AtheOS Fork Brings BeOS on Top of Linux

Eugenia writes: "Yup, Bill Hayden has forked AtheOS by using its app_server and Interface Kit (along with some other of its kits, like the filesystem layer) and ported it on top of the 2.4.x Linux kernel, without the need for X11. He already has the graphical environment working, and he also has some BeOS apps recompiled and working under Linux. Why BeOS applications? Because that was the reason of the fork. Exactly because AtheOS and BeOS have similar technical principles (highly multithreaded, truly preemptive, similar C++ API etc), by modifying AtheOS's API to match BeOS, Bill is trying to resurrect the BeOS. By doing so this way, Bill is already way ahead from the other two efforts to ressurect BeOS, OpenBeOS (dependant on the 'clean' NewOS kernel) and BlueOS (which depends on Linux and X11)."

Comments

Re:EXACTLY!!!

[uchian]

Wha??? EVERYONE cares about network transparency these days! (even if they don't realise that they do)

I hardly know any windows users nowadays that don't access their email through a web interface, so they can access it from any computer they happen to be on. Outlook Exchange is the next thing up, which true - is still a corporate thing at the moment.

But think - how long will it be before your wordprocessor is running on a remote machine and you just have a dumb terminal? What would be the advantage of this? Well it doesn't take much hardware to run a dumb terminal, compared to having to carry around a hard disk, cdrom, lots of memory, etc. etc. etc

And the extension to this is distributed computing - I mean true distributed computing, where your wordprocessor uses other peoples run time if it needs it, and theirs does likewise. Eventually you end up with the idea of one _massive_ computer, distributed around the world so that it never goes down in one go, which everyone connects to using dumb terminals.

Network transparency is the future, for these and for numerous other reasons (control your fridge from your computer! Yay!)

In the same way that "Only a geek sends text messages & emailswas 5/10 years ago, the same is happening now with network transparent computing.

We can't help it if we are ahead of fashion ;-)

Re:X sucks anyhow

[Arandir]

Right now I am running XFree86-4.2.0 on FreeBSD-4.5. I have to interact with a Solaris-8 box. With X, I am able to run Clearcase, Rational Rose, Framemaker, etc. under FreeBSD. That's awesome.

If all you're doing is running some game under Wine under Linux on a standalone box in your dorm, then you don't really need X. But the rest of us appreciate the power and simplicity that is X.

Re:Copy of the message

[CrosseyedPainless]

Here's how I read this:

After evangelizing the hell out of his baby, the developer
has completely lost interest in the project. He has
totally abandoned all the people who became interested
and contributed code, and furthermore,
his ground rules say that no one else can touch his
core code.

One of these people said, "Enough!", took the code as he
has *every* right to, and made his *own* project out of it,
leaving the original project firmly and safely (albeit very
lonely) in the hands of the original developer.

It is somewhat of a misnomer to call this process "forking";
the new project is completely different from the base code.
Different in implementation, different in goals.

You feel old on Slashdot? I remember when anonymity
wasn't just for trolls and crapflooders. You really
don't have a clue in my book.

Re:Copy of the message

[EricLivingston]

Is that what open source is coming to? Don't we have any respect anymore for the people that innovate? If open source development continues to be a race to see who can stab the other person in the back and take credit for his/her work it WILL NOT improve quality.

The people who say "that's how the GPL is designed to work" really don't have a clue in my book.

I think it's extremely sad you feel that way. I feel exactly the opposite - events like this are what breath life into OSS and stand as shining examples of the power and strength of the GPL. That an individual can stand on the shoulders of great achievers and reach even higher ground, fully supported both legally and morally in an environment of innovation and creativity is incredible and should serve as both a warning and an example to companies mired in the morass of IP lawsuits and closed source development.

This is darwinism at its finest - survival of the fittest ideas in operating system design and implementation. What we are witnessing here is pure evolution of thought and concept.

Consider if natural evolution had the "attitude" you seem to espouse - what if the first organism to "figure out" replicating DNA had a lock on it, with "Mother Nature" prohibiting other organisms from taking the idea and running with it because it would "stab the other [protozoa] in the back"? Or worse, because the original organism "closed sourced" it and retained IP rights to it :) We wouldn't be here arguing about it, anyway...

I say - Great Job Bill! This is what the GPL and OSS are all about. Let's see what he puts together and consider it valuable intellectual research and contribution into the world of OSS OSs. May the fittest concepts prevail in the end.

Re:X sucks anyhow

[Arandir]

The simplicy and power of typing setenv DISPLAY mickeymouse.window.manager:0.0

Yup! Just try doing that on Windows and you'll see the simplicity of it. My login script sets my DISPLAY, so no matter which remote machine I login to, I can display locally. Really nice and completely effortless.

Or the simplicity of the most retarded cut and paste model yet developed?

Cut and paste is a policy. By rights, it shouldn't even *be* in X. It belongs in Motif, GTK+, Qt, etc. A policy-less GUI has its disadvantages, but the advantages outweigh them.

Or the power to drag and drop between almost no applications?

Don't blame X. Blame GTK+, Qt, Motif, etc. A policy-less GUI means it won't impose a standard on you. Because of this, a KDE program can drag and drop from my FreeBSD box to a program running remotely on my Solaris box. Otherwise there would have to be some standard out there with enough teeth for Sun to adhere to. A standard with that much teeth in it is detrimental to my freedom.

As it is now, it doesn't matter which which X server is running, my X client is fine.

...having a fully functional computer (called X-terminal) being fully subutilized because the system was planned with a thin client in mind which ended up being a thick client?

Oh! If only I could subutilize Windows the same way! If only I could push that everpresent IExplorer running in the background off to another machine... If only I could compile in the background without dragging my MystIII down...

A subutilized CPU is a wonderful thing! Well worth the money. But if you want a fully utilized CPU, the answer is simple. Just downgrade.