NewsForge demonstrates how to run Linux from a USB pen drive.

You can carry GNU/Linux in your pocket with a functional, quick, and useful USB pen drive distribution. Pen drives are faster than CDs, and the small distros that fit on them don't require huge amounts of memory for the operating system and applications.

NewsForge explores the configurability of MySQL with this tutorial on coverting from MyISAM to InnoDB.

The MySQL database is unique in that it offers multiple storage engines. The SQL parser and front end interfaces are separate from the storage engines, so you can choose among nine low-level table formats the one that suits your application best. I recently needed to convert a production application from the default indexed sequential format, MyISAM, to InnoDB. Here's my no-hassle guide to performing the conversion.

The Linux Journal presents this tutorial on FreeWheeling, software that allows you to create audio looping.

In this month's column, I take a look at the latest version of FreeWheeling and consider its basic capabilities. FreeWheeling has features I haven't explored yet, but even its basic use shows off FreeWheeling's musicality.

Learn how to use OpenOffice Impress to jazz up those presentations.

The next time you give a presentation with your laptop, don't use bullet points, long-running paragraphs, or templates. Oh, and don't be so organized either. Exercise some freedom, as in free and open source, and talk to your audience, as opposed to reading from slides. Let OpenOffice.org Impress, a tool for creating multimedia presentations, add richness to your story.

Linux.com presents this tutorial on creating animations via the command line.

If the success of the "Shrek," "Toy Story," "Stuart Little," "The Incredibles," and many other Hollywood hits is any indication, animations add glitz to the mundane. While animation in the movies still requires professional animation packages like Blender, you can make simple animations using the command-line wizardry of ImageMagick.

Linux.com continues their Command Line Interface series; this time looking at a tool that tests password security.

There is more to the CLI than a collection of operating system commands. There are many tools - applications written without a thought as to the operating system - available at the CLI to handle a wide range of chores. Like cracking passwords, for example. Not for nefarious purposes, you understand: but for education. If you've ever wondered just how secure your passwords are, John the Ripper is a good way to find out. A much nicer way to find out than having a script-kiddy crack it seconds.

The NewsForge offers a tutorial on fighting spam while using Novell(Ximian) Evolution.

When I switched to Novell Evolution, finding an anti-spam solution became a top priority. Having warmed to Evolution after noticing that its interface was no longer an imitation of Microsoft Outlook, I quickly learned to appreciate its centralized mail and business tools. Spoiled by Mozilla Thunderbird's built-in spam detection, I wanted some equivalent in Evolution.

Learn how to use eXist, a open source XML database, in this tutorial.

If you are planning to build an online knowledge base, XML might be your best choice for a repository format, because of its ease of development, its platform independence, and the fact that it is in an open and human friendly format. If you use XML then eXist, an open source XML database, may help you to do the job effectively. With eXist you can build collections of XML documents, index them, and retrieve data using the XQuery language.

Big Blue pops the lid off a Tivo and looks at the Linux guts inside.

Everyone's heard that the TiVo "runs Linux™". In this installment of Linux on board, Peter takes a look at the Linux system installed on the TiVo. Examining the TiVo system reveals how one company made the transition from desktop operating system to embedded system.

The NewsForge presents this tutorial on securing email.

With governments and law enforcement organizations pushing for increasingly intrusive monitoring and logging of business email messages, network administrators are put in an uncomfortable situation. Even disregarding privacy implications, such systems pose security problems at least as serious as those they attempt to solve. A "master archive" of emails is after all an extremely tempting target to external hackers, but it also has staggering potential for internal abuse. Ideally, we would want no centralized mail logs, but legal and corporate requirements mandate suitable record-keeping in the case of an internal or external audit. One way to meet both goals is by encrypting the archive using public key cryptography.

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