Kidbro asks: "I'm working as a programmer stuck in a Windows environment and know a really cool coworker here who's one of the best developers I've met. He is a Windows coder, though, and today he asked me why he should develop under Linux? What makes it easier? I pointed out the big flora of tools for manipulating files and text, I pointed out the stability of the system - things I as a normal user and hobby developer on the platform think are cool. 'Yeah, but still.. that has little to do with the actual code development, it's merely some fluff beside that eases up maintenance a bit' he replied. Now, since I practically also only have developed under the Windows platform I couldn't really counter this. So I'm asking this crew here, what are the real advantages with developing under Linux?"

Several people noted that Red Hat is now partnering with Dell and offering Red Hat as one of its strategic operating systems, as well as shipping Linux web/proxy boxes to Lexus and Toyota dealerships. But thats not all... Big Blue apparently is now shipping T20 Thinkpads with Caldera and Star Office preloaded.

javac asks: "I am working at a doctor's office for the summer. With all the regulations of HMO's and PPO's and stuff we spend more time filling out forms than seeing patients. Do you know of any good software for automatically filling out forms. It should be able to connect to a database (which we already have) and completely fill out the basic info from a name or SSN. Anyway, I am sure many other business people find forms a pain too. The software doesn't have to be for Linux, but it is always a plus." I suspect that, depending on the forms involved, that this might have to be a custom application. Does anyone know of any software that's designed to assist in the completion of generic forms?

tiny69 writes: " Slackware is now in beta. The announcement is on Slackware's Homepage. You can pick it up here. The ChangeLog is here. "

Sesse writes: "XMPS 0.1.1beta is out, with experimental DivX support for Linux (by thunking to the Windows DLL). It's still buggy, but it seems to work! Sounds like good news for bringing multimedia another step away from Windows-only systems :-)" XMPS driving force Damien Chavarria has placed a screenshot on this page about the DivX support. Can anyone comment on success with this, name files successfully viewed, etc?

grimmy asks: "I've been looking around freshmeat at the floppy-Based Linux distro's, and would like some input on what fellow /. Readers think is the best one for older systems. I'm in need of a way to get a small NAT/firewall box running for my home lan with the dilemma of having very little HD space. Any recommendations would be great." [If it doesn't have to be Linux, you might find PicoBSD attractive. Does all you want, and is a doddle to reconfigure for other tasks too - nik]

njcfm writes: "Ok, you've all heard and seen embedded Linux running in all sorts of useful devices; now with the backing of Intel it can run your home network too!" The story is about UPnP ^[?] for which Intel has released a Linux toolkit.

webword writes: "The Duke of URL has posted a pretty good review of Mandrake 7.1. There is a useful list of pros and cons, along with performance and usaability ratings. There are some helpful screenshots too." BeOpen submitted a link to a 7.1 review on gnulinux.com, Sensei^ one on linuxnewbie.org, and Quick & Flupke serendipitously pointed out the new slash-like Mandrake Forum where users can (among other things) suggest features for upcoming Mandrake releases.

An anonymous reader pointed us to the Linux Bios Project which (surprise) is aiming to make a Linux Kernel BIOS. Its got numerous bugs, but some boards are booting. Interesting stuff, and has the potential to dramatically reduce boot time.

An "Anonymous" but easily identifiable person submitted a commercial about a story at LinuxPlanet about what happens when Volunteers and Commercial Developers have different goals over what is good for the Linux Community.unity and how it might affect code. The article is largely about KDE and Corel. Please keep the flame turned down on this one, as it's a critical issue that still hasn't been solved.

HerbieTMac writes: "Intel and HP are releasing HP's IA-64 emulator for Linux later this week. Particularly interesting is that this emulator will be free (as in beer) for download from Intel's and HP's Web sites."

Jens asks: "In my neighborhood I am the only one with a leased line and so I started burning Linux distributions, mostly current snapshots of the Debian GNU/Linux binary-i386 tree, on CD. I sell them for a small fee, and I sell about one to two CD sets a week. Now I realize that the GNU Public Licence permits this as long as I can guarantee that for at least three years after selling a CD I can provide a source distribution of the packages that were included on the CDs. As downloading costs money and time, mirroring an extra 3-4GB per needed snapshot is no option for me since I don't make any real money selling those snapshots. This is all very small-volume work and I do it for the fun of it and to provide people without Internet access with current Linux systems. But I'm wondering if there are other ways..." Read on...

BugBBQ writes "The NetworkWorld Fusion News reports that SCO is going to jump on the bandwagon and produce its own Linux Distro. " The article also has some analysis of what the SCO folks could bring to the scene as well as what extras they have to add.

M@W asks: "I currently run a Linux box (Slackware) in the office to handle e-mail, Web serving, SQL serving, dialup, print and fileserving, and it is connected netwise via a permanent modem. We're shortly opening another office a few kilometres away, and will need network connectivity. Since ISDN is so costly, I was planning on running two or more 33.6k modems at each site. To distribute the network traffic properly between the links do I need to be running something like EQL or EQL-plus? Since both ends will be our private networks, can I just assign IP's to all modems and set up the routing tables to use all links? Has anyone else done something like this? (Another option would be to use cable modems and a Virtual Private Network link, as they're only $59AUD per month (flat rate), but they don't allocate static IP's)"

You've seen Penguin Computing's "Tux stomps Microsoft HQ" ad, right? It's the one with the caption, "Good evening, Mr. Gates, I'll be your server today!" This morning, when I opened up my copy of the Washington Post, that ad, in full color, dominated the entire front page of the business section. Below it was a story headlined, Microsoft's Next Trials - Windows Case Could Open Doors for the Upstart Linux Operating System. This may be the most unabashed piece of journalistic Linux advocacy ever published in a major daily newspaper. The print edition, but apparently not the Post's Web site, also contained a sidebar story about how the article's author installed Corel Linux on his home desktop computer -- and found it fairly easy to do. Indeed, he says, the hardest part of his personal Linux foray was parting with the high-end Linux-loaded Latitude laptop Dell loaned him to test. "It will pain me to give it back," he said.

option8 writes "I have added a page of some of the miscellaneous comments that appear in the Linux Kernel, version 0.01 (ca. August, 1991). Linus turns out to be quite the jokester, leaving all kinds of non-sequiturs and irreverent one-liners in the code, many of which survive today in the latest developmental releases. I thought to archive these and share with those people who aren't the types who go diving through ten year (gasp!) old code for kicks. Enjoy."

Bocaj writes: "LinuxOrbit.com has news from VTech on their plans to upgrade the Helio PDA to Linux. But thats not the interesting part: Quote: Programs chosen by VTech/Helio for special attention will receive incentives that include special donations to the Linux Open Source Foundation in the name of the developer of choice, or a cash grant for further development of Linux programs for the Helio OS or other Linux systems, open to the developer's choice."

An anonymous reader writes "A Debian General Resolution for removing the non-free section from Debian archives is being discussed by Debian Folks and the debate is turning into a flamefest. The proposal is aimed to clarify the position of Debian toward Free Software and the fact that non-free is not (and has never been) a part of the Debian System. But this would exclude packages such as Netscape, the JDK or pine of the Debian archives and opponents argue that the proposal breaks the section 5 of the Debian Social Contract. Here's where it started." Since I'm not a Debian Maintainer (hey, but a few of my old apps are in there, can I vote? ;) I've only got an opinion. I think Debian users should be able to install things like Netscape and Pine too, but I think they should be told the implications. The reality tho, is that if it gets yanked from non-free, other servers will pick it up. Maybe that is the hint that the non-free section is different from Debian's goal. Some people use Debian because it's better, not because it's the most free.

graner asks: "I've just got one of those nifty Motorola StarTac (model ST7800W) phones. Has anyone every tried to enter in a bunch of phone numbers? It sucks. With the optional data cable you get a CD that has some software from StartFish called TrueSync that only works on Windows boxen, but it does allow you to "sync" the phone with several different apps (outlook, etc.). Does anything exist that will allow you to do this under Linux? I've been all over the net and found a lib that lets you work with a GSM phone, but from all I can tell it won't work with this type of phone. I'm not opposed to firing up a serial sniffer and start hacking, but I hate to reinvent the wheel. Does anyone have any info/pointers/links or anything that resembles useful info? "

gavinroy writes: "According to an e-mail I received from the kind folks at Sendmail, Inc., the Linux Kernel versions 2.2.15 and below have a SUID security flaw. "This problem will affect programs that drop setuid state and rely on losing saved setuid, even those that check that the setuid call succeeded." Sounds like a good reason to go 2.2.16 to me - grab it." The sendmail advisory is also online, as well.