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	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">News Bytes</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/conry.html">Michael Conry</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

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<P>

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</p><center>
<table cellpadding="7"><tbody><tr><td>
<img src="../gx/bytes.gif" border="1" alt="News Bytes">
</td><td>
<h3>Contents:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="#leg">Legislation and More Legislation</a>
</li><li><a href="#links">Linux Links</a>
</li><li><a href="#conferences">Conferences and Events</a>
</li><li><a href="#general">News in General</a>
</li><li><a href="#distro">Distro News</a>
</li><li><a href="#commercial">Software and Product News</a>
</li></ul>
</td></tr></tbody></table>

<strong>Selected and formatted by  <a href="mailto:michael.conry@softhome.net">Michael Conry</a></strong>
</center>


<p> Submitters, send your News Bytes items in 
<font size="+2"><strong>PLAIN TEXT</strong></font>
format.  Other formats may be rejected without reading.  You have been
warned!  A one- or two-paragraph summary plus URL gets you a better
announcement than an entire press release. Submit items to
<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>


</p><hr> <p> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

</p><h3><img alt=" " src="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
December 2002 <i>Linux Journal</i>
</font>
</h3>

<img alt="[issue 102 cover image]" src="misc/bytes/lj-cover104.png" width="200" height="268" align="left" hspace="20">

The December issue of <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><i>Linux
Journal</i></a> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on System Administration.  Click 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/modules.php?op=modload&amp;name=NS-lj-issues/issue104&amp;file=index">here</a>
to view the table of contents, or 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/">here</a> 
to subscribe.

<p>
<font color="green">All articles older than three months are available for
public reading at 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php">http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php</a></font>.  
Recent articles are available on-line for subscribers only at 
<a href="http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/">http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/</a>.  

<!--
<P> <STRONG>Just for fun:</STRONG> a cover image that was axed from publication
is on the <A HREF="lg_backpage.html">Back Page</A>.
-->





<BR CLEAR="all">
<!-- =================================================================== -->

<a name="leg"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Legislation and More Legislation</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">DMCA
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Finding bizarre implications of the DMCA with which to ridicule it is as
easy as shooting fish in a barrel.  The Register recently reported that
four major retailers (WalMart, Target, Best Buy and Staples) had 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/28223.html">
invoked the DMCA</a> to prevent 
<a href="http://www.fatwallet.com">FatWallet.com</a> from disseminating
information about sales and price comparisons.  The argument runs that sale
prices are copyrightable information (and not just simple facts).
FatWallet has had to
<a href="http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?start=0&catid=18&threadid=126042">
comply</a> to avoid the risk of a very costly legal battle.
<P>
In other DMCA related matters, Security Focus reported that hardware
manufacturers producing games console mod chips
<a href="http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/119">
have found themselves under pressure</a>, applied through the device of the
DMCA, to cease such production.  The argument hinges on whether the
non-infringing uses legitimise the chips, and its a criterion which can
vary substantially from country to country.
<P>
Finally, there is a very interesting 
<a href="http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-656.html#lnk3">
DMCA article</a>
by Adam C. Engst at
<a href="http://www.tidbits.com/">TidBITS</a>.  It provides a good overview
of the issues arising from the law, and the stakes the "content industry"
is playing for in its long-term strategy. 
Related to this is
another article at TidBITS (by Cory
Doctorow) entitled 
<a href="http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-642.html#lnk2">
Can the Digital Hub Survive Hollywood?</a>. It does a fine job of
highlighting the tensions between the content/media industries versus the
interests of the technology industry at large (as opposed to the welfare
of sectoral interests within the tech industry who might do very well if
their technology is used for protecting "content").  Particular attention
is paid to the BPDG (Broadcast Protection Discussion Group).

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Mobilix
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
In a reversal of an lower court's decision, a
<a href="http://newsvac.newsforge.com/newsvac/02/11/23/1424224.shtml?tid=17">
German court has ruled</a>
that the name Mobilix is sufficiently close in sound and appearance to
Obelix to cause confusion.  Mobilix is a website dealing with the area of
Unix on mobile devices.  Obelix is a character from a French comic book.
The final implications of this decision are not clear. You can follow the
entire story
<a href="http://mobilix.org/mobilix_asterix.html">
on the Mobilix website</a>.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">DRM
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
Slashdot recently
<a href="http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/11/19/2054212&mode=nested&tid=156">
reported</a> on the
<a href="http://crypto.stanford.edu/DRM2002/prog.html">
ACM Digital Rights Management Workshop</a>.  Among those present was Ed
Felten whose 
<a href="http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000199.html">
brief commentary can be read here</a>.  It was reported that there was some
scepticism that DRM was truly a panacea for the copy-protection worries of
Hollywood info-hoarders.
In a not unrelated story, The Register 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28016.html">
reported on the future of Microsoft's Palladium</a> and the Trusted
Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA).  Even proponents of the system admit it
is not totally secure and potentially vulnerable to intelligent hardware
attacks.

<a name="links"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Linux Links</font></H3></center>
<P>
Some links from <a href="http://lwn.net/">Linux Weekly News</a>:
<ul>
<li>
    <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/14115/">
    Summary of a US Department of Defence report</a> on its level of use of
    free software.  The initial brief for the report was to evaluate the
    possibility of banning such software, but the final document is quite
    positive on the role and importance of free software to the
    department's operations.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://cin.earthweb.com/article/1,3555,10493_1497311,00.html">
    Linux in emergency-response switchboards</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/16345/">
    LinDVD, a Linux DVD player</a>.  Available only to OEMs for embedded
    systems, not to individuals.
</li>
</ul>
<P>

<P>
Some links from the O'Reilly websites:
<ul>
<li>
    <a href="http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/linux_threads.html">
    An article on the future of threads in Linux</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/python/2002/10/17/biopython.html">
    Python for Bioinformatics</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2002/11/14/FreeBSD_Basics.html">
    The SSH Cryptosystem</a>.
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/14/trisentry.html">
    TriSentry, a Unix Intrusion Detection System</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<P>
DesktopLinux.com have
<a href="http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7096363910.html">
an article</a> about
<a href="http://filmgimp.sourceforge.net/">
Film Gimp</a>.  Film Gimp is a motion picture frame-editing tool.  The
article has some technical details and reports on its use in the film
industry.
<P>
<em>Linux Journal</em> have
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6439">
an article</a>
explaining how to train mutt to catch spam using ESR's bogofilter.
<P>
News.com have 
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1001-966312.html?tag=fd_top">
reported</a>
on IBM's plans to build two new machines which would be the fastest
supercomputers to date.  The Blue Gene/L, the faster of the
two, will be Linux powered, and 10 times faster than the current
title-holder, NEC's Earth Simulator.
<P>
A 
<a href="http://debianlinux.net/multimedia.html">
survey of some open source multimedia projects</a> which might be of
interest.
<p>
Some links from
<a href="http://www.linuxtoday.com/">Linux Today</a>
<ul>
<li>
    Linux and Main article on
    <a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=278">
    The Linux kernel as a periodical publication</a>, and Linus as editor
    in chief.
</li>
<li>
    NewsForge
    <a href="http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/10/25/1728232.shtml?tid=2">
    talk to Jay Beale</a> of Bastille on improving Linux security
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.osdir.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=76&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">
    OSDir.com interview</a> with Bram Moolenaar (most famous for
    <a href="http://www.vim.org/">VIM</a>) on the subject of his new project, 
    <a href="http://www.a-a-p.org/">A-A-P</a>.  A-A-P aims to be a kind of
    "super make".
</li>
</ul>
<P>
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/">
The Inquirer</a> has run a series of articles describing the Linux install
process in a way designed to help beginners.  Parts
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6080">
1</a>,
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6102">
2</a>,
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6122">
3</a>,
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6161">
4</a>,
<a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6276">
5</a>.
<P>
IBM Developerworks have
<a href="http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-oslab/?t=gr,lnxw02=OSlab">
an article on open source scientific software</a>, being used increasingly
by those involved in scientific research.
<P>
<a href="http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=271">
A report</a> at Linux and Main on the path to the next major kernel
release.
<P>
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/46/">
From Debian Weekly News</a>, a link to 
<a href="http://www.distrowatch.com/interview-knoppix.php">
an interview</a> with Klaus Knopper of 
<a href="http://www.knoppix.org/">Knoppix</a>.  Particular comments on
hardware detection implementation.
<P>
Some links of interest from <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/">The
Register</a>:
<ul>
<li>
    IBM's S/390 Linux guru interviewed on the
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28183.html">
    Open Source patent question</a>
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27998.html">
    A guide for relatively experienced users</a> on securing your data
    under Linux.
</li>
<li>
    Brussels to spend &euro;250k on 
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27853.html">
    Linux migration study</a>
</li>
<li>
    <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/27878.html">
    Namibia rejects MS in favour of Linux</a>
</li>
</ul>
<P>
Some links from 
<a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> which may interest you:
<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/05/0227236.shtml?tid=95">
        Community wireless network</a>
        in Bristol, England.
    </li>
    <li>
        Humorix reports that Red Hat is hoping to 
        <a href="http://i-want-a-website.com/about-linux/articles/sep02/nullify.shtml">
        make a universal shell and a mutant vi/emacs hybrid editor</a>
        to complement their synergised KDE and Gnome (tongue firmly in cheek).
    <li>
        ESR presents a recently leaked Halloween document from Microsoft
        <a href="http://opensource.org/halloween/halloween7.php">
        describing their strategy to combat Linux</a>.  This is the latest in a
        <a href="http://opensource.org/halloween/">
        tradition of such leaks</a>.
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/11/13/021113hnstepup.xml?s=IDGNS">
        Tablet PCs with Lindows, notebooks for $800</a>.
    </li>
    <li>
        LinuxBIOS,
        <a href="http://www.clustermatic.org/pipermail/linuxbios/2002-November/001186.html">
        is a non-proprietary system BIOS</a>
        that can boot Linux, Windows 2000 and OpenBSD.  It works only with
        certain motherboards.
    </li>
    <LI>
        <A HREF="http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/27/0541251.shtml?tid=154">
Mozilla 1.2</A> is out
    </LI>
    <LI> 
        Linus <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,723328,00.as">tells</A>
eWeek about the upcoming Linux 2.6
    </LI>
</ul>


<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<A NAME="conferences"></A>
<center><H3><font color="green">Upcoming conferences and events</font></H3></center>

<P> Listings courtesy <EM>Linux Journal</EM>.  See <EM>LJ</EM>'s
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/events.php">Events</A> page for the
latest goings-on.

<!-- *** BEGIN events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->

<table cellpadding=5 border=0 width=100%>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux-Bangalore/2002
        </b><BR>
        <td valign=top>December 3-5, 2002<BR>Bangalore, Inda<BR>
        <a href="http://linux-bangalore.org/2002/" target="_blank">
        http://linux-bangalore.org/2002/</A><BR>


<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX 5th Symposium on Operating Systems Design
        and Implementation (OSDI)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>December 9-11, 2002<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Consumer Electronics Show</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>January 9-12, 2003<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
        <a href="http://www.cesweb.org/" target="_blank">
        http://www.cesweb.org/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>January 21-24, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>O'Reilly Bioinformatics Technology Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>February 3-6, 2003<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
        http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Game Developers Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 4-8, 2003<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.gdconf.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.gdconf.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SXSW</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 7-11, 2003<BR>Austin, TX<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sxsw.com/interactive" target="_blank">
        http://www.sxsw.com/interactive</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Canada</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 11-13, 2003<BR>Vancouver, BC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/vancouver/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/vancouver/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>CeBIT</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 12-19, 2003<BR>Hannover, Germany<BR>
        <a href="http://www.cebit.de/" target="_blank">
        http://www.cebit.de/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>4th USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 26-28, 2003<BR>Seattle, WA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>4th USENIX Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>March 26-28, 2003<BR>Seattle, WA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>PyCon</b> (the first "low budget" Python conference)<BR>
	<BLOCKQUOTE>
	<EM>Note:</EM> This is the first <STRONG>low budget</STRONG> Python
conference, so if you've been avoiding Python conferences due to the cost, this
one is for you!  Another conference, the main International Python Conference,
will be held in July as part of O'Reilly's OSCON (Open Source Convention).
        </BLOCKQUOTE>
        <td valign=top>March 26-28, 2003<BR>Washington, DC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.python.org/pycon/" target="_blank">
        http://www.python.org/pycon/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>AIIM</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 7-9, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.advanstar.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.advanstar.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>SD West</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 8-10, 2003<BR>Santa Clara, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sdexpo.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.sdexpo.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Chicago</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 15-17, 2003<BR>Chicago, IL<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/chicago/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/chicago/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Real World Linux Conference and Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 29-30, 2003<BR>Toronto, Ontario<BR>
        <a href="http://www.realworldlinux.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.realworldlinux.com</A><BR>


<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX First International Conference on Mobile Systems, 
	Applications, and Services (MobiSys)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 5-8, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX Annual Technical Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 9-14, 2003<BR>San Antonio, TX<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>CeBIT America</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 18-20, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href=http://www.cebit-america.com/"" target="_blank">
        http://www.cebit-america.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>O'Reilly Open Source Convention</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>July 7-11, 2003<BR>Location: TBD<BR>
        <a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
        http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>12th USENIX Security Symposium</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 4-8, 2003<BR>Washington, DC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 5-7, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

</table>
<!-- *** END events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->


<a name="general"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">News in General</font></H3></center>
<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">MySQL, NuSphere and the GPL
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
MySQL AB has 
<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/f_headline.cgi?bw.110702/223110437">
settled its dispute</a>
with NuSphere corporation.  MySQL AB
had claimed that NuSphere violated the GPL and misused the MySQL trademark.
(NuSphere includes MySQL with NuSphere's enhancements in its product.)
NuSphere has assigned to MySQL AB the copyrights for its contributions to
MySQL.  Not so coincidentally, MySQL AB has just
<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/15342/">
donated $25,000 to the Free Software Foundation's GPL Compliance Lab</a>,
which helps companies offering GPL'd software follow up on GPL violations.
According to the FSF's Executive Directory Bradley Kuhn, almost all GPL
violations are mistakes rather than wilful infringement.

<a name="distro"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Distro News</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Debian
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Debian Weekly News
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/43/">
highlighted</a> a LinuxOrbit
<a href="http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=541">
HOWTO on installing and configuring ALSA</a>.  The piece describes the
correct "Debian way" to perform the task.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Knoppix
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/2002/45/">
Debian Weekly News Reported</a> that people from the
<a href="http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med/">
Debian-Med subproject</a> have 
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-med-0211/msg00012.html">
started</a>
a Knoppix-Med project.  The aim is
to include particular pieces of medical software into the Debian Based
<a href="http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html">
Knoppix distribution</a>.
Details of the procedure
<a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/*checkout*/gnumed/gnumed/gnumed/test-area/knoppix/readme.html">
are available online</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SuSE
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/">
SuSE Linux</a>
has announced a multi-stage product campaign for the corporate desktop
deployment of SuSE Linux. Starting January 2003, small and medium-scale
enterprises will be able to migrate to Linux on desktops using the "SuSE
Linux Office Desktop". "SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop", a Linux version
optimised for desktop deployment in large-scale enterprises, is expected to
be released in the first quarter of 2003.
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P>
SuSE Linux has also announced that the
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en/business/products/sles/index.html">
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)</a>
has proved itself as a powerful Linux platform for IBM`s DB2 Version 8
database software with SLES latest certification for DB2.
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is the first distribution to be 
validated on all hardware platforms supported by DB2 for Linux 
(including IBM zSeries mainframes) and validated to run DB2 
Enterprise Server Edition.
More information on IBM's DB2 for Linux Validation Program
<a href="http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2/linux/validate/">
is available online</a>.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">UnitedLinux
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.unitedlinux.com">
The UnitedLinux group</a>
have announced the release of Version 1.0 of its UnitedLinux product, a
standards-based Linux operating system targeted at the business user.
UnitedLinux is the result of an industry initiative to streamline Linux
development and certification around a global, uniform distribution of
Linux.  Founding companies of UnitedLinux are Linux industry leaders
Conectiva S.A., The SCO Group, SuSE Linux AG, and Turbolinux, Inc.

<a name="commercial"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Software and Product News</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">New kernels
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
A new stable kernel 2.4.20 has been released.  A new ancient kernel 2.2.23
has also been released if you're still living in the medieval ages.
Get your update at a
<A HREF="http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/">kernel mirror</A> near you.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Mathematica Ported to NEC's Itanium Linux Platform
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.wolfram.com">
Wolfram Research</a>
and
<a href="http://www.nec.com">
NEC</a>
have collaborated to port
<a href="http://www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica">
Mathematica</a>
to NEC's Itanium Linux platform for the upcoming release of Mathematica 4.2.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Appligent Alliance Program
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.appligent.com">
Appligent</a> has unveiled a
new Alliance Program designed to help integrators and consultants
develop more powerful electronic document management applications for
their clients.  Appligent's main product is a range of PDF-related software
which supports, among other operating systems, Red Hat Linux.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Updated Opera 6.1 for Linux on Intel and PowerPC
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.opera.com">
Opera Software</a>
have released Opera 6.1 for
Linux for Intel and PowerPC users. The PowerPC version is the first released on
this platform since the tentative Opera 5 for Linux Beta in May 2001.
In addition to several bugfixes, this release features better support
for fonts in the new version, with
font anti-aliasing enabled by default and improved support for
Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters.
<a href="http://www.opera.com/docs/changelogs/">
The changelog</a> documents all the new developments in this release.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Pygame
</FONT>
</H3> 
<a href="http://www.pygame.org/">
<img align="right" src="http://www.pygame.org/docs/pygame_tiny.gif">
</a>
<a href="http://www.pygame.org/">
Pygame</a>
is a cross-platfrom library designed to make it easy to write
multimedia software, such as games, in Python. Pygame requires the Python
language and SDL multimedia library.
A major advantage is portability, games based on Pygame can run on Windows,
NT4, MacOS, OSX, BeOS, FreeBSD and IRIX, as well as Linux.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Cylant Secure
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.cylant.com">
Cylant</a>
has ported the management console for its 
Linux Intrusion Prevention system to Windows.  The Windows console allows administrators 
to managed CylantSecure server agents from their Windows workstations.


<!-- =================================================================== -->
<!-- =================================================================== -->


<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->

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<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2002, Michael Conry.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 85 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, December 2002
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
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