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Review of AtheOS 0.3.7
MAIC-32 writes: "OSNews features a very informative and detailed review of AtheOS, the promising 32-bit GPL Operating System. The article describes the installation process, the GUI (screenshots included), usage, internal design, developement and much more."
I've always found the AtheOS approach an intriguing one, and quite reminiscent of Windows. They build and optimize for the GUI, rather than the command-line kernel with a GUI built on top (like an X11 + *NIX approach).
It seems that one of the real growing pains for AtheOS is going to be that it's difficult to capture anything but local desktop users. It's not a good model for remote display; just like Windows.
At the end of the day, I think it'll be a great desktop OS, but it will have the same growing pains that Windows did with remote display and cross-platfrom compatibility.
Maybe it's fun to write something for the HELL of it, and not worry about it being useful. I'm sure whoever came up with linked lists back in the 60s was confronted by someone saying "they're so much slower than arrays - what's the point?"
Who gives a rat's ass if it's not useful to you? It's useful to the author, because he's learned a lot doing it, and he doesn't owe you shit. He probably doesn't give a fuck what you think about it, either.
Probably the best part about Atheos is that he ported Khtml (the konqueror rendering engine) to his OS for me atleast, and i imagine many others, a good browser is my number uno priority. Its good to see he ported such a sweet engine to his OS i can imagnie technically it would have been reasonably difficult Can we also stop with the "why another operating system?" comments? I bet linus heard all of the same drivel when he wrote linux, it didnt apply then, it doesnt apply now As far as im concerned, ill never critize anything i cant do better (its a stupid policy.. but thats me) and this guy has done alot better than most
Microsoft IIS is to webserving as KFC is to healthy eating
I'll be very tempted to make the switch from Linux just to be reminded of the good old days of the Amiga.
//Wegge
Altogether, I wonder whether AtheOS is sufficiently different from Linux/X11 to attract much interest. If kernel, driver, and application development for it were orders of magnitude easier, I could see switching. But given that it seems to be built using fairly traditional software technologies, why would it be all that much better?
Time will tell, but I won't be an early adopter of this one...
The author doesn't want you to just use his OS. He's building it for himself, not for you or anyone else. He wont accept code (except bug fixes) into the main OS. He will only accept driver submissions.
good man :) first rule of art,
:)
create art for yourself
Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
I could probably go on, but I won't. There is more on it's way too, specifically the desktop re-write will see some of the sexier features put to good use, and the media framework should rock. Anything specific you want to see first though?
Syllable : It's an Operating System
Ah, it's nothing more than another attempt for a nerd to get laid; it's meant for chicks. From the atheos.cx page: "I belive this consistency is important so the user doesn't have to start from scratch each time she learns a new program to know."
Q: Where does the name come from? Are you aware that atheos means "without god" in Greek?
A: The name is short for Athena (the Greek goddess of wisdom) and OS and have nothing to do with atheism. I was not aware that "atheos" indeed was a word in any language when I named the OS but figured that out later. Just think of it as a name. It is not supposed to mean anything.
I think that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever read. Which open source candidate would you prefer we support, Mr. .Net luser? Linux running KDE? We'll get right on that.
Consider this: 17 candidates, one with position A, two with B, 1 with C, 3 with D... vote FOR something, not against it. Choose an OS based on how much you like it, not whether it's the poster-child for Open Source or not.
Even for a troll, that was pretty weak.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
If we take your premise:
Can we also stop with the "why another operating system?" comments?
and add your premise:
[...] ill never critize anything i cant do better
We reach the conclusion: you can do better "why another operating system?" comments than these?
Go on then, prove it
__
Arse
The problem with your little political analogy is that there's no one winner in the OS "wars." We're not looking to decide the fate of the nation. There's plenty of room for many different systems.
Besides, the rest of the world laughs at the American political process, which has no representation for half your population. 51% of 50%- excellent way to choose your government for four years.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
No. I don't see your point at all.
I think it's better to support one candidate in the open source OS world and not several.
Why should that be limited? Who gives a fuck if Linux (BSD/Amiga/AtheOS/...) doesn't have 100% market share? Or 10%? Or losing users left and right to each other? Once they're GPL'd (or BSD'd/Artistic Licensed/...), they can never die. What benefit is there to having only one open source OS, other than having all the best developers? If you didn't like it, you'd be stuck with Windows anyway. Choice is good. I tend to doubt most sane people are going to try AtheOS, not like it, and say "oh, well, that was an open-source OS, boy did it suck, guess I'm going back to Windows." Chances are they'll like parts of it, dislike others, and get curious about what else is available.
"If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he's sorely mistaken." Bush on bin Laden
> it'll be interesting to see how much development increases
On the core OS, not much.
http://www.atheos.cx/contribute.php
"I don't accept changes or patches to the core OS but I will happily accept patches to existing device drivers, new device drivers, utilities, applications and plugins of most types.
I want to keep the development of the kernel, native FS, GUI, desktop manager, and maybe a few other system components to my self"
rant
No, Eugenia is Greek... See her web page!
Kurt Skauen started the project with the intent of making an Amiga clone. He says in the FAQ, however, that there isn't much resemblance these days besides the window borders. The article did call him an ex-Amiga coder, he must like the look.
This is one of those things that I keep meaning to check out. Maybe now I will.
Who the *hell* is talking about writing a kernel using Perl?
As for C#, as a matter of fact, there *are* people trying to build a kernel using C#.
And for more robust than C++, that isn't very hard.
To mention *the* one language that I think should be used for kernel programming, Ada.
It's *way* more stable than C++, has the same plexibility, and if you are satisfied with the stability of your code, you can supress any/all of the checks that you want.
--
Two witches watched two watches.
Which witch watched which watch?
I don't think anyone has even read this guy's page. He does not want, and will not accept contributions to AtheOS. It's a hobby project for him, for fun. He doesn't want it to be the next great OS, he just wants to learn.
I like what this guy says. It's a hobbyist OS and he has no intent to compete with Windows for popularity, etc. IOW if AtheOS is missing a feature and he doesn't want to add it, it ain't going in. Cool! It's about time people stopped giving a crap about what others want.
:)
:)
I for one, though, think GUIs are evil, and I am releasing my own Linux distribution to address this issue. It's called Luddite Linux. Here are the features:
* No GUI
* No mouse driver
* No menu-driven apps
* The first distro will be released on CD-ROM but future releases will be released on punch cards.
* No mail apps. Only a weak minded fool uses a mail app. Telnet to your POP server at port 110 and learn the commands to read your email that way!
* No FTP apps. Why can't you just telnet to port 21 and download it? rz and sz are debatable so I put 'em in just because I like to err on the user convenience side
* No emacs. Has drop down menus. Use vi!
* I did include an assembler but no compiler. C is for script weeneez. Machine language is where it's at, baby
My new OS will be out Any Time Now[tm]
Thanks
Ada catches way more errors at compile time than most other languages.
It also has quite a bit of runtime checks to make sure that nothing nasty happens.
In that, it's much like Java.
However, usually, if an Ada program compiles, the only bugs it has are logical ones.
I would say that Ada programs are more stable than C++ programs because of this.
And yes, great programmers can create C++ programs that are just as stable as the average Ada program.
The difference IMO is that an *average* Ada programmer can create programs much more stable than another programmer of the same level, that is working with C++.
And yes, there is a kernel in Ada, it's called AdaOS (http://www.adaos.org/)
--
Two witches watched two watches.
Which witch watched which watch?
But if you take some guy who *doesn't* know the C++ inside and out (and that *is* the most common case), and what kind of a program would he write?
The same programmer would create a much more stable program in Ada.
Ada allows you nearly all the freedom of C++, with a lot more cool stuff beside, without you having to worry about many things that you will have to in C++.
Ada saves you a lot of the trouble that C++ programs suffer from.
Oh, and BTW, the only Ada implementation that has a garbage collection (AFAIK) is the JVM one.
--
Two witches watched two watches.
Which witch watched which watch?
QNX can be taken back as quickly as it was given. i would much rather give my mind share to something thats free speach than beer. And these days, the beer tap is running dry and could be taken back at any time. I still don't understand why QNX is giving away their os, is there business sense in it.. will it last?
> * No emacs. Has drop down menus. Use vi!
IOW, the parent should have been mdded up as insightfl, rather than funny . . .
hawk