OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing - Page 1608

TinyOS 1.0 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-15 OS News No Comments

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 Lincenses its CrossOver Technology to Xandros

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-15 Oracle and SUN 19 Comments

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.

Reviews of Lindows 2.0 and Lycoris B-53

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-14 Linux 12 Comments

LinuxWatch.org hosts two (rather short) reviews this week, for Lycoris B-53 and for Lindows 2.0.

Ballmer on Linux, Licensing and .Net

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-14 Microsoft 92 Comments

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.

Apple Boosts Server Software License

Submitted by rajan r 2002-10-14 Apple 8 Comments

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.

IBM Server Chip Seen Slimmed Down for Apple Macs

Submitted by rajan r 2002-10-14 IBM 72 Comments

IBM announced on Monday a microchip for personal computers that will crunch data in chunks twice as big as the current standard and is expected (but not confirmed yet) by industry watchers to be used by Apple. Apple was not available to comment, and IBM declined to comment on which computer makers would use the chip, but its plans would mark a change for the industry, which has emphasized the importance of the speed of a chip rather than its ability to handle heavy workloads. Read the report. Update: Read another report at ZDNews.

BeOS: History, Perspectives and the Future

Submitted by Prognathous 2002-10-14 Haiku 76 Comments

BeOS developer (and frequent OSNews reader) Robert Renling wrote an article about the history of BeOS for BeFaqs.com. The link is dead at the moment because of the Slashdot effect, but there is a Google cached copy available.

Blender is Now Free

Submitted by Hmmmm.... 2002-10-14 3D 22 Comments

Some months ago we reported on Ton's effort to Free his powerful 3D rendering package under the GPL, Blender. After almost 4 months and 100,000 euros, Blender is now completely free for all.

Rethinking the GUI for the Big Picture

Submitted by Prognathous 2002-10-13 Graphics 34 Comments

Computer scientist and entrepreneur David Gelernter believes computers should imitate life. That means rethinking what it means to manage knowledge—and replacing the current PC and Mac desktop with a "narrative structure." Read the article at CIOInsight.

Networking With Red Hat 8.0

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-13 Red Hat 23 Comments

"Oldtimer Linux gurus get rather cranky about graphical interfaces. Sissy, bloated, slow. If it is too easy it is suspect, unworthy of the true sysadmin. I think it's nice to have a rather more flexible perspective, and to rejoice in the wealth of choices." Read the article at EarthWeb.

Syllable 0.4.2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-12 Syllable, AtheOS 21 Comments

On Syllable 0.4.2 there are new GUI classes, public message ports, kernel fixes, a new POSIX threads library, Daryl's new preference apps. For a full list of changes, look here, and you can download 0.4.2 here. Installation notes here. Now that Syllable 0.4.2 has fixed a bug which has previously caused Samba to fail, it means that Samba now compiles and runs. A basic precompiled binary can now be downloaded, which you can install and use once you've upgraded to 0.4.2.

SkyOS Gets GNU, OBOS a Media Kit, Menuet, Syllable, Triangle News

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-12 OS News 12 Comments

There is more to OS life than just Mac, Unix and Windows. Robert Szeleney did some good work for the past few weeks, porting Quake I and II to SkyOS, GCC and binutiles and developing a text programmer's editor to help him further develop the OS on a self-hosted environment. In the meantime, Marcus Overhagen continues to develop for OpenBeOS a MediaKit clone off the original BeOS, while MenuetOS gets lots of advancements in networking lately, same as TriangleOS does (expect a new version and a kernel re-write too for this new OS). Additionally, Syllable gets a CVS freeze in preperation for version 0.4.2, while Daryl Dudey continues his truly remarkable work on Syllable's preference panels.

GTK+ Users, Meet the LightHouseBlue Theme

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-12 Graphics 38 Comments

While we do not normally report on themes, this one is special. Remember a few months ago our article on a "random Gnome2-Limbo screenshot"? OSNews reader Jan Rosczak dived into coding and the result is the LightHouseBlue theme for GTK+ 1.x and 2.x, based on some of the suggestions found on that article. While there is still some work to be done (e.g. change some of my button/tab colors to not be so... loud :) the theme has already been accepted by users positively.

The New Age Of The Tablet PC

Submitted by Reza Pakdel 2002-10-11 Windows 38 Comments

The basic pen-based concept of a Tablet PC isn't new. Such concepts have come and gone, with the exception of those seen in PDAs. So what gave Microsoft the confidence to succeed where other players have faltered? With the new Acer TravelMate C100 Tablet PC, HardwareZone takes a look at the fundamentals as well as the operating system behind the Tablet PC. A very intersting article with many screenshots, especially pages 2 and 3 (showing the Windows XP TabletPC Edition).

IRIX Binary Compatibility for NetBSD, Part 4

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-11 NetBSD No Comments

Signals are the difficult of part IRIX emulation. However, before examining the way they work on IRIX, let us study the signals implementation in NetBSD/mips. A user process enters the kernel by a trap. When a trap is caught, the hardware transfers control to the kernel. Assembly code in sys/arch/mips/mips/locore.S builds a trap frame (this is a struct frame, defined in sys/arch/mips/include/proc.h) on the kernel stack, in which CPU registers are saved. Then the trap() function from sys/arch/mips/mips/trap.c is called to handle the trap. Read the article at OnLamp.

Ten Predictions to Shake your World

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-11 Geek stuff 25 Comments

Gartner analysts took out their crystal balls and came up with a list of ten predictions that will impact enterprise businesses. The predictions cross over technology, economics, and social boundaries over that will morph during the next eight years. Read the article at ZDNet.

Is Linux Really More Secure Than Windows?

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-11 Privacy, Security 40 Comments

Ramen, Slapper, Scalper and Mighty may sound like Santa's new team of reindeer, but they are creatures far lower down the evolutionary ladder -- and much less welcome. These are worms that have infiltrated Linux servers in recent months, commandeering the servers for use in distributed denial-of-service attacks. Linux enthusiasts who once believed they were less vulnerable to attack than Microsoft users have begun to wonder whether they were overly optimistic. Read the article at NewsFactor.

C# Standardization Moves Ahead

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-11 .NET 26 Comments

Microsoft and its allies have quietly expanded an effort to gain acceptance for C#, the software giant's competitor to Java and a foundation for its next-generation Internet services. Read the report at CNet.

Gentoo Linux Reloaded

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-11 Gentoo 44 Comments

"Hi there. I'm sure many of you know that in addition to writing Linux articles, I'm also very involved in a free software project called Gentoo Linux. In this article, I'll try to explain what Gentoo Linux is all about and also tantilize you with all the neat things we have in the works for Gentoo Linux 1.4, which we're currently developing and should be available from our Web site by the time you read this article. So, what is unique about Gentoo Linux? Here are the answers." Daniel Robbins introduces Gentoo Linux.

Red Hat 8.0: Remarks on its Installation

Guest post by Bradley Owen 2002-10-11 Red Hat 53 Comments

With all the hype surrounding the release of RedHat 8.0, I was eager to try it myself. I was particularly interested to see whether this really would be the release that the average user could install and run on a home pc. Regrettably, I don't believe it is. Reading the recent comments made by RedHat developer Havoc Pennington in reply to the question about the "Average Joe User" only confirmed my belief.