OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Should the TCO of RISC OS be higher

Submitted by Peter Naulls 2005-02-17 RISC OS 4 Comments

On drobe.co.uk, Chris Williams again investigates the role of RISC OS and RISC OS machines in the real world. At stake is traditional claim of platform fans that running a RISC OS system is cheaper than other systems - something that may have been true during the 90s, but perhaps now has the platfom at a disadvantage. Decide for yourself in Chris' article.

A Look at the Resco World

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-17 Wireless 12 Comments

If you own a Pocket PC, you gotta be using one of the Resco applications. Resco has become synonymous with high-quality utitilies for primarily the Mobile Windows platform (while some of their products are available for PalmOS and Symbian). We take a look at their Media Suite for PPC, File Explorer and PhotoViewer for PalmOS 4/5 and the Guardians 2D game for PPC (with screenshots).

Mikey C’s MicroA1 Review

Mike Bouma 2005-02-17 Amiga & AROS 24 Comments

Michael Carrillo has written a small first impressions review and report after being voted AmigaWorld.net's 'Moderator Of The Year' and winning a new MicroA1. However for more in depth pre-release information turn to the recent Ars Technica review. And for Amiga users who need to use Windows but don't want to leave their Amiga environment there's a new Remote Desktop client available (Screenshot).

25 Million Firefox users

Submitted by Swaroop C H 2005-02-17 Mozilla, Gecko 80 Comments

Its all over the blogosphere: 25,105,560 downloads in just 99 days! Even Scoble's congratulated the project: "In just a few months your app has become one of the most used Windows applications in the world. My hat's off to you!"

Mandrake Linux 10.2-b1-PPC; PowerPC support for Red Hat Linux

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-17 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 9 Comments

This is the first beta release of Mandrakelinux 10.2 for PowerPC. Also, Red Hat's next product for Linux enthusiasts is slated to support two significant new features, the first for IBM's Power processor and the second for software that lets the same computer run multiple operating systems simultaneously.

Researchers: Digital encryption standard flawed

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-17 Privacy, Security 11 Comments

An encryption standard widely used in digitally signing documents and programs has a flaw in it that could allow for the creation of forgeries, sources said Wednesday.

Microsoft to give developers a new look at Longhorn

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-17 Windows 20 Comments

Microsoft plans in April to offer developers an updated test version of Longhorn, along with more details on what's in store with the next major update to Windows.

KDE 3.4-b2 Preview

Guest post by Joshua Keel 2005-02-16 KDE 100 Comments

KDE 3.4 is currently in the beta2 stage, and preparations are being made for the final release. I thought it would be nice to give people some advance information on new features in KDE 3.4, so I have written this beta2 preview.

Announcing the Winners of the OSNews Book Giveaway

David Adams 2005-02-16 OS News 5 Comments

The results are in! The winners of the giveaway are: In the "new member" category: Pascal Hos. In the "existing members" category: Robert Kerby and Jeremy Messenger. In the "commenters" category: Rayiner Hashem and "therandthem." If you are one of these winners, and you haven't received an email from us yet, contact us right away. Thanks to all the new members who signed up in the past two weeks. We'll try to have more giveaways soon!

Maya 6.5 to be final upgrade release for IRIX

Guest post by Swami Gattas 2005-02-16 SGI and IRIX 22 Comments

CGChannel.com reports the immediate release of Maya 6.5, an award winning professional grade 3D Suite and a major part of the IRIX culture. Of interest is that this release marks the final release of the once SGI-owned software for Irix. It is sad to see the OS lose support as SGI has shifted focus to Linux.

NoGravity Game Open Sourced

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-16 Games 22 Comments

One of the most prolific games of the BeOS platform was SpaceGirl (later renamed to "No Gravity"). The game is now being ported to Windows and Mac OS X (using DX and, software GL and GL) and also it has been fully open sourced. Hopefully, we will see a Linux/Unix and a PocketPC port soon (for the 2700G Intel accelerator found on Dell or other VGA-capable PDAs, e.g. the VGA Zaurus).

First Look At Ubuntu Linux 5.04 Array-4

Submitted by SilentBob4 2005-02-16 Ubuntu 56 Comments

"Ubuntu is the Linux distro that seems to be on everyones lips these days, but until now I've not really given it a chance. What's so special about this distro that's making everyone nuts over it? How has it risen so fast on DistroWatch's Hit Ranking? I was about to find out the answers to these questions and get a feel for Debian's newest kid on the block." Read more here. Update: Another one here.

Red Hat Aust claims Solaris on verge of eclipse

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-16 Red Hat 56 Comments

The Red Hat 'Network' systems management tool is to gain the ability to manage software distribution and configuration for Solaris, with Red Hat claiming the features are the "the final nail in the coffin" for Sun's operating system. However the software could be four months away from release.

JNode version 0.1.10 Available

Submitted by Martin Husted Hartvig 2005-02-16 OS News 4 Comments

JNode.org has just released a new version of the Java OS JNode with a port to the AMD64 architecture. This version 0.1.10 also includes several improvements.

From Solaris to Linux on POWER

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-16 General Development 12 Comments

Accelerate your porting efforts by following this six-step guide. Learn the differences between Solaris and Linux on POWER, and see how SUN's compiler/linker switches compare with those of GNU GCC and the IBM native compiler.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Command Line

Eugenia Loli 2005-02-16 Red Hat 23 Comments

Sure you've read the books on writing fancy code. But who needs commenting or clarity when you've unleashed the power of bash? First of a two-part series on the Red Hat Magazine.

Book Review: AppleScript: The Missing Manual

Guest post by Todd Nathan 2005-02-16 macOS 21 Comments

I've been coding AppleScript and AppleEvents since what feels like the beginning of time, starting with AE in 1991 and OS7. Revisiting AppleScript has been one of those processes that in 1997 and now in 2004/5 I have dreaded and embraced for various reasons.

Part II: Corp. Desktop Linux – The Hard Truth

Submitted by Steve Mallett 2005-02-16 Linux 63 Comments

Steve Mallett published Part II of W. McDonald Buck's essay on Linux TCO. In it he looks at the scenario of a company having already moved to Linux in the server room and also to OSS on Windows desktops, but "...now wants to know, how much extra can be saved by the final step of changing the operating system itself? And, what are the other costs, risks and benefits of doing that. To keep the scenario simple, we're assuming too that this will be done at a time when the desktop equipment is also being replaced. The news is good, but not as good as we like to believe." Here's Part I.

NetBFS Alpha For Zeta

Submitted by DaaT 2005-02-16 Zeta 20 Comments

Coded by momoziro, an (early) alpha version of NetBFS is now available. NetBFS is a native network fs for Zeta. For more details and a screenshot head over to ICO.

Basic security Practices for a Windows XP Desktop

Guest post by Vincent 2005-02-15 Windows 29 Comments

This guide found exclusively at OSNews.com in PDF format is mostly focused on creating a decently secure installation of Windows XP Professional for an end-user. While the vast majority can be applied to Windows XP Home, and OEM Restore Disk Sets, there are a few instances where these two media will need to be setup in a different manner.