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What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system, like Microsoft Windows, MacOS, or Unix. It was created as a hobby by Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki in Finland. What most people don’t know about Linux is that its source code is available to anyone. The Linux source code is called the kernel and it is the base of the Linux operating system. Because the source code or kernel is free, it has enabled hundreds of companies and individuals to release their own operating systems based on the Linux system. These operating systems or formats are often referred to as Linux distributions.

Each distribution has its own set of features and functionality that makes it unique. While Linux is generally considered free-ware and people associate that with no cost, that is not always the case. Some distributions are available for download for free and others are available on CD or floppy disk and have a small charge associated with them. You can find a list of distributions at http://www.linux.org/ and a list of applications at http://www.Linux.org/apps/

Because if the adaptability of Linux it has been embraced and supported by a number of operating systems and software programs. For example, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other giants of the computing world have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development and openoffice.org and Mozilla run on Linux. US retailing giant Wal-Mart began selling Linux systems back in 2002 – if Wal-Mart isn’t mainstream, nothing is.

What are the benefits of Linux?

Many people fear that Linux is going to be difficult to work with or that it will be difficult to find software that will run on Linux however Linux is a very standard operating system, compatible with just about any software you need.

Beyond being a standard operating system, Linux supports open source software which makes it a very economical operating system, especially if you program your own software. It offers many free or low cost applications which include, basic desktop applications like web browsers, email programs, word processing programs, spreadsheets, graphics programs, and file managers.

Linux can easily operate as a central server for your business. With Linux, you can serve your own web pages up for public consumption and handle your own email.

Linux doesn’t require top of the line hardware though many recommend you have at least 256 MB of RAM and at least 4 GB of space in your hard drive.

Linux is considered to be extremely stable and doesn’t need to be rebooted periodically to maintain performance levels. Think about the last time you sat at your computer and it froze. Not fun, right? That doesn’t happen with Linux if it is configured correctly.

Linux isn’t going to be replaced anytime soon and when bugs are found in the system, a developer are quickly on the job and often times a solution is offered within a matter of hours, not months or years like many other operating systems.

Linux is also fast and can handle a number of tasks at the same time.

Linux also claims to be one of the most secure operating systems isn’t plagued with the viruses that other operating systems generally deal with.

Linux is free from having to upgrade it or deal with proprietary file formats and licensing fees. You don’t have to register it due to its open source format.

You can have both Linux and windows on your computer. (You’ll have to partition them on your hard drive and you can only boot them one at a time.)

Drawbacks of Linux

There is no 1800 customer service number to call. However, most distributions offer a support number or email to call if you find a bug. They also generally come with installation instructions.

You cannot run applications for MS windows on Linux. However, there are Linux emulators or applications that enable you to run some windows applications on your Linux system. They operate like a translator. Some of these ‘translation or emulator’ products are free and others are available for a price.

Linux is not able to run some advanced financial applications or reproduce some proprietary multimedia formats.

Tips and Advice:

Choose a popular distribution has a large developer community. A large developer community means that you’ll find the programs that you need easily and you will be able to install them with the same ease. The more well-known distributions have prepared programs in ‘packages’ that are easy to install. On top of this, there are tools designed especially for a particular distribution to manage these packages to make sure that programs run correctly right away. The website Distrowatch.com maintains a comprehensive list of the most popular distributions.

Get the latest version of your chosen distribution. The newer the Linux distribution version, the better the hardware support. The number of glitches you’ll get in the installation process decreases with the newness of the version of Linux you choose.

Consider paying for your Linux distribution. It is true that you can get a full-featured Linux operating system free of charge by downloading it from any number of sources. This is an excellent alternative to an operating system like Windows, which either comes pre-loaded with a newly purchased computer (which gets figured into the cost), is bought separately or copied ‘illegally’. In most people’s experience, the popular Linux distributions are easy to install. However, if you do run into some glitch (normally hardware related), you may have a frustrating experience. Although there are a number of excellent Linux support forums out there, personalized advice on your particular problem may be hard to find.

Use an appropriate computer. if you want to use Linux to do the same things that you would with Windows XP or Mac OS X, then you’ll need the newest computer you can get your hands on. Avoiding ‘elite’ video cards and new, exotic hardware will also work in your favor because you won’t have to deal with hardware support which may be inferior to hardware support from other operating systems.

Bottom Line:

Linux is a fantastic and powerful operating system that can handle most or all of your operating needs. It is secure, fast, reliable, and generally extremely cost effective. When purchased or obtained through a reliable distributor and installed and configured correctly there are virtually no drawbacks to running Linux. Additionally, you don’t have to give up your windows if you don’t want to.

MemberSpeed Content Management software can run on any Linux Any Linux based Hosting Platform (Preferably RHEL 3 or above).

The use of robots around the home to mow lawns, vacuum floors and manage other chores has surged up as more consumers prefer smart machines to handle their day to day activities without a need to attend to those machines.

A report, issued by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics at the end of 2003, said that out of total domestic robot sales 570,000 were robot lawnmowers and Sales of vacuum cleaning robots reached 37,000.

Fully automatic lawn mowers are designed to mow your lawn all by themselves. The Basic L200 Auto Lawn Mow model can mow an area of up to one third of an acre of lawn and then return home to recharge at the base station – all without human intervention and Auto Lawn Mow Evolution L200 model can handle over one acre of grass! Clean, effective and fully automatic, you can sit back and relax while the robot does all the work.

Robot Lawn mowers are environmentally Friendly- With global warming now being a major concern you can have peace of mind with these mowers. All Auto Lawn Mow models run on rechargeable Lithium ion batteries; and do not use petrol or burn oil like conventional lawn mowers.

Our Robot lawn mowers work very quietly, so you can program them to work in night while you sleep.

AutoLawnMow’s Robot Lawn Mowers are specially designed to cope with rainy weather. Rain Sensors in these robot lawn mowers alerts the robot to return to its docking station or stay in it’s docking station while it’s raining but on the other hand if you are using a simple electric lawn mower without a rain sensor, either you have to run yourself in rain to get your mower in shed or it will be useless.

Bump sensors in our robotic lawnmower protects the lawn mower from running over items that may be lying in the yard, hence increasing its life and efficiency.

Robot lawn mowers are a boon for People with allergy problems. Robot lawn mowers cut your grass while you sitting faraway, reading your favorite novel, and providing you with allergy relief.

Knowledge is power, but information is both a boon and a bother; that is, access to information is a powerful business tool; collecting and protecting that information is another matter. Security, storage, backups… the services of a colocation company simplify the whole process on many different levels, freeing you to focus on running your business.

To truly understand the benefits of a colocation service, it’s important to have a solid idea of what a colocation service is. Essentially, it’s a collective for computers where data can be stored and access to technicians can be shared; the network, servers and backup gear needed to power and protect your business are all there. Economies of scale allow these services to provide benefits to their clients that would be unattainable on their own, and we list some of these things below.

Cost Savings. Housing servers and hiring technical expertise is expensive. Priced out individually, the services of the technicians and the extra space needed to store data equipment are typically higher for an individual company than they are if the services are obtained through a colocation service. Because the colocation services have already agreed to terms and either purchased or leased a building, and hired their own technicians, the charges are spread out amongst individual companies and thus are much lower than any individual company would pay.

Improved access. Colocation services contract with high-end providers for Internet access at the fastest speeds available, and back up their systems with 24-hour monitoring to provide nearly 100% uptime. When it comes to accessing your websites or your databases, whether by your staff or your customers, the services of a colocation provider will give you reliable data access.

Security. In addition to in essence the pooling of resources across a wide spectrum of companies, colocation services also allow small businesses some peace of mind by providing security services for their critical data. Human security is one aspect, but clients of these facilities can also rest assured that their data is also safely stored and routinely backed up.

Colocation services are a good option for any business with mission critical data, including a website, as theses services allow customers to take advantage of aspects of data management that would simply not be feasible on a small scale.