In recognition of the importance of the open source community, Progeny Linux Systems and Maximum Linux magazine are holding a raffle for Debian GNU/Linux at LinuxWorld in New York. The raffle will cost $2 for each entry or $5 for three entries.

The drawing will be held at 4 p.m. February 1 at the Maximum Linux booth (Booth #469). Prizes will be presented by Ian Murdock, president and CEO of Progeny, and Woody Hughes, Senior Editor of Maximum Linux. All money raised will go to the Debian project.

“Maximum Linux magazine and web site (http://maximumlinux.com) wouldn’t exist without the efforts of the free software community,” says Alison McCreery, Marketing Manager at Maximum Linux. “And the Debian Project (www.debian.org) is a free software success story. With over 6000 packages and nearly 600 developers, Debian is one of the largest free software projects. They are extremely dedicated to upholding the cooperative values of the free software movement and have proven the value of open source development. The raffle is our way of acknowledging their contribution.”

Ian Murdock, president and CEO of Progeny Linux system (www.progeny.com) agrees. “As Progeny moves towards the release of its first products, we want to acknowledge our roots in the community,” Murdock says. Murdock, who founded the Debian Project, but has not been actively involved in it for several years, goes on to say, “Even though Progeny is a commercial company, we rely on the advice and efforts of the free software community. In fact, all of Progeny’s development is built on Debian and will be contributed to Debian. You could call this raffle the first repayment of our debt.”

First prize in the raffle is a 600 Mhz Sony VAIO C1VN Picturebook, valued at $2300.. The Picturebook includes a Transmeta Crusoe processor, a 12 gigabyte hard drive, 128 megabytes of RAM and a 56.6 modem, and is pre-loaded with Progeny Debian. Additional prizes include T-shirts from Progeny printed for the event, and hats, plush toy penguins and messenger bags from Maximum Linux.

Attendees of Linuxworld can enter the raffle at the Maximum Linux booth on January 31 and February 1. Winners need not be present to win. For more information, please send e-mail to info@progeny.com.

ABOUT PROGENY LINUX SYSTEMS

Progeny Linux Systems develops Linux-based software and services for network computing environments. Progeny Debian, a commercial version of Debian, is available as a free download, with the final version scheduled for release in March 2001. Linux NOW, a revolutionary system that makes a network of Linux workstations act as a single integrated system, is due later this year. Progeny offers individual and corporate technical support and professional services for Debian. A software and systems management service for Debian will be available in the spring of 2001.

ABOUT MAXIMUM LINUX

Maximum Linux Magazine is the magazine for both dedicated Linux professionals and hard-core enthusiasts. Every issue features cutting-edge reviews, in-depth how-tos, technical features, and hard-hitting news stories, and an editorially-driven CD-ROM. Each CD is packed to the penguin gills with the latest distributions, drivers, demos, and Linux applications. Regular magazine sections include Open Road, a column dedicated to the troops in the Linux trenches; a technical Q&A, IT Corner, Security Watch, Ask The Penguin; and Linux Lowdown, a revolving tech section dedicated to various Linux hardware and software configurations.

Submitted by Bruce Byfield.

eWeek reports on Hewlett-Packard’s plans for LWE, including demonstrations of Linux system manageability software.

Eric S. Raymond writes:
“What comes after the classic Unix environment variables PAGER, MAILER,
and EDITOR? Why, “BROWSER,” of course — an environment variable that
informs programs of the user’s preferred web bowser for launching URLs.
My latest experiment in hacking social systems is to find out whether
the open-source community can successfully manage to adopt a standard
that requires small but coordinated changes to possibly as many as
several dozen projects in order to make it really effective.
I’ve written, tested, and submitted patches to Gnu Emacs, Python, and
urlview(1) that make them aware of the new BROWSER environment
variable. I have also submitted a patch for the Linux environ(5)
manual page.
Widely publicizing that I’m doing all this is also an essential part
of the experiment. How far will this meme spread? Can we bootstrap a
new standard environment variable into existence at this late date in
Unix’s evolution?
There’s a BROWSER project page at
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/BROWSER.
There, I will log reports of BROWSER support being folded into other
programs that must call browsers.”

Avatar writes: “As promised, Evil3D has revisted the 0.9-6 drivers from NVIDIA with the fix in place. This time around the scores are dramatically different in several key areas. Also detailed in the revisit is how to apply the fix to your system.

You can find the new data right here at evil3d.net.”

Another anonymous reader (or maybe even the same one) clues us to a searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com story: “Although Linux was created in Europe and is used around the globe, it still lacks many language support and multinational capabilities. Find out about the Linux community’s efforts to internationalize the OS in this in-depth SearchEnterpriseLinux.com report.”

The ever faithful anonymous reader tells us about a searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com story featuring
Linuxcare Chief Technology Officer David L. Sifry talking about a possible merger between his Linux technology services company and Linux distributor TurboLinux Inc.

ZDNet reports this gem Wednesday morning: “A range of Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) online sites including Microsoft.com, MSN.com,
MSNBC.com, WindowsMedia.com, Hotmail.com, Encarta.com and Carpoint.com. have
been down or disrupted for several hours.” Slashdotters discuss the problems.

AOL is looking to refocus Netscape.com, making it into a hub for “entertainment and editorial content” like Time magazine. This from ZDNET.co.uk and one of its myriad anonymous sources.

ZDNET.co.uk also has the scoop on Intel’s upcoming price cuts. They say that Pentium 4 is coming down by 20%, and the Pentium 3 is dropping 42%. Time to upgrade.

ZDNET.co.uk reports that, at long last, Sun and Microsoft have come to terms on the whole Java thing. Sun is now allowed to terminate the licensing agreement it had with Redmond.