Linux Archive

It seems that the ELXLinux project is preparing for its 1.0 release, named ELX Power Desktop 1.0. It is said that the company have partnered with another company in Northern America and some in Europe to distribute its ELXLinux 1.0. Their website features a brand-new improved design.

"Lynuxworks, which makes Linux software for embedded devices, has landed a deal with prominent chip designer ARM to bundle the two companies' products into a single embedded Linux development platform. The deal is a boost for Lynuxworks, which will gain visibility as a partner of one of the biggest names in embedded processors." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews.UK.

On May 14, 2001, H. Peter Anvin announced to the linux-kernel mailing list: 'Linus Torvalds has requested a moratorium on new device number assignments. His hope is that a new and better method for device space handling will emerge as a result.' Greg Kroah-Hartman describes how the PCI Hot Plug core implements a RAM-based filesystem and how you can do the same for your drivers. The article is hosted at LinuxJournal.

"The answer to the title of this article is a single sentence, but you'll have to read the whole article to understand it. The Linux community has an amazing blind spot, and I'd like to rant about it a bit. I keep bumping into programmers who think some program or other is needed to change the world. They're wrong. "Linux just needs this one program and then we'll be ready!" they cry. I generally want to slap these people until they snap out of it (which is kind of hard to do through an internet connection). They are making a fundamentally wrong assumption. It's not about programs. It's about data." Read the rest of the editorial at LinuxAndMain.

"The Canopy Group and Egan-Managed Capital, two of Lineo's many investors, have been running a "notice of public sale" in a local Utah paper since April 8 apparently. It recalls the sheriff hammering a foreclosure sign on an Oklahoma farm with the butt-end of his gun during the dust storms of the Great Depression. As previously reported, Lineo has run out of money to the point of bouncing paychecks and having at least one of its offices padlocked by the landlord for want of the rent. Lineo has a pretty lustrous retinue of backers and burned through at least $65 million, maybe $20 million or $30 million more than that. It's reportedly never been profitable." Read the rest of the report at LinuxGram.

MandrakeSoft, today announced the availability of the boxed versions of Mandrake Linux 8.2 through a number of retail outlets worldwide and also online. Mandrake Linux 8.2 for PowerPack and ProSuite are the first Linux distributions to include StarOffice 6.0, the new office suite from Sun Microsystems which is compatible with Microsoft Office documents. Customers are provided with three packaged versions of Mandrake Linux 8.2 to choose from: ProSuite ($149.99), PowerPack ($69.99) and Standard ($39.99). OEM versions, targeted at hardware manufacturers, are due out later this month. In the meantime, SuSE 8.0 also hits the retail market today. SuSE's prices start at $39.95 for the SuSE Linux 8.0 IA32 Personal and go up to $79.95 for the SuSE Linux 8.0 IA32 Professional.

A dedicated group of norwegian students have now almost finished what is called "School-Linux" (or "skolelinux" in norwegian). After having put down about 11.500 hours of work, they are planning Norway's largest betatesting - starting on May 3rd. They have translated KDE, and over 350 programs to Norwegian (Bokmal and Nynorsk idiomatisms). They also promise that you will be able to install "school-linux" with three mouse clicks. The finished product is scheduled for late August.

CRUX is a lightweight, i686-optimized Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users. In the new version (195 MB ISO), there are about 45 package updates including glibc 2.2.5, XFree86 4.2, and kernel 2.4.18. Mozilla 0.9.9 is now the default browser. Pkgutils 4.1 provides means to protect selected configuration files from being overwritten when upgrading packages.

"In the January/February 2002 issue of Embedded Linux Journal, we examined the fundamental issues of real time with Linux. In this article we examine efforts to bring real-time capabilities to applications by making improvements to the Linux kernel. To date, the majority of this work has been to make the kernel more responsive--to reduce latency by reducing the preemption latency, which can be quite long in Linux." Kevin Dankwardt continues his real-time series by examining efforts to bring real-time capabilities to applications by improving the Linux kernel. Part I can be found here.

Every January, "Linux Magazine" surveys the state of the Linux kernel, bringing their readers up to date on what new kernel features and improvements to expect in the year ahead. "For 2002, the crystal ball is cloudier than usual because at press time, work on Linux 2.5 has not yet begun. Nevertheless, some definite and tentative plans had come to light" the editor writes. The magazine spoke with several key kernel developers to learn more about their plans and hopes for Linux 2.5. This article was first appeared in the printed version of the magazine in December, and it is now online, free for everyone to access it.

"First of all, I would like to thank TerraSoft for providing me with a free review copy of Yellow Dog Linux 2.2. Yellow Dog Linux is currently the only PowerPC distribution that does not exist for other platforms. Although YDL is based on RedHat, it's a unique distribution and it's understandable that each release of YDL is followed with great interest by the PowerPC Linux community. This review will take a close look at their latest and greatest." Read the review at iMacLinux.

OSNews reader Chris Odum writes: "I have set up something that I call "The Linux Experiment Page", which is an attempt to try and determine once and for all whether or not Linux is truly ready for the desktop." Our Take: My vote would go on both Gentoo and Lycoris. Both not exactly ready, but especially Lycoris, close enough, as revealed on our recent review.

Where did he come from, and what are his plans for 2.4? Marcelo Tosatti opens up to Robert McMillan about the joy, the fear, the challenges, and the rewards of being the Linux kernel maintainer. He also talks about his favorite hack. Stepping into Alan Cox's shoes is no mean feat, even for the most accomplished of hackers, but that is just what a little-known, 18-year-old Brazilian hacker named Marcelo Tosatti did this fall when Linus Torvalds handed over maintenance of the Linux 2.4 kernel tree to Tosatti instead of Cox. According to all parties involved, Cox wanted more time to pursue other projects, and after having maintained the 2.0 and 2.2 trees, it was time for someone else to do the job. Since taking over the job, Tosatti has managed three kernel releases, starting with 2.4.16; has answered, according to one account, close to 700 press queries; and has given the tersest Slashdot interview in history. IBM developerWorks caught up with Tosatti to ask him about his first four months on the job.

In the second part of the ZDNet interview, Linux kernel hacker Alan Cox explains why the world needs open source software on the desktop and why Linux was perfect for Iceland. Alan Cox is generally referred to in the open-source developer community as a "kernel hacker"--someone whose programming responsibilities cover the Linux kernel, or core, itself. His role of organizing and applying improvements is vital. At an interview with ZDNet U.K. in Swansea he spoke on the latest challenges for Linux at the high- and low-end, the arrival of revolutionary 64-bit hardware and why it's hard to argue with the economics of open-source software.