Chris Tyler writes "The Portland Group has announced plans to develop parallelizing compilers for Linux on IA-64 (i.e., the next generation of Linux Beowolf clusters using Merced processors). Corel thin clients on the low end, the next generation of supercomputers on the other... looks Linux has got the whole spectrum covered! "

Larry Pisani wrote in to tell everyone to check out news.com. They are running some major stuff on all the recent happenings in the Linux world. Check it out.

Roy Stogner asked me to tell everyone that The Linux Web Map has moved to a new location. TLWM is another site tracking urls related to Linux. The nice thing is Roy's descriptions of the sites in the database. Quite helpful information in many cases. Anyway, update those bookmarks (and if you've never visited, check it out)

Per Wigren writes " This article on O'Reilly is from April, but I've not seen it on Slashdot before and it's a really great article about Linux running on so many architectures... "

Linus, being the generous man he is, uploaded Linux 2.1.100 to the usual place. An 859k uncompressed patch, it contains mainly IPNG updates, many header file updates, ext2fs updates, and countless other small changes, including tons of driver updates.

Corel has announced that they are going to support Linux, by porting all their apps, and opening up the development on their Linux based NetWinder NC. I'm pleased to see Corel throwing its weight behind Linux- the comments they made are amazingly positive, they really are committing themselves to Linux in a quite big way. Very cool. I'm quite excited. This is almost the coolest thing they could do. A log is available of the announcement.

Puffin writes "Some friends of mine at the EngSoc Project at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada will be in the Corel announcement with a notebook and will be relaying live details as they are announced on LinuxNet IRC (#Corel on irc.cabi.net or linux.mit.edu). It starts at 7pm EDT, 2am GMT. More details are at here. " No matter what the announcement, I'm excited to see Corel joining the growing list of companies that are formally willing to support Open Source. I don't expect an announcement as exciting as Mozilla, but I expect it's going to be cool. Update Everyone should be in #corel intead of #linux on LinuxNET this evening. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there at 7pm.

Stan Seibert has written a piece addressing a very key issue in the Linux community. In the beginning there was Linus. Back then, 100% of the users contributed to Linux. As it grew, the percentage of programmers dropped as the number of 'end users' grew. This will only continue as Linux grows. This is great because it means that proves that Linux is more than just a hacker's OS. But the growing number of users unable to actively contribute puts more pressure on developers (email pleas for help, bugs discovered, feature requests etc). The Linux community needs to adapt to this in order to succeed. Hit the link below and read what Stan has to say about it.

Jason Boyles sent us A Link to ComputerWorld Hong Kong where you can read about Linux's use over there. It's a fairly positive piece- although it is a week old I figured I'd still run it. It touches on a lot of the key issues in a way that you don't see very often. Not an essential read for the hardcore, but it may be the sort of article you can forward to the PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) if you've been discussing the possibility of using Linux somewhere in the office.

Matthew Miller writes "ZDNet's 'InfoBeads' has an article about server hardware and software used at ISPs. They show Linux at 26.1%, and have a few interesting-to-hear-from-the-mainstream comments. " I wouldn't have guessed that high- I just assumed my immediatecircle of ISP Linux running friends were a more thinly scattered bunch.

Ok, I'm warning everyone right up front that this is the sort of editorial that might raise a lot of eyebrows, and might start tempers going. Kevin Forge has written a piece on the Crusher App- an application that is superior to its rivals. Specifically, he talks about the Crusher App, and why Oracle is staying away from Linux. What Kevin suggests strikes me as quite possible, not necessarily with Oracle, but with other companies as well, and that's why I'm posting it. Its a major obstacle for Open Source to overcome. Read Kevin's bit, and let's hear what you have to say.

ABeZ has written an editorial on a topic that is very dear to my heart these days- the Evils of Advocacy. Sometimes Linux users go to far in their efforts to support their idealizes free universe, and that very advocacy is what is preventing Linux from being the Mainstream Alternative that we know it can be. My biggest fear for Slashdot is that it is amplifying the problem instead of helping. Hit the link below to read ABeZ's words on the topic. Its a bit rough, but its important to read.

This has been a hot topic for some time now. but I'm curious what everyone has to say about it. We have an array of formats- .rpm, .deb, .tgz, and now .slp? We also have variations of each (Source, x86 Binary, Alpha Binary etc etc) and this is getting crazy. Each has pros and cons, but isn't this an issue that we need to resolve? Hit the link below to read some thoughts. (note:This is the first time I've posted an article with just something to think about, is this a good/bad thing? Should I instead write a whole editorial or is this enough to seed conversation? Email me)

Matt Wood writes "The Linux Development team is pleased to announce the latest release of the Stampede Linux Distribution, version 0.79. This release includes many bugfixes, more packages, later versions of software, and a much easier install (than previous versions.) " You can download Stampede 0.79, try one of the many Stampede mirrors, read The Stampede install guide , or grab Stampede Updates.

Steve Rojem sent us a Sm@rt Reseller article where you can read about Netscape and Linux. The main point of the article is that other companies haven't joined in. Well, Corel seems to be making a step with their VNC, but Oracle and Informix are holding back. The negative comments are typical: Accountability (unfair because RedHat and Caldera will support Linux systems) Demand (Considering there are as many as 10 million Linux Boxes, I question this) and Lack of Central Marketing Push (a valid pointy haired reason, but certainly not a real reason). Mike Saranga, Informix's senior VP, says they do 16 ports right now, but won't do another unless it makes sense. Considering Linux is the fastest growing Unix, and soon will be the largest *nix, I wonder if it will "Make Sense" in time to give Informix a chance against Mysql, mSQL and PostgreSQL. Is it to late for the normal Commercial Databases on Linux? I know you guys use databases... what do you think?

Robert Owens wrote in to tell us to check the Kirc Page for a rant by Aaron Granick, creator of Kirc, who is going through something to many of us have experienced. With a flood of email complaining about problems, and no chance to make any money back, sometimes an Open Source developer can get really burned out. (I wish I had more time to fix all of My Stuff, it really gets disheartening sometimes). He also talks about lack of standardization of X tool kits, as well as the downside of KDE. It's a heartfelt bit that a lot of us can sympathize witih.

Simon Karpen sent us a link to Nick Petreley's Latest InfoWorld Column. It is a moderately cheesy detective story, but I guess since Dvorak just did a stage play, this is normal behavior for mainstream computer press columnists. Petreley is cool: he has written a lot of positive Linux stuff before, so I tend to cut him a lot of slack... Anyway, he talks about something that many of us have gone through- trying to debug some crazy kernel device driver problem. (In this case, its a 3com 3c905b). There's a even a nice happy ending. Oh, and I've decided that my next editorial will be instead be a Performance Piece- I'll dance suspended by chains 6 feet above a stage to protest the suffering I've had with my laptop's sound support and 2.1.99 kernels. Gotta do something to keep up... *grin*.

Oliver Maruhn writes "I would like to use Slashdot to announce the recent improvements, I have done to Linux Ftp Watcher. Now lfw monitores more than 100,000 different files sorted in over 100 sections. It shows the newest files of each day and it has two powerful search engines for filenames and file descriptions. If you are searching for some file, you will probably find it here"

David F. Skoll writes "ISDMag has another editorial about Linux and electronic design automation -- the second in a row. In the article, editor Jonah McLeod says that "Readers are speaking out loud and clear for Linux, but the EDA software and hardware vendors are hearing-challenged." It's a great read. If anyone is going to the 35th Design Automation Conference in San Francisco, maybe we should have a Linux EDA BOF session? "

thi wrote in to give us This link where you can read about a Internet Aware fridge. The prototype runs win95, but the next version will adopt Linux. Shell prompts on your home appliances? Uber cool.