Michael Bacarella wrote in with the first essay on Linux Standards. I've got several more of these left to post today, and I'll continue to post them as I have time.

Rob Kennedy of Linux-HOWTO has some info on his site about what could possibly be the first real trademark issue surrounding 'Linux'. Update Alan Cox wrote in to say "Neither LI nor Linus sent anyone anything stopping them using the trademark they like other people have got a gentle reminder that Linux(R) is a trademark of Linus Torvalds, and affirming their right to use the trademark for Linux stuff."

Crippler writes "The world-famous kernel hackers from Yonder Way that brought you many great GUI utilities for OS/2 and NT have now brought the much-needed Standard Linux Association to dominate all popular distributions and enforce our will upon everyone who won't cough up the bucks to earn a voting seat (which is still meaningless... see site for more details). "

GrimSpring writes "Microsofts component model COM is now available for Linux. You can download Software AG's EntireX DCOM for free from here after registering with them. The package is pretty huge, expect to download 3,1 MB for the runtime environment and 6,7 MB for the SDK. "

Denali writes "Linux version 2.1.117 was announced on the kernel-announce news list. It is available on ftp.kernel.org right now. " Go snag it if you're into that sort of thing. I'll be here when you get back.

The latest release from the debian-announce mailing list says that Debian has announced that they are working on an ARM port of their distribution. This will allow those folks lucky enough to own those Netwinders to run Debian as well as the RH4.2 that they are currently shipping with.

Aron Hsiao sent us a link to a Mining Co article on the LSA. ZDNet also has another story on the same topic. This one talksd about the division in the Linux community over the issue. Personally, I think the world has spoken and the LSA will be passed up in favor of Linux Compatibility Standards Project, and open collaberation between Red Hat and Debian. Update Michael McLagan of the LSA wrote back in to make this statement. Click on to read it.

Rob writes "We have a great Linux story in Network World today. Lots of examples of Linux making inroads in corporate networks. Fairly well written, with a low FUD level, save for the "support" issue (which te author eventually does get right). The print edition had a box with a "how to pronounce Linux" blurb. Luckily the "we don't care what you call it as long as you use it" argument wins here. Remember: pronounciation flamage is reserved for the sub-13 year old demographic only!)"

It's been a while, but we have brand new development kernel: 2.1.116. You can read Linus' comments on this one at LinuxHQ and you'll find a summary of the updates at the Cutting Edge Linux site.

I'm getting confused keeping up with all these, but I'm assuming the various groups will sort out who is doing what. Anyway, Several folks have written in about the Linux Standards Association that has been created to help standardize Linux. Click the link to read the official release.

Matt posted a Quicktime Clip of the Fry's Linux commercial that we mentioned on these pages yesterday. It's a back to school ad, featuring a printer, a mac CD-ROM drive, and RH5.1 Linux. Update Sorry Matt! The Slashdot Effect caused him to smash his ISPs bandwidth limit. The link has been updated to a new location that should be safe.

Noumena writes "Looks like the Linux Documentation Project has undergone a nice little facelift. Looks pretty good... " Is it just me or are a lot of the HOWTOs beginning to look a bit aged? Perhaps that's something that the non-programmer Linux users could start toying with. A lot of you guys email and complain that you can't code so you can't contribute. This might work.

lc writes "This article in LAN Times basically tells about Linux and what it is, and how its stability and speed are why NT professionals are switching to Linux. It also goes on to tell about the software companies that recently stated that they're supporting Linux such as IBM, Oracle, Informix Corp, and Netscape. Cover story too..."
As well, PC Week is running a good review of Caldera Netware, and tying Linux into x-nets.

Joey wrote in to ask "I'm currently working on a project to turn a Linux box into a Juke Box running Mp3's. But I'm faced with several problems, it has to be coin operated (i was just told it has to use brasilian dollar bills), have an interface anyone could use, and be stable. If someone could help me out with ideas and where to get the money validators I would really appreciate it."

Melissa London of Red Hat wrote in to alert us that Raw Hide has been announced, and is up for testing. It's rough stuff, but it shows promise. The system will very possibly get all of us stabler systems, faster. No arguments here.

an anonymous coward wrote in to tell us that Fry's electronics is running a commercial on Silicon Valley tv stations advertising "Red Hat Linux 5.1 - the next generation operating system !" Can anyone get it in RealVideo or mpeg or something? I'm sure we'd all love to see it. This is the first time I've heard of a commercial mentioning linux.

Sean Heber wrote in to tell us that voting has started for the t-shirt contest they've been running over there. Dave's entry is #57, go vote for it if you love Dave (and who doesn't?). There are several really sharp designs in there now.

Our sister publication Freshmeat is carrying a (last?) editorial on LSB which announces the death of the LSB: few people felt it was necessary to have a very tightly defined "standard distribution" from which all other distributions would diverge only a little. Indeed, Linux's diversity enables Linux to be tailored for different applications or cultural needs. A common filesystem/library policy, the LCS will resolve most of the compatability issues. Vendors who insist on supplying binaries only will know which libraries they can depend on being in the system, and which they should statically link in. Update: The LSB is not officially dead, but "in transition". Nevertheless the above editorial blows some rather large holes into its current incarnation.

Big Dave Diode writes "I don't know if this has been submitted before, but those media lab dudes at MIT have a talking stuffed penguin that runs Linux. Just the thing to get the kids involved in Linux."

Jeff Gehlbach writes "Technauts has unveiled a tiny (8"x8"x1") P100-based personal-pan-pizza-box departmental-strength server running home brew mail and web servers over Linux. This thing is amazingly tiny."