OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Apache Harmony Releases First Milestone

Submitted by jjezabek 2007-05-06 Java 15 Comments

The Apache Harmony project has released the first stable build 5.0 M1. "Apache Harmony 5.0 M1 represents our best build so far, and we encourage users to download and try the runtime or development kit, and report their experiences to the Harmony mailing list."

Submitted by JCooper 2007-05-06 Ubuntu 24 Comments

"Intel have announced a new low-power processor and chipset architecture which will be designed to allow full internet use on mobile Internet devices. To fulfil the aims of our mission and in response to the technical challenges that these devices pose, we are announcing the Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project."

High End Amiga System To Use PA Semi Multicore Chips

Thom Holwerda 2007-05-05 Amiga & AROS 46 Comments

ACK has pretty much confirmed that their high-end Amiga system will use PA Semi chips. In an IRC session, Adam of ACK replied to the question how ACK was going to build a system faster than anything Apple ever produced on the PPC side: "Think PA Semi quad-core chips." Adam also said ACK started talks with PA Semi about a year ago, while also promising specifications of the high-end system to be released coming Monday.

Submitted by AdamW 2007-05-05 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 11 Comments

"Have you ever wished you had another computer handy? Maybe you want to try a new operating system out. Maybe you want to test something experimental without potentially breaking your own system. Maybe you need to run some software that only runs in a different operating system. Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring comes with a range of virtualization options that can help."

Interview: Carl Sassenrath, REBOL Technologies

Submitted by Sébastien Jeudy 2007-05-05 General Development 23 Comments

To celebrate the 1000th article of the magazine Obligement, Carl Sassenrath returns through this long interview on its origins at Amiga Inc. in the 1980's (Manager of AmigaOS and Amiga CDTV system development, among others), the bankruptcy of Commodore, its passages at Apple Computer and Viscorp, Amiga NG, or on its new revolutionary language REBOL. A classic name in the Silicon Valley!

Wave Your Hands Like Tom Cruise

Eugenia Loli 2007-05-05 Geek stuff 30 Comments

Remember the 'Minority Report' scenes in which Tom Cruise and others used their hands to manipulate data on giant computer screens? One man is on a mission to make that gestural interface technology commonplace on every desktop.

Arch Linux: Smooth and Cuddly

Eugenia Loli 2007-05-05 Linux 38 Comments

"Arch Linux, or Arch for short, is one of the uprising new distributions. Well, at least compared to old folks like Debian or Slackware it’s still fresh and shining. Arch is gaining new users and good reviews every day. Let’s find out why this is happening." More here.

OpenBSD 4.1: Puffy Strikes Again

Submitted by Nix_User 2007-05-05 OpenBSD 32 Comments

"OpenBSD 4.1 has just been released. Federico Biancuzzi interviewed several developers to discuss some of the new features for networking, active porting efforts (landisk and UltraSPARC III), work on SMP, and the improvements in spam fighting." More here.

Ubuntu: Too Good to be True?

Eugenia Loli 2007-05-05 Ubuntu 130 Comments

"The news that Dell will begin making the fast-growing Ubuntu flavor of Linux available on some of its machines should be welcomed by consumers everywhere." Read the rest of the review here.

OpenSUSE Survey Results Published

Submitted by Francis Giannaros 2007-05-04 SuSE, openSUSE 25 Comments

"The openSUSE survey results are now online. The survey was live for almost 3 months and more than 27000 user participated. Thank you all for your participation. With your input we all are able to make openSUSE better and better." Here are the detailed results.

Submitted by diegocg 2007-05-04 Red Hat 23 Comments

"In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 15 services in system space had confined SELinux domains defined. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, over 200 processes are confined by SELinux. The improved SELinux policy is much more precise in how it governs the operation of these services. It's far less likely that a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 system space process will be compromised or encounter an error caused by an SELinux policy not handling the specific requirements (e.g., file or directory access) of a service."

Submitted by shykid 2007-05-04 Internet 46 Comments

"Pidgin 2.0, the latest version of the popular open-source instant messaging client formerly known as Gaim, is now available for download. After months of development and numerous beta releases, Pidgin 2.0 is finally ready. A significant improvement over the current 1.5.x series, Pidgin 2.0 includes several compelling features and usability enhancements. Last year, we looked at the second beta release and concluded that much work still needed to be done. Many of the problems we discovered in the early Gaim 2.0 betas have since been resolved. The official Pidgin 2.0 release, available for download from the Pidgin web site, provides an impressive level of quality and reliability."

Submitted by Almafeta 2007-05-04 Microsoft 89 Comments

Software maker Microsoft asked search engine operator Yahoo to re-enter formal negotiations for an acquisition that could be worth USD 50 billion, the New York Post reported on Friday. Microsoft is feeling increasing pressure to compete with Google, which plans to beef up its portfolio with a USD 3.1 billion buy of online advertising company DoubleClick. Earlier this week, Yahoo said it would buy 80 percent of advertising exchange Right Media for USD 680 million, increasing its stake in that company to full control. Microsoft currently trails both Yahoo and Google in the lucrative and growing business of Web search. Update:. The deal's off.

Enlightenment 0.16.8.7 Released

Thom Holwerda 2007-05-04 Desktop environments 12 Comments

E16 version 0.16.8.7 and epplets version 0.10 are now available for download. "Add option to show windows on all desks in focus list. The CM now renders to the composite overlay window. Fix various updates when external background changes." Many more fixes are in the changelog.

Submitted by ozonehole 2007-05-04 Apple 26 Comments

"Colleagues at my former outlet, PC World magazine, have told me that Editor-in-Chief Harry McCracken quit abruptly today because the company’s new CEO, Colin Crawford, tried to kill a story about Apple and Steve Jobs. The piece, a whimsical article titled 'Ten Things We Hate About Apple', was still in draft form when Crawford killed it. McCracken said no way and walked after Crawford refused to compromise. Apparently Crawford also told editors that product reviews in the magazine were too critical of vendors, especially ones who advertise in the magazine, and that they had to start being nicer to advertisers."

Seven Steps to Kubuntu Feisty Fawn Bliss

Submitted by anonymous 2007-05-04 Ubuntu 50 Comments

It's been like 3 hours without an Ubuntu article, so here we go. "With the release of Ubuntu 7.04, Feisty Fawn, I naturally couldn't resist taking Kubuntu, my preferred Ubuntu version, for a quick spin on my trusty old Thinkpad testbed. Here is a six-step process through which I speedily arrived at a highly usable, fully capable desktop Linux system."

Introduction to UML

Submitted by FreeRhino 2007-05-04 General Development 17 Comments

"When you're designing and developing new software systems, it is often hard to see how all the pieces are suppose to fit together. Unified Modeling Language is one tool that allow developers and architects to ease the process and create a big picture before committing to a particular technology."

ACK: New Amiga Hardware To Arrive Despite Legal Battle

Thom Holwerda 2007-05-03 Amiga & AROS 45 Comments

ACK Controls, the company behind the newly announced Amiga hardware, has held an IRC session where they answered questions and provided more details concerning the upcoming hardware. According to ACK, the promised hardware will arrive with OS4 despite the legal battle going on between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion. On the high-spec machine (USD 1500), they said: "It's faster than anything Apple ever produced on the PowerPC side of things." Which is interesting, to say the least. The transcript containts many more details, and the Amiga community is discussing the matter as well.

RISC OS Select 4 Issue 2 Now Available

Thom Holwerda 2007-05-03 RISC OS 6 Comments

"Paul Middleton just emailed to let us know that RISC OS SelectInfo 4 Issue 2 is now available to download to any RISC OS Select subscriber who renewed their subscription on or after January 1st 2006. In the PR, Paul Middleton says: "Select 4 and its underlying RISC OS Six technology represents over 10 man years of development which has taken RISC OS 4 from its 26 bit version to its new fully 32 bit neutral source version.""

From 1981: the World’s First UMPC

Thom Holwerda 2007-05-03 Hardware 18 Comments

It's the original UMPC: Epson's HX-20, announced in 1981 - 25 years before Intel and Microsoft formally launched the ultra-mobile PC category, in April 2006. Epson's machine wasn't the first portable computer - that honour goes to the Osborne 1. But while the Osborne was a beast of a machine, designed more as a desktop you could take from place to place, the HX-20 was a truly a system for computing on the move. So while the HX-20 combined not only a full QWERTY keyboard, a display, storage and even a printer into its 28.4 x 21.3 x 4.4cm casing, but also a rechargeable Ni-Cad battery.