The SF Press reports that a student in the US faces jail after he hacked into his school website and re-wrote its rules to include orders to watch Beavis And Butthead and play video games.

Linux has established itself as a qualified operating system for Web
servers, fiZDrewalls and e-mail, but it’s still fighting its way into
e-marketplaces, both as a platform and as a commodity. From ZDNET.

– by Dan Berkes –
When Linus first whipped up Linux, it’s probably safe to assume that he didn’t have laptops in mind as his target hardware platform. This operating system was initially destined for workstations and servers, not portable computing devices.What might have been a roadblock for certain other operating systems was viewed as something of a challenge in the Linux user community. After years of dedicated trial, error, and success, you can now find Linux on everything from laptops to handhelds to microwave ovens.

Much of the collective wisdom for portable computing can be found on Kenneth E. Harker’s Linux on Laptops Web page. The core of the site is a list of hundreds of Web pages dedicated to getting Linux up and running on specific notebook brands and models. From Acer to Zenith, most notebooks popular over the last five years are represented in this list.

What happens if your notebook isn’t listed? In the time-honored tradition of Linux gurus everywhere, it’s time for you to experiment. Start with the Linux Laptop HOWTO, containing almost everything you need to know about running Linux on your laptop. If you haven’t yet purchased a notebook computer, the section on how to choose the right hardware for Linux is a must-read.

Sometimes documentation just isn’t enough — you need some real and (almost) live help with a unique problem. Waiting in the wings are the Linux Notebook HQ Discussion Forum, a Web discussion for Linux laptop issues, and comp.os.linux.portable, a Usenet newsgroup discussing many of the same issues.

Before sending your plea for help through the ether, be sure to make your way back to the Linux on Laptops site. A collection of Linux kernel patches, utilities, and other files to help you with your notebook endeavors are available here. The answers to many common laptop issues are just a download away.

Getting Linux running on your laptop is one thing; getting the X Window System operating may be quite another. Once again, the Linux on Laptops site saves the day: a half-dozen pointers to alternate X servers and documentation are available for all of your graphical user interface desires.

Laptops are anything but the last Linux frontier; for the time being, handheld devices hold that distinction. There’s a special distribution — uClinux — designed to work with the processors contained in many of today’s most popular palmtops, including the PalmPilot.

As with desktop computers, everything old can be new again when touched by Linux. If there’s an Apple Newton handheld lurking in your closet, haul it out of retirement and head on over to the Newton and Linux Mini-HOWTO. Just like yesterday’s 486, the Newton is perfectly capable of handling everything Linux has to offer.

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

Debianplanet reports: “It’s just been a week now since The X Strike Force released XFree86 4.0.1-1 packages into the unstable tree. Now that the dust has settled and that he’s regained some semblance of his sanity, G. Branden Robinson , aka ‘Overfiend’ on IRC, the intrepid leader of the force behind X in Debian GNU/Linux has now volunteered his time to answer your brain numbing questions on XF4 in an upcoming interview on DebianPlanet.”

ZDNET’s Jesse Berst reports: “So you won’t see me fighting the crowds in Las Vegas this week
at Comdex. But that doesn’t mean I’m ignoring this annual tech
extravaganza. And you shouldn’t either. Whether you’re
attending or not, here’s my Comdex road map to keep you
ahead of the game.”

ZDNET reports that last week, Netscape, a division of America Online, was lambasted by
thousands of angry Web developers who were under the impression
the forthcoming Navigator 6 browser won’t conform to critical
Internet standards.

Geeks rushing to buy early P4s at marked up prices are going to
look pretty dumb come January when Intel’s Flagchip will hit 2GHz.
The chip is not scheduled to launch for another week (at 1.4 and
1.5GHz), but a number of retailers are already offering the part for
sale. From The Register.

From The Register:

“Had Bill been going to do the grand naming ceremony, but decided
to leave it for another time? Did the spinmeisters decide to hold off
the easy and obvious name while they tried to think of something
better? Or, considering recent products names, something worse?

Anyway it might be called Windows 2001, or then again it might not.”

Don’t like Microsoft’s new MSN Explorer? You might want to think twice about uninstalling it, reports PcWorld. At least,
that’s what Microsoft hopes you will do, underscoring its concern by delivering a worrisome message
when you try to remove the software.

Maximum Linux reports that Trolltech has announced the release of Qt/Embedded, version 2.2.2. For the first time, Qt/Embedded is released
under both a commercial and an open source license, the GPL. Also released today is the Qt Palmtop Environment,
which is the first Personal Information Management (PIM) package for embedded Linux released under the GPL.