Running open source software on a Mac is a different animal — almost like an x86, but not quite. Configuring new hardware has always been a problem in Linux; it is now compounded for the Mac user. Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) has built this port of Linux with the hardware of current Macs in mind, such as the iMac and the G4. YDL 2.3 is a treat to install and use on these machines. Read the rest of the review at UnixReview.

This document illustrates guidelines and best practices required to port existing UNIX applications to the Windows environment, which can potentially reduce the time, cost, and risk associated with a traditionally painful migration process. This guide covers planning and practical issues involved in migration or co-existence between UNIX and Windows and provides a review of the different ways in which such a migration can be done. Ideal for both UNIX programmers as well as Windows programmers, this is a valuable source of information for anyone looking to take advantage of Windows.

Con Kolivas, a practicing doctor in Australia, has written a benchmarking tool called ConTest which has proven to be tremendously useful to kernel developers, having been designed to compare the performance of different versions of the Linux kernel.

Robert Love provides details at KernelTrap on a recent patch he's backported from the 2.5 development kernel to the 2.4 stable kernel. The patch allows one to adjust the frequency of the timer interrupt, defined in 2.4 with "HZ=100". Robert explains, "The timer interrupt is at the heart of the system. Everything lives and dies based on it. Its period is basically the granularity of the system: timers hit on 10ms intervals, timeslices come due at 10ms intervals, etc."

UnitedLinux, the joint software development effort by four Linux distributors, is working on a version of its software for desktop computers, according to executive Gregory Blepp.

Psyco is a Python specializing compiler and is an external module, but it could someday be included in Python itself. With only a tiny amount of extra programming, Psyco can often be used to increase the speed of Python code by orders of magnitude. This article looks at what Psyco is, and tests it in various applications.

eWeek hosts four articles regarding Linux on the desktop. "Linux Renews Desktop Bid", "Linux Is Ready to Roll, With or Without Office", "OEMS are MIA When It Comes to Desktop Linux", "Red Hat Linux 8.0 Tops Desktop Class".

"Yes, after two anti-trust violations you're obligated to offer equitable pricing to the largest computer builders for the Microsoft Windows XP software, but what Microsoft does now is use MDF (market development funds) to pressure the behavior you want from many OEMs. You give computer companies a price break on Microsoft software in the form of a rebate for every computer they've sold. This program is disguised as a "marketing" program but OEMs only qualify if they agree to terms such as not working with competitor's products." Read Lindows' Michael Robertson open letter to Steve Ballmer.

"Microsoft's rejection of Sun Microsystems' Java is nearly complete. Save for the occasional nod towards Java's popularity in enterprise development, Java does not enter into any of the development plans at Microsoft." Read the editorial at ZDNews. Also at ZDNews, you will find another related editorial, "will C# benefit Microsoft, or the industry"?

"This will come as no surprise to many of you, but I have been somewhat lost and wandering in the desert these past few months. Five years of involvement in many of the major issues related to Java had left me questioning whether the ideas I believe in, ideas that many of us share in common, could make a meaningful difference. This summer has been a sabbatical that I didn't know I needed, and the long pondering of the core issues has helped me refocus and reorder my priorities." Read the article at JavaLobby (free reg. required).

TinyOS is a component-based runtime environment designed to provide support for deeply embedded systems which require concurrency intensive operations while constrained by minimal hardware resources. For example, originally designed for the Smart Dust hardware platform, our scheduler fits in under 200 bytes of program memory.

CodeWeavers, Inc., today announced that it has licensed its award-winning CrossOver software technology to Xandros for use in the upcoming Xandros Desktop OS. The technology will enable Xandros users-many for the first time-to run popular Windows applications, including Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes, Intuit Quicken, and many more, dependably in the Linux environment.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer knows what it's like to be in the hot seat. The company he leads has been under fire for a controversial new licensing programme that raised prices considerably for some customers. A high-profile initiative to deliver web services is on the rocks. And the threat from the open-source Linux operating system is stronger than ever. Read the interview at Silicon.com.

A new program lets buyers of the Mac OS X Server sign on for three years of unlimited access to software upgrades for the same price Apple charges for a single, onetime upgrade.