OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

How to Configure, Use LIRC

Submitted by raoulsland 2006-01-10 Hardware 1 Comment

"LIRC is basically a small server which can decode or transmit infra-red signals. This is a tutorial about how to set up the LIRC server and how to use it in order to control your system or specific LIRC-enabled applications with a remote control. Examples of simple or more complicated setups are also provided."

Submitted by Resolution 2006-01-10 Windows 46 Comments

Just when you thought the insanity was over, researchers claim that two new WMF exploits (along with proof of concept code) have been identified in the wild. This news comes just days after Microsoft released an 'out of cycle' patch for a newly discovered WMF exploit. The new flaws affect fully patched versions of Windows 2000, Windows XP (SP2 included) and Windows Server 2003.

Review: WindowBlinds 5

Submitted by Michael Muchmore 2006-01-10 Graphics 14 Comments

"The new version 5 of WindowBlinds adds features like per-pixel alpha blending, as well as the ability to change toolbar icons, progress animations, and the hue and saturation of the Windows interface. WindowBlinds runs as a Windows XP extension to the Themes feature, so it doesn't require any additional program to run on your PC to work. It also takes advantage of your graphics processor to display its interface eye candy, so that your CPU won't slow down. In fact, the company claims that repainting, resizing, and moving windows will be noticeably quicker as a result of this use of video acceleration for the UI. The Hyperpaint feature even lets you adjust the degree of hardware acceleration. Hyperpaint uses the extra video RAM on your video card to buffer windows, which makes moving them faster."

OpenVMS Cluster Achieves 10 Year Uptime

Submitted by Kenneth Farmer 2006-01-10 OS News 21 Comments

"According to George Cook of WVNET this cluster has been up for over 10 years. WVNET is the West Virginia Network, a dynamic service organization providing telecommunications and computing services within West Virginia. WVNET was created in 1975 to provide central computing facilities and wide-area network communications linking its 'central site' computing resources in Morgantown with the campus computing systems at most of the colleges and universities throughout the state. The cluster consists of an Alpha 4100 (with four 533Mhz CPUs) running VMS 7.3-2; a VAX 6000-630 running VMS 7.3; and four DEC 3000 workstations running VMS 7.3-2."

Java Environments for Linux on POWER Architecture

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-10 Java 1 Comment

"This article provides a brief overview of the currently available Java Development Kits and Java Runtime Environments for Linux on POWER. It covers the Linux distributions running on the IBM eServer iSeries, including eServer i5; eServer pSeries, including eServer p5; eServer BladeCenter JS20; and eServer OpenPower."

Samsung Prepares Linux Phones

Submitted by tuxtops 2006-01-10 Linux 2 Comments

Samsung developed a new UI on top of Linux for their new line of touchscreen-based high-end phones. The phones sport QVGA touchscreens, Bluetooth, 2 MP camera, microSD storage and TV-out. For more information, pictures and links have a look at TuxTops.com.

Interview with Synfig’s Robert Quattlebaum

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-10 Original OSNews Interviews 8 Comments

A powerful 2D animation product, Synfig, was open sourced recently under the GPL after the company behind it failed in the market place. The application is still actively maintained by its original author, Robert B. Quattlebaum, which we interview today about.

Hell Freezes Over: Fedora Core 5 to Include Mono

Submitted by a little bird via IM 2006-01-10 Mono 66 Comments

Red Hat was the main opponent against the inclusion of Mono on their products or Gnome's core. But this is all past now and Fedora Core 5 will include Mono and some of its front row applications like Beagle and F-Spot will be too. My Take: After I got tipped on Saturday about this, I talked to Mono's founder, Miguel de Icaza, but he seemed to be genuinely unaware of the latest happenings on Rawhide. The great news will hopefully expand Mono and make GTK# the new recommended toolkit for future Gnome applications (although this is just a personal wish at this point).

Is Java Getting Better with Age?

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-10 Java 20 Comments

A surefire way to ignite a Web flame war is to say one programming language is better than another. James Gosling, known the "father of Java," understands that as well as anybody.

A New Vista on Linux

Submitted by george 2006-01-10 Linux 91 Comments

"More than five years ago the launch of Microsoft Windows XP - and its considerably improved features and reliability compared with Windows 98 and 2000 - made a comprehensive desktop rollout a no-brainer for companies. The other options were all far from desirable. Now, as the world gears up for the launch of Windows Vista, the conclusion may not be so cut and dry. Certainly, Vista is set to be feature-packed and reliable, and many companies will move to the new platform as a matter of course. However, Linux has come a long way in five years, with the concerted effort of hobbyists around the world supplemented by the resources of tech heavyweights to push its desktop features to near-parity with Windows XP."

Submitted by estherschindler 2006-01-10 General Development 18 Comments

"This time of year, even the most hard-core geek thinks thoughts of festive cheer. And there's nothing like, oh, say, a beer, to enhance the mood of seasonal glee. And after a few beers comes the song. '99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer'... Oh - sorry - where was I? What, you ask, does such a scurrilous ditty have to do with serious developers? Well, nothing - except that it was the vector for an entertaining and informative experiment in programming."

Submitted by Valour 2006-01-10 Linux 12 Comments

"A lot of people have heard of GNU/Linux (more commonly referred to as just 'Linux') and are having trouble finding out what the differences are between different versions - or distributions - that are available. This article will show how they differ, and how GNU/Linux differs from similar operating systems."

Interview: Bill Gates

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-09 Microsoft 9 Comments

"CES wasn't only about crazy gadget news and booth tours - we also scored a second chance to sit down with our new best friend Bill Gates and ask him all about the big announcements he made during his keynote last Wednesday. Read on to find out what he had to say about online video download subscription services, whether or not he was happy with the launch of the Xbox 360, which Xbox 360 games he's been playing, how he still thinks there's time to avoid a format war between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, why he doesn't think that Apple's switch to Intel chips makes a difference for Microsoft, and how he is now, finally, a Treo user."

SkyOS Updates

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-09 SkyOS 16 Comments

There have been some interesting updates over at SkyOS. First of all, it now has a VNC viewer, so you can control other computers from SkyOS. Another interesting addition are a set of VMWare tools; SkyOS now has full clipboard integration with the host OS when running in VMWare. Also added is seamless mouse integration, so you can just move your mouse to the edge of the VMWare window, and it will automatically ungrab it. There have been more changes, you can see the most prominent on SkyOS's website. For the under-the-hood changes, see the changelog.

Submitted by Armeck 2006-01-09 Windows 47 Comments

"Back in 2001 Microsoft's early betas of Windows XP contained a user interface dubbed 'Watercolor'. But only months before the operating system shipped Microsoft completely replaced it with an entirely different look and feel called 'Luna' which became known as 'Windows XP Style'. That move has created speculation that current Windows Vista look and feel, called Aero glass, would be replaced by a different look and feel later in the beta process. However, this week's PowerUser.tv podcast has an interview with Microsoft developers who have confirmed that there will be no major change to the look and feel of Windows Vista from what is being shown in build 5270. In other words, Aero-Glass is it."

Submitted by Raffaele 2006-01-09 Amiga & AROS 1 Comment

"Marcel 'Frostwork' Unbehaun released a new nice creation for your Pegasos II computer. This time a loader that loads and boots directly into the genuine Amiga operating system or CD32 on your Pegasos II, displaying a nice splash-screen during loading. By default it boots directly into an inserted CD32-CD."

Using Python’s Input/Output Functionality

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-09 General Development 5 Comments

"In this article, you learn how to work with files. First, we review a simple way to output data in Python, using the print statement, then learn about the file object, which is used by Python programs to read and write data to a file. The different modes with which a file can be opened are demonstrated, and the article concludes by showing how to read and write a binary file."

Free Software Events for December 2005

Submitted by Dave Guard 2006-01-09 Open Source 1 Comment

"2005 was a busy year for free software. The early days of 2006 provide a good opportunity to look ahead at the wonders that the new year will bring, but it's also good to spend a small amount of time reflecting upon what 2005 delivered. Free software technology has made even more inroads into the corporate server space. Desktop and office applications have steadily improved as well, with implementations of them on the sharp increase. Awareness of free software, the business models, philosophy and its advantages are spreading well too. All in all a lot of positive things happened during the year, and that includes the last month, December."

Public Beta of Adobe’s Lightroom for Mac Only

Submitted by Mirko 2006-01-09 Graphics 8 Comments

Adobe introduced the public beta of Adobe Lightroom, an all-new digital imaging solution for professional photographers. With its modular, task-based and streamlined environment, Lightroom's goal is to deliver a complete photography workflow. As Adobe collects more feedback from photographers, modules and feature sets will likely change, as customers decide on their popularity and priority within digital photography workflows. Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. UPDATE by ELQ: Previews here, here and here. It seems that Lightroom reads RAW images correctly and it has Curves support, compared to Aperture.

Review: Apple iMac G5

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-09 Apple 66 Comments

When Apple introduced the latest incarnation of its iMac G5 product line, the reactions were almost exclusively those of praise. They had managed to make the iMac G5 even thinner, while at the same time upgrading its specifications. Apple also introduced Front Row, a remote control, and a built-in iSight camera. MacSupport was so kind as to provide OSNews with this new iMac G5; here are our findings.