Oracle will announce today Oracle 8i for Linux. It will be available within 60 days. They are also giving away 20,000 copies of an "early access CD" for the people who will register. RedHat will be showing a new portal this week (it's not available yet) which will include "everything that a Linux user need". Netscape will announce today the delivery of preview releases of Directory and Messanger servers for Linux.

Glen Raphael submitted this odd question a while ago: "Suppose I have a test tool running under Linux in an environment where the power is expected to die often and for long periods of time without any warning (and buying a UPS isn't an option). How can I make it safe to just turn off the power to the PC running Linux without properly shutting down?" So what is one to do when they want to run a Linux box and they can't trust their outlet?

Several people have written in with assorted notes about LinuxWorld Expo. I've heard rumblings of prizes for the show including a VW Bug from LinuxCare and even a Harley. I've attached a blurb from Robert McMillan about the show. Also, I've written up a bunch of notes about the Slashdot Booth at the show including a wish list: We need a few contacts in San Jose to help us find some stuff for the show. Somebody has to have this stuff just sitting around, so hit the link if you wanna help.

Fudge.Org writes "There is a promo link on CNNFN.COM. It mentions RedHat being born in a garage and/or college dorm, and how it will topple the Bill Gates empire. The article should show up some time today. " Someone yell when this link goes live.

An anonymous reader writes "rawhide.redhat.com has finally put the 2.2.1 RPMS on their site. It seems to be Kernel 2.2.1 release 3. "

An anonymous reader "Red Hat has a set of update rpms that are apparently intended to make 5.2 fully compatible with the 2.2 kernels. (I've been using 2.2.1 since it was released with no ill effects anyway...) " I'm posting this just so people stop emailing me and asking. Besides, the rpms seem to be worki

Maybe its because I consider myself an artist, a coder, and a designer. Maybe its because I worked as a commercial programmer in an ad agency surrounded by talented designers. And maybe its because I served out my studio art minor surrounded by talented artists. Maybe its because I wrote free code in my spare time, but this feature Oskar Pearson struck a chord in me. It talks about Art vs. Design, and Commercial Code vs. Free Code. Something to think about.

Kragen Sitaker has written a brutal reply to the story Sengan posted yesterday on the The Open Source Acid Test. It goes down and point by point shows the factual errors and fud in the story. It pleases me greatly to post this feature. Check it out.

Daniel Roberts wants to know about the following:: "I am running Red Hat 5.2, and I have been trying to upgrade to 2.2 since pre1. My problem is, I have read through the "Changes" file very carefully, and tried to upgrade all the needed packages... But it still won't work. I am looking for binary RPMs whenever I can, but even Raw Hide does not seem to have all the needed updates to make it work. In particular, I cannot get libc5.4.46 to work, for some reason, even though I've tried to install the binary tar version. My question is: what do I need to do to get Linux 2.2.0 working properly with a stock Red Hat 5.2 system??" Update: 02/12 03:02 by C : I've just discoveded information about "Project Tango" which may be the answer to this question. Thanks to Palin for the heads up.

NikoDemous writes " Red Hat Software has certified a line of Dell Workstations and Servers as compatible with Red Hat Linux. We've heard some talk of this for some time so does this represent a rift in the Win/Dell relationship?"

Ed Bailey wrote in to say that the Linux-7K project to get Linux on the Psion has started Bearing Fruit Fict sent in a link to LinuxApps which recently got a recamp. Looks strangely familiar GVeloper wrote in to say that gdev has been revamped (to use Slash) as well as containing some comments about glide and glade possibly merging. Lincoln sent us a link to a CG short parody of the politics of sfx which will be of interest to Star Wars fans. my copy of xanim won't play it, but several people told me it's really excellent. freejack wrote in to say that the Star Tribune rated Slashdot in top sites for geek gossip mongers. Whatever that means. Shave sent in a link to Jerry Pournelle's web site a where he talks about Refund Day and Slashdot (and neither in particularly cheerful terms) And finally, for the gamers out there, mgix sent a link to a N64 Emulator that can do Zelda64. That game has been a staple in the Geekhouse for weeks now. Addictive.

NYC writes " Definitely check out this site. The web site is running of a computer measuring 2.7" by 1.7" by .25" for a volume of about a cubic inch. The processor is an AMD 486-SX with 16MB of RAM running RedHat 5.2. Super Cool." Update: 01/25 01:12 by CT : Didn't take long: It got cracked and taken down a few hours ago.

Jon Frisby wrote in to plug his Linux Based and Linux Focued Job Search Engine Brain Power. gr0k sent us a goofy rap by Netmaster 10baseT which you might enjoy, but then again, you may not. I laughed outloud. I was also unable to maintain enough beat to rap along. Mr. Black sent us a link to Stairway to Middle Earth: a page that tracks Tolkein/Zeppelin References. Believe it or not. Hans sent us a link to Stormtrouper Costume HOWTO. Suddenly my fashion sense seems award winning. And finally, Adam Wright wrote in to send us an amusing anecdote: "Some people claim that RedHat Linux 5.2 is not easy to install. Well, my roommate Andy Burchett, has decided to prove those poor lost souls wrong. He installed RH5.2 with his nose. Yes, he used his nose to type ALL stuff for the installation. The installation was started at 10:47pm EST, and was concluded at 11:24pm EST. Andy encourages all Linux users to try using their Linux in new and different ways."

Having survived mysterious apostrophes and commas in my columns, weeks of flame wars and assaults from hostile geek warriors, large and expensive Linux handbooks, and useful, enlightening and conflicting suggestions from friendly Slashdotters, a Linux Box was delivered this week to my house this week. Technology being what it is, that's only the beginning of the story, which quickly came to involve CompUSA (the literal incarnation of computer Hell) my yellow lab, a geek hero and a computer savagely assaulted by an overnight delivery service. And I haven't even gotten to Linux yet. Johnny Depp, are you reading this?

Bert de Bruijn writes "As Red Hat prepares all RawHide packages for RedHat 6.0 (codename "BlueSky"), support is being added for the ARM architecture. Obviously, Red Hat Software plans to release the next version of their distribution for the ARM architecture (Corel Netwinder & co.)" I dunno if this is proof but it looks hopeful.

Jeremy Lee has contributed another feature to Slashdot. This one attempts to address some of the issues surrounding the new commercialization of Linux and Open Source. This is a really good piece that raises a lot of good issues worth thinking about. A must read.

emptybody was the first of you to write in with this PC Week story that Compaq is about to ship RedHat 5.2 bundled on some of its servers, and provide 24-by-7 support for them. This apparently will save time for them, since they currently pre-load Linux by hand. If this is becoming a problem, it suggests demand for Linux Servers is increasing. Gateway also expects to deliver such servers by the end of the year. Kim Brown, an analyst at Dataquest Inc, says this means Compaq is walking away from SCO, and that Linux is starting to be acknowledged as the low-end Unix alternative.

rdsmith writes "This week's Info World has a short article on Linux and its growth over the past few years. It makes a couple of mentions of ESR and the Halloween document. Although the article bases Linux's growth on numbers provided by Redhat, it's still good press for Linux. "

Andy Tai writes "This InfoWorld story reports on RedHat's choice of GNOME as the desktop for the next version of its Redhat Linux. While the story is nothing new, this is a sign that GNOME has captured "mainstream" attention." The IDC analyst quoted does not seem to realize that GNOME is optional.

Panu Hällfors writes "The first one installfest ever in Finland takes place in Ulvila from 16. to 17. January. I'm expecting something like 60 to 70 new installs and of course about as much experienced users to drop by to lend a hand to new users. We'll probably install mainly the new RedHat derivate SOT-Linux which is translated to Finnish. More info can be found on the Internet site of the event, "> here (In Finnish and *only accesible from Finland*) "