The Open Source Advocate

Introduction It has been over a year since I last posted about an exciting open source project called ZipTie . We use ZipTie to automatically discover our network devices, backup their configurations, and perform a variety of functions related to these devices. Many things have changed with ZipTie since my last post and I want to share those with you. I'll start with the positive changes first, because I am a positive type of person. New Features The most obvious improvement is the slick web interface that replaces the previous Java fat client. This interface is powered by Adobe Flex , so it has a great look and feel to it. Having a web interface also simplifies deploying ZipTie, because you don't have to worry about installing a Java application and all the required dependencies. Check out the screenshots : ZipTie has also added a great community resource called ZipForge , which is a place where anyone can publish custom tools that perform specific functions on network...

Introduction If you have followed this blog for a while, you will know about my passion for open source software. I have always predicted that open source software would revolutionize the software industry, but I didn't quite understand how this would happen. My initial views expected that open source would disrupt traditional software companies so much that it would eventually put them out of business. I am now realizing that the future of open source software looks much different than I first expected. Proprietary software will be quietly built on open source software One of the primary benefits of open source software is that it reduces the cost to produce software. Gartner agrees with this point; open source software is the most efficient method to create software. Traditional proprietary software vendors are realizing this fact , and are beginning to quietly build their closed software products using lots of open source software. I say "quietly" because these...

I blogged about open source web conferencing software a while back, but I wanted to share this significant update of the DimDim project. They have justed released version 4.0 of their software which adds significant functionality and makes DimDim a serious competitor to proprietary web conferencing solutions like Webex and GoToMeeting . Because there are so many new features, I am only going to list my favorite ones below. For a full-list of features, go visit the DimDim website. Recording and Archiving Any Dimdim session can be recorded and made available with the click of the mouse. Simply press the record button. You can email the recording URL or grab an embed code and paste it on your blog or website. You can even upload your recording to YouTube or Blip.tv. Mac Screensharing Mac users can share their desktop with other Mac (and even Windows) users - even if they aren’t using Dimdim. With Mac live screencasting you can share your desktop with anyone (it’s like iChat withi...

Today I needed to reset a password on an Ubuntu system. While doing this, I was reminded of just how simple it is to get root access on a default install of Ubuntu. I wanted to share these steps on this blog to remind people that if someone has physical access to your Ubuntu system, they can get root access in just a few seconds. Boot up your computer When asked, hit "Escape" to enter the GRUB menu Select the option that displays "recovery mode" Select the option labeled "root prompt" You are now logged in as root with the ability to change anything It is really just that simple. This root console is great for advanced users who need to reset a password, but the average user will have no idea what to do. For instance, here is how I found the main user of this system: root@laptop:~# cat /etc/passwd | grep 1000:1000 tristan:x:1000:1000:Tristan Rhodes,,,:/home/tristan:/bin/bash This output shows that there is a user named "tristan" who is the ma...

For the past three versions of Ubuntu, I have tested seven news websites to find out if I could watch their video feeds using Ubuntu. You can read the results for 6.10 and 7.04 , and 7.10 . Each time, I was disappointed to learn that a majority of the video feeds did not play correctly on Ubuntu Linux. This time, however, something amazing has happened. I don't know which stars aligned to cause this, but every single news website that I tested with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS now has a correctly working video feed! I wasn't expecting this great of an improvement when I began this series of tests. I always knew that it would happen eventually, but never this quickly. So what is the reason for this change? The video news sites have obviously realized the value of having a cross-platform video player. Market share gains by Linux are still small, so it is more likely the growth of Mac OS that led to this change of thinking. Be sure to thank your local Mac OS user for their help in fo...

For those of you who don't know, Vyatta is an open source network appliance that functions as a router, firewall, and VPN device, all running on a customized version of Debian Linux . I have been following the progress of Vyatta for over a year now, and things are looking very promising. The latest release is called VC4 (Vyatta Community edition) and it includes a bunch of useful new features: New command shell allows you to modify Linux settings and network settings from one common interface Redesign of routing protocol offers greatly improved stability and performance Role-based user access Equal-cost multi-path routing Remote access VPN Support for IP tunneling protocols PPPoE support, commonly used with DSL connections WAN load balancing of outbound traffic across two or more WAN-facing interfaces Quality of Service policies provide congestion management and traffic conditioning As you can see, a lot of exciting changes have been made in the short six months since the previ...

Yesterday we held a release party in Salt Lake City, Utah to celebrate the release of several open source operating systems. The original announcement only mentioned Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and Fedora 9 , but we realized during the party that OpenBSD 4.3 was released on May 1st. We were all happy to celebrate the goodness of open source, without arguing over which distro was better. The Fedora guys showed us some cool improvements, and the Ubuntu guys also demonstrated some neat improvements. The great thing about open source is that all of these improvements will be shared by both distributions in a future release. I want to say thank you to our excellent sponsors who made this party a success. First, the amazing location was provided by the web-development company Code Greene . Second, the delicious Chipotle burritos were donated by the Utah Open Source Foundation , ran by Clint Savage . Lastly, thanks to the Fedora project who contributed funds, and Ubuntu/Canonical who contributed...