October 26, 1998
Dear Mr. Jim Pick:
I am writing you to express my congratulations and highest
regards for the Debian Group’s port of Debian GNU/Linux to the
NetWinder(TM) and StrongARM(TM) microprocessor. I understand Debian
GNU/Linux, the award winning distribution of the Linux operating
system, is available in a pre-release form and will boot and run
the various NetWinder Linux-based computers. I like many, eagerly
await the release of Slink, the next Debian GNU/Linux release, and
hope that the StrongARM port takes its place alongside the many
platforms supported by the Debian Group. I salute the group of
about 40 highly talented developers who have collaborated on this
Open Source project; the results have been nothing less than
spectacular. It is further affirmation that Open Source software
leads to innovative consequences.
The NetWinder DM was released at the end of June and in a few
months this tiger-team of Debian developers have ported hundreds of
new programs to this platform. I am told that within a week of the
release, a development group had been formed and porting had begun.
It surely is a testament to your ingenuity as many of the
developers had not yet received their own NetWinder. I think this
is a great example of “community development” as the group was able
to collaborate on code through the sharing of NetWinder systems via
the Internet.
Flashing ahead to October, and thanks to the work of yourself
and the other team members, a new choice is now available for the
NetWinder and future StrongARM-based projects. The highly reliable
and professional groundwork put in place by your team allows others
to join the effort and move forward even faster than before. There
is much that other Open Source developers as well as developers of
commercial software may be learn from this project. I would like to
personally thank all those who have participated, most of whom, I
am told, are registered on this web site: http://www.debian.org/ports/arm
Although I could not personally attend the Atlanta Linux
Showcase this last weekend, I extend best wishes for the ongoing
success of a NetWinder running Debian GNU/Linux.
Sincerely,
Ron McNab, VP and General Manager
Corel Computer
http://www.corelcomputer.com