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philby sent us a link to another site offering some pretty crazy case designs. The end of beige is almost in site. Several of these are quite cool, although the strangest one is call The Penguin. You gotta see that one.

Active writes "Internic has a potentially major bug on it's hands: thousands of domains are showing up as not registered, from Microsoft.com to ESPN.com. Even slashdot.org and linux.com are showing up as not registered. I've tested it out and it let me register news.com and others. Many domains are showed up as registered. Apple.com, for example, is correct."

griffjon presents this interesting query: "For those /.ers in the softer, squishier sciences (biology, neurology, etc.) , has anyone ever determined the approximate bandwidth of a nerve fiber?"

Anonymous Coward writes "Slink's release has been delayed one week due to a problem with dpkg. Dpkg can fail when the locale is set to a non-default setting. Here's the news release. " Those nice guys over at Debian are actually right next to us in Boothland. Anyway, they're saying that they just want to be sure about upgrading, and working with folks with laptops. Alright, all of you who keep e-mailing me-I know this was annouced before. But I figured we'd do something for the Debian guys, and assure everyone it's not a big deal, and the reasons.

korc writes "Looks like Google has gone from it's rather long alpha stage to Beta. Looks like they expanded their pages and hey, they're hiring! " Also amusing to me is that their cached version of Slashdot is from October. But it is all running on Linux.

dillon_rinker writes " In a nutshell, the SEC says that if web sites require a name and personal information in exchange for otherwise free stock, they are actually selling the stock. IAKAL, but this strikes me as a Good Thing in terms of privacy protection. There is little in US law that protects invasion of privacy by corporations. If the govt says personal information is valuable, I would think it would be easier to protect it, given the materialistic orientation of US law. " So, essentially you can't "give" the stock away-the SEC says you are selling it-it's just personal information that's the monetary unit. It's an interesting idea-by making your personal information into something with an intrinsic value, you can "creatively" use other portions of the law to defend personal privacy.

seizer writes "For a while now, the assumption has been that ISPs get "common carrier" status, although it isn't enshrined in law. That is, like telephone companies, they are not liable for the uses to which the network is put. So check out this Wired story, where Mr Laurence Godfrey wants to take on UK ISP Demon over a spoofed Usenet posting in his name." I got a phone call from Bill Clinton yesterday that I think was a hoax. I wanna sue Ameritech. Wonder how long this will last?

Crocodile wrote in to say that x11amp 0.9 alpha2 is out for those of you MP3 junkies out there. Remember that article awhile back about the pictures from Pi? JHoyt sent us a link to a script fu script that will do it. Neato. Infinite background possibilities. Jeff Davis sent us a link to Beowulf Underground, a new news site for those interested in news revolving around Beowulf Linux Clusters. From the random Slashdot Mainstream References box, we've got a bit Stephen Horne sent at ABC News article on the Windows Refunds. Yippee. Now that the boring old serious stuff is out of the way, let's take a break.

Ok, that's enough. Now some funny stuff to help end your day on a good note. The Cunctator sent us link that can only be described as the hamster dance. GloiDemon sent us a link to DrZaius.com, a new humor site. How can you resist Dr Zaius? Phil Gregory sent us a link to a Segfaultstory called the Gospel of Tux. Check it out. Rishi Hemrajani sent us a link to a book that everyone should own. I think we posted this a few months ago, but it warrants a rerun.

Vertigo1 writes "The Grateful Dead are releasing their next album in MP3 Format" Not surprising considering they actually encourage bootlegging. But more importantly, another group (albeit a somewhat defunct one) hobbing on the bandwagon. A little bit more intertia to help push the industry towards the inevitable.

Phil Gross writes "InfoWorld's Robert X. Cringely is reporting that the US Air Force is considering adding Linux to the list of potential standard military operating systems. It seems the U.S. Air Force has recognized the significance of the momentum behind Linux, according to one reader. Apparently it is asking developers and users if they would be interested in a Defense Information Infrastructure-Common Open Environment (DII COE) segment for Linux. If there is enough interest, Linux would become an "official" operating system for military computers.' I'd love to get more details on this. "
In related news, Wired is reporting the Navy is reconsidering its use of NT: " the Navy said that while Windows NT was specified in the Statement of Work as the operating system for the workstations in question, other components of a coming upgrade will primarily utilize Unix-based systems. The source said. "I don't think that Unix or NT were ever really evaluated -- it was just somebody thinking this was good, with no knowledge"". Thanks to brentbent

IcePick writes " Solid State Hard Drives made by Quantum. Installs and is recognized as a regular hard drive. Has a seek time of under 60 micro-seconds. Imagine using it as a swap disk for Windoze or other programs that need swap files. Some versions are even Non-Volatile! I wonder why Quantum has been so quiet about them? "

Gentry writes "Researchers tout 125 MB throughput by applying chaos theory to fiberoptic data transmission. Certainly still a conceptual technology, but the article outlines some interesting potential. "

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.

Robert Flemming wrote in to say that KDE 1.1pre2 is out. I also noticed that GNOME has 0.99.3 RPMs available now if you're into that. LoCoPuff sent us a link to a CNN article about theWindows Refund that mentions Slashdot and quotes me (cough cough). Nate wrote in to say "Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies" meet the Everything 2 code in The Oblique Strategies Garden. Indeterminacy=fun. " Robert Dale sent us a parody of Iggy Pop's Lust for Life called Lust For Linux (surprise) For todays Star Wars bits, Alan Shutko sent us a link to pictures of Official Star Wars Legos. And the todays flashback comes from The_Black_Macrame who sent a link to the complete errata list from the original Star Wars. It's an oldie, but a goodie. hangman got bored and decided to trash a DEC 2100 and post pictures. Check it out if you're into computer mutilation. An anonymous reader sent us a link to one image you don't want to see on an ATM. And lastly, jhack sent us a link to a nice little page on painting your mac black if you happen to think that blue color is a bit excessive. The final results are pretty sharp. Now stop reading quickies and go compile your 2.2 kernel.

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.

Jason Chaw writes "@Home buys Excite in an all stock deal worth $6.7billion dollars. Hmm. portals are getting expensive these days. Let's see, AOL / Netcentre, @Home / Excite. hmm Maybe Microsoft / Yahoo?"

gman has started a new site, linuxhardware.net in an effort to create help newbies learn and share information about Linux and Hardware. nickm an insane link designed to bring arts and culture to the Unix community. Apparently Dogman has created a hilarious page entitled "Installing a network PostScript printer on a Sun workstation running SunOS As illustrated through interpretive dance. Whoever said learning can't be fun never saw this. Or maybe they did and just created a mental block so they didn't have to think about that guy dancing. Jerome ALET sent us a link to the Linux Slogans Database Matthew Astley wrote in to where you can buy 25x25mm self-adhesive domed plastic badges featuring Tux to attach to your computer case in that little logo spot. The Phly sent in links to a new Bible for Linux page is up. jgalun wrote in to send us a link to a Washington Post that comapres Sys Admin Salaries average system admin salaries, in which they note that Mac sys admins seem to make very little. Hmm, wonder why...Also noted is that Linux sys admins had the greatest pay raises last year. More to come, hopefully! darius sent us a link to the new apple ad campaign which features the one, the only, HAL 9000. BigZaphod wriote in to announce a new games site:Legions. And rounding in to the more tasteless part of the quickies, kweiheri sent us an great parody of realdoll.com- except this one is (ahem) realhamster.com. What is this world coming to? GraZZ wrote in to send us an amusing parody of Star Wars and the Starr Thing.

FalconRed writes "Found in the December 21st Issue of US News and World Report; apparently while not watching Saddam Hussein, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) "will use its satellite and radar network to plot Santa for 24 hours, starting at 7am EST on December 24th. Look for... photos from fighter jets greeting Santa as he enters North American airspace." I want an SDI outpost for Christmas, mommy! Check it out here " Ok... I thought NORAD's involvement a hoax until I went to NORAD's Website. updated apparently "this" was ambiguous, so now it says "NORAD's involvement".

If you're bored, there's a ton of strange links on the next page, selected by the warped minds of my slashdot co-authors ;-).

tom writes various stuffed Tux's (including a 1m high one), BSD Daemons and a TeX Lion at link (under "Un*x fan shop" and "ZU DEN ARTIKELN" - unfortunately the site's in German, but they speak English). Excellent quality, IMHO.

Robert Ennals writes A writer for the guardian/observer has a mention of one of their articles being linked from slashdot and considers this honour to be the "nearest I'll get to a Nobel prize" link

Kam writes Furniture Porn. Not much else to say... link

Louis Bertrand writes The December issue of DaemonNews, the monthly ezine devoted to the three open-source BSD operating systems (FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD) is available at link

SpaceDust writes No URL on this one, and not sure if it is really a /. thing. A friend who works at EA, tells me they are currently in Beta for Sim City 3000. Supported platforms will be Windows (mid Jan) and MacOS (in 6 months) I guess Linux gets squat (though, the /. effect may convince them otherwise) It's not too much different than "SC2k" except for a couple of new buildings, an improved interface, and now you have to manage garbage as well. They're in late Beta now, it's pretty stable and most of the major problems have been resolved but it still needs some tuning.

Josh Mast writes According to ,"> link A new opensource DOOM port has been started. "The Open Gaming Resource Engine project has been launched. This is a manifestation of the "Merger" project among members of leading DOOM source code projects, and will be an open source project. Looks nifty, maybe we'll finally have a decent port of DOOM for Linux now.

che guevara writes You bet it!!! I was surfing around on Camneerg- and saw this site that has an iMac that was hacked for a disk drive. You can get some info here, but don't try this if you don't want to void your warranty! Peace.

Brent Dearth writes ever since i got their demo tape at an underworld site, i've been searching for Market's webpage. well, i found it, and they have a couple mp3's full length for download. not really news, but i recall Hemos having good taste in music. link (sorry didn't paste)

Ben Smith writes The Onion has a silly little iMac joke in their new issue. In the left side column they have a neon blue stapler, and the caption says " New Stapler Makes All Other Staplers Look Like Worthless Shit". Good for a midday laugh.

Anonymous Coward writes Steven Hawking will appear on the Simpsons. Go figure. link

Anonymous Coward writes Kinda slow site.. (geocities) but well worth it :))))) link

Anonymous Coward writes More GNOME screenshots are available on the GNOME web site.

When I put out my call for Geek Christmas Gift ideas, I had no idea what I was in for. But after the storm of email that followed was washed away, I was left with a list of toys that any geek would be excited to give or get this year for whatever holiday it is you celebrate this time of year. Hit the link below and read the list if you're curious. Random Stuff There were a few things that were suggested, that, well, I bet Santa won't come through for them. Hemos asks for Nanites. Thats all he wants. Nanites. Somebody smack him. Nima Negahban says "I would like the beowolf cluster avalon for christmas, dont worry about it fitting it under the tree. " david yates wrote in and simply said "Half naked Princess Leia ,as Jabba's prisoner, action figure." I'm sure his mother is proud. He can have the Action Figure, I want 1976 Carrie Fisher. Games Everyone and their brother wrote in to say that Nintendo 64's and Playstations are great. And the game of choice is definitely Zelda 64. I second that motion. I suggested it to my dad as a Christmas Present. Terrible idea- now I gotta wait until xmas to find out if he got it, and if he *didn't* I gotta buy in on Dec 26. Hard as hell to find. Folks suggested other things like the original Kings Quest or Leisure Suit Larry. Prince of Persia. Commander Keen. Ultima. All those games that aren't around any more, but with their original packaging. Finding a 5.25" drive to play them with might be a tad tricky tho. Clothing It's a well known fact that its better to be clothed at least part of the time. And no self respecting geek should be without a vast array of appropriately political t-shirts to pad out your closet full of suits, jackets, and ties (cough). Daniel suggested checking out the Free BSD Mall for BSD clothing. Jonathan Moore suggested the ever popular KMFMS t-shirts for your local microsoft hater. If thats a bit to exotic for you, how about the classic that Doug Boettcher sent us: the Hack Naked shirt. Since we're mentioning all these t-shirts, we ought to mention that CopyLeft has several shirts including my Don't Fear the Penguins ones, and Slashdot ones too. Software Several folks wrote in to say that they were buying Linux CDs from any of the various places that sell them, and giving them away to the needy. I tend towards Linux Central, and in addition to them Cheap Bytes OpenBsd.org and The Linux Mall were all suggested as places where you can buy the stuff we like. Hardware By far the largest catagory for gift ideas was of course Hardware:The Gift that Costs to much. Of course, anyone would want a a Palm III- it's hard to think of a better stocking stuffer. And besides, they're practically money in the bank now that you can use them to collect automobiles of the rich and famous. But if you've already got a Pilot, James A. Hillyerd suggests a GoType keyboard as the perfect accessory. If the pilot isn't your bag, but you want to read on the road, Mahlen Morris suggested A Rocket E-Book which is basically a tablet computer that is designed to replace books You can get them here. And apparently they have some sort of deal with Barnes & Nobles so you can get content to read on it. They're pretty sweet looking- someday we'll have a wireless version with net access, then we can forget paper. But for now, this'll do.

Have trouble remembering passwords? Digital Persona sells sweet hardware that that you can use to do finger print identification. Suggested by Andrew Lepisto. The pdQ was suggested by Adam D. McKenna. Its a cel phone with an integrated Pilot. Another fairly common suggestion for geek gifts was cel service from your local provider, and a cel modem for the laptop equipped gift getter. Sean McPherson suggested a Kodak DC210+ digital camera. Saves big bucks on film, and is supposed to be supported by SANE. I'm actually planning on getting a Digital Camera before the upcoming string of conferences, and I'll probably look at this one (unless Santa already has one in his bag for me, although at $400 a pop, I highly doubt it) Steven McDonald suggests that we look at DVD RAM Drives as a new huge backup device for storing your MP3s and Porn. Oh, and legit data too.

Mike Miller sent us several suggestions including the Happy Hacking Keyboard. I played with one at ALS- they're not bad. Just as cool are the new Color Gamesboys. I suppose tetris wouldn't be vastly improved by color, but its still pretty sweet. For those with a hugeass budget, How about your very own Alpha Cluster? Obviously Jakob is a lot more hopeful for Saint Nick than I am this year *grin*. How about a vt320 Terminal? Daniel Morrison suggested it, and I think it sounds pretty cool. I had a terminal attached to one of my Linux boxes for awhile. I Let it tail log files and stuff. Kinda fun for reading documentation and stuff too. Can't afford a Multi-Head X-Server, video card, and spare monitor anyway. Plus you can run them into another room and check your email from your kitchen/dining room/bathroom.

Matthew J. Allen sent us a pricey one, but its oh so sweet: Remember those Huge Flat LCD Screens from SGI? I sure do. I wake up after erotic dreams about them. (SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE:Hey SGI: Give Rob one of those things for banner ads. You've got a spare one just sitting around, right?). Matthew also suggested an Iomega Clik Drive if you're on a more reasonable budget. Those things do look pretty sweet. Do cables piss you off? How about the gift of a tangle free workspace? Scott Donovan sent us a link to Cordless Mice and Keyboards from Logitech that will free you up for spinning on your swivel chair really fast until you fall over from getting dizzy instead of getting tangled up in your keyboard cable.

Toys By far the single most suggested toy of all was the Lego Mindstorms. The robotic legos are quite possibly the coolest toy in the history of toys. They aren't cheap, but they are oh so sweet. Else you could consider X-Files Action Figures suggested by E. Waugh. Home Entertainment and Audio Gear The Panasonic Portable DVD Theater was sent in by Joel Telling. Its a tiny portable DVD player obviously designed to make me froth at the mouth like a rabid dog. Several folks wrote in to suggest something I would like, but I wouldn't want to froth on. The Empeg Car CD Player. We've mentioned this before, and although they won't be ready for christmas, they are pretty amazing. 2.1 gigs of MP3s in a car stereo. They need a 9 gig version mounted in a home stereo component too.

Jon Jones (is that a real name? *grin*) wrote in to send a link to ADB I/O which you can use to automate your home for the ultimate in comfort and/or laziness. For the true audio junkie, how about the THX Speakers sent in by Chad R. Henry. Sure, they cost more than my car, but I bet they sound amazing. If you're on a more modest budget Cambridge SoundWorks has some slightly more reasonably priced speakers that I'm told sound awesome. Andrew Hobgood suggests checking out Panasonic SJ-MJ70 MiniDisc Player (portable). Pretty sweet if you aren't willing to chance it on the Diamond Rio (which was also one of the most common suggestions). Frankly any geek should be excited to get either. Rob Sheehy pointed out that Philips has 42 inch widescreen flat TVs that you could hang on your wall if you happen to be rich and wanna watch letterbox movies. This one has a VGA input too.

Random Terry A. Braun suggests that geeks need to get into making our own beer. Sounds like a great idea to me, although I tend to screw up toast. But if you're man enough to try it, you can get Your Own Grain Mill. Alan Mathews wrote in to suggest a A dilbert M&M dispensor McPhee's has some strange stuff, including a Punching Nun suggested by Glen Lipka Tom Berger suggested A VI Command Set Mug STriker RedWolf sent us a link to a chocolate bar shaped like a Pentuim II Chip.

Jason Grundy suggests the $6 card game Kill Dr. Lucky and a Card both from the aptly titled Cheapass.com. Rob Pelkey sent in a pair of gift ideas that are a world apart. The first is An Authentic Moon Rock and the second is a Jesse Ventura T-Shirt or Bumper Sticker. One is probably worth a little more than the other. The concept kitchen has this wierd Finger Stylus Thingee that you can use instead of a pen for some pen machines. Kinda wacky. Sent to us by Wyatt Earp.

Justin Higgins suggests that geeks should all own a copy of the Star Wars Radio Drama. Sure, it costs almost a hundred bucks, but at 15 CDs, it balances out to almost be a bargain. They ought to package it on 1 CD full of MP3s, throw a copy of the script on the disc and sell it for $20. I'd never heard of the Leatherman Wave before, but several folks emailed me to say they are cool. And then I noticed that they were actually advertising here. Shows how much attention I pay to who advertises on my own site I guess. But still several people raved about them, claiming that they're ideal for mucking around inside computer cases with. And Traci Earl sent a link to a site that makes nice Leather Cases for them.

Do you think stuffed animals are stupid? Well how about a Stuffed Plush Space Shuttle? Dave Brunberg sent us that gem. Stirling Westrup sent in a link to something called the Hoberman Sphere which basically is a crazily designed sphere thingee that expands from 9.5" to 30". Crazy looking. If you're looking for something caffienated that you can put in your mouth, several folks reminded us about caffienated penguin mints.

Wrap Up Well this was fun guys. Spending hours looking at crazy things that I can't afford has convinced me to take up cracking banks as an evening hobby. But what is quite obvious is that 1998 is a good year to be a geek. And maybe in 1999 Hemos can have his nanites. Nah.

And lastly, with all the commercial hub bub that tends to go on during this season, don't forget the true meaning of Christmas: Ham.

Pedro Picasso writes "After mentioning correct "Cracker" terminology in ESR report a couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post turns around and prints a fearsome article about one of those dangerous "California Hackers"

strredwolf wrote in to send us a link to Raven Software's John Scott's .plan on Blue's News . It says "Linux version. We are all Windows peeps here at Raven. We are extremely unlikely to do one, although subcontracting this out may be an option. What is involved in doing a Linux port ? All our servers are NT based, so testing would be another problem." You can e-mail him through the .plan link above.

SuperDuck writes "Creation Records (a UK record label with 49% backing from Sony) is aiming to create its own digital music distribution system to counteract the current popularity of formats such as MP3's. Alan McGee, Creation's chairman and a prominent Labour supporter, was criticised by other record label heads this summer for predicting that the internet would destroy the music industry in its present form. " This one requires a login to read.

signal7 writes "Just saw press release over at Xerox's site for a 19" flat panel display. It's meant for medical applications and it's greyscale, but over 5 million pixels is a leap for flat panel technology. "

cluening writes "This week at PEST are a slew of wonderful Lego death scenes, sure to prove that Legos aren't just for kids... " The carnage! Oh lord, the carnage! Sorry, its monday. I think things are funnier right before class.

Brandon Kozumplik writes in with another one of those difficult questions: "Aside from the fact the Microsoft would like us all to pretend that NT 4.0 is impervious to viruses, can you tell me what viruses exist that have been created soley to affect NT 4.0? My current searches just turn up anti-virus software, but no detail is given as to what particular viruses exist that have been created for NT 4.0, or for that matter, what the known viruses do. Can you help to educate me in this area?" Brandon continues...

"It just so happens that I have to write a report on NT related viruses and I keep running into dead-ends. I am familiar with the typical boot-sector and floppy transferable viruses, but was wondering if others exist that might be less known, but more deadly."

A couple of things: Understand that I did not post this article as a license to Microsoft bash, I posted this as a legitimate question a Slashdot reader submitted, so please post accordingly. I shouldn't have to say this, but I am: "Be nice."

Secondly, remember that NT is not solely on the x86 platform, but also on the Alpha as well (is there another NT port out there?) . I would seriously doubt that there are cross-platform NT viruses, but this is only AFAIK goes and my knowledge base is known to have a few holes in it *grin!*

Interesting question! And even I am curious about the answers to this one. It would surprise me if such critters existed...

Post away!

CMiYC writes "James Lewis, a strong Linux advocate, has posted a response to the (now) popular ABCnews article. I am submitting this because, this email response shows a "correct" response to writers who down Linux. (This is opposed to the "windows sucks, linux rulez, dumba$$--response that I see quite often.) [It is me, or is the sudden negative press signs of fear?]"

woot wrote in to send us a new ZDNet article on Win2000 vs Linux. It's a pretty good article all things considered. Good to read.

Duane Morin writes in with this pressing issue he would like some information on: "I recently did a series of articles for a security magazine, and they've approached me to do a series on Linux security. Specifically, businesses that are using Linux to provide web storefronts, and the associated issues that are involved. And it occurred to me that although I know where to get links for businesses that use Linux (such as the Post Office), I don't know where to find out about businesses that are actually hosting their storefronts using it. Can you point me to some places where I might find this information?" Click below for the rest... Duane continues:

"Some specifics : What's the best secure webserver solution? Does it have all the same options as, say, Netscape Enterprise Server (i.e. 128bit SSL, personal digital certs, etc..)? Do you house customer/product data on another machine, or is it safe to keep it on the web server box? Can you remotely administer your site, without leaving the door open to hackers? How? Are there any pressing reasons other than cost to use Linux over Solaris?

Thanks for any info!"

A reader has been zooming emails with me for awhile about Lotus Notes & Linux. He has created an alias that you can email him with (not his real address). He's looking for feedback about Linux and Notes. Hit the link to read his request. Lotus_Notes writes "I am currently in discussions with my technical peers at Lotus Development, and the question has been raised about Linux, and Lotus Domino running on the Linux platform. From what I understand one of the business units went so far to say that they are actually considering a port to Linux, they are still quite a few steps short of actually developing it.

Basically, I need to get a listing of how many people are interested in this idea, and some feedback on these issues. If you are interested, and you can answer these questions truthfully, then please respond with the answers to these questions to lotus_notes@hotmail.com.

Thank you.

• Would you be interested in running Lotus Notes on Linux?
• Are you a current user of Lotus Notes, on any other platform?
• How many seats do you currently host on Lotus Notes?
• How would you like to see Lotus Notes released? As a full binary, binary + source, or source? Be aware that the odds of anything other than a full binary release is unlikely. Also I believe that it is extremely unlikely that Lotus Notes will ever be GPL.
• When calling Lotus Technical Support Services (TSS), what exactly would you expect when calling for Support on a Linux-based version of Lotus Notes?
• Would you consider Lotus Notes running on Linux as a Mission Critical platform (as Windows NT, or Solaris)?
• Approximately how many users does your site/location/enterprise represent?
• What business is your company involved in?
• Would you be interested in being contacted for followup questions on running Lotus Notes on Linux? What is your Email-address.
• Is clustering, or Notes partitions a valuable/required feature for running Lotus Notes on Linux? "

A reader has been zooming emails with me for awhile about Lotus Notes & Linux. He has created an alias that you can email him with (not his real address). He's looking for feedback about Linux and Notes. Hit the link to read his request. Lotus_Notes writes "I am currently in discussions with my technical peers at Lotus Development, and the question has been raised about Linux, and Lotus Domino running on the Linux platform. From what I understand one of the business units went so far to say that they are actually considering a port to Linux, they are still quite a few steps short of actually developing it.

Basically, I need to get a listing of how many people are interested in this idea, and some feedback on these issues. If you are interested, and you can answer these questions truthfully, then please respond with the answers to these questions to lotus_notes@hotmail.com.

Thank you.

• Would you be interested in running Lotus Notes on Linux?
• Are you a current user of Lotus Notes, on any other platform?
• How many seats do you currently host on Lotus Notes?
• How would you like to see Lotus Notes released? As a full binary, binary + source, or source? Be aware that the odds of anything other than a full binary release is unlikely. Also I believe that it is extremely unlikely that Lotus Notes will ever be GPL.
• When calling Lotus Technical Support Services (TSS), what exactly would you expect when calling for Support on a Linux-based version of Lotus Notes?
• Would you consider Lotus Notes running on Linux as a Mission Critical platform (as Windows NT, or Solaris)?
• Approximately how many users does your site/location/enterprise represent?
• What business is your company involved in?
• Would you be interested in being contacted for followup questions on running Lotus Notes on Linux? What is your Email-address.
• Is clustering, or Notes partitions a valuable/required feature for running Lotus Notes on Linux? "

heBgB writes "Transmeta Corp, the super-secret technology startup funded by Paul Allen (and now employs Linus Trovald and David "crack.com" Taylor) has been awarded a patent called Memory Controller for a Microprocessor for Detecting a Failure of Speculation on the Physical Nature of a Component being Addressed. It has all kinds of cool buzzwords like "code morphing software", "speculative memory" and the like. Anyone want to speculate? "

Ranjit Mathew has sent a review of the second edition of The Essential Client/Server Survial Guide. This book, written by Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards, has a pretty obvious point to it: trying to make sense of this gradiose world of "client/server programming". It's apparent that this is where much of programming work is heading, so click below, and read more. The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide, Second Edition author Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards pages publisher John Wiley & Sons rating 8/10 reviewer Ranjit Mathew ISBN 0-471-15325-7 summary A somewhat dated yet comprehensive overview of REVIEW: The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide, Second Edition by Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards [John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0-471-15325-7]

Nutshell
Review: A somewhat dated yet comprehensive overview of the bunch of technologies collectively known as "client/server programming". A most helpful survival guide for this new, exciting and rapidly expanding field.

Rating: 8/10

Review by: Ranjit Mathew The Scenario

The term "Client/Server" has been used in recent times to refer to a range of diverse technologies including, but not limited to, remote SQL, Transaction Processing, Groupware, Distributed Objects, etc. If you have ever found yourself wondering what any of the above terms mean, then this book is just for you. According to the publishers, this is "...the best source for anyone looking to understand and make informed decisions about client/server technology". I agree. The book is written in way that makes it accessible to a wide range of readers. The language is simple enough and witty cartoons, numerous quotes and opinionated soapboxes combine to make for easy reading.

What's Good?

The book is unmatched in the range of client/server technologies that it covers. The coverage is deep enough to let one feel relatively at ease with the topics and is sufficiently up to date to cover the state of the art at the time of publication (around late 1996). The whole book is divided into parts, each covering a particular client/server technology in depth, which can be read and assimilated almost independently. The authors also include helpful advice for designing, building and deploying client/server applications. The presentation style allows for easy reading yet manages to teach a lot. Quite well written.

What's Bad?

The very nature of the subject covered makes for a very short shelf life for this book. Books of this kind get outdated even before they reach the bookstores. For example, OpenDoc hasn't quite made it the way the authors had predicted it would. Important new technologies like e-Commerce, EJB, etc. look promising yet are not there in the book. Linux has emerged as a major player in the OS market (the authors haven't even acknowledged the existence of Linux in this edition) and has made high performance client/server programming quite affordable. It is high time the authors came up with a new updated and totally revised edition of the book.

The entire book is presented as a survival guide for visiting Martians who wish to make sense of the client/server brouhaha on Earth. (The foreword has been written by a certain "Zog the Martian".) The utility of this device in making this book more approachable by the layman is doubtful and is, at times, an unnecessary distraction (there is frequent talk of intergalactic(!) networks here).

So What's In It For Me?

If you wish to keep yourself up to date with the latest in client/server technologies, this book is for you. If you wish to know where the industry in general is headed to, these guys will tell you. If you find yourself bowled over by terms like SQL, TP-Monitor, CORBA, Groupware, OLE, DCOM, MOM, BLOB, etc. this book is definitely for you. Even if you do not have any immediate use for it give it a read anyway, it doesn't hurt to know about some of the new and emerging technologies. Remember, ignorance is not bliss, not in the IT industry anyway.

Buy the book from amazon.com.

Table of Contents

1. The Big Picture
2. Clients, Servers, and Operating Systems
3. Base Middleware: Stacks and NOSs
4. SQL Database Servers
5. Client/Server Transaction Processing
6. Client/Server Groupware
7. Client/Server With Distributed Objects
8. Client/Server and the Internet
9. Distributed System Management
10. Bringing It All Together

Ranjit Mathew has sent a review of the second edition of The Essential Client/Server Survial Guide. This book, written by Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards, has a pretty obvious point to it: trying to make sense of this gradiose world of "client/server programming". It's apparent that this is where much of programming work is heading, so click below, and read more. The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide, Second Edition author Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards pages publisher John Wiley & Sons rating 8/10 reviewer Ranjit Mathew ISBN 0-471-15325-7 summary A somewhat dated yet comprehensive overview of REVIEW: The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide, Second Edition by Robert Orfali, Dan Harkey and Jeri Edwards [John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0-471-15325-7]

Nutshell
Review: A somewhat dated yet comprehensive overview of the bunch of technologies collectively known as "client/server programming". A most helpful survival guide for this new, exciting and rapidly expanding field.

Rating: 8/10

Review by: Ranjit Mathew The Scenario

The term "Client/Server" has been used in recent times to refer to a range of diverse technologies including, but not limited to, remote SQL, Transaction Processing, Groupware, Distributed Objects, etc. If you have ever found yourself wondering what any of the above terms mean, then this book is just for you. According to the publishers, this is "...the best source for anyone looking to understand and make informed decisions about client/server technology". I agree. The book is written in way that makes it accessible to a wide range of readers. The language is simple enough and witty cartoons, numerous quotes and opinionated soapboxes combine to make for easy reading.

What's Good?

The book is unmatched in the range of client/server technologies that it covers. The coverage is deep enough to let one feel relatively at ease with the topics and is sufficiently up to date to cover the state of the art at the time of publication (around late 1996). The whole book is divided into parts, each covering a particular client/server technology in depth, which can be read and assimilated almost independently. The authors also include helpful advice for designing, building and deploying client/server applications. The presentation style allows for easy reading yet manages to teach a lot. Quite well written.

What's Bad?

The very nature of the subject covered makes for a very short shelf life for this book. Books of this kind get outdated even before they reach the bookstores. For example, OpenDoc hasn't quite made it the way the authors had predicted it would. Important new technologies like e-Commerce, EJB, etc. look promising yet are not there in the book. Linux has emerged as a major player in the OS market (the authors haven't even acknowledged the existence of Linux in this edition) and has made high performance client/server programming quite affordable. It is high time the authors came up with a new updated and totally revised edition of the book.

The entire book is presented as a survival guide for visiting Martians who wish to make sense of the client/server brouhaha on Earth. (The foreword has been written by a certain "Zog the Martian".) The utility of this device in making this book more approachable by the layman is doubtful and is, at times, an unnecessary distraction (there is frequent talk of intergalactic(!) networks here).

So What's In It For Me?

If you wish to keep yourself up to date with the latest in client/server technologies, this book is for you. If you wish to know where the industry in general is headed to, these guys will tell you. If you find yourself bowled over by terms like SQL, TP-Monitor, CORBA, Groupware, OLE, DCOM, MOM, BLOB, etc. this book is definitely for you. Even if you do not have any immediate use for it give it a read anyway, it doesn't hurt to know about some of the new and emerging technologies. Remember, ignorance is not bliss, not in the IT industry anyway.

Buy the book from amazon.com.

Table of Contents

1. The Big Picture
2. Clients, Servers, and Operating Systems
3. Base Middleware: Stacks and NOSs
4. SQL Database Servers
5. Client/Server Transaction Processing
6. Client/Server Groupware
7. Client/Server With Distributed Objects
8. Client/Server and the Internet
9. Distributed System Management
10. Bringing It All Together

Eddie Rebel writes in with this interesting question: "At work, we have some Compaq 850s with 2Gb of RAM. Recently I was told that the extra RAM we thew into them might not do any good, if the machine's cache memory was not lage enough to handle it. As I understood it the RAM is cached in the L2, but if you have only 64k of L2 it wouldn't be able to store more than 64Mb of RAM, and so on. Is there any truth in this, could someone please tell me or point me to some information about this?"

Rob Kaper sent us a link to something you might have missed on Freshmeat. It's a nifty site that is tracking Server uptimes. El wrote in to send us a link to "Penguin Lust" which I found silly enough to post. Josh Baugher sent us a link to the so called Christmas Document that you might find amusing. Quazi sent us a link to a ZDNet IE5 Review that normally wouldn't deserve a glance. But apparently a Slashdot fan was involved. Or just as likely, they wanted some hits and figured that this publicity might send some clicks their way *grin*. iota wrote in to send us a link about Mexico using Linux in schools and saving themselves over a hundred million bucks in the process. Mark Woon sent us a link to a funny BMW ad poking fun of MS. Lastly, worth noting (and based on the submissions box, and my msglog, a lot of you did) Red Hat has updated their website with a cleaner, and frameless design. Joy!

CMiYC writes "NASA Launched Deep Space I on saturday. This is a $150 million spacecraft that will validate over 12 new technologies. The best one is the ion propulsion system. (Hence the relationship to star trek)... I'd still like to see a transporter... perferably one that can devlier my dinner to my desk ... :)

CMiYC writes " ZDnet has a helpdesk for bugs in software (specifically Windows and Office)... It lists there are like 100 well-known bugs in WinNT alone. I think some of the bugs listed are unbelievable. For a office 98 (on the mac) it says "Wby does my hard drive run constantly as I type." Microsoft reports this will happen if you use True Type fonts that CAME WITH office 98." S: It seems surprising that the media are providing support in this way, given that Microsoft is widely reported as providing corporate support, unlike Linux which is claimed to rely on third-party support. update! In response to recent criticism by slashdot.org, Microsoft will anounce tomorrow free fast 24x7 support for resellers, a practice common in the Linux world. This is only ever so slightly tongue-in-cheek. It looks like they're feeling the heat. Note the support is still only given by "senior support engineers" and not the people who wrote the code.

El writes "Our old friend Thomas Pabst of Tom's Hardware Guide fame has just returned from Microprocessor Forum 98 convinced that AMDs new processors will beat Intel's in terms of absolute performance (it's easy to beat Intel in terms of price/performancd)."

strredwolf writes "If you didn't know already, the first edition of PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide from O'Reilly has been out, giving some good items on our coolest palm computer. However, there's no Unix/Linux information(only Mac & Win95/NT)! Tim of O'Reilly, however, wants to put some Unix PalmPilot info into the Second Edition of the book, but needs help from the community." Wouldn't mind seeing that one myself.

farrellj sent us a link to something worth checking out if you're either a Southpark fan, or a Bab5 fan (I would be the former, but not the latter). It is a parody of both called Babylon Park.

Magus311X writes " Even during the usual marketing of Windows 98 and how to effectively nuke your system resources using it, Linux once again is mentioned! The wonder OS was featured on Computer Chronicles with a cool segment featuring Linus Torvalds over national cable access. Linus bashes the OS market by claiming that all the OS's "Just... suck." and self-proclaimed himself as "the best programmer in the world". The show also included snippets of the ever-glorious "Slashdot.org" using Netscape 4.5, as well as The Gimp, KDE. It also featured VA Research, and that they make custom Linux boxen. (Mooo!) So, thanks to WGBH 44 and all the other cable access channels that featured Computer Chronicles, for showing the world "The growing alternative to the Windows platform". The show usually reruns the following Saturday, so tune in on 10-17-98 for some Linux action. And check out the Computer Chronicles website"

Ken Broadfoot wrote to relay a message from Vladimir Eflov Dear colleagues! We are small new group of the Linux users from Petrozavodsk State University Russia Unfortunately, our activity has coincided with the new financial crisis in our country. As a result, we can not receive the books and other materials connected with Linux (cost of one book is equal to half of salary of the professor of university and equal to two mounths salary of associate professor). The resources of our Internet server Internet are too weak to get the distribution kit of Linux online. If you have possibility to send us any editions on Linux, GNU C ++, GNU Java & etc. unnecessary to you, and also the distribution CD's of Linux we would be extremely grateful to you." Read more below. His address is: Prof. Vladimir Eflov, CAD department, Petrozavodsk Linux User Group, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, Lenina 33-508, RUSSIA, POBox 185640

Richard R McKinley asks "I am having a hard time putting up the $3,000 for a NT based firewall. What solutions are available for Linux both free and comercial? What are the drawbacks if any? This could be a great way to introduce Linux into our enterprise. I'm sure it would for others too. "

Sam Sharma writes "MIT has released the code for their exokernel. The exokernel is an absolutely minimal kernel - the only thing the kernel does is securely provide raw resources to applications. No filesystem, no high level networking, etc... . They claim this speeds up a lot of apps, for example by reducing user space to kernel space task swithing. They want developers. I'll help if I can. "

krishna swaroop asks: i would like to know whatever happened to writer's work bench (WWB). i remember reading some compsci books in 80's which mentioned something to the effect that `this book was typset, checked ... on unix'. i saw a mention of style checker, grammar checker and assorted such tools, the collection being named WWB. that was before MS-Word came along with its thesaurus and all. recently released GNU diction looks like an attempt to resurrect that. but does any one out there know where is WWB? is it free? can we persuade the current owners to make it free? Would someone care to shed some light on this subject?

Samwise Gamgee sent us a link to a wired article about a company called TriStrata that claims to have unbreakable encryption. They don't really offer any tech details, but they do talk about the fact that the company has got John Atalla (creator of the security background for ATM machines) out of retirement to join them.

synaptik writes "Freeshells has a page set aside to provide recognition to hackers that hack their system. Note I (and presumably they) use the word "hacker" as opposed to "cracker", because the intent of the activity is to help them increase the security of their system." Very cool.

farrellj writes "I just noticed a device in the Slackware 3.5 distribution that is called "unix". That's right, there is a /dev/unix. I'm wondering what it for...unix correctness...do you link your console to it and everything comes out in "real" unix???"

Kevin writes "On cnn.com, they have a story concering the O'Rielly Open Source Developer Day. There was a debate from the "Free software" people vs. the "Open Source" people. "I'm not an open source developer; I'm a free software developer." Richard Stallman then went on to criticize John Ousterhout's Scriptics Corp. It is a very good article about the debate between the two "camps". "