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Linux.com to go Live Tonight 127

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stuff-to-see dept.
Chip Stillmore writes "Just read this news.com. Apparently Linux.com is supposed to be going live today. " The page simply says tonight. I've seen what they're doing over there. It isn't at all what I really expected when they announced that they had bought the domain, but it ain't bad. As long as it covers the newbie stuff though, I'm happy. As of 2300 Eastern, it's live!
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Linux.com to go Live Tonight More

Linux.com to go Live Tonight

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  • Heh... View The source Luke! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    // Linux.com: A Means to World Liberation
    // Copyright 1999 (c) The Linux.com Team
    //
    // Modified Tue May 18 12:46:06 PDT 1999 by Garrett LeSage

    Janic, sans cookie.

  • Re:Minor picky point (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Another little, sticky, point I have with (all) US websites that you can enter your address info, etc... on (for whichever purpose they require the info. for). Why is the Postal Code/Zip Code only for 5 letters/numbers when you list other countries (incl. mine, Canada). We need seven letters, 6 for the LNL NLN format, and one for the space... Even a bug in ICQ, the same. I even contacted one website about it, whose services I wanted to use, and even though I got a personal response from the webmaster (2 months ago) the bug was still there (a month or so ago). Can't remember the darn webpage though now... :-(

    BTW: I hear some of the US is going to switch to 7 digit Zip Codes "someday". This is gonna suck for these silly web designer types...

  • Re:Rather weak first attempt (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The design is very appealing for the non-commercial visitor and
    has what it takes to impress bosses as well. I really like the
    layout and use of color, and so far I haven't noticed animated
    gifs wreaking havoc.

    Also, I found the feature articles non-technical enough for
    general readers but not for dummies. This is the market Linux
    needs to seek more of - highly literate people who are not
    necessarily computer professionals.

    Maybe not the usual newbie advice right now. Remember that
    this is a portal and I'm sure a newbie section will develop
    and/or links to sites that specialize in newbie advice. More
    important for this kind of site is really well written articles that
    will cause a reader who is not already using Linux to read the
    articles for their own sake. Can you find anything like that at
    the Microsoft site? Certainly not. The articles should cause
    new people to want to ask questions and find out more, not
    necessarily about Linux though. As a history major in college
    who is now a programmer, I can appreciate that.

    Overall I am very impressed. Remeber that this site, if it
    really becomes a heavily used portal, will evolve based on the
    needs of people who use the portal. Of course they will
    provide feedback.

    By comparison the linux.org site is not so well designed and
    is not updated frequently enough. Artistically there is no
    comparison - linux.com rocks. In the past I've been distressed
    that so many home pages link to linux.org as the place to get
    information about Linux. I feel that linux.org has the right flavor
    and hope it keeps that flavour and that it mellows.




  • Debian and Slashdot/StarWars (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They are using Debian. This is neat because I won't have to worry about content from their site (software related, at least) being distribution-biased -- which might have happened if commercial ``value-added'' vendors supported the site.

    Also, did they prepare themselves for the Slashdot effect or did the Phantom Menace debut deter most of the would-be hits from the site? It loaded pretty fast.

    I don't really like the idea of a Slashdot-like comment posting system. This is a site that will be read by point-haired bosses, I think. If they had read about any ``Linux community arguments'' on ZDnet or wherever else, seeing it firsthand might make them worry about the stability of Linux. Actually, I may just be over-worrying that the comment system might get too out of hand and become tiring to read.

  • I agree, pease respond. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hello fellow AC. I agree with your statements. The Linux community is becoming... gross, to me. At least it's better than Microsoft Windows, in every way, though. I'd like to stick with a Unix type OS. Once you go Unix, you never go back. But Linux is becoming a joke. Look at Red Hat Software. And no, I'm not jealous. How could anyone get the idea that one is jealous over the things that have been happening to Linux. What do you suggest I use instead of Linux? Perhaps I will give FreeBSD a chance. Then you've got the same people running Linux.com that run #LinuxWAREZ on the sickening IRC network, EFnet. They are just children, and it's amazing how far they've been able to get. My friend, we have been betrayed by the Linux Community.

  • Re:I agree, pease respond. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Yep. I forgot about the #linuxwarez channel myself. I once remember a CmdrTaco going there back before slashdot was big. I do remember scoop hanging out in #bitchx as a channel operator with his "31337" (IRC speak: elite) friends too. Never really saw OctobrX though. I have seen him later on gimpnet though.

    I was there awhile ago. But, I have changed from "script kiddie" to computer enthusiast (or even techie). Maybe because I had witnessed the BBS generation (FidoNET anyways).. and some people just don't see the beauty of online communities. While Rob can claim hes a techie, I seriously have my doubts. Throwing together scripts is easy. Understanding how it all fits together is the techie part. I don't think downloading the coolest new program or being computer saavy qualify as techie. It's just a regular user.. but one who enjoys computing.

    I remember a time when I downloaded screen savers for Windows, used WinZip, and the long dead XTGold (I have a feeling of regret now *grin*). My view of software was the more hype, the better. I was a download junkie--and a damn proud one at that. I always looked at software version numbers. Of course now I know numbers can mean anything. This all comes from the commercial world. I guess what I'm saying is this: Rob's view of software is it being a thing. Like a car, house, boat, etc. You get free (cost nothing) software. While Rob knows GNU free means freedom, he views free software in the cost nothing sense. My view of software is that it's nothing but algorithms. Software can be hype-less as /bin/grep, or as hype-full as The GIMP. Rob probably has a view that grep is part of the operating system and The GIMP is a software package. My view is that a program is a program is a program. The difference between gimp and grep is 7 megs in compiled size (and probably much more in source code).

    As for other options.. I don't know really. FreeBSD is nice (for the very short time I used it years ago). I'm personally going to wait this Linux hype through since my modem is slow and I really don't have the time to redo my whole system.

    I do know that there will be quite a few nice toys to play with if things get back to normal (such as gtk, etc.). But, to have fun I think Linux developers need to get out of this seriousness stage many are in. Before they all get burntout (and we all know how ugly that can get).


  • Re:There needs to be.. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    "If the programs that you gave to the free software were really extraordinary, you could have recognition."

    It sounds great, but in reality it's far from true. Let me take a small example. E, a window manager for X. The word "Raster" comes to mind. Everyone knows him. But, in all honesty.. E is a very insignificant program compared to many kernel drivers which authors never get recognition for. The simple fact is E became popular by hype. I remember reading statements on E's web page about 70,000 (or whatever it was) lines of code in E. Of course Slashdot played a large part in giving Raster his almost brand-like name by pushing the hype train.

    I can not even name more than a few gcc authors. This is pathetic since Linux would have no chance of being here without gcc.

    And I'm not jealous that people make money off free software. I don't mind that other people who love Linux and free software like me get my program (or even if FSF sold my program to raise money for more development). I do mind people making a profit off my program when they do not respect computers, or me. Many people do not respect computers. There is no reason for them to respect the free software world either.


  • Re:fear the portals? filter the ads! (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A bit off-topic, but if you want to filter out ads and irritating things on the web, there are filter programs out there. I'm happy with InterMute, free trials at http://www.intermute.com. I use the Win version, but they have a harder-to-set-up Linux version as well. Highly recommended...my web-surfing frustration went way down after installing this. It acts as a proxy server, and lets you optionally knock out ads (based on a configurable database), animated GIFs, background images, spawned pop-up windows, and other things you may find annoying. (No affiliation with 'em, just a happy customer :-).

  • Rather weak first attempt (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I have to say for a company with so many great people involved and also so much money, this is not at all better then linux.org. My biggest complaint is that it is worthless for a new user. The resource links to a busines section (gee i wonder if va is trying sell machines) and the suport section offers no original advice, just pointers to the howto's and a few (good) new linux support agencies.
    I certainly would like to see the site grow and will give feedback to them, but considering that this is supposed to be the cream of the crop of the linux community again i think this site is rather weak.

  • Lookin' good (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm really proud to see companies like VA Linux Labs giving back so much to the community. VA seems to be donating a lot of hardware to different projects, obviously doing linux.com, providing bandwidth to free projects, and all that other stuff.

    I really do like living in a world where companies want to see how they can help the world much more than in one where companies just try to make as much profit as possible (although in terms of profit, I've started buying from good companies). I'm glad to see VA joining the crows.

    linux.com is a really nice site; an order of magnitude more professional than Linux.org. It's a slight bit cluttered, and would look a little better on my 1024x768 if it had less stuff horizontally, but it's still a lot better than most anything else out there.

    Keep up the good work. I'll try to buy my next server at work from VA (I work in a lab standardizing on Debian).

  • Re:fear the portals (Score:4)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @12:48PM (#1887337)
    It's true, portals are usually scary. They tend to be money and therefore ad-driven. How else can they support themselves?

    However, Linux.com is different. VA is backing the site but not interfering with its content *or* using it as an ad platform. Linux.com won't have banner ads and it won't preach "VA". No biases, no commercialization.

    Crazy you say? The same was said about a 'free operating system' once upon a time...
  • ?

    The would be all I have to say, but I feel it needs a bit more explanation.

    I did make a GNU icon for inclusion in the user prefs section, but it must have been an oversight why it was not included. I'll get it up there within the next few days (*addition to the large todo list*).

    Personally, I have no use for any "Warez" under Linux. I use free software wherever possible. Netscape and XV are about the furthest things I use from open source / free software, and that's from a purist's standpoint.

    If you would visit Linux.com, and take time reading what we have on the site, you'd see that our number one purpose is to support the Linux and the rest of the liberated tech community.
  • Why filter the ads? We have an option right under user prefs to turn them off if you really want. (We thought it would be a good idea, since most of us don't really like ads much ourselves, generally)...

    Of course, on Linux.com, it's different -- the "ads" aren't really ads in the traditional sense. There's nothing really to sell. The "ads" are just graphical links to community sites. Turn off the ads if you like. Personally, even though I know the option is there and REALLY support the use of it, I think in this case allowing the ads is actually supporting the community. Honest. Under my user prefs, I have the banners turned on.

    If you have any other concerns with the site, don't hesistate to e-mail us at feedback@linux.com, and we'll try our best to cater to your suggestions.
  • As far as I know (linux.com writer), the servers are a few dual Intel Xeon 500 machines on an OC-3 line. I do not have any specifics beyond that (RAM, HD, etc.) but the Xeons give you some idea of the horsepower involved. :-)
  • No, i would've prefered coming this evening, U.S. time or coming 18:00 PDT
  • Posted by d106ene5:

    Phil Hughes incorrectly compares BSD and linux - he states that *BSD is not multiplatform.

    NetBSD users should find this amusing - it was multi-platform before linux.
  • Posted by Fleeno:

    Did anyone notice the link to their hosting company, http://www.via.net? I wonder why it's not a VA.

    And what's the deal with via.net? They have a FAQ that hasn't been updated since 1997 and answers the burning question, "Do you support 28.8 modems?"
  • Posted by ~not:

    Trust me, we talk about this in many engineering meetings. At VA we run Debian, Redhat, SuSE and Caldera (I have a Yellow Dog box at home too). We're trying to get together the best computers possible.

    I prefer Debian, with a close second on SuSE. But 'Redhat Linux' is the most commonly asked for distro. But that could all change as fast as 2.2...



  • Posted by d106ene5:

    In the "comparative review of OSes", every OS has a disadvantage listed except for linux.

    I thought the linux community was supposed to be above FUD?
  • Thanks for putting the site up at that new URL. LinuxHQ is a fantastic resource. And, thanks for your hard work on it!

    --
    Get your fresh, hot kernels right here [kernel.org]!
  • I like the site: well laid-out, nice color scheme, and the sub-pages have a cool style. The front page is a bit busy, but not so much that it overwhelms. Lots of good links to info. Perhaps a bit much for a newbie, but the site does have a lot of info that can be perused and thought about. I especially liked iliad's history lesson, and the esr interview was a kicker. Overall, a nice job to the webmaster(s) and admins!

    I really like the graphics; kinda soft and friendly.
  • 9 10.100.0.2 (10.100.0.2) 19 ms 21 ms 28 ms

    Do I even want to know why a 10.x.x.x address is making its way out onto the Internet?


    --Phil (If only I could rember which RFC sets aside the non-Internet IPs.)
  • It uses Apache for page serving (including PHP), and thttpd [acme.com] for image serving.. Right tools for the job. :)

  • Minor picky point (Score:3)

    by Dougal ( 1492 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @12:28PM (#1887351) Homepage

    Okay, so this is probably me just being picky - but for something that's mean to serve the Linux community, which is WORLD WIDE then putting up a banner saying "...please wait coming this evening..." seems a little short sited to me. There are people outside the US (I know, I've seen some of them).

    A small point, but I don't want this to be a trend of not looking further than linux.com's back yard.

    -- Dougal

  • I rather liked the site. Much better than linux.org. (pink and purple design concept make you feel like it's a killer OS anyone?) The layout is very clean, information is there, links off the site all seem to work. I haven't noticed banners or animations so if they're there they're (heh) well done...

    you go do something better and then complain.
  • it's been like that forever, and not just in software and computers. People will recognize and identify with the glitzy, with the eyecandy and the personality.

    writing a compiler is a DAMN IMPORTANT task, I admit. but people take it for granted. Someone writes a glitzy fast way-cool desktop and people can SEE it, they can PLAY with it and they identify with it.

    Same with cars... do you know who invented the internal combustion engine or do you know rather the people behind the ferrari and the porche? It's always been, and always will be about glitz and eyecandy.

    I'm not saying it's *right*, I'm saying that it's not just related to computers.
  • I assume tonight means Pacific Standard Time, because they are in Sunnyvale CA. That's too bad for me, because I'll be in line for seats at Star Wars tonight. I guess linux.com will have to wait until tomorrow. I feel for the engineers that have to make sure the site stays running on it's opening day.
    Joseph Elwell.

  • Selling Linux (Score:5)

    by Hrunting ( 2191 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @05:18PM (#1887355) Homepage
    It's about time. One of the biggest paradoxes in the Linux community is the argument over how to "sell" Linux to the mainstream. Nobody wants Linux to commercialize and to many, that means no selling, but sales is more than just making money. I, for one, am quite glad that VA Research, a highly respected company in the Linux community is taking responsibility for selling Linux and rather than do it through marketing or gimmicks, they're doing it through the one thing that Linux community actually has over its competition: community. One of commercialism's great knocks on Linux is that you can't expect good support from something written by many different individuals. Well, hopefully a site that coalesces and displays our community's greatest asset (it's knowledge) will start turning doubters into users.

    VA Research and the Advisory Board should be commended on their efforts (international considerations or not) and the Linux community should be given a pat on the back for showing that people can get together and produce both good software and ideas.
  • As my favorite editor, I love and use vim, but I'm not on the staff. :) Vim is an excellent editor, something everyone should try.
  • The best, and my favorite part of linux.com is the graphics. The graphics are all well-done and fit into each section perfectly. Among my favorites are the full picture of the baby-tux penguin, the press hat on the press page, and the good-looking 404 page. Never before have I been happier to get a 404 error, ok, maybe not, but that penguin I see enlights me. :)
  • 'Powered by Debian'.

    Do you make everything this difficult? :)


    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  • Not what you expected? (Score:4)

    by tgd ( 2822 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @12:19PM (#1887359)
    Rob, how can it not be what you expected? According to this [netscape.com] you're on the board of directors for the site? Hadn't heard that.

    Anyway, I hope they keep up a good archive of projects being worked on. Thats the thing I miss the most about linux.com -- these days I can never find various projects when I want to. freshmeat.net and the (almost as useful) linuxapps.com are good, but have a lot of fluff in them, and aren't really project-based.
  • I could not imagine a Linux site could be so pleasing. The new site is diverse and yet does not exhibit fancy bloated html dodads. There were a few wonderful gems, like the tale about the Romans. It was great reading and pretty much was a spiritual awakening for me.

    Its really nice to know what I buy supports good things like this! :)
  • > What made you leave PHT?

    After building about 300 RPMs, I couldn't take it anymore. I think dpkg has brainwashed me. :-)

    Cheers,

    - Jim

  • Re:www.linuxhq.com gone (Score:5)

    by jpick ( 3522 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @01:25PM (#1887362) Homepage
    LinuxHQ.com is gone because the original creator of the site took back the domain name, and pulled it offline. As somebody who volunteered to run the site for 2+ years, I'm disgusted.

    As for me, I didn't go to work for VA a few months back. I did start at Pacific HiTech, but I decided not to stay.

    Cheers,

    - Jim

  • Re:www.linuxhq.com gone (Score:5)

    by jpick ( 3522 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @02:08PM (#1887363) Homepage
    It happened this morning. Try:

    http://linuxhq.jimpick.com/ [jimpick.com]

    That should work as a temporary fix.

    Cheers,

    - Jim

  • Well it appears that they may be looking for more people to work on linux.com see towards the bottom of this page:
    http://www.linux.com/version/
    It doesn't say anything about pay but as it's a commercial website and they want a CV then it's a fair bet that you should be getting paid for it.
    --

  • linux.com (Score:5)

    by Mandrake ( 3939 ) <mandrake@mandrake.net> on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @12:40PM (#1887365) Homepage Journal
    Well - I don't know what exactly you're expecting, but I can say that it's
    fairly dynamic. I've been looking at it for the past
    couple of days - they've got some big plans for the site, and
    they've put a lot of work into it. (you should see the hardware
    driving the site at the ISP)
    I do know that a lot of people are concerned about the whole
    "VA-run linux.com" but really I think that VA has done a pretty
    good job of just hanging back and making the occasional comment
    (besides being the ringleader of the group of volunteers that
    have been working on the site).
    anyways, that is my two cents.

    --
    Geoff Harrison (http://mandrake.net)
    Senior Software Engineer - VA Linux Labs (http://www.valinux.com)
  • Live from the IRC launch party, this looks REALLY nice, guys, kickass work on the design, and kudos to the admins for putting together a cluster that didn't crack under the load. I've been browsing it ever since it went live, and nothing noticeably lagged for this particular modem user. More kudos for putting together some content, too. Now all we need is a picture of the machines, and the switch (is it smoking yet?)
  • Interesting and valid point. Myopia tends to increase in direct proportion to success. In the US we often fail to think beyond our borders. The same is even more true of Silicon Valley, New York or other provincial (though highly successful) villages.
  • Its pretty normal, actually. Think of how many ISP's use linux in their servers, but won't support end users who use linux. Using and supporting are two totally different things. For whatever reason, they only load RH onto systems. That's no reason for their internal IT dept. to have to use RH.

    btw, if you don't want to be flamed, don't call it Red Crap. Free advice ;)
  • Maybe as a result of the latest Mindcraft debate this site has a tune-up section. M$ watch out..
  • Check out the penguin on the about page. I like it and I think Linux needs a 3D mascot. I also like the whole site overall. Nice work!

    -John

  • Have you noticed that Gnu.Org (and FSF.org, Mesa3d.org, Debian.org etc etc etc) are all hosted at VA?

    http://www.debian.org/~rwalker/mrtg/ total.html [debian.org]

    Note: The graphs one up from there are correct -- just the tags are wrong. VA recently moved the machines, and the mapping from addresses to graphs is wrong -- so the right data is under the wrong name.



    --
  • Looks like "tonight" means 8pm PST.

    It looks pretty cool, I guess I know what domain I'll be hanging out on tonight.

    Cheers

  • The mailing lists for debian and the irc help is more or less the best there is for any OS.

    Go to www.debian.org and learn more. It's a great user supported system.
  • Actually GMT would have been nicer... At least that gives everyone a reference point - getting tired of working out what the timezone differences are for live performances etc on the net. At least with GMT you only need to know what the time diff is between you and GMT (which most people know)...

    matt.
  • This site is nice. Just got in. Looks great, looks
    professional. Well done to all involved!
  • GMT is out dated. UTC [nist.gov] is the more proper convention.

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
  • I used the Advanced Search Form [linux.com] and just highlighted my state and clicked "Search". Although a listing might be useful, you can still get a listing of all the LUGs in your state.

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
  • Wow, great site. The NHF concept is really useful, hope it catches on.

  • What made you leave PHT?

  • fear the portals (Score:3)

    by cody ( 11975 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @12:41PM (#1887380) Homepage
    I remember when the bidding for this domain closed and the guy said that Microsoft had placed a bid in there. It says a lot about the guy who owned the domain that he didn't sell it to them, because they surely had piles more money than anyone else who bid. I've always really liked the integrity in the open source community, and I think that action there embodied quite a bit of it.

    Despite all that, I'm still a little afraid of seeing this mega-portal site, though. Portals are always filled with advertisements and classified ads and all kinds of filler that bug the hell out of me, and I just don't want to see the site brought down to the lowest common denomitator like that.
  • http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,33186,00.html
    ----
    Other companies that expressed interest in the site, though not bids, included Dell, IBM, and Novell, said Fred van Kempen, who
    registered the Linux.com domain. He declined to say how much any company offered, but did say that the new owner, VA
    Research, paid "substantially less than the top offer of $5.5 million."
    ----
  • I like the interface. Very slick icons. That Baby Tux [209.81.14.241] image is cool.
    The interview with esr was interesting. And check out the user preferences [linux.com].
  • They are using debian (look at the nice graphics on the top of each page). Scott
    Scott
    C{E,F,O,T}O
    sboss dot net
    email: scott@sboss.net
  • I personally think that the site rocks. There is a great base to build from. Most sites I see nowadays do not have a good foundation to build from (inlcuding my website). I think that they did an most excellant job of the grpahics and design of the layout. Hopefully within a few weeks that site will be full of information. I also like how the site targets the newbies and the kernel hackers and the people in the middle (like myself).

    Well that is my 2 cents worth (after being up for 20+ hours),
    Scott

    Scott
    C{E,F,O,T}O
    sboss dot net
    email: scott@sboss.net

  • Kudos! (Score:1)

    by KainX ( 13349 )

    I'll try to avoid sounding like another "Me too!" post (of which slashdot.org has no shortage *grin*).

    I just wanted to voice my support for linux.com and the great people behind it. I had the opportunity to meet some of the people behind it recently. Not only do they do great work, but they are genuinely focused on making a good quality site for everyone. They've said from the beginning they wanted this to be a neutral site, and they've successfully done exactly that.

    Congrats to Trae, Garrett, and Dan (et al.) for a flawless launch, and to VA for their unprecedented support of the Linux community. Great job guys!

    Michael

  • What leads you to that conclusion?

    What does "DOS formatted" even mean in this context?
  • Read the comment tags in the source of every page:

    "What are we? Transmeta? there are no secret messages hidden in the html."

    Hmm. It says Version 0.1.0 -- Looks fine to me!
    Conclusion: Yet another nicely designed Linux portal with a slick interface.
  • Looks like Debian. See "About Linux.com"
  • I believe its only a little after 5:00 p.m. there
    now-they in the Pacific Time zone...
  • It just occurred to me (ok, I'm slow), tonight's the opening of Phantom Menace! Linux.com actually averted the Slashdot (+ all other nerd portal sites) effect! Pretty cool. I wonder what their stats will look like for tonight + tomorrow.

    -----BEGIN ANNOYING SIG BLOCK-----
    Evan

  • Wow, if the site actually has real help for real newbies, I'll be ecstatic. I've pretty much been winging it for the past few months, and when I have a question, I don't know who to ask.

    I really hope they're not lopsided towards one distribution or another. I'd especially like to see LinuxPPC newbie help.

    -----BEGIN ANNOYING SIG BLOCK-----
    Evan

  • I think that the question everyone is asking now is; What $EDITOR does the webmasters use? ;)
  • The only real problem I have with vim is that it doesn't save version-controled backup-files like one can make emacs do. Atleast I don't think it's possible to do so, someone is most welcome to tell me how it's done :)
  • Check their Linux.com FAQ [linux.com], it explictly states that "We want people that are hard working and don't mind digging in and working for free." So I'd say your chances on getting paid is smaller than slim to none.

  • Some kind of a review (Score:5)

    by Jonas Öberg ( 19456 ) <jonas@gnu.org> on Wednesday May 19, 1999 @12:52AM (#1887395) Homepage
    Well, I had to check it out as everyone else ofcourse. There's a few things that disturb me with linux.com, but there's no reason it won't become better with time. As the authors stated on a page, they have been focusing more on the backends than the content which may, or may not have, been the way to go. Personally I like content.


    On the front page they have a news service with news from themselves and LinuxToday. This doesn't really give much since I pick the news up elsewhere anyway, but once they start inserting their own news into the stream, this might improve the looks of it.


    For some reasons, we're seeing lots of news cropping up at Linux sites. We have linux.com featuring linuxtoday, Red Hat featuring Slashdot and more. While having up-to-date news stories might be good, I think they'd both be better off focusing on their own news. People won't go to linux.com to read Linux Today, they will come there to read whats hot around linux.com.


    Then they fail to mention the GNU Project, or even the FSF, anywhere. This is a lossage that I think should be corrected.


    The Linux@Work place will most probably evolve to be terrific! It'll be a portal to all that you need to know about Linux@Work. This is a most welcomed addition.


    We now go to the Linux.Com Live section, namely an IRC channel on OpenProjects. Thats all good and well, but will the questions that are answered there make their way back to Linux.Com for others to read? I don't think so, but that might be something to think about for the future. Having a bot online that records conversations and having someone go through it once a day shouldn't be a major task.


    The LUG database will help you get connected with many other Linux users near you through a local LUG. Unfortunately, the only way to read the database seems to be to search it. This is a lossage because what if the LUG I'm searching for doesn't match the search query I entered? Searching is good, but there should probably also be a way to browse the LUG Database, perhaps broken down by country/state or something equivalent to that.


    Their support section is also rather good since it contains links to most of the support centers that you need to know about as a new GNU/Linux user. They should find ways to interconnect this with the Linux.Com Live section, such as I suggested above with bringing answers back from IRC to the Web regularly.


    Tuning Linux was mediocre at best. This is a situation where you probably should have thought about adding more content before making it public. It's a fair chance that people will watch it, see that "this is just old news", and never return. They should add more in-depth Linux tuning material here. As usual, this will probably come with time.

    The one really positivt thing with Linux.Com that I found was their Weekly Columns, we've been seeing a few of those around on other sites aswell, but I find them really nice to read and most of the time also very interesting.

    Their interviews could also become interesting with time. I think the interviewer needs more experience so that he'll know which questions to ask. I would recommend adding a function so that a week before an interview, you can see who they'll be interviewing and be able to add your own questions to the spool. Then they would get a better view of what the readers would like to know and can ask questions that better responds to that.


    Summary: Linux.Com is a good site, but where's the content?

  • I agree. (Score:1)

    by ole ( 19909 )
    ESR has sold himself out by giving the interview, while he's being a member of the Linux.com board.
  • Not just those South of the Equator. Not all places in the Northern Hemisphere have the same sense of seasons as North America. For example, "Summer" in Thailand is roughly April and May, because that's when it's hottest there.

    I saw a sign at Yosemite National Park (where 50% of visitors are foreigners) announcing that a particular trail is open "Memorial Day to Labor Day". How many foreigners would know what this means!
  • Cheezers - so people aren't allowed to discover things later than you ol' grandaddies who've seen it all and done it all eh? Commercialism sucks of course, but now it's here, it ain't ever gonna go away.

    Get used to the hype daddy-o. You can maybe set up a #linux-grandads channel to reminisce about the old days, or maybe one of those modern web-based BBS thingies.

    What the hell does it matter that other people are making money from Linux? You guys work in the computer field maybe? Use you *nix skills at all to earn a penny? Different strokes for different folks. If you choose not to contribute further to Free Software, so what - there's plenty folks who will. Just don't come over the martyr about your contribution, or get off your backside and do your own self promoting.

    I used to think the way you guys do about music. My favourite small bands were always getting big and then becoming commercialised - but then I realised, hey - this probably means that I've got pretty good taste and at least those guys can afford to eat now.

    Anyway, that's my rant out of my system. Just my 2SEK worth.
  • We've been sporadically using a 5+4 ZIP code for quite a few years now. Sporadically as in it's not mandatory, though most business mail uses it.
  • You would have prefered, what, coming at some indeterminate point in the future
  • Unlike gerard and most everyone else on Linux.com who use vim, I am an emacs-addict. :)
  • I am not sure how you came to this conclusion, but I can assure you that 100% of the Linux.com development took place on a Linux box. The only 'tools' we use to make our html and PHP are vi, vim, and emacs. Any tabification of the source is done by human hands.

  • Re:Rather weak first attempt (Score:3)

    by krnl ( 24175 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @11:02PM (#1887403) Homepage
    One of the biggest challenges of getting Linux.com up and running was our time constraint. We had to build a site that could stand under the pressures of LOTS of hits, be maintable by a large group of community volunteers, and be able to expand quickly -- and the site had to come together in a few weeks time. Right now, the Linux.com you see is just the beginning. The infrastructure is built so we can add features newbies need, better resources for support, etc.
    If you don't see a feature you want, or think we should change our content, tell us at feedback@linux.com [mailto]. Community suggestions and ideas are what drive Linux.com!
  • What kind of distribution do they run ?

    Hardware?
  • I can't assume you already know this (remember what Benny Hill said....), so if you're looking for linuxppc help, have you looked at linuxppc.com?

    I'm not a linuxppc person, but it looks like a pretty good site to me.

    Good luck!
  • The Subject says it all.

    Although, the pengiun logo in the upper-right hand side doesnt load correctly... I use Navigator 3.04 though...

  • ... and for those South of the Equator, time-frames related to seasons (late Summer, early Winter, etc) are also a problem.
  • hehe, good point. Did they say where it would be evening? That gives them the ability to say whenever it came up that's where they meant it to be evening. Or maybe they meant some distance planet, it's just so hard to pin down :)

  • Anyone notice if they have an image available we can use to link to their site ?
  • bfd, neither do I.

    I only have one decent PC and it runs NT because I have to be able to read everyone else's M$isms.
  • IIRC, Van Kempen scooped up the linux.com domain to prevent any one Linux distribution from taking the domain and thus the crown of "The One True Linux". One of the reasons he responded to the VA Research bid is because it's in VA's best financial interests to be distribution-agnostic.
  • installfest.net Where did it go?

    I know that it contains information about Linux Day 99 (Sep 26th) (which is what I'm looking up info for ) But alas it is no where to be found.

  • What Is Linux ? Section == good. (Score:3)

    by a.out ( 31606 ) on Tuesday May 18, 1999 @06:47PM (#1887413)
    The important thing here is for people who don't know too much about linux and who stumble accross linux.com will have a GOOD impression. (period) A well designed site, with GOOD answers in english that my mother, father and girlfriend will understand.

    Good Job guys!
  • That isn't FUD, that's advertising, to a point. I mean, this site is in some ways analagous to say www.microsoft.com, or www.be.com (in function I mean). It's not going to treat Linux as if it were on equal ground with all other OSes, it's going to treat Linux as if it were the best OS there is. This is really what people expect, when they go to "www.linux.com". If they want to hear how good FreeBSD is, they'll go to its site. Obviously they're expected to be true to the facts, but I don't think this is exactly a forum for equal consideration. They're not just trying to _inform_, they're trying to _sell_ people on Linux. This isn't FUD. This is something that Linux needs done, if you want more people to use it, which I won't get into.
    As for the site itself, I think it's an excellent design; far better than www.microsoft.com, which, through almost all of its incarnations, can be used as an excellent example of how NOT to design a web page. www.linux.com is the best new website I've seen in a while. It's pleasant to see, it's professional, and it has _content_. So far I'm impressed. Keep up the good work, linux.com people.
  • hmmm doesn't tux.org have all the lug's listed? so why dont they (linux.com) just point to them? novalug and dclug have done a good job at building some content, and helping get the word out. hmmm think i better fwd this to the email list...


    nmarshall
    #include "standard_disclaimer.h"
    R.U. SIRIUS: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE
  • Yeah, that's the pain I go through when I download 128-bit crypto versions of Netscrape. 6 characters allotted, I always type the space and wonder where the final '9' went to. :-)*


    Though that's not *too* bad. I remember being at a site recently (forget which one) that had the dropdown box for "state/province" which didn't actually include any provinces. There was no "other" option either.


    Actually, I think I remember now, it might have been handeye.com as I was ordering Civ:CTP for Linux.

  • The site is up now! have at it! i pity the admins of the site.
    A snapshot of the please wait thing can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/ in/theymaybegiants/linuxcom.html [angelfire.com] if anyone cares.
  • Anyone else notice that www.linuxhq.com's DNS doesn't exist anymore. I can only guess that www.linux.com will have the same stuff and more. Didn't the maintainer of linuxhq.com start working for VA a few months back?
  • I think windows 3.1 should be rated as more stable than win9x. They are actually making the o/s worse as they add more crap to it. I like the linux ratings tho.

    "Everything you do will be more fun." - Windows 98 setup. Everything?? My ass!
  • on first impression i have to say that linux.com hits the spot. true, i haven't got to the nuts and bolts of it yet, but then on the whole i could hardly claim anything but ignorance if i did. as a newcomer to the linux fold and hardly having technical background i wouldn't know [and have no desire] how to to delve deep within the intricate bowels of the beast.

    as a content developer who is largely a linux newbie, linux.com is heading in the right direction to demystify the jargon which ultimately people like myself without a hardcore programming background find so alienating.

    sure linux has been out of the closet for some time but ultimately its heritage has been an inhouse secret for those who give a rat's ass about the differential mechanics. all i want is stability -- and i want it now. it's an added bonus that it also results in a thorn in the side of the microsoft empire.

    me, i'm an english freak. kill the purple prose and share enlightenment.

    superficially the site has a clean mean interface with enough content to keep me happy for hours...obviously with benchmarking from tried and trued model /. -- a no fail combo.

    it can never be all things to all men/women but it definitely bridges a gap.



  • I must have missed something, but how much money did VA pay for the domain and to whom? I believe the previous owner of linux.com was Fred van Kempen, so do we have another dutch millionaire now?
  • Would have taken another day :)
  • And did you hear the latest news about year numbers? It seems we're gonna switch to 4 digit year numbers real soon now. Can you imagine the chaos!

    :)
  • Hmm, "linux" and "com"mercial... I hope they host things like the Linux Business Solutions Project [linas.org]. I realize it looks like PHB fodder, but I've found that page useful in the past myself.
  • Obviously they're expected to be true to the facts

    Like where they state that *BSD is not multiplatform? This is pure FUD...actually, its just factually incorrect.

    linux.com will be a new source of FUD.
  • Good god! When did this happen? I loved linuxhq.com and I can't believe it's gone! Is there anything we can do to get the domain back, since apparently the person who owns it now isn't using it (no web page, at least)?
  • im trying to cater to the linuxnewbie both from the mac and intel side. actually, im trying to create a site for newbies of all unix related OS's...see if you can get some questions answered there. hope it helps. http://www.linuxnewbie.org [linuxnewbie.org]

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