Mailarchives (ASM programming / linux software)

First of all: I am pretty new to TI-programming and ASM. I don't even have my cable yet (btw are those $5 cables reliable? Someone told me you could f*ck up you calculator and pc with them). Currently I dual-boot Linux and Win98. Though it is not really a problem for me to use Win98, I just like linux better. I heard that TASM is also available for Linux, but the version I got was still linked against libc.so.4 (= very old and outdated). Does anyone know where to get a more recent version, or, better still, source? And what about other things I will need? In how far will it be possible to develop TI-83/ASM programs while running Linux, including uploading to the calculator?