Linus released 2.2.0pr.5 this afternoon. Hopefully, enough mirrors will have synced by now. People need to test these babies so the real 2.2.0 is as close to bug-free as possible.

A friend of mine had asked me this question: "it seems that if I want to run a full "Radio station" on Linux only, I can't, since the streamer needs Windows. Is there a way to do it using Linux Only from top to bottom? and what hardware is needed? What software?" I'm sure many others would like to know also how..

Josh Baugher wrote in to tell us that the January 1999 Issue of the Linux Gazette is now out. Articles on Samba, booting Linux with the NT Boot Loader, printing and more.

Lars Larsen writes "Linux Weekly News has a nice Linux timeline for 1998. " The best comment is the little block of Jesse Berst quotes his opinions changing from 'Linux Will Never go Mainstream' to 'I've always said that Linux could be a serious Challanger'

Quite a few submissions have come in about parallel port scanners, but Quicker was the first to ask a question generic post (others were about specific scanners, but they neglected to include models and manufacturers) : "I'm looking for a scanner for my Linux box, and the only support I see is for various SCSI scanners, namely HP, which is fine, but they are expensive. I see all these less expensive (but lower quality) parallel port scanners and would like to get one, since they are good enough for what I do. Anyone working on support for these devices?" SANE supports Plustek Parallel Port scanners, but I don't know if there are any other parallel port drivers in that project. Can anyone shed more light on this subject?

Mark Bickford writes "There's a nice column in Information Week titled "Linux Takes Shot at Making History." Refreshingly FUD-free, and the author is the Executive Editor of the magazine. Maybe a sign of some pro-Linux spin in '99? "

haaz writes "Linux has a big role behind the scenes at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco: the entire OC-3 Internet backbone runs on Linux. All the DNS, IP management, security, etc., is running on Linux. LinuxPPC Inc. is exhibiting, marking their debut as the first Linux exhibitors at a Macworld Expo."

bobalu writes "There's a bit in PCWEEK's Spencer Katt column about a handheld unit from Compaq that runs Linux and is designed as a platform for developing new speech and other interfaces." Yeah we've mentioned itsy before, but someone submits that darn thing about every 3 days, so it's probably worth reposting it now just because not all of the readers who have joined us in the last 6 months are gonna read the 4 thousand or so back stories *grin*.

Prothonotar writes "Kernel 2.2.0 pre4 is out." www.kernel.org being overloaded use a mirror. Mirrors are expressions of the form ftp.country.kernel.org or www.country.kernel.org, such as ftp.us.kernel.org.

libtech writes "S.u.S.E. has just released v. 6.0 of their linux distro... Its a german only release but the english version will be out later this month."

specht (Karl Heinz Kremer) was the first to write in and tell the world that yet another pre2.2 kernel has hit the wire. Go snag it quick and hammer on it.

Happy New Year! Ed Schlunder wrote in with 1999's first Ask Slashdot. He asks: "Our school district is playing with the idea of video conferencing and I'm wondering if this can be done on Linux. My home computer has a bttv card and a full duplex sound card. This should be the necessary hardware for doing video conferencing. On the software side, Linux supports IP Multicast and IGMP, so the kernel seems to be up to the task. But what about the actual video compression and distribution system? So far, everything I've looked at seems about 1-2 years old and no longer maintained (vic, nv, etc). Is there a cross platform video conferencing application out there for Linux that is actively maintained?" The school is currently looking into Microsoft NetMeeting, but Ed worries (and rightly so) that Microsoft might be positioning itself to dominate in this market, allowing them to determine the standards later on. What do you all say?

Kristin DeAngelis wrote in to let us know that LinuxWorldExpo has posted a PDF copy of their brochure to the Web. It has all the latest information, and they are ready for more registrations.

Carl wrote in to to quote Linus regarding the 2.2.0pre2 release:"If you haven't had problems with pre1, there should be no major cause to look at pre2. But if you haven't even looked at pre1 yet, please consider looking at the pre-2.2.0 kernels before it's too late. I'm going to be extremely rude to people who knew better but didn't test out the pre-kernels and then send me bug-reports on the released 2.2.0." An anonymous reader also wrote in to say that gnome.org has updated and announced the 0.99.1 release of several of the relevant packages. Lot's of stuff to download and compile if *cough* you don't have plans for New Years.

Nicholas Petreley explains his recent InfoWorld statement that "Should Microsoft ultimately win the case, however, I guarantee vendors will abandon Linux faster than a rat out of an aqueduct". While his point that the war is not won is valid, he has missed some crucial details: home computer prices are collapsing making Microsoft's software a very expensive component. In the business world, Windows-terminals save money by reducing administration costs and reducing the number of software licenses that must be bought. Windows-terminals can run other OS's than Windows -- for instance, Linux with the Citrix client. Finally the enormous emerging market is the consumer appliance market which needs an idiot-proof UI -- not Windows compatibility. Some links from LT.

Donnie Barnes wrote in to say " LinuxExpo apologizes for the confusion and does intend to provide several booth spaces to non-profit organizations on a first come, first served basis. " Interested folks should contact stacy@linuxexpo.org.

An anonymous reader wrote in to send us a link to your basic ZD article that asks Is the Linux Desktop DOA? It's basically some bits about Corel and Red Hat where they talk about Linux's dominance in the server realm and its struggles on the desktop. My favorite part is the line that says that in 1998, Linux captures only 2.5% of the market. Up from like what, .0001? Grin. 1999 is gonna be sweet.

Nick asks: "I'm looking for a great statistical package to use under linux. Unfortunately, I use SPSS for WinNT, and I can't afford to cough up cash to upgrade as a student. If anyone could point me to statistics programs, I'd be much appreciative! "

Gopal Sarma asks: "Hi, I am a relatively new linux user, and recently a friend called me asking me if I knew of any Windows alternatives, because he is sick of it. I naturally recomended Linux, but I have a problem. He uses AOL's Instant Messenger, and I can't seem to find any clones on Linux. I found gaim, but i don't know how stable it is. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Steen Suder wants some answers to this interesting question: "A couple of friends and I are talking about starting a LUG. Now we're discussing what to do and what's important. Mailing lists, homepage, facilities, budget, locations, meetings, etc. What are the important things to remember when starting a Linux User's Group?"