An anonymous reader was the first to let us know that ftp.redhat.com has something new- Starbuck, aka Red Hat 5.9, aka Pre 6.0. Hopefully this thing will be on the mirrors.

Tom Christiansen, the Perl deity who once kick/banned me from #perl for asking a question about socket programming (not that I'm bitter *grin*) has written a feature called "Free Linux, Support the Demon Penguin" where he argues with the FSF and RMSs stance that Linux should be referred to as GNU/Linux because it is mostly GNU. Tom includes some numbers that you might find revealing. This one is worth a read.

After a bit of a hiatus, Jason Bennett has returned with a review of Nancy Walsh's Learning Perl/Tk. As the title of the book would indicate, this is an ideal book for those looking to learn the Tk tool kit and Perl. This book assumes a level Perl background, and a little GUI, but is a good intermediate step-click below if you want to know more.

Matt writes "Much hype has followed the release of latest version of SuSE (6.0), and judging by the review over at Ars Technica of this hot distribution the hype is well justified. While packing a big bang, SuSE incorporates tools like YaST, SaX, KDE, StarOffice 5.0, and so forth to get users of any experience level up on their feet and running productively. As a long time user of RedHat I find SuSE to be a worthy competitor, as well as a strong indication that distributions as a whole are continuing to do positive things to stimulate the growth of the desktop OS user base for Linux. Definitely a worthy read, check it out!" CowboyNeal swears by SuSE. I'm itching for a new Debian CD.

PC Magazine Online has published some articles about Open Source, Linux world and reviews of Slackware, Caldera, Debian, Redhat, Gecko, and Apache. Worth a read. Those articles will be published on the next issue of PC Magazine in the March 23rd issue. (thanks to Eli Marmor for telling me about it).

Fernando Perez writes "A new Linux distribution called BeroLinux is out. It's RedHat 5.2 based and seems to have been put together by a single guy." It notably includes kernel 2.2, GNOME, KDE, and Pentium+K6 optimized binary. Secondly, fellow Debian developer Adam Heath (doogie) wrote in with something I'm surprised hasn't been posted yet: Matrox has released G200 specs. Next off, Alan Cox throws us a hat trick. Staring with ac1: For those of you who remember the Echelon articles from awhile back, you can take a "UK ballon trip of a lifetime" over the NSA's listening post in Menwith Hill. ac2: A linux-kernel post where you can read about HP working on a port of Linux to the Merced. ac3: Before Alan worked with Linus, he worked with a man who wrote an entire Unix clone for himself. He's released the source at the website, and has named it, appropriatley enough, OMU (One Man Unix). Finally, for those of you in the DC Metro Area, NOVALUG will be meeting tomorrow morning at 10AM in the Lee Center (check the website for more information).

Tom writes "Just saw this on Linux Weekly News: A magazine in India (called "PC Quest") apparently just carried RedHat 5.2++ on their March cover CD. Claims the focus of the issue is corporate (whatever that means), and that the articles would be available on their website RSN. Apparently they do it every year - accompanying press release claims quarter of a million Linux CDs so far."

Jonathan Ocab wrote in to tell us that Red Hat has redone their site. You'll notice a summary of both Freshmeat and Slashdot stories on the page, linkage to User Friendly, as well as lots of javascript mouseovers to consume bandwidth.

The illustrious Elliot Lee writes "GNOME 1.0 is now available for download. Please peruse the press release and then download it via a convenient FTP mirror (as soon as they sync up). " Update: 03/04 08:36 by J : Whoops - forgot to plug my own program! If you've installed GNOME and want scrolling Slashdot headlines on your panel, check under Panel Applets ->Amusements->SlashApp. Thanks John, Chris, Fred, and everyone else!

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.