February 2003

Windows vs. Unix Revisited Posted Friday, February 28, 2003 @ 11:59 AM by mayhem

Linuxworld has another TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) comparison of Windows vs. Unix. Note that is it not a Linux comparison or a specific Unix comparison at all. The comparison here is the Windows client/server model vs. the terminal/server Unix model. It discusses the needs of a school/university and considers such facts as what the students will have to run at home. It's written by a self proclaimed Unix evangelist, so don't expect it to be unbiased, but he makes points that are hard to argue with. All in all, it is a refreshing TCO comparison. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Kernel 2.4.21-pre5 Now Available For Download Posted Friday, February 28, 2003 @ 11:54 AM by mayhem

You can now download the 2.4.21-pre5 Linux Kernel from here, or any of the www.kernel.org mirrors here, full changelog information is available here.

Windows Update Information Revealed Posted Thursday, February 27, 2003 @ 1:32 PM by mayhem

An article at a german site claims to have deciphered the information sent to Microsoft when you connect to Windows Update. Apparently, information about all the software and hardware installed on your PC can be sent to Microsoft. Not just Microsoft software, any software. (Source: OCAU)

IsoNews Ostensibly Shut Down By The DOJ Posted Thursday, February 27, 2003 @ 12:26 PM by mayhem

According to Yahoo News and also Cyber Crime The longest running news site for Piracy has been turned over to the Department of Justice. Stating David Rocci AKA krazy8, has recently plead guilty to selling modchips via his website http://www.isonews.com with profit of $48,000. Now the domain has been linked to the Cybercrime Site warning all pirates all there that modchipping is not a game. [chrisd] In case you needed a reminder...you don't own your hardware. Eff? That said, this is not 100% positive, and there are rumors of the old site floating around on other ip addresses out there. (Source: Slashdot) For those of you that can't live without iSONEWS it has been spotted still operational here.

Root-server switches from BIND to NSD Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2003 @ 8:35 AM by mayhem

It appears that one of the 13 root-servers, the core of DNS name resolution, have moved away from BIND to NSD since wednesday, Feb 19th, 2003, which is a Good Thing. Since the 26th of october 1990, all root-servers have been running BIND. According to this message, this change was designed to increase the diversity of software in the root name server system, the lack of which is widely considered to be a potential vulnerability. The nsd software has been designed from scratch specifically as an authoritative name server. It has no design commonalities with bind, the currently prevalent DNS implementation. In addition to that nsd provides a significant increase in the performance reserve of k.root-servers.net. NSD was developed at NLnet Labs in coorperation with RIPE. (Source: Slashdot)

The Next Level of X-Box Modding Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2003 @ 8:33 AM by mayhem

A swedish guy did a really sweet xbox mod. He moved the whole thing into an aluminium chassis, changed the dvd and hdd, installed a mod-chip, wireless lan, leds, switches and Linux. Meet the xXx-box. The site is in swedish, but the pics speak for themselves. Lots of pictures here. I gotta ask tho, at what point would it have made more sense just to buy a regular computer? The green lighting is a nice touch tho. (Source: Slashdot)

Sun To Use AMD Mobile Processor In Blade Servers Posted Wednesday, February 26, 2003 @ 8:31 AM by mayhem

Looks like AMD is finally making some headway into supplying 1st tier business computer makers which the announcement that Sun will use their chips in upcoming blade servers. Apparently CNET can't help but speculate what this means for AMD's 64 bit Hammer. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Kernel 2.5.63 Now Available For Download Posted Tuesday, February 25, 2003 @ 11:34 AM by mayhem

You can now download the 2.5.63 Linux Kernel from here, or any of the www.kernel.org mirrors here, full changelog information is available here.

ShaoLin Aptus 2.0 Wins IT Excellence Award Posted Monday, February 24, 2003 @ 3:42 PM by mayhem

(Hong Kong - February 24, 2003) ShaoLin Aptus 2.0 won "IT Excellence Awards 2002" (Certificate of Merit - Product) in Hong Kong. The product was judged in recognition of outstanding achievements in technological innovations based on software product functionality, technical innovation, market performance and societal benefits. For more information, please visit www.shaolinmicro.com.

The Linux Uprising Posted Saturday, February 22, 2003 @ 12:41 PM by mayhem

Business Week is featuring a list of articles under the header 'The Linux Uprising' including topics like 'Red Flags for Red Hat' and 'A Bad, Sad Hollywood Ending?' touching everything dear to the Slashdot community. A good read to align yourself with what mainstream businesspeople are fed. (Source: Slashdot)

Open Code Has Fewer Bugs Posted Friday, February 21, 2003 @ 11:55 AM by mayhem

Reasoning, which sells automated software inspection services, scrutinized part of the code of Linux and five other operating systems, comparing the number and rate of programming defects. Specifically, Reasoning examined the TCP/IP stack and found fewer errors in Linux. 'The open-source implementation of TCP/IP in the Linux kernel clearly exhibits a higher code quality than commercial implementations in general-purpose operating systems,' the company said in a report released last week. Reasoning also compared the code with that used in two special-purpose networking products and found it superior to one of them. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Xbox Project Seeks Microsoft Signature Posted Thursday, February 20, 2003 @ 9:38 PM by mayhem

We've had several Microsoft posts, and here's another, from CNet News. The team behind the XBox port of Linux is seeking a digital signature from Microsoft to approve the XBox Linux project. This would allow it to run on an unmodified XBox. According to the article, "Microsoft will be eligible to apply for an award under this scheme if they approve Xbox Linux as a normal Xbox program. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Kernel 2.5.62 Now Available For Download Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2003 @ 6:11 PM by mayhem

You can now download the 2.5.62 Linux Kernel from here, or any of the www.kernel.org mirrors here, full changelog information is available here.

Making a PHP Site on Linux Work with a Microsoft SQL Server Posted Sunday, February 16, 2003 @ 2:28 PM by mayhem

It's a LAMP site, but the M isn't MySQL. Can PHP on the Linux box make the connection to Microsoft SQL Server? Full article is available here. (Source: Linux.com)

Linux Kernel 2.5.61 Now Available For Download Posted Sunday, February 16, 2003 @ 12:53 AM by mayhem

You can now download the 2.5.61 Linux Kernel from here, or any of the www.kernel.org mirrors here, full changelog information is available here.

Opera Releases "Bork" Edition Posted Saturday, February 15, 2003 @ 1:09 AM by mayhem

Two weeks ago it was revealed that Microsoft's MSN portal targeted Opera users, by purposely providing them with a broken page. As a reply to MSN's treatment of its users, Opera Software today released a very special Bork edition of its Opera 7 for Windows browser. The Bork edition behaves differently on one Web site: MSN. Users accessing the MSN site will see the page transformed into the language of the famous Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show: Bork, Bork, Bork! Here you can find Slashdot)

Red Hat, Oracle to get Gov't Certification for Linux Posted Saturday, February 15, 2003 @ 1:08 AM by mayhem

As this news.com article states, 'Red Hat and Oracle plan to announce on Thursday that the companies have teamed to get Linux evaluated under the Common Criteria, a certification that could open doors for the broader use of open-source software by government agencies.' It looks like this will be an important step in getting Linux to be more widely adopted in governments around the world. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Kernel 2.5.60 Now Available For Download Posted Thursday, February 13, 2003 @ 10:35 PM by mayhem

You can now download the 2.5.60 Linux Kernel from here, or any of the www.kernel.org mirrors here, full changelog information is available here.

Mozilla 1.3 Beta Released Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003 @ 10:24 PM by mayhem

The latest beta of Mozilla is ready for public testing. What's new, links within. More information is available here, or you can go straight to the download page. (Source: Linux Today)

Is Linux Certification Worth It? Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003 @ 10:21 PM by mayhem

Instead of focusing all their energies on answering multiple-choice questions about administering a Linux system, the bulk of the RHCE exam requires candidates to demonstrate their skills on Linux machines. You can read the full article here. (Source: NewsForge)

Configuring Samba as a Windows NT Primary Domain Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003 @ 10:20 PM by mayhem

In this article, we'll show you how to set up Samba on your GNU/Linux system as a PDC. You can read the full article here. (Source: Linux.com)

Remote Syslog with MySQL and PHP Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003 @ 10:18 PM by mayhem

Msyslog has the ability to log syslog messages to a database. This allows for easier monitoring of multiple servers and the ability to be display and search for syslog messages using PHP or any other programming language that can communicate with the database. You can read the article here. (Source: Linux.com)

Writing efficient PHP Posted Wednesday, February 12, 2003 @ 10:17 PM by mayhem

This tutorial, from IBM developerWorks, targets the PHP developer who already understands PHP, but either wants to write more efficient PHP code or wants to improve the performance of existing PHP applications. Free registration required. (Source: Linux.com)

Tux Applique Review Posted Sunday, February 9, 2003 @ 9:16 PM by mayhem

To further our case modding reviews PCCaseGear has supplied us with a Tux Etched Window Applique for our latest review, you can read it here.

Gnome 2.2 Released Posted Friday, February 7, 2003 @ 1:11 AM by mayhem

This message confirms that Gnome 2.2 is officially released. And a month ahead of the originally planned six-month release cycle. Check out the Gnome 2.2 Start Page and use a mirror to download. (Source: Slashdot)

Linux Conference Australia Write-Up Posted Tuesday, February 4, 2003 @ 11:38 PM by mayhem

I've just recently returned from Linux Conference Australia 2003, held in Perth, Western Australia. I've had an incredible time, and this has easily been the best technical/Linux show I've been to since ALS was still operating. I've got a write-up below, and some notes on what happened, what's the plan for next year (It'll be in Adelaide, and I'm greatly looking forward to it!), and a photo round up. A number of other articles have appeared, and Kate MacKenzie's write up in The Australian was good as well, in addition to Telsa Gwynne's excellent write-up and Linux Magazine Au has some articles as well. ZDNet Australia's coverage as well. (Source: Slashdot)

Get to know your textutils Posted Monday, February 3, 2003 @ 11:05 PM by mayhem

This series of tips for Linux users offers an easy introduction to the GNU text processing tools -- how to use them, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to combine them to create powerful custom tools. At the end of this introduction, you should be able to use the text processing utilities, pipes, and streams to build complex data crunching systems. You should also be able to write straightforward one-off scripts that automate common system administration chores, perform quick formatting jobs, or do other simple but mundane tasks that fall under "automated text processing." (Source: Linux.com)

Secure Authentication for Apache HOWTO Posted Monday, February 3, 2003 @ 11:05 PM by mayhem

Administrators often require the ability to restrict access to information published on the web and keep that access secured. Normal HTTP authentication sends the password as cleartext, and even digest authentication is insecure. A good solution is to combine HTTP authentication with HTTPS (secure HTTP). This tutorial covers compilation of all the necessary software and modules, Apache configuration, and proper creation of the .htaccess files. Read full HOWTO here. (Source: Linux.com)

Mandrake 9.1 Beta 3 Screenshots and Review Posted Monday, February 3, 2003 @ 11:02 PM by mayhem

I have posted some screenshots and a little review/rant of Mandrake 9.1 beta 3 at my site. To read the review click here. (Source: NewsForge)

ReactOS 0.1.0 Released Posted Monday, February 3, 2003 @ 10:57 PM by mayhem

ReactOS 0.1.0 has been released! ReactOS is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with Windows NT applications and drivers. In this release, among other new features and fixes, especially worth mentioning are the ability to boot from CD and self-hosting capabilities (ReactOS can be compiled on ReactOS)." ReactOS has been in progress for a while, often tied to other projects with the aim of seamlessly replacing Windows: you can download an image of Bochs 2.0 with ReactOS 0.1.0 preloaded from the download and changelog page. (Source: Slashdot)