Monthly Archive:: July 2006

PC-BSD 1.2 Beta Released

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-03 PC-BSD 20 Comments

The PC-BSD team has released a first beta of PC-BSD 1.2. From the changelog: "updated ports to current as of 6-26-06; added DBSD Network/User Toolset into Control Panel; convert PC-BSD tools to Control Panel modules;" and much more.

Review: Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman Phone

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-03 Wireless 36 Comments

A few months ago I wrote an editorial and several blog posts about convergence on gadgets and how Apple might have to move to the phone market for the next-gen of its iPods. So, where is that market is going? Hi-Mobile.net was very kind to send us over the Sony Ericsson W810i Walkman phone for the purposes of this review. We take a look at the W810i's voice, data and multimedia capabilities.

Qt 4.2 Technical Preview Released

Submitted by an Anonymous Reader 2006-07-03 Qt 24 Comments

Last week Trolltech announced the release of a technology preview of Qt 4.2, the upcoming version of the cross-platform toolkit scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2006. This release features a new framework for handling canvas items (Graphics View) and improved support for desktop integration, including dbus bindings, Glib eventloop support, switchable button order and a Clearlooks-like style.

Stable Cairo on BeOS; Haiku Gets NE2000 Driver

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-03 Haiku 6 Comments

A few days ago we reported on the release of Cairo 1.2.0-- as it turns out, this also happens to be the first stable Cairo release with support for BeOS. Haiku's app_server uses a different 2D graphics library, Anti-Grain Geometry. Also, Haiku now has a driver for NE2000 compatible network cards. This means developers can now test the networking stack with QEMU, which emulates an NE2000 compatible card.

Dropping GNU/Linux Helps Restore Corel Profitability

Submitted by lmh8 2006-07-03 Linux 36 Comments

After six years of financial difficulties and reorganizations, Corel finally seems on track with promising first and second quarters in 2006 and a return to public trading. One of the first steps in this turnabout, according to Graham Brown, executive vice president of software development at Corel, was the jettisoning of the company's products for Linux, WordPerfect for Linux and Corel Linux.

Review: Nokia 770 Internet Tablet OS 2006

Submitted by Bill Beebe 2006-07-03 Wireless 1 Comment

BlogBeebe, who has reviewed the Nokia 770 before, now reviews the 2006 version of the 770 OS. "I was not happy to find out I'd paid my USD 360 to become a captive beta tester. I find there's still a lot that needs to be cleaned up, enhanced, or just plain deleted. I suppose, over time, it will continue to advance and improve, and I'll upgrade (more carefully, after the Beta 2006 fiasco) as the enhancements emerge. But for personal as well as professional use I'm going to think long and hard before recommending Nokia."

Submitted by jchalifour 2006-07-03 Linux 54 Comments

"They said it at LinuxWorld in Toronto a few months ago. They've buzzed it at analysts, and now the press is saying it to the public. Novell says this is the year of the Linux desktop, and I'm familiar with evidence showing gains in popularity for Linux. Yet, I disagree that this is the year. Nothing is happening this year to make it, specifically, the year of the Linux desktop and I'm going to hypothesize what could change that."

Java Static Analysis and Custom Bug Detectors

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-03 Java 1 Comment

Jave static analysis and custom bug detectors can be a very cost-effective way to improve software quality. By creating a detector for a known bug pattern, we can search for that bug pattern not only in the current code base for a specific project, but in any project, current or future. This article looks at how static analysis tools can change the way you manage software quality.

Gtk+ 2.10 Released

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-03 GTK+ 43 Comments

Gtk+ 2.10 has been released. Check the release notes. This release offers better printing support, improved drag and drop support, and much more. For the record: "GTK+ is a multi-platform toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. Offering a complete set of widgets, GTK+ is suitable for projects ranging from small one-off tools to complete application suites."

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Watching the Evolution of Arch Linux

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-03 Linux 31 Comments

It's been over a year since the last time I reviewed (1, 2) the Linux distribution that I use most of the time, Arch Linux. Since then, while the distro-specific innovations have slowed a bit down, maturity and stability has emerged.

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C++, Java, C# and Erlang Articles

Eugenia Loli 2006-07-03 General Development 5 Comments

InformIT features four interesting programming articles this week: "Design Patterns in Java: Adapter", "C# Basic Concepts", "An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming for C++ Game Developers" and "A Taste of Erlang, a Dynamic, Asynchronous Message-Passing Language".

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When a Computer Loses It with a Meter Maid

Thom Holwerda 2006-07-02 Office 66 Comments

People say I rant too much. I complain and complain, but never seem to really like anything. As I promised a few weeks ago, I will talk about things I love about computers. After explaining why I like to complain and rant, this column will solely deal with fluffy bunnies, green meadows, blue skies, and shiny, happy people. I promise.

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FreeDOS Is Not Dead

Submitted by Anonymous Coward 2006-07-02 OS News 16 Comments

Smile, you're on candid camera! Apparantly, FreeDOS is anything but dead. "FreeDOS is definitely still very much alive! Moving forward, I'm trying to put the focus on our '1.0' release. What's done is done. Right now, I want to get a '1.0' out there by end of July. We're already pretty stable, so what we have by month end will be '1.0'. I think we can do it." We got owned.

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WinFS, Project Orange To Be Reborn in iView’s Media Pro?

Submitted by Gzzy 2006-07-02 Microsoft 19 Comments

"It's no secret that WinFS was a great idea without a killer application. Microsoft had to go to great lengths in their demos and evangelism to get people to picture what would be capable with a WinFS application. Microsoft also had problems recruiting for their 'killer app' because those job openings posted on the WinFS blog were actually first posted on the Microsoft website in February and still unfilled in May. iView's Media Pro application is the perfect killer app for WinFS/SQL Server codename 'Katmai'. It relies heavily on a database for it's features."

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Third Issue of Quarterly OS2eCS eZine Released

Submitted by Jeramie Samphere 2006-07-02 OS/2 7 Comments

The third issue of the quarterly OS2eCS eZine has been released. In this issue: covering the updated JFS/LVM and Lucide; writing NetRexx programs using Java Swing; using the AMD Geode CPU to run OS/2 and eComStation; using a D-Link DFE-690TXD Fast Ethernet cardbus card with eComStation; and more.

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Killing Spam With Postgrey, Postfix

Submitted by falko 2006-07-02 Internet 9 Comments

"This tutorial will show you how to setup greylisting with Postgrey and Postfix on Debian. Greylisting will not replace spam filtering software like SpamAssassin but it will serve as a powerful first hurdle for spam thus reducing the amount of spam entering the system at all."

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Damn Small Linux 3.0 Review

Submitted by Mark 2006-07-02 Linux 13 Comments

As its name suggests, Damn Small Linux (DSL) is a damn small distribution! The ISO is just 50MB and it fits on a business card CD so you can carry it with you wherever you go. It also acts as a Live CD so you can run the system without installing it on the machine. The idea is to access your Linux environment from any computer, thanks to a tiny CD that would fit in your wallet.

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Nokia 770 Tablet OS 2006 Released

Submitted by anonymous 2006-07-01 Wireless 26 Comments

Following a beta release on June 9, Nokia has released a highly anticipated Linux operating system update for the 770 Internet Tablet. The Tablet OS 2006 update is now available for download by 770 owners on Nokia's website. The Tablet OS 2006 upgrade apparently completely wipes out all Tablet OS 2005 applications. Specifically, the Nokia 770 upgrade page states, "Installed applications designed for OS 2005 will not be compatible with OS 2006 edition and will not be restored even from backup."

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Cairo 1.2.0 Released

Submitted by trevor 2006-07-01 Wayland 46 Comments

"We are very pleased to announce this release, the first major update to cairo since the original 1.0 release 10 months ago. Compared to cairo 1.0, the 1.2 release doubles the number of supported backends, adding PDF, PostScript & SVG backends to the previous xlib/win32, and image backends."

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Sun Denies Open Source Java Imminent

Submitted by Stephen 2006-07-01 Java 28 Comments

Sun was quick to deny published reports today that it plans to open source Java in the next few months. The company is working on the project, but any transition to open source is closer to a year away. Simon Phipps, chief open-source officer for Sun, made a comment he said was misconstrued at the Open Source Business Conference in London earlier this week concerning Sun's efforts to release Java as an entirely open source project.

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