OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

OS X Routine Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-25 macOS 15 Comments

With the assistance of a few free utility programs, routine maintenance under OS X is very easy. The very same procedures and utilities that are used for routine maintenance under OS X are what Randy B. Singer recommends for generic troubleshooting.

Professional DTP on Linux with PageStream 5.x

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-25 Office 20 Comments

Along with the capable Scribus and the advancing Passepartout, GrassHoper LLC has released PageStream 5.0.1 for Linux (using GTK+: screenshot) along with many other platforms including AmigaOS, Windows, MorphOS and a pending Mac OS X version. For what's new on 5.x of this legendary DTP system (out and about since 1986 for AtariST), check here.

How Microsoft Can Embrace Linux

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-25 Microsoft 70 Comments

Considering Redmond's slim odds of conquering developing nations, why not offer them a low-cost Linux version of Office?

An Interview with Hideya Kawahara of Project Looking Glass

Submitted by Chuck Talk 2004-07-24 Oracle and SUN 10 Comments

OrangeCrate has an interview with Hideya Kawahara, of Sun Microsystems, the man behind the development of Project Looking Glass. Read the interview here.

GNOME 2.7.4 Released

Submitted by Jeff Waugh 2004-07-24 Gnome 63 Comments

Below are the latest set of tarballs for the GNOME 2.7 development branch. It has entered its API/ABI, Feature and Module freezes, with a modules decision to be finalised next week. The biggest change in this release is the new MIME system.

AmigaOS4 video demonstrating MooVId movie player

Mike Bouma 2004-07-24 Amiga & AROS 21 Comments

AmigaOS4 beta tester Crisot has made another one of his unofficial AmigaOS4 demonstration videos available. This time he demonstrates AmigaOS4's default movie player MooVId. Download Video (DivX codec required, 4.96 MB) This Saturday Dr. Garry Hare Ph.D., the CEO of the AmigaOS owning company KMOS will make announcements at the AmiWest banquet dinner and hold a live interview on Sunday. People will be able to follow AmiWest by updating webcam images, live audio and live video streaming coverage.

A Developer’s Perspective on WinFS: Part 2

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-24 Windows 11 Comments

WinFS makes searching and manipulating WinFS objects very straightforward. Learn how to specify a very simple syntax for most cases, but also how the WinFS API supports a rich search syntax to perform complicated searches.

A Year With Lycoris Desktop/LX

Guest post by pelly 2004-07-23 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 38 Comments

Has is really been a year? How the time flew by... In July 2003 I took a gamble that's paid off like I never imagined it would. In early 2003, I came across Lycoris and Desktop/LX.

PearPC Gets Altivec Support

Submitted by sinisterguy 2004-07-23 OS News 78 Comments

Yesterday, on pearpc.net, it was anounced that PearPC has experimental altivec support. Among other things Altivec theoretically improves OS and application speed due to the ability to handle floating point math operations. The builds can be downloaded here.

Tracing multithreaded applications using CTrace

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-23 General Development 5 Comments

This article details the use of an open-source multithreaded trace/debug library called CTrace. It also presents a method of remotely tracing a running application by using the SSH protocol.

Trolltech & KDE Free Announce Amended Agreement

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-23 Qt 58 Comments

The revised Agreement continues to honour the original purposes of the Foundation. In particular, should Trolltech ever discontinue making regular releases of the Qt Free Edition for any reason - including a buyout or merger of Trolltech or the liquidation of Trolltech - the Qt Free Edition will be released under the BSD license and optionally under one or more other Open Source Licenses.

One User’s Experience with Linux In Regards to Windows

Guest post by Kristofer Jarl 2004-07-23 Rumors 188 Comments

The smell of newly purchased stuff... So, there I was, Hauppauge WinTV board in hand, Mandrake 10 installed and ready to rock! Little did I expect that it would come to this. But first things first.

Writing Cross-Platform Mobile Applications Using Crossfire

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-23 Wireless 7 Comments

A new product from AppForge, known as Crossfire, can leverage on your familiarity with VB.NET (or Visual Basic 6) and write cross-platform mobile applications supporting a wide variety of devices. What that means to a developer is that you now do not need to use the proprietary SDK for each device platform -- you simply maintain one code base and it can then be deployed to multiple platforms.

Developer Spotlight: Richard Stallman

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-23 Open Source 43 Comments

Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation. Builder AU recently caught up with RMS about his achievements, the Free Software movement and his concerns with the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement. He will be in Australia on October 5 to speak at the Builder Conference in Sydney.

5 Percent of all PCs in 2004 shipped with Linux

Submitted by itfacts.biz 2004-07-23 Linux 65 Comments

Gartner will officially announce figures that show Linux has shipped on 5% of all PCs worldwide in 2004. It expects that figure to grow to 7.5% by 2008, but is quick to point out that this is not necessarily a representative figure of the number of Linux PCs being used. The company estimates that perhaps 2% of all PCs shipped worldwide this year will actually be used with Linux, with that figure growing to 3.5% by 2008. Not every PC that ships with a version of Linux continues to run with that, noted Gartner.

Virtual PC 7 expected in October

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-22 Microsoft 30 Comments

An e-mail sent to MacMinute by Microsoft notes that: "As you may know, Virtual PC 7 ships with Windows XP both in a box by itself as well as in the Office 2004 for Mac Professional Edition. We are waiting for the release of Windows XP SP2 in order to offer the most recent, most secure version of Windows XP to our Virtual PC for Mac customers."

IceWM – The Cool Window Manager

Guest post by Rahul Gaitonde 2004-07-22 Desktop environments 67 Comments

IceWM is a lightweight window manager for UNIX-like systems. Although widely used, it is often underrated - there is hardly any IceWM-related content on the Internet. This article is my attempt to share my experiences as a longtime IceWM user. It contains tips and tricks, usage scenarios, and makes use of examples whenever possible to better demonstrate IceWM's features and capabilities. Finally, the article is meant for those with some familiarity with UNIX, but who are new to IceWM.

KDE 3.3 Beta 2 Released

Submitted by Philipp Esselbach 2004-07-22 KDE 47 Comments

The KDE Project announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.3 Beta 2. The focus of this release, code-named Kollege, is to fix bugs in the run-up to aKademy in late August. More here and here.

OpenBSD 3.5 Review

Submitted by Jem Matzan 2004-07-22 OpenBSD 20 Comments

The OpenBSD Project released OpenBSD 3.5 exactly on schedule on May 1, adding support for new functions and devices in the kernel and updating the base system. While it may not be the most versatile operating system in the world, OpenBSD shines when it comes to security, providing a default installation that doesn't have to be locked down and partially disabled before using it. Here's also another article on how to setup OpenBSD.

The Long View on Longhorn

Eugenia Loli 2004-07-22 Windows 18 Comments

In its first preview at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference last year, Windows XP successor Longhorn was shown running a 20-year-old copy of Visicalc. Ancient DOS software won't be the lone occupant of the Longhorn compatibility box. Win32, the Web, and even WinForms -- the .Net era's first GUI framework -- are all legacy APIs from Longhorn's perspective. Their replacements, Microsoft says, will jointly deliver "the best of Windows and the best of the Web."