The Barrel

WiFi software arrives on Linux desktops

 
A vendor of Linux-based WiFi arrays is finally releasing a version of its WiFi Monitor utility for Linux desktops. The open source, widget-like Xirrus WiFi Monitor for Linux enables users to monitor, secure, and troubleshoot WiFi networks, says Xirrus. The company refers to the software as a "desklet," a widget-like applet that provides quick access [...]

Posted in Networking

Top 7 Wireless Apps for Linux

Assuming you have managed to find a wireless card that is working well with your Linux distribution, or perhaps you just settled for a hack-n’-hope solution with NDISWrapper, you need to settle on an application that you can use to connect to your wireless network.
For vanilla GNOME and KDE-based installations, you are provided solutions out-of-the-box. [...]

Posted in Networking, Wireless

Are download limits anti-competitive?

Legitimate online video services have already been slow in coming to Canada, but because of download limits being imposed by the country’s major internet service providers, they may never really get here.
Many of the country’s largest ISPs recently did away with unlimited download offerings in favour of consumption-based models, where users are billed extra if [...]

Posted in Networking, News

Google, Yahoo Join in The Tangled (Open)Social Web

In a day of openness among the giants of the Web, Microsoft’s announcement is dwarfed by the joint venture between ardent rivals.
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) has joined forces with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and MySpace to announce the OpenSocial Foundation, a nonprofit venture to support the development of portable, interoperable applications under the OpenSocial standard.
This comes the [...]

Posted in Networking, News

Intel Wi-Fi Provides 6 Mbps Over 100 km

MIT Technology Review describes a new Wi-Fi router from Intel capable of sending a Wi-Fi signal tens of miles with 6-Mbps performance. This is perfect for rural areas without Internet service, and for less developed countries interested in building out their Internet infrastructure but no means to lay expensive cable or fiber optics. The routers [...]

Posted in Networking, News

Firefox 3 Beta 4 is 5x faster than IE7 and 3x faster than Firefox2

The almost-but-not-quite-final beta of Firefox 3 (FF3 beta 4) is now available for download. The most noticeable improvement is speed. In some tests, it’s three times faster than Firefox 2 (meaning the test completes in 1/3 the time), and a whopping five times faster than IE 7:

Source: ZDNet Blogs

Posted in Linux, Networking, Software

An Easy Tutorial on IP Tables and Port Knocking

Do you wish you had access to your home file server without leaving your firewall wide open to attacks? Well today’s your lucky day! While you can implement this on any OS its easiest to do this on Linux. This article will show you how to lock down your firewall and implement a port knocker [...]

Posted in How-To, Linux, Networking, Security

SWAT your Samba problems

 
If you need to share files or printers with Windows machines, you’re likely using Samba and know how to administer and configure it by editing configuration files and starting and stopping the daemon. However, there’s an easier, graphical way to configure your box: the Samba Web Administration Tool.
Heck I tell folks to use this [...]

Posted in Networking