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Leading items and editorials

MySQL goes GPL. Our choice for the best news item of the current week was the announcement that MySQL has been re-licensed under the GPL. MySQL is one of two freely available databases that are widely used in the Linux and free software community: MySQL and Postgresql. Postgresql is licensed under a form of the BSD license, and has therefore been accepted as clearly open source. Here is the primary gist of the Postgresql license:

Copyright (c) 1994-8 Regents of the University of California

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies.

That didn't prevent MySQL from being popular, though. Slashdot, Freshmeat, SourceForge and Linux.com are just a few of the sites that have been using MySQL all along. A small footprint and impressive performance are two hallmarks of the database that seem to come up often. On the other hand, Postgresql contains features that MySQL doesn't have and many database experts want. All of this is good news, since people can evaluate both databases to determine which is right for them.

In amongst this, don't forget that Borland/Inprise originally announced plans in January to release Interbase under an open source license. However, recent news indicates those plans are currently on hold, potentially indefinitely.

The commercial angle. The most interesting point in the MySQL decision to move to the GPL may be the commercial pressures. The announcement was carefully positioned alongside announcements that MySQL's development would move to Source Forge and VA Linux would offer support for the database. This G2News article addressed the reason for VA's interest. "VA ...described its new relationship as a 'strategic alliance secured by investment' that's meant to augment its expertise in the database. Evidently VA intends to use MySQL to buttress its push into professional services, a relatively new activity it's been pouring resources into. It has said that it expects 5% of its revenues to derive from professional services this quarter, up from 1.5% in the quarter ending January 28."

In addition, Progress Software was quick to issue their own press release, claiming at least partial credit for the decision to move to the GPL. Why? Well, they've formed a new company, NuSphere, just for the purpose of supporting MySQL. Since licensing issues were preventing at least some people from choosing to use MySQL, they had an economic incentive to see that barrier removed. The incentive they offered to the MySQL development effort was considerable: "Through NuSphere, Progress Software will be providing up to $2.5 million (US) to help further the development of MySQL."

The combination of a popular open source product and one or more commercial companies eager to provide support for it is becoming more common. Apache, Sendmail, Python and even the competing Postgresql all have commercial companies behind them. The clear message from the MySQL announcement was that VA Linux and Progress Software actually desired the license change and were happy with the choice of the GPL -- a happy mesh of commercial and free software interests.

Inside this week's Linux Weekly News:

• Security: Workarounds for the Linux capabilities vulnerability, eWEEK Challenge, more updates.
• Kernel: Welcome to Kernel lite, with a brief look at the kernel status and recent patches.
• Distributions: Slackware 7.1 announced, plus a focus on embedded Linux distributions.
• Development: IBM's 1GB micro drive, Informix releases embeddable database support.
• Commerce: Open Source announcements, products using Transmeta's Crusoe chip.
• Back page: Linux links, this week in Linux history, and letters to the editor

This Week's LWN was brought to you by:

• Jonathan Corbet, Executive Editor
• Elizabeth O. Coolbaugh, Managing Editor

See also: last week's Security page.

News and Editorials

Workarounds for the Linux capabilities vulnerability. In last week's Security Summary, we discussed a potential workaround for the Linux kernel capabilities vulnerability, for sites unable/unwilling to upgrade to the Linux 2.2.16/2.2.17 kernel series to get the proper fix. Our workaround involved the use of capcheck, a loadable kernel module which replaces the "capset" system call with a much more restrictive version.

This week on BugTraq, Patrick Reynolds posted a followup discussing ways in which /dev/mem can be used both to re-enable capabilities that have been disabled and to load custom, module-like code, even if you have disabled loadable modules on your system. It is worth a read.

Alternative ftpd servers. In light of the recent problems with wu-ftpd, and previous problems with proftpd (see the 1999 December 2nd Security Summary), suggestions for more secure ftpd servers for Linux have been popping up on BugTraq. This is not, by any means, an exhaustive list, but the following packages may be worth a look.

• ftp-BSD. This is a Linux port of the OpenBSD ftpd server.
• publicfile. This is an anonymous, read-only ftpd server from D.J. Bernstein (author of qmail).

eWEEK Challenges Public to Hack Web Site. This week's challenge from eWEEK promises to allow people to attempt to crack security on a variety of different platforms, including "Solaris, Windows2000, Windows NT, OpenBSD and Linux". A report on the number of intrusion attempts per operating system, vulnerabilities found, etc., is promised at the end. Overall, though, security contests have rarely been found a particularly effective way of testing the true security of a system. In addition, as we've seen in the past, another key question is whether or not eWEEK has the internal expertise to deploy all of the aforementioned operating systems in a secure manner.

The Motives and Psychology of the Black-hat Community (SecurityFocus). SecurityFocus is publishing a series of articles entitled "Know Your Enemy". This week's article focuses on motives. "They may not be technically competent, or even understand the tools they are using. However by focusing on a large number of systems, they can achieve dramatic results. This is not a threat to take lightly. They are not concerned about what harm they may cause. They focus only on achieving their goals."

Security Reports

ISC DHCP client root vulnerability. The Internet Software Consortium (ISC) has issued a warning regarding a root vulnerability reported by the folks at OpenBSD in ISC's Open Source reference implementation of DHCP. An upgrade to 2.0pl1 or 3.0b1pl14 should resolve the problem.

• OpenBSD
• Debian

Glftpd. Permissions in Glftpd 1.18 through 1.21b8 can be bypassed allowing protected files and directories to be accessed via a problem with the privpath directive according to this report. As a result, Glftpd 1.21 has been released with a resolution for this problem.

NetBSD: bad key generation in libdes. NetBSD has issued an advisory as a result of the installation of a new libdes library on June 24th. On systems that do not have a /dev/urandom device, this library creates a security vulnerability. An update to NetBSD-current since 20000622 is recommended.

FreeBSD: IP options processing errors. FreeBSD has issued an advisory concerning problems in the manner in which IP options are processed in the IP stack. Data corruption or a kernel panic can result. Also check NetBSD Security Advisory 2000-002, which describes an instance of this vulnerability. A kernel patch is provided to fix the problem, though it can also be resolved by an upgrade to 3.4-STABLE, 4.0-STABLE or 5.0-CURRENT. Note that an exploit for this vulnerability has been published.

sawmill. Sawmill, a site log statistics package, has been reported to contain a couple of vulnerabilities that could allow remote access to pretty much any file on the system. The vendor/maintainer has been notified and a patch/fix is promised in the near future.

Commercial products. The following commercial products were reported to contain vulnerabilities:

Updates

wu-ftpd. Check the June 15th Security Summary for a link to the mini-audit that turned up the latest set of problems with wu-ftpd.

• WU-FTPD source code patch
• Debian
• Caldera
• Connectiva
• Red Hat
• SuSE
• Slackware

Linux kernel capabilities. Check the June 8th Security Summary for details. Linux kernel 2.2.16, along with a 2.2.16 errata patch set, is required to resolve this problem.

• sendmail (June 15th)
• Caldera (backported to 2.2.10) (June 15th)
• Conectiva (backported to 2.2.14) (June 15th)
• Slackware (June 15th)
• Trustix (June 15th)
• Linux-Mandrake
• Red Hat
• SuSE

SuSE: reminder after kernel upgrade. SuSE's Thomas Biege sent around a reminder to people to execute 'mk_initrd' and 'lilo' after upgrading their kernel packages, in response to some customer problem reports.

Zope. Zope 2.1.6 and 2.2beta1 contain a remotely-exploitable security problem. Zope 2.1.7 contains a fix. For more information, check last week's Security Summary.

• Red Hat Powertools 6.1 and 6.2

Linux-Mandrake 7.1. Linux-Mandrake issued an advisory with links to package updates for bind, cdrecord, dump, fdutils, kdesu, xemacs, xlockmore. These are the same packages for which updated versions for Linux-Mandrake 7.0 were published last week.

Debian XFree86 3.3.6. Debian has issued new XFree86 packages which, according to this week's Debian Weekly News, contain patches for " fixing a denial of service attack, a symlink attack, and 4 security holes in Xlib". Debian does not appear to have issued an official advisory about the updated packages.

Resources

Bruce v1.0 Early Access 3 (Beta). The Early Access 3 (Beta) of Sun's Networked Host-Vulnerability Scanner, Bruce, has been announced. Bruce is released under the Sun Community Source License (SCSL).

Events

July security events.

Date	Event	Location
July 3-5, 2000.	13th IEEE Computer Security Foundations Workshop	Cambridge, England.
July 10-12, 2000.	Fifth Australasian Conference on Information Security and Privacy (ACISP 2000)	Brisbane, Australia.
July 14-16, 2000.	H2K / HOPE 2000	New York, New York, USA.
July 26-27, 2000.	The Black Hat Briefings	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
July 28-30, 2000.	DEF CON VIII	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

See also: last week's Kernel page.

Kernel development

Of course, someone quickly pointed out that, though it compiled, it did not actual run for him ...

Meanwhile, the first prepatch for test3 is already out. Anyone complaining about IDE timeouts, linker errors, etc on 2.4.0-test2 should move to test3-pre1 or apply this patch from Jens Axboe. Alan has also released 2.4.0test2-ac2 as part of the effort to gauge how much more work remains.

The current stable kernel release is still 2.2.16. Alan released 2.2.17pre6 on June 22nd, and has quickly worked his way up to 2.2.17pre9 as the week progressed. No word is available on when 2.2.17 will be released.

Other patches and updates released this week include:

• Peter Chubb released a new version of the per-process RSS limits for 2.2.16, as part of the effort to get the setrlimit(RLIMIT_RSS,...) call to work.

• The latest devfs patch from Richard Gooch is devfs v174.

• Chip Salzenberg released a patch for the 2.2 series to get O_NONBLOCK working with SCSI devices.

• ReiserFS 3.6.10 has been released.

• Andrey Savochkin has released IV-0004 of his user beancounter patch "intended to provide advanced resource control and protection against local denial-of-service attacks"

• A backport of Andre Hedricks latest ide drivers to 2.2.16pre6 is available.

• Ulrich Windl has announced a prereleaseof his PPSkit for 2.2.16.

• Version 1.0.9b of the Rule Set Based Access Control (RSBAC) package has been released.

Section Editor: Jonathan Corbet

For other kernel news, see:

• Kernel traffic
• Kernel Newsflash
• Kernel Trap
• 2.5 Status

Other resources:

• L-K mailing list FAQ
• Linux-MM
• Linux Scalability Effort
• Kernel Newbies
• Linux Device Drivers

See also: last week's Distributions page.

Distributions

News and Editorials

Only Two Linux Companies Really Matter (ZDNet). Joseph C. Panettieri has declared that the shake-out in Linux distributions is already over with and Red Hat and Caldera are the only two left to worry about, according to his ZDNet column. "The Linux market is starting to resemble the cola wars, where Coke and Pepsi dominate and everyone else battles for shelf space. In the case of Linux, Red Hat and Caldera have the fizz, while other players like Corel, SuSE and TurboLinux leave me feeling flat." His logic is pretty thin, but if you'd like to make a business decision based on his gut instinct...

Roll Your Own Distro - If You Dare! (GNULinux). Finding some flaw in more popular distributions that he's tried (Slackware, Red Hat, Linux-Mandrake), GNULinux's Brian Bisaillon chose to roll his own using downloads and documentation from LinuxFromScratch.org. It seems he learned a lot, but not necessarily painlessly.

Caldera OpenLinux

New Caldera FAQs. Caldera has released a list of its latest FAQs. This is a good place to check for the answer to that question you never got around to asking...like, "How do I find out what version of the kernel and/or OpenLinux I have?"

Caldera Power Solutions Tour 2000. The folks from Caldera will be on the road July 11-27 for a twelve city tour. This type of event tends to be very marketing-oriented, but if you're interested in Caldera OpenLinux or you want a chance to meet some of the Caldera team members, stopping by should be worthwhile.

Conectiva

Conectiva and XFree86. Conectiva has put up an overview of the work they are involved in supporting as part of the XFree86 project. Enhancing support for multiple monitors appears to be the primary focus.

Debian GNU/Linux

Debian Weekly News (June 27th). This week's edition of the Debian Weekly News indicates that confidence in the upcoming Debian release is growing, with the completion of test cycle 2, the decrease in release-critical bugs down to around 40 and a hope that that current test cycle, number 3, may indeed be the last one.

Debian GNU/Hurd

Red Hat

Red Hat launches University program. Red Hat launched their University program today with the goal of encouraging/accelerating the use of Open Source software in the education environment. The initial action involved the donation of bundled software, such as the GNU Pro Dev Kits and Code Fusion packages, to several Universities. Of course, Code Fusion isn't, itself, Open Source software...

Rock Linux

ROCK Linux 1.3.10 has been released. From the Rock Linux home page, we learned that a new version of Rock Linux has been announced. Here are the details:

This is a release of the ROCK Linux development tree. Changes: A some new packages and a lot of bugfixes and new features. Improved installation procedure. This development release of ROCK Linux is based on the Linux Kernel 2.4.0-test2 and Glibc 2.1.3. It contains allready (and is built with) binutils 2.10.0.9 and gcc 2.95.2. It comes with XFree86 4.0, Perl 5.6.0, GNOME 1.2 and othe cool new stuff.

Slackware Linux

Slackware 7.1 announced. A new version of Slackware has been released. Slackware 7.1 contains a very up-to-date package list, including the Linux 2.2.16 kernel. The hardware support for the distribution has been beefed up. They also promise "updated versions of the Slackware package management tools make it easy to add, remove, upgrade, and make your own Slackware packages".

ISO images are already available for download and their mini-distribution, ZipSlack (which is small enough to fit on a Zip disk), is promised to be "the fastest, _easiest_ Linux installation ever".

A Tale of Two Views: Slackware 7.0 Review (GnuLinux.com). Meanwhile, just a day before the announcement of Slackware 7.1, GnuLinux.com reviewed Slackware 7.0. "The problem with Slackware right out of the gate is that the emphasis is not on installation, but on speed and configuration. If we were to review the installation process by itself, Slackware would fall short in the ease of use area compared to other distributions. The installation routine is unpolished and utilitarian to the point that it will leave new users wondering why they even tried Linux."

Hopefully they'll get a chance soon to take a look at the updated version.

ZipSpeak added to Slackware tree. Matt Campbell's ZipSpeak mini-distribution has been integrated into the Slackware 7.1 ftp tree. "ZipSpeak is based on our own ZipSlack, but adds speech synthesis support for blind and visually impaired users."

SuSE

Interview: Volker Wiegand of SuSE, Inc. (BeOpen). BeOpen's Sam Williams sat down recently for a chat with Volker Wiegand, the current President of SuSE, Inc., the US branch of SuSE GmbH. "Although he and his company seemed to be sleeping during last year's IPO rush, they also missed out on the resulting letdown as investors grew quickly frustrated with Linux-related companies. Now, with a solid customer base and a development team that truly merits the description "international," his company is poised to graduate as one of the Linux community's first truly profitable companies."

Review: SuSE 6.4 (Duke Of URL). We've published several distribution reviews from the Duke of URL (Patrick Mullen) over the past month, but managed to miss this review of SuSE Linux 6.4. Thanks to the reader who pointed out the omission. Documentation and hardware support appear to be the key areas where SuSE did best. "As far as I'm concerned, SuSE has the best hardware compatibility out of any distribution. Everything worked flawlessly and the inclusion of XFree86 4.0 only raises the bar further".

SuSE opens Venezuela office. SuSE has announced the opening of their Venezuela office. They have chosen Xavier Marmol, founding President of VELUG (Venezuela Linux User Group), to lead this new office. "Xavier Marmol is highly regarded in the Latin American Linux community. He was previously the Network Administrator at the University of Zulia Academic Network. As an active Linux advocate since 1995, he successfully implemented Linux OS for the Universities network of several hundred computers."

Embedded Linux

Blue Cat Linux garners award. Blue Cat Linux, from LynuxWorks, picked up the Electron d'Or award from the French magazine Electronique International Hebdo for "most significant development in embedded tools and software" over the last year, based on a tool user poll. "In their citation, Electronique International Hebdo said, 'Combining the reliability of Unix and the open source low distribution cost, the BlueCat Linux operating system is a version of Linux specially tailored for use in embedded systems. It is based on the Red Hat 6.1 distribution, containing the Linux 2.2 12-20 kernel. This environment allows the cross-development of embedded applications with a simple PC running Red Hat.'"

Emdebian: Embedded Debian Cross Development Environments. Test releases of new embedded Debian cross development environments have been announced. PowerPC and ARM cross-compilers are supported. "You should only install these packages if you know what you're doing. These packages will eventually be part of a development environment complete with user's documentation, but we're not there yet".

Hard Hat Linux included with EDN magazine. The June issue of EDN Magazine, a magazine for electronic design engineers, will carry with it a companion Linux CD containing a special edition of Montavista's Hard Hat Linux. "The cover story, entitled "Linux strafes the embedded landscape", details how mainstream Linux functionality and ubiquitous 32-bit CPU technology are challenging the status quo in embedded systems design."

Lineo's Embedix . Lineo announced new Embedix support for the ARM processor, including the ARM cores and the release of Embedix uClinux for ARM. "Lineo's ARM expertise comes primarily from the recent merger with Rt-Control, the founders and maintainers of the popular uClinux operating system, a version of Linux for microcontrollers."

Lineo releases compatibility libraries. Lineo has announced the release of compati\ility libraries to assist people moving applications over from the VxWorks or pSOS real-time operating systems. These libraries, dubbed "Golden Gate", appear to be proprietary. "Portions of these libraries are currently available from Lineo. For information on Lineo Golden Gate pricing, please contact Lineo at oemsales@lineo.com."

Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh

Please note that not every distribution will show up every week. Only distributions with recent news to report will be listed.

Leading
Caldera OpenLinux
Debian GNU/Linux
Linux-Mandrake
Red Hat
Slackware
SuSE
TurboLinux

Also well-known
ASPLinux
Best Linux
Conectiva Linux
e-smith
Kondara MNU/Linux
Progeny
Rock Linux

Non-technical desktop
easyLinux
Icepack Linux
Independence
LibraNet
Redmond Linux
WinSlack

Education
Boston University
kmLinux
LinuxFromScratch
OpenClassroom
Red Escolar

General Purpose
Alzza Linux
aXon Linux
Bad Penguin Linux
BearOps
Black Cat Linux
BluePoint Linux
BYO Linux
CAEN Linux
Cafe Linux
ChainSaw Linux
Circle MUDLinux
cLIeNUX
Complete Linux
Console Linux
Corel Linux
CRUX
Darkstar Linux
DLite
easyLinux
Elfstone Linux
ESware Linux
Eurielec Linux
eXecutive Linux
Fried Chicken
FTOSX
FullPliant
Gentoo
Go!Linux
HA Linux
Halloween Linux
HispaFuentes
IceLinux
Ivrix
ix86 Linux
J-LINUX
JBLinux
Jurix
KRUD
KSI-Linux
Lanthan Linux
Laonux
LASER5
Leetnux
Linpus Linux
Linux Cyrillic Edition
Linux MLD
LinuxOne OS
LinuxPPP
Linux Pro Plus
Linux-SIS
LNX System
LoopLinux
LSD
Lute Linux
MageNet
Mastodon
MaxOS
minilinux
MSC.Linux
nmrcOS
NoMad Linux
Omoikane GNU/Linux
PingOO Linux
Plamo Linux
PLD
Project Ballantain
PROSA
Rabid Squirrel
Repairlix
Root Linux
Scrudgeware
Serial Terminal
Sorcerer
spyLinux
Stampede
Stataboware
TechLinux
TimeSys Linux/RT
Tom Linux
Trinux
Turkuaz
Ute-Linux
VA-enhanced Red Hat
Vine Linux
Virtual Linux
WholeLinux
WinLinux 2000
XTeamLinux
ZipSpeak

Country-specific
Argentina
GNU/Linux Ututo
Britain
Definite Linux
Eridani
China
COSIX
Red Flag
France
Linux/MNIS
Italy
LinuxEspresso
Madeinlinux
Vedova
Spain
Linux Esware
Thailand
Kaiwal Linux
Thai Linux Extension

Related Projects
Chinese Linux Extension

Historical (Non-active)
Dualix
Gentus
Giotto
MCC Interim Linux
OS2000
Storm Linux
Yggdrasil

See also: last week's Development page.

Development projects

News and Editorials

Databases

Informix releases embeddable database support for Linux (ZdNet). Informix now supports Linux on two of its key products. "Foundation.2000, for Internet data and content management; and Cloudscape, a Java database for embeddable systems and distributed e-Business applications."

Education

Tux Typing: typing tutor for kids. Now you can have Tux the penguin help you or your kids learn to type with Tux Typing. The goal of the game is to help Tux the penguin catch lettered fish as they fall out of the sky by typing the corresponding key. Tux Typing is distributed with the GPL license.

Games

GnomeHack 1.0.5: 'Ulch, that meat was tainted'(Linux Orbit). Linux Orbit has run an article on GnomeHack, a new graphical version of the old classic NetHack game. " I remember my first game of Hack like it was yesterday. The year was 1983. I spent an entire afternoon one rainy Saturday chasing an "@" symbol around an ASCII graphics map on the screen and cursing "U"s (umber hulks), "c"s (cockatrices) and the dreaded "k"s (killer bees)."

Games: The Boundary of Open Development? (BeOpen). BeOpen put together a discussion with both Scott Draeker, president and CEO of Loki Entertainment Software and Jorrit Tyberghein, volunteer project leader for Crystal Space. Games appear to be one area where hybrid of Open Source and proprietary methods is developing. "Tyberghein: What I think will happen more and more in the future is that game companies will either use available Open Source tools -- like 3D engines -- or else create their own toolkits that are released as Open Source. These are then combined with copyrighted artwork and maybe closed source intimate game logic."

Games for Geeks (BeOpen). BeOpen has run this article on the state of game software under Linux. "At the end of a decade that has seen Open Source developers plant the Linux flag in every corner of the commercial software marketplace, everything from embedded systems to big iron mainframes, the ultra-proprietary $7 billion computer game development market remains surprisingly oblivious to the Open Source gospel."

Crystal Space beta released. A beta version of Crystal Space has been announced, with a stable version scheduled for release in approximately three months. Crystal Space is an LGPL'd 3D software development kit (SDK) for game development. Maintainer Jorrit Tyberghein will also be at LinuxTag this week, with a demo of the software.

Embedded Systems

System on a chip (SOC) processors. Linux Devices.com looks at system on a chip processors and sees the future of computing. "The post-PC era is just around the corner -- and there's little doubt that embedded SOCs, combined with embedded Linux, will be two of its principal enablers."

Making a Business of Open Source (ZdNet). Kevin Morgan of MontaVista Software has written a whitepaper that discusses the advantages of using Linux for embedded systems development. " The use of Linux as an embedded systems platform represents a major change in the technologies and economies of building embedded applications. The power of Linux as an operating system, and the new types of business models for licensing, represent a marked change from "business as usual" practices that have dominated embedded design for the last 20 years."

Linux software development outsourcing service(ZdNet). ITSquare has announced a web based service that provides references to dozens of existing Linux development companies. "Harvi Sachar, CEO of ITsquare.com said 'the open source revolution opened everyone's eyes to the advantages of Linux over existing platforms and technologies. Except it's been difficult for corporations to migrate to Linux because serious, reliable Linux development firms aren't always easy to find. What we've created is a tool to identify, evaluate, and engage these firms, which is how Linux Square provides real value.'"

Interoperability

Common threads: Introduction to Samba(IBM). Daniel Robbins of Gentoo Technologies, Inc has written the first of a 3 part article on Samba. Samba's capabilities are discussed and information is given on setting up a Samba server.

Office Applications

interview with AbiWord's Joaquin Cuenca Abela (LinuxPower). Linux Power has an interview with Joaquin Cuenca Abela of AbiWord. The current state of development for AbiWord is discussed along with some possible new features.

Creating Simple Animation with the Gimp. Jakub "Jimmac" Steiner has published two tutorials on Creating Animation with the Gimp. If you have ever wanted to learn how to create computer animations, these tutorials will help you get results quickly.

On the Desktop

KDE2: Bigger than Elvis? (GnuLinux.com). GnuLinux.com plays with the KDE2 'Kleopatra' snapshot. "If you're already a KDE fan, you are probably well aware of this friendly desktop environment and its powerful features. However, a new release, KDE version 2, has been in development for quite some time, and is slated for release as a stable product in late summer or early fall. This is not a simple upgrade or bug fixes. KDE 2 has been completely rewritten from the ground up, and sports hundreds of improvements and many new applications."

Keystone 0.2 announced. Keystone 0.2, a Virtual Network Client that can access remote desktops has been released. New features include improved status reporting and use of the KXML GUI.

A new GNOME (LinuxWorld). Linux World's Joe Barr has written an article on Helix Gnome. " The cool factor is still there in GNOME 1.2, and the stability of GNOME and GNOME apps is much better than it was that time last year. GNOME 1.2 comes with dozens of out-of-the-box apps, some of which are the best of breed for Linux and one of which is the best I've seen anywhere."

Gtkfind: a GUI interface for find (Geeks404). If you are looking for an easy way to unlock all of the capabilities of the find command without digging into the man pages, take a look at Gtkfind. Debian and RedHat binary versions are available as well as a Japanese version. One feature that seems to be missing is a visible output of the actual find command that is produced. Such output would make the program very useful as an aid for debugging scripted find commands.

XFree86 Public CVS Access. The XFree86 project now has a Public CVS site. For those of you wishing to contribute to the project or track its development, this is the place to go.

Palmtops

Handheld Makers are grasping for Linux (ZdNet). Compaq is making a port of Linux available for its iPaq handheld, HP is also considering Linux for its Journada. "Warming up to the idea that an open palm is better than a clenched one, major computing companies are exploring the idea of porting open-source operating systems to their handheld computing platforms." Also, Henzai is working on putting a foot in the palm with its announement of the Gnome based Hue interface.

Sound

New Alsa sound drivers (BeOpen). Two new sound drivers have been announced for the ALSA library. The new drivers now support the C-Media CMI8338 and 8738 PCI chipset and the Yamaha YMF72x,74x,75x chipsets which are found on some motherboards.

Web-site Development

Zope 2.2b3 released. Zope.org has released Zope 2.2 beta 3 which contains fixes for the "len of unsized object" errors that have been reported.

Section Editor: Forrest Cook

Project Links
Gnome
High Availability
ht://Dig
KDE
MagicPoint
Midgard
Mozilla
YAMS
Wine
Worldforge
Zope

More Information
AppWatch
Freshmeat
LinuxDev

Development tools

C/C++

Cursing at Your Programs (Geeks404). Geeks404 has published an introductory article on using the curses library, entitled Cursing at Your Programs (C Programming with Curses). Given the ubiquitous usage of curses in many Unix and Linux common commands, this is a useful introduction for the C programmer just moving to Linux.

Java

Lutris Enhydra Professional 3.0 Java/XML Open Source Application Server. Lutris has announced the Enhydra Professional 3.0 Java/XML Open Source Application Server " With Lutris Enhydra Professional 3.0, developers can take advantage of newly bundled and integrated databases, enhanced Java IDEs, and a wireless development kit that includes a new Developer Guide."

Sun: C# Is No Java Killer (ZDNet). Microsoft has introduced a new language, C#, that is poised to compete with Java. " Sun engineers have been combing through technical information on C# since Microsoft released it on Monday and say it is no Java killer. They say that although they can't tell exactly what C# does because Microsoft's documentation is incomplete, they believe that C# is "the next revision of C or C++" tied back to the Windows platform."

Perl

Perl5 Porters digest for June 19-25. This week's Perl5 Porters digest is out. Numerous perl programming techniques are discussed.

Perl: Small observations about the big picture(IBM). Teodor Zlatanov of Gold Software Systems has written an article on improving the clarity of Perl programs. "Although it's difficult to write complicated tasks with Perl, it can be done. And it can be done neatly. You don't have to be the only one that can understand and maintain your program once it's written. Using these nine tips, you can keep using Perl, keep your style, and still have an accessible and stable program."

Perl Module Updates (PerlNews). Check out the zillions of module updates at the Perl News site.

PHP

PHP 4.0.1 Released. The first maintenance release for PHP 4.0 has been put out. This is a recommended release with several bug fixes and features.

Python

GUI Python: All This and Good Looks Too? (LinuxDev). This week, LinuxDev takes a look at using Python for GUI development, the Tkinter way. "Before we begin, we need to make sure that OOP (Object Oriented Programming) is your cup of tea (Tkinter, that is). Although Python can be used as a structured language, in this series we will use its OOP features to create our GUIs."

Dr. Dobbs' Python-URL (June 26). This week's Python-URL is now available, including links to information on Zope's alpha release of ZEO, an article on using ZEO with ZODB, the release of SOAP 1.1, Python code for X10 home automation and CVS activity in the 1.6 tree in preparation for a new release.

Migrating from Perl to Python. Martin C. Brown has put out this article on moving from Perl to Python. "There is an alternative, though. It's relatively new -- less than a quarter of the age of Perl, and provides many of the same features. The alternative is called Python, and in this new series I'll be looking at how to make the jump from Perl to Python."

Tcl/tk

Section Editor: Forrest Cook

See also: last week's Commerce page.

Linux and Business

It was a good week for Open Source announcements. Mission Critical Linux, Inc. announced the release of the source code for its high-availability Kimberlite cluster technology under the GPL.

Metro Link contributed a number of enhancements and bug fixes to Open Motif. "These changes were developed for Metro Link's commercial Motif products and are now being contributed back to Open Motif."

Lineo has announced a new website, http://opensource.lineo.com, "dedicated to open source projects funded or maintained by Lineo and its employees". The website may be intended to balance concerns about Lineo's business direction, based on bundling its Embedix Linux distribution with proprietary software and then licensing the result.

Finally, TCS announced the opening of a Linux Research and Development facility in Texas to develop "Linux-related technologies" for Dell Computer Corporation. "'TCS and Dell are making a commitment not only to help each other develop and support the latest Linux technologies, but also to provide those technologies to the Open Source community,' said [CEO of TCS.] Ramadorai".

Transmeta's Crusoe. Transmeta's Crusoe chip is apparently being demonstrated this week at PC Expo in Ultra-light laptops from Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM and NEC, according to this press release. Battery life and reduced noise were sited as the reasons for the high interest in the chip. Unfortunately, actual shipments of such Ultra-lights are still months away.

IBM has reported its plans to use the Crusoe chip in ThinkPad notebooks by the end of the year. " Transmeta says the Crusoe chip extends the battery life of mobile computers by using a hybrid of software and hardware, replacing millions of power-hungry transistors.

Nichols said IBM retrofitted a ThinkPad 240 with the chip so that it could demonstrate the unit this week for customers at the PC Expo at the Jacob Javitts Centre in Manhattan. He said IBM's notebook division has been working with the chip the past six months."

Netwinder manufacturer Rebel.com also announced plans for using the Crusoe chip in upcoming versions of the Netwinder. "Rebel.com selected Crusoe based on a number of factors, including its ability to work in a small fanless enclosure, its low power consumption, its high performance and its compatibility with industry standards."

The news is also covered in this CNet article.

ZF Linux Devices, Inc. has a slew of announcements. New York company ZF Linux Devices made several announcements this week. Their new MachZ PC-on-a-Chip is "ultra-low power (less than 1/2W @ 133MHz)". It comes with a software suite that includes a PhoenixBIOS and a choice of Linux or WindRiver VxWorks. They also announced an alliance with Phoenix Technologies to bundle the PhoenixBIOS with the MachZ.

The FailSafe MachZ runs a family of products providing distributed network solutions for the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), education and developing economy markets.

LynuxWorks, Inc., formerly Lynx Real-Time Systems, will bundle LynuxWorks BlueCat Linux and the LynuxWorks development tools with the MachZ Integrated Development System (IDS). WindRiver will supply VxWorks.

The device is financed, to the tune of $15 million, by Sands Brothers Venture Capital LLC of New York, and included additional investments from National Semiconductor, Samsung, TAT Capital Partners, and individual investors, and it will be distributed by Kanematsu Semiconductor Corporation, a Japanese distribution company.

Linux Stock for Sale. In the past two days, two announcements of large sales of VA Linux stock have gone out, the first from Small Cap World Fund, which will be selling 1.55 million shares and the second announced that Larry Augustin will be selling a more modest number, only 120,000 shares.

Larry isn't alone. Red Hat Inc. co-founder Marc Ewing has filed his intent to sell 1.5 million shares of Red Hat stock. "The shares have an estimated market value of $49 million, the filing said."

Corel successfully completed its sale of new common shares, guaranteeing it will stay afloat for at least some time longer. "In the event that all of the warrants are exercised, the Company will issue an additional 3,649,635 common shares resulting in gross proceeds of Cdn. $16,642,335.60."

Rackspace.com has amended it's prospectus and lowered its IPO terms according to this article from Reuters.

Award Winners. In the midst of other problems, Corel was pretty happy to pick up a couple of awards this week, for Corel Linux and the Corel Draw 9 Graphics Suite.

Enterprise Linux, a quarterly supplement inserted into several business magazines (ENT, MIDRANGE Systems, Enterprise Systems Journal, HP Professional and Application Development Trends), picked up an award at this year's American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE). In addition, the press release announces that Enterprise Linux will become a stand-alone monthly magazine beginning in August.

That brings us to three monthly print magazines for the Linux community so far, including Linux Journal and Linux Magazine. Enterprise Linux differs from the other two since it comes from the established business publishing arena, which has clearly decided the time is ripe for added Linux coverage to their current stock.

Linux Gets Game. The available games for Linux continue to multiple with the announcement that WarBirds III, a multi-player online World War II air combat game, has been enhanced with Linux compatibility.

Also, Terminus, a new epic space role-playing game, has been released for Linux (as well as Mac and Windows) after three and a half years of development. "Another exciting feature in Terminus is the ability of computer-controlled characters to express human emotions as they interact with other characters and react to events using advanced AI technology. Characters can become angry and impatient; they can even fall in love."

A demo of Terminus is available at www.vvisions.com.

Internet Partnership Group Tunes Into PenguinRadio. PenguinRadio, which is developing a stand-alone Linux-based Internet appliance for listening to radio stations broadcast on the Internet, announced the receipt of an equity investment from the Internet Partnership Group.

Michael Tiemann appointed to Embedded Linux Consortium board. Red Hat has announced that Michael Tiemann, Red Hat's CTO, has been appointed to the board of the Embedded Linux Consortium.

IDC: the impact of a Microsoft breakup on the Linux Market. IDC takes a gander at the impact of a potential breakup of Microsoft into two separate companies on Linux, foreseeing potential increased competition in personal productivity software and hardware sales. "IDC believes an independent Microsoft applications company could present a serious threat to desktop/personal productivity players in the Linux space -- including Corel, Applix, and even Sun Microsystems."

EuroLinux Congratulates British Telecom. The EuroLinux Alliance, promoters of the petition against software patents in Europe, has issued this release congratulating British Telecom "for demonstrating the absurdity of software patents." "BT was granted its patent nearly 15 years ago for a software concept which may have seemed new and inventive at the time. But such a patent, by being so abstract and general, has actually given BT the right to strangle the development of the World Wide Web and a lot of related technologies, which owe nothing to the inventive effort of BT."

Press Releases:

Open Source Products.
Unless specified, license is unverified.

• Centura Software Corp. (NEW YORK) announced the launch of db.star, "its secure, high-performance open source ultra-small footprint embeddable database solution for handheld devices".

• Centura Software Corp. (NEW YORK) announced that it demonstrated the compatibility of db.linux, a member of the db.star family, Panasonic 4.7GB DVD-RAM drive at PC Expo.

• PortalSphere Inc. (OTTAWA) has made its PortalSphere Application Server developers toolkit freely available to users worldwide from http://www.portalsphere.com/DevDownload.html.

Commercial Products for Linux.

• AbsoluteValue Systems (MAITLAND, Fla.) the developers of linux-wlan, a Linux Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) driver package, announced the AVS Wireless LAN System Developers Kit. Intersil announced that AVS is using the PRISM WLAN chip set in the SDK.

• Active Concepts (SAN FRANCISCO) announced it will test its flagship product, Funnel Web on the integrated Linux software and hardware distributed by VA Linux and will have direct access to Linux-Mandrake open source code and beta versions for development purposes.

• Emulex has announced Fibre Channel drivers for Linux that are "tested and approved for use with Caldera, RedHat and TurboLinux". The press release mentions that the drivers will be provided on an "open source" basis from their website. A quick scan of the site turned up the Windows, Solaris, AIX and other drivers, but did not yet list the Linux drivers.

• Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc. (PHOENIX) announced they will be demonstrating their BRU 16.0 Backup & Restore Utility at the "DVD-RAM-Defining Storage Convergence" press announcement activities at PC Expo in New York City.

• Here is IBM's big voice technology announcement, which includes the availability of the ViaVoice dictation product for Linux.

• Inprise/Borland (SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.) announced that Delphi for Linux (Kylix) will be available later this year.

• LinuxPPC Inc. has released a new version of Netscape Communicator.

• PortalSphere Inc. (OTTAWA) has made its PortalSphere Application Server developers toolkit freely available to users worldwide from http://www.portalsphere.com/DevDownload.html.

• Proven Software, Inc. has announced the availability of their BestAcct suite of corporate business accounting programs for Linux.

• SteelEye Technology Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced immediate general availability of its LifeKeeper for Linux 3.0. LifeKeeper is an automated high-availability clustering solution.

• Synergy Microsystems (SAN DIEGO, CA) announced support for Linux with Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) on all of its PowerPC-based multiprocessor boards.

• Total Impact (Camarillo, CA) announced Linux support for its line of Total mPOWER PCI based multiprocessor boards.

• Trustix AS (Trondheim, Norway) announced its release of XPloy a graphical user interface for Linux operating system administration and management.

Products Using Linux.

• Linux NetworX announced a new rack mount chassis design to be officially unveiled in August.

• Neoware Systems, Inc. (NEW YORK) announced that it demonstrated the newest version of its embedded NeoLinux operating system software at PC Expo.

Products with Linux Versions.

• Ajuba Solutions, Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) introduced Ajuba2, a platform for modeling, developing, operating and managing B2B applications.

• Alliance Systems, Inc. (PLANO, Texas) introduced the I-Series 2000 Appliance Server, a high-density communications server.

• Brooktrout Technology (BIRMINGHAM, England) announced that its TRxStream Series of media resource platforms are now available in the CompactPCI (cPCI) form factor.

• Brooktrout Technology (NEEDHAM, Mass.) announced expanded Linux support across its broad range of products, including the Vantage Series, RDSP Series, RTNI Series, TRxStream Series and Netaccess Series product families.

• Group 1 Software (LANHAM, Md.) announced the release of its DataVerse suite of products. The DataVerse family of products supports real-time address validation, correction, and/or formatting for the US, Canada, and over 200 countries worldwide.

• LapLink.com Inc. (SEATTLE) announced that it will unveil its newest Internet product releases, ExpressLoader and ExpressDrive Accelerator, in tandem with the introduction of Internet File Management (IFM) during PC Expo 2000.

• NetZero, Inc. (WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.) announced that it will offer a Linux version of its Z3 software.

• Omnis Technology Corporation (SAN CARLOS, Calif.) announced that Omnis Software released the latest beta of Omnis Studio 3.0.

• Planet Intra (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced Planet Intra 2.4, the latest version of its Intranet solution.

• SGI (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) introduced the Silicon Graphics Octane2 visual workstation, a new addition to its VPro graphics family.

• UniPress Software, Inc. (EDISON, N.J.) announced the availability of FootPrints v.4.3, the latest release of the company's web-based issue tracking and help desk solution.

Java Products.

• Solant, Inc. (WASHINGTON, DC) announced that it has created the a full Enterprise Java architecture for online billing and customer care in the industry.

• Unify Corporation (SAN JOSE, Calif.) announced Unify eWave Engine 2.0, an Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 1.1 application server, due out in July 2000.

Training.

• Learning Tree (RESTON, Va.) announced its plans to release "Linux TCP/IP Networking and Services: Hands-On," a new course on how to install and configure TCP/IP networking and services on Linux.

Partnerships.

• Bluepoint Linux Software Corp. (LOS ANGELES) announced that it has signed an agreement with China United Online. China United Online will purchase search engine system and free-email server system from Bluepoint, and Bluepoint will provide China United Online with technical support and technical training.

• Loki Software, Inc. (Tustin, CA.) announced an agreement with QLITech Linux Computers to bundle a variety of Loki titles on the Advanced Multimedia Workstations.

• Merlin Software Technologies International Inc. (ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA) announced the pre-loading of PerfectBACKUP+ 6.2 on select models of IBM ThinkPad A series and T series notebooks.

• NonStopNet (OAKLAND, Calif.) announced a new alliance with VA Linux Systems, Inc. This partnership enables NonStopNet to offer VA Linux server solutions as part of its Internet Infrastructure Management Services.

• Perle Systems (WESTMONT, ILLINOIS) announced that SuSE Linux AG, has included drivers for its complete range of Specialix and Chase muilt-port serial cards in its latest release.

• Red-M (WEXHAM SPRINGS, United Kingdom) announced that it has been accepted as an associate member of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. The wireless Internet server product solutions being developed by Red-M are based on a combination of the Linux operating system and Bluetooth technology.

• SteelEye Technology Inc. (SAN DIEGO) announced that it has joined the Linux International organization as a Sponsoring Corporate Member.

• SuSE Linux AG and MacTech Magazine (OAKLAND AND WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA) announced that a free distribution CD of SuSE Linux for the Apple PowerPC is included in the June 2000 issue of MacTech Magazine.

• TheLinuxStore.com (EBIZ) has announced a deal with TurboLinux to offer a new line of servers oriented toward e-commerce applications.

• TheLinuxStore.com (SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) announced a partnership agreement with 3ware Inc. to market and sell 3ware's Escalade line of RAID storage controllers.

• XETA Technologies (BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) entered into a preliminary agreement to form a strategic alliance with Elastic Networks. The companies plan to offer the lodging industry a single hardware platform that includes both XETA's Virtual XL Series Call Accounting System and Elastic's Yesware Software solutions for High-Speed Internet Access. Both software solutions are Linux-based.

Linux At Work.

• StockTalkLive.com and VA Linux Systems, Inc. (BOCA RATON, Fla. and SUNNYVALE, Calif.) announced that StockTalkLive.com has selected VA Linux Professional Services to port its streaming applications to Linux.

Other.

• Linux NetworX Inc. (SANDY, UTAH) opened an office in San Jose, Calif.

• Moonlight Systems, Inc. (SAN FRANCISCO) unveiled plans to deliver enterprise-grade applications optimized for Linux server deployments and the fast growing Application Service Provider (ASP) market. "Moonlight Systems(TM) will employ an open source strategy in developing and delivering its products, by providing source code to customers and partners to maximize flexibility and to foster ongoing innovation."

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.

See also: last week's Linux in the news page.

Linux in the News

Recommended Reading.

The latest installment in Andrew Leonard's 'Free Software Project' on Salon looks at the history of hacking. "Over the decades, the opportunity to harness the power of a computer to one's own selfish purposes, whatever those may be, has proven irresistibly seductive. From the '50s kids who gravitated inexorably to IBM mainframes to the Homebrew Computer Club tinkerers who built the first personal computers in the '70s to the Linux hackers exchanging tips and tricks in their user's groups in the '90s, the underlying passion is identical: It is a whole lot of fun to be the master of a Giant Brain, down to the very last binary one or zero." The real point of the piece is that free software has brought the fun back.

Open Source.

LinuxDevices.com is running this white paper by Kevin Morgan, MontaVista's VP of engineering. The paper looks at the business of open source from an embedded systems point of view; interesting reading. "Even with the short history of the open source approach, there is more than enough evidence to demonstrate the superiority and survivability of a royalty-free business model. Proprietary, closed source technology and binary product royalties have always been an encumbrance on embedded developers, slowing down business operations, lengthening design and development cycles, and delaying the availability of leading edge technology."

UpsideToday takes a look at Gated communities, based on licenses similar to the Sun Community Source License (SCSL), essentially calling them a form of passive resistance to a new world view. "More pernicious are the passive forms of resistance: the local corn goddess that somehow manages to sneak her way into the Christmas pageant, the Buddhist idol that bears a striking hereditary likeness to Apollo. These are the small-time heresies that keep missionaries up late at night."

Here's an Upside article about JEMini by Websprockets. "Derived from ClassPath, a clean room Java project launched by the Free Software Foundation in 1996, JEMini is a class library designed to give developers a chance to write commercial Java applications without forking over a licensing fee to Sun."

The licensing wars continue with this letter to the editor on ZDNet. "The BSD license is clearly superior and offers more options for compatibility and interoperability because it poses no risk to business and offers independent developers incentive for using the code as well."

You know you've made it when you become the primary target for new competition. This ZDNet article talks about plans to make the Inferno operating system into a Linux competitor. "Michael Jeffrey, Vita Nuova's chief executive, says the company is initiating a new, royalty-free licensing model for Inferno that takes its cue from the open-source world of Linux, but with an important distinction: Unlike a traditional source-code licensing agreement, Vita Nuova's terms do not require customers to turn the code they develop over to the Inferno community."

On the other hand, unlike the BSD operating systems which also have more lenient licensing, getting a hold of the source code will cost you money. "The company will sell annual subscriptions for access to Inferno's source code to developers; an individual developer subscription is $300 per year, and corporate subscriptions start at $1,000 per year for five developers." Inferno is certainly not joining the list of "Open Source" operating systems.

Eric Raymond started the 15th MacHack conference off with a five hour keynote speech, reported ZDNet. "Software, he said, is a service industry, not a manufacturing industry -- a point that did not go over well with the coders who were still present. Many argued that the Mac community is too small to support a service model."

Also, see this article from Upside Today on the speech. " 'Yes, I really did jam with that audience for five hours,' said Raymond, via email. 'Actually, it was closer to six. What happened was that my keynote turned into an all-night workshop and debate -- very lively and a lot of fun for all concerned.'"

IBM.

CNN reports on IBM's announcement of laptops with Linux preinstalled. "In backing the upstart technology, and its ethos of collaborative development and free distribution, IBM is targeting a consumer movement. It's also, possibly, out for revenge that's been long in coming."

ZDNet takes a look at IBM's strategy for Linux. "As IBM general manager Buell G. Duncan III puts it, 'Education is key to the new IBM.' Duncan's statement was a direct reference to IBM's decision to offer classroom, satellite and Web-based courses on both Linux and open source.

These classes aren't set in a vacuum. They lead to either a Linux Professional Institute certification or a Red Hat Certified Engineer. But it doesn't end there. The training programs also can lead partners to a new IBM certification, dubbed Certified for E-business Solution Technologist."

Companies.

PCWorld takes a look at Intel's announcement of the Dot.Station web-appliance. "Linux Inside. Another aspect of the Dot.Station is that it doesn't include any Microsoft software. The unit runs an Intel-modified version of the Red Hat Linux distribution, and initially the Netscape 4.73 browser. Later versions will run Mozilla, a Netscape-like open-source browser for Linux."

News.com looks at the latest offering from Intel. "Intel will enter the increasingly crowded field for Internet appliances today with the Dot.Station, a countertop terminal powered by Red Hat Linux that lets people surf the Web, exchange emails and make phone calls."

From Business Week: Compaq has announced a Linux version of its iPAQ handheld computer, a device that was specifically designed to run Windows CE. "Compaq has no plans to turn the Linux handheld into a commercial product. However, a number of consumer information appliances based on the free, open-source operating system will become available in coming months, including products from Intel and Gateway."

This ZDNet article will be of most interest to AMD enthusiasts, but it still takes a moment out to mention Linux. "Ruiz said to expect AMD-based Internet appliances sometime in 2001 -- possibly some of them based on the Linux operating system."

Business.

ZDNet took a moment to point out that Compaq and Dell had not joined the list of companies excitedly demonstrating Crusoe-based products at the PC Expo. Performance issues are cited as the primary reason. "According to sources, Dell has found that the performance of the current TM 5400 chips is not yet up to par with similarly rated mobile chips from Intel."

InternetWeek put out a couple of articles on the progress Linux is making. The first article takes a look at people who are happily using Linux on the desktop right now, in this case, in a thin-client environment. " Welsh, who works at Cassens Transport, a trucking company in Edwardsville, Ill., has deployed diskless PCs on his users' desktops. All desktop apps are accessed from workgroup Linux servers running VistaSource Inc.'s Applixware software suite, which includes word processing and spreadsheet tools. Welsh says the thin-client solution is extremely cost-effective and easy to manage."

The second article, entitled "Super Glue", looks at Novell's Directory Services, eDirectory, on Linux. "During our tests, we had no trouble with any feature of eDirectory on Linux. We highly recommend using Linux boxes as eDirectory replication partners to offload overhead on the main file servers and to provide fault tolerance."

This Fox News article takes a look at a step towards choosing a standard for the digital house. "This past week Intel also said it will release a UPnP development kit, in this case for Linux. The kit will allow Linux device makers to develop a control interface for UPnP, so that a device can locate and interact with other UPnP-enabled devices, even if they are Windows-based."

This ZDNet article follows products in the Mac arena. However, one of the latest additions to their list is Linux-specific. "You want big iron? Total Impact has announced its Total mPOWER PCI-based multiprocessing board. The card can be ordered with four G3 or G4 processors (pricing based on configuration), each with its own fan. But before you go dreaming of superfast Photoshop filters, be warned that the mPOWER board currently supports only Linux."

In this OSOpinion article , Ganesh Prasad makes several predictions for the future of Java, Linux, and open source software. "Open Source products cannot be defeated in the marketplace. They will become market leaders in every major software category in 3-5 years. Most successful devices will run Open Source operating systems and basic Open Source applications like browsers and mail clients."

It seems the release of Windows2000 and NT2000 has "devalued" the certifications of many "Microsoft Certified Engineers". That means they get to take all the classes over again (and Microsoft makes more money). Some of them are taking the opportunity to learn Linux instead, according to this osOpinion piece. "I've always been uncomfortable with the fact that my career has been so vendor specific. Whether it's NT, UNIX, or NetWare, you become a decibel of the company, and you serve a master that answers to stockholders. To me, that means that decisions can be made to protect the stockholders that can radically affect your career. Ask a CNE what that means."

Resources.

LinuxDevices has been polling its readers about what they value about open source. "Possibly the most interesting result, is that the #1 reason doesn't even pertain to USING the source. Rather, it expresses a strong belief that open source development produces better software than traditional proprietary software development."

The Washington Post has run this article on using Linux for your daily computing tasks. "Linux may have a reputation as a specialized uber-tool, something used by computer-science graduates to run Web servers or code Internet software. But many users of this free operating system don't employ it for anything fancier than the bread-and-butter tasks familiar to most Windows and Mac users--writing letters, wasting time on the Web, editing photos, or playing a game or two."

We've published several distribution reviews from the Duke of URL (Patrick Mullen) over the past month, but managed to miss this review of SuSE Linux 6.4. Thanks to the reader who pointed out the omission. Documentation and hardware support appear to be the key areas where SuSE did best. "As far as I'm concerned, SuSE has the best hardware compatibility out of any distribution. Everything worked flawlessly and the inclusion of XFree86 4.0 only raises the bar further."

Finally.

ZDNet reprinted this Inter@ctive Week article on the push to open up immigration into the USA to address the need for more highly-skilled workers. "What is needed to resolve this problem is a global exchange, a virtual marketplace in which problems and solutions can be traded. One of the oldest market mechanisms, the exchange has been used successfully for centuries to trade assets ranging from commodities to complex financial instruments to tulips. Provide an intellectual property exchange for the high-tech industry, and the face of product development will change forever."

They failed to see an example of their solution already thriving in place: the global nature of the development of free software.

Microsoft recently announced what they have dubbed their "roadmap for the Next Generation Internet", Windows.NET. Bert Garcia gave his reaction to the news via this osOpinion article. " What shocks the pixels off my display is that this Next Generation Windows Services won't be delivered for at least another generation in Internet time, 3 years. ... Me, myself and I don't plan on waiting around. We'll keep learning and using Linux, Apache, PHP, MySql, Perl and Java. We'll start creating tomorrow's web sites today with the tools we have now".

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol

See also: last week's Announcements page.

Announcements

Adelaide, Australia Installfest 2000. Read about the Installfest 2000 which will be held in Adelaide, Australia on July 15, 2000.

FirstLinux Network News launches. Another Linux news service has been announced. FirstLinux Network News (FNN) is from the same people who currently maintain the LinuxLinks.com site. "FNN welcomes submissions from enthusiasts, developers and companies. We aim to cover the entire spectrum of Linux news from Kernel patches to Microsoft litigation."

New Italian Linux site. http://www.penguin.it is a new Linux site in Italian. Though partially incomplete, it contains a Penguin News zone and a Mailing List zone with three mailing lists in it currently: new2linux, info.security, programmare.

Resources

ITsquare.com Adds Linux Software Development to IT Services eMarketplace. ITsquare.com announced the launch of Linux Square. Linux Square provides access to scores of established Linux development firms.

FreeLinuxCD Needs Sponsers. Here's an announcement from FreeLinuxCD. "We, FreeLinuxCD.org, are volunteers who think everyone who wants to use Linux should be able to do so regardless of their financial conditions and whether or not they have access to a fast Internet connection to download the latest distributions."

Events

SAGE-AU 2000 Conference. Don't forget the System Administrators Guild of Australia SAGE-AU 2000 Conference, July 3 to 7, 2000 in Queensland, Australia.

TheLinuxStore.com & EBIZ Enterprises Host Free Seminar. The LinuxStore.com and EBIZ Enterprises Inc. invite business executives and Linux enthusiasts to attend a two-hour seminar, "Deploying Linux in Your Business," its second in a series of free seminars being held Friday, Aug. 11 from 1 - 3 p.m. at The Buttes Resort, 2000 Westcourt Way, Tempe, Ariz.

A Co-Sponsor for IDG's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo. The Linux Insider has signed an agreement to be an official co-sponsor of IDG's upcoming LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, August 14-17, 2000 in San Jose, California.

LinuxWorld sells out exhibit space. Boasting an impressive 60% increase in exhibit floor space, LinuxWorld was pretty happy to announce that exhibit space is sold out for the event coming up in August in San Jose. "IDG World Expo also indicated today that it must relocate the next West Coast LinuxWorld event, scheduled for August 27-30, 2001, to San Francisco to accommodate the rapidly growing number of exhibitors and attendees."

LinuxFest 2000: Report on day 2 (tummy.com). Sean and Evelyn have sent in another report on the second day of LinuxFest 2000. Unfortunately, things aren't going well. "So what was awful about it? Well, RedHat dismantled their booth last night during Larry Augustin's keynote. Informix dismantled their booth in mid-afternoon today (leaving only Atipa and Linux Mall with big booth setups). Two or three other smaller vendors have also pulled out, 3 vendors never even set up their booths today. Unfortunately, the show seems to just be very disorganized."

LinuxFest 2000: Day 3 (Tummy.com). Sean and Evelyn have sent in their report on Day 3 at LinuxFest 2000. They've included news on the nerf war front and comments on the keynote.

Report: LinuxFest Day 4. Well, presumably the last report from the poorly organized LinuxFest event has rolled in. Attendance managed to drop even further, but there is a bright side. Disappointment in the event has brought together the local Linux User Groups, who are planning their own event for March next year. "The sad fact of the matter is -- the LUG meeting was better planned, better organized, more fun, and (nearly) better attended than the rest of the conference."

Web sites

New Linux Networx Web Site. Linux NetworX, Inc. announced the launch of its new Web site (www.linuxnetworx.com), as well as its new corporate logo and branding campaign.

User Group News

The Linux Users' Group of Davis (California). LUGOD will NOT be holding a meeting on July 4th. Instead they are holding a party!

Omaha Linux Users Group Meeting. OLUG will meet on Sunday, July 16 at 1pm. Topics will focus on using PHP as well as some discussion of using PHP to integrate MySQL with web sites.

Software Announcements