Linux Archive

Sun in August joined IBM, HP and Dell in offering Linux as a server operating system. A month later, IBM expanded its prepackaged Linux server offerings. Even Apple computers can be purchased with Linux preinstalled. Clearly, the Linux bandwagon is gathering speed -- Sun has said it anticipates a 30 percent annual growth rate -- but where is it going? For the first time in years, Microsoft’s unassailable lead in computer operating systems is being challenged by manufacturers offering Linux software. Even a puny challenge is better than none. Read more at Economist.

Cosmoe version 0.5.7 was released on Monday, September 23rd. A snapshot of the progress on DirectFB-based Cosmoe 0.6 is also available for developers who wish to work on it. Check the mailing list for more information.

The UnitedLinux organization plans today to release their first public beta. As of writing this, only the TurboLinux ftp site has an ongoing uploading of the UnitedLinux ISO file. Watch out for more. Update: More mirror sites here.

A recent feature on kerneltrap.org: "Ulrich Drepper recently announced the first public release of the Red Hat sponsored 'Native POSIX Thread Library' (NPTL). He explained, 'Unless major flaws in the design are found this code is intended to become the standard POSIX thread library on Linux system and it will be included in the GNU C library distribution.'

On September 18th, UnitedLinux, the consortium of Conectiva, The SCO Group (formerly Caldera), SuSE, and Turbolinux, announced that Paula Hunter, an "experienced technology executive and consortium leader," would be its worldwide general manager. The beta will be available on September 23rd, but not from the UnitedLinux site. Users, who want to give it a test drive, should go to one of the partners' sites to download copies of the binaries, ISO images or source code. Gregory said that the open beta would satisfy the needs of both the UnitedLinux industry partners and the open source community." In the meantime, the FSF sent an open letter to UnitedLinux, regarding the GPL violations that might be already in place or to be introduced by its license scheme.

With little fanfare, User Mode Linux (UML) has been merged into Linus' BitKeeper tree. The merge followed a patch by UML author Jeff Dike, resynching UML with the 2.5.34 development kernel.From the UML homepage, User-Mode Linux provides you with a virtual machine that offers "a safe, secure way of running Linux versions and Linux processes. Run buggy software, experiment with new Linux kernels or distributions, and poke around in the internals of Linux, all without risking your main Linux setup."

XFS is a GPL'd high-performance journaling file system developed by SGI since 1994 for the IRIX operating system. Version 1.0 was released for Linux on May 2001, with the current release being version 1.1. Christoph Hellwig has provided patches aimed towards getting XFS included into the 2.5 development kernel. Read more on KernelTrap.

UnitedLinux said on Wednesday that it would release a preview version of its business-oriented Linux distribution to the public in the last week of September, the first chance most potential customers will have to evaluate the results of the combined effort. UnitedLinux is based on SuSE Linux's enterprise server, but the public beta will reveal how technology has been integrated from the group's other three partners: Turbolinux, Conectiva and The SCO Group (formerly Caldera). Version 1.0 of the distribution is expected in November.

Roman Zippel recently released version 0.4 of his new configuration system for the 2.5 Linux kernel, a replacement for the aging CML currently in use. He has attempted to make the transition to this new system much simpler than was the case with CML2 in a hope to have it merged into the 2.5 kernel.

A new project by Intel and Philips is using the Linux operating system to boost the market for converged consumer electronics. The Pronto++ reference platform, announced on Tuesday, is based on Intel's XScale line of embedded processors and, initially at least, an embedded Linux distribution.

Lunar Linux is a fork off Sorcery Linux and it recently had its 1.0 beta release. In the meantime, ROOTLinux was just released version 1.3, and it includes kernel 2.4.19, it is compiled with GCC 3.2 and it has many brand new packages like KDE 3.0.3 and Gnome 2.0.1. We also learned that CRUX will have a new release soon too, and it will be also switched to GCC 3.2.

Looking to get a piece of the growing market for mobile services in China, a Chinese Linux developer has released an open-source alternative to smart-phone software from Microsoft and Symbian. China MobileSoft Ltd. (CMS) built its mLinux for Smart Phones software around its mLinux kernel, which is derived from a Linux kernel developed by Red Hat Inc., said Liu Bing, business manager at CMS at the CeBIT Asia show on Monday. The mLinux kernel requires 200K bytes of memory and can be used in 3G (third-generation) mobile handsets, he said.

An Illinois company that has shipped Linux preloaded on PCs since 1998 now offers a choice of four Linux distributions on Apple machines, the company has announced. QliTech Linux Computers will ship Apple notebook and desktop systems with SuSE PPC, Mandrake PPC, Debian PPC, or Gentoo PPC configured to dual boot with OSX, says QliTech's Ray Sanders. Recently, Terra Soft Solutions, Inc. announced the availability of Apple computers with Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed as well.

Are open-source developers all sandal-wearing geeks? A new survey reveals a detailed picture of free software developers' motivations and expectations--and even their personal lives. Read the research's results over at ZDNews.