OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

freedesktop.org Pushes for New X Server

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Wayland 31 Comments

"The freedesktop.org X hacking is low-profile unstableware at the moment, but one particular proposal interests me the most", Havoc Pennington (of Red Hat, Gnome and freedesktop.org fame) is writing on his dev blog. Havoc discusses the new features and explains the new levels of the 'modernization' of this XFree86 fork.

DotGNU 0.1 Released on CD

Submitted by Norbert Bollow 2003-11-04 .NET 10 Comments

The DotGNU project has proudly announced its first CD-ROM release.

Novell to Acquire SuSE

Submitted by Joe Childrose 2003-11-04 Novell and Ximian 102 Comments

Novell today announced it will acquire SuSE, one of the leading enterprise Linux companies, expanding Novell's ability to provide enterprise-class services and support on the Linux platform. With the open source expertise of SuSE Linux and Novell's world-class networking and identity solutions and support, training and consulting services, Novell will be able to deliver Linux and all its components –- from the server to the desktop. Press release can be found here. This isn't the first news of these companies interoperating. Update: C|Net News has a nice round-up article on it too.

An Open Letter to Red Hat Inc

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Red Hat 21 Comments

"The given deployment details are for my previous employer, who still consults me on a regular basis. I have advocated and deployed Linux there, first as adjunct file SAMBA servers in 1998, for a time on FreeBSD then Red Hat, to entirely displacing NT/Win2k in the server room in 2001, to porting HPUX hosted custom software to Linux as part of my Y2K work, to trialling Linux as desktop, first with Ximian on Red Hat Linux 6.2 to a successful trial with stock Red Hat 8.0 upgraded with the latest Mozilla and OpenOffice.org. Only by providing a proven better solution at the time was anything new adopted." Read the open letter at NewsForge.

Miguel de Icaza on Linux API/ABI backward compatiblity

Submitted by Chris Ferrell 2003-11-04 Linux 27 Comments

Miguel de Icaza talks about the problems independent software vendors have with Linux distributions' API/ABI backward compatiblity.

The New Work Queue Interface in the 2.6 Kernel

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Linux 13 Comments

Interrupt latency is a key factor in the performance of a system and well known Linux kernel hacker Robert Love writes about it for the LinuxJournal.

Panther Dazzles Devs; “Greatest OS Ever Invented”; Media Duel

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 macOS 30 Comments

AustralianIT has a review of the newly released Mac OS X Panther OS while eWEEK says that the Panther release provides integrated workbench for developers. On other Apple-related news, Musicmatch sent an e-mail to its customers letting them know that, despite the arrival of Apple Computer's iTunes for Windows, customers can still use its jukebox program to connect to Apple's iPod. However, the message warns them that if they install iTunes, Musicmatch's connection to the iPod will be severed.

YellowTAB Prepares Service Pack 1 for its Zeta 1.0 RC-1

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Zeta 53 Comments

YellowTAB is currently preparing a service pack for its RC1 release. Customers who bought Zeta Deluxe 1.0-RC1, will receive their CDs within a few days and the Service Pack that was developed in the meantime will also be available for these customers via a web download (about 5 MB). Read more for the (partial) changelog and screenshots showing the new "quick launch" facility YellowTAB is introducing on their Deskbar and their SVG Tracker and preference panels.

‘Longhorn’ Pitted Against Linux 2.6

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Rumors 66 Comments

The stage is set for a showdown between 'Longhorn' and Linux systems, as Microsoft, Red Hat and SuSE kick off a war of words.

X-Box 2 to use PowerPC CPUs?

Submitted by Patrick Sándi 2003-11-04 Games 51 Comments

According to the Financial Times, Microsoft will be switching to the PowerPC architecture for its next X-Box. If this is true, it could mean that they are planning on porting parts of windows to PPC as well (such as the elements of DirectX used in the X-Box.

Apple Downplays Dealers; Discusses G5 Powerbook

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 Apple 34 Comments

Apple raised the bar Monday for some 175 independent retailers to stay as Specialist dealers and achieve certain discounts on products and equipment. The announcements will make it more difficult for dealers to stay as certified Apple resellers without sacrificing the sale of high-profit, third-party hardware and software and giving up valuable customer contact information Apple could use to entice consumers to buy direct. In the meantime, Apple discusses G5 Powerbook and why it is not its time yet.

Borland Assembles a Bigger Toolkit

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-04 General Development 12 Comments

Software maker Borland Software expects later this year to deliver on its plans to bundle tools that work with Java and Microsoft's .Net software.

Three Years of Free Software Activism: The Case of GNU-Darwin OS

Guest post by Michael L. Love 2003-11-03 BSD & Darwin 77 Comments

The GNU-Darwin Distribution is a free operating system and a popular source of free software for Mac OS X and Darwin-x86 users, but it is also a platform for digital activism. Founded in November of 2000, the Distribution has the stated goal of bringing software freedom to computer users of every stripe, and vigilantly defending digital liberties.

In a Nutshell: All About Longhorn

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 Windows 38 Comments

Longhorn is the .NET version of Windows which finalizes the replacement of the WIN32 API with a managed system, as well as a massive rethink as to the way developers write applications for Windows and consumers interact with their computers. Read the article at ZDNews.

Binary Compatibility of Darwin on NetBSD; DragonFly BSD Slides

Submitted by Bascule 2003-11-03 NetBSD 9 Comments

NetBSD Emmanual Dreyfus says that COMPAT_DARWIN is now able to run MacOS X's XDarwin (X11). Darwin is Apple's MacOS X core. A fully functional Darwin binary compatibility on NetBSD/powerpc & NetBSD/i386 will imply getting MacOS X libraries to run any MacOS X program, just like NetBSD is now able to run binaries from Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and many other OSes. In the meantime, a very interesting slide show was released about DragonFly, showing many aspects of the work Matthew Dillon and cia are working on.

Suse 9.0 Professional Review

Submitted by Rob 2003-11-03 SuSE, openSUSE 37 Comments

This is a review of Suse Linux 9.0 Professional Edition at LinuxElectrons: "This software has a retail list price of $79.95. A Personal Edition is also offered for a retail list price of $39.95. Suse also provides a free, downloadable version via ftp. However, this version only contains i386 rpm's, whereas the pay versions support i586 (Intel Pentium processors and above). AMD processors are also supported as is the Athlon 64 (64 bits)."

Solaris 9 System Startup and Shutdown

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 Solaris 2 Comments

This sample chapter discusses the operations that the system must perform from the time you power on the system until you receive a system logon prompt. In addition, it covers the steps required to properly shut down a system.

Red Hat Tells Customers: ‘No More Freebies’

Submitted by Jackle & Bogey 2003-11-03 Red Hat 74 Comments

"In an email to Red Hat Network customers, the company has announced today that it "...will discontinue maintenance and errata support for Red Hat Linux 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 as of December 31, 2003," that "Red Hat will discontinue maintenance and errata support for Red Hat Linux 9 as of April 30, 2004," and that "Red Hat does not plan to release another product in the Red Hat Linux line." This should not come as a surprise to NewsForge regulars who saw this story on October 23, but less-prepared Red Hat users seem shocked by the idea." Read the article at NewsForge.

Introducing C#

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 General Development 29 Comments

C# is a flexible programming language with a rich set of data types. In this sample chapter, you'll learn the basics of this .NET-centric language (accompanied by instruction in an open source .NET competitor, Mono), with comparisons to other programming languages you may already be familiar with.

Everyone’s a Programmer

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 In the News 26 Comments

Software is collapsing under the weight of its own complexity. Charles Simonyi’s solution? Programming tools that are so simple that even laypeople can use them.