Hashem Zahran » Geeks

Cloud Computing: 7 Online Virtual Desktop

Hashem — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 20:56:37 +0000

A web desktop or webtop is a desktop environment embedded in a web browser or similar client application. A webtop integrates web applications, web services, client–server applications, application servers, and applications on the local client into a desktop environment using the desktop metaphor. Web desktops provide an environment similar to that of Windows, Mac, or a graphical user interface on Unix and Linux systems. It is a virtual desktop running in a web browser. In a webtop the applications, data, files, configuration, settings, and access privileges reside remotely over the network. Much of the computing takes place remotely. The browser is primarily used for display and input purposes.

The terms “web desktop” and “webtop” are distinct from web operating system, a network operating system such as TinyOS or distributed operating system such as Inferno. In popular use, web desktops are sometimes referred to incorrectly as web operating systems or simply WebOS.

In the past few days, I’ve tested a bunch of virtual online operating systems and web desktop applications, I’ve gathered the best of them that I’ve personally tested and found interesting to be shared with you, enough talk and let’s get them listed:

1- eyeOS

Available at: eyeos.org
eyeOS is a disruptive desktop entirely usable from a web browser. It includes an office suite and some collaboration applications, as well as a full framework to develop new web apps as if they were desktop apps. It’s Free and Open Source –so you can host your own system, keeping all your data under your control.

2- iCloud

Available at: icloud.com
icloud consists of a desktop with applications and files that you run through your web browser. Because it’s running in the cloud (the internet) it can offer you impressive features such as easy sharing and rich collaboration. The icloud team is 100% committed to providing you with an exciting, reliable, and productive computing experience.

3- iCube

Available at: oos.cc
Get your free Online Operating System account now and experience the next generation of the World Wide Web with your personal online desktop. Gain access to an entire operating system running in your browser.

4- myGoya

Available at: mygoya.de
At home on every computer, Online operating system, No installation required, Accessible anywhere in the world.

5- Spiral Universe

Available at: www.spiraluniverse.com
Spiral is an integrated software suite used by schools to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve their management and administration. The platform is designed to be used by K-12 public, independent, and charter schools, as well as small colleges and universities.

6- Ulteo

Available at: www.ulteo.com
Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop is an installable Open Source virtual desktop and application delivery solution for corporations. It allows IT departments to deliver desktops and applications easily and at a lower cost than other solutions. It works in both a Windows and Linux environment.

7- ZimDesk

Available at: www.zimdesk.com
ZimdeskOS is your computer on the web – the entire functionality of a PC – online. There is nothing to install. A web browser and internet connection are all you need to access your desktop, files and favourite applications. You can access your data anytime from anywhere, from any PC.

What’s Next?

Now it’s your turn to test and share, tell us what you find interested on those application or even share a new one to be added to the this list of best online virtual desktop operating systems.

6 free open-source high-performance HTTP servers

Hashem — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:05:42 +0000

As a web developer, you probably know that you always need to use a testing environment to run your web application or to test a new feature to be added to your current application without messing out with your current on server running application.
Every Geek knows that there is no place like 127.0.0.1 which is your local computer, so get the power of your computer and start your testing environment weather you are a PHP, Java Or even Ruby developer you can use one of the following list of top 6 free localhost web servers I’ve been using in the past few years.

1- XAMPP

Download from: www.apachefriends.org

Many people know from their own experience that it’s not easy to install an Apache web server and it gets harder if you want to add MySQL, PHP and Perl.
XAMPP is an easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP and Perl. XAMPP is really very easy to install and to use – just download, extract and start.

2- Nginx

Download from: www.nginx.org

Nginx is one of a handful of servers written to address the C10K problem. Unlike traditional servers, Nginx doesn’t rely on threads to handle requests. Instead it uses a much more scalable event-driven (asynchronous) architecture. This architecture uses small, but more importantly, predictable amounts of memory under load.
Even if you don’t expect to handle thousands of simultaneous requests, you can still benefit from Nginx’s high-performance and small memory footprint. Nginx scales in all directions: from the smallest VPS all the way up to clusters of servers.

3- Roxen

Download from: www.roxen.com
Roxen WebServer is a full-featured open-source web server distributed under the GPL license. It runs on a number of different operating systems including Windows, Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X.

4- Apache

Download from: www.apache.org
The Apache HTTP Server Project is an effort to develop and maintain an open-source HTTP server for modern operating systems including UNIX and Windows NT. The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services in sync with the current HTTP standards.
Apache httpd has been the most popular web server on the Internet since April 1996, and celebrated its 15th birthday as a project this February. The Apache HTTP Server (“httpd”) is a project of The Apache Software Foundation.

5- Tornado

Download from: www.tornadoweb.org
Tornado is an open source version of the scalable, non-blocking web server and tools that power FriendFeed. The FriendFeed application is written using a web framework that looks a bit like web.py or Google’s webapp, but with additional tools and optimizations to take advantage of the underlying non-blocking infrastructure.

6- Lighttpd

Download from: www.lighttpd.net
Security, speed, compliance, and flexibility — all of these describe lighttpd (pron. lighty) which is rapidly redefining efficiency of a webserver; as it is designed and optimized for high performance environments. With a small memory footprint compared to other web-servers, effective management of the cpu-load, and advanced feature set (FastCGI, SCGI, Auth, Output-Compression, URL-Rewriting and many more) lighttpd is the perfect solution for every server that is suffering load problems. And best of all it’s Open Source licensed under the revised BSD license.

Conclusion

There are more than 100+ webservers applications that you can download and give them a try. but those 6 free open source high-performance http servers are based on my experience in using them. the oldest one i use is the XAMPP and i still use it till now. If you would like to recommend another software please name it on a comment below… Have a great day everybody…

4 free open source NMS

Hashem — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:03:26 +0000

A Network Management System (NMS) is a combination of hardware and software used to monitor and administer a network. NMS systems make use of various protocols for the purpose they serve. For example, SNMP protocol allows them to simply gather the information from the various devices down the network hierarchy. NMS software is responsible for identification of the problem, the exact source of the problem and solving them. The NMS systems not only are responsible for the detection of faults but also for collecting the statistics of the devices over a period of time. They may include a library where the previous network statistical data over a period of time is stored along with the problems and the solutions that worked in the past. This library can come useful in case a fault is found. NMS software can consult the library and search for the best possible method to resolve the problem.

In this post I gathered top 4 Free Open Source Network Management Software that you can use as an IT Administrator in your network, Whether you run small or enterprise network, you will find those tools handy and effective in doing your monitoring work as simple as it could be.

1- SpiceWorks

Available at: www.spiceworks.com
Manage Everything IT…for Free! Spiceworks is the complete network management software, helpdesk, PC inventory tools & IT reporting solution designed to manage everything IT in small & medium businesses.

2- OpenNMS

Available at: www.opennms.org
OpenNMS is the world’s first enterprise grade network management application platform developed under the open source model.

3- OpenQRM

Available at: http://www.openqrm.com
openQRM is the next generation, open-source Data-center management platform. Its fully pluggable architecture focuses on automatic, rapid- and appliance-based deployment, monitoring, high-availability, cloud computing and especially on supporting and conforming multiple virtualization technologies.

4- Hyperic HQ

Available at: www.hyperic.com
Designed to provide all fundamental management and monitoring capabilities for web applications and IT infrastructures.

Synergy+ Share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers

Hashem — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:44:30 +0000

During my search for a software to make me share a single mouse and keyboard across my 4 work stations instead of buying a KVM, I came across with this wonderful open source software which is called “Synergy+ (synergy-plus)”. Synergy+ lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, without special hardware. All you need is a LAN connection. It’s intended for users with multiple computers, where each system uses its own display. It’s a little like having a 2nd or a 3rd desktop.
Synergy+ is free open source software. It’s not a KVM or VNC tool, but it does achieve similar results (but with added convenience). No need to press any buttons when you want to change desktops, and your keyboard input goes to the same screen that your mouse cursor is on.

Interesting features:

Move your mouse easily between computers.
Requires nothing other than existing Ethernet.
Copy and paste between your computers
No need to press any buttons (unlike KVM)
You can still use multiple monitors on the same computer
Lock the mouse to one screen temporarily (useful for games)

Synergy plus is currently available for Windows, Linux, & Mac operating systems at: Synergy+ Project Page hosting on Google Code.

3 free Operating systems for your netbook

Hashem — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:01:59 +0000

Netbooks (sometimes also called mini notebooks or ultraportables) are a branch of subnotebooks, a rapidly evolving category of small, lightweight, and inexpensive laptop computers suited for general computing and accessing Web-based applications; they are often marketed as “companion devices”, i.e., to augment a user’s other computer access.

At their inception in late 2007 — as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features (e.g., the optical drive), featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced specification and computing power. Over the course of their evolution, netbooks have ranged in size from below 5″ screen diagonal to over 10.1″. A typical weight is 1 kg (2-3 pounds). Often significantly less expensive than other laptops, by mid-2009, some wireless data carriers began to offer netbooks to users “free of charge”, with an extended service contract purchase.

In the short period since their appearance, netbooks have grown in size and features, now converging with new smaller, lighter notebooks. By August 2009, when comparing a Dell netbook to a Dell notebook, CNET called netbooks “nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks,” noting, “the specs are so similar that the average shopper would likely be confused as to why one is better than the other,” and “the only conclusion is that there really is no distinction between the devices.” However, in the same month, Walt Mossberg called them a “relatively new category of small, light, minimalist, and cheap laptops.”

I’ve tested few operating systems on my netbook to achieve the max performance for my work, I figured out that there are only 3 free operating systems that can really turn your netbook into something amazing. Those 3 operating systems are:

1- Jolicloud

Jolicloud is not a traditional OS. It was built for netbook users to leverage the Cloud and make their life easier.

2- Ubuntu

Super-fast and great-looking, Ubuntu is a secure, intuitive operating system that powers desktops, servers, netbooks and laptops. Ubuntu is, and always will be, absolutely free.

3- LinuxMint

Linux Mint is a Linux distribution with a very strong emphasis on accessibility and out-of-the-box ease of use for new users.

5 Virtualization Application for development testing

Hashem — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:17:37 +0000

As a developer, and tester at the same time, I need to have multiple operating systems to test my applications or even my design to get a better look of what the user will see. Of course I can not have multiple OS that dual boot on my system cause that would be painful especially when rebooting the main system to log into another one. Therefore I use a virtualization applications to operate multiple operating systems into one screen.

Here at my work we have a license to use VMware Workstation to test our applications, but when um at home, I can not afford the money to buy one, so I searched for open source and freeware that do virtualize different operating systems medium and here is a list of top 5 application you may want to use:

VMware Player

Get your copy at: www.vmware.com
A virtual machine is a computer defined in software. It’s like running a PC on your PC. This free desktop virtualization software application makes it easy to operate any virtual machine created by VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, VMware Server or VMware ESX, as well as Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machines or Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines. VMware Player is the easiest way to run multiple operating systems at the same time on your PC. With its user-friendly interface, VMware Player makes it effortless for anyone to try out Windows 7, Chrome OS or the latest Linux releases, or create isolated virtual machines to safely test new software and surf the Web. VMware Player can also be used to run a virtual copy of an old PC so that you can recycle the old machines you have under your desk or stored in the closet.

VMware Server

Get your copy at: www.vmware.com
VMware Server is a free virtualization product for Windows and Linux servers with enterprise-class support. It enables companies to partition a physical server into multiple virtual machines and to start experiencing the benefits of virtualization. VMware Server is a robust yet easy to use product for users new to server virtualization technology and is based on VMware’s proven technology. Begin enjoying the benefits of server virtualization for free. VMware Server is a hosted virtualization platform that installs like an application on any existing server hardware and partitions a physical server into multiple virtual machines.

Windows Virtual PC

Get your copy at: www.microsoft.com
Virtual PC provides IT Professionals with a cost-effective safety net for certain employees to run critical legacy applications on an interim basis while IT Pros continue their current migration plan to a new OS. Microsoft operating systems and applications running on VPC virtual machines are fully supported in compliance to the MS product lifecycle guidelines. So Windows XP Pro deployments can continue on schedule, even if faced with unanticipated application compatibility issues, allowing Microsoft customers to take advantage of the ROI and productivity gains of more current operating systems. With Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, you can create and run one or more virtual machines, each with its own operating system, on a single computer. This provides you with the flexibility to use different operating systems on one physical computer.

VirtualBox

Get your copy at: www.virtualbox.org
VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software. VirtualBox has an extremely modular design with well-defined internal programming interfaces and a client/server design. This makes it easy to control it from several interfaces at once: for example, you can start a virtual machine in a typical virtual machine GUI and then control that machine from the command line, or possibly remotely. VirtualBox also comes with a full Software Development Kit: even though it is Open Source Software, you don’t have to hack the source to write a new interface for VirtualBox.

Sandboxie

Get your copy at: www.sandboxie.com
Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer. Running your Web browser under the protection of Sandboxie means that all malicious software downloaded by the browser is trapped in the sandbox and can be discarded trivially. Browsing history, cookies, and cached temporary files collected while Web browsing stay in the sandbox and don’t leak into Windows. Viruses and other malicious software that might be hiding in your email can’t break out of the sandbox and can’t infect your real system.

Windows 7 GodMode

Hashem — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:54:26 +0000

Yes you read it right, I know it seems like a joke, but guess what it’s a reality. Windows 7 has a GodMode which enables you to have a place where you can get to all the settings without having to browse around and click through options and folders in control panel.

So, How can I enable this whatsoever called GodMode on my Windows 7?
The answer is really simple, just follow the following instruction and you are ready to go:

Create a new folder in any place you like, i.e. your Desktop.
Name this new folder as: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Now you can see that the folder icon has been changed and you are ready to use the GodMode.
Click on the icon and see all your windows settings under one place.

This GodMode contain almost 45 settings categories with at least 278 item to play within your system. Please note that although this GodMode works on Vista 32 bit and 32 bit Windows Server 2008 it does not work on Vista 64 bit sp2 and 64 bit Windows Server 2008

Resources:

Less Than Dot