OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Intel Cools with Multi-Core Chips

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 Intel 8 Comments

Intel scientists are putting two chip cores into the same piece of silicon--with promises to improve performance by 'core hopping' and keeping the transistors cooler. Read the report at ZDNews.com. Update: In the meantime, OSNews reader Kelvin Tong tells us that HWExtreme has exclusive pictures and a preview of the AMD "Hammer" Opteron processor.

TrollTech Previews Qt 3.1

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 Qt 9 Comments

The new Qt 3.1 upgrade features hundreds of enhancements, TrollTech claims. Among the features are better ActiveX support, Motif integration, while for MacOSX you will find integration with the Appearance Manager, anti-aliased text drawing, and user settings. The Qt OpenGL support for OSX is also greatly improved, and uses the hardware-accelerated drivers. Also, Qt 3.1 offers more classes available for multi-threading, thereby optimizing performance. Elsewhere, GTKmm 1.3.21 for GTK+ 2 was released.

Rational Rethinks Modeling Tool for .Net

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 General Development 5 Comments

Rational on Monday spruced up its XDE Professional tool with support for Microsoft's Visual Basic.Net language and ASP.Net class library technology, which makes it easier to build complex Web-based business systems by handling much of the underlying plumbing. In the meantime, Microsoft is shipping to testers a new Visual Studio .NET, codenamed Everett Beta 1.

Open-Source Databases Hike Enterprise Appeal

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 Databases 13 Comments

"The creators of the open-source databases MySQL and PostgreSQL are trying to push them further into the enterprise with new features aimed at better support for transactions, database recovery and replication." Read the news at eWeek. On the other hand, VA-Software said that they had to switch SourceForge to IBM's DB2, because their database grows very fast (70 new projects and 700 new users daily) and while they did a move from mySQL to PostgreSQL a year ago (mySQL is faster for smaller dbs, while PostgreSQL scales better), now they have to move again to an even more powerful database, which happens to be proprierty.

The Little Penguin That Could – Or Not

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 Linux 26 Comments

"Now Wal-Mart's website is selling $299 PCs that run on an operating system called Lindows (Microsoft is suing over the name), while another Linux brand called Lycoris Desktop LX is about to hit the shelves at CompUSA. The ubiquitous Linux logo, a penguin, is already a hit at places like IBM and much of the U.S. government. Should the rest of us tune him in too?" Read the article at Time.com. On the other hand, eWeek has a kinda opposite article: "Linux vendors are showing a renewed interest in developing a desktop version of the operating system to challenge Microsoft Corp. But many corporate users are simply not ready for—or not interested in—such a product."

Too Many Unices? HP Supports them All

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 Unix 13 Comments

"It's not an easy job, but Hewlett-Packard is determined to support no fewer than five major operating systems: Linux, HP-UX, Tru64, OpenVMS and Windows. Dig a bit deeper and it's even more complicated with three main flavors of Linux -- Debian, Red Hat, and UnitedLinux -- and at least as many versions of Windows -- Windows 2000, XP and the up coming .NET Server." The story is at NewsForge.

MicroBSD 0.5 released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-20 FreeBSD 15 Comments

As seen over at Deadly.org: "Some Bulgarian fellows made a tiny BSD distro, which is a mix between FreeBSD and OpenBSD, has some ports and other stuff -a. Full install is about 200 megs, the install iso is 64 MB.It can run on low end x86 boxes." More infrormation here.

JaysOS 0.2 for the Gameboy Advance

Submitted by Ranjit Mathew 2002-08-20 OS News 4 Comments

Justin Armstrong wrote JaysOS, a "toy OS" that runs on the Gameboy Advance. It provides preemptive threads, semaphores, condition variables, and message queues. As of 0.2, it also includes a port of the Waba VM for Java bytecodes. Waba comes with a few interesting demo applets you can try out. The OS apps interact with the world using the "UI Manager". Screenshots and more information available.

Third Red Hat Limbo Beta Released

Submitted by Richard Goodwin 2002-08-19 Red Hat 38 Comments

The third ("null") beta of Red Hat Linux has been updated. New in this release include lots of bug fixes and gcc-3.2. Gcc-3.2 allows for better ABI compatibility going forward. Note that C++ apps compiled on the first beta will not run on this beta.

Wanted: Killer App for New Smartphone

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-19 Wireless 19 Comments

Sony Ericsson challenges developers to come up with an irresistible program for its P800 phone. Analysts say it's a sign that software development for smartphones is in the doldrums. Read the news at News.com. Our Take: This is so unoriginal. There is only one application that can be re-created easily, to match a phone's requirements, that is completely a must-have for a phone/PDA that has internet access: A Watson replica. Even Apple had to copycat it for its new Sherlock, and even we asked for it. Watson just rocks, and it is extra useful when you are "on the go".

Post Red Hat Knock-off, Sun Still Plans Own Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-19 Oracle and SUN 12 Comments

Sun Microsystems Inc has maintained that it will be developing its own extensions to the Linux operating system after confirming suggestions that its recently released Sun Linux 5.0 distribution is based almost entirely on Red Hat Inc's Linux 7.2, writes Matthew Aslett. You can also read an interview with Sun Microsystems Chief Executive Scott McNealy.

Apple’s Chief in the Risky Land of the Handhelds

Submitted by claudio 2002-08-19 Wireless 22 Comments

A thought-provoking New York Times article examines the evidence that Apple may secretly be working on a PDA/Phone device. It cites some cryptic statements by Steve Jobs about how PDAs are going to be replaced by phones, and some not-so-cryptic ones about the sorry state of the handheld offerings today. The article's main evidence, though, is the interesting proliferation of features in Max OS X.2 that have more immediately applicable benefit in a handheld, like handwriting recognition and the "internet distilled" functionality of Sherlock (also seen in the shareware app Watson). Apple already has a license to use the iPod software in a second device.

Classic AmigaOS Emulation – A Guide for WinUAE

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2002-08-19 Amiga & AROS 38 Comments

As Amiga Inc is about to re-enter the computer arena with new AmigaOS4 powered desktop systems as well as with 3rd party embedded products utilizing AmigaDE technology pre-installed, there are a growing number of people who wonder what an advanced classic AmigaOS currently offers. This was an important reason for me to write a simple to understand WinUAE tutorial, so this would hopefully help interested people with setting up a fun and easy to use emulated AmigaOS environment on widely available mainstream Windows computers. This article also includes many WinUAE screenshots and information on acquiring and using freely available software.

KDE 3.0.3 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-19 KDE 4 Comments

KDE 3.0.3 primarily provides stability enhancements over KDE 3.0.2, which shipped in eary July 2002, and also contains a security correction for SSL (Internet security) certificate handling. The full announcement can be found here.

Pictures from LinuxWorld 2002

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-19 Linux 15 Comments

A few days ago, we published our special report from LinuxWorld. Now, it is time to check out some of the pictures we took from the expo!

SharpDevelop 0.89 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-18 General Development 14 Comments

So, you downloaded the free .NET SDK and compiler but you don't have a good and free IDE for your C# programming? The open source SharpDevelop 0.89 was just released and is available for download: "This release completes a major restructuring of the infrastructure and source code tree. Projects support backend bindings that are not targeting compilers, the object browser has much more functionality than before, folding was re-integrated and a new XML formatting strategy added (for details, see the Changes section). Our feature preview this time: a Windows Forms Designer. Take a look at the tech note and source code - if you have time to spare, help us make it a great open source implementation of a forms designer!"

Power PC Assembly Primer

Submitted by Debra 2002-08-18 General Development 15 Comments

Here is an overview of assembly language from a PowerPC perspective that contrasts examples for three architectures: ia32, ppc, and ppc64. This article assumes a basic understanding of computer design and of operating systems (system calls, exceptions, process stacks). It contains information that will be useful to PowerPC programmers unfamiliar with assembly as well as programmers who already know IA32 assembly and want to broaden their knowledge.

Reviews of MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-17 macOS 42 Comments

The MacOSX beta was a preview for hardcore fanatics. OSX 10.0 was not for the faint of heart. And OSX 10.1 was the first version of Apple's new OS that was ready for everyday use. So what should we make of OSX 10.2 -- also known as Jaguar -- now that it has arrived? Read a review at MacWorld, and another one at RagingApathy. Expect the OSNews review for MacOSX 10.2 Jaguar on the 26th of this month.

DirectX 9.0 API Specification Document

Eugenia Loli 2002-08-17 3D 11 Comments

From NeoWin: "We have released the latest version of the DirectX D3D API to compliment the Beta 2 documentation. We recommend you review both the SDK documentation and this specification to assist development using Beta 2 DirectX D3D. The document includes: D3D-9 specs, D3D-9 shader specs, API changes explained, miscellaneous changes explained, sample code."

Mastering Linux Debugging Techniques

Submitted by Koki 2002-08-17 General Development 4 Comments

The article explains Linux debugging tools and techniques in various scenarios. It reviews debugging problems, including segmentation faults, memory overruns and leaks, and hangs. This article also appears in the August 2002 issue of the IBM developerWorks journal.