The good folks at RotateRight informed us that their system-wide performance profiler for Linux, Zoom, has been updated to version 1.3. Zoom profiles are system-wide and precise down to the instruction level, and they capture backtraces. Zoom also analyzes and annotates code with specific tuning advice for most compilers and processors. The latest product update features a number of enhancements to help increase programmer productivity and optimize Linux application performance, both of which reduce costs by making software faster and more energy-efficient. These include support for Intel Atom and Core i7 processors, ability to show kernel source and assembly, support for external debug info files, calculation of symbol ranges when missing symbol information and several others. Zoom is available for Linux x86-64, i386 and PowerPC 64.
Sans Digital's new AccuSTOR AS212X2 Series is a 2U 12-bay SAS enclosure for mid-range and high-capacity storage environments. Sans Digital headlines the product as the first JBOD rackmount to overcome the lack of monitoring ability when utilizing a RAID controller card. A built-in selectable switch allows hardware monitoring via various popular brands of RAID controller interfaces. This new monitoring feature, says Sans Digital, “further simplifies the management process by allowing system administrators to access hard drive status, as well as power supply and cooling fan information”. Data is protected by RAID protection provided by LSI, 3ware, Intel, Dell, ATTO, Areca or Adaptec SAS RAID controllers. The AS212X2 uses the latest SAS expander technology to connect up to 12 high-performance SAS drives or high-capacity SATA drives to the host computer using a single SAS cable, enabling a system bandwidth of up to 1,200MB/s.
The SheevaPlug is one of the diminutive yet powerful devices in Marvell Semiconductor's “Plug Top Computing” initiative, a computing approach that features embedded, Linux-powered computers that plug in to electrical sockets. These devices, says Marvell, consume less than 5 Watts, can be left on all the time and “are capable of running network-based services that normally require a dedicated [PC]”. These services include Web, e-mail and VPN servers hosted in homes and small offices. SheevaPlug features a 1.2GHz Marvell Sheeva CPU and 512MB each of Flash and DDR2 memory. Network connectivity is via Gigabit Ethernet; peripherals can be connected using USB 2.0. The SheevaPlug development kit contains the SheevaPlug and software tools needed to develop applications for the platform.
The open-source app Magento is one of the most evolved e-commerce solutions out there. For those starting a project from scratch, William Rice's new book, Magento Beginner's Guide, from Packt Publishing could be the ticket to success. Running on Apache-MySQL-PHP, Magento offers features such as multiple storefronts, templates and themes and multiple payment gateways (such as PayPal and credit cards). Because getting started with Magento can be daunting, Rice's book offers a step-by-step guide to getting a store up and running. It covers installation, configuration, populating a store with products, accepting payments, maintaining relationships with customers and fulfilling orders. After utilizing the book, readers will have a basic but complete and functional on-line store.
Realize your clandestine plan to develop the next runaway hit game with Luke Benstead's Beginning OpenGL Game Programming, 2nd Ed., from Course Technology PTR. The book provides “an easy-to-understand introduction to OpenGL, introducing all the basic elements of OpenGL as they apply to games”, says the publisher. In addition, the new 2nd edition covers features found in OpenGL 3.0, the new and more efficient API that provides Direct3D 10 level graphics and is platform-independent. A companion CD-ROM features the source code used in the book, bonus chapters, games and the OpenGL Extension Library. Target readers are beginning game developers or programmers who are new to game development.
Give your favorite superheroes a desktop home with Radical Breeze's RadicalCodex 1.0, an ebook and digital comic-book organizer and reader just for Linux. RadicalCodex enables users to read, bookmark, search and organize their entire e-comic library. The reader not only supports the most popular ebook and comic formats—such as PDF, TXT, CBR and CBZ—but it also exports ebooks to both the Amazon Kindle and the Sony PRS-505 via drag and drop. The CBR and CBZ formats are favored by many “indie” comic-book publishers. RadicalCodex is available for purchase from Radical Breeze's on-line store.
Ancient are the days of a multimedia-handicapped Linux, thanks in part to applications like Moonlight, a newly 1.0 open-source project that gives Linux users access to Microsoft Silverlight content for the first time. It also plays Windows Media content. Moonlight is developed by the Mono Project, sponsored by Novell, and it works in tandem with the Banshee media player. Moonlight is part of a technical collaboration between Microsoft and Novell that offers a set of media codecs that bring optimized and licensed decoders for the Microsoft-based media formats. Developers also can write Rich Internet Applications for multiple platforms. Moonlight is available for all major Linux distros.
In an effort to save you money and save the planet at the same time, Appro has launched its GreenBlade System, which the company bills as an “open, green and affordable blade solution for mid-sized businesses”. Based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors, the GreenBlade is an energy-efficient solution that consolidates server, storage, network, power and simplified management capabilities. The solution comes in a 5U form factor and offers a variety of blade configurations with up to ten dual-processor server blades and 80 processing cores. Other features include up to 64GB of memory and 1.0TB of storage per compute blade, and up to four 1,625 Watt high-efficiency (90%+) power supplies per system. Appro's GreenBlade System also is part of the Appro Go-Green initiative that seeks to “address the HPC environmental challenges with performance-optimized and power-efficient solutions”.
