OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Review: The easy to use Lycoris Desktop/LX 1.4

Submitted by Tim Mullins 2004-11-14 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 43 Comments

Eric St-Pierre writes: "While some may consider the features of Desktop/LX a limitation compared to what they are used to have in other distributions, I consider that a clean and simple environment makes me more productive. This review tries to show my view of this distribution." Read more.

hOp, a Haskell OS

Submitted by Aidan Mark 2004-11-13 OS News 32 Comments

hOp is a micro-kernel based on the RTS of GHC. It is meant to enable people to experiment with writing device drivers in Haskell. Currently, hOp is still very hackish, and IA32-specific. More info here and here.

An Encrypted File System on a USB Thumbdrive (FreeBSD)

Submitted by TTF 2004-11-13 Privacy, Security 15 Comments

In this article you will learn how to set up FreeBSD to use a USB thumbdrive, how to configure and use the Cryptographic File System (CFS), and then for the FreeBSD 5.X users, how to use the brand new Geom Based Disk Encryption system (gbde).

Painless FreeBSD System Updating

Submitted by TTF 2004-11-13 FreeBSD 36 Comments

One of the greatest advantages that *BSD has over other Unix variants is the cvsup/make world process. Unlike most Linux distributions it isn't necessary to wait months for a new version to be released for you to upgrade your system. The cvsup/make world process allows you to update your system at any time.

Through the Looking Glass

Submitted by TTF 2004-11-13 Java 18 Comments

"Having heard a few rumors about Project Looking Glass, I was still unprepared for the difference of this desktop: a translucent 3D space that looked like it had come out of a virtual reality "playback" experience from Strange Days (Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Tom Sizemore, 1995), an amazing sci-fi thriller that both predates and smokes The Matrix." Read the article here.

Lexmark accused of installing spyware

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-12 Privacy, Security 54 Comments

Reports on the comp.periphs.printers Usenet newsgroup claim that Lexmark has been planting spyware on its customers' PCs in the form of undocumented software that monitors the use of its printers and silently reports back to a Lexmark-owned company Web site.

Where Is Sun Going with Linux?

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-12 Oracle and SUN 94 Comments

LWM's Bill Claybrook, spoke with John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun Microsystem's Software Group about his new job, and what he has in store for Sun's Linux strategy.

Microsoft Nixes Intel’s Itanium Chip

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-12 Microsoft 35 Comments

An upcoming Microsoft software product for clustered servers won't run on Intel's high-end Itanium 2 chip, according to a report first published on News.com. Instead, it will be optimized for a more mainstream type of server chip from Intel and rival AMD.

Debian Sarge focuses on easy installation

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-12 Debian 37 Comments

The next major release of Debian aims at making installation easier for non-technical users. Debian developers have completely rewritten the Debian installer for the next version of the Linux distribution, code-named Sarge.

Live broadcasts to introduce Windows XP Embedded SP2

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-12 Windows No Comments

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Windows XP Embedded with Service Pack 2, Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices Group has announced a series of "Live Meeting" online broadcasts, which will be held each day from December 6 through 10 for North American developers. The broadcasts will help developers learn how they can take advantage of the capabilities of the new release in order to build more secure, manageable, and innovative embedded devices, Microsoft says.

Microsoft Moves to Dominate PDA Space

David Adams 2004-11-12 Wireless 19 Comments

A Gartner Research study of July-September sales data found that Microsoft's mobile OS outsold Palm's. During that period, Microsoft's OS accounted for 48.1% of worldwide shipments of PDAs, up from 41.2% the previous year. Palm's share dropped to 29.8% in Q3 2004 from 46.9%. The BlackBerry quadrupled its market share in twelve months to 19.8% from 4.9%.

Ten SP2 flaws leave XP users open to hackers

Submitted by alan 2004-11-12 Privacy, Security 47 Comments

Security researchers claimed today that millions of Microsoft customers are at risk from 10 serious security vulnerabilities uncovered in Windows XP patched with Service Pack 2.

FreeBSD for Linux Users

Submitted by TTF 2004-11-12 FreeBSD 41 Comments

This article covers some of the big-picture differences from the perspective of a Linux user being introduced to FreeBSD.

PVFS2 : A High Performance Parallel File System

Guest post by Rob Latham 2004-11-12 General Development 12 Comments

As part of the development team, we're announcing PVFS2 version 1.0 here in Pittsburgh at the SC2004 conference!

Regarding Gambas

Guest post by Daniel Campos Fernández 2004-11-11 General Development 48 Comments

For a few years, I've been working in the real world, I mean the enterprise world, sorry. In every company I've worked for, they offered me the opportunity to learn a lot of new things, or at least that's what they always said in the first meeting before sending me to be just another company programmer. But in fact I've learned some very important things, just not about programming. I had to learn about these things on my own, about the needs of a real company in the real world.

A Closer Look at Apple’s OS X 10.3.6 Update

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-11 macOS 32 Comments

"Apple released Mac OS X 10.3.6 last week on a post-election Friday afternoon, with little fanfare and the typical useful-but-sparse release notes. The company documents 22 changes in Mac OS X 10.3.6, which come from nearly 1,200 changed files in nearly 1,000 different directories or folders, many of them in large bundles or packages. Here’s a closer look at what Apple has told users about what’s inside the OS X update." Read the article here.

Windows Server ‘R2’ Details Begin to Leak

Eugenia Loli 2004-11-11 Windows 7 Comments

'R2' still has yet to go to beta, but Microsoft is well on its way to finalizing the product due to ship in the latter half of 2005, according to sources.

C|Net Summarizes Tiger’s Spotlight

Submitted by Thomas 2004-11-11 macOS 15 Comments

"With search technology in the spotlight, Apple Computer is making better ways to find desktop files the cornerstone of its next version of the Mac OS X operating system." Read the Article at C|Net.

Installing Gnome 2.8 on Suse 9.1

Submitted by TTF 2004-11-11 SuSE, openSUSE 20 Comments

Here is a tutorial on how to get Gnome 2.8 on your SuSE.

SWT Tips and Tricks: Part 1 – Window and Dialog Initialization

Submitted by Nathan Callender 2004-11-11 Java 21 Comments

SWT is an emerging Java GUI toolkit that gives Java developers access to the operating system's native widgets in a cross-platform manner. After using it for several major projects, I have found myself implementing certain tasks repeatedly, so this series of articles endevors to share a few of the insights I have gained to make working with this toolkit more rewarding.