Agenda Computing will officially launch the world’s first-ever pure Linux PDA, the Agenda VR3, at Spring Comdex in Chicago to the U.S. consumer market on April 3, 2001. Bradley D. LaRonde, Agenda Computing President and CEO, is scheduled to speak about Linux and the Agenda VR3 at the April 3 press conference. LaRonde is also scheduled to announce the next Agenda device to the media, which Ian LeWinter, Agenda’s Chief Strategy Officer says, “Will make the other guys scramble to compete against our new Mindtool(TM).”The launch of the Agenda VR3 represents a historic leap in the computing capability of low cost handheld devices. “Finally there is a PDA…powerful enough to run Linux and available at a cost [comparable to] devices that aren’t even capable of true multitasking,” said LaRonde.

Agenda Linux, which runs on the VR3, is an embedded operating system designed to run handheld and e-mobility devices without sacrificing desktop computing power and capability. “Agenda’s products are a direct result of a huge amount of effort from all kinds of people. I feel that it’s Agenda’s responsibility to contribute back [to the Linux community]. I never want Agenda to lose sight of the fact that…[our] success is really a reflection of the success of the Linux community,” stated LaRonde. Chief Financial Officer Dennis Shogren stated, “This is a very exciting time to be an emerging company in the consumer electronics industry and Linux is one of the hottest products in the market space. I’m thrilled to be a part of Agenda and to participate in the creation of a company which will be known for its technological innovation and commitment to the care and intellectual nourishment of its people.”

In addition to the robust operating software, the VR3 is powered by an NEC VR4181 66MHz 32 bit processor, and houses 8MB RAM and 16MB flash memory. The VR3 comes standard with CIR circuitry and software, which allows the unit to act as a remote control for household appliances, and will send a memo or message to a printer or other device by wireless infrared transfer. The Agenda VR3 comes in H20 (transparent), Shark (slate blue), and Matrix (black) and MSRPs for $249. Agenda will hold their press conference on April 3, 2001 at 2pm during Spring Comdex.

For more information, please visit our website at www.agendacomputing.com

Contact:

Angela LeWinter
Agenda Computing
858-569-6855
angela@agendacomputing.com

When the rest of your household springs forward this weekend, better make sure your computer does the same — at least any computer running a Microsoft operating system. MSNBC reports that a “quirky” bug in Windows may cause some programs to run one hour behind the correct time. Microsoft and its developers are downplaying the bug’s impact, saying the worst that could possibly happen is that the departure/arrival monitors in airport terminals might be inaccurate.

“Apache 2.0 offers numerous enhancements, improvements and performance
boosts over the 1.3 codebase. The most visible and noteworthy addition
is the ability to run Apache in a hybrid thread/process mode on any
platform that supports both threads and processes. This has shown to
improve the scalability of the Apache HTTPD server significantly in
our early testing, on some versions of Unix. With this version of Apache,
we have also added support for filtered I/O. This allows modules to modify
the output of other modules before it is sent to the client.” Full story at Apache Today.

“For those living the Linux life, those who want to live the Linux life, and even bystanders, The Joy of Linux answers the “why’s” of Linux and provides insight into communities vital to Linux. With chapters such as ” The Penguin on Top,” “The Joy of Toys,” and “The Linux Sutra: Resources,” and cartoons by Nitrozac and Snaggy, readers will be entertained and treated to useful information. In brief, The Joy of Linux is a cultural history book, a field guide, and a love song.” Read the press release at Wide Open News.

Debian.org: “The Debian Project has finished its leadership voting, and Ben Collins has been chosen to be the new Debian Project Leader (DPL). Congratulations to Ben, and thanks to
all the developers who participated in the vote!”

From Slashdot: “mr writes “The boys and girls at Evans Data want to sell you a 178 page report about Linux. Now, they had a page that put FreeBSD between Caldara and Debian as far as how often it is used as a web server. They have pulled FreeBSD from the list. Seems Evans Data just figured out that FreeBSD isn’t Linux.””

In this edition of Zack Brown’s weekly newsletter, devoted to summarzing content and traffic on the linux-kernel mailing list: “Status of kernel pre-emption” … “Big slowdown in 2.4.2” … “Amount of swap to use in 2.4.”

Version 2.4.3 of the Linux kernel is now available. Download from kernel.org or your favorite neighborhood mirror site; read the changelog.

From the LinuxPlanet review: “The need for security in an increasingly insecure world is growing ever greater. Linux, often touted as one of the more secure platforms, still has its security flaws. SmoothWall Linux is a solution that has systematically removed many of these flaws by shipping a solid, cohesive distribution that has only one thing on its list of things to do: protect your network.”

Feature articles on Windows to Linux conversions are old news at this point, but how about an entire online magazine devoting its monthly issue to the subject? The April 2001 issue of Troubleshooting Professional Magazine does just that, throwing in a few Linux advocacy tips for good measure.