Virtually Minix: A Tutorial & Intro to Minix on XP via Bochs

This tutorial will walk the reader through setting up Minix 2.0.4 on Windows XP via Bochs 2.1.1. These are the latest versions of Minix, Bochs and Windows XP as of May of 2004. In this era of Linux and Windows domination of the OS scene, it is important to remember that there are alternatives. Hence, this article will also serve as an introduction to one such alternative, Minix, which has a very rich heritage, indeed.

Linux vs. Apple: An Uncomfortable Battle

"Linux represents a threat and an opportunity for every software and hardware company. Apple is once again at the crossroads. While it will take a couple of years before we know whether the company will make the right choice, one thing is clear: Apple's path is about to become vastly more interesting" says Rob Enderle for TechNewsWorld.

Mergers, More Mergers and Splits

A feisty Oracle comes out swinging at the government's insistence that its proposed acquisition of PeopleSoft would be detrimental to the business software market. Elsewhere, a trial preperation shows Microsoft, SAP mulled merger: The companies initiated merger discussions late last year, but eventually broke off talks for reasons of complexity, according to information uncovered during discovery in the Oracle case. However, Apple's top executive said Monday that the company does not plan any mergers, though it has $5 billion cash in the bank. On the opposite side, longtime Wall Street analyst Steven Milunovich is urging HP's top management to split the company into two separate businesses.

‘Open-source’ Solaris Draws Lukewarm Response

Sun's announcement this week that it plans to make Solaris an "open-source" operating system has been met with mixed reactions from users and scepticism from open-source advocates. "I'm totally nonplussed by the announcement," said Dale Pickford, chief infrastructure officer at Ocwen Technology. Ocwen last year consolidated around 140 servers into several high-end Sun servers running Solaris - one with more than 100 processors. For smaller servers with four or fewer CPUs, Linux on Intel is suitable, Pickford said. But for systems larger than that, "the Sparc and Solaris environment really comes into its own," he said. "And once you start playing at that level anyway, you don't want to be messing with the OS." LinuxWorld has an article as well on the open sourcing of Java and Solaris.

Apple Patches ‘Critical’ OS X Flaw; AirPort Express, AirTunes

Apple released a security patch that fixes what the company called the first "critical" Mac OS X flaw. Apple today also introduced AirPort Express, "the world's first 802.11g mobile base station that can be plugged directly into the wall for wireless Internet connections and USB printing, or thrown into a laptop bag to bring wireless freedom to hotel rooms with broadband connections." More here and here.

Zeta to Get New Media Player and Native Codecs

yellowTAB is currently revamping the media services in Zeta by adding new native CODECs to the Media Kit, and developing a brand new native media player application, code named Champion. This will add native support for common media formats that cannot be currently played in the BeOS platform, as well as high-performance video streaming capabilities to Zeta. Also, TuneTracker will include Zeta in its CD from now on. Elsewhere, a USB mass storage driver for BeOS 5 was released.