There are many reasons to customize your shell prompt. In the prompt you can have all sort of information about your system and what you are doing in the shell. You can display information such as the machine you are working on, the current directory, how many users there are in the system, date, time, etc. You can also add ANSI color to the display making it easier to read for some people. The posibilities are limitless…

Read the full article at Linuxlookup.com. -Anonymous Reader

BSD Today has a short item: “IBM has a support page saying that ThinkPads are unable to boot after installing FreeBSD. It says:
‘IBM offers no solution for the unbootable condition because FreeBSD is not a supported operating
system’ and to ‘not install a non-supported operating system on IBM ThinkPads.’ “

From PR Newswire: Red Hat Center, a
non-profit foundation that supports the growth of a healthy and robust
information commons and public domain, announces today a gift in the amount of
$100,000 to Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute (LII) to fund key
improvements to LII’s web site, which provides free public access to U.S. laws
and court decisions. The grant enables LII to write software that will let
web users read any portion of the U.S. Code as it was in effect at particular
points in time.

LinuxPR has the announcement: Jeff Gerhardt, co-host (with Kevin Hill) of the Linux Show announced today that
the show was finally coming back on the air.

“After months of one having one catastrophe after another,” stated Gerhardt,
“we have finally gotten the wheels back on the proverbial cart. About the only
thing worse than the turmoil that we have gone through is the recent Presidential
election.”

The Random Factory is pleased to announce the availability of
the first release in our “Linux for Biotechnology” series.

“Linux for Biotechnology – Volume 1” includes over 1Gb of
Biotechnology related software, all precompiled for Linux (x86),
in easy to install RPM format. A range of state-of-the-art tools for
sequence analysis, molecular visualization and modelling, and
much more. Tasks which previously required high-end
scientific workstations, and expensive single-function commercial
software, can now be performed using commodity PC hardware
and “Linux for Biotechnology.”

Full details and ordering information are available at the
Random Factory Web site

The Random Factory also produces the “Linux for Astronomy”
series, now in it’s 4th release (a 2 cd set comprising V5/6).

The Random Factory
P.O. Box 44070
Tucson AZ 85733-4070

Tel: 520 822 5221
Fax: 520 822 5223
email : rfactory@theriver.com
–Dave Mills

While relaxing this past Thanksgiving with my family, I asked my Ph.D brother how he liked Linux Medical News newsletter he replied that he liked the letter, particularly when my Chihuahua Cindy speaks, but the articles “are like a new language. I still don’t quite get what open source means.” He’s not alone. It is time to review the basics. –Saint

From LinuxPR: openCOLA, a leading North American
open source, peer-to-peer technology company , working to redefine the way
people and businesses discover digital information and resources, announced
today that it will be co-sponsoring and participating in the DDMI Asia
conference in Hong Kong. The Toronto-based company will provide an
overview of the technical landscape that is shaping digital distribution and the
music industry, with emphasis on rights management and audience acquisition.

From Business Wire: 5NINE, a leading developer of Wireless Data Infrastructure
technology for Linux, announces the launch of WAPLinux.org, an open source development project for modifying the Linux kernel to fully support the
Wireless Application protocol and bearers such as the Short Message Service, Mobitex and third generation technologies such
as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

The Recording Industry Association of American has launched a collective to distribute royalties for streamed music, but the idea has already “hit a sour note” with some digital media firms and artist organizations, reports Reuters on ZDNet. Here’s the press release at RIAA.com.

This SearchEnterpriseLinux.com roundup of Linux news includes information about a high-level security product for Linux developers and news about who will be speaking at the 2000 Linux Conference in Japan.

–Max Kincora