Eugenia Loli Archive

Yet Another Review of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-27 Ubuntu 40 Comments

"Another six months, another release from the Ubuntu folks. The Ubuntu 7.04 release, better known as Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, is another cutting-edge, but not bleeding-edge, release that shows what Linux is capable of on the desktop. I've been running it since the early betas, and have found that it's the best Ubuntu release yet." Read more at Newsforge. And another article, Vista vs. Ubuntu and its rebuttal.

Review: 22″ Viewsonic Widescreen LCD Monitor

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-27 Hardware 39 Comments

It's been 12 years since I got my first PC. Back then, it came with a 14" 800x600 CRT monitor. But times change. Now, for just $250 you can get a 22" LCD monitor with a 1680x1050 resolution! Geeks.com were very kind to send us one of their LCD monitors, the Viewsonic VX2235wm, for a review. We tested the monitor under Windows, Linux and the Mac and here is what we found.

Submitted by falko 2007-04-27 Debian 23 Comments

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions about how to install the free VMware Server (version 1.0.2) on a Debian Etch system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems (virtual machines) such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system. This has the benefit that you can run multiple operating systems on the same hardware which saves a lot of money, and you can move virtual machines from one VMware Server to the next one (or to a system that has the VMware Player which is also free). Also, VMware acquired the VDI provider Propero.

Vista Sales Propel Microsoft Profits to USD 5bn Beating Expectations

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-27 Microsoft 91 Comments

"Microsoft Corp. posted a 65 percent rise in quarterly profit Thursday, topping Wall Street estimates thanks to better than expected demand for its new Windows Vista operating system." More here.

OLPC ‘USD 100 Laptop’ to Cost USD 175, Also Run Windows

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-27 Hardware 45 Comments

"The founder of the ambitious "$100 laptop" project, which plans to give inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, revealed Thursday that the machine for now costs $175, and it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface." More here.

OpenSUSE Drops ZENworks, Opens YAST

Submitted by editingwhiz 2007-04-27 SuSE, openSUSE 34 Comments

Novell openSUSE project has had a recent history of trouble with its update programs. Now, to make updating openSUSE more pleasant, the project is dropping its support for ZENworks and opening up YAST to community development. DesktopLinux.com has the story here and some other info here.

Submitted by Valour 2007-04-26 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 33 Comments

"After making a lot of progress with Mandriva Linux 2007, I thought perhaps Mandriva had turned over a new leaf, and was using that release as a starting point for an overall better quality operating environment. I was totally wrong. Both the PowerPack Edition and Discovery/LX have slid so far back with version 2007.1 that I have serious doubts as to the future of Mandriva's viability as a commercial desktop operating system." Read more at SoftwareInReview.

Submitted by RJop 2007-04-26 Fedora Core 58 Comments

"The Fedora Project is pleased to announce the release of the fourth and final test release of Fedora 7! Test 4 is for beta users." Announcement and release notes here. Update: Screenshots.

Windows Longhorn Server Beta 3 Public Download

Submitted by Arnold 2007-04-26 Windows 7 Comments

NeoSmart has the goods on the release of Windows Longhorn Server Beta 3, and the availability of public ISO images for x86, x64, and Itanium versions of the English, German, and Japanese localizations of the various Windows Server flavors. According to NeoSmart, it's the same as the April CTP, but with some bug fixes and compiler optimizations.

Submitted by Governa 2007-04-26 Apple 39 Comments

"Apple Inc. surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts for its usually tepid second quarter, delivering an 88 percent increase in profit on strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPod music players," Laurie J. Flynn reports for The New York Times." There were 1.52 mil Macs and 10 mil iPods sold in the quarter. Elsewhere, check this article on Macs in the enterprise.

Submitted by RJop 2007-04-26 Linux 40 Comments

Linux Kernel 2.6.21 has been announced. Linus writes: "So the big change during 2.6.21 is all the timer changes to support a tickless system (and even with ticks, more varied time sources). Thanks (when it no longer broke for lots of people ;) go to Thomas Gleixner and Ingo Molnar and a cadre of testers and coders." More info here and here.

Submitted by muszek 2007-04-26 Ubuntu 21 Comments

Ubuntu Open Week is a series of IRC meetings of people behind the distribution and the community. Mark Shuttleworth answered various questions on Tuesday and Wednesday. The interview covers many issues, including: GPL v3, proprietary software, Microsoft's $3 project, Launchpad, non-free stuff in Ubuntu, April 19th siege of ubuntu.com, Canonical vs. Ubuntu Foundation, becoming F/OSS contributor. Full logs are available on Ubuntu wiki. Ubuntu News has a digest with the most interesting pieces. Also, another interview with Mark is here and four interesting Ubuntu articles are here, here, here and here.

Ubuntu: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-25 Ubuntu 85 Comments

A month ago I wrote a review on Ubuntu's 7.04 version and in it I promised a second look once the final version was to released. Feisty Fawn was released last week and as it seems so far, it is one of the most (if not the most) successful Linux distro release ever. This means that we can't help it but compare it with XP and Mac OS X, after having tested it in 3 laptops and 2 desktops in my lab.

C++ Polymorphism; Vector Programming with GCC

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-22 General Development 8 Comments

There is an interesting but rarely mentioned technique in a C++ context: signature-based polymorphism, a more permissive variation of subtype polymorphism, usually called duck typing. Two objects having nothing in common can share an implicit interface and be commonly manipulated by such an interface with no inheritance involved. Part I and Part II. Also, making use of SIMD units such as MMX, SSE, or AltiVec is usually a tradeoff of portability for speed. Recent versions of GCC include an extension that allows you to write vector code without sacrificing portability. Take a look at how to use it.

C# Callback and Event Mechanisms

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-22 .NET 9 Comments

All too often, source code spends a lot of time on basic housekeeping, monitoring the state of many objects. This is wasteful, and with C# it is unnecessary. Software expert Stephen Morris shows how C# provides a range of callback mechanisms that obviate the need for polling objects for state information.

Ubuntu 7.04 – Time to Switch?

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-22 Ubuntu 101 Comments

"Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) arrived just a few days ago with promises of better hardware compatibility, included proprietary software and drivers, and more user friendliness. Was it wort the wait? And more importantly - Is it finally time to "Make the Switch"?" Read the review here. Elsewhere, "First thoughts on Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn" was published at ZDNet. Update: A reply article to the two linked above.

Burning CDs with Gnome

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-22 GTK+ 55 Comments

FreeSoftwareMagazine has an article about burning software available for Gnome. Two more interesting choices are the GTK-based Graveman! and Nero which released NeroLinux 3.0 beta very recently.

GNOME Mobile and Embedded Initiative Launched

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-19 Gnome 32 Comments

The GNOME Foundation announced today the GNOME Mobile and Embedded Initiative (GMAE) today at the Embedded Linux Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. The initiative is aimed at bolstering GNOME usage as an embedded and mobile development platform. The initiative has been in development since last year, says GNOME Foundation board member Jeff Waugh. The platform will be distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). In the next 12 months the group plans to add a mobile email framework called Tinymail, the GeoClue geolocation service, Java Mobile & Embedded (Java ME), PulseAudio audio management, and the HAL hardware information system.

Ubuntu 7.04 Released

Eugenia Loli 2007-04-19 Ubuntu 191 Comments

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce version 7.04 of the Ubuntu family of distributions (more info here and here). Ubuntu 7.04 is also the basis for new 7.04 releases of Kubuntu (screenshots) and Edubuntu. Ubuntu 7.04 will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers. Here is a review of Feisty Fawn, and it also seems that Michael Dell has it installed too. Get it while it's hot.

Active Desktop Feature for Mac OS X Leopard?

Submitted by fiji 2007-04-19 macOS 40 Comments

An enhancement to the Mac OS X operating system under development by Apple looks to pave the way for active desktop pictures, or desktop backgrounds that can include motion graphics and alter themselves based on user actions or the time of the day.