Slashdot readers talk about OpenBSD’s move to pf, a new packet filter.

Anonymous Reader writes, “Mnvalley.net, a Minnesota-based ISP, today announced it was giving back to the open source community by offering free web hosting. Web hosting has become a competitive business and by offering our free web hosting we are bringing in more customers to our paid accounts. These free accounts offer PHP programming language support. This is a perfect account for seasoned developers or for those looking to get there feet wet. visit http://www.mnvalley.net for more information.” (Editor’s note: There’s not much info about the free web hosting service on the site, but the webmaster confirms that it does indeed exist.)

GameSpyDaily has the interview with Francis Irving from Lab UK, about creating Creatures 3 and Sea Monkeys for the Linux platform.

ZDNet UK reports that Tuxia, an embedded Linux startup from Germany, has announced a deal to bring the company into
the expanding Chinese market for Internet appliances. “Tuxia is to co-develop Linux-based gadgets
like thin client terminals, set top boxes, PDAs and Web pads with Beijing Orient Electronics Group, a
large manufacturer of electronics components and displays.”

CNET News.com: “A federal appeals court has determined that Napster must continue to block the
swapping of copyrighted music, marking the latest legal setback for the fading online
service.

In a terse, two-page order released Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied two
separate requests from Napster. In one, a three-judge panel said it would not rehear the issues it
ruled on last February. Responding to another petition, a larger group of judges also declined to
review the matter in a so-called en banc appeal.”

The Web Developer’s Virtual Library features an excerpt from Chapter 7 of Professional Perl Programming from Wrox Press. From the overview: “This book provides comprehensive coverage of the Perl language. It covers the fundamentals of data types and
file handling through advanced features like regular expressions, object- oriented programming, threads,
internationalization, and integrating Perl with the C programming language. The latest version of the language,
Perl 5.6, is used throughout, with commentary for those with earlier versions.”

Enterprise Linux Today: “Red Hat, Inc. has officially announced Red Hat Database. The Red Hat Database product is based on PostgreSQL 7.1, and
optimized with Red Hat Linux 7.1. The company said the target market for the product is mid-sized organizations and corporate
workgroups and departments.” Yearly subscriptions can be purchased for $199, or a one-time charge of #2,295.

In the latest edition of LinuxUser: Stealth corporate Linux deployments, review of Kylix, a profile of Debian Linux, and coverage of Microsoft’s latest Open Source-is-evil hysteria. Stories are in PDF format.

In the latest edition of the Linux-Mandrake Community Newsletter: “New release of MandrakeFreq; Introducing the
Mandrake Cooker Weekly News; PPC Beta Status Report; Request for
MandrakeExpert Volunteers; Business Case of the Week; MandrakeForum
headlines.” Posted at Linux Weekly News.

From The Register: “Compaq today confirmed that it will transfer its Alpha microprocessor division to Intel
and consolidate its entire 64-bit server family on Intel’s IA-64 architecture by 2004.

The two firms have issued a statement, confirming a report in The Inquirer this
weekend that “Compaq is transferring significant Alpha microprocessor and compiler
technology, tools and resources to Intel.””