A couple people wrote with a link to an article about MontaVista. They've introduced "a fully preempetable Linux". It's based on kernel 2.4, but the timing is interesting, considering 2.4 isn't completed yet - and if this had come out earlier, perhaps some of this could have been included. The article's a bit press releasely, but has some good info.

RatzMilk asks: "The firm I work for has several clients who are still running Novell 4.11 which Novell is stopping support for in early 2001. As such they will require expensive upgrades to the latest version to be able to continue their support with Novell. I have suggested to one of the clients that they could replace their Novell with Linux which would have the added advantage of being able to utilize their existing hardware. The Novell upgrade would also require a hardware upgrade has well. They have agreed but their only concern was stability as the Novell boxen has been very reliable and Linux is an unknown to them. My company's policy is to provide the best possible support to our clients. My question to Slashdotters is, do you think I have made the right recommendation? Should I just do the switch with one client and see how it goes, or go the hole hog and recommend it to all?" Would Linux be the ideal solution in this case? Would BSD be any better or worse in this situation? And is holding on to the outdated hardware a good idea? As it is, systems can't go on forever, and depending on age of this system, maybe a full upgrade is a good idea.

jhughes wrote to us with the report that Debian will be including KDE2 within Woody, and according to the article, backtracking it into Potato. Of course, you've been able to get the packages by editing your sources.list ^[?] , but apparently this will mean including it in the "official" list.

nontrivial writes "Linux Medical News has a decent review of Win4Lin, a MS Windows emulator. The article and submissions also touch on other solutions for having to run Windows applications. I use Win4Lin daily, and I must say it is rather spooky how well it works. The review doesn't spell it out, but Win4Lin 2.0 does include sound and serial and parallel support, and so far I've had no problems with the beta. It runs Windows in a SDI type interface, comes with DOS emulation, and can be run in many odd resolutions if you don't like running it in it's own virtual console. The bad news is that it technically requires a licensed copy of Windows (95, 98, etc, not NT), it is intended for business applications (so no DirectX support for example), and only TCP/IP networking is supported within the emulation. But overall it's stable (no more crashes than MS causes, and it doesn't take the whole box down when you see blue), it's fast (native speed), and it's cheap ($35). IMHO it's the best transition software I've used."

James Cownie asks: "The Linux kernel development is an open process, we all know that, but, as an unknown in the community it seems impossible to attract the attention of anyone on the kernel list. I'm not trying to reimplement huge kernel subsystems or do anything major, but I found a genuine kernel bug, documented it and submitted a patch on the kernel mail list; to be met with complete and utter silence. Just as if no-one had read my mail at all. I can stand and react to abuse, or requests to fix my patch, or whatever, but what can I do in response to silence?" UPDATED

Paul Weaver was among the hoardes to note that Linux 2.2.17 has been officialy released at the usual places. So take some time out from trying to compile 2.4 test releases and update the boxes that need stable kernels.

dclatfel writes "Just wanted to let everyone know that the latest beta of Mandrake for Intel is up - 7.2 Beta - and it's called Ulysses. (Now where is that Golden Fleece?)" They've got notes regarding it as well - KDE 2 Beta 4, and Gnome 1.2, as well as XFree86 4.01 as the default X server.

Mixhaus asks: "I'm trying to promote the Linux culture in my company. I want to migrate or at least start all new web projects on a Linux/Apache setup. Currently all the development is done on IIS/ASP with MSSQL 7.0. Has anybody done this kind of migration before? Any suggestions?"

okie_rhce asks: "With cheap Unix-based server clusters becoming all the rage, what are people using to replicate content to server farms? Networked File Systems can be a single point of failure and tools like rsync are not real time."

One of the Infinite Number of Anonymous Coward asks: "Our company threw Linux to the curb because management decided that Linux would never be able to pass an SAS70 security audit. I do not think they even checked to see if this is really true. Does anyone know of or have experiance with SAS70 certified operations using linux? Is it possible?" What's involved with SAS70 certification where Linux (and other Unixen for that matter) may fall short?

satch89450 asks: "I am one of the authors of the book Linux IP Stacks Commentary published by Coriolis Press. This book comments the TCP/IP code in Linux kernel 2.0.34. The history of the book is described here in detail, including our reasons for 'leapfrogging' the 2.2 releases and going right to 2.4. Yes, it's long past time to update the book, especially as kernel 2.4.0 has many, many changes in the TCP/IP code and is in test release as you read this. Our problem is how to fund the effort. Coriolis appears not to be interested in another round at this time. Heather and I are both professional writers, and that's how we make our living. Given the amount of work, donating the effort is out of the question -- it wouldn't keep kibble in the kitty bowls and have the material available in a timely fashion. We're looking for ideas." One of the largest complaints about Linux is that there is a lack of high-profile documentation. It would be sad if this publication were not made simply because of the lack of funds (which some people would see as a lack of interest) necessary to complete it.

On Aug. 30 several folks who have written Linux drivers and apps relating to the free barcode scanner mentioned here a few days ago were sent cease and desist orders demanding that they stop distributing the code. [updated by timothy 20:00 GMT: Please note that what flyingbuttmonkeys received is not officially a "cease and desist" letter; instead, it merely says that the longer the drivers are available, the "longer damages will accrue," citing "intellectual property rights owned by Digital Convergence." ] The barcode scanner is called a CueCat (with some lame marketroid colons that I'm not using because it irritates me when people name things like that). The code included a device driver written by Pierre-Philippe Coupard and a reader/decrypter written by Michael Rothwell. The code is afaik unavailable, but hopefully folks who downloaded it will have mirrors soon. I asked Michael to describe to me what his decoder did, and a few other questions.

swestbrook asks: "I would like to know if there are any efforts out there to submit a Linux distribution or the kernel at large for U.S. governmental testing to see if it will be certified to be Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating Environment (DII/COE) compliant. I am a program manager for a very small program in the U.S. Air Force and would like to be able to use Linux as a possible platform for my standard systems. However, I cannot because regulations require me to use only operating systems that are DII/COE compliant. Information on DII/COE compliance can be found at here. Until it is officially certified I can not rehost applications on a Linux platform. Any information would be greatly appreciated."

Spyky writes: "A fairly new product from HP, the Jet Direct 4000 Printing Appliance includes a 266 MHz PC processor, a 5.2 GB HD, 64 MB of RAM and runs the Linux operating system. However, it fails to recognize Linux, or any non-Microsoft operating system as a valid client. In essence HP recognizes Linux as an operating system powerful and stable enough to trust their Printing Server Appliance to, yet are unwilling to commit to supporting that very same operating system as a client."

Networks are everywhere, and more of them than ever are running Linux, which makes sense given its cost and its Unix background. If you're responsible for more than a handful of networked Linux machines, you probably run into more than a few situations each day that you wish you had a trusted advisor (or a few) to help you get through. How do I set up a server for [task X]? What do I do when my mail storage needs change? Christopher Thompson here briefly dissects O'Reilly's Linux Network Administrator's Guide, which promises to be a decent partner when you have network SNAFUs, at least much of the time.

Sits asks: "Every year my univerisity's computer society hopes to entice new students to join by running a computer display. Last year we ran Q3 test on a Win98 system, but this year we would like to demo something running on Linux. Does anyone know of a flashy way to demonstrate Linux to regular people? Does Linux have an active demo scene and if so would a display of those be appealing to non-technical users?"

A reader writes "Check the latest Kurt's Closet; he points to some interesting flaws on Debian 2.2, from a security point of view. " Kurt's Closet is part of SecurityPortal - he's got some good points, but it's also good to remember, as the article points out, that nothing is automagically secure. Always do testing on your own.Update: 08/30 01:44 PM by H :Thanks to Ben Collins, Debian guy, for sending a response which I've included below.Update: 08/30 04:32 PM by H :Kurt has written an update that will be appearing on the site soon. In the meantime, he also sent me the text - read below for more.

cmuncey writes: "Salon has an Associated Press article that IBM, HP, Intel, NEC have announced an 'Open Source Testing Lab' for testing Linux for large corporate systems that will open by the end of the year in Portland, OR. The main four sponsors are putting up a couple of million and Red Hat, Turbolinux, Linuxcare, VA Linux, Dell and SGI are also kicking in. The lab itself will be run by a nonprofit corporation that will be neutral in picking the projects to be tested. Sounds a bit better Mindcraft, doesn't it?"

Malcontent asks: "Since it's possible to tweak Linux to a high degree I wonder what tricks can be employed to make Linux a better database server. I am not talking about obvious hardware improvements like RAID, more processors or memory because they apply to any operating system. I am looking more for Linux specific things like kernel settings and disk/filesystem tricks which may improve performance."

Madman Chromatic (coder, writer, thinker) sheds even more light on the books lurking on store shelves designed to lure, and then snare, new or uncertain users into trying out -- and actually enjoying! -- this wacky "Linux thing." This time around, the texts he's chosen cover the topics of installation and day-to-day operation of a Linux system in greater depth than the Dummies series dares to, but they're still aimed squarely at competent, literate users rather than only at technical gurus. Read on for his insights into Using Linux, Linux Configuration & Installation, and the Linux Essential Reference.