OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Novell Announces Linux-Based Open Enterprise Server 2

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-30 Novell and Ximian 79 Comments

Novell on Nov. 30 announced its latest NetWare upgrade operating system, the Linux-powered Novell Open Enterprise Server 2. OES, which will be based on Novell's SLES 10, is designed to be a drop-in replacement for Novell NetWare servers, and a direct competitor to Microsoft's Server 2003.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Leave RISC OS

Submitted by Phil Mellor 2006-11-30 RISC OS 29 Comments

"Last month, I thought I left RISC OS. After 19 years of using Acorn or Acorn-derived computers, my love affair is no longer. I sit here writing this on my Mac Mini, and very happy I am with it too. My Iyonix lies abandoned - still sitting under the desk here, but not connected. And not actually used for some time. And it's weird - because, in some strange way, I thought I would be using RISC OS forever. In January 2005, I said: 'There's people who annoy me on the RISC OS scene, and I still wouldn't think of leaving. The nice people more than cancel it out, and besides - I just couldn't really do without using RISC OS.' So what changed?"

Introducing the Extensible Driver Interface

Guest post by Eli Gottlieb 2006-11-30 OS News 29 Comments

On December 28th, 2005 - a day which will live in anonymity - OSNews published an editorial of mine urging hobby and research operating system developers to implement Project UDI, because otherwise we (the small/ non-mainstream/ hobby/research OS community) would always wind up stuck with mutually incompatible sets of drivers for doing the same exact things. I also proclaimed that I would implement UDI for my own operating system kernel. Bad decision.

Five Reasons to Love and Hate Windows Vista

Submitted by Weevle 2006-11-30 Windows 110 Comments

"Microsoft finally launches the long-awaited Windows Vista today, promising better security and improved search and claiming it will be the fastest ever adopted operating system it has released. But some users have already questioned the business benefits of upgrading to Vista, citing the relative stability and security of Windows XP and a lack of compelling features in Vista. Based on using the second beta version of Vista here are the five things to get excited about Vista for - and the five things you'll hate it for."

Intel Completes Design of Penryn Chip

Submitted by Arielf 2006-11-30 Intel 17 Comments

Intel has completed the design of Penryn, a 45-nanometer chip that will be out toward the end of next year. The company is also in the midst of making its first Penryn samples. "They aren't out of the fab yet, but they are in the fab," said Mark Bohr, director of process technology at Intel.

Using the ImageIO Framework with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

Submitted by Hakime 2006-11-30 macOS 6 Comments

"The ImageIO framework, introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, allows applications to read and write popular image file formats. ImageIO works in conjunction with Quartz and is designed for maximum performance, convienient metadata access, and color management. As the definitive way to access image data on Mac OS X, you should consider using ImageIO in your application as a high-performance substitute for Image Importers or other image handling libraries. This article gets you started working with ImageIO, shows how to read and write data to and from Quartz, and points to some of the capabilities in working with Core Image that you can explore further on your own."

Windows Vista Product Guide Published

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-29 Windows 70 Comments

"A comprehensive feature-by-feature guide to Windows Vista. With contributions from people who actually worked on the product, this is the definitive resource to learn about Windows Vista. The Windows Vista Product Guide is available in the new Microsoft Word 2007 or the new XPS format."

Apple Patches 22 Security Holes in Mac OS X

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-29 macOS 85 Comments

A new security update released by Apple on Tuesday patches several exploits recently discovered in its Mac OS X operating system, including one widely publicized issue with its disk image software. Of the twenty two vulnerabilities fixed by the updated - which is labeled Security Update 2006-007 - twelve are related to flaws that could lead to arbitrary code execution.

Review: Shuttle XPC Mini X100HA Slimline PC

Thom Holwerda 2006-11-29 Hardware 16 Comments

El Reg has reviewed the Shuttle x100. "The Shuttle X100 is an unusual Windows PC that stands out thanks to its tiny size and stylish looks. It thoroughly deserves to reclaim the many receptionists' desks that are currently occupied by iMacs across the nation and it's ideal for duties in your living room where a noisy beige tower simply won't be tolerated."

Stallman: Novel/MS Deal Does Not Violate GPLv2

Submitted by anonymous 2006-11-29 Open Source 97 Comments

It got little notice at the time, but Richard Stallman, the leader of the FSF, said at the fifth international GPLv3 conference in Tokyo on Nov. 21 that the Novell/Microsoft patent agreement is not in violation of the GPL version 2. Stallman said, according to a transcript published by the FSF Europe, "What has happened is, Microsoft has not given Novell a patent license, and thus, section 7 of GPL version 2 does not come into play. Instead, Microsoft offered a patent license that is rather limited to Novell's customers alone."

Submitted by diegocg 2006-11-29 Linux 16 Comments

After 2 months, 2.6.19 has been released. This release includes the clustering GFS2 filesystem, Ecryptfs , the first experimental version of EXT4 (aimed at developers), support for the Atmel AVR32 architecture, sleepable RCU, improvements for NUMA-based systems, and much more.

CIO Reviews the Desktop OS Contenders

Submitted by Esther Schindler 2006-11-29 Rumors 25 Comments

Not necessarily what you expect from the top managers: Halamka judged three operating systems according to a variety of criteria including their performance, user interfaces and enterprise management capabilities, such as the ability to configure applications, easily organize file systems, and establish granular security control. CIO.org followed Halamka's progress, and now they have his conclusions.

Submitted by frik85 2006-11-29 ReactOS 21 Comments

ReactOS, the open source implementation of a Windows XP/2003 compatible operating system, just published a new interview in their series of interviews with ReactOS developers. Today's interview features the main DirectX implementation developer Magnus Olsen.

Submitted by MaxxTotal 2006-11-29 Windows 11 Comments

Microsoft will soon start pushing out a new version of its controversial Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications antipiracy tool to Windows XP users. The updated WGA Notifications package includes additional changes in response to continued criticism Microsoft has faced over the software, the company said Tuesday. Microsoft in June also updated the tool after critics likened it to spyware because it checked in with Microsoft after each Windows restart.

ROS Open Awaiting Licensing Wording agreement

Submitted by Michael Carter 2006-11-29 RISC OS No Comments

Punters wondering what the RISC OS Open lads are up to may be relieved by the following sliver of news. The project to open source Castle's RISC OS 5 is awaiting the dotting of eyes and crossing of tees on its licensing paperwork, it would appear.

Third NetBSD Hackathon Summary

Submitted by Jan Schaumann 2006-11-29 NetBSD 1 Comment

The third NetBSD Hackathon was held on Saturday and Sunday, November 25th and 26th, 2006, where NetBSD users and developers met on IRC to prepare NetBSD for the upcoming re-branching of NetBSD 4.0. Approximately thirty NetBSD developers and more than 140 NetBSD users joined in on the two days, paying particular attention to improving install documentation and ensure build stability. A Wiki page as a TODO list was used for the first time, an approach that is likely to be used in future hackathons. All in all, over 200 bugs have been worked on in those two days and while not all of the critical showstoppers could be fixed, valuable progress was made in identifying root causes.

Submitted by danq 2006-11-29 OS News 13 Comments

The GNU/DOS Project has been discontinued. From the web site: "Further development of GNU/DOS has been discontinued due to: a lack of developer time for the project; the fact that the project's objectives were not fully met; and the fact that the latest stable release of FreeDOS, when combined with the DJGPP development tools, is very much superior to the final release of GNU/DOS."

First Batch of OLPC Laptops Arrives from Factory

Submitted by editingwhiz 2006-11-29 Hardware 7 Comments

The One Laptop Per Child project yesterday received its first shipment of the low-cost Linux laptops that are intended for children in emerging-economy nations, project member Chris Blizzard reports on his blog. And it runs Doom.

Submitted by segedunum 2006-11-29 Novell and Ximian 13 Comments

In a posting to the Hula mailing list, Novell has stated that it is no longer providing full-time developers to work on Hula. Hula was unleashed in February 2005 to much fanfare. Things seem to have been quite recently, despite the news that iFolder and Hula would be combined into something called Maui.

TrollTech, Motorola Move In with Linux Phones

Eugenia Loli 2006-11-29 Wireless 10 Comments

Motorola is shipping the first model in its Scpl ("scalpel") line of Linux-based phones set to replace the ubiquitous Razr. The Motofone F3, available today in India, is an extremely low-end phone featuring an "electronic paper" display, breakthrough battery life, and usability features for the illiterate. Additionally, Linux may have taken another step toward mobile ubiquity with a new initiative from Trolltech called Greensuite.