OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Introduction to Qt 4 Beta 1

Submitted by Johan Thelin 2005-01-04 Qt 17 Comments

The author of the Independent Qt Tutorial has published an example-driven article about Qt 4 beta 1. The text touches the new Designer and some of the code-level changes that will affect application developers.

Interview with Linspire CEO Michael Robertson

David Adams 2005-01-04 Original OSNews Interviews 76 Comments

OSNews "sat down" with Linspire CEO Michael Robertson for a Q&A about his company's efforts as the banner-carrier for Linux-on-the-desktop. We discussed the upcoming Linux Desktop Summit in San Diego and the perceptions and realities of the obstacles to widespread desktop Linux use. Linspire also extended a special offer to OSNews readers: a free download of Linspire and a 30 day CNR subscription, so put yourself in Granny's shoes (not literally, please) and give it a try. Correction: The free offer expires on January 15.

SBC To Offer Set-top Computer

David Adams 2005-01-04 In the News 16 Comments

#2 US Telecom company SBC has a new set-top box with Tivo-like DVR and music and photo access capabilities. "Owners will be able to control the box remotely over an Internet connection, which will also provide access to streaming music and video downloads through SBC's deal with Yahoo. SBC said future enhancements will allow the box to be controlled through a Cingular wireless phone, and allow SBC's local phone customers to see caller ID and call logs on their TV sets." With TVs acting more like computers, and computers acting more like TVs, what will it look like when they meet in the middle?

The Surprising Legacy of Y2K

David Adams 2005-01-04 General Development 19 Comments

American RadioWorks has an interesting investigation into the longer-term effects of the Y2K scare, especially its impact on the world's IT infrastructure. Y2K was a real potential problem, which was first ignored, but then most likely over-reacted to. But it was probably responsible for the rise of the Indian offshore IT boom. It also resulted in big productivity gains as decades of cruft were removed from datacenters during the fixes. For example, when the NY Stock Exchange was able to reassmble its systems six days after 9/11, it was because of the Y2K-related work they'd done.

AWLP turns PC into Web-Managed Wireless Access Gateway

Submitted by Alptekin Cakircali 2005-01-04 Internet 5 Comments

AWLP - (Alptekin's Wireless Linux Project) is an open-source wireless software project that turns a Slackware Linux machine into a dedicated web-managed wireless access gateway. It has pretty much all the features you would expect from an off-the-shelf wireless access gateway. Description, detailed installation instructions, screenshots and downloadable source tarballs can be found at http://awlp.sourceforge.net

eBay Throws the Baby Out with the Bathwater

Submitted by John Kim 2005-01-04 In the News 85 Comments

A reader reports: I was trying to raise some money to start a Linux technical support website by selling Debian GNU/Linux and Fedora Core CD's on eBay and suddently after a month all my items were pulled and my account suspended. I received this message from ebay as reason: "As a matter of eBay policy, recordings on CD-R (including CD-RW and DVD-R) may not be listed on eBay, unless the seller is the copyright owner and states this in the item description. This policy also means that even lawful reproductions on CD-R are not permitted on eBay." This link was also provided.

More Details on PalmSource’s Linux Plans

Submitted by Sean Melendy, digitalboy 2005-01-04 Wireless 22 Comments

NewsForge reports that PalmSource Vice President of Engineering Mike Kelley has published an open letter to the Linux community. IN essence, the end result will be the ability to run PalmOs and (bits of Beos integrated in PalmOs) on Linux. It will be a software layer that runs on top of Linux, and won't be open source.

SimplyMepis 2004.06 or: Gnome Guy Goes KDE

Guest post by Christian Paratschek 2005-01-03 Office 145 Comments

A long-time Gnome user takes a week to try out SimplyMepis to see what all the hubub is about. The result is not only a favorable look at a capable Linux distro, but an examination of the state of the Desktop Environment landscape, and the areas in which KDE can tempt even a dyed-in-the-wool Gnome fan.

Development Release: FreeBSD 4.11-RC2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-03 FreeBSD 7 Comments

The second release candidate of FreeBSD 4.11 is now available, more info here.

Unixlib and C Libraries

Submitted by Peter Naulls 2005-01-03 OS News No Comments

Drobe.co.uk once again looks at RISC OS toolchain issues - this time it's Unixlib under the microscope and drobe considers how to improve it by adding code from the GNU C Library, or making a port of glibc to RISC OS.

Apple Will Release Its Own Office Suite: iWork 2005

Submitted by Sanjaya Sugiarto 2005-01-03 Apple 88 Comments

In the first big news of 2005, according to Think Secret, "Apple will launch its new iWork '05 productivity suite at Macworld Expo, Think Secret has learned. The software, code-named Sugar, will include Keynote 2 as well as a new application, Pages."

GNU-Darwin News Roundup

Submitted by Sibel 2005-01-03 BSD & Darwin 6 Comments

PPCNerds has some news on the new images of the GNU-Darwin project now available, and includes a few screenshots.

SAM Xmas Fun 2004 Screenshot Tour

Submitted by Chris 2005-01-03 Linux 5 Comments

At the end of the year here is a small gift to all game-fanatics out there: SAM Xmas Fun 2004, a game-collection for your pocket with around 40 games. Also the basic things for having fun with Linux are there: Firefox 1.0, Gaim 1.1, Xchat, Totem, Leafpad... all together on a 210mb mini cd. Check out OSDir.com's SAM Xmas Fun 2004 Screenshot tour.

Castle open floodgates to new RISC OS 5 users

Submitted by Ian Chamberlain 2005-01-03 RISC OS 7 Comments

Castle have announced a promotional offer which will bring the cost of a RISC OS 5 computer below the £1000 UK mark for the first time ever. This will no doubt allow many more eager users to upgrade to the 32bit version of the operating system running on brand new, fast hardware.

Oracle Database 10g Available for Mac OS X Server

Submitted by kasra yousefi 2005-01-02 macOS 55 Comments

Oracle Database 10g is the first database designed for grid computing and now it's on Mac OS X.
Another source notes that Oracle is using the Xserve RAID in its own datacenter.

Review: SkyOS Beta 8.2

Submitted by Tech^salvager 2005-01-01 SkyOS 58 Comments

While everybody was out partying and what not this New Years eve, Tech^salvager decided to sit down and write a review of SkyOS beta 8.2. Read the review here.

Linux-Windows Single Sign-On

Submitted by TTF 2005-01-01 General Development 58 Comments

This article explains steps to have your users logging on at their Linux/Unix desktops with their Windows AD accounts

The Year 2004 in Microprocessors

David Adams 2005-01-01 Hardware 4 Comments

From spintronics to clockless CPUs, 2004 was a year of process and research in the microprocessor industry. As a way to transition into the new year, this article offers a month-by-month look at the highlights of the 2004 microprocessor timeline.

Apple Is Up the Market Without a CPU

Submitted by Somynona 2005-01-01 Editorial 53 Comments

"Despite its current misadventure with Linux, Sun isn't in the generic desktop computer business. The Java desktop is cool, but it's a solution driven by necessity, not excellence. In comparison, putting Mac OS X on the Sunray desktop would be an insanely great solution for Sun." read the rest macnewsworld.com

Available: A First Install ISO for FreeBSD PPC

Submitted by Guido 2005-01-01 FreeBSD 16 Comments

On the freebsd-ppc mailing list Peter Graham has announced the availability of the first minimal install ISO of FreeBSD CURRENT for PPC (Make sure you're a power user with nerves of steel and read the blurb.