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LinuxDay 2014 in Melzo

November 3, 2014 - Melzo, IT

In Italy every year, during the last weekend of October, there is the Linux Day, an “open day” for the LUGs where they create events to publicize GNU/Linux and the Free Software. As usual (for the last 5 years now), the ViGLug organized it’s event and this time has been in Melzo, a city less than half hour drive east from Milan. We had a very nice event with more than 50 new people coming to learn about Linux and its wonderful world.

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Hello Planet Fedora

August 24, 2014

Hi guys, my name is Fabio Alessandro Locati and I’m a Fedora packager involved in multiple packages. Also I’m in the process of becoming an Ambassador.

This is my first blog post on Planet Fedora and I think I’ll post here mainly about the packages I’m involved with. I will also, sometimes, blog about events, Fedora and Linux in general!

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Innotop fixed for MariaDB 10

August 24, 2014

One of my clients asked me to upgrade their MySQL 5.1 installation to MariaDB 10. This caused some problems mainly due to the fact that many MySQL clients are not MariaDB 10 ready. An example of a MySQL client not yet ready for MariaDB 10 is Innotop.

Innotop is a widely used client for MySQL/MariaDB that shows you an interface similar to the “top” Unix command. To solve this, I found a patch online and, after some testing, I’ve added it to the Fedora package.

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The Wireshark Field Guide by Robert J. Shimonski (Elsevier)

April 2, 2014

I usually don’t start with this, but lately I had some time constraints that made me wondering if is right to use so much time reading books. The Wireshark Field Guide Analyzing and Troubleshooting Network Traffic by Robert J. Shimonski is only 149 pages long (if we cut the introduction, indexes, etc. it boils down to 128 pages). This is a really short book and I have really appreciated this fact. Wireshark is a very useful and powerful tool, but many people do not need to know everything about it. If you need to know everything about wireshark, the best option is to download the source and read it, but this is not the case for 99.99% of the people interested in Wireshark.

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Debian decision on systemd

February 14, 2014

The Debian Technical Committee questioned which direction they should go concerning which PID1 to use in the last couple of weeks.

Ian Jackson, former Debian Project Leader and currently standing in the Debian Technical Committee, asked to vote on the 5th of February on the matter. Against Ian’s preference, the result of the vote is that Debian will use systemd as the default PID1. The result is a very narrow one since it was 4:4 with Upstart. The victory for systemd happened thanks to the tie-breaking vote of the Technical Committee chair, Bdale Garbee.

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CompTIA Security+

October 16, 2013

A month after the CompTIA Linux+, I decided to do the CompTIA Security+.

As for the Linux+, the Security+ uses on a multiple-choice test. In this case, I think this kind of exam is a perfect fit since it’s essential that the candidate has and can demonstrate a solid understanding of the theory behind security.

Overall I liked the exam, and I would suggest it to anyone interested in starting a journey in security or wants (or needs) to have a certification that certifies a base knowledge around security.

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CompTIA Linux+

September 15, 2013

In August, I passed the CompTIA LX0-101 exam and a couple of days ago the LX0-102 exam. Together, those two exams allowed me to earn the CompTIA Linux+ certification.

I did not found the two exams too hard, and in fact, I passed both with a considerable margin. Those two exams are multiple-choice kind of questions. I would find a scenario-based exam more valuable since it would test actual capabilities. Still, I understand that for basic knowledge, the multiple-choice option can be a good one.

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RESTful Web APIs by Leonard Richardson, Mike Amundsen, Sam Ruby (O'Reilly Media)

May 28, 2013

The API are now becoming more used every day. Today every major website provides it’s own set of API and often the company websites and services are chosen (or not chosen) based on the availability of API and their design.

In this huge world that is getting bigger every day, RESTful API plays a huge role, in fact a lot of companies are moving their API to RESTful API since it’s easier to use, therefore more attractive for potential clients.

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Zero to Maker: Learn (Just Enough) to Make (Just About) Anything by David Lang (Maker Media)

May 21, 2013

When I opened this book I was impressed on the image/text ratio. Being a Maker Media product, I thought it was somehow similar to the Make magazine. I was very wrong: in the whole book there are less then 10 images/photos.

This is a good thing, if you like to read because allows the author to put way more contents than if he had to put more images and it keeps the file size small (~23Mb).

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Principles of Big Data: Preparing, Sharing, and Analyzing Complex Information by Jules J Berman (Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann)

May 14, 2013

As you probably know, I usually do not comment the books layout, being more focused on the contents of a book instead of it’s layout.

This time I will start this review speaking about the layout of this book since it’s REALLY peculiar. The Introduction is written in a two-columns layout, very similar to the Science magazine layout. The book itself is written in a single column layout, still with a “Science like” look. What shocked me a little bit about this is the sense of old scientific document that this book has. This is true until you read the first few pages. As soon as you do it, the sense of old scientific document disappears quickly.

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