Infrastructure Linux News for Jan 31, 2001

• Sun.com: Sun Grid Engine Software Now Available For Linux (Jan 31, 2001, 23:43)
  "Sun Grid Engine software is designed to harness idle compute resources, match them to individual job requirements and deliver network-wide compute power to the desktop, thus speeding time to market and fundamentally changing the economics of technical computing."


• Linux-Mandrake Security Update Advisory: kdesu update (Jan 31, 2001, 22:34)
  "kdesu is a frontend for the su program, allowing normal users to run programs with root privileges by prompting for the root password. When the "keep password" option is enabled, kdesu tries to send the password across process boundaries to kdesud via a UNIX socket. During this, it does not verify the identity of the listener on the other end, which can allow attackers to obtain the root password."


• CNET News.com: AMD offers Linux simulator for 64-bit chips (Jan 31, 2001, 22:11)
  "Advanced Micro Devices has released a Linux version of a simulator application to help programmers write software for its upcoming 64-bit chips."


• Globe and Mail: Global geeks bet on open source (Jan 31, 2001, 21:16)
  "The vast majority of hard-core computer geeks don't use the Microsoft product for their Internet servers and other infrastructure. They use a variety of open-source software, all of which is developed on-line through a sort of global community effort -- and all of which is available for free."


• TechWeb: Samba Team Wins Torvalds Award (Jan 31, 2001, 20:27)
  "A lot of system administrators used to smuggle Samba into their NT environments, and the only comment they got [from users] was that the file server didn't crash anymore."


• TechWeb: Palmisano Touts Linux For The Real World (Jan 31, 2001, 20:21)
  "Citing such real-world Linux customers as Weather.com, Shell Oil, and National Center For Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois, Palmisano said people who doubt that the operating system can scale to the biggest of applications are just wrong."


• CNET News.com: Sun boosts Java on Linux gadgets (Jan 31, 2001, 20:08)
  "But Sun is clear that it wants its Java software to run on all types of computers, and Linux machines work in concert to undermine the market power of Sun's foe Microsoft."


• Kernel Cousin Debian Hurd #78 by Paul Emsley (Jan 31, 2001, 18:48)
  Highlights from the Debian-Hurd development mailing lists for the previous week.


• Lou's Views: Barbarians in Tuxedoes (Jan 31, 2001, 15:30)
  "I recently wrote about a conversation I had with Zend's Jim Jagielski about his company's approach to blending the needs of a for-profit company and open source in a creative and particularly enlightened way. What I couldn't say in that article was that when I spoke with Jim I'd already had a strikingly similar conversation with another company. I was precluded from talking openly about that company and their product plans until the official launch. Since that's happening at LinuxWorld Expo as this is being posted, I'm free to spill the beans."


• LinuxPlanet: .comment: The Wit and Wisdom of Linus Torvalds (Jan 31, 2001, 13:44)
  To a distant observer, operating systems are dead things, little magnetic marks on some spinning gadget that somehow do something that lets you do something, or something like that. Yet to people who spend vast time with their machines, those who have become imbued with the zen of it all, operating systems have distinct personalities -- reflecting the creators of Linux. And of these unique personalities, none is more interesting than the guy who started it all: Linus Torvalds. Dennis E. Powell wades through the kernel mailing-list archives to bring you the unfiltered Linus Torvalds commenting on a variety of topics: hardware, software, and those philosophical issues that make life interesting.


• AllLinuxDevicesPR: Force and Lineo Partner to Provide High Availability Linux Solution (Jan 31, 2001, 12:18)
  "Branded the Force Availix Platform 8-i500, this unique Linux operating system-based cluster solution demonstrates Force's capabilities to integrate CompactPCI technology with third-party hardware and software to provide embedded systems for differing availability requirements."


• AnandTech: Pogo Linux: 1GHz for under $1000 [Hardware Review] (Jan 31, 2001, 07:33)
  "Quite possibly the biggest selling point for Pogo and the Altura is the fact that their pre-built systems are actually quite a bit like what your average hardware enthusiast would put together if they were given $1000 to spend. The fact that Pogo offers Linux as a primary OS on their creation is yet another point that helps to set them apart from the competition."


• osOpinion: How Sun Saw the Light (Jan 31, 2001, 07:17)
  "The commercial UNIX war of the 1990s ended with the once fragile workstation company Sun Microsystems the victorious champion. Smoldering on the battlefield were the charred remains of IBM and SGI."


• Debian Weekly News - January 24th, 2001 (Jan 31, 2001, 07:09)
  Welcome to Debian Weekly News, a newsletter for the Debian community.


• LinuxPR: MontaVista and IBM Announce Java-Based Development and Runtime Platform for Embedded Linux (Jan 31, 2001, 07:09)
  "MontaVista Software Selected by IBM For Embedded Linux; New Product Featured at Linux World in New York."


• LinuxPR: Alchemy Semiconductor Partners with MontaVista in Growing Internet Edge Device Market (Jan 31, 2001, 07:05)
  "Hard Hat Linux to Power the Alchemy Au1000 SOC in Embedded Applications."


• Linuxnewbie.org: Amanda Network Backup Made Easy (Jan 31, 2001, 01:52)
  "Amanda is an open source network tape-backup system. An amanda setup will consist of a dedicated host tape server, and the clients."


• ZDNet: Why Linux is turning the tables (Jan 31, 2001, 01:02)
  "As a result, Rooney's piece wondered aloud whether Linus, Linux's creator and chief cat-herder, was its worst enemy. We should all be cursed with such enemies."


• Smart Partner: LinuxWorld 2001 - The Best Is Yet To Come (Jan 31, 2001, 00:53)
  "The real news from the show is Linux's continuing journey into the mainstream of server computing. All the major server players who have already committed to Linux--Compaq, Dell and IBM--will be there with a flurry of new small deals to show that they're serious about Linux."