OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

What Makes a Good Programming Language?

Eugenia Loli 2006-10-22 General Development 27 Comments

There are plenty of programming languages around. David Chisnall points out the various factors that determine what makes a "good" language. But note his caveat: These principles don't always apply in any given set of circumstances!

A Bit More Insight Into Munich’s Debian

Submitted by Christian Jensen 2006-10-21 Debian 82 Comments

Steve McIntyre visited the LiMux team in Munich and has posted a small report about the visit on his blog. LiMux is the specially tailored Debian distribution City of Munich deploys. "I'd like to talk some more about LiMux, the project being run within the City of Munich to replace all of their desktop Windows systems with Linux. They gave us a demonstration and answered lots of our questions."

Intel GMA 3000 Linux Graphics Performance

Submitted by Michael Larabel 2006-10-21 Intel 26 Comments

In August Intel had announced their new Linux graphics driver website as well as announcing the immediate availability of open-source display drivers for the 965 Express Chipset. This Chipset offers fourth-generation Intel graphics architectures in the form of the GMA 3000 and GMA X3000. Phoronix ran some tests on the Q965 Chipset and GMA 3000 graphics with their open-source drivers, and have their results to share today under GNU/Linux.

Setting and Managing Permissions on UNIX

Submitted by anonymous 2006-10-21 Unix 2 Comments

UNIX provides robust tools and infrastructure so that you can both protect and share information. This article looks at user privileges and, in particular, examines how to manipulate file permissions to restrict or share your directories and files with others. Understanding permissions is crucial if you want to speak UNIX fluently. Learn how to manipulate file permissions to protect your files, or share them with others.

nVIDIA Releases a Performance and Debug Tool for Linux

Submitted by anonymous 2006-10-20 3D 36 Comments

NVPerfKit is a comprehensive suite of performance tools to help debug and profile OpenGL and Direct3D applications. It gives you access to low-level performance counters inside the driver and hardware counters inside the GPU itself. The counters can be used to determine exactly how your application is using the GPU, identify performance issues, and confirm that performance problems have been resolved.

Mainframe 2.0 Concepts for Java Developers

Submitted by anonynmous 2006-10-20 Java 26 Comments

"The mainframe is cool again as shops move to consolidate servers and run enterprise systems on a single platform with robust diversification. Some are even speculating that a rebirth is occurring and are talking about Mainframe 2.0. Currently, IBM z/OS supports many open protocols and other recent innovations including support for Java. Get an overview of the z/OS world for Java developers and learn how to deploy a Java application on the new Big Iron."

Information on Reports of IE 7 Vulnerability

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-20 Internet Explorer 92 Comments

"We've gotten some questions here today about public reports claiming there's a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7. These reports are technically inaccurate: the issue concerned in these reports is not in Internet Explorer 7 (or any other version) at all. Rather, it is in a different Windows component, specifically a component in Outlook Express. While these reports use Internet Explorer as a vector the vulnerability itself is in Outlook Express." Meanwhile, Adam has published an article on IE7 on his blog: "IE7 is a major plus for anyone who understands the internet and networks, and especially for those who do web development. Read on for a lengthy review."

Screenshots from the Latest Leopard Build

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-20 macOS 35 Comments

The Unofficial Apple Weblog has some screenshots of the latest Leopard build, and since MacRumors says they're real, they're of course real. Anyway, they show off Safari's anti-phishing features, as well as the improved previews in the Finder. There are also some shots of iCal's new look.

POWER6 Set to Carry the POWER4/POWER5/970 Lineage Forward?

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-20 IBM 10 Comments

"Last week at MPF, IBM unveiled some fresh details of its forthcoming POWER6 server microarchitecture. The company has been fairly stingy with POWER6 information, and most of what was released last week involved the system level. Nonetheless, there were a few interesting tidbits for those of us who are into microprocessors."

Microsoft Blocks Vista Rootkit Exploit

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-20 Windows 12 Comments

Microsoft has blocked the attack vector used to slip unsigned drivers past new security policies being implemented in Windows Vista, according to Joanna Rutkowska, the stealth malware researcher who created the exploit. Rutkowska, who demonstrated the exploit at the Black Hat conference in August, said she tested the attack against Windows Vista RC2 x64 and found that the exploit doesn't work anymore. "The reason: Vista RC2 now blocks write-access to raw disk sectors for user mode applications, even if they are executed with elevated administrative rights," Rutkowska wrote on her Invisible Things blog.

Microsoft Set to Tap Non-Pro Tools Market

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-20 General Development 35 Comments

Who wants to be a programmer? Microsoft is hoping everyday folks will take the challenge by using its non-professional programming tools, and other vendors are following suit. Microsoft is poised to tap the nascent market for development tools to enable non-professionals to create applications, having established a team specifically built for this push and planning several initiatives, including a new Web site strictly for beginners.

Writing Solaris Device Drivers in Java

Submitted by Ian Rogers 2006-10-20 Solaris 34 Comments

"We present an experimental implementation of the Java Virtual Machine that runs inside the kernel of the Solaris operating system. The implementation was done by porting an existing small, portable JVM, Squawk, into the Solaris kernel. Our first application of this system is to allow device drivers to be written in Java. A simple device driver was ported from C to Java. Characteristics of the Java device driver and our device driver interface are described."

IE 7: Finally, Something to Write Home About

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Internet Explorer 61 Comments

"When eWEEK Labs looked at Internet Explorer 6.0 more than five years ago, we were so disappointed in the browser that we said the only reason to upgrade to it was because it was free. That means you'd have to go back nearly nine years to find a release of the Microsoft browser that we found to be significant: IE 5.0. But with the release Oct. 18 of Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft is finally back in the Web browser game in a serious way: IE 7 takes major strides in reversing Microsoft's neglect of the flagship browser." And, surprise.

Yellow Dog Linux on the PlayStation 3

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Games 36 Comments

PC Linux distributor Terra Soft has announced plans to release its Yellow Dog Linux distribution for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3 gaming console. Featuring the experimental e17 desktop environment, Terra Soft's upcoming distribution release is surprisingly unconventional. Ars talked to Terra Soft CEO Kai Staats and Enlightenment developer Carsten 'Rasterman' Haitzler about Linux and the PS3.

Apple Posts Strong Q4 Results

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Apple 30 Comments

Riding a quarter of strong Macintosh sales, Apple Computer reported Oct. 18 that its fourth-quarter revenue grew 31 percent compared to the same period last year. The computer maker reported revenue of USD 4.84 billion compared with USD 3.68 billion in 2005. The company said this year's quarterly net profit in the fourth quarter stood at USD 546 million or 62 cents a share, compared with a profit of USD 430 million or 50 cents a share last year. Overall, profit increased about 27 percent compared to last year. The 2006 fourth quarter ended on Sept. 30.

Windows XP SP3 Pushed to 2008

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Windows 42 Comments

Microsoft has further delayed the release of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, moving expected availability from the second half of 2007 to the first half of 2008. The change came silently in an update to the company's service pack roadmap. Although that date is still listed as 'preliminary' a similar delay for Windows Server 2003 SP2 seems to be finalized. Initially planned for the end of this year and currently in beta testing, SP2 will now arrive in the first quarter of 2007.

Haiku Gets Wireless

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Haiku 16 Comments

Michael Lotz, of Tracker.NewFS, SVG, Haiku USB, Qemu, and countless other cool-things-to-have fame has checked in Haiku's first wireless network driver, for the Intel Pro Wireless 2100. This chipset, which inhabits nearly all early Centrino-badged devices, is amongst the more common wireless hardware found in recent computers. It works on r5 as well.

Microsoft Looks Within to Design and Test Chips

Thom Holwerda 2006-10-19 Microsoft 19 Comments

For more than two decades, Microsoft's software and Intel's processors were so wedded that the pairing came to be known as Wintel. But as that computing era wanes, Microsoft is turning to a new source of chip design: its own labs.

Submitted by maxx_730 2006-10-19 Ubuntu 43 Comments

The Ubuntu team not only released the first release candidate for Edgy Eft (release notes), but also started pondering their next release, dubbed the 'Feisty Fawn'. "In the next cycle we'll expand on the brand new infrastructure that has landed in Edgy as well as branching out in some exciting new directions. This combination of courage and restlessness is also found in a young deer that sets out to explore a world that is new and exciting - seeing the world through eyes unprejudiced by what has gone before. In that spirit, the release will be be code named 'The Feisty Fawn'."

Submitted by Charles A Landemaine 2006-10-19 PC-BSD 30 Comments

The PC-BSD Team is pleased to announce the availability of PC-BSD 1.3 BETA1. This release gives users and testers the opportunity to test-drive the new PC-BSD install wizard, along with the updated base system, running KDE 3.5.4, an improved look and feel, and many other enhancements.