Web Surfing News

by Edward Cameron <ecame119@ecity.net>
Copyright (c) 1996

Published in Issue #6 of the Linux Gazette

Howdy Web sufers!

I plan on this being a monthly input to the Linux Gazette, so follow along.

Read Audio for Linux!

I was surfing the net two weeks ago and happened on a very cool site called Real Audio. This is software that allows a site to 'broadcast' voice messages in real time. If I got the real time part wrong, sorry. the main thing here is that the Real Audio people have promised a player and encoder for Unix sometime before the end of 1995. Well, 1996 is about to happen and no announcement has been made concerning our favorite OS.

Bug 'em!! Yes folks, send in email to <support@realaudio.com> and tell them that you run Linux and give them the model of soundcard you have.

Netscape 2.0b3 ships!

Lastest version of this favorite web browser is now available from ftp3.netscape.com

First impression are not to bother downloading it! Its over 2 meg in size and no docs are included!. This particular version is timed to expire in Feb of 1996, so don't get rid of your v 1.12 unless you plan on buying a license for v 2.0b3.

The main reason for upgrading to the new version is to take advantage of 'plug-ins'. These are add-on products that offer enhanced functions within Netscape. Here are three plug-ins for you to read about and drool over!

Shockwave by MacroMedia

The Shockwave plug-in lets users interact with Director presentations right in a Netscape Navigator window. Animation, clickable buttons, links to URLs, digital video movies, sound, and more can be integrated within the presentation to deliver a rich multimedia experience.

WEBFX BY PAPER SOFTWARE Fly through 3-D worlds with the WebFX Plug-in. After downloading this plug-in, you'll be able to view VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) worlds available at many Web sites.

I have not provided much in the way of information concerning the plug-in products for Netscape 1.2. Here are the links:

Real Audio (www.realaudio.com)

Shockwave (www.pce.net)

Plug In Products (www.home.netscape.com)

Look through the provided links. Send email to the support/information people provided at each site and tell them you use Linux and would like to see a version for the Linux OS. To paraphrase Arlo Guthry: If one person emails and tells 'em about Linux, they'll think its nice; if two people email and tells 'em about Linux they'll think those two are sick and recommend the romper room. But if 50 people emailed 'em about Linux they'll think its a movement. And just maybe more software will become available to us and YES, we can get rid of Windoze.

Good day!


Beam me back to the Linux Gazette, Scotty!