List: Linux Compatible USB Wireless Adapter (WUSB)

A regular question from my mailbag:

I am in the process of up grading my computer. Where can I get a list of the WUSB for Linux?

Wireless USB adapters are pretty popular for desktop and laptop usage in home. It is capable of sending 480 Mbit/s at distances up to 3 meters and 110 Mbit/s at up to 10 meters. Newer N series can work at 270Mbit/s at up to 300 meters. However, 50-100 meters are acceptable ranges. Unfortunately, finding Linux compatible USB wireless adapter is a big challenge due to driver issues. Over a past few years, I've used and installed various USB wireless adapters and created my own small HCL for it. In this quick blog post I will list all working USB wireless adapter.

Buffalo's Wireless-N WLI-UC-G300 compact USB 2.0 adapter is fully compatible with Linux. Currently I'm using this device with Ubuntu Linux 10.4 and it works out of box. No driver installation is required. Simply add your wireless WPA2 password and you will be hooked up to wireless network. The driver in latest version of Ubuntu kernel is broken and you need to install the driver from source code. (Driver Link for RT2870)

Asus USB-N13 802.11n/g/b network adapter supports USB 2.0 wireless and speed up to 300Mbps Wireless data rates. I get superb connection speed upto 270Mbps and it was auto detected by Linux. (Driver Link for RT2870)

Belkin F5D8053 version 3 also works with Linux. It supports USB 2.0 wireless and speed up to 300Mbps at up to 300 meters. I've tested this one with Fedora Linux. (Driver Link for RT2870)

AboCom WU-5204 is another compact adapter which is fully compatible with Linux. It complies with IEEE 802.11n draft 3.0 and IEEE 802.11 b/g standards and works with USB 2.0/1.1. interface. This one worked and detected, however after some time it started to drop traffic for multimedia stuff. If possible avoid this one due to poor performance.

The D-Link RangeBooster NUSB Adapter (DWA-140) is a 802.11n compliant wireless client for your Linux desktop or notebook PC. I've tested this one with Fedora and Debian Linux. Like all other adapter it supports WPA and WPA2 security features. (Driver Link for RT2870)

EW-7718Un complies with 802.11n draft 2.0, the next generation wireless standard. With the advanced MIMO technology, it can support the data transmission rate up to 300Mbps. EW-7718Un stable wireless connection and high bandwidth enable you enjoying the network applications without any interruption with Linux based systems. (Driver Link for RT2870 #2 # 2 link)

TEW-664UB is 300Mbps dual band wireless N USB adapter. It is compliant with IEEE 802.11n standard and backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a devices. It supports both WPA and WPA2 security.

The EZ Connect N 150Mbps Wireless USB2.0 Adapter (SMCWUSBS-N3) enables wireless connectivity to your desktop or notebook computer and provides improved throughput and range while maintaining full backwards compatibility with the Wireless-G (802.11g) and Wireless-B (802.11b) standards.

ZyXEL NWD-211AN and NWD-270N both works with Linux operating systems. It complies with 802.11n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11a/b/g. It supports wireless security transmission with WPA/WPA2 and 802.1x.

Sparklan WUBR-501 use USB 2.0 interface and speed up to 300Mbps. It support WPA and WPA2 security.

AWLL6090 Wireless 300N USB Adapter delivers speeds up to 300Mbps. This USB adapter is fully backward compatible with 802.11b/g and RoHS compliant.

ConnectGear WU260N Wireless N USB Adapter 802.11n/g/b supports speed upto 300Mbps with USB 2.0 or 1.1 ports. It's also backward compatible with the existing IEEE802.11g and 802.11b standards for existing wireless networks. Both WPA and WPA2 are supported by this device.

Most of the above devices are automatically installed. If not try updating your kernel version. I hope this post will save some time for readers while purchasing USB wireless adapter for Linux operating systems.

The list is for information and ready references only. Please do your own research before purchasing any device listed here.

The Best Open Source Graphics And Design Software

A few years ago Novell conducted an online public survey to determine which MS-Windows apps need to be ported on Linux desktop. Adobe Photoshop and other graphics application that user want ported to Linux. However, Linux comes with the sheer numbers of open source software projects produced by the community. You may overwhelmed by the choices available under Linux and not know where to begin.
This blog post covers Vector-based editors, Raster-based editors, Photo editing, Specialty, Desktop publishing (DTP), Web design, 3D modeling, Animation Typography and other softwares:

Even when looking at just a subset -- such as graphics applications -- if you are not already familiar with the options, the volume can make it hard to track down the application that fits your needs. The major categories tend to break down the same way, however -- just a few major players; the large projects often catering to slightly different design goals, and a second set of smaller projects each of which has a smaller team and a more narrow focus.

Let's examine each design field in turn. We'll start by describing the leading program or programs in each, followed by the smaller or younger projects, and end with the special-purpose tools.

Top 5 Open Source Linux Server Provisioning Software

Server provisioning is nothing but load the Linux or UNIX like operating systems automatically with actual operating systems, device drivers, data, and make a server ready for network operation without any user input. Typically you select a server from a pool of available servers, load the operating systems (such as RHEL, Fedora, FreeBSD, Debian), and finally customize storage, network (IP, gateway, bounding etc), drivers, applications, users etc. Using the following tools you can perform automated unattended operating system installation, configuration, set virtual machines and much more. These software can be used to install a lot (say thousands) of Linux and UNIX systems at the same time.

From the official Redhat guide:

Many system administrators would prefer to use an automated installation method to install Red Hat / CentOS / Fedora Linux on their machines. To answer this need, Red Hat created the kickstart installation method. Using kickstart, a system administrator can create a single file containing the answers to all the questions that would normally be asked during a typical Red Hat Linux installation. Kickstart provides a way for users to automate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.

Kickstart Configurator allows you to create or modify a kickstart file using a graphical user interface, so that you do not have to remember the correct syntax of the file.

Fig.01: RHEL - Kickstart Configurator

FAI is a non-interactive system to install, customize and manage Linux systems and software configurations on computers as well as virtual machines and chroot environments, from small networks to large-scale infrastructures and clusters. It is a tool for fully automatic installation of Debian and other Linux Distributions such as Suse, Redhat, Solaris via network, custom install cd, or into a chroot environment. Some people also use it to install Windows.

Installs and updates Debian, Ubuntu, SuSe, RHEL, CentOS, Fedora, Mandriva, Solaris, etcCentralized deployment and configuration managementIntegrated disaster recovery systemEasy set up of software RAID and LVMInstalls XEN domains, VirtualBox and VserveEvery stage can be customized via hooksFull remote control via ssh during installation

See the official project website and wiki for more information.

Cobbler is a Linux provisioning server that centralizes and simplifies control of services including DHCP, TFTP, and DNS for the purpose of performing network-based operating systems installs. It can be configured for PXE, reinstallations, and virtualized guests using Xen, KVM or VMware. Again it is mainly used by Redhat and friends, but you can configure a PXE server to boot various non-RPM boot images such as Knoppix and other flavors of Debian such as Ubuntu.

There is also a lightweight built-in configuration management system, as well as support for integrating with configuration management systems like Puppet. Cobbler has a command line interface, a web interface, and also several API access options.

Fig.02: Cobbler WebUI (image credit: Fedora project)

See the official Cobbler project home page and wiki for more information.

From the official website:

Spacewalk is an open source (GPLv2) Linux systems management solution. It is the upstream community project from which the Red Hat Network Satellite product is derived. Spacewalk manages software content updates for Red Hat derived distributions such as Fedora, CentOS, and Scientific Linux, within your firewall. You can stage software content through different environments, managing the deployment of updates to systems and allowing you to view at which update level any given system is at across your deployment. A clean central web interface allows viewing of systems and their software update status, and initiating update actions.

Inventory your systems (hardware and software information)Install and update software on your systemsCollect and distribute your custom software packages into manageable groupsProvision (kickstart) your systemsManage and deploy configuration files to your systemsMonitor your systemsProvision and start/stop/configure virtual guestsDistribute content across multiple geographical sites in an efficient manner. Fig.03: Spacewalk Server Provisioning System

See the official project website for more information.

From the official website:

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. openQRM is a single-management console for the complete IT-infra structure and provides a well defined API which can be used to integrate third-party tools as additional plugins.

Complete separation of "hardware" (physical servers and virtual machines) from "software" (server-images)
Support for different virtualization technologiesFully automatic Nagios configuration (single click) to monitor all systems and servicesHigh-availability : "N to 1" fail-over Integrated storage managementDistribution support - openQRM 4.x comes with a solid support for different linux distribution like Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS and openSuse. A single openQRM server can manage the provisioning of servers from those different linux distributions seamlessly. Fig.04: OpenQRM Dashboard (image credit: OpenQRM project)

See the official project website for more information.

You can build your own server using PXE, TFTP server, and DHCP software. PXE allows you to boot up a system and have it automatically get an IP address via DHCP and start booting a kernel over the network. See the following articles for more information:

There are many proprietary software solutions available to automate the provisioning of servers, services and end-user devices from vendors such as BladeLogic, IBM, or HP. But open source software gives you more freedom to automate the installation of the Linux server. Some of the above software support UNIX and Windows operating systems too.

I'm wondering if you use Server Provisioning Software regularly. Drop your discussion below and share what works for you in the comments.

Top 5 Linux DVD RIP Software

A DVD ripper software allows you to copying the content of a DVD to a hard disk drive. You transfer video on DVDs to different formats, or make a backup of DVD content, and to convert DVD video for playback on media players, streaming, and mobile phone. A few DVD rippers software can copy protected disks so that you can make discs unrestricted and region-free.

Please note that most of the following programs can rip encrypted DVDs, as long as you have libdvdcss2 installed as described here. Please check the copyright laws for your country regarding the backup of any copyright-protected DVDs and other media.

AcidRip is an automated front end for MPlayer/Mencoder (ripping and encoding DVD tool using mplayer and mencoder) written in Perl, using Gtk2::Perl for a graphical interface. Makes encoding a DVD just one button click! You can install it as follows under Debian / Ubuntu Linux:
$ sudo apt-get install acidrip

Fig.01: Linux Ripping And Encoding DVD's With AcidRip Software

On the Preview tab you can choose to watch a bit of a preview of the resulting movie:
Fig.02: Preview your DVD rip

And when you are ready, click the Start button to rip DVDs.

=> Download acidrip

dvd::rip is a full featured DVD copy program written in Perl i.e. fron end for transcode and ffmpeg. It provides an easy to use but feature-rich Gtk+ GUI to control almost all aspects of the ripping and transcoding process. It uses the widely known video processing swissknife transcode and many other Open Source tools. dvd::rip itself is licensed under GPL / Perl Artistic License. You can install dvd::rip as follows under Debian / Ubuntu Linux:
$ sudo apt-get install dvdrip

Fig.03: dvd::rip in action

You need to configure dvd::rip before you actually start a project. See the documentation for more information.

=> Download dvd::rip

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows. It can rip from any DVD or Bluray-like source such as VIDEO_TS folder, DVD image, real DVD or bluray (unencrypted -- removal of copy protection is not supported), and some .VOB, .TS and M2TS files. You can install HandBrake under Debian or Ubuntu Linux as follows:
$ sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

Fig.04: HandBrake in action

=> Download HandBrake

K9copy is a KDE DVD Backup tool. It allows the copy of a DVD9 to a DVD5. It is also known as a Linux DVD shrink. It supports the following features:

The video stream is compressed to make the video fiton a 4.7GB recordable DVDDVD BurningCreation of ISO imagesChoosing which audio and subtitle tracks are copied.Title preview (video only)The ability to preserve the original menus.

To install k9copy, enter:
$ sudo apt-get install k9copy

Fig.05: k9copy - Linux dvd shrink in action

=> Download k9copy

thoggen is a DVD backup utility ('DVD ripper') for Linux, based on GStreamer and Gtk+ toolkit. Thoggen is designed to be easy and straight-forward to use. It attempts to hide the complexity many other transcoding tools expose and tries to offer sensible defaults that work okay for most people most of the time. It support the following features:

Easy to use, with a nice graphical user interface (GUI).Supports title preview, picture cropping, and picture resizing.Language Selection for audio track (no subtitle support yet though).Encodes into Ogg/Theora video.Can encode from local directory with video DVD files.Based on the GStreamer multimedia framework, which makes it fairly easy to add additional encoding formats/codecs in future.

You can install thoggen as follows:
$ sudo apt-get install thoggen

Fig.06: Thoggen in action

=> Download thoggen

=> You need to install various libraries to use the above mentioned tools such as (yum or apt-get commands will install them automatically for you):

libdvdcss2 - Simple foundation for reading DVDs - runtime libraries.libdvdnav4 - DVD navigation library.libdvdread4 - library for reading DVDs.

=> mencoder - Personally, I use mencoder to rip my DVDs into .avi files as follows:

mencoder dvd://2 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate="1200" -vf scale -zoom -xy 640 -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=128 -o /nas/videos/my-movies/example/track2.avi

Please note that AcidRip, is a graphical frontend for mencoder.

=> VLC - Yes, VLC can rip DVDs too.

=> Transcode is a suite of command line utilities for transcoding video and audio codecs, and for converting between different container formats. Transcode can decode and encode many audio and video formats. Both K9Copy and dvd::rip are a graphical frontend for transcode.

=> Wine - It is an open source software for running Windows applications on other operating systems. You can use popular MS-Windows application such as DVDFab to rip encrypted DVD's and DVD Shrink to shrink them to smaller size. I do not *recommend* and encourage this option as it goes against the FOSS philosophy. The following screenshot based on trial version of DVDFab:

Fig.07: Running DVDFab under Wine v1.2.2

Have a favorite Linux DVD ripper software or ripping tip? Let's hear about it in the comments below.

Ubuntu Linux: Install RT2870 Chipset Based USB Wireless Adapter

This blog post listed Linux Compatible USB wireless adapters. It seems that many new Linux users frequently have problems learning how to install RT2870 driver under Linux. I also received email requesting installation instructions for the same device. This quick tutorial will explains how to install RT2870 based chipset device with WPA2 authentication and TKIP wireless encryption.

The following instructions are tested on:

Ubuntu Linux 10.04.1 LTSKernel - Linux 2.6.32-24-generic-pae i686 (32 bit)WPA2 with Linksys 160N router

The main problem is conflicting driver which are shipped with default kernel. WPA2 is a method of security wireless networking with optional PSK for home users. The default driver only recognizes driver but always failed to join WPA2 based network. The solution is to install RT2870 driver from the vendor site.

Type the following command to black list default drivers:
$ sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Append the following driver names:

blacklist rt2800usbblacklist rt2x00libblacklist rt2x00usb

Save and close the file. Use the rmmod command to remove current drivers or just reboot the system:
$ sudo modprobe -r driverName
# you need to remove all of the above drivers one by one:
$ sudo modprobe -r rt2800usb
OR simply reboot the systems:
$ sudo reboot

Type the following command to install required packages so that you can compile source code:
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential fakeroot dpkg-dev
Finally, install Linux kernel headers so that you can compile kernel device drivers:
$ sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Visit this page and download USB drivers [RT2870USB(RT2870/RT2770)].

Type the following command:
$ tar -jxvf 2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1.tar.bz2
$ cd 2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1

First, edit config.mk file as follows so that Network Manager can be used to set WPA2 auth info:
$ vi os/linux/config.mk
Set it as follows:

# Support Wpa_SupplicantHAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y# Support Native WpaSupplicant for Network MangerHAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=y

Save and close the file. To compile the driver, enter:
$ make
Sample outputs:

make -C toolsmake[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/tools'gcc -g bin2h.c -o bin2hmake[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/tools'/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/tools/bin2hcp -f os/linux/Makefile.6 /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/Makefilemake -C /lib/modules/2.6.32-24-generic-pae/build SUBDIRS=/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux modulesmake[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic-pae' CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/crypt_md5.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/crypt_sha2.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/crypt_hmac.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/crypt_aes.o......... CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/rtusb_io.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/rtusb_bulk.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/rtusb_data.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/cmm_data_usb.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/ee_prom.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/rtmp_mcu.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../common/rtusb_dev_id.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../os/linux/rt_usb.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../os/linux/rt_usb_util.o CC [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/../../os/linux/usb_main_dev.o LD [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/rt2870sta.o Building modules, stage 2. MODPOST 1 modules CC /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/rt2870sta.mod.o LD [M] /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux/rt2870sta.komake[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32-24-generic-pae'

Note: You may see a LOTs of warnings during the compilation, and this is *normal* so don't panic.

Type the following command:
$ sudo make install
Sample outputs:

make -C /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux -f Makefile.6 installmake[1]: Entering directory `/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux'rm -rf /etc/Wireless/RT2870STAmkdir /etc/Wireless/RT2870STAcp /tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/RT2870STA.dat /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/.install -d /lib/modules/2.6.32-24-generic-pae/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/install -m 644 -c rt2870sta.ko /lib/modules/2.6.32-24-generic-pae/kernel/drivers/net/wireless//sbin/depmod -a 2.6.32-24-generic-paemake[1]: Leaving directory `/tmp/2010_0709_RT2870_Linux_STA_v2.4.0.1/os/linux'

Again visit this page and download "Firmware RT28XX/RT30XX USB series (RT2870/RT2770/RT3572/RT3070)". Unzip and install the firemware:
$ unzip RT2870_Firmware_V22.zip
$ cd RT2870_Firmware_V22/
#### Make a backup of existing old firmware ####
$ mkdir -p $HOME/backup/lib/firmware
$ cp /lib/firmware/rt2870.bin $HOME/backup/lib/firmware
#### Install the firmware (for 64 bit Linux systems, you may have to use /lib64/firmware) #####
$ sudo cp rt2870.bin /lib/firmware/
##### **** backup and move existing driver, do NOT SKIP this STEP ****######
$ sudo mv /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2870sta.ko $HOME/backup/

Type the following commands:
$ mkdir -p $HOME/backup/var/lib/usbutils
$ cp /var/lib/usbutils/usb.ids $HOME/backup/var/lib/usbutils
$ sudo wget -O /var/lib/usbutils/usb.ids http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

Connect your USB device and type the following command to verify that Wireless USB LAN adapter is detected:
$ lsusb
Sample outputs:

Bus 002 Device 007: ID 0411:00e8 MelCo., Inc. Buffalo WLI-UC-G300N Wireless LAN AdapterBus 002 Device 006: ID 05ac:0220 Apple, Inc. Aluminum Keyboard (ANSI)Bus 002 Device 005: ID 05ac:1006 Apple, Inc. Hub in Aluminum KeyboardBus 002 Device 004: ID 413c:2513 Dell Computer Corp.Bus 002 Device 003: ID 413c:2513 Dell Computer Corp.Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching HubBus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hubBus 001 Device 007: ID 413c:8160 Dell Computer Corp.Bus 001 Device 006: ID 413c:8162 Dell Computer Corp.Bus 001 Device 005: ID 413c:8161 Dell Computer Corp.Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:4500 Broadcom Corp. BCM2046B1 USB 2.0 Hub (part of BCM2046 Bluetooth)Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0a5c:5800 Broadcom Corp. BCM5880 Secure Applications ProcessorBus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching HubBus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

You need to edit /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/RT2870STA.dat file, enter:
$ sudo vi /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/RT2870STA.dat
Set SSID (nixcraft is my SSID):

SSID=nixcraft

Set country (IN = INDIA, US = USA, etc):

CountryCode=IN

Set authentication information (do not skip this if you want WPA2 based authentication):

AuthMode=WPA2EncrypType=TKIPWPAPSK=YOUR-PASSWORD-HERE

See README_STA for other detailed information about each field. Save and close the file.

Type the ifconfig command and you should see ra0:
$ ifconfig ra0

ra0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1d:73:bc:e4:6e inet6 addr: fe80::21d:73ff:febc:e46e/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:5157 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:206 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:1093810 (1.0 MB) TX bytes:16772 (16.7 KB)

You can now connect to the Internet by clicking on Network manager ( The network-manager is the one which is found in the systray. The icon of two computers, one below to the other on the left-side). Clicking on NM-applet will give you the types of connection/hardware you have available > Select Wireless Device > Select nixcraft SSID (or scan of SSID) > Make sure you set "WPA2" as wireless security. Once connected you can browse the Internet or verify IP info:
$ ifconfig ra0
Sample outputs:

ra0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1d:73:bc:e4:6e inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 inet6 addr: fe80::21d:73ff:febc:e46e/64 Scope:Link UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:6711 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:271 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:1420879 (1.4 MB) TX bytes:22312 (22.3 KB)

Verify gateway or just ping to public ip:
$ route -n
$ ping google.com
$ ping cyberciti.biz

You need to reinstall the driver using the above steps.

Open Source Photography Software

I recently brought Canon EOS 500D mid-range DSLR cameras with good promotional discounts. My photography interests date back to my school days but I did not take photography seriously until recently. Now, I'm researching for quality open source photo-software which may be available to photographers. This blog post gives a quick and dirty view of the different photo applications available for Linux operating systems:

Photography on the free software desktop has come a long way in recent years. All of the major desktop environments support camera import and provide image management and editing applications, including the all-important raw file conversion. But the desktop defaults are really geared towards casual users, optimized for point-and-shoot cameras and sharing photos online. Don’t be fooled by that, though; open source can and does offer the tools to support professional photographers and high-end enthusiasts.

Rather than drop in a long, bulleted list of applications, though, let’s take a look at what the open source alternatives are, task-by-task, to get a better feel for how the pieces fit together into a normal photographic workflow.

Read more: Photography with Open Source / Linux

Qt Application Development for Symbian

A full native application development environment for Symbian smart phones with Qt

In 2007, Nokia introduced standard C libraries for the Symbian OS. At that time, we wrote an article for Dr. Dobb's by the name of "Open C: Paving the Way for Porting." Standard C infrastructure libraries can be found on all major operating systems today. With standard C libraries also in Symbian OS, application development became significantly easier, as did porting existing applications across different operating systems.

This time, we extend from the cross-platform standard C libraries to a full native application development for Symbian with Qt. Qt is a cross-platform native development framework for all major operating systems, including Linux, Windows, Mac, Symbian, and Maemo. This article explores developing applications with Qt for Symbian OS and deploying them on Nokia Ovi Store.

Qt supports Symbian-based S60 3.1, 3.2, 5.0 and the latest Symbian^3 devices. Today, Symbian holds the position of world's largest smart phone platform. We'll focus on writing applications with Qt, and deploying them on Ovi Store. Please note that most of the steps presented here are valid for other operating systems as well, but we'll focus on the Symbian environment.

[Click image to view at full size] Qt SDK

Getting Started

First, let's take a look at the components available for developers with Qt and Qt Mobility APIs. Then we'll delve into the Qt SDK, its IDE, Qt Creator, and the simulator. This will be followed by running an example on the simulator and the actual hardware. Once our application is done, we will demonstrate how to get it signed and deploy it on the Ovi store. Qt SDK

Qt SDK is an all-in-one installation package that has environments for desktop, Symbian, and Maemo/MeeGo development. The SDK incorporates the latest version of the Qt framework and the IDE, Qt Creator. It is designed to provide all the resources you need to create great apps easily for both desktop platforms and mobile devices. To further support mobile development, the Qt SDK contains mobility extensions called Qt Mobility APIs, support for on-device debugging, and Qt Simulator to enable quick mobile development on desktops.

The cross platform library Qt APIs are:

QtCore: Core non graphical classes used by other modulesQtGui: Graphical user interface (GUI) componentsQtMultimedia: Classes for low level multimedia functionalityQtNetwork: Classes for network programmingQtOpenGL: OpenGL support classesQtOpenVG: OpenVG support classesQtScript: Classes for evaluating Qt ScriptsQtScriptTools: Additional Qt Script componentsQtSql: Classes for database integration using SQLQtSvg: Classes for displaying the contents of Scalable Vector Graphics filesQtWebKit: Classes for displaying and editing Web contentQtXml: Classes for handling XMLQtXmlPatterns: An XQuery & XPath engine for XML and custom data modelsQtDeclarative: An engine for declaratively building fluid user interfaces, also known as Qt Quick/QMLPhonon: Multimedia framework classesQt3Support: Qt 3 compatibility classes (these are legacy support classes which are not supported in MeeGo and Symbian).

The Qt Mobility APIs are:

Bearer Management API: An API to control the system's internet connectivity state. Camera API: Provides a framework to use Camera device features when supported by the platform.Contacts API: An API enabling clients to request contact data from local or remote back ends. Document Gallery API: Enables applications to search, filter and manipulate the meta data of files in local file system.Feedback API: Allows applications to produce tactile feedback.Landmarks API: As part of the Location API, it allows applications to create, retrieve, update and delete landmarks.Location API : The Location API provides a library for distributing and receiving location data using arbitrary data sources. Maps/Navigation API: Provides an API to access maps, landmarks and route information for navigation.Messaging API: The Messaging API enables access to messaging services.Multimedia API: Provides a set of APIs to play and record media, and manage a collection of media content.Organizer API: Provides an interface to create, update, delete and share various organizer items such as events and to-do itemsPublish and Subscribe API: The Publish and Subscribe API, containing Value Space, enables applications to read item values, navigate through and subscribe to change notifications. Service Framework API: A set of Qt APIs to that allows clients to discover and instantiate arbitrary services. Sensors API: The Sensors API provides access to sensors.System Information: A set of APIs to discover system related information and capabilities. Versit API: An API to manage Versit documents such as vCards.

Data-Centric Architecture: A Model for the Era of Big Data

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As businesses struggle to handle large volumes of data rapidly, technologies used in industry and by the masters of the universe on Wall Street are suddenly becoming fashionable...again

Wired and wireless communication networks are making data collection and transmission cheap and widespread. In the future, networks will weave many devices and subsystems into complex integrated distributed systems that will become the fabric of business and daily life.

Building such distributed systems is far from simple, however. They must be assembled from independently developed software components. Integration, especially combined with real-time performance demands, becomes the key challenge.

This article outlines fundamental design principles that enable integrating distributed systems from components. I use a data-centric approach to this design, as the data is the key element that must flow through the various systems.

The key to data-centric design is to separate data from behavior. The data and data-transfer contracts then become the primary organizing constructs. With carefully controlled data relationships and timing, the system can then be built from independent components with loosely coupled behaviors. Data changes drive the interactions between components, not vice versa as in traditional or object-oriented design.

The resulting loosely coupled software components with data-centric interfaces are then integrated into a working system through a data bus. The data bus connects data producers to consumers and enforces the associated Quality of Service (QoS) contracts on the data transfers. This design technique is naturally supported by the Data Distribution Service (DDS) specification for real-time systems, which is a standard from the Object Management Group. Implementations of this standard are available from many vendors.

The techniques described here are proven in hundreds of mission-critical applications including robotics, unmanned vehicles, medical devices, transportation, combat systems, finance and simulation. A Future Distributed System

To understand the dynamic nature of next-generation distributed systems, it is helpful to examine a representative scenario: an air traffic control system. The future air traffic control integrates a variety of disparate systems into a seamless whole — a system of systems. On the edge is a real-time avionics system inside the aircraft. The control tower in the center of the figure communicates with the avionics system, and then out to the enterprise data servers at the airport. The system thus comprises connectivity from the "edge" (devices) to the "enterprise" (infrastructure services).

The data in the avionics system flows at high rates and is time-critical. Violating timing constraints could result in the failure of the aircraft or jeopardize safety. Although aircraft traditionally operate as independent units, future aircraft must integrate closely with automated traffic control and ground systems.

The control tower is another independent real-time system; it monitors various aircraft in the region, coordinates their traffic flow and generates alarms to highlight unusual conditions. The data flowing in this system is time-sensitive for proper local and wide-area system operation. However, the system may have a greater tolerance for delays than the avionics systems.

The control tower communicates with the airport's enterprise information systems, which track flight status and other data and may communicate with multiple control towers and other enterprise information systems. It is also responsible for synthesizing a dashboard view containing passenger, flight arrival and departure status information. Because it is not in the time-critical path, the enterprise information system can be more tolerant of delays than other systems.Key Design Challenges

This so-called "system-of-systems" must deal with a many issues, such as correctly handling myriad differences in data exchange, performance, and real-time requirements. The architecture also involves different technology stacks, design models, and component lifecycles.

To support system growth and evolution, the integration must be robust enough to handle changes on either side of an interface. To do this, only minimal assumptions should be made about the interfaces between systems—the interface specifications should describe only the invariants in the interaction. Behavior can then be implemented independently by each system; the interface between them should not include any component-specific state or behavior. This avoids tight coupling.

The systems on either side of an interface may differ in quantitative aspects of their behavior, including differences in variations in data volumes, rates, and real-time constraints and so on. The term "impedance mismatch" is shorthand for all the non-functional differences in the information exchange between two systems. Critically, a developer can capture these non-functional aspects of the information exchange by attaching QoS attributes to the data transfer. When QoS terms are explicit, responses to impedance mismatches can be automated, monitored, and governed.

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This month, in this special April issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal, we examine the state of the agile movement, explore the Qt development framework, look back at AntiPatterns, and much more!

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Agile on a Global Scale

Educational experiment tries to determine whether agile practices can work for globally distributed teams

Distributed operations have become a reality for multinational businesses, including software development outfits — companies have to leverage talent wherever it resides, even if teams are located across several countries or continents. As such, many organizations have embraced agile development techniques in order to respond to both business demands and the changing workforce landscape. So how do vastly distributed agile teams actually work?

IBM recently joined with a team of academic researchers from the United States, India, and Senegal who put a truly distributed agile development team to the test. Using a collaborative lifecycle management (CLM) tool platform, the researchers challenged five masters-level students in computer science to work together using the agile methodology to create a mobile phone application that can be used as a first-grade-level teaching aide in underdeveloped countries throughout Africa. The Project

In order to implement this progressive nine-week project, the researchers and project team had to determine whether agile development practices could really work across continents. The student team was generally familiar with agile principles as applied in more traditional settings, where team members are co-located in a single building or campus. The team followed the Scrum project management framework, using IBM Rational Team Concert to support the software development process.

The project was created to challenge students from New York, Delhi, and Dakar to develop a single piece of software together — a mobile application dedicated to helping children learn reading, writing, mathematics, and geography through quizzes. According to IBM Rational's Gina Poole, the emphasis was on providing students with a real experience using agile methodologies with Scrum, supported by an end-to-end tooling solution. Additionally, students had the opportunity to gain skills in mobile application development with Java ME, including high-level interface design, the design patterns common in mobile application development, and best practices in usability.

The project was managed by Christelle Scharff of the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University in New York; Olly Gotel an independent researcher also in New York; and Vidya Kulkarni of the Computer Science Department at the University of Delhi in India. It involved five graduate students enrolled in a Master of Computer Science degree program at their respective universities — one in the U.S. (Pace University), two in India (University of Delhi), and two in Senegal (Ecole Superieure Polytechnique). The project was not integrated into a course; students volunteered to participate in this project on the top of their other school commitments.

The team of five students developed a mobile phone application called "Target First Grade" that permits pupils in the first grade (5-6 years old) to practice mathematics, reading, writing, and geography, supervised by teachers or on their own. The application requirements were for use in developing countries, where classes of 60 to 80 pupils are common, and teachers cannot provide individual attention to their pupils.

Target First Grade was designed to be used in English- and French-speaking countries and to work on a wide range of basic mobile phones. It was to deliver exercises in the form of open-ended and multiple-choice questions, and to automatically compute scores. What Was Learned?

The project provided a wealth of data on distributed agile teamwork, including finding out, first hand, unforeseen problem areas. For example:Estimates did not improve over the Sprints due to the unrealistic implicit goals of the students (absences were not factored into the planning of Sprints, nor were holidays and exams, and team member absences were not automatically populated in the tool)While three of the students had the chance to experience the Scrum Master role and daily scrums helped detect issues like Internet availability, Scrums were not done regularly, which reduced visibility for the Process Coach and the whole team, and inconsistencies in the chronology led to confusionNo time was used for deciding how to work more smoothly together and integrate work, and the time difference between the three countries was problematicCurrent builds were not visible for demonstration and testing, and the student developers tested their own work but did not test each other's work after the first SprintThe developers did not work as one team, but as three smaller separate teams.

According to the researchers, "Agile methodologies and Scrum increased the transparency of both the process and the software product in development, which is crucial when developers are distributed. Their practices and principles require developers to be disciplined and regular in their work linked with engineering, communication, and project management. In students' global software development projects, instructor coaches will need to factor in time to check that developers/students are doing the tasks linked with process and management (e.g., estimations, decomposition of tasks, and standardization of code). Students need practice to get to that level of discipline."

Enstella Exchange EDB Recovery Software

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Colibri 1.1.1

About Colibri
A screen color picker for displaying the RGB color value of pixels.

What’s New in this Version
- CPU usage and memory optimization. (maximum top noted with strong repaints e.g a video playing: 9.2% of CPU usage versus Apple DigitalColor Meter: 44.8% and sometimes more)
- Added activate/deactivate mouse moved event listener when the application is hidden (was really bad in term of CPU) or the window is miniaturized
- Removed discard mouse moved event when the window is miniaturized
- Added User Preferences option: Hexadecimal string prefixed by a hash sign when copying or saving a color.

Company:CucurbitaVersion:1.1.1Post Date:June 14, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:292KURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:25039Download 292K Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

BitNami Drupal Stack 6.19-0

About BitNami Drupal Stack
An open source installer for Drupal and all of its dependencies, including Apache, MySQL and PHP. Drupal is a popular content management platform that allows an individual or community of users to easily publish, manage, and organize a wide variety of content on a website. In general, Drupal is used for community web portals, discussion sites, corporate web sites, intranet applications, personal web sites or blogs, aficionado sites, e-commerce applications, resource directories, and social networking sites. Drupal is easy to extend by plugging in one or more of the dozens of freely available modules

What’s New in this Version
- Update Drupal to 6.19

Mac OS X 10.4 or later150MB hard drive spaceCompany:BitRockVersion:6.19-0Post Date:September 3, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:56MBURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:17856Download 56MB Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

BitNami Joomla! Stack 1.5.22-0

About BitNami Joomla! Stack
An open source installer that eases the task of getting the Joomla! Content Management System up and running. It includes Apache, MySQL, PHP and all required libraries for Joomla! to run. Joomla! creates multiple format sites from simple websites to complex corporate applications and allows users to manage each aspect of their website through a simple, browser-based interface. Once Joomla! is up and running, users with basic word processing skills can add or edit content, update images, and to manage the critical data. Joomla! also allows developers to create and include add-ons to further customize their site.

What’s New in this Version
- Update Joomla to 1.5.22
- Update Apache to 2.2.17

Mac OS X 10.4 or later150 MB hard disk spaceCompany:BitRockVersion:1.5.22-0Post Date:November 17, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:62MBURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:17691Download 62MB Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

BitNami MAPPStack 1.2-3

About BitNami MAPPStack
Allows users to have a complete PHP web development environment up and running in just minutes. BitNami MAPPStack is licensed under the terms of the Apache License 2.0, and is free for download and use. It allows users to take advantage of the stability, low cost and high performance of the Apache, PostgreSQL, and PHP web development platform, without the hassle of integrating, configuring, and supporting their own build. BitNami MAPPStack provides an integrated package that can be used by both commercial and open source projects for rapid, consistent deployments in both development and production environments.

What’s New in this Version
- Update PostgreSQL to 9.0.0
- Fixed libxsl library
- Update Apache to 2.2.16
- Added Amazon AWS SDK for PHP 1.0.0

Company:BitRockVersion:1.2-3Post Date:October 25, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:42MBURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:26358Download 42MB Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

BitNami SugarCRM Stack 6.0.3-0

About BitNami SugarCRM Stack
An easy to use installer for SugarCRM, which is a flexible customer relationship management solution for companies of all sizes. SugarCRM can easily be customized and integrated with other software to allow companies to build and maintain a more flexible system. Core functionality includes sales force automation, marketing campaigns, support cases, project management and calendaring.

What’s New in this Version
- Update SugarCRM to 6.0.3
- Update Apache to 2.2.17

Mac OS X 10.4 or later150MB hard disk space Company:BitRockVersion:6.0.3-0Post Date:November 10, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:67MBURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:21544Download 67MB Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

NeoOffice 3.1.2

About NeoOffice
A full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs) for Mac OS X. We have created an office suite that is adapted to the unique needs of Mac users by taking the features in Oracle’s OpenOffice.org office suite and adding improvements such as:

- Extremely stable Mac OS X code that has been in daily use by hundreds of thousands of NeoOffice users since 2003
- Significant speed improvements to the OpenOffice.org code
- Special services for our donors

What’s New in this Version
- Temporary files are encrypted when FileVault is enabled
- Fix for bugs that cause embedded images to be lost after saving Writer or Impress documents

Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later512MB of RAM400MB hard disk spaceCompany:NeoOffice.orgVersion:3.1.2Post Date:September 9, 2010License:FreewareFile Size:152MBURL Type:DownloadDownload ID:4438Download 152MB Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

PostgreSQL 9.0

About PostgreSQL
One of the leading Open Source database engines available today. With features more competitive to the top tier commercial vendors than other Open Source alternatives, the platform offers a wide range of features and abilities. Adding to that value is a more Mac friendly packaging that eschews the need to be a developer or experienced Unix system administrator to set up.

Run the installer, start and stop the server from System Preferences and use graphical tools to create users, databases and run queries. For automation purposes, there are Automator actions included in the package, along with JDBC libraries, and a ready to use framework that enables Cocoa developers to quickly access and consume PostgreSQL data.

Apple is providing links to these applications as a courtesy, and makes no representations regarding the applications or any information related thereto. Any questions, complaints or claims regarding the applications must be directed to the appropriate software vendor.

New Enterprise Release Packed with Features You Don’t Want to Miss!

Our recent release of Magento Enterprise 1.10, Magento Professional 1.10 and Community edition 1.5 introduced some great new features. Here, we provide a closer look at some of these new features and enhancements including:

Major enhancements to the call center functionalitySupport for newly hosted and secure payment methods with PayPal and Authorize.NetEnhancements to Authorize.Net payment functionalityGift Options

Order Management - Major enhancements to call center functionality and order status

New functionality introduced in the call center module provides transparent control for administrators and frontend enhancements for customers during the shopping process. Changing product configurations, for all types of products, can be done by the call center sale representative on the admin side as well as by the customer throughout the shopping process. Custom product choices and configurations can be changed directly during order creation, in the wish list and the shopping cart. Composite products can be moved from the wish list to the shopping cart and vice versa preserving the specific product configuration. Even once the customized product has been stored customers and administrators can make edits/changes directly from the wish list or shopping cart without having to go back through the shopping process.

In addition, we have expanded the administrator capabilities so that order statuses and states can be created or customized. In the order processing workflow the order state is the high-level status of an order. Magento provides a list of predefined order states such as New, Pending Payment, Processing, Cancelled and Complete. An order status is assigned in a stage of the order processing workflow - as a sub-category of the order state. Magento also provides predefined order statuses including: Cancelled, Complete, Decline, Suspected Fraud, Waiting and Pending. Administrators can now manage and customize the available status of orders within each order state according to their unique business flows.

Payment Methods - Support for hosted and secure payment methods with PayPal and Authorize.Net

PayPal and Authorize.Net have introduced new payment gateways to allow merchants to quickly get their business online with customizable and secure payment methods. PayPal offers Payflow Link for US and Canada and Website Payments Pro Hosted Solution for Europe, Asia and the Pacific region. The Authorize.Net hosted payment gateway solution is Direct Post and employs digital fingerprints and multiple layers of authentication to enhance security.

Both solutions work generally the same - customers shop on the merchant's site and then complete the transaction process securely on merchant customized pages on the PayPal or Authorize.net website or from an integrated iFrame page. The customer is returned to the merchant's store at the end of the transaction. Throughout the checkout process, the consumer always feels as if he is on the merchant's site

Both PayPal and Authorize.net utilize 128-bit SSL encryption for secure processing of payments, which allows merchants to deploy their checkout process without the need of a dedicated SSL certificate or secure communication. Magento is pre-integrated with these payment gateways and merchants can configure their API credentials to interact with them using the previously acquired credentials and keys from PayPal and Authorize.Net. All orders can be managed from the Magento admin panel as well as tracked in their respective merchant account. Both systems enable merchants to customize the payment form and/or receipt page. And both support most major credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid and gift cards. The figure below (from Authorize.net) illustrates the hosted checkout process. It is important to note, that these solutions do not eliminate or replace the need for an SSL certificate. Merchants should always have an SSL setup for overall management of their site, for example, managing access rights for administrators and protecting consumer profile data such as name and addresses. In addition, at this point the solutions do not support partial authorization or multi-shipping checkout.

For more information on these hosted payment solutions please see the PayPal and Authorize.net websites.

PayPal Payflow

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_payflow-link-overview-outside

PayPal Payments Pro Hosted Solution

http://www.paypal-marketing.com.hk/en/business/website-payment-pro.php

Authorize.net

http://developer.authorize.net/api/dpm/

Enhancements to Authorize.Net payment functionality

With Enterprise 1.10 we introduced three different features related to compliance with Authorize.Net payment functionality of debit, pre-paid and gift cards. The new functionality includes balance response transactions, partial authorization and authorization reversal.

Balance response. Merchants are now required to print prepaid card balances on the customer receipt or display it on a Web page. With this new functionality, the card balance information is available to the customer and administrator, during order confirmation on the invoice, shipping and credit memos.

Partial authorization. This feature allows the consumer to make a payment using up to five debit, pre-paid or gift cards within one order. If the transaction did not complete, applicable funds are released back to the customer immediately. Within one order ID, the customer and administrator can view multiple transaction authorizations. The inclusion of this feature is configurable by admin. Flexibility to use multiple cards for payment extends to any order no matter where in the merchant's workflow the order is placed and processed (ex. orders placed from the call center).

Authorization reversal. This feature allows the release of funds put on hold for unsettled orders. This feature is useful when a customer decides to cancel an order and contacts the administrator. In this case, the administrator will be able to release the amounts on hold without the required waiting period. (This feature is not available for American Express cards.)

Gift Options

Customers and merchants can use gift options to apply dedicated messages and gift wrapping to their orders. Configuring gift options can be applied at the system level as well as product level for all product types. Administrators have the freedom to add multiple gift wrapping designs and charge customers based on their selection. Applicable taxes for gift wrapping options can be configured as well. During checkout, customers may apply gift options, such as wrapping and greeting messages, for the entire order or for individual items. Gift wrapping information is incorporated in orders, invoices, shipments and credit memos.

Site Management - Support for Content Delivery Network and Database

In Enterprise 1.10 we introduced support for alternative media storage other than the file system web server. We now support the ability to store media files in a database on a database server or in a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This alleviates the need for additional synchronization in the case where multiple Magento instances of the system are deployed on different servers that require access to the same images, CSS files, compiled JavaScript files or any other media. In the case of databases, automatic synchronization takes place between the web server file system and the database and vice versa. All the new configuration, synchronization and rewrite operations can be easily managed through the system configuration and general tabs at the admin panel.

Site Management - Enhancement to Import and Export Functionality

We considerably enhanced the import and export functionality. Customer and product data can be imported and exported to/from .csv files quickly and easily through the system admin panel with complete control over appending, replacing and deleting complex data features using attribute filters. The system validates the imported file and reports on issues with invalid entries. Administrators can append or update product and customer info and synchronize front end store data with backend databases. With this enhanced functionality, products can be imported at a rate of 70 products/sec for simple products and 40 products/sec for a mixed product catalog.

(Product bundles, gift card and downloadable products are not supported with this import/export functionality.)

Community 1.5

Additional information and complete feature lists and changes for community edition 1.5 can be found in the release notes

3 Major Magento Milestones – All Great Things Come in Three

Today marks a major milestone for Magento – the three year anniversary of launching Magento 1.0. We are both thrilled and humbled by the enormous positive response we’ve received to Magento over the last three years. Our success comes directly from you, our customers, partners, community and the entire Magento ecosystem.

Developers from 100+ countries around the globe have collectively downloaded Magento Community Edition 3 million times. More than 5,000 people download Magento every single day!

The Magento Community has leveraged the openness, flexibility and extensibility of Magento to create more than 3,800 custom extensions. 50 new extensions are added every week. Magento Extensions connect Magento to ERP systems and payment gateways and convert Magento into digital malls and group purchasing platforms.

and can’t wait to see what the next three years will bring. We look forward to sharing many more amazing milestones with you.

From all of us at Magento, we offer a very special thank you to all the merchants, developers, partners and community members who have brought Magento to where it is today. Magento is all about you. Your success. Your growth. Your inspiration. Your passion!

Magento Preview Version CE 1.5.1.0-rc1 - Now Available!

We are happy to announce the availability of Magento Preview Version CE 1.5.1.0-rc1 for download and upgrade.
This release is a Release Candidate preview version. It is NOT recommended to be used in any production environment (for more information about preview releases and the new community edition release process can be found in this blog post). The release is available on our download page, via SVN or for upgrade through the Magento Connect Manager.

As this is a Release Candidate we highly encourage extension developers to update their extensions to be compatible with this release.

To see a full list of features and fixed issues please visit our release notes page. Diff files are available here.

Please report all issues with this release in the bug tracker.

Magento Go is Here! A Powerful SaaS Service for Small & Emerging Merchants

Last month at our inaugural Imagine eCommerce Conference, we announced Magento Go, our new turnkey hosted service for small and emerging merchants. Today, we are excited to tell you that Magento Go is here.

Magento Go is revolutionizing eCommerce by providing a powerful eCommerce platform for quickly designing and launching an online store. It’s a fully-hosted, fully-supported PCI compliant eCommerce service you can leverage, without having to worry about complex hardware or software.

Magento Go opens the door to small and emerging merchants who want to begin selling online or migrate from legacy platforms.

It’s available in four monthly plans to fit the specific needs of your online business. You can also sign up for a free, fully-functional 30-day trial so you can discover for yourself the power and simplicity of Magento Go.

New Platforms and Features Added to Magento Mobile

iPad and Android Join the Magento Mobile Family

Magento Mobile native application support for Android and iPad are now available. With support for mobile web and native applications, merchants are positioned to take advantage of mobile growth from either channel with an intuitive user experience that dynamically adjusts the look and feel according to the specific device capabilities. Many merchants continue to extend their brand into Mobile, engaging with customers in new ways and learning even more about their customers purchase habits.

This latest release of Magento Mobile is packed with some great features and integration with other technologies. The latest releases of Enterprise, Professional and Community have the mobile administrator pre-integrated making it simple to manage the mobile application without the need for a separate extension.

Push Notification Service with Urban Airship

The Magento Mobile iPhone offering is pre-integrated with push notification service from Urban Airship. This product enables merchants to increase the engagement level they have with their customers by providing them with timely product updates, sales promotions and other targeted marketing. Once a merchant signs up for the Urban Airship service, Magento provides the tools necessary to create and distribute messages using the service.

Magento Payment Bridge Supported on Magento Mobile

Magento Mobile is integrated with the Magento Payment Bridge to manage transactions with your payment gateway and simplify PCI compliance.

Mobile Marketing Goes Social

Magento Mobile supports sharing product information with all common social media including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Consumers using a Magento Mobile store application can share information about their favorite online stores with friends using their social networks.

Zooming In with Magento Mobile

Image zooming capabilities are now even better with Magento Mobile. The server side supports bigger images and provides dynamic image resizing according to the device resolution. Clients can further zoom in on product details and get the information they need to make a decision.

www.magentocommerce.com/products/mobile