OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Set up an MP3/ogg Alarm Clock Using Linux

Submitted by Federico Pistono 2006-01-01 Linux 29 Comments

"Why should you spend money for an alarm clock or a software that does an equivalent job, when you can just use you Linux box? This short tutorial will guide you step by step in creating an MP3/ogg alarm clock using your computer, it works with all Linux systems, and can easily be modified for MAC OS X, *BSD, well you got it."

OSNews Wishes Everyone a Happy 2006; the Final Major Change

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-31 OS News 174 Comments

As 2005 draws to a close, a year with many changes for OSNews, we have one more big change to make OSNews a better place. But first, let us take a short look at all the big changes OSNews has seen this year.

MS Confirms WMF Flaw, Variants Spread

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-31 Windows 80 Comments

Microsoft acknowledged late Wednesday the existence of a zero-day exploit for Windows Metafile images, and said it was looking into ways to better protect its customers. Even worse, by the end of the day nearly 50 variants of the exploit had already appeared. One security company said the possibilities were endless on how the flaw could be exploited. 'This vulnerability can be used to install any type of malicious code, not just Trojans and spyware, but also worms, bots or viruses that can cause irreparable damage to computers,' said Luis Corrons of Panda Software.

Seamonkey Beta Improves on Mozilla Legacy

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-31 Mozilla, Gecko 27 Comments

"SeaMonkey is the successor of the Mozilla Suite, described as 'a community effort to deliver production-quality releases of code derived from the application formerly known as Mozilla Application Suite'. And it's finally got a brand new logo, one that supposedly represents a SeaMonkey but actually ended up looking like a blue bird, at least to my untrained eye." In addition, Camino 1.0b2 has been released.

DRM Hell

Submitted by Andrew Bragdon 2005-12-31 Privacy, Security 55 Comments

BentUser takes a look at OS-level DRM in upcoming operating systems, particularly Windows Vista. Protected video path, PVP-UAB and PVP-OPM, have the potential to be really obnoxious, eclipsing any annoyances one experiences with current DRM technologies.

Think You Can Guess the Vista Launch Date?

Andrew Youll 2005-12-31 Windows 38 Comments

MS is holding a contest in Europe & Pakistan, in which you have to guess what date MS will launch their long awaited next version of Windows. All legal residents of Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK who are 18 years of age or older have the chance to win from 1 of 3 prizes available in different prize bands; 1st Prize: Be live at the Launch Event in the USA: the full package with entry, flight and 3 nights in a 4-star Hotel, 2nd-4th Prize: New XBOX 360, 5th-10th Prize: XBOX Core System. NOTE: It seems to require IE to sign up, as it doesnt work in Safari, it may work in FF however.

RISC OS Predictions for 2006

Submitted by Peter Naulls 2005-12-30 RISC OS 12 Comments

Peter Naulls, the RISC OS developer behind, among other things, the Firefox port for RISC OS, has published a list of things that are likely, or less-likely, to happen in the world of RISC OS in 2006. "I'll suggest some projects that are both plausible and possible in a relatively short space of time. Whether they will be carried out is another matter entirely, and nothing should be read into these that I or anyone else intends to carry them out. One prediction I will make right now is that I expect developer support to continue to wane in 2006, with an increasingly frustrating general RISC OS situation, which for the first time in a long time, has only a little to do with technical restrictions."

Linux Distributed Command Execution

Submitted by anonymous 2005-12-30 Linux 17 Comments

"Many times, you want to execute a command not only on one server, but also on several servers. With the help of tool called tentakel, you run distributed command execution. It is a program for executing the same command on many hosts in parallel using ssh (it supports other methods too)."

Intel Unveils New Logo in Brand Overhaul

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 Intel 52 Comments

"The world's biggest chipmaker said on Thursday it will scrap its 37-year-old logo and well-known tagline as part of a major rebranding that will emphasize its shift away from its core PC business and into consumer products. The original Intel logo featuring a lowered 'e' will be replaced with one showing an oval swirl surrounding the company's name." Here is an interview with Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO.

First Issue of the OS2eCS eZine Released

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 OS/2 24 Comments

"Welcome to the very first issue of OS2eCS eZine! It has been awhile since the OS/2 community has had an online magazine or newsletter published. The last OS2eZine was published in December 2004 and the last VOICE Newsletter was August 2005! So we here at the OS2eCS Organization decided it was time to get the ball rolling again!" In this first issue articles on WarpVision, eSchemes, and more.

VMWare Player Image for Syllable 0.6.0a Available

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 Syllable, AtheOS 64 Comments

"I would like to announce a VMware Player image for Syllable 0.6.0a available in the normal VMware images location. This works fine with VMware Player on Linux. I haven't tried it yet on Windows, but I assume it works fine there, too. This is a default install from the ISO, just like the rest, so you'll have to install Developer's Delight and whatnot by yourself." And before people complain: Syllable is an open-source (GPL) operating system aimed at the home/office user. It is the continuation of AtheOS.

The Year in Review: Apple

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 Apple 105 Comments

"There can be no doubt that 2005 was a stellar year for Apple. From record-breaking quarterly financial reports and the release of Mac OS X Tiger to the announced transition of the Macintosh to the Intel platform and new iPods, Apple fired on all cylinders throughout much of the year, creating unprecedented demand for many of its products." Update: Here are photos of the cooling system for the Quad-core PowerMac-- one of those could counteract global warming. Seriously.

HP TestDrive Program

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 OS News 12 Comments

"Want to try the latest technologies over the Internet? This program allows you to testdrive some of the hottest hardware and operating systems available today. Have you ever wanted to try out HP's exciting 64-bit Integrity, Alpha, and PA-RISC technology? Get time on SMP x86 and Opteron ProLiant servers? Try out a Blade server. Try different Open Source operating systems."

What’s New in Windows Presentation Foundation

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-30 Windows 2 Comments

"In December 2005, Microsoft released a Community Technology Preview of Windows Presentation Foundation, the new presentation subsystem for Windows that unifies development of documents, graphics, and applications into a common platform. In this article, we take a brief look at some of the new features that are part of the December CTP as well as the changes that have been made since the previous releases."

MirOS BSD #8 Released

Submitted by Thorsten Glaser 2005-12-29 BSD & Darwin 31 Comments

"The MirOS Project is proud to announce the immediate release of MirOS XP, consisting of MirOS BSD #8 and the MirPorts Framework. This release is the first in the MIRBSD_8 branch and still highly experimental in some parts, especially ports, but has been throughoutly tested and deemed stable." You can download this Net/OpenBSD-based operating system here. Note: Don't mention the war!

Submitted by DigitalDame 2005-12-29 Windows 40 Comments

"Microsoft's free Shared Computer Toolkit lets you configure a PC that can be used to search the Internet, look up resources, and run approved programs; it also stops users from making permanent system changes, running arbitrary programs, or introducing malware. Administrators on domain-based PCs have long been able to do this; the toolkit offers a similar level for any PC. You don't need an IT degree - the kit leads an administrator through the steps of locking down a system."

Submitted by Valour 2005-12-29 Hardware 48 Comments

"Over the past several years of computer hardware engineering, raw speed has been the primary goal of hardware manufacturers. This has traditionally come at the expense of power consumption, which has skyrocketed since the first days of the x86-compatible home PC. Just how much electricity does a computer and its related devices use? Are there disadvantages to turning everything off when you're done? This article will give you an insight into computer power usage."

Review: Zenwalk Linux 2.0.1

Guest post by Joseph Ferrare 2005-12-29 Slackware, Slax 50 Comments

I was interested to see how Zenwalk differs from Slackware, and after reading on their web site that version 2.01 is 'the biggest jump in Zenwalk evolution since the beginning of the project', I wanted to see how far Zenwalk has come since it was reviewed here as MiniSlack.

What Ever Happened to Linux Media Center PCs?

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-29 Linux 54 Comments

"A year ago, Linux seemed poised to take on the living room, in the form of home media center PCs and systems. But last year's product announcements have not materialized into this year's Linux-based consumer systems. Before losing her job at the helm of Hewlett-Packard, CEO Carly Fiorina peppered a Consumer Electronics Show keynote with word of HP's coming Media Hub, a machine capable of television and display-centric computing that ran on Linux. The machine, announced alongside the company's latest PC-centric Digital Entertainment Center systems running Windows XP Media Center, was promised by fall of 2005. Today, it is nowhere to be found."

Hyperion IRC Session Transcripts

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-29 Amiga & AROS 16 Comments

Yesterday, Amiga-fans could participate in an IRC Q/A session with Hyperion Entertainment, the company behind AmigaOS4. You can read several transcripts, both edited as well as unedited, here. The main news is that AmigaOS4 will not be released this year; with the main reason for this being the lack of available hardware (which is being worked on). An update will, however, be released in January.