Optimise NTFS Performance in Windows Servers
Want to keep your Windows file systems at peak performance? Start by following this guide to tweaking cluster size, picking the best naming structure, and more.
Hyperthreading Technology and Digital Multimedia
Digital media applications are unique in that they can generally consume all the performance they can get. Unlike other tasks that execute in a few seconds, the rendering of stills, audio and video can take several minutes or even hours. Applications in the digital media space can translate increases in performance to increases in end-user productivity, and it is therefore beneficial for them to take advantage of the latest platform technologies.
Longhorn Alpha Preview 2: Build 4008
An early test version of the next major release of Microsoft Windows has been leaked onto the Net, offering a glimpse of the company’s plans for the new software. WinSuperSite features a preview article with many juicy screenshots and information.
LindowsOS 3.0 Review
"Publishing this article has been avoided for quite some time. The emotions behind LindowsOS is simply too great for objectivity to be used for both Tux Reports reviewers and for readers. We've witnessed flame wars in forums, mean-spirited posts in response to positive statements regarding LindowsOS, and we've fallen prey to our own biases regarding this distribution. However, after using the product we now believe that we can give a brief look at some of our experiences in relation to our expectations and then help others sort out some of the underlying controversy they may have read on other sites." Read the review at TuxReports.
Windows Server 2003 Licensing Model
ActiveWin posted an article explaining the new licensing model of Windows Server 2003.
LynuxWorks Releases First Complete Solution for DO-178B RTOS
"LynuxWorks today introduced LynxOS-178, a commercially available DO-178B level A certifiable (FAA standard), real-time operating system (RTOS) that meets the stringent standards for safety-critical systems. LynxOS-178 originated from a partnership between Rockwell Collins and LynuxWorks. Rockwell Collins made several enhancements to the original LynxOS product and created the Rockwell Collins' Virtual Machine Operating System (VMOS)." Read the rest of the press release here.
Mandrake 9.1-RC2 Available
Linus Torvalds: The Benevolent, Brilliant Keeper of the Kernel
"The Linux kernel project is growing up. New contributors, job delegation, and a source code control system have changed the way the kernel gets hacked. The guy at the center of it all -- Linus Torvalds -- has changed, too. Gone are his days as poster boy for Open Source. He doesn't do Comdex keynotes anymore; he's not on the covers of business magazines; and he rarely gives interviews. No, these days, Linus is all about what he does best: hacking the kernel and keeping a sure and steady hand on the rudder of everyone's favorite project." Read the interview at Linux-Mag.com.
QT 3.1.2 and QT# 0.7 Released
Maintenance release of the multiplatform toolkit, QT, was released, version 3.1.2. Also, a maintenance release of QT# was released also, version 0.7, and it works with Mono, GNU's Portable.NET and Microsoft's .NET. The main improvements over 0.6 are an easier build system, improvements in the demo apps, unicode support, and support for slots that take a QString parameter.
Update on the 12″ Powerbook Review; Altitude Problems?
OSNews featured two reviews of the new 12" Powerbook from Apple last month. Using a machine and more fairly evaluating it, is a continuous process, so when new facts emerge, we should be reporting them back. So, what I discovered this weekend is that my 12" Powerbook doesn't like... the mountains. Read on, it is an interesting issue. Update: The issue is now logged at Apple's tech support db.
FreeBSD 4.8-RC1 Available
FreeBSD Release Engineering Team's Murray Stokely announces that FreeBSD 4.8-RC1 i386 mini ISO and FTP installation directory are on ftp-master. He says that the Alpha release will be available shortly. The plan is to make FreeBSD 4.8 available only for i386 and alpha platforms. Subsequent 5.1+ releases will have FreeBSD available for all platforms including sparc64, ia64, etc. Read the announcement at BSDForums.org.
Impressions of Phoebe, the Latest RedHat 8.1 Beta
Frank writes: "A new beta recently appeared from RedHat and this article has in-depth analysis of the release and finds many different problems with it." Please note that OSNews also published a preview of Red Hat 8.1-Phoebe3 a few days ago, accompanied by screenshots.
Slackware Linux 9.0-RC1 Released
From DistroWatch: "A new Slackware Linux 9.0 is fast approaching a point of release. See the complete changelog for the long list of changes, which includes all the latest goodies such as XFree86 4.3.0 and KDE 3.1. There is no ISO image to download, but you can rsync the current branch with one of the Slackware mirrors or, if you are lucky, with the main Slackware FTP server."
McNealy: Sun Reduces the Complexity
Recently, Sun Microsystems Inc. hosted its annual analyst conference in San Francisco. The company faces high-end competition from IBM Global Services and low-end competition from companies including Dell Computer Corp. offering clustered systems running the Linux operating system. While not dismissive of the threats posed by the competition, Sun President Scott McNealy in a one-hour interview with eWEEK Editor-in-Chief Eric Lundquist and Labs Director John Taschek contended that the company is poised to capitalize on the research and development efforts launched over the past several years.
The Very Verbose Guide to Updating and Compiling Your Debian Kernel
If you are reading this, I assume you already know what the Linux kernel is and why you may want to update it. However, if you are accidentally reading this walkthrough, just happen to be running Linux, and have no idea what the kernel is or why you would want to update it, the next two paragraphs are for you (if you are looking instead into a less verbose and more generic way of updating your kernel on any Linux distro, read here). In a neophyte nutshell, the Linux kernel is the brain of the Linux system. It tells your system which file systems, hardware, protocols, etc. are supported. There is a lot more to it than that, of course, but I think that diminutive description will suffice for now.
Lycoris Desktop/LX Build 69 Released
Our friends over at DistroWatch report: "A new Lycoris build has quietly appeared on some of the FTP sites that mirror the main Lycoris server. You can get build 69 (beta) here: cd1_en_binary.iso (541MB). Don't be misled by the timestamp on the ISO image (14 February 2003); users who have installed it report that this is indeed a new build."
Hyperthreading Moves Into Mainstream In 2003
Hyperthreading moves into hyperspeed throughout 2003, with the Canterwood and Springdale chipsets forming the backbone of Intel's desktop roadmap. According to Intel roadmaps seen by ExtremeTech, Intel's desktop processors will extend up to and possibly beyond 3.6-GHz by the beginning of 2004, with Celerons cresting 2.5-GHz by the same timeframe. Await soon an article regarding hyperthreading, here on OSNews.
VMWare 4.0 Beta Released
VMWare released a beta of their flagship application, VMWare 4.0 Build 4183. The new version includes support for new versions of Linux and Windows OSes, better VESA BIOS, ACPI and APIC support, better sound, new interface under Linux and more. In the meantime, the OpenOSX company released recently "WinTel", a re-packaged version of Bochs for MacOSX, with a new easy to use interface.
Mandrake 9.1-RC1; Desktop, Laptop, Small Server: 3-In-1 Review
"Mandrake Linux 9.1 RC1 was released without fanfare on Tuesday 18 February afternoon in Paris, and as the ISO images percolated through the various mirrors worldwide, I prepared my hardware for another review of the latest pre-release of MandrakeSoft's "swiss-knife" Linux distribution. My previous articles have dealt exclusively with Mandrake's use on the desktop. This time around, I tested Mandrake 9.1 RC1 on three different platforms: a home use mid-range desktop workstation, my trusty old-and-battered Dell laptop, and last but not least a dual Celeron homebuilt SMP box nowadays used as a file server and test rig." Read it at DistroWatch.
Optimizing GCC Itself
"I have a Pentium 3 866MHZ CPU. After reading the freshmeat article on optimizing GCC a few days ago, it got me thinking. So I posed the following question: How much faster would gcc compile the kernel if gcc itself was optimized?" Read the rest at Linux Gazette.