MINIX: What is MINIX 3?

MINIX 3 is a new open-source operating system designed to be highly reliable, flexible, and secure. It is loosely based somewhat on previous versions of MINIX, but is fundamentally different in many key ways. MINIX 1 and 2 were intended as teaching tools; MINIX 3 adds the new goal of being usable as a serious system on resource-limited and embedded computers and for applications requiring high reliabilityThis new OS is extremely small, with the part that runs in kernel mode under 4000 lines of executable code. The parts that run in user mode are divided into small modules, well insulated from one another. For example, each device driver runs as a separate user-mode process so a bug in a driver (by far the biggest source of bugs in any operating system), cannot bring down the entire OS. In fact, most of the time when a driver crashes it is automatically replaced without requiring any user intervention, without requiring rebooting, and without affecting running programs. These features, the tiny amount of kernel code, and other aspects greatly enhance system reliability.

Hardware required
To run MINIX 3, you need a PC driven by a 386, 486, or Pentium CPU or compatible. The standard configuration requires 16 MB of RAM. An 8-MB version is also available, but it is slower due to a smaller buffer cache. Since the distribution comes on a live CD, you can test it without allocating any hard disk space, but for a hard disk installation, 50 MB is needed as a minimum, 600 MB minimum if you want all the sources.

Current status
The current version of MINIX 3 (3.1.2) is a work in progress. It is nowhere near as mature as FreeBSD or Linux right now. Ports to the Xscale and PowerPC are underway. Various programs and device drivers are being ported, and so on. People who would like to help develop a highly reliable operating system are more than welcome. Some projects that are needed are listed here. For more information, subscribe to the newsgroup: comp.os.minix

AJAX: What is AJAX?

Ajax, or AJAX, is a web development technique used for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. This is intended to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability.

Ajax is asynchronous in that loading does not interfere with normal page loading. JavaScript is the programming language in which Ajax function calls are made. Data retrieved using the technique is commonly formatted using XML, as reflected in the naming of the XMLHttpRequest object from which Ajax is derived.

Ajax is a cross-platform technique usable on many different operating systems, computer architectures, and Web browsers as it is based on open standards such as JavaScript and XML, together with open source implementations of other required technologies.

Windows: Why does the Recycle Bin have different file system names on FAT and NTFS?

On FAT drives, the directory that stores files in the Recycle Bin is called C:\RECYCLED , but on NTFS drives, its name is C:\RECYCLER. Why the names change?

The FAT and NTFS Recycle Bins have different internal structure because NTFS has this thing called "security" and FAT doesn't. All recycled files on FAT drives are dumped into a single C:\RECYCLED directory, whereas recycled files on NTFS drives are separated based on the user's SID into directories named C:\RECYCLER\S-.... (It has nothing to do with whether you are running English or Swedish Windows).

Suppose the same directory name were used for both file systems, say, C:\RECYCLED. Since it is possible to upgrade a FAT drive to an NTFS drive with the CONVERT utility, this means that a FAT drive converted to NTFS would have a FAT-style Recycle Bin after the conversion. But since the names are the same, the Recycle Bin says, "Hey, look, here's a C:\RECYCLED directory. That must be my NTFS Recycle Bin!" except that it isn't. It's a FAT Recycle Bin left over from the conversion.

Giving the NTFS Recycle Bin a different name means that the Recycle Bin shell folder won't get confused by the "wrong" type of recycle bin directory structure on an NTFS volume.

Yes, the problem could have been solved some other way. For example, there could have been code to inspect the Recycle Bin directory to determine what format it is and ignore it if it didn't match the actual file system. (Or, if you're feeling really ambitious, somehow convert from one format to the other.) But that would be over-engineering. You have to write and test the detection (and possibly conversion) code, there's the risk of a false-positive, the code runs at every boot, and it needs to be maintained whenever either the FAT or NTFS recycle bin format changes. All for a scenario that happens at most once per drive.

Genral:Mr. Narayana Murthy

THE other day, my wife and I were perhaps among the very few over 50-year-olds in the mostly-twentyish crowd watching the film Chak De in Bangalore. You had to be there to believe the shouts of joy that accompanied every goal India scored in the imaginary tournament in the movie. The mood at the end was as if India had actually won the women’s world cup in hockey. I can appreciate this mood since I too felt similar joy and pride when hundreds of cameras clicked at me holding our national flag, on India and my being declared the winners of the prestigious world entrepreneur award among the forty-odd competing nations at Monaco in 2003. As I exited the theatre after watching Chak De that day, several youngsters asked me for my reaction to the movie. My answer was simple. I said I wanted to see the movie become a reality not just in hockey but in every sphere. The recipe for such a success was most wonderfully conveyed by Shah Rukh Khan and those wonderful women hockey players in the movie. Let me recount them here. We have to identify as Indians first and rise above our affiliations with our states, religions and castes. We must accept meritocracy and enthusiastically play the role we are best suited to. We must embrace discipline to strictly follow every step required for success. We have to put the interest of our nation ahead of our personal interests, subordinating our egos and biases. Finally, we have to put in tremendous hard work and make shortterm sacrifices for long-term glory.
I have immense faith and optimism in the youth of this country. But, will we get our leaders to set examples for hundreds of millions of Indian youth? I wish more and more of our leaders see Chak De and learn these precious lessons.

Author is chairman and chief mentor,
Infosys Technologies

Windows Server 2008 Beta 3:Just Released

After many months of waiting, Microsoft finally released the Beta 3 version of Windows Server 2008 (previously codenamed Longhorn), a major milestone pre-release version of the next version of Windows Server. (More recently, a CTP, or Community Technical Preview, version was distributed to beta testers in June 2007.) Windows Server 2008 has evolved quite a bit over time, and though the project hasn't suffered from the many feature drops and problems that dogged Windows Vista, there are certainly a somthing new in this version .


Download: Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 Enterprise Standard
Read more: Click here
and Here

Read Review:Review for MS server 2008