The Mini-ITX Project Revisited

"Once my original Mini-ITX project was completed I finally had a chance to sit back and use the computer. Knowing how simple my needs were, the Mini-ITX project computer was orginally designed to be as basic and quiet as possible. This meant no hard drive, no extra accessories- just a stripped down system. While this suited my needs well at the time, its lack of versatility soon became an issue. This meant it was back to the drawing board for a retooling of the Mini-ITX project computer."

MINIX 3.0 Released

Today, Andy Tanenbaum has officially announced the release of MINIX 3.0, the third stable version of this rather legendary operating system. The launch of v3 has been accompanied by a new website and a new logo. From the new website: "MINIX 3 is a new open-source operating system designed to be highly reliable and secure. It is based somewhat on previous versions of MINIX, but is fundamentally different in many key ways. MINIX 1 and 2 were intended as teaching tools; MINIX 3 adds the new goal of being usable as a serious system on resource-limited and embedded computers and for applications requiring high reliability." Read on for more information.

Firewalling with OpenBSD PF

"I've updated the Firewalling with PF manuscript, mainly for the tutorial I gave at the AUUG2005 conference. New sections: Info on bruteforce protection; Wireless net setup; authpf with wireless net. Updates to the spamd section and traceroute section."

Apache 2 mod_deflate Benchmark

"Are you ready to take a look at a fairly new technology that promises you to save bandwidth? Maybe you're even more interested when the promises range from a 50% to a 80% amount of savings? Jump in, and take the ride to see if it works out as well as you were promised. I'm going to take a walk down Apache 2 server lane and benchmark mod_deflate in a real life situation instead of a synthetic setup."

Review: SkyOS Beta 8.6 Alpha 2

"This is a true gem for developers. SkyOS got a lot of under-the-hood work, the Integrated Streaming System and the networking stack have been reworked, the API has been standardised, missing libraries and functions have been added and a lot of bugs have been resolved. I think what we're seeing is a quasi-feature freeze. This actually serves its purpose, SkyOS is now much more stable, reliable and responsive than before."

Syllable Gets ACPI Support

"I have started to port the linux ACPI subsystem because ACPI is becoming more important now and slowly replaces subsystems like the pci routing table, multi-processor table and apm. The Linux ACPI code is based on the os independent intel reference implementation and so the port has been very easy (and fast to do) so far. Currently the ACPI busmanager contains the basic acpi code (about 90% of the code)."

PC-BSD 0.8.3 Released

"PC-BSD 0.8.3 was released today. This version offers some new visuals, new languages, as well as important bugfixes with systems that have had trouble booting after the install. The complete changelog is available here. Users running 0.8.2 may update to this version using the Online Update utility within the PC-BSD Config menu." Download here, release notes here.

Apple Lobs Grenade Into Microsoft Media Centre Camp

"Dan Warne reckons Apple is about to deftly round-house kick Microsoft’s media center strategy for six. First Apple leaves a mysterious header on the Mac Mini motherboard for a non-existent iPod dock connector. Then it brings out media center software and a video iPod at the same time. Then it recruits the head of TV recording company ElGato. When you put the pieces together, it ain’t pretty for Microsoft." Elsewhere, the new iMac is not Apple's first attempt at entering your living room.

Why Is Microsoft Afraid of Google?

In the few short years of its existence, Google has come a long way, simultaneously striking fear in the hearts of major players in the computer industry and also arousing their curiosity. While the company is keeping all competitors on their toes, it poses a special threat to one particular company -- Microsoft. Why? Because Google's existing and potential products -- as well as those of other firms -- raise the specter that Microsoft may witness an erosion of its control over the platform for the next generation of software application development, according to Wharton faculty members who follow the technology sector. Just how serious is this threat and what is Microsoft doing to combat it?