Install Ubuntu from USB Stick, Stop odering free Ubuntu CDs

Ubuntu 8.10, Intrepid Ibex is around the corner. I saw the news among my RSS subscriptions that we can now pre-order free Ubuntu 8.10 CDs now.

In the past few years, I have applied for 6.0.6 LTS CDs for x86, x86-64, powerpc, sparc(actually it's not possible for me to have a sparc powered machine at home, why I need this?), 7.04 CDs x86, x86-64 when I was working and living in Shanghai, China. In addition to the CDs, some stickers were in the package. They were posted from Europe and the postage was around several euros. The total cost would not be cheap.

To be open, I applied for Solaris 10(sparc + x86) free DVDs from Sun and got 2. I didn't feel guilty because after all Sun Microsystem is a commercial company. They have enough budget for things like this.

Later on, I found these CDs were useless to me, I hardly use them. Finally I gave all them away to my colleagues who were interested in trying Linux. I think it was a good result. It seemed that I used them to show that I am a GNU/Linux, Open Source supporter rather than install and spead. In fact I use the downloaded ISO image as well as bootable USB stick created via UNetbootin much more often.

I think it was something stupid. I requested for something useless to me, whilst it's a waste of Canonical's money as well as their limited resources.

Here I suggest that Ubuntu as well as other distros users try using USB installtion. It's much faster, cost effective, reusable and environmental friendly. I assume that now most machines support boot from USB devices.

Basically, we can create a bootable Linux distro USB stick by using UNetbootin (Universal NetBook Installer)/Ubuntu Live USB Creator/Live USB System Creator to create a bootable USB stick. I personally prefer to use UNetbootin. It's with a GUI and available on Linux and Windows. So easy to use.

In brief what UNetbootin can do for us:
1. Download the distro image automatically and install the distro to a USB stick, it's bootable. If we install distros like Ubuntu which supports LiveCD installation, of course you can now boot and install from the stick.
2. Already have the image? Just do it on the fly by choosing image and specify the path.
3. Advanced options, custom...

UNetBootin: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

More info: Install from USB Stick

Stop requesting useless CDs and save money for Canonical, leave the free CDs for people in real need, those who can't afford a USB stick and CD/DVD burner, those who don't have easy+fast internet access, those who...

That's what we can to do to spread Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings. Also, stop burning useless CD/DVDs to protect our environment, our earth.

Oracle BPM 10gR3 (ALBPM 6.5) GA

Oracle BPM 10gR3 which was BEA AquaLogic BPM, Fuego BPM is GA now.

From the new versioning, we can clearly see that it is 10.3. However, in fact it is 6.5.

After the acquisition, ALBPM has been renamed to Oracle BPM and put into the Oracle Fusion Middleware stack, along with Oracle BPEL Process Manager and Oracle BPA Suite.

Differences between BPM Suite offerings
Oracle BPM
Human and System Centric BPM with SOA. Easy integration with WebCenter Interaction (AquaLogic Interaction, Plumtree Portal).
Business user friendly
Collaborative
Agile
BPMN & BPEL
SOA architecture
Apps integration, AIA


Oracle BPEL Process Manager
System Centric
SOA architecture
Apps integration, AIA
BPEL
High performance STP
Round-tripping with BPA

Oracle BPA Suite
Methodology Driven Process Modeling and Analysis.
Process Experts
Six Sigma, Lean
Methodology
Hierarchical Modeling
Documentation


Download: http://edelivery.oracle.com
or
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/bpm/index.html

Fill in some necessary info and go to Oracle Fusion Middleware, choose your platform, you will finally find them in Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 (10.1.3) Media Pack.

Studio
Enterprise Standalone
Enterprise for Weblogic Server
Enterprise For Websphere Application Server

I have no idea why the links on the page below haven't been upgraded yet. Maybe Oracle is going to decommission the BEA page.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/bea_main.html

Oracle BPM 10gR3 docs
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E13154_01/bpm/docs65/index.html
The docs are still not helpful enough, I hope that Oracle improves its newly acquired products. At least make them as good as Oracle Database docs.

Interoperability matrix:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/bpm/obpm_config_matrix.html

All BEA docs, including new versions of WebCenter Interaction suite (AquaLogic User Interaction).
http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/bea.html

Enjoy the new release. I believe that the next GA will be named 11g, if there is such thing.

Articles you may be interested in: Ten reasons why you should look at Oracle BPM Suite 10gR3