Kenneth R. Kinder has written an editorial entitled The Purer OS. He speaks about an issue that has manifested itself in many ways- the desire for Linux to be 100% completely free, from the kernel to every instruction that gets executed on it. I disagree with this one, but it is a major issue that needs to be addressed. So read what he has to say and decide for yourself. Should everything on Linux be free, or is there room for closed source competition on an open source OS?

James S. Blachly writes "I'm putting together a FAQ for porting games to linux. If you have something to contribute, please visit here. and mail me. I'll try to have something compiled in a week to a week and a half. "

Jesse wrote in to tell us that RH5.1 (Manhattan) has made an appearance on kernel.org's mirror. Interested folks should definately check the mirrors list and be warned- I checked a few other mirrors and am not seeing the 5.1 dir on most of them, but kernel.org is on the official mirrors list, so I'm assuming this is legit.

zCat sent us a link to this ZD Net Link. It's a pretty fair piece on some ways; it discusses why Linux caught on when it did, but it also says Linux's 15 minutes are up, due to lack of clear direction. I disagree- Linux's direction is only up. Netscape & Caldera have thrown muscle behind it, the newbie UI issues are being ironed out as KDE and Gnome become more practical. Things are looking peachy.

Edward Carter writes "You can now listen to Week 4 of Project Heresy at this location Among other things, the people at news.com point out that different version of libc and the necessity to compile applications or even ther kernel may prevent many users from being able to use Linux. However, they also notice that Linux has not once crashed for either of them. "

Juhapekka Tolvanen wrote in to say that Red Hat has now really announced the release date of Red Hat v5.1. I screwed up this one, thats for sure. Oh well. You can pre order your CD at their web site. The 3rd CD is full of Bonus Apps- lite versions and demos. They should throw in a 4th CD in 5.2 and dump their contrib dir in :)

Red Hat Software has announced that they will ship v5.1 of their distribution on June 1. The full distro will come on 3 cds, feature better installation and administrative tools, as well as updating everything you'd expect from the previous release.

Linus, keynote speaker at this year's Linux Expo, put kernel 2.1.103 in its rightful place. Updates this patch include: i386 updates, paride (parallel port IDE) updates, PCI, and SCSI updates.

Kevin Ivory writes "A guy in Germany (Oliver Fischer plexus@snafu.de) is making a collective order of Linux keys as a replacement for the windows keys on W95 keyboards. The German reference is: link He will be ordering them at the well-known keyboard manufacturer Cherry link They won't be cheap, though. It looks like the price will be 5,-DM (~ US $ 3.00) per key with a minimum order of 6 keys per person. " Gotta dig it. I'd love to use the 'Penguin Key' to navigate virtual desk tops. Keep Ctrl/Meta/Shift free for important stuff, and navigate in style.

Renaud Guerin writes "A G3-updated LinuxPPC installer has been made available here" I'm really curious to see some benchmark numbers comparing Linux performance on a G3 relative to Sparc/x86/Alpha arch. Especially raw CPU and X. Those G3's are getting into a really nice price range these days, and might make an excellent linux workhorse for not to much bread.

Michael Dillon writes "Allow me to introduce a new advocacy site This site modestly aims to show several cases where Linux can do a smart, efficient job within an entreprise...I want to show to IT managers and other corporate decision-makers that Linux can help them run their business more cost-efficiently. The arguments are real business application. As far as possible, i support these examples with numerical figures (size of business, number of servers) and an explanation about why and how Linux was chosen. If you have interesting examples of applications of Linux for business, please let me know about them. You do not have to give the company's name if you do not wish to (yes it is usual!) - i will respect strictly your request to remain anonymous. "

Bruce Perens sent us a bunch of info about the status of the Linux Standard Base System. I'm running it as a feature to get some feedback on it. The LSB is definately one of the most important issues facing Linux these days; especially if we want it to continue to grow. Bruce also says "We would like to discuss the following proposal in BOF sessions at both Linux Expo and Linux Kongress. Nothing about the proposal is cast in concrete until after those meetings."

Pater sent this Salon story about one of their people doing a slackware install, and the perspective of the greater computer community finding out about Linux. Down right encourgaging, I say.

Dan Hollis writes "Real quickie. Looking for people to participate in Linux ECC development. Coders, testers, etc. See the sales pitch at here"

Denis Oliver Kropp writes "Fischlustig and DOK-Ware are proud to announce the availability of the first version of AntiChrist for Linux. AntiChrist is an offensive violent 3D-Shooter that is availible for following platforms: Win32/OpenGL, Win32/Direct X (HAL & RAMP), Linux/Mesa/Glide. Requirements for the Linux version: 3dfx card, sound card, glide, mesa with 3dfx support, libpthreads. You can download the binary distribution here. "

Red Hat Software recently announced they will make their latest product, Red Hat Secure Web Server, available on May 21. The package will cost $99 and contains the Apache webserver (enchanced with RSA key technology), a search engine, log analysis software and the Netscape browser. Buyers also get a $25 discount for a certificate registration at Thawte Consulting.

Eric Leblanc sent us a link to 8hz which has a free mp3 encoder available that they claim is 30-60% faster than the usual suspects.

Krypto sent us a link toARGO, an car that can automatically drive itself, thanks to a P200 and of course, Linux. Very cool

Allright a couple a tidbits that I just wanted to throw out. First off, I am definately going to Linux Expo, and am really looking forward to it. The hard part is going to be posting Slashdot Stories while I'm there... hopefully I'll be able to get good net access from kind willing souls *grin*. Secondly, a bit furthur off is the Atlanta Linux Showcase coming in October. Greg Hankins has written a blurb plugging the event and asking for speakers and vendors- hit the link below for some gory details.

James Renken wrote in to warn everyone that the new devel kernel is available right where you would expect it.