Starfarers

"Starfarers" (Poul Anderson) - I'm not sure what to say about this book.  The main idea is the development of a zero energy reactionless drive (so, no FTL, but lots of STL).  The story is told in two parts, the first follows the first star ship (traveling thousands of light years towards signs of other reactionless ships); the second follows the second generation explorers, settlers, and traders.

The two stories help to break up some of the monotony (not much happens in 495 pages - at one point, I broke out the old "I'm sorry, my friend, but you must die to make the movie more interesting!").  However, it seems like the whole thing could have been made shorter.

NedOS on real hardware!

It took some doing (and it's still not where it is on simulators), but it's something.