Ioman writes: “For those you out there still using a VCR, there is now a viable replacement. Panasonics new DMR-E20 DVD recorder is out. The DMR-E20 can record on both DVD-RAM and DVD-R. You can even watch a recorded program as you are recording another. This device is pretty cool and since the DMR-E20 is 2nd generation, its about 1/2 the price as last years model. I can’t wait to get one of these. My question is whether it records DTS or Dolby Digital as well. I also wonder how good the quality is. Here is a link.”

Avatar writes: “Just a quick note to let you know that evil3D has put up a new game review today. The game is Dominions: Priests, Prophets & Pretenders, the turn based strategy from Illwinter Game Design. Short blurb:

“Dominions is a turn-based strategy game with a fair variety of playing styles. The plot is as straightforward as possible. You are a Pretender, one who pretends to be a god to the people of the land. With your might, magic and minions, conquer the world so that all worship you as their god. And when another Pretenders get in the way? Well… take them out of course!”

Currently, Dominions plays on the Linux, Windows, Solaris, IRIX, & HPUX platforms. Our review can be found here.”

Sander Vesik writes: “One year ago, on October 13, 2000, Sun Microsystems open-sourced the code to StarOffice. On October 13, 2001, OpenOffice.org celebrated its first birthday! With over a 3600 strong community of members and over 150,000 downloads of the latest build of the code it gives OpenOffice.org something to celebrate. To honor this day and the community who have made the largest open source project, OpenOffice.org, a success, visit the Birthday Page. The page houses links to various documents tracing accomplishments, features (of the code), stories, testimonials, and more.”

Mikael Pawlo writes: “As reported by Gnuheter and IDG.net the German Parliament–Bundestag–is considering to migrate from a Microsoft platform to Linux. The main reason is security concerns. The Bundestag run about 5.000 computers. A committee is investigating the issue and they are supposed to report by late 2001 or early 2002. In either case they should be finished before Microsoft drops its support for Windows NT. Read more at IDG.net.”

Kelly McNeill writes: “Anyone who has had the opportunity to experience Microsoft’s retail training sessions understands the time, money and commitment the company lays out for its software. These training sessions are set up for those working in retail so that we can help consumers understand what they are purchasing and also find the products to fit their lifestyles. Microsoft found that this was a great way to introduce the Xbox to its retailers across the U.S., build up hype and help educate the associates when consumers have questions. After all, would you rather believe someone who has played the system, or someone who only assumes what is yet to come?”

Linux In Education: “Tux of Math Command (TuxMath) is an educational math skills game starring Tux, The Linux Penguin. In the game, the player protects cities from comets which fall from space by
solving math problems. If the player does not answer the math problem in time, the comets will hit the cities.

In light of the horrible events of Sept. 11th, 2001, we have been wondering if we should change the animation in our game, and if so, what should we change that animation to. We
want the game to be a positive experience for children, and we do not wish to be damaging or harmful in any way.”

“Have you wondered where that billion dollars IBM is spending on
Linux
in 2001 has gone? It’s not all going into “Peace. Love. Linux.”
advertising.”

Subject: Wednesday 17 October 2001 NYLUG Meeting: Peggy McKeon of
IBM's GNU/Linux Technology Center and Alan Robertson of the Linux High
Availability Project
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 02:50:47 -0400
From: secretary@lxny.org
To:   editors@newsforge.com






        *** New York Linux Users Group October 2001 Meeting ***
                           - NYLUG.org -

                     IBM's Linux Technology Center
                       Presented by Peggy McKeon

                      With a special appearance by
          Alan Robertson of the Linux High Availability Project


10/17/2001
Wednesday
6:30pm-8:00pm
IBM Headquarters Building
590 Madison Avenue at 57th Street

!! YOU MUST RSVP!!
IF YOU WISH TO ATTEND, YOU MUST RSVP BEFOREHAND BY EMAILING

jgleason@nylug.org

Photo ID and rsvp beforehand is required at the lobby to get a
badge. 

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

Have you wondered where that billion dollars IBM is spending on
Linux
in 2001 has gone?  It's not all going into "Peace. Love. Linux."
advertising.

Do you think you've already heard everything IBM has to say about
Linux? Think again.

This month's speaker is Peggy McKeon, of IBM's Linux Technology
Center
(LTC). Peggy will give us an update on IBM's current Linux strategy,
followed by an overview of projects underway at the LTC.  She will
be
presenting information about the Linux System Installation Suite
(SIS), a GPLed joint project of IBM and VA Linux Systems. SIS is a
combination of the IBM (GPL) Linux Utility for cluster Installation
(LUI), and Brian Finley's System Imager project.

http://www.ibm.com/linux/ltc
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sisuite
http://www-124.ibm.com/developerworks/projects/lui
http://systemimager.org

BONUS!
   Alan Robertson of the Linux High Availability Project will be
   attending the meeting, and will give a quick update about
linux-ha.
   http://linux-ha.org

Free Stuff!

   Swag of undetermined value and quantity will be distributed on a
   first-come, first-served basis.  Arrive early for the best
pickins!

About our speaker:

   Peggy McKeon is the past president of the Hudson Valley chapter
of the
   Project Management Institute. Her credits include: 
   * 20 year IBM veteran, worked in the VM, MVS, and now the Linux 
     Technology Center (LTC) groups 
   * Manager of the LTC Systems Management and Clustering team 
   * Masters Certificate in Project Management from George
Washington
     University 


Stammtisch:

  And then after the meeting... Join us around 8:15pm or so at the
  Typhoon Brewery & Restaurant located at 22 East 54th Street
between
  Madison and 5th Aves.

  http://www.typhoonbrewery.com


Next Month Eric Raymond speaks!

  On Monday November 11th, Eric S. Raymond, the author of The
Cathedral
  and The Bazaar, will present his thoughts to The New York Linux
Users
  Group. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center atrocity, Eric
has
  produced a new essay entitled "Decentralism Against Terrorism:"

  http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/against-terrorism.html

  He will expound on that, and of course, open the session up to
  questions. Note that this meeting is being held on Monday Nov.
12th,
  instead of the usual third Wed. of the month because of the
proximity 
  to Thanksgiving. 


Please see our home page at http://www.nylug.org for the HTMLized
version of this announcement, our archives, and a lot of other
good stuff.

October 2001 - The New York Linux Users Group, NYLUG.org


----------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Gleason                     VA Linux Systems
email: jim@valinux.com          http://www.valinux.com
phone: 212-858-7684             Pres. New York Linux Users Group 
fax: 212-858-7685               http://www.nylug.org
----------------------------------------------------------------




Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger 
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org

MSNBC: “The attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon may have demolished
offices and scattered papers, but they did not destroy all records. E-mail
messages, voice-mail recordings and other electronic traces of people were
routinely preserved by computer networks or telephone companies, in the
interest of backing up data should the power go out or a computer fail.
These e-relics often captured a moment in time that is both beautiful and
chilling to the people who discovered them.”

Kelly McNeill writes: “The real story of the dot-com boom, of course, resides in the personal tales that so many people have. Advance warning to grandchildren born anytime after 2030: You are going to hear more stories about Internet startups than you can bear. And in those stories, startups will be faster, richer and even more free-spending than in real life, which is saying something if you think about how much was spent so quickly. And the shakeout. Well, that will be even more dramatic, more abrupt, more outrageous than can be now imagined.”

Anonymous Reader writes: “Transmeta disclosed publicly for the first time today their plans for a highly integrated system-on-chip version of their code morphing Crusoe processor. The occasion for the announcement was the Microprocessor Forum being held this week in San Jose, CA. This story at LinuxDevices.com provides some of the first details to emerge about the features and functions of the new Crusoe system-on-chip.”