Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- Issue #69

[ Thanks to Phil Lavigna for this link. ]

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               Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter

             Issue #69  Thursday, 21 November 2002

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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: It's Christmas at MandrakeStore!
 * Mandrake in the News: MozillaQuest & TweakHound.com
 * MandrakeClub: Club discounts -- Do you need DB2?
 * Business Case of the Week: StarSoft software development
 * This Week's Survey: Have you received your 9.0 Pack?
 * Software Updates: ypserv & bind
 * Headlines from MandrakeForum


Top Story
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It's already Christmas at MandrakeStore!
MandrakeStore is celebrating the holidays early this year by offering 
FREE shipping to the USA, Canada and Europe for any orders that total 
$50 or more, and 50% OFF shipping for the rest of the world (or for 
totals less than $50).

Visit MandrakeStore today and enjoy an early Merry Christmas from the 
entire MandrakeSoft team.


Mandrake in the News
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MozillaQuest.com -- Mandrake Linux 9.0, Desktop Magic You Can Use.
The MozillaQuest online magazine offers a thorough "first look" 
at Mandrake Linux 9.0. "One thing that is particularly impressive with 
Mandrake Linux 9.0 is that it is a Linux distribution that you actually 
can use all the time. [...] With Mandrake Linux 9.0, there is little 
need to boot into Microsoft Windows."

Topics include:
 * Overview
 * Mandrake 9.0 Standard Edition at a Glance
 * Mandrake Desktop Linux v. Microsoft
 * Mandrake Linux for Power and Enterprise Users
 * Stability
 * Test Equipment
 * Conclusion

--

TweakHound.com -- Mandrake 9.0. A "Newbie"ginning.
An interesting four-page review of Mandrake Linux 9.0 from a new user's 
perspective. Unlike many other reviews, this one concentrates on 
real-world tasks, and was written by a Windows user for other Windows 
users:

"Let me start by saying that I am impressed with Mandrake 9.0. In fact, 
I have switched over my multimedia box from XP Home. This allows me to 
continue to learn more about Linux in general and Mandrake 9.0 
specifically. I honestly like using Mandrake 9.0. Here are some reasons 
why:

1 - Easy installation.
2 - Familiar enough for a Windows user to find their way around.
3 - Total cost of ownership is a huge plus. A wealth of applications
     are available. Even more are available on the web, for free! I
     have a lot of software on my computer, much more than the average
     user. I would estimate that between the cost of the OS and the
     cost of equivalent applications installed by Mandrake 9.0, I could
     have saved near a cool $1000 by using Mandrake 9.0 instead of XP.
4 - No product activation!"


MandrakeClub
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Club discounts: Do you need DB2?
As you know, Denis is constantly looking for third party products to 
offer Club members at a discount. This time he may be able to offer 
IBM's DB2 at a discount price, but he needs to know if you are really 
interested before proceeding.

More info about DB2, and discussion;
Please answer the DB2 poll too.

--

The new multilingual Club Forums are quickly gaining popularity. The 
number of messages in the forums have jumped by 1/3rd since the 
introduction of multilingual forums, and folks have posted messages in 
11 languages so far. More stats.

Not yet a Mandrake Club member? To learn more, please visit:
http://mandrakelinux.com/en/club/


Business Case of the Week
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Mandrake Linux is a great Linux distribution.
StarSoft is a small software development company located in Finland 
with about 20 employees. Jarto Tarpio, from StarSoft, explains: "We've 
used Linux on servers for over 5 years already. Even though we mainly 
produce software for Windows, we've never used Windows on any server."

The company's network consists of:
  * Mandrake Linux 9.0 on desktops for Kylix development
  * Mandrake Linux 8.2 on one laptop
  * Mandrake Linux 8.2 on a secondary web server
  * Mandrake Linux 8.2 on two gateway/firewall-servers for
    ADSL-connections

For many more examples of Mandrake in the workplace, see MandrakeBizCases.com.


This Week's Survey
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Have you received your 9.0 Pack?

 * Yes
 * No, but I have a tracking number
 * Err... I never purchased any. .-)
 * Not yet (but I am from Canada)
 * Nope, not a word so far. :-( 

Cast your vote in the Voting Booth and check the results.


Software Updates
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9.0 software updates have been released for:

 * ypserv -- fixes memory leak

Also -- updated BIND packages are available for Mandrake Linux 7.2 and 
Single Network Firewall 7.2. Note: Mandrake Linux 8.0 and higher all 
ship with BIND9, which is not vulnerable to remote Denial of Service 
and system compromise.

View the complete list at MandrakeSecure.net.


Headlines from MandrakeForum
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Where are 9.0 boxes?
Deno clarifies the status of the 9.0 pre-orders:
"Most of the pre-orders are either on the way, or have already arrived:
  * EU: practically done
  * USA: practically done
  * Canada: Still shipping
  * Rest of the world: mostly done

Linux in Business points to the desktop.
An anonymous reader discusses an article in the November 2002 issue of 
Business 2.0 magazine titled "Linux for the Rest of Us". The story  
examines a few businesses that have switched to Linux, and compares 
OpenOffice, StarOffice, Evolution, and the Ximian Desktop with 
Microsoft Office XP:

MandrakeLinux Designs Proteins - and you can help!
Here's a way that Mandrake users can help medical researchers design 
new protein sequences by "donating" unused computer cycles. 

Read these and other stories at MandrakeForum.

Related Stories:

• Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- Issue #68(Nov 18, 2002)
• Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- Issue #67(Nov 11, 2002)
• Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter--Issue #66(Nov 04, 2002)
• Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- Issue #65(Oct 25, 2002)