OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Red Hat 8 For Joe & Jane User?

Guest post by Jay Sabol 2002-10-04 Red Hat 81 Comments

Well, here on OSNews, there has been plenty of discussion about Red Hat 8, what it is, what it isn't, the Bluecurve look and many other features and issues. I ordered Red Hat 8 Personal Edition and decided to see how close Red Hat 8 may be to a distribution that Joe and Jane User could install and use.

The Future of Linux on IA-64

Submitted by Koki 2002-10-04 Linux 13 Comments

David Mosberger, developer of the initial GCC port to IA-64 and lead kernel architect for Linux on IA-64, tells us why you should care about Intel's new 64-bit chip.

NetBSD-Current Now Supports SMP on x86

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 NetBSD 8 Comments

From Slashdot: "NetBSD-current for the i386 architecture now has SMP. (It used to be that only FreeBSD had this feature among the free BSDs.) See the announcement on the current-users list."

Why Microsoft Needs .NET

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 .NET 25 Comments

" I think you can see where I'm going with this - by moving software to .NET, Microsoft frees themselves from the x86 pit. They need to compile the .NET framework for each platform they want to support, and they need to write the final compiler stage that converts the IL to machine code, and bingo your code runs on the new platform!" Read the article at Kuro5hin.

Interview With Adam de Boor, ex-CTO of GeoWorks

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 Original OSNews Interviews 27 Comments

It is always an honour to interview people who have 'served' and worked on operating systems at the "golden" times of the operating systems, the '80s and pre-Win9x days. Today we interview Adam de Boor, who was the CTO at GeoWorks, developers of the GEOS, in the begining of the last decade. Adam today works for OpenWave Systems. We discuss about GeoWorks, its past, its future, where it should have been.

Red Hat Hits More Sensitive Nerves

Submitted by kevinwatt 2002-10-03 Red Hat 93 Comments

Like the PR headaches with KDE were not enough for Red Hat, now it seems that Taiwanese people are unhappy because their flag was left out of the KDE control panel, while it was there by default. Also, "in a surprising move they've completely broken with their previous policy of 100% open source. The new distribution contains a few components which are (C) Red Hat and are *not* freely re-distributable", the Linux Emporium claims. Discussion about the issue here and here.

Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7, Debian with a Kick

Submitted by John Gowin 2002-10-03 Debian 15 Comments

Linux Orbit has reviewed Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7: "Other Linux distribution companies have tried to create commercial Linux products based on Debian GNU/Linux, but few have achieved long term success. Progeny Linux comes to mind as a commercial Linux distribution company whose Linux product met with good reviews, but couldn't remain in business. Libranet is a rare exception to this rule. Libranet GNU/Linux has been around quite a while and continues to build a devoted Linux user base on a commercial product based on Debian GNU/Linux. With their most recent release of Libranet GNU/Linux 2.7, Libranet continues to improve on an already solid Linux distribution."

Jaguar Does Windows–and Then Some

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 macOS 31 Comments

"I sat down at my Macintosh at home to do some photo editing when I realized the pictures I wanted were on a Windows computer. Although the two machines are just a few feet from each other, moving the files from one to the other would, until recently, have required me to copy the pictures to some sort of removable storage unit, probably a recordable CD. Then plunk that into the Mac." Read the article at BusinessWeek.

Mungi 1.2 released

Submitted by Andrew Baumann 2002-10-03 OS News 11 Comments

Mungi is a 64-bit, single-address-space, capability-based operating system designed to easily support distribution and persistence. The initial public release is now available as GPLed source, and runs on the L4/MIPS (R4x00 CPU) and L4/Alpha (21164 & 21264 CPU) microkernels. This release features a mostly complete kernel, user-level libraries for POSIX support, and some initial application code. It lacks device drivers, persistence, mandatory access control, and a raft of other features currently under development.

Development Release: Lycoris Build 52 (Beta)

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 5 Comments

From DistroWatch: "A new beta version of Lycoris Desktop/LX has been spotted on several mirrors. Build 52 is a development release; among the major packages only Mozilla has been updated to version 1.1. Download: cd1_en_binary.iso (517MB), cd2_en_source.iso (415MB), cd3_en_devtools.iso (193MB). As usual, a Build 52 bug reports forum has been opened." We featured a review of Lycoris recently.

Stardock’s WindowFX 2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-03 Graphics 45 Comments

A few months ago we were discussing the upcoming release of WindowFX2 from Stardock, which was to utilize the graphics 3D hardware to render cool animations and transitions on your Windows. WindowFX2 is now out, there is a demo, and a very cool video where you can see the new, very cool transitions in action.

SGI SPECIAL: Introducing the Jewel of UNIX, the 64-bit IRIX OS

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 SGI and IRIX 96 Comments

In the '90s, before MacOSX was released, if people were to reffer to a user-friendly Unix that looked cool at the time, that would have been SGI's 64-bit operating system for the MIPS processors, the IRIX. IRIX was first released in 1987, and by 1995 was already a highly respected UNIX, the first with immense multimedia capabilities! Check out our introduction and some screenshots of IRIX.

SGI SPECIAL: Interviewing SGI Employees

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 SGI and IRIX 15 Comments

For our special SGI day, that is today, OSNews sent a number of questions to SGI regarding the company's products and a number of different people replied for this interview. We hope that this interview will familiarize more people with SGI, their products and their strategy.

KDE 3.1-Beta2 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 KDE 18 Comments

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.1 beta2, the third development release of a significant feature upgrade for KDE 3. KDE 3 is the third generation of KDE's free, Internet-enabled desktop for Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.1, scheduled for final release in October 2002, will provide substantial improvements to the KDE desktop experience. As the KDE 3 API is frozen for binary compatibility, KDE 3.1 will be binary compatible with KDE 3.0.

The OS Wars: BSD vs. Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 Rumors 49 Comments

Enterprises tend to choose Linux because they must consider the availability of professional service, the IT learning curve, and standards and interoperability, the Yankee Group's Laura DiDio said. Read the article at NewsFactor.

Mandrake 9.0 vs. Mandrake 8.2 for New Linux Users

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 3 Comments

"This article concentrates on describing a basic Mandrake 9.0 installation and setup from a new user's viewpoint, using nothing but default settings all the way through. I've also tossed in a few notes on how Mandrake 9.0 differs from Mandrake 8.2 and other previous Mandrake releases." Read the article at NewsForge.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-02 Linux 7 Comments

"Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake and others are just starting to bless us with a new round of desktop-oriented distributions – aka "distros". If you're finally considering Linux as a desktop OS, congratulations! And don't fret, we're here to help." Read Jim Lynch's article for ExtremeTech.

(Yet Another) Mandrake 9.0 First Impressions

Submitted by Roland Stoker 2002-10-02 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 25 Comments

"My initial reaction to the Mandrake desktop was no different than before. The Mandrake desktop is fairly basic, maybe even ugly. First I installed the Windows fonts, then upgraded Freetype to enable the bytecode interpreter and things started looking a lot better. Then, I headed to pclinuxonline.com and downloaded some KDE and Gnome themes that Texstar has provided for Mandrake 9.0. KDE started looking as beautiful as my 8.2 install. To get a clean and consistent desktop, I use the Bluecurve theme that Texstar has provided from Redhat." Read it at RatedPC.

Steal Your Interface: A History

Submitted by Yama 2002-10-02 Graphics 88 Comments

"A history of computer interfaces follows a nice, tidy timeline. In the 1970s researchers at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center invented the basics of the point-and-click interface familiar today: mouse, windows, menus. Apple peeked at the research and brought it to the masses with the Macintosh in 1984. Ten years later, Microsoft copied Apple with Windows 95." Read the article at Wired.

Linux vs. Windows: The Rematch

Eugenia Loli 2002-10-01 Rumors 90 Comments

"You might be pretty happy with Windows XP. But Windows continues to suffer from more than its share of drawbacks: From the newer operating system's incompatibility with older software to Microsoft's well-known security problems, Windows still engenders a fair amount of user aggravation. Windows XP also subjects its users to the indignity of the Microsoft Product Activation service: You might have to ask Microsoft for a new key if you upgrade more than one or two major components." Watch the match at PCWorld.