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Posts tagged Linux
Linux User & Developer, Issue 106
0207 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
This month’s Linux User & Developer magazine includes two pieces of mine: a review of the latest version of the media streaming VortexBox distribution and a group test covering multi-language integrated development environments (IDEs.)
Aimed at the magazine’s developer readership rather than newcomers to Linux, the group test takes four of the most popular development environments – Komodo, Netbeans, Geany and Eclipse – and puts them head-to-head to see which emerges victorious.
While it’s easy to just look at a list of features, care was taken to ensure that the scoring metrics used were useful: how fast each is, the facilities on offer, the languages supported were all included, but perhaps the most important metric of all – and one not normally seen in a group test – was a look at the availability of commercial support.
The review looked at the latest release of VortexBox, a handy media streaming distribution which can turn unused hardware into a Universal Plug ‘n Play (UPnP) server. As with the majority of distribution tests – except where hardware support or 3D acceleration functionality is on trial – the software was installed into a virtual machine running under Oracle’s VirtualBox.
More information is available on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 105
0235 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
This month’s Linux User & Developer includes three of my pieces: a review of the Parted Magic Live CD, a group test of command-line compression packages and a step-by-step guide to installing and configuring CMS Made Simple.
The review was fairly standard fare, with one exception: during writing, Parted Magic was going through a rapid development cycle as the maintainer found and fixed bugs. As a result, the review needed to be revised at three separate points during its creation to accommodate changes made in each release. It’s a pain when that happens, but it’s better to start again than publish a review based on outdated code.
The tutorial was a departure from the norm, but a fun challenge nevertheless. Unlike my usual testing process, in which an Ubuntu-based virtual machine is used as the software host, I installed the CMS Made Simple software on an actual live webserver as a true test that the tutorial could be used in a production environment.
As a result of its live, production nature, the latter part of the tutorial looked at securing the CMS Made Simple installation from attack; something which, sad to say, many beginner-oriented tutorials miss to their readers’ peril.
The group test was a technical one this month: taking the command-line compression tools bzip2, lbzip2, gzip and 7Zip, I had to devise a way of testing them to see which is the best option for real-world use.
Taking place on a testbed virtual machine, the test methodology included running compression routines on both synthetic data – sparse data collected from /dev/zero and dense data collected from /dev/urandom – and real-world data.
Using compression times and compression ratios as the scoring mechanism from the benchmark testing, the packages were also rated based on their functionality for use in shell scripts or to be called from other programmes; something in which the readership of Linux User & Developer is likely to be interested.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 104
0263 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
This month sees just two pieces of mine in Linux User & Developer magazine: a review of the Efika MX Smarttop and a group test of popular filesystem-level encryption tools.
It’s always fun doing a hardware review for a change, and the Efika test was no exception. Based on an ARM architecture processor and shipping with a cut-down version of Ubuntu, any benchmarking tools need to be compiled from scratch in order to run.
The encryption group test was a departure from my usual fare: because the software on test has an actual, measurable performance impact on the host system, it’s possible to get an objective – rather than subjective – idea of which is ‘best.’
Building a custom benchmarking script, I created a small volume on a virtual host which was then encrypted using each of the filesystem encryption utilities. Files were then copied to and from the volume – with both sparse and dense files in small and large chunks chosen – with each transaction rated in terms of transfer speed and CPU load.
Between tests, the virtual machine was rolled back to an earlier snapshot – one of the major reasons I do this kind of testing within VirtualBox, rather than on a physical host – to ensure that file caching, fragmentation and the like couldn’t skew the results.
More information is available on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 103
0288 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
This month’s Linux User & Developer may come as a shock to some: the group test, a regular mainstay of the magazine, is nowhere to be found. Thankfully, it’s been replaced with something just as good – and highly visible there in the right-hand corner of the cover: a head-to-head shoot-out between GNOME3 (and the GNOME Shell) and Unity.
With the launch of GNOME3 and Canonical’s insistence on using its own Unity desktop for Ubuntu, passions are high in the Linux community. Taking both releases and running them head-to-head, I compared their features and functionality in order to ascertain exactly which comes out ahead.
To capitalise on the interest surrounding the topic, editor Russell Barnes made the decision to publish the piece on the website as well as in the magazine; a good choice, it turns out, with the article grabbing significant traffic and sitting at the top of the ‘most read’ stats for a considerable time.
As well as the head-to-head, this issue includes a two-page review of cloud-centric Linux distribution Peppermint Two, again installed and configured on my VirtualBox testbed virtual machine.
More information is available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 102
0319 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
This month’s Linux User & Developer includes my regular group test feature, this time looking at photo management utilities, alongside a review of Accountz, a somewhat painfully-named enterprise-grade accountancy package for Windows, Mac and Linux.
While I’m no accountant, I was – in my not-so-humble opinion – able to put the package through its paces, following an installation in my usual virtualised test environment. If you want to know what I thought of it, though, you’ll just have to buy the magazine.
The group test was, as usual, a fun task: taking four of the most popular photo management applications for Linux and putting them head-to-head through a variety of tests, it gave me a chance to finally have a play with Darktable, the heavily Adobe LightRoom-inspired open source photo workflow management app.
More details are available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 101
0349 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
For the hundred-and-first issue of Linux User & Developer, two reviews and a feature: a group test of backup software can be found at the bottom-left of the cover billed as “Keep your data safe the open source way,” while to the right can be found a LibreOffice review. Finally, a hardware review of the Hiddn Crypto Adapter, which is a truly impressive bit of kit, by the way.
The group test, as per usual, takes four popular packages – in this case in the areas of backup and restore software – and pits them head-to-head. They’re always a popular read, and while they take a reasonable amount of work – including setting up a virtual machine environment, installing, testing, resetting and then re-testing each package, followed by the painstaking screenshotting process – they’re fun too.
The LibreOffice review, looking at the latest release and tying in to a collaboration feature elsewhere in the magazine, was also enjoyable; providing the push I needed to finally move on from OpenOffice on my machines at home.
The Hiddn Crypto Adapter review, however, is the highlight: from Norwegian company High-Density Devices (HDD,) the Big-Trak-looking Hiddn CA allows any USB Mass Storage device to become encrypted using a PIN and smartcard combination. It’s totally OS-agnostic, and a really interesting item to test.
How did it score? Buy the magazine and find out.
More details are available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 100
0380 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
To celebrate Linux User & Developer magazine’s 100th issue milestone, editor Russell Barnes asked me to work on a special feature looking at the top ten Linux distributions around.
To say it was a monumental undertaking is something of an understatement: compiling a list that won’t have readers frothing at the mouth with rage that their favourite distribution is nowhere to be seen wasn’t easy, and every distribution needed to be downloaded, installed, tested and documented.
Each of the ten distributions – plus a handful that didn’t make it into the full list but are worthy of note – needed proper testing, if only to create the screenshots: each one customised so that the same applications were open in the same spot on the screen, making it easy to quickly compare the visual appearance of each distro.
Add in to that interviews with developers and community members to offer readers a feel for the people behind each of the operating systems on offer, and you’re looking at a lot of work and not a few sleepless nights.
Thankfully, it turned out great, with the art and layout teams working hard to turn it into a real centrepiece for the magazine’s celebrations.
This issue also sees a review of the DreamPlug ARM-based microserver, as a follow up to an earlier review I wrote covering its Marvell SheevaPlug predecessor.
More information is available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 99
0410 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
For this month’s Linux User & Developer magazine, a twofer: my regular group test, this time looking at media players, and a review of the Axigen Messaging email server.
The group test was a relatively simple one this month: looking at client applications is always a pleasure, and with media players it’s just a question of rating the appearance, functionality and performance to arrive at a ‘best of the best.’
That’s not to say it doesn’t take time: each package on test needs to be researched, installed, tested and then screenshots taken to ensure the piece isn’t just a wall of words.
For the review, things were a bit more difficult: Axigen is a powerful piece of kit, and requires configuration before it can be used. Drawing on experience gained in my previous life as a sysadmin – with a shudder – meant it wasn’t too difficult, despite VirtualBox doing its best to keep the software’s web-based user interface hidden from my laptop’s browser.
More information is available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 98
0441 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
My first full cover feature for Linux User & Developer magazine, my group test this month was a rare hardware bonanza looking at four of the top Android-based tablets.
Hardware group tests are a rarity: firstly, it’s often difficult to find Linux-specific hardware that will appeal to the magazine’s readership, and secondly it’s damn-near impossible to find four such beasts of the same flavour from different manufacturers to pit against one another.
The recent tablet boom, however, changed that, and gave me a chance to get my hands dirty testing some fun kit; much of it well out of my pocket money’s range.
More information is available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
Linux User & Developer, Issue 97
0469 days
by Gareth
in Published Work
For this month’s Linux User & Developer, the final part of my Arduino tutorial trilogy alongside a group test of the best and brightest disaster recovery live CDs.
The latter is a topic very close to my heart: as an ex-sysadmin, Linux live CDs have saved my life – or career, at least – on numerous occasions, and if you’re not aware of some of the impressive features available in a free-as-in-speech emergency repair distro you’re missing out.
Finishing the Arduino feature is bittersweet: it’s true that writing and debugging code isn’t exactly my strong suit, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. It’ll be nice to have the evenings back now it’s done, though.
The Arduino series was always a gamble, as it’s something of a departure from the magazine’s normal fare; thankfully, editor Russell Barnes took a punt. Response has been good, and I certainly wouldn’t be averse to doing something similar in the future – once I’ve had a rest!
Full details are available over on the Linux User & Developer website.
