OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

The GNOME Journal, January Edition

Submitted by Jim Hodapp 2005-01-12 Gnome 44 Comments

The latest issue of The GNOME Journal has just been published. This second issue covers some technical articles, including CD/DVD creation, connecting to remote resources, and how to get help from the GNOME community. Also, will GNOME pass the Liberal Arts major test? Developer topic s are also covered, as Seth Nickell takes a look at the "Experimental Culture" surrounding GNOME development and Christian Hammond sheds light on the concept of desktop presence.

NetBSD Status Report for October – December ’04 published

Submitted by Jan Schaumann 2005-01-12 NetBSD 15 Comments

The NetBSD Foundation has published its fourth quarterly status report, covering the months October through December of 2004. Among many other things, this status report covers the publication of the new NetBSD Logo, the new pkgsrc branch, the new NetBSD/iyonix port and of course the release of NetBSD 2.0.

Top Ten PDA Failures

Submitted by Cory 2005-01-12 Wireless 24 Comments

The PDA business has had many losers in the past twenty years, but not all of them merited that status. Here are the top ten PDA's or initiatives that should not have failed.

Dissecting shared libraries

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-12 General Development 1 Comment

Shared libraries use version numbers to allow for upgrades to the libraries used by applications while preserving compatibility for older applications. This article reviews what's really going on under the book jacket and why there are so many symbolic links in /usr/lib on a normal Linux system.

Expect security leap after Longhorn, says HP exec

Submitted by Tudy 2005-01-12 Windows 35 Comments

While the computing industry has been working to tighten up the security of its products amid increasing threats from viruses and hackers, a truly trustworthy infrastructure is still a few years off, Hewlett-Packard's security head said in an interview this week.

Choosing the Right IDE for the Job

Guest post by Matt Rajkowski 2005-01-11 Java 68 Comments

A Java web developer takes a look at the Java IDE landscape and examines the major offerings. IntelliJ IDEA comes out on top, hands down, according to his measurements, and he includes a detailed review.

Apple Introduces the Mac Mini

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Apple 541 Comments

Along with the iWork productivity suite ("Pages", a word processor with style) and the Shuffle Flash-based iPod, Apple introduced the Mac Mini: a small Mac Cube: 1.25/1.42 GHz G4, combo drive, 40/80 GB drive, fw/usb/ethernet/modem ports. This is the most affordable Mac ever, starting at $499. My Take: Very nice product, but I am dissapointed because it does not have Line-In and Mic connectors! The Mac Mini web pages advertise the product in conjuction to iLife big time but GarageBand feels pretty useless without such connectors! There is always the iMic of course, but hey.

Making the transition to 64 bits

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 General Development 15 Comments

As 64-bit PowerPC processors become more widely available, it becomes desirable to make applications run in the 64-bit computation mode, providing access to larger address space and faster 64-bit arithmetic. This excerpt from a longer Technical Library article covers some of the issues faced when porting existing 32-bit code to the new computing model -- or when embarking on new 64-bit development.

AvantGo 6.0: Overhaul Finally Arrives

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Wireless 16 Comments

The brand new AvantGo version offers improved wireless synchronization; an integrated Internet browser; real-time searching of AvantGo channels; a redesigned user interface with tabbed navigation, customized channel layout and small-screen optimized navigation. Also, users will now be able to add and remove channels directly from their device. Please note that OSNews fully supports most mobile browsers, including AvantGo (just create a custom subscription on your my.avantgo.com). Additionally, the text-only version of OSNews has been now optimized to look a bit better (3 weeks of slow dial-up in Greece forced me to use Firefox without "image loading" and so I took the time to optimize the site's looks for low-bandwidth usage). Here is a screenshot (subscriber's OSNews version is shown).

FreeBSD System Disk Mirroring with GEOM Step-by-Step

Guest post by Ralf S. Engelschall 2005-01-11 FreeBSD 9 Comments

I was asked by co-workers how to establish a RAID-1 (mirror) for the system disk partitions of a FreeBSD 5 system.

XFce Installer Something To Be Proud Of

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Xfce 55 Comments

MadPenguin reviews and details the new XFce visual installer.

How the Mac was born, and other tales

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Apple 11 Comments

Steve Jobs will be the star attraction when the Macworld Conference and Expo opens to the public Tuesday, but many Mac fans might be just as interested in hearing from one of the Mac's original creators.

OpenBSD Platforms Update – SGI port official

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 OpenBSD 9 Comments

The SGI port of OpenBSD has been moved to officially supported status bringing the number of officially supported platforms to 15.

Interview: Sun CEO Scott McNealy

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Oracle and SUN 9 Comments

Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy spoke with IDG News Service correspondent Robert McMillan about company changes, plans for 2005 and how open source relates to Solaris and Java.

Libranet review at TuxMagazine

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 Debian 26 Comments

TuxMagazine posted a review of Libranet and here is its follow up article.

IBM offers 500 patents for open-source use

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 IBM 17 Comments

IBM has decided to let open-source developers use 500 software patents without fear of an infringement lawsuit, a new step in its encouragement of the collaborative programming philosophy.

Robert Watson announces IPX/SPX now MPSAFE on FreeBSD 5.x

Eugenia Loli 2005-01-11 FreeBSD 5 Comments

In two posts on BSD News pointing at e-mails from Robert Watson, a FreeBSD Core Team Developer, presenting both recent accomplishments relating to IPX/SPX and the general status of SMPng and the network stack are discussed.

Get RIB 1.1 tool for Swing and Eclipse GUIs

Submitted by ghamilt 2005-01-11 Java 4 Comments

IBM has updated its well known Reflexive User Interface Builder for constructing and rendering graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Java Swing and Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) based upon a descriptive XML document. Version 1.1 includes the capacity to validate Eclipse SWT GUIs, generate Java source for GUIs constructed by RIB, and embed Java source code in RIB documents. See new developer article on RIB that shows you how to Build Java GUIs simply and quickly.

What is the “Mainstream” View of Software Patents?

Submitted by E.M. 2005-01-11 Legal 17 Comments

Although it appears in a "Mainstream" (non-technical) publication, this lengthy indictment of Bill Gates and software patents from 'The Guardian' is another interesting indicator of how the public's view of the issue is shifting.

Hackers Tune In to Windows Media Player

Submitted by Sid 2005-01-11 Windows 19 Comments

Hackers are using the newest DRM technology in Microsoft's Windows Media Player to install spyware, adware, dialers and computer viruses on unsuspecting PC users. Security researchers have detected the appearance of two new Trojans, Trj/WmvDownloader.A and Trj/WmvDownloader.B, in video files circulating on P2P (peer-to-peer) networks.