braille, closed captioning and a new high‐quality Speech synthesis voice.
- Russian language support, bringing the total to 18 languages.
- Leopard removes support for Classic applications. Classic will not run natively on Intel-based Macs in any case.
- Native support by many libraries and frameworks for 64-bit applications, allowing 64-bit Cocoa applications. Existing 32-bit applications using those libraries and frameworks should continue to run without the need for emulation or translation. Leopard offers the Objective-C 2.0 runtime, which includes new features such as garbage collection. Xcode 3.0 supports the updated language and was itself rewritten with it.
- A new framework, Core Animation, allows a developer to create complex animations while specifying only a "start" and a "goal" space. The main goal of Core Animation is to enable the creation of complex animations with small amounts of program code.
- Apple integrates DTrace from the OpenSolaris project and adds a graphical interface called Instruments (previously Xray). DTrace provides tools that users, administrators and developers can use to tune the performance of the operating system and the applications that run on it.
- The new
- Ruby on Rails is included in the default install.
- Leopard’s OpenGL stack has been updated to version 2.1, and uses LLVM to increase its vertex processing speed. Apple has been working to get LLVM integrated into GCC; LLVM’s use within other operating system facilities has not been announced.
- The Graphics and Media State of the Union address confirmed many other features are possible because of Core Animation, such as live desktops, improvements to Quartz Composer with custom patches, a new PDF Kit for developers, and improvements to QuickTime APIs.
- The FSEvents framework allows applications to register for notifications of changes to a given directory tree. Leopard includes a read-only implementation of the ZFS file system.
In mid-December 2006 a pre-release version of Leopard appeared to include support for Sun’s ZFS. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and President of Sun Microsystems, boasted on 6 June 2007 that ZFS has become "the file system" for Leopard. However, the senior project marketing director for Mac OS X stated on 11 June 2007 that the existing HFS+, not ZFS, will be used in Leopard. Apple later clarified that a read-only version of ZFS would be included. Leopard includes drivers for UDF 2.5, necessary for reading HD DVD and Blu-ray discs using third-party drives, but the included DVD Player software can only play HD DVD disks authored by DVD Studio Pro.
- Leopard includes a framework implementing latent semantic mapping for classifying (e.g. textual) data.
- Leopard is the first operating system with open source BSD code to be certified as fully UNIX compliant. Certification means that software following the Single UNIX Specification can be compiled and run on Leopard without the need for any code modification. The certification only applies to Leopard when run on Intel processors.
New security features intend to provide better internal resiliency to successful attacks, in addition to preventing attacks from being successful in the first place.
Library Randomization
Leopard implements library randomization, which randomizes the locations of some libraries in memory. Vulnerabilities that corrupt program memory often rely on known addresses for these library routines, which allow injected code to launch processes or change files. Library randomization is presumably a stepping-stone to a more complete implementation of address space layout randomization at a later date.
Application Layer Firewall
Leopard ships with two firewall engines: the original BSD IPFW, which was present in earlier releases of Mac OS X, and the new Leopard Application Layer Firewall. Unlike IPFW, which intercepts and filters IP datagrams before the kernel performs significant processing, the Application Layer Firewall operates at the socket layer, bound to individual processes. The Application Layer Firewall can therefore make filtering decisions on a per-application basis. Of the two-firewall engines, only the Application Layer Firewall is fully exposed in the Leopard user interface. The new firewall offers less control over individual packet decisions (users can decide to allow or deny connections system wide or to individual applications, but must use IPFW to set fine-grained TCP/IP header level policies). It also makes several policy exceptions for system processes: neither mDNSResponder nor programs running with superuser privileges are filtered.
Sandboxes
Leopard includes kernel-level support for role-based access control (RBAC). RBAC is intended to prevent, for example, an application like Mail from editing the password database.
Application Signing
Leopard provides a framework to use public key signatures for code signing to verify, in some circumstances, that code has not been tampered with. Signatures can also be used to ensure that one program replacing another is truly an "update", and carry any special security privileges across to the new version. This reduces the number of user security prompts, and the likelihood of the user being trained to simply clicking "OK" to everything.
Secure Guest Account
Guests can be given access to a Leopard system with an account that the system erases and resets at logout.
Apple states the following basic Leopard system requirements, although, for some specific applications and actions (such as iChat backdrops) an Intel processor is required: Processor must be any Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 MHz and faster)
- DVD drive (for installation of the operating system)
- At least 512 MB of RAM (additional RAM (1 GB) is recommended for development purposes)
- At least 9 GB of disk space available.
Leopard’s retail version was not released in separate versions for each type of processor, but instead consisted of one universal release that could run on both PowerPC and Intel processors. Leopard drops support for slower G4 and all G3 processors. Because all new Macs use Intel processors, the versions of Leopard shipped with them are Intel only.
Some ways of running Leopard on certain unsupported hardware, primarily slower PowerPC G4 computers, have been discovered. A common way is use of the program LeopardAssist, which is a bootloader similar in some respects to XPostFacto (used for installing earlier releases of Mac OS X on unsupported G3 and pre-G3 Macs) that uses the Mac’s Open Firmware to tell Leopard that the machine does have a CPU meeting the 867 MHz minimum requirement that the Installer checks for before installation is allowed to commence, when in reality the CPU is slower. Currently, LeopardAssist only runs on slower G4s and many people have installed Leopard successfully on these older machines.
Users who have access to supported hardware have installed Leopard on the supported machine then simply moved the hard drive to the unsupported machine. Leopard is only compiled for AltiVec-enabled PowerPC processors (G4 and G5) though, as well as Intel, so both of these methods will only work on Macs with G4 or later CPUs. While some of the earlier beta releases were made to run on some later G3 machines (mostly later 800–1000 MHz iBooks), no success with the retail version has been reported on G3 Macs except for some later iMacs and "Pismo" PowerBook G3s with G4 processor upgrades installed. Until recently it appeared that the only G3 Macs on which Leopard could be run were those with an aftermarket G4 processor and an AGP graphics card, as failures with the OS partially booting before crashing were reported on older Macs such as the original tray-loading iMacs and the Beige and Blue & White Power Mac G3 (all with G4 upgrades as Leopard will not even begin to load without one) whereas it would boot fine on newer Macs where the Installer restriction had been circumvented. However, more recently it has been reported that with some more work and use of kernel extensions from XPostFacto, Tiger and beta builds of Leopard, the OS can be made to run on G4-upgraded Macs as old as the Beige G3. While the basic Leopard system can be used on most G4 or later Macs, some functionality such as Front Row or Time Machine fails to work without a Quartz Extreme-capable graphics card, which many of the earlier G4s did not include in their factory specification.
Also, users with non-Apple PC’s can install Leopard on their computers, through the OSx86 project. A variety of installation processes can be used, the most common being to use a modified
The retail packaging for Leopard is significantly smaller than that of previous versions of Mac OS X (although later copies of Tiger also came in the new smaller box). It also sports a lenticular cover, making the X appear to float above a purple galaxy, somewhat resembling the default Leopard desktop wallpaper.
After Leopard’s release, there were widely-reported incidents of new Leopard installs hanging during boot on the blue screen that appears just before the login process starts.[citation needed] Apple attributed these problems to an outdated version of an unsupported add-on extension called Application Enhancer (APE), from Unsanity which is incompatible with Leopard; unbeknownst to many users, APE had been installed silently on many Macs by Logitech as part of their mouse drivers. However, only the users who didn’t have the latest version of APE installed (2.0.3 at that time) were affected. Apple published a knowledge base article on how to solve this problem.
- Security features in Leopard were criticized as weak or ineffective, with the research group Heise Security that the Leopard installer downgraded firewall protection and exposed services to attack even when the firewall was re-enabled. Several researchers noted that the Library Randomization feature added to Leopard was ineffective compared to mature implementations on other platforms, and that the new "secure Guest account" could be abused by Guests to retain access to the system even after the Leopard log out process erased their home directory.
- Though generally lauded in the press as a step forward for data recovery, Time Machine was criticized in multiple publications for lacking the capabilities of third-party backup software. Analyzing the feature for TidBITS, Joe Kissell pointed out that Time Machine does not create bootable copies of backed-up volumes, does not back up to AirPort Disk hard drives and will not back up FileVault encrypted home directories until the user logs out, concluding that the feature is "pretty good at what it does" but he will only use it as part of a "broader backup strategy". One of these issues has been resolved, however; On 19 March 2008, updates were released for AirPort and Time Machine, allowing for Time Machine to use a USB hard disk which has been connected to an AirPort Extreme Base Station.
- R.L. Prior, on the ThinkMac blog, criticized a number of changes to Leopard’s user interface, including the transparent menu bar, the shelf-like Dock and the new folder icons. Decreased transparency of the menu bar, along with the ability to disable the menu bar transparency were added with the 10.5.2 release on 11 February 2008.
- The auto-switching feature in Spaces annoyed some of its users. Apple added a new preference in 10.5.2 which disabled this feature, but there were still bugs found while switching windows. In 10.5.3, this problem was addressed and was supposedly no longer an issue.