Monthly Archive:: April 2007

The pkgsrc developers are very proud to announce the new pkgsrc-2007Q1 release. Pkgsrc is the primary package management system for NetBSD and DragonFlyBSD, but also supports AIX, BSD/OS, Darwin, FreeBSD, IRIX, Interix, Linux, OSF1, OpenBSD, and SunOS. Apart from a lot of new and updated packages, the infrastructure of pkgsrc itself has been improved for better platform and compiler support, and also for enhanced security.

The GNOME Foundation announced today the GNOME Mobile and Embedded Initiative (GMAE) today at the Embedded Linux Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. The initiative is aimed at bolstering GNOME usage as an embedded and mobile development platform. The initiative has been in development since last year, says GNOME Foundation board member Jeff Waugh. The platform will be distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). In the next 12 months the group plans to add a mobile email framework called Tinymail, the GeoClue geolocation service, Java Mobile & Embedded (Java ME), PulseAudio audio management, and the HAL hardware information system.

An enhancement to the Mac OS X operating system under development by Apple looks to pave the way for active desktop pictures, or desktop backgrounds that can include motion graphics and alter themselves based on user actions or the time of the day.

Thunderbird 2 is now available for download on Windows, Mac and Linux in over 35 languages. It offers easy ways to manage and organize your email with message tags, advanced folder views, message history navigation, find as you type, and improved new mail alert notifications. Thunderbird 2 also includes a refreshed user interface and support for Microsoft Vista.

"An early preview of the next version has been released under version number 3.1.3, an interim release intended for developers who want to see the bleeding edge of MINIX and perhaps then track the current source. For more information, see the 3.1.3 release notes and the download page." MINIX3 will now also release weekly snapshots.

"iXsystems announced an agreement with Adobe Systems that will allow the next version of PC-BSD to have a Flash-enabled browser available on a default installation. The Linux version of Adobe's popular Flash player will run on PC-BSD using FreeBSD's Linux compatibility layer." In other news, snapshots of the development branch of PC-BSD are now available and built three times a week.

In this article, I'm going to explore the idea that the 8 bit home computer not only had a great deal to offer the prehistoric early-humans of 1985 but that it may also have a place in the modern world; perhaps, there is something that we can learn from it. Having identified the laudable, worthwhile elements of this class of machine, I'm going to make some suggestions towards a scheme that would embody these characteristics in the form of a machine that would have a place within the modern world.

Apple's new 'Stuffed' commercial pokes fun at preinstalled applications - better known as craplets - loaded up on new Windows PCs. Apple isn't alone in the craplet disdain. Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg wrote columns on April 5 and April 12 about the craplet dilemma. Mossberg identified two problems: "One is the plethora of teaser software and advertisements for products that must be cleared and uninstalled to make way for your own stuff. The second is the confusing welter of security programs you have to master and update, even on a virgin machine."

Mandriva announced the release of Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring. Download the hybrid live/install CD One or the purely free/open source Free. Mandriva Linux 2007 Spring includes the latest software (KDE 3.5.6, GNOME 2.18, Firefox and Thunderbird 2.0) and several new features: Metisse; WengoPhone; Google desktop applications like Picasa and Earth; updates and improvements to many of the Mandriva configuration tools and the brand new drakvirt for configuring virtualization; and a brand new desktop theme. For more information see the Spring product page and the Wiki page, where you can find download and installation instructions, the Release Tour, the Release Notes and the Errata.

GNUstep Base 1.14.0 has been released: "This release continues the process of cleanup and restructuring to further improve MacOS-X compatibility, fix bugs, optimise performance, and improve portability between different hardware/operating system platforms." GNUstep Make 2.0.0 has also been released: "Version 2.0.0 is a new major release of gnustep-make which includes a number of major changes compared to previous 1.x releases."

"Those flash-based laptops we're all dreaming about may be a lot cheaper than we expected. Asus just announced their plans to make five budget, solid state laptops this year priced from USD 199 to USD 549. Each machine will have a 7-inch display, and depending on the model it'll have a flash drive ranging from 1GB to 40GB. The lappies are expected later this year."

Let me begin by telling you a little story. Some time ago I needed to run a script at work once a day. We had tons of machines ranging from big Unix servers to Linux desktops. Due to various reasons the script could only be run on a desktop machine. However using cron was disabled on desktops. All other machines allowed cron.

The founder of the Ubuntu-project talks in an interview about the integration of proprietary drivers, the One Laptop per Child project, and 'great applications' from Microsoft. "I certainly would not push the large IT companies to put Linux on consumer PCs, because I understand that in their business, the cost of a user accidentally getting Linux, thinking that they get cheap Windows would be a problem for the companies selling the computers. So I don't think it is really ready yet for mass consumer sales of Linux on desktop."

Microsoft has released a Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox. The plugin obviously only works on Windows. "We couldn't respond as quickly as we would have liked to (we had to get Windows Vista out the door!), but now that it's shipped, the team has moved its attention to getting Firefox users up and running. This week we are happy to say that we have a new plug-in for Firefox that makes WMP work once again."