As someone who has (poorly) written a cross platform application using Mono I can say that it is definitely easy. As long as you keep portability in mind when programming the cross platform bit should fall into place without any additional work.

The problem that I ran into was the fact that my application stopped working correctly on newer versions of .NET and now only it only runs well on Mono (on Windows and Linux).

The short answer: No.
The project is still in a development stage and isn’t going to replace your exchange box unless you have an emergency situation and need a mail server quick. The software is somewhat buggy and certain things (like a global address book) aren’t implemented yet.

The long answer: Maybe.
The Hula project has the beginnings of everything most small to medium sized businesses need in an email/calendar server. Or at least it has a placemarker for them. Some of the services Hula aims to provide are not done and so you will run into certain instances where functionality you thought was there really isn’t yet.

The server itself is very easy to set up, especially if you are running a variety of Debian with apt-get. The online help on their website is very helpful in getting things setup and you can be sending emails and setting up meetings in no time.

The sections of the administrative page that are complete are easy to use and you shouldn’t have any problem navigating and setting up new users, groups, mailing lists, etc. The help links that show up are very informative and the documentation is well written, but these links do not show up on every page yet.

There is a handy “Tasks” section to the administration page that seems to be the start of a “wizard” type interface that allows you to do things without too much navigation or searching.

The webmail portion that the users might see (if they aren’t using another client) is mostly complete. There are a few rough edges, but most users of any kind of webmail will feel right at home. The calendar works well and the address book works like you would expect. Nothing fancy, like Gmail’s AJAX interface, but it works as well as if not better than the Exchange 2003 web interface.

User Problems (these are for the webmail client, so if you aren’t using it then these will not effect you):

• In the calendar when you click on a day it takes you to that day, but if you then try to add an appointment or event the program always defaults to today’s date. So adding future appointments gets annoying. This is probably just an oversight and I’m sure it will be fixed as soon as someone notices it.
• Currently the tasks show up on the calendar when they were received, instead of when the start or end date is.
• It would be nice to be able to hover your mouse over appointments and events in the calendar and get a full description.
• Instead of having a full month view, it would be nice to have a “last week and three weeks out” view which would always show last week’s schedule and the outlook for the next three weeks. Most calendar programs fail on this aspect, so I can’t claim this as a downside but it would be nice if Hula would put something like this in there. The problem is that when you get to the end of the month you have to switch to the next month to see what you have going on, even if it is just tomorrow.
• The user’s session times out after an insanely small amount of time (like 10 minutes). They then have to log back in again. This can be changed in the admin program, but it looks like you would have to change it on every user as there doesn’t appear to be a global setting.
  v407 Note:There is now a global setting located at Internet Services->Server Messaging Server->Connection Manager->User Module

The administrative page we had a few more problems with. This is where you can really tell that this project isn’t quite finished. We ran into several problems, including sections that just didn’t work and portions that didn’t appear to save when trying to update them.

Admin Problems:

• Clicking on certain links seems to log you out of the system. This doesn’t appear to be a session timeout because you can log right back in and try the link again and it replicates. And, no, I’m not clicking on the logout button.
• Currently in the version we tested there is no working LDAP server, which means no “global address book” unless you use an external LDAP server. Granted, this is probably pretty easy to setup, but it would be nice to have it working out of the box (or .deb as the case may be).
• I could not get the “out of office reply” to work at all. I’m guessing this is because the Proxy Agent isn’t completely functional, which is why this is listed as an Admin problem and not a user problem.
• Help Links are not available on some pages where we could have used them.
• We couldn’t get SpamAssassin to work with Hula, but this was because our tested version wasn’t the latest and greatest.

Overall, for this early of a release, the Hula Project is looking great. We are hoping that the Ubuntu repositories get updated with a newer release soon so we can try it out and see what has been fixed.

Looks like the rumors were true.

Google Talk is now live and you can chat with your gmail loving friends with just about any Jabber supporting client**. They have their own client for windows that also works as a gmail notifier as well.

The service just works based off of your Gmail address, so you don’t need to sign up for another account and anyone else using gmail is essentially a user as well.

Why is this a big deal? Because Google is trying to standardize IM the way that email is standardized. Remember when CompuServe users couldn’t email Prodigy users? That is where we are at today with Instant Messaging, but hopefully with Google throwing its weight behind Jabber we might not be here very long.

If you look on the “About” box available through right-clicking on the system tray icon you will see in very faint lettering the following:

Which is “play 23 21 13 16 21 19 . 7 1 13 5″

Easter egg?

wumpus.game ??

**Other clients supported currently:

• GAIM
• Adium
• iChat
• Psi
• Trillian

CVS Camcorder Roundup

Make Your Own Dakota Digital Camera Cable with a Palm III HotSync cable.

Here’s a HOWTO article on using a Palm III cable for this project, seen here.

Robogumby has posted a A Dummies Guide to the CVS camcorder.

MakeZine has a HOWTO for PCs & Macs from an article on MrBill.net. There are detailed pictures of the project.

Anarchogeek asks about the viability of using Disposable DV Cameras For Indymedia?

eBay kills sales of CVS Camcorders for some reason.

A discussion of Reusing the CVS Disposable Digital Camcorder from John Maushammer at his website. Seen here.

Some coverage at digitalfluff’s CVS/Pure Digital disposable camcorder info page.

The original article on reusing the single-use CVS Camcorder at MakeZine.

How to build a helmet-mounted camera for mountain biking for $35. Seen here.

You’ll need libusb0, a library that allows user programs to access USB devices on Windows, or the robogumby’s quick install.

Required Software

At a minimum, a PC needs to have anti-virus, firewall, and anti-spyware software installed, up-to-date, and running.

Optional Software

Though optional, users can benefit from file shredders, encryption services, password tools, port scanners, and other tools.

Firewall

Within a few minutes of connecting a new PC to the internet, it can come under attack from other computers scanning for unprotected systems to hijack. A firewall will protect PCs from these attacks.

Another problem is software installed on your PC that attempts to connect other computers on the internet for whatever reason. Most of the time this is okay, but once in a while it is not. For instance, it’s okay when an email program such as Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook Express attempts to contact your email provider to download or send email, but it might not be okay when an unknown program suddenly decides to contact an unknown system on the Internet. Could be an undected virus or simply a program you’ve installed that’s trying to send tracking data the software developer (which you might or might not want to happen). Firewalls can block unwanted activity and selectively allow only those connections which you determine are valid.

Zone Alarm is a good firewall with a free version available. Another good firewall is Kerio Personal Firewall, also free.

Anti-virus

If you read email or download anything or even visit certain websites, you run the risk of a virus being transferred to your computer. Some are harmless, but usually they’re malicious in one way or another. Anti-virus software can help protect your computer from “infection” and find and remove already-present viruses. They must be regularly updated, to stay abreast of the latest viruses (new ones appear daily).

While there are large, expensive anti-virus solutions, GriSoft’s free version of AVG Anti-virus software is well-respected and effective. A side benefit is that it isn’t overly burdensome to system performance.

Other anti-virus solutions
avast! — home edition is free with registration.
AntiVir — a free version is available for non-commercial use. Good but no email scanner.

Fighting Spyware

Spyware (or adware, or malware, or various other names for junk installed on your computer with the intention of hijacking your web browser or snooping on you) — it ends up on your computer by visiting websites that force the software to your computer through flaws in Internet Explorer, or if you install software that also installs spyware.

The first step in protecting against spyware is to stop using Internet Explorer and switch to Mozilla Firefox. Next, download, install, and use one or more spyware scanners.

Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware and Spybot Search-and-Destroy are both available in free versions and have long been recognized as the products to use. In fact, it’s often recommended to use both of them. Both are good, but each have their strengths.

A third option is Microsoft’s new AntiSpyware product, which includes resident spyware scanning (a feature unavailable in the free versions of Spybot and Ad-aware). It’s still a beta release, but might be another good option.

Other spyware scanners
HijackThis — popular free spyware scanner.

port scanner – blue’s port scanner, currports

File Shredding

Once a file is deleted, its contents are often still recoverable. The success of recovering deleted data depends on how much use the disk has had since the file was deleted, but also on the motivation and resources of whoever is trying to recover the file.

This is good news in the case of an accidental file deletion by Joe User; if he acts sensibly (doesn’t use the file system in question and uses a file recovery program) he has a good chance of getting his file back. It’s also good news that the proper authorities can recover data from computers siezed from terrorists and criminals.

However, it can be bad news if someone else gets access to a hard drive that once contained your personal information, such as when you donate or sell an old computer. Identity theft is a growing problem that can make your life miserable for years to come. In situations like these, ensuring that your data has been permanently wiped away is critical.

For a Windows example, think of it like this: dragging a file to the “Recycle Bin” is similar to dropping a credit card statement in the waste basket — it can be simply be removed; actually deleting the file is similar to tearing the statement a couple times and dumping it in the trash; permanently shredding the file is like cross-cut shredding then burning the confetti remains of the statement. The process involves repeatedly overwriting your files, directories or folders, or entire hard drives with a pattern of data or simply random bits until recovery is nearly impossible.

Eraser is a popular, free file shredder, now being maintained by Heidi Computers in Ireland. Another free alternative is AnalogX’s SuperShredder. BCWipe by Jetico is another option. It’s free to evaluate, but if you continue to use it, a one-year license costs $39.95 or $19.95 for renewal (price is the same in Euros).

Password Tools

A strong password is typically defined as something that uses a combination of mixed case letters, numbers, and punctuation characters, is rather long, and contains no dictionary or obvious words.

We’re asked to enter passwords for dozens of websites and accounts. For them to be secure they have to be hard to remember. The downside is that they’re hard to remember.

Writing down our passwords isn’t normally a solution, since someone could see them. So a program to manage our passwords is in order. With these programs you enter a password (or use some biometric solution such as a thumbprint) to get access to your plethora of passwords and account information.

PasswordSafe is a free password manager that asks you to enter a main password that decrypts and allows you to see a list of accounts you’ve entered. You can double click the account to have the password copied to the clipboard, or actually display the password if needed. Good idea, good software.

PINs is another free password manager that works in a similar manner.

Another option is to store your passwords in an encrypted file.

Encryption

If you have nothing to hide, why would you want to encrypt your data? Well, for one thing, sending an email is similar to sending a post card; everyone between you and the recipient can read it. Also, keeping a company’s data encrypted unless actually in use helps ensure the security of sensitive business and customer data.

Gnu Privacy Guard is a GPL free replacement for the venerable PGP encryption program. It’s available for many systems and is very capable, but requires some knowledge that the average user won’t have.

AxCrypt is a good, free, encryption program that integrates with the Windows environment in addition to offering commandline encrypt/decrypt commands.

Truecrypt offers encrypted drive support. Once you create the encrypted drive (say, for example, at drive letter X:), you can simply drag and drop your files over to the encrypted volume. Everything stored there is encrypted.

Cryptainer LE allows you to send encrypted emails and create an encrypted disk to store your files. Free.

VMware will also be releasing some sourcecode, albeit only to a select few:

VMware announced that it will provide its partners access to VMware ESX Server source code and interfaces under a new program called VMware Community Source

Replace “it’s partners” with “people with more money than me” to find out exactly who will get to see the source.

The absence of Microsoft among the supporters is disappointing, but not surprising.

No credit card is required for the sign up. All you have to give them is your name, email address and mailing address.

If you create a bandwidth-greedy site you may be charge a tiny little bit more than zero. From the Terms of Service:

12.01 Users are limited to data transfer of 15GB per month. Once the monthly limit is reached for data transfer a cost of .49 cents per GB will be charged.

After the free six months the cost will be about $8 per month and will include a mysql database.

That said, techrageo.us is extremely pleased with the features, services, prices, and support offered by Dreamhost, our hosting company.

Hi, this short tutorial has the aim to be a guide for those who would like to back up a DVD using Linux. At first I will start with a general overview to clarify the situation about DVDs, then I’ll switch to a description of the script I made, along with its usage.

Seen here and here and here.

Another article at DVD ripping and transcoding with Linux “WARNING! This guide is not for the faint hearted.” — from the site.

If you are like me the transition from Linux to Windows can be frustrating. All of the applications that you are used to having are nowhere to be seen. And when you do find a suitable replacement it is always another $49.95. This is a quick reference on where to get the free applications that you are used to and where to pick up free alternatives to applications that have no Windows port. If you have a little budget to throw around then you might also check out our Recommended Software, for when the free software doesn’t cut it.

Part 1

First the applications that have a Windows port. You are probably used to these applications, so I won’t bother with the descriptions:

SVG Drawing — Inkscape
Photo Editing — The Gimp
File Comparison — KDiff
Office Suite — OpenOffice
Browser — Firefox
Email — Thunderbird
C# Compiler — Mono

Part 2

Now, here are some alternatives to applications that you may have been using on Linux that have no direct port:

Code Editor
PSPad
This code editor is actually quite good. It may be missing a few things that editors like Quanta+ have, but it also has a few things that the other guys don’t. This is a good alternative.
Also worth mentioning are Crimson Edit, 1st Page 2000, and the ever faithful VIM / Emacs

C++ Compiler

Borland C++ Compiler
A good little compiler for your C++ projects. Borland requires that you register with them for the download, but it is a free product and doesn’t nag about upgrading. It has a much more narrow purpose than the gargantuan gcc, but if all you need is a solid C++ compiler then it is a great replacement.

SSH Client

Putty
Putty is a great application. It does not have to be installed and it has a very small footprint. This is a great replacement of the plethora of clients available on Linux.

FTP/SFTP Client
FileZilla
FileZilla is a good alternative to gFTP and others on Linux. It is hard to find free clients that will do ftp over SSH, so if this is one of your requirements then FileZilla may be your only choice. Regardless, it is a nice application that does it’s purpose well. This is a good alternative.

Mp3/Ogg player
Winamp
I’ve never been a big fan of WinAmp, but it is the only major media player that treats Ogg files like normal music files. You can get WMP to play them, but it will not treat them like normal music files when you do searches and sorts. Unfortunately, WinAmp doesn’t give you great sorting abilities like you would get from JuK. It is an acceptable alternative….A JuK port would be better.

UnZip Utility — Bigspeed Zipper
Bypass all those shareware products like WinZip that constantly bug you to upgrade to the “professional” version and just go with Bigspeed Zipper. It only comes in one size: Professional. It zips and unzips files like you would expect and adds an option to the right-click context menu that allows you to select and zip a group of files. Great alternative to the standard tools available with most Linux distributions.

PDF Printing — PDF Creator
Coming from Linux you were probably quite used to being able to print from any application to a PDF. By installing this program you will be able to do this in windows. Great alternative, no complaints.

Virtual Desktops — MSVDM
This is quite possibly the worst Virtual Desktop manager I have ever used. Unfortunately it is also the only free one available for Windows.

• It has no method to move windows from one desktop to another so if you open a program on one desktop you literally have to close the application and reopen it on another desktop to move it.
• When switching desktops if you have 2 Internet Explorer windows open on different desktops it will kindly close one of them for you.
• When switching desktops it will kindly remove the toolbars and/or menus from certain applications (including some versions of Word and Excel), so you can no longer have buttons or menus to do silly things like “Save”. Remember that CTRL-S is the shortcut for “Save” so you don’t have to lose your data because of this bug.

This is a horrible replacement for the virtual desktops in Linux, but it will have to do.

Part 3

Things you will miss:

Desktop Publishing
Scribus
The Windows port for this program is still in the works, so you’ll have to do without for awhile. In the meantime you might try RagTime Solo or PagePlus SE

CD Burning — K3B
You will have to go with a commercial application for CD/DVD burning, none of the free applications can hold a penny to the Linux-only K3B. Hopefully your burner came with a version of Nero you can use. If not, you can probably buy a new burner that comes with Nero for less than just buying Nero.

Copy/Paste
Middle Click Paste
Unfortunately, Windows has no way to implement the highlight+middle click to copy and paste that is available in Linux. It takes awhile to get used to but CTRL-C and CTRL-V will work…it is just annoying to have to use the keyboard for something so simple.