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From: Phil Lavigna <phil@mandrakesoft.com> To: lwn@lwn.net Subject: Mandrake Linux Community Newsletter - Issue #33 Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2002 14:20:50 -0800 *********************************************************************** 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 #33 Tuesday, 5 March 2002 *********************************************************************** 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: Beta 4 has been released; Worldwide Expansion of "Linux Campus"; Upcoming CeBit Show; Legislative Alert; Mandrake in the News; 8.2 Commercial Packages at MandrakeClub; Business Case of the Week; Security-related Software Updates; Headlines from MandrakeForum. Top Stories ---------------------------------------- Mandrake Linux 8.2 Beta 4 has been released. A new beta of the upcoming Mandrake Linux 8.2 is now available. This could be the final chance to ensure that 8.2 will run perfectly on your equipment, so everyone is invited to download, test, and submit bug reports. Beta 4 can be found at the usual FTP locations: http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftp.php3 Similar to the previous betas, MandrakeForum will soon host a series of "Test this" articles where beta-testers can post comments and suggestions about Beta 4. Read the official announcement here: http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?lang=en&sid=1959 -- Linux training -- Mandrake style. MandrakeSoft is proud to announce the expansion of its professional Linux training program known as "Linux Campus". Linux Campus provides high-quality training curriculum to Certified Training Centers throughout the world. Additionally, the "Administrator Program" is compatible with the highly regarded LPI certification program produced by the Linux Professional Institute. Linux Campus training is now offered at 25 locations in 8 countries, with 35 additional locations coming soon. One of the new German training centers is run by Dieter Thalmayr, who developed and lead SuSE's first (and main) training center in Germany before deciding to become his own boss. http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1947&lang=en MandrakeSoft representatives will be present at the European "CeBIT" trade show to recruit new training center partners from all over Europe. If Linux Campus isn't yet available in your area, feel free to request it from one of your local training centers. For more information on MandrakeSoft's Linux Campus, please see: http://www.mandrakesoft.com/training/offline/catalogue/ Upcoming Event ----------------- MandrakeSoft will be present at this year's "CeBIT" trade show, which is being held in Hannover, Germany from March 13th to the 20th, 2002. Just like last last year, Mandrakesoft will have a small delegation of representatives ready to discuss "Professional Training" (Gilliot Alexis), "Hardware" (Regis Wira), and "Community" (Denis Havlik). Alexis will be at the LPI booth (Hall 3, Stand C57) with our latest and most important training partner in Germany: INTEA. Following on the heels of "Magnum Opus" in Munich, INTEA just become the third certified Linux Campus training center in Germany. Magnum Opus: http://magnum-opus.de/ Intea: http://intea.de/ Davision: http://www.davision.com/ Denis will be working at AMD's booth (Hall 19, Stand B24) giving presentations of Mandrake Linux 8.2 and the MandrakeClub. Regis will be working the floor, meeting and speaking with hardware vendors. Legislative Alert ---------------------------------------- According to Eurolinux, on Thursday Feb. 20th, the European Commission published a draft for enacting software patents in Europe similar to the U.S. system. The draft was authored by a director of the B.S.A. (the Business Software Alliance is an anti-piracy alliance dominated by Microsoft). http://petition.eurolinux.org/pr/pr17.html The proposal: - Introduces unlimited patentability on *all* abstract ideas, especially those of the Amazon "One Click" and BT "Hyperlink" type - Legalizes 30000 patents on "computer-implementable inventions" (i.e. abstract rules disguised in computing jargon) - Undermines the copyright property on which the European software industry has been thriving - Allows standards to be monopolized, denying Open Source software, shareware and SMEs entry to markets, charging "per-use" fees even from creators and users of multimedia content (MPEG 4 will cost 0.02 EUR per hour) - Erodes software innovation in Europe - Transfers several billion euros from the software industry to the people in charge of the directive proposal in Brussels - Weakens elementary rights of citizens in the information society This far reaching maneuver in Brussels deserves everyone's attention. Please take a moment to sign EuroLinux's "Petition for a Software Patent-Free Europe", and also warn your local government, elected politicians, and journalists about this dangerous proposal. http://petition.eurolinux.org/ Mandrake in the News ---------------------------------------- OSNews.com -- Interview with David Faure of Mandrake & KDE. OSNews is featuring an interesting interview with KDE developer (and MandrakeSoft employee) David Faure. David's main projects include Konqueror and KWord. In the interview, he discusses KDE3, GNOME, and much more. http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=704 LinuxProgramming.com -- Jeff Garzik: Doing the BitKeeper Thing, Penguin-Style. Linux kernel hacker (and MandrakeSoft employee) Jeff Garzik provides a series of notes on using Bitkeeper for Linux kernel development (or other development projects). "BitKeeper is a distributed system. When applied to revision control, this means doing away with client-server, and changing to a parent-child model... essentially peer-to-peer." http://news.linuxprogramming.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2002-02-21-001-06-DT-HT MandrakeClub ---------------------------------------- This week, the first commercial software packages from the 8.2 distribution will begin appearing at the Club for downloading. Since the 8.2 distribution isn't completely finished yet, these packages should still be considered "experimental", so please use them at your own risk. Not yet a Mandrake Club member? To learn more, please visit: http://mandrakelinux.com/en/club/ Business Case of the Week ---------------------------------------- Webbods Pty. Ltd. -- Mandrake is our OS of choice. A Web development company north of Sydney, Australia selects Mandrake Linux as their OS of choice for the desktop PCs, and even a Powerbook. All of the company's web development is now performed in Linux, as well as normal everyday tasks such as surfing the Web, email, online banking, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. "Fitting in with our other machines was a breeze, we have NT and Mac boxes here, and the Linux machines talk to all of them, no extra software needed... I have 17 years experience with DOS, Windows, OS/2, Mac OS & OSX, BeOS, etc etc. Mandrake is our platform of choice now. I don't need to use Windows, Mandrake does all that I need, and quicker in just about all instances." says Nick Texidor. http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/article.php?sid=232 For many more examples of Mandrake in the workplace, please see: http://www.MandrakeBizcases.com Software Updates ---------------------------------------- Security-related software updates have been released for: cyrus-sasl -- fixes format string vulnerability php -- fixes file upload vulnerability postfix -- fixes SASL support View the complete list at MandrakeSecure.net http://www.mandrakesecure.net/ Headlines from MandrakeForum ---------------------------------------- Lots of stories this week about testing beta3, including: * What and how to test * Testing The Mandrake Configuration Tools * Testing Window Managers * Network configuration * And lots more http://mandrakeforum.com/search.php?query=8.2+beta3 Where's That Key? Tom kicks off a discussion of various "touch-typing" programs that are available for Linux. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?lang=en&sid=1952 New Mainboard? No Problem! If you've ever worried about how Linux handles hardware changes, Mandrake user "JeroenM" shares his experience of replacing his computer's motherboard. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?lang=en&sid=1930 MandrakeClub Newsletter #3 Read the latest Club activities. http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?lang=en&sid=1946 Read these and other stories at MandrakeForum http://www.MandrakeForum.com/ ----------------------------------------