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Try Athene, I used it on an old machine and it was super fast. The only problem was with the cursor not being properly drawn, though that didn't show up on another machine. Just make sure that you run it by itself, outside an xserver. Inside an xserver there seems to be no point to it.

Disclaimer: I don't work for Rocklyte, blahblah

I wonder if it is possible for Rocklyte to implement 3D rendering features like in Avalon in their Athene Desktop.

I have tried out Athene and it is very fast - they claim over 25% speed increase to X11.. This is a complete alternative to X11 but can also run X11 apps.. Try out the free version http://www.rocklyte.com/athene/. You can run games on the desktop using SDL.. they have a version of Doom and Quake available for download as well.

I was very impressed with both the desktop as well as the underlying technologies - the desktop is scripted using an XML-like language called DML..and the engine used is called Pandora.

The graphics driver technology is based on SNAP graphics from SciTech and seems very easy to manage.

My two primary gripes with the system were that the licensing seems a little restrictive.. and also, the package management software seemed very weak (if you are using the OS).

But other than that - a very polished desktop.. and underlying API. Most impressive.. Definitely the most innovative and cutting edge Linux desktop and distribution around.

Also wonder if there is a move to implement Windows Forms (for Mono) using the Pandora Engine SDK.

You can find it here and here.

Why, pray tell, does the title of the homepage read: "The Athena Operating System" and "Athena is Rocklyte Systems next generation, object based operating system for the consumer market." (emphasis mine)?

Regarding distribution, this is a pretty simple policy that prevents third parties from distributing the software on CDs or from web-sites without our permission.

The reason so many are upset about this is because the right to redistribute is kind of accepted as part of the basic definition of open source (or Free Software, as RMS would have it). This is made pretty clear here. Of course, you're perfectly at liberty to license your product in any way you wish. It's just that it doesn't really fit under the label of Free Software.

Although judging from some of the posted remarks, it could also be interpreted as an evil plot designed to destroy the Linux community from the inside, eating it away like a cancerous cell to ensure that Microsoft can still reign supreme - because after all, Rocklyte Systems is just another corporation out to get you all while you're tucked away in your beds.

I'm sorry you've been treated this way--there are a lot of losers hanging around this place with nothing better to do than formulate screwball conspiracy theories.

Naturally we shouldn't be overly concerned that Athena doesn't meet a "proven" (here, POSIX) standard--we aren't all using FORTRAN or writing real-time [deterministic-time] algorithms, are we?--, but shouldn't we take a moment to consider the fact that Athena's FAQ says:
["Does the Pandora Engine support POSIX compliancy?"]
"No. It's not practical, or even possible to implement most of the POSIX standard" (my bold)
because:
"POSIX was designed for procedural systems, so given that the Pandora Engine is object based..."
Now, it is of course a Good Thing (for easy, modular programming) to have a heavily OOP'd, high-level 'environment', (we can't even say OS anymore[1]) that can easily optimize later whatever tasks it does allow the application to run. However, the fact should worry us that the developers say it is not "possible" to run functions on a low enough level to ensure any kind of guaranteed (or "realtime" :) operational behavior on ANY level of what you're doing...short of writing bits out to a file (but you're getting nowhere near the FS--or any hardware for that matter). Forget HAL: this is HAL:THISMACHINE:HARDWARE:PERIPHERALS:OUTPUT:VISIBL E:MONITORS:ENVIRONMENT:WINDOWS:MYWINDOW:PLEASE:PRE TTY:PLEASE:LET:ME:NEAR:A:SET:METHOD(&MyAthenaApp.m ywindow.mypallette.color, GREEN); Not that this isn't useful, but what if their idea of green isn't your idea of green? Just dig around the standard, right, it's bound to be there somewhere?
"Pandora does not use a separate interface for game development (such as a DirectX style API)"..."Currently we are missing 3D support (OpenGL for example)"...Hmmmm...correct me if I'm wrong, but does this mean that their "object based" methods are the only things programmers will have available, without even the Standardizd (eg OpenGL) niceties we can use to get around protected architectures once they're implemented?
Oh well: "there are plenty of existing engines that can be ported when the need for a 3D engine arises."
But I wonder...does "can be ported" mean "We can't exactly use them, because of how commercial we are, and we're not allowed to port GNU stuff, but, we assure you, we'll have really, really similar-sounding naming schemes..." ;-)
Anyone see a different take on this?

[1] Athena on BeOs on WIN2K on Linux??? Oh the thngs we do. :)

Athena is currently available for free download from official distribution sites. Please note that unlike the GNU/GPL licensing schemes often used in Linux products, Athena is 100% commercial, and we do not allow Athena to be sold or distributed by third parties unless they have been given the right to do so.

Emphasis is theirs.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it might have been taken out of context. Nowhere does it say that "we" == Red Hat, or that they didn't say "We did start the open-source revolution as far as big business is concerned," or anything else.

Seems a little presumptuous to base an entire article on seven words. How about some context?

It's not just the open source comment - there are plenty of other gems in this article, such as:

"The Linux distribution game is over. Red Hat has won that game. Red Hat is the market leader in virtually every respect"

Bruce Perens' and Eric Raymond's comments also give credit to CNET's take on this article. The open source movement pre-dates Linux anyway - GNU and the GPL existed well before Torvalds even entered the scene.

I wonder if Tiemann has had trouble getting his head through doors lately?

P. Manias
Rocklyte Systems