Initially it was reported that BZGames.de was going to close due to a lack of time to maintain the site. But now it seems the site is going to stay after all. The site has a new look which looks great and a new backend used to run and maintain the webpage.

A few things have been updated since the new look such as an updated and revised version of their BeIDE Tutorial (English Translation) and a short report on Zeta Neo (English Translation).

The Belgium BeUserGroup has actually been up for some time now. The site was started by Jan-Rixt Van (Jixt) and Luc Schrijvers (Begasus). The site contains news, BeOS related tips, software downloads and many BeOS related links.

The site is really coming together and is looking good. It’s nice to see more and more BeOS/Zeta user group sites from different countries and in different languages on the net, it can help people who don’t speak english very well to obtain info or help on BeOS/Zeta related topics in their own language.

You can go to their WhoAreWe section to learn more about the site and their objectives. I attempted to translate this page with BabelFish, but the translation isn’t that great, I actually found the French translation better than the English version. Either way, for those who want it, you can find the english translation here.

Hot off the presses (well off the website) - yellowTab won the Innovation Area Award at SYSTEMS 2004. The judges were distinguished German IT industry folks. Pretty cool, if you ask me. I remember when Qubit won 2 TechTV awards - it felt good, really good. I hope the folks behind Zeta development feel this same pleasure.

Bryan Varner has posted some new entries to his blog The Looney Bin. He notes an important accomplishment on Java - a milestone (one of many yet to come) has been hit! Head on over and read the details. Following Bryan’s Waltercon influenced title, the category for this post is also a Waltercon reference - “When can I play Yahoo! Games?!?”

Bryan also makes a good point in another post - don’t forget to thank your developers! They work very hard with little returns. Give them thanks, at the very least - they more than deserve it! Bryan specifically mentions the Firefox team. I’d like to second that -

Great work guys, keep it up, and a big thank you to current and past developers that have contributed to the BeZilla/Firefox efforts!

Can’t get Looney? Don’t turn to drugs, they aren’t the answer - bondage is… or rather ‘bind’ is. There is a server move scheduled, and it may take a couple days for the DNS to catch up.

Yesterday, Pavel released his newest build of Pixel32 (1.0 RC2 build 420) for BeOS/Zeta and Linux. You can read in detail the news from his site here:

Released Pixel32 v1.0 RC2 build 420 for BeOS/Zeta and Linux in members area. This is a preview of upcoming RC2 demo in few days. It will be released for following platforms: BeOS/Zeta, Linux, Windows, DOS and maybe also QNX version if I will be able to download latest version of this OS (after permanent disconnections when downloading). Recently I also played with DOS compilation and everything seems to be OK to release new more stable and faster version for DOS as you can see on following screenshots.

As Pavel mentioned, he also managed to make an updated DOS version of Pixel32. You can see screenshots of the new version for DOS running in Linux with the DOSbox emulator over at his site.

Here’s some interesting news from ZetaNews regarding a new version of BeDigicam developed by Jixt:

Jixt (Bebug) just posted a new version of BeDiGicam and a new BDCP2 plugin for Exposure. Both working on RC3 and Neo (Zeta).

Post can be found at Bebug.
You can download it over here.

According to this post made by Bernd in the yellowTab forum, a new ServicePack for Zeta Neo is being made to resolve some of the problems people are experiencing. I’m not sure of the exact release date, but it should be available soon at the yellowTab webpage.

I noticed this in the Begroovy forums. MYOB posted a topic regarding the new 3Com driver by Patrick Lafarguette. This might interest some BeOS PowerPC users if you haven’t already read his post:

Yet another historic BeOS limitation seems to have been shattered - the 10Mbit barrier for PowerPC network cards.

So, any other PPC users with 3Com cards, give it a go: http://bebits.com/app/3551

So, if you run BeOS on a PowerPC and have one of the mentioned NICs that this driver supports, then try it out on your PowerPC.

A lot of new porgress is being made on the Pixel32 image editing software by Pavel Kanzelsberger. Just recently, he announced that Pixel32 1.0 RC2 will be released very soon. The new release will contain many bug fixes and speed optimizations.

He also announced that based on the results of his last poll (What platform do you use for serious work?), Pixel32 development will be mainly focused on the BeOS/Zeta, Windows and Linux platforms.

Also note, Pixel32 will no longer be published by Secundum Artem, it will be published by Pavel Kanzelsberger.

A new compiled version of Vincent Cedric’s (CKJ) SG1 game for BeOS was released a few days ago over at his webpage. This build allows you to see the current progress made on the game so far. You can download the newest build from the Download section of the site. The game uses SDL, so make sure you have SDL installed in BeOS to be able to run it. You can get the latest build for BeOS from Bebits or install the lastest LibPak also found at Bebits.

The game is not complete, this is a build of what is currently done. The menu interface is functional and the map editor is half done. I played around with it a bit and the menus work very well. I can tell it will be an interesting game once complete. Sreenshots of the menu interface and map editor can be found here at his site.

I am sure Vincent would appreciate some help from anyone who is really willing to contribute to the development of this game. If you have the time and are very interested in offering help, then contact Vincent (CKJ) and let him know.

Former CEO of Be Inc, Jean-Louis Gassée has moved to a new position at Palmsource. Plamsource has named him the Chairman of the Board according to this report. Our best wishes go out JLG in his new endeavor.