Joe Shaw has sent us a feature on a topic that is near and dear to many of our hearts: Linux advocacy. Specifically related to the recent mindcraft email posting, and practically any journalist who writes an article with a non-glowing comment about Linux, and the hoards that swoop down and proceed to shove them through a cuisinart. Hit the link to read it.

Aleatoric writes "In his response to Bob Metcalfe's article, Nick Petrely says he'll eat his column if Bob doesn't change his mind about Linux within two years. " Good column- describes the usual MS FUD tactics and why it wont' work this time.

Lord Carmack wrote in to point us to Objective Reality's homepage which claims that it will be releasing an OpenGL based 3D interface for linux. There isn't much there, but it at least looks interesting- although it also looks commercial so I'm skeptical about how much acceptance it will see.

Jeff Molloy writes "The results are here link " It's a shame Linux didn't win, but it looks like the tests show where Linux might have some deficiencies. Overall, it looks better than the original test, though.

Amnesiak sent us an interesting interview that Infoworld has done with Linus-questions about the kernel, which distro he prefers, Microsoft/Linux thing and how the Gnome/KDE may sort it out. Standard interview questions, but it's a well done interview.

kris writes "German c't magazine has a story about SUSE (english site: suse.com) reporting a larger turnover that RedHat (26.6 Mio. DM == 15 Mio US$ vs. RedHat with 11 Mio. US$). Suse also reported earnings, while RedHat reported a loss of $130,000 during the same time." kris has translated the article below if you want. Else use babelfish.

drwiii wrote in to tell us that Mindcraft has posted a few choice responses by Linux zealots. Quite offensive- don't read it you're pure of heart. <SERMON> I get CC'd on this stuff a lot so I knoW that these are not only real, but they are only scratching the surface of the crap that lands in the INBOX of anyone on the Internet who breaths anything that isn't glowing about Linux. And I'm embarassed by it. Please remember that how you say something is often more important than what you say. But in messages like these, what you said was childish and offensive, and you make us all look like raving loonies. This doesn't hurt Microsoft or help advance Linux-- in fact it does quite the opposite. Please Please Please read the Linux Advocacy HOWTO. Bad advocacy killed OS/2, The Amiga, and still threatens the Mac- don't let this happen to Linux. </SERMON>

redmist writes " MontaVista Software will write a version of Linux called Hard Hat for use on Force Computers "tiny" computers with embedded processors. The project will begin with Intel-based machines and later will include PowerPC machines. MontaVista will focus on "the need for small memory footprint, guaranteed response, high availability, and other key issues that desktop Linux does not provide," the company said. Get the whole story here. "

montezuma writes "HP announced their high-end Visualize workstations running Red Hat. " That XL550 looks pretty spiffy. But its nice seeing that they're doin' it.

Bruce Inglish writes "InfoWorld Pundit (and inventor of Ethernet) Bob Metcalfe just posted his 99/6/19 column entitled: "Linux's '60s technology, open-sores ideology won't beat W2K, but what will?" in which he predicts that "Linux will fizzle against Windows" and compares the Open Source community to communism and the Back-to-the-Earth Movement. "

Graymalkin asks: "I was wondering if there is a Linux program (or many programs) that would let me have a single server on a LAN and then a bunch of diskless clients. I'd like to make the clients have a motherboard, memory, a processor, and a NIC and get all their info from the server. If possible I'd also like to have all the networked stuff loaded into the server's memory so there's as few disk read/writes as possible. Can I do this?"

Karpe writes "You can read it in news.com. Microworkz will sell a $199 computer for surfing the Web. It's called iToaster, and will run Linux." They aren't giving out much real data except that its x86 based, and it won't feature tons of advertising as part of your web browsing experience (as most of the "Free" PCs floating around seem to want).

Yakumo asks: "I know this is probably a common question, but I have been unable to find anything very constructive on it; is there any third-party support for the QuickCam VC for Linux? I know that neither Connectix, nor currently Logitech have released any specs on it, but I heard rumors that there have been a few reverse-engineering attempts made, and I was wondering if there was any news in that department." I really wish hardware manufacturers would release their specs. I really do.

An anonymous reader wrote in to tell us that Cygnus is planning to ship an IDE for Linux this summer. It's called Code Fusion and it'll have a lot of competition with CodeWarrior and more already out there. But it will support C/C++ and Java.

dancomfort sent us the news that Group Bull SA, the French computer manufacturer has joined the Linux group as well. They are setting up some new units, as well as certifying some of their servers with Red Hat 6. They are also planning on porting Common Data Security Architecture, in partnership with Intel.

Jim Dabell writes "Macmillan have announced they are releasing "The Complete Linux(TM) Operating System 6.0" based on Mandrake. There are also deluxe and secure server options. " Why not. Everybody else seems to be creating their own distribution. Its fun.

Chris DiBona wrote in to send us this summary of Linus' talk over at the BALUG. Lots of pictures and a good summary of the talk. Worth a gander.

Alan Hodgkinson asks: "I would like to setup a bunch of Linux boxes without keyboards and monitors. The systems must be accessable/controlable via their serial ports, including the ability to send them a hard reset. Sun Sparc hardware has this feature. You can remove the keyboard and the system will boot and send all its console output through the serial port. You can even reset the machine by sending a break to the serial port. Is there any hardware available for PCs that will provides this functionality? (And that works on a wide variety of PC hardware). ISPs must face this problem. What do they do? Tips anyone?"

Skeezix writes "Linus says that he aims to make kernel upgrades more incremental instead of cramming tons of features into each major upgrade. The net result? The next major kernel upgrade might be out by Fall." I still haven't worked out all my kinks with 2.2 yet, at this rate 2.4 will be out before I sort it out!

Andrew Dvorak wrote to us with Andrew Leonard's latest Salon piece about the in-progress Mindcraft II testing. Interesting reading-and the difference between the OSes is evident-Linux sent hacks, MS marketers.