OpenOffice.org 1.1 beta released
Version 1.1 beta of the OpenOffice office suite
has been released.
While OpenOffice.org 1.1 beta is ready for day-to-day use and we would
like as many people as possible to test it we must be stress that this is
still a beta version and thus contains more bugs than a final version
would.
Some of the more important new capabilities include:
- New import/export formats including PDF, Macromedia Flash, DocBook, XML.
- Support for Complex Text Layout and vertical languages.
- Better Java integration including big speed improvements.
- Accessibility support throughout the suite.
- Support for add-on components.
- Preliminary support for recovering damaged files.
- MySQL data source support.
- Better online help information.
This long
list of changes details many other new features.
OpenOffice is doing a good job of closing in on the capabilities of
Microsoft Office, this release should help to make Linux a stronger desktop
contender.
Comments (none posted)
System Applications
Audio Projects
ALSA 0.9.2 released
Version 0.9.2 of the ALSA driver, library and utils packages
have been released. A number of bug fixes have been included.
Full Story (comments: none)
PyJack 0.1 Released
The initial release of PyJack, version 0.1, is available.
"
This is a Python module which provides an interface to the Jack Audio
Server. It is possible to access the Jack graph to manipulate port
connections, monitor graph change events, and to perform
soft-realtime audio capture and playback using Numeric Python arrays."
Full Story (comments: none)
Ogg Traffic
The March 24, 2003 edition of
Ogg Traffic
is available with the latest Ogg Vorbis audio compression software news.
Discussion topics include:
Status Updates, Speex goes 1.0, Xiph.org goes 501(c)3,
and New Icecast2 Binary for Win32.
Comments (none posted)
Speex 1.0 released
Version 1.0 of the
Speex
audio codec has been released.
See
the announcement for the whole story.
Comments (none posted)
CORBA
omniORB 4.0.1 and omniORBpy 2.1 released
New versions of omniORB and omniOrbpy, the
high performance CORBA ORB for C++ and Python,
have been released.
Change information is in the source code.
Comments (none posted)
Database Software
MySQL 4.0.12 declared stable
Version 4.0.12 of the MySQL database
is available for download.
"
MySQL Version 4.0.12 has been declared stable for production use in March 2003. This means that only bugfixes are done for the 4.0 release series, and only critical bugfixes for the older 3.23 series."
Thanks to Bryan Henderson.
See the
release announcement for more information.
Comments (none posted)
Education
Linux in Education Report
Issue #92 of the
Linux in Education Report is out. Topics include:
developing educational boards for GCompris, the first Schoolforge IRC
meeting, OpenStudio's progress, a web based reading game, an essay on
Software Engineering with Linux, the Site@School content management system,
and more.
Comments (none posted)
Electronics
gerbv 0.13 released
Version 0.13 of gerbv, the Gerber file viewer
has been released
by the gEDA project.
This is a bug fix release, see the
announcement for details.
Comments (none posted)
Mail Software
Mozilla Minotaur Project Formally Launched (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine
covers the release of Mozilla Minotaur.
"
In a newsgroup posting, Scott MacGregor has formally announced the launch of
Minotaur, a project to create a stand-alone mail client based on the Mozilla
suite's Mail & Newsgroups component."
Comments (none posted)
Printing
Foomatic 3.0.0beta2 released
Version 3.0.0beta2 of the Foomatic printer support database
has been released.
"
This will be the last beta release before the final release of Foomatic 3.0.0 in around two weeks (at least not later than first of May). This release does not contain any major new features; it mainly fixes bugs and improves the Adobe-compliance of the generated PPD files."
Comments (none posted)
Web Site Development
Analog 5.32 released
Version 5.32 of the
Analog
web server log file analyzer is available.
The
changes
include recognition of the Safari and Camino browsers,
a new logformat specification, and more.
Comments (none posted)
Quixote 0.6 beta 5 available
In the march toward version 0.6, version 0.6 beta 5 of the
Quixote web application framework has been released.
Comments (none posted)
ZConfig 1.0 released
Version 1.0 of Zconfig, a Zope configuration library, is
available.
"
ZConfig's model is very different from the model support by the
ConfigParser module found in Python's standard library, and is more
suitable to configuration-intensive applications."
Full Story (comments: none)
Web Services
Squeezing SOAP (IBM developerWorks)
Brian D Goodman
covers the use of GZIP and SOAP on IBM's developerWorks.
"
GZIP encoding over HTTP is pretty much old school. "Been there, done that" is the attitude of most. However, if you have been working with a few of the current SOAP implementations, you'll find that they don't take advantage of it. While knowing they will eventually come around, if you are building real world Web service solutions and want a performance boost, GZIP is for you."
Comments (none posted)
Miscellaneous
heartbeat 1.0.2 released
Version 1.0.2 of heartbeat has been released by the
High-Availability Linux Project.
"
This release contains a number of minor bug fixes, and is
compatible with Red Hat 8.0."
Full Story (comments: none)
Desktop Applications
Audio Applications
Audacity 1.1.3 released
Version 1.1.3 of the
Audacity multi-platform sound editor is available.
"
This version adds a gain and pan control to every track, supports high-quality resampling, and has many other new features and bug fixes." See the
release notes for details.
Comments (none posted)
ecasound 2.2.2 released
Version 2.2.2 of Ecasound, a multi-track audio processing
utility, has been released.
"
A new native Python implementation of the ECI API has been added to
the package. Ecasound.el (ecasound-emacs) has been updated to version
0.8.2. Oggs and mp3s can be now streamed directly from network.
Author information is now visible in the LADSPA plugin descriptions.
Changes in ALSA-0.9 support improve usability of ecasound with
the new ALSA dmix PCM plugin." Some important bug fixes
are also included.
Full Story (comments: none)
galan-0.2.14 released
Version 0.2-14 of galan has been announced.
"
galan is another modular synthesizer. It supports sub patches like pd
and jmax. But has separation of mesh and Controls.
It also supports OpenGL Scene Graphs which can be controlled by your
audio data, the sequencers etc..."
Full Story (comments: none)
Hydrogen 0.7.6 available
Version 0.7.6 of Hydrogen, a Gnu/Linux drum machine, is available.
Full Story (comments: none)
Wave Composer Not Toilet (wcnt)
A new modular audio synthesis program known by the amusing name
of Wave Composer Not Toilet (wcnt), is available.
"
Wav Composer Not Toilet is another modular synthesis program, but unlike
many others does not work in real time at all. wcnt gives you sequencing,
sampling, and synthesis without the need for fast hardware, although a
little patience is required!"
Full Story (comments: none)
Desktop Environments
Bonobo support for Vim (GnomeDesktop)
A developer patch of the Vim editor for bonobo
has been announced.
"
Take a look at the project page".
Comments (none posted)
KDE 3.1.1: It's not Odd at all! ;-)
KDE.News
reports on the
release of KDE 3.1.1, the first maintenance release of the KDE 3.1
release series.
Comments (1 posted)
KDE-CVS-Digest for March 21, 2003
The March 21, 2003 edition of the
KDE-CVS-Digest is out.
"
KDE 3.1.1 released, a WYSIWYG mode for Quanta, many bugfixes
in KMail, KWin, Kicker and Konqueror."
Comments (none posted)
KDE Accessibility 1.0 is Here + Interview
KDE.News
reports on
the release of the first stable version of the
KDE Accessibility module, which includes the KMagnifier, KMouseTool,
and KMouth accessibility aids.
Comments (none posted)
Gnome and KDE viewpoint on the future of the X Window System (GnomeDesktop)
A group of developers from both the GNOME and KDE projects
comment on the
future of the X Window System. "
We acknowledge the dedication of
the XFree86 project in providing us a free and innovative implementation of
the X11 industry standard, something we benefit from on a daily
basis. Therefore, we want to share our joint point of view with the
community."
Comments (9 posted)
Sawfish 1.3 Released
Version 1.3 of the
Sawfish (formerly Sawmill)
window manager
has been announced.
New features in this version include:
- Implementation of the EMWH "show desktop" mode.
- Changes to client window gravity when reparenting windows.
- Support for the EWMH SKIP_TASKBAR' state.
- New muliple properties for window history keys.
- Multi-thread awareness for more placement modes.
- Updated language translations.
- Lots of bug fixes including GTK 2.2 compilation support.
Sawfish 1.3 is available for download
here.
Comments (none posted)
Games
GNOME-games, the future and maintainership (GnomeDesktop)
Ross Burton
writes about his progress on gnome-games 2.4.0.
"
I have started to prune the games for
gnome-games 2.4.0, the first development release 2.3.0 was just released
with gnibbles, gnobots2, iagno2 and xbill removed."
Comments (none posted)
Graphics
GIMP 1.3.13 Released (GnomeDesktop)
The FootNotes site has
an announcement for version 1.3.13 of the development release
of the GIMP, a powerful graphical manipulation program.
Comments (none posted)
Interoperability
wine20030318 available
Version 20030318 of Wine
has been announced.
Changes include direct sound improvements, support for file locking,
progress on the kernel/ntdll separation, and bug fixes.
Comments (none posted)
Wine Weekly News
Issue #162 of the
Wine Weekly News is out. Topics include:
Wine-20030318, File Locking, .NET Success, DPRINTF to TRACE Conversion,
Finding DLL Imports, and Completely Broken Test App.
Comments (1 posted)
Office Applications
AbiWord 1.1.4 released. (GnomeDesktop)
FootNotes has
an announcement
for the release of AbiWord version 1.1.4.
"
This version of AbiWord is basically feature complete for
the final 2.0. It offers substantial new features and tons of bug
fixes over 1.1.3.
Comments (none posted)
AbiWord Weekly News
Issue #136 of the
AbiWord Weekly News is out, with the latest AbiWord word processor
development news.
"
Smell that? It's the sweet sent of Wisconsin Maple Syrup and a new release cycle! The latest stable that's just come out, 1.0.5, is about to be joined by a new developers' build, 1.1.4. The Latest Releases page will be updated with information for both on the evening of 1.1.4's release (probably by 6pm CT Sunday). Large portions of the on-list discussions focus on the two releases while commits focus towards bug squashing."
Comments (none posted)
Balsa-2.0.10 and Balsa-1.4.3 released (GnomeDesktop)
Two new versions of the Balsa email client
have been released.
"
Balsa team would like to officially announce balsa-2.0.10 and
balsa-1.4.3 releases. Both releases are available at
balsa.gnome.org.
balsa-1.4.3 is based on GNOME1 libraries. balsa-2.0.10 is a
GNOME2 port.
Comments (none posted)
Evolution 1.2.3 Released (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop
reports on the
release of Ximian Evolution 1.2.3. This update includes some security
related bug fixes.
See the
release notes for additional details.
Comments (none posted)
GNOME Ticker 0.4 released (GnomeDesktop)
Footnotes has
the announcement for the initial release of GNOME Ticker,
a stock market ticker application.
Comments (none posted)
Languages and Tools
Caml
Caml Weekly News
The March 25, 2003 edition of the Caml Weekly News is
available with the latest Caml language news.
Full Story (comments: none)
Java
Java Swing: Menus and Toolbars, Part 7 (O'ReillyNet)
O'Reilly is running
part 7 in the series on Java Swing.
"
In the final part of this book excerpt series on Swing menus and toolbars from Java Swing, 2nd Edition, learn how to use toolbars."
Comments (none posted)
Taming your Tomcat: Filtering tricks for Tomcat 5 (IBM developerWorks)
Sing Li
shows how
to work with Tomcat 5 on IBM's developerWorks.
"
The new Tomcat 5 server takes filters to a new level of deployment flexibility. Tomcat 5's support for the upcoming Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 specifications gives filter writers a new way to integrate and deploy these flexible components -- tapping directly into the request dispatcher's operations. In this article, Sing Li takes you on a guided tour of the new enhancement and gives you some hands-on training. See how Tomcat 5 can benefit Web application frameworks and lead ultimately to the design of maintainable high-performance systems."
Comments (none posted)
Lisp
SBCL 0.7.14 released
SBCL (Steel Bank Common Lisp) version 0.7.14 is available.
"
This version provides a better
implementation of SXHASH on simple bit vectors, no longer ignores type
declarations for special variables, and fixes a number of bugs and other
issues."
Full Story (comments: none)
Perl
This Week on perl5-porters (use Perl)
The March 17-23, 2003 edition of
This Week on perl5-porters is out.
"
Read on for the short notes I've taken about all
those recent developments -- pack(), FETCH()es, threads port,
et al."
Comments (none posted)
PHP
PHP Weekly Summary
Topics on this week's
PHP Weekly Summary include:
64 bit issues, continued, Undocumented .ini options,
superglobals with Zend Engine 2, htmlentities() Cyrillic support,
error docref, and ICU extension.
Comments (none posted)
Python
Dr. Dobb's Python-URL!
The Dr. Dobb's Python-URL for March 24, 2003 is available, with weekly news
and links for the Python community.
Full Story (comments: none)
Ruby
Ruby-GNOME2-0.4.0 is released! (GnomeDesktop)
Version 0.4.0 of Ruby-GNOME2, the Ruby language bindings
for GNOME 2
has been released.
"
The biggest additions includes Win32
support, support for more Gtk widgets, and the usual set
of bug-fixes."
Comments (none posted)
The Ruby Weekly News
Topics on this week's
Ruby Weekly News
include: Ruby Tutorial v0.3, Strong advantages over Python,
XML too hard (YAML opportunity?), and lots of new Ruby software.
Comments (none posted)
Tcl/Tk
Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!
The March 24, 2003 edition of Dr. Dobb's Tcl-URL!
is available with the latest Tcl/Tk development news.
Full Story (comments: none)
XML
An XML Hero Reconsiders? (O'Reilly)
Kendall Grant Clark
looks at
whether XML is too difficult on O'Reilly.
"
In a recent weblog entry, one which has been picked up by Slashdot, Bray asks whether XML has become too hard for programmers. Faced with writing code "to process arbitrary incoming XML", Bray confesses that the experience was "irritating, time-consuming, and error-prone" -- quite an admission from someone as instrumental in the creation of XML as Bray. The point here -- before someone accuses me of hero worship -- isn't that Tim Bray is always right. He isn't. The point is that when Tim Bray starts talking about XML's problems, it makes sense for the XML development community to pay some attention."
Comments (none posted)
XMLTP/L, XMLTP Light (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal
looks at XMLTP Light.
"
XMLTP/L, or XMLTP Light, is a lightweight RPC protocol that
uses XML to
encode the stream of data. XMLTP/L has been designed to do fast RPC
calls over an intranet, within an enterprise. More specifically, the
first purpose of XMLTP/L is to forward transactions (RPCs) to a database
server. But, it also can be used to do method calls to any server that follows
the common RPC technique introduced by XML-RPC and older client/server
protocols."
Comments (none posted)
The Road to XHTML 2.0: MIME Types (O'Reilly)
Mark Pilgrim
writes about the migration to XHMTL 2.0 on O'Reilly.
"
Now here's a dirty little secret: browsers aren't actually treating your XHTML as XML. Your validated, correctly DOCTYPE'd, completely standards compliant XHTML markup is being treated as if it were still HTML with a few weird slashes in places they don't belong.
Why? The answer is MIME types."
Comments (none posted)
Miscellaneous
Gnome C++ development with Gtkmm2 (DevChannel)
DevChannel has
an article on the C++ wrapper libraries for the GNOME C framework.
"
There are many powerful tools and libraries available to take advantage of the GNU Network Object Modeling Environment(GNOME). This article will introduce the C++ wrapper libraries for the GNOME foundation's GNOME C framework. In this article, the term Gtkmm should be taken to mean the entire family of libraries that make up Gtkmm/Gnomemm."
Comments (none posted)
Space-Based Programming (O'Reilly)
Bernhard Angerer
introduces space-based programming on O'Reilly.
"
'Space-based programming' heralds a new way of building distributed applications. The dominant methods of distributed programming are based on remote procedure calls (RPC), most notably embodied in the technologies CORBA, EJB, and COM/DCOM. Space architecture supplies a surprisingly compact model that completely replaces the RPC paradigm. Its inherent, minimalistic approach predisposes it to a wide range of applications while endowing it with the advantages of modularity, scalability, and source code economy."
Comments (none posted)
Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page: Linux in the news>>