Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter - Issue #84

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                 Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter

                   Issue #84  Friday, 24 October 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:

   * Top Story -- Mandrake 9.2 'FiveStar' released!
   * Product News -- 9.2 pre-orders at MandrakeStore
   * What's Cookin' at MandrakeSoft -- 9.2 Beta2 for AMD64; PPC Cooker
   * MandrakeClub -- 9.2 downloads; BitTorrent FAQ; 9.2 Pack discounts
   * Mandrake in the News -- ofb.biz; Slashdot; nzherald.co.nz; lwn.net
   * Awards & Accolades -- ofb.biz; 9.2 receives 'Crystal Disk' award
   * Become a 'Mandrake hero' and write a tutorial
   * Website Update -- New languages at MandrakeLinux.com
   * Software Updates -- fetchmail, openssl, proftpd, more


Top Story
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Mandrake 9.2 'FiveStar' released!
On October 14th, 2003, MandrakeSoft celebrated its five year anniversary
by releasing Mandrake Linux 9.2. Help celebrate this new five-star
release:

* Read the complete press release:
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/9.2/92PR.php3

* Discover the new & improved features and the new Packs, including the
all-new "Discovery" office/multimedia desktop pack:
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/9.2/features/

* MandrakeClub Members and 9.2 contributors can download Mandrake 9.2
ISOs at MandrakeClub. Additionally, Mandrake Club Silver Members and
above can download the first three ISO images from the PowerPack.


Product News
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Mandrake Linux 9.2 packs can now be pre-ordered at MandrakeStore.com.
Pre-order an official 9.2 Pack or DVD at MandrakeStore.com to be among
the first to receive it when it begins shipping at the end of October.
Choose from the new Discovery Pack, PowerPack or ProSuite.
http://www.mandrakestore.com/?rnl20031024


What's Cookin' at MandrakeSoft
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Mandrake 9.2 Beta2 for AMD64.
A second beta release of Mandrake 9.2 for AMD64 (Athlon64 and Opteron)
is now available for testing. Release information and download
locations are available here:
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/92amd64beta.php3

PPC Cooker marches on.
MandrakeSoft developer Stew Benedict recently took a look at cooker-ppc
to see how usable it was. He says: "Things are a little rough, and
Olivier has had some other things to tend to, so PPC fell behind a
little bit, but I've currently got a functional PPC system running
9.2/Cooker with KDE and the drak tools."
http://archives.mandrakelinux.com/cooker-ppc/2003-10/msg00024.php


MandrakeClub
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MandrakeClub Members and 9.2 contributors have been busy downloading
Mandrake 9.2 ISOs -- over 10 Terabytes of Mandrake 9.2 ISO images have
been downloaded so far!
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=1251

If you've hit a few snags with BitTorrent, don't worry -- a new
'BitTorrent FAQ' has been posted with some helpful tips and
suggestions:
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=1302

Don't forget -- MandrakeClub members qualify for an immediate 20%
discount (25% for Silver Members and above) on Mandrake Linux 9.2
products by pre-ordering now:
http://www.mandrakeclub.com/article.php?sid=1221

Not yet a MandrakeClub member? To learn more, please visit:
http://mandrakelinux.com/en/club/?rnl=20031024


Mandrake in the News
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ofb.biz -- FIRST LOOK: Mandrake Linux 9.2 Discovery Edition.
The new Mandrake 9.2 Discovery Pack gets a first look by the 'Open For
Business' website:
"Four release cycles after MandrakeSoft first seriously took aim at the
corporate desktop, it is my opinion that they have overwhelmingly
succeeded. Mandrake Linux 9.2 exhibits a level of refinement that we
have not previously encountered with a GNU/Linux distribution from any
developer." Mandrake 9.2 Discovery is a new MandrakeSoft desktop
product that focuses on office and multimedia:
http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=268

A related discussion appeared at Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/16/1358247

nzherald.co.nz -- MP Tanzcos almost a geek.
New Zealand Member of Parliament Nandor Tanzcos "likes to get into the
source code behind the applications he runs on his Dell laptop
computer. Like most alternative IT users, Tanzcos favours open source
software and the Linux operating system:
'I'm running Mandrake [a Linux distribution] on my Dell laptop because
there are alternatives to products from Microsoft.' Tanzcos says
Mandrake is good to use, even if it does mimic the look of Microsoft's
Windows, and would like the Government to ditch its use of Microsoft
systems and move to Linux."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3529203&thesection=technol
ogy&thesubsection=general

lwn.net -- The Great Package Management Experiment.
Linux Weekly News examines the package management tools in five major
binary Linux distributions and concludes:
"To conclude this lengthy and time consuming experiment involving
package installations and distribution upgrades, we have two clear
winners - Debian and Mandrake. Debian is hard to beat when it comes to
overall convenience, but Mandrake has made a lot of effort and its
urpmi package management and underlying technology has just about
succeeded in catching up with Debian's. The other three distributions
have a long way to go."
http://lwn.net/Articles/49967/


Awards & Accolades
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ofb.biz -- Mandrakesoft awarded for Club and 9.1.
MandrakeSoft took top honors in OfB's "Open Choice
Awards 2003." This award is welcome recognition for all the hard work
that went into developing the Mandrake Linux Users Club and the Mandrake
Linux 9.1 distribution.
http://ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=265

Mandrake Linux 9.2 receives 'Crystal Disk' award.
MandrakeSoft received a rare honor at the International
Computer Show Invex 2003 in Brno, Czech Republic when Mandrake Linux 9.2
received the 'Crystal Disk' award. This is a notable success
because it's the first time a Linux distribution has received this type
of recognition in the Czech Republic. The award also demonstrates the
growing acceptance of Linux and Open Source technology not only by
technical but also by business circles in CZ.
http://www.bvv.cz/i2000/Akce/b-inv.nsf/WWWAllPDocsID/LHEA-5S3JTJ?OpenDocument
&NAV=1


Become a 'Mandrake hero' and write a Mandrake tutorial
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The 'Mandrake Linux Demo & Tutorial Center'
(http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/demos/) has been neglected for a long
time, but graphical tutorials are a great way to help new users and to
improve Mandrake visibility. If you've got a favorite short topic and
would be willing to write a quick 'Graphical HowTo' with plenty of
screenshots, MandrakeSoft would like to speak with you. Please send an
email to phil-AT-mandrakesoft.com for all the details.


Website Update
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New languages at MandrakeLinux.com.
Several new languages have been added to the MandrakeLinux.com website,
including:
  * Japanese -- http://www.mandrakelinux.com/ja/
  * Brazilian-Portuguese -- http://www.mandrakelinux.com/pt-BR/
  * Hindi -- http://www.mandrakelinux.com/hi/

To volunteer as a website translator for your native language, please
send an email to weblocales-AT-linux-mandrake.com.


Software Updates
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9.1 software updates have been released for:

  * fetchmail -- fixes DoS vulnerability
  * gdm -- fixes local vulnerabilities
  * gnome-applets -- fixes the Stock Ticker applet
  * openssl -- fixes vulnerabilities
  * mplayer -- fixes buffer overflow vulnerability
  * proftpd -- fixes remote root vulnerability

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

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