Saturday, April 30, 2005

Another Major Upgrade

While Java 1.5 is still considered new for some people, Sun Microsystem has started to develop the next major upgrade that will be available as Java 1.6 (codename Mustang). Here is the summary of the official release :

The desktop Java client group at Sun is working on some great features and functionality in the next release of Java (code named Mustang); we thought it might be useful to detail some of the highlights here. Where possible, we will add pointers to additional information (such as Bug IDs or other articles) and we will also give information on the Mustang build that each item is integrated into, as we proceed in development. And with the Mustang release, this is more than just talk; you can go download the latest bits anytime you want at http://mustang.dev.java.net.

Note that we are attempting to be as open and honest as possible here; we are telling you the things that we would like to do in Mustang; it is entirely possible that some of these items may not make it into the release for one reason or another. Mustang is, after all, very much mid-development right now. Also, any API additions or other enhancements to the J2SE platform specification are subject to review and approval by the JSR 270 Expert Group. But beyond these caveats, this list should contain, at any given time, the features that we are currently hoping to deliver in Mustang.

Note too that this is not an exhaustive list of everything we are working on in the client group; these are just the larger, more visible, more called-for, or more exciting features that we have on our plate.

Finally, we encourage you to go looking for more information on java.sun.com. In particular, our bug reports tend to contain our latest thinking about bugs, features, and fixes. For items below that contain bug IDs, click on the links or search the bug database for that bug ID to read more about that feature.

We've broken up the list into the different areas of client technology:
* Swing
* Java2D
* Internationalization
* AWT
* Deployment


Source: Java

Friday, April 29, 2005

Busy Week

This week is the busiest week in this semester. I have to test final presentation for the database lab class for one week and each day in two sessions. In Wednesday, i went to campuss at 7.30 AM and got back home at 8 PM (that's more than 12 hours a day). What a day it was and i was so tired. Let's hope that this week will end soon and i should be able to do my final presentation and finish my final test of this semester.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Happy Birthday to Me

Three day after my girlfriend's birthday, today is my 22nd birthday. I hope i can finish my study and get a new job as soon as possible.

Happy Birthday to Me :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

SuSE 9.3 Linux fails home-use test

While everyone is expecting that SuSE 9.3 will be the next generation of GNU/Linux distro that offers more comformance to home users, they probably will be disappointed by the next review by The Inquirer. They have a conclusion that Suse 9.3 might be good for the techies to play with, but it is a long way before it is any good for real home users. Here is the full articles :

Review OS still for techies

By Nick Farrell: Monday 25 April 2005, 10:25
SPINSTERS at Novell have been pushing the latest version of Suse 9.3 Linux as suitable for home users. However after a frustrating weekend, I can safely report that there is no chance of it ever being remotely useful for home users for some years to come.

Windows has its hold on home users because it is easy to install, there are few things that can go wrong, and if they do the average person can work out what to do.

Suse 9.3, which the Novell spinsters tell me can do all that and more, fails on every one of these points.

Firstly installation. Windows can take up to three quarters of an hour, you know something is happening because things move and pictures change. There were a few moments in my hour-long installation of Suse 9.3 where nothing happened, I was sure I had broken it.

There are three phases to the installation. The first from the boot-up disk downloads the core components. Then there is a reboot, which if you are not careful and have a Windows partition on the machine, will download the wrong operating system in the middle of your reboot.

If you do get through to the second reboot, and there is no indication which icon you have to press to do that, then Suse will download a list of software which it thinks you will need.

For a home user this list is crucial, because, as I found out later installing other programs is a complete and utter arse.

Not included in this list was a Suse flagship product, called Beagle which is supposed to search your hard drive and keep track of things for you.

How new users will know to look for this program if it is not installed in the default settings is beyond me.

Suse then asks you if you want to install any upgrades. Normally everyone would press 'yes''but Suse's upgrade process is more complex in comparison to anything they have seen from the Vole. You have to chose a place to download it from, you have to select the upgrades, etc. It was all a bit scary.

After it boots up it looks very pretty. Apparently you are able to chose between KDE and Gnome desktops on this version of Suse. Once again telepathy is required to work out how to do this. I ended up with KDE, but I don't know how.

Thw whole process assumed a lot of knowledge and this is where Suse falls down, at least for this ignorant user.

Now with the screen open, the fun starts. I opened the default media player and a little warning comes up saying that due to legal reasons some videos will not play.

There is a helpful suggestion in the warning that gives you a web site to pick up the missing codecs. The warning is completely right. In fact I could not find a single video that the player would play – the borked player could be made to be of no use to man or beast.

So I am left with having to download a player and codecs off the interweb.

In Windows if you want to download and install a program you go to a site, download it and Windows, or the software will install it for you.

Not so with Suse. You download a program, extract it yourself and, if you are lucky, you can then use something called Yast to do it all for you.

And don't bother trying to look at the installation read-me notes either. They are just advertisements for the idiots who designed the software and tend to go into great details about the licence agreement, which, as most users tell you, isn't as important as getting the software going. After two frustrating hours, I still didn't have video and gave up.

Next, I wanted to test this Beagle thingee since it had not been loaded by default and used Yast to install it. Nothing happened. Yast told me Beagle was installed, but there were no icons, nothing in the tool bar and nothing downloaded where I could access it. I then spent an ironic three quarters of an hour searching for the search software, before I gave up.

Don't get me wrong, Suse did some very nice things. It was faster and cleaner than Windows. 9.3 was able to find all the hardware I had successfully (although I had to download an extra driver to run my Nvidia graphics card).

If I installed it on my mother-in-law's machine and she used it for the Interweb and penning her poetry on the new look OpenOffice I suspect she would be very happy.

But anyone who wants to upgrade software, install stuff which is not on the disk, let alone play games is going to be frustrated.

My problem is that I really wanted Suse to be what it said it was on the tin. However someone not familar with Linux is left with the feeling that it is all like a secret society, where bits of information are assumed or given on the nod to the select few.

On this showing, Linux remains something for techies and it seems that Novell may have had its common sense gland removed in suggesting that its latest version is useful for home users seeking to share in the Linux experience.

Suse has no useful help material, no wizards, and it does some bizarre things that I have no idea how to fix.

For example, even when I shut the thing down, it insisted on rebooting itself.

And before the flames start and claim that I am a moron for not being able to get thing running properly, I should point out that I have had no trouble with every version of Windows since 3.1. Also I was able to guess ways to get the software to work that an average home user wouldn't.

Suse 9.3 might be good for the techies to play with, but it is a long way before it is any good for real home users.


Source: The Inquirer

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Last Deadline

Today is the last deadline for me to submit my final project proposal to my faculty, so i can take my final project presentation on next 2 May. Let's hope nothing's wrong with my proposal and i can do my presentation. Today is also the day when the final exams starts and it will be held for two weeks, but i only have three subjects and it will be on next week.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Happy Birthday

Today is my girlfriend's 22th birthday. Happy birthday to her and wishing her the best for her carrier, study, and all about her. God Bless You.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Overview of Linux USB

I found a good overview about USB on Linux. Here is the article :

The USB subsystem is based on message passing transactions. The messages are called URBs, which stands for USB request block. URBs are sent by calling the usb_submit_urb method, struct urb *urb, int mem_flags). This is an asynchronous call, and it returns immediately. The URB is put in a queue, and later, it reaches a completion handler. The completion handler is a member of the URB structure called complete, a pointer to a function in the URB struct. In the completion handler, you can check urb -> status to see if any errors have been detected.

To cancel pending requests, use usb_unlink_urb(). URBs are allocated by calling usb_alloc_urb(), and they are freed with a call to usb_free_urb(). Three helper methods are available to help fill URBs: usb_fill_control_urb(), usb_fill_bulk_urb and usb_fill_int_urb.

The URB struct resides in include/usb/usb.h, which is one of the two most important headers that define the USB interface. The second is include/linux/usb_ch9.h. Another little file also is called usb.h and can be found in usb/core, but it is not important in this context.

The header file called usb_ch9.h hold constants and structures for USB. The name comes from chapter 9 of the USB 2.0 specification. Currently, there are two specifications for USB, 2.0 and 1.1. USB 2.0 operates at high speed, defined as 60MB/s (480Mb/s), which is 40 times faster than USB full speed. USB 1.1 operates either at full speed, which is 1.5MB/s (12Mb/s), or at low speed, which is 1.5Mb/s. When you connect high speed devices to USB 1.1 systems, they operate at USB 1.1 speeds.

The USB_SPEED_LOW, USB_SPEED_FULL and USB_SPEED_HIGH constants are defined in usb_ch9.h. The constants are encountered here and there in the USB sources in the kernel.

you can view the rest of the article on the original website

Source: Linuxjournal

Saturday, April 23, 2005

Starting to Panic

Few days left for me to submit my proposal in order to attend the final project presentation that will be held on 2 May 2005. The deadline will be in 26 April and i have some problems that should be solved in the next few days. The program itself is quite stable for now. I reviewed it for weeks and found no serious problem in the last few days. It worked well.

The main problem is the administrative problems. I had to print my reports (which is not 100% done), submit my proposal, etc. I also need to check my NIC card, since it didn't work in the last presentation. Let's hope this will be fixed in the judgement day.

Friday, April 22, 2005

New NIC

I think i have to buy a new NIC (Network Interface Card), because when i tried to use it when i want to do the pre final presentation on my final project, it makes the computer freeze. I'm not sure whether the NIC was down or perhaps i misconfigure it, but it made me very nervous. I had to restart my computer several times, before i decided to unplug the connector. Next stop : Final Presentation :)

Thursday, April 21, 2005

New Look

We have a new look on our Jogja Linux User Group website (http://jogja.linux.or.id). The CSS code was made by I Gede Wijaya and called Anita. Please have a look and if you have any comment or suggestion about the site, please send mail to info (at) jogja (dot) linux (dot) or (dot) id. We will continue to update the site to make it more usable for most people and still tried to comply with XHTML 1.0 and CSS Specification.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Adobe Will Buy Macromedia?

It is reported by EWeek that Adobe will buy Macromedia. I don't know if this is an issue or not, but if it come true, perhaps we can see Macromedia Flash for GNU/Linux platform in the future, since Adobe has committed to support GNU/Linux by making some of their application ported to GNU/Linux. Their latest product was Adobe Acrobat 7.0 for GNU/Linux. Let's see it in the future. It is a huge issue :)

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Successfull Linuxday

Linuxday event that was held on Sunday, 17 April was a success event. We didn't expect that the attendance will be more than 50 peoples, so the room was full and some people didn't get a chair to sit, but they still enjoyed the event. Although the preparation was quite messy and rushed, it was a good job from AMIKOM's students. They had prepared it so hard and the result was amazing. We loved to see high anthusiasm from people who came to the event to listen the presentation and also people who brought their computer to install GNU/Linux on their PC. They gave great questions and it was very interesting to answer it.

We, at Jogja LUG were so happy and we can't wait for the next Linuxday event. We don't know yet when will be another Linuxday, but we can make sure that there will be. Keep in touch with our mailing list at jogja-linux@yahoogroups.com or in our website. See you soon in the next Linuxday.

Monday, April 18, 2005

Mandriva 2005 Hits Public FTP

Mandriva 2005 hits public FTP and download version will be ready when the public mirrors have update their repository to include the latest transition version before the new distro will arrive at 2007, combined from Mandrake and Connectiva's technology.

The latest versions of key Linux applications
Linux kernel 2.6.11.6
KDE 3.3.2 (with some backports from version 3.4, including Kpdf)
GNOME 2.8.3
Firefox 1.0.2
GCC 3.4.3
The GIMP 2.2
cdrecord 2.01.01a21 (with DVD+R dual-layer support)
OpenOffice.org 1.1.4
MySQL 4.1.11

Enhanced Hardware support
Unequalled x86-64 support, including seamless installation of a 32-bit environment on the 64-bit platform, allowing developers to build 32-bit and 64-bit applications on the same system

Full support for Adaptec Host RAID controllers (RAID, SCSI, SATA)

Improved recognition of removable devices, such as digital cameras, CD-ROM drives and USB keys

Improved support for the most recent flat screen monitors, including widescreen resolutions

Simplified handling of drivers thanks to the integration of Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS), enabling the changing of drivers without the need to reinstall the Kernel, and the ability to use the same driver on multiple different kernel revisions

Support for multimedia keyboards

Faster

Up to 10% greater KDE performance thanks to compilation with the 'fvisibility' option

The option to copy all software packages onto the hard disk during the installation, making it unnecessary to use the DVD for subsequent software installation

Advanced Web experience
Firefox 1.0.2 offers the most advanced Web browsing experience, with multi-tabbed navigation, pop-up blocking, increased speed, and unmatched security.

RSS reader Akregator to get personalized access to the content of websites from all around the globe.

Enhanced mutimedia capabilities
ndiswrapper allows for easier wireless networking configuration, thanks to the utilization of installed Windows drivers

Mandriva's new ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) version includes multiplexing, allowing you to listen to sound from several applications at once, even if your sound card does not perform multiplexing in hardware.

Go get it now through FTP List

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Internet & Multimedia Presentation

I have finished one of my task this semester, which was a presentation about RTP (Real Time Protocol), RTCP (Real Time Control Protocol) and also RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) for my Internet & Multimedia class. It was my first task for this subject. The second subject is to make a simple tutorial using Macromedia Flash or SMIL. I don't know what will i choose, but i think it's better to use Flash than SMIL, since this is a new thing for me.

This week i'm so busy and have to prepare for my girlfriend's birthday. I haven't bought her any present until now. Maybe next week. :(

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Mandriva Linux Limited Edition 2005

Following the recent new roadmap announcement, Mandriva (pronounced
"Man-dree-vah"!) Linux Limited Edition 2005 is a transitional release
between 10.1 Official and 2006 Official which will be released by the
end of this year.

Limited Edition 2005 is the ideal product for Linux users who need the
most up-to-date and exciting features at the earliest opportunity,
without sacrificing stability and performance.

Mandriva Linux Limited Edition 2005 is immediately available for all
Club members and contributors and provides:

- Linux kernel 2.6.11.6
- KDE 3.3.2 (with some backports from version 3.4, including kpdf)
- GNOME 2.8.3
- Firefox 1.0.2
- GCC 3.4.3
- The GIMP 2.2
- Cdrecord 2.01.01a21 (with DVD+R dual-layer support)
- OpenOffice.org 1.1.4
- MySQL 4.1.11
- and many others!

Limited Edition 2005 is built to increase amd optimize performance: it
has been designed with x86-64 technology in mind and has support for
dual-core technology, allowing the use of the most powerful
applications on advanced new processors.

Special optimizations also enhance the overall speed delivered by the
system. For instance, KDE is 10% faster, thanks to special tuning by
Mandriva!

Limited Edition 2005 also provides better support for removable
devices such as digital cameras, CD-ROM drives and USB keys through
immediate detection of devices as they are plugged in, and by allowing
you to boot the installation from a USB key. Additionally, this
release offers full support for Adaptec Host RAID controllers (RAID,
SCSI, SATA) and extended recognition for the most recent flat screen
monitors, including widescreen resolutions. Additionally, the support
of the XBox console will certainly appeal to gamers and enthusiasts!

Also available is DKMS which allows kernel modules to be
dynamically built for each kernel on your system in a simplified and
organized fashion.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Mandrivaclub

Mandrakesoft (now Mandriva) has gave me a renewal on my Mandrakeclub. Now, my account will be available until the end of the year. Before the renewal, my account will expire on next August. Mandriva will also launch a brand new version of the Club which will be released in the end of April. I can't wait to see their new face.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

FC 4 Test 2 available

Raleigh, NC (HC) - The Fedora Project today announced the first test release of Fedora Core 4, bringing new technology to Linux users everywhere, and the first release of Fedora Core to support PPC out of the box.

Designed as a general purpose operating system for a variety of uses, Fedora Core 4 Test 2 offers various improvements over Fedora Core 3. People who have used Test 1 will notice the following improvements:

- GNOME updated to 2.10 final
- KDE updated to 3.4.0 final
- Firefox updated to 1.0.2
- OpenOffice.org update to 1.9.89
- many various bugfixes

Users were cautioned against using Fedora Core Test 2 in production environments. Reminding the users that it's a test release, Otto said "There's no guarantee that it won't eat your data or fail to install. It could even cause an alien takeover of your humble town."

Source: LWN

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

JDK 1.5.0 Update 2

Java has released another update to their latest version of Java Development Kit, JDK 1.5.0_02. As usuall, i have to uninstall any application which uses Java, such as NetBeans and Apache Tomcat, but i got an advantage also. I managed to upgrade my Apache Tomcat to 5.5.9, the latest version and also install the admin package, which i can't install in the past.

If you want to see all the changes made to JDK 1.5.0_02, please visit the Release Notes, which includes Changes in this Update Release and also Changes in Prior Update Releases section.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Linuxday

Next sunday, there will be another event from Jogja LUG (Linux User Group) which will be held on Amikom. We have some presentation, Install Fest (people brought their PC and install GNU/Linux there), Jogja LUG Corner, and also GNU/Linux demonstration. In the presentation session, I will present a material about Office and Productivity (including OpenOffice.org) along with Fathir. It will be on the second session, where the first session will be GNU/Linux and desktop. The third session will be GNU/Linux Hacking/Security, presented by Iwan Setiawan, and the last session will be Networking in GNU/Linux, presented by Joshua Sinambela.

We hope many people would come there and enjoy the event. We welcome your attendance. It's free for everyone and there will be no charge at all.

Monday, April 11, 2005

OOo 1.9.m91

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is getting close. Few days ago, OOo has released another developer build, 1.9.m91. I have download this version in Windows and Linux version and when i got home, i will install this version as a replacement for my 1.9.89 version. You can see all recent changed made to 1.9.m91 prior to 1.9.m88 in Release Note.

Try it now, and you will feel the difference between 1.1.4

CSS Test Suite 2.1

If you are CSS-addicted, perhaps you should visit CSS Test Suite. It has been upgraded to support CSS 2.1, the latest CSS version before the next CSS 3.0 arrives with lots of new modules. By using this test-suite, you can predict which browser support CSS specification better than the other browser. I'm not sure about this, but i think Mozilla or Firefox will be the best browser that support for CSS 2.1, followed with Opera. IE or Konqueror perhaps will be the last, but once again, i can't quarantee that, since KDE has released it's latest product KDE 3.4 that ships another update for Konqueror.

Try it and perhaps you can give your comments here :)

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Mandrake Changes Name

I got an email from Mandrake Newsletter, saying that they have changed their name into Mandriva, as collaboration from Mandrake and Connectiva. Here is the press release :

Flash Newsletter: Mandrakesoft Announces Name Change!

It's been in the air for a few weeks...

After spending weeks balancing pros and cons, Mandrakesoft has decided
to change its name!

The name change will apply worldwide to both the company and its
products. The management team sees two good reasons for this change:

1. The recent Mandrakesoft - Conectiva merger calls for a new identity
that better represents the combination of two key companies and
their global presence.

2. The long-winding trademark lawsuit with Hearst Corporation has
reached a point where we decided it is more reasonable for us to
move forward. By adopting a new name, we eliminate the liability
attached to the Mandrakesoft name and we can focus on what is
important to us: developing and delivering great technology and
solutions to both our customers and our user community.

We will endeavor to build even stronger brand recognition in our new
name. So what is the new name?

The winner is ...


M A N D R I V A


Why Mandriva? This new name, simple and efficient, is the synthesis of
Mandrakesoft and Conectiva. This will further a smooth transition and
will build on our existing brand recognition in the IT world.

* Company & Products

Mandriva is the new name for the company. Mandriva Linux is the new
name covering products.

Additional derivations follow directly: Mandriva Club, Mandriva Store,
Mandriva Expert and so on.

* Websites

Our web addresses become accordingly:

http://www.mandriva.com for the corporation
http://www.mandrivalinux.com for the community project
http://www.mandrivastore.com for the online Store
http://www.mandrivaclub.com for the Club
http://www.mandrivaexpert.com for the web-based support platform

We encourage everyone - users, partners, and the media - to start
using the new name as soon as possible. In particular, Mandriva users
are encouraged to update their bookmarks ASAP! New Mandriva logos
are now available on our website at:
http://www.mandriva.com/company/press

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Dead Sound Card

After presenting my final project, i lost my sound card, because it didn't work anymore. Finally, i removed it from my motherboard and changed it to onboard sound card with AC97 Audio. Luckily, my Mandrakelinux and Windows can detect them automatically, even though i have to install a spesific driver from my motherboard's CD. Right now, i'm quite used to onboard sound card, which produces a nice sound, but not as real as the real sound card, which is designed for spesific purposes and also uses true hardware, not just codec.

Friday, April 08, 2005

New Feature Needed

I have presented my final project to my lectures, and the conclusion is OK, but one of the lecture suggest me to add some new features with two options:
1. Add new source (i prefer to add NewsForge and Slashdot).
2. Add a form for users to input a new URL and also a regular expression. Then, it can be saved on the database.

I don't know whether i can finish the second options, although it's quite interesting for me. Let's see in the next few weeks. I'll concentrate on the first option first.

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Starting Second Phase

This week, i'm starting my second phase for my Mandrakelinux Translation Project. This phase will be revising all finished packages and it is being worked via our mailing list, because we need to share our updates, while i'm the only one who has the access to the Mandrakelinux's CVS Server.

We will have a different packages for every week, so it isn't too late for you to join up. Just subscribe to our mailing list and get started. We welcome your contributions.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Updating My Personal Page

I have updated my personal page so that it compliants with the XHTML 1.0 Specification. I only update some mirror bugs on the page and now, you can see the results. It has been published for a few days and it looks quite good right now. I also removed the IFRAME section for my Tag-Board, but i changed it with my own parsing to the site directly and show it on my page. It has been reduced to the last 5 tags, but i still provide the link to the full list.

Unfortunately, i can't make it to XHTML 1.0 Strict. I only used XHTML 1.0 Transitional, because i'm stil using target="_blank" attributes. It is prohibited in the Strict Specification. Let's hope in the future, it can be changed to XHTML 1.0 Strict.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

HTML Validator

If you are working with webs, perhaps you have heard about XHTML from W3C. Yes, it is a new specification that compliant with XML specification that should be used rather than HTML. But how can you make a transition from HTML to XHTML? You can use HTML Tidy to correct wrong markup locations. It is a great tool.

Now, there is another Firefox's extension called HTML Validator (based on Tidy) that works on local pages, so you can update your pages so that it will be XHTML compliant. Next, you can upload it to your web server. The only thing you have to do is click the View Source menu, and the Tidy will show your errors or warnings on your pages that you open.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Mono 1.1.6

Few days ago (31 March 2005), Mono Project has released another update, Mono 1.1.6. This is a quick release, since the previous 1.1.5 release was published on 24 March 2005. Mono 1.1.6 is the sixth release on the development series of Mono. The Mono 1.1.x series will eventually lead to the next stable milestone: Mono 1.2.

It was a micro-release and only contains some bug fixes:

* Packaging Fixes: Mono 1.1.5 RPM packages were compiled with an option that would allow users to downgrade their kernel, but the feature had not been tested. One simple fix was to compile from source code, but we decided that redoing the packages was the major burden of a release, and we could include a few other fixes.

* Apple G3 Support: The G3 was not previously supported, this version adds support for it.

* KEvent on BSD: A crashing bug on BSD-based systems (OSX included) were fixed.

* Cookies: A couple of small bugs were found on the Cookie handling with certain web sites, this has now been fixed.

* AMD compilation: Makes sure that libraries are installed in lib, not lib64.

* Compilation: Compilation on some older systems has been fixed.

* SQL Server reset: The reset operation is not supported on all SQL servers.

If you would like to try it out, you can download the Source

About Mono
Mono is a platform for running and developing modern applications, based on the ECMA/ISO Standards. Mono can run existing programs targeting the .NET or Java frameworks.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

New Roadmap For Mandrakelinux

Mandrakesoft, publisher of the Mandrakelinux operating system, has announced some adjustments in the 2005 Mandrakelinux release schedule. Several changes will occur: (1) a new release cycle for retail products, (2) a new naming scheme, (3) the integration of Conectiva's technology into Mandrakelinux, and (4) the immediate availability of a transitional product. Here are the official press release:

These changes are motivated by several factors:

1. Requests from partners and distributors for a more convenient release cycle; for a long time, distributors and resellers have asked us to adopt a longer release cycle that is more adapted to their specific constraints.

2. Requests from users and customer for a greater investment of time into the development of new features and functions.

3. The opportunity, following the Mandrakesoft-Conectiva merger, to build an exciting new product that will integrate the best features from each of these distributions.

As a result, the new release cycle for products will be annual. This change fulfills the requirements of our channel partners and will give us more time to invest in technology.

Taking into account this new schedule, product naming will henceforth be based on year names. The next release will be in the fall and will be named "2006".

Additionally, Mandrakesoft has decided to release a transitional version of Mandrakelinux in spring 2005. Built on the current Mandrakelinux development branch, this version will provide up-to-date and newly released open source software, including KDE 3.3, GNOME 2.8 and Firefox 1.0.1. This special version will be available as a DVD and a CD set through Mandrakestore and Mandrakeclub and as a download, but not through retail channels.

The transitional version will be called "Limited Edition 2005". Later, by fall of this year, the new boxed "2006" release will fully integrate Conectiva technology and Mandrakesoft online services into a new product. It will be released through traditional retail channels as well as by direct sale from Mandrakestore and Mandrakeclub, and will offer all support options and related services.

François Bancilhon, CEO of Mandrakesoft, explained: "We needed a transitional version to give us the time to ensure good integration of the Conectiva technology into Mandrakelinux. That's the reason why we chose to release this "Limited Edition 2005". Additionally, we decided to change the way we name the versions, because our users needed to better identify our releases. As a result, we choose a new yearly release scheme."

Both the Limited Edition 2005 and the 2006 version will be released in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

2005 Roadmap Sumary:

Name: "Limited Edition 2005"
Expected date of release: Spring 2005
Technology: Based on current development branch
Support & Services: No
Release Channels: Mandrakeclub, Mandrakestore (DVD + 6 CD set)

Name: "2006"
Expected date of release: Fall 2005
Technology: Integrates Conectiva technology
Support & Services: Full
Release channels: Mandrakeclub, Mandrakestore, retail (DVD, Packs...)

Source: Mandrakelinux

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Major Fix on My Final Project

I just found a big big error on my final project. I will try to fix the script to overcome this major problem. My final project is a web-based XML and RSS generator and HTML transformator system that uses XSLT from Linuxtoday. It periodically generates a new XML and RSS file and users can use this RSS files to be used in their RSS Aggregator applications, such as FeedReader and also Liferea.

Friday, April 01, 2005

National Seminar and Workshop

My faculty will held a national seminar and workshop entitled "CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT & PROJECT MANAGEMENT" next week. Here is the detail :

NATIONAL SEMINAR
Quality Hotel, 5 April 2005, YOGYAKARTA

Speakers:
1. Ir. Ki Lyn Tan - Managing Director QnAp IT B.V. Netherland QnAp; Quality n Automation Partners
“ Bridging The Gap Between Quality And Automation ”
2. Peter Van De Kerkhof - IT profesional QnAp IT B.V. Netherland
3. DR. Ricardus Eko Indrajit - Jakarta
4. Ir. Junaedi Utomo, M.Eng - Yogyakarta
5. Hendro Setiadi, S.T, M.Eng Sc. - Yogyakarta

Investment:
- Bachellor Students (S1) Rp. 150.000,00
- Master Students (S2) Rp. 250.000,00
- General/Lectures Rp. 300.000,00

WORKSHOP
Quality Hotel, 6 - 9 April 2005, YOGYAKARTA

Instructors:
1. Ir.Ki Lyn Tan - Managing Director QnAp IT B.V. Netherland QnAp : Quality n Automation Partners
“ Bridging The Gap Between Quality And Automation ”
2. Peter Van De Kerkhof - IT profesional QnAp IT B.V. Netherland

Investment:
- Bachellor Students (S1) Rp. 850.000,00
- Master Students (S2) Rp. 1.000.000,00
- General/Lectures Rp. 1.950.000,00

Who Should Participate:
1. Software Developers, Information System Developers, Project Leaders, Project Managers, Software Quality Officers, Development Managers, Industrial Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers.
2. Lecture / Teacher / Bachellor and Master Students

Facility
Seminar kit / workshop kit - Snack - Lunch - Certificate

Registration can be done in UKDW's Hall
Registration will be closed on 2 April 2005