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Syllable 0.5.4 Released
AtheOSParrot writes "Version 0.5.4 of the Syllable operating system has been released. The lightweight, BeOS-alike is aimed squarely at finally realising the dream of bringing an easy-to-use, free software desktop to everyday users. 0.5.4 is a significant milestone in this direction with the integration of the new desktop, which is completely unimpeded by any legacy X-Windows foundations or toolkits beneath. This is no tin-pot bootloader with bitmaps snapped on; other features include SMP, networking, ATA/ATAPI, audio & video, 2D acceleration, GCC, USB & a 64-bit journaled FS with attributes. With desktop Linux still not having dented the 1% mark, will Syllable be the one to do to Windows what Firefox has done to IE? Also reported on OSNews.com, Golem.de and Linuxfr.org."
actually I was...
No, really I have a fully functional self supporting 32 bit qnx clone sitting on my harddrive, including GNU tools, window manager and so on. The plan was to release it into the public domain.
But I also had a runin with Paul Vixie about me 'stealing' software from Chuck Forsberg (I rewrote zmodem from scratch because I needed it communicate with others on the project and my buddy Paul Jongsma released it on newsnet). In the end it boiled down to some definitions in an include file that I re-used, well within the accepted boundaries of fair use but Vixie ruled otherwise and I was too tired to continue the fight. What a witchhunt that was. I got so pissed about the whole thing (and my wife was about to deliver our firstborn) that I swore NEVER ever to release another piece of source code, and I haven't.
Instead, I decided to chase the $ and got quite (in fact very) lucky.
Three cheers for Paul Vixie & Chuck Forsberg, without them I'd probably be penniless and we'd have a free microkernel based os a la QNX.
Incidentally, the project was called 'Unite', and afaik there still isn't anything out there that can hold a candle to it.
But I really couldn't care less. This was back in mid 94, you can still find some newsgroup references to the whole thing.
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