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Java For BeOS

Posted by timothy on from the not-dead-yet dept.

Daniel Mark writes: BeUnited (beunited.com) today made it public that Java 1.4 will be released for the BeOS." It's an interesting interview for more than the Java angle, though.OpenOffice, ssh2 ... BeOS fans will have toys for a while yet.

33 comments

  1. Dying OS by jonknee · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sounds like a great mix--two highly hyped products that haven't delivered. :P

    1. Re:Dying OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      given your definition of delivered, neither has linux

    2. Re:Dying OS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it's an ex-OS

  2. Beos.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only OS deader than *BSD

  3. At this point, it's vapor. by rjh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Remember--a year ago, maybe eighteen months, Be promised its users that the J2SDK for Be was done. They basically committed themselves to a pact signed in the blood of their unborn children that J2SDK would be in people's hands by that year's end.

    Never happened. And up until the day Be folded, they kept on claiming J2SDK was on track and wasn't delayed.

    If BeUnited wants me to believe J2SDK is going to be released for BeOS, the way to do it is simple. Release it.

    Until then... no offense to the BeUnited guys. But like the song goes, "won't be fooled again."

    1. Re:At this point, it's vapor. by whee · · Score: 1
      But like the song goes, "won't be fooled again."

      Don't you mean the George W. Bush saying:

      There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.
    2. Re:At this point, it's vapor. by soulcuttr · · Score: 1
      Essentially (and sadly, perhaps), I think you're right. This 'big announcement' is really nothing more than a statement of intentions to support Java, which is something we have heard before.
      From the article:
      Simon (bu): Well I am happy to announce that beunited.org is officially working on porting the Java 2 Standard Edition to BeOS
      There is reason to be optimistic that we'll see it actually happen, though, as Simon claims that they now "have a full working build system under BeOS." (although what a 'full working build system' is is somewhat ambiguous). I don't suppose there's much to be done about this news except to keep watching. Like you say, I'll believe it when I see it -- but this news does give me hope.

      -Sou|cuttr
    3. Re:At this point, it's vapor. by tpv · · Score: 2
      It's not just vapour, it's BeUnited vapour.

      BeUnited has attempted a great number of things, many times, but I'm yet to see anything actually be produced in all those years.

      A lot of well meaning people have put a lot of time into the organisation, each one trying to take it where they wanted it to go, but from where I sit, it doesn't appear to have ever actually gotten there. All they've managed to do is change direction a number of times, and issue some announcements.

      I wish them well, but the track record at BU is pretty horrible.

      Disclaimer: I was (very briefly) on the BU committee a number of years ago, and was a member of a couple of BU projects that never went anywhere.
      I have my own ideas about how BU should run, and they're just as likely to fail as anyone else's.
      I'm only slightly involved in the Be community these days, so my opinion is probably biased quite heavily by the past actions of BU rather than the current ones.

      --
      Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
    4. Re:At this point, it's vapor. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As George W said

      "Fool me Once....Shame On....... Shame on you...... duhumanahhumanu....ya fooled muh can't get fooled again" :p

      anyone else see that?? better AC this

  4. As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by zaqattack911 · · Score: 1

    I used to run linux on PowerPC (apple G3) hardware, now they had claimed to port over java to ppc. However they haven't ported over the "Just In Time" compiler which basically compiles your java apps on the fly when you run them.

    Basically this leads to anything java being god aweful slow.

    Although BeOS is x86, I don't know how different the OS is... I seriously hope they do the JITC as well, otherwise java is just not useable.

    --noodles

    1. Re:As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by Glytch · · Score: 2

      Basically this leads to anything java being god aweful slow.

      Aw, hell, it's too easy. I can't say it.

    2. Re:As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by zaqattack911 · · Score: 2, Informative

      don't gimme the old "java is slow" anyways BS.

      I have done extensive testing, and it's not true all the time.

      I have written things in java that are about as fast as a C++ counterpart.

      It's java Swing that I have a problem with.

    3. Re:As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As of JDK 1.3, hotspot is REQUIRED for the build. You cannot have Java without a JIT anymore.

    4. Re:As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by zaqattack911 · · Score: 1

      your dead wrong buddy,

      check out linuxppc the latest 1.3.1 java has no JITc.

    5. Re:As long as they also port over the JIT compiler by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM has a developer kit for Linux on the PowerPC that comes with their excellent mixed mode JIT
      Get it here
      (You want the Pseries and Iseries Kit)

      Regards
      roberto at spock dot cl

  5. Re:Beos.... (I'll bite) by jpt.d · · Score: 3, Insightful

    BSD based operating systems are as popular or more popular than other unices. Eat my apples :p

    --
    What we see depends on mainly what we look for. -- John Lubbock Now search for that bug slave!
  6. what is the status of Open BeOS by Gaurang · · Score: 1

    Reading all the enthusiasm for BeOS users even after the OS became extinct, seems like BeOS was really an excellent OS.

    I just visited the OpenBeOS project site, and they have nowhere really mentioned the status of the project.

    Can anybody point me to a working version of BeOS? Where can it be obtained? I would like to give it a try.

    Thanks.

    --
    I have found a solution to Riemann's Hypothesis, but have run out of spac
    1. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Download from here: http://www.bebits.com/app/2680
      45 MB for the OS, 17 MB for the developers tools, and 8 more MBs to update the 5.0 OS after installation, to 5.01 and then 5.03.

      Be aware that BeOS was never tested against Pentium4s and AthlonXPs (Be killed the product before these CPUs came out). BeOS wouldn't boot on most P4s, while it will never boot on XPs. There *are* patches and hacks for both these two CPUs, and while they are solving the problem, they are quite involved and if you do not know what you are doing, you won't get it boot properly...

    2. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by Gaurang · · Score: 1

      Thank you for the info.

      I saw the site, and it offers a 43 MB download for Linux. Just put it into the boot parition, and then make a boot disk, and boot off it - It says.

      So does that mean, this is just the kernel? Where's the userland? So ok i will boot off the BeOS kernel, but I dont have any software binaries for BeOS...that BeOS may require to run - like the GUI manager, shell, setup files, etc etc etc.

      Where can I obtain that?

      Or that does not matter?

      (I know I should have tried this out before asking you...but I am a newbie so I just wanted to make sure :) )

      Thanks

      --
      I have found a solution to Riemann's Hypothesis, but have run out of spac
    3. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by SilentBob · · Score: 1

      That 45 Mb download gets you everything you need. I haven't tried it off of linux, but I've used the windows install before, and I've been running Be as my main OS for almost 5 years now with no problems. GUI, web browser, mail, etc all come with it. If you're running linux, you'll be fine in Be.

    4. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by bluFox · · Score: 1

      i have n't seen the linux installation ,but if the windows installation is same as that of linux , that file is a "file systems with in a file" once you mount it , you will have the necessary apps inside that file system

      --
      ~561
    5. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by reverius · · Score: 1

      Coming from the world of Linux/Windows and other mainstream OSes, you may not be familiar with an OS that is capable of this. BeOS is actually only 45 MB. That's right. The entire OS, GUI, and all apps that come with it (including web browser, e-mail client, sound apps, C++ IDE, media player, editor, etc) is only 45 MB. Try it out! Amazing, isn't it? :)

      It actually works by un-tarring into the /BeOS folder (it has to be that folder, afaik) on an ext2 (or ext3, possibly) FS. The total size is 500 MB after un-tarring, because the image file that contains the BFS partition (Be File System) has lots of free space. You can download programs and other stuff. I recommend BeShare. Read about it (in a writeup I wrote) at Everything2.

    6. Re:what is the status of Open BeOS by swdunlop · · Score: 1

      Alive, kicking and marching relentlessly. OBOS Status To be frank, the project has progressed further than I expected; they have already achieved a fairly sound file system module, and there have been reports that the printing service works as well. Hopefully, they will make it to release before the OS starts to "age", avoiding the fate of GNUstep, which has faded to obscurity despite achieving compatability with most of the OpenStep standard.

      One major benefit of microkernel operating systems has come to light with the OBOS project: ease of reverse engineering. Since each of BeOS's modules communicate using a simple messaging API, it has been possible for the BeOS team to replace existing services in BeOS with new ones for testing purposes.

      --
      Weapons of Mass Analysis
  7. RE: BEOS/Java by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At this point, isn't it like stuffing a Diehard in a Yugo?

  8. BeOS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, I guess this is good news, but I still can't find a good ssh2 client for BeOS personal edition that doesn't use BONE, or a good email program that features IMAP-SSL (other than Mozilla Mail).. those aside, I'm really enjoying BeOS.

  9. Now they all work for Apple? by melquiades · · Score: 2

    Remember--a year ago, maybe eighteen months, Be promised its users that the J2SDK for Be was done. They basically committed themselves to a pact signed in the blood of their unborn children that J2SDK would be in people's hands by that year's end.

    Apparently, when Be folded, those same people went off to work at Apple -- whose Java 1.4 for OS X will be available at the end of September.

    Oops. Maybe they meant September of 2007.

    Actually, there's been no "blood of unborn children" pact -- Apple has been judiciously, maddeningly vague about the release of 1.4, and the September thing was only a guess from one of their project leads on a mailing list. Still, I can't help but feel that Apple did learn some lessons from the work done at Be after all....

  10. Re:Beos.... (I'll bite) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As popular as Xenix, Unixware and Minix, maybe.

  11. Re:Beos.... (I'll bite) by j3110 · · Score: 2

    A lot of windows code was taken from BSD... look in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc :)
    (substitute winnt for windows on 2k or ntxp)

    One could argue that at least 10% of windows is based on BSD. If so, it's more popular than Linux :)

    I'm not even going into how much of Linux is BSD.

    BSD is the code cow of the industry: everyone takes something from them.

    --
    Karma Clown
  12. Where to look by eexlebots · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here is where you look for it's status:

    http://open-beos.sourceforge.net/status.php

    They have quite a bit done, considering the task ahead of them. You can even use some of the replacement parts now (if you're brave ;) )

    --
    ***
  13. Re:shameless plug by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aren't you the troll that usually shows BSD/Linux/Amiga usage declining with falsified facts and everything?

    You're hilarious. Why no statistics this time?

  14. Re:Beos.... (I'll bite) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not even going into how much of Linux is BSD.

    At least, MS obtained the code legally, unlike a certain other operating system

  15. Be and Java the ultimate combo by /^Neil/ · · Score: 0

    I've always thought that Java on the fastest x86 OS ever made would be an amazing combination. I wish them luck. Right now OSX is the only OS that come fully equipped with the latest JVM, plug-ins, Java WebStart etc. Java on Linux is a joke. Installing Java, the plug-ins, and Java WebStart is a pain. As a result most Linux users don't have all three installed. Sun's distro for Linux needs some serious work. Just search the newsgroups for questions about installing Java. Sun needs to work better with other companies to make Java on the desktop a reality.

    Neil