OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Linux And Non MS OSes – Switching To Linux Checklist

Guest post by Gilboa Davara 2005-06-30 Linux 104 Comments

If you've heard about Linux and feel like giving it a go or if you want to try Linux but you're too afraid it'll shew up your computer, this article is for you. Read it, feel free to take what you need and ignore the rest. This is not a tutorial, it's a README-FIRST-like article. It should help you to take that first dive.

Review: SUSE Professional 9.3

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-30 SuSE, openSUSE 38 Comments

For the past several weeks, I've been running my home office LAN exclusively on SUSE 9.3 Professional. I found this latest version, released in March, to be an excellent implementation of the Linux operating system. It brings Linux's levels of ease of use and configurability to an all-time high.

Will The Alpha Chip Stage A Comeback?

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-30 Hardware 50 Comments

There are increasing rumors that Alpha might be brought back to life. The Inq sets the big 'if' aside and explores the possiblities: "What if there really is a will to get Alpha back into the changed market? What sort of chip would it have to be to have that good chance of success, if any?"

HLA: The High Level Assembly Programming Language

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-30 General Development 45 Comments

For Linux users, HLA is a strong programming tool that allows them to create powerful programs on a variety of different levels. As HLA becomes more feature-rich, additional applications will be written using HLA under Linux. With HLA and Linux, programmers can develop new and exciting applications anyone can use. Read more.

WalterCon 2005

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-30 Haiku 7 Comments

WalterCon 2005, the second annual North American conference for Haiku developers, users, and enthusiasts will be taking place Saturday, August 6, and Sunday, August 7, 2005.

Meet The Expert: Arnd Bergmann On Cell

Submitted by anonymous 2005-06-30 Hardware 7 Comments

Looking forward to getting your hands on a Cell workstation? We were too -- until we talked to Linux for Cell kernel maintainer Arnd Bergmann. Learn about programming for Cell in general and for Linux for Cell in particular, and why the "workstation" that has been described in the press is more of a prototype Blade board, and a bit of a misunderstanding, in this Q & A session.

PySWT a Python Binding to SWT

Submitted by Zilin Du 2005-06-30 General Development 28 Comments

PySWT is a Python Binding to the IBM Eclipse SWT library, to provide Python with a cross platform native looking GUI.

How Qnx Failed The Amiga

Submitted by Kelly McNeill 2005-06-30 Amiga & AROS 62 Comments

Back in 1997, the QNX (pronounced either Q-N-X or Q-nix) operating system was positioned to play a vital role in the ongoing development of the Amiga platform. Georgios Panayio provides historical background about the proposed relationship between the two projects and shows how QNX's alleged breach of contract resulted in causing significant damage to the Amiga platform.

The SME Guide to Open Source

Submitted by DTY 2005-06-30 Open Source 1 Comment

The general view of open source software is that it is free; however, as with many things in business, information technology is never that easy. Switching to open source needs to involve careful planning and consideration of the business benefits and potential downsides to such a migration. read more

Porting Multithreaded Apps from Win32 to Mac OS X

Eugenia Loli 2005-06-29 macOS 14 Comments

This article provides details on how OS X handles multithreading to help port your Win32 application.

A closer look at Java

Eugenia Loli 2005-06-29 Java 11 Comments

Ten years ago, Sun Microsystems publicly debuted Java, software that initially helped establish the company's forward-thinking reputation and that later spread to most corners of the computer industry. James Gosling is the man behind the technology, interview here.

Power Plays: The Phenomenon of Vendor Lock-in

David Adams 2005-06-29 Office 53 Comments

Fans of just about anything alternative all seem to suffer from a similar affliction: a naïve underestimation of the pains of switching. This goes for U.S. fans of the metric system, alternative fuel proponents, vegetarians, and yes, OS fanatics. Now, personally I'm all for a lot of those things I just mentioned, but as a lapsed vegetarian, I know full well how, despite the advantages of the alternative, sometimes it's hard to switch and easy to go back.

MenuetOS 64bit First Release

Andrew Youll 2005-06-29 OS News 30 Comments

MenuetOS 64's first release is available for download, to AMD64 and Intel EMT64 users. It was released on the 23rd of June, but appears to have only been known to viewers of the MenuetOS Forum.MenuetOS 64 is free to use provided you agree to the license.

Microsoft To Blanket Latin America With Stripped-Down Windows

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Windows 39 Comments

Microsoft Corp. is taking a new tact with its Windows XP Starter Edition campaign. On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled in Mexico City the newest member of its Starter Edition family: Windows XP Starter Edition in Spanish.

Novell Shows Off New GroupWise Beta

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Novell and Ximian 16 Comments

Novell Inc. announced Tuesday open beta availability of the latest version of its groupware program, Novell GroupWise 7. The new edition of GroupWise comes with an integrated e-mail and instant messaging interface, enhanced Outlook XP and 2003 support, and a bundled copy of SLES 9 (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) to run it on.

DirectX, Longhorn And The Future Of Windows Gaming

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 3D 32 Comments

It's the tenth anniversary of DirectX. In honor of this occasion we spoke with Chris Donahue, the group manager for Windows gaming and graphics. Chris discusses the evolution of DirectX, the impact of the next Windows (Longhorn) and 64-bit gaming, how XNA will help developers on Windows and Xbox, where Windows gaming is headed and much more.

Microsoft’s New Monopoly

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Open Source 39 Comments

Richard Stallman explains why the European parliament should vote to keep software patents invalid: "Microsoft will be one of thousands of foreign software patent holders that will bring their patents over to Europe to sue the software developers and computer users there. Of the 50,000-odd putatively invalid software patents issued by the European Patent Office, around 80% do not belong to Europeans."

OpenOffice 2.0 Beta Review

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Office 20 Comments

I have been using Open Office for about 8 months now for my word processing needs. In a nutshell I am satisfied. Last week the version 2.0 was released, I downloaded it as soon as it was made available, on first view, even though the key functionality in version 2.0 Beta remains largely intact, it promises dozens, possibly hundreds, of changes.

India Closes In On $100 PC

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Hardware 27 Comments

In about three months, a little-known company called Novatium plans to offer a stripped-down home computer for about $70 or $75. That is about half the price of the standard "thin clients" of this kind now sold in India, made possible in part by some novel engineering choices.

Linux To The Rescue: A Review Of Three System Rescue CDs

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Linux 16 Comments

"We've all had this nightmare. You turn on your functioning Windows/Linux PC, and all you get is a blank screen, or a message telling you that certain files are missing, or the kernel has panicked for some obscure reason. Nothing works, and you need the data on your machine." A Linux rescue-cd is the solution.