Shuttle Inc, the supplier of mainboards and small form factor (SFF) barebone computers, announced that MandrakeSoft's Linux distribution will be bundled with Shuttles Network Appliance (NA) XPC product line. The commencement of shipping marks the fina lization of this long anticipated deal.

Apple today released Mac OS X 10.2.8. It features security fixes, "enhanced functionality and improved reliability for the following applications, services and technologies: Audio, Bluetooth, Classic support, Finder, Graphics, LDAP, Power Management, Safari, FireWire and USB device compatibility." This version is not compatible with PowerMac G5s and is meant to be used with G3/G4s only.

The GCC3.3.1 switch on NetBSD has happened for some of the popular platforms. Matthew Green announced that he has switched the Alpha, ARM, i386, sparc and sparc64 ports to use GCC 3.3.1 as the default system compiler.

Microsoft has told firms to wait until next month for clarification of its roadmap for Windows, after the latest delays to the next release left firms unable to plan for the future.

Years have been spent trying to crack life's genetic code with high-powered computers. Now scientists are looking at things from the opposite angle, and are harnessing life itself to generate a new strain of computer devices. Read the full story at CNN.

"Red Hat and Fedora Linux are pleased to announce an alignment of their mutually complementary core proficiencies leveraging them synergistically in the creation of the Fedora Project, a paradigm shift for Linux technology development and rolling early deployment models." Read more at Fedora Linux's site.

gijsbert points us to this comprehensive guide to setting up and configuring PF, the BSD packet filter. PF is one of the more robust enterprise firewall applications available today.

Rafeeq Rehman and Christopher Paul explain how to use compilers and assemblers productively in a development environment.

The LittleWhiteDog web site posted an article showing how to configure and secure a BSD system.

Skinning does not really receive the appreciation it deserves. After posting my comparison article about LiteStep and Talisman, I was astonished to (still) hear people say that skinning and theming is useless. They literally said:

Call it a back-to-basics movement or simply professionals seeking the best tools to get the job done well and on time. With enterprises putting a premium on productivity, a quiet revolution among programmers is eschewing the heavy, feature-filled IDE and turning instead to the venerable standby: the code editor. Developers seek more control over productivity with an old programming tool standby.

Anyone interested in squeezing maximum performance out of their GNU/Linux operating system and willing to compile a new kernel will be interested in this KernelTrap article about Andrew Morton's -mm patchset. The patchset currently offers better stability and performance than the mainline 2.6.0-test kernel, as well as containing numerous functionality enhancements. Much of the additional functionality is described, as well as providing simple step by step installation instructions. Reading this, one can understand why Linux creator Linus Torvalds has chosen Andrew to soon become the 2.6 maintainer.

Microsoft, which is trying to drive growth by investing in everything from small business software to video games, has quietly set its sights on a new industry -- searching the Web.

"Apple would like more market share, but making the 'best personal computer' is top goal", Apple CEO Steve Jobs said recently. Additionally, the Mac OS X 10.2.8 update was released internally late last week, sources confirmed to ThinkSecret. Sources also speculated that the update will be provided to users Monday or next week. Separately, Apple seeded build 7B72 of Panther Server to developers on Thursday, posting two installation discs as well as a Server Admin CD.