OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Review: Dell Inpsiron e1405

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-07 Hardware 24 Comments

Ars reviews the Dell Inspiron e1405-- a Core Duo laptop priced at USD 800. It concludes: "Taken for what it is, the Dell e1405 performed well in our testing. It's suited to general-purpose use of all kinds, but its integrated video will leave gamers cold and its all-plastic construction might keep true aesthetes at a distance. Still, for general use, it's not clear what others features could possibly be expected at this price point, and the machine is especially recommended to those who need power on a budget."

AMD Faces Revenue Gloom

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-07 AMD 25 Comments

AMD announced its second-quarter revenue figures ahead of schedule on Thursday, and investors are not going to be pleasantly surprised. AMD's revenue for the second quarter is expected to be USD 1.21bn, a 52 percent increase compared with the same period last year. However, analysts had been expecting AMD to record USD 1.3bn in revenue, according to estimates polled by Thomson First Call.

Vista’s PC-Rating Tool Gets a Revamp

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-07 Windows 12 Comments

Microsoft has reworked the PC assessment tool in Windows Vista after fielding complaints from hardware makers - but the changes may not be enough to completely quell concerns. In May, the software maker promised to make changes to the Windows System Performance Rating tool, which aims to assess how capable a machine is of harnessing the upcoming operating system's new features. Critics were unhappy with the way it presented scores and how it came up with its ratings.

Review: Das Keyboard II

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-07 Hardware 45 Comments

"Recently I had a chance to spend some time with the second version of the Das Keyboard. While this product is still plain black like its predecessor, a number of other changes were made in order to get it more in line with what consumers are looking for from an elite keyboard. The Das Keyboard is designed for power users who have the layout of a traditional keyboard memorized and interested in doing two things- increasing their typing speed and impressing their coworkers."

Safely Connect From Anywhere to Your Closed Linux Firewall

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-07 Linux 10 Comments

"The first time I have seen the knockd project I liked it instantly. The idea is so simple, and though so effective. Knockd is a port-knocking application that silently runs on a server passively listening to network traffic. Once it will see a port sequence it has an action configured for it, it will run that action. We can see this as a remote control to our server: once we hit the right button it will take the appropriate action!"

Book Review: Designing the User Interface

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-07 Graphics 4 Comments

Addison-Wesley sent us in the fourth edition of one of the most highly acclaimed user interface & usability books ever published: "Designing the User Interface", by Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant. Read more for a quick review.

Mono 1.1.16 Released

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-07 Mono 16 Comments

Mono 1.1.16 is now released. The inlining optimization is now turned on as well as a number of other small optimizations that enhance inlining and the results are excellent and ASP.NET/Windows.Forms have seen a big step forward.

Where’s My Google PC?

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-06 Google 33 Comments

"Check out YouOS for 10 minutes, then imagine the same project on a billion-dollar budget. Now do you think the mythical Google PC that's allegedly being secretly developed in Silicon Valley - or in China or on a Ukrainian IRC channel - will become reality? It makes sense for Google to develop a Web-based PC. To be clear, a Google PC needn't involve a new gadget like the 'thin client' gear of the 1990s. Every computer in the world is capable of running a Web browser. We might not realize it, but we all already have Google PCs."

Apple Sued in Widening Stock Option Probe

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-06 Apple 29 Comments

Apple is being sued over its awarding of stock options. Two separate suits have been started by shareholders which make claims against current and former officers of Apple, the company announced. The California computer maker has been caught up in a widening Silicon Valley controversy over the awarding of stock options during the dot.com boom. Some firms have already admitted awarding options at lower than market values in order to maximise their worth to employees. Apple is the biggest name to be involved in the growing scandal.

SGI To Emerge From Bankruptcy Cocoon in September

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-06 SGI and IRIX 19 Comments

SGI hopes to emerge as a leaner, meaner organisation by the end of the third quarter. The hardware maker this week filed an amended reorganisation plan that calls for it to finish off bankruptcy proceedings by September. If all goes as expected, SGI will trim its total debt down to USD 70m from USD 345m. Some of the debt will be removed in exchange for the privilege of investing more money in SGI 2.0.

Debian and Ubuntu

Submitted by Patrick 2006-07-06 Debian 87 Comments

"Ubuntu caused a lot of friction with and for Debian. In discussions with its founder, Mark Shuttleworth, and other Ubuntu developers during (and before) Debconf6, I was able to spell out the main criticisms from the Debian perspectives of the way Canonical/Ubuntu is handling things (without a claim to completeness). These criticisms mainly stem from discussions with fellow developers over the past 18 months, and I largely support all of them. I am publicising them here to help make the status quo more transparent."

Web Development Strategies in Dynamically Typed Languages

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-06 Java 3 Comments

"The Java community has used JavaServer Pages technology through most of the last decade, but signs of rust are starting to show. Longstanding conventions inhibit Java programmers from using Java code within Web pages now, and extending even simple components is a chore. Frameworks that take Java Web development beyond JSP programming have emerged, but they fall short of dynamic languages' capabilities. This article shows you Ruby's Web page development strategy and touches on Seaside's radical approach."

First Look: Novell’s SLED 10, pt. II

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-06 SuSE, openSUSE 92 Comments

Last week, I wrote about my first impressions of SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop 10, after only a day of usage. I was quite impressed by the whole package, claiming that "I can confidently say that this release candidate outshines Windows Vista's beta" and "I'd even go as far as to say that even Apple should be worried". I still stand by those two statements, but after a week of daily usage, some reflection on just how much it outshines Vista or how worried Apple should be are justified.

Microsoft Bows to Pressure to Interoperate with ODF

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-06 Office 70 Comments

Microsoft is giving in to the unrelenting pressure to be more open, particularly with regard to its Office Open XML file format and interoperability with the Open Document Format alternative. The company will announce July 6 that it has set up an open-source project to create a series of tools that allow translation between the OpenXML format and the ODF format, and which will be developed with partners. The Open XML Translator project, as it is known, will be posted on SourceForge, the open-source software development Web site.

Review: Opera 9

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-06 Opera 19 Comments

Yet another review of Opera 9. "There is a lot more to this feature rich, standards compliant web browser and each day I find new ways of using Opera to heighten my browsing comforts. Definitely the developers of Firefox - another web browser that I am really fond of - can imbibe a couple of the path breaking features found in Opera."

Submitted by erast 2006-07-06 Solaris 24 Comments

"OpenSolaris is not only powerful, but it is very innovative. Somebody smart figured that simplistic chroot or BSD jail concepts could be extended to the level where every single part of HW is virtualized. The Linux kernel also offers somewhat similar proposition called vserver, but we all know that until a proposition is not a part of main-line kernel tree it will never be a solution. Well, forget about Linux, we have OpenSolaris now and it truly opens new horizons for us to explore."

Submitted by Jesuspower 2006-07-06 Bugs & Viruses 8 Comments

"For about 20 years now we've been using the term computer viruses to describe self-replicating programs. Although such programs had previously been found on Apple computers, viruses entered the PC world in early 1986 with the Brain virus."

Desktop Linux Defined: SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

Submitted by Rick Coltran 2006-07-06 SuSE, openSUSE 27 Comments

Mad Penguin's Adam Doxtater has published his take on the upcoming SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop release. Many screenshots included.

The Outsider’s Tale: a RISC OS User’s Apology

Guest post by Gavin Wraith 2006-07-05 RISC OS 24 Comments

So you thought you would find here an impartial, knowledgeable comparison of RISC OS with the more popular and better known operating systems? Think again; I have been so steeped in RISC OS, since even before its appearance two decades ago, were that possible, and I am so ignorant of other operating systems, that I cannot honestly deliver to you a balanced picture. Well, that is the modern usage of apology over with, so let us get on to the older sense. Note: This is the 2nd entry to our Alternative OS Contest which runs through 14th July!

Apple Introduces USD 899 Education 17″ iMac

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-05 Apple 54 Comments

Apple today introduced a new USD 899 configuration of the 17-inch iMac designed specifically for education customers featuring a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, a built-in iSight video camera, and iLife '06. The 17-inch iMac for education is available immediately and will replace the eMac, Apple's last CRT based computer.