From: Mandrake Team <return@mandrakesoft.com> To: phil@mandrakesoft.com Subject: Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter - Issue #21 Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 22:46:31 +0100 (CET) *********************************************************************** M A N D R A K E L I N U X C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R Issue #21 Thursday, 6 December 2001 *********************************************************************** Welcome to the Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter -- dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with the latest Mandrake-related news & info. You are receiving this newsletter because you have subscribed to one of the Mandrake services. To be removed from this mailing list, or to request the newsletter in a different language, please see the bottom of this page for instructions. *********************************************************************** This Week's Summary: Mandrake Linux 8.1 for Itanium; Mandrake Linux Users Club Update; Introducing the MandrakeSecure website; Mandrake in the News; What's Cooking at MandrakeSoft; Business Case of the Week; Software Updates; This Week's Online Poll; Top Stories from MandrakeForum Product News ---------------------------------------- Mandrake Linux 8.1 for Itanium. On Dec. 3rd, MandrakeSoft announced the availability of Mandrake Linux 8.1 for Intel Itanium architecture. The Itanium is a high-performance platform commonly used for servers and advanced computing. This new product offers the same features as Mandrake Linux 8.1, but has been optimized for the IA64 architecture. Mandrake Linux 8.1 for IA64 is now available for free download at http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3#ia64, and will soon be available for purchase at MandrakeStore. http://www.mandrakestore.com Support plans and professional consulting are available: http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/range/support http://www.mandrakesoft.com/consulting Top Stories ---------------------------------------- Mandrake Linux Users Club: Preparing for the first session. A new web site dedicated to the Mandrake Linux Users Club should be open in less than one week. The website will provide detailed information about the features/benefits of the Club; report about club activities; and also allow the opportunity for members to provide feedback. If you're a happy Mandrake user who wants to ensure that the Mandrake Linux distribution keeps going in the right direction, join the Mandrake Users Club! http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/club/ -- Introducing MandrakeSecure. In order to concentrate all Mandrake-relevant security information in one location, a new member of the MandrakeSoft family of websites has been launched. The new site, MandrakeSecure.net, is devoted entirely to security. It provides new mailing lists on security topics, an online discussion forum to discuss security with others users around the globe, and valuable links to security resources available on the internet. It also features articles written specifically for Mandrake Linux users to help them understand security, and why security is important. MandrakeSoft Security Specialist Vincent Danen adds: "Currently, there are two documents on the site that may prove to be of immediate interest. The first is using sudo to lock down permissions on your system; invaluable for multi-user environments. The second is a piece entitled "The Black Magic of Updating" and explains the why and how of updating software in Mandrake Linux, the importance of reading advisories, and the not-so black magic of updating kernels, which may be of particular interest for those of who have not yet taken the step to update to the latest kernels provided via Updates. These two articles are, of course, merely the beginning, and you can expect to see many more feature articles on the site in the future". http://www.mandrakesecure.net/ Mandrake in the News ---------------------------------------- CRN.com -- Constructing a Windows-Less Office. This week's cover story is an article about replacing Windows with Linux-powered desktops in a typical small-business environment. "The advances in the KDE interface and the easy system maintenance provided by both SuSE and Mandrake provide a solid client desktop that Windows clients can't touch." http://www.crn.com/Sections/CoverStory/CoverStory.asp?ArticleID=31793 -- Netcraft.com -- Web Server Survey. Denis Havlik was browsing the Netcraft survey and noticed the "Advanced Extranet Webserver" was recorded on 48,114 web sites last month -- that's more than a 300% increase from one year ago! http://www.netcraft.com/survey/Reports/0111/byserver/Apache-AdvancedExtranetS erver/ The Advanced Extranet Webserver is a high-performance version of the famous Apache webserver found only in the Mandrake Linux distribution. http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/demos/Demo/Mandrake8.1/QuickLook/pages/featur es14.php3 -- PCmag.com -- Get Started With Linux. PC magazine hosts an article about setting up a web server with Mandrake Linux. "Linux is a compelling choice when you want to take a break from Windows or run your own Web server. We'll help you get started." http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s%253D1481%2526a%253D18524,00.asp -- ZDNet.com -- Travel ASP rides Linux to success. Viata is a Hawaii-based ASP (Application Service Provider) to the online travel industry. When they needed a low-cost but effective technical infrastructure, their solution was to use Mandrake Linux as the desktop and server OS. "Viata saved about $170,000 in software costs during the first six months of using Linux, according to Phillips. Viata also saved on hardware, as it was able to avoid purchasing the high-end machines it would have needed to run Windows. And administration is cheaper, since most functions are performed centrally and can be automated." http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2825019,00.html What's Cooking at MandrakeSoft? ---------------------------------------- Hot topics from last week's Cooker mailing list include discussions about hackkernel, Nautilus build requirements, %makeinstall rpm building macro, and Higher resolution for i810 chipsets during the install. Read the Cooker Mailing List Archives at http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=mandrake-cooker&r=1&w=2 -- SNF code merged to Cooker. The "Single Network Firewall" administrative interface has been adapted to the 2.4 kernel and merged into Cooker. The next step will be to fix bugs and add new functionality. Join the discussion at MandrakeForum and provide your opinion about what new features should be added to the next "firewall" product. http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1427&lang=en Business Case of the Week ---------------------------------------- ASUAF: Mandrake Linux used for everything in our Information Services Department. The Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (ASUAF) represents students to the university, as well as providing legal services, a Student Saver program, online classifieds, and personal web site hosting. They use Mandrake Linux for the web/database/email server, as well as on their workstations. Joshua Kugler, the Information Services Director, says "We have been very pleased with Mandrake Linux and would recommend it to anyone looking for a Linux distribution on which to base their enterprise." http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/article.php?sid=213 Every "bizcase" counts; please share your story by submitting it to MandrakeBizcases.com http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/submit.php Software Updates ---------------------------------------- wu-ftpd -- fix potential remote root compromise postfix -- fix potential remote DoS apache -- fixes a number of vulnerabilities View the entire list at: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/security/ This Week's Online Poll ---------------------------------------- Which processor(s) do you use with ML? AMD Athlon AMD Duron Intel Itanium or Xeon Intel Pentium 3 or Pentium 4 Intel Celeron Other i386 compatible processor PPC G3 or G4 SPARC Alpha Others Cast your vote in the Voting Booth and check the results: http://www.mandrakeforum.com/pollBooth.php?op=results&pollID=21 Top Stories from MandrakeForum ---------------------------------------- Mandrakesoft Advent Calendar. Deno writes: "Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, and (Christian) tradition says that during Advent (4 weeks preceding Christmas) one should have a calendar with surprises. Each day one little door gets opened; each day a new treasure comes out. This year, Mandrakesoft will have its own Advent calendar online". Due to overwhelming results from our business survey, we have been adding dozens of great stories to MandrakeBizCases.com; so every day, there will be at least one new story on the MandrakeBizcases site, and we'll try to put some very special stories out each Sunday. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1440&lang=en -- Mandrake and Win4Lin maker NeTraverse forge partnership. Desktop Linux reports: "In the relationship agreement, MandrakeSoft will be integrating and marketing the NeTraverse products with its market-leading software, offering NeTraverse's Win4Lin desktop product directly through its online store". http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9662188217.html Deno adds: "Our role is to make sure that people actually get Win4Lin with the distribution, and that they can easily buy licenses for it through MandrakeStore. FYI, the first "update CD" for ML 8.1 ProSuite is almost ready, and I hope it will contain the updated version of Win4Lin which works with updated kernel. This CD is primarily targeted at Pro-suite buyers (these get it shipped free of charge), but I suppose it will be available on MandrakeStore too. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1433&lang=en -- PPC Cooker - A hands-on guide. For any Macintosh users who are interested in testing the future version of Mandrake PPC, George Hartlieb has put together a small guide of some of the tricks he's learned along the way. And since the first part of this document describes how to setup a local mirror of Cooker, it's also informative for all would-be Cooker testers, not only those who own a PPC machine. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1432&lang=en -- Who owns your data? Steve Litt, the editor of Troubleshooters.com, switched to Linux a few months ago; he describes how & why both he and his company did the transition in the April 2001 issue of "Troubleshooting Professional Magazine. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1428&lang=en -- Oracle 8i release 3 (version 8.1.7) on Mandrake 8.1 "Anonymous" shares some tips on how he successfully installed & configured the Oracle database on Mandrake Linux 8.1. http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1434&lang=en Read these and other stories at: http://www.MandrakeForum.com/