Linux News for Sep 24, 2000

• LinuxFocus: Approaching Vector Linux (Sep 24, 2000, 23:23)
  "The actual installation of Vectorlinux required some very interesting partitioning techniques with several disk utilities. The result, however, yielded a very capable system."


• LinuxToday.com.au: How Long For Corel's Linux Strategy? (Sep 24, 2000, 22:05)
  "Some of the financial stuff in this deal a little unusual, you can read about that elsewhere. Here I'm more concerned about what these events mean from a Linux perspective."


• UnixReview.com: Examining Caldera's Linux Technology Preview (Sep 24, 2000, 21:30)
  "The good news is that it is priced under $20 and now comes with a $20 rebate, making shipping your only cost. The bad news (remember, this is a preview) is that you will need to avoid installing it on a production machine."


• FrankenLinux.com: Building a DHCP Server (Sep 24, 2000, 21:02)
  Build a DHCP server in 12 minutes or less with this tutorial from FrankenLinux...


• SysAdmin: Installing and Configuring OpenSSH (Sep 24, 2000, 20:30)
  "By discovering passwords sent over the wire or hijacking a connection via man-in-the-middle attacks, a malicious cracker could quickly commandeer your network for her own nefarious purposes. Luckily, a solution has been created, Secure Shell, which replaces plain-text communication protocols, such as telnet, rsh, and rlogin."


• Computer Bits: Servicing Bandwidth Lust (@Home with Linux) (Sep 24, 2000, 20:00)
  "One of the first things I did after the installation was complete was download the entire set of Red Hat 6.2 update RPMs. Whoohoo! The average download speed was 230 kilobytes per second, which translates into 1840 kilobits per second. That's something like 50 times faster than my 56K modem. I was getting a sustained download rate of 267 kilobytes per second from a Red Hat mirror."


• HelpNet Security: Kaspersky Lab Makes Linux Even More Secure (Sep 24, 2000, 19:30)
  "Kaspersky Lab, an international anti-virus software development company, announces a new version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus (AVP) for Linux. This latest version combines unique functionality, significantly simplifying the program."


• LinuxFocus.org: Professional PHP Programming [Book Review] (Sep 24, 2000, 19:26)
  "The Professional PHP Programming from WROX is a reference for programmers. It is written for both occasional users of PHP and regular programmers. It is for all those who rely on the PHP language to build a web site with dynamic content, something that goes beyond the capabilities of HTML alone."


• LinuxToday.com.au: A Sexier BSD: Mac OS X(XX) (Sep 24, 2000, 19:06)
  "There are various sites that will tell you what Mac OS X is - here, here and here. But, dear Linux users, what I'd like to do is tell you what it's not, before you get too excited and go and buy one of those (strangely enough) toaster shaped Apple G4 Cubes to install the beast."


• LinuxFocus.org: Slackware 7.0 part I: Installation Guide (Sep 24, 2000, 18:30)
  "The main advantage of the Slackware distro is that it will only run those programs that you really need. Especially Suse is good at running a lot of stuff you don't need, without letting you know about it. And, in my opinion, Slackware does no longer have to take lessons where it comes to being user-friendly."


• Linux.com: Music Notes (Sep 24, 2000, 18:03)
  "There are a lot of big-name labels signing new bands to break into the Linux scene, but it takes a lot of understanding to make it work. If you're just signing a new band because they've got a hip name, you're only going to have a hip name. It's super-important for these old labels to understand the culture of the Linux music scene before they spend millions of dollars in the wrong direction."


• SysAdmin: Books: A User's Report (October, 2000) (Sep 24, 2000, 17:58)
  "This month's reviews include a book on the Open Source PHP scripting language, digital photography, a Linux command reference, and a technical interview book."


• LinuxFocus.org: Bastille-Linux (Sep 24, 2000, 17:31)
  "First of all, let's make it clear: Bastille-Linux is NOT a new Linux distribution! It's a set of scripts, written in perl intended to improve Linux security."


• LinuxWorld: Fair wages for Trolltech (Sep 24, 2000, 17:01)
  "If someone is going to use Qt to build and sell a commercial application, why shouldn't Trolltech demand a cut of the financial rewards? But would that have been enough to encourage Eazel or the others to support Qt and KDE in favor of Gtk and GNOME? I can't help but wonder."


• TheLinuxGurus.org: Assembly Language Step-by-Step: Programming with DOS and Linux [Book Review] (Sep 24, 2000, 16:00)
  "This book takes an odd approach to assembly language, it is designed to teach someone to program in assembly as their FIRST computer language. That is one daunting task, but one to which Mr. Duntemann rises."


• Canada Computes: Linux in a Nutshell [Book Review] (Sep 24, 2000, 15:07)
  "Regardless of what a lot of people think of O'Reilly, Linux in a Nutshell is, I believe, considered to be one of the best command references for Linux. Having finally obtained my own copy of the book I can say that it certainly seems to be everything I hoped it would be."


• Canada Computes: XChat: Full-Featured IRC Client for X (Sep 24, 2000, 13:09)
  "Of course, to access IRC you need software. In Windows, mIRC rules the roost. While this is a fantastic program, it's not free. Linux, however, has several IRC programs and the best I've found so far is XChat."


• LinuxWorld.com.au: Viewing PDF How-to (Sep 24, 2000, 12:19)
  Linuxworld Australia offers a quick overview to viewing PDF (Acrobat) files with Linux.


• 32BitsOnline: A Review of Building Linux Clusters (Sep 24, 2000, 06:06)
  "In order to address the concerns of those wishing to build Beowulf clusters O'Reilly and Associates published Building Linux Clusters, written by David Him Spector. The stated goal of Building Linux Clusters is to be a "primer for the veteran Linux programmer who wants to take the first steps into parallel computing." However, after reading the book you will find that the goal would have been more appropriately stated as, "a primer for the veteran Linux administrator who wants to take the first steps into parallel computing" because Building Linux Clusters does not really cover programming or algorithm design as it pertains to parallel computing applications. Rather, the book gives a very detailed and useful overview of what a Beowulf cluster is, how to plan one, how to build it based on that plan, what factors to consider, and what tools are available for use on a cluster."


• Software Development: Open Source Forte for Java (Sep 24, 2000, 02:05)
  "Although Forte was on to a good idea with the key combination for code completion, there are still bugs to be worked out. Once you've summoned the code completion list, you can only get rid of it by selecting something. If you ask for code completion, then decide that you'd rather just type the rest of the expression yourself, the code completion list sticks around until you complete the expression, or until you switch to a different window. This is not quite as annoying as it sounds, but a simple 'close window' box on the code completion list would help, at least psychologically, even if it's never used."