OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Movies & Linux: Jahshaka, MainActor, SuSE 8.2, a Killer Combination

Guest post by Roberto J. Dohnert 2003-10-06 Multimedia, AV 58 Comments

In the past in order to make good home movies one needed either a Mac or a Windows PC. There were no good video editors for Linux in the past. Today with Jahshaka and Main Actor the things that could only be done on a Mac or a Wintel machine can now be done on a Lintel machine as well.

Syllable 0.5.0 Released

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-05 Syllable, AtheOS 12 Comments

The first release of the Syllable 0.5 development series has been released. The Changelog lists a huge number of changes, notably the inclusion of the new Media Framework, USB support and yet more new drivers. If you are upgrading from Syllable 0.4.5, then you must ensure that you read the upgrade notes.

Sun to Port Solaris 64bit to AMD Opteron?

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-05 Solaris 63 Comments

A new job opening posted on Sun Microsystems' Web site confirms the company's growing aspirations to roll out servers based on AMD's Opteron processor. "Solaris is the world's premier 64-bit operating system," the post on Sun's job board reads. "Now Sun is taking the next step: to make Solaris the operating system of choice for the AMD64 architecture."

Mono 0.28 Released

Submitted by dabooty 2003-10-05 Mono 35 Comments

There has been a new Mono release, v0.28. Mono has now integrated sourcegear's webservice enhancements and there has been a lot of improvement in XML, serialization and web services.

MorphOS Java VM in the Works

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-05 Morphos 34 Comments

After OpenBeOS gets a preliminary version of Java, Dr. Richard Lipes is currently working on the MorphOS Java Virtual Machine. If you are interested in assisting him, you can contact him through the MorphOS Developer Connection.

Poll: Vote for the Most Promising Hobby OS

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-05 OS News 106 Comments

OSNews often reports on small and hobby operating systems. Here is a list for you to vote for the one with the right amount of technical and wider success potential for a bright future.

Apple’s Dual 2-GHz G5 by the Numbers

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-05 Apple 66 Comments

"It's clear from two weeks of testing that Apple's new Power Mac G5 dual 2-GHz machine is the fastest thing the company has ever produced. And while you can debate benchmarks until eternity, it certainly appears poised to meet or beat anything now out on the Windows side." Read the review at ComputerWorld. In the meantime, according to sources, Apple plans to offer new iBooks soon.

How will Wind River’s anti-Linux Past Affect its Current Linux Plans?

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-04 Linux 16 Comments

Chris Lanfear and Steve Balacco of Venture Develpment Corporation (VDC) have published their perspective on Wind River's announcement of Linux tools support. VDC speculates that Wind's announcement signals a strategic shift for the largest embedded software company, but wonders how the embedded Linux developer community will react, given the company's historic anti-Linux stance.

YellowTAB Zeta RC1 Review at ZetaNews

Submitted by weedow 2003-10-04 Zeta 107 Comments

ZetaNews carries a review of YellowTAB's Zeta 1.0-RC1 (earlier story). It discusses installation, networking, hardware support, media, office apps and development. Screenshots included.

Open Source Needs Long-Range Plans

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-04 Open Source 19 Comments

"Two companies announced this week they've been financially slapped around--one to the point of bankruptcy, and the other to the point where Wall Street is screeching warnings to all who will listen. That both companies are in trouble is a clear fact--whether one will recover is still up for a debate that I don't really want to get into." Read the editorial by LinuxToday's Brian Proffitt.

HP Courts Sun Customers with Freebies

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 Unix 23 Comments

Hewlett-Packard is offering users of rival Sun Microsystems' Solaris operating system $25,000 in free services and equipment as an incentive to switch to Linux-based HP systems. Our Take: It seems HP has decided to jump on the new hype marketing bandwagon, forsaking its own HP-UX, OpenVMS, and Tru64 UNIX in favor of Linux. This is in line with our editorial a few months ago.

Microsoft Moves to Integrate Windows with BIOS

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 Windows 110 Comments

A deal with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies would allow the Windows operating system to directly control hardware. It also raises concerns over who controls the software in PCs, ZDNews claims. Elsewhere, a lawsuit faulting Microsoft for security defects in its products has added a new front in the software giant's battle against vulnerabilities in its software.

EXCLUSIVE: Axentra Rumba Server to be Launched Soon

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 In the News 30 Comments

OSNews was tipped off that OEone (previous stories: 1, 2, 3), creators of the desktop HomeBase SUITE (based on Linux, X and Mozilla's APIs), now are moving to server space. Next week they are going to announce an exciting new product (under a new brand name: "Axentra Rumba Server") which puts Linux back to the server space, but with the form of a user-friendly and cute-looking appliance. *Updated*

Windows Small Business Server Priced To Beat Linux

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 Windows 68 Comments

Microsoft's long-awaited launch of its Windows 2003-based Small Business Server next week is designed to cut Linux off at the knees in its SMB territory, according to company executives. On Oct. 9, the Redmond, Wash.-based company is scheduled to release two editions of Windows SBS 2003--a low-cost entry-level version and a premium edition that includes, for the first time, BizTalk Partner Edition, executives told CRN Wednesday, roughly a week before its annual partner show, Microsoft Momentum, kicks off. News.com also has a related article.

Turbolinux 10 Desktop Released

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 Linux 24 Comments

Turbolinux has announced the release of Turbolinux 10 Desktop. Skipping version 9 and inventing a term "High Windowsability" in the process, some of the notable features in Turbolinux 10 include complete Japanese support, interoperability and file sharing with Windows, and Turbo Update. Turbolinux 10 is the first distribution shipping with the new 2.6 kernel series (2.6.0-test5) as the default kernel and it also comes with KDE 3.1.3 and GNOME 2.4 desktop environments, as well as a number of commercial applications. Read all about it at DistroWatch. Also at DistroWatch check for a link for the Tectonic site which takes a brief tour of the forthcoming Ark Linux version 1.0, with screenshots.

Apple Seeds New 10.2.8 Build

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 macOS 11 Comments

Apple yesterday seeded a new build of the Mac OS X 10.2.8 update, providing build 6R73 to developers. "This build addresses some issues found in the last seed," Apple told testers. 10.2.8 was released last month but was pulled quickly due to some problems it introduced to some users. Update: The new build is now available via Software Update.

FreeBSD: Cache/Bridge; NetBSD: USB Printers; OpenBSD: m88k

Eugenia Loli 2003-10-03 FreeBSD No Comments

BSDForums.org features the latest news about BSD: FreeBSD's Luigi Rizzo has made some changes to the ipfw code so it can forward packets also when acting as a bridge. Lennart Augustsson says that there's been a long standing problem with some USB printers running in bidirectional mode on NetBSD. An article by Miod Vallat describes how the m88k-specific backend of the GNU C compiler, gcc, was fixed, from the discovery and analysis of the problems to the real fixing work.

Red Hat Sees Boost from SCO Suits

Submitted by CooCooCaChoo 2003-10-03 Red Hat 13 Comments

"The publicity generated by the SCO lawsuit hasn't hurt Linux distributor Red Hat's plans to expand business in Asia--in fact, it seems to have helped", said a senior executive.

Sun a Takeover Target Without Drastic Action?

David Adams 2003-10-02 Oracle and SUN 51 Comments

An influential Wall Street analyst warns that unless Sun Microsystems cuts up to 19% of its workforce and tightens its focus it will continue to decline and eventually become a takeover target for its large installed base. He recommends that Sun spin off its Java software and reign in Scott McNealy's brash tendencies.

Review: CRUX Linux

Guest post by Simone Rota 2003-10-02 Linux 38 Comments

CRUX Linux (simply CRUX for now on) is a source-based Linux distribution created by Per Liden, targeting advanced and intermediate users. As reported on CRUX Website, the main philosophy behind the distribution is to "keep it simple". Update: Screenshots added.