This Month's News
Powerful Data Analysis Platform Launched in Texas
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), Indiana University, and the University of Chicago have announced that the Wrangler system is now operational and ready for business. TACC describes Wrangler as "a groundbreaking data analysis and management system." Wrangler is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), including $6 million for deployment plus additional operations funding.
Wrangler is an HPC system focused on data-intensive applications. According to Hans Hofmann, Director for the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Texas Austin, the problem with employing conventional HPC systems often is "… not one of computation; it's that you always need to refer back to a database that's populated with sequencing data specific to your scientific question. Wrangler is really built for these kinds of specialized applications."
The Wrangler system offers "massive, replicated, secure high performance data storage" (10PB each at Indiana and TAAC) and large-scale flash storage for analytics. To obtain an allocation for Wrangler, see the Allocations page at the XSEDE website.
More Online
Linux Magazine
* Off the Beat * Bruce Byfield *
The End of the Editor Wars
For years, the text editors Vi (and its successor Vim) and Emacs have been seen as rivals. In recent years, the rivalry has been largely a subject of jokes, but in the days before the desktop, it was serious enough, and the subject of endless flame wars.
When Enthusiasm for Free Software Turns Ugly
Last week, I wrote an article about the decline of Apache OpenOffice, and how its attitude towards other projects might be part of its problem. "No one wants to see OpenOffice humiliated," I wrote – but apparently I was wrong.
Sydney Padua's The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Imagine a world where Ada Lovelace did not die at 36, and Charles Babbage actually built his computer. Now imagine that world chronicled by a mixture of in-jokes and footnotes, and you have the flavor of Sydney Padua's The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.
* Productivity Sauce * Dmitri Popov *
Wik: Probably the Simplest Wiki Ever
Wik is really, really simple. In fact, if there were a competition for the simplest wiki out there, Wik would win it hands down. The entire wiki consists of a single HTML file containing just 160 lines of code, which is an impressive achievement in its own right. Wik is also ridiculously easy to use.
Leave Geographical Breadcrumbs with Geofix
When I'm out and about, I often need to quickly record my current position. As an amateur photographer, I appreciate the ability to record the geographical coordinates of locations I plan to photograph later and spots I've already taken pictures of. The latter helps me geotag my photos in digiKam. When I travel, I like to record the locations of good eateries, coffee shops, interesting places, etc. An Android device is perfect for this task, but none of the apps I tried fit my needs. So I cobbled together my own tool called Geofix.
Instant File Transfer with airpaste
Need to quickly transfer a file between machines on the same network? Consider using airpaste. To push the foo.txt file, run the airpaste < foo.txt command. Then, issue the airpaste > foo.txt command on the receiving machine to download the file. No muss, no fuss.
Save Web Pages on Android with Save for Offline
In the good old days of not so pervasive and fast Internet access, utilities like HTTrack were indispensable for reading web pages offline. A lot has changed since then, but a tool for saving web pages for offline access can still come in handy in many situations. Although HTTrack is still a good option on the Linux desktop, the Save for Offline app has you covered if you happen to use an Android device.
ADMIN HPC
http://hpc.admin-magazine.com/
Encrypting Files * Jeff Layton
Encrypting your data is becoming increasingly important, but you don't always have to use an encrypted filesystem. Sometimes just encrypting files is enough.
Virtuous Benchmarks: Using Benchmarks to Your Advantage * Jeff Layton
Benchmarks have been misused by both users and vendors for many years, but they don't have to be the evil creature we all think them to be.
ADMIN Online
http://www.admin-magazine.com/
Monitor Your Network Infrastructure with SNMP * Falko Benthin
If you don't have the staff to monitor your network in real time, SNMP and a couple of scripts are all it takes to keep track of your device jungle.
TCP Stealth Hides Open Ports * Udo Seidel
Port scans for finding vulnerable services are nothing new, and port knocking as a defense has been around for a while, too. TCP Stealth tries to do something similar, but it takes a more sophisticated approach. We take a closer look.
GlusterFS or CephUdo Seidel and Martin Loschwitz
Many shared storage solutions are currently vying for users' favor; however, Ceph and GlusterFS generate the most press. We compare the two competitors and reveal the strengths and weaknesses of each solution.
A TurnKey Linux Software Evaluation PlatformHolger Reibold
TurnKey Linux comes with more than 100 of the most important free enterprise solutions to create a test environment for evaluating new open source system or business software on a local system, on a virtual machine, or in the cloud.
« Previous 1 2 3 4
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Releases Ubuntu 24.04
After a brief pause because of the XZ vulnerability, Ubuntu 24.04 is now available for install.
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.