OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Debian GNU/Linux – Not Just Another Pretty Face (Part II)

Submitted by ladislav 2003-09-10 Debian 25 Comments

Debian GNU/Linux, the largest of Linux distros when measured in gigabytes, provides fertile ground for technical discussion. Last week, Robert Storey published Part I of his lengthy installation and configuration odyssey. This week, after having survived a typhoon and three power blackouts, he's back with the second and final part of the review.

ArsTechnica: Inside the GNOME 2.4 Desktop & Developer Platform

Submitted by Robert Renling 2003-09-10 Gnome 59 Comments

"GNOME 2.4 brings to the Linux desktop considerable polish, accessibility and consistency. This release is a culmination of the work done by commercial vendors and the GNOME community, as evidenced by the fact that three vendors--Sun, Red Hat and Ximian--have already shipped desktops focused on the GNOME 2 platform. The end result is a pleasant desktop that is nimble, attractive and unobtrusive. While it's not perfect, the foundation is now there and the overall product has matured." Read the in-depth review of GNOME 2.4 at ArsTechnica.

The Lindows Analysis: A Second Look

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-10 Linspire 27 Comments

"As a long time Linux user, and being somewhat of a geek, I personally would not run Lindows. That said, I must admit that I was extremely surprised at what I found after finally installing Lindows for myself. For the most part this is a well thought out Linux distribution targeted at new computer users and windows converts." Read the review at PhatViBez by Brad Chamberlin.

Technology and UIs on Movies: Entertaining a Diverse Audience

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-10 Multimedia, AV 70 Comments

With the computer market exploding into success the last 20 years more and more movies are featuring people using computers. Being a computer geek myself, I expect a level of "technological reality" for the movies that are not in the realm of "sci-fi", but directors usually are feeding their movies with superficial scenes about computers just for the happy clapping from the computer-illiterate audience.

SGI To Debut InfiniteStorage

Submitted by Greg Afinogenov 2003-09-10 SGI and IRIX 6 Comments

This press release announces SGI's coming debuts at the IBC in Amsterdam. These include several new workstations and InfiniteStorage, which seems to be a new fileystem for transparently sharing media files across operating systems (Linux, IRIX, Windows NT, OSX).

Real Programming with AWK

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-10 General Development 13 Comments

AWK may not be the first language that comes to mind when you need to write a program, but its flexibility may surprise you. The article is at LinuxJournal.

Has Linux Eclipsed Open Source?

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Rumors 71 Comments

Linux's dominance "is not so much that it is better than BSD," Meta Group analyst Tom Murphy said. Indeed, there is a perception that in some ways, BSD is far stronger than Linux, NewsFactor reports.

TheSoftwareCorner: Lindows 4.0 Review

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Linspire 33 Comments

"Lindows is heading in the right direction when it is going towards the home user market. Lindows is by far the easiest distro of Linux I have tried to date, and yes I've tried Mandrake 8.x/9.x and RedHat 8. Some aspects of Lindows are a bit confusing like the network printer share and no network wizard to share your internet connection." Read the short review at TheSoftwareCorner.

Comments, Trolls, and Flamewars

David Adams 2003-09-09 OS News 65 Comments

You may have noticed that we've implemented a system that allows readers to report comments that abuse our forum rules, in an effort to improve the quality of the conversation and make the job of moderating the comments a little easier for OSNews volunteers. However, this reactive solution is only half of the effort that will be required to make OSNews a better place for reasoned debate. The proactive, and more important, effort is the responsibility of all those who use the comments system. It involves showing a little restraint before being lured into the fray and contributing to a negative atmosphere.

Mandrake Linux 9.2 RC-2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 32 Comments

Mandrake Linux 9.2 RC-2 bittorrent link is now available, ftp mirrors to be updated slowly. UPDATE: Texstar uploaded his screenshots from Mandrake 9.2 RC-2 while most FTP mirrors are now updated.

Eclipse 3.0 M3 Released

Submitted by Deniz Kaan Çopur 2003-09-09 Java 37 Comments

This is the third milestone release towards Eclipse 3.0. Check out the new and noteworthy improvements this version brings. The group in charge of the open-source Eclipse project approved a three month long restructuring process this week that should reduce IBM's dominant role in the effort and make the project more attractive to Java vendors such as Sun Microsystems and BEA Systems. Also, they are thinking of changing the name of the project.

Linux 2.6: A Breakthrough for Embedded Systems

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Linux 28 Comments

Linux 2.6 introduces many new features that make it an excellent operating system for embedded computing. Among these new features are enhanced real-time performance, easier porting to new computers, support for large memory models, support for microcontrollers, and an improved I/O system. This whitepaper at LinuxDevices.com describes the new functions and features of the latest Linux kernel of special interest to embedded system developers. On other Linux kernel news, Linus Torvalds released Linux 2.6.0-test5 for general testing.

How KDE & GNOME Fought their War and Got Things All Backwards

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Wayland 48 Comments

What if FreeDesktop.org started to become the "free software desktop project" and GNOME and KDE slowly became "flavours aimed at different audiences", Seth Nickell wonders in his blog. Seth is having some good ideas about how the future of X11 DEs should feel like, while down that page there is an extra explanation of Storage, the technology we reported last week that Seth is developing.

Reversible Computers: Turning Back the CPU Clock

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 Geek stuff 15 Comments

You're working into the wee hours trying to fix that bug. But by time the debugger catches it the original cause has long since passed. How are you going to figure out just what went wrong a billion instructions earlier? It's at times like these that you need a reversible computer. The idea is simple: a computer merely executes a sequence of elementary instructions. If we could just run through that list of instructions in reverse we could work backwards and find the original cause of our error. But of course things are never quite that simple.

SCO Warns Open Source Community

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-09 SCO 40 Comments

In an open letter, SCO Chief Executive Darl McBride tells open-source developers they need to do a better job of policing themselves and sets sights on SGI.

IBM Charges Forward with Power 5

Submitted by emo 2003-09-08 IBM 20 Comments

IBM has previewed the designs for its upcoming 64-bit Power 5 processor, which the company states will augment total system performance by 40 percent over its predecessor. At last week's Hot Chips Conference in Palo Alto, Calif., IBM disclosed that it was incorporating simultaneous multi-threading into Power 5; the process takes chip multiprocessing to a new level where each chip tackles two threads as opposed to one.

New Windows Update to Cover More Products

Submitted by emo 2003-09-08 Windows 18 Comments

The fifth revision of Windows Update is set to enter beta testing, as Microsoft continues efforts to improve its facility for keeping customers' systems up to date. Windows Update V5 is slated to be a significant upgrade, eventually extending the service's reach beyond Windows to all Microsoft products. The company will initially support updates to Office 2003, as well as SQL and Exchange.

Apple Releases Java 1.4.1-Update1

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-08 Java 11 Comments

MacMinute reports that Apple today released Java 1.4.1 Update 1, a new version of its Java implementation for Mac OS X. The update adds the following enhancements: improved Java applet support for Safari and other Web browsers that support the Java Internet Plug-In; improved drawing correctness and performance; changes to Java 1.3.1 that provide support for Oracle11i client applications on Mac OS X; and improved stability, memory usage, and correctness. The update is available via the Mac OS X Software Update preference pane.

Epiphany 1.0 Released, Gnome 2.4 Release Imminent

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-08 Gnome 17 Comments

Epiphany is a GNOME web browser based on the Mozilla/Gecko rendering engine and today reached 1.0 status. It will be included as the default browser on Gnome 2.4, due to be released Wednesday.

Sun Gets Real with Mad Hatter

Eugenia Loli 2003-09-08 Oracle and SUN 25 Comments

"The more interesting question is whether Apple's QuickTime will also be a part of Mad Hatter or other desktop Linux offerings," says Yankee Group analyst Dana Gardner. The end user ideally should be able to access content in any format with a minimum of hassles. Read the article at NewsFactor.