OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Introducing the LinuxInstall Distribution

Guest post by Patrick Reen 2003-06-18 Linux 86 Comments

This article is a review of Linuxinstall.org 3.0, a Redhat 8.0 based distro aimed at the new home user . Some time back, after reinstalling windows for the umpteenth time I knew there had to be a better alternative. But the more I researched the more confused I got. Debian-Slackware-Knoppix-Redhat? etc,etc. Linux was totally new to me - I wanted stability and speed without the viruses, but I was starting to get overwhelmed from choice and command line phobia. I just wanted an o.s. similiar to Windows in ease of use, but stable!

The WinFS File System For Windows Longhorn: Faster & Smarter

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-18 Windows 57 Comments

Microsoft is breaking new ground with Longhorn, successor to XP. The upcoming WinFS file system will be the first to be context-dependent, and promises to make long search times and wasted memory a thing of the past. THG compares it to FAT and NTFS.

Mozilla 1.4-RC2 Released

Submitted by Jason Rogers 2003-06-18 Mozilla, Gecko 46 Comments

Mozilla 1.4-RC2 is released, release notes here.

Preliminary KDE 3.2 Release Schedule

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-18 KDE 15 Comments

The dot is reporting on KDE's 3.2 release schedule and feature plan.

Review: Windows Services for UNIX

Guest post by Roberto Dohnert 2003-06-17 Windows 49 Comments

Everyone knows what Microsoft does by now. What some people do not know is that Microsoft releases a system integration software named Windows services for UNIX.

SciTech Asks OSNews Readers for Feedback on Linux Support

Guest post by Andrew Bloo 2003-06-17 Hardware 33 Comments

The latest "SciTech SNAP Graphics for Linux Beta" now provides plug-and-play support for more than 100 of the most popular chipsets, full 2D acceleration, and is certified by SciTech to be compatible with nearly a dozen different Linux distributions.

Tutorial: Write your own OS

Submitted by Mr. Anonymous 2003-06-17 OS News 38 Comments

Here is a tutorial on writing your own OS. A help to start you out.

Interview with Matthew Kille – AmigaOS 4.0 GUI Designer

Mike Bouma 2003-06-17 Amiga & AROS 16 Comments

AmigaWorld.net has interviewed Matthew Kille, the founder of the software company Zeoneo who is also the designer of the default AmigaOS4 graphical user-interface. His company developes both for AmigaOS4 and the Amiga Digital Environment. Please note however that the currently presented AmigaOS4 GUI at various 'OS4 on Tour' events is not yet finalised. This includes a couple of the common UI components and the main overall color scheme.

Trolltech to Release Qt/Mac Under the GPL

Submitted by Waldo Bastian 2003-06-17 Qt 30 Comments

From the dot: "Trolltech announced today that they will release a GPL version of Qt/Mac on June 23rd at the Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco taking their successful dual licensing strategy for Qt/X11 to the Mac. Also the upcoming Qt Script for Applications (QSA), Trolltech's scripting toolkit for Qt-based applications, will be available under a dual license on Mac OS X. Sam Magnuson from Trolltech already got much of KDE building on Qt/Mac a while ago (screenshots showing Konqueror, Kontact, Games and KOffice). The new license now offered allows to distribute binary builds of KDE for Qt/Mac soon." KDE aside, this will help many other developers to deliver multi-platform apps.

Switching From Windows to Linux

Guest post by Stephen Poole 2003-06-17 Linux 39 Comments

I know this has been covered at length, but none of the reviews that I've read thus far were terribly helpful to me. I've written my own page, based on my own experiences, with specific recommendations for longtime Windows users who are contemplating the switch to Linux.

BeOS MaxEdition 3-b1 Released; OpenOffice.org Donation Project

Submitted by richcoder 2003-06-17 Haiku 24 Comments

BeOS MaxEdition 3-beta1 is released (260 MB). This distribution of BeOS, based on BeOS 5 PE, has support for more hardware than the normal BeOS 5.0.3, including support for P4s and new AthlonXPs. Burning the booting image is a bit more involved than usual, as it is not a plain ISO image, so please read the readme file before burning the file. Elsewhere, there is a new donation project to help get OpenOffice ported over to the BeOS.

Why You Won’t Be Getting A Linux PC

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-17 Linux 41 Comments

"Judging from the holy war being waged by proponents of Linux PCs, it's clear that Linux is becoming the OS/2 of its time." Read the article at Forbes. The article weighs the (mostly negative) reasons why a LinuxPC might not be what some people won't need.

Plan9 is Now Officially Open Source

Submitted by David Huff 2003-06-17 OS News 23 Comments

The OSI have approved the revised license for the Plan9 operating system according to attendees returning from this year's Usenix Bof, Slashdot.org reports.

Genesi/Phoenix Summer Promotion

Submitted by bbrv 2003-06-17 Morphos 17 Comments

Genesi has a promotion on Pegasos slashing prices down to 300 euro. A fair price to run MorphOS.

Editorial: Why You Should Support YellowTAB’s Zeta

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-17 Zeta 109 Comments

In light of our world's first preview of YellowTAB's Zeta OS many readers have completely misunderstood a few of the key points presented in the article. Instead of weigh the advantages and disadvantages of Zeta, they only kept in their minds the (so far) negative points. Zeta is still in beta and there is quite some work to be done to clean up before release. I compiled for you two sets of Top-10 reasons why all ex-BeOS users and all other OS enthusiasts should take a good look at Zeta and another set of 10 reasons of why Zeta might not be what you are looking for.

Linus Torvalds To Leave Transmeta

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-17 Linux 106 Comments

Linus Torvalds, the Finnish programmer and leader of Linux, is leaving his job with Transmeta and taking a position with a consortium developing the Linux operating system for corporations.

SCO Owns Your Computer

Eugenia Loli 2003-06-16 SCO 91 Comments

Here is a must-read article in the SCO-Linux-IBM situation. SCO says that Linux uses inappropriate code on IBM's JFS, NUMA, RCU and SMP. Additionally, they are looking into firing against FreeBSD (related info here) while they might even hold Microsoft responsible for some things: "Microsoft merely licensed an applications interface layer." So it is SCO against everyone. Huh, wait. Except Sun: "Sun is clean" SCO's CTO says. SCO also explains the GPL "deal". Update: How appropriate: Looking to capitalize on IBM legal dispute, Sun is readying a new AIX-to-Solaris migration program. Update2: SCO suit now seeks $3 billion from IBM.

Forbes: The Limitations Of Linux

Submitted by Anonymous 2003-06-16 Linux 41 Comments

"There have been so many glowing stories on the use of Linux that one might come away with the impression that Linux is an elixir that solves myriad business problems, and that it is always cheaper than alternatives. But like a lot of technologies before it, Linux has, to some degree, been overhyped." Read the story at Forbes.

Unununium Gaining Momentum

Guest post by Charlie 2003-06-16 OS News 40 Comments

Unununium, and interesting project which aims at producing an 'organic' operating system where all components are interchangable at run-time, recently put a screenshot online.They have been making a lot of progress lately, with the website becoming increasingly active and filled with content. This project is a bookmark must-have for any assembly buffs out there as it is entirely written in assembly.

Review of Ximian Desktop 2 on Red Hat Linux 9

Guest post by Maynard Kuona 2003-06-16 Gnome 63 Comments

Ximian Desktop 2 came out of few days ago and I gave it a go. This is not a usability experts review, and probably more of a first impressions thing than a review. I consider myself an intermediate user, (probably advanced intermediate). I installed Ximian Desktop on the following computer: