"Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

Contents: Distro News News in General Software Announcements

Selected and formatted by Michael Conry

Submitters, send your News Bytes items in PLAIN TEXT format. Other formats may be rejected without reading. You have been warned! A one- or two-paragraph summary plus URL gets you a better announcement than an entire press release.

March/April 2001 Embedded Linux Journal

The March/April issue of SSC's newest publication, Embedded Linux Journal, will hit the streets March 2nd. ELJ focuses on the use of Linux and other open-source software to increase efficiency, economy and stability in embedded design and development.

Free subscriptions are available to qualified individuals in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Paid subscriptions to other countries are also available. Visit the ELJ web site at http://embedded.linuxjournal.com to subscribe, read articles on-line and post your comments.

March 2001 Linux Journal

The March issue of Linux Journal is on newsstands now. This issue focuses on Consulting. Click here to view the table of contents, or here to subscribe.

All articles through December 1999 are available for public reading at http://www.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/mags.html. Recent articles are available on-line for subscribers only at http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/.

SuSE

SuSE Linux has announced the availability of SuSE Linux 7.1, with the newly released Kernel 2.4, in both Personal and Professional editions. SuSE will continue shipping the reliable 2.2 series kernels parallel to Kernel 2.4. For more information, please visit SuSE's product web page.

The Duke of URL has recently posted a review of the very recently superceded SuSE Linux Professional 7.0. It will certainly give you a feel for the spirit of SuSE's distribution, although of course there will be some extra features/updates in 7.1.

SuSE Linux and IBM Global Services have signed a worldwide technical support agreement, covering various platforms, including IBM eServers. IBM Global Services will use SuSE's expertise to help address customers' technical Linux concerns. Since the announcement of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server for zSeries (formerly S/390) in October, SuSE is the only company delivering a worldwide Linux distribution for IBM xSeries, pSeries and zSeries eServers. At this time, SuSE supports more IBM server platforms than any other commercially available Linux distribution.

SuSE Linux has also announced the new SuSE Linux Knowledge Portal. The service can be accessed and searched on the Web at SuSE's German, UK and US web-sites. Topics covered are wide-ranging, and the site is aimed at both Linux desktop newcomers and experienced system administrators. Much of the information is not distro-specific.

Upcoming conferences and events

Steeleye and Linux Networx Partnership

SteelEye Technology, Inc. have announced an OEM agreement with Linux NetworX, Inc.. Linux NetworX will offer SteelEye's LifeKeeper for Linux platform in the solutions it provides to eBusiness customers. The agreement also includes co-marketing and joint technical support activities. SteelEye's LifeKeeper monitors system and application health to maintain client accessibility and provide uninterrupted data access. LifeKeeper automatically restores application services by either restarting them locally or relocating them to another server in the cluster.

AMD Showcases First VirtuHammer Simulator

AMD announced at LinuxWorld events in New York and Paris the first public demonstration of "VirtuHammer," the tool developed by AMD and Virtutech to allow software developers to write and test 64-bit programs for AMD's next-generation "Hammer" family of processors. AMD, along with SuSE have reported significant progress in the Open Source community's efforts to port Linux to AMD's x86-64 technology. The x86-64 technology extends the x86 instruction set to enable 64-bit computing and is the backbone behind AMD's planned 64-bit processor family, code-named "Hammer." AMD's "Hammer" family is planned for commercial introduction in the first half of 2002. For additional information on the x86-64 instruction set, visit http://www.x86-64.org

LUGFEST IV

The Simi-Conejo Linux Users Group will be holding LUGFest IV on April 21st and 22nd, 2001, in Simi Valley, California. The LUGFest is intended to be an opportunity for Linux users to demo Linux (or other Open Source operating systems), Linux applications, attend seminars, and BOF (Birds Of a Feather) sessions. Additionally, Linux vendors may participate and show off their wares. For more info, to register for LFIV, or to volunteer to do a demo, contact gareth@wiked.org, or visit the LUGFest web-site.

CLIQ 2001 Conference and Exhibit

Colorado Linux Info Quest - CLIQ have announced sponsorship from Hewlett Packard, XFree86 and GNOME (among others) for CLIQ2001 (March 30th). Daryll Strauss (VA Linux, XFree86) and Havoc Pennington (Red Hat, GTK+ and GNOME) have agreed to speak at the event which will take place March 29th-30th at the Denver Marriott Tech Center. All scheduled talks and the exhibit floor are scheduled for the 30th, with early registration and a few smaller informal events expected on the 29th.

Linux Links

The Duke of URL has some links which may appeal to you:

• A review of Connectiva Linux 6.0, featuring the new APT mechanism for RPM (to take care of dependencies), kernel 2.2.17, XFree86 4.0.1
• A look at Unreal Tournament, GotY edition for (among others) Linux.
• The Linux Buyer's Guide #8 with a focus on working with Kernel 2.4.1 and XFree86 4.0.2. Systems are studied at 4 price points.
• OpenBSD 2.8 is reviewed.
• Plus, a review of a selection of technical books that may be of interest.

• An article looking at the latest Bind Vulnerabilities. Probably serious if you are affected since there is a known exploit (though perhaps not in the wild, YET). You have been warned! Also check-out the Security Focus article on the subject.
• On a lighter note, there is the story on an assembler coded in Bash.
• And the duelling hackers story of the DirecTV hacker game.

Three articles on The Register which may be of interest:

• A report on the change of ownership of Egroups to Yahoo, and the new terms/conditions being imposed.
• The news that Microsoft have partially outsourced their DNS servers to a firm (Akami) that appears to be using Linux for the job. I suppose all companies get things right from time to time!
• And, information on the new LinuxDisk software developed by Peter Braam. The driver allows a Linux system running commodity hardware to appear to the network as a storage device, much like a low-end SAN.

Userlocal.com offer a site focusing mostly on Slackware Linux, though much of the information is useful for all Linux users.

OSOpinion take a look at MS .net and Linux: whether Microsoft will have Corel port .NET to Linux, and how the possible antitrust split of MS may affect this. The hurried sale of the shares reported by Linux Today and discussed on Slashdot, just makes the story more fascinating. One to watch.

Rainer Gerhards has written an article on integrating Windows NT into a Unix syslog based management system (having Windows reporting to Unix via Syslog).

Linux Today have an overview of Berlin (a possible future alternative to X). You can get a bit more info from TAG in our very own LG issue 61 here.

IBM Personalization Software for Linux Announced

IBM have announced that the latest version of its WebSphere Personalization software now supports Linux. This software enables businesses to focus their websites more precisely at their individual users through "personalization", and then to optimise this process through analysis of activity. For more information on Websphere and Personalization and IBM/Linux follow the links.

Partnership to create Comprehensive Motif GUI Solution on Linux for Enterprises

Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc. and Sitraka Software are entering into a partnership focusing on their BX PRO and XRT PDS Motif development products. ICS has developed a kit that allows integration of Sitraka's XRT PDS with their own BX PRO product, and have now arranged a Reseller agreement with Sitraka for XRT PDS. With this agreement, ICS can now claim to offer the largest selection of Motif development tools on UNIX and Linux systems. This solution is shipping on various platforms, including Linux (Intel).

2netFX and Linux NetworX to Offer Streaming Server Solution

The solution integrates the 2netFX ThunderCast Server and StreamRider Client Player software with Linux NetworX Evolicity clusters. The StreamRider client will be offered on the Linux NetworX Evolocity 1240s. Four independent CPUs will share the Web serving workload through a software-level load balancer. If one compute module should fail, the others continue providing services, providing maximum system uptime. Clustering technology offers advantages in redundancy and scalability.

Dell Linux Initiatives

VMware and the NSA Team to Build Advanced Secure Computer Systems

Arkeia Enterprise Backup Software Included in SuSE eMail Server II

Knox Software have informed us that the Free Version of their flagship product, Arkeia, is included into SuSE's 2nd Generation eMail Server II. The SuSE eMail Server II is an Open Source solution which administrates mail on a central server, and is in accordance with the IMAP standard. Arkeia 4.2 provides incremental and full backups, scheduled or on demand, and preserves directory structure, registry, symbolic links and special attributes.

Copyright © 2001, Michael Conry and the Editors of Linux Gazette.
Copying license http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html
Published in Issue 64 of Linux Gazette, March 2001