“Most of you will have heard this by now, but the KDE Project has announced a new education software project for Linux/UNIX:” More at Seul.org.

Jeff Gerhardt writes, Tuesday, October 2, 2001 from the home of Wayne’s World, Aurora IL Tonight LIVE on
www.thelinuxshow.com
At 6pm pt, 7pm mt, 8pm ct, and 9pm et…. Kevin Hill, Jeff Gerhardt, PJ Hyett, Doc Searls (Linux Journal), and Arne Flones have another great show lined up tonight on The Linux Show!! (we may again be joined by some surprise guests tonight!!!)

In Segment One – Hot News: We will be covering the hot Linux news of
the last few weeks while we have been absorbed by the world events. In particular, we will talk about Red Hat because we never got to them last week.

In Segment Two- SSSCA Political Action The TLS Disney SSSCA Boycott
We will be posting the content of a press release later tonight announcing our request for community political action to fight SSSCA. This press release will have full details of how community members can contact their representatives in Washington. PLUS, as a call to action and a way of focusing attention on the need for this action we are going to ask for a community wide boycott of the Walt Disney Company. Details will follow.

In Segment Three- “Starnix Inc kicks Microsoft in the Shin”- or how one clever Linux Company is taking advantage of The Gartner Group issuing an advisory recommending that organizations affected by Microsoft web-server security vulnerabilities “immediately investigate alternatives to IIS”.
We will be joined tonight by long time friend of TLS, and VP Business Development for Starnix, Evan Leibovitch.

In response to growing concerns about the security of business web-servers, Starnix Inc. today announced a program specially tailored to assist migration towards the popular and secure Apache server.

As discussed on last weeks show, on September 19 2001, The Gartner Group issued an advisory recommending that organizations affected by Microsoft web-server security vulnerabilities “immediately investigate alternatives to IIS”. Gartner specifically noted the Apache server as having ?much better security records than IIS?.

The Starnix Managed Web Migration Program offers a simplified path to Apache, through a number of Starnix products and services:

• The Starnix Managed Web-server, which features a commercially-supported
  version of the popular Apache web server, running on Starnix’s secured Linux-based platform.
• Consulting services and training specifically designed to assist the transition from IIS to Apache.
• Commercial-grade 24/7/365 technical support and monitoring, with a variety of response-level options tailored to client need.

Starnix Inc. is a privately-held Toronto-based IT support organization specializing in system monitoring/support, security, e-commerce and network infrastructure. Started in 1998, Starnix serves companies in many business sectors, keeping their systems efficient, secure and reliable.

Other opinions are welcome at GeekCast. If you would like to join us on the show, check our IRC Chat(irc.thelinuxshow.com #linuxshow).

Remember tune in at 6pm pt, 7pm mt, 8pm ct, and 9pm et.
Catch the Linux show at www.thelinuxshow.com

Marcos Manhães writes, “OLinux: In this interview, Phil Jones, LFSP leader, explains this iniciative that brings Linux to children right at their own school. ‘There’s a wrong perception that schools have to give children what they’ll find in the workplace. Children can easily adapt from one platform to another. Also by the time they get out of school it’ll all have changed anyway. If my school had that idea then they would have trained me at twelve to be expert on Word Perfect 4.1 for DOS. There’s no need to worry about it. Trust in kids’ adaptability’.”

ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/alan/linux-2.4/. Intermediate diffs are available from http://www.bzimage.org. Cox writes, “Small stuff this time, bug fixes new idents and tiny cleanups all stability work.”

2.4.10-ac4
o Switch to Linus behaviour for kmap (Trond Myklebust)
in generic_file_write – should fix NFS oopses
| I dont have any highmem boxes so you get to test 8)
o ext3 deadlock versus truncate fix (Tachino Nobuhiro)
o Small reiserfs transaction fix (Nikita Danilov)
o Fix a fencepost error in the vm decision making (Rik van Riel)
o Shmem accounting fix (Christoph Rohland)
o BH async flag changes from 2.4.10 (Andrea Arcangeli)
o Remove wbinvd macro the acpi people re-added (Dave Jones)
o Make the kiobuf init code only clean needed
fields (noticably speeds up Oracle) (Andrew Bond)
o Move DMI scanning earlier in the kernel boot (Stelian Pop)
| This is needed to detect the vaio early enough
o Try and fix 21041 problems with tulip, better (Herbert Xu)
o Tulip rx dropped calculation
o Add further PCI idents (Jeff Garzik)
o Add another ident to the clgen fb (Jeff Garzik)
o Add intel i830 to the agp code idents (Christof Efkemann)
o pl2303 usb serial fixes (Greg Kroah-Hartmann)
o ipconfig typo fix (Ralf Baechle)
o Fix user mode linux build with new ptrace (Jeff Dike)
o JFFS tags update (David Woodhouse)
o Kill of remaining old style video4linux inits (Ladis Michl)
o Update i2c to rev 2.6.1 (Christoph Hellwig)

2.4.10-ac3
o Fix page_kills_ppro call (Peter Blomgren)
o mtd jffs and jffs2 updates (David Woodhouse)
o Partition handling updates (Al Viro)
o S/390 documentation updates (Martin Schwidefsky)
o S/390 code updates (Martin Schwidefsky)
o Add clean config for bust_spinlock generics (Martin Schwidefsky)
o Correct EXPORT_MODULE_GPL (Keith Owens)
o NFSv3 mkdir fix (Glen Serre)
o Clean up NFS yielding (Trond Myklebust)

IDG News Service reports on an AdKey software that allows Web sites to lock out users who block banners and pop-up ads.

SolarisGuide.com reports thatSun Microsystems plans to release today a beta version of StarOffice 6.0 office-productivity software for download.

– by Tina Gasperson –
The anti-SSSCA movement is building steam rapidly this week as an online petition directed at lawmakers garners over 7,000 signatures in a little over three weeks. “I’m hoping Congress will understand that the average person thinks the government forcing policeware on their computers is un-American and downright wrong, and that supporting the SSSCA will hurt them when they run for re-election,” says Don Pavlish, the mastermind behind the petition and a new Web site called StopPoliceWare.org.The potential SSSCA (Security Systems Standards and Certification Act) legislation is a serious threat to Open Source operating systems. As reported by NewsForge last week, it could outlaw Linux because it calls for proprietary copy-protection standards that wouldn’t fly with the GPL.

“Millions of Linux users would be turned into federal felons overnight,” Pavlish says. “The devastating impact on the Open Source community cannot be overstated. Thousands of administrators, programmers, developers and others would lose their jobs.” And since Open Source software runs most of the Internet, outlawing it would “turn the ‘Net into just another playground for big corporations that could afford the license fees.”

Don Marti wrote an editorial entitled Open Letter to Michael Eisner, Chairman and CEO, Walt Disney Company that was published at LinuxJournal.com last month, in which he poignantly reminds us why the Web needs Open Source:

… You and your bill should stay out of Washington, DC, and let our elected representatives do their jobs.

Here’s why.

On the morning of September 11th, I was wondering about one thing. Nothing the mass media could spare the time to answer, though. My question was “What happened to Jim and Ari?” They work in a
building facing the World Trade Center, and often use the subway station underneath.

In mid-morning, an internet server still chugging along on lower Broadway passed along the answer. “I just talked to Ari. He and Jim are OK.”

That was it. A few words, passed along by a freely available mail program on an old Pentium system in the corner of an office. Words that ended up copied many times and passed along to internet places
where Jim and Ari’s friends gather. Low-budget Internet hosts you’ve never heard of, with names like zork.crackmonkey.org and barley.nylug.org, running software you’ve never heard of, with names like Postfix
and GNU Mailman.

This isn’t the flashy Internet of IPOs and Herman Miller chairs. It’s the Internet where a regular person with a couple books and a used computer can start up a meeting, an argument, a conversation about anything. No venture capitalists, no advertisers, no licenses, no chat room monitors — just independent know-how, Linux Documentation Project style.

And lest you think this is just another case of Open Source against the world, be aware that the SSSCA is bad news for anybody who owns a computer, including the vast majority who use Windows. “You don’t have to be an uber-geek to be frightened of the SSSCA,” says Pavlish. “Government policeware would affect everyone” who enjoys multimedia entertainment on their computers, because it would severely limit the freedoms we now have to listen to CDs, play DVDs, read e-books, or even record TV programs for later viewing. “It’s for the soccer mom whose 18-year-old son is about to become a federal felon for deleting a DLL file on his Windows box in the privacy of his own bedroom.”

The entertainment industry, says Pavlish, envisions a future where micropayments come to them every time we listen, or play, or read, or record. “They know consumers will never voluntarily agree to this garbage, so they bribe Congress to make sure all Americans submit to these controls or face federal felony charges and five years in the slammer.”

The proposed legislation is particularly dangerous because the general public is typically in favor of anything that purports to stop “piracy.” Thanks to extremely effective marketing by Microsoft, shored up by the mantra of copyright protection being repeated by the entertainment industry, the country appears ready to blithely stand by while Congress waves this one through. It may be up to the geeks to sound the alarm, letting Joe Q. Clueless, who thinks being able to figure out what a site is running on is tantamount to hacking, know that he’s about to be lumped in with “the bad guys,” just because he wants to play his favorite CD on his new Gateway.

The current American attitude that says, “I’ll give up all my freedoms if you’ll just protect me” isn’t helping either. While Pavlish thinks that the September 11th attacks have take some of the focus off this bill and onto things like banning encryption and Web traffic monitoring, he says he wouldn’t be surprised if Congress were to “try and tack it onto a bill that otherwise is concerned with security-related issues. We need to be on the alert for this.”

Pavlish, a Libertarian, created the StopPoliceware.org site because of his strong personal opposition to the SSSCA bill. “I cannot imagine a future where the government has its policeware on my computer, and where Open Source software would be illegal. I’ve been online since the early days of BBSs and 1200-baud modems, and I’ve grown up very much in love with and benefiting from the open, free nature of the Web.

The petition and the Web site are just the beginning of what promises to be an explosion of public awareness of the nefarities of SSSCA. The StopPoliceware.org site has sample letters and phone scripts for people who want to confront their elected officials via other communications channels. Several people are helping Pavlish with this effort. One is his friend Nate Craddock, who in 2000 was the youngest candidate for Congress — also a Libertarian. Craddock authored a flash animation at the site called “Rip, Mix, Burn, Go to Jail.”

Julian Cook has donated millions of free ad impressions to StopPoliceware, through his WebTicker news feed service. “I decided it would be a good cause to push. Don has done a fine job and I will support him with all of WebTicker’s resources. I don’t want big brother in my computer or in my life.” Cook says that by allowing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to pass, we’ve opened the door for even more restrictive legislation, like the SSSCA. “Microsoft must be loving this,” says Cook, “because it effectively outlaws Open Source.”

Cook’s been running WebTicker since June 1998, originally with the intention of making money. When that didn’t pan out, he decided to keep it going and simply offer the ad space for free to worthy charities. Basically, it’s a free news feed that is updated every 15 minutes using a Perl script Cook wrote, and the ads run inline. “So far we’ve been able to give out over 180 million ads,” he says.

Steve Litt, the editor and publisher of Troubleshooters Magazine, wrote to Pavlish after signing the petition to find out how he could help. Now he’s working on getting word about the petition to LUGs across the country. He sent a email out to his Linux contacts, asking them to spread the word about the petition. “When forwarding to a LUG,” he writes, “please suggest writing to congress and suggest any other creative means to stop this law (I’ve heard one suggestion that we contact government agencies who depend on GNU/Linux, such as NASA, NERSC, NIH, NIST, NOAA, USGS, Fermilab,” and others. The email’s only been circulating for one day but Litt already has the support of one of the largest LUGs in the United States, the Suncoast LUG in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Litt’s found another creative way to contribute to the movement: He’s asked his musician friend Artie Kegler to write and record an anti-SSSCA song. “Lyrics wise, it will be happy and sarcastic and
lampoon the stupidity, laziness and greed of the SSSCA supporters, and the
gross unworkability of the SSSCA idea,” says Litt. “It will very much have a Linux twist,
as the first audience will be Linux people. However, it would be nice if it
were somewhat understandable by a larger audience.”

True to the nature of all Open Source projects, Litt is looking for contributions from the community to help with the lyrics and make the song a reality. Send your SSSCA jokes, limericks, or rhymes to Litt at slitt@troubleshooters.com.

Pavlish urges us to take action to prevent the SSSCA from becoming law. There are three things we can do immediately to help stop the pending legislation, he says. “Contact your congressperson. Tell ’em you vote, and if they pass the SSSCA you won’t vote for them. It’s that important, and that simple. Sign the petition. Spread the word!

“My computer and the Internet mean too much to me to allow this to happen. My computer is not a television; it’s truly an extension of myself, and there’s no way I’m going to allow Washington and Hollywood to force their policeware onto it so I can be networked into their cash machine.

“This is what the Web is all about — grass roots efforts, viral awareness.”

At w3.org: “W3C is grateful for the feedback it has received from the developer community on the Patent Policy Framework draft.

In response to requests from the public and W3C Member organizations, W3C has decided to extend the review period (for both public and
Members) until 11 October 2001.” More information at Slashdot and from CNet.

” The Linux Professional
Institute (LPI) today announced the next locations in a series of
one-day
events designed to introduce its new Level 2 certification program.”

Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2001 12:32:34 -0400
From: lpi-announce-bounce@lpi.org
To: lpi-announce@lpi.org
Reply to: lpi-info@lpi.org


For your information - I thought I'd pass our press release along, to
encourage you all to take our Level 2 extended exam.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Wilma Silbermann
Executive Assistant
wilma@lpi.org
905 874 4822

___________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE;

One Day Events In Seoul, Atlanta and Toronto Offer Intermediate Level
Linux
                         Certification Exams for $15

    BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, October 1  -- The Linux Professional
Institute (LPI) today announced the next locations in a series of
one-day
events designed to introduce its new Level 2 certification program.
    The events, to take place in Atlanta Georgia (USA) on October 9 and
in
Toronto (Canada) October 10, allow participants to take the complete
Level 2
LPI exam for $15 in Atlanta and $25(Canadian) in Toronto.
        The first such event took place September 20 in Seoul, hosted by
Korean
Linux distributor WowLinux. The Atlanta event October 9 is co-hosted by
LPI sponsor IBM and the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts. The Toronto event,
October 10, is hosted by LPI sponsor Starnix Inc.
         "These events are a great demonstration of what LPI is all about," said
LPI President Chuck Mead. "As a non-profit organization, LPI's aim has
always been to make our program as globally accessible as possible. But
we're also very concerned with having the program relevant, challenging,
and based on sound psychometrics. These events allow us to offer a
preliminary version of the Level 2 exam which both minimizes costs to
test-takers and helps us validate the program."
    The LPI Level 2 beta exam is also available worldwide until
mid-October,
for $85 (USD) through the VUE network of testing centers. After the beta
period is over, Level 2 will be offered as two exams costing $100 (USD)
each. Designed to demonstrate knowledge of professionals with 3-4 years
of
experience, Level 2 covers 14 subject areas defined according to an
extensive Job Task Analysis study conducted worldwide.
    Any organization of 20 or more people interested in hosting a
similar
event is invited to contact Kara Pritchard, LPI Director of Exam
Development, at kara@lpi.org.
    
About LPI
    The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) develops professional
certification
the Linux operating system independent of software vendors or training
providers. Established as an international nonprofit organization in
1999
by the Linux community, LPI develops accessible,
internationally-recognized
certification programs which have earned the respect of vendors,
employers and
administrators. LPI's activities involve hundreds of volunteers and
professionals throughout the world in many different capacities, and the
group
encourages active public involvement through mailing lists and its
website at
http://www.lpi.org. LPI's multi-level program of exams is administered
globally
through 2,700 test centers operated by Virtual University Enterprises
(VUE), a
division of NCS. LPI's major financial sponsors are Platinum Sponsors
Caldera
International (Nasdaq: CALD), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Linuxcare, Maxspeed, SGI
(NYSE:
SGI), SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux as well as the Gold Sponsors Hewlett-
Packard (NYSE: HWP) and Wave Technologies.
    
The Atlanta event, co-hosted by LPI sponsor IBM and the Atlanta Linux
Enthusiasts, will take place October 9 at the Atlanta Hilton & Towers,
255
Courtland Street, NE, Atlanta. For more information or to register for
the
event, contact James P Kinney at (770) 493-8244 or
jkinney@localnetsolutions.com.
    
The Toronto event, hosted by LPI sponsor Starnix Inc, will take place at
Starnix's offices at 175 Commerce Valley Drive West, Suite 310,
Thornhill.
For more information or to register contact Wilma Silbermann at (905)
874-4822 or wilma@lpi.org.
    
Objectives for the LPI Level 2 program can be found at:
http://www.lpi.org/p-L2-obj-pre.html.
    
Other information on LPI may be obtained at
http://www.lpi.org.
   
Information on the VUE testing network is at http://www.vue.com.
    
"Linux" is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other
countries.
    
"Linux Professional Institute" is a trademark of Linux Professional
Institute, Inc.
     
CONTACT
Chuck Mead, President
     919-522-0051 (mobile)
     csm@lpi.org
Evan Leibovitch, Board Chair
     416-998-3914 (mobile)
     905-771-0017 (office)
     evan@lpi.org

Posted at LWN.net: In response to growing concerns
about the security of business web-servers, Starnix Inc. today announced a
program specially tailored to assist migration towards the popular and
secure Apache server.