An anonymous reader writes: “A computer is not needed to burn and play MP3 CDs on this portable that Archos will release for summer. More at
MP3 Newswire.“

ZDNET.co.uk: “Some of the universities that have been targeted in the MPAA’s
investigation include Harvard University and the University of
Connecticut. Meanwhile, ISP Excite@Home has sent out about 20
e-mails and letters over the past four days telling Gnutella users their
services will be terminated within 24 hours if their alleged movie
sharing continues.”

From the BaltoLUG Web site: Thanks to the hard work of David Robson, and the sponsorship of the Towson High School Computer Club, we’ll be holding our first InstallFest on Saturday, 21 April, 2001, from 10a to 2p in the Towson High School library. Lots of electrical outlets will be available, as will a LAN (10-baseT, RJ-45) including internet access.
Towson High has
directions
and a map, but we have better directions below.

The InstallFest is open to all.
Bring in a computer (including the power cable and monitor),
and we’ll help you
get Linux up and running on it.
You can either bring a distribution you
want installed, or choose from those that others bring.
We can set up Linux either in addition to
any other operating systems or in place of them — you decide.
Also, if you have Linux installed, but are having problems with it,
bring in your system and ask for help. We won’t have a phone system,
so we probably won’t be able to test modem problems.

Those who already have Linux installed are encouraged to come bearing
distros and expertise. Also, network cards, power strips and extension
cords would be useful.

Promote the InstallFest with this flyer,
designed by Larry Brown.

Please send comments and suggestions to
Marc Shapiro. Really. I could use
some advice on this thing.

Directions

Towson High School
69 Cedar Avenue
Towson, Maryland 21286

General location: If you are familiar with Towson University, you’re almost there.
Towson High School is concealed in a residential community just one block East of
Towson University. Caution the high school has two parking lots that do not
interconnect.

From the Baltimore Beltway: Take Exit 26A (York Rd) or Exit 27A (Dulaney Valley
Rd), then travel south on York Road. After negotiating the traffic circle, continue south
on York Road. Pass through the Aigburth Avenue traffic light in front of Towson
University; at the next corner turn left onto Hillside Drive. Continue one block to the
stop sign; drive straight ahead into the school lot and park there. Do not use the main
entrance. Go to the opposite (South) end of the parking lot and follow the small driveway
around the end of the building. Use the exterior stairs to enter the building on the second
floor.

From Baltimore: Drive North on York Road; continue north through the Stevenson Lane
intersection. Pass through the traffic light at Cross Campus Drive; at the next corner turn
right onto Hillside Drive. Continue one block to the stop sign; drive straight ahead into
the school lot and park there. Do not use the main entrance. Go to the opposite (South)
end of the parking lot and follow the small driveway around the end of the building. Use
the exterior stairs to enter the building on the second floor.

Bring: your computer, a power strip, extension cord, a few floppy disks, and any
software you wish to install. Club and LUG members will supply several varieties of
Linux, but we’d like to have as many copies on hand as possible.

“David Sweet, Physicist, hacker, author, and KDE enthusiast, will be
giving a technical talk about some of the machinery under the hood of
KDE 2.1, starting with a quick overview of the new subsystems of
KDE 2.0: KParts (including Konqueror plugins), DCOP, aRts, KHTML,
KIOSlaves, and XMLGUI.”

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

                KDE 2.0 Development & Andamooka

                   Presented by David Sweet


4/18/2001
Wednesday
6:30pm-8:00pm
IBM Headquarters Building
590 Madison Avenue at 57th Street
Check in at lobby for badge and room number

------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Sweet, Physicist, hacker, author, and KDE enthusiast, will be
giving a technical talk about some of the machinery under the hood of
KDE 2.1, starting with a quick overview of the new subsystems of
KDE 2.0: KParts (including Konqueror plugins), DCOP, aRts, KHTML,
KIOSlaves, and XMLGUI.
http://www.andamooka.org/~dsweet/
http://kde.org


David will then give a more in-depth KIOSlaves programming example;
this will be the bulk of the talk.

The last part of the talk will be about David's new book KDE 2.0
Development, and Andamooka, a collection of support/development
communities for Open Content/GFDL books, which hosts open content
books for reading, annotation, and discussion.
http://kde20development.andamooka.org
http://andamooka.org
http://www.opencontent.org/
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

Macmillan/SAMS has provided David with 10 copies of KDE 2.0 Development
to give away at this meeting.

More About David Sweet...

When he's not busy studying Flyswatter, David is a KDE contributor,
the lead author of the Open Content book KDE 2.0 Development, the author
of KSpell, and the founder of Andamooka,the open content library.
http://webs1152.im1.net/~dsweet/StaggerStep/
http://andamooka.org/

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. Note - We don't find out until the day of the meeting if we have
the back room.
http://www.typhoonbrewery.com/

Please see our home page at http://www.nylug.org for the HTMLized
version of this announcement, complete with graphics and additional
hyperlinks to related information.

April 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       President, 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

Reuters via Yahoo: “Intel Corp.’s new chip for taking on high-end markets, called the Itanium, is moving in development faster than expected, partner Hewlett-Packard Co. said on Tuesday, explaining a change in its own strategy.”

ZDNET: “A Microsoft Windows 2000 server software package can be crashed by sending it a
comparatively simple request for a Web page, a security firm has discovered.”

MSNBC: “Dell Computer on Monday released a new consumer
notebook with middle-of-the-road features and a low-end
price.”

– By Grant Gross –

Indrema has thrown in the towel on its Linux-based gaming console project, but a group of Indrema veterans is starting where the company left off, except with more of a community than a corporate focus.

Late last week, a handful of developers who were interested in creating games for Indrema launched the TuxBox project, and the volunteer TuxBox crew pledges to do what Indrema failed to do — bring a Linux gaming/multipurpose console to market.

The TuxBox team believes they can have a console ready to sell, with several game titles available, by this fall, even though they haven’t been able to salvage any code from Indrema. That goal could sound unrealistic, or even cocky, but the project’s founders are approaching the task with a matter-of-fact determination and a passion for creating a better gaming console.

“We will learn from [Indrema’s] mistakes,” says Travis Riley, one of the founders of the TuxBox project. “There were a lot of people disappointed about the outcome of Indrema.
We should help them continue their developing and continue their personal dream.”

Riley and Sean Isley, another TuxBox founder, say their project has several advantages over the failed Indrema effort. Both developers say Indrema didn’t communicate well with its volunteers, but Riley and Isley pledge to provide daily updates to TuxBox project members. The project also has regular IRC channel [irc.openprojects.net #tuxboxproject] where developers discuss their issues.

“We are letting the open-source community take more of a role in this project,” says Riley, a high school student from New Prague, Minn. “Indrema basically kept to themselves and didn’t inform their community too much on what was going on; we plan to update our community daily.”

“We won’t hide anything,” Isley adds, referring in part to Indrema’s financial difficulties. “We have no reason to.”

Everyone on the same page

The community of TuxBox developers, which now numbers around 10, can feel like TuxBox is their project, not a company’s, Riley says. “[We’re] giving people the ability to make it *their* console, that they helped make. We figure if the Linux community stayed strong and grew to what it is today, we can do that with this project.”

The team does seem to be on the same page. Riley and Isley, a developer for Default Games, finish each other’s thoughts during an interview on IRC. The TuxBox team met in the Indrema chat room, and the small group is hoping to attract more developers after the project is further along, although the project is already generating interest from former Indrema followers.

“We want to allow people to develop for a video game system that may not have enough money to develop for another big name system,” Riley says. “Our development kit will be free and allow anyone to develop for us.”

Freeware games included

The plan is to have 20 to 30 games, a combination of freeware and commercial titles, ready for the TuxBox when it’s available to buy, and the TuxBox team hopes to offer at least one commercial game with the console. Games being developed for Indrema should have little difficulty transferring to the TuxBox, Isley and Riley say.

Riley says having a good number of freeware games is a major advantage TuxBox will have over its big competitors such as Playstation, and another is the attraction of being able to create your own games. He sees developing a freeware game for TuxBox as good resume fodder for those who want to work in the industry; developers will pay just a small certification fee as insurance that the games work properly with TuxBox.

“No system out there currently, or coming out, will suit my needs for what I want in a console: freeware games; a free community; develop and distribute your own games for free,” Riley says.

Like Indrema’s console, the plan for the TuxBox console will function as a DVD, CD and MP3 player, and will have email capabilities. The console’s OS, based on the Linux 2.4 kernel, also will be upgradeable as new versions of Linux come out. “With the ability for third-party developers and the addition of USB ports, this box *could* be anything,” Riley adds. “Someone could make a word processor for it and hook up a printer.”

What’s next?

The first step for the project is to finish a console prototype, Isley says, and the team expects that can be finished within a couple of months. With volunteers developing and researching the box, the cost for a prototype should be in the $350 range, and the TuxBox team members are putting their own money into it.

The TuxBox team has a big dream for their console, but they are confident they can first attract hard-core gamers, and eventually compete with the big boys for commercial games and buyers. They say their project has already caught up to Indrema’s and, when asked to explain why TuxBox will succeed, Isley simply says, “Its community.” The TuxBox crew has already begun pulling all-night coding sessions to meet their deadlines.

Where do they expect TuxBox will be in a couple of years?

Riley: “In a year or two, we would like to see it connected to people’s TVs all over this country.”

Isley: “I would like to see it in the living rooms of many people playing a game like Tux Racer.”

Riley adds: “With continuous development.”

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

Slackware reports that it will be dropped by Wind River in an upcoming corporate merger. Slackware promises to continue on its own. There’s a discussion on Slashdot.

PC World reports that a Bulgarian bug hunter has found a potentially dangerous bug in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer file viewer, allowing files to disguise themselves as innocuous files.