Slashdot Mirror

John Jasen writes: "Join the kernel of the month club! Order yours now!" See the Changelog, I would link to the mirrors but I doubt they're updated yet, so just head to kernel.org.

Marek Kupsta writes: "Linux 2.4.4 is out! Go get it! =)" Check the Changelog. As I write this, the bandwidth meter on kernel.org says 34.4 MBit/s.

Three weeks after 2.4.1 hit the streets, 2.4.2 is now available. Here's the Changelog, and here's the download link that I know you're looking for.

Three weeks after 2.4.1 hit the streets, 2.4.2 is now available. Here's the Changelog, and here's the download link that I know you're looking for.

iJosh asks: "Recently I decided to be hip and cool and update to the latest Linux Kernel (v2.4.1). Since this decision I've downloaded and tried to compile the offical source from Linus and crew on my PowerMac 7300 only to run into errors for the PowerMac PCI controller. I took this up with Paul Mackerras maintainer of the PPC kernel and his response was quite interesting to say the least and it got me thinking. He basically says that Linus is ignoring the patches from the people working on the PPC side of the kernel, and that they are keeping their own tree so people are not stranded out in the dust with kernels that will not work. My question really comes down to this: Is the linux kernel forking away from PowerPPC? Is this happening because of issues regarding OS X and the possibility of many users jumping ship, away from LinuxPPC upon release? Or is this some kind of quiet platform war from the major kernel developers?"

Hey, you can read the headline. Read the Changelog, or just start downloading.

Hey, you can read the headline. Read the Changelog, or just start downloading.

Fluffy the Cat writes: "ReiserFS has appeared in the latest 2.4.1 prepatches on ftp.kernel.org. 2.4.1pre6 has a one-line error fixed in 2.4.1pre7, but it looks pretty certain that Linux will have a full jfs in 2.4.1." It will be interesting to see what's going to happen in the new development cycle, alright. The Kernel Developer Summit will have some interesting fruit, I'd wager.

You've read about it here on Slashdot and elsewhere: How the 4C Entity is developing copy protection mechanisms for removeable drives (floppies, DVDs, etc.) that can also be used on hard drives. But Linux kernel hacker Andre Hedrick, member of both linux-ide.org and the industry-wide Technical Committee T.13 that sets ATA hard drive interface standards, has been raising a ruckus about copy protection on your hard drive, and he, along with EFF and EPIC, is trying to get this idea killed (or at least muted). So post any questions you have for Andre about this whole thing below, and tomorrow we'll shoot 10 of the highest-moderated ones to him by email. We'll post Andre's answers as soon as he has time to get them back to us, which may be a bit because, he warns,"everyone else is hounding me ..."

Manuka writes: "Win Fabulous Prizes and the recognition of your peers! (well, OK, maybe not the latter). As it's become somewhat of a tradition, tummy.com is now taking bets for the release date of the next production Linux kernel. Congratulations to Bill Wendling who won the pool for 2.4." Hey waitaminute, I don't even have a Slashdot shirt, never mind a VA Polo -- where do you get these?! Of course, Linus has promised a shortening release cycle, so bet accordingly.

Mark Bobak writes "2.4.0 should be ready soon. 2.4.0-test12 has been superceded by a new release, and it's not a testxx. It's 2.4.0-prerelease. Can't wait for the real thing....I can almost taste it! ;-) Available, of course, at kernel.org" And happy new years to everyone else. Hopefully holiday traffic will be light enough that we can all share the bandwidth to the mirrors. I shall download while I watch the Iron Chef marathon :)

If you haven't heard yet, another version of the Linux kernel has hit the mirrors. This is the first release to the 2.2 tree in quite some time, so it's probably worth updating on those machines which can afford a reboot. There's a whole bunch of changes, most notably the backport of USB code from the 2.4 tree, so all those neat-o USB devices you get over the holiday season won't be gathering dust.

If you haven't heard yet, another version of the Linux kernel has hit the mirrors. This is the first release to the 2.2 tree in quite some time, so it's probably worth updating on those machines which can afford a reboot. There's a whole bunch of changes, most notably the backport of USB code from the 2.4 tree, so all those neat-o USB devices you get over the holiday season won't be gathering dust.

Paul Weaver was among the hoardes to note that Linux 2.2.17 has been officialy released at the usual places. So take some time out from trying to compile 2.4 test releases and update the boxes that need stable kernels.

Paul Weaver was among the hoardes to note that Linux 2.2.17 has been officialy released at the usual places. So take some time out from trying to compile 2.4 test releases and update the boxes that need stable kernels.

gavinroy writes: "According to an e-mail I received from the kind folks at Sendmail, Inc., the Linux Kernel versions 2.2.15 and below have a SUID security flaw. "This problem will affect programs that drop setuid state and rely on losing saved setuid, even those that check that the setuid call succeeded." Sounds like a good reason to go 2.2.16 to me - grab it." The sendmail advisory is also online, as well.

Chris Cheney writes: "Linux 2.4.0-test1 is out with a note from Linus for more details. Why does all the cool stuff come out after potato is frozen? " With Linus being gone for three weeks, Alan is likely to maintain a 2.4.0-ac series. It's getting closer...

Matthew Miller recently went through the RH300 training course, as well as the RHCE Certification Exam. He was kind enough to write an overview and give us his opinions on both of them, as well as his opinions on the relevance and quality of the training and the exam. Certification has been discussed extensively with regards to Linux, and here's a big scoop of food for thought.

The following was written by Slashdot Reader Matthew Miller

I'm fortunate enough to work at a place that realizes the importance of keeping employees educated and up-to-date. Since my largest current project is Linux-related, and based on Red Hat's distribution in specific, we thought it'd be worthwhile to send me to Red Hat for their RH300 course. I'm pretty familiar with Linux, but I'm a long way from knowing everything, and it's always interesting to learn what the vendor thinks are the most important parts of their product. We chose RH300 because it's the highest-level systems administration class currently offered. It's also the one linked to the RHCE exam, which was an added bonus, but learning was my main goal, not getting the certification. This is my report on the experience -- hopefully, it will help you decide if this is a good choice for you, either as a sysadmin or as an employer.

The Training Center

This course is not only available directly from Red Hat, but also from various partner organizations, including Global Knowledge, which has a training center here in Boston. However, we decided that if we were going to go to the expense of sending me, I might as well go directly to Red Hat, to increase the chances of getting a good instructor, and to insure adequate access to resources. We've had experiences in the past with third-party instructors who didn't know much beyond what was written in the materials. Of course, I don't know that this would be the case with Global Knowledge's version of RH300 -- perhaps someone else can comment on any experience they've had there.

So, it was off to the Red Hat headquarters in Durham, NC. Incidentally, I stayed in the Residence Inn there -- it was on Red Hat's site as being nearby. They didn't mention that it was on the other side of a major highway, with no provision for pedestrians to get across. Moral: stay at one of the closer hotels, or else get a car. Anyway, the RH building is very nice -- much bigger than I expected. (I suppose the IPO cash is going to good use.) Of course, as students, we weren't shown much of it -- no tour, and we weren't introduced to any of the celebrity employees. (Fair enough -- with several classes coming through every week, they'd never get anything done.) The people I did meet seemed pretty cool, and in general I got the impression that it's a fun place to work.

The classroom was about as I expected -- projection screen up front, rows of decent-enough small-brand Celeron-based systems (one per student). The machines were on a private network -- reasonable for the course, but unfortunately there was no provision for Internet access, which at the least would have been nice to have when I finished labs early.

We did have access to a breakroom with free soft drinks / juice and various snack items. This is also where the lunches were served -- to my surprise, these were quite good, and there were even decent non-meat choices.

The Teacher

The instructor was very knowledgeable -- not necessarily a complete guru, but he knew his stuff, including the "why" behind the course material. He was able to present the material in a good way, and was good at answering questions. I think the decision to go to Red Hat directly was wise; unlike a third-party consultant, he had some idea of what was going on inside of Red Hat and of their potential future plans. For example, during the section on the printing subsystem, he mentioned that they're considering a replacement for LPR in future releases -- perhaps LPRng or even CUPS. It's unlikely that someone from a different company would have had access to that kind of information.

Other Students

The other students in the course had a wide range of skills and backgrounds. I think that everyone probably met the listed better than pico. However, I could tell that some people were struggling. The instructor mentioned that the pass rate for the exam is about 65%, and I wouldn't be surprised if our class came out at that level or worse. It's not that anyone was stupid -- just that some people were out of their depth. On the other end of the spectrum, there were some people who were over-qualified: a few highly experienced sysadmins, and some folks from IBM taking the class because they are soon going to teach it.

The Course

The course was generally similar to the outline found on Red Hat's site, although I think the online information is a bit out of date. (Notice that the Web page makes reference to ipfwadm instead of ipchains or netfilter.) The eight units had slightly different names, and covered slightly different information. In the most drastic example, Unit 8, listed on the Web site as "Systems Administration and Security II", has turned into "Routers, Firewalls, Clusters and Troubleshooting". Some of the information listed in the online Unit 8 was moved into Unit 7, and some of it (cops, for instance) wasn't talked about at all. Hopefully, the online info will be updated soon.

Overall, the class went into less depth than I was hoping. Some of this was due to limitations of the lab setup -- it's a bit difficult to experiment with RAID in any meaningful way when you've only got one IDE hard drive, and obviously impossible to set up a cluster on one machine (short of running VMware). Other things where just plain introductory -- the section on the kernel, for example, focused on the steps required to build and install a new kernel, rather than being an in-depth discussion of tunable parameters. The part about Apache was similar; I was hoping to hear "You've all configured Apache before; here's things you should be aware of when you need it to do such-and-such", but the most advanced we got was setting up a virtual host. Building RPMs from source was mentioned briefly, but there was no information given on important and largely undocumented topics like --buildpolicy.

That's not to say I didn't learn anything -- the section on LVS / Piranha was enlightening even without hands-on experience, and I appreciated the part about quotas, which isn't something I've worked with much. And, I learned a large number of tiny things which add up to making the experience worthwhile to me. RPM can now do globbing over ftp! Portmap uses tcp_wrappers, but doesn't do reverse name lookups, so be sure to use IP addresses instead of names. RH Linux provides a little script called "service" that lets one avoid the tedium of typing /etc/rc.d/init.d/servicename all the time. And so on....

The "300" designation is a bit misleading. This isn't really what I'd consider an upper-level course -- it's more along the lines of SysAdmin 101. Overall, I think this class is probably worthwhile to someone with a good RH Linux background who hasn't done any systems administration. In fact, I'd even recommend it to people in that situation. On the other hand, if you've been a Linux sysadmin for a while, you'll probably be bored most of the time. It might be valuable to experienced Unix sysadmins who haven't dealt with Linux much (or even Linux admins who haven't used Red Hat Linux), but the course wasn't particularly taught from that angle and there are probably better options.

The Exam

Since I signed a confidentiality agreement, I can't talk about specific details of the test, but I will address the exam in general terms. It's a day-long three part process, with each part being worth 1/3 of the total. To pass, your overall score must be at least 80%, and you can't do worse than 50% on any one part.

One of the sections is a typical multiple-choice test, but the other two are lab based. I was quite impressed with the hands-on tests -- they are certainly what makes the RHCE meaningful. I'm not aware of any other sysadmin certifications that work this way.

For one of the lab tests, students are given a several-page specification, and must install and configure Red Hat Linux and several network services. This wasn't particularly difficult, and shouldn't be for anyone with much experience. For me, the hardest part was resisting the temptation to go beyond the spec -- since I finished the given requirements with plenty of spare time, I considered installing and setting up additional services in a way that would fit in with the listed goals. But, I decided that it'd be better to leave well-enough alone -- there's no concept of extra credit.

The other hands-on test is the cool and exciting one. Students are given preconfigured setups which are broken in some way, and given a task that must be completed. The system's problem doesn't necessarily relate directly to the task, but does interfere with it. The test-taker must find out what's wrong and correct the error. (Reinstalling packages is not allowed.) Being able to list the steps taken and to repeat the fix is important, but ultimately the test is scored on a works / doesn't work basis. One the examiner verifies that the problem is fixed, he or she wipes the system and provides another broken config.

This problem-solving section directly tests skills important to being a sysadmin in the real world; if someone has trouble with these, they're probably not ready for a systems administration job. Of course, just passing this test doesn't guarantee good problem solving skills (let alone all the other needed abilities), but it does seem a genuinely valuable indicator.

I've only two complaints with this part of the test. First, I'd make it a much larger section -- at least 50% -- and I'd increase the number of problems given so that there'd be a better sample size. The various challenges are assigned at random, and some are easier than others, and each tests knowledge of different parts of the system. The way it's done isn't bad, but it wouldn't hurt to have a lot more of it. Second, I'd give each student two computers, and make more of the problems network-related. This has logistical and cost issues (especially in places other than Red Hat's own training centers), but since many of the problems faced in the real world have to do with the way systems interact, I feel it'd be worth it.

The Exam Separated From The Course

You may have noticed that I seem a lot more excited by the exam than by the course itself. I think both are valuable, but they seemed aimed at slightly different levels. The course definitely can serve as a good review for the exam, but if you need the course, you won't do well on the test. If you're tight on cash and the certification seems valuable to you or to your employer, going straight to the exam would be reasonable. (Make sure you take a look at Red Hat's test prep page.) On the other hand, if you need to be quickly brought up to speed on the basic knowledge required of a RH Linux sysadmin, it might make sense to take this course without worrying about the test. Since RH300 is equivalent to RH033 + RH133 + RH253, this could be a much more intensive and time-efficient option.

Red Hat-Specificness

It's probably obvious, but bears mentioning anyway: this is a Red Hat Linux course and certification, not a general Linux one. I found this to be true both explicitly and implicitly. The instructor was good about saying "This is the Red Hat way of doing things -- it's possibly different on other distributions." (I found the increase-the-whole-pie attitude to be common to all of the RH employees I talked to.) There were also quite a few things that were just assumed. If you take the exam without knowing a lot about Red Hat Linux in particular, you're likely to have trouble.

This doesn't make the certification meaningless for organizations running other distributions -- many of the skills and knowledge required for the test (especially the problem solving part) are generally applicable anywhere. In fact, due to the lab-based testing process, I have more respect for this exam than I might for a multiple-choice test covering more distributions. I think this issue is a one-way sort of thing: the RHCE exam requires knowledge of Red Hat Linux, but anyone who can pass it shouldn't have much trouble picking up other flavors.

Stuff

Ok, the Web page promises that they'll give Red Hat promotional items to course participants. Yeah, well, they can do better on this front. Not even a t-shirt! C'mon, everyone gives t-shirts. Vendor shirts are a staple of my wardrobe! All we got was a mousepad, some stickers, and a baseball cap. (No chance of getting a red fedora.) Oh, and of course an official copy of the CD (with the 180 days of support). Many people in the class were surprised to learn that Red Hat doesn't sell anything from their offices -- you can't buy copies of the distro or additional merchandise. They've got a lot of students coming through there, so it seems like this could be a decent (even if relatively small) revenue stream.

A Bit About Study Guides

Before I went, I flipped through RHCE Exam Cram , the sole study guide I found at the local bookstore. Someone in the class actually purchased it and brought it with them, and I got a chance to read more of it then. I wasn't really impressed. The book was especially concerned with what it called "trick questions", and indeed its sample questions were sometimes a bit confusing -- and often poorly worded. After taking the test, I can say that this seems mostly to be a problem with the book, not something encountered on the actual exam, which was mostly straightforward and fair.

There are RHCE study guides, but I wouldn't recommend spending any money on any of them. As the course instructor told us: if you're going to pass, you'll do so even if you don't have a guide. And if you're going to fail, the guide won't be much help.

Conclusion

I think the RH300 course and RHCE certification can be valuable to both employers and individuals. The course provides a nice quick overview of the basics needed to move, for example, from being a systems operator to being an admin. I wouldn't think of it as either a requirement for the test or as something that can make someone not ready suddenly have the skills required for the exam. Since the exam is hands-on and lab based, those abilities can only come from real world experience. Looking at that from the other direction: this is exactly what makes the RHCE worth anything. While it's not a total statement on someone's talent, being able to pass is a strong indicator that they have the basic skills for a systems administration job. If I were making hiring decisions, I wouldn't make the RHCE a requirement, but I would have more confidence in applicants who have it.

dlc asks: "i have a simple question for slashdot readers. let's say, hypothetically speaking, that i have a Linux box, co-located on a fast pipe, with fresh builds of the kernel, Apache, mod_perl, and MySQL, and i want to contribute back to the community. we already have a slashdot and a freshmeat, a segfault and a themes.org, a linux.com and a kernel.org; what else is there to be done? What do Slashdot readers want that they cannot find somewhere else? Is a user-driven site (such as Slashdot or Freshmeat) preferable to a content driven site (such as linux.com or kernel.org)? "

Oestergaard writes: "We're finally going pre-2.4! Linus posted this on the LKML (Linux kernel mailing list): >>I just made a 2.3.51 release, and the next kernel will be the first of the pre-2.4.x kernels. That does NOT mean that I'll apply a lot of last-minute patches: it only means that I'll let 2.3.51 be out there over the weekend to hear about any embarrassing problems so that we can start the pre-2.4 series without the truly stupid stuff. There's some NFSv3 and other stuff pending, but those who have pending stuff should all know who they are, and for the rest it's just time to say nice try, see you in 2.5.x. The pre-2.4.x series will probably go on for a while, but these are the 'bug fixes only' trees. These are also the 'I hope a lot of people test them' trees, because without testing we'll never get to the eventual goal, which is a good and stable 2.4.x in the reasonably near future. Thanks, Linus

Smack writes "The Trillian developer's release of the Linux port to Intel's new IA-64 architecture was made available yesterday on kernel.org. Q & A from the press conference are also available in PDF format. " At the keynote done this morning at LWCE, some of the engineers demonstrated the code - very, very cool. The examples were running Doom as well as an excellent rendering of a skull.

Roy Sigurd Karlsbakk writes "Linux kernel 2.3.40 has just been released. You can find a description on what's new in it on kernelnotes.org. It's available on one of the ftp.kernel.org and on most mirrors." Remember, this is a development kernel.

hpa writes "The Linux Kernel Archives, kernel.org, has gotten a major facelift! After suffering with insufficient bandwidth for far too long, we are now operating with a dedicated 100 Mbit/s connection from Globix. VA Linux gave us a really nice new box to run it on, too; so it is really a wonderful setup we have gotten. Not only should this resolve the bandwidth shortage, but hopefully we'll be adding new services soon. We have already added anonymous rsync services for the benefit of unofficial mirror sites. I'd appreciate hearing requests for new services on kernel.org, just email me. "

hpa writes "The Linux Kernel Archives, kernel.org, has gotten a major facelift! After suffering with insufficient bandwidth for far too long, we are now operating with a dedicated 100 Mbit/s connection from Globix. VA Linux gave us a really nice new box to run it on, too; so it is really a wonderful setup we have gotten. Not only should this resolve the bandwidth shortage, but hopefully we'll be adding new services soon. We have already added anonymous rsync services for the benefit of unofficial mirror sites. I'd appreciate hearing requests for new services on kernel.org, just email me. "

hpa writes "The Linux Kernel Archives, kernel.org, has gotten a major facelift! After suffering with insufficient bandwidth for far too long, we are now operating with a dedicated 100 Mbit/s connection from Globix. VA Linux gave us a really nice new box to run it on, too; so it is really a wonderful setup we have gotten. Not only should this resolve the bandwidth shortage, but hopefully we'll be adding new services soon. We have already added anonymous rsync services for the benefit of unofficial mirror sites. I'd appreciate hearing requests for new services on kernel.org, just email me. "

Mads-Martin was one of the many folks to point out that 2.2.13 has made the mirrors. The patch is also up on kernel.org. You know the routine - download, compile, etc.

Mads-Martin was one of the many folks to point out that 2.2.13 has made the mirrors. The patch is also up on kernel.org. You know the routine - download, compile, etc.

H. Peter Anvin writes "The Linux Kernel Archives Mirror System is now available for use! A number of sites across the world have graciously offered to help distribute the Linux Kernel using a common file structure and site-naming scheme. These sites have agreed to mirror the /pub/linux and /pub/software trees (i.e. the original software distributed from our site) from ftp.kernel.org in its entirety. To get connected to a mirror site near you, connect to: "ftp://ftp.xx.kernel.org/pub/linux" where "xx" is your two-letter country code. Note that not all sites archive both .gz and .bz2 format files, and that currently not all countries have both FTP and HTTP support. For more information, including the list of countries currently supported by the Linux Kernel Archives Mirror System and how to register a mirror, please see that page. In addition, a list of the individual mirror sites should be available online sometime next week. To all the sites that have offered their time, disk space and bandwidth, I want to give a huge "Thank you!", and to everyone else, I hope you will find this service useful."

H. Peter Anvin writes "I would like to set up an "official mirror" system for kernel.org. "Official" means a set of mirrors that are willing to:

1. Have a contact person on file;
2. Allow public access;
3. Update their mirror via rsync or FTP at least daily (privileged access will be provided to participating hosts);
4. Mirror all of /pub/linux and /pub/software (either .gz or .bz2 files may be excluded at your option);
5. Participate in a uniform URL (via roundrobin CNAME DNS) scheme. The exact spec for the uniform URL is not set in stone at this point, but probably will be in the next few days.

If you are interested in participating, please subscribe to the mirrors@linux.kernel.org mailing list; the goal is to have this system operational by the time the 2.2 kernel hits the wire. "

A new development kernel has been released. You can get 2.1.131 from the usual and the unusual places. It's a 173K patch that contains updates to the joystick, i386 and alpha code. A more detailed summary will probably be available soon on linuxhq.

xer.xes was the first to write in and announce that yet another in the popular series of Linux Devel Kernels has been released for mass consumption. It can be snagged from The usual Places.

As usual, when the new kernels get released, a torrent of people submit it. 2.1.128 Is at the expected spot. This one is a 200k patch. No go forth and download, and may your fresh kernel be stable.

James Renken writes "After a long time without compiling, rebooting, and repeating, version 2.1.126 of the Linux kernel has been released! You can get it from the usual places. "

Craig Condit writes "Linux kernel 2.1.125 has been released. You can get it here. In related news, Linus posted the 2.1.125 announcement on the kernel mailing list with a mention that the next kernel releases will probably be pre-2.2, and we can expect the real 2.2.0 Real Soon Now. "

A new development kernel has been released. You will find it at the usual and the unusual places. For a list of changes have a look at the Cutting Edge site. I hope a recent aic7xxx driver makes it to the development tree soon, the 80M/sec Ultra2 rules.

Paul Dietz wrote in to inform the masses that Linus has posted yet another kernel in his very popular 2.1 series. It can be downloaded from the usual place. It probably can be downloaded from unusual places as well, but what do I know?

Kernel development seems to go real fast these days. You can check out the updates in 2.1.119 at the Cutting Edge site. In the mean time 2.1.210 pre-patch 1 is already available at ftp.kernel.org.

We have another development kernel: 2.1.118. Scrolling throught the 400K patchfile I saw video drivers and updates in various other places. You can grab it at ftp.kernel.org.

A flood of people have written in to say one thing: it's out, and you should get it

Gergely Madarasz was right on top of things when he let me know that kernel 2.0.35 has been released. It may be the last kernel in the 2.0.x series. Updates include: documentation updates, parallel port IDE updates, some AX.25 updates, and a lot of other fixes. It weighs in at only a little over 7MB and can be downloaded from any ftp.kernel.org mirror.

Another development kernel has seen the light. You can grab the patch at ftp.kernel.org and the usual mirrors. Most important update seems to be a new console driver by Geert Uytterhoeven.

A brand new stable kernel has been released. You will find the goods on the usual FTP sites. The 2.0.34 patch is about 850kb and contains numerous bug fixes.

Jesse wrote in to tell us that RH5.1 (Manhattan) has made an appearance on kernel.org's mirror. Interested folks should definately check the mirrors list and be warned- I checked a few other mirrors and am not seeing the 5.1 dir on most of them, but kernel.org is on the official mirrors list, so I'm assuming this is legit.

Linus, keynote speaker at this year's Linux Expo, put kernel 2.1.103 in its rightful place. Updates this patch include: i386 updates, paride (parallel port IDE) updates, PCI, and SCSI updates.

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

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?

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.

Running Linux, Second Edition
by Matt Welsh and Lar Kaufman
reviewed by hemos

Being a relative newcomer to the Linux world, I needed more assistance then one can obtain simply by reading Slashdot. Imagine my delight in finding/using Running Linux. The book will work for a variety of people , whether it be setting up Linux for the first time, or for those who feel more comfortable with Linux. The book's authors, Matt Welsh and Lar Kaufman, obviously understand Linux, and more to the point, the mentality behind the operating system itself.

The book was designed along with the fine folks at Red Hat and is available both with a companion disk, or separately. For someone just setting up Linux for the first time (and how many people haven't been converted ye t?) the first option is perfect. They can not only get a fairly recent build of the OS, but also have the knowledge base provided to them that will allow them to understand Linux in a non-threatening, and more importantly, non-frustrating way.

Because let's be honest here: most of us won't be buying new copies of the books, or at least rarely. And as well, most of us get our updates through different sources. But if we are truly committed to making Linux into a viable alternative for the world at large, we will need books like these, because we need to make Linux an understandable and workable alternative for the world at large, who aren't particularly concerned with which diffs have been issued and such. Running Linux is a step in the right direction--bringing it to the people at home, bringing it to where they live at. Running Linux is a perfect book for the introductory and med-level user. Get it at Amazon.

Linus, keynote speaker at this year's Linux Expo, coughed up a nice tarball of kernel 2.1.99 and put it in the usual place. A few changes in this big patch include: major documentation updates for many, many things, some x86 IRQ updates, a quick sparc memory management fix, and some scheduling updates

Linus took some time from his busy schedule to put kernel 2.1.97 in its rightful place. Major updates include major PowerPC and Macintosh updates, major sparc and sparc64 updates.