|
|
| Applications |
| Mailing Lists |
| Miscellaneous |
| Operating Systems |
| Programming |
[osdn developer] January 29, 2003
Date: Wed Jan 29 2003 - 03:15:50 EST
O | S | D | N NEWSLETTER
January 29, 2003 DEVELOPER SERIES
The 'Developer Series' Newsletter is developed to bring Open Source
related content to a user with a focus for development with Open Source
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/
Thinkgeek
Electronics: Infoglobe Caller ID Display
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/phones/5c83/
Computing: Dual RW DVD/CD Internal Drive http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/5c94/
Computing: ADS Firewire Drive Kit
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/5cd1/
Electronics: PS2 Network Adapter
http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/ps2/ps2hard/5bd7/
Computing: Asylum GeForce Ti4600 AGP 4x
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/avcards/5ce3/
Computing: D-Link USB/FM Radio Adapter
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/5cc7/
Computing: Linksys USB 2.0/Ethernet Adapter http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/5c97/
Computing: Logitech Cordless Freedom Joystick http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/gaming/5cc8/
Computing: NEC-Mitsubishi 18" LCD
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/display/lcd/5cc3/
Interests: QuickKill
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/leetware/5c45/
Caffeine: XTZ Energy Truffles
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/candy/5c54/
Interests: Megatokyo Graphic Novel
http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/megatokyo/coolthings/5c2a/
Gadgets: SureFire Z2 Combat Light
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5c40/
Computing: DVD X Copy
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/5c7f/
Gadgets: Snap Digital Mini Camera
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/5c79/
Gadgets: LED Mini Headlamp
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/5c7d/
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/
Sourceforge
PyXML 0.8.2 released
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=247639
Version 0.8.2 of the Python/XML distribution is now available. It should be considered a beta release. The Python/XML distribution contains the basic tools required for processing XML data using the Python programming language, assembled into one easy-to-install package. The distribution includes parsers and standard interfaces such as SAX and DOM, along with various other useful modules. PyXML can be downloaded from the following URLs:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pyxml/PyXML-0.8.2.tar.gz
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pyxml/PyXML-0.8.2.win32-py2.2.exe
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pyxml/PyXML-0.8.2-2.2.Suse81.i386.rp
m Changes in this version, compared to 0.8.1: * Updated to Expat 1.95.6
(almost; one last minute bugfix snuck into the Expat release after
PyXML 0.8.2 was released). * Support more DOM L3 features in minidom: isWhitespaceInElementContent, schemaType, isId, DOMImplementationSource
- Various bug fixes, including - 609641: minidom nodes not pickleable -
618156: Use character references in XMLGenerator if necessary - 622286:
marshal.wddx: 'recordset' element typo - 624420: Can't create 2nd
Sax2.Reader - 665486: Implement SAX skippedEntity for Expat The
Python/XML distribution contains the basic tools required for
processing XML data using the Python programming language, assembled
into one easy-to-install package. The distribution includes parsers and
standard interfaces such as SAX and DOM, along with various other
useful modules. The package currently contains: * XML parsers: Pyexpat
(Jack Jansen), xmlproc (Lars Marius Garshol), sgmlop (Fredrik Lundh). *
SAX interface (Lars Marius Garshol) * minidom DOM implementation (Paul Prescod, others) * 4DOM and 4XPath from Fourthought (Uche Ogbuji, Mike Olson) * Schema implementations: TREX (James Tauber) * Various utility modules and functions (various people) * Documentation and example programs (various people) The code is being developed bazaar-style by contributors from the Python XML Special Interest Group, so please send comments and questions to xml-sig@python.org. Bug reports may be filed on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?group_id=6473&atid=106473 For more information about Python and XML, see: http://www.python.org/topics/xml/
New Mailing List for Tcl Threads Discussion http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=247015
There's now a new mailing list available for people wanting to talk about threading issues in Tcl and its extensions (especially the Thread extension, of course.) It's called Tcl-Threads, and to subscribe you should visit http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/tcl-threads and follow the instructions there.
Super Sunday Licq 1.2.4
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=247122
At the Super Bowl Halftime show, Licq 1.2.4 was released. The ChangeLog has been updated, so check it out. Licq is an ICQ clone written fully in C++. It uses an extensive plugin system to manage many different functions. The main GUI is written using the Qt widget set. Unfortunately, the Licq Project was $1,999,994.31 short of purchasing a commercial to announce the release during the Super Bowl. Perhaps next year..
syscalltrack 0.81 "Cruel Ducky" released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=247577
Well, at long last, here's 0.81, "Cruel Ducky". It has several kernel bug fixes, and support for matching void pointers and support for strace's follow forks mode. syscalltrack is a linux kernel module and supporting user space environment which allow interception and modifying system calls that match user defined criteria. Think of it as strace on steroids.
Video4Linux Grab 0.2.2 released
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=246947
The v4lgrab project is a realtime capturing software for a Video4Linux device into an AVI file. This release fixes the errors and problems reported (audio/video sync problems) from the old version 0.2.1. This release also includes feature enhancements.
Gimp-Print 4.2.5 released
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=246974
Gimp-Print 4.2.5, released January 24, 2003, is a stable release in the
Gimp-Print 4.2 series. 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
plug-in for the GIMP requires the Gimp 1.2. 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 Ghostscript driver requires GNU Ghostscript 5.10, 5.50, 6.51,
or any later GNU Ghostscript release based on 6.51 (e. g. 6.52). It may
also be used with GNU Ghostscript 7.05, or with ESP Ghostscript 7.05.
The IJS 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. We recommend that Macintosh OS X users download the
precompiled installer package from
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3 rather than attempt to
build this package from source, as using the installer is much simpler.
We further recommend that Macintosh OS X users install ESP GhostScript,
to permit printing from Carbon applications (such as most Adobe
applications) that generate PostScript rather than PDF output.
Directions for that are also available at
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3. Please read the README
file for full instructions on installing this package from source code.
Gimp-Print 4.2.5 contains the following major changes over Gimp-Print
4.2.4: * Major bugs fixed: 1) (bug 625780) The Epson Stylus Pro 5000
now prints. 2) (bug 645895) The Epson Stylus Color 640 now prints
properly at all resolutions in color, grayscale, and monochrome. 3)
(bug 639356) The version of libtool used in building the release
package has been upgraded to 1.4.3, which fixes compile problems on a
few platforms (this is primarily of interest to packagers). 4) (bug
659543) escputil now reports the ink levels correctly on the Stylus
Photo 950/960 and 2100/2200. 5) (bug 672692) A buffer overflow in
escputil, which permitted a local privilege escalation if it is
installed setuid, has been fixed. Note that Gimp-print does not install
escputil setuid, and we do not recommend explicitly setting the setuid
bit. 6) (bug 672846) A problem compiling rastertoprinter on Solaris
with the gcc compiler has been fixed. 7) (bug 672850) The Epson back
end in CUPS will no longer hang attempting to read back ink levels
under some circumstances, and it will also compute the ink levels
correctly. 8) (bug 646158) DESTDIR now works correctly with make
install (this is primarily of interest to packagers). * New
Functionality: 1) If Foomatic 2.9.x is installed, the Foomatic data
will be generated with additional features: Once the options are put
into groups ("General", "PrintoutMode", "Adjustment") and a new
"PrintoutMode" option will be added, which lets the user choose
pre-configurations for common printing tasks, but still adjust the
individual options. If an older version of Foomatic is installed, the
Foomatic data will stay as before. 2) (bug 596538) The automatic paper
cutter is now functional on the Epson Stylus Photo 925, 950/960, and
2100/2200. * Quality Improvements: 1) The Epson Stylus Photo
950/960/PM-950C and 2100/2200 are now tuned. The 950 and 960 are fully
tuned, while the 2100 and 2200 are fully tuned with Photographic Black
ink. Matte Black ink on the 2100/2200, and dark yellow ink on the
PM-950C, are not tuned at this point. 2) The Epson Stylus Photo
950/960/PM-950C and 2100/2200 now support double speed printing at 360
DPI in Four Color Standard mode (in color, grayscale, and monochrome).
For this reason, we recommend use of Four Color Standard for printing
text and low-resolution graphics on plain paper with these printers. 3)
Translations for Danish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, and UK English
have been updated. * Exceptions and Workarounds: 1) There have been a
number of reports that printing to a Windows-hosted printer from
Macintosh OS X results in only the first page of the job being printed
(see bugs 668342 and 672692). In at least some cases, connecting the
printer directly to the Macintosh results in correct prints. There is
no known workaround short of connecting the printer directly to the
Macintosh. Investigation is continuing on this problem. 2) There are
longstanding reports of problems printing with certain USB-parallel
adapters on Macintosh OS X. In particular, many users have reported
problems with the Keyspan adapter; we recommend that users having
problems try different brands of adapters, and avoid using USB hubs.
Please check our web site
(http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3) for a link to a user
feedback forum regarding these cables. 3) Mac OS X users who use the
Epson Printer Utility (provided by Epson with their standard driver
set) to check ink levels and perform maintenance tasks, such as head
cleaning or head alignment, may encounter print job failures when
attempting to print with the Gimp-Print driver after using the Epson
utility. The cause for this failure is currently unknown, but the
workaround is to completely power-cycle the printer, after which the
Gimp-Print driver should again print normally. Another option is to
disable the Epson Printer Utility. 4) The Mac OS X print dialog may
offer an "Autoselect" option as the default media source (input slot)
on some printers. This option may not be valid and can result in
nothing being printed. The workaround is to choose a different setting
(explicitly select the input slot you wish to use). 5) The new HP
DesignJets have not been fully tuned. In particular, there are reports
that they print too light. This can be corrected with the Density
adjustment (try 1.5~1.7 or thereabouts). 6) The list of compatible and
potentially compatible Hewlett-Packard printers has been updated with
the latest available information. If a particular printer does not work
with the recommended driver, we recommend that you try other similar
drivers, check the Feature Requests at
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=101537&group_id=1537&func=browse,
and if the printer is not listed please file a feature request (via the
Submit New button). 7) Borderless (full-bleed) printing is not quite
correct on the Epson Stylus Photo printers that support it (see bug
621668). Typically, the left or right margin is off by 1 mm or less,
resulting in a very fine white strip on that edge. This will not be
fixed in 4.2; it is expected to be fixed in 4.3 and beyond. There is no
workaround other than trimming the page. 8) Many Canon printers do not
print correctly at 720x360 DPI. The workaround is to use 360 or 720
DPI. The following bugs have been fixed in Gimp-Print 4.2.5: 596538
Epson Stylus Photo 925 etc. paper cutter is not functional 599029
Epson: Maximum speed printing not supported on 950, 960 625780 Epson
Stylus Pro 5000 does not print 639356 Build system: libtool 1.4.2 does
not work on all platforms 641628 QUALITY: Epson Stylus 2200 print
quality is low in 7-color 645895 Epson stc640 does not print at 720dpi
and above 646158 Build:DESTDIR broken in make install in print plugin
649253 QUALITY - Epson 950/960 problems in all resolutions 659543
escputil Epson Photo 950 Ink level wrong 672845 Buffer overflow in
escputil 672846 rastertoprinter does not compile on Solaris with gcc
672850 Epson back end in CUPS driver can lock up The following bugs are
currently open: 409612 Epson: Minor positioning problem on 4x6 glossy
470049 CUPS PPD files not translated on all systems 538097
QUALITY-Canon S400 dark and yellow cast 549677 Canon BJC-1000 functions
incorrectly at 720x360 DPI 557868 QUALITY-HP DeskJet 560 is washed out
581168 Canon BJC 250 just spits out pages 601767 Mac OS X: Canon BJC
2100 does not print multiple pages 602933 QUALITY-Canon S800 dark and
grainy 613054 Mac OS X: Printing from InDesign 2.0 on OS 10.2.1 614882
QUALITY - Canon BJC-55 is too pale and desaturated 621668 Epson Stylus
full bleed prints have slight margin 627266 Mac OS X: Autoselect option
incorrectly offered 627978 QUALITY: Canon BJC-6500 has magenta cast.
631937 HP DesignJet Sheet Cutter Problem 641981 QUALITY: HP DesignJet
455 too light 645116 QUALITY: HP DeskJet regression from 4.1.7 647035
QUALITY: Colors don't match OEM drivers 662988 HP DeskJet 970Cxi page
horizontally squeezed 668342 Canon S-450 prints only one page of a job
672692 Epson photo 700 single page of multi page job
New release 0.5.5 of tn5250j is available http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=244952
tn5250J is an AS400 Telnet 5250 written in java. This will provide some of the more advance functions of the 5250 datastream such as edit masks, graphical windows, continued editing fields, etc. This release includes numerous feature enhancements, including improved file transfer capability, Jython scripting support, and the ability to export spool files to PDF or text file. Changes - wow where to start. There have been a lot since the last release. I will try to put a release out sooner from now on as there are so many changes it is impossible to keep up. This release features the following new functionality/fixes: 1. Scripting support via jython. See web page for details There is a script running indicator as well. You can define a script to run on connection This uses the jython project from http://www.jython.org 2. Reworked file transfer from host screen with the following: - Main screen has been reworked to make it less confusing - New filters have been added - Delimited and Fixed Width - Interaction with the Java Toolbox for AS400. See website for more details under file transfers. - A new sql query wizard has been implemented so you can graphically select and form your sql point and click with mouse. - E-mail your transferred file directly from the transfer screen 3. New SpoolFile export function to PDF or Text. You can also e-mail the exported file directly from the screen. This uses the itext project from http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/itext When you download the itext-0xxx.jar make sure you rename it to itext.jar or it will not work 4. SSL socket support for users of JDK 1.4 and greater. 5. New applet support. Take the test drive with the live applet test from the website 6. Keyboard buffering fixes 7. New interaction of the popup menu with short cut keys automatically defined from you remapping. 8. Able to map keys to macros and scripts. See website for more information on macros and scripting in jython. 9. Printing fixes. 10. Better performance Lots and Lots of bug fixes. Thanks to all for helping with the testing of this release Enjoy Kenneth
Open For Business 2.0.0 released
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=245533
The Open For Business Project released version 2.0.0 of its business automation tools, components, and applications on Monday the 20th of January 2003. This is the first stable release of the project and offers a new option for organizations of all types that have asked the question of Build vs. Buy. More information about Open For Business can be found on the web site at http://www.ofbiz.org Organizations using OFBiz can shorten enterprise information project cycles by months through a well designed architecture and corresponding framework and through pre-built components and applications. The goal of the Open For Business project is to provide useful, standards compliant tools and applications. These standards will include: XML; J2EE; WfMC; BPML; ebXML; UNSPSC; GAAP & FASB; OMG's GL, Party, Workflow, etc; ArapXML; OAGIS; and many others. The OFBiz Core Framework consists of the following tools: Entity Engine, Service Engine, Workflow Engine, Rule Engine, XML Mini-Languages, and a web application framework. Applications and application components (including entities and services) in the project cover the following business areas: e-commerce, products, orders, parties, facilities, work efforts, content, marketing, accounting, human resources, and so forth. The most mature and deployed application in the suite is the e-commerce application with functionality that measures up to the largest available commercial alternatives and many live sites, including the award-winning ReturnBuy.com site (see http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=8137 ) Other OFBiz applications and components are stable and being used by various organizations and in various commercial products. More details are available on the website. OFBiz has received great attention in the open source and IT communities. The project has been featured on SourceForge and release notices have appeared on FreshMeat.net, TheServerSide.com, and JavaLobby.org. The SourceForge project site shows around 100,000 downloads and 700,000 page views. Dozens of users of the project have contributed feedback, new ideas and even code and designs. Special thanks to the many users who have contributed to the project. Without user contributions the project could not be what it is today. QUESTION: What is the scope of the OFBiz applications, and how will vertical markets be targeted? ANSWER: We realize that we cannot target all functionality that will be needed by all organizations, or even all markets or industries. Our goal for the applications and application components is to include as much generic functionality as possible. This will allow many medium and large size organizations to get something useful running quickly and make it possible to concentrate resources on organization specific customizations. Software companies will be able to affordably create products for narrowly targeted markets or industries and spend time and effort on the needs of that market or industry instead of all of the generic functionality and framework components that can be generalized among all users of the software. QUESTION: If there are no licensing fees or corporate backing for OFBiz, how is the development and support of the project financed? ANSWER: The project is financed by providing for the needs of users of the project. This is done by offering services such as analysis, design, implementation, customization, training, mentoring, support and even prioritization of planned features. Much of the functionality in the project has been paid for by commercial adopters of the project and the rest has been contributed by generous developers from their own personal time. For more information on services offered, see the OFBiz.org Services Page at http://www.ofbiz.org/services.html QUESTION: This seems like a pretty big project, how much of it is actually done, or rather how far along are the various components and applications? ANSWER: At this point all of the framework components are very stable, and many of the applications are too. This is why we have chosen to do the 2.0.0 final release. From here on out releases will be done more incrementally as the current framework and applications are improved. The e-commerce and related applications such as the Party, Order, and Catalog managers are the most stable and mature. Following close behind is the Facility Manager which handles all aspects of warehouse and inventory management. The Work Effort Manager has many useful pieces in place, but there is still a lot of work to do there. Other applications such as Accounting and Content Management have only recently been started. The Data Model is very complete and mature. It has been reviewed and improved dozens of times and by many different people. It is cleaner in the areas where corresponding applications and components are implemented, but we have put a great deal of effort into making sure that there was a master plan for the data model that would not have to change much as applications are added or improved.
Vorbis Encoder Plugin for LameFE released http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=246410
A new OGG/Vorbis Encoder plugin for use with LameFE 2.2 RC 1 has been released. This plugin features Ogg/Vorbis 1.0 support, Quality based encoding, ABR / VBR / CBR encoding, and support for standard Ogg Tags. You can download both LameFE and the plugin at http://lamefe.sourceforge.net/index.php?showpage=download Thees Winkler
- Project Administrator
DWSII 1.2 Beta Release
http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=246417
DelphiWebScript is a scripting language for use in Borland Delphi(tm) projects. The programming language is similar to Delphi. It's HTML features are optimal for web applications and report modules. A beta release of DWSII is available. Most important new feature: Garbage collector for DWSII objects. See forum messages for more information.
Slashdot
Finally: PC-to-Phone Calling from Linux
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/080221
[0]Greg Herlein writes "There is finally a way to do direct PC to Phone calling from linux: [1]GnomeMeeting now supports decent quality, low-cost VoIP calls to any real phone in the world. It's about time." The calls are through a company called MicroTelco; read this [2]FAQ page to learn more about it. (And don't forget TheKompany's approach to IP-telephony-with-Linux, using a Sharp [3]Zaurus plus Net2Phone.) Links
0. mailto:gherlein@herlein.com
1.
http://www.gnomemeeting.org/
2.
http://www.gnomemeeting.org/index.php?rub=3&pos=0&faqpage=x153html
3.
http://www.thekompany.com/embedded/tkcphone/
Bluetooth, GSM, and Gameboy
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/0528209
[0]brnsurgon1 writes ""The aim of the [1]project was to investigate
mobile gaming over GSM- and Bluetooth- networks, by developing a
concept prototype, connecting a Gameboy to a mobile phone over
Bluetooth. The results show that it is possible to connect two Gameboy
Color over a GSM network by connecting to the phone using the Bluetooth
plugin we developed for the Gameboy."" A couple other have submitted
this story - it looks interesting. But, heck, I'm still trying to
finish Golden Sun on my GBA.
Links
0. mailto:gr3g@techie.com
War(ship) Driving For 802.11b Controlled Destroyers http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/023259
Jason Straight writes "There's a [0]story at pcworld, that describes how navy warships will be equipped with 802.11b networking to allow the captain to control the ship from anywhere on the ship. " The point of the article also gets into the issue of cutting manpower for the ships
- going from 300 people on each to destroyer to 90, and makes the point that the only way to do is through automation. Links 0. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109053,00.asp
Long Computer Sessions Could Cause Blood Clots http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/0434254
kac5 writes "[0]The Australian reports that extended stints in front of the computer [1]can cause blood clots to form such as those that occur from Deep Vein Thrombosis. Researchers have named it e-thrombosis (what is it with naming everything to do with computers e something?). So /.'s get up out of your chair, slowly so not to make your body go into shock, and walk to the other side of the room and back. Now do that every hour and you should be right according to this article!" Links
0. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Why VHS Was Better Than Betamax
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/037258
[0]Vladimir Kornea writes "This article argues that 'when someone buys
and uses a product, the technological aspects are a [1]small and often
uninteresting part of the decision' and that the when the 'whole
product' (a term commonly used among marketing people) is considered,
VHS was better than Betamax, and that the Wintel PC is better than the
alternatives." Update: 01/29 04:26 GMT by [2]T: [3]Apologies for the
dupe.
Links
0.
http://www.typetango.com
1.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,881780,00.html
2.
http://www.monkey.org/~timothy/
3.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/26/028207&tid=126
Parsec To Be Released As Open Source
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/0247213
Mark Bainter writes "The Parsec creators have announced today that they are [0]going to release the Parsec project source code early next month. From the site: 'The source release will include platform support for Win32, MacOS X, and Linux, and contain both OpenGL and Glide rendering code. It will include almost everything that has been part of the earlier LAN-Test releases, as well as our new client/server code that is already far along in development. However, it is our hope that this release will be picked up by the Parsec community for further development, supported by members of the original Parsec Project. This release will be the last official release of the original Parsec Project. It had been our intention to achieve a full-featured release including Internet game play in 2002. However, we were always doing this in our spare time, and since it is taking us too long to reach our original goal, we do not want to keep the Parsec community waiting any longer and have thus decided that it is time to change Parsec's development model to an open source approach.'" Links
Why Project Gutenberg Isn't There Yet
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/29/0017228
[0]option8 writes "[1]This wired article ('Any Text. Anytime. Anywhere.
(Any Volunteers?)'), goes into good detail on why Project Gutenberg,
and similar efforts, are far from creating a complete, free electronic
library. A quote: "The mechanics of a universal library are simple. The
tricky part: harnessing the free labor." Though it doesn't go into
technology much, I expect there's a lot of potential in mass OCR tech
and good speech recognition (faster to read a book aloud than to
transcribe it correctly)."
Links
Slashback: Intentia, Ephemera, Restoration http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/27/1420245
Slashback tonight brings you updates on Red Hat's EOL timetable, NASA's tutorial on creating your very own spooky UFO images, the status (back up!) of the PCI Vendor and Device lists, and more -- read on below for the details.
Lifetime Careers in IT?
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/28/2144213
[0]CyPlasm asks: "[1]MSN Careers had [2]this article posted the other day that asked about a "Lifetime Career in IT: Is It Possible?" Does the average Slashdot reader think they will retire (with a pension, benefits, etc) after a long and successful career in IT?" Links
0.
http://slashdot.org/~CyPlasm
1.
http://careers.msn.com/
2.
http://editorial.careers.msn.com/articles/itlifetime/Nicotine-Free Cigs, Genetically Engineered http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/28/2052200
jim.b0b writes "Wired has an interesting article about [0]nicotine-free cigarettes, made from genetically engineered tobacco grown by Amish farmers. [1]Vector Tobacco is hoping that their Quest cigarettes will make them a viable competitor to RJR and Phillip Morris. Don't worry, they are nicotine-free, not carcinogen-free." Links
0. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/smoking.html
Freshmeat
Aapje Messenger 0.0.1 (Beta)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111031/
Aapje Messenger aims to be an open, feature-filled MSN messenger clone. It features multiple user chats, file transfers, storing of contact lists, status and nick changing, adding/deleting/blocking of buddies, themeing, and more.
Ariadne 2.1.3
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110961/
Ariadne is a multi-language Web Application Server and Content Management System built with PHP. It has a rich user interface which includes wizards, pulldown menus, and a WYSIWYG HTML editor. Data is stored in a structured object store and can be accessed via filesystem-like calls (ls, find, get). It supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MSSQL.
Astaro Security Linux 3.390 (Beta)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111014/
Astaro Security Linux is a firewall solution. It does stateful packet inspection filtering, content filtering, user authentication, virus scanning, VPN with IPSec (PKI for X.509 certificates) and PPTP, and much more. With its Web-based management tool, WebAdmin, and the ability to pull updates via the Internet, it is pretty easy to manage. It is based on a special hardened Linux 2.4 distribution where most daemons are running in change-roots and are protected by kernel capabilities.
AutoPKG 0.5.5 (Stable)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111010/
AutoPKG lets you keep your Slackware system up to date. It functions similarly to apt-get, the Debian package manager.
buildpkg 0.0.2r28-rc1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110974/
Buildpkg is a package build system. It gives you the opportunity to create package system (rpm, dpkg, etc.) independent descriptions (.def) which can be used to create binary packages on every system. It can be also used to track installations and create packages of the installed files. If you want more safety, you can use the 'jail' feature. In this mode a chroot-ed environment will be created from the (configurable) list of programs and the installation will be done here. Besides Linux, Solaris/SunOS, and FreeBSD packages are also supported.
ccIRCRelay 1.0
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110953/
ccIRCRelay is a fast, small IRC relay tool that uses Tk, Python, and sockets. It is designed to facilitate conversations spanning multiple IRC servers, and relays all messages (including modes, kicks, parts, joins, bans, quits, notices, and actions) from one channel to another on a different server (and vice- versa).
Cflow2VCG 0.1 (draw_cflow)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110983/
Cflow2vcg converts the result of the cflow utility to a VCG format. It offers the ability to view graphically the call-graph of sources, and import it into documentation.
CHM decompiler 0.2
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110966/
CHM decompiler is a program that converts the internal files of CHM files back into the HHP, HHC, and HHK, etc. used to compile the documentation.
Courier-IMAP 1.7.0
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110929/
Courier-IMAP is a lightweight server that provides IMAP access to maildir mailboxes. It supports folders, custom authentication modules, and virtual mailboxes. A compatible POP3 server is also provided. The source code is based on the IMAP module in the Courier Mail Server, but this build is independently repackaged to work with any other MTA that delivers to maildir format mailboxes.
Cream for Vim 0.19
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111002/
Cream is a configuration of the famous Vim text editor that makes it easier to use, like an Apple- or Windows-style text editor. It uses Vim's own extensibility to improve menus, keyboard shortcuts, and editing behavior. Cream seamlessly maintains Vim's insertmode to access all the power of the original Vim plus many custom Cream extensions.
dccserver 0.2
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110963/
dccserver is a standalone program that aims to provide the
functionality of MIRC's /dccserver command. Currently, Chat and Send
(including resume) modes are supported. Fserve and Get mode are not yet
supported.
eBayAgent 0.9.7
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110945/
eBayAgent aims to help users who are bidding in an eBay auction by giving them an automated way of bidding in the dying moments of an auction.
Enca 0.10.7 (Unstable)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110939/
Enca detects the encoding of text files, on the basis of knowledge of their language. Then it can convert them to other encodings, allowing you to recode files without knowing their current encoding. It can currently detect encoding of Belarussian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian texts, and a few Unicode variants, independently on language.
Evolvotron 0.0.1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110980/
Evolvotron is an interactive "generative art" software to evolve images/textures/patterns through an iterative process of random mutation and user-selection driven evolution. If you like lava lamps, and never got tired of the Mandelbrot set, this could be the software for you.
fBuilder Plus 2.4.9
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110997/
fBuilder Plus is a Web-based utility for building and configuring your ipchains/iptables-based Linux firewall. There are two versions of fBuilder: fBuilder Lite, a free version that includes a standard set of features, and fBuilder Plus, which includes edit, insert, and delete capabilities for firewall rules, rule shifting, support for DHCP clients, DMZ creation through firewall wizard, NAT capabilities, support for IP aliases, automatic log rule creation, state checking, log reporting, email alerts, and export capabilities.
Forest Web Application Builder 0.3-4
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111020/
Forest is a Web-based IDE for Web applications. It's in the alpha stage, but you can use it to create your XML files already. For now, it has four frames: the "Add Component" frame which allows you to add a new component to your page, the "Object Inspector" which allows you to add/edit properties and delete components, the "Preview" which will show how your XML is looking, and the "Component Tree" frame that show the hierarchy of components in your page.
FreeCoins 0.6.0
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110927/
FreeCoins is an accounting program written in C++ for PalmOS. It features multiple accounts in multiple categories, scheduled/recurring transactions, split transactions, a proper (collapsable) account tree, double entry bookkeeping (similar to GnuCash), cleared/uncleared transactions, separate cleared/uncleared balances totals for the current account, current category, and all accounts in all categories, and the ability to add/delete/modify accounts and transactions to suit your needs.
FreeLords CVS-SDL-20030128 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/110956/
FreeLords is a turn-based strategy game similiar to W*rl*rds. It can be played with friends on one computer or via a network.
ftpcopy 0.6.1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110965/
ftpcopy is a small mirror-like utility to copy files or directory trees with FTP. ftpcopy understands EPLF and traditional listing formats.
fwtrends 0.1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110981/
fwtrends is a project to ease firewall log monitoring via a Web GUI. It imports log files from various firewall software and can easily generate graph statistics from alert events. It allows you to investigate single remote source addresses and what alerts they generated.
Genuts Framework 0.5b (Development)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110959/
The Genuts project provides a consistent Java framework for game development. It contains a library with classes primarily intended for sprite-based games, including functions for sprite manipulation and collision detection.
GnomeMeeting 0.96
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110967/
GnomeMeeting is an H.323 compatible videoconferencing and VoIP/IP telephony application that allows you to make audio and video calls to remote users with H.323 hardware or software (such as Microsoft Netmeeting). It supports all modern videoconferencing features, such as registering to an ILS directory, gatekeeper support, making multi-user conference calls using an external MCU, using modern Quicknet telephony cards, and making PC-to-phone calls.
IlohaMail 0.7.9
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111023/
IlohaMail is a lightweight, multilingual Webmail client that is easy to
use and install. It runs on a stock build of PHP, and does not require
databases (although database support is available) or the IMAP library
(it is powered by a custom IMAP/POP3 library). It supports all
essential functionality, including a full contacts list and a user
customizable interface. Other features include support for multiple
domains (virtual hosts), built-in spam prevention, and activity
logging.
jmame 0.6.0
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110942/
jmame is a Java-based frontend to XMAME. It uses the Swing toolkit and uses XML to store all settings.
JSch 0.0.12
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111004/
JSch is a pure Java implementation of SSH2. It allows you to connect to an sshd server and use port forwarding, X11 forwarding, file transfer, etc. You can integrate its functionality into your own Java programs.
Konstruct 20030128
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110946/
Konstruct is a build system which helps you install KDE releases and applications on your system. It downloads defined source tarballs, checks their integrity, decompresses, patches, configures, builds, and installs them. A complete KDE installation should be as easy as "cd meta/kde;make install". Optionally, you can install additional applications like KOffice, KDevelop, or Quanta (for example, "cd apps/koffice;make install").
linphone 0.10.0
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111000/
Linphone is a Web phone with a GNOME interface. It let you make two-party calls over IP networks such as the Internet. It uses the IETF protocols SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and RTP (Realtime Transport Protocol) to make calls, so it should be able to communicate with other SIP-based Web phones. With several codecs available, it can be used with high speed connections as well as 28k modems.
Linux Progress Patch 2.4.20
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110964/
The Linux Progress Patch is a kernel patch which displays a full-screen logo with a progress bar and some informational text while booting. It hides the normal startup messages printed by the kernel, and is meant for people that don't care about complicated and possibly confusing boot messages.
logintop10 1.3
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111028/
LoginTop10 creates several "Top 10" lists from wtmp (usally in /var/log/) statistics. Lists include login frequency, login duration, busiest day of the week, busiest day of the month, and busiest month. It outputs a formatted HTML file.
LogScanner 1.78
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110971/
LogScanner reads messages from syslog or any other logging program via a pipe, analyzes the messages with the PCRE library, and sends email to the administrator about any errors or violations.
Meld 0.6.4
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110940/
Meld is a GNOME 2 diff and merge tool. It lets you edit files in place
(diffs update dynamically), and a middle column shows detailed changes
and allows merges. It has user-friendly diff-browsing. The margins show
location of changes, and it also features a tabbed interface that
allows you to open many diffs at once.
Motiontrack 0.0.5
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111016/
Motiontrack is a set of tools that detect motion between two PNG or JPG images.
Mr Commander 0.1a-preview3 (Development) http://freshmeat.net/releases/111003/
Mr Commander is a file manager based on GTK+ 2.0. It behaves like the Total Commander program, which is available on MS Windows. It features SMB and FTP support.
ncc 1.2 (Stable)
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110969/
ncc is a C source code analyzer which generates program flow and variable usage information. Using it should be as easy as changing CC=gcc to CC=ncc in makefiles, and effort has been made to support most common gcc extensions. ncc has been tested with the sources of the Linux kernel, gtk, gcc, gdb, bind, mpg123, ncftp, and many other famous projects.
nntp//rss 0.2
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110950/
nntp//rss is a Java RSS feed aggregator for NNTP clients. It allows RSS feeds to be read through any standard GUI or text-based NNTP newsreader.
Nogger 0.8.6
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110998/
Nogger is a bloat-free Ogg Vorbis player using GTK 2.
OBM 0.6.1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110970/
OBM is an Intranet application written to help manage a company. It can also be used as a contact and customer database or as a shared calendar. It is written with PHP and requires MySQL to work (although support for other databases is possible). It supports internationalization and themes, and it includes: sales force, help desk, time tracking, user, and administration modules.
openbechede 0.8
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110919/
openbechede is a fast and simple way to install OpenBSD packages and their dependencies. With openbechede you can keep your obsd packages updated. Also, you can install packages (and automatically, their dependencies), remove them, fetch new lists of packages, and upgrade your system to the latest snapshot/to -stable. openbechede logs its activity to a file you can specify.
OpenSceneGraph Editor 0.3.1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111008/
OpenSceneGraph Editor (OSGEdit) is used to compose complex scenes based on individual models using the OSG library. It is focused on making scenes for use in OSG-based programs.
ora2html 1.31
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110973/
Ora2html generates HTML or plain ASCII reports of installed Oracle databases running on a server. It includes information about config files, layout, objects, schemas, etc., and supports Oracle versions 8-9i, running on Linux, Solaris, and Tru64.
OSSP fsl 1.0.7
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110989/
OSSP fsl offers the syslog API otherwise provided by libc. Instead of writing to the syslogd process, it uses the powerful OSSP l2 logging capabilities. It is a drop-in link-time replacement which enables any syslog consumer to take advantage of OSSP l2 by just linking this library in before libc. The program is intended to apply OSSP l2 functionality to existing syslog-based third-party programs without the requirement to change the source code of the program.
OSSP sa 1.0.4
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111005/
OSSP sa is an abstraction library for the Unix socket application
programming interface (API). It features stream and datagram oriented
communication over Unix Domain and Internet Domain (TCP and UDP)
sockets. It provides the following key features: address abstraction
(local, IPv4, and IPv6), type abstraction, I/O timeouts, I/O stream
buffering, and convenience I/O functions.
Perl Oak Component Tree 1.4-4
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111019/
The Perl Oak Component Tree is a set of objects designed to provide the maximum reusability to software development. Oak can be used in any development platform, but just the Web platform is implemented. In Oak, you define an XML file to each page and you will implement just the events.
PHP Accelerator 1.3.4r1
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110968/
PHP Accelerator is a plugin PHP Zend engine extension that provides a PHP script cache and is capable of delivering a substantial acceleration of PHP scripts without requiring any script changes, loss of dynamic content, or other application compromises.
phpCodeGenie 1.2
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110948/
phpCodeGenie is a code generator for PHP/MySQL applications. Just design your database tables and phpCodeGenie can write the PHP scripts and programs for you. It will build data entry forms, insert scripts, database lister scripts, edit record forms, update record scripts, delete confirmation scripts, delete scripts, search forms, search scripts and other frontend/database interaction code. Basically, it provides a core basic code from which you can build on.
phpIntranet 2.8
http://freshmeat.net/releases/111021/
phpIntranet is a PHP/SQL intranet application. It includes a front end for managing a staff database, an inventory database, modular calendars, a tournament engine (round robin, single elimination), SpamAssassin configuration integration, birthdays, image storing, etc. phpIntranet also includes a session -> SQL based shopping cart and an orders database to integrate into an e-commerce Web site.
phpQLAdmin 2.0.7
http://freshmeat.net/releases/110999/
phpQLAdmin was designed to administrate a Qmail-LDAP server with an easy-to-use Web interface. It allows you to control the server with the Qmail-LDAP/Controls patch, add/remove domains, add/remove/edit users, change attributes for all domain members, and set passwords, quotas, mailhosts, mail addresses, alias addresses, forwarders, and more. The application's language is configurable (except for the control part) and contains translations for English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese. It supports Ezmlm mailing lists.
phpQLAdmin 2.0.6