Syllable Server 0.2 Released

  Submitted by Kaj de Vos Syllable, AtheOS 11 Comments
The Syllable project has published the second version of the Linux-based Syllable Server. A number of fixes were made, most notably to terminal initialisation and printing. GhostScript is included now. Some of the Syllable-specific initialisation scripts are executed now. Many packages were updated, including GLibC, CoreUtils, BASh, ORCA and the printing packages. Several new packages were added. IPTables is included, so Syllable Server can be used to build a firewall. The wireless tools are included for configuring wireless networks. The ALSA userspace library and tools were added to provide full access to the audio system, instead of relying on OSS emulation. All separate binary packages for Server 0.1 are still valid on Server 0.2. On Syllable, binary compatibility is maintained as much as possible.
Read More

First Look at Geubuntu 7.10

Ubuntu 37 Comments
DistroWatch reviews Geubuntu, and concludes: "For Enlightenment and Ubuntu fans this distro is custom made for you. It takes the best of Ubuntu and combines it with a great desktop environment. If Ubuntu or Kubuntu is a bit too heavy for your equipment, then Geubuntu just might be what you need. It might also be an idea for those who find Elive a bit overwhelming, or those who like to be a bit different from the rest of the crowd."
Read More

A First Look at KDE 4.0 Release Candidate 2

  Submitted by andrewg KDE 67 Comments
Ars takes a look at the new RC2 release of KDE 4.0. "Transitions are always hard, but when the dust settles, a clean break between versions and an opportunity to introduce some innovative new ideas should lead to a stronger user experience. After years of development, unnecessary cruft builds up and things tend to get disorganized. The KDE 4 transition, though it will definitely be rocky at first, gives developers the ability to cut away the cruft and reorganize code in a manner that makes the whole environment more future-proof and easier to maintain."
Read More

Opera Files Antitrust Complaint with the EU Against Microsoft

  Submitted by abdavidson Legal 156 Comments
"Opera Software filed a complaint with the European Commission yesterday which is aimed at giving consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers. The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer."
Read More

GNOME Theme Designer Adds Transparency to Gtk+

  Submitted by SEJeff GTK+ 85 Comments
"GNOME theme engine designer Andrea Cimitan has implemented support for transparent widgets in the Murrine GTK theme engine, bringing Vista-like translucent glass effects to the GNOME desktop. Cimitan used RGBA colormaps to implement the feature and says that, with only 10 or 20 extra lines of code, translucency can easily be added to other theme engines that support RGBA. Cimitan says that the addition of translucency effects proves that critics of GTK are wrong. "n the last week I've seen a lot of people claiming about 'lacks' of Gtk+ capabilities," wrote Cimitan in a blog entry. "Some of them still think that Gtk+ doesn't have RGBA support... Or it will require nasty hacks. This is absolutely false."
Read More

Anatomy of an Operating System for Small Devices

  Submitted by Adam Dunkels Wireless 1 Comment
An article series at embedded.com discusses how to choose an operating system for tiny, low-power, memory-constrained wireless embedded devices: "The smart sensors used in wireless industrial and building automation applications are often characterized by energy restrictions, small CPUs, and small memory footprints. The limited resources of the hardware make special applications necessary, which in turn create special requirements for the system software." Part 1, and part 2.
Read More

The Greatest Linux Innovations of 2007

  Submitted by Michael Linux 56 Comments
"The year is winding down and while we have a lot to look forward to next year, what were the greatest Linux innovations of this year? This year at Phoronix, we have published over 325 articles, with most of them being Linux hardware and graphics reviews, and that is in addition to over 700 original news entries. After spending much time in considering what the "best" and most substantial Linux gains over the year have been, we have comprised a list of what we believe are the greatest Linux innovations of 2007 along with our reasoning behind these decisions."
Read More

Symbian & Protothreads

  Submitted by mcwoods General Development No Comments
Symbian's introductory training covers Active Objects. Active Objects are a Symbian specific method of providing co-operative multitasking. During the introduction to Active Objects we are all told about how inefficient and bloated multi threaded applications can be. Each thread requires heap and stack space, it requires kernel resources to provide for the context switching, and time slicing. All of this is an overhead on a device with limited resources. Instead Symbian provide Active Objects. We can have many Active Objects within a single process all waiting on different events. This means that we do not need as many threads, and hence we consume less resources. More here.
Read More

MikeOS 1.1 Released

  Submitted by M-Saunders OS News 10 Comments
Written entirely in x86 assembly language, MikeOS is designed as a learning tool for assembler and basic OS design. New features in 1.1 include a Mac OS X build script and various improvements to the Handbook, which explains how it works and how to make your own first OS.
Read More

Using a Bluetooth Phone with Linux

  Submitted by diegocg Wireless 10 Comments
"My old mobile phone, which was held together with duct tape for the last few months of its sad existence, has finally been replaced with something more modern. I wanted to pick up a programmable, Linux-based phone like the RAZR2V8 or the FIC Neo1973, but I'm unfortunately a Verizon customer, which means that my options are currently very, very limited—at least until Verizon follows through with its open network plans." More here.
Read More

Theora vs. h.264

Benchmarks 112 Comments
A lot was said lately about the Vorbis/Theora vs h.264/AAC situation on the draft of the HTML5. As some of you know, video is my main hobby these days (I care not about operating systems anymore), so I have gain some experience on the field lately, and at the same time this has made me more demanding about video quality. Read on for a head to head test: OGG Theora/Vorbis vs MP4 h.264/AAC. Yup, with videos. And pictures.
Read More

Microsoft Office 2007 SP1 Arrives Early; XP SP3 RC1 Released

Microsoft 15 Comments
The Office team beat its own deadline of early 2008 and will release Office 2007 Service Pack 1 Dec. 11. In an unusual move, the software maker limited testing of the update to the productivity suite to a few months and only at large enterprises in its Technology Adopter Program, as well as internally at Microsoft, to shave time off the production schedule, sources told eWEEK. Additionally, Office:Mac 2008 has gone gold. The third service pack or Windows XP has also seen its first RC.
Read More

Sun Brings Niagara 2 Chip to Open Source

Oracle and SUN 17 Comments
Sun Microsystems is releasing the specifications of its new UltraSPARC T2 processor, formally code named Niagara 2, to the open-source community Dec. 12, as part of the company's ongoing effort to build more of a community around its signature chip. The goal of releasing Niagara 2 into the open-source community through the General Public License is to create a larger community around the chip and increase the number of operating systems and applications that can use the processor, said Shrenik Mehta, senior director for Fronted Technologies and the OpenSPARC Program at Sun. In 2005, the company released the specification for the UltraSPARC T1 processor and the designs have been downloaded 6500 times since then, Mehta said.
Read More