Eugenia Loli Archive

Apple Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows XP were easier to use than any of the Linux distributions tested - but not by much, says the report.

Two open-source leaders joined Linux founder Linus Torvalds in disparaging software patents Tuesday, the newest volley in a battle that pits the cooperative programming philosophy against Microsoft.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that Apple retail stores are having a very hard time keeping up with demand for the new Mac mini and iPod shuffle. Elsewhere, C|NET News.com has a two-page report on the much-anticipated PowerBook G5 and the fact that it will take a while to materialize in the market.

Microsoft downplayed the significance of a reported flaw in its latest update to Windows XP.

"Apple's DVD players are subject to restrictive rules laid out by greedy Hollywood studios that don't really care if they piss off Apple's customers, since that's Apple's lookout. However, I've just discovered, to my amazement, that Apple imposes its very own restrictions on its DVD players over and above those imposed by the studios: that's right, Apple voluntarily treats its customers worse than the studios say it has to" says BoingBoing in their editorial. VLC does not seem to be a stable idea either (v0.8.x doesn't play my VCDs where v0.7.x could, and many times DVD audio and picture are out of sync).

This paper introduces basic clustering components and software tools that can be used to build a Linux cluster on IBM eServer OpenPower 710 by utilizing its 64-bit POWER5 architecture. This paper is intended as an introduction for someone interested in building a new Linux cluster running on OpenPower 710 servers or converting an existing cluster to OpenPower 710 servers.

Solaris 10 for SPARC/x86 is now available for download. Get it while it's hot.

I just finished a quick round of mobile rendering optimizations for our sister site, GnomeFiles.org (automatic detection of mobile browsers included, just as for OSNews). The mobile mobile support of the site is not as good as OSNews' is, but it should serve well all smartphone & PDA users, as irritating horizontal scrollbars are now a thing of the past (tip for Netfront/iMode users: use the 'smart fit' mode with GnomeFiles, tip for Openwave's browser: use a phone with v6.2.0 and above). Also, browsers that hit the site and we know that they can only do WAP, will be automatically redirected on GnomeFiles' WAP site. In other site news, our other sister site, OS Galaxy is expanding quickly. Join OS Galaxy if you are in the OS-related business and you happen to blog about it. Update: More optimizations, Gnomefiles should render respectably now even on 128x128 phone screens.

To catch up on the changes since their last full interview, Mandrakesoft co-founder Gaël Duval recently agreed to talk with OFB’s editor-in-chief, Timothy R. Butler, about where the company is heading and the state of the industry at the present time. You can read the new interview at OFB.biz

BSDNexus forums has an interview with DragonFly lead developer Matthew Dillon. They discuss a wide array of topics ranging from recent VFS work to SSI clustering.

Many of you have new computers in your homes, but how many of you realize that this computer is already vulnerable? How can this be? How can a brand new computer be vulnerable? Read this article and find out more.

The latest Haiku newsletter has arrived, if it seems like it's been forever since the last Haiku newsletter, that's because it really has - this is the first newsletter to be put out since OpenBeOS officially became Haiku.

As data storage requirements increase and computing needs change, flexibility within server configurations and in storage configurations becomes more important. Find out how the HP Smart Array controller provides the tools you need in this chapter.

systrace is an OpenBSD tool that allows administrators to monitor, intercept, and restrict system calls. Find out how to get started using systrace in this chapter from 'Secure Architectures with OpenBSD'.