Specifications
COLUMNS
8 SHAWN POWER’S
CURRENT_ISSUE.TAR.GZ
Linux: the Root of All Coolness
22 REUVEN M. LERNER’S
AT THE FORGE
Profiling Rails Applications
26 MARCEL GAGNÉ’S
COOKING WITH LINUX
Cool as Ice!
30 DAVE TAYLOR’S
WORK THE SHELL
Movie Trivia and Fun with
Random Numbers
32 KYLE RANKIN’S
HACK AND /
Wiimote Control
96 DOC SEARLS’
EOF
Mixing Up a Generative Mobile Feast
REVIEWS
42 HOT AND BOTHERED
AT STARBUCKS
Dan Sawyer
44 THE NEUROS OSD CONNECTS
YOUR TV TO THE INTERNET
Marco Fioretti
IN EVERY ISSUE
12 LETTERS
16 UPFRONT
36 NEW PRODUCTS
38 NEW PROJECTS
81 ADVERTISERS INDEX
INDEPTH
68 LINUX FOR THE LONG HAUL
Checking in with the Greater
Houlton Christian Academy’s switch
to Linux.
Michael Surran
72 ZENOSS AND THE ART OF
ENTERPRISE MONITORING
Stay on top of your network with
an enterprise-class monitoring tool.
Jeramiah Bowling
80 HOW TO FAKE A UFO LANDING
Use Voodoo to solve video
match-moving problems.
Dan Sawyer
86 QUANTUM GIS: THE
OPEN-SOURCE GEOGRAPHIC
INFORMATION SYSTEM
Hooked on Google Earth? Check
out Quantum GIS to satisfy your
geographic cravings.
James Gray
92 BUILD A MYTHTV BOX
WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK
A quick-and-easy guide to the
world of MythTV.
P. Surdas Mohit
CONTENTS
AUGUST 2008
Issue 172
4 | august 2008 www.linuxjournal.com
USPS
LINUX JOURNAL (ISSN 1075-3583)
(USPS 12854)
is published monthly by Belltown Media, Inc., 2211 Norfolk, Ste 514, Houston,
TX 77098 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Houston, Texas and at additional mailing offices. Cover price is $5.99 US. Sub scrip tion rate
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POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to
Linux Journal,
PO Box 980985, Houston, TX 77098
. Subscriptions start with the next issue. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement
#41549519. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2
THE UNDERDOG ISSUE
Everybody loves an underdog.
Some people even consider
Linux to be an underdog (we
prefer “Undiscovered
Champion”). Next month, we
focus on the little guy. Sure you
know all about Ubuntu, but
what about Gentoo? Granted,
Apache is the king of the Web
server world, but what about
the alternatives? (No, not IIS.)
Heck, even Inkscape has some
less-popular alternatives like
Xara Xtreme. So, whether
you’re looking for a command-
line e-mail client, or you want
an alternative to BIND, next
month will be an issue you
don’t want to miss.
Next Month
56 E-INK’S E-PAPER DISPLAY