Unix News

NetBSD is an extremely flexible operating system that is designed to be portable across various architectures. This feature makes it attractive for embedded developers. In this article, I will demonstrate a process for creating a very small kernel that can boot, either to a shell prompt or to a login screen, more ...

Signals are mechanisms for communicating with and manipulating processes in Linux. The topic of signals is a large one; here we discuss some of the most important signals and techniques that are used for controlling processes. A signal is a special message sent to a process. Signals are asynchronous; when a process receives a signal, it processes the signal immediately, without finishing the current function or even the current line of code.

The main goal of this handbook is to serve as a single access point to all kernel-related documentation. It contains the information about the Debian packaging of Linux kernel for the Etch release of Debian (version 4.0). The latest released version is always available from http://kernel-handbook.alioth.debian.org . The work on a handbook version for Lenny (next Debian release) is currently in progress.

For years I've been using various Linux distributions for my home-based server (Web, FTP, NTP (time), DNS (name), SMB and NFS (file)). I didn't use Solaris because (1) the license ued to cost $595 for commercial use and (2) it was missing many features found in Linux (mainly modern GNU/open source software). Now that OpenSolaris is available, I've decided to convert. more ...

Inotify is a Linux® feature that monitors file system operations, such as read, write, and create. Inotify is reactive, surprisingly simple to use, and far more efficient than, say, busy polling from a cron job. Learn how to integrate inotify into your own applications, and discover a set of command-line tools you can use to further automate system administration.

Many people use nothing but GUI tools for manipulating files, launching programs, and so on. This approach certainly has its merits—GUI tools tend to be easy to learn, and they fit the needs of some tasks, such as graphics programs, very well. There is an older method of interacting with computers, though, which still has advantages: text-based shells. They are programs that accept typed commands and respond to these commands by launching programs or performing actions. more ...

Cloud computing and storage convert physical resources (like processors and storage) into scalable and shareable resources over the Internet (computing and storage "as a service"). Although not a new concept, virtualization makes this much more scalable and efficient through the sharing of physical systems through server virtualization. Cloud computing gives users access to massive computing and storage resources without their having to know where those resources are or how they're configured. As you might expect, Linux® plays a huge role. Discover cloud computing , and learn why there's a penguin behind that silver lining.

As with everything else in Gentoo Linux, the philosophy of the Gentoo Kernel team is to give you, the user, as much freedom of choice as possible. If you take a look at the output of emerge -s sources you see a large variety of kernels to choose from. In this document, I will attempt to give you a brief rundown of the goals of each of the patch sets, which we at Gentoo design, and also explain the other kernel sources we make available to you. more ..

The RoamAnywhere router is customer-premises equipment (CPE) that extends PBX policy and dialing plans across Wi-Fi and cellular networks to smart phones running RoamAnywhere client software. It enables location-based, seamless roaming between both types of wireless networks so that sessions aren’t interrupted when mobile users cross wireless network borders. more ...

If you've worked on IBM® AIX®, another flavor of UNIX®, or Linux®, you've more than likely used the vi editor. Since its conception in 1976, vi has become a staple for anyone wanting to edit files. How could someone make a more powerful editing tool than vi, you may ask? The answer is Vim, and this article provides details on the many enhancements that have made Vim a highly used and acceptable editor in the world of UNIX and Linux.

Areca is a personal file backup software developed in Java. It allows you to select files or directories to backup, filter, encrypt and compress their content, and store them on your backup location. Areca supports incremental backups and generates backup reports, which can be stored on your disk or sent by email. This guide explains how to install and use it on a Fedora 9 desktop (GNOME).

The FreeBSD ports collection is the way almost everyone installs applications ("ports") on FreeBSD. Like everything else about FreeBSD, it is primarily a volunteer effort. It is important to keep this in mind when reading this document. In FreeBSD, anyone may submit a new port, or volunteer to maintain an existing port if it is unmaintained--you do not need any special commit privileges to do so.