Anonymous Reader tells us about an item on KernelTrap.org: “On the FreeBSD hacker mailing list, Jordan Hubbard commented on some serious issues with NFS, posting a tool called ‘fsx ‘ – originally developed for the NeXT OS – that was ideal for finding them. Matt Dillon was quite impressed by the tool and immediately started playing with it. In very little time, he presented a number of major fixes … ” Also included in this thread are some basic tips on better NFS performance.

– By Grant Gross –

This week, Matt Jezorek, lead developer and founder of the the fledgling Blue Linux distribution project, announced it was abandoning its old focus, security, for a distribution friendly to the education community.

North Carolinian Jezorek, who founded the project in June, is gearing up to release Blue Linux 1.0 within a couple of months. The project announced Blue Linux EDU project in August, but only this week scrapped its original security focus. In that announcement Jezorek said: “Based on customer response to the BlueEDU announcement and the lack of response to the secure server system we have decided to shift fully to the educational operating system. Blue Linux felt that there was too much replication in the current Open Source work and Blue Linux was only replicating the work of other systems. Currently there are many other secure Linux distributions on the market, but yet, Linux seems to be lacking a full educational distribution.”

NewsForge asked Jezorek about his plans for Blue Linux, why the switch to an educational focus, and if he thinks there are enough Linux distributions already.

NewsForge: How many developers work on the Blue Linux project?

Jezorek: Being that this is an Open Source project, the amount of developers varies. Currently, we have about eight developers on our team. This brings me to the fact
that I am looking for more developers who are committed to excellence.

NewsForge: When did the first version come out? What’s the latest version, and when did it come out?

Jezorek: The first version came out about a month after we initially started
development. This was a development snapshot and nothing more. Since then, we
have released other development snapshots of the base system. Currently, we
are about to release 1.0. With all our development now going toward the
educational system we feel we can be ready to release 1.0 in the next few
months. Between now and 1.0, there will be development snapshots and maybe a
beta or two out.

NewsForge: Is it based on another distribution, like Mandrake is based on Red Hat?

Jezorek: It is not based on any distribution. We have built the base system from
scratch with the hopes of being able to work out a lot of the bugs that
arise. By doing it this way, we can make sure that any dependency that we see
can immediately be fixed. We did not want to modify any other distribution, because then we would be semi-reliant on their updates and information. If that
distribution fell off the face of the earth, we would be stuck in a spot
we don’t want to be in. By building from scratch we know every bit of the
system and we can only blame ourselves on any problems that may arise.

NewsForge: Do you have any usage numbers — how many downloads of Blue Linux, that kind of thing?

Jezorek: We currently have some usage numbers but not a significant
amount. With the focus now on one project we hope to be able to gather more
information. We have had approximately 50,000 unique hits on our Web site, with over 1,000 referrers (we would, of course, like to triple that) and out of that we have logged
3,181 [downloads] with other downloads that happened before we started logging everything.

NewsForge: What made you decide, originally, to focus on a secure distribution? There were other secure-Linux projects happening at the time you started Blue Linux.

Jezorek: Originally Blue Linux was started because a lot of the secure distributions were not as secure as one might think. Many secure distributions were
leaving open ports that should not be open on a secure system and too many
applications or daemons running from a default install. Our original
intention was to have a secure default install that a small business or user
could install the system and not have to worry about it.

NewsForge: Tell me about your push for a common Linux installer. It seems like installers are one way distros separate themselves from each other. How’s the Common Linux Installer Group been received, and are you still active in that project?

Jezorek: [My] reasoning behind a Common Linux Installer is the fact that if I use one boot media, on, say, Red Hat, it won’t recognize a CD-ROM drive or a hard drive correctly, but yet, say, SuSE does, but yet SuSE does not see my network card
correctly as Red Hat does. This is a problem with many current installers.
With the Common Linux Installer Group, we as a group could focus to make sure
that we can get the maximum amount of hardware coverage possible. Why should
there be 20 different installers each with their own bugs and problems?
If more people used one installer it would have more views. As the quote
everyone knows goes, “with many eyes, all bugs are shallow.” Also there is a
learning curve with every installer, but yet every single installer does the
exact same functions: ask for my root password, partition the hard drive,
setup networking, etc. And for this to be so fundamental to Linux, I feel,
that it should be a bit more consistent across distributions.

As far as how it was received, I will put it to you like this: I will let
you know when I get rid of the hate mail, the mail that says it will never
work. Even LWN said it was “doomed to fail.” But yes, I am still active in
the group.

NewsForge: When did you start focusing on Linux in education as a goal for Blue
Linux?

Jezorek: I guess August was the first public notice that we were focusing on an
educational system. But for some time now, I have been saying that
schools need to lower their technology costs by some means so that more can
be spent on teaching the kids.

NewsForge: You say a lack of interest pushed you into giving up the security focus.
How did you judge that lack of interest — number of downloads or something
else?

Jezorek: Actually, I judged lack of interest a few ways. One way was the
developers/contributors to the project were not motivated or not
interested. Also I received a lot of mail saying that we were replicating a
lot of previous work from other distributions. Community participation was
low, and it felt like I was all by myself. Now here’s the catch. I don’t mind
being all alone if I am “scratching my itch.” I do enjoy working with
security and I find it a fun challenge, but I can’t scratch everyone’s itch,
and my main itch is to get Linux into the school systems so that schools can
once again teach and not worry about the technology budget. I mean this for
other teachers [besides computer teachers], too. I am sure that there have been other departments hurt by licensing and technology costs then just the tech groups. Other departments, I am sure, had to give up on things they needed because of [technology costs]. We hope we can help stop this.

NewsForge: With the education focus, how will Blue Linux be different than the
more user-friendly commercial distributions? What’s needed in a Linux
educational distro that isn’t already available?

Jezorek: There are many things Blue Linux plans to be different from the other user-friendly distributions out there. One thing is my primary quality
assurance/usability tester will be my 6-year-old daughter. We intend to have
a system that anyone from the age of 5+ should be able to sit down and use.
We intend to clean up the interface to the have a very clean look and feel.
I know Linux is all about choice, but I feel that in the education market,
they are used to having people tell them what to do. They will have the
choice to modify their desktop and system as much as any other Linux user
but they will not have to. We intend to have four classes of install: teacher,
student, server, and advanced. With this done this way, if the
administrator/installer wants to have the control, then they can do an
advanced install … I want to install this on a blank system and let the installer do the rest. The most common complaint I have ever heard about Linux is the installation process expects you to know what you are doing. This I also feel is why Linux is not mainstream on desktops.

There really is not anything needed in an educational system that is not
already there. The only problem is the fact that you, the system admin or
teacher, have to go around and find all the applications you want on your
system or the students’ system. Then you have to be the one to install it and
solve all kinds of dependency issues. There are a lot in Open Source
projects. We want to put together a distribution that once you install the
system, it will have all the common software that you would find on any
educational system in the current world. We are working with teachers and
administrators to have them let us know what functionality they need in the
system, and then we are going from there to work it in.

NewsForge: What’s your ultimate goal for the project? Do you want to sell a
commercial distribution, or something else like that?

Jezorek: Do I want to sell a commercial distribution? No, I don’t. What I want to do is to be able to get a cheap alternative available for the school systems
where they can lower the cost of running their school and use that money to
pay for better teachers, books and courseware. That is the primary goal of
BlueEDU. Now, to cover the cost of development, I don’t know what to do. Currently, all money is coming out of my pocket, and for the most part I am fine with that. We do have a small grant proposal on LinuxFund.org, which we
hope to be able to get to by a new computer or two for testing on new
hardware. We want to be able to install BlueEDU on the Latest and Greatest
or the Oldest and Slowest.

NewsForge:What do you think in general about the number of Linux distributions?
Some people would argue there’s already so many that users are confused.

Jezorek: In general principle, I do like the fact that there are a lot of Linux
distributions out on the market; I think choice is a great principle on all
Open Source projects. However, I do think to a new user this can be
challenging.

The Project Management Software AUX RDP for Linux has been developed
by SYSI GmbH Software Systeme. AUX RDP is a multiuser software tool for planning and control schedules, resources, costs, results and risks with numerous text and graphic reports. Additionally, AUX RDP includes a generator of Web-based Project Information System for creating project information within Intranet/Internet automatically.
AUX RDP is available as shareware and can be downloaded at http://www.sysi-software.de

The Register: “MS has rolled out its Faustian bargain for security vendors. Sign up with the
Microsoft Certified Security Partner Program and saddle up with a heap of free
software and deep discounts worth many thousands of dollars. A glittering treasure chest for your silence.”

Sans.org: “Network security is not a product that you can purchase it’s a process. A long process that you continually update, improve, and
monitor. A process that has a policy to define and guide as you manage risks, not avoid them. Starting the process is difficult. In fact,
you may not know where to start, what to do first, how to do it. You need to pace yourself but it’s nice to have a guide. This paper is
such a guide.”

Wired: “U.S. Senators were set to hear all about the Justice Department’s antitrust settlement with Microsoft. Then what happened was, well, bizarre. Declan McCullagh and Ben Polen report from Washington.”

LWN has posted the latest edition of its excellent weekly publication.

From Cryptome.org: “A digital rights management operating system protects rights-managed data, such as downloaded content, from access by untrusted programs while the data is loaded into
memory or on a page file as a result of the execution of a trusted application that accesses the memory.”

This Week’s Summary: LinuxPlanet review of 8.1 Gamers Edition;
Discussion about the Software Manager; Business Case of the Week;
Spotlight on OpenOffice; New “Controlling SPAM” article at
MandrakeSecure.net; This Week’s Poll: Does your online banking service
work with Linux?; Top Stories from MandrakeForum.

Mandrake in the News
----------------------------------------
LinuxPlanet.com --  Out of the Box: Mandrake 8.1 Gaming Edition.
Brian Proffitt reviews the new Gamers edition of Mandrake 8.1 and 
reports: "After this brief step, The Sims will launch in all it's 
full-screen glory. Sound, animations, and input responses are perfectly 
fine. In fact, I found the game to be so robust and responsive, I plan 
on getting a Windows copy of the game just to compare the play of the 
game on each platform. Until then, take my word for it, this game runs 
without a hitch on Linux."

As part of LinuxPlanet's "DistributionWatch" series, Brian Proffitt 
will continue using Mandrake 8.1 for at least another month and report 
his observations, so watch his column!
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reviews/3940/1/

For more information about the Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition (plus 
screenshots), please see:
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/81/gaming-edition

Order your copy at MandrakeStore:
http://www.mandrakestore.com


What's Cooking at MandrakeSoft?
----------------------------------------
Over at MandrakeForum, Denis Havlik hosts a discussion about the much 
improved Mandrake 8.1 Software Manager. Since the Software Manager will 
most likely undergo some changes for the next release, what has your 
experience been with this program? Should it be changed/improved?
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1462?=en


Business Case of the Week
----------------------------------------
"Cinema Clock" powered by Mandrake Linux.
Syspark Inc., a Montreal-based company that provides e-service 
solutions, shares a very interesting story about how they use Mandrake:

"CinemaClock.com publishes the movie information for all theatres 
across Canada. This information includes interactive fully searchable 
movie showtimes, top 10, list of upcoming movies, movie descriptions 
and images, and a unique voting system which lets visitors write movie 
reviews and rate the movies they've seen."
http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/article.php?sid=227

Every "bizcase" counts; please share your story by submitting it to
MandrakeBizcases.com
http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/submit.php


Spotlight on OpenOffice
----------------------------------------
OpenOffice is a full-featured office suite that runs on most major 
platforms (Windows, Linux, Solaris, and now being ported to Mac OS X). 
OpenOffice.org recently released a new Beta version -- 641b.

Don't be worried about its status as beta; most of the features are 
already fully functional -- the recent emphasis has been on improving 
the user interface which has resulted in a nice, clean working 
environment.

This latest release offers improved compatibility with third-party 
Office suites, online help, spellchecker, enhanced printing and much 
more. OpenOffice includes Writer (a word processor), Calc (a 
spreadsheet program), Impress (presentation software), and Draw (a 
drawing program).

If your Internet connection can handle a 75MB download, go ahead and 
give OpenOffice a try. The program is very easy to install (even for 
new Linux users); just extract the archive and click the "setup" file 
located in the "install" folder. Once the installation is complete, 
click the "soffice" file in the "OpenOffice" folder that was created in 
your home directory.

OpenOffice 641b is available as a free download.
Linux/Intel, Solaris, Windows:
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/latest_build/latest_build.html#binaries
Linux/PPC:
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/latest_build/latest_build.html#ppclinks


What's new at MandrakeSecure.net?
----------------------------------------
New Feature: Controlling SPAM under Mandrake Linux.
Vincent Danen has posted a new article titled: "Controlling SPAM under 
Mandrake Linux". The first part of his article discusses implementing 
RBL (Realtime Blackhole List) in both Postfix and Qmail. The second 
part explains some client-side SPAM prevention/tracking techniques and 
a tutorial on configuring and using TMDA, an intuitive and powerful 
anti-spam package.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1464?=en


This Week's Online Poll
----------------------------------------
Online banking and Linux?

My bank supports Linux!
No explicit support for Linux, but it works fine
My EX-bank insisted on Windows
My current bank insists on Windows
I don't use online banking!

Cast your vote in the Voting Booth and check the results:
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/pollBooth.php?op=results&pollID=22


Top Stories from MandrakeForum
----------------------------------------
Online banking and Linux.
"garethwi" tells a story about his father abandoning Linux because his 
online banking service requires Internet Explorer on Windows. A very 
lively discussion ensued about which online banking sites are 
"Linux-friendly". Personally, I've used Netbank.com for almost two 
years with Linux and it works great.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1455?=en

-- 

Interesting times.
If you're looking for some interesting short stories to read, Denis 
offers some highlights of several Mandrake-related topics.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1460?=en

-- 

Getting started with a DNS server?
"iamcndn" asks for help with setting up a DNS server, and receives many 
helpful responses from other users.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1452?=en

--

The stuff reviewers forget about.
Some of the nicer features of Mandrake Linux often go unnoticed. Deno
mentions a few, can you think of more?
http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1422?=en

-- 

Negative comments can be constructive.
"gerryg" raises the topic of "constructive criticism" versus "bashing".
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1446?=en

Read these and other stories at:
http://www.MandrakeForum.com/

----------------------------------------

– by Robin “Roblimo” Miller –
I was asked this question in response to a piece I wrote last week under the title Making Linux look harder than it is, about why new Linux users should start with the simplest possible GUI tools and learn to use the command line only after they have a system up and running and get a little experience with it. That article drew more than 300 emails, mostly along the lines of, “Preach it, Brother!”
but some raised interesting questions, including the one that gave this column its title.
Cost is a big reason to choose Linux

I started using Linux because it cost less than Windows. I was not interested in the power of the command line, even though I learned to enter rudimentary text commands right from the start; back in 1998, that was a necessary part of getting Linux installed and using it as a day-to-day operating system. But I was not looking for flexibility or to control every each of my computer’s internal functions one by one. All I wanted to do was write and edit text (because that’s what I do for a living), alter a few graphics (mostly photos) now and then, browse Web sites, and send and receive email. I also wanted to keep some simple personal and business records, including contact information for various friends and associates.

These are not complicated computer chores, but they were all I really needed (as opposed to wanted) from my computer. I could have done all of this with Windows quite easily.

But …

The “but” was money. Before installing then-current Windows 98, I would have had to upgrade my hardware. Even used, I was looking at $600 or more for anything decent. And even if I had gotten a used computer with Windows 98 installed on it, I would have needed another $500, minimum, in software to work with publishers who thought there were only three word processing programs in the whole world: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Word, and also wanted all graphics I submitted with a story to be just the right size and otherwise optimized for their publications, preferably with Adobe Photoshop.

Since then, as inevitably happens, my software “must have” list has grown. I estimate that Windows equivalents of the software I currently use on my Linux-running laptop would cost me around $1,500, even though almost all of them are included in major $70-level commercial Linux distribution packages and, for those who choose to go this route, can be downloaded for free.

If this level of cost saving isn’t reason enough to run Linux — and to spend a fair amount of time learning how to install and use it — I don’t know what is.

Power and flexibility are great — in small doses

One of the touted advantages of Linux (and Unix) is that famous command line flexibility and power. But does everyone really need it? And is the command line best place to start with Linux?

Fighter pilots start their training in simple, “low and slow” trainers, not in F-16s or F-18s. Flight instructors, military or civilian, don’t expect trainees to master complicated aerobatic maneuvers before they are allowed to solo. They teach their students how to do basic things like turn, change altitude, and take off and land before they move to the next level. Some pilots never get much beyond the basics, either because they have no need, no time or no desire. It is the same with computers. If a user can do all he or she needs with point and click commands, that’s fine. The difference between Windows and Linux to someone on this level (aside from cost and stability) is that Linux offers every user the option of going beyond point/click into command line esoterica, while Windows does not.

One reason I personally boost Linux over Mac or Windows for schools, especially in low-income neighborhoods, is that Mac/Windows-based computer instruction tends to turn kids into semi-competent users and nothing else, while Linux offers them an opportunity to move beyond that level without a school investing in expensive proprietary compilers and other programs a budding programmer or nascent sysadmin needs to rise above the user pack.

But even a young proto-geek needs to start somewhere, and point/click is probably the best place to start, just as beginning readers first learn from books that have nothing but short words in them instead of jumping straight into Thackeray.

More point/click Linux users = more money for skilled sysadmins

Assuming (roughly) 1.25 million Americans are directly employed as programmers and systems administrators, and the population of the country is (again roughly) 250 million, hard-core computer professionals are outnumbered by a factor of (roughly) 200 to one. This is good news for computer professionals; they can earn higher salaries than most workers because their skills are in demand and there aren’t many of them. It also means that there are plenty of potential customers for pro-level geeks who choose to go into business for themselves.

These are the people who should take full advantage of the command line’s power and flexibility, something Windows does not allow them to do. These are the people who should be working hardest to evangalize point/click Linux on the office desktop, because they are the ones who can make money selling Linux-based small office networks, along with support for those networks.

With a professional sysadmin behind them, users don’t need to know much. The sysadmin does the (metaphorical) heavy lifting. But, especially in a contract environment, a large part of that sysadmin’s job is user training, and if that sysadmin tries to teach workers who don’t need to know much about how the computer works to do their jobs a bunch of stuff that only confuses them, the executives who hired that sysadmin will soon be saying, “Well, this Linux thing sure was a mistake. Guess we shoudl give it up and call that Microsoft-certified systems integrator who keeps sending us brochures.”

On the other hand, a Linux/Unix sysadmin who is patient with users and does not try to take them too far too fast will inevitably find that some of them will display interest in going beyond the rudimentary point/click desktop, and a compassionate sysadmin will point them to books and online docs and help them learn how to use a console interface effectively — hopefully on their home machines, not by giving them root access to the office network.

Making desktop Linux as accessible as possible to as many people as possible is the key to all of this.

Making the barrier to Linux entry as low as possible brings more users (AKA potential customers) to Linux/Uinx sysadmins and programmers who prefer to work with Open Source tools.

And, perhaps more important to the world in general over the long haul, spreading use of an operating system that allows most user-level and single-machine tasks to be performed with simple GUI tools, but also allows users to progress beyond the GUI if and when they need to, helps “the masses” become more adept computer users than they will ever be if their only choice is between systems that offer nothing but a point/click interface, and systems that require memorizing strings of text commands to write and print a simple business letter.

If you have never used Linux but are curious about it, please read our Introduction to Linux and Linux.com to start the learning process.