.

Installation

FreeBSD provides a very easy installation process; it uses Sysinstall as an automated installation package to do it for you. All you have to do is answer some questions to create users and tell it which software to install and you are on your way to being up and running in a matter of minutes. The full installation takes longer that a few minutes to complete, but using Sysinstall to set the installation parameters is very quick. This installer takes care of everything needed to have FreeBSD installed and functioning correctly on your system, including user creation, software/application installations, network and peripheral setup, and much more.

Security

FreeBSD is one of the most secure operating systems available. There are a number of security features built into the system that deal with user and file system security. There are also a number of applications compatible with FreeBSD that offer added security beyond the default features. Besides the basic user permissions modified through CHMOD, FreeBSD offers the ability to use ACL and MAC. These options allow user permissions on a more specific level than the basic Unix permissions. You can also use a firewall to secure your system. FreeBSD has two options built in, altq and dummynet, as well as a number of applications available for install like IPFILTER (IPF), IPFIREWALL (IPF), and PacketFilter (PF). Another way to secure your system is change the default password hash from md5 to blowfish in login.conf.

Another great security feature that comes with FreeBSD is the ability to jail a process. This allows for separate environments for processes that are completely locked off from others. These jails function as almost a separate installation of FreeBSD allowing for its own user processes, user accounts, and files. Using a jail helps for testing software and often used by web hosts to give their users control over a virtual server.

Compatibility

There are numerous hardware compatibilities listed on the hardware notice for each release of FreeBSD. It is compatible with all the major processors the most popular being Intel and AMD. There are also thousands of applications available for installation on a FreeBSD system. As well as having all of those application ports available, you can run Linux applications on FreeBSD with the Linux Binary Compatibility system. This allows you "to run about 90% of all Linux applications without modification" (Linux Binary Compatibility).

Ports

The port system is a collection of software that is packaged and ready for installation on a FreeBSD system. You can download the source and install them very quickly and easily. Ports are available from the installation disc, online at the ports collection, or at FreshPorts. Once you have chosen a port to install and have followed the installation procedures, you can stay up to date with the ability to download and compile the updates easily from within the ports system. There are currently over 19,000 ports within 63 categories available for download and use (FreshPorts Stats).

Documentation

FreeBSD has many different options for documentation. They offer eight different kinds of documentation on their website including FAQ, Manual Pages, and the FreeBSD Handbook. There is also a web resources section, a for newbies section, and books and articles. The handbook is in my opinion the the best resource available and can be viewed online in multiple formats and downloaded as a local copy. There are a number of books dedicated to FreeBSD as well; a search on Amazon.com will demonstrate this. You won't have to browse the web for basic command questions; you can use the man pages on your installation of FreeBSD so you can have general command help locally whenever needed.

As many of you know Adobe launched it's CS4 product on September 23^rd. To help with the release of the product Adobe held a CS4 launch broadcast that is available from the AdobeTV website. If you missed the broadcast, you can still check out the hour long video to get some of the information surrounding the new release.

This release includes updates to well known products like Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, and Acrobat, but there are also updates to some products incuded that you may not know about like Soundbooth and OnLocation. You can get CS4 in six different versions:

• Design Premium - $1,799
• Design Standard - $1,399
• Web Premium - $1,699
• Web Premium - $999
• Production Premium - $1,699
• Master Collection - $2,499

Each version includes different combinations of applications. If you would like more information about CS4 or the products included within each version, check out the CS4 website.

As a developer I have often wanted to be able to test query speeds among other things. The problem is I didn't always have a usable data set sitting around that could meet the requirements of my test cases. To make a long story short, I wish I had GenerateData.com a long time ago. This is a great tool and has a lot of potential. It can save a lot of time when you are trying to create your own test data set to work with.

GenerateData.com is currently in version 2.1 (released July 25, 2008) and offers a nice set of features. You can generate data in many different data types like addresses, numbers, lorem ipsum text, email addresses, phone numbers, and more. Once you have chosen what kind of data you would like to generate, you can choose from five different export options. You are able to export the data in XML, Excel, HTML, CSV and SQL formats. The SQL export options gives you the choice of MySQL or Oracle syntax. You can generate up to 200 records at a time, unless you donate $20 or more, which allows you to generate up to 5000 records at a time.

The generator is written using PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript. You can use the online version or download a copy of the script for use on your own server. The downloadable version is licensed under GNU. The website has requirements and installation instructions to follow if needed.

PrototypeXtensions adds additional components to Prototype.js and Script.aculo.us, two of the most popular and widely used JavaScript frameworks/libraries available. While these are extremely useful tools for creating visual effects, UI improvements, and Ajax methods, the creators of PrototypeXtensions realized a need for additional components. The library is currently at version 0.1.2 and is released under MIT License. There are three main categories of additions, or extensions, that are added by this library with specific features within each category. I have listed a basic feature overview below.

Features

There are detailed explanations and examples for each feature available so be sure to check out the website for more detailed features and information. You can download the current release in the original uncompressed form or download the smalled Minified and Gzipped version.

The Lightbox Clones Matrix lets you easily compare different lightbox clones in a table format. The table, or matrix, lists many of the features for each of the options and compares them side by side. Using jQuery to create the sortable table, the comparison matrix is very fast and easy to use. There are comparisons for 46 lightbox clones comparing seven different features. You have the ability to sort and/or filter by each of the seven features as well as the library type.

The filters include jQuery, Prototype, Mootools, YUI, "Can display images", "Can group images into sets", "Can display inline elements", "Can display iframes", "Can fetch content via Ajax", "Can display Flash", and "Can display various Video objects". There are icons to help you visualize the different features and easily sift through them.

Be sure to check it out or read more about it from the creator.