OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

X Bugs Away from World Domination?

Eugenia Loli 2006-04-10 Linux 88 Comments

An ex-Microsoft employee is arguing that Linux is ready for the primetime and that only thing keeping it away is the number of bugs it has. He claims that if these few high-importance bugs are fixed one way or another, Linux can become a dominant power in the desktop OS world.

Three Software Engineering Articles

Eugenia Loli 2006-04-10 General Development 3 Comments

"Increase the Accessibility and Comprehensibility of a Visual Model with Literate Modeling", "Crafting Java with Test-Driven Development, Part 9: Driving a User Interface" and "Designing the Obvious, Part 4: Use Cases, Screenflows, and Wireframes". Read more for excerpts and links.

Document Level Parameters Using Core Data: A Dev Cocoa Guide

Eugenia Loli 2006-04-10 macOS No Comments

Core Data is one of Apple's latest technologies that allows the developer to effortlessly develop applications with a very complex data store. By utilizing Core Data your Cocoa application can instantly have access to a full database for storing the applications data. All without a single line of code. But what if you want or need to store parameters that may be file specific but not application specific? In this article InformIT will walk through one solution that allows for elegant access to document specific parameters in a Core Data application.

Programming with the BackgroundWorker Component in .NET 2.0

Eugenia Loli 2006-04-10 .NET 12 Comments

Most of the time, your computer's CPU is sitting idle. Paul Kimmel shows how easy it is to use multithreading with the new BackgroundWorker component in .NET 2.0, so you can stop your bored gadgetry from wasting all that idle time.

What Killing Politicians Has to Do with Computing

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-09 Apple 95 Comments

I'm from the Netherlands. That may sound like a weird statement to start a column with-- don't worry, at the end of this week's Sunday Eve Column you'll understand why I put my nationality so bluntly up front.

Kubuntu in Trouble?

Submitted by Jack Dawson 2006-04-09 Ubuntu 72 Comments

Troubles for the Kubuntu project: a number of Kubuntu developers are complaining that Canonical is not answering their requests. They state: "We all from the kubuntu.de-team have pursued this aim together, but most of the work has been done by Andreas Mueller (amu). He is not only co-founder and unpayed developer of the Kubuntu-project, but he's also hosting this website and he's taking over all the arising expenses. During our endeavours for Kubuntu, there were made several requests to Canonical. All those requests are unanswered 'till today! Up to now, there is only one payed developer. Since Canonical ignores all our personal and partly financial engagement until now we have to assume that Canonical is not willing to make Kubuntu a '1st class distribution'."

Boot Camp: Review, Hurting Mac Developers?

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-09 Apple 32 Comments

In case you did not get tired of it yet, here are some more articles on Apple's Boot Camp. Firstly, everybody's favourite ~~Microsoft zealot~~ Microsoft user Paul Thurrot has reviewed Boot Camp: "While Boot Camp isn't perfect, it's still a semi-miraculous solution that lets you dual boot between Mac OS X and Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac. That, folks, is what's known as the best of both worlds in these parts, and I'm personally very excited at the prospect of, or at the opportunity to, purchase Apple notebooks and desktops in the future." Secondly, "while the lower barrier for Apple users to run Windows applications will lead to growth in the share of users running Apple hardware, overall the effect on Mac developers will probably be negative. The reason? In a word: competition."

Debugging Code Using ptrace

Submitted by Techno 2006-04-09 General Development 1 Comment

"Nobody can write perfect code, since errors can creep in from anywhere. Hence we need some way to debug the programs. One such way is to use ptrace() system call. Debugging programs like gdb are dependent on this system call. This call gives one process control over another process. The process under control can be run step-by-step and its contents can be read and modified, i.e. you can change the core image of it."

Traditional DNS Howto

Submitted by Falko Timme 2006-04-09 Internet 3 Comments

"Linux system administrators should learn traditional DNS. Front-ends and quick templates to setup domain records have a place in managing sites. When confronted with DNS configurations already in existence, nothing can substitute for knowing and using the fundamentals. The vast majority of users on the Internet have no clue about DNS. They may have seen the term when they set up their ISP connection, but they do not realize its connection to their lives. Simply put, DNS servers allow you to use friendly names in your browser, email or other Internet applications to perform tasks which require IP addresses."

Submitted by rycamor 2006-04-09 Legal 33 Comments

FreeBSD developer Poul-Henning Kamp (PHK) happens to run a tier-1 NTP server, intended only for use by ISPs' main servers in Denmark, and specifically not intended for individual client connections, not to mention client connections from anywhere else in the world. He offers this service pro bono to ISPs. Unfortunately, D-Link has decided to abuse the open nature of the NTP protocol and has actually hard-coded PHK's server hostname in the firmware of several of their home network products. Since contacting D-Link yielded no results, PHK went public.

Defining Task Structure in the Linux Kernel

Submitted by XxSheena 2006-04-09 Linux 4 Comments

"A computer process is a running instance of a program, including all variables and other states, or simply it’s defined as a program in execution. Now we will see how this task or process is implemented in Linux kernel. The description of the characteristics of a process is given in the structure task_struct."

ARM Offers First Clockless Processor Core

Thom Holwerda 2006-04-08 Hardware 41 Comments

As expected processor licensor ARM Holdings and Handshake Solutions NV, a Royal Philips Electronics subsidiary, have developed an asynchronous processor based on the ARM9 core. The ARM996HS is thought to be the first commercial clockless processor and is being described as particular suited to use as an automotive microcontroller. Because clockless processors consume zero dynamic power when there is no activity, they can significantly extend battery life compared with clocked equivalents.

Microsoft Responds to Boot Camp

Submitted by Dylan 2006-04-08 Apple 53 Comments

Microsoft has responded positively to Apple's Boot Camp, stating: "Windows is a great operating system. We're pleased that Apple customers are excited about running it, and that Apple is responding to meet the demand." Apple, in the meantime, stated that Apple will never sell Macs with Windows pre-installed, while VoodooPC's CTO wonders what Boot Camp's implications might be. And on a related note, VMWare's CEO confirmed that they are working on a version for Mac OS X on Intel. Update: According to AppleInsider, Apple will rename its iBook line to MacBook, and launch them near the end of this month. The MacBook will sport Core-Duo processors, 13" widescreen, built-in iSight, and Front Row/remote.

Submitted by fsmdave 2006-04-08 Linux 16 Comments

"It's the year 2006, and installing applications in GNU/Linux can still be a nightmare (especially if they are not available in your distribution's repository). Simon Peter is the developer of Klik, a piece of software that tries to resolve this problem. Simon kindly accepted to answer a few questions for FSM."

Carmony Dispels Linspire Linux Myths

Submitted by editingwhiz 2006-04-08 Linspire 38 Comments

"Chances are that you think Linspire lets you run Windows applications, that you have to run it as root, and that it's really not quite a proper Linux. Wrong, wrong, and wrong. At LinuxWorld in Boston this week, CEO Kevin Carmony explained what Linspire Linux is, and isn't, all about."

Submitted by benmhall 2006-04-08 macOS 16 Comments

"NeoOffice is important not only because it brings a decent OOo port to the Mac platform, but also because it is arguably the only complete, non-Microsoft office suite for Mac OSX. Apple has all but abandoned AppleWorks which has mostly been replaced with iWork, except that iWork has no spreadsheet component and the word processing component is more of a page layout tool than a word processor. That's right, the platform that encourages users to 'Think Different' is pretty much down to a single office suite." Read the entire review.

Submitted by moleskine 2006-04-08 Linux 10 Comments

"This article is about the 'Hits Per Day' score on Distrowatch, what it can be used for and how you can read a lot of different information out of it. On Distrowatch you can follow the 'popularity' of almost any distro of your choice. I put quotes around the popularity because you can question what the score actually means."

Submitted by sean batten 2006-04-08 IBM 22 Comments

"If it's the number of cores that gets computers excited these days, then IBM may have its hands on the ultimate processor. Together with Rapport, a Silicon Valley startup, the company previewed the Kilocore1025, a processor with a total of 1025 cores that promises not only to boost processing speed but also to operate at low power levels."

n[ui]x Development Libraries for MacOS X

Submitted by anonymous 2006-04-08 macOS 2 Comments

"This project is an attempt to bring a Linux/Unix like development environment to the MacOS X platform. We believe that the Macintosh operating system has alot of potential and would like to help it reach it's potential. These libraries are not only compiled for MacOS X but are provided in a convienent form as a MacOS X Distribution Installer Package. This unfortunately means that the package is only compatible with MacOS X 10.4 Tiger. The Installer Package contains the following (and more): Sandalous Software's (partial) XML toolkit; Subversion 1.3.0; GTK+ 2.8; Glade-2; GNOME 2.12; Mono 1.1.14; and MonoDevelop 0.10."

NVIDIA Linux, Solaris 1.0-8756 Drivers

Submitted by anonymous 2006-04-08 3D 23 Comments

For the first time this year, NVIDIA has officially published new Linux and Solaris display drivers for their GeForce and Quadro products. These drivers, versioned 1.0-8756, bring a couple new features such as GeForce 7600/7900 support as well as a new nvidia-auto-select program. This does mark their first alternative OS official release in nearly four months. No FreeBSD equivalent of these 1.0-8756 drivers are currently available. Phoronix takes a look at these new drivers.