Slackware, one of the older Linux distributions, has gained a deserved reputation as a stable, well-designed system. It is not recommended for new users since it doesn't have a package system as is the case with Debian and Red Hat, but for a moderately advanced user, Slackware may be what you have been missing about Linux.

SGI has invested in SuSE, part of what the two companies are calling a "strategic partnership" to grow the open source OS' applications market. The duo said that the alliance will also involve their close co-operation on the "development, deployment and support of the Linux OS and infrastructure code".

This article looks at a pair of GUI-based firewalling solutions for Linux: one a commercial offering from Stormix Technologies (Storm Firewall), and the other a free software project that integrates with the GNOME desktop (Firestarter). Both provide graphical front-ends to ipchains, taking some of the pain out of building tailor-made firewalls for home networks.

Researchers at the Carnegie Institution in Washington are using an Alpha Linux Beowulf Cluster -- driven by technology from API NetWorks, Inc. -- to dramatically speed up the mind-boggling calculations that are gradually edging them nearer to an understanding of the origins of life.

To log on to a machine on your network, you need a login/password pair that

is valid on that machine. This can become a problem over a larger network

where you may have people using more than one machine. An example of this

would be your computer lab where people are going to be working off different

machines most of the time. You will then be forced to create logins for each

user on every machine that they're likely to use. NIS steps in here and

provides you with centralized authentication. All the logins are created on a

The failure of Java to evoke more than relatively mild interest in the Linux community is the complex result of both philosophical and technical differences between the Java and Linux communities and technologies. The philosophical differences revolve around the terms open source and free. Java is neither, all claims to the contrary. Linux, at least in theory, is both.

Adobe hews close to commercial sensibilities. The Linux community--and, particularly, the "Free Beer" portion of the Linux community--would have decried these. Until the Linux community grows up a little, you're not going to see other established application-software vendors rush to market with Linux versions.

Red Hat has dropped support for Sun Microsystems' Sparc chips for its new version 7 of Linux, saying there just wasn't enough interest in the product. The move whittles down Red Hat's product line to Linux software for Intel and Compaq Computer's Alpha chips, though the company plans support for several IBM servers with different CPUs.

Dell Computer has invested in Eazel, a company devoted to making Linux easier for average computer users, and will include its software on Linux desktop and laptop computers. As part of the deal, Dell and Eazel will share revenue from customers who sign up for Eazel's services

Corel has never seemed to grasp where the Linux market was, is, or is going. When the company first came out with a distribution, it concentrated on a desktop play and ignored Linux's strengths in the server and Internet space.