Newton’s Lore

Sun’s open source virtualization package xVM VirtualBox is out of beta for Mac OS X and available for download. Note that it can’t currently host Mac OS X (aside from the licensing issues that only allow you to virtualize Mac OS X Server). According to ZDNet Sun sells a commercial version with USB support and an RDP server.
If you download it and can’t open the archive you may need to remove the ‘.bz2′ from the end of the filename.

If you want to get in on the game with Spore Creature Creator, you can download it here. Ars Technica has some more information on getting it running on machines with not quite the right graphics card here.

Mikey Sklar lists some software tools available via the fink packaging system for hardware developers using Macs .

From Apple’s java mailing list: 

 

We are looking for a talented, passionate and motivated engineer to join the Java team.  Java expertise, of course, is important, but C and Objective-C (Cocoa) are also essential since you will be working on the frameworks underneath AWT and Swing.  If you or anyone you know is interested, please do apply.  This is an opportunity to have a serious impact on the Mac OS X Java implementation, and start a career at Apple.You can find out more by clicking this link, or by searching apple.com/jobs for Requisition ID 3489430. 

 

If you’re interested in comparing Mac OS X and Windows XP check out the XvsXP blog.

Having upgraded a PowerBook to Leopard, it seems that the “ITC Zapf Chancery SWA” font has vanished, which is annoying for all those documents that used it. Probably I’d guess it was being loaded from the Classic System Folder or something. Will have to hunt it down in the pre-Leopardisation backup.

From the Mac OS X 10.5.2 release notes, here are some of my observations: User Interface:

• Apple has added a Time Machine icon to the Menu bar (it can be turned on in the Time Machne control panel)
• The menus are less translucent (who would have thought with everyone complaining that that would have been a problem) and transparency can be turned off in the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane
• List view is back in the Stacks (presumably they got a lot of complaints), and they have a new grid view background (presumably for better visibility)

It remains to be seen if they’ve added the Size column back to the Spotlight column view though.

Support for new things (ie you may want to try plugging some old stuff that didn’t work in again to see if it does now!):

• You can now iSync Samsung D600E and D900i phones
• Airports Express and Extreme now support more printers connected via USB
• New RAW camera formats supported:
  • Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
  • Canon Powershot G9
  • Hasselblad CF-22
  • Hasselblad CF-39
  • Leaf Aptus 75s
  • Nikon D3
  • Nikon D300
  • Sony Alpha DSLR-A700
• Supports more 3rd party routers in iChat and Back To My Mac

Interesting bugs fixed:

• Fixed a problem when ejecting a CD could write to it! (presumably instead of just ejecting it)
• Fixed a problem where the Leopard Setup Assistant would re-appear (as noted in this TidBITs article by Glenn Fleishman)
• Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues.
• Addresses “accuracy issues” with the web content filter (in Parental Controls) perhaps to now block unboxing porn?
• The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup. (Hopefully it tells you why it just shut down?)

You can download the One Laptop Per Child OS and run it under VMWare Fusion if you want to try it out but can’t get your hands on the OLPC XO hardware yet.

Make links to how to install Mac OS X on the lightweight solid-state drive powered Asus EEE PC (for those who can’t afford a MacBook Air with a solid-state drive :).

FutureBASIC has now been made freeware and can be downloaded from here. More information about FutureBASIC is here (of note it apparently can create System 6.0.5 Apps through to Mac OS X 10.4 Apps from the same project)