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Linux Gazette November 2002, Issue 84, is Out

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-03 Linux 10 Comments

Interesting topics this month as well in the Linux Gazette newsletter: "Making Your Own Toy Boot Floppy", "Meeting C# and Mono", "Debian APT Part 1: Basic Commands" and "Using the Logical Volume Manager".

One Coder’s Opinion of the Microsoft Opinion

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-02 Editorial 76 Comments

"It's all over but the shouting. The non-settling states can still appeal, but they're not going to win. The DC Circuit slapped down Judges Sporkin and Jackson when they tried to give Microsoft a hard time; now that it has the ruling it wants, it's going to let that ruling stand. That leaves only the Supreme Court, and it's hard for me to imagine this particular Supreme Court even hearing the Microsoft case." Editorial.

XP Killer? RedHat 8.0 Personal Review

Submitted by Dave Edwards 2002-11-02 Red Hat 46 Comments

"With this release RedHat are making a concerted effort at integration and that is something that sits awkwardly with the open source model. Firstly, it forces a degree of cooperation between software developers - they need to adhere to standards but if they want to become part of the latest Linux distribution they need to adhere to those standards that it adopts." Read the review at LinuxLinks.

Meet BeOS 5 PE Max Edition

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-02 Haiku 52 Comments

There are a few BeOS 5 PE "spin-offs" available (three or four), created by BeOS enthusiasts who want to see more of BeOS in the future. Usually, these distros are loaded with lots of patches, additional drivers and third party applications. Vassilis "Vasper" Perantzakis sent us some information on his BeOS 5 PE distro, named "BeOS 5 PE Max Edition", explaining how it got it all started, where it is today and where it is heading to in the future.

gtkmm 2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-02 GTK+ 23 Comments

gtkmm (previously known as Gtk--) is the official C++ interface for the popular GUI library GTK+. Highlights include typesafe callbacks, widgets extensible via inheritance and a comprehensive set of widget classes that can be freely combined to quickly create complex user interfaces.

Realtime OS Jaluna Open Sourced

Submitted by Rajeev Pathare 2002-11-02 OS News 3 Comments

Jaluna introduces its first product, Jaluna-1, a suite of Real-Time software components. Jaluna-1 is based on C5, the 5th generation of Sun Microsystems' ChorusOS product. Millions of units of ChorusOS operating system products are shipping worldwide in the UNIX, telecom and network devices markets. Beyond Jaluna-1, future Jaluna Software Component Suites will leverage other Open Source technologies including Linux, Eclipse and Java.

Judge OKs most of Microsoft Settlement

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 Legal 89 Comments

A federal judge largely approves a proposed settlement in the years-old antitrust case. The government praised the decision, while critics said the case should have looked at what Microsoft's up to now. It may not be completely over, yet; the remaining states could appeal.

OpenBSD 3.2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 OpenBSD 14 Comments

"Todd Fries and Todd Miller happily send along notice that OpenBSD 3.2 has been released. It's available by FTP, CDROMs are shipping, and is CVS if you want to source upgrade. This is a big release for OpenBSD with many substantial changes. Many users will want to reinstall from scratch and not upgrade, as architecture changes on some platforms as well as enhanced security features are best taken advantage of that way. Read on for the release notes." Read the full release notes at Deadly.org.

Installing and Configuring ALSA Sound Modules in Debian

Submitted by John Gowin 2002-11-01 Debian 28 Comments

A very common question that comes up when trying Debian GNU/Linux is how the heck do you get Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (a.k.a. ALSA) sound modules set up properly? In this HOWTO LinuxOrbit shows you how to compile and install the ALSA kernel modules, and then setup things using the ALSA Debian script so that modules are automatically loaded and unloaded, and your mixer levels are saved and restored on boot up.

AmigaOne Motherboards with G3/G4 CPUs Now on Sale

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2002-11-01 Amiga & AROS 48 Comments

Eyetech Group Ltd has announced that both SE and XE model AmigaOne boards are now on sale. AmigaOS4 will be demonstrated tomorrow at the World of Amiga Southeast 2002 in the UK, the OS will soon be released as well, but when people order an AmigaOne with LinuxPPC now, they will receive the OS for free.

IBM Readies Itanium 2 xSeries, Dubs Linux the Unix for Intel

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 IBM 13 Comments

"IBM Corp is lining up the launch of its first xSeries server based on Intel's 64-bit Itanium-2 processor for the first quarter of 2003, and has confirmed that it has dropped plans to bring its AIX Unix operating system to the Itanium processor platform." Read the article at TheRegister.

Poll: Vote for the Best Mozilla/Gecko-based Browser

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 Mozilla, Gecko 58 Comments

Mozilla's HTML engine, named Gecko, has been powering a number of other browsers on many platforms for a while now, like Galeon, Chimera and more. Vote for your favorite one! Oh, and being on the subject, K-Meleon 0.7, Galeon 2-dev, Salamander 0.3 and Phoenix 0.4 are all very recently released.

New Release for ReactOS

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 ReactOS 20 Comments

ReactOS is an Open Source effort to develop a quality operating system that is compatible with Windows NT applications and drivers. The latest release of ReactOS is 0.0.21, released on the 31st of October 2002. To see a general overview of the status of ReactOS view the status page.

The Point Not Taken

Submitted by Timothy R. Butler 2002-11-01 Rumors 30 Comments

"No matter how often it has been said, it seems that many GNU/Linux and Macintosh users refuse to see the obvious. The response to a recent article of mine demonstrated this statement as well as any other example I can think of. What is so obvious? That while speciality software and functionality is nice, it isn't going to make or break adoption of an operating system." Find out why at OfB.biz.

Fight RSI with the Help of WorkRave

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 Geek stuff 4 Comments

Workrave is a free program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Something possibly very important for all us (computer maniacs) OSNews readers. The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit. Refer to the feature comparison for a complete list of features, and how the program performs with respect to other programs on the market. Currently, the program runs on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows .

DirectX and DirectPlay 8.2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 Games 6 Comments

This download contains DirectX 8.1b plus some DirectPlay fixes related to performance and connectivity issues exhibited with some online multiplayer game titles. This release of DirectX is not recommended for general installation. You should only consider installing this release if you have an online gaming problem that has been identified as being fixed with DirectX 8.2. This version of DirectX can replace all previous released versions of DirectX.

MacOS, SCO Unix, Tru64 Least Vulnerable to Attack

Eugenia Loli 2002-11-01 Privacy, Security 27 Comments

Based on the number of vulnerabilities announced in 2002 that affect operating systems, the SCO Unix, Apple Macintosh and Compaq Tru64 Operating Systems appear to be the least prone to hacker attack and damage from viruses and worms. This is one of the startling conclusions of the end-of-October 2002 analysis of digital attacks to be released on 1st November.

Linux Finally Ready for Prime Time

Submitted by Antarius 2002-11-01 Linux 30 Comments

"The only thing I regret -- and, unfortunately, I predicted this would happen -- is that the manufacturers of various competing forms of Linux have become as money-hungry as those they used to despise." Read the editorial at OSOpinion.

Advanced Filesystem Implementor’s Guide, Part 12

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-31 General Development 2 Comments

In this article, Daniel Robbins introduces the Enterprise Volume Management System (EVMS) for Linux. He explains what EVMS is, why it is so desperately needed, and why it will very likely transform the way storage is managed on Linux systems.

Microsoft Launches XP Media Center Edition

Submitted by Stan Broné 2002-10-31 Windows 35 Comments

"Today, Microsoft launches its latest Windows XP version, XP Media Center Edition (MCE), at a special event in New York City's Bryant Park. Mike Toutonghi, vice president of the Windows eHome Division, will join actor and comedian Tom Arnold and other celebrity guests for the launch, which also coincides with the North American availability of the Hewlett-Packard Media Center PC, which runs XP MCE. Microsoft's latest OS combines the power of Windows XP with a remote control interface to digital media tasks and Digital Video Recording (DVR) functionality." Read the report at WinInfo. Update: Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Platforms Group vice president, talks about the future of specialized versions of XP.