Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
WinConnect is a software solution that enables Linux-based PCs, terminals and Internet appliances, to connect to a Windows Server to run Windows applications over a network or via the Internet. WinConnect will even run on old 486 PCs and PDAs which normally do not have the sufficient processing power. The low bandwidth required by WinConnect will even allow a connection over a dial-up or wireless connection to access data and run Windows applications wherever the user needs it.
The launch of WinConnect is yet another testimony of Thin Computing?s total commitment to be continuously in the forefront of developing innovative thin computing solutions that effectively reduce the total cost of owning and maintaining computer systems.
Applications using WinConnect are extensive; especially where Total Cost of Ownership is of primary concern and remote access is required. WinConnect provides a bridge for users of Linux based operating systems who require access to Windows application software.
The main advantages in the adoption of WinConnect are:
WinConnect is ideal to the following user segments and markets:
Brad Justice, VP of Technology, said, ?The launch of WinConnect allows us to penetrate into both the Windows and Linux users’ base. Users can now enjoy the best of both worlds; the reliability and low cost of Linux, yet able to continue the use of Windows applications. Together with BeTwin, which was launched in May of this year, we offer a comprehensive suite of thin computing solutions to both the Windows and Linux worlds.”
WinConnect can be downloaded for a limited free trial or purchased online through our website at http://www.thincomputinginc.com.
About Thin Computing Inc
Thin Computing has developed a premium suite of cost effective thin computing solutions that significantly reduce the Total Cost of Ownership. Thin Computing’s corporate office is located in Emeryville California where software development and support is maintained. These solutions marketed under the brand names “BeTwin” and “WinConnect” address the pervasive computing needs of individuals and organisations in the characteristically dynamic computing and communications environment. Thin Computing Inc is a fully owned subsidiary of IPC Corporation Ltd, a public listed company on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
WinConnect is the latest addition to its premium suite of thin computing solution offerings.
For more information, please contact:
Mr Paul Meriwether
U.S. Sales Manager
Thin Computing Inc.
4770 San Pablo Ave, Unit A
Emeryville, CA 94608
Tel: 510-450-0865 Fax: 510-450-0173
Email: pmeriwether@thincomputinginc.com
Author: JT Smith
Exhibitors
MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) developer Arcade-in-a-Box will be
exhibiting their all-in-one solution for creating a home arcade experience.
Video Hardware will be exhibiting and demoing Newtek’s Video Toaster[2] and
the latest Lightwave.
Extreme Corporation will be showing Amiga Extreme – their new AmigaOS XL
Amiga solution.
Ideas2Reality will be showing the Reality Station and their line of Amiga,
PPC and x86 solutions.
FWD Computing will have their line of CDROMS for Amiga, Linux and Windows
or sale at the show.
Speakers
We’ll have speakers showing MAME products, video editing solutions, Amiga
advancements, classic computer and game celebrities and much more.
Banquet
We plan to host a celebrity panel at our banquet discussing the future of
computing across many platforms. Be served wonderful food in a festive
atmosphere amongst your fellow enthusiasts and hear about what’s to come!
Free Exhibit Space
There is also a limited amount of space available, at no charge, to anyone
interested in exhibiting their MAME or arcade game cabinets at the show.
People interested in exhibiting classic computers and console game machines
are also invited to take advantage of this free display space. You must
contact us immediately if you’d like to participate.
Visit our web site (www.amigaexpo.com) and order your tickets online or by
phone or mail. You best hurry as advance purchase discounts will be ending
soon, the discount rooms at the hotel are filling up and the banquet has
LIMITED seating that is selling out fast!
Kermit Woodall
www.amigaexpo.com
Author: JT Smith
The content is also available from a mirror in the USA at www.free-
soft.org. (Editor’s note: Link not working at the time this is posted.)
This magazine is supported by the FSF and is dedicated specifically to
free software. Its includes technical
articles, news and essays about free software projects and of general
interests to
the community.”
Author: JT Smith
Author: JT Smith
Have you been looking for a secure place to talk? A place where you can
be sure that the message you send to a person really goes to that person,
no one else is able to see the message, and no one is able to alter the
message? More and more people answer yes to the question, but where to
find such a place? The answer comes in the form of new generation chat
protocol called Secure Internet Live Conferencing, or just SILC (casually
pronounced as silk).
Security is the key
Security has been the primary design goal in the development of the
SILC protocol. It is a known fact that chat protocols have been insecure
and vulnerable to many security problems. In the contemporary
network environment, which is both demanding and full of potential
security risks, developing a secure chat protocol is important. In the SILC
protocol, all messages are always encrypted and authenticated, either using
session keys, channel keys, or other private message keys. In fact,
sending unencrypted messages and packets is impossible in the SILC network.
This is the problem of many other chat protocols that provide message
encryption. These protocols are not secure by default, but attempt to
provide the security by applying external security protocols, such as PGP
or SSL on top of the insecure chat protocol. While PGP and SSL have proved
to be secure, the result is often something other than the authors expected.
These protocols often encrypt only the data of the message, and leave
out message authentication, packet authentication, key management and
other security issues. They also often secure only part of the network,
namely the part where the security protocol, such as SSL, is used, leaving
rest of the network open.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
SILC chat protocol provides all the features that are so familiar to all
of us who have been chatting for quite some time. It provides nicknames,
channels, private messages, user retrieval, and all the tools that every
chatter needs to reach the ultimate chatting experience. For those who
have been using IRC, chances are they feel at home with SILC, because most
of the commands that are found in IRC are also found in SILC, and the
general appearance resembles IRC. The protocol, however, is not based on
IRC and does not support it.
But there are new features, too. In addition to providing all the old
features now as secure ones, there are many new commands that control
various security features of a SILC client. Channel messages are always
encrypted, and so are private messages. It is possible to encrypt any
message end to end, so that only the sender and the receiver is able to
encrypt and decrypt messages. All channels have their own channel key
and only the users on the channel are able to encrypt and decrypt messages
for that channel. Many times, servers create default keys, so that the
network always remains encrypted even if other secret keys are not used or
negotiated by an end user. Users can negotiate secret keys with other
users, and use the negotiated key material to secure, for example, private
messages, or perhaps a file transfer stream.
Yes, a chat protocol is not a chat protocol nowadays without a file
transfer support. SILC use the SFTP protocol by default to do its
file transfers. The file transfer stream is always sent peer to peer
between users, and it is encrypted using negotiated secret keys. The
support for file transfer is actually developed so that any file transfer
protocol can be used with SILC. The SFTP is the default protocol but
others could be used, too.
Keys, keys and keys
It might seem that managing all these keys that do
this and that is hard. Managing the keys is extremely important, but the
user interface plays an important role in the ease of use. Negotiating the
keys for file transfer, for example, can be transparent and can be done
automatically when the file transfer request is sent. During the
negotiation, the user may be prompted to accept the remote user’s public
key before continuing. Verifying the public keys before accepting them is,
of course, important, the same with the server public key when the user connects
for the very first time to the server. The SILC Protocol has its own
SILC public key, but it also supports SSH2 public keys, OpenPGP
certificates and X.509 certificates.
“Give me my nickname back!”
This is something we have all heard of once or twice on IRC. The fact
that there can be only one nickname of a kind in IRC makes it hard to
find the nickname you really like without stepping into someone’s territory.
And, this usually leads into nickname wars. The DALnet IRC network and some others
solve the problem by providing nickname registering services, so that
you can register the nickname you want and no one else can have it.
SILC takes an entirely different approach to the problem. And it is simple;
nicknames are not unique. Just like there are many people in the world
with same name, there can be many people with same nickname in the SILC
network. Why would you want to enforce that there cannot be same
nicknames in the chat network when there are bound to be people with same
name chatting in the same network? In the SILC network, it is possible to have
multiple copies of the same nickname, and it is always guaranteed that you will get the
nickname you want. This renders nickname wars obsolete, and nickname
registering services as well.
New users in the SILC network will face this issue when they give WHOIS
command to a nickname and the WHOIS returns multiple same nicknames.
A user can be identified as different from other users by his real name,
username, hostname, and in the end by the fingerprint of his public key.
Because there can be same nicknames, identifying the person you really
want to talk to is important. Giving the WHOIS command before sending a private
message to “joe” might be a good idea.
Deploying the SILC
SILC is meant for Internet-wide use, and the protocol attempts to scale
better than IRC. The network design of SILC allows
for a more scalable network because it does not require for all servers to
keep global data in sync. Normal SILC servers are connected to SILC
routers, and the routers are the only entities in the network that know
global data, and are responsible of keeping it in sync. This
dramatically reduces the number of entities in the network that need to
be in sync.
SILC also fits perfectly as a company’s internal chat server. Many
companies have already reported that they have replaced their IRC servers
with SILC servers. Even though the software is still in beta phase, and
more client implementations are needed, SILC is usable and can be
deployed in any environment. SILC is also distributed as a toolkit to make
SILC application development easy and fast for programmers.
Further information
The SILC project’s home is at http://silcnet.org, and interested readers are asked to take a look at the SILC Whitepaper, SILC FAQ and other
documentation. The ultimate resource for those who would like to know
how the protocol ticks is the protocol specification drafts. The protocol specifications are also available from the IETF. The
SILC Network is naturally a nice place to find help as well as talk about
SILC. Joining #silc channel is a good start.
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Rapid growth of Linux into corporate and government IT environments is fueling the need for Linux certified professionals. CIOs and managers are eager to have Linux experts in their organizations. A certification provides a tangible mechanism for their hiring evaluation, as well as a means to market the prowess of organizations.
“As an independent IT consultant I am always on my toes to learn new technologies, without much free time to devote to classes. The LinuxCertified bootcamp was a perfect way for me to jump start my Linux knowledge. I can now use Linux as a valuable tool in my career,” said Taylor Cottam, an independent consultant who joined one of the LinuxCertified, Inc. weekend bootcamps.
This weekend bootcamp is specially designed to prepare the attendees for the objectives of Level 1 certification exams offered by Linux Professional Institute (LPI). The workshop also meets the objectives of the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam and Sair Linux & GNU certification (LCA). Our attendees build a strong sense of community with our instructors, fellow students, and our network of recruiters and companies looking for Linux consultants.
About LinuxCertified, Inc.
The mission of LinuxCertified, Inc. is to bring Linux to mainstream IT usage. We firmly believe that Linux has an enormous potential, once it crosses over from the early adopters to the more mainstream users. Our goal is to help this transition by providing:
– Linux trained and certified professionals
– Linux certified products that cater to mainstream users rather than early adopters.
Contact: info@linuxcertified.com
http://www.linuxcertified.com/
Tel: 408 314 6700
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.”
Author: JT Smith
Category:
