Mandriva is another one of the Linux distributions that has been around for quite some time. Beginning as Mandrake Linux, the company MandrakeSoft was forced to change its name when sued by the Hearst Corporation because of the claims that Mandrake Linux was inspired by their comic character “Mandrake the Magician”. So the change in name happened in 2005, but the name change wasn’t the only change in 2005. At the same time Mandriva acquired Lycoris and Conectiva. So Mandriva Linux became a combination of Mandrake Linux and Conectiva Linux.

Because of these changes, the Mandriva of today is not the Mandrake of yesterday. The latest version of Mandriva (named 2010) is a modern take on the Linux distribution and in this article you are going to be treated to a walk through of the installation. NOTE: This installation will be done via VirtualBox, so some of the information you might see may or may not apply to your installation.

(more…)

Tags: linux installation, live cd, mandriva linux, mandriva one
Categories: Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Tutorials Basic, software

If you are looking for an easy to install, configure, and use systems monitor, look no further. The Munin is a network/systems monitor that presents all its data is easy to read graphs. Munin is setup as a server/client (or node) which makes this system very flexible. Munin also offers an extensive plugins library that extends that flexibility to include the monitoring of many various systems and even applications.

And what’s best is you don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get munin up and running. In this tutorial you will see how to get your Munin server up and running and monitoring your system and a sample client configuration that will monitor a client node. As you might expect, I will continue to build upon the Ubuntu Server series and install Munin on a Ubuntu 9.04 installation. NOTE: This same installation will work on Ubuntu 9.10 as well. (more…)

Tags: Network Monitoring, system monitoring, ubuntu, web monitoring
Categories: Advice, Hardware, Linux, Networks, Open Source, Server, Tutorials Basic, software

There are plenty of times when you may want to add a new service to start when your Linux machine boots. Or you may want to stop a service from starting upon boot. And, like nearly every aspect of Linux, there are many ways to deal with this scenario. And different distributions handle this in different ways. So what is the best way for you to manage this task?

Because different distributions handle this task differently, we will examine how Fedora (and friends) handle the task and how Ubuntu (and friends) handle the task. As well we will also examine a neutral method that can always work in a pinch. All three methods will be command line, so stretch out those fingers and get ready to type.

(more…)

Tags: boot services, init, linux boot, rc.local, runlevels, sysV
Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, software

I have written a few articles on Samba here on Ghacks. And most people know how to connect to Samba shares via Windows. Generally speaking (when all is set up correctly) it’s just a matter of opening up Explorer and entering \\ADDRESS_OF_SAMBA_SERVER\SHARENAME to get to your Samba shares. But what about in Linux? How do you go about connecting to Samba shares with the same operating system that is running the Samba server?

One would think that an easy task. It actually is, once you know how it is done.  And in this article I am going to show you two different ways of making the connection to your Samba server. You will need to have a working knowledge of how the Samba server is set up as well as a username/password configured on the Samba server. There are also a few steps to take on the desktop for one certain method of connection.

The two methods I will describe are: Using GNOME’s Connect To Server dialog and the command line. The latter will be used to show you how to set up auto mounting for Samba.

(more…)

Tags: GNOME, samba, samba shares, smb.conf, smbclient
Categories: Advice, Linux, Server, Tutorials Advanced, Windows, software

CentOS has not received much attention here on Ghacks, so I thought I would remedy that by introducing this outstanding flavor of Linux not by way of a Live CD (CentOS does have a Live CD, but you can not install from that CD), but by way of traditional means. Because of this you will have  tutorial. But first, a little history (which might divulge reason for you to use CentOS).

CentOS is a community-driven spin off of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This is different from Fedora in that it is not: 1) Not bleeding edge and 2) Geared toward Enterprise and not average desktop usage. CentOS is built to be 100% compatible with its bigger brother Red Hat Enterprise Linux while remaining a completely free operating system. In a nutshell CentOS is Red Hat Enterprise Linux without the branding and graphics. So, if you’re looking for an enterprise-class desktop operating system, and you do not want to spend the cash necessary for RHEL, CentOS is the distribution you’ve been looking for.

But how easily does it install? If you have ever installed Linux using the traditional installation disk method you will be just fine. It will, however, require some patience – and a torrent client.

(more…)

Tags: CentOS, enterprise linux, KDE, Red Hat Linux, RHEL
Categories: Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Tutorials Basic, software

If you are one of those that depends upon a scanner for your daily work, and you want to handle this task using the Linux operating system, you are in luck. In the past, Linux has had some serious issues with scanning tools. When USB scanners replaced the old parallel port scanners it seemed nothing would work. But, as usual, Linux caught up and USB scanner support started appearing. Now many scanners are supported under Linux and the tools available for scanning have improved greatly. The improvements in scanner support have been made possible by the Sane Project.

The first thing you will want to do is check the Sane supported scanner listing on the Sane Project site. But don’t let your scanner not being on that list stop you. My Epson Perfection V30 was not on the list and I still managed to get it working with the help of iscan. The iscan package is a simple scanning tool for Epson scanners.  You can find the iscan tool within Synaptic. The iscan tool also integrates perfectly into The GIMP, so all your image needs can be met within one tool. But iscan is not the only option. There is also the Xsane tool, which is far more powerful than iscan. Let’s take a look at both of these scanning utilities to see how scanning is handled under the Linux operating system.

(more…)

Tags: Espon, flatbed scanners, linux scanning, scanning, usb scanners
Categories: Advice, Hardware, Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Basic, software

When Gmail first came out I wasn’t a fan. But after a year of use I have found Google Mail to be a very valuable tool. Because I use Gmail mostly for work-related issues, I do not always like to check it within a browser. Instead I use various applications that enable me to have my Gmail account at the ready on the Linux desktop.

There are a number of possible applications that can take care of this task. In this article I am going to illustrate a few of those tools for you so you can choose which one is the right one for you.  So, without further adieu, let’s get on with the installation and usage. NOTE: All of these tools can be found and installed using the new Ubuntu Software Center. For more information on that tool, take a look at my article “The new Ubuntu Software Center“.

(more…)

Tags: desktop email, gmail, gmail applets, prism
Categories: Email, Google, Linux, Online Services, software