O | S | D | N NEWSLETTER January 06, 2003 EVERYTHING SERIES
The 'Everything Series' Newsletter is developed to bring Open Source related content to a user with a focus for everything Open Source we have to offer. If you'd like to receive more content relating to Open Source subscribe at http://www.osdn.com/newsletters/ ============================================================== Sponsored by Thinkgeek http://www.ThinkGeek.com/ ============================================================== Slashdot Sendo vs. Microsoft: The Truth Comes Out http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/1159207 [0]igotmybfg writes "[1]The Register has a [2]story which includes many details about the phone maker's Texas suit against the software giant. It seems that Microsoft had much more to gain from letting its partner fail than helping it to succeed: in the event of a bankruptcy, Microsoft acquired all of Sendo's intellectual property related to the z100 Stinger SmartPhone, and was then free to do whatever it wanted, which in this case turned out to be going behind Sendo's back and making a deal with Orange SPA." Read our [3]original article about this to get more background information. Links 0. http://dannyt52 AT earthlink DOT net 1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/ 2. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/28724.html 3. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/26/1423247&tid=109 New Estimates for Universe's Age http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/1217226 [0]Makarand writes "In a study published recently in the journal Science, a team of researchers say that they are 95% sure the universe is between 11.2 billion and 20 billion years old according to this [1]article on Space.com. The new calculations from cosmologists at Case Western Reserve University and Dartmouth College involved new information about old star clusters in our galaxy and a better understanding of how stars evolve." Which blows my theory that the Universe is predated by [2]Zsa Zsa Gabor, but oh well. Links 0. mailto:{theJunta(@)HotMail.} 1. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/age_universe_030103.html 2. http://us.imdb.com/Name?Gabor,+Zsa+Zsa IOGEAR Homeplug Networking Reviewed http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/122204 [0]Chris Allen writes "Wired or wireless? This is always just about the first thing anyone thinks of when planning their new home/soho office. It always comes down to price/performance/practicality, in whichever order you feel is more important. Sometimes it just isnÂt possible to run CAT5, for a variety of reasons. The only options available for the average consumer is wireless, HomePNA, which uses your existing telephone network in your house, and [1]HomePlug, using your existing power grid. HomePNA has been around for around 3 years or so, and has matured some, starting out transmitting at dismal speeds and lackluster reliability in regards to interference. HomePlug is short for [2]HomePlug® Powerline Alliance." Links 0. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1. http://www.monkeyreview.com/reviews/review.php?num=211 2. http://www.homeplug.org/index_basic.html 2003 Edge.org World Question http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/0417219 [0]murky.waters writes "The [1]responses to this year's Edge.org question have been published; basically, people were asked to imagine they were nominated as White House science adviser and the President asked them what are some important issues in science and what we should do about them. There are 84 responses, ranging in topic from advanced nanotechnology to the psychology of foreign cultures, and lots of ideas regarding science, technology, politics, and education. The responses were written by academics (e.g. [2]Roger Schank, [3]Marvin Minsky), journalists ([4]Kevin Kelly), Nobel Laureates ([5]Eric Kandel), and others ([6]Alan Alda). Some of responses are politically loaded but the majority has either a more specialised proposal, or general remarks about our world. Many are absolutely fascinating: funny, insightful, interesting, hell even informative. ... One of the most public supporters of the [7]Singularity 'religion', [8]Ray Kurzweil, is a regular at Edge, and currently discussed issues range from said transhumanism to early-universe theories, and many other kinds of exciting and novel science." Links 0. mailto:murkywaters@[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1. http://www.edge.org/q2003/question03_index.html 2. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_schank.html 3. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_minsky.html 4. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_kelly.html 5. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_kandel.html 6. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_alda.html 7. http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Philosophy/Current_Movements/Transhumanism/Singularity/ 8. http://www.edge.org/q2003/q03_kurzweil.html Using Bacterial DNA For Data Storage http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/0229223 [0]NPV writes "January ACM Communications has an article on the use of DNA in genetically modified bacteria to store information. This is an attempt to achieve the ultimate in archival storage (one of the modified bacteria can tolerate 1000X more radiation than a human being). Now just suppose that the "junk DNA" in the human genome is the documentation package for the machine code. Who wrote that manual?" Here's the [1]article abstract. Links 0. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/602421.602426 Prentice Hall To Publish Open Content Licensed Books http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/0134224 [0]lma writes "Bruce Perens has convinced Prentice Hall to publish a series of [1]books under an Open Source license. The 'Bruce Perens' Open Source Series' will be available first as hardcopy in bookstores, and the Open Source text will be available electronically a few months later. Prentice Hall is counting on people buying the books even though the electronic version will be freely available later. I like the model, since I prefer to read paper, but like the electronic version for reference." Links 0. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1. http://www.perens.com/Books Collecting Classic Computers http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/0040259 chriton writes "There's an interesting [0]article at [1]Reuters about collecting classic computers. There's mention in the story of an even more interesting website [2]www.classiccmp.org Unfortunately, most of the website is still under construction. The mailing list has been around since Jan 1997, and they clearly have plans for more accessible resources, but that just hasn't happened yet. If you are like me and have a an old Osbourne 1 in the closet and Commodore 128D stored at your mother's house she's telling you to take home lest she chuck it, you might find the list archives none the less." Links 0. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=1991627 1. http://www.reuters.com/home.jhtml 2. http://www.classiccmp.org/ 25 Years of O'Reilly Books http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/2123225 wka writes "The year 2003 marks the 25th anniversary of publisher O'Reilly and Associates. O'Reilly has a [0]site to mark the event. Readers can learn about the [1]origin of the first animal covers in the [2]time line, and read an [3]anniversary message from Tim O'Reilly, stating his 'audacious' goal '[t]o change the world by capturing and transmitting the knowledge of innovators.'" Links 0. http://www.oreilly.com/25anniversary/ 1. http://www.oreilly.com/25anniversary/animals.html 2. http://www.oreilly.com/25anniversary/timeline.html 3. http://www.oreilly.com/25anniversary/letter.html Laser-Scanning U.S. Landmarks http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/2216250 [0]MeanMF writes "The New York Daily News reports in this article that the National Park Service is creating [1]detailed 3-D maps of national monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore using high-resolution laser scanners. Their goal is to create highly-accurate blueprints that can be used to reconstruct the monuments if they are damaged by a terrorist attack or other means." The same story is [2]also available at Yahoo!. Links 0. http://slashdot.org/~MeanMF 1. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/48858p-45900c.html 2. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=355&e=1&cid=355&u=/kr/20030105/lo_krnewyork/u_s__disaster_plans_include_cloned_icons Why IE Is So Fast ... Sometimes http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/2025254 safrit writes "Finally the scoop on how IE "cheats" a little to up its performance! Do RFCs mean nothing anymore? What's next, Riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! From the [0]blog story: 'Internet Explorer on Windows always seems either to run impossibly fast (page requests are fulfilled almost before the mouse button has returned to its original unclicked position), or ridiculously slow...' Now read to see why..." Links 0. http://grotto11.com/blog/?+1039831658 Freshmeat 31337 recoder 0.3.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108462/ 31337 recoder is versatile recoding program. Its purpose is encoding text and data to non-human-readable forms and decoding from these forms. It supports Base64, ROT, escaped hex, and octal. It can also recode single bytes to any numeric system from binary to 36-ary. Bacula 1.28 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108484/ Bacula is a set of programs that allow you to manage the backup, recovery, and verification of computer data across a network of different computers. It is based on a client/server architecture and is efficient and relatively easy to use, while offering many advanced storage management features that make it easy to find and recover lost or damaged files. Balsa 2.0.5 (GNOME 2 Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108492/ Balsa is a Gnome e-mail client supporting POP3, IMAP, and local mail delivery. It can be compiled with multi-threading support for faster response, and can do nifty things like read your GnomeCard address book, use LDAP, and render HTML mail. Calculating Pi Second Visual Release (Simple Harmonic Motion) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108475/ ProjectPi is a project to calculate the mathematical constant Pi through various methods. ciclogin 0.3 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108497/ ciclogin logs into and keeps the connection to the Telia Comhem Internet Cable service alive. CL-SDL 0.2.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108446/ CL-SDL is a library of foreign function interfaces to SDL and OpenGL for Common Lisp programs. It aims to be extremely portable, fast, and flexible. cqure ap 2.1.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108463/ cqure ap is a "one floppy" wireless access point. It supports Prism 2-based wireless adapters and most of the 10/100 ethernet PCMCIA and PCI adapters supported by Linux. dbMan 0.30 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108470/ dbMan is a complex SQL monitor for common database systems (PgSQL, Oracle, MySQL etc.). It's based on Perl and DBI interfaces. Features include a command history buffer, tab completion, editing Oracle objects, simultaneous connections, SQL help, importing and exporting of tables, Oracle explain plan, and more. dbMan is made as a simple kernel and many extension modules, and you can make your modules with a simple HOWTO. e4Graph 1.0a7 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108447/ e4Graph is a C++ library that allows programs to store graph-like data persistently and to access and manipulate that data efficiently. With e4Graph, you can arrange your data in the most natural form that reflects the relationships between its parts, rather than having to force it into a table-like format. The e4Graph library also allows you to concentrate on the relationships you want to represent, and not on how to store them in a database. You can modify data items, and add and remove connections and relationships between pieces of data on the fly. e4Graph allows you to represent an unlimited number of different connections between pieces of data, and your program can selectively manipulate the data according to the relationships it cares about, not having to know about other connections represented in the data set. Efax-gtk 2.0.3 (Stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108468/ Efax-gtk provides a GUI frontend for the efax fax program. It interfaces with efax directly, replacing the scripts supplied with efax, and can be used for receiving and sending faxes, and for viewing, printing, and managing faxes which have been received and sent. It requires the GTK+ and Gtkmm libraries. Ghostscript (gs) must also be installed. File::Scan 0.40 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108457/ File::Scan allows users to make multiplataform virus scanners which can detect Windows/DOS/Mac viruses. It include a virus scanner and signatures database. Gallery.py 2.0beta11 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108486/ Gallery.py makes picture galleries consisting of an index page with thumbnails linking to pages with resized pictures. The picture pages include a navigation bar and a simple GUI and picture comments saved in an XML file. Date information is extracted from the pictures if available. Possible comments include 'date', 'where', 'who', and 'what'. The script is very well suited for cron operation on a hierarchy of directories using the --recursive option. Gammu 0.66 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108496/ Gammu (formerly known as MyGnokii2) is cellular manager for various mobile phones and modems. It currently supports Nokia 3210, 33xx, 3410, 3510, 51xx, 5210, 5510, 61xx, 62xx, 63xx, 6510, 7110, 82xx, 8310, 9110, and 9210, and AT devices (such as Siemens, Alcatel, WaveCom, IPAQ, and other). It has a command line version with many functions for ringtones, phonebook, SMS, logos, WAP, date/time, alarm, calls, etc. It can also make full backups and restore them. It works on various Unix systems (like Linux) and Win32. GKrellM Distributed.net Plugin 0.12 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108494/ GKrellDnet is Distributed.net client monitor plugin for GKrellM. It includes a Distributed.net client wrapper, so you can write monitoring apps for WindowMaker, GNOME, Enlightenment, etc. Gringotts 1.3.0pre3 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108472/ Gringotts is a small utility that allows you to jot down sensitive data (passwords, PINs, small files, etc.) in an easy-to-read, easy-to-access, and most of all very secure form. Gringotts makes use of GTK+ 2 for the user interface, and lets the user choose from among eight strong encryption algorithms (RIJNDAEL-128, RIJNDAEL-256, SERPENT, TWOFISH, CAST-256, SAFER+, LOKI97, 3DES), two hashing algorithms (SHA1, RIPEMD 160) and two compression techniques (ZLib and BZip2) with four compression ratios. Moreover, it allows the user to use any file or an entire floppy disk as a password, as an alternative to the usual text string, giving additional choices. GSTP 0.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108487/ GSTP is a binary file transfer protocol that focuses on security and anonymity. It tries to do right, where FTP does wrong, especially when it comes to firewall and user/password security. GSTP is based on TLS/SSL and the GSTP package includes a reference client (cli) and server for Unix platforms. hg12605tv 0.01 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108474/ hg12605tv is a simple program which grabs an image from a V4L device and displays it on a Hundai HG12605 LCD display connected to the LPT port. You can use this program to learn how to grab from a V4L device and how to drive HG12605 LCD displays. ipv6calc 0.45 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108501/ ipv6calc can be used by scripts to convert IPv6 addresses from one format to another. KDE Kontact 0.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108455/ KDE Kontact is a personal information management application for KDE. It integrates KMail, KAddressBook, and KOrganizer into a unified application. KleenCurve 1.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108453/ KleenCurve is a theme based on BlueCurve. It doesn't have rounded corners, as basic icewm doesn't support this feature. It should work and look clean on all icewm versions. lftp 2.6.4 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108452/ lftp is a sophisticated command line based FTP client. It has a multithreaded design allowing you to issue and execute multiple commands simultaneosly or in the background. It also features mirroring capabilities and will reconnect and continue transfers in the event of a disconnection. Also, if you quit the program while transfers are still in progress, it will switch to nohup mode and finish the transfers in the background. HTTP protocol and FTP over HTTP proxy are supported. Version 2.3.0 includes HTTPS and FTP over SSL support. libchipcard 0.7beta5 (Beta) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108461/ Libchipcard is a C++ framework for easy access to chipcards/smartcards via chip card terminals/readers. It uses the CTAPI library provided by the manufacturer of the reader and provides a filesystem on memory chip cards. It works under Linux, FreeBSD, and Windows, and has been tested with Towitoko and Kobil readers even in parallel. Linux OpenMediaBox 0.8.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108445/ The aim of the LinuxOpenMediaBox project is to create a free multimedia console which can be plugged into a TV set. LinuxOpenMediaBox gives you the ability to play most multimedia streams, including DVD, DivX, MP3, Ogg, and more. LOMB can also be used as a game console and a set-top-box. It can execute most Linux applications, including games, Web browsers, and office suites, as long as they are burned on a CD. logrelay-pop3 1.0.0 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108490/ logrelay-pop3 is a POP-before-SMTP program on FIFOs and with real time updating (Perl). It is for solid-pop3d (syslogd) and Sendmail, but you can easy change this if you want in config section. It reads authenticated IP and modifies access file (makemap hash, makedb, or how you want). After a definite time (in conf section) IP expires and the access base is reloaded. Everything goes in real time. Magick IRC Services 2.0rc2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108458/ Magick IRC Services is a set of programs made for the IRC protocol (RFC 1459). They are designed to allow users to register and keep their nicknames and channels, send messages to other users, and allow IRC Operators and Admins more control and flexability over the entire network. Magma 1.2.2.2 (Stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108502/ Magma is a bash script designed to make CD burning at the console easier. It supports burning normal data CDs, audio CDs, blanking CD-RWs, multisession, and more. mailgraph 1.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108460/ Mailgraph is a very simple mail statistics RRDtool frontend for Postfix that produces daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly graphs of received/sent and bounced/rejected mail. Ogg::Vorbis::Header 0.02 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108483/ Ogg::Vorbis::Header is a Perl module for viewing and modifying info and comment fields of files encoded in the Ogg Vorbis compressed audio format. It uses Inline::C to access the underlying Vorbis libraries and provides an object oriented interface, an incremental loading scheme, and maintains no open filehandles between operations, which allows data structures containing many Ogg::Vorbis::Header objects to be created. openHBCI 0.9.5 (Unstable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108471/ openHBCI is a C++ library for the German HomeBanking Computer Interface. It includes some tutorials for testing the library. Its current capabilities include complete key management on disc (RDH) and/or chip-card (DDV), the ability to perform single customer credit transfers, and the ability to get balance reports. Placebo 0.9 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108466/ Placebo is a framework for developing Web-based applications in the PHP scripting language. The framework allows applications to be designed and structured with proper software design methodologies. Placebo encourages object-oriented design and the use of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. RSA implementation in Octave 0.01 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108430/ RSA implementation in Octave is a short, dirty, and very slow implementation of the cryptographic primitives of the RSA public key algorithm, using GNU Octave. It includes functions to work on big numbers, modular exponentiation, modular inversion, probabilistic prime numbers generators, key pair generators, and functions to encrypt and decrypt files using a rather insecure scheme. SaveMyModem 0.14 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108477/ SaveMyModem is an anti-spam, mail-shaping, and delete-on-server mail tool. It is designed for users with slow dialup connections, who are tired of downloading large amounts of spam and worm and virus attachments. Server Logging Operations Platform 1.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108467/ SLOP is an engine for the collection of and reporting on logs from various network based devices such as firewalls, switches, and Web servers. It includes support for Checkpoint Firewall-1 firewalls and Cisco 2900 and 3500 series switches. It features storage of logs in an SQL database, dynamically generated Web-based graphic reports of statistics from devices, Web-based viewing of raw logs, with sorting and color highlighting, and an object-oriented framework for adding "modules" to support other devices. skadns 0.20 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108444/ skadns is an asynchronous DNS client library. It was designed for simplicity of use and light resource usage, and can even be used on an embedded system. Unlike other DNS client libraries, skadns leaves the asynchronous work to a daemon, making the client API easy to understand and use. Sporum 3.0.9 (Classic) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108473/ Sporum is a Web-based discussion forum. It features several expected elements of forums including user registration, moderating abilities, threaded discussions, a search engine, Web-based administration, and more, as well as some new features including a new interface, four different threaded views (Combined, Flat, Nested, Threaded), multiple forums/categories/boards, e-mail subscription, and a ratings and point system. Tensile 0.9 (Current) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108482/ Tensile (formerly NSL) is essentally a text-processing language based on a push-down transducers paradigm. It has an inherent HTML/XML-parser, CGI-programming capabilities, SQL access, and more. Additional modules can also be attached for expanding functionality. TuxGlo 0.1 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108423/ A green/grey theme for Hackedbox which features a "glowing" tux background. Video4Linux Grab pre4-0.2.2 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108464/ The v4lgrab project is real-time capturing software for a Video4Linux device. VK Tafe 0.6a http://freshmeat.net/releases/108443/ A program that parses and analyzes MPEG-2 transport streams. VK Tools 0.6a http://freshmeat.net/releases/108442/ The VK Toolset is intended to aide MPEG developers and hobbyist in understanding and creating conformant MPEG streams. The current version focuses on the MPEG system layer (MPEG-1 System, MPEG-2 Program Stream), and MPEG-2 Transport bitstreams). Webcpp 0.7.11 (Stable) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108450/ Webcpp (Web C Plus Plus) is a command line utility that takes your source code and converts it into an HTML file, using a fully customizable syntax highlighting engine and stylesheets. Webcpp currently supports Ada95, Assembler, ASP, Basic, C, C#, C++, Cg, CLIPS, DOS Batch, EMF, Fortran, Haskell, Java, Javascript, Markup, Modula2, Objective C, Pascal, Perl, PHP, Power Builder, Python, RenderMan, Ruby, SQL, Tcl, Unix shell, and VHDL highlighting. Webtop web-based email system 1.30 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108480/ Webtop is a Web-based POP3 email client that includes many filter options, spam fighting features, custom folders, email import/export, and email-to-PDF generation. The Webtop also includes a calendar, notepad, Webdrive, automated email reminders, contacts, mailing lists, and Web-based administration. One installation can support multiple users and each user can set up as many POP3 accounts as they need. WMApp DockApp Library 0.0.4 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108449/ WMApp is a C++ based library for writing WindowMaker-style dockapps. It provides numerous widgets, all with the traditional dockapp appearance. wtail 0.1.4 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108489/ wtail does the equivalent of tail -f on several files at once. The screen is split into as many parts as there are files to watch. Yerase TNEF Stream Reader 1.03 http://freshmeat.net/releases/108448/ ytnef is a program to decode TNEF streams. Unlike other similar programs, it can also decode meeting requests and create VCal entries for easy import. It also has a Perl script that can be used in procmail recipes to automatically reformat incoming mail appropriately. ZZIPlib 0.10.77 (Preview) http://freshmeat.net/releases/108451/ ZZIPlib provides read access on ZIP-archives. The library uses only the patent-free compression-algorithms supported by zlib. Functions are provided that transparently access files being either real files or zipped files, both with the same filepath. The zip-archive can be used in the place of a normal subdirectory. It is written in portable C. Newsforge Reports Linux can do hot backups on Oracle now http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/02/2244205 - by Tina Gasperson -Data backups are essential in the enterprise - not just a good idea. STORserver has an interesting backup appliance that installs in fifteen minutes, they say. Now, they're releasing a product that will allow companies to run "hot" backups on Oracle databases, in Linux. It is called SDP - STORserver Data Protection. Commentary: Linux myths that never die http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1221251 - by John Fitzgibbon -As a long-time Microsoft Windows user who recently switched almost exclusively to Linux, I'd like to share a few observations on the transition. Linux Advisory Watch - January 3rd, 2002 http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/03/0956214 By: Benjamin D. Thomas Linux Advisory Watch is a comprehensive newsletter that outlines the security vulnerabilities that have been announced throughout the week. It includes pointers to updated packages and descriptions of each vulnerability. Newsforge Newsvac Microsoft Belgium's GPL attack refuted in detail http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/1023218 leonbrooks writes "Recently, images from a presentation by Microsoft Belgium were published on the web. The presentation made some startling (for Microsoft) concessions to Open Source, then set about FUDding the GPL into the ground. I whacked together a point-by-point answer to the anti-GPL FUD and here it is." Software Contracts: Antitrust tying and computer hardware http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/06/0112222 Anonymous Reader writes "Have you bought a PC to run Linux and received a copy of a proprietary desktop operating system you do not intend on using? Did the manufacturer collect a fee for the operating system you don't use? Walt Pennington, member of the San Diego Linux Users Group, concerned citizen, and esteemed tort attorney outlines the legal challenge of OEM agreements. Seeking a refund of his own unwanted copy of Microsoft Windows, ... Scripting Language City http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/1958238 Ursus Maximus writes "Scripting Language City is for folks who want to learn more about the future of this increasingly important subset of the programming universe. Scripting languages are not just for odd jobs anymore ;-))). Special attention is paid to four languages in Python City, Ruby City, Perl City, and JavaScript Expert Systems which includes a Scripting Language Chooser Program as well as a Basketball Expert Ssystem and a Football ... Linux Continues Desktop March http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/1442231 Ban_Country_Music writes "The good news for Linux as an operating system for the desktop--as opposed to the server--is that it is set to become No. 2 after Windows in the next year or so. The bad news is that its growth does not look to be as explosive as some advocates might have hoped." Microsoft's Reaction to OSS Adoption http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1216249 Slashdot: inode_buddha writes "Eric S. Raymond has the eighth "Halloween" memo available here." Linux TCO edge: Lower labor costs http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1216222 The question of whether Linux's total cost of ownership (TCO) is lower than that of Windows or other operating systems has inspired many fierce debates among enterprise IT professionals. Lindows CEO Funds Xbox Hacking Challenge http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1214252 Contest invites coders to devise ways to run Linux on gaming console--both with and without hardware hacks. Aberdeen Group Targets IT Trends For 2003 http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1213257 IT spending will show meager growth, outsourcing will be a bright spot but potentially troublesome, and Linux won't move out of the back of the shop. That's the take on 2003 from the Aberdeen Group, which this week identified its top tech trends for the coming year. And if the market-research firm is on target, outsourcers will have the most to look forward to. Linux conferences for 2003 http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1213203 Can't go to many conferences this year? Just go to a couple good ones. Desktop Options http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/1212225 Anonymous Reader writes "Michael C. Barnes takes an in-depth look at desktop operating system options available on the market today in this exclusive article at DesktopLinux.com." Thinkgeek Cube Goodies: The Binary Clock http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/lights/2982/ Gadgets: Forever Flashlight http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a9f/ Tshirts: Geek Invaders http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/5c34/ Interests: Linux French http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bc4/ Interests: O'Reilly 2003 Calendar http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/other/5c55/ Interests: Perl Gerl http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bcb/ Interests: I dig Mac OS X http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/oreilly/tshirts/5bcf/ Interests: Ninj4 Hooded Sweatshirt http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/altware/5c4e/ Interests: Megatokyo Blanket http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/coolthings/5b59/ Cube Goodies: Smart Mass Thinking Putty http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/5ac8/ Electronics: Archos Jukebox Studio 20/ Radio FM 20 MP3 Players http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/mp3/5784/ Computing: Auravision EluminX Illuminated Keyboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5c3f/ Electronics: Universal System Selector http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/video/5c1b/ Other Apparel: Power Golf Shirt http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/golfshirts/5b8f/ Computing: Auravision EluminX Illuminated Keyboard http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/keyboards/5c3f/ Other Apparel: The ThinkGeek Monkey Hoodie http://www.thinkgeek.com/apparel/hoodies/5b88/ Gadgets: Forever Flashlight http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5a9f/ Electronics: Hitman 2 for PS2 http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/ps2/ps2soft/5c6e/ Computing: Sylvania SF170 17" LCD http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/display/lcd/5c73/ Electronics: Splinter Cell for Xbox http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/xbox/xboxsoft/5c69/ Sourceforge JGraph Valencia (v1.0.7) released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240676 JGraph is the most powerful, lightweight, feature-rich, and thoroughly documented open-source graph component available for Java. It is accompanied by JGraphpad, the first free diagram editor for Java that offers XML, Drag and Drop and much more. This release has a complete new website and contains bug fixes. Bug fixes include: DefaultGraphSelectionModel.CellPlaceHolder is now a protected inner class with public accessors, DefaultGraphCell's getChildren method never returns null, SizeHandle/RootHandle double buffer members are now protected, Dependency between isMoveable, isAutosize and isSizeable was removed, Focus argument and childrenSelected are handled separately by renderer, Focused cell's highlight color is different from other selected cells. Rexx/Wrapper 2.1 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240651 Rexx/Wrapper is a pseudo compiler for Rexx programs. It generates a SAA API application with the Rexx program embedded. The application is then compiled and linked allowing the user to distribute their Rexx program as a stand-alone executable. This principal change in this release is the ability to build Win32 executables of your Rexx programs with the lcc-win32 compiler. Gimp-Print 4.3.7 (unstable development) http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240650 Gimp-Print 4.3.7, released January 4, 2003, is a development release of this package. Gimp-Print is a suite of printer drivers that may be used with most common UNIX print spooling systems, including CUPS, lpr, LPRng, or others. These drivers provide high quality printing for UNIX (including Macintosh OS X 10.2 and newer) and Linux systems in many cases equal to or better than proprietary vendor-supplied drivers, and can be used for many of the most demanding printing tasks. This software includes the Print plug-in for the Gimp, and Ghostscript and CUPS drivers, including Foomatic data. The print plugin for the Gimp requires the Gimp 1.2 (later versions of the Gimp are not supported). The CUPS driver requires CUPS 1.1.9 or higher. 1.1.14 or above is highly recommended, as certain translation-related bugs are fixed and it is possible to print true CMYK. The IJS-based GhostScript plugin driver requires GNU Ghostscript 6.53 or later, ESP Ghostscript 7.05 or later, or APFL GhostScript 7.04 or later. Users of Macintosh OS X 10.2 and above can use this package, as the printing system is based on CUPS, which is supported by Gimp-print. Note that Macintosh OS X 10.0 and 10.1 (including 10.1.5) cannot use this package. Please read the README file for full instructions on installing this package. Gimp-Print 4.3.7 is considered to be an unstable release, as more significant API changes have been introduced with relatively limited testing. While most of the changes improve the clarity of the code, the limited testing and extensive nature of the changes suggests that this release is likely to be quite unstable. We recommend that only people who want access to these new API features for development use this release. There are very significant user-visible changes over earlier 4.3 releases, and few changes over the 4.2 stable line. Gimp-Print 4.3.7 contains the following major changes over Gimp-Print 4.3.6: 1) Further internal API changes. Please see include/gimp-print/gimp-print.h, and the various header files in src/main, for details. There will be significant further changes, particularly in the color code. The API is considerably more consistent than before. 2) Parameters are now stored as variables within stp_vars_t, rather than as fixed fields. This change is largely transparent at the API level, but it marks an important advance. 3) The Gimp Print plugin has been split into a GTK-based library (libgimpprintui) and the actual Print plugin. The libgimpprintui code permits creating print panels for other applications, or standalone graphical print utilities, all using the same user interface. In addition, the thumbnail preview mechanism has been changed to use the stp_image_t API rather than to make direct calls to the color machinery. This was done by creating a new family driver (print-raw.c) and by creating a new stp_image_t implementation for thumbnail creation. This removed the only reason to export the color API, and will permit us to simplify the very complex color API. This work is currently in progress. To simplify coding while avoiding an unnecessary dependency, some widgets have been borrowed from libgimp. The two files comprising the Gimp plugin proper total less than 900 lines of code, out of about 60,000 lines total in the core library, UI library, and Print plugin. This work is not complete; support for multiple pages still needs to be added, for example. However, there should be a sufficient base to permit interested developers to experiment. A very desirable project that someone may wish to undertake is to write a ghostscript front end (or extension to ghostview or gv) that uses this UI library. This would create a full-featured graphical printing application. 4) Many parameters for Epson printer control, dither matrix control, and HSL adjustment have been exported as settable parameters. While currently no Gimp-print applications provide access to these controls, they are available for developer use. Please read the code to see where they are made available. This is a work in progress; expect major changes in the future. 5) A new header file, gimp-print-version.h, has been created to store the autogen-time versioning information. 6) The Gimp Print plugin now uses g_message to deliver error messages to pop-ups rather than to stderr. WebMacro 1.1final released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240634 WebMacro is a 100% Java open-source servlet framework that enables programmers and designers to work together while promoting the ModelViewController pattern. WebMacro is a viable (and proven!) alternative to JavaServerPages, PHP, and ASP. WebMacro 1.1final --------------- This is WebMacro 1.1. WM 1.1 includes new features such as #macro, #count, $functions(), and numerous bugfixes. WebMacro is alive, and this production quality release is proof! The best place for information about WebMacro is our website: http://www.webmacro.org/ In addition, WebMacro has relocated the management aspects of the project to SourceForge (http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/webmacro/). We hope this will prove to give the WebMacro community continued support. We also hope it will make our lives a bit easier! Note that because of the move to SourceForge our mailing list address has changed. Please visit http://www.webmacro.org/MailingList for details. Changes in this Release ----------------------- - Fix for Tomcat and template loading from .jar files (Sebastian) - Fix NPE's when calling methods using the 'null' keyword - Add .tmpl as a recognized template file extension for #parse and #include P.E.T. 1.3 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240443 P.E.T. (PHP Processor Engine for Templates) class is released in version 1.3. P.E.T. cleans up your PHP scripts by using templates for output. It is quick to learn and easy to use but still powerful. With very few lines of code you display your output, use Server Side Includes, dump the result to disk and more. The new method "$pet->get_content" returns all content added by $pet->add_content until this moment for the reason of debugging. Perl Shell 1.0 "Dithyramb" released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240459 The Perl Shell (psh) combines aspects of bash and other shells with the power of Perl scripting. It aspires to be your primary login shell. After a long period of time with no releases (and two or more promises of "OK, I'll release it", I have bundled the latest code in CVS into the newly released version 1.0. I believe that Markus Peter is responsible for most of the code in this release ($Markus++), although I think there were some patches or clues from other folks ($folks{$_}++ foreach @contributor). I have dubbed this the "Dithyramb" release (http://www.focusresearch.com/gregor/wow/2001-09-29.html). Here are some notes about what is new (you can find more in the CHANGES file on the web page noted below): * New 'if' builtin * New 'forfile' builtin: "forfile *.txt less $_" is equivalent to bash's "for i in #.txt; do less $i; done" * New redirection and piping syntax (incompatible with old sh- like syntax): "ls >[=FILEHANDLE]" * Backticks work * A strategy for finding and running Darwin/Mac OS X Appbunlde programs. * Support for && and || with simple commands * Themes * Major startup time reduction NOTE: You may need to modify your startup scripts / rc files with this version. Please see README.upgrade in the distribution for more information. You can find out more at The Perl Shell (psh) at: http://www.focusresearch.com/gregor/psh/ Please note that Windows functionality in this release has not seen much testing, so it may not work correctly in that environment. Please post experience reports to the mailing list. We are looking for folks interested in helping keep future releases working under Windows environments. If you are so inclined, then please so indicate. The next wave of changes being contemplated for psh will take things in a new direction. First, where the desire for shellish and perlish behaviors get in each other's way, we will be moving toward shellish behavior. This will very likely entail some modifications to the syntax required to advise the shell "here be perl". Second, we are considering some changes which will make psh more generic. So, while it will remain The Perl Shell (from an implemenatation perspective), it may become The Poly Shell (from a user's perspective). There is room for discussion on the psh-dev list for those with comments, concerns, ideas, queries, curses, etc. as we flesh out the details. Enjoy, -- Gregor SynCE 0.6 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240593 The purpose of the SynCE project is to provide a means of communication with a Windows CE or Pocket PC device from a computer running Linux, *BSD or other unices. The greatest addition to this release is the GNOME-VFS module that allows you to browse your device in Nautilus! To get this and other small fixes, download here: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=30550&release_id= 131446 oo2c-2.0.3 released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240158 Release 2.0.3 introduces experimental support for exceptions. OOC is an Oberon-2 development platform. It consists of an optimizing compiler, a number of related tools, a set of standard library modules, and a reference manual. jmove 0.3 available http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240181 jmove eases the understanding and valuation of the design and architecture of complex software written in java. It provides dependency analysis, metrics, design rule checking and impact analysis. The release 0.3 is available now. It contains a complete redesign and vital functional extensions like source code analysis metrics etc.. WinTV PVR 250/350 Capture Only App 1.3 release http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=240184 This release is a stable release level that appears to work for people in numerous countries and TV standards(NTSC and PAL). As the reports seem positive from the 1.2.3 Release that corrected the Path issue in this release the trace log file can now be disabled via a ini setting. Command line capture only application for the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 250/350 Capture Cards. This application supports a subset of the Hauppauge WinTV2000 application's command line options for capturing directly to disk with minimal CPU utilization. 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