Kevin Ivory writes "A guy in Germany (Oliver Fischer plexus@snafu.de) is making a collective order of Linux keys as a replacement for the windows keys on W95 keyboards. The German reference is: link He will be ordering them at the well-known keyboard manufacturer Cherry link They won't be cheap, though. It looks like the price will be 5,-DM (~ US $ 3.00) per key with a minimum order of 6 keys per person. " Gotta dig it. I'd love to use the 'Penguin Key' to navigate virtual desk tops. Keep Ctrl/Meta/Shift free for important stuff, and navigate in style.

Renaud Guerin writes "A G3-updated LinuxPPC installer has been made available here" I'm really curious to see some benchmark numbers comparing Linux performance on a G3 relative to Sparc/x86/Alpha arch. Especially raw CPU and X. Those G3's are getting into a really nice price range these days, and might make an excellent linux workhorse for not to much bread.

Michael Dillon writes "Allow me to introduce a new advocacy site This site modestly aims to show several cases where Linux can do a smart, efficient job within an entreprise...I want to show to IT managers and other corporate decision-makers that Linux can help them run their business more cost-efficiently. The arguments are real business application. As far as possible, i support these examples with numerical figures (size of business, number of servers) and an explanation about why and how Linux was chosen. If you have interesting examples of applications of Linux for business, please let me know about them. You do not have to give the company's name if you do not wish to (yes it is usual!) - i will respect strictly your request to remain anonymous. "

Bruce Perens sent us a bunch of info about the status of the Linux Standard Base System. I'm running it as a feature to get some feedback on it. The LSB is definately one of the most important issues facing Linux these days; especially if we want it to continue to grow. Bruce also says "We would like to discuss the following proposal in BOF sessions at both Linux Expo and Linux Kongress. Nothing about the proposal is cast in concrete until after those meetings."

Pater sent this Salon story about one of their people doing a slackware install, and the perspective of the greater computer community finding out about Linux. Down right encourgaging, I say.

Dan Hollis writes "Real quickie. Looking for people to participate in Linux ECC development. Coders, testers, etc. See the sales pitch at here"

Denis Oliver Kropp writes "Fischlustig and DOK-Ware are proud to announce the availability of the first version of AntiChrist for Linux. AntiChrist is an offensive violent 3D-Shooter that is availible for following platforms: Win32/OpenGL, Win32/Direct X (HAL & RAMP), Linux/Mesa/Glide. Requirements for the Linux version: 3dfx card, sound card, glide, mesa with 3dfx support, libpthreads. You can download the binary distribution here. "

Red Hat Software recently announced they will make their latest product, Red Hat Secure Web Server, available on May 21. The package will cost $99 and contains the Apache webserver (enchanced with RSA key technology), a search engine, log analysis software and the Netscape browser. Buyers also get a $25 discount for a certificate registration at Thawte Consulting.

Eric Leblanc sent us a link to 8hz which has a free mp3 encoder available that they claim is 30-60% faster than the usual suspects.

Krypto sent us a link toARGO, an car that can automatically drive itself, thanks to a P200 and of course, Linux. Very cool

Allright a couple a tidbits that I just wanted to throw out. First off, I am definately going to Linux Expo, and am really looking forward to it. The hard part is going to be posting Slashdot Stories while I'm there... hopefully I'll be able to get good net access from kind willing souls *grin*. Secondly, a bit furthur off is the Atlanta Linux Showcase coming in October. Greg Hankins has written a blurb plugging the event and asking for speakers and vendors- hit the link below for some gory details.

James Renken wrote in to warn everyone that the new devel kernel is available right where you would expect it.

Fict sent us a link to Linuxapps.com, another site aiming to organize the amazing number of applications available for everyone's favorite free OS written by a guy from Finland. This site has a lot of potential (as does each of the dozen sites that have popped up recently providing similiar services). It would be great if these guys could all work together and create a couple of definitive lists instead of a dozen decent lists.

Carlie Fairchild sent us a link to SSC's Open Systems Products Directory . Next, Sean Leach sent us a link to A PlanetQuake/Linux Article. Third Joe Pranevich sent us a link to his Linux Q&A site. He's collecting FAQs to provide a database of helpful information for Linux Users. He's seeking anyone interested in helping. Finally we have another Linux help site sent in by Jason James. This site is seeking folks willing to help field technical questions for users.

Alexandre wrote in to tell us that Jaques Gelina will be speaking at the Linux-Quebec UG tonight at 7pm to talk about LinuxConf- which will be included in RH5.1. You can read more at the LQUG Homepage (which seems to be down at the moment).

Yesterday Red Hat Software announced the $29.95 parallel supercomputer. This CD-ROM is the result of the a collaboration between NASA, Red Hat and a number of research centers. Extreme Linux (some of you will know it as "The Beowulf Project") is all the software you need (with source code, of course) to cluster several computers and create your own giant parallel processing unit. For more information on this, zap to the press release.

JeffL sent us a link to Builder.com where you can read Dan Schafer's latest revelation about Linux:It doesn't have GUI web tools. I don't see it as a huge problem (see Slashdot? I use vim5, and vim5 alone :) but it is definately a problem for newbies. NS Composer just doesn't cut it most of the time, and there aren't any other real options.

Eugenio Sanchez has written an editorial on what he thinks about Corel's recent announcements relating to Linux. Specifically, He talks about how the NetWinder is the first "Linux Computer" and why this is important. Interesting reading.

Linus "Mr. Universe" Torvalds, put Linux 2.1.101 right where it belongs. Updates this kernel include documentation updates, MAJOR ARM, m68k, MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, and SPARC 64 updates, as well as Acorn driver updates, RAID updates, Macintosh-specific updates, Sparc driver updates (including audio), and the tons of include file updates. That was a mouthful. Are we sure it's almost 2.2.0 time?

The Great Linux Experiment. The guys over at C|Net's Builder.Com are entering week 2 of Project Heresy. The technical guys over there are playing with Linux to test its viability as a real world OS. I have no doubts they'll catch some problems, but I know they'll be pleasantly surprised. Some RealAudio over there, too. Thanks to Marc Ewing for letting the world know.