Free and Open Source blogger with an attitude
Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) is just around the corner at the time of writing. Show your anticipation, spread the word by putting these excellent countdown graphics on your website.
Available from: The Ubuntu Countdown
Secure HTTP (SSL/TLS) has become a must if you are planning to setup a website which includes user authentication (ie. login box) or sensitive data. HTTPS prevents the sensitive data from being transfered across the network in clear text where it is susceptible to being sniffed or altered. Here is the tutorial on how to setup a secure HTTP on Apache web server in Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx).
What do you need?
Step 1: Create a self-signed certificate
You need to create a self-signed certificate with openssl. To do that you will need to generate the server key.
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server-sec.key 4096
…and certificate signing request (CSR)
openssl req -new -key server-sec.key -out server.csr
After that, generate the server certificate by signing it with the server key.
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server-sec.key -out server.crt
Keep the server-sec.key in a secure location, with read/write permission assigned only to root. Then generate a password-less copy of the key for Apache use.
openssl rsa -in server-sec.key -out server.key
By this time, you should have :
Continue reading “How to setup Secure Webserver HTTPS (SSL) on Apache in Ubuntu”
A few years ago, I wrote about Linux Mint as an unofficial Ubuntu distribution that is preinstalled with proprietary codecs and plugins then I write a follow up article when the project has evolved into providing a user-friendly Linux distribution, with additional application but is still based on Ubuntu.
But now, the Linux Mint teams has taken another step forward by introducing Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE), which is based on Debian GNU/Linux distribution (Debian-Testing or Debian Squeeze). LMDE features a new installer which was developed from scratch with Debian in mind, bleeding-edge application from the Debian-testing repos and the same proprietary software addons from Linux Mint own repositories.
LMDE is however is not compatible with Ubuntu repositories as there are differences between the binary and the configuration files. Those who are seeking for full compatibility with Ubuntu, should download Linux Mint standard edition instead. Another caveat is, LMDE currently is only available on 32 bit X86 platform and GNOME, with no immediate plan to release 64bit edition or with KDE environment, due to complications with the process of making Debian much more ‘friendlier’ to keep up with Linux Mint standards.
LMDE can be downloaded from its official website : http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php, it comes with a DVD ISO image (875 MB)
In a welcoming step, Broadcom finally released the the source code of its wifi (802.11n) Linux drivers under open source license. The source code can be found on the Linux staging-next tree at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/staging-next-2.6.git in the in the drivers/staging/brcm80211 directory. The open source drivers will support current chips (BCM4313,BCM43224, BCM43225) and it also acts as a framework to support future chips by Broadcom.
This can be considered as a significant move made by the company, as Broadcom chips are widely in use on laptops and netbooks in the market. Its competitor, Atheros, has already open sourced its drivers back in 2008, which in turn, made Atheros drivers much better supported on various operating system platform compared to Broadcom.
Previously, Linux users with Broadcom chip, have to rely on NDISwrapper utilities to enable the wifi functionality on their laptops.
Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) BETA has been published a few days ago and quite a few brave souls has already upgraded to it. The Beta release gives general idea of what final release will look like when it is due in October 2010. Among of the noticeable features in Meerkat are:
Other Bugs and Issues
Read the full post here : http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/maverick/beta
p/s: As with all other BETA release, it is only recommended for power users and those who are helping Ubuntu community to iron out bugs by filing bug-reports before final-release. It is certainly not recommended for production users, especially to newbies who just want to try out Ubuntu.
A comic strip from Mostly Harmful got me thinking, how many are you so-called Linux fanboys actually use GNU/Linux operating system? Do you own a Windows box? or even Apple Mac OS X? How many are you, Linux advocates use GNU/Linux in your daily lives? Claiming that Linux is great and hating every other operating systems, while still (in secret) using them by choice?
Thanks APz for the comic strip