LJ Archive

New Products

James Gray

Issue #281, September 2017

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

Saving customers time, effort and budget as they implement SAP landscapes, including on-premises and now on-demand, are the core selling points for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications. The latest release of the SAP-focused SUSE Linux server is also now available as the operating system for SAP solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The first supported Linux for SAP HANA on GCP, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications bolsters enterprise agility and reduces operating costs as customers pay only for what they use. With the addition of Google Cloud Platform, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications now is available on three major public cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

suse.com/google

Chasing Carrots' Pressure Overdrive

A “funky, four-wheeled shoot 'em up” is how independent game-developer Chasing Carrots describes its newest game release Pressure Overdrive for Linux, Mac OS, Windows and Xbox. Shifting to a higher gear from its high-octane 2013 predecessor, Pressure, Pressure Overdrive seeks a wider audience with a fast-paced mix of humor and action, classic couch co-op fun and constant car crashes in colorful environments. Pressure Overdrive takes players on a wild ride as they fight against the evil Count Soap, who has stolen the water out of nearby surrounding rivers to fill his gigantic “Uber-Spa”. As pilots of steam-powered and heavily armed buggies, players must ram and blast their way through hordes of wacko enemies, including a string of powerful bosses. Between missions, players bling up their ride with a variety of upgrades and customization options. Other novelties in Pressure Overdrive include a new twin stick control scheme, additional weapons, new upgrade paths, an endless mode and couch co-op for playing with friends. Rounding out the new feature set is a new tutorial level that helps players ease themselves into the game.

chasing-carrots.com

Caldwell Partners' Cyber Advisory Board Service

For many enterprises, cyber risk is the top business risk. Meanwhile, there is simply not a sufficiently large talent pool of cyber-risk professionals to satisfy the ever-growing demand. To assuage this business challenge, executive search firm Caldwell Partners announced the launch of its Cyber Advisory Board service, a means for companies to obtain the level of expertise they require to implement industry best practices quickly and effectively. Caldwell Partners' new service allows enterprises to eschew failed searches for CISOs, which frequently result in over-priced and under-qualified candidates. Companies obtain access to a Cyber Advisory Board of recognized cyber industry leaders, tailored to fit needs the needs of a particular company and its industry. This solution is especially helpful for clients who opt for step-up candidates or deploy trusted executives open to a career change into cyber security. The advisory board provides a range of services—from mentoring a company's CISO to helping develop cyber strategy to educating the company's C-level executives and boards, all the way to giving guidance on best practices with regard to cyber breach responses. A Cyber Advisory Board provides deep expertise and consistency and satisfies increased governance on public company boards faced with regulators who exert ever greater pressure on companies to demonstrate a commitment to best practices.

caldwellpartners.com/cyber

Paragon Software Group's Paragon ExtFS for Mac

Ever more Mac aficionados are discovering the virtues of Linux, especially when their older hardware can experience a renaissance. One annoying barrier to dual-boot nirvana is filesystem incompatibility, whereby the Linux side can access the Mac side, but Apple's macOS doesn't support Linux drives at all—not even in read-only mode. A handy solution is Paragon Software Group's Paragon ExtFS for Mac, a low-level macOS filesystem driver designed to eliminate filesystem incompatibility between Linux and Mac operating systems. The solution grants transparent read/write access to ExtFS Linux partitions on macOS, allowing Mac users to access files fully that are stored on Linux volumes hassle-free, streamline data sharing and transfer up to 4GB+ files at a high rate. The new 11th edition of ExtFS for Mac features a completely new UI and advanced features, including extended mounting options and a menu bar app allowing users one-click access to all ExtFS drives and instant execution of the most common volume operations—for example, volume mount, unmount and verify. Large volume support enables mounting volumes more than 2TB in size. ExtFS for Windows also is available from the company.

paragon-drivers.com/extfs-mac

V. Anton Spraul's Think Like a Programmer, Python Edition

What is programming? Sure, it consists of syntax and the assembly of code, but it is essentially a means to solve problems. To study programming, then, is to study the art of problem solving, and a new book from V. Anton Spraul, Think Like a Programmer, Python Edition, is a guide to sharpening skills in both spheres. Subtitled A Beginner's Guide to Programming and Problem Solving, Spraul's book helps transition programmers in training from reading programs to writing them in Python. No prior programming experience required! Rather than simply point out solutions to problems, Spraul gets readers thinking by illustrating techniques that instruct how to self-solve programming problems. Each chapter covers a single programming concept, such as data types, control flow, code reuse, recursion and classes, topped off by a series of Python-based exercises that put readers' skills to the test. In Think Like a Programmer, Python Edition, readers break big problems down into simple, manageable steps to build into solutions, write custom functions to solve new problems, use a debugger to examine each line of a running program in order to understand fully how it works and tackle problems strategically by turning each new concept into a problem-solving tool. Additional chapters are included on early programming topics, such as variables, decisions and looping.

nostarch.com/thinkpython

eCosCentric Limited's eCosPro

eCos—which means the “Embedded Configurable Operating System”—is an open-source RTOS for deeply embedded applications. Deployed in a diversity of markets and devices, eCos' popularity is a result of a variety of commercial and technical advantages over competing RTOS offerings. The developer of eCos, eCosCentric Limited, recently announced the latest 4.1 release of eCosPro, the stable, fully tested and supported version of the operating system and RedBoot bootstrap firmware. The new 4.1 release of the eCosPro Developer's Kit includes the latest Eclipse Neon IDE, provides improvements to the eCosPro Eclipse plugin and development tools and integrates a variety of runtime enhancements. Complementary to the major upgrade to Eclipse Neon.3, enhancements were added to the eCosPro Eclipse plugin that improve the eCos developer experience, such as multiple eCos Application and Configuration projects per workspace and a new hardware debug launcher. Meanwhile, the eCosPro 4.1 eCos Configuration tool boasts further refinements that aid developer productivity, such as locally installed documentation that is fully searchable. Runtime enhancements include support for Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A7 SMP, Raspberry Pi target platform and ST's low-power STM32L series and its enhanced on-chip peripheral feature set, among other upgrades.

ecoscentric.com

VariCAD s.r.o.'s VariCAD

“Designing Has Never Been Easier!”, declares VariCAD s.r.o. in conjunction with the company's new release of VariCAD 2017-2.0 3D mechanical CAD system and VariCAD Viewer/Converter. The new VariCAD CAD system provides a plethora of useful improvements to users, such as support for 4k resolution (UHD); exploded views of assemblies; 3D texts extruded into space; list of materials used during the design process; new possibilities for creating solids; changes in the 3D kernel that accelerate operations on complicated solid trees; changes in STEP input/output of files; a new, complex system of item numbers management; new transient/temporary construction lines in 2D drawing and 3D sketching; rebuilt methods of 2D filleting; chamfering and corner creation and much more. The companion product, VariCAD Viewer 2017-2.0, likewise has been updated. This free viewer, converter and printing software facilitates working with 2D DWG, DXF, 3D STEP and 2D/3D VariCAD file formats; converting DWG to DXF and vice-versa and STEP to 3D IGES or STL formats; and printing 2D DWG, DXF or VariCAD formats and batch printing or conversions.

varicad.com

StarNet Communications Corp's FastX

WebAssembly browser technology is important for making the browser go beyond what JavaScript can do. StarNet Communications Corp says it is the first to plant a WebAssembly flag in the EDA space by integrating WebAssembly technology into its FastX remote Linux display solution. The addition is part of StarNet's new FastX 2.4 release, which the company promises will provide EDA engineers with a significant browser client performance upgrade, particularly with video and graphics applications, such as Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools used in semiconductor design. The integration of WebAssembly improves in-browser client-side scripting by executing instructions natively rather than through an interpreter, such that Linux applications through a browser will run at near native speed. Browsers with support for WebAssembly include Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Edge. Besides the performance upgrade, users also will enjoy an updated UI, optimizations for operating in cloud environments and additions to the admin toolset, namely several new RDP Protocol extensions to help reduce bandwidth consumption, simplified upgrades and installation and an Advanced Windows Management system.

starnet.com

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