I'm serving up something completely different this month, a popurri of technology items. There are items from a set of updated operating systems to Digital Libraries to a collection of earth images. Here is a brief list:
Starting off with a bunch of OS updates, FreeBSD 4.5 has already hit the streets and I have installed my copy. The first developer test release of FreeBSD 5.0, which includes major SMP (symmetric multiprocessor) changes, is now available for testing. OpenBSD 3.1 is due for release in April 2002, so by the time you read this, it may be available. Last, but definitely not least, is eCommStation, an updated OS/2 with every enhancement you might want. I call it the OS/2 Full Meal Deal.
In a different area of technology, the Open Archive Initative (OAI) has announced version 2 of the protocol. After 15 months of operational experience with version 1, beta use of V2 will begin in May of this year. Another OAI service, the my.OAI search engine is a way to set up your own searches and save them.
The Open Digital Libraries Project is research being done at Virginia Tech. They are building digital libraries as networks of independent components, tied together with a common protocol named the Open Archive Initative (OAI). Documentation, demonstrations and prototype components can be found on the project website.
Researchers at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have made a significant step in understanding exactly how superconductors work. Recent research shows stripes of electrical charges are the key in reducing resistance to zero. This brings us closer to the day when superconductors move from the laboratory to commercial use.
Finally, Florida International University, using Linux and an IBM supercomputer, has built TerraFly technology, a virtual flyover of most of the US for anyone to try out. Want to see what your town looks like? Give it a test ride.
Let me urge people who are interested in these 'free' OSs to buy the inexpensive CD sets to support the groups who continue to develop these technologies. It's a small investment with an extraordinary return and the CDs make installation really easy. Besides, you are not limited to installing these on just one computer.
Let me start with FreeBSD 4.5 which I run in one of my systems. This is an upgrade to the 4.2 version I have been running, with significant updates in graphics, Xwindows and security. It is now easy to install FreeBSD with a high level of security and only open the ports which are required. This is the best approach for a server exposed to the Internet. The details of what has changed in 4.5 are available here.
But FreeBSD is not just a server system - it can also be a workstation, or both. When I first reported on FreeBSD, the collection of ported applications, called Ports, was over 4000. Today that number is 6777, and by the time you read this, will be higher.
One of the best features of FreeBSD is the Ports system. Simply by installing the Ports control files, about 15 MB now, will enable you to automatically find, compile, and install any one of the ported applications. All you need is an Internet connection to the system.
The process is simple. Change to /usr/ports, list the categories, change to a category of interest, say X11, change to the specific program and type 'make install'. Then sit back and watch while the Ports engine does all the work. It locates the sources from a list of Internet sites, downloads the source, checks for and downloads any dependencies, including nested dependencies, applies any patches needed and then compiles the program and installs it ready for use.
You need only two preparation steps. First, set up the CVS update process to update your ports directory, which can be run manually or from cron. Second, make sure your /usr partition has lots of room. Ports can take up to 1 GB while compiling major applications because of the dependency and object files. Once installed, you can 'make clean' and get most of that space back.
FreeBSD also has optinal binary compatibility with RH Linux 7.x, SVR4 (Solaris) and Openserver. Existing binaries will run without change according to the FreeBSD site. Gnome and KDE are also ported applications.
FreeBSD 5.0 developer preview #1 is now available. This one is definitely not for production systems, or even systems that have valuable information on them. It would be a mistake to run this except to test or develop for the new capabilities.
Here is a partial list of features:
Once again, OpenBSD can brag about its security:
"Four years without a remote hole in the default install!"OpenBSD, based on the same 4.2BSD Unix as FreeBSD, has a different emphasis. The main one is security, but portability is wider than FreeBSD and it supports binary emulation of most programs from six other operating systems: SVR4 (Solaris); FreeBSD; Linux; BSD/OS; SunOS and HP-UX.
My own use of OpenBSD is as a firewall, currently using version 2.8. When the 3.1 release comes out, I'll probably upgrade to the current filters and OpenSSH, which supports both SSH1 and SSH2. OpenBSD is also easy to install over the web, and practical even with a dial up modem for a firewall install. It's the applications that take up most of the CDs. A 3 CD set is available if you want the full package.
eCommStation (eCS) is OS/2 with all the bells and whistles you could want, and more. It's install system is straightforward, runs easily from a CD, and offers install and recovery choices from the CD. Almost all SCSI drivers are included, making SCSI systems as easy to install as IDE.
Unlike the free BSD versions listed above, eCS is a supported commercial product. For about the same price as IBM's Software Choice for a Warp 4 upgrade, eCS gives you desktop SMP (optionally), a full Lotus SmartSuite package and the full Star Office 5.1A install, plus a third party install package that has 35 utilities and applications ready to go, including the Windows emulator, Odin, with with a Windows version of RealPlayer.
The visual interface has been markedly improved, and though the new arrangements take some getting used to, I really like the improvements. The occasional "Where did that go?" is easily resolved with a little exploration and reference to the eCommStation folder, the Wise Machine folder, and the Programs folder. The new UI quickly becomes comfortable. Now Warp 4 feels clumsy by comparison. Recommended.
Digital Libraries (DLs) are now entering their period of rapid growth. Several years of research and standardization efforts have created the base for future proliferation. Based on the OAI metadata harvesting protocol, and standard base metadata, free software such as eprints can enable anyone to build a DL. Now that registration services and search engines are available with working systems in place, we can begin to explore their potential.
The Open Digital Libraries Project builds on these standards and is creating new tools for DLs. Current tools include:
While some of this is pretty amazing already, this is just a taste, like the Internet was in 1993. In a few years many subjects will be available and indexed on the web, making research to journaled and other article sources a core source of information and research.
Once available, the real challenge will be understanding the specialist languages in some of the technical journals. It's likely a new breed of information researcher will develop to find and deliver non-specialist level information from these sources.
Finally, correcting an error in an earlier article on DLs, the arXiv physics archive is OAI compliant, but not based on the eprints software. It was developed in house.
"Superconductors have charged stripes." Honest, that's what the physicists say. Superconductivity (SC) has great promise, like fusion power, and like fusion power, has been mostly promise for the past forty years. For superconductivity, we are finally beginning to understand how it really works.
The theory developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory says that superconductivity happens when electricity passes without resistance along stripes of electric charge. The discovery of this effect in a second type of superconductor indicates this may be a general mechanism for superconductivity.
The Oak Ridge team, using a neutron beam, observed stripes between every eight rows of copper/oxygen in yttrium barium copper oxide. These stripes are actually of holes, not electrons. Holes (positive) are what you have when the electrons (negative) are captured by other atoms, but they conduct charge like electrons flowing in the other direction.
The holes repel each other because they are the same charge, but follow the stripes. Superconductivity happens when pairs of holes form within the stripes. They can carry charge without resistance because the stripes channel the flow.
What would practical superconductivity mean? A revolution in electricity.
Generation could be more efficient, transmission losses which amout to 10% of all energy generated, would drop near zero, very strong SC magnets that require no power to maintain, more efficient electric motors, and much more. Anywhere current runs in a conductor, or a magnetic field is needed, SC will make a big difference.
When will this happen? When the theory above leads us to reliable SC in materials which can be used in everyday equipment. Even if the materials were available now, it will take years to develop and test and replace older facilities. Most likely, such SC equipment will show up first in electric cars and Diesel-electric railroad engines. Then later in power lines, generators and transformers.
TerraFly, the ability to virtually fly over any part of the United States has been developed by Florida International University in cooperation with IBM.
Using Linux and an IBM SP supercomputer, TerraFly makes one of the largest publicly accessible databases on the Web. Using this, you could see an virtual view of almost any location in the United States. TerraFly is based on images collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and other sources such as aircraft and space imaging.
The TerraFly site has more than a dozen sample areas for browsing. You may not find your home town there at this time. What this does demonstrate is the ability to bring multiple sources of data together in a spatial data set that makes the relationships between different elements as intuitive as looking out the window. Only now you don't need to own an airplane.
The capability that this project brings will likely become essential to any large construction project, or town planning, or regional transportation planning. The critical ability to see full relationships on the ground means fewer expensive errors or oversights, and the discovery of new alternatives. Visual recognition has long been one of our major tools. Literally, to see is to understand.
This column has been a sample of current technology that will affect you directly and indirectly in the future. It is by no means a comprehensive list of developing technologies, even over the past two months.
If you prefer several short or a few longer technology items, have any comments or corrections, please write me at bwrite@ywave.com.
[30]All content on this site is Copyright 2001 and 2002 by Bill Nicholls