Monthly Archive:: August 2004
XOrg X11 Server Release 6.8 Soon
The new XOrg X11 server is due out on August 25th and with it comes some new, exciting features and improvements to old ones. This article will describe some of these features, changes and more.
Mandrakelinux 10.1 Beta 2 Released
The second beta of Mandrakelinux 10.1 was released over the weekend and here are some of the new features as published on Mandrakeclub.com. Elsewhere, "after a month of use, I've decided Linux is okay but not perfect" says Roger Mier after using Mandrake 10.
Mac OS X Tiger to support resolution independent UI, larger icons
The next major release of the Mac OS X operating system will include technology that will eventually grant users more control over the way application windows are displayed to the screen. According to sources, Apple Computer's Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" OS will introduce developer support for resolution independent user interfaces (just like in Longhorn), breaking the software assumption that all display output is to be rendered at 72 dots per inch (DPI).
Jakob Nielsen Interview
Usability expert Jacob Nielsen was interviewed by Builder AU. When asked about the 3D interfaces of the future Nielsen says "As long as we’re stuck with a 2D computer screen that means the information needs to be in a 2D medium. Complete article.
A new breed of Wi-Fi for the Mac and Windows
The imposing blue Linksys box is about to give way to a whole new crop of Wireless access points (AP) that work with the Mac OS and Windows. This article shows you four new APs that integrate hardware, software, and forward-thinking design that takes the integration of software and hardware a step further than anything that has come before it.
XPDE 0.5.1 Released
The XPde Team released XPde 0.5.1, the release that includes a Start Menu and fixes.
OpenCroquet developer’s release in September 2004
The OpenCroquet Project is near its first release. As written on their homepage: "WHAT IF..." ...we were to create a new operating system and user interface knowing what we know today, how far could we go? What kinds of decisions would we make that we might have been unable to even consider 20 or 30 years ago, when the current set of operating systems were first created?
CDRecord Modifies License; Mini-editorial on the issue
Basically, the author of cdrecord modified its license to not allow modifications of his code by distros without doing so in cooperation with the author.
FreeBSD 5.3-BETA 1 Released
Solaris Express 8/04 is out
Solaris Express 8/04 is out and available for download. More info here.
Download – Burn – Boot: Syllable LiveCD4
BurningShadow has released LiveCD4, which is based on LiveCD3, but uses a RAM disk, which makes it more stable and easier to use. Unlike its predecessor, this CD doesn't require floppies or other writable storage to boot. The CD image is available for download here. An installation CD, InstCD1, is also available, with which you can get a system similar to that on LiveCD4 installed permanently.
Red Hat: Walking the Linux tightrope
European marketing director Paul Salazar admits there have been plenty of screw-ups along the way but that Red Hat is now working hard to please the open-source community and investors alike.
Drag-and-drop flaw mars Microsoft’s latest update
An independent researcher warned that an Internet Explorer vulnerability could turn drag-and-drop into drag-and-infect, even on computers updated with Microsoft's latest security patch.
Lycoris adds new application integration layer to Linux
When Lycoris released a new version of its popular Linux operating system, Desktop/LX 1.4, this week, it also debuted a new application integration infrastructure, nicknamed AI2 (A-I-squared).
PostgreSQL 8.0 will run on Windows
The new version of open-source database PostgreSQL, which is already in beta, is expected to go into production within three months and will for the first time run natively on Windows.
OpenVMS Update from HP World; OpenVMS Gets a Case of the DT’s
Two articles on OpenVMS, one at ShannonKnowsHPC and one at ITPlanet, read on.
Kernel debugging with Kprobes
Collecting debugging information from the Linux™ kernel using printk is a well-known method -- and with Kprobes, it can be done without the need to constantly reboot and rebuild the kernel. Kprobes, in combination with 2.6 kernels, provides a lightweight, non-disruptive, and powerful mechanism to insert printk's dynamically. Logging debug info such as the kernel stack trace, kernel data structures, and registers has never been so easy!
New Features in the Upcoming Firefox 1.0
Firefox 1.0 has several new features that will greatly improve the user experience. Marcus wrote about three of them here. Our take: We hope they will support the rdf+xml type too (only rss+xml works atm).
Pouncing on Panther to Enter the Mac OS X Jungle
"So, even if it doesn't catch on with your enterprise at large, Mac OS X Server will definitely contribute to the rising swell of Windows-alternative servers, and the open source community can always plunder its best features." says ServerWatch on their review of Panther Server. Elsewhere, ComputerWorld says that Apple Remote Desktop 2 is 'well worth the money'.