UK Availability of Profound UI for IBM System i

Logicmate has recently announced the UK availability of Profound UI, the very latest, and most significant, component of our IBM i modernisation suite of products.


Profound UI is a full-featured graphical user interface platform based on IBM's RPG Open Access, the ground-breaking enhancement to RPG that opens it up to Web interfaces. The authors of UI, Profound Logic, worked closely with IBM to develop UI in conjunction with Open Access. RPG Open Access from IBM allows RPG-based applications to interface with the wide range of new devices and resources available today such as browsers, mobile devices, XML files and web services.

Profound UI comprises a comprehensive visual design tool that allows anyone to create professional browser interfaces in a point and click manner. With the designer, developers can drag and drop user interface components, also known as widgets, onto the interface; then resize and edit their behaviour visually. The resultant rich display file, in conjunction with the UI handler designed to work with RPG Open Access, fits in with your RPG code as a display file to serve up your line of business applications as fully functional rich web applications.


Profound UI introduces Rich Display Files -- native IBM i objects that incorporate the flexibility of the Web with the reliability of the i. Rich Display Files are created in a point-and-click manner and can be automatically connected to database files and program fields. These display files take advantage of IBM i's object-based architecture while delivering a capable graphical user interface.


Profound UI uses the same top-down procedural methodology, native RPG operations, and programming techniques that IBM i developers are already familiar with. Because of its fully native approach, the learning curve for RPG developers is virtually non-existent.

Developers no longer have to familiarize themselves with the low level complexities of Web 2.0 technologies or become experts in JavaScript, AJAX, and DHTML, to create robust Web applications.

IBM i on POWER7

I report an interesting news by IBM.

This year IBM has announced the first of the POWER7 processor-based systems that compared to POWER6, deliver huge improvements in performance and energy efficiency at a greatly improved price. Simply put, this is one of those rare breakthrough announcements that delivers a massive leap in system technology. And, yes, IBM i is right at the centre of the POWER7 action!

They have also announced a new release of IBM i (formerly known as OS/400). This new release contains a wide range of important new and enhanced capabilities.

With this clearly defined roadmaps for POWER processors and the IBM i operating environment, IBM's commitment to i clients is solid and unchanged. They are making substantial investments in the future of i as an important, strategic element in the IBM product portfolio.

You will find useful information on the IBM iSeries (AS400) on our website Datamission Ltd.

You will find useful utilities for the IBM iSeries (AS400) on our blog AS400SoftwareDownloads

Playing MP3 and MP4 files on Linux installations

The MP3 and MP4 files have a proprietory patented and therefore they are not included in the OpenSuSe installation CDs or DVD. There is not an immediate way to play them on Linux machines.

However you can install some software which will allow you to access also MP3 or MP4 audio and video files from Linux.

I recently had to solve this problem because I had received some interesting files about website traffic in MP4 format and I wanted to access them from my OpenSuSe 11.0 Linux system.

I was finally able to access them by doing what follows:

1. I accessed the Proprietary Media Support site of OpenSuSe with the URL http://software.opensuse.org/codecs. There is a suggestion to install Xine (Advanced Audio Coding) and to download the codecs from a couple of other sites. I downloaded the additional codecs from the OpenSuSe community site at http://opensuse-community.org/Multimedia which finally directed me to download from http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats/

2. The installation adds some special repositories to the normal ones as follows:
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/non-oss/suse (Main Repository (NON-OSS))
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss (Main Repository (OSS))
http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/packman/suse/11.0/ (Packman Repository)
http://opensuse-guide.org/repo/11.0/ (Libdvdcss repository)

You should install the following:

ffmpeg
flash-player
gst-fluendo-mp3
libdvdcss
libxine1
libxine1-codecs
w32codec-all


3. I chose to install also kaffeine (a xine based media player for KDE). However the initial installation had some problems because I received messages that library libxvidcore.so.4 was missing.

4. I tried to find some information about it on some user forums and I foud a suggesion to install also:

Amarok = Media Player for KDE
Mplayer (MP3/MP4 support)

I was finally able to install correctly all software without any dependency problem.

I hope that this information will be useful.

How to install Oracle on OpenSuSe Linux

I recently upgraded my Linux installation to the latest OpenSuSe 11.2 release.

I decided to install the free version of Oracle (.e Oracle Express Edition or Oracle XE).

The installations seems to be relatively simple, but I ended up with a system which did not allow me to access the Home page of the administrative site.

After the configuration the system automatically starts the Net Listener and the Oracle database 10G Express. It prints a completion message that the Installation completed successfully and then suggests to access the database Home page by entering on your browser the command http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex.

I did as instructed, but the command was refused because it was unable to execute on the server.At the point I started panicking and I thought that I must have made some errors. I decided to uninstall Oracle by running the command rpm -e oracle-xe-univ and to do a new installation from scratch. Unfortunately the results were exactly the same.

Finally I wondered if the problem might be connected to the Web server. I decided to install Apache and to to install again Oracle. This time everything worked perfectly.

I found on various Linux Forums that many people seem to have this problem and I suggest them to try an installation of Apache before installing Oracle.

A more detailed description on how to install Oracle on Linux can be found on my Squidoo lens at oracle-installation-on-opensuse-linux

How to Change Website Host

Sometimes people need to move a Website to a different hosting company.

I have a few websites and i used different website hosts for some of them.

A few of my hosting companies allow to host unlimited domains and sub-domains and I realized that I could save some hosting costs by moving all my domains and sub-domains to this single host.

I had been happy with the service and support provided by all companies. It is difficult to identify a best website host, but finally I chose Hostgator. I think that their hosting costs are very competitive and they provide excellent services and support.

I decided to transfer to this new host my domain MarioEbooks.com and all its sub-domains.

You will find a description of how this was done in the Squidoo lens How_To_Change_Website_Host

Computer Books and Ebooks

Computer professionals need good Computer Books and Ebooks to keep up to date with latest technology developments and to learn new computer skills.

I am constantly on the lookup for good Computer Books, Computer tutorials and Computer Ebooks and I have been able to improve my knowledge and skills by reading them.

I have also written a Squidoo lens on this subject and you can read it at:

Computer Books, Ebooks and Software

Finally I decided to develop my own website with the best Computer books and Computer Ebooks that I have discovered and possibly read,

You can visit the website at Computer Books and Software

Install Your Own Dedicated Server.

I found an interesting Website which advertises an Ebook with all you need to know to install a dedicated Web server or VPS.

You can become your own Hosting provider and save money currently spent with external hosting companies.

The site starts with following considerations:

- The majority of Software on Linux dedicated servers is open source and FREE
- There are open source control panels
- Most web professionals think that managing their own Server or Virtual Private Server is beyond their capabilities. This is a wrong idea.

The site offers FREE video tutorials which cover:

* Configuring the Webmin FREE Web-Based Control Panel
* Securing your online control panel
* Installing your own DNS server
* Adding user to your server
* Adding Secure FTP to your server
* Configuring your Webserver
* Creating your first website
* Installing a MySQL database
* Setting up outgoing emails
* Setting up webserver log analysis

AND MORE!

The Ebook contains all these subjects and more and is surely worth its price especially if you are a Linux technician who wants to improve your skills.

I haven't told yet the name of this website. Have a look to TheDedicatedServerHandbook.com