OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

OEone HD: A New Experience for Linux Desktop Computing

Submitted by John Gowin 2002-09-23 Linux 27 Comments

Linux Orbit reviews OEone's HomeBase DESKTOP: "Unlike Ximian GNOME, the HomeBase DESKTOP product doesn't take over the default GNOME installation included with Red Hat 7.x versions. It will create it's own session type in the graphical login (gdm) used with Red Hat 7.x systems. Why is this important? Well, from my experience, this makes HomeBase DESKTOP the most painless test drive of any Linux desktop product I've tried to date. If you don't like it, just go back to GNOME or KDE or whatever else you use, since nothing has really changed in those installed environments."

SkyOS 3.9.1d Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-23 SkyOS 35 Comments

Robert Szeleney released version 3.9.1d of his OS, SkyOS, including a number of fixes, while he ported the first game to SkyOS, Quake I (screenshot). In the meantime, Syllable also recently got a port of Doom and Quake. In other small OS news, ReactOS has a preliminary graphics system able to run simple Windows binaries (screenshot, running inside the Bochs emulator). The team expects more and better compatibility to come when the WINE port gets finished.

The Future of Windows

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-23 Windows 54 Comments

"Have you ever wondered what operating system you will be using in 2005? Australian tech writer Andrew Parsons investigates the future of Windows, code named Longhorn." Read it at ZDNet Australia.

Why .NET Will Conquer the World

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-23 .NET 38 Comments

".NET clearly bears a strong resemblance to Java. It offers many of the same features, while adding interesting additions of its own (code metadata, versioned assemblies, etc). Microsoft, however, is better positioned to create a cross-market software unification framework than Sun Microsystems ever was (or is). This will result in a rapid expansion in .NET's popularity which eats into Java's market share as it grows to take over the development world." Read the editorial at ZDNet.

UnitedLinux Public Beta (Almost) Released

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-23 Linux 9 Comments

The UnitedLinux organization plans today to release their first public beta. As of writing this, only the TurboLinux ftp site has an ongoing uploading of the UnitedLinux ISO file. Watch out for more. Update: More mirror sites here.

Native POSIX Threading Library

Jon Jensen 2002-09-23 Linux 10 Comments

A recent feature on kerneltrap.org: "Ulrich Drepper recently announced the first public release of the Red Hat sponsored 'Native POSIX Thread Library' (NPTL). He explained, 'Unless major flaws in the design are found this code is intended to become the standard POSIX thread library on Linux system and it will be included in the GNU C library distribution.'

Solaris 9: A Secure Server Is an Optimized Server

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-23 Solaris 24 Comments

"Like many admins, I use Solaris 7 and 8 extensively for my Web projects, due to their stability and scalability. As such, I was excited by the release of Solaris 9, which promised more of the same, along with many new features and deeper integration with other Sun products." Read the rest of the article.

O.A.S.E. 2002 Show Report

Guest post by Mike Bouma 2002-09-23 Amiga & AROS 36 Comments

Last weekend at 4 different Amiga shows held across the world Amiga fans were introduced to AmigaOS4, AmigaDE and MorphOS solutions. An in depth show report by GFXBase of an earlier show in Austria, includes many interesting pictures regarding the AmigaOS4/AmigaOne and Pegasos/MorphOS (PPC AmigaOS clone) projects. Some additional pictures of this event can be found here at Elbox' website.

The BeOS Journal Interviews Simon Gauvin

Submitted by Kevin 2002-09-23 Haiku 15 Comments

The BeOS Journal and BeGroovy have posted a rather long inteview with BeUnited.org's Simon Gauvin.

Better Screen Fonts in OpenOffice Under Linux

Submitted by David Chester 2002-09-23 Wayland 22 Comments

OSNews reader David Chester writes: "I've posted a modified version of freetype with hardcoded hinting options. (There are new hinting options available in freetype CVS, but apparently they will remain unaccessable from outside the library, so it has to be hacked by hand for now.) Anyway, I think the main reason it's nice to have a hardcoded libfreetype like this, is that you can have OpenOffice link against it, which improves the readablity of it's screen fonts to my eyes, and makes OpenOffice finally usable. I have some explanation and comparison screenshots".

InfoWorld on Next-Gen Web Services

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-21 Internet 18 Comments

InfoWorld features an extensive special show report regarding Web Services and the way they are shaping up for the near future.

Ex-BeOS/OpenBeOS Developer Explains Departure

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-21 Haiku 91 Comments

BeGroovy reports that David Reid, a very respected BeOS third party developer (ported Apache among others) and ex-OpenBeOS networking developer published a statement explaining his departure from the OpenBeOS project. David cited lack of direction, management in the project and even lack of engineering knowledge among the OpenBeOS developers. Update: Another important BeOS dev and friend of mine (as also in the case of David :), Frans van Nispen cited similar problems with the project. UPDATE 2: The OpenBeOS leader, Michael Phipps, sent us in his response to the issue.

Sun to Keep Linux Out of the High End Market

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-21 Oracle and SUN 53 Comments

Sun Microsystems Inc. is adding another Linux piece to its overall product line, but don't confuse that with a strong endorsement for the open-source operating system. "We don't offer Linux computers; we offer solutions," said Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman, president and CEO, in an interview following the announcement of Sun's desktop initiative, Project Mad Hatter, at the Sun Network conference here last week. Read the article at eWeek.

Opinion: Red Hat’s Heresy

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-21 Red Hat 79 Comments

"Red Hat, to its credit and to the utter annoyance of some Linux purists, has engaged in a bold experiment: to produce a simple and easy to use desktop. It has tweaked the default KDE and Gnome GUIs so that they work almost exactly alike, by creating a more Red Hat-centric desktop with simplified menus and attractive graphics." Read the editorial at ExtremeTech.

IRIX Binary Compatibility for NetBSD, Part 3

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-21 NetBSD No Comments

"Now that we are able to launch dynamic binaries, the goal is to get them linking. The dynamic linker has to do a lot of system calls before actually launching the program. Most of them are plain SVR4, and hence are taken from sys/compat/svr4. Here, we will deal with IRIX-specific system calls." Read the rest fo the article at ONLamp. Part 1 and Part 2 also available.

Lindows 2.0 has Beautiful Skin, Iffy Personality

Submitted by rajan r 2002-09-20 Linspire 32 Comments

"Lindows 2.0 looks cool, I have to admit. The company has stopped aping KDE and gotten a desktop look that is more its own. Lindows has made scant concessions to the knowledgeable, allowing for a somewhat more advanced setup configuration. I'm still concerned for the newbies, though." Read the review at NewsForge.

.NET Framework 1.1 Beta Available to Beta Testers

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-20 .NET 27 Comments

The beta of the .NET Framework version 1.1 SDK and Redistributable is now available, along with the add-on to build and run J# applications.

Gentoo Linux Ported on the Alpha

Submitted by fuzzyping 2002-09-20 Gentoo 13 Comments

"In a testament to the power and flexibility of the Portage system and Gentoo Linux, Bjoern Brauel (aka "bjb") has done the amazing job of creating a whole new port for Gentoo Linux in the span of 2 days. Currently, Bjoern has Xfree86, GNOME 2, Gimp and other things running on Gentoo Linux/Alpha, as you can see in this screenshot. The Gentoo Linux/Alpha port is currently being incorporated into our Portage tree; in the mean time, the adventurous may be interested in playing with the Alpha stage 1 tarball."

Windows XP–One Year Later

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-20 Windows 56 Comments

"I've been using Windows XP as my main desktop OS for about a year now. I'm really very happy with it, as are most XP users I know. It's probably the best job Microsoft has ever done on a desktop operating system. However, there are some things that could have been done better. One year later--especially now that Service Pack 1 has been released--it's worth looking at what Microsoft could have done better, though I don't think any of the flaws are crucial. " Read the article at TechUpdate.

Is Apple’s Innovation Only Skin-Deep?

Eugenia Loli 2002-09-20 Apple 21 Comments

"Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds credited Apple with delivering the innovative GUI interface to mainstream computer users. "When it comes to something great, it's 5 percent original idea and 95 percent making it reality," he said. Apple is well known for bringing new styles and form factors to the world of computing, but is the fruit inside as tasty as the shiny Apple exterior might imply?" Read the editorial at NewsFactor.