New Products
The blogs remain alive with the sound of grumbling after MySQL stopped providing binaries of the community edition for some versions of its popular database. To appease the database faithful, the firms Solid Information Technology and Proven Scaling teamed up to create DorsalSource.org, a repository for updated binaries of MySQL and related products, such as solidDB for MySQL. Platforms covered include Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The site will be maintained and run by the community.
The CD Recycling Center of America is not a new product per se but rather a means to transform our old products—compact discs—into new ones. The Center recycles “all components of compact-disc packaging, CDs and DVDs alike, including the disc, the case and the paper booklet”. By recycling, you'll save energy and landfill space and reduce pollution, and your CDs will become raw materials for a new generation of products. Center founder Bruce Bennett says, “If a product requires manufacturing into a man-made item that basically will not naturally recycle itself, then man has the duty to find, collect, recycle and reuse as much of that product as new products in any way he can. Compact discs are one of these man-made products.” We couldn't have said it more eloquently ourselves.
If the virtualization scene makes you giddy, have a good cackle over Tumbling Dice's new Fedora coLinux, a customized coLinux distribution that runs Fedora Core virtually under Microsoft Windows. Tumbling Dice claims easier installation than the standard coLinux, a complete manual, ease of use and full Fedora Core functionality. Target customers for the product include “technically competent 'hobbyists'”, who don't want the overhead of a dual-boot solution, and companies and institutions with spare computing resources to deploy for large-scale applications (such as databases, simulations and so forth). The software/manual combo are available for download from the firm's Web site. Also see the coLinux link below for more info on the project.
At about a one-a-month clip, and under the umbrella of its media-agnostic Professional Ruby Series, Addison-Wesley is cranking out interesting new resources for Ruby and Ruby on Rails developers. One of the series' new products is Rails Routing, a Digital Short Cut (PDF download) from author David Black on taking full advantage of the Rails routing system. Another new product is the book RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rails, from Michael Hartl and Aurelius Prochazka. RailsSpace “helps developers learn to build large-scale, industrial-strength projects in Ruby on Rails by developing a real-world application: a social networking Web site a la MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster”. Finally, RailsSpace also features a companion video-training product, dubbed RailsSpace livelessons, due out in July 2007.
Do all of us a favor by holding a cup under your drool-leaking mouth as you read on, because Wolfram Research has released Version 6 of its flagship Mathematica application. Mathematica 6, a powerful general computation environment for calculations, large-scale computations, complex programming and visualizing and modeling data, is the “most important advance in its 20-year history”, says Wolfram, as well as “a whole new way of interacting with the world of data”. Key new advances include dynamic interface creation; adaptive visualization; symbolic interface construction; improved automation of external data handling; final-quality presentation throughout the working process; built-in utilization of computable data sources; and the unification of graphics, text and controls. Mathematica 6 has 32- and 64-bit editions for Linux (SUSE, Red Hat, Fedora), UNIX, Windows and Mac OS X.
The firm FiveRuns, maker of a popular systems management application, is busting out into new territory with its new Enterprise Management Suite for Rails, a series of applications for managing the full Rails application life cycle. The suite's first two offerings are RM-Manage and RM-Install, with more on the way. FiveRuns calls RM-Manage “the only Rails application management tool in the market today”, helping to “monitor and manage the production performance of the Rails application”. Meanwhile, RM-Install is a “tested, multiplatform enterprise-ready Rails stack” that ensures that all of the parts (for example Ruby, Rails, MySQL, Apache and LightTPD) will work together during Rails development. FiveRuns points out that its Rails expertise comes from using it to build its original flagship application. RM-Install is a free download; RM-Manage is available on a subscription basis.
The range of corporate apps available to Linux users continues to mature with the recently released OrangeHRM On-Demand 2.1, a hosted version of OpenHRM's open-source human resources management solution for small and mid-size enterprises. OrangeHRM claims to be reaching parity with proprietary HRM solutions while offering “key pricing and development cycle advantages” due to open source. As a SaaS solution, On-Demand requires no in-house hardware or software and is subscription-priced based on duration and number of users. OrangeHRM's technology features a rich, Ajax-based interface, a lightweight LAMP architecture and open data standards based on HR-XML. Feature improvements in version 2.1 include easier employee-leave administration, improved employee search, user-defined employee IDs and enhanced reporting. The application is available as a free download from OrangeHRM's Web site and uses the GNU GPL open-source license.
Please send information about releases of Linux-related products to James Gray at newproducts@linuxjournal.com or New Products c/o Linux Journal, 1752 NW Market Street, #200, Seattle, WA 98107. Submissions are edited for length and content.
