norburym writes " Essential Mac OS X Server Administration, written by Michael Bartosh and Ryan Faas, has been eagerly anticipated by the OS X Panther Server community. The wait is finally over and the authors have satisfied their audience with a meticulously written and detailed volume on OS X Server administration. This is not a book for the beginner: if you're an IT professional with an OS X Server deployment and want to gain a thorough understanding and appreciation of integrating Panther Server into your particular environment then this book will fully meet your expectations. Bartosh and Fass present a complete exploration of OS X Server software and services and client considerations between the covers of a volume essential to any systems administrator responsible for a cross-platform network." Read on for Norbury-Glaser's detailed review.

An anonymous reader writes "Java-based open source development has come a long way since the early days of developers sharing GUI libraries. Geronimo is a large-scale project attempting to create a certified J2EE 1.4 server based on existing open source components. Take a tour through the Geronimo maze with Sing Li as your guide. Gluecode Software CTO and principal Geronimo contributor Jeremy Boynes shares his perspective on Geronimo and go here to learn how to use the new Eclipse plug-in for Apache Geronimo."

emmjayell writes "You've been there, loaded up a new application (think server-based app like Apache or Samba ...), it's working okay for a few days or a few months, then the intermittent problems start. Usually it's the CEO or someone else of relative importance that is the first victim. You can't readily duplicate the problem, so you go to find out where the application put's it's logs - maybe it's in var/log/messages - maybe in it's own directory - sometimes it's right there and available in some administrative GUI. So what makes you happiest when diagnosing the problem? Do you want tools to access it? UI or command line? Do you want it formatted to use tools like cut and sed? Do you have any examples of an app that does a great job with system logging and diag logging? Background: My team is working on an application that is gearing up for a first release. We have a logging framework in place already (we are using Apache: logging.apache.org/) -- so that covers how we are logging, but not what we should log and how it should be laid out for optimal use."

Zoxed writes "Jeremy Reimer provides an 8-page history of GUIs from the early 1930s to the present day. For example, from the conclusion: 'the truth of the story is that the GUI was developed by many different people over a long period of time. Saying that "Apple invented the GUI" or "Apple ripped off the idea from PARC" is overly simplistic, but saying that "Xerox invented the GUI" is equally so.'"

Frank Buss writes "Common Lisp is an ANSI standard, which defines a general purpose language and library, and is implemented by free and commercial compilers and IDEs; see *hyper-cliki* for more general information about Common Lisp. The book Practical Common Lisp explains the language with many practical examples and is available in full text online, too." Read on for the rest of Buss' review.

DopeyDad asks: "OK, it was close to a year ago (Eric's site says July 2004, but I'd swear the original rant came earlier last year) that Eric Raymond's tirade on the unfriendly status of configuring the CUPS printing system on Linux was published. Well, I've been struggling with setting up a new laptop and getting it to talk to my print server, using Fedora Core 3, and nothing seems to have changed -- the admin items for adding a printer are exactly as Eric described them back then -- unclear, confusing, and no where near as friendly as their Win* equivalents. Definitely not something I'd expect my Aunt Ethel to be able to figure out. What's going on here? Granted, FC3 is ready to be replaced, but I don't see any CUPS updates for it. Is work being done with CUPS to address Eric's original complaints, or has this issue fallen off the radar?" For those who are still frustrated with the CUPS GUI, how would you improve it?

norburym (Mary Norbury-Glaser )writes "Carla Schroder's Linux Cookbook (O'Reilly) is an extremely dense volume packed with valuable information. The author writes with precision and detail and with a conversational style that handles the topic with a wry humor making this book a pleasure to read. The Linux Cookbook is command-line based so some familiarity with a Linux system, the inherent power of using the command-line and the dangers of using root are necessary." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

gmletzkojr asks: "The company that I am currently working at develops a fairly complex industrial controller, complete with embedded software, a GUI on the controller, and a Windows app to connect over Ethernet. On previous versions of a similar project, we have performed testing manually - ie, monkey presses button, and sees that light turns on, widget turns, GUI updates, etc. However, this is extremely time consuming (previous complete regression testing took ~3 weeks) and is error prone in itself. How do you perform complete system regression testing? Do you use shrink-wrapped packages, or build your own? How do you test features that are easy for humans to observe, but not as easy for software to detect (ie, the light came on, the GUI updated when I pressed the external input, etc)?"

Ant writes "Blue's News posted an interesting link that shows a chart of icons from various interfaces. Clicking on graphical user interface (GUI) names, section names, or icons themselves will lead to the appropriate page with more details."

An anonymous reader writes "Flexbeta.net compares NeroLinux to K3b under Fedora Core 3. The review notices how NeroLinux does nothing with the eye candy while K3b's GUI is no comparison to NeroLinux. The article also mentions how cumbersome it is to navigate through NeroLinux, also taking note of how long each application takes to accomplish burning tasks."

malcomvetter asks: "I need a command line FTP client that supports 'Implicit SSL', sports some kind of scripting interface, and runs on Win32. Any suggestions? So far, I have only found GUI versions such as FileZilla." I remember once needing a scripting FTP client long ago. It took me a long time, but I finally found one that had a workable but unintuitive interface. Have scripting FTP clients become more prevalent or is your best bet using something flexible with network bindings (like Python or Perl) to get the job done?

anamexis writes "Adobe premiered (no pun intended) opensource.adobe.com recently. The first two libraries available, titled Adam and Eve, respectively, take on complex GUI issues in applications. They are written in C++ and have been released under the MIT License, an OSI-Approved Open Source License."

Viridian writes "Jef Raskin, GUI pioneer, interface expert, Apple employee #31, and the man most credited with the creation of the Apple Macintosh, died of cancer on Saturday February 26, 2005. It was Raskin who named it after his favorite fruit, the McIntosh apple, although he said that he changed the spelling to "Macintosh" to avoid potential copyright conflicts with McIntosh, the audio equipment manufacturer."

norburym (Mary Norbury-Glaser) writes "Mac OS X Server 10.3 Panther is one of the latest in Peachpit Press' Visual QuickPro guides (not to be confused with the beginner "QuickStart" series) and is written by one of the best IT/Mac trainers in the industry, Schoun Regan, with assistance by his devoted sidekick and co-trainer at itinstruction.com, Kevin White. Peachpit and the authors have produced a book with excellent content and delivery; the installation and setup of Mac OS X Server and Web services is explained with clarity and precise detail." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

OSXCPA asks: "While there are plenty of OS business apps from accounting to ERP, they seem to share a common failing with "commercial" software - the user interface is terrible! Has anyone seen an application that has a UI that made you sit up and stare in amazement at the simplicity and effectiveness of it? For the techno-elite, drooly-gui may not be a priority, but I am working on a project (OS) where I have to show real savings (in task performance time and reduced data entry error) on a specialized accounting system via better UI. Am looking for some inspiration. Any ideas? Projects? Books?"

mo writes "The Desktop Linux Summit has just concluded in San Diego. There were a number of exhibitors, including Novell, AMD, and Mozilla. I've put together a summary of some of the more interesting announcements and booths at the conference. Highlights include a Linux-only 3D game, DRM-free music services, and a new Asterisk GUI."

r3lody (Raymond Lodato) writes "Writing Linux applications is not a simple endeavor. The Linux operating system provides a sophisticated framework for running programs, and learning how to take advantage of that framework requires some research. The book Linux Application Development, 2nd Ed., by Michael K. Johnson and Erik W. Troan provides much of what you need to know within its sturdy covers. Pitched to the intermediate to advanced programmer, all of the basic programming APIs are covered -- some in detail, some in brief." Read on for the rest of Lodato's review of this book.

norburym writes "AppleScript: The Missing Manual by Adam Goldstein is part of the Missing Manual series of beginner/intermediate books published by Pogue Press/O'Reilly and Associates. This series focuses on computer products that have been released without adequate printed manuals (Mac OS X, iLife '04, Google, iPod and iTunes, Windows XP, Windows 2K, among others). I would venture that this also applies to most major software releases, which should keep Mr. Pogue, O'Reilly and their contributing authors busy for quite some time. Their newest release, AppleScript: The Missing Manual, is a welcome addition to their catalog of smart, funny and user-friendly books." Read on for the rest of Norbury-Glaser's review.

prostoalex writes "Shawn Burke from Microsoft says they are ready to ship sources for Windows Forms for .NET Framework 2.0 and asks for specific advice on accomplishing that (specifically, a smart comment tool). Windows Forms contains .NET framework classes for building GUI applications."

wikinerd writes "The GNU Project was working on a new OS kernel called HURD from 1990, using the GNU Mach microkernel. However, when HURD-Mach was able to run a GUI and a browser, the developers decided to start from scratch and port the project to the high-performance L4 microkernel. As a result development was slowed by years, but now HURD developer Marcus Brinkmann made a historic step and finished the process initialization code, which enabled him to execute the first software on HURD-L4. He says: 'We can now easily explore and develop the system in any way we want. The dinner is prepared!'"