OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

uBASIC – a Really Tiny BASIC Interpreter

Submitted by anonymous 2006-08-25 General Development 12 Comments

Adam Dunkels, well-known author of the Contiki operating system and the uIP embedded TCP/IP stack, has written a really small BASIC interpreter called uBASIC in about 700 lines of C code. It is intended to be a very small scripting language for systems where memory really is at a premium such as deeply embedded systems which may have as little as a few hundreds of bytes of RAM. It provides an interesting look into how to write a very lightweight script interpreter.

Guest post by Kroc 2006-08-24 OS News 44 Comments

GEOS managed to offer nearly all the functionality of the original Mac in a 1 MHz computer with 64 Kilobytes of RAM. It wasn't an OS written to run on a generic x86 chip on a moving hardware platform. It was written using immense knowledge of the hardware and the tricks one could use to maximise speed. Note: After a small break, here is another one of the articles for the Alternative OS contest.

Internet Explorer 7 Hits RC1 Milestone

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-24 Internet Explorer 32 Comments

Microsoft is releasing for public download on Aug. 24 a new test build of its browser, the near-final Release Candidate 1 milestone. RC1 may or may not be the final public test build of IE 7, officials said, depending on tester feedback. Microsoft has said to expect the final version of its standalone browser to be available in the fourth calendar quarter of 2006. Microsoft is planning to push IE 7 out to users via its Automatic Update software-distribution mechanism that is used to deliver security patches to users.

GNOME 2.16 RC1 Released

Submitted by Philipp Esselbach 2006-08-24 Gnome 5 Comments

The GNOME team has released RC1 of GNOME 2.16. "We are pleased to announce the release of GNOME 2.16.0 Release Candidate 1 (2.15.92). This is one of the last releases in the 2.15 development series and represents a release that is now API/ABI, feature, string and UI frozen. Hard code freeze is quickly approaching : this means that we're pretty close to the final 2.16.0 release. The GNOME contributors are now busy fixing the most important bugs that are still out there, localizing the whole desktop or updating our documentation." You can use jhbuild or GARNOME to build it.

XenSource Releases XenEnterprise

Submitted by Alessandro Perilli 2006-08-24 OS News 2 Comments

After bitter statements around Xen's maturity these last weeks from Red Hat, Novell, and XenSource itself, the company finally launched its first commercial product based on the open source hypervisor: XenEnterprise 1.0. The product adds commercial grade features and support to Xen 3.0. XenSource also built around it a sales channel infrastructure, a technical certification program, and a much discussed agreement with Microsoft.

Submitted by jayson.knight 2006-08-24 Internet Explorer 20 Comments

"We are currently locking down IE7 for shipping and I wanted to give an update on the CSS work that went into IE7. Chris originally outlined our plans for IE7, and we listened to a lot of feedback to help us address the most grievous bugs and prioritize which features to put in for IE7. I like to thank especially the contributors on this blog for their participation. Your feedback made a difference in deciding what issues to address."

Apple Battery Recall Official

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-24 Apple 24 Comments

Gizmodo reports that a battery recall program for Apple PowerBooks and iBooks has started. "The US Consumer Product Safety Commission just made the Apple battery recall official. It'll affect 1.1 million Sony-made batteries in the US alone. Between all the PS3's bad press and these battery recalls, it's not going to be an easy year for Sony, is it?

Unseen PowerPC: the Cores that Didn’t Make It

Submitted by Mike Ainsel 2006-08-24 IBM 24 Comments

MacSlash has an original editorial regarding different PowerPC projects that never made it to shipping. It mentions things like the obscure PowerPC 615 that could run x86 instructions, or the PowerPC 750VX, which would have been IBM's answer to the Motorola G4. This article reads like a requiem, but lest we forget: here, here, here, and of course, here. I'm starting to believe IBM won't miss Apple all that much.

Smart Way to Reinstall Linux Software After System Failure

Submitted by anonymous 2006-08-24 Linux 10 Comments

Hardware and Software failures are part of Life. That is why you need to have a backup. However, you do not need to backup all installed binaries (mostly software). In order to reinstall or restore your installed software you need to have a list of all installed software. This tutorial show how to backup list of installed software and apply it when needed after crash. It will not just save your time but both Debian and RHEL distro can update them instantly for you.

An Introduction to WMI

Submitted by Phlip 2006-08-24 Internet 3 Comments

You have probably heard the term WMI, but may not be familiar with the power behind it. If you are a Windows Administrator or support technician WMI can be one of the most valuable tools in your arsenal. In this article we look at the basics of WMI and how to perform WQL queries to retreive information.

Update XML with XSLT, Apache Ant, Java SE

Submitted by anonymous 2006-08-24 General Development 3 Comments

Learn the method for automating updates to a library of XML files so that they all conform to an updated XML schema in this two part tutorial series. In Part 1, you learn the steps in the entire process, and then create an XSLT stylesheet to update the XML files. In Part 2, you learn to install, configure, and run Ant and Java to iteratively transform your XML files based on the updates specified in your XSLT stylesheet.

Mass. to Use Microsoft Office in ODF Plan

Eugenia Loli 2006-08-24 Office 64 Comments

Massachusetts will begin using OpenDocument as the default document format later this year as planned, but it will be sticking with Microsoft Office in the near term, the state's top tech executive said.

Mozilla Team Accepts Microsoft’s Invitation

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Mozilla, Gecko 52 Comments

The Mozilla team has more or less accepted Microsoft's help in working on Firefox for Windows Vista. Besides the fact that the two parties are already working together, Mike Beltzner, Mozilla developer, has accepted Microsoft's invitation, saying: "Yes, we'd definitely be interested in getting some 1:1 support." Note Sam Ramji's good sense of humour: "I sent this invitation to [email protected] as well, but in case their spam filters are set to block @microsoft.com email addresses, I'm posting here."

‘Windows Vista Beta 2 Plagued by Bugs’

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Windows 120 Comments

"I have been testing Microsoft operating systems since Windows 95, and this is the buggiest OS I've seen this late in development," says Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "Look at the older operating systems, and by Beta 2 there is a stable foundation on which the can build. Right now, Vista is like a ship on stormy seas."

Syllable: A Different Open Source OS

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Syllable, AtheOS 26 Comments

NewsForge reviews Syllable, and concludes: "Overall, I was pleased with Syllable's speed and ease of use. Most of its drawbacks come from it not being finished yet. The glitches were minor and the lack of features in its applications come from them not being finished yet. I feel kind of guilty complaining that a browser that's on version 0.4 isn't full-featured enough, but for now, these issues prevent Syllable from being useful as a full-time desktop OS."

Bare-Bones Windows To Arrive in South Korea

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Windows 30 Comments

Microsoft will release new versions of its Windows operating system in South Korea on Thursday to comply with an antitrust ruling, a company source said Wednesday. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined Microsoft USD 34 million in December, saying the world's biggest software company breached antitrust laws by selling a version of Windows that incorporated its media player and instant messaging services. My take: This will join the ranks as another Windows version nobody bought.

Blogger Can’t Tempt Microsoft to Drink OSI Kool-Aid

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Open Source 6 Comments

A Microsoft Shared Source license was submitted to the Open Source Initiative for official approval as an open-source license - but it wasn't Microsoft who submitted it. "Someone submitted the Microsoft Community License, one of our Shared Source licenses, to the OSI without our knowledge or approval, but the OSI contacted us and asked if we wanted them to proceed with that," said Bill Hilf, Microsoft's director for platform technology strategy. "We told them that we did not want to be reactive and needed time to think about it."

Sun Sees Server Revenue Jump in Q2

Thom Holwerda 2006-08-23 Oracle and SUN 8 Comments

Sun Microsystems, which has been undergoing a drastic realignment of its server business over the past couple of years, in the second quarter regained its position as the world's third-largest systems maker, overtaking rival Dell. The company saw its market share increase to 12.9 percent in the second quarter, according to numbers released by analyst firm IDC.

Submitted by tbonejo 2006-08-23 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 21 Comments

"The PCLinuxOS 0.93a Full Edition was quietly released yesterday and is the equivalent of PCLinuxOS releases of the past several years. They have recently been releasing scaled down versions to accomodate other tastes and desires, but many folks were looking and waiting for the fully loaded edition. Weighing in at 685 MB, Texstar referred it as the 'Full Monty'. Its code name has been 'Big Daddy'. Whatever the name, I think you'll call it home."

Submitted by nicoladagostino 2006-08-23 Apple 21 Comments

From the AppleInsider forum comes an interesting discovery about ZFS and Apple. A user who has the Leopard WWDC preview searched the system with Spotlight and found a mention of ZFS. He says: "There is no file system bundle for it, nor is there a mount utility or any other one (no fsck, now newfs, etc.). There is, however, a changed vnode.h."