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

Contents: Distro News News in General Software Announcements

May 2000 Linux Journal

The May issue of Linux Journal is on the newsstands now. This issue focuses on Programming and includes a Python supplement.

Linux Journal has articles that appear "Strictly On-Line". Check out the Table of Contents at http://www.linuxjournal.com/issue73/index.html for articles in this issue as well as links to the on-line articles. To subscribe to Linux Journal, go to http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/index.html.

For Subcribers Only: Linux Journal archives are available on-line at http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/

BlueCat

SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 6, 2000 - Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc., today announced delivery of Hewlett-Packard Company's (HP) ChaiVM, embedded virtual-machine technology on Lynx' BlueCat Linux operating system (OS). BlueCat users can now field soft real-time Java applications in a wide range of products using the Java-compliant embedded virtual machine from HP.

BlueCat offers a fast, interpretive byte code execution and a Java native interface to bind Java threads to BlueCat pthreads for deterministic scheduling. BlueCat features a reduced run-time footprint, as small as 600K, and concurrent, incremental garbage collection contributing to predictable soft real-time performance.

Corel

Following the launch of Corel LINUX OS in November 1999, Corel's U.S. retail market share for Linux increased more than eight times to 19.3 per cent as of February 2000. Prior to the release of Corel LINUX OS, the company held 2.3 per cent of the retail market share based on sales of Corel WordPerfect 8 for Linux. Corel also released WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux in March.

The free Corel LINUX OS Download is NOW available! Check it out at http://linux.corel.com/

Debian

Debian has recently added another machine to its computing resources. The system is an UltraSPARC 60 with dual 360Mhz CPU's and 512Megs of RAM. It was donated by Sun Microsystems . To add to the system, Sun also donated a Netra st A1000 Telecom Class storage array. The array contains eight 9gig 10k RPM drives, for a total of 72gigs of raw capacity. The storage unit, configured as a RAID 5 system, will serve as Debian's new primary internal archive server. IntraServer also assisted in getting this system operational by donating the PCI Differential UltraWide SCSI Controller that the array is attached to.

The system is currently running Debian's frozen SPARC GNU/Linux distribution, potato (aka, Debian 2.2), utilizing a 2.2.15-pre11 SMP kernel. The machine is being hosted at VisiNet , a Winstar owned ISP .

Debian wishes to thank all of the contributors of the system and hosting site as well as the developers who invested time and effort into testing and configuring the system for Debian's network. Thank you!

Mandrake

INDIANAPOLIS - March 27, 2000 - Macmillan USA, the Place for Linux, (www.placeforlinux.com), announced Secure Server 7.0 for professional server administrators. Macmillan's new product is a secure Linux web server built within the new Linux®-Mandrake(tm) 7.0 operating system. With Secure Server 7.0, managers of mid-level traffic web sites will have a secure server solution.

Secure Server 7.0 provides graphical tools for easy Linux installation and disk partitioning. The Apache-based web server utilizes RSA's BSAFE® SSL-C technology - the best technology available for encryption and security. Secure Server 7.0 is designed for the Linux professional responsible for managing an e-commerce, intranet or any web site requiring security. Additional tools, utilities, and documentation round out the product, providing more value and functionality.

Secure Server 7.0 is available now at an MSRP of U.S. $149.95.

SuSE

NUREMBERG, Germany -- March 13, 2000 -- SuSE Linux today announced that it has designated VA Linux Systems' SourceForge, the world's largest Open Source development center, as a primary mirror for ftp.suse.com, to help improve the availability of SuSE Linux via download.

SuSE Linux is available for download at ftp://download.sourceforge.net/pub/suse/, which carries the full FTP version of SuSE Linux, as well as ISO images of the evaluation version, updates and fixes.

Further, SuSE Linux is now offered as a platform on the SourceForge CompileFarm, a unique service that gives Open Source developers a convenient way to build and test applications on multiple versions of the Linux and BSD operating systems over the Internet. The SourceForge CompileFarm enables Open Source developers to automatically create packages that can be installed on SuSE Linux using SuSE's YaST installation tool, without having to compile the programs manually.

SuSE announced a deal with Fugitsu Siemens Computers, Siemens Business Services and Siemens IT Service to deliver SuSE Linux-based systems with complete customer and sales support. With a global reach, the Fujitsu/Siemens and SuSE agreement allows the above partners to deliver an encompassing enterprise Linux solution to thousands of potential customers.

SuSE will disperse a free distribution CD within the June 2000 issue of MacTech Magazine. This CD will be a fully working distribution of Linux on the 2.2.14 kernel, with SuSE's powerful installation tool as well as other open-source software. This CD does not expire and can be distributed freely.

SAN MATEO, CA and HANNOVER, GERMANY - March 14, 2000 - SuSE will now budle Enlighten Software Solutions, Inc.'s Linux System Monitoring and Reporting technology with the SuSE Linux 6.4 for Intel distribution. When enabled, the Enlighten Linux Monitoring Agent will be able to monitor and report on critical Linux system and operating conditions including processor, memory utilization, changes in hardware and software configuration and increases in network errors.

Upcoming conferences & events

Magic Software news

[Magic Software sent in these beautiful penguin photos from Antarctica.

The pictures were taken when Mike McMillin won the Magic for Linux Really Cool Contest and embarked on his prize--an 18-day cruise around Antarctica and its surrounding islands.

Thanks, Magic! -Ed.]

Magic introduced eService, the Company's new Web-based, enterprise-level customer service management system that allows companies to manage their service departments as profit centers. The new product, which marks the debut of Magic's new customer relationship management (CRM) suite, streamlines service workflow and provides companies a comprehensive picture of their service departments in real time.

In addition, Magic eService reduces costs by making it possible for companies to employ cost-effective "virtual support centers," where service agents can work from their own homes around the world. Virtual support centers also allow the organization to easily provide 24-hour, seven day a week support through "follow-the-sun" service that utilizes the availability of the Internet.

Magic has also signed a deal to deliver MiTAC Europe Ltd. Powered by Magic's eMerchant, the web site will provide consumers easy access to a wide range of mall-type stores through a three-dimensional interface that helps simulate a true store-to-store mall shopping experience for the visitor. It is a site that MiTAC expects will revolutionize the design and convenience of online shopping sites. eMerchant is available for Linux.

PileofPcs.Org: open-source Beowulf project

(STOCKHOLM,SWEDEN) (April 17, 2000) In an effort to address some of the barriers that are limiting the spread of Beowulf class cluster-based supercomputer, Pileofpcs.Org has been created. It is dedicated to the proliferation of cluster-based supercomputing (i.e. Beowulf class computers) by creating, promoting and sponsoring the Open Source development of distributions, applications and tools comparable to those sold by traditional supercomputer vendors. All three of our initial projects are being hosted at Sourceforge.net.

"PileofPcs.Org hopes to hasten the day that clusters of cheap computers become more useful. Our intention is to apply all the technology, resources and volunteers we can to help the growth of cluster-based high performance computing as fast as it possibly can. Furthermore, the PileofPcs.Org is imbedded and wedded to the Open-Source Philosophy and community," Dr. Terrence E. Brown, Founder/Executive Director.

We are doing this in a number of ways. First, we are creating a new Linux distribution (and tools) that will allow anyone to easily create a general purpose supercomputer - a Vanilla Beowulf without being a linux programming expert. Second, given that a supercomputer is worthless unless it does something; therefore, perhaps more importantly, we are also, sponsoring the development of wide range of useful applications both parallel and parametric. Additionally, one of the biggest problem with deploying scalable production-class superclusters is the lack of mature and tested management tools comparable to what the traditional supercomputer vendors provide. PilesofPcs.Org aims to change this as well.

Current Projects 1. A new linux distribution that will allow those with limited technical knowledge create a vanilla Beowulf class supercomputer. SuperClustor Linux is hosted here. http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=4302

2. An Open source version of an base application that would delivers the high level of performance required for parametric executions by distributing the jobs over a computer cluster and/or network. This application will allow users of cluster systems to using already existing programs with little of no rewriting. Commercial products that do similar tasks include Clustor and EnFuzion. This would be an open source alternative to them. OpenClustor is hosted here. http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_idC03

3. An open source version of a base application that would enable users with no particular knowledge in Linux, to setup, configure and manage a linux cluster. With ease of use so that simple click is enough to add or remove nodes, monitor processors loads and temperatures. Users will no longer be required to anymore to allocate specific resources to build and maintain their cluster supercomputer. A commercial product of this nature include Alinka's Raisin. SuperCluster Manager is hosted here. http://sourceforge.net/project/?group_id=4304

PileofPcs.Org is looking to support and encourage the development many other application and/or tool projects including two special types: those requiring parallelization and those supporting parametric execution. We want to spur the development applications for all types of situations including, but not limited to science, finance, multimedia, bioinformatics, statistics, weather, data mining, design, neural networks, modelling, etc.

1. Parallelized applications - Although efficient parallelization is a property of the specific beowulf computer, we believe that we can promote the creation of pre-parallelized applications. While this will be a challenge, creating a repository for pre-parallelized and parallelized code with help speed the development of useable applications for all.

2. Applications that support parametric execution - Parametric executions require that the same application is executed numerous times. A single application is run under a wide range of input conditions and the results of these different runs are collected together. Parametric executions are ideally suited to run on large computing clusters, since they produce a lot of jobs, often exceeding thousands. These applications will allow users to tap power of distributed computing.

PileofPcs.Org is looking for Project leaders, developers, html designers, and all others interested in the PileofPcs.Org and Open Source movement. PileofPcs.Org is also looking for software and hardware sponsors to facilitate the rapid development and deployment of our efforts.

Contact: Dr. Terrence E. Brown

www.PileofPcs.Org
+46 8 790 6174

Seagate Partners with cobalt Networks

SCOTTS VALLEY, CA and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - April 3, 2000 - Seagate Technology, Inc., announced the first of a suite of Linux-based server appliances targeted at Internet and Application Service Providers (ISPs and ASPs), through a strategic partnership with Cobalt Networks, Inc. The first Seagate Server Appliance Solution, scheduled to be available this summer, is an easy-to-use, cost-effective solution that provides scablable storage and reliable data protection for ISPs and ASPs. The Seagate Server Appliance Solution enables ISPs and ASPs to generate incremental revenue through "vending" storage and data protection applications to their small and medium-sized customers.

http://www.seagate.com
http://www.cobalt.com

Agate HotData Shuttle

FREMONT, Calif., March 30 -- Agate Technologies, Inc. today announced the release of its popular HotData Shuttle(TM) hot swap IDE Plug & Play solution, designed to support the Linux operating system on Intel based workstations and Internet Server Appliances.

IDE hot swap is an industry term used to describe technology, which allows a component of a computer, such as a hard drive, to be attached or detached physically and electrically without impeding the performance and state of the computer. Agate provides this hot swap data-transfer capability by integrating its proprietary ASCII HotChip(TM) with an interface Printed Circuit Board (PCB) mounted in a generic device bay. The end result is the only true hot swap solution available today.

Priced at $49.95 (U.S.), HotData Shuttle for Linux comes with Shuttle bay/Tray, software driver, and mounting kit. HotData Shuttle(TM) for Linux will be marketed and distributed through its fully owned subsidiary, ei Corporation.

Penguin power credited for 100.000% network availability

NORTH QUINCY, MASS: Wednesday, April 5, 2000: Jeff Morris, President of the Xensei Corporation (http://www.xensei.com), announced today that they have reached a service level milestone that will allow them to begin rolling out high-availability web hosting, an emerging service level that has now become business-critical for eCommerce. High-availability hosting is required by successful eCommerce sites to ensure that their site will be "up", or open for business for a pre-determined percentage of time-often guaranteed in a service-level agreement (SLA).

He commented that, "Our customers have certainly appreciated the increased reliability of our hosting service as network availability has increased to 99.982% over the past year, and 100.000% over the last 90 days."

There are multiple grades of high-availability hosting-they are named according to the number of "nines" in the uptime percentage. 90% is one nine or Class I, 99% is two nines or Class II, 99.9% is three nines or Class III, and so on. Class V is 99.999% and means that the site is down only 5 minutes per year as opposed to a Class 1 which means that your site is down for 876 hours per year (or 73 hours per month). Most hosting providers are currently providing Class I or lower hosting. Few offer the guarantee of an SLA.

Class 1 hosting is most appropriate for companies interested in maintaining an Internet presence that is informative in nature. Class II hosting is recommended for companies who are outsourcing their e-mail system or doing P.O.S. retailing over the Internet. Class IV hosting is required by companies involved in Manufacturing, Utilities, Telecommunications Customer Service, or whose business is strictly eCommerce. Class V hosting is business critical to health systems, satellite navigation, reservation systems, banking (EFT and ATM transactions) and financial securities trading. Class VI (99.9999%) hosting is used by defense systems in launch readiness.

LinuxMall news

DENVER - The first Linux product orders from LinuxMall.com's web site are being filled through Frank Kasper & Associates' Minneapolis, Minn. warehouse. The fulfillment operation is a key component of the recently announced merger between LinuxMall.com and Frank Kasper & Associates.

LinuxMall sponsored all four Linux Business Expo Community Hubs. Linux Community Hubs provide free booth space to non-profit organizations that make significant contributions to the Linux and Open Source movement.

Tux and DustPuppy (Linux Mall)

DENVER - Tux the penguin and Dust Puppy, the hottest celebrities in the IT technical community, have announced their partnership agreement. Geeks from around the Internet are gathering to support the cuddly mascots in the joint venture. The partnership between Tux, the Linux mascot and User Friendly's Dust Puppy clears the way for a cross-marketing agreement between LinuxMall.com and Userfriendly.org.

"I'm thrilled about the Little Guy and my new friends at User Friendly," said Tux in response to the agreement. "My favorite thing to do after eating a few gallons of raw herring, is to curl up with Dust Puppy and the cast of User Friendly. Now I'll get some laughs first-hand."

"Tux and the whole Linux community are way-cool," the Canadian Dust Puppy remarked. "I'm looking forward to some major appearances together in the future."

Linux Expo North America (review)

Montreal, April 18, 2000 - The first ever Linux Expo North America was a marked success. Close to 4,500 visitors made their way through the snow storm to attend the Expo at Palais des Congrès. The slight shortfall in the number of visitors due to Mother Nature's whimsy was more than made up for in the discernible quality of visitors. The success of this first edition set the tone for future shows in Toronto in October and in Montreal in April 2001.

"The comments we've received from the majority of our 102 exhibitors confirm that our choice of quality versus quantity of visitors, was indeed the best strategy for positioning our event as one of the great shows in the Linux North America circuit" declared Stéphane Labrouche, V.P. and Director General of Sky Events, show organizers.

Linux Expo North America is already scheduled to take place in Montreal from April 10 to 12, 2001. In the meantime, the event will be held in Sao Paulo June 20 and 21, 2000 and at Toronto's Metro Convention Center October 30, 31 and November 1, 2000.

www.linuxexpocanada.com

Hewlett-Packard to bundle TapeWare Linux software its tape drives

FRESNO, CA., February 14 ( Yosemite Technologies, Inc. today announced an agreement with Hewlett-Packard Company to bundle Yosemite's storage management software, TapeWare, with the HP SureStore family of DAT, and DLT tape drives.

HP gains a powerful, comprehensive, yet intuitive backup technology that has been often rated superior to other industry leading backup applications and the bundled solution will provide additional support for the innovative new HP One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) feature, for integrated full-system restoration. HP's OBDR offers a fast, simple solution to return a server or desktop system to its normal operational state following a crash.

"Introducing TapeWare into HP SureStore products offers a complete backup solution and One-Button Disaster Recovery for Windows NT and NetWare" says Peter Doughty, marketing manager for HP Computer Peripherals Bristol. "It also provides HP SureStore customers with the ability to backup Linux servers and workstations."

http://www.tapeware.com

NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5

OTTAWA, Canada - April 5, 2000 - Rebel.com Inc. announced the availability of an upgrade to its OfficeServer software - NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5.

NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5 is an all-in-one Internet gateway server appliance which provides small and medium-sized businesses with full Internet and local area network support. Based on the Linux operating system, NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5 is configured with a broad range of network services such as firewall/VPN, Web site hosting, Web access, file and printer sharing and e-mail.

Features and enhancements to NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5 include:

* PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet) support - PPPoE is a relatively new protocol that specifies how a computer interacts with a broadband modem (ie. xDSL, cable, wireless, etc.) to achieve access to the growing number of highspeed data networks;

* Third-party plug-in to allow developers to add applications independently to the OfficeServer;

* Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client has been upgraded to support the @home cable modem service.

The security features of the OfficeServer have been significantly enhanced in order to keep pace with industry-standard security criteria. This includes more secure default firewall rules and increased privacy protection in the mail server. In addition, NetWinder OfficeServer 1.5 now allows users to securely connect to their OfficeServer-protected LAN anywhere in the world using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. The VPN software is bundled with the OfficeServer at no additional charge and includes 3 free client licenses. http://shop.rebel.com/netwinder/officeserver.cfm

Cobalt RaQ3i Systems and Phoenix Adaptive Firewall

COLUMBUS, OH, (April 11, 2000) Progressive Systems, Inc., has implemented its Phoenix Adaptive Firewall onto Cobalt Networks' platform. Designed for the many small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) that are implementing full-time Internet access but have growing security concerns, the new firewall appliance can be quickly installed and configured to provide very effective protection that is transparent to the network. This new implementation joins Progressive's existing firewall appliance based on the Cobalt Qube and Cobalt RaQ server appliances.

The fully featured product will sell for $4495 for unlimited users.

http://www.progressive-systems.com

Cobalt Networks Named As Worldwide Market Share Leader

Mountain View, Calif., April 24, 2000- Cobalt Networks, Inc. announced today that it was named as the worldwide leader in unit market share for server appliances in the 1999 Server Appliance report published by Dataquest on April 3, 2000. The Dataquest report names Cobalt as the unit share leader for the total market, as well as for the entry-level and midrange market segments.

Server appliances are application-specific devices. Cobalt's products are affordable, easy to use, and designed to support one or a few applications well. Cobalt's product line includes server appliances focused on Web and e-commerce hosting, e-mail, firewall, caching, and many other Internet-based applications. In addition, the Cobalt Developer's Network, launched in the first quarter of 2000, has attracted over 600 application developers to the Cobalt server appliance platform.

http://www.cobalt.com

The World's First SANappliance hits the street

SPRING INTERNET WORLD -- Apr. 5, 2000 -- DataDirect Networks, Inc., a leader in SAN network infrastructure solutions, today is releasing the SAN DataDirector™, the world's first storage area network (SAN) appliance. The SAN DataDirector is an intelligent network infrastructure device incorporating the functionality of next generation SANs into a single integrated, reliable, plug and play appliance that makes it easier to build and manage a SAN.

The SAN DataDirector allows UNIX, Linux, clustered Linux, Sun, SGI, AIX, Mac and Windows NT servers and workstations to access shared storage resources, permitting workgroups and clusters within a heterogeneous computing environment with incompatible operating systems to simultaneously share storage resources. The SAN DataDirector easily plugs into existing servers and storage, increasing their capabilities while providing investment protection. This capability enables data access between SAN and client-server users bridging the SAN and NAS environments, while also upgrading legacy storage into intelligent storage resources.

www.datadirectnet.com

Technical Manager Wanted - NetJammer.com

netjammer.com is looking for a Linux-capable webmaster that could handle the administrative / webmaster / maintenance side of the site.

It's a very uncorporate "musician" and internet environment.

The Technical Manager's desired skills include all aspects of server administration and webmastering, HTML, Javascript, Perl, rich media (audio/video) development and delivery, writing ad copy, tech support, etc.

Pay is negotiable. Company is located in Hollywood.

PLEASE CONTACT: Chapin Hemphill at

Linux Links

LinuxDevices.com articles re embedded systems:

• Linux and Windows square off over devices and why Linux will win.
• Embedded Linux Consortium launched

TeamLinux is a professional services organization that provides customers completely integrated solutions enabled by open source / Linux technology. TeamLinux offers consulting, design, integration, migration, training and support services for many business applications, including: e-commerce, Internet-enabled business- to-business, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Electronic Design Automation (EDA), embedded systems and Internet appliance applications.

http://userlocal.com is a site with information for new Linux users. (from comp.os.linux.announce)

Linux NetworX offers a reliable and cost-effective clustering alternative to the "super computer" for organizations demanding high performance and extremely low failure rates.

OpenAL: a 3D audio library

San Jose, CA. -- March 8, 2000 -- Loki Entertainment Software, the leading publisher of commercial games for the Linux operating system, announced a multi-company project to create and distribute OpenAL, an open-source, cross-platform 3D-Audio library.

3D-Audio greatly improves the immersive quality of a game. It allows games and other applications to take advantage of powerful spacialized sound effects, including distance and direction attenuation, panning and reverb. With these features, gamers can, for example, determine by sound the distance and direction of an explosion in a 3D-gaming environment.

"OpenAL represents a milestone for Linux and for the game industry in general," said Scott Draeker, president, Loki Entertainment Software. "Until now, games running on Linux have not had access to the advanced 3D-Audio features available on other platforms. OpenAL provides those advanced features with an open-source, nonproprietary implementation which is available not just for Linux, but for Windows and MacOS games as well. What SGI's OpenGL has done for 3D-Video, OpenAL will do for 3D-Audio."

Creative Technology, plans to release Linux drivers that will work with OpenAL, and which natively support the advanced 3D-Audio effects which OpenAL enables. In addition, Creative is evaluating MacOS and Windows implementations of the OpenAL standard

Loki is already incorporating OpenAL into its growing product line of AAA Linux games. In March, Loki will release the Linux version of Activision's Heavy Gear II, the first Linux game to support 3D-Audio using OpenAL.

The source code for OpenAL for Mac, Windows and Linux is freely available for download and is offered under the GNU Library Public License (LGPL). Visit www.openal.org for more information.

Joydesk

Seattle, Washington--March 3, 2000-- Virtualtek/Joydesk.com announces the release of the wireless version of the popular Joydesk software for March 15, 2000. The software enables users to access all the functionality of their web-based collaboration applications from the minibrowser of their Internet ready cellular phone.

Joydesk is a fully featured information management suite of applications with its own built-in mail server. Users can send or receive e-mail, check their schedule, access contact information, manage tasks, share information or receive urgent e-mail notification from the web at anytime, from any location and through any browser, web-enabled PDA, and now, from any Internet ready phone.

A free 30 day trial version is available for download.

Rogue Wave C++ Toolkit

BOULDER, CO - April 10, 2000 - Rogue Wave Software announced the release of its comprehensive collection of C++ components for Linux. The C++ Toolkit for Linux enables developers to easily create applications on the Linux platform.

This special edition Linux-Only CD includes ports of Rogue Wave's most popular cross-platform C++ products to the Linux platform, including Standard C++ Library, Tools.h++, Threads.h++, Tools.h++ Professional, DBTools.h++ and Money.h++. This new offering provides Linux developers with basic data structures, threading classes, classes for accessing relational databases and classes for business analysis and currency conversion.

Pricing starts at $545 and includes a license and one year of Silver Technical Support and product updates.

TopPage

IBM has recently developed a WYSIWYG HTML editor for Linux (beta) TopPage is an award-winning WYSIWYG HTML editor which allows you to create dazzling Web pages in minutes without any HTML knowledge or programming skills. It is suitable for beginners and experts. It includes all the tools necessary to create Web pages, including a WebArt Designer which lets you create logos and buttons, and a Web Animator which lets you create animation GIF files with just a few simple steps. The program includes up-to-date technology -- such as Cascading Style Sheets, Java applets and Dynamic HTML. TopPage gives you the capability to build lively pages with state-of-the-art Web technology. TopPage brings together everything you need to build pages and publish your site in one package. Now the Linux version (beta) is available. You can download it free from http://www.ibm.com/jp/toppage/ and use it until December 31, 2000.

HancomLinux word processor spans Asian and European languages

HancomLinux, Inc., a subsidiary of Haansoft which holds 80% of Korea's word processor market, has completed development of a Linux version word processor targeted on overseas markets and will kick off on sales this month.

The Chinese version "Wenjie" is still undergoing tests for supplying the program to significant Linux PC corporations and has yet to select distributors. The Chinese version is divided into two versions; version for users in mainland China, and version for users in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The general users' version will also include a Windows version.

"HancomWord," which has its target on English-speaking regions, will begin sales immediately after beta testing is completed. HancomWord is reported to be particularly convenient in that the selection of various languages, not only English or French, but also languages such as German, Greek, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and many more is possible without the nuisance of extra procedures. The company currently hold the beta testing event by free downloading (http://www.hancom.com/english) prior to official release. This new word processor is prospected to surface as a new contestant in the Linux Office market with its compatibility with HTML, text, and MS Word documents.

The Japanese version will be under the name "Are-A Hangul 2000" and will be exhibited at the Tokyo Linux Convention to be held next month.

The successful porting of LinuxHangul from Windows Hangul, which has undergone continuous improvement for the past 10 years, was made possible by the successful application of the 'Wine' technology. Wine is a developing tool which facilitates the use of Windows application programs in a Linux environment. This project has been openly operated with Linux programmers from all over the world.

HancomLinux has planned to seek overseas markets through cooperation with local distributors and is reported to first finish development of programs including spread sheet, graphics, presentation, etc. and then start seeking new markets full scale with an competitive Office suite.

Artstream

A new release of Artstream, version 2.0b11-3, has now been posted. This version has several enhancements and fixes.

All the patches needed for the Mesa library are now including in the Mesa developer distribution of version 3.2 and later at http://mesa3d.sourceforge.net/devel.html#branches. This version will soon become the official release. If desired an rpm of this release is still available from the Mediascape site.

Both the new Artstream and the Mesa rpms are available at: http://www.mediascape.com/linuxrpm.html

Documentation remains at: http://www.mediascape.com/mediaEscape/guide.html

In this release some text functionality is still omitted until we complete our licensing of certain spelling and hyphenation dictionaries for Linux. However all illustration tools should be intact.

Corel news

Ottawa, Canada - April 11, 2000 - CorelDRAW 9 for Linux will be available in July, two months earlier than scheduled. In addition, Corel VENTURA Publisher 8.5 for Linux and Windows will be available by the end of this year and the free download of Corel PHOTO-PAINT 9 for Linux will be available in June.

The first beta of CorelDRAW 9 for Linux was sent to beta sites April 7.

Ottawa, Ontario - March 10, 2000 - Corel Corporation today announced it will offer a free download of Corel PHOTO-PAINT® 9 for Linux. The download version of Corel PHOTO-PAINT 9 for Linux, Corel's photo-editing, image composition and painting application, will be available in early summer.

A retail version of CorelDRAW 9 Graphics Suite for Linux which includes Corel PHOTO-PAINT 9 will ship late summer 2000 with comparable pricing to the Windows version of this product.

Helix GNOME

Cambridge, MA - March 6, 2000 - Helix Code, Inc. today unveiled a preview version of its Helix GNOME desktop -- a collection of more than 80 industry-leading software applications designed to meet every need of the Linux user.

"As open source software, GNOME is a significant step forward technologically; we have effectively leap-frogged the legacy problems which are keeping software development in a state of little progress. Innovation will finally be brought back to software. And the Helix GNOME desktop means that all of this is available to end-users with very little effort," said Miguel de Icaza, co-founder of Helix Code, who recently was named as one of the "50 Leaders of the New Millennium" by Time Magazine and CNN.

For more information about Helix GNOME, and to download the preview release version of the Helix GNOME desktop, visit the Helix Code, Inc. website at www.helixcode.com.

Helix Code Inc. is an open source software company that produces high-quality productivity applications under the terms of the GNU GPL. Helix Code, Inc., is devoted to improving GNOME, the leading desktop environment for Linux.

[An interview with Miguel de Icaza is in this issue of Linux Gazette. -Ed.]

Exile III: Ruined World

Spiderweb Software and Boutell.com proudly present Exile III: Ruined World! Exile III: Ruined World is an epic fantasy role-playing game for Linux, featuring a fascinating plot, detailed and enormous world, and an elegant game system and interface.

What makes Exile III exceptional? Well, it features ...

• Involving, intricate plot, with 200000 words of story!
• An enormous, changing world. Do nothing, and things evolve around you. Refugees move from town to town. Villages will be destroyed. Characters will die. Monsters will gain territory.
• Detailed, open ended system. Don't want to go on adventures? Do odd jobs. Save up and buy a house. Go on one of dozens of side missions. Explore an enormous outdoors with well over a hundred dungeons and towns. Just go through people's houses and rummage through their stuff!
• Pleasing, professionally done graphics and sound.
• Carefully designed interface, with comprehensive online help, adventure journals, and design with an eye towards enabling you to do everything with the minimum amount of fuss.

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile3/linuxexile3.html

Tripp Lite's UPS gets Red Hat

Chicago, IL (April 13, 2000)-Tripp Lite, a manufacturer of power protection products, has established another milestone in its support for the Linux development community. Tripp Lite's PowerAlert UPS Management Software has been tested and approved by Red Hat®, Inc. to install and run flawlessly using the Red Hat Linux operating system.

"Receiving Red Hat Ready certification capped a thorough testing process which proved that both Red Hat and Tripp Lite are dedicated to providing Linux users with the most comprehensive power protection solutions available," said Mike DelGrosso, Tripp Lite's Director of Software Development. "Although other UPS software has been tested by Red Hat, Tripp Lite is the only UPS manufacturer that provides Red Hat's customers with a complete UPS software source code. This allows developers to customize not only basic UPS shutdown functions, but the full range of intelligent UPS control as well."

JavaServer pages book (alternative to CGI)

Greenwich, CT -- Web Development with JavaServer Pages, by Duane K. Fields and Mark A. Kolb, is the the first book to systematically cover everything a developer needs to know to create effective web pages and web-based applications with JSP.

Unlike older technologies such as ASP and CGI scripts, JSP provides full access to all the Java APIs, enabling a web developer to tap the power of one of the largest and most refined libraries of reusable code in existence--and all within the simple, familiar HTML format. But until now, web developers had few places to turn to learn how to take full advantage of this new technology.

Web Development with JavaServer Pages covers the entire JSP development process from start to end, from an enterprise perspective.

Contents
Chapters 1 and 6 (PDF format)

The book is also available electronically (14 MB PDF file), in color and searchable, for $13.50 (70% less than the hard copy price). The cost is applicable to the on-line purchase of the printed book later.

Other software

First-round entries in the Software Carpentry design competition

ChangingPages 3.0 is a web authoring tool released under the GNU Public License. It requires Perl 5 and MySQL. (Psand)

Leafwa is a web-based administration program for Leafnode, a small nntp news server.

Easy Software Products's ESP Print Pro v4.0.4 is a complete printing solution for UNIX. It prints PostScript, PDF, GIF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, SGI RGB, etc, to over 1600 printers via serial, parallel and network.

Zend Optimizer for PHP 4.0 betas 1 and 2 are available for download.

iHTML Merchant e-commerce transaction service "now offers more payment processors than any of their competitors" according to their press release. (Inline Internet Systems, Inc.)

[Note to Inline: Linux does not have a stock symbol! "LNUX" refers to only one Linux-using company among many.. -Ed.]

LinkScan Enterprise & Enhancements 7.0 is a scalable, industrial-strength tool for doing link checking, HTML validation, web site management and creating site maps. Three other mutually-comptatible LinkScan products are available for workstations and servers. (Electronic Software Publishing Corporation (Elsop))

Axis Communications has open-sourced its Linux drivers for Bluetooth, a technology for wireless communications between mobile phones and other portable devices. Axis also produces a Journaled Flash File System (JFFS) for Flash-ROM's. Axis has also released a Linux-based Axis 2100 Network Camera. It does not require a PC; it connects directly to the network and is controlled from a web browser. http://developer.axis.com

iServeris a platform-independent application/web server written entirely in Java. 90-day free preview at http://www.servertec.com. (Servertec)

Aladdin Expander beta uncompresses/decodes files from a variety of Unix, Windows and Macintosh formats. Linux/Intel version is available at http://www.aladdinsys.com/expander/expander_linux_login.html. Linux/Macintosh version is expected soon.

Voodoo3 3D graphics-card drivers are available from http://www.xig.com for US$29.

Aestiva 1.8 is a web-based operating system now with improved scalability, including the ability for dynamic sites to operate across multiple servers (called "server-jumping").

Chili!Soft Active Server Pages for Linux. Also available preinstalled on Cobalt's RaQ 3 server appliance.

NetLedger is a web-based accounting solution for small businesses. Its new Data Center represents the largest deployment of Linux on Oracle worldwide.

Active Perl 5.6 is a binary distribution of Perl for Linux, Windows and Solaris that is faster to install, includes a Perl Package Manager (PPM) for installing modules, and runs up to 48x quicker than the standard Perl. (ActiveState)

Parasoft has three programs that run on Linux. SiteRuler detects HTML files for bad links, spelling errors, orphaned files, and non-standard HTML. CodeWizard checks C/C++ programs for coding-standard violations. Insure++ is an automatic runtime error detection tool for C/C++.

SecureNet PRO 3.0 is an enterprise-scalable network monitoring and intrusion detection platform. (MimeStar, Inc.; MicroNetics, Inc.)

Omnis Studio 2.4 makes learning 4GL and OO easier. A demonstration copy can be downloaded from the web site. (Omnis Software)

Enhydra, an open-source Java/XML application server has been selected to power AnywhereYouGo.com, a community site for wireless Internet developers and IT managers. (Lutris Technologies, Inc.)

Vividata, Inc. has reduced the prices of its OCR Shop, ScanShop and PostShop scanning and printing software for personal and non-profit users.

This page written and maintained by the Editor of the Linux Gazette. Copyright © 2000,
Published in Issue 53 of Linux Gazette, May 2000