ABCNews takes a basic look at how Linux support companies make money.

Slashdot has an item about a reader getting Linux running on the Intel 80200 XScale CPU. “We did the final
bug fixes in a hotel room in New York.”

Marc Beneteau sends us this: Peoplink.org has just released the first beta of the CatGen Platform.
The Catgen Platform catgen.com includes the CatGen client software as well as host services such as payment, shipping, fulfillment and order-tracking.
It is an open-source software designed specifically for non-technical users with low-bandwidth (or expensive) connections to create their own web catalogs and sell their products and services domestically and overseas. It is currently in development and is scheduled to become operational by the end of the second quarter of 2001.

CatGen is a “database-to-web-catalog” application. Users will enter information about their company, products and services into their local database. This information may include html text, images, sound and video. After registering at CatGen.com they may, at the click of a button, download this information to a central database which will create their web site and enter their products and services into a global searchable database. Their web site may be created at CatGen.com, on another site that runs the CatGen-Server software, or (later) on any other host via ftp.

Our goal, is to produce an open-source (as much as possible) e-commerce framework that can be adoped by anyone to provide catalogs of products or services anywhere in the world, or even simply to create home pages for themselves or their organization. The client software (CatGen) will always be completely open-source, and the code that we develop for CatGen-Server will also be entirely open-source.

CatGen.com will be operated by Peoplink (http://peoplink.org), a non-profit organization training and equipping grass-roots organizations to market their wares while showcasing their cultural richness, and by partner organizations.

Linux Today reports that Linus has released Linux kernel 2.4.2-pre1.

Trolltech has released QT version 2.2.4. QT is the central toolkit involved with the KDE project.

Avleen writes “14 IRC Networks have joined forces, and admins have decided to talk to each other about IRC operations.
The server admins have come together to talk about anything and everything IRC related, but concentrating primarily on cross-network issues such as persistant and problematic users and DoS attacks.
If you’re interested in the IRCNetops project, or wish to join, visit http://www.ircnetops.org/“

Amit writes “Beta drivers for the motorola sm56 pci softmodem are now available at http://mylug.virtualave.net. These are precompiled binaries; no source is available though.”

Alan Cox has released 2.4.1ac2. This update fixes a few accidental reverts, some drivers, and updates documentation. Thanks to LWN.net.

LinuxPlanet looks back on LinuxWorld: “Beyond just the look of conference was the tenor. It’s changed quite a bit. Almost everyone I talked to
recognized it in some fashion or another. Linux, it seems, has grown up. Marty Larsen of VA Linux (which owns NewsForge, by the way) actually
made the best articulation of this phenomenon when he observed to me that Linux has matured, not as a
technology, but as a community. We are all nine years older than we were when Linux first made the scene, and
while the open source and free software movements are still going strong, the need to make some money has
become a much more dominant notion for Linux.”

– by Eric Ries –
Covalent is a commercial vendor
of
Apache products. They were at the 2001 LinuxWorld Expo, of course, and
got
my personal award for best billboards: simple black ones that read
“Welcome
fellow hackers.” They even gave me a T-shirt with the definition of
“hacker” on the back. But trouble was brewing …

Pitbull LX is a new much-hyped
security system for Linux. Of course, they were at the show. They had
huge
billboards, too, which read “Pitbull LX stops hackers in their tracks.”
Good
thing they had these two camps on opposite sides of the show floor. It
could have been ugly.

I asked the sales reps at Covalent if they’d received any trouble from
the
Pitbull team, but they were playing it cool. They didn’t seem stopped
in
their tracks at all.

A bit shocked that a distributor of Linux-based
software would have never –not even once — read the Jargon
file
definition of hacker vs. cracker, I went over to the Pitbull booth
to
see what they had to say for themselves. The sales rep there was very
helpful, offering me a press kit and a graphical demo of their product.
Asked if their product was designed to stop both hackers and crackers,
he
described how Pitbull LX works on security from the inside and outside
of a
system. Asked how that relates, in any way, to the hacker/cracker
distinction, he replied that he had heard of the distinction, but
wasn’t
really sure what it was all about. Nevertheless, he assured me that
Pitbull
LX could definitely handle both of them. Asked if “All his base are
belong
to us,” he had no comment. Hmph.

It was not too surprising, after all, to find out that the PR agents
were
keeping any trouble quiet. But my suspicions were aroused by the large
number of uniformed officers patrolling the show floor. I started
following
them around, learning their patterns. Their network of crisscrosses
centered around a certain panel of the blue-and-white drapes that
marked
the boundaries of the show floor. From time to time, they would
disappear
behind this curtain for a few minutes. Deciding that this was my
opportunity to get the real scoop, I waited for one of the guards to
leave,
pulled back the curtain, and stepped in.

The security headquuarters for LinuxWorld was a bit underwhelming. A lone guard
sat at
a plain table with a small TV and radio playing some top 40 hits. I
waved
my press pass around and asked if she would mind answering some
questions.
She seemed eager; as it turns out, she doesn’t get much company back
there
during her all-day shift of sitting. I tried to find out of there had
been
any disturbances at the show, but she assured me that this was one of
the
most civilized she’d seen in her year-long stint in conference security. With the exception of a few people going overboard at the IBM Opening
Reception‘s open bar, they didn’t have to eject anybody yet. It was
nothing, she assured me, compared with the open-to-the-public car show
or
the extravagant bartenders expo.

So, no hacker/cracker showdowns or fights over the email garden — a
little
disappointing. But I did find out a few interesting tidbits. For one,
shows
like LWE are patrolled by the New York State Troopers, who do the real
security work. Employees like the one I spoke to are much lower on the
totem pole. In fact, all employees at the show are required to submit
to
daily searches every time they enter and leave the convention center.

Do
attendees of the LinuxWorld Expo realize this dark underside that makes
their glossy drinks-and-mixers world of corporate excess work? Nope.
They’re too busy collecting
swag. Incidentally, my favorite score: a light-up yo-yo from
Pumpkin
Networks. Also incidentally, I asked the Pumpkin sales rep which of their
booth’s attractions had generated more geek interest: the yo-yos or the
skimpy
police women models on display? “Definitely the yo-yos,” he assured
me.

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