IBM Lotus Symphony Office suite for Linux - free download

IBM has released a beta version of its new Office suite named Symphony and has made it available as a free download. It contains four software namely "Lotus Symphony Documents", "Lotus Symphony Presentations", "Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets" and an integrated web browser. But what should be quite interesting is that IBM has released a Linux version of this office suite too though it works only on Red Hat Enterprise Linux ver 5 and Suse Linux ver 10 for the time being.

I downloaded the Linux version of IBM's Symphony Office suite and I was able to install it without any problem. One of the striking feature of Symphony is that you can Open the document, spreadsheet and presentation files all within the main interface and the files will be opened in tabs which is quite a convenience.

Fig: Welcome page when Symphony starts

Fig: Menu to open new documents

The interface is well designed and built using Eclipse IDE. One of the highlights of Lotus Symphony is that it is based on the Open Document Format (ODF) standard - which means you're not locked into proprietary file formats, software licensing agreements and upgrades. Symphony can open Microsoft Office documents be they MSWord, Excel or Powerpoint files without any problem.

Fig: Document interface of Symphony

But when it is compared to Microsoft Office or even OpenOffice.org, I feel Symphony has a bit more catching up to do. For example, in OpenOffice.org, when you insert an image, you can drag and place it in any location in the document, which I find is a very nice feature. But I was not able to do this in Symphony document. And you cannot open or save encrypted Doc or ODF files nor can you edit or save encrypted macro libraries. More over since Symphony is a free offering from IBM, you can avail of help only from the support forums and not directly from IBM.

The minimum specifications needed to run Symphony are at least 512 MB RAM and 540-750 MB of free disk space. If you are interested, you can download a beta 3 version of Symphony and take it for a run.

Domain name theft - how it is done and steps to prevent it

Let's say you have a sudden insight on a name which is apt for your website and you wish to register this name as a domain name. You fire up your web browser and visit any one of the innumerable sites which help in checking if this particular domain name is available or not and to your absolute delight, nobody has yet registered your domain name.

So you decide to register it as soon as you can take time ... perhaps tomorrow because today you have an official deadline to meet. And the next day when you try to register the same domain name, you find to your dismay that it has already been snapped up by somebody else. How did this happen ? Was this a case of bad luck ? Maybe not. You may be the victim of a rogue company which has picked up your name after they intercepted your search the previous day. In effect the person or entity which has registered your domain name has stolen your domain research. The act of typing the domain name in the wrong place may allow these squatters to register the domain before you.

Jay Westerdal of domaintools.com has written an insightful piece on various precautions you can take while searching for your domain name prior to registering it. These steps help to a certain extent in mitigating domain name theft even before you have laid your hands on it.

Popular Unix and Linux forums

One of the best ways of growing a strong community now a days is to start a forum. There are a plethora of forums for Unix and Linux and new ones are coming up all the time. Out of all these, a small section of them have risen to the top by virtue of their dedication and some good luck. Last updated on December 28th 2007

Below are a collection of popular Linux/Unix forums which I found to enjoy a strong community backing.

• Linux Questions.org - One of the foremost Linux forums which has a very strong community following. I may add that it is one of the most active Linux/Unix forums I have come across in recent times.


• Ubuntu Forums - This is yet another forum which is dedicated to a flavor of Linux albeit a very popular one namely Ubuntu.


• Gentoo Forums - This is the official Gentoo forum which enjoy a huge fan following. Gentoo is a flavor of Linux which prides itself in allowing the user (that is you) in configuring each and every aspect of Linux at the time of installation. The gentoo site also hosts a very good forum which apart from being a knowledge resource for Gentoo users is also sure to help the non-gentoo Linux enthusiast.
  


• Freespire Forums - The official Freespire forum. Freespire is a community-driven, Linux-based operating system that combines the best that free, open source software has to offer (community driven, freely distributed, open source code, etc.), but also provides users the choice of including proprietary codecs, drivers and applications as they see fit.


• Linux Forums.org - Claims to have over 90,000 members and 400,000 posts related to GNU/Linux


• HowToForge.com - This is a site which provides detailed guides on all things related to Open Source and Free Software with a strong leaning towards GNU/Linux. It also has a vibrant forum.


• SuSE Forums - A forum dedicated to discussing problems related to SuSE Linux.


• Arch Linux Forums - This is the official Arch Linux forum which provides help in solving a variety of problems related to this particular Linux distribution. [**New**]


• Debian Forums - I couldn't find an official Debian forum. The closest I could find was this one which discusses all problems arising in Debian Linux. It has a good collection of posts.


• LinuxSolved.com - This is a forum which provides help in solving a variety of Linux related problems which includes troubleshooting, configuration tips, howto's and Faq's. It claims to have well over 7000 posts spanning over 2000 topics to its credit. [**New**]


• forums1.itrc.hp.com - This is the gathering place for IT Professionals to solve problems, exchange ideas, and learn lessons from fellow peers who also use the HP IT Resource Center. Managed by Hewlett-Packard, HP engineers participate in all of these forums to share their advice, however, HP does not guarantee a response as these forums are intended as a peer-to-peer resource.


• BSD Forums - A forum dedicated to BSDs


• Unix Forums - A forum with a strong bias for different Unices such as Solaris, HP-UX and AIX. But it features a collection of posts related to Linux too.
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• Open Solaris Forum - This is the official Open Solaris forum.
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• Kernel trap Forum - KernelTrap is a web community devoted to sharing the latest in kernel development news. Their forum has a small number of quality posts on Linux and Unix kernel.

Note to readers: When ever I come across interesting websites related to Linux, I usually bookmark them for future reference. Over a period of time, I have built up an eclectic collection of links related to GNU/Linux or Unix which provide good information. Earlier, I had featured a slice of those links on the right hand column of this blog. I couldn't feature all the links there due to lack of space. Now, with a revamp of the site design, I decided to move them to their own individual pages. This post is the start of a number of such posts.

This article will be updated as and when I come across interesting forums.

Business lost due to Gmail security failure

What would you do when on a fine day you wake up and find that your domain name has been grabbed by a cracker ? And you further learn that perhaps the cracker has used your Gmail account to roll out his misdeeds?

David Airey a graphics designer who had to face this very scenario explains in detail the tribulations he had to go thorough because of loss of traffic to his website.

He also lists a site which explains the Gmail hacking technique in three simple steps.

While Google has plugged this security hole in Gmail, it is always prudent to keep an eye on the filters you have set up in Gmail once in a while. Also my suggestion is never click on a link if you are suspicious about its context.

Better safe than sorry right ?

Update [29 Dec 2007] : David Airey gets back his domain name after a slew of publicity from numerous online media, which is a good thing for David. But it still doesn't clear the air of Gmail's security holes. I hope Google does something about this thing as I still believe that Google's Gmail is the best free email offering one can get in the present scenario. Nothing beats Gmail in the number of features, price and design of the interface.

LinuxMCE - a powerful media center for your family

There are a plethora of Linux powered Media centers available like for instance the MythTV. Now here is another versatile project which goes by the name LinuxMCE.

But unlike MythTV, LinuxMCE is much more than a mere PVR. It combines media and entertainment with a server for music and video. You can automate your home using LinuxMCE such as controlling the lights, your mobile phone and other electronic gadgets. Set up your phone system with video conferencing and even behave like a security system feeding live video to your mobile phone in real time in the advent of a security breach.

More importantly, all the features provided by LinuxMCE are well documented. Since it is based on Kubuntu, it can also be used as a regular Linux PC as well. Check out this interesting video (Approximately 25 min duration) which explains in detail each and every aspect of configuring LinuxMCE to set it up according to your needs.

[Via tech-talk.biz]

NetBSD 4.0 release anouncement

NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source operating system available for many platforms, from 64-bit Opteron machines and desktop systems to hand held and embedded devices. While I haven't yet gotten around to trying out NetBSD (I have used FreeBSD and OpenBSD), it is not any lesser in importance than its other counterparts.

In more ways than one, NetBSD has lots of similarities with OpenBSD than with FreeBSD. But NetBSD is said to have a more user friendly installer than OpenBSD, it is available for download as ISO images and it supports the largest variety of devices out there. In fact, NetBSD claims to run on 54 different system architectures featuring 17 machine architectures across 17 distinct CPU families, and is being ported to more.... whew !!

Read the full release announcement, the original mail on mailing list and the changes in ver 4.0.

GNOME Do - a universal launcher for the GNOME Desktop

When ever I have logged in to Windows, there is one program which I use on a regular basis and which I cannot do without. The program is called Launchy. The unique feature of this program is that it helps me to navigate the file system, open applications, visit websites and a lot more by just typing a couple of keys. Launchy runs in the background as a service and is activated when a key combination is pressed. On my machine it is [Alt] + [Space].

Fig: Launchy in action in Windows

In KDE, we have a similar program called Katapult. But if you are a GNOME user then you should check out a recent project which tries to equal or even surpass all the features found in Launchy. The name of the project is "Gnome Do". Simply put, Gnome Do is a launcher ... of applications, web pages, Firefox bookmarks, system config panels, your documents residing on your hard disk and so on. But you can also extend the functionality of Gnome Do using an add-in framework.

Fig: Gnome Do interface

Gnome Do is the brain child of David Siegel who started this project to be submitted to his university as a part of his curriculum. It has been entirely coded using C# and uses Mono. David Siegel claims he was motivated to work on Gnome Do seeing a similar project called Quick Silver on Mac OSX.

I installed "Gnome Do" using the method explained in the official website and the installation was successful. If you are using Ubuntu, then you can download and install the binary instead of compiling the program from source.

Once installed and running, Gnome Do acts as a background process waiting for the specific key press combination from the user. The default key combination is [Win Key] + [Space].

When you press the key combination, Gnome Do will make itself visible and you can start typing. It takes only the first couple of key strokes from the user to zero in on the correct application you wish to launch. For example, if I want to open Gedit text editor, instead of navigating the Gnome menu, I activate Gnome Do and type the first three characters namely 't', 'e'. 'x' and by then Gnome Do has zeroed in on the gedit text editor and all I have to do is press enter to open the text editor.

Fig: Type 't','e','r' and Gnome Do highlights terminal.

When you press the hot key combination and bring Gnome Do to the foreground, you will find two boxes side by side. You can navigate between either of the boxes using the [Tab] key. And while one of the boxes have the focus, if you press the [Down arrow] key, it will open a drop down list which will list alternate actions that can be taken such as opening a terminal in the current location and so on.

Features of Gnome Do

• All applications in your Gnome menu are indexed.
• Supports an add-in framework so it is easy to write and extend the functionality of Gnome Do to suit your needs via pieces of code called add-ins. You can find a couple of add-ins at do.davebsd.com/addins. You have to place the add-ins in ~/.do/addins and restart Gnome Do.
• It keeps track of your Firefox bookmarks so you can start typing the first few letters of a bookmark and Gnome Do will open the webpage for you.
• Type an English word and it will open Gnome dictionary to give you the meaning of the word.
• You can open any file or folder in your home directory by typing the first few letters of their name and pressing enter. For example, to open my home folder, I press the hotkey combination and type 'r', 'a', 'v' and Gnome Do will open my home folder.