ekkoBSD Beta-2 Released

ekkoBSD as a core OS offers security, stability, and flexability to your infrastructure. Feature enhancements include ekkoBSD native binaries, new fdialog features, fetch/libfetch, new applications in bin/sbin, and a new installation guide. The GUI installer (EINSTein) is still not functional in this release.

Linux on Laptops Part II: Libranet 2.8.1

I considered reviewing Debian for this article. I downloaded a copy of Debian 3.0r2, making sure to get the disk with the 2.4 kernel. Everything you've heard about Debian being difficult to install? It's not totally true, but it's pretty close. I really wanted to try Debian, though, if only to use the vaunted apt-get system. I'd tried apt-rpm on a previous Red Hat installation, and it was great. Since Debian was turning out to be too difficult to put together, I decided to look for a debian-based distro.

Red Hat Professional Workstation: More expensive, fewer features

"Red Hat Professional Workstation was designed to allow former users of the company's consumer product line to continue to use a supported platform without having to migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Unfortunately, it fails to live up to its predecessors in key areas, and is considerably more expensive in some usage scenarios. Home users should look to the Fedora Project if they wish to continue using Red Hat technology, or consider migrating to another Linux distribution. Small businesses should analyse their current expenditure and consider migrating to another vendor." Read the rest of the article at NewsForge.

Review: VMware Workstation 4.0.5

"Part of what I do involves trying out and working with a large number of Linux distributions. It's important for me to know what's out there and how it compares with other products. When I'm not being a writer, I run a small computer consulting business that makes similar demands. My customers expect me to support and work in a number of different environments and operating systems." Read the rest of the article at UnixReview.

XML Patent Paradox

OpenOffice.org has offered a free, open XML file format for over 3 years, while Microsoft has just begun to introduce their own implementation of XML in their new office suite products. MS is attempting to patent their software's internal methods of handling XML as well as their own XML schemas.

Embedded Linux becoming ‘disruptive force’

"These days, embedded Linux pretty much means TiVo, a Sharp Zaurus handheld, or the wireless LAN gateway you may having running at home. Although EL is not exactly taking IT by storm at the moment -- and because a whole lot of experimental EL products have come and gone quickly -- it is nonetheless establishing its own place in the world. And there are those who firmly believe that EL will play an increasingly important role in gadgets to come." Read the rest of the article at NewsForge.

Finder designer talks of iFile and Apple advice

"Bruce Horn, one of the members of the original Macintosh team and the person who designed and implemented (along with Steve Capps) the Finder, is still a Mac user and Mac fan. He's also developing new projects, including iFile under the banner of his Ingenuity Software company. iFile is an information management system that runs under Mac OS X. Although still in development, Horn thinks that, when it's completed, it could someday offer "a nice alternative to the Finder." A new public release is slated for the spring." Read the rest of the article at MacMinute.

A Computer Lab with No Windows, Part I

"Sisler High school is the largest high school in Manitoba, with approximately 1,600 students and 120 staff members on campus. The school offers many computer courses at different levels, ranging from computer programming and office skills to vocational subjects, such as trouble-shooting personal computers, networking and advanced operating systems. In 2002, due to a letter from CAAST (Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft), the school spent more than $50,000 to make sure we had all the necessary licenses for our software." Read the rest of the article at LinuxJournal.

Apple Now Debt-free with $4.8B in Bank

An internal Apple memo has been posted that states that Apple has just paid off its remaining $300 million in debt and is now debt-free. This concludes an amazing journey that has taken the company from a debt of $1 billion in Apple's darkest days to the current cash reserves of $4.8 billion.

Windows Fully Compatible With New Intel 64-Bit Extension CPUs

Microsoft Corp. today announced at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco that its Windows OS for 64-bit extended systems will be fully compatible with Intel Corp.'s newly announced processors with 64-bit extension technology. The 64-bit extended systems versions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP provide customers with the versatility to run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications, enabling them to move to 64-bit computing at their own pace while preserving their current investment in 32-bit apps.

New 3D Effect Could be a Bright Spot for Sun

"The 33-year-old creator of this 3-D effect, dubbed Looking Glass, is a programmer at Sun Microsystems in Santa Clara. He's part of a crew creating desktop software for the freely available Linux operating system. So far, many desktop versions of Linux emphasize how it can mimic the functions of Microsoft's Windows and Office software." Read the article about Sun's Project Looking Glass here. Looking Glass is a 3D Java application running atop X11, simulating a desktop environment with nice 3D effects, but it is not incorporated to Gnome or X11.

Improvements in kernel development from 2.4 to 2.6

The long-awaited 2.6 kernel is finally here. The author takes a look behind the scenes at the tools, tests, and techniques -- from revision control and regression testing to bugtracking and list keeping -- that helped make 2.6 a better kernel than any that have come before it. Some interesting changes took place in the way the Linux kernel is developed and tested. Several key changes have improved overall stability as well as quality.