MacOS X, Linux, and Open Source

macOS 51 Comments
Lately, OSX, or more specifically its kernel, has had a lot of attention. Benchmarks made by AnandTech have shown that OSX' kernel has some serious performance issues. As a result, some have uttered the idea Apple might replace the kernel of the MacOS with another kernel-- Linux seems, to them, the most viable option. Secondly, there have been speculations that Apple is closing the x86 version of its kernel. Note: Sunday Eve Column.
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Apple Denies the Closing of Darwin x86 Kernel

  Submitted by anonymous macOS 38 Comments
In the Fed-Talk mailing list, Ernest Prabhakar (Apple's product manager for Open Source & Open Standards) denies that Apple is going to close the Darwin kernel for x86: "Just to be clear, Tom Yager was speculating about why we have - so far - not released the source code of the kernel for Intel-based Macintoshes. We continue to release all the Darwin sources for our PowerPC systems, and so far have released all the non-kernel Darwin sources for Intel. Nothing has been announced, so he (and everyone else) certainly has the right to speculate. But please don't confuse 'speculation' with 'fact'."
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FreeBSD Self-Hosting on Sun Niagara UltraSPARC T1

  Submitted by Joel Dahl FreeBSD 11 Comments
FreeBSD now both boots and survives a complete 'make buildworld' on the Sun Niagara UltraSPARC T1 CPU. "I'm proud to announce that FreeBSD on the T1 is now stable enough that it can 'make buildworld' natively. The source is currently available in perforce under the view //depot/projects/kmacy_sun4v/... I probably won't roll it back into CVS until the logical domaining support is done. I'm looking forward to receiving input from individuals who plan to deploy it to find out what workloads to target in performance tuning."
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Structured Writing with LyX

  Submitted by da_Chicken Office 37 Comments
"In the hubbub over the ODF and competing 'what you see is what you get' word processors, a long-standing alternative model of word processing systems has been mostly overlooked. The author of LyX, Matthias Ettrich, calls this approach 'what you see is what you mean'. However, it's a philosophy that you will find in many 'native' free software text-processing systems everywhere, from online 'content management systems' to book publishing. You write what you mean, then you use some type of formatter to create presentation layouts. LyX, with its integrated graphical environment, may be the friendliest place to learn it."
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Novell Experiments with Alternative Driver Model for Linux

Novell and Ximian 57 Comments
"In order to broaden Linux hardware support and simplify the process of acquiring, installing, and updating device drivers, Novell has created a new driver system that will enable vendors to supply drivers to users directly. Linux drivers are traditionally maintained in the kernel itself, and third-party drivers that aren't available in the kernel often have to be installed manually, a process that generally involves compilation. In many cases, users have to wait for the next kernel release cycle before they can get software support for the latest hardware. Novell's new Partner Linux Driver Process could potentially resolve some of those problems by providing a simple and consistent process for deploying drivers independently."
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Interview: Steve Jobs

  Submitted by Anonymous submission Apple 53 Comments
CNBC had an interview with Steve Jobs. In the interview, Jobs talks about the new Apple store in New York which will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The interview is quite lightweight - Jobs doesn't reveal anything we haven't heard before and the questions aren't particularly incisive. One interesting comment is made towards the end of the interview though. When asked about AMD, Jobs says that AMD is strong in the high-end server sphere but that Intel have the best notebook and desktop chips (he mentions Intel's Yonah chip) which is where Apple's primary focus lies.
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Hacking SUSE 10.1

  Submitted by anonymous SuSE, openSUSE 23 Comments
"When you're done installing SUSE Linux 10.1 OSS, your desktop system is not complete. You might still need support for Java programs, MP3 audio files, and browser plugins for Macromedia Flash, Adobe Acrobat, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Video. You may also want to add support for playing DVD videos on your computer, and to try out the new XGL graphical toys. Here's how to effectively make SUSE Linux 10.1 into the perfect desktop OS."
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Xorg 7.2 Release Schedule Revealed

  Submitted by Joel Dahl Wayland 19 Comments
The schedule for Xorg 7.2 has been posted to the Xorg announce mailing list; Xorg 7.2 is planned for 17th November 2006. The mail also says xorg 7.1 is planned to be released on 22nd May. "7.1 is basically done at this point. The release won't actually go out until probably Monday, due to press release timing and (hopefully) doc updates, but excluding the server and the badged tarballs, everything else is pretty much in place. So, woo."
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Accessing Network Attached Storage from Linux

  Submitted by anonymous Linux 1 Comment
Network attached storage allows using TCP/IP network to backup files. This enables multiple servers in an IDC to share the same storage for backup at once, which minimizes overhead by centrally managing hard disks. The protocol used with NAS is a file-based protocol such as NFS or Microsoft's Common Internet File System. Both of them allow storing backups using UNIX and Linux systems. NAS are not just common in IDC or offices anymore, you can use them for file sharing and backup at home. You can purchase 200+GB NAS for less than $200. However, many new Linux or UNIX sys admin or home users find it difficult to use NAS for backup and sharing purpose. This tutorial covers how to access NAS from Linux using various methods.
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Intel Donates Free Swing/AWT to Apache Harmony

  Submitted by Ken Java 15 Comments
As the leader of Apache Harmony, Geir Magnusson Jr, said, Intel will donate a Swing/AWT implementation for the Apache Harmony project. "Today during our JavaOne talk (given by Tim and I) I was proud to demonstrate JEdit running on Harmony! That's right, with Swing/AWT code. The formal contribution is on it's way, and I don't wish to steal any more thunder from the contribution when it's made, but we (Intel hat on here...) wasn't able to make the donation in time for the talk today because of internal process loose ends, and I wanted to make a splash for us at JavaOne. I expect it will be here in the next couple of days."
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Interview: Linus Torvalds

  Submitted by Moulinneuf Linux 34 Comments
"Torvalds works full time overseeing the development of Linux which he created back in 1991 while at university in Helsinki. Usually media shy, the 36-year-old Finn invited Kristie Lu Stout and the Global Office team into his home for an insight into life at the helm of the operating system that is giving Microsoft some serious headaches."
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Microsoft: Open Source ‘Not Reliable or Dependable’

Microsoft 127 Comments
A senior Microsoft executive told a BBC documentary that people should use commercial software if they're looking for stability. "Some people want to use community-based software, and they get value out of sharing with other people in the community. Other people want the reliability and the dependability that comes from a commercial software model. And again, at the end of the day, you make the choice based on what has the highest value to you."
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Review: Apple MacBook

Apple 30 Comments
Ars reviews the new MacBook, and concludes: "Apple's new consumer level laptop is full of new features (iSight, widescreen display, MagSafe power connector, optical audio connections, etc.) and the prices are reasonable. Apple has thrust themselves back into a state of competitiveness when it comes to the consumer laptop space, and even offers prospective users features that other computer manufacturers cannot. Someone who buys a Dell or HP laptop cannot legally or easily boot OS X and Windows, and other laptops just don't look as good (your mileage may vary)."
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A Linux Distribution for an Old Laptop

  Submitted by Mark Linux 33 Comments
"I am faced with a challenge: I need to find a Linux distribution that is both small enough, efficient enough and easy enough to maintain for my laptop. Realizing that all Linux distributions are not created equal, I did my research and was able to narrow my list to a handful of distributions that may be suitable for my needs and my laptop. Throughout the course of this article, I am going to test each of these distributions on my laptop and discuss my experiences. I will attempt to install and evaluate each distribution for a period of a couple of days. Based on my findings, I will select the distribution that best suits my needs."
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CARP Ported to NetBSD

  Submitted by Jan Schaumann NetBSD 5 Comments
NetBSD's Liam J. Foy has ported CARP from OpenBSD and committed it into NetBSD-current. CARP is a secure, free alternative to the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol and the Hot Standby Router Protocol. CARP works by allowing a group of hosts on the same network segment (known as 'redundancy group') to share an IP address, and in the event that the master host suffers a failure, the IP will move to one of the backups hosts and the service will continue unaffected.
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