Technology : GNU Zebra routing software

I was once used this application to study networking. I was able to make ospf run on 3 machines and simulate ospf cost. This is one way you'll better understand cisco networking. It might not behave exactly the same as cisco IOS but it will surely give you an idea how networking really work in a real network setup.

It was really easy to install and to use if you already have knowledge in networking and linux. For me at first it was hard to understand how it really works because I don't have enough knowledge on networking. I only use linux networking like iptables, OpenVPN, route and other linux networking packages.

But with the help of some of my colleague i was able to understand better how it really works. This now gives me an idea to experiment more on this routing software. With better overview on cisco networking I think I can able to pull this off better that the first time. But this will need a lot of machine. But I have a solution for this, I can use VMware for linux to simulate other machines.

For more idea on this routing software here the link: http://www.zebra.org/

Events: Philippine Open Source Summit 2008

The Philippine Open Source Summit 2008 will be held on the 23-24 of June 2008 at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in the City of Mandaue.

One of the speaker would be Mr. Fernando Contreras Jr. Owner and CEO of Imperium Technology Inc. were I'm currently working as Manager of Research and Development.

For more details about the summit:
http://www.oss.ph

For more details about Imperium Technology Inc.:
http://www.imperium.ph

Technology : Fedora 9 a.k.a Sulphur Released!!!

Link to formal press release:
Fedora 9 Delivers Cutting-Edge Features and Enhancements to Community

Watch out for a review of Fedora 9. Coming soon, just need to download a copy. This will be great, I'll be installing it to my HP Pavilion DV8000. So for those who have the same Laptop unit as I am this is a great help for you to start using Fedora on your Laptop. Can't wait to start installing Fedora 9 on my Laptop. Wish me luck!!! This will be great.....

Here we go, let me give you first my Laptop Specifications.

Ok, now you have an idea on what unit I'm using on this review. First put installation disk upon boot up. At first it will give you a text mode interface and then suddenly a more graphical menu will appear. You can choose Install or Upgrade option on the menu displayed. Then it will ask you if you want to test the Media you are going to use to install Fedora. For sanity sake I tried media check first to avoid any problems ahead due to a busted installer. Fortunately media check passed. Then reboot again my unit and skipped the media check option. Then it will ask several option on how you keyboard is configured, the basics as i call it. Then here's the trickiest part of installing dual boot on a dual hard disk laptop. The first hard drive was detected as sda device and the second is sdb. You must choose sdb device where you want to install Fedora 9. This is to avoid messing up you windows partition including the recovery partition of the primary hard drive. Kindly refer to image below on how I do it. Also check the tick box that says review partition layout. There you can see what partition is going to be affected on the installation.

Then if you're an advanced linux user you can manually do the partitioning and removing Logical Volume Drives. But if you're a new linux user i sugget that you leave it all as it is before verify if its the right partition to use on the installation. The next step really surprised me, it automatically format right away the hard drive on the partition layout you choosed. As far as i can remember from previous installation of fedora distros it wont yet format your hard drive. Well something new there. Then on the package installation page, one thing I would want Fedora Developers there to bring back is the option to Install all packages. Because I think on Fedora 4 or 5 they have remove the install all option. Choosing which packages I want to be on my installation is really time consuming without the install all option. I suggest they should bring back that option. For me as a developer I suggest to install all packages due to you will never know what packages you'll need during your development. then after choosing alsmost all the installation package options 1 by 1. It started to install the packages approximately 1686 packages needed to be installed and it took me almost 1 hour to finish the installation.

Then the first boot-up it will ask your user profile and detect sound cards it will ask you to reboot again to apply changes. Also it will ask you to send your hardware profile for future compatibility of drivers on you hardwares. Suprisingly it boot up fast, less than 2 minutes I guess with all the default services that starts up upon boot up. Then it will greet you a simple Login screen. By default it will use GNOME window manager. Nothing much new on Gnome same all look and feel I guess. Then tried booting on KDE, the new KDE is really different from previous KDe versions. The default setup is all black setup, one thing I really like. I love the new KDE loof and feel. The Menu is really amazing, the search is a really good add-ons on the Menu bar for user to avoid browsing on all sub menus searching for the right application they want to open.

Checked all the applications which is highlighted on this distro. Like Firefox3 Beta, GIMP and KDE. They're all there and working.

Another good thing on both Fedora 8 and Fedora 9, it automatically detects my onboard card reader and its working great.

Ok here's the negative part of the review. I noticed that the default wallpaper is kinda distorted or should I describe it as pixelized a bit. I then checked the screen resolution and it's fine. Then I suspected that its not a proper Nvidia driver pre installed. So i tried to download driver at nvidia.com. I tried several version even their Beta version but still I doesn't worked. So I tried searching if someone else was able to make Nvidia video adapter driver work. unfortunately we have all the same problem. Some says they were able to install but it doesn't support 3D.

Another thing I noticed, on my Fedora 8 my shortcut volume button was working properly. but on Fedora 9 it doesn't work. Also the touch pad tap don't work also. I tried running mousetool but it doesn't act properly when I hover the mouse on a button for 2 seconds it automatically clicks the button. Well this is only my own opinion, they should make nvidia drivers included upon installation. but according to some Fedora 9 users the issue is that Fedora 9 is using a higher version of xorg which is still not a stable release. Some suggested to downgrade the Xorg, but i wont, I'll just wait for a compatible driver.

I also tried shutting down Fedora 9. It will only display Login in screen on text mode. It will not show all the services being shutdown or stopped. And its really fast to shutdown unlike some other Fedora distros.

I think this is the end of this review. I hope this will help you decide if you'll install Fedora 9 on you unit.


You are very free to comment on this review or suggest.