After many months of waiting, QNX RtP (now called QNX Momentics) 6.2 is released. The new version has many fixes, new features and more device driver support. It requires a PIII-650 or better (however, I have successfully ran its beta on a 233 Mhz PC with 64 MB RAM a few months ago), 128MB RAM and 1 GB disk space. QNX Momentics' primary target are embedded developers instead of end users. Please note that QNX 6.2 does not support anymore the FAT32-installed QNX boot image, but instead, it requires its own partition. The ISO available for download is 195 MB. You can read our world exclusive preview of QNX 6.2 we published last January, here.

A new MacOSX update was just released. Update 10.1.5 delivers enhancements which improve the reliability of MacOSX applications, delivers improved networking, security, support for PC Card serial communication devices, and expanded peripheral device support. Specific improvements include:

Openwave Systems Inc., the worldwide leader of open IP-based communication infrastructure software and applications, announced that it has contributed its Open Usability Interface server-side programming library and source code to the open source developer community under a Mozilla License. Openwave is contributing Open Usability Interface as a code base for developers for developing mobile applications that can be accessed through multiple networks and mobile devices. Open Usability Interface is a server-side programming library that that abstracts the presentation of content from the underlying platform implementation details. In practice, developers code to the capabilities that each platform offers. The library presents the best possible user experience by adapting the application user-interface for the particular device and gateway requesting the service.

"Recently, a number of new Linux distributions have been seeking to create a Windows clone. Some of these are highly commercial projects and have arguably began taking on some of the code sharing traits of their model, while most simply seek to make a Windows-like system for new converts to use while they get accustomed to the entire Linux/Open Source world. A couple of these projects stand out because of their close similarities to the system they're trying to copy. Others stand out not only because of that, but also because of the innovative features they add. Everyone's Linux, or ELX, is in that second category." Read the review at NewsForge. On a similar note, Lindows has released their third closed beta, Xandros their second one, while Lycoris is heading for public release of their Update2 version on June 17th.

KernelTrap has spoken with Peter Chubb who currently works for the Gelato Project. His efforts are currently focused on supporting large disks and partitions, utilizing 64-bits. Regarding the project's focus of improving Linux support for the Itanium 64-bit processor, Peter says, "Back in the days when the VAX was king, there was a general assumption amongst some programmers that `all the world's a vax'. In the Linux world, there's a similar assumption: `all the world's a pentium'." Peter lives in New South Wales, Australia, with his wife, Lucy, also a kernel hacker, and two daughters. He earned a PhD under the late John Lions, author of the Lions Book. His UNIX kernel hacking experience is with an impressively large number of kernels. KernelTrap has the full interview.

"The German government has signed a deal with IBM and Linux company SuSE that makes it easier for government offices to use the open-source operating system, a move that addresses concerns about relying too heavily on Microsoft products." Read the report at News.com.

"Microsoft plans to release on Monday the first significant update to the Mac OS X version of Office and will also introduce a version of its instant messaging program designed for the latest Mac operating system." Read the report at ZDNews. On other Mac news, both DigiTimes and TheRegister are reporting that new iMacs, with larger LCD monitors will debut on the 3rd quarter this year.

The second big version of the professional radio automation system TuneTracker was just released June 1st and goes where no other has gone before, in more ways than one. For one thing, the TuneTracker System doesn't run under Windows. It uses the media-friendly Be Operating System. For another, it shatters all kinds of price-performance barriers for professional radio broadcasting software. "This rivals my (other station's) $15,000 system," says Mike Chandler of WOBS, Florida of the $149.95 TuneTracker System, who has been using the Beta version for months. "As a matter of fact, it has less hiccups." And now it can be yours! Read more on how you can win a free copy of TuneTracker 2! Update: The lucky winner is Daniel Mark! Congratulations Daniel!

The OpenBeOS kernel has finally forked from NewOS. Michael Phipps has checked in the source code for the OpenBeOS kernel to the CVS repository. Initially, this code differs little from NewOS. Over time, as the code is tweaked and amended to fit the requirements for creating an R5 clone, the kernel will diverge from its NewOS roots.

"When Linux distributions are available for free over the Internet, and for $10-$100 from major companies such as Red Hat and SuSE, why should an organization pay $599 for Caldera's OpenLinux Server 3.1.1? Because you get what you pay for." Read the mini-review of OpenLinux at ServerWatch.

"Except for the most recent kernels, Linux will only see 137 GB out of the 156 GB on the the Maxtor "160 Gigabyte" Diamondmax 540T drives. I found nothing on the Maxtor or RedHat web sites about this, but a search of the Linux Kernel mailing list produced a number of references to a patch which was purported to work by some people." Read the article at NBer.org.

Last week Eyetech began shipping the first finalized AmigaOneG3-SE boards to developers. Apart from the boot ROM, these boards are identical to consumer AmigaOneG3-SE boards. Eyetech also announced a more expensive version called AmigaOne-XE motherboard, which will come with socketed PPC CPU(s) and an AmigaOne trade-in option will be available through AmigaOne dealers. Soon more dealers like i.e. Forefront Technologies, a company which is also developing ATI Radeon drivers for AmigaOS4, are to be included on this list.

Bill Hayden, the initiator of the Cosmoe project has released a developer version. Bill is looking for feedback, bug reports and even code contributions. You will need a 2.4.x Linux kernel, RPM and a framebuffer graphics driver loaded through LILO. At this point, Cosmoe should only run via the console, as root. A mirror and an additional screenshot can be found here. Recently, OSNews featured an interview with Bill.

"A move by four sellers of Linux to unite behind a single version of the operating system might help those allies--and boost Linux's popularity--but it isn't likely to dent the dominance of the top dog, Red Hat." Read the article at ZDNews. Update: Interesting interview with Caldera's CEO, about UnitedLinux.