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GTK+ Users, Meet the LightHouseBlue Theme

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

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

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.

Is Linux Really More Secure Than Windows?

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.

Gentoo Linux Reloaded

"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

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.

Linux.com Matches Microsoft Software Donation offers

Robin writes: Just a bit of silliness to lighten up your day: "If your school, charity or government agency is suddenly graced with a visit by Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer offering to donate a free operating system or desktop office software, Linux.com will match that offer. Our software offer has no strings attached to it whatsoever. You don't need to start paying for upgrades after a few years or anything like that. Too good to be true? Bill and Steve might think so, but we don't!"

FreeBSD 4.7 Released

"Since FreeBSD 4.6-RELEASE in June 2002, we have updated a number of software programs in the base system, such as GCC and sendmail. Several new drivers have been added for USB devices and disk controllers. We have also incorporated updates for XFree86 and our Linux compatibility libraries. FreeBSD 4.7 also incorporates all of the security and bug fixes from 4.6.2 (released in August 2002), including several ATA-related bugfixes, updates for OpenSSL and OpenSSH, and fixes to address several security advisories." Announcement for FreeBSD 4.7 and release notes.

Linux Distributions – Facts and Figures

A Linux distribution is like a religion. If you've ever tried to suggest to another person that his or her choice of a distro might not be the best, then you know what I mean. Even if you haven't, you have probably come across a "distribution opinion war" on one of the mailing lists or public forums. But that's OK. We should be passionate about things we love, even if it's just a mass of programming code. What follows are facts and figures about Linux distributions. Personal opinions may vary, but facts are a lot more difficult to dispute... See Linux Distributions - Facts and Figures (mirror-au, mirror-hu, mirror-us) by DistroWatch, one of the main Linux distribution news sites on the web.

Microsoft Windows XP Embedded & Windows CE – What Is It All About?

"Most people know of the Microsoft Windows range for the home which includes Windows 95, 98, 98 Second Edition, Millennium Edition (also know as ME) and the two XP's - Home and Pro. There are though a couple out there that not so many have heard of. Probably the better known of the two is Windows CE which is used on the majority of the PDA's on the market at the moment. The other one is Windows XP Embedded." Read the article at ActiveWin.

Development Release: Lycoris Build 53 (Beta)

DistroWatch reports that Lycoris has released a new beta version of Lycoris Desktop/LX - build 53. Besides usual bug fixes, the inclusion of ALSA sound packages seems to be the only major addition. Report bugs in the Build 53 Bugs forum. Also, a couple of new products have been recently announced by Lycoris - these links will take you on a tour of the ProductivityPak and the Desktop/LX InterConnect.

Making the Case for XFree86’s Speed

Being a BeOS user (a purely desktop system) and because I code under Linux, I see XFree86 (v4.1 on my machine) as a user and as a developper. And this is where the problem lies. My Gnome or KDE desktops are slow in comparison with other operating systems, but XFree86, the 'engine' behind these desktops, proves me that it's not. Let's look at what I have in front of me: a dual Pentium III at 933Mhz with 512MB of memory, a Radeon 32 AIW, a modified Mandrake 8.0 powered by kernel 2.4.18.

IBM Launches New AIX Version

The previous version of AIX, version 5.1, had static partitions, which meant administrators had to reboot after making changes to system resource utilization, Giga's Brad Day said. In a competitive move against Sun Microsystems, IBM has released new eServer software designed to let customers harness the untapped power within their Unix systems.

KDE 3.0.4 Released

The KDE project just released KDE 3.0.4 for Mandrake (8.2, 9.0 and Cooker), Debian, SuSE (7.3, 8.0 and 8.1), Slackware (under the contribution dir) and TurboLinux. Read the ChangeLog here, however it is important to note that this is bugfix release. Update: Read regarding the recent KDE League issue.

WindowWatch Reviews Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7

"Libranet is Canada's foremost Linux distribution. They have succeeded where others have failed. As far as I know, they are the only commercial distribution based on Debian left standing. Perhaps their success is due to the added value they provide to what is essentially an easier to use Debian 3.0 release, or perhaps it's their attention to detail; making the small things easy for new users. They have actively fostered a growing and enthusiastic user community that willingly participates in their beta releases and in educating users new to both Libranet and Debian. People from Libranet also interact very openly with the user community paying attention to their praises and concerns. Whatever it is that they do right it seems to be paying off." Read the review at WindowWatch.

Microsoft Adds XDocs to Office Family

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday will announce XDocs, the working code name for the latest addition to its Office desktop productivity family. Steve Ballmer, CEO of the Redmond, Wash., software company, will use the Gartner ITxpo in Orlando, Fla., to announce this latest Office application. Microsoft officials are promoting XDocs as a smart client like Office. "Think of it as a hybrid information gathering tool for organizations that blends the benefits and richness of a traditional word processing program with the data capturing ability and rigor of a forms package into the XDocs templates," Scott Bishop, an Office product manager, told eWEEK.

Interview with Taylor & Pennington from Red Hat’s UI Team

Arguably, the new unified UI on Red Hat 8 was the talk of the town for the whole summer since the Limbo betas. Today we talk with two of the leading people behind Red Hat's enhanced usability and UI found on 8.0-Psyche, Havoc Pennington (also known for his work on the Metacity window manager) and Owen Taylor (lots of cool stuff on XFree's side). We discuss about XFree and its capabilities, about Linux's ability to fullfil a modern desktop for every user, about the unification of Qt and GTK+ and more.