OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Red Hat Shows a More Limber Linux

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-25 Red Hat 30 Comments

"A new beta release of red hat linux, code-named Limbo, hit FTP servers earlier this month, giving users a first look at what is likely to become Version 8.0 of Red Hat Inc.'s most popular Linux distribution." Read the preview at eWeek. OSNews also had a preview of Limbo recently.

The Importance of Being Debian

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-25 Debian 26 Comments

"Eight years ago, as Purdue undergraduate Ian Murdock flipped through a Unix magazine, he came across an intriguing advertisement. It was for a Linux distribution that promised to let you run your Windows applications on the free operating system. Linux had sprung into existence a scant year before and now -- according to the ad -- it could support Windows applications. This seemed too good to be true. It was." Old, but good read, to match the release of Debian GNU/Linux 3.0.

Windows .NET Server Achieves Major Milestone; RC1 Delivered

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-25 Windows 18 Comments

"Microsoft Corp. today announced at the company's .NET Briefing Day that its upcoming Windows .NET Server operating system has reached the RC1 milestone. Release candidate 1 (RC1) is an important step leading up to the product's final delivery, signifying that engineering, development and beta testing have been completed and that the server code is entering the final phases of testing and completion work prior to its release to manufacturing. Microsoft Windows .NET Server RC1 code will be available for third-party testers to download beginning tomorrow and will be available for customers to begin previewing next week." Read the rest of the press release at Microsoft.com.

Why you Should Take a Mac User to Lunch

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-25 Apple 25 Comments

"Apple's new rackmount server is just another Unix box -- with big implications for the Linux community. Four million new Unix users a year, that's the MacOS X promise and it's a market full of friends with whom we should be working." Read the article at LinuxWorld.

Bill Gates: Slow going for .Net

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-24 .NET 51 Comments

Hitting snags as it stitches together its wide-reaching software-as-a-service plans, Microsoft casts .Net farther and wider. Microsoft acknowledges that its software strategy has been slow to catch on and lays out a plan to move it forward. Therefore, it's opening up to one of the most important open-source software projects, Apache, and getting closer to a key software rival as well, Oracle.

Apple, Microsoft Near OS Update Releases

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-24 OS News 34 Comments

"Apple Computer and Microsoft on Tuesday took steps toward releasing important operating system updates. Both companies are expected to release updates to their operating systems next month. Apple plans to release Mac OS X 10.2, and Microsoft is readying Windows XP Service Pack 1, the first collection of bug fixes and updates to the operating system released last October. Testers working with the releases said the companies are close to issuing near-final versions of the operating systems." Read the report at ZDNews.

Opteron: The Rodney Dangerfield of Processors?

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-24 AMD 42 Comments

"AMD's forthcoming Opteron processor--aka Hammer--packs ground-breaking technology: Its hybrid design allows the chip to run 32- or 64-bit operating systems natively. Plus, AMD claims that one Opteron running in its 32-bit mode will outperform two XEONs--the heart of the most advanced 32-bit servers based on Intel technology. But where are the benchmarks? Which system vendors are planning Opteron-based servers? And what about software support? Until some of these pieces fall into place, AMD's gamble looks to be facing some long odds." Read the set of articles at ZDNews.

O’Reilly: Open-source .Net Inches Closer to Fruition

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-24 Mono 31 Comments

"The open-source effort to create a freely available version of Microsoft's .Net development environment is set to take a leap forward Wednesday, when developers from the effort known as the Mono Project detail its latest accomplishments at a conference dedicated to open-source software." Read the report About the O'Reilly open source conference at InfoWorld.

IBM Released DB2 v8.1

Submitted by Frank 2002-07-23 Databases 22 Comments

IBM has released DB2 v8.1 for Linux, HP, AIX, Solaris, os390 and Windows today. New features include multi-dimensional clustering (queries and analytics nearly 100% faster), self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing, self-protecting, and the ability to consolidate Web Services queries through a single SQL statement.

On the Subject of CPU Benchmarks

Submitted by JBQ 2002-07-23 Benchmarks 103 Comments

Developer Jean-Baptiste Queru wrote a short editorial regarding the SPEC benchmarks and how modern CPUs are competing these days based on the specific benchmarks. JBQ talks about the Pentium4, AthlonXPs, Itanium and especially about the G4. Update: JBQ just wrote a redux article.

Linux: Twelve Steps to Desktop Dominance

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-23 Linux 48 Comments

"While I normally turn a cold shoulder to all those increasingly arcane ways of dividing people into two groups we keep inventing, there's one that I think holds the key to Linux's prospects for success on the mainstream desktop." Read the article at LinuxAndMain.

Borland Speeds Kylix C++ for Linux Development

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-23 General Development 21 Comments

Borland Software Corp is set to build on an early lead among Linux developers, with today's expected launch of a C++ rapid application development (RAD) environment. Scotts Valley, California-based Borland will announce version 3.0 of its Kylix RAD environment for C++. Previous versions of Kylix targeted Delphi programmers on Windows and Linux. Read the rest of the report at TheRegister.

Cheap PCs With Lindows Are Well Intentioned but Flawed

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-23 Linspire 34 Comments

"Wal-Mart, the most mass-market retailer imaginable, is committing an outrageous form of computing heresy: On its Web site, it's selling Windows-compatible personal computers without Windows. Stranger yet, the PCs (built by Microtel Computer Systems, a Los Angeles area manufacturer) come installed with a version of Linux, the open-source operating system that has been giving Microsoft fits lately." WashingtonPost reviews Wal-Mart PCs with Lindows.

NetBSD 1.5.3 Released

Submitted by Dan 2002-07-22 NetBSD 23 Comments

The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce that Release 1.5.3 of the NetBSD operating system is now available. NetBSD 1.5.3 is a maintenance release for users of NetBSD 1.5.2, 1.5.1, 1.5 and earlier releases, which provides the following updates relative to 1.5.2: A number of security problems have been fixed, some performance fixes have been incorporated, improved device support in some existing drivers, some new device drivers have been added.

Interview with YellowDog’s Dan Burcaw

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-22 Original OSNews Interviews 17 Comments

In light of the recent release of YDL 2.3, we are happy today to host an exclusive interview with Dan Burcaw, co-founder, CTO, and lead developer of YellowDog Linux, the Red Hat-based, PPC-only Linux distribution for the Mac platform.

Microsoft Embeds HailStorm into .Net

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-22 .NET 12 Comments

Contrary to reports that Microsoft has abandoned its HailStorm technology (aka .NET MyServices), company officials have revealed plans to embed components of the XML schema and data-access technology throughout its .Net application, server, and client stack. The software giant is combining HailStorm services, a unified storage system, and collaborative SharePoint services toward the goal of building a universal canvas infrastructure across multiple product groups. Read the report at InfoWorld.

Mandrake 9.0 Beta1 Released

Submitted by dave_sn 2002-07-22 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 36 Comments

From DistroWatch: "The first beta of the brand new Mandrake 9.0 release has hit the mirrors. Get the three CD images here: MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD1.i586.iso (700MB), MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD2.i586.iso (700MB) and MandrakeLinux-9.0beta1-CD3.i586.iso (498MB) (if these URLs don't work, try here). The version increase from 8 to 9 has been justified by a jump to KDE 3.x, Gnome 2 and GCC 3." Update: It seems that Mandrake Software does well these days. Thanks goes to Michael Matthews for the pointer.

“Star Wars” Effects Studio Shifts to Intel

Submitted by Michael Slater 2002-07-22 Multimedia, AV 40 Comments

The technical effects studio has switched from using RISC-Unix workstations from SGI to using Intel-based Dell systems running Linux for the bulk of its animation and special effects work, said Cliff Plumer, ILM's chief technology officer. As part of the conversion, ILM recently deployed 600 Pentium 4 workstations. "The Intel workstations that were deployed were probably 20 percent of the price of SGI workstations we bought a few years ago," Plumer said. "Performance-wise, they are about three times as fast." Read the report at News.com.

The Game Theory of Open Code

Eugenia Loli 2002-07-21 Open Source 48 Comments

"A company selling proprietary software to third parties will never open its code if the company has a competitor. It will never release its software under the GNU GPL. If you consider open code a benefit to society, you may want to propagate open-code legislation or otherwise try to stimulate new competition in the marketplace." A draft of this article has been stirring up much debate on the Free Software law mailing list, but this is the first time it's been published at a web site.

Benchmark Duel: Mac vs. PC, Round II

Submitted by Prognathous 2002-07-21 Benchmarks 107 Comments

"The dual Athlon is still the fastest PC we've tested, but the single Intel P4 2.53 GHz machine runs a close second, and even beats the dual Athlon on some of the tests. And, as expected, the Mac dual 1GHz G4 could not even come close to keeping up with these two PCs. Even though the P4 machine has only a single processor, it was easy for it to leave the dual-processor Mac far behind." Read the benchmarks at DigitalVideoEditing.