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Linux kernel patch, Nano devfs hacks

Linux Logo

Greg KH have released “nano” devfs patch for the current linux kernel to mitigate the concerns of embedded system developers.

However according to Greg the inventor of udev (userspace /dev filesystem), he is not going to submit ndevfs patch to the main kernel tree. He explains it in his words :

“I’m not going to be submitting this. But what it is, is a nice proof-of-concept for people who ‘just can’t live without a in-kernel devfs’ to show that it can be done in less than 300 lines of code, and only 6 hooks (2 functions in 3 different places) in the main kernel tree. That is managable outside of the main kernel for years, with almost little to no effort.”

read more about this topic at :
1. ndevfs – a “nano” devfs
2. ndevfs announcement

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MacOSX Intel machine can run Windows XP

MacOSX Intel machine can run Windows XP, well, at least on Apple MacOSX intel machine Developer’s kit.

The Apple Development Platform ADP2,1, as the systems are officially designated, features 3.6GHz Pentium 4 processors with 2MB of L2 cache operating on an 800MHz bus with 1GB of RAM. Apple has been offering the Intel-based machines as part of a special $999 developer kit

Apple System Profiler includes a new line under Hardware listing CPU Features; for the 3.6GHz Pentium 4 this comprises a rather lengthy list of technical acronyms: FPU, VME, DE, PSE, TSC, MSR, PAE, MCE, CX8, APIC, SEP, MTRR, PGE, MCA, CMOV, PAT, PSE36, CLFSH, DS, SCPI, MMX, FXSR, SSE, SEE2, SS, HTT, TM, SSE3, MON, DSCPL, EST, TM2, CX16, and TPR.
MacOSX Intel Motherboard

The motherboard on the system is unmarked except for the word Barracuda. The system’s internals are housed inside a case similar to Apple’s Power Mac G5 systems but with a different configuration of fans.
MacOSX Intel Motherboard PCI

Sources have indicated that Apple will employ an EDID chip on the motherboard of Intel-based Macs that Mac OS X will look for and must handshake with first in order to boot. Such an approach, similar to hardware dongles, could theoretically be defeated, although it’s unknown what level of sophistication Apple will employ.

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Windows will Include built-in RSS Reader

Microsoft makes yet another announcement about it’s future version of Windows. This time, Microsoft said it will feature a built-in internet data feed which include RSS feed.

The reader will be integrated within Internet Explorer Web browser in Longhorn to make it easy for people to find, much like Apple Computer Inc. has done with its Safari browser.

Microsoft RSS Reader Screenshot

Among the feature of Microsoft RSS Feed are, Common RSS Feed List, Common RSS Data Store and RSS Platform Sync Engine.To enhance user experience, Microsoft borrowed some of the idea from popular browser to include list extension to it’s RSS Reader.

According to Microsoft, the use of Simple List Extensions can enhance RSS to capture information critical to representing lists such as ordering of items. By using these extensions, applications can become aware of changes in a list, such as when an item has changed position or has been removed from the list altogether.

The Simple List Extensions also can allows publishers to embed useful information about the list itself. For example, an online retailer can supply additional information about each item in a list such as price, sales rank, average customer rating and type of merchandise. The extensions enable richer flexibility and capability for sorting and ordering. This enables users to sort their friends? wish lists by sales rank or popularity.

Microsft however, make a strategic move to put those list extensions technology into “creative commons” license. This will let the company retain some intellectual property rights while encouraging broader use of the technology.

A rather lengthy demo about Longhorn and IE7 (which feature the RSS Reader)can be viewed here

p/s : Seems Microsoft is playing it’s “Embrace and Extends” game again, this time by hiding behind Creative Commons License.

References :
1. Microsoft.com
2. Future Windows Will Include RSS Support

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devfs removed from Linux

Tux kerneltrap

Well, the flexible devfs (device filesystem in kernel mode) which saw light since 2.4.x have been removed from the the main kernel tree. The removal of devfs have been discussed for more than a year, mainly because it was deprecrated by udev (which does the devfs job but in user-level), and partly because devfs is no longer maintained by it’s developers.

However this led into a lengthy discussion debating the merits of using devfs with embedded systems. 2.6 maintainer Andrew Morton suggested that the fate of devfs is still undecided,

“I don’t have enough info to know whether the world would be a better place if we keep devfs, remove devfs or remove devfs even later on. I don’t think anyone knows, which is why we’re taking this little disable-it-and-see-who-shouts approach.”

devfs is reportedly still being use by embedded system (especially with ones that deals with readonly file system) to ease of system setup.

Another feature planned to be removed from the kernel is the PCI name database, which bloat the kernel (about 82KB in size) and hard to maintain (to sync the the latest pci devices with kernel’s database).

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Pocket PC may now have Java 1.5.0 supports

ThunderHawk PocketPC

News sources from the net revealed that the latest ThunderHawk Pocket PC 2.1 from BitStream will have Java 1.5.0 support. The PocketPC reportedly includes Java 1.5.0 full-desktop capabilities so that applets behave exactly the same on mobile devices as they do on desktop devices.

Previously PocketPC users have to be content with 3rd party JVM or the feature-limited JVM PersonalJava from Sun, both of them lacks the richness and robustness of a fully-featured Java(tm) Platform implementations

The company claim that robust Java support support was one of the top requests from both ThunderHawk subscribers and enterprise clients.

p/s :
Come to think of it, how many times have you encountered web page loaded with java applets nowadays? In 2005 alone, i’ve only encountered only one or two such webpage among hundreds of them that i surfed. The point is, in my point of view, java applets is scarce late these days. They may be cool in the late 90’s, but now it’s hard to find one page that even use a java applet.

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Mozilla project released Firefox 1.0.5 test build

I read about this announcement from MozillaZine. The release focuses on minor bugfix on previous Mozilla Firefox release 1.0.4.

The most notable bugfix included in this test build is the spoofable Javascript Dialog Box vulnerability that would lead attacker into tricking and trick the user into entering his/her account information inside the fake password dialog box.

Internet Explorer is also affected by this vulnerability though we havent heard about Microsoft planning to fix it.

You can download Mozilla Firefox test build here :
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