Eugenia Loli Archive

Bring in the Clones: iPhone Interface on PocketPC

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-27 Wireless 38 Comments

A hacker from Malaysia has used the game-centric PPL programming language for PocketPCs and has created a replacement of the "Today" PPC screen that closely resembles that of the iPhone's. His clone is still under development, although it is already impressive what he was able to do with a few lines of code. He was even able to recreate the iPhone's scrolling effect. Nevertheless, a nice toy.

The 15 Minute PHP with XML Starter

Submitted by IdaAshley 2007-02-27 General Development 8 Comments

This first article of a three-part series introduces PHP5's XML implementation and help those relatively new to using XML with PHP to read, parse, and manipulate, and write a short and uncomplicated XML file using the DOM and SimpleXML in a PHP environment.

The Perfect Desktop – Part 2: Mandriva Free 2007

Submitted by falko 2007-02-27 Mandriva, Mandrake, Lycoris 66 Comments

"With the release of Microsoft's new Windows operating system (Vista), more and more people are looking for alternatives to Windows for various reasons. This tutorial is the second in a series of articles where I will show people who are willing to switch to Linux how they can set up a Linux desktop (Mandriva Free 2007 in this article) that fully replaces their Windows desktop, i.e. that has all software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge."

KDE vs. GNOME: What I Will Miss and Where

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-25 Rumors 51 Comments

"A current mania is to exile yourself for a certain period of time into the rival desktop environment, to see how bad (or not) you would feel: a KDE fan would use GNOME, while a GNOME guy would use KDE. I have undertaken the challenge myself, and it wasn't bad at all." More here. Additionally, a Gnome panel apps review.

FreeBSD 6.2 Review

Submitted by Valour 2007-02-25 FreeBSD 101 Comments

It's been a long road to recovery, but after years of mediocre releases, and months of delays in the development process, FreeBSD is finally back on its feet with 6.2-RELEASE. Though it is an excellent operating system, even this latest version offers few or no competitive advantages over Solaris or the other BSDs in a server role, and can never hope to compete with commercial GNU/Linux distributions for desktop computers. FreeBSD 6.2 is what FreeBSD 5.0 needed to be, and for those who have already switched to other operating systems, there are few or no compelling reasons to go back. More here.

The Road to KDE 4: CMake, a New Build System for KDE

Submitted by ronaldst 2007-02-23 KDE 30 Comments

When a project with the size and scope of KDE gets to be as big as it is, sometimes changing a decision established almost a decade earlier is very difficult. KDE has relied on autotools to build most of the project since its inception, but for the last year, KDE 4 has been building with CMake, a newer build system that is rapidly becoming a heavyweight contender. Read on for more.

FORCE10 Uses NetBSD to Build Software Scalability Into OS

Submitted by kwag 2007-02-22 NetBSD 45 Comments

The NetBSD Foundation announced that Force10 Networks, the pioneer in building and securing high performance networks, has leveraged NetBSD as the foundation for the Force10 Operating System (FTOS). Based on the open source UNIX-like system, FTOS provides the software scalability and resiliency that powers the Force10 TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers.

Breakthrough in MySQL Performance on FreeBSD

Submitted by Anonymous Reader 2007-02-22 FreeBSD 48 Comments

FreeBSD has a reputation of being slow in combination with MySQL, especially when compared to Linux. However, some recent improvements in the scheduler shows that FreeBSD now is pretty much on par with Linux. It also shows that Linux scales very badly after a certain amount of threads per CPU.

The Future of Packaging Software in Linux

Submitted by Andrzej Ptak 2007-02-22 Linux 92 Comments

There are currently at least five popular ways of installing software in GNU/Linux. None of them are widely accepted throughout the popular distributions. This situation is not a problem for experienced users - they can make decisions for themselves. However, for a newcomer in the GNU/Linux world, installing new software is always pretty confusing. The article tries to sum up some of the recent efforts to fix this problem and examine the possible future of packaging software in GNU/Linux.

PS3 Available Pre-Installed with Linux

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-22 Linux 36 Comments

Linux distributor TerraSoft is accepting pre-orders for Sony Playstation 3 gaming devices pre-installed with Linux. Linux is installed alongside the Playstation 3's native gaming OS.

Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 2

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-22 Windows 46 Comments

"Last month, in the first installment of this three-part series, I looked at Windows Vista kernel enhancements in the areas of processes and I/O. This time I'll cover advances in the way Windows Vista manages memory, as well as major improvements to system startup, shutdown, and power management." More here.

Opera Mini 3.1 Released

Submitted by JATF 2007-02-22 Wireless 12 Comments

The release focuses on bug fixes, better connectivity and support for additional devices. Changelog is here. You can dowload the client here. Please note that the server-side was upgraded too and has introduced a small rendering bug with the mobile OSNews menu; hopefully it will be resolved soon.

Interview with the OpenCyc Guys

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-21 Original OSNews Interviews 8 Comments

Artificial Intelligence has been at the center of any geek's dream for years. One of the projects that's closer to true AI is Cyc. The open source version of the commercial Cyc product is called OpenCyc and it reached v1.0 status last year. Their mission is to grow both the Cyc & OpenCyc ontology and knowledge base -- even if they are not directly affiliated with Cycorp (the original creators of the Cyc technology). The answers to our mini-interview are provided by project members Mark Baltzegarm, John De Oliveira and Brad Bouldin.

Wind River Acquires Patented Real-Time Linux Technology

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-20 Linux 6 Comments

Wind River, one of the world's top embedded software providers, has acquired a real-time Linux distribution and patented hard-real-time technology from FSMLabs Inc. The acquisition will help Wind River penetrate new and emerging markets requiring extremely tight timing constraints, including the vast, emerging market for low-cost, single-core feature phones, according to the company.

The Pillars of KDE 4: Decibel Definitions and Benefits

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-17 KDE 39 Comments

Decibel is a service that is concerned with real time communications; therefore, everything that connects one user with another user and makes it possible to get replies instantaneously is in the scope of Decibel. Decibel is based on the Telepathy D-Bus API's and uses the Tapioca implementation of these API's.

X11 R7.2 Released

Submitted by tyrione 2007-02-15 Wayland 43 Comments

The X.Org community is proud to announce the release of X11R7.2, the third modular release of the X Window System. It incorporates significant stability and correctness fixes, including improved autoconfiguration heuristics, enhanced support for GL-based compositing managers such as Compiz and Beryl, and improved support for PCI systems with multiple domains. It also incorporates the new, more extensible XACE security policy framework.

World’s First Commercial Quantum Computer Demonstrated

Submitted by Punktyras 2007-02-14 Hardware 48 Comments

The world’s first commercially viable quantum computer was unveiled and demonstrated today in Silicon Valley by D-Wave Systems, Inc., a privately-held Canadian firm headquartered near Vancouver. Quantum computing offers the potential to create value in areas where problems or requirements exceed the capability of digital computing, the company said. But D-Wave explains that its new device is intended as a complement to conventional computers, to augment existing machines and their market, not as a replacement for them.

Autopackage Struggling to Gain Acceptance

Submitted by Dolores Parker 2007-02-13 General Development 123 Comments

14 months ago, the Autopackage project was small and active, and members sounded optimistic about its success. Now, although the alternative installer project continues, progress has almost come to a halt. The #autopackage channel on irc.oftc.net sits vacant most days, the developer blogs cover almost anything except the project, and commits to the source code repository have become rare. Formally, the project is still alive, but the major contributors all agree that it is faltering. So what happened?

3GSM in Barcelona: Home to Many Mobile Announcements

Eugenia Loli 2007-02-13 Wireless 11 Comments

The 3GSM convention was kicked off in Barcelona this year with some pretty cool products: the HP iPAQ 510 Voice Messenger (review), Toshiba's G900 and E01 with WinMob 6, Nokia's E61i and E65, Nokia's N77 with DVB-H mobile TV, Nokia's 6110 quad-band HSDPA GPS navigator, Motorola's MotoRIZR Z8 (video) that uses a non-touchscreen version of UIQ 3.0 and the L9 among others, the Neonode N2, the RIM BlackBerry 8800 (with possibly WiFi in it, unannounced feature), Samsung's 10 new cellphones including the touchscreen ones (specs) and a Symbian-based one, a Windows Mobile 6 video and lastly, a review of the highest-end Nokia Pro handset, the E90.

LinuxBIOS Creator: EFI Is a Security Threat

Submitted by Floris Lambrechts 2007-02-08 Privacy, Security 35 Comments

More than one million devices have already shipped with LinuxBIOS, and the growth is continuing. In his interview for the upcoming FOSDEM 2007 conference, LinuxBIOS creator Ronald Minnich talks about vendor support, the One Laptop Per Child BIOS, and his reluctance towards EFI.