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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)."
Just the thought of being rid of X and into the uber sweet arena of Be's font handling would be swell.
But what about somesort of compatibility for existing X apps? There's way to many great apps out there to just junk....
Or do we have to run X for that?
$sig=$1 if($brain =~
That depends on how you define 'way ahead.'
People like me who really like BeOS admire the entire structure of the operating system, from top to bottom. I have zero interest in running FrankensteinBeOS, which is what this sounds like. Therefore I am content to work on the OpenBeOS project, which may be 'way behind', but should have a nicer outcome (for people who like BeOS). The project is coming together quite nicely for something so young.
(It's easier to see really far when you can stand on the shoulders of great engineers.)
"And like that
Wasn't one of the touted features of BeOS its low latency, single-user kernel optimized for multimedia stuff? Demos had multiple video players all playing smoothly, while 3-D animations occured in other windows.
How well can the Linux kernel deliver such performance?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Here's how I read this.
"I began to suspect that others would fork this project first if I didn't do it fast enough."
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. This seems to be a recent development of the past 2 or 3 years. Linux would never have gotten off the ground had this been the prevailing attitude back in the day. "In my day..." Gosh, I'm sounding old, but here on Slashdot, I feel old.
(Posting anonymously so the darn kidz don't fork my project)
Which is exactly why things such as this split happen, and should happen. He can do what he likes, but if it doesn't suit enough people, they'll go elsewhere and make their own. So whether he likes it or not, this is how things should be. I'm glad to see someone doing something interesting with AtheOS.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
My neighborhood is having a block sale this weekend. In my garage there is 10 pentium PC's with memory ranging from 24-64 megs and the processors from 60mhz to 233mhz. I was going to just toss them in a landfill to make some space.
I thought of trying to sell them, but windows is way overbloated to run effectively on any of these beasts. I happened across a BE cd that I bought last year and thought I would try it. To my amazement these machines run REALLY nice!
I haven't tried AtheO/S yet, but I plan to give it a spin tonight.
I appreciate what this guy is doing, but seriously folks, why the hell is everybody so intent on making some sort of BE/Linux hybrid? I support OpenBeos for the following very good reasons:
1) Has over 100 developers now
2) Intent on rewriting original Be api so that compile and eventual binary compatibility is attained
3) Uses an alternate liscense to GPL so that open source is maintained without frightening away commercial developers due to fear of *GPL Contamination*
4) Already has contacts with commercial developers and distributors (albeit kept well under wrap right now)
5) Misc. Beos fans don't want to touch Gnome/KDE with a ten foot pole, and I know it would be way too tempting to port them for application compatibility purposes. Beos booted on my PII400 in 15 seconds, and was fast as hell. Would a BE/Linux combo keep Beos' vastly ease of use and configuration, or would it inherit Linux's most dreaded characteristics?
I'm rambling like a rabbit with the flu. But these are some valid concerns. Check out OpenBeos right now and sign up if you have the time and skills.
how long will it be before your wordprocessor is running on a remote machine and you just have a dumb terminal?
;)
-9 years ago actually, and thensome. A computer lab used by the English department in my old high school used a system just like that. There was one server, a whopping 486, and everyone used a word processor remotley (the name escapes me, but it made Word Perfect 5.1 look modern). The terminals were all old cheap 8088's with nice burnt-in monochrome monitors, and it all ran on an Novell network. And it was fast and worked great, except for one time I was at the second node and knocked out the network cable and everyone mysterously froze
When I look at labs now, with all thier fancy P4's at every station, it almost makes me cringe. All that power gone to waste for no more than Word. It's a sin I tell ya!
I've been on the developer list for Atheos for almost a year now... It's amazing how everyone is assuming anything about Kurt... He hasn't posted his comments on the forking of Atheos or for that matter if he will let other people hack at the kernal etc... No one on the list and now on slashdot has even given him a chance to tell his side of the story. If people consider silence to be apathy then I guess thats it.....
Keep in mind that Aqua is the all-singing, all-dancing, vectorized, resolution-independent, Altivec-blasting, next-generation UI engine. As such, it's doing a lot more work that your standard blit-the-pixels window manager. Whether you think it's worth it to do things at a higher level like this, is up to you; in my opinion, it is, or will be in a few months. If you've got a 5GHz G5 sitting in your Mac, you might as well give it some work to do....
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.