Monthly Archive:: August 2002

Also from DistroWatch:If you thought that Slackware developers were going to take a long break after the 8.1 release, you were wrong: "We're happy to announce the initial Slackware-9.0-beta based on gcc-3.2. :-) Please test it and report any bugs that you find. The above message is from the current ChangeLog. See the pre-release notes and the complete package list for further information. Apart from GCC, many other packages have also been upgraded, including Linux Kernel (2.4.19), KDE (3.0.3), Perl (5.8.0) and Netscape (7.0), but GNOME packages were left at versions found in Slackware 8.1 (1.4.1).

From our friends at DistroWatch: Your last chance to test things out and report bugs -- if you miss it, you have no right to complain that some things don't work in Mandrake 9.0! Links to the three ISO images: CD 1 (695MB), CD 2 (700MB), CD 3 (549MB) or try a more convenient mirror. Report bugs on the cooker mailing list. Also don't forget this excellent offer to all beta testers: Mandrake 9.0 DVD (as soon as it's available) + Mandrake cap for US$55! Great value compared to regular pricing -- click here if you'd like to take advantage of the offer coupled with free shipping within EU, USA and Canada and 50% off shipping cost for the rest of the world. Things just don't get much better that this, do they? Mandrake Linux 9.0 final should be out in about two-week's time.

The new version of Cosmoe includes the following changes: doing a "make doc" in the libcosmoe directory will make html API documentation in the docs directory (you must have doxygen installed). Partially fixed a bug in LayoutView reported by James Dean Palmer, so that Guiprefs runs better. Here is a screenshot of Cosmoe running both locally and remotely, on single, dual, and quad CPU machines.
In related news, Syllable's web site has been updated to include screenshots of Syllable 0.4.1.

DesktopLinux contributing editor Malcolm Dean interviews SCO's new CEO Darl McBride in-depth about Linux, the desktop, and the company's new direction.

The August 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools Update addresses issues with the July 2002 Mac OS X Developer Tools originally released with Mac OS X version 10.2 (Jaguar build 6C115 or later)." The download can be found at Apple Developer Connection (ADC login required). On other news, Apple says it's not just opening up the source code for its Rendezvous networking tool--it's actively courting open-source developers to work with the technology. Also, Apple now sells PowerMacs with MacOSX 10.2-Server pre-installed. Prices start at $3,000 USD for a dual 1 GHz G4 machine.

Microsoft has once again tweaked the name of the successor to Windows 2000 Server, in a move that suggests its official release won't come until next year. During the Redmond, Wash.-based company's annual employee meeting this week, executives revealed that the follow-up to Windows 2000 Server will be called Windows .Net Server 2003. Read more at ZDNews.

"I like MandrakeSoft very much, but I have some concerns. Here is some constructive criticism. I do not oppose your core business model - in fact I like it a lot. My proposals here should be compatible with it. MandrakeClub has become a bit of a 'secret society'. Non-members have no idea of what's going on inside, so they see no point in joining. I think you should merge Mandrakeclub.com and Mandrakeforum.com." PCLinuxOnline's Yama writes an editorial for MandrakeForum.

LinuxAndMain is hosting a story, describing the begining up to today the growing problems between the KDE Project and Red Hat. Apparently, the latest news is that Red Hat sees KDE as "kde* crapland".

Following drivers are included in this release of SkyOS: 3COM 3c509 Networkcard device, AmdPCNet Networkcard device, Chips & Technologies graphic device, device Filesystem, ELF Binary support,...

Apple Computer has invoked the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent its customers from burning DVDs on external drives. At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form, it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured by third parties. That means Macintosh owners with older computers or laptop computers, or people who opted not to buy the "Superdrive"-equipped Macs, could not use iDVD to save movies.

It is possible to easily enable Quartz Extreme (QE) on G3s or G4s that do not have a QE compatible AGP 2x graphics card. The hack is described here. From some tests that users did, it seems that only the G3/G4 machines with 66 MHz PCI bus saw some acceleration. Machines with 33 Mhz PCI bus, did not. The hack would work only if you have a Radeon or a GeForce2MX+ card, because they share the same driver with their AGP versions (QE only works on Radeons and GeForce2+ -- ATi Rage cards do not work at all with QE, with or without hacks). Also, please note that users who enabled QE on their unsupported PCI machines, had major artifacts on some applications, most notably iTunes' visual playback (quite possibly because the PCI bus is not fast enough for what is required).

SciTech Software, Inc. today announced the intention to release the bulk of its proprietary device driver development tools under a new dual license structure. SciTech’s commercially available graphics driver pack, SciTech SNAP Graphics, currently supports nearly 180 graphics chip sets on multiple OS’es with full 2D acceleration. Access to all existing SciTech SNAP drivers will remain available under SciTech’s commercial license and will not be Open Sourced due to existing NDA’s with chip vendors.

Netscape browsers have continued to lose market share at a steady clip, falling to a new low of 3.4 percent as of this week, according to new figures. A year ago, Netscape's market share stood at 13 percent, but fell steeply to 7 percent by March, as IE 6 gained popularity. IE has now reached 96 percent market penetration, according to StatMarket, up from 87 percent a year ago. Mozilla gained some market share when it finally reached a 1.0 release earlier this year, but browsers such as Mozilla and Opera still only accounted for less than 1 percent of the market, StatMarket said.

DesktopLinux contributing editor Malcolm Dean examines the reemergence of Caldera under new leadership and brand name -- The SCO Group. Unveiled at the GeoForum in Las Vegas, the company's new focus positions it to make an impact on the business desktop in a big way.