All-in-One computers are desktop computers that combine the monitor into the same case as the CPU. Apple has manufactured several popular examples of all-in-one computers, such as the original Macintosh of the mid-1980s and the iMac of the late 1990s and 2000s. Some older 8-bit computers, such as the Commodore PET 2001 or Kaypro II, also fit into this category. All-in-One PCs are typically more portable than other desktop PCs and many have been built with carrying handles integrated into the case. They can simply be unplugged and transported to a new location.
Like laptops, All-in-One desktop computers are characterized by a comparative lack of upgradeability or hardware customization, as internal hardware is often placed in the back of the visual display unit. Furthermore, in the case of the iMac line since 2002, the CPU and other internal hardware units are, more or less, permanently glued to the motherboard due to space constraints.
However, latest models of the All In One Computer have changed their approach this issue. Many of the current offerings, like the Handii myFace and others, are using standard off-the-shelf components and are designing upgrade convenience into their products.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_computer#All-in-One
Saturday, June 27, 2009
All-in-One
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer (PC) in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Prior to the wide spread of microprocessors a computer that could fit on a desk was considered remarkably small. Today the phrase usually indicates a particular style of computer case. Desktop computers come in a variety of styles ranging from large vertical tower cases to small form factor models that can be tucked behind an LCD monitor. In this sense, the term 'desktop' refers specifically to a horizontally-oriented case, usually intended to have the display screen placed on top to save space on the desk top. Most modern desktop computers have separate screens and keyboards. A specialized form of desktop case is used for home theater PC systems, incorporating front-panel mounted controls for audio and video.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_computer
Windows Vista Ultimate
Easier
See what you're doing, find what you need
The first things you'll notice about Windows Vista Ultimate are its elegant looks and how it helps you with essential tasks. It's easier to work with and visualize your information with Windows Aero. You can conveniently arrange and manage your open windows using Windows Flip and Flip 3D. And you won't have to click to see your content because live taskbar thumbnails reveal it.
Compare Windows XP to Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Enjoy more
Find, fix, and share photosOrganize, edit, and share your favorite photos with family and friends using Windows Photo Gallery.
Find almost anythingFind documents, e-mail, photos, and more in a snap through Instant Search.
Turn any room into a media roomManage and enjoy digital photos, music, TV shows, and movies in your living room with Windows Media Center.M
Play the way you wantEasily install, organize, and play games using Windows Game Explorer.
Make movie magicRetain high-definition quality as you capture, edit, and publish movies from a video camcorder with Windows Movie Maker.2
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Worry less
Help your kids stay saferHelp keep your children safer online with customizable Parental Controls.
Back up and restore filesGet improved backup and restore functions, including automatically scheduled backups, with Windows Backup and Restore Center.
Help safeguard sensitive dataBetter protect your data against loss or theft if your mobile PC is ever lost or stolen with Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption.B
Guard against external threatsHelp protect your PC from external threats with Windows Firewall.
Find and remove spywareHelp protect your PC by regularly scanning your computer for spyware with Windows Defender.3
Windows XP feature improved in Windows Vista
Next steps
Compare the editions of Windows Vista
Upgrade now at Windows Marketplace
1 Customers can contact Microsoft as often as they need during this important 90-day period. See our phone support hours of operation and further information for Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, and Windows Vista Home Basic.
2 High-definition support is only available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.
3 Windows Defender is a free download for Windows XP.
createPopups(document);
Source : http://www.microsoft.com
Friday, June 26, 2009
HP PAVILION DV5-1299 SPL
DETAIL DESCRIPTION
Product Specifications
Operating System
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Processor Type
Intel Core 2 Duo T9550
Processor Speed
2.66GHz
Hard Disk Capacity
320 GB
RAM
4 GB
Screen Size
15.4 inch
L2 Cache
3 MB
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT
Video Memory
512 MB
Wi-Fi
Yes
Bluetooth
Yes
Infrared
No
Fax/ Modem
56 kbps
Ethernet Card
10/100
Optical Drive
DVD RW/ Blu Ray
Battery Cells
6
Dimension
35.70 cm (L) x 25.70 cm (W) x 2.54 cm (min H) / 3.96 cm (max H)
Weight
2.65 kg
Webcam
Yes
Fingerprint Reader
No
Warranty
1 Year
Source : http://www.me-myco.com
DETAIL DESCRIPTION
Product Specifications
Operating System
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista® Business (English Version)
Architecture
Processor Technology
Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology
Processor Name
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor SU9400 (1.40 GHz)*1*2
Network Connection
Intel® Wireless WiFi Link 5100
Chipset
Mobile Intel® GS45 Express Chipset
Processor System Bus
800 MHz
Memory Bus
800 MHz
Cache Memory
3 MB
Main Memory
Pre-installed
2 GB DDR3 SDRAM*3*4
SO-DIMM Slots
2 SO-DIMM slots (The pre-installed memory module uses one)
Hard Disk Drive
Hard Disk Drive
160 GB*5 (Serial ATA, 5400 rpm)
Optical Disc Drive
Drive
DVD±RW/±R DL/RAM Drive
Maximum Reading Speed
DVD+R: 8x (SL), 6x (DL)/DVD-R: 8x (SL), 6x (DL)/DVD+RW: 8x/DVD-RW: 8x/DVD-ROM: 8x/DVD-RAM: 5x/CD-ROM: 24x/CD-R: 24x/CD-RW: 24x
Maximum Writing Speed
DVD+R: 8x (SL), 4x (DL)/DVD-R: 8x (SL), 4x (DL)DVD+RW: 8x/DVD-RW: 6x/DVD-RAM: 5x/CD-R: 24x/CD-RW: 16x
Graphics
Graphics Accelerator
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Display
Type
11.1" wide (WXGA: 1366 x 768) TFT colour display (Clear Tough LCD [Rich Colour])
Interface
USB
High Speed USB 2.0 x 2
i.LINK(IEEE 1394)
4 pin (S400) x 1
Network (RJ-45)Connector
10Base-T/100Base-TX / 1000Base-T x 1
Display Output Connector
Analogue RGB, mini D-sub 15 pin x 1
Headphone
Stereo mini jack x 1
Microphone
Stereo mini jack x 1
Modem
V.92 and V.90 Compliant x 1
Memory Stick Slot
Memory Stick (Standard/Duo Size compatible, MagicGate compatible, Memory Stick PRO compatible, High-speed data transfer compatible)*6
SD Memory Card Slot
SD Memory Card*7 (SDHC compatible, MMC compatible)
PC Card Slot
ExpressCard™/34 x 1
Compatible Memory Cards
Memory Stick (Standard/Duo Size compatible, MagicGate compatible, Memory Stick PRO compatible, High-speed data transfer compatible) , SD Memory Card (SDHC compatible) , Multi Media Card
DC IN
x 1
Others
Docking Station Connector x 1
Wireless Connection
Wireless LAN Type
Integrated Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft n*8
Wireless LAN Data Rate
maximum 11Mbps (802.11b)/54 Mbps (802.11a/g) 300 Mbps (Draft 802.11n)*9
Wireless LAN Frequency
5 GHz (802.11a/Draft n), 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g/Draft n)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth standard Ver. 2.1+EDR
Security/Utilities
Fingerprint Sensor
x 1
Security Chip
TCG Ver.1.2 compliant Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Camera
Front Side Camera
Effective pixels: 640x 480
Audio
Sound Chip
DSD compatible high quality sound chip: "Sound Reality"(Intel® High Definition Audio compatible) , 3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support)
Speaker
Built-in stereo speakers
Microphone
Built-in monaural microphone
Keyboard/Input Device
Keyboard
Approx. 17 mm key pitch/1.7 mm keystroke , 82keys
Touchpad
Intelligent Touchpad
Battery Life*10
Bundled Battery
VGP-BPS14/B,/S Lithium-ion battery: up to 6 hours of use
Optional Long Battery
VGP-BPL14/B Lithium-ion battery: up to 9 hours of use
Size
Dimensions (WxHxD)
279 x 23.5 x 199.8 mm
Weight
1.3 kg (including the supplied battery)
Warranty
Source : http://www.me-myco.com
1 Year
HP HDX16-1255
Core 2 Duo, 4GB, 320GB, B.R./ DVD±RW, 16.0" WXGA, Cam Etc.l
DETAIL DESCRIPTION
Product Specifications
• Operating System Microsoft Vista Home Premium
• Processor Intel® Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4Ghz
• Hard Drive 320 Gb
• Display 16.0" W TrueBrite
• Memory 4 Gb
• Video Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
• Multimedia Drive DVD RW
• Warranty 1 Year
• Built-in CameraYes
• Wi-Fi Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
• Bluetooth Yes
• TV Tuner Yes
• External Ports
4 Universal Serial Bus, 1 IEEE 1394 Firewire Port, 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)HDMI 1.3 connector, Microphone in, integrated stereo microphone, eSATA port, HDMI external port, RJ-45 (LAN), VGA
• Remote Yes
• Battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Dimension 14.9 (W) x 10.0" (D) x 1.31 (min H)/1.70(max H) - with Dual
• Weight 7.37lbs
Lenovo 3000 N500 (NS75MAD)
Operating System
DOS
• Processor
Intel® Core Duo 2.16 GHz - T3400
• Hard Drive
1Gb
• Display
15.4" WXGA TFT(1280x800) VibrantView
• Memory
250Gb
• Video Graphics
• Video Memory
• Multimedia Drive
DVDRW
• Infrared
No
• Built-in Camera
Yes
• Wi-Fi
Intel 802.11a/b/g
• Bluetooth
Yes
• PC Card Slots
• TV Tuner
No
• FingerPrint Reader
No
• External Ports
External Display (VGA)External Microphone/Line-InHeadphone / Line outIEEE 1394RJ-11RJ-45S-Video out4 USB 2.05-in-1 Multi-card Reader (SD/MMC/XD/MS/MS Pro)
• Remote
• Battery
6 Cell Lithium-Ion
• Dimension
• Weight
• Others
Integrated speakers: 2 Speaker power rating: 3 Watts Volume control buttons: Speaker Quantity: 2 (Internal Speakers) Audio chipset: ALC861VD
General
Operating System
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
Processor
2.0 Ghz Intel Core2Duo
T6400 / 2MB L2 Cache / 800Mhz FSB
Screen
16' diagonal High Definition HP Ultra Brightview Infinity Display
With HP Ultra BrightView technology
Integrated HP Webcam
Ram
4 GB System Memory
Max 8GB
Hard Drive
320 GB Hard Drive
5400RPM SATA
Optical Drive
Blue Ray ROM with DVD Burner
Capable of Reading and Writing CDs and DVDs and Reading BlueRay Discs
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce 9600GT Graphics Card
512MB Dedicated Memory along with Shared Memory
Multimedia & Security
Integrated Altec Lansing Stereo Speakers, Fingerprint, Fluid Finish, HP Illuminated Logo & HP webcam + mic
HP Pavilion Webcam * Integrated Mic
HP Gloss Fluid Finish
Integrated Fingerprint Reader
Communication
LAN, Bluetooth and Built-in Wifi
Integrated Wifi-N
Integrated Bluetooth
Integrated Ethernet LAN
Dimensions
14.9 (W) x 10.0" (D) x 1.31 (min H)/1.70(max H) - with Dual Lamp
Weight
6.9 lbs
Warranty
1 Year Warranty
Specifications Datasheet (URL)
Toshiba A300-1G3
General
Operating System
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
with Service Pack 1
Processor
Intel Core2Duo Processor T5850
2.16Ghz, 2Mb L2 Cache
667Mhz FSB
Screen
15.4" Widescreen TruBrite
TFT Active matrix LCD
Max resolution 1280x800
with Integrated 1.3Mp Webcam
Ram
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
PC2 5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667Mhz
Max 4GB
Hard Drive
250 GB SATA Drive
Optical Drive
DVD SuperMulti (+/-R Double Layer)
4x DVD+R DL; 4x DVD-R DL; 8x8x8 DVD+RW; 8x6x8 DVD-RW; 5x DVD-RAM; 24x16x24 CD-RW
Graphics
Intel GMA X3100
Shared system memory
Multimedia
Built in Harmon Kardon Stereo speakers
Security
Slot for Kensington Lock
Multimedia
Integrated Toshiba Webcam & Mic
Communication
Modem, LAN, Bluetooth and Built-in Wifi
Intel Wireless
Integrated Bluetooth
10/100 Ethernet
Toshiba V.90 Modem
Dimensions (W x H x D)
363 x 267 x 34.5 (front) / 38.5 (rear) mm
Weight
6.4 lbs
Warranty
1 Year Warranty
Specifications Datasheet (pdf)
Click here for specification datasheet
Any other details or queries
Click here to mail for further info not mentioned anywhere.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
LG launched multimedia phone “LG KM900 – Arena”
yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "LG launched multimedia phone “LG KM900 – Arena”";
yahooBuzzArticleId = window.location.href;
ARTICLEURL
Buzz up! (1)LG launched multimedia phone “LG KM900 – Arena”
Featuring a new 3D S-class user interface for an exhilarating audio and video quality, Arena is the first premium phone in the global market to use Dolby Mobile from Dolby Laboratories to deliver a thrilling surround sound experience for video content and enhance the sound of music content, the company said.
“Arena is a superior class and is special for its 3D S-Class U. The phone has already received rave responses from users abroad, and we are sure that new launch will set new standards for handsets for both functionality and fun and will be well accepted by Indian users,” said Anil Arora, Business Group Marketing Head, Mobile Communication, LG Electronics.
As per the company, its 3-inch WVGA screen with 16M colors has four times sharper resolution than standard QVGA screens.D1 recording capability with a 5 MP camera captures DVD-resolution video that looks great even when played back on a large TV through TV Out. Moreover, Arena can record 120 frames per second slow motion video to catch every detail.
Hundreds of music and movie files can be handled with expanded 40GB storage, including 8GB of internal memory and a 32 GB micro SD slot. Its battery offers up to 30 hours of MP3 playtime, and video and photos can easily be shared on social networking sites. Other advanced features include Google Mobile Service, GPS and geo-tagging.
All this comes packed in sleek metal design with tempered glass over the touch screen. Priced at Rs 24,990, LG Arena is available in silver and black titanium colour schemes at all retail outlets.
Nokia N97 Coming Soon in Pakistan
Speaking at the occasion, Imran Khalid Mahmood, GM Nokia Pakistan said, Delivering on Nokia’s vision and thought leadership based on mobile convergence, Nokia Nseries has aimed to present the best in class mobile computers to its internet savvy consumers. Today, we take great pride in introducing the newest addition to Nokia Nseries Nokia N97. We have combined the most-advanced smartphone capabilities in this device to enhance the internet entertainment for our consumers and at the same time ease-of use with one-touch access to their favourite online content.
“The Nokia N97 is an important step towards our vision of delivering a highly personalized Internet experience,” Henri Mattila said. “Fuelled by a multitude of music, maps, games, media and applications via Ovi, the Nokia N97 transforms the Internet into an experience that’s completely tailored to the tastes and interests of its owner.”
Microsoft Corp files lawsuit over click fraud
In the suit filed on Monday in a U.S. federal court in Seattle against the three individuals and companies they are believed to control, Microsoft said it suffered at least $750,000 as a result of the click fraud scheme.
Under the scheme, large groups of people or automated computer scripts click on online advertisements without having any interest in the services or product being advertised.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said it traced the source of allegedly fraudulent traffic back to the defendants, Eric Lam, Gordon Lam and Melanie Suen.
Microsoft alleges that advertisements for the defendants’ websites displaced their competitors’ advertisements.
Iphone 3.0 Release Time
As Apple rolls out iPhone 3.0 tomorrow, iPhone users can download the software from iTunes for free. However, iPod Touch users have to pay a fee of $9.95.
iPhone OS 3.0 wide release coming WednesdayThe update includes many functions other phones have had for a while, including multimedia messaging (if supported by your carrier–AT&T won’t offer it until later this summer), voice recording, buying and renting movies and TV shows over the air, full system search, tethering (again, if your carrier allows it), and push notifications.
Apple has also bundled in some extras, like landscape virtual keyboard for certain apps, more extensive parental controls, in-app purchasing, and a feature for MobileMe customers called Find My Phone.
Iphone 3gs Lines
Existing AT&T customers who contracts aren’t up but want to upgrade early will have to pay a little bit (alot) more. In fact, it’ll be $399 for the 16 GB version and $499 for the 32 GB. Check out the press release after the cut for additional pricing plan details, what you’ll need to pick up your iPhone 3GS and a few feature explanations.
iPhone 3G S Available at AT&T Tomorrow
Locations Open Early at 7 a.m. For Customers Who Preordered In Store
DALLAS, June 18 AT&T* begins selling iPhone 3G S nationwide tomorrow morning in its more than 2,200 company-owned retail locations. In addition, AT&T today will begin shipping devices to customers who preordered online for arrival beginning tomorrow. iPhone 3G S will also be available tomorrow morning at all 211 U.S. Apple retail stores.
“The time is finally here. We’re more than ready to open our doors tomorrow and begin selling the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “We understand that customers are eager to get their hands on this great new device. So we’ve worked hard to make the experience as easy as possible.”
EARLY HOURS FOR PREORDER CUSTOMERS
Many customers have chosen to preorder iPhone 3G S in an AT&T store or online.
AT&T Store Preorders: Customers who preordered in AT&T stores can return to the same store beginning tomorrow morning, with their receipt, to pick up their order. Customers should be sure to check the e-mail notification they received for their actual arrival date as some preorders will arrive after June 19; dates are based on when preorders were made and available inventory. All stores will open at 7 a.m. local time to exclusively serve preorder customers whose orders are expected to arrive on June 19. Any customer is welcome to visit beginning at normal business hours, at which point all customers will be served on a “first come, first served” basis.
http://gpsobsessed.com
Source : http://www.apakistannews.com/
Unlimited Web Hosting
After the successful launch of Free Managed DNS Service of YoursDomain.Com and competitively priced Email Hosting Product, Web Hosting Product is now all set for a revamp!
YoursDomain.Com are now introducing unlimited features web hosting comes your way on the 1st of July ‘09.
Details of YoursDomain.Com’s Product are as follows:
New Web Hosting Product Specifications.
AccUnlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Disk Space
Unlimited Databases
Unlimited DLLs
Unlimited Email ounts
Source : http://www.apakistannews.com
Read More......Friday, June 19, 2009
Computer Connections: Lesson 1 - Outer Hardware
The Basics
Let's start with the center of any computer system. Do you see something shaped like a box nearby? It will have a power switch and a light or two. It should also have a place or places to insert disks. This is the case that houses all of the important computer components. If it stands up tall, it is a tower case. If it sits flat, it is a desktop case. Ask your parents to let you look at the back of the computer (never do this without permission, because there is a lot of dangerous electricity back there!). You will see lots of cords and cables coming out of the back of the case and going to other computer parts like the monitor.
Input Devices
There are several ways to get new information or input into a computer. The two most common ways are the keyboard and the mouse. The keyboard has keys for characters (letters, numbers and punctuation marks) and special commands. Pressing the keys tells the computer what to do or what to write. The mouse has a special ball that allows you to roll it around on a pad or desk and move the cursor around on screen. By clicking on the buttons on the mouse, you give the computer directions on what to do. There are other devices similar to a mouse that can be used in its place. A trackball has the ball on top and you move it with your finger. A touchpad allows you to move your finger across a pressure sensitive pad and press to click.
Other types of input devices allow you to put images into the computer. A scanner copies a picture or document into the computer. There are several types of scanners and some look very different, but most look like a flat tray with a glass pane and a lid to cover it. You can input photographs into a computer with a digital camera. Photos are taken with the camera away from the computer and stored on a memory chip. Then the camera is plugged into the computer, so that the images can be downloaded. Another input device is a graphics tablet. A pressure sensitive pad is plugged into the computer. When you draw on the tablet with the special pen (never use an ink pen or pencil!), the drawing appears on the screen. The tablet and pen can also be used like a mouse to move the cursor and click.Output Devices
Output devices display information in a way that you can you can understand. The most common output device is a monitor. It looks a lot a like a TV and houses the computer screen. The monitor allows you to 'see' what you and the computer are doing together.
Speakers are output devices that allow you to hear sound from your computer. Computer speakers are just like stereo speakers. There are usually two of them and they come in various sizes.A printer is another common part of a computer system. It takes what you see on the computer screen and prints it on paper. There are two types of printers. The inkjet printer uses inks to print. It is the most common printer used with home computers and it can print in either black and white or color. Laser printers run much faster because they use lasers to print. Laser printers are mostly used in businesses. Black and white laser printers are the most common, but some print in color, too.
Kids Domain Computer Connections
Kids Domain Computer ConnectionsComputers: Inside & Out
Lesson 7: Files & Folders
Computer hard drives hold an enormous amount of data or information. It is very important that all of the data is well organized. That way it is easy for the computer to find what it is looking for. Knowing how a computer's organization system works will help you to find what you are looking for. Computers use files and folders to organize data.
What is a file?A file is a collection of data that is stored together. Files can be stored on a hard drive, a floppy disk, or a CD. Everything that a computer does is based on data stored in files. You can do lots of things with files - create them, name them, rename them, save them, or delete them. Certain files can even be looked at, listened to, and run.
In some ways, files are like television shows. All TV shows have 3 things, just like computer files:
.Name
.Location
.Length
Just as you recognize your favorite TV program by its name, you can also recognize a file by its name. File names often consist of 2 parts: name and type. There are many different types of TV shows - comedies, dramas, cartoons, sports shows, game shows, etc. Similarly, computer files come in different types - text files, graphic files, program files, email files, etc. In many computer systems, files are named so that you know what type of file it is just by looking at the abbreviation behind the name. A period is used to separate the name from the type, like this: "name.type". If TV show titles came in 2 parts like computer files, they would give the name of the program, followed by a period, followed by the type of show it is. It might look like this: "Sillykids.toon" or "EmergencyRoom.drama" or "Football.sport"! One important thing that you should know about file types or extensions is that they are always written as abbreviations, usually with 3 letters. For example, a text file is shown as .txt and an executable program file is shown as .exe. You may not always see the extension on a file name, because many PCs offer the option of turning off the extension. Even though you don't see it, the computer still does. On the Macintosh system, however, the practice of naming files with extensions is not always followed; but you can see what kind of file it is by the icon or 'kind' identifier in the directory listings. Common Mac extensions you'll see are .sit (a compressed stuffit file), .hqx (a binhexed encoded file), .pdf (Adobe Acrobat file). Web pages (no matter what system) always use extensions to identify the kind of file - .htm or .html for the web pages, .gif for gif graphics, .jpg for jpg graphics and so on. Files are stored in certain places within your computer, much like TV programs are shown on certain channels. So, to find a file you must know where it is located, just like you must know on what channel to find your favorite TV show. If you forget what channel a TV show is on, you can either flip through channels until you find the program or you can look in a TV guide to find the information you need quickly. The quickest way to find files on most computers is to use Find. This is a type of search program where you can type in the name of a file and the computer will search and tell you where the file is located. If you use a Windows Operating System, Find is located on your Start Menu. On a Macintosh System, Find! is located under File on the menu bar. (More on Start Menu and menu bar in Lesson 8).
TV Programs, like files, have specific lengths. TV shows may be 30 minutes long, 1 hour long, or several hours long. Files are not measured in time, but in bytes. If you'll remember from Lesson 3: Bits & Bytes, a byte is a measurement of stored data. Larger files may be measured in kilobytes or megabytes. The length of a file tells how much storage space that file is using within the computer.
Folders or DirectoriesWith so many thousands of files stored inside a computer, it is very important to keep them organized. Folders, also known as Directories, keep files organized by grouping them together.
Imagine for a moment that you had a giant toy room filled with toys and you were given the job of organizing all of those toys. You decide to start the job by sorting all of the toys and grouping similar toys together. For example, you put all of your red marbles in a box and all of your blue marbles in another box and all of your clear marbles in another box. Then, you put all of those boxes into a bigger box and label it "marbles". Then, you might even put the "marbles" box into a bigger box that contains boxes of "super balls" and "tennis balls" and "baseballs". You would name that big box "balls". If you continued to organize toys that way, you would end up with an entire room of boxes with labels that contain similar kinds of toys. Then if you needed to find your plastic brontosaurus, you would know to open the box labeled "toy animals" and go past the "bug box" and the "reptile box" until you find the "dinosaur box" - open it and there is the brontosaurus! In this example, the toys are like files and the boxes are like folders. Your computer is set up to store similar files in specific folders. Then similar folders can be put inside other folders, and so on.
Many times, the computer will automatically store files in certain folders in order to keep itself organized. However, when you create new files, you must decide which folders to put them in to keep them organized. You can even create new folders to store your files. For example, let's say that a boy named Adam wants to make a folder of all the fun things he creates on the computer. With an adult's help, Adam creates a folder titled "Adam". Within that folder, he creates 3 new folders titled "stories", "drawings" and "jokes". Then, when Adam writes a story called "Alien Tap Dancing", he stores or saves that file that contains the story in the "stories" folder. On a PC, the file name would be "Alien Tap Dancing.txt" because it is a text file.
The best way to keep up with a file is to know its address. The address basically tells you what drive and folders to look in for a file. For example, the address for Adam's story might look like this on a Macintosh system: "Macintosh HD\Users\Adam\stories\Alien Tap Dancing" (Macintosh HD indicates the hard drive). On a PC, the address might look like this: "C:\\My Documents\Adam\stories\Alien Tap Dancing.txt". In this case, the letter "C" indicates the hard drive, as most PCs assign a letter to each drive in the system. Note, that the file address always includes the drive, folder(s), and file name in exactly that order.
Be A Responsible Computer UserUnderstanding the relationship between files and folders, and how they are addressed and located within your computer system is a very important part of using a computer. Beginners should make it a priority to learn about this early in their computer education. Never delete, move or rename a file unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing! A computer relies on many files to keep itself running correctly, so changing or deleting those files can cause major computer malfunctions! When in doubt, ask a parent, teacher or other expert for assistance. The safest way to learn about using files and folders is to ask for help in setting up your own personal folder, then creating new folders and files within it.
Source : http://www.kidsdomain.com
Kids-and-Teens
Computers have become a common and needed part of life in today's society, making computer education imperative for children. Young children will typically begin to show an interest in the home PC by their toddler years. While it is may be a good idea to begin introducing your toddler to the computer in very short sessions, most children can began to learn and understand a computer’s functionality by preschool age.
Computers have become a common and needed part of life in today’s society, making computer education imperative for children. Young children will typically begin to show an interest in the home PC by their toddler years. While it is may be a good idea to begin introducing your toddler to the computer in very short sessions, most children can began to learn and understand a computer’s functionality by preschool age.
Preschool age children can learn to turn the computer on by themselves and will quickly learn to operate the mouse. Simple games that teach and reinforce basic school readiness skills are great for this age. Computer education for preschool age children should be limited to short sessions of about 30 minutes a few times a week.
Many childcare facilities offer computer time as part of their weekly curriculum for preschoolers. Structured games and activities give young children an opportunity to explore the way a computer works. Games that require dragging objects across the screen are excellent for building mouse skills in beginner users. Chose age-appropriate software and websites that involve alphabet and color recognition, shapes, counting, or short stories that are read aloud. Activities that feature music are also enjoyable for a preschooler’s computer time.
Kindergartners are normally still exploring the basics of computer use and will probably do best with activities that reinforce simple skills. As children become more comfortable with the computer, more complex games and activities can be introduced. Computer education for kindergartners typically consists of short sessions of no more than an hour, playing games that correlate with their classroom learning material.
By first grade, children have usually gained a good understanding of how to use a mouse and they are learning to use keyboard letters to type. Games like Typing Instructor for Kids can help young children become fast and efficient computer users. Early elementary age children are ready to move beyond simple reinforcement and skill drill activities to the many different functions of a computer.
First through third graders should use the computer as a supplement for their classroom work. A student studying about stars and planets can use the internet to search for pictures and information about constellations. An assignment about Africa can include a search for videos of African animals. Allow your child to work on his own, but stay close by to prevent access to inappropriate content and to answer any questions.
Software programs that allow children to create, like an art or publishing suite designed specifically for kids, can boost creativity along with providing exposure to technology. Grade level skills can also be practiced and enhanced with math, reading, and spelling computer games. There are a number of kid-friendly websites that provide search engines, games, and interaction opportunities.
Computer education for children should also include writing and creative writing activities. First graders are beginning to familiarize themselves with the keyboard and can write short letters or emails. By second and third grade, children can use word processor programs or writing software designed for children to write and publish their own short stories and poems, as well as use email to write to relatives.
For more tips and information about 22 Baby Einstein Titles, check out 
http://www.thekidstoystore.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nicole_Munoz
Read More......
IT Proffessionals
Apple technology lets you reduce tactical challenges and make a key contribution to the way learning happens. Because deployment, management, and maintenance take less time and effort, you can focus squarely on empowering educators and students. Apple makes that easy, too, with innovations for digital content creation, virtual collaboration, and mobile learning that let you advance your institution’s mission. And everything will work with your existing network and assets, right out of the box. The Mac even runs Windows (sold separately) at native speed if you need it to. So now there’s nothing to hold you back.
INTEGRATIONConnecting a Mac to existing workgroups, computers, and peripherals is easy. Because Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server are built on open, industry-standard protocols and the latest networking security standards, it’s simple to support the Mac on your network. The Mac also has drivers for a host of peripherals, making it a true plug-and-play computer. Mac clients can integrate with most popular directory services environments, including Microsoft’s Active Directory. And since the Mac will run Windows, students and faculty can use PC applications if they want. With a copy of Windows installed, they can simply restart using Boot Camp, now included with Mac OS X. Learn more
Simplified Management
The Mac is simpler to manage because it’s simpler to use. Faculty and students won’t come to you with problems like PC viruses, network connection troubles, or uncertainty about how to back up. They require less help than ever to do more than ever. If you’re used to Windows administration, you’ll find plenty of similarities in Mac computers, and you’ll be surprised at how easy they are to manage. Mac OS X Server lets you streamline or automate tasks like system imaging and software deployment. And with Apple Remote Desktop, you can do it all without ever leaving your desk.
Collaboration is more important to faculty and students every day, but supporting it doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking. With Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server, you can set up wikis, blogs, and video chats simple enough for faculty to manage without constant help from you — and safe enough for K–12 students.* You can implement a shared calendar with no per-user costs. And you can help students and researchers easily find and share digital assets across your network while protecting confidential information. All of which means you get to be a hero, without the usual heroic effort. Learn moreMac Labs
Whether you need a streamlined multipurpose lab, a room full of 8-core high-performance machines, or an affordable way to tap into mobile learning, Apple has you covered and then some. You get powerful content-creation software and wireless networking built in. Every new Mac can run Windows or Vista (sold separately), so one computer can do the work of two. And Mac OS X is the most secure, reliable operating system available, so you’ll spend very little time dealing with viruses, bugs, and crashes.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
We support Our Peoples:
The support and training options that come with every Mac are almost as amazing as the Mac itself. Every kind of help is available at every turn. All you have to do is decide what’s most useful for your institution. And we can even help you with that.
Professional development for educators.
Apple offers a range of Professional Development workshops. They’re designed to give faculty the skills and confidence to create and publish digital content for their classes, inspire creativity with engaging media assignments, and get teams collaborating in and out of class. We also have sessions to help principals, district leaders, deans, and provosts bring momentum to their technology plans.
Each workshop is led by former educators and is fully customized for your institution. Our Professional Development team can help you evaluate your faculty’s current skills and teaching strategies and create a step-by-step development plan. Learn more
Professional services for IT.
The Apple Professional Services team partners with your IT department to plan or implement your technology initiatives. The team can even manage those initiatives over time.
We can assist your IT team or take on entire projects. We can simply set up new Mac computers. Or we can create a one-to-one program from the ground up, integrate Apple technology into your infrastructure, develop networks and services, bring 
We can assist your IT team or take on entire projects. We can simply set up new Mac computers. Or we can create a one-to-one program from the ground up, integrate Apple technology into your infrastructure, develop networks and services, bring iTunes U to your campus, and more.
Source :http://www.apple.com/
Read More......Prepared Student
Computers, mobile devices, digital media, and the Internet are already part of students’ everyday lives. Apple makes it possible — and easy — for you to use these technologies to engage your students. So you can reach them in ways that are familiar to them, and at the same time, prepare them for a job market where information sharing has never been more
The Apple Ecosystem
The Apple Ecosystem
Only Apple makes everything you need — the hardware, the software, and the operating system. Why does this matter? Because everything Apple makes is designed from the ground up to work together seamlessly — the way things ought to work. The fully integrated Apple ecosystem is easier to implement, use, and maintain. And it allows you to work with one vendor, not four or five. Ultimately, that saves you time and money
Source : www.apple.com
Education
COMPUTER EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
6.1 The programme of Computer Literacy and Studies in Schools (CLASS) was started in 250 schools in 1984-85. It was extended to 500 more schools in 1985-1986 and another 500 schools in 1986-87. Evaluation of the scheme through the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad reveals that:
- de-mystification objective of the project was partially achieved. 15.6% of the students were de-mystified as per the criterion developed for the evaluation.
- the project was implemented best in Kendriya Vidyalayas followed by State Government schools, aided/private schools in that order.
- in most of the schools "welcome package" was the most widely used package. All the packages supplied were not used in most of the schools.
- there was a long time lag in the sanction and installation of systems in the schools.
- English language posed a problem for both students and teachers in a large number of schools.
6.2 The NCERT and the CMC have started the work of generating software packages and 14 such packages have been developed and supplied to schools so far. The CMC has developed key boards and ROMS in 11 regional languages, namely, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Bengali and Assammese. The scheme has been revised on the basis of experience gained and evaluation. The salient features of the revised scheme expected to be finalised very soon include -
- Coverage of 13000 higher secondary schools by 1990.
- Supply of at least five systems in each school.
- Transaction of the programme at plus two level and integration of the programme with the curriculum.
- Resource support to schools through about regional, local and district level resource centres.
6.3 An expert group was constituted in 1986 under the Chairmanship of the Education Secretary to recommend the programme objectives, the hardware and software choice and management system for implementation of CLASS Programme. It has given its report some time back. This report has made a series of recommendations for the implementation of the programme keeping in view the provisions in the NPE, the experi- ence gained in implementation of the programme since 1984-85 and the evaluation of the programme done by the Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad. Based on this, a regular programme is being finalised for covering all the higher secondary schools by 1990. This programme would have some significant improvements over the pilot phase. Some of these are:
a) Literacy would remain the immediate objective of the programme gradually leading to educational computations for students indi- vidually and in groups.
b) Instead of 2 micro-computers 5-8 micro-computers would be given to a school to allow all the students at plus 2 stage in the school to be covered by the programme.
c) A large programme of software generation would be taken up with clear emphasis on Indian languages.
d) Resource Centre support would be provided to schools at district and regional levels.
9
The final decision of the Government on this programme is likely to obtained in the next few months.
Simultaneously to allow for continuity in implementation, an additional 700 schools are being added to the 1250 already covered under the CLASS Project. These schools will be provided the systems comprising of 5 micro-computers each. The selection of schools has already been done in 28 States and UTs and for the remaining would be completed in coming weeks. Three teachers from each school as before would be trained during summer vacation and implementation of the programme in these schools would start in July-August, 1988.
Source : http://www.education.nic.in
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
DNS Server in Windows Server 2003
Before You Start
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Before you start to configure your DNS, you must gather some basic information. Internic must approve some of this information for use on the Internet, but if you are configuring this server for internal use only, you can decide what names and IP addresses to use. You must have the following information:
Your domain name (approved by Internic).
The IP address and host name of each server that you want to provide name resolution for.Note: The servers may be your mail servers, public access servers, FTP servers, WWW servers, and others. Before you configure your computer as a DNS, verify that the following conditions are true:
Your operating system is configured correctly. In the Windows Server 2003 family, the DNS service depends on the correct configuration of the operating system and its services, such as TCP/IP. If you have a new installation of a Windows Server 2003 operating system, then you can use the default service settings. You do not have to take additional action.
You have allocated all the available disk space.
All the existing disk volumes use the NTFS file system. FAT32 volumes are not secure, and they do not support file and folder compression, disk quotas, file encryption, or individual file permissions.
Install DNS
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Open Windows Components Wizard. To do so, use the following steps:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
In Components, select the Networking Services check box, and then click Details.
InSubcomponents of Networking Services, select the Domain Name System (DNS) check box, click OK, and then click Next.
If you are prompted, in Copy files from, type the full path of the distribution files, and then click OK.
Back to the top
Configure DNS
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Start the Configure Your Server Wizard. To do so, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Configure Your Server Wizard.
On the Server Role page, click DNS server, and then click Next.
On the Summary of Selections page, view and confirm the options that you have selected. The following items should appear on this page:
Install DNS
Run the Configure a DNS Wizard to configure DNSIf the Summary of Selections page lists these two items, click Next. If the Summary of Selections page does not list these two items, click Back to return to the Server Role page, click DNS, and then click Next.
When the Configure Your Server Wizard installs the DNS service, it first determines whether the IP address for this server is static or is configured automatically. If your server is currently configured to obtain its IP address automatically, the Configuring Components page of the Windows Components Wizard prompts you to configure this server with a static IP address. To do so:
In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
In the Internet Protocols (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box, click Use the following IP address, and then type the static IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for this server.
In Preferred DNS, type the IP address of this server.
In Alternate DNS, type the IP address of another internal DNS server, or leave this box blank.
When you finish setting up the static addresses for your DNS, click OK, and then click Close.
After you click Close, the Configure a DNS Server Wizard starts. In the wizard, follow these steps:
On the Select Configuration Action page, select the Create a forward lookup zone check box, and then click Next.
To specify that this DNS hosts a DNS zone that contains DNS resource records for your network resources, on the Primary Server Location page, click This server maintains the zone, and then click Next.
On the Zone Name page, in Zone name, specify the name of the DNS zone for your network, and then click Next. The name of the zone is the same as the name of the DNS domain for your small organization or branch office.
On the Dynamic Update page, click Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates, and then click Next. This makes sure that the DNS resource records for the resources in your network update automatically.
On the Forwarders page, click Yes, it should forward queries to DNS servers with the following IP addresses, and then click Next. When you select this configuration, you forward all DNS queries for DNS names outside your network to a DNS at either your ISP or central office. Type one or more IP addresses that either your ISP or central office DNS servers use.
On the Completing the Configure a DNS Wizard page of the Configure a DNS Wizard, you can click Back to change any of the settings. To apply your selections, click Finish. After you finish the Configure a DNS Wizard, the Configure Your Server Wizard displays the This Server is Now a DNS Server page. To review all the changes that you made to your server in the Configure Your Server Wizard or to make sure that a new role was installed successfully, click Configure Your Server log. The Configure Your Server Wizard log is located at %systemroot%\Debug\Configure Your Server.log. To close the Configure Your Server Wizard, click Finish.
Sourcre : http://support.microsoft.com
The X Server Configuration HOWTO
1. What is the X Window Server?
Graphical vs Command-Line
The average user may be frightened at the thought of having to type in commands. Why wouldn't he be able to point and click his way through the freedom provided by Gentoo (and Linux in general)? Well, *big smile*, of course you are able to do this. :-) Linux offers a wide variety of flashy user interfaces and environments which you can install on top of your existing installation.
This is one of the biggest surprises new users come across: a graphical user interface is nothing more than an application which runs on your system. It is not part of the Linux kernel or any other internals of the system. It is a powerful tool that fully enables the graphical abilities of your workstation.
As standards are important, a standard for drawing and moving windows on a screen, interacting with the user through mouse, keyboard and other basic, yet important aspects has been created and named the X Window System, commonly abbreviated as X11 or just X. It is used on Unix, Linux and Unix-like operating systems throughout the world.
The application that provides Linux users with the ability to run graphical user interfaces and that uses the X11 standard is Xorg-X11, a fork of the XFree86 project. XFree86 has decided to use a license that might not be compatible with the GPL license; the use of Xorg is therefore recommended. The official Portage tree does not provide an XFree86 package anymore.
The X.org Project
The X.org project created and maintains a freely redistributable, open-source implementation of the X11 system. It is an open source X11-based desktop infrastructure.
Xorg provides an interface between your hardware and the graphical software you want to run. Besides that, Xorg is also fully network-aware, meaning you are able to run an application on one system while viewing it on a different one.
2. Installing Xorg
Before installing Xorg you have to configure two important variables in the /etc/make.conf file.
The first one is VIDEO_CARDS. This is used to set the video drivers that you intend to use and is usually based on the kind and brand of card you have. The most common settings are nvidia for Nvidia cards or fglrx for ATI Radeon cards. Those are the proprietary drivers from Nvidia and ATI respectively. If you would like to use the open source versions, use nv rather than nvidia in the variable, but bear in mind that using this driver means no 3D acceleration at all. The free radeon and radeonhd drivers for ATI cards support 3D acceleration on older Radeons but don't yet support all the features of the newer ones. VIDEO_CARDS may contain more than one driver, in this case list of them should be separated with spaces.
The second variable is INPUT_DEVICES and is used to determine which drivers are to be built for input devices. In most cases setting it to keyboard mouse should work just fine. If you use alternative input devices, such as a Synaptics touchpad for a laptop, be sure to add it to INPUT_DEVICES.
Now you should decide which drivers you will use and add necessary settings to the /etc/make.conf file:
(For mouse and keyboard support)
INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse"
(For Nvidia cards)
VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia"
(OR, for ATI Radeon cards)
VIDEO_CARDS="fglrx"
More instructions on how to configure nVidia and ATI cards can be found in Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide and in Gentoo Linux ATI FAQ. If you don't know which drivers you should choose, refer to these guides for more information.
Note: If the suggested settings don't work for you, you should run emerge -pv xorg-server, check all the options available and choose those which apply to your system. The example is for the amd64 architecture and xorg-server-1.2.
# emerge -pv xorg-server
These are the packages that would be merged, in order:
Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild R ] x11-base/xorg-server-1.2.0-r3 USE="dri nptl xorg (-3dfx) -debug
-dmx -ipv6 -kdrive -minimal -sdl -xprint" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse -acecad
-aiptek -calcomp -citron -digitaledge -dmc -dynapro -elo2300 -elographics -evdev
-fpit -hyperpen -jamstudio -joystick -magellan -microtouch -mutouch -palmax
-penmount -spaceorb -summa -synaptics -tek4957 -ur98 -vmmouse -void -wacom"
VIDEO_CARDS="nvidia -apm -ark -chips -cirrus -cyrix -dummy -epson -fbdev -fglrx
-glint -i128 (-i740) -i810 (-impact) (-imstt) -mach64 -mga -neomagic (-newport)
(-nsc) -nv -r128 -radeon -rendition -s3 -s3virge -savage -siliconmotion -sis
-sisusb (-sunbw2) (-suncg14) (-suncg3) (-suncg6) (-sunffb) (-sunleo) (-suntcx)
-tdfx -tga -trident -tseng -v4l -vesa -vga -via -vmware -voodoo" 0 kB
After setting all the necessary variables you can install the Xorg package.
# emerge xorg-server
Note: You could install the xorg-x11 metapackage instead of the more lightweight xorg-server. Functionally, xorg-x11 and xorg-server are the same. However, xorg-x11 brings in many more packages that you probably don't need, such as a huge assortment of fonts in many different languages. They're not necessary for a working desktop.
When the installation is finished, you might need to re-initialise some environment variables before you continue. Just run env-update followed by source /etc/profile and you're all set.
# env-update
# source /etc/profile
3. Configuring Xorg
The xorg.conf File
The configuration file of Xorg is called xorg.conf and it resides in /etc/X11. Xorg provides an example configuration as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.example which you can use to create your own configuration. It is heavily commented, but if you are in need of more documentation regarding the syntax, don't hesitate to read the man page:
# man 5 xorg.conf
Happy reading for those of you willing to. We surely don't so we'll continue with checking out how we can create the file automatically.
Default: Automatic Generation of xorg.conf
Xorg itself is able to guess most parameters for you. In most cases, you will only have to change some lines to get the resolution you want up and running. If you are interested in more in-depth tweaking, be sure to check the resources at the end of this chapter. But first, let us generate a (hopefully working) Xorg configuration file.
# Xorg -configure
Be sure to read the last lines printed on your screen when Xorg has finished probing your hardware. If it tells you it failed at some point, you're forced to manually write an xorg.conf file. Assuming that it didn't fail, it will have told you that it has written /root/xorg.conf.new ready for you to test. So let's test. :)
# X -config /root/xorg.conf.new
If all goes well, you should see a simple black and white pattern. Verify if your mouse works correctly and if the resolution is good. If you received errors about "/dev/mouse", try changing your mouse device to /dev/input/mice in the "InputDevice" section of xorg.conf. You might not be able to deduce the exact resolution, but you should be able to see if it's too low. You can exit any time by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
Alternative: Semi-Automatic Generation of xorg.conf
Xorg provides a tool called xorgconfig which will ask you for various information regarding your system (graphical adapter, keyboard, ...). Based on your input it will create a xorg.conf file.
# xorgconfig
Another tool, also provided by Xorg, is xorgcfg, which will first attempt to run Xorg -configure and then start the X server for more final tweaking.
# xorgcfg
(In case X crashes or the configuration fails, try:)
# xorgcfg -textmode
Copying over xorg.conf
Let us copy over the xorg.conf.new to /etc/X11/xorg.conf now, so we won't have to continuously run X -config -- typing just X or startx is easier. :)
# cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Using startx
Now try startx to start up your X server. startx is a script that executes an X session, that is, it starts the X servers and some graphical applications on top of it. It decides which applications to run using the following logic:
If a file named .xinitrc exists in the home directory, it will execute the commands listed there.
Otherwise, it will read the value of the XSESSION variable and will execute one of the sessions available in /etc/X11/Sessions/ accordingly (you can set the value of XSESSION in /etc/rc.conf to make it a default for all the users on the system).
If all of the above fail, it will fall back to a simple window manager, usually twm.
# startx
If you see an ugly, loathsome, repulsive, deformed window manager, that's twm. To finish the twm session, type in exit or Ctrl-D in the upcoming xterms. You can also kill the X session using the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace combination. This will however make X exit disgracefully -- something that you might not always want. It doesn't hurt though. :)
4. Tweaking xorg.conf
Setting your Resolution
If you feel that the screen resolution is wrong, you will need to check two sections in your configuration. First of all, you have the Screen section which lists the resolutions, if any that your X server will run at. By default, this section might not list any resolutions at all. If this is the case, Xorg will estimate the resolutions based on the information in the second section, Monitor.
What happens is that Xorg checks the settings of HorizSync and VertRefresh in the Monitor section to compute valid resolutions. For now, leave these settings as-is. Only when the changes to the Screen section (which we will describe in a minute) don't work, then you will need to look up the specs for your monitor and fill in the correct values. You can also use a tool that searches for your monitor's specs, such as sys-apps/ddcxinfo-knoppix.
Warning: Do not "just" change the values of these two monitor related variables without consulting the technical specifications of your monitor. Setting incorrect values lead to out-of-sync errors at best and smoked up screens at worst.
Now let us change the resolutions. In the next example from /etc/X11/xorg.conf we add the Modes lines and the DefaultDepth so that our X server starts with 24 bits at 1024x768 by default. Don't mind the given strings -- they are examples and will most likely differ from the settings on your system.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "S3 Inc. ProSavage KN133 [Twister K]"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
# Skipping some text to improve readability
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Run X (startx) to discover it uses the resolution you want. :)
Configuring your Keyboard
To setup X to use an international keyboard, search for the InputDevice section that configures the keyboard and add the XkbLayout option to point to the keyboard layout you want. As an example, we show you how to apply for the Belgian layout. Just substitute the country-keycode with yours:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "be"
EndSection
Configuring your Mouse
If your mouse isn't working, you will first need to find out if it is detected by the kernel at all. Mice are (device-wise) seen as /dev/input/mouse0 (or /dev/input/mice if you want to use several mice). In some cases /dev/psaux is used. In either case you can check if the devices do represent your mouse by checking the output of those files when you move your mouse. You will usually see some junk on your screen. To end the session press Ctrl-C.
# cat /dev/input/mouse0
(Don't forget to press Ctrl-C to end this)
If your mouse isn't detected, verify if all the necessary modules are loaded.
If your mouse is detected, fill in the device in the appropriate InputDevice section. In the next example you'll see we also set two other options: Protocol (which lists the mouse protocol to be used -- most users will use PS/2 or IMPS/2) and ZAxisMapping (which allows for the mousewheel (if applicable) to be used).
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TouchPad Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Run startx and be happy about the result. :) Congratulations, you now (hopefully) have a working Xorg on your system. The next step is to remove this ugly lightweight window manager and use a high-feature one (or even a desktop environment) such as KDE or GNOME, but that's not part of this guide. :)
5. Resources
Creating and Tweaking xorg.conf
First of all, man xorg.conf provides a quick yet complete reference about the syntax used by the configuration file. Be sure to have it open on a terminal near you when you edit your configuration file!
Also, be sure to look at /etc/X11/xorg.conf.example; you may wish to copy this and use it as a foundation for writing your own xorg.conf.
You may find the X.org FAQ provided on their website, in addition to their other documentation.
There are also many online resources on editing xorg.conf. We only list few of them here, be sure to Google for more. :) As xorg.conf and XF86Config (the configuration file for the XFree86 project) use the same syntax for most configuration options and more information about XF86Config is available, we'll list those resources as well.
Source : http://www.gentoo.org/do
httpd, the Apache HTTP server
The Apache HTTP Server is a “heavy duty” network server that Subversion can leverage. Via a custom module, httpd makes Subversion repositories available to clients via the WebDAV/DeltaV protocol, which is an extension to HTTP 1.1 (see http://www.webdav.org/ for more information.) This protocol takes the ubiquitous HTTP protocol that is the core of the World Wide Web, and adds writing—specifically, versioned writing—capabilities. The result is a standardized, robust system that is conveniently packaged as part of the Apache 2.0 software, is supported by numerous operating systems and third-party products, and doesn't require network administrators to open up yet another custom port. [22] While an Apache-Subversion server has more features than svnserve, it's also a bit more difficult to set up. With flexibility often comes more complexity.
Much of the following discussion includes references to Apache configuration directives. While some examples are given of the use of these directives, describing them in full is outside the scope of this chapter. The Apache team maintains excellent documentation, publicly available on their website at http://httpd.apache.org. For example, a general reference for the configuration directives is located at http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/directives.html.
Also, as you make changes to your Apache setup, it is likely that somewhere along the way a mistake will be made. If you are not already familiar with Apache's logging subsystem, you should become aware of it. In your httpd.conf file are directives that specify the on-disk locations of the access and error logs generated by Apache (the CustomLog and ErrorLog directives, respectively). Subversion's mod_dav_svn uses Apache's error logging interface as well. You can always browse the contents of those files for information that might reveal the source of a problem that is not clearly noticeable otherwise.
Why Apache 2?
If you're a system administrator, it's very likely that you're already running the Apache web server and have some prior experience with it. At the time of writing, Apache 1.3 is by far the most popular version of Apache. The world has been somewhat slow to upgrade to the Apache 2.X series for various reasons: some people fear change, especially changing something as critical as a web server. Other people depend on plug-in modules that only work against the Apache 1.3 API, and are waiting for a 2.X port. Whatever the reason, many people begin to worry when they first discover that Subversion's Apache module is written specifically for the Apache 2 API.
The proper response to this problem is: don't worry about it. It's easy to run Apache 1.3 and Apache 2 side-by-side; simply install them to separate places, and use Apache 2 as a dedicated Subversion server that runs on a port other than 80. Clients can access the repository by placing the port number into the URL:$ svn checkout http://host.example.com:7382/repos/project
…
Prerequisites
To network your repository over HTTP, you basically need four components, available in two packages. You'll need Apache httpd 2.0, the mod_dav DAV module that comes with it, Subversion, and the mod_dav_svn filesystem provider module distributed with Subversion. Once you have all of those components, the process of networking your repository is as simple as:
getting httpd 2.0 up and running with the mod_dav module,
installing the mod_dav_svn plugin to mod_dav, which uses Subversion's libraries to access the repository, and
configuring your httpd.conf file to export (or expose) the repository.
You can accomplish the first two items either by compiling httpd and Subversion from source code, or by installing pre-built binary packages of them on your system. For the most up-to-date information on how to compile Subversion for use with the Apache HTTP Server, as well as how to compile and configure Apache itself for this purpose, see the INSTALL file in the top level of the Subversion source code tree.
Basic Apache Configuration
Once you have all the necessary components installed on your system, all that remains is the configuration of Apache via its httpd.conf file. Instruct Apache to load the mod_dav_svn module using the LoadModule directive. This directive must precede any other Subversion-related configuration items. If your Apache was installed using the default layout, your mod_dav_svn module should have been installed in the modules subdirectory of the Apache install location (often /usr/local/apache2). The LoadModule directive has a simple syntax, mapping a named module to the location of a shared library on disk:LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so
Note that if mod_dav was compiled as a shared object (instead of statically linked directly to the httpd binary), you'll need a similar LoadModule statement for it, too. Be sure that it comes before the mod_dav_svn line:LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so
At a later location in your configuration file, you now need to tell Apache where you keep your Subversion repository (or repositories). The Location directive has an XML-like notation, starting with an opening tag, and ending with a closing tag, with various other configuration directives in the middle. The purpose of the Location directive is to instruct Apache to do something special when handling requests that are directed at a given URL or one of its children. In the case of Subversion, you want Apache to simply hand off support for URLs that point at versioned resources to the DAV layer. You can instruct Apache to delegate the handling of all URLs whose path portions (the part of the URL that follows the server's name and the optional port number) begin with /repos/ to a DAV provider whose repository is located at /absolute/path/to/repository using the following httpd.conf syntax:
DAV svn
SVNPath /absolute/path/to/repository
If you plan to support multiple Subversion repositories that will reside in the same parent directory on your local disk, you can use an alternative directive, the SVNParentPath directive, to indicate that common parent directory. For example, if you know you will be creating multiple Subversion repositories in a directory /usr/local/svn that would be accessed via URLs like http://my.server.com/svn/repos1, http://my.server.com/svn/repos2, and so on, you could use the httpd.conf configuration syntax in the following example:
DAV svn
# any "/svn/foo" URL will map to a repository /usr/local/svn/foo
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
Using the previous syntax, Apache will delegate the handling of all URLs whose path portions begin with /svn/ to the Subversion DAV provider, which will then assume that any items in the directory specified by the SVNParentPath directive are actually Subversion repositories. This is a particularly convenient syntax in that, unlike the use of the SVNPath directive, you don't have to restart Apache in order to create and network new repositories.
Be sure that when you define your new Location, it doesn't overlap with other exported Locations. For example, if your main DocumentRoot is /www, do not export a Subversion repository in
Server Names and the COPY Request
Subversion makes use of the COPY request type to perform server-side copies of files and directories. As part of the sanity checking done by the Apache modules, the source of the copy is expected to be located on the same machine as the destination of the copy. To satisfy this requirement, you might need to tell mod_dav the name you use as the hostname of your server. Generally, you can use the ServerName directive in httpd.conf to accomplish this.ServerName svn.example.com
If you are using Apache's virtual hosting support via the NameVirtualHost directive, you may need to use the ServerAlias directive to specify additional names that your server is known by. Again, refer to the Apache documentation for full details.
At this stage, you should strongly consider the question of permissions. If you've been running Apache for some time now as your regular web server, you probably already have a collection of content—web pages, scripts and such. These items have already been configured with a set of permissions that allows them to work with Apache, or more appropriately, that allows Apache to work with those files. Apache, when used as a Subversion server, will also need the correct permissions to read and write to your Subversion repository. (See Servers and Permissions: A Word of Warning.)
You will need to determine a permission system setup that satisfies Subversion's requirements without messing up any previously existing web page or script installations. This might mean changing the permissions on your Subversion repository to match those in use by other things that Apache serves for you, or it could mean using the User and Group directives in httpd.conf to specify that Apache should run as the user and group that owns your Subversion repository. There is no single correct way to set up your permissions, and each administrator will have different reasons for doing things a certain way. Just be aware that permission-related problems are perhaps the most common oversight when configuring a Subversion repository for use with Apache.
Authentication Options
At this point, if you configured httpd.conf to contain something like
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
...then your repository is “anonymously” accessible to the world. Until you configure some authentication and authorization policies, the Subversion repositories you make available via the Location directive will be generally accessible to everyone. In other words,
anyone can use their Subversion client to checkout a working copy of a repository URL (or any of its subdirectories),
anyone can interactively browse the repository's latest revision simply by pointing their web browser to the repository URL, and
anyone can commit to the repository.
Basic HTTP Authentication
The easiest way to authenticate a client is via the HTTP Basic authentication mechanism, which simply uses a username and password to verify that a user is who she says she is. Apache provides an htpasswd utility for managing the list of acceptable usernames and passwords, those to whom you wish to grant special access to your Subversion repository. Let's grant commit access to Sally and Harry. First, we need to add them to the password file.$ ### First time: use -c to create the file
$ ### Use -m to use MD5 encryption of the password, which is more secure
$ htpasswd -cm /etc/svn-auth-file harry
New password: *****
Re-type new password: *****
Adding password for user harry
$ htpasswd /etc/svn-auth-file -m sally
New password: *******
Re-type new password: *******
Adding password for user sally
$
Next, you need to add some more httpd.conf directives inside your Location block to tell Apache what to do with your new password file. The AuthType directive specifies the type of authentication system to use. In this case, we want to specify the Basic authentication system. AuthName is an arbitrary name that you give for the authentication domain. Most browsers will display this name in the pop-up dialog box when the browser is querying the user for his name and password. Finally, use the AuthUserFile directive to specify the location of the password file you created using htpasswd.
After adding these three directives, your
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-file
This
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-file
Require valid-user
Be sure to read the next section (the section called “Authorization Options”) for more detail on the Require directive and other ways to set authorization policies.
One word of warning: HTTP Basic Auth passwords pass in very nearly plain-text over the network, and thus are extremely insecure. If you're worried about password snooping, it may be best to use some sort of SSL encryption, so that clients authenticate via https:// instead of http://; at a bare minimum, you can configure Apache to use a self-signed server certificate. [23] Consult Apache's documentation (and OpenSSL documentation) about how to do that.
SSL Certificate Management
Businesses that need to expose their repositories for access outside the company firewall should be conscious of the possibility that unauthorized parties could be “sniffing” their network traffic. SSL makes that kind of unwanted attention less likely to result in sensitive data leaks.
If a Subversion client is compiled to use OpenSSL, then it gains the ability to speak to an Apache server via https:// URLs. The Neon library used by the Subversion client is not only able to verify server certificates, but can also supply client certificates when challenged. When the client and server have exchanged SSL certificates and successfully authenticated one another, all further communication is encrypted via a session key.
It's beyond the scope of this book to describe how to generate client and server certificates, and how to configure Apache to use them. Many other books, including Apache's own documentation, describe this task. But what can be covered here is how to manage server and client certificates from an ordinary Subversion client.
When speaking to Apache via https://, a Subversion client can receive two different types of information:
a server certificate
a demand for a client certificate
If the client receives a server certificate, it needs to verify that it trusts the certificate: is the server really who it claims to be? The OpenSSL library does this by examining the signer of the server certificate, or certifying authority (CA). If OpenSSL is unable to automatically trust the CA, or if some other problem occurs (such as an expired certificate or hostname mismatch), the Subversion commandline client will ask you whether you want to trust the server certificate anyway:$ svn list https://host.example.com/repos/project
Error validating server certificate for 'https://home.example.com:443':
- The certificate is not issued by a trusted authority. Use the
fingerprint to validate the certificate manually!
Certificate information:
- Hostname: host.example.com
- Valid: from Jan 30 19:23:56 2004 GMT until Jan 30 19:23:56 2006 GMT
- Issuer: CA, example.com, Sometown, California, US
- Fingerprint: 7d:e1:a9:34:33:39:ba:6a:e9:a5:c4:22:98:7b:76:5c:92:a0:9c:7b
(R)eject, accept (t)emporarily or accept (p)ermanently?
This dialogue should look familiar; it's essentially the same question you've probably seen coming from your web browser (which is just another HTTP client like Subversion!). If you choose the (p)ermanent option, the server certificate will be cached in your private run-time auth/ area in just the same way your username and password are cached (see the section called “Client Credentials Caching”.) If cached, Subversion will automatically remember to trust this certificate in future negotiations.
Your run-time servers file also gives you the ability to make your Subversion client automatically trust specific CAs, either globally or on a per-host basis. Simply set the ssl-authority-files variable to a semicolon-separated list of PEM-encoded CA certificates:[global]
ssl-authority-files = /path/to/CAcert1.pem;/path/to/CAcert2.pem
Many OpenSSL installations also have a pre-defined set of “default” CAs that are nearly universally trusted. To make the Subversion client automatically trust these standard authorities, set the ssl-trust-default-ca variable to true.
When talking to Apache, a Subversion client might also receive a challenge for a client certificate. Apache is asking the client to identify itself: is the client really who it says it is? If all goes correctly, the Subversion client sends back a private certificate signed by a CA that Apache trusts. A client certificate is usually stored on disk in encrypted format, protected by a local password. When Subversion receives this challenge, it will ask you for both a path to the certificate and the password which protects it:$ svn list https://host.example.com/repos/project
Authentication realm: https://host.example.com:443
Client certificate filename: /path/to/my/cert.p12
Passphrase for '/path/to/my/cert.p12': ********
…
Notice that the client certificate is a “p12” file. To use a client certificate with Subversion, it must be in PKCS#12 format, which is a portable standard. Most web browsers are already able to import and export certificates in that format. Another option is to use the OpenSSL commandline tools to convert existing certificates into PKCS#12.
Again, the runtime servers file allows you to automate this challenge on a per-host basis. Either or both pieces of information can be described in runtime variables:[groups]
examplehost = host.example.com
[examplehost]
ssl-client-cert-file = /path/to/my/cert.p12
ssl-client-cert-password = somepassword
Once you've set the ssl-client-cert-file and ssl-client-cert-password variables, the Subversion client can automatically respond to a client certificate challenge without prompting you. [24]
Authorization Options
At this point, you've configured authentication, but not authorization. Apache is able to challenge clients and confirm identities, but it has not been told how to allow or restrict access to the clients bearing those identities. This section describes two strategies for controlling access to your repositories.
Blanket Access Control
The simplest form of access control is to authorize certain users for either read-only access to a repository, or read/write access to a repository.
You can restrict access on all repository operations by adding the Require valid-user directive to your
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
# how to authenticate a user
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /path/to/users/file
# only authenticated users may access the repository
Require valid-user
Sometimes you don't need to run such a tight ship. For example, Subversion's own source code repository at http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn allows anyone in the world to perform read-only repository tasks (like checking out working copies and browsing the repository with a web browser), but restricts all write operations to authenticated users. To do this type of selective restriction, you can use the Limit and LimitExcept configuration directives. Like the Location directive, these blocks have starting and ending tags, and you would nest them inside your
The parameters present on the Limit and LimitExcept directives are HTTP request types that are affected by that block. For example, if you wanted to disallow all access to your repository except the currently supported read-only operations, you would use the LimitExcept directive, passing the GET, PROPFIND, OPTIONS, and REPORT request type parameters. Then the previously mentioned Require valid-user directive would be placed inside the
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
# how to authenticate a user
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /path/to/users/file
# For any operations other than these, require an authenticated user.
Require valid-user
These are only a few simple examples. For more in-depth information about Apache access control and the Require directive, take a look at the Security section of the Apache documentation's tutorials collection at http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/misc/tutorials.html.
Per-Directory Access Control
It's possible to set up finer-grained permissions using a second Apache httpd module, mod_authz_svn. This module grabs the various opaque URLs passing from client to server, asks mod_dav_svn to decode them, and then possibly vetoes requests based on access policies defined in a configuration file.
If you've built Subversion from source code, mod_authz_svn is automatically built and installed alongside mod_dav_svn. Many binary distributions install it automatically as well. To verify that it's installed correctly, make sure it comes right after mod_dav_svn's LoadModule directive in httpd.conf:LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so
LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so
To activate this module, you need to configure your Location block to use the AuthzSVNAccessFile directive, which specifies a file containing the permissions policy for paths within your repositories. (In a moment, we'll discuss the format of that file.)
Apache is flexible, so you have the option to configure your block in one of three general patterns. To begin, choose one of these basic configuration patterns. (The examples below are very simple; look at Apache's own documentation for much more detail on Apache authentication and authorization options.)
The simplest block is to allow open access to everyone. In this scenario, Apache never sends authentication challenges, so all users are treated as “anonymous”.
Example 6.1. A sample configuration for anonymous access.
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
# our access control policy
AuthzSVNAccessFile /path/to/access/file
On the opposite end of the paranoia scale, you can configure your block to demand authentication from everyone. All clients must supply credentials to identify themselves. Your block unconditionally requires authentication via the Require valid-user directive, and defines a means to authenticate.
Example 6.2. A sample configuration for authenticated access.
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
# our access control policy
AuthzSVNAccessFile /path/to/access/file
# only authenticated users may access the repository
Require valid-user
# how to authenticate a user
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /path/to/users/file
A third very popular pattern is to allow a combination of authenticated and anonymous access. For example, many administrators want to allow anonymous users to read certain repository directories, but want only authenticated users to read (or write) more sensitive areas. In this setup, all users start out accessing the repository anonymously. If your access control policy demands a real username at any point, Apache will demand authentication from the client. To do this, you use both the Satisfy Any and Require valid-user directives together.
Example 6.3. A sample configuration for mixed authenticated/anonymous access.
DAV svn
SVNParentPath /usr/local/svn
# our access control policy
AuthzSVNAccessFile /path/to/access/file
# try anonymous access first, resort to real
# authentication if necessary.
Satisfy Any
Require valid-user
# how to authenticate a user
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Subversion repository"
AuthUserFile /path/to/users/file
Once your basic Location block is configured, you can create an access file and define some authorization rules in it.
The syntax of the access file is the same familiar one used by svnserve.conf and the runtime configuration files. Lines that start with a hash (#) are ignored. In its simplest form, each section names a repository and path within it, and the authenticated usernames are the option names within each section. The value of each option describes the user's level of access to the repository path: either r (read-only) or rw (read-write). If the user is not mentioned at all, no access is allowed.
To be more specific: the value of the section-names are either of the form [repos-name:path] or the form [path]. If you're using the SVNParentPath directive, then it's important to specify the repository names in your sections. If you omit them, then a section like [/some/dir] will match the path /some/dir in every repository. If you're using the SVNPath directive, however, then it's fine to only define paths in your sections—after all, there's only one repository.[calc:/branches/calc/bug-142]
harry = rw
sally = r
In this first example, the user harry has full read and write access on the /branches/calc/bug-142 directory in the calc repository, but the user sally has read-only access. Any other users are blocked from accessing this directory.
Of course, permissions are inherited from parent to child directory. That means that we can specify a subdirectory with a different access policy for Sally:[calc:/branches/calc/bug-142]
harry = rw
sally = r
# give sally write access only to the 'testing' subdir
[calc:/branches/calc/bug-142/testing]
sally = rw
Now Sally can write to the testing subdirectory of the branch, but can still only read other parts. Harry, meanwhile, continues to have complete read-write access to the whole branch.
It's also possible to explicitly deny permission to someone via inheritance rules, by setting the username variable to nothing:[calc:/branches/calc/bug-142]
harry = rw
sally = r
[calc:/branches/calc/bug-142/secret]
harry =
In this example, Harry has read-write access to the entire bug-142 tree, but has absolutely no access at all to the secret subdirectory within it.
The thing to remember is that the most specific path always matches first. The mod_authz_svn module tries to match the path itself, and then the parent of the path, then the parent of that, and so on. The net effect is that mentioning a specific path in the accessfile will always override any permissions inherited from parent directories.
By default, nobody has any access to the repository at all. That means that if you're starting with an empty file, you'll probably want to give at least read permission to all users at the root of the repository. You can do this by using the asterisk variable (*), which means “all users”:[/]
* = r
This is a common setup; notice that there's no repository name mentioned in the section name. This makes all repositories world readable to all users, whether you're using SVNPath or SVNParentPath. Once all users have read-access to the repositories, you can give explicit rw permission to certain users on specific subdirectories within specific repositories.
The asterisk variable (*) is also worth special mention here: it's the only pattern which matches an anonymous user. If you've configured your Location block to allow a mixture of anonymous and authenticated access, all users start out accessing Apache anonymously. mod_authz_svn looks for a * value defined for the path being accessed; if it can't find one, then Apache demands real authentication from the client.
The access file also allows you to define whole groups of users, much like the Unix /etc/group file:[groups]
calc-developers = harry, sally, joe
paint-developers = frank, sally, jane
everyone = harry, sally, joe, frank, sally, jane
Groups can be granted access control just like users. Distinguish them with an “at” (@) prefix:[calc:/projects/calc]
@calc-developers = rw
[paint:/projects/paint]
@paint-developers = rw
jane = r
Source : http://svnbook.red-bean.com
...and that's pretty much all there is to it.