Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 31st Dec 2006 17:26 UTC, submitted by Charles A Landemaine
Just in time for the new year, the PC-BSD team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD version 1.3 for public download. You may download this release and view the change log. The team is also launching a web design contest for the new web site of 2007.
Permalink for comment 198225
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?More News »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2006-10-08
"Why you have to upgrade with one command? You can break your system and make it unusable."
As vegai said, that's irrelevant.
"Base system stays untouched, that mean if your upgrade process goes awry, you can use your system for other tasks and fix it later (you can reboot your server box from 1000 miles away without worrying about if it's dead... again- sry Linux guys, I know what you feel then...)."
I think it's a good idea that there's no "simple command" which can damage your system due to a defective file...
"Upgrading base system is another story and I don't remember any (I mean I got zero problem in five years) broken systems after whole userland+kernel upgrade with FreeBSD."
Upgrading the base system is a more complicated process. Let me explain:
First, a functioning base system (let's say, 6.1) is assumed. In addition, cvsup should be installed to do the update of the source files.
# cd /usr/src
# make update
Now the source files are of the new version (let's say, 6.2), depending on what branch (-RELEASE, -CURRENT, -STABLE) you want to upgrade to.
The system compiles the new kernel and the world (the system).
# make buildworld buildkernel
If you want another than the default kernel, you can set the KERNCONF variable in order to tell make
# make buildworld buildkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
After that, the kernel has to be installed. The previous kernel is saved so it can be loaded instead of the new kernel if this one is defectiv in any way.
# make installkernel KERNCONF=MYKERNEL
Now, the system has to be rebootet so it uses the new kernel. Then the system is set in single user mode for maintenance operations. Partitions are checked, and if everything is okay the new world (the system) is installed. NB the use of "mergemaster": It handles changes in files (such as configuration files or system scripts).
> boot -s
...
# fsck -p
# mount -u /
# mount -a -t ufs
# swapon -a
# cd /usr/src
# mergemaster -p
# make installworld
# mergemaster
# reboot
After the reboot, the new kernel and new world are ready for use. The base system is upgraded. No installed application is changed.
Yes, I know, you can read it much better in the FreeBSD handbook. :-)
I won't reply to vegai's postings directly in detail because I think everything regarding the discussed problematic has been said. Furthermore, vegai seems to think the differences between the base OS (the system itself) and the applications installed upon it is irrelevant. But as you can see, updating the operating system itself is far different from updating application packages. Therefore you have this division between the OS and the applications.
Maybe, the "upgrade with one command" works fine in Linux, at least in one distribution, but it's not general for all and surely not designed for Joe Q. Sixpack. Tell me if that's wrong.