Archive

Switching to Linux – One User’s Story

Guest post by Tom Bierce 2003-03-05 Linux 60 Comments

"Pennsylvania attorney Kevin L. Ritchey has written an open letter about using Linux on the desktop -- from the user's perspective. Ritchey chronicles his successful switch to Linux, laments a few features still in need of improvement, and offers us his opinions as an average daily user of Desktop Linux. Ritchey did not make a switch because of cost or philosophical reasons -- rather he moved to Linux because it worked better and was more productive." Read it at DesktopLinux.com.

Hyperthreading Technology and Digital Multimedia

Guest post by Roger Finger 2003-03-04 Intel 32 Comments

Digital media applications are unique in that they can generally consume all the performance they can get. Unlike other tasks that execute in a few seconds, the rendering of stills, audio and video can take several minutes or even hours. Applications in the digital media space can translate increases in performance to increases in end-user productivity, and it is therefore beneficial for them to take advantage of the latest platform technologies.

The Very Verbose Guide to Updating and Compiling Your Debian Kernel

Guest post by Clinton De Young 2003-03-03 Debian 59 Comments

If you are reading this, I assume you already know what the Linux kernel is and why you may want to update it. However, if you are accidentally reading this walkthrough, just happen to be running Linux, and have no idea what the kernel is or why you would want to update it, the next two paragraphs are for you (if you are looking instead into a less verbose and more generic way of updating your kernel on any Linux distro, read here). In a neophyte nutshell, the Linux kernel is the brain of the Linux system. It tells your system which file systems, hardware, protocols, etc. are supported. There is a lot more to it than that, of course, but I think that diminutive description will suffice for now.

KDE 3.1 vs. GNOME 2.2, Part II

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-03-01 Rumors 78 Comments

"KDE is delivering a better version of what GNOME's goal has apparently morphed into: becoming a great component framework that you can write to in multiple languages. Nicholas Petreley rebuffs the common GNOME battle slogans and explains why the window-manager's name needs reworking." Read the article at LinuxWorld. Commentary Update by Eugenia: The author of that article advocates that Gnome is... lame, but I would just say that these wars "gnome vs kde" are the lame ones.

Apple Must Innovate

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-03-01 Apple 79 Comments

"Going by the numbers, Apple Computer Inc. appears headed for trouble again. While CEO Steven P. Jobs engineered a remarkable comeback after retaking the helm in 1997, one-time expenses, such as plant closures, have pushed the company into the red for two quarters running." Read more at BusinessWeek.

Gates Reveals Windows Source Code to China

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-28 Windows 63 Comments

"Microsoft on Friday signed a pact with the Chinese government to reveal the Windows source code, making China among the first to benefit from its program to allay the security fears of governments. In addition, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates hinted that China will be privy to all, not just part, of the source code the government wishes to inspect. " Read the rest at ZDNet.

Linux Seen Grabbing 10% of Desktop OS Segment in India

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-26 Linux 38 Comments

"Linux, the cash-saving open source option to costly proprietary operating system (OS) such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system, is now seen to be gaining ground in the desktop market in India. Thus far, Linux has been a dominant force only in the worldwide server market and has grabbed impressive market share from Microsoft and Sun Microsystems." Read more at Business Standard.

Microsoft Tunes P2P for Windows

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-26 Windows 22 Comments

"Microsoft introduced additions to Windows XP designed to make the operating system better tuned for peer-to-peer applications. The software giant on Wednesday unveiled a beta, or testing version, of the Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Software Development Kit. The programming tools are designed to let software providers or corporate developers more easily build peer-to-peer applications on top of Windows XP." Read more at ZDNet.

SkyOS 3.9.6a Released

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-25 SkyOS 41 Comments

SkyOS 3.9.6a has been released. This version includes new drivers, faster ATA/ATAPI drivers, a new OpenGL implementation, a new TCP/IP stack and many other new features and bug fixes. You can download the new version from the SkyOS website.

Sun Picks AMD’s Athlon for Blades

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-25 Oracle and SUN 20 Comments

"Sun Microsystems will use processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in future blade servers that it first announced on Feb. 10. Sun will use Athlon XP-M processors, originally developed for mobile computing, running at 1.2GHz or 1.4GHz." Read more at InfoWorld.

Microsoft Fires Back at Sun in Java Case

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-22 Legal 16 Comments

"Microsoft went on the offensive Friday in the antitrust case brought against it by Sun Microsystems, accusing its bitter rival of violating California law through 'unfair competition.' In a court filing, the software giant asked a judge for attorney's fees and damages to cover what it characterized as Sun's unlawful violation of a settlement inked in an earlier lawsuit over the Java programming language." Read more at News.com.

MicroBSD Project Removed Because of Copyright Violations

Guest post by Jim 2003-02-22 BSD & Darwin 32 Comments

Because of violations of the BSD license the MicroBSD project has been completely removed from the internet, and all MicroBSD users are asked to remove it from their computers.

AmigaNews.de Interviews Hyperion Boss Ben Hermans

Guest post by MB, submitted by Iggy Drougge 2003-02-21 Amiga & AROS 5 Comments

An insight into the current state of AmigaOS 4 development is offered in this interview with Ben Hermans, leader of Hyperion Entertainment, charged with the development of the new OS.

Choosing Between the Big Linux Distros

Guest post by Marcus Vorwaller 2003-02-20 Linux 93 Comments

I'm a web designer and a recent Linux convert who has tried several of the large distros. This article is the summary of my experience over the last few months. I decided to start using Linux a few months ago around the time Mandrake went to version 9 and Red Hat to version 8. With all the hype I figured I'd give it a try.

Windows NT Development and the Windows 2003 Server

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-20 Windows 28 Comments

Roberto J Dohnert writes: "Winsupersite has an excellent two part story on the development of Windows NT and how it has affected the release of Windows 2003 Server." Read the first part and the second part at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows.

Book Review of Maximum Wireless Security

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-20 Privacy, Security No Comments

"Wireless networks are replacing wired networks very rapidly. More and more people want to stay connected on the road. What this transition brings is - more security problems. While wired networks have been around for ages and have had the time to make good security defences, wireless networks and new in comparison and still have a long way to go. This book aims to give you the knowledge you need to bring maximum security to your network, by teaching you how that security can and will be broken." Read the review at Help Net Security.

Palm, AT&T Pitch All-in-One Handheld

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-20 Wireless 7 Comments

"Palm and AT&T Wireless said they plan to have the Tungsten W, the handheld maker's combination phone, e-mail device and organizer, on store shelves by the end of the month. The two companies were set to make a formal announcement about the launch of the Tungsten W on Tuesday, but held off because one element of the certification process for the device had not been finalized with the PCS Type Certification ReviewBoard, a wireless certification board." Read more at ZDNet.

Wal-Mart to Sell Lycoris-Flavored Linux

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-19 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 35 Comments

"Linux software maker Lycoris is set to announce Wednesday that it will begin selling boxed software through retail giant Wal-Mart, another sign of growing mainstream acceptance of the open-source operating system." Read more at ZDNet. Lycoris also runs a promotional deal for the... one you love.

IBM Power5 to Quadruple Server Strength

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-02-19 IBM 12 Comments

"IBM has fired up a computer running IBM's forthcoming Power5 processor, a top IBM executive said Monday, predicting that systems with the new chip will have four times the performance than those using the current Power4." Read more at ZDNet.

Guest Editorial: What the Linux World Needs Now

Guest post by Marco Zanon 2003-02-17 Linux 69 Comments

When I first got in touch with the Linux world - it was back in 1998 -, I started with an old Slackware distribution. Of course I cannot say it was a wise choice for a beginner, and I soon moved to Red Hat, and then tried various SuSE, Mandrake and Debian flavours; now I am using this good Slackware 8.1. Everyone can see the Linux world has been making giant steps towards usability during the last five years. Applications have dramatically improved, too, both in quality and quantity: OpenOffice, AbiWord, Mozilla, Evolution, Gimp are examples of packages allowing Linux to be used for everyday work. So, is Linus Torvalds' creature now ready to conquer the desktop?