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 Sections: Main page Security Kernel Distributions Development Commerce Linux in the news Announcements Back page All in one big page See also: last week's Distributions page.
Lists of Distributions |
DistributionsPlease note that security updates from the various distributions are covered in the security section. News and EditorialsRed Hat claims huge Linux lead, rivals growing (News.com). News.com reports on the latest IDC study which shows Red Hat having the bulk of the Linux market. "Linux companies argue there is more competition between Linux and other operating systems than there is among versions of Linux itself. But Red Hat's aggressive push to have its brand name associated as closely as possible with Linux reflects the land grab under way as companies seek to establish as much dominance as possible of the up-and-coming operating system." Distribution ReviewsSlackware Linux 7.1 (Duke of URL). The Duke of URL has put out a review of Slackware Linux 7.1. "Slackware is one of the best distributions around in the currency of its applications. In fact, I've never seen a more current distribution in all my years of using Linux. They're really raised the bar with KDE 1.91 and XFree86 4.0, and kernel 2.2.16, and proves that Slackware has more priorities than just staying close to UNIX. Thanks to Slackware, Linux never looked so good." New DistributionsFTOSX. FTOSX is a new distribution from Future Technologies. They promise support for all the latest Linux technologies. Interestingly enough, this not only includes the Linux 2.4 kernel, but also the Linux 3.0 kernel ... which, of course, does not yet even have a development tree. They also plan to have their own desktop environment, FTKDE, based on KDE 2.0 and FTX, which is called "a [sic] X Window porting based on 4.0". Their primary filesytem will apparently be ReiserFS. All of this is just a plan, though. The first FTOSX beta is not due out until October sometime. "We promise something new and more easy than actual Linux distributions.". [Thanks to Nicolas Verite]. MageNet Linux Server. The MageNet Linux Server distribution is based on Red Hat, but tailored to add or replace services according to their own preferences. For example, they have chosen to replace wu-ftpd with proftpd, ircII 4.x with ircII EPIC, and more. Their goal is a distribution with better security and more features than Red Hat 6.2. [From Freshmeat]. Scrudgeware. "A totally free operating system" is the goal of Scrudgeware. To that end, they have pledged to include only "GNU/GNOME/GPL" software. They are also designing the sytem to eliminate redundancies, so rather than include, for example, both KDE and GNOME, they have chosen to focus on GNOME and provide that exclusively. Of course, the licensing issues that might have influenced their decision originally have changed with his week's announcement that Trolltech is also licensing the latest Qt library under the GPL. However, we'll hazard a guess that they won't change their choice as a result. [From Freshmeat]. General Purpose DistributionsLinux-Mandrake News. Ulysses, Linux-Mandrake's first beta for their 7.2 release, has been announced. It includes KDE2 beta 4, enhanced installation and administration tools, XFree86 4.01, and CUPS as the default print system, among many other changes. "Please keep in mind that Ulysses is an experimental Operating System, it's not for daily use! The goal of beta testing is to help debug it and Ulysses is sure to contain things that are broken. Use with care!" Joining a number of other distributors, MandrakeSoft has announced that it is publishing an enterprise version of its distribution. Linux-Mandrake Corporate Server 1.0 will include things like ReiserFS, an automated installation tool, and something referred to as "the amelioration of multiprocessor treatments." It will be available in Intel and Sparc versions. MandrakeSoft also announced that, according to PC Data, Linux-Mandrake sold the most units of any distribution in the U.S., with 31.5% of the market. They are also pleased to have received the "Editor's Choice" award from Linux Magazine. SOT launches BestLinux developer site. SOT has announced the launch of its BestLinux.org developers' site. SOT is based in Finland and their Best Linux distribution supports Finnish, Swedish and English. Debian GNU/Hurd. A new issue of the Kernel Cousin Debian Hurd is available. If it is accurate, then there were only been two posts to the debian-hurd mailing list during the last two weeks of August -- possibly a sign of the start of the new college semester. Slackware News. A new development tree for Slackware was made available this past week. The "current" tree already includes Netscape 4.75, XFree86 4.0.1, inn-2.3.0 and several glibc security fixes (check the Security Summary for more details). Embedded DistributionsPeeWeeLinux 0.5.1. A new, minor update to PeeWeeLinux has been announced, PeeWeeLinux 0.5.1. "A command-line driven interactive script to load target devices has been added. Supported devices are any hard drive, including Compact Flash devices and floppy disks." The new script is called rd_dialog and loading of compressed RAMdisks for FAT and ext2 partitions is supported, among others. Special Purpose/Mini DistributionsBYLD 1.0. The first stable release of Build Your Linux Disk (BYLD) was announced with minimal fanfare. Changes from the previous beta release are minor. BYLD is a mini-distribution primarily intended as starting place for people who want to "roll their own" distribution. It installs onto a single floppy disk and is sometimes used to build rescue disks or portable network clients. Redmond Linux Beta1 Refresh. Redmond Linux is a relatively new distribution that caters to the non-technical end-user. It is based on Caldera OpenLinux. Their beta1 refresh version was announced last week and includes the 2.4.0-test3 kernel, KDE2 beta 4, an updated installer, and more. Section Editor: Liz Coolbaugh |
September 7, 2000
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