 |
On a day when connections are particularly slow, the Internet looks less like a World Wide Web and more like a global bowl of spaghetti. Most system administrators and webmasters could use, fast, practical information about where congestion lays on networks that affect yours. That is where a freely distributed product called NetRadar can be useful. As its Web site <http://netradar.sourceforge.net/home.html> explains, NetRadar is an analytical tool that can spot congestion problems in a network topology. It is designed for experts but the site says anyone with a network connection should be able to use it.
When it comes to freeware, documentation is often skimpy or non-existent, but according to NetRadar’s author, popular demand drove him to produce a set of instructions that should be enough for anyone trying to perform medium-level network analysis.
NetRadar graphically represents Internet connections with various graphs that can resemble microscopic photography in their depiction of online reality. Users plug in ‘Targets’ or web addresses they are interested in. Someone in Asia who was interested in their connection to North America, for example, would enter a list of Canadian and American Internet addresses. Various icons on the resulting graph show points like the primary Internet gateway, or routers that reach different parts of the Internet. Just like traffic lights, red means a congested area, while traffic moves quickly through green areas.
NetRadar is a simple tool that can help individuals and organizations get the most out of their resources by choosing server locations that avoid crowded areas of the Internet making their time on the net more efficient.
|
|
|
|
|
|
When IBM announced that its new Z-series mainframe, worth $400,000, would run the Linux operating system, it was a first for mainframes. First and foremost, the price tag is almost half that of a non-Linux mainframe, and IBM credits open-source software with most of the savings.
Clearly, IBM believes Linux will work in the data centre, but what about the office? For years, Linux proponents have been claiming they have a better solution, but so far the operating system hasn’t broken out of the server room.
Now, a program called Lindows has been developed that is not only a version of the Linux operating system, but it can run Windows as well as Linux software.
For years, a group of Linux programmers have been trying to achieve that same objective, but it is becoming clear that they will probably never catch up with successive waves of Microsoft products.
Owned and financed by the deep pockets of MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, Lindows.com is planning a serious run at the corporate market by persuading managers to use Lindows instead of the never-ending series of Windows products that currently dominate their environment.
The Lindows idea has several virtues, and lower cost is not the least of them. Robertson believes that most people in and out of the office only use about 10 programs, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel. If and when Lindows proves it can run those programs properly, he believes he will have a market.
The product is not yet ready but there is a space at www.lindows.com where potential users can sign on to get the news when it is released.
|
|
|
|
|
