Walking Through SkyOS 5.0 Beta

Hexydes writes "TechIMO has published the first preview of the next-generation SkyOS platform. The article includes a first-look at what users can expect in the next version of SkyOS, a review of how development has progressed from previous versions, and many screenshots." SkyOS is a free operating system for x86 systems; it looks very polished for being "mainly (99.9%) a one man project."

Comments

Screen shot

[Anonymous Coward]

Screen shot

Re:Has anyone tried running this in VMWARE?

[Sklivvz]

Basically RTFA! The whole test is done with VMWARE... also the screenshots are done using that.

Re:For something small..

[p4ul13]

I guess if one man can show people a fully functional OS that he wrote pretty much on his own, he could definitly land any programming job he wanted. Maybe it's to build a nifty portfolio. Maybe it's intended to make a couple extra bucks (seems he's managed to sell some copies to developers). Maybe it is jus to see if he could do it.

Would you or I do this? Probably not (I know I wouldn't), but I'll give this dude credit for what he has done here.

Mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

The server is running slow so here is a mirror. Pasted Anonymously so as to not karma whore:

Many would say "thinking outside the box" is an overused cliche, but the developers with the SkyOS project would be the first to challenge such an assumption. Spearheaded by Robert Szeleney, the group of part-time coders is furiously hacking away at producing an operating system with one of the most intuitive graphical user interfaces ever. Gone are misconceptions about conformance. SkyOS serves as a reminder to GUI developers that the current status quo will only suffice for so long.

About SkyOS

SkyOS started life in 1996 as a small operating system project written from scratch for the x86 architecture. As underground support grew, the project rapidly evolved into a full-fledge, freeware platform. Sure, it certainly is not Linux or Windows, but those with an insatiable appetite for tweaking and bleeding-edge development will probably come to love SkyOS over the upcoming months.

While a wide variety of hardware support still remains minimal, SkyOS does deliver features commonly found with commercial operating systems: 32-bit processing, symmetric multiprocessing, virtual memory, memory protection, multitasking, multithreading, hardware 2D acceleration, TCP/IP networking, PPP support, and much more. Given the small size and part-time nature of the core development staff, SkyOS has came a rather long way in a short amount of time.

The real centerpiece of the project is the graphical user interface. With the bulk of low-level coding already established, the SkyOS team has recently transitioned to developing a high-performance GUI capable of delivering a unique desktop experience. Just as with the OS layer, the GUI includes many impressive features: 32-bit color depth, hardware acceleration (as applicable), a message passing subsystem, and even preliminary OpenGL support.

Sure, I could write volumes about the technical aspects of the SkyOS core, but it seems the development team is already well ahead of us journalists. A thoroughly documented SkyOS manual and SDK are already available, packed full with detailed information. What would an operating system project be without an adjoining documentation project as well?

SkyOS 5.0 Beta Release

Following a few emails with Kelly Rush concerning ATI driver support, I found myself in a position to receive a preview copy of the SkyOS 5.0 Beta release. Never being one to turn down free software, I quickly snapped at the opportunity, plus secured TechIMO an exclusive first look at the operating system. Following several days of testing, SkyOS 5.0 represents a true evolutionary step from the current version 4.x installation.

While I will refer to this release as a beta build, the version I received was more typically aligned with a pre-beta development build. Since initial receipt of the code, the development team has opened up a SkyOS beta program for those interested in testing the operating system during the next few months. A one-time purchase of $30 includes a SkyOS 5.0 disc and technical support via a beta forum. Once finalized, SkyOS 5.0 will be free as with previous releases, but the developers needed to cover expenses for supporting the beta test program, thus the small fee. Only 100 spots were allotted, and those are being filled fast!

Installation

Installing SkyOS seems painless enough, assuming you already have experience with Linux or another Unix-type platform. While several options exist, my installation was successfully completed using a hard drive with two partitions (SkyOS install files and SkyOS install drive) and a simple boot floppy running a preconfigured version of the popular GRUB bootloader. I also installed SkyOS under VMware 3.2.1 with little trouble, though a few minor changes were required within a text configuration file to successfully detect the VMware graphics subsystem.

Once booted, the installation routines look fairly generic. Most options are clearly d

Mirrors coming soon!

[Hexydes]

I'm sorry everyone, we didn't know we'd get Slashdotted! We're working on getting some mirrors up for all of you.

QUIT STEALING OUR BANDWIDTH! =D

Re:Mirrors coming soon!

[Hexydes]

Ok, here is one mirror, though I don't know about the bandwidth supply on it, so be careful:

http://skyos.lynx-tech.biz

They intend to release the source..

[Ayanami Rei]

once they get it to the point where they think people will be able to contribute to it in a way that is meaningful to the core team. They are apprehensive about having to take patches/requests from the public yet. Or maybe they are embarrased at the state of the internals! :-)

In the meanwhile, they had the SDK and DDK which will get you very far.