OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

LynxOS Reveals Source Code & MSRP Pricing

Guest post by Kevin Adams 2002-12-11 OS News No Comments

"It's not quite open source, but the makers of the embedded operating system LynxOS have taken a step towards bringing code availablity to their customers. That was the word out of California yesterday afternoon when LynuxWorks announced a new set of pricing packages designed to make LynxOS a more affordable option for those who are considering using the real-time operating system (RTOS) for their embedded projects" Read the full article at All Linux Devices.

Is the Computer Desktop an Antique?

Submitted by sunlit mechanism 2002-12-11 Graphics 30 Comments

Twenty years ago, the PC world began a slow but inexorable consolidation around the desktop metaphor—with its files and folders and recycling bins—that now graces practically every computer screen on the planet. The desktop metaphor has served us well, particularly during a period of mass adoption when consolidating around one overarching visual metaphor helped new computer users adapt to life in front of the screen. But that unified approach is starting to fragment. Soon, Apple and Microsoft will need new metaphors for their operating systems.

SmoothWall 1.0 Released

Submitted by John Gowin 2002-12-11 Linux 10 Comments

SmoothWall 1.0 has been released and LinuxOrbit has a related article. On another distro release, for BeOS this time, Developer Edition v1.1 is out. It includes many new drivers and system improvements.

TriangleOS 0.0.3 Screenshots Available

Submitted by Wim Cools 2002-12-11 OS News 17 Comments

TriangleOS is a 32-bit Operating System for the x86 platform, written in C and Assembler. Wim Cools posted some screenshots of his OS. On his site, information and images can be found of the latest kernel version which can be booted from floppy.

Win a Free Xandros Desktop 1.0 Copy

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Gifts, Contests 37 Comments

Xandros Desktop sets a new standard for Linux based desktop operating systems by delivering an environment and set of applications that allow you to install the system and get back to work. It is based on the pioneering direction of Corel LINUX OS which was recognized by both mainstream and Linux publications as a leader in making Linux accessible to desktop users. And today, it can be yours for free (a value of $99 USD)! Read more to enter the competition.

Pegasos Wins the Amiga Award 2002 by Popular Vote

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Morphos 45 Comments

Genesi just did the official launch of MorphOS & Pegasos at the Amiga and Retro show in Aachen, Germany at the weekend and won the Amiga Award 2002 by popular vote. The company got their first 50 production boards and these have been sent out already. This is the first new desktop system/platform launched since Be launched the BeBox 7 years ago (HW & Software - there are plenty of new OSs and hardware but entirely new platforms are pretty rare these days). The companies (Thendic-france and bplan) are merging into a new company called Genesi.

Interview with Red Hat’s Michael Tiemann

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Red Hat 4 Comments

"Winning respect is now the least of the open-source movement's concerns. Future struggles may involve political and political challenges in copyright law or digital rights management or intellectual property issues, according to Tiemann, nowadays chief technology officer at Linux seller Red Hat." Read the interview at C|Net.

beunited.org Donation Pledge Reaches $10,000.00

Submitted by Simon Gauvin 2002-12-10 Office 20 Comments

In just 3 days beunited.org has been pledged over $10,000.00 by the public and corporate community for the release of Gobe Productive for BeOS (and other platforms). Linux users have also pledged, and beUnited.org encourages more members of the Linux community to participate for the release of the Linux version.

Qt 3.1.1 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Qt 8 Comments

In Qt 3.1.1 the build issues with the Professional Edition have been solved. The build problems reported on Solaris and HP-UX have been addressed. Detection of Xft2 support has been added. The installer and reconfigure tools on Windows have been fixed. Apply changes to build with Borland Kylix/Linux. Look'n'Feel improvements in the Qt/Mac version.

What’s Keeping Linux Off Desktops?

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Linux 114 Comments

"The vision of running Linux on corporate desktops has gained ground during the past 18 months, as full- featured office productivity software has become a reality and improvements have been made to the Linux kernel and to installation and administration tools. But even though the open-source operating system has moved closer to filling desktop needs, nagging gaps remain, said users and analysts at last week's Enterprise Linux Forum Conference & Expo here. In some cases, they added, the lingering lack of needed functionality is making it hard for IT managers to switch their users to Linux." Read the article at PCWorld.

Mono 0.17 Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-10 Mono 14 Comments

Mono 0.17 has been released. Check out the release notes for a more detailed list. Many new features as well as plenty of bug fixes. Many new System.Data providers and a more mature System.Web (ASP.NET) which can now be hosted in any web server. A simple test web server to host asp.net has been released as well. This version also integrates Neale's s390 port.

Month with a Mac: Can the Mac replace my PC?

Adam Scheinberg 2002-12-09 Apple 313 Comments

There are certain perennial debates amongst the technical community, constantly revisited with differing outcomes for each person. Linux vs. Windows, KDE vs. Gnome, Mac vs. PC - they are unwinnable arguments, and although the outcome varies overtime with each successive release or new piece of hardware, they consistently gain our attention. When presented with the opportunity to borrow a Macintosh for a little over a month, I jumped at the chance to resolve one of these debates for myself. The question was: Can the Mac replace my PC?

Linux is No Longer Just an Upstart

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-09 Linux 21 Comments

"The upstart Linux operating system isn't an upstart any more, according to Linux executives meeting in Boston last week. The Enterprise Linux Forum brought together vendors and users of Linux systems at a time when the operating system seems to have established itself as a major force in corporate computing - to the chagrin of established giants like Microsoft Corp." Read the article at Boston Globe.

Open Source J2EE 1.4 Gets Sun Green Light

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-09 Java 12 Comments

The first open source implementation of the latest specification for enterprise Java is expected in JBoss Group LLC's increasingly popular open source application server next year, Gavin Clarke writes. Read the article at TheRegister.

Microsoft Loses .NET Ally Rational to IBM

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-09 Microsoft 16 Comments

Rational Software Corp is joining Big Blue's stable of industry leaders-turned-business units after IBM announced its $2.1bn acquisition of the application modeling and design specialist. The news is a blow to Microsoft Corp, which on Friday conceded executives had "talked internally" about an acquisition of Rational. Rational's XDE software modeling tool, launched in February, sat inside Microsoft' Visual Studio.NET integrated development environment (IDE) in addition to IBM's WebSphere. Read the article at ComputerWire.

First Impressions from SGI’s MIPSpro Compiler Suite 7.4

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-09 SGI and IRIX 23 Comments

The compiler suite coming for all SGI MIPS-based machines is one of the best optimized development tools for any platform. SGI has put many years of experience on the newest version of the series, MIPSpro 7.4, which we recently gave it a spin.

FreeBSD 5.0-RC1 Released

Submitted by Ice 2002-12-09 FreeBSD 25 Comments

FreeBSD 5.0-RC1 was just released, download its ISO from an ftp server near you.

OpenBSD SMP Project Started

Submitted by Acheron 2002-12-09 OpenBSD 11 Comments

Acheron writes: "Spotted this on Deadly.org today. Four University of Waterloo students are working on adding SMP support to the OpenBSD kernel as their 4th year Computer Engineering Design Project. Their website can be found at Spinlocks.org. Best of luck to them."

Iyonix Review Part One

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-08 Hardware 25 Comments

Drobe reviews the Iyonix, the machine based on the Intel X-Scale CPU that will run on RiscOS 5.

What’s your Favorite Linux Distro?

Eugenia Loli 2002-12-08 Linux 64 Comments

"This is my opinion on the various distros that I have tried. I'm not a Linux expert at all. I have been using some flavor of Linux for about 2 years now, and have become proficient with Linux. Here are things that I noticed about some of the distro's that I have tried". Read the article at DesktopLinux.