In potentially one of the first direct attacks against the GPL, we received the following from yacc: "I've been wondering about INITIO 9400UW support for Linux (the idea is cool: 4 UW-SCSI channels on one PCI card). In looking around, I've found the following page, which offers a 2.1.x Linux kernel zImage binary only, requiring you to sign an NDA. Just wondering how this can happen, and whom to contact to correct this problem? (I'mean, a binary only module would be not much better, but at least legal, right?)" S: Unlike a company using GPL'd software internally this qualifies as external distribution and must be accompanied by source as I understand it. It is unclear whether they intend to release source code eventually or not given that they have released source code previously, but never-the-less they would still be in violation of the GPL. update: Just got an e-mail from a Paul Peissner at Initio who will force the issue to be addressed at a meeting at 1:30pm Pacific Standard Time. Update 2: Apparently this was a mistake due to a new web admin. Source should be posted shortly, and Initio would like you to report any bugs/patches to them as they are the maintainers. Business as usual. Final Update Source code is now posted. Thanks, Initio.

An Anonymous reader writes "S.u.S.E., Inc. announced today that the shipment of Linux Office Suite 99 will be delayed. Originally scheduled to ship during the week of October 12, S.u.S.E. now expects the Linux Office Suite to ship closer to the end of October.

Christian Selig writes "As this poll at Linux.de shows, SuSE is the preferred distribution in German-speaking countries" SuSE is the largest European commercial distribution, making it like RedHat in the US.

Oracle plans to distribute and support Linux, probably licensing an existing distribution to bundle with their database. However they will still support all 4 major distributions ( including I assume Redhat (US), Pacific HiTech (Japan) and SUSE (Europe)) wanting to be the people who are called if a user has a problem with Linux. Read more below.

slashtom writes "Just after their good-old-brothers (Canadians), various LUGs across France are organinizing a national installfest (sorry, French only) on Saturday October 10th, 1998. The operation is co-ordinated by AFUL (Linux Users French Association). They have sponsors (SuSE, Red Hat), and more than 15 cities will have their own Linux-Party. If you are in France, don't miss it. If you (or your LUG) would like to participate in helping to spread the word about Linux, as an organizer, sponsor or volunteer, then go to this URL. "

Not to be outdone, Caldera will be receiving investments from as yet unspecified companies, Ransom Lowe has been saying. Ed: I'd like to see some other companies/organisations from around the world getting backing (think Suse, Kheops, DLD, Debian Japan etc). Anyone from Siemens, Philips, Fujitsu, NEC, Sony listening?

S.u.S.E has released a new and well accelerated X server for the Matrox G100 & G200 cards.
Supported cards:
- Matrox Millennium G200 (SGRAM and SDRAM)
- Matrox Mystique G200
- Matrox Productiva G100
Here you can check out the details
I would like to take this opportunity to ask you which card is better: Riva TNT or Matrox G200?

Philipp Koehn wrote in with a piece addressing something that always seems to come up any time you start talking about free software. His piece is called Who is the Software Communist. It's a pretty interesting read, although I suspect that most readers will disagree with it. I figure we'll hear some opinions on this one.

Hetz Ben Amo sent us this link talking about how not only has Oracle decided to go work with Linux, but has setup parternships with Red Hat Software and VA Research, SuSE, and Japanese firm Pacific HiTech. Very cool-anyone know anything more about this?

Joe Hamelin writes "S.u.S.E. 5.3 is now out. Get it at suse.org, the Seattle Mirror. Lots of new X config stuff and gimp 1.0 in the release. S.u.S.E. has been so easy to install and maintain that I hesitate to switch. It's reliable too.. all slashdot gifs are served from a S.u.S.E. box. " Last time I tried S.u.S.E, the install seemed a little wierd, but I think I might try it again soon. Anyway, S.u.S.E's official web site is here, and if any of the S.u.S.E folks are reading this, what the heck is zuse.suse.de?

Alex Prestin sent us This Link to a strange picture of the iMac, and what appears to be its long lost little brother. Ewan Leith wrote in to tell the world that "PC Plus in the UK goes on sale tomorrow (the 27th) with Suse 5.2 on the cover CD, along with another CD full of linux programs." Donovan was the first to warn the world that the 2.1.119 kernel is now out. I compiled my 2.1.118 kernel a wopping half hour before the 119 release. Sigh. Colin Walls sent us a link to the latest Spencer F. Kat cartoon thingee. There's another piece of aftermath from last weeks standards hoopla. icetrey wrote in to say "OctobrX and Bishop have chosen me, icetrey, to be the new blackbox themes webmaster. It has a new look, as well as a few new themes for 40.x."

Patrik Nordebo writes "SuSE has released an X Server supporting the Matrox Millenium G200 (the Mystique G200 isn't mentioned). It's available at SuSE's ftp site. It seems Matrox are willing to work with the Linux community... I wonder if they'd release the 3D specs for a Mesa dirver, as well? "

ELSA, a German graphics card (and now other things) manufacturer which has long had a commendable attitude towards Linux (going so far as to help develop drivers), has bought Hercules. Let's hope this good news will usher in more open and innovative cards.

Morten has written in with an excellent summary of the Wine project, and an updated status report. This is definately a critical project and deserves attention. Click below to read what he has to say about it.

vasquez was the first to tell us that X inside, now Xi Graphics, the makers of Accelerated X, will be releasing a new Linux distribution targeted at Fortune 500 companies. As they already sell and support their own commercial software to the above companies, they know what level of support to provide, and how not to get sued. What's funny is that they were asked to do this by the said companies... what's wrong with Redhat? Suse? Dld? Caldera? Maybe Xig will produce updates at a slower rate. Let's hope they also contribute to all Linuxes, like Redhat, Caldera and Suse have done.

Looks like it's time to clear out the quickies again! First, Erv Walter sent us a note about S.u.S.E releasing more X servers. Hmm. S.u.S.E...aren't they those guys who've been hitting us about 13,000 times/day recently? I wonder what kinda soa they drink over there...Next off, David Kindred wrote in to tell us ISE is releasing the source code to Eiffel under an open source license! Maybe I'll have to take a look at that language again. Finally, Promethus sent us a link to a Bill Joy interview. Bill is one legendary man - one of the cofounders of Sun, I believe. A very interesting interview.

Mark Feathers writes "Apparently KDE has made an official announcement for the pre-release of 1.0. The bummer is, no Red Hat RPM's. They are supporting SuSE but decline Red Hat stating incompatabilities with different libraries and versions. " Update Sirtaj Singh Kang wrote in to explain why there aren't any RPMs: they weren't planning on distributing binaries of pre2 at all. So give up the conspiracy theories people, its getting old.

The Butler Group (UK) has published a technical paper pointing out that NT 4.0 cannot be considered an enterprise solution because it lacks the directory services that Netware provides. However, despite Unix's scalability and robustness, it costs too much in expertise, hardware and software, so the main battle will be played out between Novell and Microsoft. But NT also has its disadvantages: skills shortage, and general robustness. Since the report costs money, you can get the low-down in this Register Article.

Samba provides SMB support, there's also AppleTalk support, so is there any Netware support for Linux other than through DosEmu.

The Economic Times have an in-depth look at Linux, first throughout the world, and then in India. The articles are full of interesting tidbits, for instance that the largest UK ISP runs Linux, or that Suse is 40% of the German market. One less certain fact is their statement that Intel will help port Linux to Merced.

Our drive back proved much less eventful then the drive down, and now having had a nice nap, I'm ready to post a final batch of rants and rambles about the Expo and my experiences there. Hit the link below to read more. And now since I'm back, I should be reading email again, and of course posting articles more regularly.