ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit

The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit is a shared source project built on top of the Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX framework. It is a joint effort between Microsoft and the ASP.NET AJAX community that provides a powerful infrastructure to write reusable, customizable and extensible ASP.NET AJAX extenders and controls, as well as a rich array of controls that can be used out of the box to create an interactive Web experience.

Cute Editor for ASP.NET

Cute Editor for ASP.NET is by far the fastest, easiest, most powerful WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)browser-based HTML Editor for ASP.NET.

It enables ASP.NET Web developers to replace the Textarea in your existing content management system with a powerful, but easy to use WYSIWYG HTML editing component.

It empowers business users to make content updates easily and safely themselves while maintaining control over site design and content, all at an affordable price.

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+WYSIWYG+Editor/default.aspx

Visual Studio 2008 and ComponentArt Web.UI

Now that Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 has shipped, it’s a good time to talk about the next version of ASP.NET and Visual Studio. More specifically, I am happy to share some good news on how Microsoft’s next major platform release will affect ComponentArt’s customers.
 
Scott Guthrie has a great post on ASP.NET AJAX in .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008. I encourage you to read the entire post, but here are some key points you should take away from it:

"ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 shipped as a separate download that you could install on top of ASP.NET 2.0. Starting with the .NET Framework 3.5 release, all of these features are built-in with ASP.NET, which means you no longer have to download and install a separate ASP.NET AJAX setup when building or deploying applications. When you create a new ASP.NET application or web-site in VS 2008 that targets the .NET 3.5 framework, VS will automatically add the appropriate AJAX registrations in your web.config file and the core ASP.NET AJAX server controls will show up in your toolbox."
"The V3.5 of System.Web.Extensions.dll is a fully compatible super-set of the 1.0 implementation (which means you don't need to change any code in order to use it)."   

As expected, ASP.NET AJAX has become a native part of ASP.NET and Visual Studio. We are extremely excited about this because it puts our customers in a unique position when it comes to exploiting the new features as well as gaining forward compatibility of applications based on ComponentArt Web.UI.  

If you examine the ASP.NET component space today, you will notice that other leading vendors are currently in the early stages of developing component sets based on the client-side component model introduced with ASP.NET AJAX. These products are entirely new, and don’t provide backwards compatibility with the current component offerings by those vendors.
 
In contrast, ComponentArt’s customers will be able to enjoy seamless upgrading to Visual Studio 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5. All of your code based on the public APIs of ComponentArt Web.UI v2006.2 or later will be fully functional and in sync with the overall architecture and philosophy of Microsoft’s new framework.
 
I think that great things are on the horizon with Visual Studio 2008. We anticipate that its adoption will be fast due to: multi-targeting features, new JavaScript IntelliSense and debugging, new web designer, as well as major improvements of the IDE performance.

http://www.componentart.com/blogs/miljan/archive/2007/07/30/visual-studio-2008-and-componentart-web-ui.aspx

Working with archives and packages

 Some programs are not available in Ubuntu repositories. They may be available as Debian (.deb) packages (Ubuntu is based on Debian), may be archived in tar, gzip, and gzip archives, or may only be available as source code packages.

Handling “.tar.gz” (Tar/GZip) Archives
To extract:
tar xvzf package.tar.gz

Note: tar extracts files from an archive. It cannot decompress them. -x means extract. -v means verbose (with a list of what is extracted). -f specifies the file to use. -z means filter through gzip. (gzip compresses/decompresses the archive, not tar.) Alternatively, you could decompress a package (ending in .gz) first by using the command gzip, then extract the resulting .tar file. You would then not have to specify the -z switch.

To create:
tar cvfz package.tar.gz folder

Handling “.tar.bz” (Tar/BZip) Archives

• To extract:
  tar xvjf package.tar.bz
• To create:
  tar cvjf package.tar.bz folder

Extracting “.bz” Archives
bunzip2 file.bz

Extracting “.gz” Archives
gunzip file.gz

How to compile a program from source code
Make sure you have all the neccesary development tools (i.e. libraries, compilers, headers):
gksudo apt-get install build-essential
gksudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

“uname -r” lists the current kernel you are using.

Extract your package (as detailed above)
tar xvzf package.tar.gz

Commence the build (compiling) process:
cd /path/to/extracted/package
./configure
make
make install

(Note – typing ./ before a filename tells unix to execute the file as an application.)

Create an Ubuntu (Debian) package (.deb)
Install package tools:
gksudo apt-get install checkinstall

Rebuild package using “checkinstall”:
cd /path/to/extracted/package
./configure
make
checkinstall

Keep the resulting “.deb” file for future use. It can be installed using:
gksudo dpkg -i package.deb

Note: These are basic instructions that may not always work. Some packages require additional dependencies and optional parameters to be specified in order to build them successfully.

Using gksu vs. sudo

Commands (in the command line terminal) that require administrator or root privileges must be preceded by sudo, or the graphical version, gksu. For most uses, the commands are interchangeable and either can be used.

However, there are some subtle differences. Specifically, gksu launches with the root configuration files, while sudo launches with the user’s configuration files.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/graphicalsudo
Here is a nice discussion. This discussion recommends gksu for all uses except when a purely command line environment is being used, such as when there is no desktop environment installed. In that case use sudo.

In this guide, both are used. When commands are applicable to both the server-only versions of Ubuntu as well as the desktop versions, sudo is used. However, in a Gnome desktop environment, gksu can usually be substituted.

(Note: gksu is the version of sudo for use in Gnome, the default desktop for Ubuntu. For Kubuntu (KDE) users, use kdesu instead.)

Ubuntu desktop environments

How to install KDE (Kubuntu)
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

The system will ask you if you want to use kdm or gdm. gdm is recommended.
System -> Quit -> Log Out
Sessions: KDE

How to uninstall KDE (Kubuntu)
If you used aptitude to install Kubuntu:
sudo aptitude remove kubuntu-desktop

How to install XFCE (Xubuntu)
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

The xubuntu gdm theme will be set as the default.
System -> Quit -> Log Out
Sessions: XFCE

How to uninstall Xfce (Xubuntu)
If you used aptitude to install Xubuntu:
sudo aptitude remove xubuntu-desktop

How to install FluxBox
Fluxbox is a popular minimalist Window Manager.
sudo apt-get install fluxbox menu

Start Fluxbox from GDM:
echo “exec startfluxbox” > ~/.xinitrc

Change the login sound:
sudo apt-get install sox
gksudo gedit ~/.fluxbox/startup

Find this line:
exec /usr/local/bin/fluxbox

Put this above it somewhere:
play /usr/share/sounds/login.wav > /dev/null 2>&1 &

How to install Blackbox
Blackbox is also a lightweight desktop environment. It is not updated frequently.
sudo apt-get install blackbox menu

Add programs from the command line

Command line users who do not use aptitiude can enter commands directly using apt-get. This is the most common method for installing Linux programs from the command line. Most program installation/removal must be done with root user privileges, so sudo (or gksudo) must be entered first:
sudo apt-get install <packagename>

Removal commands are similar:
sudo apt-get remove <packagename>

Incompletely installed packages can be repaired:
sudo apt-get install <packagename> –reinstall

How to run commands in the command line terminal

This is for Gnome. Start up the command line terminal:
Applications–>Accessories–>Terminal

If you do not see the Terminal menu item, then add it to your menu:
Right click Applications–>Edit menus–>Accessories–>Terminal (Checked)

Ubuntu Gutsy Feature Plan

Now that the set of feature goals planned for Ubuntu 7.10 (“Gutsy Gibbon”) has been largely finalised, it seems like an appropriate point to announce the plan to the world.

While this is based on the approved blueprints for gutsy[0], which are expected to be implemented in time, we do release according to a time-based schedule[1] rather than a feature-based one. It is not unusual for some planned features to be delayed to later releases; happily it is also not unusual for our developers to introduce neat features we weren’t expecting either.

[0] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/gutsy/
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyReleaseSchedule

Desktop
Ubuntu 7.10 will ship with the latest edition of the GNOME desktop, 2.20, released a few weeks before our own release. Kubuntu 7.10 will ship with KDE 3.5.7, and should also include packages of KDE 4.0 rc 2 available for optional side-by-side installation.

We are aiming for Ubuntu to be one of the first distributions to ship the newly merged Compiz and Beryl projects (compcomm/OpenCompositing); and enable it as the default window manager on systems with a supported combination of hardware and drivers.

Systems which do not support compositing, or those with it disabled by user option, will use the existing metacity window manager.

Hardware Support
Ubuntu 7.10 will use the 2.6.22 Linux kernel, along with our usual selection of updated and additional drivers.

We will also use Xorg 7.3, giving better graphics hardware support and the option of hotplugging monitors (RandR 1.2) and input devices (xserver 1.4).

As well as the easier configuration for hotplugging-supported drivers (“no xorg.conf”), we also aim to have better configuration for other drivers and fallback settings for when there is a problem.

Some “winmodem” chips will be supported out of the box, where drivers are available; though this may rely on the use of restricted drivers. Improvements to the Restricted Driver Manager are expected, allowing drivers to be disabled by default and proposed by the manager. As previously announced, an edition of Ubuntu without restricted enabled by default is in the works.

Mobile
As announced, Ubuntu 7.10 will be first release to include a new Mobile and Embedded edition targeted at hand-held devices and other mobile/embedded form factors.

This integrates the Hildon UI components developed by Nokia into Ubuntu, on top of the existing Ubuntu platform.

Server
Development of the Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition has received a new boost with a dedicated development team at Canonical working on it. Features aiming to improve the experience for new and hobbyist administrators are expected, as well as features desirable for small businesses and organisations.

For increased security, the AppArmor security framework will be available as an option for those that want it.

Stability and Performance
Ubuntu 7.10 should function significantly better when the filesystem is full or otherwise not writable, allowing the user to make room and then continue working without undue interruption.

Improvements to our “apport” bug and crash reporting infrastructure are planned, in particular integration with our software installation and upgrade tools so that problems installing or upgrading packages can be easily reported with relevant information attached. Kernel crashes will also be intercepted on reboot, and may be reported using the tool.

Our efforts to improve boot reliability and performance continue; unlimited and reliable stackability of software raid (MD) devices, LVM volumes and software-managed (devmapper) devices will be supported with no runtime ordering issues.

Ubuntu 7.10 will ship with Upstart 0.5, which will provide flexible and reliable service supervision. We expect to harness this for suitable core services, and some boot process tasks, as appropriate.

Scott,
Scott James Remnant
Ubuntu Development Manager

What is RAID?

(rād) Short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ two or more drives in combination for fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are used frequently on servers but aren’t generally necessary for personal computers.
There are number of different RAID levels:

• Level 0 — Striped Disk Array without Fault Tolerance: Provides data striping (spreading out blocks of each file across multiple disk drives) but no redundancy. This improves performance but does not deliver fault tolerance. If one drive fails then all data in the array is lost.
• Level 1 — Mirroring and Duplexing: Provides disk mirroring. Level 1 provides twice the read transaction rate of single disks and the same write transaction rate as single disks.
• Level 2 — Error-Correcting Coding: Not a typical implementation and rarely used, Level 2 stripes data at the bit level rather than the block level.
• Level 3 — Bit-Interleaved Parity: Provides byte-level striping with a dedicated parity disk. Level 3, which cannot service simultaneous multiple requests, also is rarely used.
• Level 4 — Dedicated Parity Drive: A commonly used implementation of RAID, Level 4 provides block-level striping (like Level 0) with a parity disk. If a data disk fails, the parity data is used to create a replacement disk. A disadvantage to Level 4 is that the parity disk can create write bottlenecks.
• Level 5 — Block Interleaved Distributed Parity: Provides data striping at the byte level and also stripe error correction information. This results in excellent performance and good fault tolerance. Level 5 is one of the most popular implementations of RAID.
• Level 6 — Independent Data Disks with Double Parity: Provides block-level striping with parity data distributed across all disks.
• Level 0+1 ?A Mirror of Stripes: Not one of the original RAID levels, two RAID 0 stripes are created, and a RAID 1 mirror is created over them. Used for both replicating and sharing data among disks.
• Level 10 ?A Stripe of Mirrors: Not one of the original RAID levels, multiple RAID 1 mirrors are created, and a RAID 0 stripe is created over these.
• Level 7: A trademark of Storage Computer Corporation that adds caching to Levels 3 or 4.
• RAID S: EMC Corporation’s proprietary striped parity RAID system used in its Symmetrix storage systems.