Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter - Issue #80

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               Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter

                  Issue #80  Thursday, 5 June 2003

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Welcome to the Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- dedicated to keeping you 
up-to-date with the latest Mandrake-related news & info.

In this issue:

 * Mandrake in the News -- TweakHound.com, LinuxWorld.com
 * BizCase of the Week -- Multimedia: Ambitone Oy
 * Quick Tips -- Mandrake Community TWiki, Easy URPMI Setup
 * Software Updates --  sb, mozilla, gnupg, more
 * Headlines from MandrakeClub.com -- Write better PHP code, 101 modules
   for Advanced Extranet server.


Mandrake in the News
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TweakHound.com -- Mandrake Linux 9.1 Power Pack: Another Step Forward.
Eric Vaughan has been spending some quality time with Mandrake 9.1 and
has a lot to say about the recent release:

"The best way to describe my experience with 9.1 is...WOW! MandrakeSoft
has done it's homework. Mandrake 9.1 has a professional and clean
looking interface and it's easier to use than ever. This article isn't
so much of a review as it is my experience installing and using it.
I'll let the pictures do much of the talking."
http://www.tweakhound.com/mdk9/mdk91/review/

Slashdot.org hosts a discussion of the TweakHound review:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/05/27/1528203

LinuxWorld.com: Mandrake 9.1: Can Installation Get Any Easier?
Everyone's favorite Linux writer Joe Barr installs 9.1 on his
girlfriend's laptop and concludes:
"The Mandrake installation process was good in previous versions, but I 
believe the Mandrake wizards streamlined and improved it in version
9.1."
http://www.linuxworld.com/2003/0520.barr.html


Business Case of the Week
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Multimedia: Good solution even if target application is another OS.
Ambitone Oy is a company that develops educational multimedia CD-ROM
software. Their target platform is MS Windows, but they've been pleased
to discover that a large part of their CD-ROM collection runs well
under Wine.

In their business they use Mandrake for:
- web/mail server running
* Apache
* phpGroupWare
* postfix
* imap

- workgroup/backup server running
* Apache (intranet)
* SQL-Ledger
* PostgreSQL for SQL-Ledger and phpGroupware
* a custom rsync-based remote backup service for our clients
* a tape backup drive
* SAMBA to share disk space between linux and windows
* FreeSWAN VPN for home/office connectivity
http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=533

For more examples of Mandrake in the workplace, see
MandrakeBizcases.com:
http://mandrakebizcases.com/


Quick Tips
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Mandrake Community TWiki.
Members of the Mandrake Community have released a new resource for 
information, tips, and other documentation of interest to Mandrake
users. If you're not familiar with 'TWiki', it's not like other content
management systems -- anyone can sign up and begin modifying & adding
content immediately.

The site already contains chapters on:
* How to use Mandrake specific tools, like urpmi.
* How to use general linux programs on a Mandrake Linux distribution.
* A number of HOWTOs.
* A number of resources to get help with your Mandrake Linux.
* Links to important and/or interesting sites about Mandrake Linux and
  Linux in general.

Stop by the Mandrake Community Twiki, or better yet, contribute your own 
'How-To'.
http://mandrake.vmlinuz.ca/bin/view/Main/WebHome

--

Easy URPMI
Many Mandrake users have found Olivier Thauvin's web-based 'easy urpmi'
to be a real time saver when adding download mirrors to the Mandrake
Software Manager.
http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/urpmiweb.php

But you may not know that Olivier has also released a small graphical
utility called 'urpmi.setup' that can add download mirrors without
having to type URLs. Install this package as 'root' in a terminal with
the command 'urpmi urpmi.setup'. After it's been downloaded and
installed, launch the program as 'root' in a terminal with the command
'urpmi.setup'. Thanks Olivier!

BTW- The Mandrake Community TWiki contains a helpful chapter on 'Using
urpmi' -- "One of the most important Mandrake-specific tools is, without
a doubt, "urpmi, which allows for better and easier package management
in your Mandrake box. If you master the use of urpmi, you will never
again suffer the dependancy hell that many inexperienced users complain
about."
http://mandrake.vmlinuz.ca/bin/view/Main/UsingUrpmi


Software Updates
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9.1 software updates have been released for:

* sb -- provides missing file
* mozilla -- fixes various bugs
* gnupg -- fixes validation bug
* cdrecord -- fixes local root compromise
* gnome-pilot -- fixes Tungsten support
* xinetd -- fixes DoS vulnerability
* drakxtools -- fixes bugs in drakbackup
* kopete -- fixes vulnerability with GnuPG plugin
* man -- fixes vulnerability

View the complete list at MandrakeSecure.net:
http://www.mandrakesecure.net/


Headlines from MandrakeClub.com
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Write better PHP code -- Part 1 and 2.
Deno posts an informative two-part discussion about coding PHP --
including some practical lessons that he's learned while maintaining
the MandrakeForum and MandrakeClub websites:
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=866
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=874

101 modules for Advanced Extranet server.
The 'Advanced Extranet server' is a specially tuned version of Apache
with many additional modules that all work "out of the box". Just how
much is "a lot"? Denis explains the success story behind MandrakeSoft's
AES:
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=870

Read these and other stories at MandrakeClub:
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/

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