Archive

Umberto Eco’s Pendulum and Conceptual Software Innovation

Guest post by David Moore 2003-01-22 OS News 38 Comments

I had been trying to find a means to write a new Operating System since 1997 and back then an Mphil/Dphil at the Universities seemed realistic. I had assessed a variety of institutions and made applications were relevant but nothing was doing. It was then that I realised that I had to do it myself so my plan was to quickly develop a standard Kernel to start the business and allow me to focus on innovation.

Microsoft to Reveal Source Code to Governments

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2003-01-15 Microsoft 23 Comments

Microsoft Corp. has stated that the company will open its source code to governments and international organizations worldwide. This move follows various government requests and government announcements of adopting open source strategies, mainly for security and integration reasons. Update: The Register also posted an interesting article regarding this announcement.

Intel Adds Punch to Notebook Chips

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-15 Intel 7 Comments

"Intel introduced six new chips for notebooks on Tuesday, not long after cutting prices on its mobile processors. The chipmaker, which slashed prices on its mobile Pentium 4 and Celeron chips on Sunday, launched a new flagship 2.4GHz Pentium 4-M chip for notebooks. The chipmaker also boosted the clock speed of its mobile Celeron processor, issuing a new 2GHz mobile Celeron." Read more at ZDNet. On other CPU news, Transmeta is embedding security in its new chips.

AmigaOS4 Feature Set: Release 1

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2003-01-13 Amiga & AROS 63 Comments

Amiga Inc has revealed more details on the new Amiga Operating System: "Amiga is pleased to publish this first version of the feature set of the up and coming AmigaOS4.0. The document will undergo revision in subsequent issues but because of the massive demand for information made by the public, we have decided to release it in its current state." The official launch of the PPC based AmigaOne platform together with AmigaOS4.0 is sheduled for March at the upcoming CeBit tradeshow in Germany.

Programming Languages Will Become OSes (But Are Not Quite Yet)

Guest post by Steven Haryanto 2003-01-13 General Development 29 Comments

A couple of months ago, at the Lightweight Languages Workshop 2002, Matthew Flat made a premise in his talk: Operating system and programming language are the same thing (at least "mathematically speaking"). I find this interesting and has a lot of truth in it. Both OS and PL are platforms on which other programs run. Both are virtualizing machines. Both make it easier for people to write applications (by providing API, abtractions, frameworks, etc.)

Thinking about the Intelligent OS

Guest post by Patrick Dwyer 2003-01-13 Editorial 21 Comments

Is the modern operating system a tool of facilitation that should provide just the basic necessities of a system and no more, staying out of the way of the user? Or should the modern OS assist the user in their everyday tasks, sorting and displaying relevant information, providing a filter between the ever increasing amount of information and the task at hand.

Cosmoe 0.6 Released

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-11 Syllable, AtheOS 11 Comments

Cosmoe 0.6 has been released. The have added new Be APIs and the APIs are more similar to the Be APIs. The built-in FreeType library has been removed, and new fonts have been added. 0.6 does not include the DirectFB-based rewrite of the appserver, that is expected to be added in release 0.7. Visit the Cosmoe website for more details.

Bare Feats Benchmarks New Powerbooks

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-09 Apple 64 Comments

"The Apple booth staff 'freaked' when I tried to plug my FWDepot Cutie FireWire test drive into the new 17" and 12" PowerBooks with Photoshop, Quake3, and other real world test apps. But I knew you wanted some idea of the performance, right? So since the demo units were connected to the 'Net, I downloaded Xbench beta and ran it on the two new PowerBooks... along with a few others." Take a look at the benchmarks over at Bare Feats.

AMD and IBM to Jointly Develop Advanced Chip Technologies

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-09 AMD 27 Comments

Chicobaud writes: "The two big companies anounced a combination of efforts in developing new high performance CPU fabrication aiming 65 and 45 nm (nanometers) in order to lower power comsuption and improving performance." Read the press release at the AMD website.

Can Linux Help Save SGI?

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-08 SGI and IRIX 30 Comments

"One of Linux's supposed barriers in high performance computing is the 'eight processor limit.' SGI says their new Altix 3000 line, running a patched 2.4.19 kernel, handily breaks this barrier -- it can run up to 64 Intel Itanium 2 microprocessers -- and that "superclusters" built with SGI's Linux-based products can outperform generic Linux clusters in some applications by a large enough margin to justify their additional cost." Read the full article at NewsForge.

NetBSD Now Supports SMP on Sparc32

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-08 NetBSD 3 Comments

Jim wrote to tell us: "Until now, only Sun Microsystems's OSes and Linux have supported multiple processors on 32-bit Sparc machines. Now NetBSD has joined them!" Read the message that was posted on the netbsd.ports.sparc newsgroup.

Gameboy Advance SP Unveiled

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2003-01-07 Games 34 Comments

Nintendo has announced that a new Gameboy version will be introduced in March. This version will include a front-lit screen, a rechargeable lithium-Ion battery and opens and closes like a mini-laptop. Since the Gameboy introduction in 1989, there have been over 120 million units sold. Of the most recent version, the Game Boy Advance, almost 12 million units have been sold since its June 2001 debut. Update: Gamespot.com has revealed that they have learned that a blue-colored and black-colored version will be available upon release in Japan on the 14th of February.

Microsoft Takes Digital Media Beyond Windows

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-07 Microsoft 26 Comments

"Microsoft announced Tuesday its first-ever licensing fees for use of its media delivery software on non-Windows technology, a move designed to expand its reach in the market for digital media players." Read more at ZDnet.

Apple Unloads a Boatload of New Software Offerings

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-07 Apple 28 Comments

"In perhaps one of the most stunning MacWorld Keynotes to date, Steve Jobs unveiled three completely new applications (Safari, Keynote, & FinalCut Express) and upgrades to three existing iApps (iPhoto 2, iMovie 3, & iDVD) in edition to it's new hardware. Dig Deeper for the skinny on the veritable buffet of software." Read more at MacSlash.

Initial Impressions of Redhat 8.0.92 (Codename Phoebe)

Guest post by Dustin Wilson 2003-01-06 Red Hat 89 Comments

After a few short months since the release of Redhat 8.0, the boys in Raleigh are at it again. Redhat 8.0.92, codenamed "Phoebe", has been around for a couple of weeks. I have been using for about two days and figured it was time someone posted an initial reaction, so here goes.

The Data Game

Guest post by Steven Haryanto 2003-01-06 Editorial 42 Comments

For the last 20 years or so, Microsoft has been playing the same old game. Sure, they morph and adapt along with the times, and they expand into new markets. But basically they are in the software business and one of the main ingredients in their recipe has been always this: "Keep the data format proprietary and take advantage of it."

Inside the World of Extreme Programming

2003-01-06 General Development 3 Comments

"XP works best for medium-sized teams where a product can be delivered in stages, and where there's freedom to experiment with some of the more controversial techniques," author Ron Jeffries said.

Hitachi Global Unveils 4GB microdrive

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-06 Hardware 15 Comments

"Newly formed hard disk drive company Hitachi Global Storage Technologies on Monday unveiled plans for a tiny drive that will be used in consumer electronic devices and said it will turn a profit in 2004. Hitachi Global Storage said it plans to sell next fall a 1-inch microdrive that has 4 gigabytes, or 4 billion bytes, of storage space. That compares to the current top of the line microdrive with 1 gigabyte of storage that IBM had made." Read the article at ZDNews.

GeForce FX Benchmarks

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2003-01-06 Benchmarks 8 Comments

"We preview nVidia’s latest 3D wunderkind and handicap the inevitable battle with ATI. World exclusive benchmarks! Brought to you by Maximum PC." Read the article at Maximum PC.

MSDN Magazine Detailed Overview of Windows CE.NET

Guest post by submitted by Gil Bates 2003-01-06 Windows 6 Comments

"Windows CE .NET, the newest member of the .NET family, includes a number of improvements over previous versions of Windows CE. For example, there are quite a few new APIs and enhancements to security and connectivity, the user interface, the kernel, and the emulator. In addition, DirectX support has been added and C++ in Windows CE .NET now supports C++ exceptions, STL, and runtime type information. In this article the author takes a tour of Windows CE .NET, starting with the New Platform Wizard that allows you to code for your choice of devices. A sample application is included that locates features on portable devices so the reader knows what's available before writing code." This article is from July but it should still be relevant to OS-interested readers.