See also: last week's Linux in the news page.

Linux in the News

KDE, Qt, and GNOME

Good news for KDE:Trolltech adds GPL option to Qt (ZDNet). A report on the Qt licensing change. "One happy beneficiary of Qt's new GPL license is KDE, the most popular Linux desktop environment, which is currently vying with GNOME to be the preferred environment for mainstream Linux developments. KDE, an open source project itself, has occasionally been shunned by open source advocates due to its dependence on the non-GPL Qt."

Barrier lowered between Linux interfaces (News.com). Another report on the Qt license change: "The change means the KDE user interface, which is based on Trolltech's Qt, will now compete on a more equal technical basis with the Gnome user interface, which is based on the GTK+ library. In a series of flame wars in recent years, debaters have often focused on the legal underpinnings of the two user interfaces."

.comment: Peace in Our Time? (LinuxPlanet). LinuxPlanet talks with Nat Friedman and Miguel de Icaza about the Qt license change. "I don't think it changes things, because people who actually care about licenses are a minority of the software world. That's why KDE got so much popularity independent of whether it had license problems or not. But it's going to help a lot of people who finally can have a free desktop, and that's good."

It's the apps, stupid (ZDNet). Here's a column on GNOME and KDE. "To their credit open source developers, by and large, have ignored the battle analyses and just kept coding -- and that's good news for all of us. For as Linux gets better, as GNOME and KDE keep pushing each other, as open source desktops continue to increase in popularity and attract more applications, we all win and nobody loses."

Companies

Open Source NetWare Thorn To Novell? (ZDNet). ZDNet looks at the Timpanogas Research Group and its plan to produce an open source NetWare clone. "Now, TRG is free of a two-year court order preventing it from writing any code, according to Merkey, the company's CEO. TRG expects to deliver its open source Metropolitan Area Network Operating System in the second half of 2001. The OS will run a 'NetWare-like SMP kernel' and will support NetWare directory, file and print protocols, Merkey says. In addition, MANOS will be able to run Linux applications, and will be released under the Gnu Public License, which lets users freely distribute, copy and modify the source code."

Transmeta's Stock Offering May Buck a Cooling Trend (NY Times). The New York Times covers Transmeta's IPO filing. "Despite Mr. Torvalds's presence, Transmeta is not a company whose business is based around the Linux operating system; it is a semiconductor company that plans to use Linux in conjunction with some of its chip designs. Nonetheless, some analysts and money managers raise the specter of slumping Linux-related stocks when talking about Transmeta."

Business

Conoco hopes to hit oil with slick supercomputer (News.com). News.com looks at Conoco's new cluster. "The computer uses dozens of single- and dual-processor Intel-based computers connected by a 10-mbps network, 10 terabytes of hard disk storage and a tape library. The company declined to provide further details on the hardware."

Four industry giants back new lab for Linux R&D (Computerworld). Here's an article about the Open Source Development Lab. "Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at International Data Corp. in Framingham, Mass., agreed, saying that the only way Linux will be ported to large-scale hardware will be through the creation of such a lab, where independent developers will have hands-on access to leading-edge machines."

Will Linux Group Burn Sun? (ZDNet). Here's an article that sees the Open Source Development Lab as a potential anti-Sun conspiracy. "Publicly, the new Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) hopes to promote Linux in the enterprise. But privately, the OSDL-funded by HP, IBM, Intel and NEC USA-may be plotting against Sun Microsystems."

Sun helps Linux go global (News.com). News.com has put up this article on Sun's release of its internationalization software. "The software is a layer that makes it easier to write software onto which any number of languages can be grafted. A program written to use the layer can be more easily shifted so Japanese as well as French people can use a program. Currently, Linux software is typically rewritten for each new language." (Thanks to César A. K. Grossmann).

Resources

LinuxDevices.com Embedded Linux Weekly Newsletter. The LinuxDevices.com Embedded Linux Weekly Newsletter for August 31 is out. As always, it contains a comprehensive summary of happenings in the embedded Linux world.

MP3 on Linux HOWTO (DukeOfUrl). The DukeOfUrl site has put up an article on working with the MP3 audio format with Linux systems. "In fact, odds are if you have a Linux machine, you already have all the tools you'll need to create and MP3, you just might need some command-line advice."

Linux Hardware Support Survey Part 1: Motherboards (Signal Ground. This article takes a look at how well various motherboard manufacturers support Linux. The research was done by looking at each manufacturer's web site and looking for Linux references. "What we found surprised us and even made us laugh out loud at times. Sadly, the hardware world is still overwhelmingly Windows-centric. But there were some glimmers of enlightenment in this sea of companies, and we'll recommend companies to deal with if you're a penguin at heart."

Poll: most important software tools (LinuxDevices.com). LinuxDevices.com is running a poll of embedded Linux developers in an attempt to find out which are the most important software tools in that arena. If you have opinions on the matter, you might want to head on over and share them.

Linux Buyer's Guide IV (DukeOfUrl). The DukeOfUrl has released its latest Linux Buyer's Guide. "AMD is back in the lead and with authority. Once again, I do not choose an SMP setup here because many applications are just not multi-threaded yet. Our goal here is to put together a realistic dream machine, not a wasteful one."

Reviews

From Old PC To Powerful Server (ZDNet). ZDNet reviews Cybernet's NetMAX Professional Suite. "Installation isn't pretty during the first section, consisting of bewildering Linux text messages scrolling up the screen. Linux-phobes aren't asked to do anything even resembling a command, however; the program just answers a few quick questions and continues to the browser-based installation screens, which are clean and attractive." (Thanks to Louie L. Lindenmayer III).

Interviews

Interview: Quentin Cregan (O Linux). O Linux interviews SourceForge developer Quentin Cregan. "SourceForge's role in Open Source appears to be becoming (hopefully) the base carrier of content. Geocities for Open Source, if you like =) We think it's great that so many developers can come to one place, and find so much freely downloadable and modifiable software."

Finally

A lab of one's own (Upside). This column covers the Open Source Development Lab, the upcoming MacOS X release, and a sighting from LinuxWorld: "Recent attendees of the LinuxWorld Convention and Expo may have spotted the offending T-shirt: A cartoon image of the BSD 'daemon' mascot and Tux, the Linux penguin mascot, er, re-enacting the famous love scene from 'Deliverance.' The caption: 'Plugging Linux Security Holes since 1994.'"

Hypocrisy: An Open Source Closed Community (LinuxPower). Here's a column from somebody who had a bad day at LinuxWorld. "The slashdot camp expects to be treated like kings, with the open source community as their court. Perhaps they have forgotten that one of the wonderful things about the open source community is that we're all equals." (Thanks to Charles Chapman).

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol

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