Hello fellow Linux user. Welcome to the first of hopefully many information-packed newsletters. For starters I thought it would be beneficial if I gave you a little information on the 2.2 Linux kernel (the latest version). I've also included... well why not just read on and find out.
----[ THE 2.2 KERNEL
The latest version of the kernel introduces a great number of new features. Plug-and-Play support is now a kernel function, rather than a third party application. Infrared support has been added, and a vast array of new hardware is now supported. Parallel port devices are also supported directly by the kernel too.
Network support has been enhanced, including support for IPv6, the intended replacement for today's IPv4 protocol. Intelligent routing (how to send information between networks) support has been added with "quality of service" routing. This allows certain types of network packet to be routed before others (for example, "Real-Time" services such as voice could be given higher priority than general Web traffic).
A lot of work has been done on the file system improving NFS support and foreign disk formats (mac support is now included) and NTFS support is read/write, if you want to chance it.
----[ PCS TOO FAST FOR AMERICAN LAW
Here's an amusing little article I found in a magazine this week...
The US has a law which limits the export of supercomputers - a throwback to the Cold War. The problem emerging is that soon, ordinary systems will contravene that law. The law is a simple one; if a computer can manage more than 2,000 Million Theoretical Operations Per Second (MTOPS) then an expert license must be granted before it can be sold to certain countries, including China, India, Pakistan and Russia. The new multi-processor Xeon server systems are already in breech of the law and next year when the Pentium III reaches 800MHz or so, it will also come under the restriction. A large number of licenses are likely to be granted freely but the Government's Export Control Office cannot cope with the amount of applications. At present it only processes 300 applications a year. When the PIII reaches 800MHz it will mean even desktop PCs for export to these countries will require a license. The industry is busy lobbying to have the threshold raised to over 12,000 MTOPS.
----[ BILL GATES DOESN'T TAKE LINUX SERIOUSLY
Yesterday in front of a bunch of I.T. professionals, Bill Gates stated that Linux "was mainly confined to relatively simple applications" and went on to say, "The fact that you don't have a central testing point to control ultimately how to build these things probably means that the impact will be fairly limited."
He rounded of his speech by saying, "Does anyone know what planet we're on?", and was promptly carted away screaming, "DON'T LET THAT DAMN PENGUIN GET ME MAN!"
Also, I finally got round to updating the Linux Installation guide to coincide with Red Hat 5.2.
