2.6 kernel out of the traps

The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced the availability of the Linux kernel 2.6 version, the first new production kernel for almost three years. 'With the new kernel, I think we're getting closer to Linux for everyone,' said Linus Torvalds who came up with the original Linux kernel in 1991. ...more

Red Hat feels the squeeze

The emergence of Linux has lost some of its lustre. Red Hat - a leading Linux systems vendor - has announced that it is to close three of its office and lay off some staff. The San Francisco (US), Newbury (UK) and Cagnes sur Mer (France) offices are to close and a total of 20 employees laid off. ...more

Cherry accused of picking Pear's fruits

The release of a new emulator that allows PC users to install Mac OS X has been dogged by controversy, after it was discovered that it has significant similarities with an open source emulator. Early testers of Maui-X Stream's Cherry OS report that it boots up in exactly the same way as the open source PearPC, has the same error messages and 'nearly identical' source files. 'When you examine the executables, it's still got so many identical strings that aren't just generic,' Dave Schroeder, a senior systems engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told Wired. ...more

VIA to release dual DDR KT880 chipset

VIA Technologies will release another chipset supporting the K7 platform from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), according to the company. The KT880 chipset, supporting a 400MHz FSB (front-side bus) and dual-channel DDR400 memory, will be the latest and last entry in VIA's K7 chipset line. Shipments are to begin in late September or early October, the company disclosed. ...more

Databases so small you can embed them

Borland has updated the venerable InterBase database, its small-footprint, high-performance offering. InterBase 6.5 sees such features as the ability to generate XML documents, new SQL support (to better package sections of data back to clients such as a Web browser) and improved security for the handling of metadata (preventing modification by unauthorised users). ...more