Poodle Fang asks: "After using Linux for a few years, I am now interested in trying out the free x86 BSDs. I have been reading that OpenBSD is focused on security and FreeBSD on performance, but is there really much of a difference in security and performance among the BSDs? Do any of the BSDs have any features that sets it apart from the others (for example, does one work better on laptops than the others?) How well do the Linux emulation libraries work? I am more concerned in the performance, stability and security than packaging or an easy install process. Any insights would be appreciated! "

Nerdkiller writes " An article appeared on ZDnet with some information on the G5 chip expected in 2 years. It will be competing with the Intel Merced which is expected out around the same time. A full 64 bit 2 Ghz processor. The Intel Merced will be able to support 64 bit processing, however it must be run under emulation for 32bit code. The G5 requires no change in current code with exception to some low level OS stuff. "

Anonymous Coward writes "The Australian government passed legislation yesterday guaranteeing the right to reverse engineer software for the purposes of diagnosing and fixing problems and for interoperability." Looks like WINE and other Windows emulation projects ought to be headquarted in Australia, doesn't it?

Ventilator wrote in with news about SNES9X, pointing us to an article stating that SNEX9X is back. The SNES9X page itself has screenshots from the 28th as well, so things look happier in emulation land.

jht writes "According to this article in MacWeek, a judge has dropped the proverbial 10-ton weight on Connectix' head, freezing all shipments of Virtual GameStation. Hopefully the next judge in this series of appeals will understand the nature of emulation and reverse the decision. If it stands, it doesn't look good for Bleem, either. " Connectix has indicated that they are continuing on with development, as well as supporting and upgrading older versions of the boxes.

Pont writes "Sony failed to get an injunction against Bleem, a Playstation emulator for the PC. " This is a nice step in the right direction for an industry struggling to come to grips with annoying little problems like emulation. Way to go Bleem. Now how about a Linux Port?

Curious writes "The Economist this week talks about the growing use of emulation technology and Transmeta's newest patent involving hardware/software hybrid in multi-host emulation." Whatever they emulate, their employees win Harley's at conferences, so they're doing something right.

Randy Scott writes "RealityMan, co-author of UltraHLE, is dropping out of the emulation scene. He states his reasons here. The rumor that UltraHLE would make a return in one form or another is confirmed by Foxy's Weekly Column, but this was before RealityMan's departure. I'm not sure what the state of UltraHLE is at this point... "

jpatters tells us that Micro Processor Report is reporting (via MacInTouch) that a russian company (Elbrus International) claims to have a CPU design that achieves 135 SPECint95 and 350 SPECfp95. This compairs to Merced's scores of 45 and 70 respectively. It is claimed to run in a 0.18 micron process at 1.2Ghz consuming only 35 watts and 126 square millimeters of silicon. It includes a 256 Kbyte of on-chip L2 cache. It should also be both x86 and IA-64 compatible. Elbrus 2000 seems to exist (look at what Shevtsov is working on now), and seems to have had some history. Here is Shevtsov's FPU patent. S : I've tried to verify this story, but can't find the copy of MPR -- anybody else have it? Anyone care to speculate how it was done? Assynchronous logic? 256Kb L2 seems rather low though unless they're using a special point-to-point bus.

Note: This is a repost of Linux Companion for System Administrators

Gon writes "According to this Techweb story, the emulation side has legal precedent on their side. This might explain why the SF court rejected SONY's request for a restraining order against Connectix." Kristian Dorland sent us this email from the authors of UltraHLE who claim they have not been contacted by Nintendo and that they know nothing about the security device Nintendo claims they circumvented in the N64."

PointBlank writes "Rich Lawrence (author of an Atari 800 emulator) has written an essay on the legality of emulation and related issues. If you care about emulation and wish to be educated on this issues involved, this is a great resource. "

Panix has written in with an open letter to the Emulation community where he addresses the recent rise and fall of the UltraHLE- the N64 emulator, ROM piracy, and the real reason for console emulators. Click below to read what he has to say.

Joseph Pranevich has written up an excellent piece on Linux 2.2 where he practically sums up the major features of the new kernel. This will be quite useful to any of you who are curious, but haven't been reading LinuxHQ every patch for the last year. Related, 2.2.0ac1 is now out.

Millennium writes "By now you've all probably heard about Virtual Game Station, the Playstation emulator by Connectix for MacOS. Well, it appears Sony isn't too happy about it. They've filed for an injunction against Connectix, and are planning to sue for intellectual property rights violations. It looks, however, as though the law might not back Connectix up on this one. Either way, it looks as though this case could well bolster or destroy the emulation community, so it's one to follow. " Initially I sided with Connectix, but the more I thought about it, the more complex issue I realize it is. Let me know what you think. Update: It seems as though the IGN story is a rumour - my apologies.

Bob_Dobbs wrote in to tell us that there are major rumors that the next Macs should actually do Playstation Emulation. Requires a G3, but it's not like many people are buying Mac Classics any more. H: Sounds like Jobs will be announcing this officially tomorrow. Very cool. Update: 01/05 12:23 by S : Here's some more info thanks to Narbo: Connectix' press release confirms the story, and lists the games you can play on it.

Eitan Shefer writes " I have a nice scoop. hehe.. so far no news source picked this one up.. back in the old days, of the pre-Jobs-intrim-headed Apple, Apple invested in a new CPU company called Exponential, which claimed to have made very fast Power-pc based CPU (up to 500mhz At 0.6 micron, which is amazing, if true.). Apple, under Jobs decided not to use Exponential's chips, a decision which pretty much killed exponential since very few potential clients for PPC desktop CPUs existed at that time (or still do). Exponential also wrote a few patents that were rather interesting to other CPU makers (X86 emulation in 64bit architecture, for example, which Intel would be interested in.). Exponential died, and, in the end the patents were bought by S3. The same S3 today has announced that they have entered into a 10-year cross license deal with Intel, giving Intel (and S3) access to each other's patents. Click below to read the press release. "

A new book and some Slashdot e-mail makes it clear why people like me have to learn how to use Linux and help spread its message beyond the Rarefied Geek Enclave. And also just what a nightmare that's going to be.

Eivind Eklund wrote in to say FreeBSD 2.2.8 has been released. See the announcment here. Some of the important changes include support for IDE drives larger than 8GB, a 3c905B driver, Linux emulation support improvement, as well as all BugTraq advisories against 2.2.7.

Here is a summary of the Transmeta patent for those that do not have the time to read it fully. Click below to read more.