Thom Holwerda Archive

VmwAROS 0.8 Beta Released

Submitted by paolone 2008-06-22 Amiga & AROS 8 Comments

A new version of this AROS distribution has been released. VmwAROS is available in two flavours: a virtual environment for VMware, and a live-cd that runs on top of real hardware, which can be installed on the hard drive as any other operating system. This new version includes lots of new games and applications for AROS, includes a complete C, C++ environment and E interpreter, and fixes an annoying compatibility problem that plagues current nightly builds on some hardware, by using a second "emergency" kernel. Users who couldn't boot the 0.7 versions should try this new one.

Firefox 3.0: Cut the Superlatives, Please

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-20 Mozilla, Gecko 77 Comments

I've seen superlative after superlative concerning the release of Firefox 3.0, and in all honesty, it is making my stomach ache. Yes, Firefox 3.0 is a great release. It has a slicker interface (the UI on Vista looks quite pretty) and the use of native widgets in Linux is a very, very welcome addition. On top of that, it actually delivers what I was craving for the most from my favourite Windows web browser: much improved performance. But does Firefox 3.0 change the web, or alter the way we use the intertubes?

Review Roundup: openSUSE 11.0

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-20 SuSE, openSUSE 23 Comments

openSUSE 11.0 is one of the most anticipated Linux distribution releases of recent times. The openSUSE team released version 11.0 yesterday, and it comes with the latest KDE4, GNOME, kernel, all the usual latest and greatest. In addition, it carries a few new Compiz Fusion plugins, improved package management (still a weak spot for openSUSE), and a brand new front-end to the installer. Reviews are starting to trickle in, and they are almost exclusively positive.

Apple’s Other Open Secret: LLVM

Submitted by Aron Allen 2008-06-20 macOS 15 Comments

"SproutCore, profiled earlier this week, isn't the only big news spill out from the top secret WWDC conference due to Apple's embrace of open source sharing. Another future technology featured by the Mac maker last week was LLVM, the Low Level Virtual Machine compiler infrastructure project. Like SproutCore, LLVM is neither new nor secret, but both have been hiding from attention due to a thick layer of complexity that has obscured their future potential."

Submitted by Rahul 2008-06-19 Office 44 Comments

The battle between the OpenDocument Format and Microsoft's Open Office XML was long, and here and there rather nasty, but it appears as if we finally have a winner. The company behind OOXML already conceded by announcing it would implement support for ODF in Office 2007 SP2, but now it has also said it quite literally: ODF has won.

Submitted by Rahul 2008-06-19 Java 55 Comments

Back in May 2006, Sun announced during the JavaOne conference it would release Java as open source, licensed as GPL software. While it was released as GPL, it still contained about 5 percent proprietary, non-free code - the Java trap, as the FSF calls it. The FSF called to dismantle this trap, and now the IcedTea project has reached an important milestone.

Cutting the Cat 5 Cord? Not So Fast!

Submitted by Mark Wielaard 2008-06-19 Internet 53 Comments

While the history of wireless computer networks dates back to the 1970 with the University of Hawaii's ALOHAnet (I wish we retained that name instead of 802.11x), it has only been during the past, say, 10 years that the technology started to make serious inroads into the consumer market - your home. The latest and greatest variant is 802.11n, and while promoted as the best thing since sliced bread, Frank Ohlhorst has his reservations, and debunks 5 myths concerning 802.11n.

Submitted by diegocg 2008-06-19 Linux 2 Comments

While Linus Torvalds is the main figurehead for the Linux kernel, there are of course countless other individuals contributing to the Linux kernel - some more than others. A contributor of key importance is Andrew Morton, maintainer of the -mm tree. Since changes in how Morton handles things are on the horizon, LWN.net sent Morton a few questions.

Innovation in Next-Gen PC Design Competition

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-17 Microsoft 30 Comments

The NextGen PC Design Competition is a competition set up by Microsoft to allow people to design their idea of the next generation computer. "Influence tomorrow's digital lifestyle with your vision of the Next-Gen PC. Change the way people pursue their passions by designing the ultimate Next-Gen Windows-based PC. Give them everything they need to do what they love, easily, powerfully, and enjoyably. Introduce the Next-Gen PC. It's your design."

Review: Asus Linux EeePC 901

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-17 Hardware 33 Comments

As we all know by now, the Asus Eee PC has been a massive success for Asus. While that's really nice for the men and women working at Asus, us operating system enthusiasts like the device for another reason: it came pre-loaded with something else than Windows, which creates awareness of alternatives among the public, which in turn helps to diversify the operating system marketplace - something we all want. While the new Eee PC can be pre-loaded with Windows, the Linux version is still there. El Reg takes a look at the Linux version of the new Eee PC 901.

Nvidia Blows Out Moore’s Law with Fresh Tesla

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-17 3D 2 Comments

"Nvidia pitches its Tesla hardware as a magical solution for the world’s toughest computing problems. Just move your code that runs well across many processors over to the Tesla boards, and Shazam!. You enjoy sometimes 400 per cent improvements in overall performance. Despite such mind-blowing increases in horsepower, Tesla continues to occupy a space that one could characterize as ultra-niche. Only the brave few have navigated Nvidia’s CUDA programming apparatus to tweak their code for the general purpose graphics processors inside of the Tesla systems. That ultra-niche, however, may grow into a niche over the coming year thanks to the introduction of more powerful Tesla systems."

Submitted by rexstuff 2008-06-17 OS News 29 Comments

I took them 15 years. During those years, the project grew from something that didn't work, to something that sometimes under special circumstances could maybe perhaps work, to something that sometimes just worked, all the way to something that works in a number of pre-defined cases. You won't believe it, but Wine 1.0 is here.

Firefox 3.0 Coming Today

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-17 Mozilla, Gecko 60 Comments

Any minute now, the Mozilla Foundation will officially release the third incarnation of their successful Firefox web browser - the browser that cracked Internet Explorer's monopoly and forced Microsoft to improve IE. Mozilla aims to set a world record in most software downloaded in 24 hours with Firefox 3. Update: It's out there, boys and girls. Update II: And the Firefox 3 page is up too.

Submitted by stonyandcher 2008-06-17 Microsoft 23 Comments

Bill Gates - for over 30 years now he and his company shaped the technology world, for better or worse, that's up to you to decide. On June 27th, 2008, Gates will step down to spend more time on his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, while still taking on an advisory role within the biggest software company of the world. PC World listed ten of the most memorable Bill Gates moments.

IBM May Open Source DB2

Submitted by Edisamy 2008-06-17 IBM 22 Comments

IBM is positive about the possibility of bringing out its DB2 under an open source license. While the computing giant has no immediate plans to open source DB2, market conditions may make it unavoidable, according to Chris Livesey, IBM's UK director of information management software. "We have a light version of the product offered for free, which is a step towards exposing our core (DB2) technology," said Livesey. "Looking at IBM's heritage in contributing to the open source market, we've been particularly keen to lead that market. Open source is an interesting space, as a whole. As the future unfolds, and the economics become clearer, there's going to be more commitment to open source by everybody. We've made good steps towards that."

Submitted by irbis 2008-06-16 AMD 27 Comments

AMD has seen a few serious setbacks lately, especially with their Barcelona server processor, but it seems as if the company is trying hard to get things back on track. The first step in solving an issue is acknowledging it exists in the first place, and AMD CEO Hector Ruiz did just that last December. "We blew it and we're very humbled by it and we learned from it and we're not going to do it again." Reseller Advocate Magazine asks, are you ready to believe him?

FolderView Gets Nepomuk Search Integration

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-16 KDE 61 Comments

Probably the most often misunderstood element of KDE4 is Plasma, the extensive widget engine that replaces the normal desktop and the Kicker panel from KDE 3.x. The entire KDE4 desktop is built up out of Plasmoids (yet another term for desk accessory), including the panel and the desktop itself - and it is the latter that has been causing quite some confusion. Where are my desktop icons? Update: Aaron Seigo has published a screencast showing how the FolderView Plasmoid behaves as a normal desktop, and how to make it so.

IE8 Development: Microsoft Should Learn from Apple, Mozilla

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-15 Internet Explorer 64 Comments

"Internet Explorer 8 is set to be Microsoft's most standards compliant browser ever. After originally stating that IE8 would default to the same non-compliant behavior exhibited by IE7, Microsoft relented and plumped for standard-by-default. The first beta of IE8 was released in March and it did indeed default to standards compliance. Web developers have been clamouring for standards compliance for a long time; IE is a long way behind the competition, requiring considerable hacks and workarounds to get pages working properly. IE8 should make things a lot better - but it will still fall far short of the standards set by Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Some of these problems are technical, but others are cultural. Where the other browser developers are open and communicative, Microsoft is still leaving web developers in the dark."

openSUSE’s Brockmeier Sees Distro Coming Into Its Own

Thom Holwerda 2008-06-15 SuSE, openSUSE 18 Comments

"Of all the community distributions, probably the least known is openSUSE. After two and a half years, the distro is not only still working out details about how its community operates - including how its governing board is elected - but also struggling to come out of the shadow of its corporate parent Novell, much as Fedora has emerged from its initial dominance by Red Hat. With the pending release of openSUSE 11.0, community manager Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier suggests that the distribution is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves. In the middle of preparations for the new release, Brockmeier took the time to talk with Linux.com about the priorities within the community and its relation with the larger world of free software."

EFiX Promises to Simplify OSX86 Installation

Submitted by eMalware 2008-06-15 macOS 38 Comments

We all know about PsyStar, the company that sells an unofficial Macintosh clone running Mac OS X Leopard. While the device runs Leopard fine, it has its shortcomings in that operating system updates have to go through PsyStar testing first, becuase they might break your installation. While this problem isn't addressed with this product, EFiX aims to simplify installing Mac OS X Leopard on your non-Apple machine.