PC-BSD Announces Redistribution Agreement with Adobe

  Submitted by Charles A Landemaine PC-BSD 32 Comments
"iXsystems announced an agreement with Adobe Systems that will allow the next version of PC-BSD to have a Flash-enabled browser available on a default installation. The Linux version of Adobe's popular Flash player will run on PC-BSD using FreeBSD's Linux compatibility layer." In other news, snapshots of the development branch of PC-BSD are now available and built three times a week.
Read More

The Return Of The 8 Bits?

Hardware 63 Comments
In this article, I'm going to explore the idea that the 8 bit home computer not only had a great deal to offer the prehistoric early-humans of 1985 but that it may also have a place in the modern world; perhaps, there is something that we can learn from it. Having identified the laudable, worthwhile elements of this class of machine, I'm going to make some suggestions towards a scheme that would embody these characteristics in the form of a machine that would have a place within the modern world.
Read More

The Vista PC Diet Plan

  Submitted by AdministratorX Windows 72 Comments
Apple's new 'Stuffed' commercial pokes fun at preinstalled applications - better known as craplets - loaded up on new Windows PCs. Apple isn't alone in the craplet disdain. Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg wrote columns on April 5 and April 12 about the craplet dilemma. Mossberg identified two problems: "One is the plethora of teaser software and advertisements for products that must be cleared and uninstalled to make way for your own stuff. The second is the confusing welter of security programs you have to master and update, even on a virgin machine."
Read More

Review: Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

  Submitted by John Chow Wireless 15 Comments
"Nokia's latest device, the N800 Internet Tablet, is unique, to say the least. It's not a smartphone, yet it can send and receive e-mail messages; it's not a phone, yet it can make phone calls; it's not a portable multimedia player; yet it can playback audio/video files; and it's not a notebook, yet it can browser the web. Are you confused yet? Alright, let's see if we can define the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. The N800 does a lot of things, but it can't be placed in any one of the multitude of portable categories. Nope, it's in a category all by itself."
Read More

Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring Released

  Submitted by AdamW Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 31 Comments
Mandriva announced the release of Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Download the hybrid live/install CD One or the purely free/open source Free. Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring includes the latest software (KDE 3.5.6, GNOME 2.18, Firefox and Thunderbird 2.0) and several new features: Metisse; WengoPhone; Google desktop applications like Picasa and Earth; updates and improvements to many of the Mandriva configuration tools and the brand new drakvirt for configuring virtualization; and a brand new desktop theme. For more information see the Spring product page and the Wiki page, where you can find download and installation instructions, the Release Tour, the Release Notes and the Errata.
Read More

GNUstep Base 1.14.0, Make 2.0.0 Released

OpenStep, GNUstep 29 Comments
GNUstep Base 1.14.0 has been released: "This release continues the process of cleanup and restructuring to further improve MacOS-X compatibility, fix bugs, optimise performance, and improve portability between different hardware/operating system platforms." GNUstep Make 2.0.0 has also been released: "Version 2.0.0 is a new major release of gnustep-make which includes a number of major changes compared to previous 1.x releases."
Read More

The Workaround Trap

Editorial 79 Comments
Let me begin by telling you a little story. Some time ago I needed to run a script at work once a day. We had tons of machines ranging from big Unix servers to Linux desktops. Due to various reasons the script could only be run on a desktop machine. However using cron was disabled on desktops. All other machines allowed cron.
Read More

AbiWord 2.5.1 for AmigaOS4 Released, Includes KHTML Browser

  Submitted by Raffaele Amiga & AROS 15 Comments
AbiWord 2.5.1 has been released for AmigaOS4 using Cygnix. Besides AbiWord's usual word processing features, this package also includes a KHTML-based browser for AmigaOS4. "Additionally, for displaying the online help files the KHTML based browser, 'osb-browser', is included! This browser has following features: standards compliant (x)html rendering engine with CSS support; Javascript support; SSL support."
Read More

Interview: Mark Shuttleworth

  Submitted by suka Ubuntu 50 Comments
The founder of the Ubuntu-project talks in an interview about the integration of proprietary drivers, the One Laptop per Child project, and 'great applications' from Microsoft. "I certainly would not push the large IT companies to put Linux on consumer PCs, because I understand that in their business, the cost of a user accidentally getting Linux, thinking that they get cheap Windows would be a problem for the companies selling the computers. So I don't think it is really ready yet for mass consumer sales of Linux on desktop."
Read More

Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin

  Submitted by diegocg Multimedia, AV 42 Comments
Microsoft has released a Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox. The plugin obviously only works on Windows. "We couldn't respond as quickly as we would have liked to (we had to get Windows Vista out the door!), but now that it's shipped, the team has moved its attention to getting Firefox users up and running. This week we are happy to say that we have a new plug-in for Firefox that makes WMP work once again."
Read More

Screenshots of Haiku Serving Webpage

  Submitted by meianoite Haiku 25 Comments
Haiku enthusiast umccullough has posted two very interesting screenshots of Haiku. In the first screenshot, you see Haiku serving a web page using RobinHood, where the second one shows an XP box browsing said web page. The Haiku groupies axe murderers users and developers in #haiku explained, however, that people should not get the wrong picture; Haiku is not ready, in any way, for public consumption, nor is it capable of serving a web page for a prolonged period of time. Just so you know. Update: And another screenshot showing BeShare running on Haiku.
Read More

Using Java for Real-Time Systems

  Submitted by BlueVoodoo Java 18 Comments
"This article, the first in a five-part series on real-time Java, describes the key challenges to using the Java language to develop systems that meet real-time performance requirements. It presents a broad overview of what real-time application development means and how runtime systems must be engineered to meet the requirements of real-time applications. The authors introduce an implementation that addresses real-time Java challenges through a combination of standards-based technologies."
Read More

BlackBerry OS 4.2 Ready for 8700, 7310; Widgets for Symbian S60

Wireless 1 Comment
Research In Motion's newest BlackBerry devices, the Pearl and 8800, run on BlackBerry OS 4.2. An upgrade to this platform from version 4.1 is ready to go for the older 8700 and 7310 models, according to an unnamed RIM executive who leaked this and some additional information The Boy Genius. On other mobile news, Nokia today announced the addition of Widgets and Web Run-Time to its S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 smartphone platform (to be released next year).
Read More