OS News Archive

"There is a new member of the OpenGEM family. We'd like to introduce Project Liberation, based on the software behind OpenGEM Experimental. Project Liberation is a whole new type of OpenGEM, and it's such a leap forward it'll blow your socks off. Project Liberation has a new 3D interface, with a neat modern pointer set, a beautiful new default system font, and cool new icons." Beta 3 has just been released. Download it here.

This article is intended mainly for developers who are new to Xen and who want to know more about it. The Xen VMM (virtual machine monitor) is an open-source project that is being developed in the computer laboratory of the University of Cambridge, UK. It enables us to create many virtual machines, each of which runs an instance of an operating system. These guest operating systems can be a patched Linux kernel, version 2.4 or 2.6, or a patched NetBSD/FreeBSD kernel.

Here is a review of QEMU, a "generic and open source processor emulator which achieves a good emulation speed by using dynamic translation": "In sum, if you have emulation or virtualization needs, before you think of any commercial products, give QEMU a try. While it may not be as feature rich as some commercial alternatives, it’s stable, fast and free. And the convenience of having the source code available is a real plus."

What utility do practically all Linux users use, regardless of their job or expertise? A boot loader. In this article, see how a boot loader works, meet two popular loaders, LILO (LInux LOader) and GNU GRUB (GRand Unified Boot loader), and review the pros and cons of each.

I've just incremented the OSNews version number from 3.0 to 3.1. I'm not really sure if now is too early or too late to make this change, but some fairly large backend changes have occured recently that prompted me to revisit whether or not this is really the same site that 3.0 was at rollout. Anyway, there's a nice new feature that comes along with the change to 3.1 -- THREADING. Read on to find out about it.

Head-Tracking Pointer is an application that, using an inexpensive camera, lets users control a mouse pointer by aiming their face around the screen. It works with virtually any camera that can be connected to a computer, and without the user wearing anything. This solution provides computer access for those unable to use traditional pointing devices due to temporary or permanent physical impairment.

Start-up XenSource has succeeded in booting Microsoft Windows on top of Xen software, an important milestone in its effort to commercialize the virtual machine.

"Based on an operating system called GEOS that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Breadbox Ensemble is a small (a full installation weighs in at under 10 MB) and fast suite of incredibly useful programs. While small, Breadbox Ensemble has a graphical user interface that mimics the look and feel of the Windows desktop." Read more...

As part of our OSNews v3 project, we have a framework in place that would allow registered users to not only comment on existing stories and suggest stories for OSNews editors, but also post their own thoughts on their own personal pages and allow others to comment on them. Read more to learn about some ideas we've had, and to give your feedback and suggestions. Most of all, we'd like to know whether this is functionality you'd be interested in using.

EyeOS is a free, cross-platform personal content manager system based upon the style of a desktop operating system. The base package includes the whole operating system structure and ten apps: a calendar, file manager, text editor, internal messenger, browser and calculator. EyeOS's is thought to provide a complete, scalable and free (GPL) organization and work system. Everyone can port an existing PHP app to EyeOS and create a meta-package. You can test it online here.

For the "bleeding edge," the FreeDOS distribution GNU/DOS 2005 has had 15 software updates so far, including those dealing with speed and bug fixes, an improved menu system, a new screen saver, and a new package management system since its release last month to prepare for GNU/DOS 2006, which should be released by this winter. You can download these updates at the official GNU/DOS Web page. Meanwhile, the operating system/programming language TextOS has been updated to versions v1.0b9 and v2.0b8, which are both faster and include an updated version of the supplied editor/file viewer. Download both versions at the official TextOS Web page.

Visopsys is an alternative OS for PC-compatibles. Version 0.56 is a maintenance and bugfix release, with important fixes to eliminate potential boot problems, faulty EXT2/3 mounts, and problems with the detection of secondary hard disks. Important multitasker improvements related to process initialization have also been back-ported from the 0.6 development branch. Download page and changelog.

Have you ever gone on vacation and missed a day's news? Ever have a busy day and need to quickly catch up on what you missed? Well, your problems are solved with the new OSNews Digest. Read on for details. UPDATED

Today, after several weeks of testing, we are pleased to present OSNews version 3.0. This document will serve as the definitive guide to using the new site, detailing the new features and perks.