Annoucing the Nexusbox Linux Project

Hello everybody…

Today i’m annoucing that i’ve started another blog! The Nexusbox Project blog concentrates on the latest news about the the on-going Linux Embedded Firewall project which denan and I are working on. The distro is currently based on Crux Linux 2.0, hence the name Cruxwall. This project however is still in embryonic stage.

All releases will be made available to public under GNU General Public License or other Open Source compatible license. You can get Cruxwall and krazhbox releases at Nexusbox Sourceforge.net project page.

Any sort of contributions for this project are welcomed, please check the blog regularly for latest updates…

GeeXboX – Embedded Linux Media Player

Today I want to discuss about GeeXBoX, a linux distribution geared up to be a stand alone Media Player. GeeXBoX is a free linux distribution which aims to bring digital home entertainment with Linux to the next level. With GeeXBoX, you can happily play DVD, VCD, streaming video, MPEG-4 videos, picture slideshows, listen to MP3/Ogg music and many more without the need of hard disk.


GeeXBooX boot Screenshot

Built with embedded system architecture in mind, the GeeXBoX can run on even a lower end machine with a minimum requirements of Pentium-II/Celeron class PC (333MHz) and at least 64MB RAM, no harddisk or network connection required!


GeeXBooX Menu Screenshot

As a bonus, GeeXBoX also supports remote control via LIRC-backend interface, now you can control your media box just like you are controlling your own tv set-tops!


In-play Menu

You can download GeeXBoX ISO from the GeeXBoX Project Website and burn it right into your CD to test it. You might be wondering how large is the ISO will be with those functionality and cute graphics? 400MB? 250MB? 50MB? No, no and no… GeeXBoX is only 6MB in size! Couldn’t believe it? Why dont you download and try GeeXBoX now, you won’t regret it…

References :
GeeXBoX Website

Fedora Core 4 release delayed !

Fedora Core Logo

A dig in Fedora Core developers mailing list revealed that Fedora Core 4 (Stenz) release have been delayed to 13 June 2005.

Fedora Core is Red Hat sponsored community developed GNU/Linux distribution based on the previously free Red Hat Linux distro. You can find more information about this project at Fedora Project website

You can find about Fedora Core 4 release delayed annoucement here.

p/s : I’m not really a fan of Fedora Core/Red Hat distro. But i’m looking forward to test my first Fedora Core release with FC4 (Steinz)

DIY Linux Embedded Devices


TV Set-Top mp3 players

Embedded devices have become a hot topic these days. Day after day we have been surrounded with these devices whether we have notices it or not. For example, how many are you got PS2 or an Xbox in your home? how many of you own Nokia phones with Symbian OS running inside it? or a Motorola phone running Linux as it’s OS?

As the technology advances, more and more of these devices have become accessible in our daily life. And now, with the availability of open source tools and application (as well as the kernel) you can also create your own embedded devices on your own, providing you have the guts and strong interest to do it!

DIY TV Set Top Mp3 Player

You can create Linux-based embeded devices to do anything that you wished for, for example as a tv set-top mp3 player, a game console, internet station, webcam recorder, cctv controller, streaming server etc.

a bike which runs Unix!

Dont throw your old Pentium pc away, turn it into something useful! With Linux you can make many things possible. For example, with a single Pentium P133 pc, you can turn it into an mp3 streaming server, a firewall box, internet router, etc.

There are a lot of website now around the internet that features the usefulness of the Linux and Open source technology in building and embedded system.

Resources :
1. A motocycle which runs FreeBSD
2. Linux Toys website, a good place to start
3. Creating IPCOP firewall/Gateway
4. The Clock Project
5. Embedded Devices which runs Linux
6. Lots of Mini-itx projects
7. Linux-based Webserver and MP3 player on floppy

If you’re a purist, choose UTUTO GNU/Linux !

Which GNU/Linux distribution that gives you absolute 100% free software? Is it Slackware? No. Is it Debian? No. Is it Red Hat’s Fedora Core? Ok you got to be kidding, no! It’s Ututo-e!

The strange sounding name hit me off-guard for a moment. For all these years, i’ve been believing that only Debian offers 100% Free Software in its GNU/Linux distributions. But after doing some reading and research, i found out that although Debian keeps all the non-free software clearly separated, they do distribute it. Thats why Richard M. Stallman now advocates users to use Ututo GNU/Linux, the only distribution which comprise 100% of Free Software. He also dubs Ututo as “the only free distribution”.

Upon entering the Ututo website, you will notice that a lot of the website are in fact in Spanish! This is because Ututo is an Argentinian base and is community developed GNU/Linux distribution, much of it like slackware’s. Ututo primary language is in Spanish while its also offers (rather incomplete) english version of the website at https://e.ututo.org.ar.

The Ututo GNU/Linux seemingly favours the i386 (Intel-based) PC platform. The Download link on the website offers Ututor builds optimized for specified IBM-PC based CPU such as 486, Pentium, 686, Athlon MP, Athlon XP, Semphron, Pentium 3 and Pentium 4. This reminds me of the Gentoo GNU/Linux distribution which also offers their GNU/Linux build optimized for the specific (PC) CPU platform.

The upside of Ututo distributions is, you will have a completely free GNU/Linux operating system comprises of 100% Free Software. You also will have a chance to appreciates every Free Software included in the distributions and its usefulness.

The downside is, being a relatively new distribution the Ututo GNU/Linux offers little support for a newbie users. And most of its help & support forums is in Spanish! Besides the Free Software Foundation endorsement and promotion, I find the Ututo is kinda lacking in the advertisement department.

Lastly, whatever my personal opinion is, the Ututo is regarded as “the only free distribution” by RMS himself and the Free Software Foundation is seemingly endorse it by mirroring Ututo ISO in their servers. Enough said.

I prefer to pronounce it GNU-slash-Linux, or GNU-plus-Linux. The reason is that when you say GNU-Linux it is very much prone to suggest a misleading interpretation. After all, we have GNU Emacs which is the version of Emacs which was developed for GNU. If you say “GNU Linux”, people will think it means a version of Linux that was developed for GNU. Which is not the fact.
– Richard M. Stallman

References :
1. Richard M. Stallman interviews
2. Ututo-e website
3. The Free Software Foundation

DSL – GNU Linux in your wallet !!

Hari nie aku nak share pasal os GNU/Linux yang selama nie duk dlm wallet aku – Damn Small Linux.

Damn Small Linux CD

Damn Small Linux (DSL) adalah distro GNU/Linux yang padat dengan perisian asas untuk pengguna desktop. Saiz DSL yang kecil dengan saiz maksimum 50MiB, membolehkan ia di masukkan kedalam cd bersaiz business card ataupun usb flashdrive.

Proses boot Damn Small Linux

Di bina menggunakan teknologi KNOPPIX LiveCD, untuk menggunakan DSL, anda tidak perlu melalui proses installation seperti mana distro major yang lain. Apa yang perlu dilakukan adalah mengkonfigurasikan pc untuk boot kepada cdrom/usb drive dan boot kedalam cd/pendrive DSL anda.

Proses boot Damn Small Linux

Aplikasi-aplikasi DSL telah dipilih mengikut kriteria kefungsian, saiz dan kelajuannya. Selain itu, DSL juga mengandungi perisian server yang membolehkan pc anda ditransfomasikan kepada SSH/FTP/Telnet dan Pelayan Web dalam masa yang singkat.

Diantara aplikasi-aplikasi yang dimasukkan dalam Damn Small Linux adalah
Xpdf – pembaca fail adobe pdf
Xmms – klon Winamp dalam Linux
Xmms – juga sbg vcd player
Firefox – Browser internet
FLWriter – Wordprocesor
Vncviewer – Remote Desktop
xpaint – paintbrush
naim – irc client
Sylpheed – email client
FTP/SSH/SCP client
SMBClient – akses windows share
Siag – Spreadsheet/Excel
xzgv – img viewer (clone ACDSee)

klik sini untuk senarai lengkap perisian DSL

Proses boot Damn Small Linux

Antara kemudahan lain yang ditawarkan oleh DSL adalah penggunaan control panel “DSLPanel” yang memudahkan pengguna membuat konfigurasi dan pilihan untuk memula/menghentikan dengan sekali click sahaja. Dari sini pengguna dapat mengkonfigurasikan modem, PPPOE (streamyx broadband), wireless, printer, keyboard dan sebagainya.

Penggunaan internet dalam DSL adalah amat mudah sekali kerana DSL secara automatis akan memulakan DHCP client untuk mendapatkan maklumat alamat IP daripada DHCP server bagi membolehkannya disambungkan terus ke rangkaian.

Surfing Internet with Firefox

Bagi yang menggunakan dial-up modem ataupun broadband (streamyx), terdapat pilihan pada “DSLpanel” yang membolehkan anda mengkonfigurasikan modem anda, seperti memasukkan id pengguna, katalaluan, dan nombor yang perlu di dialkan.

Getting Started Screen

DSL menyediakan ruangan bantuan “Getting Started” dimana ia akan dipaparkan di skrin selepas sahaja DSL selesai boot. Panduan yang diberikan adalah mudah difahami dan diikuti oleh kebanyakkan pengguna termasuklah pengguna baru.

DSL tidak memerlukan spesfikasi yang tinggi, dan boleh dilarikan dalam spec serendah mesin 486 dan ruangan ingatan 16MB, ruangan hard disk tidak diperlukan.

Bagi aku, aku sentiasa bawak DSL dimana saja (aku letak dlm wallet sekali dgn bisnis card lain) untuk tujuan kecemasan dan sekuriti…

Kesimpulannya, DSL adalah distro linux yang dihasilkan dari kesinambungan teknologi KNOPPIX. Ia sangat mudah dipakai dan bersaiz kecil, dan mengandungi perisian yang padat dan berguna, ia juga boleh dijadikan pelayan web/ftp/ssh adhoc. Saiznya yang kecil membolehkannya dimuatkan dan dibawa didalam business card cd dan usb flash drive.

p/s : personal experience, penah save file-file penting dari 2 laptop & 1 desktop pc pakai DSL. (real-life experience, not a drill).

Rujukan :
Damnsmalllinux website