"Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

Contents: News in General Software Announcements

July Linux Journal

The July issue of Linux Journal will be hitting the newsstands June 5. The focus of this issue is Science and Engineering with articles on using Linux at CERN, the NIST Neutron Lab and the British Antarctic Society. Also, an introduction to Samba and a look at two programming languages: Yorick and ICON. Check out the Table of Contents. To subscribe to Linux Journal, click here.

Corel & Open Source

Corel and Corel Computer Corporation have announced their official position on Linux and Open Source Software. At the Ottawa Carleton Linux Users Group meeting, Corel announced that they will port all of their commercial applications to Linux, including a $99 version of Corel Word Perfect Suite 8. Corel Computer will open the source code for the development of their NetWinder NC.

For more information:
http://www.corelcomputer.com/
http://www.corel.com/

Linus Torvalds & Richard Stallman at the USENIX Conference, June 1998

Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 10:53:17 -0700 (PDT)
Linus Torvalds, developer of Linux, and Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project, will participate in the USENIX Annual Technical Conference, June 15-19, 1998, at the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans.

This year the conference includes a special track showcasing the latest developments and interesting applications in FreeBSD, GNU, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Samba, and more. FREENIX offers 28 talks, plus evening BoF sessions. Share ideas and actual code with developers and avid users of freely redistributable software.

Full program and on-line registration:
http://www.usenix.org/events/no98/

For more information: Jackson Dodd,
USENIX, the Advanced Computing Systems Association

O'Reilly's Perl Conference 2.0

Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 09:47:48 -0700 (PDT)
O'Reilly & Associates is presenting the Perl Conference 2.0 from August 17-20, 1998 at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California. Perl Conference 2.0 features two days of intensive tutorial sessions followed by a two-day conference led by key Perl developers. Full program and registration information is at:

http://conference.perl.com

For more information:
Ellen Elias,
O'Reilly & Associates

Linux Penguins Stickers

Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 01:06:25 +0300 (EEST)
Linux Penguin Sticker Movement announces printed Linux Penguin Stickers

In cooperation with the Linux Penguin Sticker movement http://www.jyu.fi/~juhtolv/linux-sticker/ Linux Mall has agreed to make available professionally designed and printed Penguin Stickers for all who do not wish to print their own.

For more information:
http://www.LinuxMall.com/PP.html

Announcement and Call for Papers, 7th International Python Conference

Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 18:29:07 -0400 (EDT)

7th International Python Conference
South Shore Harbour Resort
Houston, Texas
November 10-13, 1998

For more information, visit the conference Web page at:

http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/

 
IMPORTANT DATES:
June 29: email intent to submit paper 
July 27: deadline for papers and tutorials 
Aug. 31: notification of acceptance for papers 
Sep. 28: deadline for final versions of full papers 

For more information about submitting a tutorial: http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/cft.html

Jeremy Hylton, CNRI,
Program Chair, 7th International Python Conference

Linux Links

Project MUSCLE: http://www.linuxnet.com/smartcard/index.html

"Introduction to Linux" class: http://www.learningtree.com/us/courses/330.htm#top

Linux Applications: http://www.linuxapps.com/

Linux Advocacy: http://www.netnomics.com/linux/

New Linux Help Page: http://www.admin.burned.org/

Linux Links: http://www.linuxlinks.com/

The Linux PenguinPlay Project: http://sunsite.auc.dk/penguinplay/

ECLiPt Project: http://eclipt.uni-klu.ac.at/

Linux Discussion Board: http://paradigm.uor.edu/linux/wishlist/bulletinboard.html

Free Linux Support: http://support.marko.net/

Current ports of Linux OS: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/xose/linux/linux_ports.html

Linux Books: http://www.technologybooks.com/linux.htm

Linux on-line bookstore: http://www.dragonfire.net/~garym/linux.html

Project Independence: Linux for the Masses

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:16:43 GMT

A system accessible only to a minority will remain a minority OS. Project Independence believes that this is not an acceptable fate for Linux. Project Independence aims to make Linux accessible to people with little computing experience.

A Call For Action:

 
*       If you want to make Linux usable 
*       If you favour a pragmatic approach 
*       If you believe in the bazaar model 
*       If you are unhappy when you are unable to recommend Linux to
        friends and relatives, 
*       If you want to act upon it

For more information:
Jean Francois Martinez, Linux Application Development Book Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:27:42 GMT

New book available from Linux Central: Linux Application Development By Michael K. Johnson and Erik W. Troan from Addison Wesley Publishing.

Linux Application Development helps C programmers write applications that run on Linux.

For more information:

Stalker Software Announces CommuniGate Pro Server 2.0 Beta

Date: May 15th, 1998
CommuniGate Pro 2.0 beta is the platform-independent Internet messaging server. The new generation of the CommuniGate integrated messaging system unifies the performance of multi-threaded operating systems, the standards-compliance of the Internet applications, and flexibility of the modular CommuniGate System, initially designed for MacOS.

The new version of the CommuniGate Pro is based on the Stalker Foundation framework and can run under all major operating systems. The first released versions can run on the Linux operating system among others.

The CommuniGate Pro server can be configured, controlled, and monitored from any computer connected to the Internet using any Web browser application. The administrators can monitor the Server status, create, update and modify user accounts, delete and redirect messages in the queues, update the communication modules settings, and configure the full-featured CommuniGate Router.

SMTP component of the CommuniGate Pro server incorporates all the anti- spamming features implemented in the other Stalker mail servers, including centralized DNS-based blacklisting (RBL).

The CommuniGate Pro server is scheduled for the commercial release in July'98. The beta versions of the CommuniGate Pro Server are available now, free of charge. They can be downloaded either from the Stalker sites:

http://www.stalker.com/CommuniGatePro/
ftp://www.stalker.com//pub/CommuniGatePro/

For more information:
Ali Liptrot, , http://www.stalker.com/

LPEvol, A Java Application

Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 14:25:25 +0200 This is a first (beta) release of LPEvol, a Java application which allows you to interactiveley breed LSystems objects and view the results graphically. LSystems are (recursive) mathematical models that can be used to describe growth patters modelling the shapes we see around us every day, like trees, flowers and many others. LPEvol is an application which uses LParser and PovRay to generate and draw these LSystems. You as the user then have the choice to select the LSystems you like and then breed them (doing a crossover, using theGenetic Algortihm) to produce a next generation (the children ) which will have been derived from the formulas ( genes ) describing the parents.

LPEvol requires:

 
- JDK 1.1.x
- lparser (default works; a modified lparser.c is shipped with LPEvol)
- PovRay 3
- cjpeg
- see the README file for other (hardware/memory) requirements.

RED HAT LINUX 5.1

Date: May 26, 1998
Red Hat Software, Inc. announced the June 1 release of Red Hat Linux 5.1, a powerful update that includes enhanced installation features, as well as system configuring, web caching, window management features and an added value CD of applications for Linux.

For more information:
http://www.redhat.com/

Webmin version 0.51 - WWW-based configuration software

Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 07:50:19 GMT
Webmin version 0.51 is now available for download from

http://www.webmin.com/webmin/

This version allows the simple, browser-based configuration of Unix services such as

 
 - Apache (version 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3)
 - Samba
 - Crontab
 - NFS exports
 - BIND
 - Inetd
 - SYSV init scripts
 - Local/remote mounts and /etc/fstab
 - Users and groups
 - Disk partitions
 - Running processes
 - Disk quotas
 - Software packages
 - PPP accounts

For more information:
Jamie Cameron,

banal 0.05 (bookkeeping software) released

Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 12:50:51 GMT
TITLE INFORMATION: BANAL 0.05 - or BANAL's Absolutely Not A Ledger AUTHOR INFORMATION: Matthew Rice - [email protected] AFFILIATION INFORMATION: FTL Solutions Inc. DATE INFORMATION: May 1998

BANAL is a bookkeeping system that allows you to track invoices, clients, projects, TODOs, bank accounts and expenses. BANAL is a client/server application so you can keep one set of books one your system while allowing everyone access.

If you want to obtain BANAL and try it out, ftp to: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/financial/accounting.

and look for a file banal-X.YY.tar.gz, with X.YY being a version number (0.00 is of course the first). Unpack it in a "sources" directory and start reading the document in the "doc" subdirectory.

FTL Solutions Inc. holds the copyright (I am doing it under their time), however, it is very unrestricted (read: do what you want but don't think of suing them). There is a more detailed COPYRIGHT file included with the distribution.

For more information:
Matthew Rice

satlas-0.95 (solar atlas) released

Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 07:17:18 GMT
I am announcing a first public release of satlas!

Satlas is an electronic atlas of the solar sprectrum and targeted primaraly for astronomers who do a lot of spectral analysis work. It is based on Gtk+ and MySQL. MySQL is used to store, manage and provide a quick access to the data, while Gtk+ is provides GUI.

http://www.physics.unc.edu/~serge/satlas/

Satlas is distributed under GNU Public License.

For more information:
Sergei Naumov,

ECLiPt Mirror 2.0b1 (former SimpleMirror)

Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 07:34:37 GMT
I've just released a new version of ECLiPt-Mirror (it's original name has been SimpleMirror). The new release includes

- - HTML-Logs, including the possibilty to directly download from this 
  page
- - automatic creating of index-files as an overview over all mirrors
- - download just the most recent version of some files (e.g. the linux
  kernel)
- - bug fixes :-)
- - new bugs :-(

For more information:
Martin Preishuber,

Whisper 0.1 - Internet Telephone Application

Date: Thu, 7 May 1998 12:32:21 GMT

I announce the availability of Whisper -- Internet Phone. You can use it to talk to other people on the Internet. It uses gsm compression and should be suitable for low speed networks (19.200 bps and up)

I uploaded the sources to /incoming/Linux on sunsite. Hopefully they will appear in /pub/Linux/apps/sound/talk. Sources (and a binary version) are also available at:

http://www.itp.uni-hannover.de/~roeden/whisper.html

Copying-policy: GPL

For more information:
Claus Roedenbeck,

JCam 0.3 - Java-based software for Digital Cameras

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:05:54 GMT
JCam - a single software program for (almost) all OSes and (almost) all Digital Still Cameras ...

Release 0.3 of JCam, available from http://www.jcam.com introduces support for cameras from Fuji and Olympus ... this adds to existing support for cameras from Epsom, Casio, Kodak ... and a neater user interface with "LEDs" ... ;-)

For more details about supported cameras, etc, please E-Mail to [email protected] or visit the Web Page at "www.jcam.com" ... For more information:
, http://www.jcam.com/

gax 1.0 - galaxy DB utility for astronomy

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:14:06 GMT
Announcing the first release of Gax, a program for amateur astronomy.

Gax can create searchable databases of galaxy information that can then be searched based on user selectable ranges for fields in the database.

The information contained in or derived from the database includes:

 
        RA
        Declination
        Major/Minor Diameter
        Position Angle
        Magnitude
        Surface Brightness
        Constellation
        Uranometria 2000 Map number
        Local Transit Time

Temporarily at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/Incoming/

Permanite site: http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/science/astronomy/

Files: 1664Kb gax-1.0.tar.gz, 1Kb gax.lsm

Copying-policy: GPL

For more information:
Mark Anderson,

SampLin, new scientific data acquisition software

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:15:10 GMT
Few days ago I released first public version of scientific data acquisition software 'SampLin' which can be found at http://www.troja.mff.cuni.cz/~kvasnica/samplin.html.

Currently is implemented support for serial, gpib devices and arbitrary labcards with drivers, basic-like script language and simple plot widget. Software supports data acquisition over TCP/IP network via RPC protocol from remote servers. Requirements: X11R6, Qt, KDE libs, GPIB lib

*** I'M LOOKING FOR NEW PROGRAMMERS TO CONTINUE THIS PROJECT ***

For more information:
Samuel Kvasnica,

SCNN3.3 cellular neural network simulator

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:33:00 GMT
The new version of our simulation system for cellular neural networks (CNN) is now available from our home page
http://apx00.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/e_ag_rt/cnn/SCNN/

It is a zero price product, available for Intel x86 (Linux), IBM RS 6000 (AIX4), SGI Indigo (Irix 6.2), HP (HP Unix) and DEC Alpha (Ultrix). It is planned to add versions for other Unix operating systems on request. For more information take a look at our homepage.

For more information:
SCNN Team, Roland Kunz,

Sox 12.14 - Universal Sound Processing Tool

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 07:40:31 GMT
The latest patchlevel of Sox is now available. Sox is intended to be the Swiss Army knife of sound processing tools. Its allows a user to convert sounds files between any supported format including CD Audio, .au, .voc, .wav and several others. Latest versions also include support for playing the sound file to either Linux's /dev/dsp or a Sun /dev/audio.

It can be downloaded from the following sites:

http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/cbagwell/projects.html
http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/sound/convert/sox-12.14.tar.gz

For more information:
Chris Bagwell,

Linux Point Of Sale

Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 11:16:14 GMT
LinuxPOS Version 1.0 Released for Beta Testing

Linux Canada Inc. wishes to announce that the beta version of LinuxPOS 1.0 is now available for evaluation. LinuxPOS is an exciting new point of sale application written in Tcl/Tk. If you require the power,stability and connectivity of Linux, the graphical user interface inherent in Tck/Tk, a dynamite point of sale application and full source code for peace of mind and/or personal customizations --- then LinuxPOS is for you.

For more information:
Philip Tonellier, , http://www.linuxcanada.com/

SHAREWARE: QuoteGrabber-1.0 Real-time stock quotes.

Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 12:47:06 GMT
The QuoteGrabber, 1.0.0 is a universal stock market client.

A stock market tracker and portfolio manager written in Java and developed under Linux, the QuoteGrabber provides real-time and delayed quotes, news and charts. Fully customizable, it is a versatile tool:

- - trading: real-time quotes for www.datek.com clients and registered
  users;
- - charting: intra-day, 3 month, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years;
- - news: breaking company news as they arrive;
- - portfolio management: enter all transactions, track portfolio
  performance;
- - alerts: based on a combination of four criteria;
- - international stocks: US, Canada, France, UK, Germany, Italy (delayed
  15-20 minutes);

For more information:
Louis-David Mitterrand, , http://www.aparima.com/quote/

Fortify now on Linux_glibc2: 128-bit Netscape crypto

Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 13:01:39 GMT
Sydney, Australia. (23 May, 1998). By popular demand, Fortify for Netscape has now been extended to support the Linux_glibc2 editions of the Netscape web browsers (Communicator and Navigator v4.05).

This functionality is available immediately, as part of the Fortify-1.2.3-unix distribution. You can download this from the Fortify web site, at http://www.fortify.net/

In a second addition to the Fortify service, the Fortify-announce mailing list is now on-line, and open to anyone who wishes to receive news and announcements via e-mail regarding the Fortify project. You can subscribe to the mailing list here: http://www.fortify.net/feedback.html

Farrell McKay,

Organic molecule drawing program

Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 13:30:46 GMT
I have written a program to draw organic molecules easily under X. You can store the picture as bitmapfile. It is compiled with the Athena Widget Set and is also compartible to UNIX.

You can download the sourcecode at:

http://www.uni-ulm.de/~s_tvolk/chemtool.html

copyright is GPL

For more information:
Thomas Volk, , http://www.uni-ulm.de/~s_tvolk/

Toshiba Linux Utilities

Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 13:43:46 GMT
The Toshiba Linux Utilities are a series of three programs that I have written to replace Toshiba supplied MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows programs for controlling Toshiba laptops, with Linux versions. Full details and source code can be found at

http://www2.prestel.co.uk/hex/toshiba.html

FAN: A update to my fan program that uses a completely new version of turning the fan on/off. If you have tried a 1.x version of the program and it did not work on your laptop try this version. This version is known to work on the new Satellite Pro models (440x, 460x, 480x), and may work on others that the previous version did not. I am particularly keen to hear from owners of Tecra's.

SVPW: A direct replacement for the svpw.exe program found on the Companion diskette, for the setting/removal of supervisor passwords, and changing whether setup can be run in user mode. Known to work on a Satellite Pro 400x, 430x, and 440x. I am keen to know if it works on other models.

To anyone reading this, svpw does not, and cannot be made to remove passwords unless you already know the password. This is not a limitation impossed by me. I don't know how to *crack* the passwords on Toshiba laptops and have no interest in doing so. I will not answer any emails relating to this.

HOTKEY: This is not exactly a replacement for a Toshiba program, but provides the same functionality as MaxTime(tm) does under Microsoft Windows, under X11 when the power-up or battery save mode is changed with the Fn+F2, Fn+F3 key combinations. Namely a small window pops up in the centre of the screen with some icons to let you know what you are doing. It is know to work on a Satellite Pro 400x, 430x, Portage 610x, and Tecra 740x

For more information:
Jonathan A. Buzzard,

GNU Midnight Commander 4.1.35 file manager

Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 14:11:12 GMT
The Midnight Commander team has just released version 4.1.35 of the GNU Midnight Commander. For more information on the Midnight Commander, please consult
http://www.gnome.org/mc

This program is available now in:

ftp://ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx/linux/local/mc-4.1.35.tar.gz

For more information:
Miguel de Icaza,

This page written and maintained by the Editor of Linux Gazette,
Copyright © 1998 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.