OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Freeware Suggestions under Windows

Guest post by Manish Bansal 2004-08-18 Windows 129 Comments

Recently I upgraded my home PC and I thought, well, how about loading it with only freeware/open source software (On top of Windows XP)? So I started looking around and found some excellent freeware, along with a lot of trash. It took some work to evaluate all the applications but in the end, it was worth it.

Linus Torvalds’ Benevolent Dictatorship

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-18 Linux 30 Comments

The creator of Linux says "I can't be nasty" when leading the open-source movement since it's all built on trust and teamwork.

Installing Qt Non-Commercial on Windows

Guest post by Kevin Walzer 2004-08-18 Qt 27 Comments

The recent book C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3 contains complete distributions of a relatively-current (3.2.1) version of Qt for Linux, Mac and Windows. Installing Qt on Windows wasn't easy, though--certainly not as easy as one would expect. I ran into a number of little quirks that took a surprisingly long time to resolve. These issues aren't Trolltech's fault, just little gotchas to be aware of--but they are frustrating if you don't know how to deal with them.

Developing Simple and Efficient Package System using Union Mounts

Guest post by Alex Matiashov 2004-08-18 General Development 36 Comments

Issues regarding UNIX software package managment have brought us many usable, yet complicated package management tools, such as those seen in RedHat Linux, Solaris, BSD systems and Mac OS X. While being very useful at their tasks, they bring unnecessary complexity of the management software used, as well as dependency on central package database.

Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 Released

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-18 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 23 Comments

The long awaited Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 has been officially released. Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4 is available in two editions - Desktop (US$40) and Deluxe (US$50).

C++: The Most Powerful Language for .NET Framework Programming

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-18 .NET 49 Comments

Explore the design and rationale for the new C++/CLI language introduced with Visual C++ 2005. Use this knowledge to write powerful .NET applications with the most powerful programming language for .NET programming.

HOW-TO use an iPod as a bootable drive

Submitted by Manish Bansal 2004-08-18 OS News 21 Comments

This HOW-TO is a handy one for the Mac folks out there who want to run multiple operating systems, but not install them to their hard drive, all using an iPod as a bootable FireWire drive. This HOW-TO is also helpful for trying out new software (on another OS), running developer versions of Mac OS (like Mac OSX Server/Tiger) as well as having a way to repair your Mac if for some reason it can't boot on its own.

UserLinux: An Important Step

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-18 Linux 42 Comments

In this article at DesktopLinux.com, Tom Adelstein says that UserLinux marks an important step for Linux. Commercial versions are available from big name vendors with support packages. But what happened to the roots of Linux and a freely available version that is standards-compliant and does not carry a large support price tag? Enter UserLinux and the spirit of open source.

Test Driving RealPlayer 10 for Linux

Guest post by Gary Routh 2004-08-17 Multimedia, AV 49 Comments

I had bitter feelings about RealNetworks products and practices years ago, but over the last couple of years I find that RealPlayer8 is one of the first apps I open on my linux machines. I confess I am a BBC Radio addict living in the USA and streaming audio is my only way to listen.

Xandros Desktop 2.5 Business Edition review

Submitted by Jem Matzan 2004-08-17 Oracle and SUN 14 Comments

Xandros Desktop 2.5 represents the fourth release of the desktop GNU/Linux distribution formerly known as Corel Linux. Xandros prides itself on superior Windows compatibility, and to maintain that reputation it includes some hard-hitting tools for making Windows programs work well on GNU/Linux. It's a little on the expensive side as far as desktop distributions go, and it feels somewhat like a slightly watered-down version of Linspire, but Xandros 2.5 Business Edition definitely has its advantages.

Microsoft delays SP2 auto update

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-17 Windows 16 Comments

Microsoft is delaying distribution of Windows XP Service Pack 2 via its Automatic Update service by at least nine days in order to give corporate customers more time to temporarily block automatic downloading of SP2 by their employees.

KDE 3.3 Linux desktop closes in on Windows

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-17 KDE 24 Comments

The new version of KDE has a completely new email client, in one of many improvements designed to close the features gap with Windows. The final release of KDE 3.3, an open-source Linux desktop environment, is due in a few days and will give users greatly improved email facilities.

Netscape 7.2 Released

Submitted by Prognathous 2004-08-17 Mozilla, Gecko 19 Comments

AOL has released Netscape 7.2, unfortunately, linked to GTK+ 1.2.x instead of 2.x under Linux.

Making the Jump to Subversion

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-17 General Development 63 Comments

If you haven't checked out Subversion, you should. It's a free, open source, powerful revision control system that was built to be a better CVS. It was created with clear design goals and built on top of robust, time-tested technologies. If you've been waiting for a better CVS and are ready to roll up your sleeves, skip directly to the 'Installing Subversion' section of this article.

Creating Custom Desktop Components

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-17 Java 36 Comments

Swing provides a complete set of standard GUI components, ranging from simple buttons and text fields to feature-rich tables, trees, and text editors. This article presents a drawing component used by an image-annotation application named JImaging.

Free Can Mean Big Money: The Open Source Economy

David Adams 2004-08-16 Editorial 125 Comments

I read something in one of the comments for an OSNews posting a couple weeks ago that sent me thinking. It wasn't an original or profound thought. In fact, it's a rather commonly-held opinion that happens to be quite misguided. It's an opinion summed up by the "open source = communist" meme that gets thrown around in thousands of flamewars all over the internet. In this essay, I will explore why this idea is wrong and demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of economics.

Sneak preview of KDE 3.3: Q&A with developer George Staikos

Submitted by cies 2004-08-16 KDE 63 Comments

With KDE 3.2 reaching a status of stable and mature, a lot of work has been going into the next and final release of the 3.x series, 3.3. Because 3.3 recently hit beta status, NewsForge caught up with KDE developer George Staikos to talk about all things KDE.

HP unveils Unix roadmaps

Eugenia Loli 2004-08-16 Unix 12 Comments

HP World HP will be a pitching a story of Unix harmony and advancement at its HP World user conference here this week. First up, HP has now released HP-UX 11i V2 for both its Itanium and PA-RISC based servers. This means PA-RISC customers no longer have to wait until HP-UX 11i V3 arrives to use the same operating system as their Itanium counterparts. The bad news, however, is that both sets of customers will have to wait until the second half of next year to get their hands on V3 - a product once due at the end of this year.

Opinion: Packaging Limbo

Submitted by Robert Renling 2004-08-16 Linux 45 Comments

Jorge Castro has a couple of interesting observations about packaging on Linux.

Files and Programmatic Streams

Guest post by Will Varfar 2004-08-16 General Development 29 Comments

This article offers feature suggestions to budding OS developers looking for that neat edge.