OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

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.

Secure Programmer: Validating Input

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 General Development 4 Comments

In nearly all secure programs, your first line of defense is to check every piece of data you receive. If you can keep malicious data from entering your program, or at least keep it from being processed, your program becomes much harder to attack. This article shows how to validate input -- one of the first lines of defense in any secure program.

Vector Linux 4.0 Review

Guest post by Matt Lacey 2003-11-03 Linux 31 Comments

Vector Linux is a distribution based on the oldest Linux distribution available today - Slackware. It comes in two flavours - a freely downloadable ISO 'lite' version (which I used for this review) and a Deluxe CD edition which can be ordered from www.vectorlinux.com. The deluxe edition includes extras such as Gnome and KDE, as well as a whole pile of extra software.

KDE 3.2 Beta 1 “Rudi” Available

Submitted by Richard Moore 2003-11-03 KDE 50 Comments

The first beta release of KDE 3.2 has just been released. The announcement can be found here and a discussion can be found here. This release features 10,000 closed bugs and 2000 closed wishes. Enjoy.

Microsoft Ends Official Support for Alternative OSes with Virtual PC

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 Microsoft 51 Comments

When Microsoft Corp. launches Virtual PC 2004, a Linux/BSD/Solaris/Netware version of the software won't be along for the ride—at least not officially.

Yoper Ydesktop 1.2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-03 Linux 9 Comments

New Zealand's Yoper Ltd announced the release of version 1.2 of Yoper Ydesktop V1. This release contains a large number of bugfixes and software changes.

Longhorn’s Kernel Improvements; Architecture Diagram

Submitted by Nick B 2003-11-03 Windows 44 Comments

Ian Griffiths posted to Longhorn user group detailing some of the kernel improvements that we can be expecting from Longhorn. Longhorn will feature CPU time reservation, and disk access scheduling. These changes are being added mainly for the benefit of the media services. MS wants movies and other media to play without interruptions. Additionally, GotDotNet is featuring a diagram showing how Longhorn is built.

Linus Fields Dev Questions On the Future of Linux

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-02 Linux 53 Comments

Courtesy of GeekCruises Capt. Neil Bauman and Senior Editor of Linux Journal Doc Searles, OET brings readers an extended transcript of Linus' shipboard Q&A, where he responds to Linux dev questions on the future of Linux, including the status of Linux 2.6, impacts from increasing corporate (and vendor) adoption, an ever-growing kernel, and even on the pending lawsuit from SCO.

ActiveMac: Mac OS 10.3 or Windows XP?

Submitted by Byron Hinson 2003-11-02 Rumors 109 Comments

"There are loads of things to consider when buying a PC or a Mac, things like API’s, software and hardware support, networking capabilities, usability and security then you have the major one, the price. You also have to consider that Mac’s are certainly aimed at the consumer market while Windows is aiming for both Consumer and Business users". Read the comparison at ActiveMac.

Lindows 4.0 with Click-N-Run Review

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-02 Linspire 21 Comments

"Lindows is sleak, flashy, fun, quick, and way easy to use! If you are a computer user and are looking for an alternative to Windows, or just want to try out a user friendly Linux distro, try out Lindows. If you are a Linux guru and are happy with your current distro, excellent, that is what make Linux great - variety. If you are curious, give that 15 day trial period a try." Read the review at NeoLinkComputers.

New i386 Interrupt and SMP Code on FreeBSD

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-02 FreeBSD 5 Comments

FreeBSD's John Baldwin says he will be committing some very significant changes to the i386 interrupt and SMP code for FreeBSD. Some new features include runtime selection of using the I/O APICs or the AT PICs to route interrupts; SMP can now be enabled in GENERIC kernel and the SMP kernel config is no longer necessary. His new code can largely be pulled over to amd64 to support APICs and SMP based on that architecture.

Safe J2ME Applications with Kerberos

Submitted by Frank 2003-11-02 Java 1 Comment

The same protocols that make secure e-commerce over traditional wired networks possible can also help make wireless transactions safe. This article demonstrate secure messaging between J2ME clients and server-side Java applications using the Kerberos protocol.

Poll: Your Thoughts on Windows Longhorn

Eugenia Loli 2003-11-02 Windows 86 Comments

In the past week a lot of discussion was around Windows Longhorn, as Microsoft revealed their upcoming OS to their developer's conference, officially presenting many new features.