Monthly Archive:: May 2004

FreeBSD 4.10 Released

FreeBSD 4.10 has been released and is now available on the master ftp. It should be showing up on mirrors shortly. Changes include the addition of USB2 support, a "dumb console" driver, a host of security fixes and many other tweaks. Userland utilities such as ifconfig, killall and rtld have also been updated. This release is very much an incremental one and contains no major new features. The current plans are for one more FreeBSD 4.X release which will be FreeBSD 4.11-RELEASE. After that, it's expected that FreeBSD 5.3 release will have reached the maturity level necessary for most users to be able to migrate to 5.X.

Mac OS X 10.3.4 Update Released

The 10.3.4 Update delivers enhanced functionality and improved reliability for Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther" and is recommended for all users. Key enhancements include: improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS), PPTP, and wireless networks, improved OpenGL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers, improved disc burning and recording functionality iPods connected via USB 2.0 are now recognized by iTunes and iSync, additional FireWire audio and USB device compatibility updated Address Book, Mail, Safari, Stickies, and QuickTime applications, improved compatibility for third party applications previous standalone security updates

Chronological & Source Oriented File Management

The desktop metaphor, used in practically every modern operating system, has been around for many years and has been very successful in making computer usage easy for even the most novice users. Whereas once a user had to type commands in and navigate through directories by entering every single character in a path name, the desktop graphical user interface metaphor made it possible to perform the same actions by simply pointing to and clicking the iconic views of the various files and folders.

SAX processing in Python

An application developer can choose any one of a number of strategies to read and use an XML document. In some very simple examples a script containing a number of regular expressions might do the job, but normally a more rigorous technique is required. The Simple API for XML (SAX) is one of the two key techniques for analysing and processing XML documents (the other is the more complicated Document Object Model (DOM)). Read the article here.

The next era of explosive technology growth: device software

The "intelligent connected device" will be the next hotbed of innovation and growth in the technology sector -- revolutionizing markets as they exist today, according to embedded operating system market leader Wind River. Chairman and CEO Ken Klein predicts a major shift in device software, and says that companies not actively building connectivity and intelligence into their products today will not survive past the next wave of technology innovation and growth.

Using Eclipse with Jakarta Tomcat

Gain the power to develop and test quick JSP's with integrated Java code, using a great IDE that will help improve your productivity. This article will guide you step-by-step through the installation of Eclipse, Jakarta Tomcat, and an Eclipse Tomcat launcher plug-in that will integrate them.

Book Review: The Official GNOME 2 Developer’s Guide

I am much into learning all-about-Gnome development lately, using GTK# and Mono. Unfortunately, the Mono/GTK# documentation is not that complete in regards of developing Gnome applications and this has being quite a stumbling block. The release of the "Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide" book felt like a godsend to help clarify a few points about the GTK+ and Gnome architecture. But was it really?