 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 104, 13 June 2005 |
Welcome to this year's 24th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Today's release of Fedora Core 4 marks the end of the current "release season", with only some of the smaller project likely to make any new releases between now and October. What effect will the controversial Apple's switch to Intel have on Linux? Hardly any, we believe. The featured distribution of the week section had to go to Debian GNU/Linux, following its much awaited new stable release early last week. And if you are still struggling to rid your inbox of all the unwanted drug and mortgage offers, Robert Storey provides further tips in the second part of his article on SpamAssassin. Happy reading!
Content:
The end of the "release season"
These are sad times at DistroWatch.com. With the official release of Fedora Core 4 later today, the current "release season" will be over as all major distributions will have presented us with their latest and greatest. From the release of Mandriva 2005LE in the middle of April up until today, we have had the pleasure to witness a constant stream of great new distribution releases from all major Linux vendors and communities, including Novell/SUSE, Gentoo, Ubuntu, and even Debian. Now it's time for many of these projects to take a well-deserved break. Let's face it - the majority of distribution developers reside in the northern hemisphere where the coming months are often associated with holidays and time spending on beaches, rather than serious coding. If you are one of them, enjoy your summer break, because when you come back, there will undoubtedly be an increase of new and ever-demanding Linux users clamouring to download and install your very latest work!
Of course, this does not mean that no new distributions will be released during the upcoming few months. In fact, we are still waiting for SUSE 9.3 to be uploaded to public FTP/HTTP servers, while Mandriva is scheduled to start a new development cycle leading towards Mandriva Linux 2006 as early as this week. KNOPPIX fans should not have to wait too long before the release of KNOPPIX 4.0, a newly expanded DVD that will be packed with the best open source software available today. Also, many smaller projects are only now starting to prepare for their own releases - that's because most of them are based on either Debian GNU/Linux or Fedora Core, the latest stable versions of which are finally released. However, there won't be any truly major distribution releases until around early October.
While speaking of Fedora Core 4, the ISO images are now ready and uploaded to many Fedora mirrors. Most of them are still locked, pending the official announcement, but some have jumped the gun and opened up for download. A BitTorrent tracker has also been set up. These are more than likely final releases of Fedora Core 4, but as always, until the product is officially announced by Red Hat, you are downloading and installing at your own risk. And here is something to keep you busy during the long download: the Fedora Core 4 release notes and installation guide.
Fedora Core 4 will be officially released on Monday
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To Mac OS or not to Mac OS
Ever since last Monday, when Apple announced its controversial processor switch from PowerPC to Intel, many technology sites have been witnessing long discussions about the reasons and merits of the unexpected move. Various predictions, ranging from likely appearances of hacked Mac OS editions for the PC, to even more exaggerated prophecies of Linux's death, have also been floating around. But what does this move mean for the rest of us? Will your next computer be an Apple box powered by an Intel processor and a shiny new Mac OS?
If you are a Windows user who finds Linux too hard and open source software not quite as featurefull as their Windows counterparts, then switching to Mac OS makes a lot of sense. An excellent, user-friendly and highly polished operating system that does not suffer from crashes, viruses and spyware is surely a dream come true. If you can dual-boot your Apple computer into either Mac OS or Windows, so much for the better.
Now what about the Linux users among us? Are we all going to buy Apple computers and abandon Linux, as some so-called experts so boldly predicted? Not likely. No matter how polished and user friendly Mac OS is, it still remains a closely-guarded proprietary piece of software, restricted by its license, its source code unavailable for inspection. It also costs money. Will we give up our newly found freedom from restrictive licenses, ridiculous activation codes, buggy shareware, and other ills plaguing the world of proprietary software just because Mac OS now runs on an Intel processor?
Besides the well-deserved reputation for technological advancements and a beautiful operating system, there is a well-known dark side to Apple computing, often criticised by even the most die-hard fans of the Cupertino-based company. It has to do with a deliberate effort on the part of Apple to drain users of as much cash as possible, every step on the way. Historically, Apple has achieved this by building their computers from non-standard and often non-replaceable parts. Even today, they purposely underpower their computers (did you know that the iMac G5 comes with only 256MB or RAM, below the minimum requirement of some of the included software!), or make it difficult to add or replace hardware (to add more memory to your Mac mini, you will need two putty knives to open the box - using screws would, presumably, make it too obvious!). These are just some recent examples, but there are many more, some much worse. Will these pathetic Apple tricks be the thing of the past with its switch to Intel? Again, not likely.
The above wasn't meant to discourage readers from getting an Apple computer; after all, most of you reading this web site will have no trouble finding two putty knives in your homes, and are likely well-aware that the current memory prices are about half of what Apple would want us to believe. But if a company with a comparatively tiny following can afford to come up with such blatant insults to its users' intelligence, can you imagine what it would be like if Apple had a 90% market share? A scary thought that has probably put off a fair amount of potential Apple users.
No, Linux will not die. On the contrary, it will continue to flourish - due to its purity, openness and freedom, qualities that Apple does not -- and probably never will -- understand.
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| Featured distribution of the week: Debian GNU/Linux |
Debian GNU/Linux
The long awaited Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 has finally been released. One of the oldest Linux distributions on the market, the Debian project was started in August 1993 by Ian Murdock, a college student. The project's name represents a combination of "deb" (from Debra, Ian Murdock's wife) and "ian" (Murdock's first name) and should be pronounced as "deb ee n". Its first public release -- a development version 0.91 -- was made available in January 1994; this was followed by several other development releases shortly afterwards. In March 1996, even before Debian had the chance to reach a 1.0 status, the badly overworked Ian Murdock left the project to devote more time to his family and to complete his studies. The responsibility to steer Debian towards its first stable release was then assumed by none other than Bruce Perens.
However, because of an embarrassing mistake, Debian GNU/Linux 1.0 was never released: "Unfortunately, the data placed on the InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource 5-CD Set November 1995 as 'Debian 1.0' is _not_ the Debian 1.0 release, but an early development version which will probably not boot or run correctly, and does not represent the quality of a released Debian system. To prevent confusion between the premature CD version and the actual Debian release, the Debian Project has renamed its next release to 'Debian 1.1'. The premature Debian 1.0 on CD is deprecated and should not be used." Thus Debian's first stable product was version 1.1, code name "buzz", and released on 17 June 1996. Here is the release announcement. It came with the Linux kernel 2.0 and XFree86 3.1.2, as well as "the most sophisticated package system in the industry." Debian 1.2 "rex" followed some six months later.
Debian GNU/Linux is developed by hundreds of volunteers from all over the world. At any time during the development process there are three branches (or four, if we include the highly bleeding-edge experimental branch) in the main directory tree: "stable", "testing" and "unstable", the last one of which is also known as "sid". When a new version of a package is built into a Debian package archive, it is first placed in the unstable branch for early testing. If it passes, the package moves on to the testing branch, which undergoes rigorous testing lasting many months. This branch is only declared stable after a very thorough testing. As a result of this, Debian is possibly the most stable and reliable, albeit not the most up-to-date Linux distribution on the market. While the stable branch is perfect for use on mission critical servers, many users prefer to run the more up-to-date testing or unstable branches on their personal computers.
All Debian releases are given "code names". They represent characters in the movie Toy Story; the current stable release is called "sarge", while the testing branch is named after "etch". The unstable branch is allways called "sid" - named after the main human character in the cartoon movie, an "unstable" boy who had a tendency to break his toys.
The long-awaited Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 "sarge" was finally released last week.
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| Released Last Week |
KANOTIX 2005-03
The KANOTIX project has released KANOTIX 2005-03 for i586 and x86_64 architectures. What's new: "Kernel 2.6.11.11 with many patches; better compression due to SquashFS; ACPI and DMA enabled by default; i586 optimisation; Unionfs support; NVIDIA and RADEON scripts work in live mode; AVM Fritz!Card DSL support (PCI and USB); new KDE 3.4.1; new OpenOffice.org 1.9.104; GRUB boot loader for CD start - ideal for rescue in command line mode; Memtest86+ Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool in the extra menu of the boot loader; ALSA 1.0.8 support...." Find more details in the release announcement.
Debian GNU/Linux 3.1
The long wait is over: "The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 3.1 codenamed 'sarge' after nearly three years of constant development. With the development of the new debian-installer, this release features a new, modular and sophisticated installation routine with integrated hardware detection and unattended installation capabilities. The installation is available in about thirty languages and includes configuration of the X server for many graphic cards. This release includes a number of up-to-date large software packages, such as the K Desktop Environment 3.3 (KDE), the GNOME desktop environment 2.8...." Find out more in the release announcement and release notes.
GoboLinux 012
GoboLinux 012 has been released: "We are pleased to introduce GoboLinux 012, the new major release of GoboLinux, the alternative Linux distribution.This release features the usual series of application upgrades, and marks the transition from devfs and Kudzu to udev and Hotplug, which should bring hardware detection up-to-date. It also features a number of improvements in the management tools, particularly the integration of the graphical management console." Read the release announcement and release notes for more details.
Damn Small Linux 1.2
A new version of Damn Small Linux has been released. From the changelog: "New .dslrc to save local mirror and protocol; new GUI mirror selector for .dslrc, enhanced mydsl boot time option to accept a directory; enhanced backup/restore now defaults to /home/dsl and with xfiletool.lst to specify files and directories to exclude from backup; enhanced ndiswrapper, prism2, iwconfig GUIs for public access points; enhanced mydsl to prevent non-DSL user corruption; enhanced frugal and pendrive scripts to allow updates; updated monkey webserver to 0.9.1 and busybox to 1.0; new boot logo screen and default theme."
Damn Small Linux 1.2 comes with many enhancements, including a new default desktop theme
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aLinux 12.4
Following a trademark dispute with Microsoft, the developers of aLinux (formerly Peanut Linux) have released a new version of their distribution - without the controversial desktop background image: "aLinux 12.4 - a multimedia explosion release. We now have the ultimate media experience at our finger tips; aLinux now plays everything inside your fully tabbed web browser making it a simple and unique concept with many thanks to the KDE team, MPlayer, XMMS and others contributing there efforts to the Linux desktop." Here is the full release announcement
Rocks Cluster Distribution 4.0.0
A new version of Rocks Cluster Distribution has been released: "Rocks 4.0.0 (Whitney) is now released. This release supports the following CPUs: Athlon, Itanium, Nocona (EM64T), Opteron, and Pentium. Everything is CD-based, unless otherwise specified (Jumbo Rolls are DVD). If you are building a compute cluster, grid endpoint, or a visualization cluster please choose from our following selection...." Read the release announcement for detailed product information and download links.
Xandros Business Desktop 3.0
Xandros Corporation has released Xandros Business Desktop 3.0, an "instant alternative for Windows business desktops": "Xandros, the leading developer of easy-to-use Linux alternatives to Windows, today announced that it is shipping version 3 of the Xandros Business Desktop operating system. The new business desktop provides seamless compatibility with the latest Windows servers, including domain authentication support, logon scripts, and group policy profiles. Xandros Business Desktop is available now for purchase in retail stores and from the Xandros web site for a list price of USD $129.95." More details about the product can be found in the press release and on the company's product pages.
Puppy Linux 1.0.3
Puppy Linux has been updated to version 1.0.3: "Puppy version 1.0.3 released. We wanted a calendar and appointment program that is compact, easy to use, powerful and not tied to just one browser suite. We found ical. Puppy now has the full Bash, but Busybox Ash is still retained. Also, the full cp, mkdir and mv replace the Busybox versions. There is a great little file find application called Gtkfind. This complements the existing Gtkcat which is more of a disk/CD cataloguer. Puppy live-CD now has WvDial version 1.42." Read the complete release notes on the project's news page.
CentOS 3.5
CentOS 3.5 for the i386 architecture has been released: "CentOS 3.5 for i386 has now been released and is available on all mirrors and via BitTorrent. A late omission in the ISOs meant respinning and that caused some delay. Please download and test, or set your yum.conf to point to 3.5 rather than $releasever to test updating and add any problems to bugs.centos.org. 3.4 will be removed from the mirrors and 3.5 will become the default in 48 hours if no problems are reported." Here is the full release announcement.
Impi Linux 2005 UP2
A updated version of Impi Linux, a independently developed South African Linux distribution, was announced yesterday: "Release: Impi Linux 2005 UP2. There have been many changes since UP1, the greatest being the addition of many new packages, including midnight commander and almost everything else anyone has asked for. Internet connectivity and netcardconfig tools have been added, improved with many new functionalities and options. The distribution has also become slicker with new African graphic packs and boot up screens. We have improved and repaired all bugs that everyone has submitted to us and have also added additional printer drivers, improved package and software installation and many other items." Read the release announcement for more details.
Minslack 1.1
Minislack 1.1 has been released: "The Minislack team is pleased to announce availability of Minislack 1.1. This version introduces the fast and reliable Reiser4 filesystem, NPTL support, and 'netpkg' - a user friendly package management and update tool. Main updates are kernel 2.6.11.10, XFCE 4.2.2, OpenOffice.org 2.0b (available via netpkg), Firefox 1.0.4, Gaim 1.3.0. A lot of minor updates are also provided, please take a look at the changelog for details. The XFce desktop has been redesigned for a modern and sober look & feel with SVG icons. This release has been examined during 2 weeks by our team of testers, thanks to the growing Minislack community for their help supporting the project." The release announcement.
SimplyMEPIS 3.3.1-1, MEPISLite
The developers of MEPIS Linux have announced several new product releases. SimplyMEPIS 3.3.1-1 is a maintenance release; it adds the Traveller Disc feature and autoconfiguration support for new Intel and nForce4 motherboards. The new MEPISLite is designed specifically for home users with modest hardware and for those who want to use a light-weight edition of MEPIS. Finally, there is the initial release of MEPIS Extra CDs, a set of three ISO images containing about 1,500 of popular applications, including documentation, language support, games, software development, as well as extra packages for KDE, GNOME, and servers.
CentOS 4.1
A set of new CentOS ISO images for the i386 and ia64 architectures has been released: "CentOS 4.1 i386 is now available on the mirrors. CentOS 4.1 is just a re-spun ISO containing all updates through June, 10th 2005, (include all those released in EL4 Update 1). If you already have CentOS 4.0, downloading the new ISOs is not required to update to CentOS 4.1. You can upgrade CentOS 4.0 to 4.1 manually now by replacing $releasever with 4.1 on all the repos and running 'yum upgrade'. If you don't want to manually edit anything now, in about 1 week CentOS-4.1 i386 will automatically be made the default version and you will be upgraded when you run yum any time after that." Here are the full release announcements for the i386 and ia64 architectures.
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Development and unannounced releases
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
Gentoo Linux 2005.1
Although a new release of Gentoo Linux is not expected until August, the Gentoo team has already started a first pre-release build: "The release engineering team is already working on the first pre-release for the upcoming release. A pre-release consists of everything that a real release would consist of: one set of stages, a minimal installation-CD and a package CD. For x86, I will offer these things compiled for '-mcpu=i386'. The most important thing that needs testing is probably the installation CD." More information about Gentoo 2005.1 can be found on this page.
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Web Site News |
New packages
The nomination process for new packages to be included in the distribution tables is now over. We have received nominations for over 100 packages so not everybody will be pleased, but all packages that received at least three independent votes were added to the tables. The new packages are: amarok, curl, cvs, dosbox, enlightenment, inkscape, krusader, ndiswrapper, sqlite, subversion, udev, vlc. There was a flurry of late requests to include firebird, but they arrived after the tables had been updated. Some of the requested packages, such as kopete or kontact were not included, since they are part of larger KDE packages (kopete is part of kdenetwork, while kotact is part of kdepim) and they would be difficult to track in those distributions that do not split KDE packages into smaller parts. The distribution tables now track a total of 187 packages.
Many thanks to everybody who participated in the nomination process.
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New distribution additions
- Pentoo LiveCD. Pentoo LiveCD is a Gentoo-based Linux live CD with a selection of applications and tools designed to perform penetration testing.
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New on the waiting list
- Endian Firewall. Endian Firewall is a turn-key linux security distribution based on IPCop that turns every system into a full-featured security appliance. The software has been designed with usability in mind and is very easy to install, use and manage. The features include a statefull packet inspection firewall, application-level proxies for various protocols (HTTP, POP3, SMTP) with antivirus support, virus and spam filtering for email traffic (POP and SMTP), content filtering of Web traffic and a hassle-free VPN solution (based on OpenVPN).
- Pingo. Pingo is a Slovenian Linux distribution based on Fedora Core.
- Snøfrix. Snøfrix is a demonstration CD for everyone who wants to try Free Software on Linux, with an emphasis on education, entertainment, and multimedia. Ideally, it should contain all the programs needed for daily computer use, in an appealing and easy-to-use format. A characteristic of Snøfrix is the large selection of games, including Freeciv, Frozen Bubble, and Tux Racer. Snøfrix includes standard office software, with Kontact/KMail for mail and OpenOffice.org for word processing, and standard Internet software, with Firefox for web browsing and Gaim for instant messaging.
- SNAPPIX. SNAPPIX is a KNOPPIX-based Linux live CD featuring a completely open-source Java software development toolkit - SNAP Platform. This live CD provides a simple way to learn more about open-source Java in a safe environment.
- SPIET. SPIET is an Italian Linux live CD based on Slackware Linux and SLAX. It is designed specifically for students in the electronics and telecommunications fields.
- Tugux GNU/Linux. Tugux GNU/Linux is a new Portuguese desktop Linux distribution based on Linux From Scratch.
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Discontinued and revived distributions
- LBA-Linux. A reader from Finland emailed us to say that LBA-Linux (previously known as "SOT Linux" and before as "Best Linux") has been discontinued and the company behind the project is now in liquidation. That's apparently what this page says in Finnish. Best Linux was a relatively well-known distribution in its time; unfortunately, their recent releases suffered from lack of innovation and quality control. The company tried to make money by offering Linux services, but it seems that their plan did not work out as well as they expected. LBA-Linux now joins the ranks of the growing number of discontinued distributions.
- OpenLab GNU/Linux has also been flagged as "discontinued". The project page of the South African Linux distribution has been inaccessible for several months and there are no signs of any ongoing activity.
- Slackintosh. The already discontinued Slackintosh project (originally hosted at http://slackintosh.exploits.org) has been revived by a group of developers at http://workaround.ch/. Their latest stable release is version 10.1 (based on Slackware 10.1). Although this port of Slackware Linux to the PowerPC architecture is not as complete as its x86 counterpart, the project seems to be under active development.
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DistroWatch database summary
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| SpamAssassin Redux (by Robert Storey) |
SpamAssassin Redux
Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation.
-- Fortune
In last week's DWW, I wrote an article introducing SpamAssassin. Among the various tidbits of knowledge that I confidently dispensed, I implied that SpamAssassin doesn't work with SMTP and that one would need to run a mail server such as Postfix or Exim. However, two alert readers informed me that newer versions of KMail and Evolution now could set up SpamAssassin and even permit its use with SMTP. Since I was only a recent convert to KMail (having been a devout Sylpheed user for several years), I missed this, so my bad. Never one to leave well-enough alone, I've spent the last week playing around some more with SpamAssassin and other anti-spam toys, and I've learned a few things which I'd like to share.
KMail
KMail's Anti-Spam Wizard resides under the Tools menu. However, before you run this wizard, you need to install SpamAssassin - the wizard will not install it for you. Also be aware that the wizard can install other anti-spam software - in addition to SpamAssassin the current collection includes Bogofilter, Annoyance-Filter, GMX Spam Filter, and SpamBayes. While you might be tempted to let the wizard install all of them, I'd advise against this. SpamAssassin is already a resource hog, so installing a whole herd will slow your machine to a crawl until the elaborate filtering process has completed.
Indeed, KMail's anti-spam wizard brazenly advises you to reconsider the whole exercise:
KMail Anti-Spam Wizard - Proceed At Your Peril
Which brings us back to last week's project - it might really be a better idea to use Procmail to call SpamAssassin rather than KMail. Both techniques will eat up CPU cycles, but calling SpamAssassin via Procmail will leave KMail in its normal, unmolested state. Otherwise, be prepared for very sluggish performance in KMail until SpamAssassin completes its filtering tasks - just how long that takes depends on how much mail you receive.
If you decide to ignore the above warning and plunge on forward, KMail presents you with some options. If you click "Classify messages manually as spam", the wizard will create toolbar buttons for marking messages as spam or as "ham" (not spam). Manually classifying messages as spam will also move those messages to the folder you specify (but only if you choose the "Move detected spam messages to the selected folder" option). KMail will detect spam messages if you click the "Classify messages using the anti-spam tools" option.
KMail Anti-Spam Options
Now that you've prepared KMail for battle, next time you grab email, a hidden .spamassassin folder will be created in your home directory. It will contain file user_prefs - you can (and probably should) tweak it as was mentioned in last week's article (ditto for the bayes_toks and bayes_seen database files). You will also find the file auto-whitelist (which I neglected to mention last time) - SpamAssassin automatically generates this and there is no need to tamper with it (nor can you, since it's binary).
Evolution
One of last week's correspondents also mentioned Evolution. The last time I used Evolution was at version 1.0, and quite frankly I hated it. I found the interface to be awkward, and it was slow. However, inspired by the need to write an intelligent news article, I decided that it was time to give the latest version (2.2.2) a try. Much to my surprise, I was very impressed. Evolution has come a long way (is that why they call it "Evolution"?).
The one complaint I have is that Evolution proved to be difficult to set up for receiving mail with SMTP. In the end, I decided it was less hassle to just dump SMTP and configure "local mail". Of course, this meant that I still needed Postfix and Fetchmail, but I did not need Procmail to call SpamAssassin. Rather, Evolution detected SpamAssassin all by itself, set up the hidden .spamassassin folder, and sent spam to a mail directory called "Junk". Interestingly, the auto-whitelist file it created was in ASCII format (KMail puts it in binary format - go figure).
Polluting SpamAssassin
The last two weeks that I've spent playing with SpamAssassin have been very educational. For one thing, I finally understand why I receive several "stupid spams" a day that aren't trying to sell me anything. Consider this one, which arrived just this morning:
"Hello,
You are assuming that Cartagena is a city of the blind, that at her starboard side. Round to this came the boat with Don Diego and A lady should know her own property, said he. Just within the doorway of the alley leading to the cabin, he ran - this straight up and down slip of a girl with her rather..."
It was much longer than that, but I'll spare you the rest. A quick Google search revealed this to be chapter 27 of the 1922 novel Captain Blood. Because it's so old, it's in the public domain and you can legally download copies from the Internet (from here for example). The question is, why would some Viagra salesman want to send me classical literature?
The reason, it seems, is to "pollute" SpamAssassin (and all other anti-spam software that uses Bayesian filtering). A Bayesian filter examines each word in a message and looks it up in a database to see how many times that word has appeared in prior spam and non-spam messages. It then calculates the overall probability of the message being spam or not. Spammers know this, and thus like to bombard users with "good" messages in the hopes that they will get classified as spam. This will render your spam filters less effective. Therefore, you need to put a little thought into which messages you really want to call "spam". Messages like the one above are best just deleted manually (don't classify them as either spam or ham, just send them to trash).
Vipul's Razor
Vipul's Razor isn't usually run stand-alone - it works nicely in conjunction with SpamAssassin. To quote the Vipul's Razor project web site:
"Vipul's Razor is a distributed, collaborative, spam detection and filtering network. Through user contribution, Razor establishes a distributed and constantly updating catalogue of spam in propagation that is consulted by email clients to filter out known spam. Detection is done with statistical and randomised signatures that efficiently spot mutating spam content. User input is validated through reputation assignments based on consensus on report and revoke assertions which in turn is used for computing confidence values associated with individual signatures."
To put it another way, Razor compares your received email message to those which other humans have categorised as spam. This is quite different from SpamAssassin, which applies a set of rules against your messages. This essentially means you've got a much larger database to work with, but there is a downside as well. Since SpamAssassin is doing all its work on your own machine, it's much faster than Razor which is "out there" on the Internet. And remember, SpamAssassin isn't all that fast to begin with. Furthermore, the problem of spammers "polluting" the database with nonsense spam will be out of your control (though the above-mentioned "reputation assignments" helps to fight that).
Use Vipul's Razor if you like, but personally I haven't felt the need. I'm getting good enough results out of SpamAssassin as it is, and I wouldn't want to cripple my email performance any further.
SpamBayes
SpamAssassin isn't the only game in town. There are competitors, some worthy, some less so. One that I'm keeping my eye on is SpamBayes. Take a look at their project web site for details. This one can be set up by KMail's anti-spam wizard.
Recently, Jef Poskanzer at ACME Labs posted an amusing and informative web page detailing how he handles over one million spam messages a day. If you're considering duplicating his experience, realize that he's describing a mail server which is online 24/7. A common email user would never have to set up anything so elaborate. However, if you're maintaining your own full-time mail server exposed to the ravages of the Internet, you may want to have a look at Jef's experience.
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That's all for today. We hope that you enjoyed this week's DistroWatch Weekly!
Ladislav Bodnar
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| Reader Comments • Jump to last comment |
1 • Print (by war on 2005-06-13 12:52:11 GMT from United States)
Any chance for a print friendly version of Distrowatch? :)
2 • Mac OS (by just john on 2005-06-13 12:56:21 GMT from United States)
I still use Mac OS9 at home, and I decided if I was gonna have to change operating systems anyway when I moved to new hardware, I'd try Linux instead of OSX.
But with this processor move, I have to suspect that OSX will become seen as just another distro, albeit one with more corporate support than average.
Also, I imagine this will wind up making Linux distros for future Apple hardware even easier.
3 • Package List (by Anonymous on 2005-06-13 13:05:04 GMT from Germany)
Why doesn't the new package list include Kontact? I was mentioned/wished by several people.
4 • Why doesn't the new package list include Kontact? (by ladislav on 2005-06-13 13:09:19 GMT from Taiwan)
Because Kontact is part of kdepim, which would make it difficult to track in those distributions that do not split KDE packages into smaller parts.
I should have mentioned it in the newsletter; maybe I'll add it quickly.
5 • new releases (by mark on 2005-06-13 13:11:25 GMT from United States)
What you say is true the summer will be slow for new releases
But I will be watching the fedora project to see if the strings are cut
I have been happy with suse9.3 except for the missteps with mp3-mpg
With those cured its been very good to me But I guess I miss the new
installs and I used to run fedora but felt that it wasnt quite right
(selinux and bugs that shouldnt be there) I would like to see
a HowTo on using search tools inside linux beagle is not ready
and alittle more then I want
6 • EU has lost to Microsoft..... (by Scott Wilson on 2005-06-13 13:47:33 GMT from United States)
I know this is off the subjects, but I like to listen to radio and watch TV from europe, while sitting in front of my PC playing around with Linux.
Last week, Microsoft started to ship Windows with the media player not included. I thought "yea a small victory..." Only to find that almost all of the streaming media on the sites I have visted are now using windows media, gone are the mp3 or real formats. At Times I feel like we are beating or heads against the wall.
7 • On subject... (by Scott Wilson on 2005-06-13 13:53:24 GMT from United States)
The last post was kind of a bummer. I am currenlty downloading Fedora 4.
Just to check it out, I really have grown to dislike Red Hat, but hey this is suppose to be independant now.
I really have grown to love Debian, I use Sarge (upgraded from Woody). Apt get dist upgrade worked great. I use knoppix at work to help repair broken window machines. and I run Ubuntu on my StinkPad 600e. So I guess Iam a Debian convert!
8 • Man, that had to hurt (by AQ on 2005-06-13 14:11:18 GMT from United States)
The Apple issue has been interesting for me to think about. I don't know if many of you remember, but a few months ago Linus switched his main kernel development computer to a PowerPC based Mac because it was donated to him and he wanted to add some better testing for the ppc architecture.
Of course now we know that Steve Jobs is switching from the ppc to the intel x86. It is interesting that none of the wonky anti-linux pundits noted this. I suppose all we need now is for Bill Gates to make a very public pronouncement that he's moving from Intel to AMD, and then maybe we could have some sort of game of musical chairs completed.
And I must comment on what the small minded anti-linux pundits actually concocted for this week... that Apple's move to Intel hurt Linux and Linux users the most... ha ha ha... I'm still laughing over that one.
Yes, please, I need not only closed proprietary software... I also need to compound that with closed single vendor monopolist proprietary hardware!!!
Could you please include some proprietary and patented file formats with that pile of crap while you're at it? Oh you can, thank you.
In their wild dramatizations designed to send traffic to their sites, they missed writing about the true losers in this deal, the individuals that have been claiming for years to their friends and neighbors that the PowerPC was superior in every way to the faulty and insecure X86.
Man, that had to hurt.
9 • SUSE 9.3 Personal DVD (by Anonymous on 2005-06-13 15:19:45 GMT from Germany)
Current issue of German computer technology magazine c't includes a double-sided DVD where one side (the other contains applications for Win, Mac and Linux) contains "SUSE 9.3 Personal" in Live-CD, 32bit and 64bit installation format.
10 • USB thumbdrive or External Storage icon when plugged in (by TechAVew on 2005-06-13 15:33:01 GMT from Singapore)
Guys, sidetrack a bit. Can anyone point to me which distro's desktop will appear with an icon when an external storage is plugged in? I have been trying with Fedora Core 3 logging into KDE but to no avail. Perhap there is a way, someone show me pls?
11 • No subject (by Anonymous on 2005-06-13 15:59:50 GMT from Denmark)
snøfix and snappix is crosslinked
12 • Fedora Core 3 (by AQ on 2005-06-13 16:10:05 GMT from United States)
I've ran with Gnome and found that I have to plug peripherals like a digital camera into the usb ports in the back of my system which are directly on the motherboard.
The USB connections on the front of my system are not recognized natively by Linux on my system and I'd have to run Nvidia's buggy Linux motherboard driver to make it work. I keep my computer on a cart next to my desk so that I can roll it out and make the change easily.
Hopefully someday Nvidia will be compelled to open its hardware so that all of my connections will be recognized in the future.
So, all I can suggest is to try a different port (assuming it was a usb device).
13 • Apple and Linux (by henriquemaia on 2005-06-13 16:11:27 GMT from Portugal)
I changed to Linux because of license fees. That will still maintain when OSX comes to X86.
In the end, I believe that this move will be good for Linux in that will push development on other directions.
14 • USB thumbdrive (by UbuWu on 2005-06-13 16:15:39 GMT from Netherlands)
TechAVew: try ubuntu, it worked for every usb drive I have tried so far.
15 • Apple (by Mika on 2005-06-13 16:21:31 GMT from Italy)
Microsoft own part of Apple quotes.....
Am I wrong??
cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!
16 • re: USB thumbdrive or External Storage icon (by utabintarbo at 2005-06-13 16:33:21 GMT from United States)
I know the older versions of Knoppix had this. I am unsure of the newer (>3.6)....
17 • About the icon (by AQ on 2005-06-13 16:41:48 GMT from United States)
I forgot to mention that the USB icon does appear on my screen when I plug it into the back of my system. I then double click on it and have complete access to that device.
18 • Ubuntu - Add-On-CD - broken link for almost 2 wks now (by John Coombes on 2005-06-13 16:56:27 GMT from Australia)
I am writing here as my efforts to "do the right thing" came to no avail and the email I sent to report this just bonced back - from the following
EG: Contact, corrections and suggestions: Ladislav Bodnar.
IE: here :- distro@distrowatch.com
This is your problem not mine :-(
Anyhow - If any one takes the bother to go to the Distrowatch UBUNTU page
Go here - Related Web Sites -> Add-On CD
all you get now is = UbuntuGuide Add-On-CD is discontinued
TAKE NOTE:- It has been like this for at least about 2 weeks now
NB: I first noticed the Add-On-CD vanish on the http://linuxtracker.org
where it was being seeded AND at also at http://ubuntuguide.org
A broken Link is worse than not having a Link (same goes for your Email)
Happy days
19 • USB thumbdrive (by Fred on 2005-06-13 16:58:18 GMT from United States)
I just tried it yesterday with Kanotix and it worked. I would assume the other Knoppix derivitaves would also work.
20 • Streaming media (by William Roddy on 2005-06-13 17:25:21 GMT from United States)
Linux is superior to Microsoft in every way. But, as a previous poster said, streaming media is a problem, not because of Linux's ability to handle it, but because the Microsoft monopoly has, as an offshoot, created a situation in which most site require Windows Media Player.
Every time I do a Linux installation, the two things that take me the longest are 1. getting ndiswrapper installed and working for my wlan card, and 2. getting streaming media working.
Streaming media is important to me. So I have to add a repository to Debian, or find a set of RPMS for Red Hat/Fedora, and use a proprietary media player (RealPlayer10, because HelixPlayer isn't there yet), and thus, compromise, simply because Microsoft is a monopoly.
To my mind, those proprietary drivers and streaming media are two of the most significant issues that befuddle the "average" person if they try Linux.
Hardware recognition is no longer a problem. In my experience, after a recent re-install of Windows for another person (along with Linux), I found Linux recognized more hardware than Windows, hands down.
As to the issue of changing from Linux, I will never. The cost of Macs and Mac software is staggering. Their hardware recognition is minimal.
Windows has been proven by courts to be engaged in criminal activities to achieve their success. And I, for one, will not do business with outlaws.
I don't know which Linux flavor will be on my computer next, but I know it will be Linux. And I know I will take every opportunity I can find to let people know how great it is.
Allow me to also add thanks to all of those of you who expressed concern about my health and my recent operation. I can report now that it was, for the most part, a success, and that I might now have more time to play with Linux. Your good wishes were a tremendous help to me.
William Roddy
21 • SpamAssassin Redux (by John Coombes on 2005-06-13 17:34:11 GMT from Australia)
Much better solution for many end users is to move to an ISP that automatically gives you FREE Spam Filtering (EG: blocks the spam before you download it) Also many ISP's also offer Virus Filtering as well.
For Examples I can only point you to http://bc.whirlpool.net.au (as I am in AU) and apart from the two biggest ISP's (EG: the rip-off ISP's of Telstra/Bigpond and Optus) you will find that many other ISP's in Australia offer Spam and Virus filtering for Free.
You will most likely find a similar situation in your country ?
I have repeatedly said in many places that Spam filtering AFTER you download is rather self defeating and waste full - but it all ways seems to fall on deaf ears :-(
NB: please no arguments about emails that are negative-posertive being deleted be the ISP - most of these ISP's have a HOLD mechinisam where you can login to your Email server by WEB-MAIL and set it up not to filter things you know you want to get - add a friends list (includes mailing lists) or just release and wrongly held email so you can get it with your normal email client.
Again I say there is a better way for ordinary people than having to do it your self on your own machine - all be it - by having to select a decent ISP
BTW - The ISP I use in Australia = INTERNODE
22 • Re: Apple (by Mika on 2005-06-13 16:21:31 GMT from Italy) (by JustMe on 2005-06-13 17:44:36 GMT from United States)
Microsoft own part of Apple quotes.....
Am I wrong??
cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MS no longer holds Apple shares. MS bought these shares to prop up Apple for a period of time.
23 • SpamAssassin Redux (by John Coombes on 2005-06-13 17:47:00 GMT from Australia)
NOTE:
For those of you running your own mail server on your own machine - IGNORE ALL THE ABOVE - you will probably need SpamAssassin Redux
For other ordinary users who do not run a mail server - the comments stand
Happy Days
24 • enlightenment... (by Anonymous on 2005-06-13 17:51:08 GMT from United States)
it's nice to see that enlightenment is on the tracking list! e17 is shaping up to be pretty nice!
25 • SpamAssassin Redux (by John Coombes on 2005-06-13 18:00:31 GMT from Australia)
CORRECTION - the Australian ISP of Optus does offer Free Spam filtering
26 • USB scripts (by PastorEd on 2005-06-13 18:03:07 GMT from United States)
TechAVew, you asked:
[quote]Can anyone point to me which distro's desktop will appear with an icon when an external storage is plugged in?[/quote]
Tech, surf on over to http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum and do a search of the forums there. I remember reading a script that they've developed that does just what you're mentioning. And I'm pretty sure that the text of the script itself is spelled out IN the forums. If you can't find it after searching, you could just ask as well.
G.B.Y.L.B.T.,
PastorEd
27 • Sid... the only boy in the world (by Kreg on 2005-06-13 18:06:54 GMT from United States)
"The unstable branch is allways called "sid" - named after the only human character in the cartoon movie"
There were other humans... Andy- The boy who owned buzz and woody
Sids sister- the one with the broken dolls
and andys mom
"an "unstable" boy who had a tendency to break his toys."
He had a "tendency" to break toys like Jeffery Dalmer had a "tendency" to hurt people. Sid was a maniac... I broken my fair share of my sisters barbies and melted a few plastic soldiers in my youth, but sid torture those poor toys like a Nazi Scientist. (maybe a good thing to think about next time you want to run unstable.. hehe)
Just wanted to chime in
28 • RE:To Mac OS or not to Mac OS (by Warpengi on 2005-06-13 19:02:50 GMT from Canada)
Once again Ladislav you have summed up the position of the Linux community in a nutshell. Well said.
Re:
Man, that had to hurt (by AQ on 2005-06-13 14:11:18 GMT from United States)
I don't know if I am just a bit hysterical today or what but that had me howling. Thanks for the humour:~)
29 • USB Thumbdrives (by KurtVon on 2005-06-13 19:16:11 GMT from United States)
In my experience, almost every distro handles thumb drives out of the box. There are only a few that handle badly formatted thumbdrives, though (Windows does, which is why so many manufacturers sell them misformatted.)
The problem is when the thumb drive has no partition (like a floppy disk). Use fdisk, confirm the partition table is corrupt, then fix it so there is a single FAT32 partition. Format it as FAT32 and it should autodetect under Linux fine.
I've done this with a dozen thumb drives and every one has worked fine afterwards.
30 • The links for Snøfrix and SNAPPIX is wrong (by ChenLi Tien on 2005-06-13 19:26:14 GMT from Canada)
Please swap the links for these 2 distros. Thanks.
31 • debian sid (by anon on 2005-06-13 19:51:08 GMT from Switzerland)
I thought sid also means "still in developement"
32 • Donation ? (by Marc on 2005-06-13 20:39:32 GMT from Canada)
Thank's for DWW. Again all the news we need.
But what about this week donation ?
Did i miss something ?
I guess the reason why Apple choose Intel is
with PS3 on the go and IBM unable to give the
cell processor to other than Sony left them with
no choice. IBM does not have enough capacity
to give Apple another processor.
33 • Mac OS (by Tux5 on 2005-06-13 20:50:31 GMT from United States)
I run Yellow Dog Linux on an Apple ibook. For me this is a mix of the best hardware and the best OS. Don't get me wrong, I like Mac OS X but Linux lets me do so much more. For me this is having your cake and eating it! :-)
34 • LINUX ROCKS!!! (by mcg on 2005-06-13 21:55:22 GMT from Finland)
Linux Rocks and will always Rock!who cares about mac!are you kidding me?
35 • Missing/Broken Links (by Anonymous on 2005-06-13 22:00:46 GMT from United States)
I was unable to find the new SimplyMepis Lite on the Mirrors. The link just goes to the announcement and the mirror links are pointed to the regular version.
36 • RE: To Mac OS or not to Mac OS (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-13 22:15:59 GMT from Italy)
Ladislav
I couldn't agree more with your analysis.
I have been simply disgusted by the attempted brainwashing at some sites, trying to convince people that linux is moribund because Apple is switching to Intel.
I found OSNews to be one of the worst offenders.
Now I have found the authors of such article to be totally clueless (or dishonest)
The seem to have no idea of the many, true reasons why people use linux.
Just an example: try to convince third world countries which are putting linux on cheap hardware to buy Macs instead!
Or try to convince scientists and academics to replace linux, with all its advantages, with a Mac!
37 • Some very good news for linux (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-13 22:24:11 GMT from Italy)
So now it seems that Sony PS3 is coming with an optional(?) HD with linux installed.
I don't know why they are doing it (somebody said because that way they can sell them as computers rather than as playstations)
But can you imagine the potential outcome of linux on millions of cheap, powerful machines?
So much for linux being moribund!
38 • Quick question (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-13 22:26:44 GMT from Italy)
Does anybody know where "etch", the name of the new Debian testing branch, comes from?
39 • Mac OSX (by anony on 2005-06-13 22:54:46 GMT from Germany)
Well, I work with macs every day. Mac OSX and Mac OS 9.2. And both are unintuitive, buggy and a nightmare for professional work. I prefer Linux and will continue to run Linux distros on my ppc and i686 machines.
Oh... and why should I pay 140$ for a bsd operating system? Forget it, Apple. :P
40 • RE: Donation (by ladislav on 2005-06-13 23:27:06 GMT from Taiwan)
But what about this week donation?
Donations are awarded on a monthly basis, so the next donation will be given in early July.
41 • RE: Missing/Broken Links (by ladislav on 2005-06-13 23:28:55 GMT from Taiwan)
I was unable to find the new SimplyMepis Lite on the Mirrors.
That's because MEPISLite is a commercial product not available for free download.
42 • MEPISLite (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-14 00:30:13 GMT from Italy)
Slightly OT: Kanotix 2005-03 has also a lite edition, but it is free to download. A matter of choice from the developers, of course, but it puzzles me why Kanotix doesn't get better recognition. I am extremely choosy and I find it almost Linux Nirvana.
43 • @ AQ (by Max on 2005-06-14 00:41:01 GMT from Australia)
"Yes, please, I need not only closed proprietary software... I also need to compound that with closed single vendor monopolist proprietary hardware!!!
Could you please include some proprietary and patented file formats with that pile of crap while you're at it? Oh you can, thank you."
What can I say... Brilliant comment!!!
Steve Jobs is just a stubborn "look-at-me-i'm-so-different" loser. How in the world can he justify that a one-buttom mouse is any better? Maybe he never grew up and is still trying to impress mom... Who needs shiny transparent plastic mumbo jumbo hardware anyway? Steve jobs should be a hairdresser...
44 • LiveCD with Boot Floppy? (by ChiJoan on 2005-06-14 01:07:22 GMT from United States)
Hi Guys & Dolls,
Is there a newbie-friendly Linux LiveCD that comes with a boot floppy for older laptops? I couldn't find out if MepisLite includes one anywhere. Being behind a proxy I couldn't get my order to go through at their new vender's site.
I found a program at SourceForge (Smart Boot Manager) that I had hopes for, but the file I copied, the "exe" version wasn't recognized by the Gateway Solo 5300. I'll try Puppy next, but I'm not sure how newbie friendly it is.
With all the older laptops and low end PCs out there that don't boot off USB, it seems like something to add to the search engine. Or offer some choices to us in a similiar situation trying to install or demo Linux.
Thanks for a great site,
ChiJoan
45 • Re: LiveCD with Boot Floppy? (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-14 01:16:41 GMT from Italy)
I don't personally know the answer, but why not ask at the Kanotix forums? Kano is extremely helpful and seems to have an answer to every question.
46 • J.A.M.D. Linux, I miss you (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-14 02:11:09 GMT from Italy)
Fedora 4 is IMO a much more mature distro than its ancestor Red Hat 9.
Yet Jim Luchas had managed to make something very nice and much loved by modifying it: J.A.M.D. Linux: it is still perfectly usable in many recent machines.
Can you imagine what could be achieved by modifying Fedora 4?
Jim, from somebody who always admired your excellent work, if you read this, would you consider a comeback?
47 • RE: etch question (by kingfish600 on 2005-06-14 03:30:30 GMT from United States)
Etch is refering to the etch-a-sketch character in toy story. I know i've got a 4 year old had to watch it hundreds of times already. Hope there are plenty of charecters left, could you imagine Dorey from Finding Nemo as a debian distro release.
48 • Fluxbox vs GNOME & KDE (by kingfish600 on 2005-06-14 03:37:20 GMT from United States)
Every article i've read kinda lists GNOME&KDE as the leaders for linux desktops followed by many others and Fluxbox listed as lite. What do GNOME&KDE do that Fluxbox dosn't?
DSL looks very good with Fluxbox.
49 • Mac Mini (by Fritz on 2005-06-14 06:23:27 GMT from United States)
I can only find one putty knife. :-(
-> Fritz
50 • Re: Fluxbox vs GNOME & KDE (by Ariszló on 2005-06-14 06:49:21 GMT from Hungary)
KDE has nice gui tools to customize its menu and its apps are well integrated out of the box.
51 • Re: Quick Question (by Anonymous on 2005-06-14 10:56:58 GMT from United Kingdom)
'Etch' was the nickname the toys gave to the 'Etch-aSketch' in the Toy Story movie.
'Etch' drew the 'Chicken Man' in Toy story 2 that helped Buzz identify Woody's Kidnapper.
52 • Anonymous Penguin (by William Roddy on 2005-06-14 16:33:15 GMT from United States)
Anonymous Penguin:
"Or try to convince scientists and academics to replace linux, with all its advantages, with a Mac!"
That is an excellent point. Further, try to get them to replace free and open-source Linux with ANYTHING.
"Kanotix 2005-03 has also a lite edition, but it is free to download."
Thanks very much for that piece of information. Kano doesn't get enough praise.
" . . . it seems that Sony PS3 is coming with an optional(?) HD with linux installed."
Where can we learn more about this? I have 15 grandchildren.
53 • Playstation 3 (by EEDOK on 2005-06-14 19:04:42 GMT from Canada)
not sure how dww does links so
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html
[url]http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html[/url]
54 • UMMM... (by NobodyX on 2005-06-14 19:11:47 GMT from El Salvador)
May be...
Solaris goes open an x86...
Mac goes x86..
Longhorn is delayed again...
Linux is growing in x86..
BSD too...
Sounds like a big hurt to M$ Windoze, not to linux.
BUT!... if Windoze goes 64 bits...
will find Linux, BSD, Solaris already here. There is no way to go Mrs. Bill !
As I can see the x86 is the battle field and the more contendors the few monopoly is. (Forgive my redaction I speak spanish).
I think the Na$tyGiant is moribund and the contendors are stronger than ever. M$ will die not by the Linux hand... will die by his own hand... a criminal hand!
IC
55 • Opening Day for the OpenSolaris project (by Ariszló on 2005-06-14 21:06:59 GMT from Hungary)
http://www.opensolaris.org/
56 • Re: LiveCD with Boot Floppy? (by sphen on 2005-06-14 22:26:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Smart Boot Manager is free and can be used as a boot floppy to boot virtually anything bootable! It can be found at http://btmgr.webframe.org/
57 • Re: LiveCD with Boot Floppy? (by sphen on 2005-06-14 22:37:48 GMT from United Kingdom)
Sorry - should have added this link. A succinct how-to http://www.mepis.org/node/2133
58 • William Roddy (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-15 00:33:12 GMT from Italy)
>>"Kanotix 2005-03 has also a lite edition, but it is free to download."
Thanks very much for that piece of information. Kano doesn't get enough praise.<<
Thanks. Of course I agree :)
>>" . . . it seems that Sony PS3 is coming with an optional(?) HD with linux installed."
Where can we learn more about this? I have 15 grandchildren.<<
Congratulations on your 15 grandchildren :)
I first read an article linked at OSNews, but soon it was available in many other sites.
See for instance:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/09/news_6127219.html
59 • Gentoo Founder working for Microsoft? (by Ed Borasky on 2005-06-15 02:59:30 GMT from United States)
According to another web publisher (name withheld -- Google for it) Daniel Robbins, founder of Gentoo, is moving to Redmond Washington USA to work with/for Microsoft. So ... is this "Portage bails out DLL Hell"?
60 • The outlaw named Microsoft (by William Roddy on 2005-06-15 04:14:05 GMT from United States)
Thanks, Anonymous Penguin, once again, for the info.
I read today that half the people who own Windows in the work environment are still using Windows 2000. If, at this late date, Windows XP only has a 50 percent penetration, the OS is in trouble, all by itself and is, as every totalitarian system, most vulnerable inside its own kingdom.
Want to know how to double the number of *nix and BSD users? Every current user install a system on the computers of two other people this year.
Impractical, say the new folks? Well, all the *nix and BSD experienced users, which should be about half of us, install a system on four computers this year. One new system each quarter-year. That's all. Maybe four hours' work. Or eight, if you do all the bells-and-whistles for them and do a little hand-holding (pick all cute girls, if you're a guy, or cute guys, if you're a girl.)
How's that for a simple plan? Next years, the crooks will have a few less users and "open computing" will have twice as many.
William Roddy
61 • Mandrake+Conectiva+Lycoris=Mandrycoriva? (by jeje on 2005-06-15 18:55:36 GMT from United Kingdom)
Mandriva acquires Lycoris
An interview with Joseph Cheek (Lycoris):
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6895874832.html
Press release (Mandrakesoft):
http://www.mandriva.com/company/press/pr?n=/pr/corporate/2556
62 • RE: Mac OS (by fahlman on 2005-06-15 22:52:06 GMT from United States)
Linux is great, free, stable and did I say free? But, tux5, what is it that linux allows you to do that Mac OS X doesn't. It's a BSD. It has an X11 implantation, most linux source can be built, the web core of the web browser, Safari, is open source. Apple uses open source and submits code back to the community. I'm not not bashing Linux. I use it myself. So why are you to bash Apple and OS X?
63 • I can't spell (by fahlman on 2005-06-15 22:55:59 GMT from United States)
So I can't spell. You know, it includes X11.
64 • fahlman (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-16 01:49:09 GMT from Italy)
"So why are you to bash Apple and OS X?"
No we are not. We are just very annoyed because of the (many) articles we read of late telling us how MacIntel is going to kill Linux.
65 • Amen (by William Roddy on 2005-06-16 03:28:17 GMT from United States)
I second Anonymous Penguin's emotion.
66 • Mandrycoriva? (by NobodyX on 2005-06-16 07:03:40 GMT from El Salvador)
Mandrycoriva... No, Maybe.... Mandrycoris... or Mandryvoris or Mand-the-hell... I dont know, but looks ugly to merge the three names.
Why the hell they change the well Mandrake name?
Damn I like Mandrake, not "Mandryxxxx"
Whatever
67 • Fedora Core 4 (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-06-16 16:20:10 GMT from United States)
I just installed Fedora Core 4 on my Sony Laptop. I am very impressed with this distrobution. Very polished. Smooth and refined. Seems faster to boot than previous versions. Overall I am very happy with it.
I do have a couple of questions that someone here may hopefully have answers to. First I installed the system with KDE and the default desktop is Gnome. I do not have enough experience with Fedora and I do not know how to switch to the KDE desktop? Any Ideas? Also as I have found with all Linux distros the dvd is de-activated. I got rpm versions of libdvdcss and w32codecs but still no dice. How do I install new packages? Tryed yum with no luck.
As for Linux and Mac. Well the future is only going to be brite for both. I really hope that apple has the sense and smarts to recognize that it should make the OS 10 for Intel chips to run on any Intel chip or computer not just ones specifically designed by Apple. I have heard that Apple is working with Intel to make the OS and the intel chips only work with Apple designed computers using the intel chips. In other words I could not install OS 10 on my Sony laptop. I would still have to go out and buy an apple??!! I hope this is wrong. If apple were to make their OS run on any intel based computer then they could truly compete with Microsoft. With all of the security problems and spyware, virus, malware that is out there I think a lot of people would try OS 10 and possibly switch. I mean by the time you add up the cost of all of the addition software you have to buy to protect your computer and then the cost of time and information involved with a breach of security a switch to Apple may be cheap in comparison. OS 10 is only like $120. Apple would possible loose some of their core fans but I think pushing people away from Microsoft is a good thing. Its not like apple would loose money. Think how much apple based software they could sell.
As for Linux it just keeps getting better. Faster, more stable, more software, better hardware recognition. Soon the wireless problems with the proprietary software drivers will be solved. If you take Linux head to head with Apple it wins in speed and stability. Windows is fast but not much faster than Linux and in some cases slower. Linux is super secure and all of the software you ever needed is out there and it is free!!!! Not only is it free but it usually works better than the expensive proprietary software! For a home desktop computer I think Linux is the best choice out there. For a laptop then Windows seems to have a momentary edge. Not because it is better but because the nature of wireless technology. Apple is still better than windows for a number of reasons but it does lack speed. Maybe when the new intel chips come on board that will be improved but the microkernel Apple uses may be a problem(depending on who you talk to).
For my money or lack there of you just can't beat Linux. When the bugs get worked out of the wireless issues with certain software drivers and seriously good companies within Linux are able to market and position themselves by charging a small fee for their work then I see Linux continuing its growth. No Linux is not going to replace Windows or Apple for that matter but it is not going away and will continue a steady growth.
Robzilla
68 • Microsoft gets hacked (by William Roddy on 2005-06-16 16:20:19 GMT from United States)
"Blue Hat" summit meant to reveal ways of the other side
By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
June 15, 2005 4:00AM PDT
REDMOND, Wash.--The random chatter of several hundred Microsoft engineers filled the cavernous executive briefing center recently at the company's sprawling campus outside Seattle.
Within minutes after their meeting was convened, however, the hall became hushed. Hackers had successfully lured a Windows laptop onto a malicious wireless network.
"It was just silent," said Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's security unit. "You couldn't hear anybody breathe."
(remainder of the article on CNET News)
LOL
69 • Robzilla (by William Roddy on 2005-06-16 17:07:40 GMT from United States)
Changing to KDE in Fedora (and many others):
When you get to the login screen where you put your user name and password, before you log in, go to the bottom and chose SESSION, which will bring up a menu. Click the radio button next to KDE. Log in.
--
Installing RPMs in Red Hat/Fedora:
Open a terminal.
Become root [(su (enter) password (enter)]
Type the following:
rpm -Uvh(space)
Then drag-and drop the chosen RPM from your home directory, onto the terminal. It will paste to the terminal line the complete path and title of the RPM correctly, without typos.
Hit enter.
The rpm will install.
Important: no file or folder in the process should have any blank spaces (i.e. "nice folder" should be "nice-folder" "nicefolder" "nice_folder" etc.)
You also might want to check the permissions on the RPM. Some won't install unless they are executable.
There are probably other ways, better ways, but that's the way I figured out to do it. Hope it helps.
70 • Int-pple or App-tel? (by Gryyphyn on 2005-06-16 19:31:59 GMT from United States)
Given the current market share of Intel and the recent departure of IBM from the processor market this event should have been at least somewhat forseeable. However, given also the lack of communication on the part of Apple, It's easy to see that apple really didn't want anyone to know anything, as usual. I don't see any pirating of OSX becoming more prevalent, but I do see developing for the Apple in Linux becoming easier.
I think that one of the biggest problems with programming in Apple world as a Linux user is the fact that the arcitecture doesn't allow programming in the typical fashion that we are used to. No, the arcitecture does not have a whole lot of effect on highly abstracted programming languages, but with the capability for open-source programmers to program in Microsoft's .NET profiles now, and Apple adopting the protocol, I don't see Linux dying. In fact, I see a new Linux distro coming: A distro for Macs designed by Linux users coding in Microsoft's .NET profile. Never before has there been such an opportunity for software designers from all three worlds to be at least reading from the same book.
If anyone agrees or disagrees and doesn't just want to flame me, send email to:
gryyphyn@gmail.com
All non-serious emails will be discarded and all flames will have gas thrown back at them.
71 • Robzilla (by William Roddy on 2005-06-16 19:32:05 GMT from United States)
Changing to KDE in Fedora (and many others):
When you get to the login screen where you put your user name and password, before you log in, go to the bottom and chose SESSION, which will bring up a menu. Click the radio button next to KDE. Log in.
--
Installing RPMs in Red Hat/Fedora:
Open a terminal.
Become root [(su (enter) password (enter)]
Type the following:
rpm -Uvh(space)
Then drag-and drop the chosen RPM from your home directory, onto the terminal. It will paste to the terminal line the complete path and title of the RPM correctly, without typos.
Hit enter.
The rpm will install.
Important: no file or folder in the process should have any blank spaces (i.e. "nice folder" should be "nice-folder" "nicefolder" "nice_folder" etc.)
You also might want to check the permissions on the RPM. Some won't install unless they are executable.
There are probably other ways, better ways, but that's the way I figured out to do it. Hope it helps.
72 • linux site (by james on 2005-06-16 22:32:22 GMT from United States)
this site is cool you should show it in the next weekly
http://www.geocities.com/prosoftoscox/mainxpage.html
it home made by some one but it's good they say your good too .
73 • Fedora Core 4 (by Robzilla-L.A. on 2005-06-17 16:07:58 GMT from United States)
William,
Thanks for the tips!! They were very helpful. I am having another problem maybe you can help me with. My problem is getting new packages. I have gotten the yum extender and it has a nice graphical user interface for updating. Works great but there is no way to get a new package. I am suppossed to be able to get around 1000 packages from the extras list but I can't access it. The totem movie player does not work and I was trying to get Xine, Kaffeine, and Mplayer. I have not been able to find rpm versions of the packages or get them from Fedora?? I am lost.
I am still debating which desktop I like Gnome or KDE. I have always been a KDE fan and I do like KDE a lot. Some features of both desktops are nice and it is aparent that Fedora really is a Gnome based distro. Can I run Xine from Gnome or is there another multimedia package for Gnome that I should try?
I appreciate your help as you seem to have a lot of info. Expert or not you have great ideas as I have seen from your contributions to the site. Aren't you the guy that has inspired all of us to try Scientific Linux? Anyway, thanks for the help.
Robzilla
74 • RE: Fedora Core 4 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-17 23:58:39 GMT from Italy)
"My problem is getting new packages. "
Until yesterday there was an apt sources.list in the forums which would give you about 3500 packages.
It was in the How-To section.
I can't find it any longer, I suppose because they say that apt is now deprecated and you should use yum instead. Trouble is, I deleted my Fedora partition a few hours ago.
I'll keep looking anyway.
75 • More about Fedora Core 4 (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-18 00:26:35 GMT from Italy)
Robzilla
It is still there. How embarassing.
This thread:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=59208
So what to do:
# yum install apt synaptic
Go to /etc/apt and edit your sources.list according to the one in that thread.
You might need to edit your apt configuration so that it doesn't check for GPG keys.
76 • URGENT REPLY (by Maria Lisa on 2005-06-18 10:14:50 GMT from United Kingdom)
From Destiny-Maria & Maxwell
Abj-01 Bp 5628887 Refugee Camp
Rue 4493000 Cocody
Republic of Cote d' ivoire
West Africa.
Dearest ,
I am contacting you based on the information we
gathered about your person in this site .I am Maria
Lisa . with my younger brother is Maxwell Lisa we are
in possession of a large sum of US$10.5 Million in
cash which we want to invest in your country under
your care.
This money was inherited from our late father Dr
Francis Lisa who was the Chief countant of Sierra
Leone Gold & diamond Mining Corporation during our
8years civil War when Major Johnny Paul Koromah was
the country's president.
This money is of no criminal origin as it was largely
realized from blackmarketsale of alluvial gold dust
during the war.
This money has been moved and lodged into a security &
finance corporation in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire through
diplomatic channels in one trunk box tagged family
valuables for security reasons. we now want to move
this money abroad and invest it in profitable
ventures, as the time is now ripe for such move.
Wherewe need your assistance.
1.Firstly to assist us claim this consignment from the
security company's my late fathers foreign partner and
have the money paid into your nominated account.
2. To assist us invest the money in a profitable
business ventures in your country.For your kind
assistance you will get 15% of the total amount and 5%
for any expenses you make, both telephone calls,
fax/emails or any other money spent during the
transfer of this money into your nominated account.
Upon your response and acceptance to assist me, we
will give you further details concerning this
transaction but you must treat this transaction as
highly confidential for my security reasons.
I look forward to your earliest reply in my
Alternative Email; maria_lisa2@yahoo.com
Best Regards
Destiny-Maria /Maxwell
77 • RE: URGENT REPLY (by Maria Lisa on 2005-06-18 10:14:50 GMT from United Kingdom) (by John on 2005-06-18 19:55:44 GMT from United States)
That's sort of like fishing in a parking lot.
78 • RE: URGENT REPLY (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-18 20:43:51 GMT from Italy)
The people who come here have an intelligence and education above average.
So: save your and our time.
79 • Re: Urgent Reply (by Robzilla on 2005-06-19 06:17:51 GMT from United States)
I have 10 Million Dollars But I need your 10 Thousand Dollars so you can take my 10 Million.
Kind of Like getting Microsoft Office for free for 60 days so I can pay Three hundred later when I can use OpenOffice for free!
My goodness are you that stupid? If you speak english or can read it which I am not so sure then you would see that no one hear has any money. We are all using FREE operating systems.
I have some real estate you might want to buy from me though.
Robzilla
80 • Robzilla (by Anonymous Penguin on 2005-06-19 13:37:23 GMT from Italy)
Robzilla
Did you manage to have a larger choice of apps with Fedora?
Number of Comments: 80
Display mode: DWW Only • Comments Only • Both DWW and Comments
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