Key Porting Differences from LinuxThreads to NPTL

The LinuxThreads project originally brought multithreading to Linux, but didn't conform to POSIX threading standards. The introduction of Native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL) however, overcame many of these disadvantages. This article describes some of the differences between these two Linux threading models for developers who may need to port their applications or who simply want to understand where the differences lie.

Lenovo Preloads SUSE on ThinkPad

"Finally. For years, the holy grail of the Linux desktop has been to get a major computer vendor to commit to preloading a Linux desktop. It finally happened. On August 4th, we found out that Lenovo Group, the company that has taken over IBM's Personal Computing Division, had made a deal with Novell to preload SLED 10 on its ThinkPad T60p mobile workstation. For the first time, a major OEM has committed to preloading a Linux desktop."

Microsoft Gets Good Reception at Black Hat

Microsoft's presentations on Windows Vista are not the typical Black Hat talks, but attendees are welcoming the look behind the scenes at the software giant. "I haven't felt it as a marketing pitch. It was a very technical discussion about how code review is done at Microsoft," said Josh Hoover, a veteran Black Hat attendee from Phoenix who works in security at a large financial institution. "Of course, it is all lip service at this time, until we get to test it," he added.

Apple May Need to Restate Historical Financial Statements

Apple Computer has discovered additional evidence of irregularities relating to past stock option grants and will likely need to restate its historical financial statements as a result, the company said on Thursday. In late June, Apple proactively announced that an internal investigation discovered irregularities related to the issuance of certain stock option grants made between 1997 and 2001.

Debian Includes OpenVZ

"The OpenVZ project today announced its operating system-level server virtualization software technology is incorporated into Debian GNU/Linux giving users full access to OpenVZ software, which helps increase server utilization rates. At the same time, the OpenVZ project revised licensing terms for its user-level utilities under the GNU GPL license to comply with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Also, OpenVZ software now conforms with the LSB/FHS."

The Ad-Supported Operating System

In all appearance of an ad-supported operating system is probably not that far off. This article takes a look at some of the finer points behind an OS which is financed with ad views, and more specifically the logic behind a free version of Windows which could make this a reality. There are a few issues which must be resolved first, but with Microsoft refining Windows Live and shifting some of their focus to advertising, many of the pieces seem to be falling into place. A few years ago we featured an editorial and poll on the subject here at OSNews.

Breaking Into a Laptop Via Wi-Fi

An attacker could gain complete control over a laptop by sending malformed network traffic to a vulnerable computer, David Maynor, a senior researcher at security service provider SecureWorks, said in a presentation at the Black Hat security event. Maynor, along with researcher Jon 'Johnny Cache' Ellch, showed a video of a successful attack on an Apple Computer MacBook. However, the attack is possible also on other computers, both laptops and desktops, and not just MacBooks, the researchers said. The recent security fixes issued by Intel are not related to this issue.

Novell Goes on the Atkins Diet

"It was reported this week that Novell has banned all proprietary software from their Linux offerings. To me, this would be a bit like McDonalds announcing it will adopt an Atkins-only menu, selling only healthy, low-carb salads, and dropping fries, shakes, and the Big Mac as we know it. It might be a noble thing for McDonalds to only sell healthy items, but they would likely see a big decrease in customers. Most consumers want more balance in their menu choices, not less. Limiting choice, especially the most popular ones, is usually a bad idea."

Review: SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

"I've tested and/or reviewed every version of this operating system since the first version, and each time I start out impressed but end up walking away disappointed. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is not an exception to this tradition. While it may be a decent desktop operating system, I can't possibly recommend that sysadmins rely on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 in a production environment."

IBM Commits to AIX and Linux

Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM's pSeries System, says in this interview: "We want Linux to have a great home on the Power architecture. We will continue to contribute to the open-source development of Linux, as well as all of the packages that surround Linux, to ensure it performs well on Power. But as we have said, AIX is our flagship on System p."

Hacking SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

"Novell's SLED 10 is a decent business desktop operating system as-is. However, it does not appropriately meet the needs of a large portion of business professionals. This guide will show you how to install or upgrade the Java Development Kit, install software from the SUSE Linux 10.1 package repositories, and enable DVD movie playback in SLED 10." Note: I also used the Pacman repositories weeks ago to install the non-free packages; it seems to have not affected stability.

Microsoft XenSource Talk About Their Agreement

"Two weeks ago Microsoft and XenSource announced an agreement to grant interoperability of virtual machines on upcoming Windows Server Virtualization and XenEnterprise virtualization platforms. The move raised the attention of the whole IT world, involving license, support, security, and performance issues. Virtualization.info interviewed both companies to understand the details of the agreement and shed light on what customers can expect from the Microsoft hypervisor release."