Okay it is the time for all the “experts” to come out of the closet and make their year end predictions, well there is one that has lived for as many years as I can remember and I hope is not brought up this year. And that is “This is the Year of Linux”. My goodness folks wake up, smell the coffee or roses, the year of linux has come. I look around and I have friends that 10 years ago would never have even thought of using linux now proclaiming it’s benefits. Companies changing over from another operating system that shall go unnamed. Heck even the major computer companies are advertizing Linux Desktops and Laptops. There are cities, going over to Linux monthly. Linux doen’t need a year it needs some great advertizing and more grassroots support, both the linux and open source projects such as Open Office, need volunteers, and the whole time let folks learn about the cost savings of using Linux for goodness sake. Because while everyone was busy crying from the heights that this was the year of Linux, Linux has walked in and made it’s self comfy in a world that is more than ready for it. Stop comparing Linux to other systems and enjoy what headroads it has made and will continue to make this year with help from you, the user. So sit back and enjoy a Happy New Year and smile at Tux he is here to stay.

You can never be too safe these days. Viruses, spyware, rootkits, remote exploits, you just never know what security issue is going to be your downfall. That’s why it is important as a Linux administrator to have an understanding of some of the best Linux security tools available to you. In this article, you will learn about Top Ten Linux security tools, and resources on how to use them to your advantage.

A few on this list are really in the must have class as I use them almost daily in everyday work, Baldy

Top 10 Linux Security Tools

Okay I have gotten home,two days late and hardly worse for the wear. A christmas day that was ruined, and a bitter taste for Northwest airlines in my mouth. But i have to say thanks to some folks that were responsible for a great trip or at least the first part anyway. Thanks to Slick and Raven and Leo and Lynda and Troy and the rest of that gang down at the lake for a great night out and dinner the next day that was out of this world. Good food and good company a great thing to behold indeed. And to Paul,Tim,Mike,Stacey, and that crowd for the fine time while I vistied with you and your family’s heck you guys ruined my ideas of the cajun lifestyles totally. LOL And last but not least to the fastest crawdad peeler in the state and that is Becky thanks for the invite and for the companionship that you and your family afforded my during the trip. Over all excluding the flight a great trip and one that I will remember for a long long time. And I do aplogize for anyone that I have missed in this as my very limited brain is still not working very well even with 12 hours of sleep. To one and all a huge thanks and a great New Years to you all.

Okay the trip was not a total failure, there was a lot of good food and some great times. But the one thing I have to mention is Big Daddy’s Seafood Market. Here is a little spot in the town of Jennings,La. And you want to talk seafood this is the place. A lot of us had platters of boiled crawfish, and those were served with a potato and ear of corn, and was a true treat to enjoy. And the only bad thing about the little rascals is peeling them but I was seated next to the fastest mudbug peeler in LA, and she was a great help when it came to eating. The other thing was a all you can eat boiled shrimp dinner and the darn shrimp were so big you would swear they should have had saddles on them. Yummy Yummy and not to mention Yummy stuff. If you are driving through Jennings drop in and have the meal of your life.

The idea was go south and have a nice pre-Christmas party. Well that went well, and then came yesterday. Sitting in the airport to start the day we were told the plane was running late due to Ice. Well okay I figured that this is the season for storms no big deal and I had plenty of time to catch my next plane in Memphis. Oh and how wrong was I? After sitting for over 12 hours the dreaded message hit the flight list, CANCELED! So I got in line along with many of my fellow travelers. I can fly to anyplace in the US and Canada and Mexico, anyplace that is does not include my destination. So at about 1AM I was told that I had 2 options both involving me being stuck in Lovely Memphis until Christmas day. Okay if that is the only option I will take it. Now comes the part that really toast’s my cookies. It seems as if Northwestern has a reputation of canceling flights daily here in Memphis. Let’s just say this will be the last time I use Northwestern Airlines or any of it’s partners. Well you get the hint so I am going to sit back have some good BBQ and then who knows maybe even go and visit Graceland. For all of you have a Merry Christmas and I will talking to you all later.

Update on the flight news it seems as if tomorrow there might be a tad bit of a hangup too. Darn that movie Planes,Trains, and Automobiles has come to life and bitten me.

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has issued an alert for an e-mail scam targeting holiday travelers, warning that malware authors are using clever social engineering tactics to hijack Windows computers.

In the e-mail scam, users get a .zip file attached to a message about an airline ticket and an ominous mention of a credit card balance. It appears to come from legitimate major airlines including Delta, JetBlue, Continental, American Airlines and Virgin America.

And this pops up right before a planned road trip for me, thank goodness I don’t use windows computers but for those who do you might want to check out the rest of this article, Baldy

Read the Rest of the Article

Okay here is your chance to check out the man behind Mepis my favorite distro and one that I try and promote as much as possible. Learn why he started Mepis and some of his belief’s for a distro. A very good read for all as it gives a lot of insight into a developer of a linux distro, and his opinion of Ubuntu and it’s creator Mark Shuttleworth. Not to mention GPL and other linux news that has surfaced from time to time.

Read the Entire Interview

Linux forums, mailing lists, and even howto articles are full of fearful comments against the Linux command line. “Pry my GUI from my cold dead hands!” is all too common. Nobody wants to take your GUI away, because with Linux you get the full power of both. Akkana Peck gives us a friendly introduction to the Linux command line, starting with a lesson on the fastest way to find files.

A good read for those who “just don’t get it” and how simple it can be, Baldy

The Linux CLI for Beginners, or, Fear Not the Linux Command Line!

Morgantown, WV, Dec 8, 2008 — ISO files of the sixth and last anticipated beta of SimplyMEPIS 8.0 are available for 32 and 64 bit processors as SimplyMEPIS-CD_7.9.93-beta6_32.iso and SimplyMEPIS-CD_7.9.93-beta6_64.iso.

In beta 6, the kernel has been updated to upstream version 2.6.27.7 and the extra drivers have been rebuilt for the new kernel. This kernel release fixes an error in the last release that resulted in the tg3 driver being disabled.

An ‘Alternate’ CD boot selection has been added in response to feedback that this provides a workaround for a problem that some users have had when trying to boot from CD.

Flash has been updated to version 10 and there have been several updates to the MEPIS Assistant apps in response to suggestions from the community.

Warren Woodford, the integrator of SimplyMEPIS, reports, “Progress on 8.0 has been slow but steady. The community has done a great job of reporting problems and suggesting fixes! There are just a few issues remaining. I hope that in a week or two we can have an RC release.”

Using Linux and Open Source software can make your bottom line easier to look at. Here are 10 reasons that you need to look at Linux for your company.

And here is a great article looking at the various reason that a change over might be the ticket for your company in the up and coming year, Baldy

10 Reasons To Choose Linux in a Bad Economy