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FreeMWare Renamed 'plex86'
Joey Lawrance writes, "FreeMWare, the LGPL'd replacement for VMWare, has a new name: plex86. From their site: 'The new name "plex86" is derived from the (pseudo)words multiplex and x86. Many users had requested a new name; one that is short, easy to remember, and directly relates to the function of the software.'" It's been less than a year since FreeMWare's first mention on Slashdot; looks like they've made great progress since then in creating a free/Free multi-OS platform. If you're interested in contributing (including documentation), they're looking for you.
I'm pretty sure it would be as easy to manage as managing all the Linux platforms under one single hirachy.
in case anyone hasn't corrected your typo, the actual number they had running on the 390 was ***40,000***, not 4,000 ;)
:)
even *more* impressive
No,it doesn't run anything right now.
Nice... a cut 'n' paste job, but funny nonetheless. I've been wanting to do a Zweibel post for a while now, just so I can say 'Slash-Dot', but I'm not motivated enough to come up with anything.
The parent post is not a troll. It's laconic insight. I hope your soul rots in metamoderation.
There's a king for something as inappropriate as putting a CD-ROM drive on SCSI? (yes, I'm sure that ultra-mega-wide-SCSI-3 or whatever is very suitable for a high speed medium like CDROM)
Heheh...I remember back in 96 or so, they advertised it as Freedows98 (Not just a snack anymore), because they thought that they'd have complete emulation by 1998. But not just of Windows. No, no with the Stanford Cache Kernel, they'd be able to emulate every operating system known to man, in just a few years.
What do they have to show for it? Well http://www.freedows.org/ is a pretty spiffy web site. Translated to a whole buncha languages. But there's no code. There's not even any specifications. And of course, years ago a group broke of from them to form ReactOS, which is supposed to be compatible with NT. Right now, all they have is a small kernel and the beginnings of a command shell. There's also Alliance OS, which like Freedows, is based on the Caching Kernel idea. It also has a nice web site, but very little code.
Seems like that's how most ambitious projects end up. Moral of the story? No matter what they say, most 14 year olds can't code worth a damn, let alone write an operating system. The Freedows team wasted their time doing stupid stuff like writing a C library from scratch. And still, after so many years, they have nothing. That's what I call pathetic.
You're right. Never mind that running DOS will be an early milestone, and that when it runs DOS it still won't run anything else for awhile. Yes, it will be real competition to the running of virual DOS sessions on top of Linux. I predict we'll all dedicate Pentium-3s and Athlons to running it, even though it won't be much different than running MS-DOS on said hardware....
Silly boy.
I don't understand why you're being needlessly sarcastic and presuming that you know so much about SCSI. A CD-ROM and CD-RW drive on a SCSI bus makes for very efficient copying, as the SCSI controller largely handles the IO by itself. Also, a SCSI bus is useful for when you need to put an array of CD-ROM drives together on a server, like for a library. Also, Plextor's SCSI products tend to be of "server grade" quality, which is a whole lot better than the ultra-cheap consumer crap CD-ROMs that ship with a lot of low end boxes. There's more to a CD-ROM than just the speed rating (and even that is misleading). -OT
Hey Baby, If you're a female can you come over here and slather your saliva on my man-flesh? If you're just a guy in a dress however, BEAT IT!!!
I don't want you gay homos touching my schlong.
uh, this is a nasty mess. I think I'll switch computers now...
I defy you to find the phrase "political excrescences of a Papist petrolarch" anywhere in The Onion's archives.
Don't forget that tux smells bad. And doesn't bathe. Or use toilet paper. And can't get laid. And shoves gerbils up his ass. And complains about things not being free. And can't get laid.
foobar:/home/me % whois plex86.org
Whois Server Version 1.1
Domain names in the
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: PLEX86.ORG
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: GENEVA.VMWARE.COM
Name Server: SNAKE.EDCOM.COM
Updated Date: 30-jan-2000
>>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 7 Mar 00 03:46:43 EST
I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure this out. It makes me sick.
If a developer spends hours upon hours of time on a project..
1)he/she should be getting money for the source!, or there should be strict patents/copyrights protecting against misuse!
2) there needs to be a new software license called b-gpl, which gives the original owner a little bit of money for each time their source is used(it's fair)
---just an opinion, not a flame
Will I be able to run CPM/86 and PC-DOS 1.0 concurrently on this thing? I look forward to being able to run these OSes concurrently. I even have the IBM Rev. 1.0 Basic Compiler, so I can develop on PS-DOS 1.0. Further, I hope it makes lean use of resources, as PC-DOS 1.0 and CPM/86 don't need more than about 64K of RAM. Will it run on a system like, say, a 386SX-16 with 128K of RAM? (yes, I know a MMU will be needed so I won't ask if it will run on my 8086 based hardware...) I have two 30-pin 64K SIMMs that are just dying to be powered up again.
No, the real Joey Lawrence would be smart enough to not use Extrans mode.
YOUR MOM IS SO OLD SHE FARTS DUST
glitch
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA..You...HA HA HA HA HA HA...snort...Are....HA HA HA HEE HEE...AN IDIOT! EAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ungh ahem.
sicerely
ice tre
Everone knows the proper method is 'joe /etc/XF*tab*'.
Breaking up an SGI XLV "plex" right now. Plex86 to me sounds like the intel version of this over priced software
Good i thought VMware costed way too much for what it was worth.
If you can read this, you can get a g*d damn job in computer programming
What I, together with the orginal poster doesnt understand is why they wish to associate this project with the number 86. Any ideas? I mean 86 is an Intel product number right?
I don't believe this is actually a hardware emulator. Rather it is software that allows multiple operating systems which could normally run on a given system, to run at the same time. Not operating systems that in general could not run on that platform at all.
The reason for doing this is to try to maintain some level of performance. With hardware emulation, unless the two platforms are fairly similar, you almost always suffer a huge performance hit. This way, the performance is more acceptible, but you still need the cpu,ram, etc. to run 2 or more operating systems simultaneously.
Face the facts: Hitler only had one testicle. Jon Katz has 0 testicles due to a freak masturbation accident. He can't possibly be Hitler with only one testicle. Of course, he could be Hitler's lover and/or love-child. Or a reincarnation. Dummed down a few notches.
fuck it, who wants to run windows while in linux? what a dumbfuck idea.
Hi, Joey Lawrence here.. or should I say Joey Lawrence hair.
<p>My hair is wonderful and sexy.
I GIVE YOU SOME HOT NINJA SEX NOW.
did you know that right now, this very instant, many of those monkeys that were being beaten are now being used in cruel animal fights with cats? imagine being rescued from cruel daily beatings only to have to fight for your survival with other animals (pussy cats)! we must stop the cruelty!
WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU RAGE SUPPRESING MOTHERFUCKER!?
How do you align a 14,768 bytes long data type?
I think the point being, with the new name it becomes more closely releated to a processor and in the view of most people this would mean it's some sort of a hardware emulator for the x86 product line?
The all new plex86 delux!
Folks, I have it here, the all new improved plex86, with the added power of bacileum A this product would eat through your shower stall scum and make those windows plexibly beautiful. Money back gurantee. Call now and get free shipping!
Perhaps it would be even better if you would blow it out your ass. Nobody gives 2 shits what you think. If you start doing something useful for plex86 (ie - write code or documentation) someone might listen to you. Till then, save it for your psychiatrist.
I deserve a -1.
Ninjas are cool, I love you
Yeah, but that was just Sun being Marketroids. Make no mistake, JVMs are actually Emulators of a theoretical Java Machine platform.
I think the '86' comes from that they run
the virtual machine in virtual x86 mode. I've read
an article about this and it seems that the intel x86 processors are capable of running several virtual processors that are transparent to the applications. As IBM mainframes. Cool stuff.
Don't think it would work on a PPC och Alpha tho'
I always through Intel had trademarked the numbers 8,6,7,0,1 and 3com has trademarked the numbers 9,5,0 and IBM um.. some others :) I mean they always release proudcts with those number combinations. It's plain silly.
Not very original I'm afraid, but funny. Anyone else here a fan of The Onion?
Check out DRM-free movies at http://www.bside.com
...
So it can't even run DOS.
Though when it does, dosemu is going to have competition.
Gasp, i dont know what to say. That brought tears to my eyes. But i have one problem with this magnificant documant. No mention absolutly anywhere about the global problem of severe monkey beatings.
Yes, thats right, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of severe monkey beatings RIGHT now, this very second, while all of you just sit back, and read this really annoying runon sentence.
Once the world was peaceful. Birds chirped and flew through the air and the sky was sunny and full of clouds. Then it began. I can still hear the monkeys crying out, "Quit beating me, ouch, that hurt, hey! Ouch, stop it damnit". Then it was quiet. No more monkeys.
I say, lets put an end to monkey beatings. If not for the goodness of the world, then just so we can make fun of them before they kill us.
Remember, monkey see, monkey do.
Then we are in deep doo doo.
(c)Mastah_Monkey
(c)Mastah_Monkey
It sounds not only x86 specific, but IA32 specific. What happens when IA64 processors become available? Will it be able to run IA64 code?
I saw this the first time, and actually got concerned that Microsoft's allegations didn't match the habits of some of my biggest clients. So, I did a little digging through the database.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc
Yes, their Private Client Group is deploying Win2K on desktops that were previously Windows 95. Fortunatly for their customers, they still use time tested, 99.998% uptime IBM mainframes for mission critical data and V3 AS/400 midranges to validate any data passed on from the Windows boxen.
Nabisco
Nabisco has replaced it's Microsoft machines every two years since they decided to use Win95 instead of OS/2 and SCO. Those machines had been in service almost four, and the rest of their leasing portfolio seems, as a whole, to turn over every five years. I know Microsoft isn't making stellar products when it's customers feel the need to replace them over twice as often as the rest.
Credit Suisse/First Boston
First off, spell the name right. I had to file a whole stack of paperwork last time I omitted the slash. Second. They have expressed no intention of replacing the RS/6000 and Sun beasties that currently do this job, nor has either MS product been cleared for use in such a position. Credit Suisse is a financial institution, and the 97.4% availability record of your previous offerings is simply not acceptable. Please see The Gartner Group's 1998/99 offerings for more disappointing performance statistics.
Lockheed Martin
I see no evidence of this! They just acquired several Tru/64 boxes to replace NT for IS services!
micronpc.com
According to the hearsay inside the company, they will not be phasing out Windows 95 / NT 4.0 internally until late 2001 at the soonest. On the other hand, since the prices on Windows NT will increase dramatically now that 2K has hit store shelves, I'm sure they will save at least that much by bundling it instead of NT with their OEM systems, which they have already started doing. Additionally, Micron has been a MS shop since day one, so 'upgrading to Microsoft' is both a wrong and an oxymoron.
If there's anything the Open Source community needs to learn, it's the value of a good name. And this whole "plex86" nonsense only serves to demonstrate it. A name is part of the marketing, and marketing is without a doubt the most essential aspect of the success of a particular piece of software.
Why is Linux the big free Unix clone? Because it has a cooler name. Things like "FreeBSD" and "OpenBSD" have all these odd letters jumbled together. And don't even get me started on "386BSD".
But back on topic: "plex86" is absoulutely the worst name they could possibly have come up with. What the hell is a "plex"? Was it made in 1986? Don't the developers know how to capitalize proper nouns?
Speaking of "capitalization", I predict that plex86 will be an complete disaster, and probably bring down a few careers, not to mention some wildly out-of-control egos. I'm not in the business of naming names (years of hustling teaches you that), but you know damn well who I'm talking about.
And sweet jesus, imagine what will happen if someone decides that they don't like the direction that plex86 is going. So they fork it off, and create "Netplex86" or "Openplex86". This leads to more problems, such as "What the hell is a 'Netplex'?" And hey, don't forget those Linux-style version numbers, either. Pretty soon you'll be patching your Freeplex86 0.1.2.33 against the diffs from Picoplex86 1.3.22, which was merged with the Motorola port, Debian GNU/plex68k.88.332.666, giving you an unholy Debian GNU/FreePicoplex8668k.0.1.2.33.1.3.22.88.322.666, downloaded from 124.76.33.133 with patches from 23.54.76.103. Is this what you want? Are you going to tell a user to do all this?
I thought so.
Does anyone have any comments on how well the software actually performs?
Hmm. I just pronounced it 'plex eight six' = 3 syllables.
FreeMWare (ok, plex86 now) is not anymore an emulator than VMWare. It works by using the actual processor, just upping the security on the processor so that things stay controlled, and the other program/OS 'thinks' it has full control of the system. It is dosemu emulation, not snes9x emulation. So getting it to work on another platform is hard, unless that platform handles the x86 instruction set
Yeah, but when it's done, plex86 will run ".com" files, as well as whatever ".ORG" assembler you used originally.
Now I'm just waiting for the ".exe" TLD...
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
I will stand behind this statement 100%. As a system administrator for years and a computer/network consultant for years prior to that, the standard response when a particular utility failed in specific circumstances has been "Replace it with the GNU version".
This has always taken care of the problem for me and the organizations I deal with and hasn't caused a problem once to date (knock on wood).
The GNU version usually results in a slight-to-incredible performance increase also, which no one has ever complained about.
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
How can you own a "noun combining form"? It's in the dictionary.
Main Entry: -plex
Function: noun combining form
Etymology: partly from Latin -plex (as in duplex);
partly from complex
1 : a figure of a given power <googolplex>
2 : a building divided into an often specified number of spaces (as apartments or movie theaters) <fourplex> <multiplex>
Life is like an egg better scrambled than fried. -- Ken Sawatari
Yes, but you can't trademark a number. That's why Intel now calls their chips the Pentium line, instead of 586, 686, and so on. They didn't like cloners calling their chips 486's back in the days when that was popular. But when they went to trademark "486," the trademark office said no way (amazing; they did something intelligent). So they came up with a word instead.
Anyway, TPFKAF (The Project Formerly Known As FreeMWare) can use the x86 pun without fear for that very reason; anything Intel tried wouldbe groundless. The VMWare folks might actually have had a case with their product, so the name needed changing.
i know there's someone that want to port FreeMWare/plex86 to BeOS, here's his page
--
BeDevId 15453
Download BeOS R5 PE free!
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
That doesnt jusitfy changing to the name plex86 :) Yes, FreeMWare sounds a lot like VMware (Even though bosch has been around longer). But why plex86? I mean plex86 (another product with an Intel badge slapped across it.).
I humbly feel this name 'plex86' does less to relate to their project than what 'FreeMWare' did. Maybe another name change is due?
--
Not an emulator, but a virtual machine. Emulation means that opcodes are translated. The Pentium can pretend to be a 6052 processor by emulation.
If you're running native instructions on your computer, using the virtual machine capabilities of the CPU, then you are running a virtual machine.
Mainframes do this too. There was another article just yesterday on Slashdot where a single 390 mainframe was running over 40,000 virtual machines, all of those each running a copy of 390 Linux.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
For all the talk about Open Source innovation and rapid development, I just don't see it. No matter how many times Open Source advocates will say otherwise, I've yet to see a single focused Open Source project even approach products such as VMWare. I mean come on! What _significant_ innovation has OSS produced? What quality products has OSS rapidly developed? (I don't mean products that just HAPPEN (now) to be Open source, I mean products that are driven by a truely "free", bazaar-like linux type development process.)
This is not to say that Open Source doesn't have some pluses, and I don't want to get into the specific reasons for OSS's failings, but please face reality!
They registered plex86.org, but not .com or .net ... I hope someone they end up in good hands. Any good samaritans want to register it for them?
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
A Mirco Sparc processor (used in the JavaStations) does use Java Byte code (a Java Machine). [To MOST people on this thread] To everyone how wants an x86 EMULATOR use BOCH, for ppl who want to run two x86 OSes on a x86 then plex86 is what you want. Is that simple enough for you? Mlk
Wow, I should not post when knackered.
Or else someone with good intentions who would like this project not to be so Linux- or Freeunix- or whatever-centric could have grabbed the domain first!
on making a name that's well suited for its purpose.
on an off-topic note, the word "multiplex" brings to mind images of movie theaters (you know.. they're called multiplex's because they have multiple screens, yaddy yaddy ya....)
Insert mind here.
Due to your post, a large sign reading "Save the Monkeys!" was epoxied to a monkey's hand. The monkey was then driven to the corner of 6th and Pike in Seattle and released.
Within fifteen minutes, police in riot gear showed up and beat the monkey to death.
LouZiffer
LouZiffer
> On the other hand, increasing processor power
> means that the overhead from running the
> 'desperate' software virtualizer fortunately
> becomes more irrelevant each day.
That would be true if the overhead of the virtualizer was less than O(n) (ie sqrt or log or something). I would guess that scanning is O(n) wrt instructions executed. If scanning is only performed once (O(n) wrt executable size) then you are correct.
Ryan
I'm not sure that virtual machine is the best term for that (despite the term VMware), because Java has a "virtual machine" that doesn't fit that definition. ...for what it's worth.
$ whois plex86.org
Registrant:
Kevin P. Lawton (PLEX9-DOM)
439 Marrett Rd.
Lexington, MA 02421-7714
US
Domain Name: PLEX86.ORG
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Lawton, Kevin (KLH188) kevin@BOCHS.COM
439 Marrett Rd.
Lexington , MA 02421-7714
781-674-1424
Record last updated on 06-Mar-2000.
Record created on 06-Mar-2000.
Database last updated on 7-Mar-2000 14:06:04 EST.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.FASTXS.NET 212.204.201.31
NS2.FASTXS.NET 212.204.201.39
$ whois plex86.com
NO MATCH: This domain is available!
Go to www.networksolutions.com to register it now!
$ whois plex86.net
NO MATCH: This domain is available!
Go to www.networksolutions.com to register it now!
--------
"I already have all the latest software."
[rs.internic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.1
{snip}
No match for "PLEX86.NET".
No match for "PLEX86.COM".
Domain Name: PLEX86.ORG
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.FASTXS.NET
Name Server: NS2.FASTXS.NET
Updated Date: 06-mar-2000
Wouldn't want to run into an OpenSSH'ish fiasco...
Brings to mind an incident with the Porsche 911. Years ago when they first made it and gave it a name, it was designated the 901 (it was chosen from a computer, IIRC).
At the time Peugeot owned the rights to numbering cars with a "0" in the middle, so Porsche had to change it to the 911.
And the rest, as it goes, was history.
--- if y cn rd ths y cn gt a gd jb n cmptr prgmmng!
It would indeed be an uber-cool feature to have, but with both Intel and AMD concentrating fully on getting the highest MHz numbers stamped on the CPU's it isn't likely we will see this any time soon. Raw processing power is the thing that sells processors nowadays, and full virtualization is a niche feature. And it's been done in software already...
</cynic mode>
On the other hand, increasing processor power means that the overhead from running the 'desperate' software virtualizer fortunately becomes more irrelevant each day. The x86 family has traditionally used sheer raw power to compensate for the backwards compatible design flaws.
By the way, does anyone know extensively the full virtualization capability is integrated into the operating system of those IBM mainframes? How easy is it to create new a VM? Is it like running a program in a chroot environment, or like VMWare, where you have to boot an entirely new copy of the operating system?
owned by Sterling Software, although Ghod knows what CA are going to do with it now that they have bought Sterling.
The web site mentions that FreeMWare/plex86 has text support... Does that mean it only runs DOS right now?
Or they spend years and years creating an amazing web site for the project, mirrored all over the world. Freedows anyone?
I kinda like the new name... It's like perplexed, and x86. ;)
Visit uMoo - http://www.uMoo.com/ Join the bulls
Tommy - happy FreeBSD hacker
vmware the commercial product will work many more times better than the open source equivelent. Heres why: the vmware company invested a lot of money and research into making it work. The opensource clone is just people coding in their spare time. It will never be as stable or robust as the commercial product.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Note that the site brags about being /.ed back in December.   I guess it'll happen again real soon now...   Glad I got to it before the effect occurred!   ;-)
It's good to see some "competition" to VMware.   I like having choices.
-- Win2k: "It's not so much that it's only 65,000 bugs, it's just that they stopped at 65,535 to prevent an overflow."
No. plex86 is not emulating the CPU. It is running a virtual machine with native instructions. On other platforms you need Bochs which is emulating the x86 CPU. Emulating is slower because Instructions are translated.
Stefan
How constructive :)
print <<__ENDRANT__;
I think you may have hit on one of the key problems slowing down Linux's widespread take-up. Attitudes like "Nobody gives 2 shits what you think [if you write code or documentation for plex86] someone might listen to you" are hardly likely to encourage new users into the friendly, supportive atmosphere that we are supposed to be.
For your information, I have released several programs into GPL, mostly CGI and Web Log Analysis. If someone suggested that the name of my program sounded odd, or hard to remember, I would most likely take notice, or at least consider the suggestion of a new name.
One of the reasons heaps of people are anti-micro$oft in my part of the world is that they feel that they can't possibly have any effect on anything the behemoth company does - this is a very frustrating feeling, and one that it would pay the Linux world to pay attention to lest we alienate the people we are trying to rescue from the monolithic monetarily mammoth megacorp.
__ENDRANT__
HelpGeeks - don't bother visiting, it's not worth it! Really!
Personally, I think FreeMWare sounds good. It implies the freeness of the software, and everyone knew what VMWare was (presumably), so they know what it does.
:) Strange as that may sound...
plex86 is perhaps *too similar* to plain ol' "x86" for people to actually remember it
Hmm perhaps a better name would have been VirtPC or something along those lines?
HelpGeeks - don't bother visiting, it's not worth it! Really!
God forbid it might end up on the impulse buy shelves at a gas station next to such great products as the J.I. Goe and Mighty Morphin *Space* Ranger action figures.
A technical question: will these OSes run under dosemu? AFAIK, they're real-mode OSes, and thus should run in a hardware 'virtual x86' on a 386 or higher. Has anybody tried them? What about Xenix or other ancient real-mode Unices?
How can you mistype 86? Haven't you had enough practice with {vi,emacs,ed} /etc/X11/XF86Config? :-)
--
Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
If anyone has seen Mendel Rosenblum's (main guy behind VMWare and also a Stanford grad) Stanford lecture on VMWare you'd have to agree that he acted little like a scrouge. He wouldn't even answer some simple questions by saying: "Ooooo... I can't tell you that... we spent a lot of time thinking about that and I don't wanna give it away" etc...
In any case... FreeMWare (now Plex86) will rock.. I tried some dev code and it's a great start. Give it another 6-8 months and it'll be competitive with VMWare.
--
GroundAndPound.com News and info for martial artists of all styles.
Is anyone here actually using FreeMWare/plex86? How well does it work at the moment?
11.0010010000111111011010101000100010000101101000
This didn't apply to unix and GNU/Linux, did it?
Something like plex86 should be simpler than GNU/Linux. Its job is much more specific - working round a few inadequacies in the x86 architecture, rather than writing a whole operating system and applications from the ground up.
perl -e 'fork||print for split//,"hahahaha"'
Great, now Plextor (The undisputed king of SCSI cdroms) will sue their asses off ;)
Actually, the real reason they changed the name is so they wouldn't have to put up with the crap in the comp.emulators.freemware newsgroup with fools who think it is another WAREZ emulator group.
Let's take a look at recent posts in the group.
Pokemon Roms
BEST ROM STIE ON EARTH. UP AND RUNNING
Free CallWave Internet Answering Machine
Want Traffic? 8.5 million pages enough?
***FREE MOBILE CALLS*** This works! 9997
{{IT's FUN! THERE IS NO FEE TO JOIN!!||
Yes, that's right 5 out of 6 posts are general spam, and the other post is a WAREZ rom site.
hmm...-----Transmission Complete----- If you want to email me...Don't
it seems whenever anyone talks to much about "what should we call it", like bands or people doing software projects they're really thinking about their interview with Lary King, not making great software.
call me an asshole, it's just something i've noticed. i say less bullshit, more code.
-Jon
this is my sig.
LyX has *no* comparable proprietary product. For that matter, I can't think
of one for TeX, either (LyX uses LaTeX to print. It is *not* a front end
for LaTeX [anymore].)
Oh, wait; there are a couple of commercial knock-offs, but Scientific
Word and the other one are years behind LyX in usability and function.
If you need to
a) write your equation without reaching for the mouse
b) be able to edit from the keyboard, and
c) see your equation displayed
LyX *is* the leading edge. (Note: older versions of Word on the Mac,
1.0-5.1, could do a&b, or c, but not all three at the same time)
And as for speed? There was a feature I used regularly in word (insert a single character of greek/symbol) that wasn't in lyx. I mentioned it on the developer's list. Within a week it was part of the main code base. This was about four years ago--around the same time that this feature became awkward to use on Word . . .
The name change seems to be intended to differentiate itself from VMware. FreeMWare is just too close and sounds like the cheap ripoff of a better product.
See the linux.com interview for more on the topic.
There comes a time in every man's life when he must say, "No mother! I do not want any more Jell-O!"
Anyone know the difference between the way these two programs work? I think VMWare has a patent out on its method of executing two operating systems... anyone know what the details are for sure?
Then came Transmeta and Crusoe. This CPU has "hardware" just in time compilation of X86 code, which means that the cpu compiles the x86 code to Crusoe native code before executing, and saves the compiled code in a cache. The cpu discards old compiled code in the cache, which stops the cache from growing beyond limits.
These techniques could be combined, by doing jit compiling of x86 code to x86 code (ie. coping the code to a cache and adding breakpoints to the compiler at every instruction which isn't compiled before or discarded from the cache). This is fast, since no "real" compilation is necessary. On the Crusoe the compilation is much harder since you compile to another instruction set. If this is possible, running a guest OS on a linux machine should be very fast and smooth, and all this could be done in user mode, without kernel support. As more of the guest os code is "compiled", we could discard (or page out) the "interpreted" code (the original os code) thus saving memory for the cache. The memory usage of vmware has disappointed more than one user.
RFC1925
I see too much bytching going on here. 'plex86' is a fine name for the project. It's a virtualizer that lets you run several concurrent copies of the OS, each thinking it has it's own 80x86 processor. Lets play the name game until we get something short and unique!!
Several concurrent copies of 80x86 OS.
Multiple copies of 80x86 OS
Multiple 80x86 OS
Multiple x86 OS
multiple x86
multiplex86
plex86
Good enough!
.sig: Now legally binding!
That's a desperation approach because the hardware is broken. AMD and Intel should be pushed towards fixing the few hardware problems that require this hack. This will eliminate the need for scanning, breakpointing, and emulating in a hypervisor, which will make such programs much, much simpler and cleaner. IBM has had this right on their mainframes since System/370, and it's extremely useful in the mainframe world. You really can run VM under VM under VM. Better, you can run the stuff that's not trusted in a separate virtual machine, where it can't do too much.
The
new name "plex86" is derived from the (pseudo)words multiplex and x86. Many
users had requested a new name; one that is short, easy to remember, and
directly relates to the function of the software.
From what I see, plex86 (flex your muscles?) seems less easier to remember than FreeMWare. Also, since this software is supposed to be a hardware emulator, why slap the 86 across it? I'm pretty sure the alpha ppl would get this working on their boxes soon enough, not to mention the PPC dudes.
--
We all know the _real_ question here:
Is plex86 is easier to say than VMWare?
plex-eight-e-six = 4 syllables
V-M-Ware = 3 syllables
followed by the tongue-twister-test:
Be scared and beware VMWare's fare.
Rexx and Beck's plex86 flex best.
No contest - plex86 is harder to say. Harder to type? Hmm..a closer call.
plex86 - mostly lowercase letters, but the numerics on the end complicate matters. plex876 plex86 plex86 plex76
VMWare - All letters, but the change in case (though in two sections), makes it harder to type. VMWare VMware VMWare VMware
Too close to call, obviously.
--Conclusion--
Well, VMWare has it, by virtue of being easier to pronounce.
Of course, the actual question was is it easier to remember? Is what easier to remember? If you're not going to make sense I'm going home *slam*
I've a friend who went for some job interviews with VMWare, and believe it or not, VMWare is actually making a profit, a rare accomplishment in this dot-com world.
Did these guys really do their research before renaming themselves? Ericsson already has a programming language called "Plex" (used on their AXE exchange switches). I expect they own the trademark (etc) on it too; although I don't know for sure. Anyway - you'd have to expect problems in the future. Poor choice by the FreeMWare guys.
Actually, according to someone I know who was an intellectual property lawyer, numbers, while not registerable as trademarks in themselves, are sufficient to cause conflict between one company's trademark and another's in the same area of business. E.g., if I have a car called the "Bob 9-3", Saab may be able to claim (at least in the US) that it infringes on the registered trademark "Saab 9-3". In fact[IANAL&TIAUA (I am not a lawyer, and this is an unverified anecdote.)]:
It seems that when IBM changed the name of the System/3 family to AS/400, they had to pay an undisclosed sum to the current sole holder of a registered trademark consisting of a sequence of letters followed by the digits 400, used to refer to automatic data processing equipment. Care to guess what "automatic data processing equipment" they were talking about?
The Atari 400.
How's that for funny?
spawn_of_yog_sothoth
Another possible reason for the name change is because it sounds so similar to VMWare. To avoid legal problems in the future, they changed the name.
I should also mention that FreeMWare/plex86 is not a hardware emulator. It allows you to virtualize the x86 chip through software to run multiple operating systems on one CPU, even though the x86 architecture has no hardware virtualization. This is similar to what you can do on mainframes like the IBM S/390, although on a much smaller scale (I doubt anyone could run over 4,000 instances of Linux on an x86 chip).
It's actually explained right on their web site. "The goal of the FreeMWare project is to create an extensible open source PC virtualization software program which will allow PC and workstation users to run multiple operating systems concurrently on the same machine".
If you want hardware emulation, check out Bochs, which was written by one of the founding authors of FreeMWare/plex86.