TriedIT - Software and Hardware News and Reviews

Here’s Novell’s attempt at fitting Linux into Apple’s Mac vs. PC ad campaign that takes a different approach than the ones we’ve all seen on YouTube so far. It is pretty amusing, so check it out!

Here’s a cool step-by-step guide on how to run Windows XP under Linux using only free virtualization software and not VMware.

I have used QEMU myself to test different Linux distributions on several times. I have never tried installing Windows XP in it. I might have to try this out soon and see how well it works. If anyone has tried it, let us know.

From lifehacker comes this comparison between FileVault and BitLocker, the two respective native file encryption systems for OS X and Vista.

The main differences boil down to BitLocker being used to lock down the entire operating system, while FileVault only locks down the user’s home directory. BitLocker requires much more setup in that you have to have a special encrypted partition that Vista is installed on, as well as have the unencryption keys stored on a USB stick. This USB ‘key’ is needed to allow Vista to boot. The author of the article feels that BitLocker is better because of the total lock-down of the hard disk. While that is overall more secure, FileVault I feel is more efficient since it only encrypts the user’s home directory which is where all the sensitive information is going to be stored anyhow. While I haven’t benchmarked either encryption method I’d imagine that FileVault probably has higher performance since BitLocker would have to do on the fly encryption and decryption of every single file the OS needs access to. Not only that I feel like backups would probably be more difficult to do on a BitLocker partition than simply backing up FileVault’s encrypted home directory.

In any case it is good to see that OS vendors are including such basic security mechanisms directly into the operating system. The more security the better.

From AppleInsider comes this:

AppleInsider has learned that Apple’s popular line of iMac personal computers are about to undergo a substantial facelift that will showcase striking new industrial designs aimed at leaving both competitors and onlookers smitten.

People familiar with the matter say the Cupertino-based Mac maker has called upon its award-winning design chief Jonathan Ive and his team to cut the fat from the the current iMac line and outfit a pair of new Core 2 Duo-based models in a form factor that will be both slimmer and sleeker than today’s offerings.

Read the rest of this at AppleInsider.

I have been debating about getting my mother one of these for awhile. Either an iMac or a Mac Mini. Well, now I have to see what upgrades are in store for the iMac before considering her next computer. I wish Apple would give the Mac Minis a necessary upgrade as well.

From NordicHardware (and linked elsewhere) comes this little tidbit about Mozilla developers possibly extending their work to create a Mozilla Desktop Environment, akin to KDE and GNOME, based on XUL.

I am personally all for new technologies and software. I know many people are against fragmentation in Linux and developers creating many different solutions for the same exact problem. I personally feel the more choices available, the better things are for everyone. Everyone doesn’t have to use the same stuff. People can use what they like best, and since everyone has different tastes, Linux allows them to pick the desktop or distribution they like the best. Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn’t give users a lot of choice. Some people credit this as to why Windows has become so successful, but we all know that isn’t the case.

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Hot on the heels of my PCLinuxOS review I decided to take a look at another distribution that aims to be simple to use yet powerful. Sabayon Linux aims to give users all the bleeding edge software of SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS but is based on Gentoo and uses Portage as its package management system. I haven’t used Gentoo for a couple of years now, but Sabayon’s popularity is continually increasing and with a new release it’s now time to give it a try.

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I’m back again after a few days. I got busy and had some things to take care of. My apologies to all my readers for that short and unannounced break. Nevertheless I am back with another review.

After a number of recommendations from readers on my SimplyMEPIS 6.5 RC1 review, I decided to make my next Linux distribution review about PCLinuxOS 2007 Test 3. Like SimplyMEPIS, it is an up-and-coming distribution that aims to make all the advanced capabilities of Linux easily available to everyone.

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One of my favorite applications on Linux, K3b, has finally reached its 1.0 release. Congratulations to the K3b team!

On another note, I apologize for the slow posting the last few days. I have been busy lately but have a couple of reviews I hope to get out this Sunday. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

According to this AppleInsider article, the touch screen on the forthcoming iPhone could spread to Apple’s other products.

Financial experts at UBS Investment Research say they believe Apple Inc. is developing a “mega-platform” based around its recently introduced multi-touch display technology that will facilitate broad growth opportunities through an assortment of future products.

Again this is all just guessing, but if it is really as cool as it looks like it will be, multi-touch iPods and MacBooks would be pretty sweet. Here’s hoping it actually does happen.

I decided for this one to step away from the more mainstream and popular distributions once again and check out something I haven’t used before. Here’s my review for dyne:bolic 2.4.2.

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