Various Ways of Detecting Rootkits in GNU/Linux

  Submitted by Ravi Privacy, Security 16 Comments
"A rootkit is a collection of tools a hacker installs on a victim computer after gaining initial access. It generally consists of network sniffers, log-cleaning scripts, and trojaned replacements of core system utilities such as ps, netstat, ifconfig, and killall. I know of two programs which aid in detecting whether a rootkit has been installed on your machine. They are Rootkit Hunter and Chkrootkit."
Read More

OpenVZ On Debian Etch For Webservers

  Submitted by falko Debian 8 Comments
"This guide is written during an install of a Supermicro machine with 2 dual-core opterons (64-bit), 2 identical disks (for RAID) and a load of memory. Why OpenVZ and not XEN or the recent KVM kernel module? Well, XEN is not very stable for 64-bit architectures (yet), and it comes with quite a bit of overhead (every VM runs its own kernel) due to its complexity. KVM is very simple but restricts you to run a kernel as one process, so the VM cannot benefit from multi core systems."
Read More

Nouveau: First Look at Open-Source 3D NVIDIA Drivers

  Submitted by Michael Larabel 3D 65 Comments
"Nouveau is a community project that is working on producing open-source 3D display drivers for NVIDIA graphics cards. Nouveau is not affiliated with Nvidia Corp and is an X.Org project. While this project is still far from being completed, for this holiday special we are sharing some of our first thoughts on this project from our experience thus far. We would like to make it very clear, however, that the Nouveau driver is no where near completed and still has a great deal of work ahead for the 3D component. This article today will also hopefully shed some light on the advancements of this project so far."
Read More

Windows Vista ‘Capable’, ‘Premium’ System Requirements

Windows 30 Comments
Microsoft's Nick White blogs about the system requirements for Windows Vista. "We've officially released more detail on the system requirements for Windows Vista. These requirements outline what determines whether a PC is categorized as Windows Vista Capable or Windows Vista Premium Ready." Out of experience I can say these requirements are fairly realistic; the only thing I do not advise is the 512MB for Vista Capable; I'd suggest to up to 1GB no matter what.
Read More

LinuxBIOS: the Forgotten Hero

  Submitted by Matt D. Linux 15 Comments
"Let's be honest here. When most of us think of open source and free software, we really aren't thinking of something flashed to a BIOS ROM chip. And yet when it comes to the Linux BIOS project - that's exactly what's happening here. The LinuxBIOS is a project designed to work out any perceived shortcomings from existing BIOS options distributed on today's motherboards. Started back in 1999, it has been in development steadily for quite some time now."
Read More

Amiga OS 4 ‘The Final Update’ Released

  Submitted by AmigaRobbo Amiga & AROS 55 Comments
"Hyperion Entertainment is very pleased to announce the immediate availability (for registered AmigaOne customers) of Amiga OS 4.0, The Final Update. Originally released in May of 2004, Amiga OS 4.0 is the most stable, modern and feature-rich incarnation to date of the multi-media centric operating system launched by Commodore Business Machines (CBM) in 1985 with which it still retains a high degree of compatibility. Amiga OS 4.0, The Final Update is the culmination of 5 years of development and takes the form of a stand-alone ISO image which contains a full installation of all Amiga OS 4.0 components. A list of new features can be found here. Availability of PowerPC hardware suitable for operation with Amiga OS 4.0 will be announced by third parties early 2007." Together with Microsoft selling Linux and Apple switching to Intel, this is the definitive proof that hell is now officially frozen. I sure know I'm taking ice skates with me to the grave.
Read More

The Cocotron: Open-source Cocoa for Windows

  Submitted by anonymous General Development 18 Comments
The Cocotron is an open source project which implements an Objective-C API very similar to that described by Apple Computer's Foundation and AppKit framework documentation. "The Cocotron Development Tools are a gcc based cross-compiler toolchain which plug into Xcode, once installed they enable Xcode projects written in Objective-C to be compiled for platforms other than Mac OS X, such as Windows, Linux, and Solaris. The CDT is used to compile The Cocotron and non-OS X targets."
Read More

Opera Released for the Wii

  Submitted by anonymous Opera 13 Comments
Opera for the Nintendo Wii has been released. "Opera on Wii adds a new dimension and functionality to a video game console system. It is a unique Web experience that everyone can use, and the Intelligent Zoom feature allows consumers to read Web content on the TV from the comfort of their couch." Ars has a review. Update: 5 2 screenshots of Opera for Wii rendering OSNews.
Read More

Building a Game Engine with Cocoa

Games 2 Comments
Classic board games like Checkers are hard to beat, but after so many holiday seasons and family get-togethers, variety becomes essential. Lines of Action (LOA) is a game slightly off the beaten path that you can play with an ordinary Checkers set the next time you decide to dust it off--but in the meantime, let's fire up Xcode and build a small game engine for playing board games like Checkers and LOA using some artificial intelligence.
Read More

Linux Desktop 2006: Better Than Ever

Linux 38 Comments
"I recently read a story that asked, 'Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?' Burst!? No, I don't think so. Actually, it still isn't even half as big as it will be when it's full. The author goes on to explain that he feels this way because GNOME 'lacks any form of a vision', while KDE4 is full of wonderful ideas, but not enough money and effort behind turning concepts into code. I don't see that at all. I think both popular Linux desktop environments are making good progress."
Read More

Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection

  Submitted by PR Windows 30 Comments
"Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called 'premium content', typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista, even if it's not used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a Macintosh computer or on a Linux server). This document analyses the cost involved in Vista's content protection, and the collateral damage that this incurs throughout the computer industry."
Read More

Seigo on the Progress of KDE 4

  Submitted by dumbkiwi KDE 87 Comments
This is a response to the article yesterday on the progress of GNOME and KDE. Aaron Seigo, a lead KDE developer, sets out the current state of progress with KDE 4, pointing out that KDE 4 is on track for a release in mid 2007. "Thom points to a quote from me that our goal is to have a 4.0 ready sometime in the first half of next year. That gives us until sometime in June and I'm still thinking we can make it."
Read More