ZDNet reports that a “$20 billion stimulus package in the works by the Senate Democrats may include a $1 billion to bankroll an information-technology fund, CNET News.com has learned.”

ZDNet reports that despite “heavy marketing and lucrative rebates being offered by retailers, early resutls indicate that sales of Windows XP are trailing Windows 98 but running ahead of Windows Me.”

Anonymous Reader writes, “LinuxDevices.com reports that Ericsson has quietly discontinued their much touted Linux-based Cordless Web Screen project. The H610 Cordless Web Screen (originally called the HS210 Cordless Screen Phone) was to be a wireless webpad with a built-in telephone and Bluetooth wireless technology for in-home use, based on an Intel StrongARM processor running a Red Hat supplied Linux operating system, a GUI based on Trolltech’s Qt/Embedded, and Opera’s browser. An detailed article about the device is located here.”

Dave wrote in to let us know that Linux kernel prepatch 2.4.14-pre7 had been released. Download from your preferred mirror site and check out the changelog, posted below.

Changelog:
pre7:
 - me: reinstate "delete swap cache on low swap" code
 - David Miller: ksoftirqd startup race fix
 - Hugh Dickins: make tmpfs free swap cache entries proactively

pre6:
 - me: remember to bump the version number ;)
 - Hugh Dickins: export "free_lru_page()" for modules
 - Jeff Garzik: don't change nopage arguments, just make the last a dummy one
 - David Miller: sparc and net updates (netfilter, VLAN etc)
 - Nikita Danilov: reiserfs cleanups
 - Jan Kara: quota initialization race
 - Tigran Aivazian: make the x86 microcode update driver happy about
   hyperthreaded P4's
 - me: shrink dcache/icache more aggressively
 - me: fix up oom-killer so that it actually works

pre5:
 - Andrew Morton: remove stale UnlockPage
 - me: swap cache page locking update

pre4:
 - Mikael Pettersson: fix P4 boot with APIC enabled
 - me: fix device queuing thinko, clean up VM locking

pre3:
 - René Scharfe: random bugfix
 - me: block device queuing low-water-marks, VM mapped tweaking.

pre2:
 - Alan Cox: more merging
 - Alexander Viro: block device module race fixes
 - Richard Henderson: mmap for 32-bit alpha personality
 - Jeff Garzik: 8139 and natsemi update

pre1:
 - Michael Warfield: computone serial driver update
 - Alexander Viro: cdrom module race fixes
 - David Miller: Acenic driver fix
 - Andrew Grover: ACPI update
 - Kai Germaschewski: ISDN update
 - Tim Waugh: parport update
 - David Woodhouse: JFFS garbage collect sleep
http://www.kernel.org/mirrors/

“Under the terms of the deal, expected to be announced in coming days, Prodigy will sell the Linux-based Web device, known as NIC, offering those who buy the device three months of Internet service for the price of one. Prodigy is in the process of being acquired by telephone company SBC Communications.” Posted at CNET News.com.

A collection of security fixes, bug fixes, and functionality updates,
including the Omni print drivers from IBM.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat Security Advisory

Synopsis:          Comprehensive Printing Update
Advisory ID:       RHSA-2001:138-10
Issue date:        2001-10-22
Updated on:        2001-10-31
Product:           Red Hat Linux
Keywords:          Omni printing ghostscript foomatic printconf
Cross references:  
Obsoletes:         
---------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Topic:

A collection of security fixes, bug fixes, and functionality updates,
including the Omni print drivers from IBM.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Linux 7.2 - i386

3. Problem description:

This update addresses the following issues:

A printing security hole, whereby non-local users could print the contents
of any file on the system which the 'lp' user was capable of reading. This
was solved by giving Ghostscript a 'PARANOIDSAFER' mode, which will not
open external files.

A foomatic printing database bug, which caused all users of the 'stp'
driver, including virtually all Epson printers, to fail to print as a
result of miscalculated driver data.

A filtration problem, which caused many PCL and PJL printers to produce
garbage. This was solved by switching to the foomatic distributed
'lpdomatic' program for filtration.

A few printconf crashers in the new printconf-tui programme.

And in addition, this update adds the Omni print drivers from IBM, which
support an additional 300 printers.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade.  Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated.  Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated.  Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory only contains
the
desired RPMs.

After updating the rpms, you will need to restart your print server, by
running:

/sbin/service lpd restart

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network.  Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates.  To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

5. Bug IDs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla for more info):



6. RPMs required:

Red Hat Linux 7.2:

SRPMS:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/SRPMS/foomatic-1.1-0.20011018.3.src.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/SRPMS/ghostscript-6.51-16.src.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/SRPMS/Omni-0.5.0-4.src.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/SRPMS/printconf-0.3.52-1.src.rpm

i386:
ftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/foomatic-1.1-0.20011018.3.i386.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/ghostscript-6.51-16.i386.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/Omni-0.5.0-4.i386.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/Omni-foomatic-0.5.0-4.i386.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/printconf-0.3.52-1.i386.rpmftp://updates.redhat.com/7.2/en/os/i386/printconf-gui-0.3.52-1.i386.rpm



7. Verification:

MD5 sum                           Package Name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
b5fb0f362d02b7603a6457f9f22c7805 7.2/en/os/SRPMS/Omni-0.5.0-4.src.rpm
c5d165452bbfe1a0012f056312894c11 7.2/en/os/SRPMS/foomatic-1.1-0.20011018.3.src.rpm
835ebff65ba009ca2fe357d85d1a32bf 7.2/en/os/SRPMS/ghostscript-6.51-16.src.rpm
080116d5dd7f3808a0b480ec08ad3f75 7.2/en/os/SRPMS/printconf-0.3.52-1.src.rpm
cfed0e7eb8816db262b2d7fdc8ea6c65 7.2/en/os/i386/Omni-0.5.0-4.i386.rpm
93f6ffeb3997ee63ccc8edb60c1d3b4c 7.2/en/os/i386/Omni-foomatic-0.5.0-4.i386.rpm
36dabdc01cae9f01f6b31ebc9d3c786e 7.2/en/os/i386/foomatic-1.1-0.20011018.3.i386.rpm
9ee8a1d12bbbe8e571262583bceb1dfa 7.2/en/os/i386/ghostscript-6.51-16.i386.rpm
66f6a934d31cd78ac7b51c3b2dc5e168 7.2/en/os/i386/printconf-0.3.52-1.i386.rpm
36562b52000f29159ac5f46f9afc1d80 7.2/en/os/i386/printconf-gui-0.3.52-1.i386.rpm

These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat, Inc. for security.  Our key
is available at:
    http://www.redhat.com/about/contact/pgpkey.html

You can verify each package with the following command:
    rpm --checksig  filename

If you only wish to verify that each package has not been corrupted or
tampered with, examine only the md5sum with the following command:
    rpm --checksig --nogpg filename

8. References:




Copyright(c) 2000, 2001 Red Hat, Inc.

Rackspace Managed Hosting, a leading
provider of managed hosting services, and Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT), the
leader in developing, deploying and managing open source solutions,
today announced E-Commerce Complete, a comprehensive, hosted e-commerce
solution. The offering features the Red Hat E-Commerce Suite installed
and pre-configured on a Rackspace hosting platform, and it includes
support and services from both companies to ensure complete integration
and smooth management of the application.
This latest innovation provides all the hardware and software resources
that developers require in one complete package, eliminating the need
for customers to purchase the various components of their e-commerce
solution from different vendors. E-Commerce Complete has the features of
an enterprise-level solution, including catalog presentation and
ordering functions, payment gateway integration, and it is tailored to
fit the budget of most small to medium-sized enterprises. E-Commerce
Complete allows Linux customers to customize their own hosting
architecture based on their specific needs, such as size of storefront,
expected traffic and specific security concerns. In addition, the
package includes unlimited configuration support from Rackspace, a
one-year subscription to the Red Hat Network, and dedicated incident
support from Red Hat’s developer support staff.

“Up until now, integrating the software platforms, server hardware, and
networks required for an e-commerce solution was time-consuming,
required extensive knowledge and often resulted in unstable systems,”
said Graham Weston, chief executive officer of Rackspace. “Now
E-Commerce Complete streamlines the site-building process, allowing
developers to spend less time on system integration. Customers will be
up and running quickly, increasing the traditional ROI on an e-commerce
project.”

“We chose to work with Rackspace because we wanted to minimize downtime
and protect our customers’ online businesses with comprehensive
security,” said Mark de Visser, Vice President of Marketing at Red Hat.
“Rackspace’s infrastructure monitoring and management will ensure that
daily operations run smoothly, and when a technical issue arises,
developers will be able to rely on Rackspace and Red Hat technical
support to help resolve the issues that developers and system
integrators face during the e-business life cycle.”

About Rackspace Managed Hosting

Rackspace Managed Hosting provides its customers with full-service
managed hosting solutions, including state-of-the-art data centers,
customized servers, burstable connectivity, server software and 24 x 7
fanatical support of all hardware and core software. With Rackspace’s
SmoothScaling capabilities, e-businesses can add bandwidth, advanced
services, or server capacity on demand. Monthly fees range from $300 to
$50,000 per month, depending on the complexity required. Founded in
1998, with locations in Texas and London, the company manages thousands
of servers for customers in more than 60 countries. Rackspace was
recently selected by the editors of Web Hosting Magazine as the Top
Choice in the Dedicated/Colocation category in the publication’s Best
Host Competition. Rackspace has also been named The Top Dedicated Server
Company in Web Server List’s Hosting Awards and voted The Top Dedicated
Server Host by WebHostMagazine.com. For more information, visit
www.rackspace.com, or call 800-961-2888.

###

Rackspace is a registered trademark of Rackspace, Ltd. Linux is a
trademark of Linus Torvalds. Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red
Hat, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.

CNET News.com: “U.S. lawmakers seeking to create a child-friendly Internet zone said Thursday that they would consider setting it up within an address controlled by the United States, rather than imposing it internationally.

Web sites aimed at children would then be found at domains such as .kids.us, rather than the simpler .kids as originally envisioned.”

CNET News.com: “Fewer than 300,000 boxed copies of the new operating system were sold in the first several days of its availability, according to preliminary figures from NPD Intelect, which has polled roughly 80 percent of its retailers and mail-order clients about XP. Although some poll respondents indicated that demand was “healthy,” NPD asserts that the final tally of first-week sales will likely be 20 percent to 25 percent lower than what Microsoft saw with Windows 98.”

“…the highlight of the evening was Simon Cozens’s first public demonstration of Parrot, the new virtual computer that will one day run Perl 6. After he’d finished the talk we expected, he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from a secret pocket. This, he whispered, was an early draft of Apocalypse 3 which he’d smuggled out at great personal risk from under the very noses of the Design Team. An expectant hush fell as he proceeded to reveal the highlights. The reception his heroic effort received was… low key.” From perl.com.