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Beta Release Nears For BeOS-inspired Open Source OS Haiku (computerworld.com.au)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the pure-poetry dept.

angry tapir writes: Just over 17 years since the project launched, and more than 18 years since the last release of the operating system that inspired it, the open source Haiku OS is nearing a beta release.

69 comments

  1. 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Like Windows...

    1. Re: 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1970s technology would be linux/BSD.

    2. Re:90s technology by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      It was ahead of its time. You should give it a try.

    3. Re: 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I remember trying BeOS back when it was still a thing.

      It wasn't useful then, and certainly isn't useful now

    4. Re: 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was plenty useful. Basic consumption-style users weren't the target audience.

    5. Re: 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Basic consumption-style users weren't the target audience.

      Indeed, and that's why it failed.

    6. Re:90s technology by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      BeOS was pretty cool in it's day, but it's day was twenty years ago. I'm not trying to be sarcastic there, it really was a very nice OS when it was new, but after nearly twenty years it doesn't look so hot any more.

    7. Re:90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fair enough, but it seems we still have some lessons to learn from BeOS.

      I would be delighted if at the very least, MacOS would adopt the Be filesystem metadata scheme and the UI-always-gets-priority multitasking scheme.

    8. Re: 90s technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BeOS was a pretty big game changer, the problem was just no one coded software for it.

      Was the first OS to ever be used for time encoded vinyls (Final Scratch if I remember well), also had support for SMP back when it was almost unheard of.

      There were a lot of other really neet things happening under the hood that a lot of people were not aware of, everything was hot swappable in BeOS except your video card, motherboard, ram and CPU. You could bring down sections of the OS to replace say a sound card or PCI PATA controller, etc.

      I still have my BeOS bible at home. Even have a license key for Zeta OS.

      I think it has great potential but it's a very nich market. One of the big selling points was it's over all low latency to access hardware. Great if you deal with capturing anything or real time performances but not really something the average user will need. No difference between 5ms and 50ms response from sound card when you are just playing an mp3.

  2. Can I play Bioforge? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just want to know if Haiku OS will have support for my Riva 128 and my Soundblaster 16.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by jd · · Score: 1

      It's open source and thus, by definition, supports whatever you want it to. Same thing we said when Linux came out.

      https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/...

      Looks like anything FreeBSD can do, Haiku can, with a little tweaking. So if your hw has FreeBSD drivers, you can mod them to Haiku. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty, it's really no worse than writing mods for Minecraft.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    2. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      Haiku's support of Nvidia cards is rudimentary (no graphics acceleration) and begins at NV4. However, I'm sure Riva 128 can do standard VESA graphics, so it should work fine. Bioforge requires no hardware accelerated graphics, so VESA isn't a problem.

      Soundblaster 16 is supported.

      But for realz, if you want to play Bioforge, you should just run it using DOSBox.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More importantly, will it run on my BeBox ?

    4. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      It's open source and thus, by definition, supports whatever you want it to. Same thing we said when Linux came out.

      So, if I understand you correctly, it doesn't support anything.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      They do have software....
      https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/...

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could have saved yourself a lot of typing by just saying "no".

    7. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      No.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    8. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Just like BeOS, it suppodts VESA. It used to support some really obscure card, which I just so happened to have. Very happy day.

      I still have a laptop in the attic wih BeOS on it. Cant aay the same for Windows os OS/2

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    9. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by dryeo · · Score: 1

      The problem with VESA on Nvidia cards is the shortage of wide screen support and the difficulty (or impossibly) of patching the BIOS to support wide screen modes, something that is relatively easy with ATI or Intel VESA modes. Other then that, todays CPU's can drive VESA pretty fast.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    10. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      What you are forgetting is that these cards are all SVGA output only. If the monitor accepts SVGA, it's going to handle the 3:4 aspect ratio just fine.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    11. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by dryeo · · Score: 1

      It's still nice if you have a wide screen monitor such as 1680x1050 with a VGA port, to patch the BIOS to output 1680x1050.
      Posted on an OS/2 system running on an old ATI card (though not as old as the ones you reference) using VESA and patched for 1680x1050.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    12. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      That is all completely irrelevant to the context of playing BioForge.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    13. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      So, if I understand you correctly, it doesn't support anything.

      It doesn't support anything and it's not their fault.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    14. Re:Can I play Bioforge? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just want to know if Haiku OS will have support for my Riva 128 and my Soundblaster 16.

      What? You can not expect it to support such cutting edge hardware! Just be glad that it is out so soon!
      Mark my word... next year will be the year of Haiku on the/a desktop (TM)!

    15. Re: Can I play Bioforge? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      It's open source and thus, by definition, supports whatever you want it to.

      No. It supports whatever you have the skill and the time to implement, and then maintain, which is not at all the same as whatever you want.

  3. Only three beta versions will be available. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    Versions 5, 7 and then 5 again.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Only three beta versions will be available. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but the second version 5 release will have a theme change.

      First it was a dream.
      A second release of 5.
      I can't wait for it.

  4. Excellent news. by jd · · Score: 2

    The OS market has shriveled over the years, research OS' aren't contributing much to the scene and the Big Three (Windows, Linux, NetBSD) are showing signs of stagnation.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love that someone with a UID as low as yours would actually include NetBSD in a list called "Big Three". How Slashdot has fallen...

    2. Re:Excellent news. by williamyf · · Score: 2

      I love that someone with a UID as low as yours would actually include *BSD in a list called "Big Three".

      How Slashdot has fallen...

      AnonC, I slightly altered your Quote.

      One one realizes that MacOS and iOS are kinda sorta BSD-ish behind the scenes, and that Android uses the Linux Kernel behind the scenes, one can be sure that those are indeed "The Big Three"

      --
      *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
    3. Re: Excellent news. by BaronM · · Score: 1

      NetBSD4EVA!

      OK, maybe an âoffâ(TM) definition of âbigâ(TM), but if you need an OS for an odd box, NetBSD is the go-to, so itâ(TM)s an important project.

    4. Re: Excellent news. by BaronM · · Score: 1

      fing slashcode... imagine quotes where the garbage appears...

    5. Re: Excellent news. by jd · · Score: 1

      Well, the list wouldn't include FreeBSD or OpenBSD as they're not that popular, VxWorks and QNX are RTOS and outside scope, Android is Linux, Symbiant is dead, LynxOS is too specialized to be Big Three, CapROS is a research OS nobody uses, ditto for Inferno, Open Solaris barely exists, IRIX is dead, Minix is a research OS, I'm running out of names.

      We can exclude SEL4, HURD, SunOS, OSF/1. HP/UX is unlikely to be on as many installs as NetBSD. EROS is extinct. eCos seems to be also. Sugar isn't an OS and seems pretty dead. z/OS is limited to IBM mainframes, wonder how those compare to hobbyists and data centres. Last time I used VMS was in the 90s, ditto whatever the PDP-11 used.

      Whatever else Netcraft might confirm, the competition for third spot isn't fierce.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    6. Re: Excellent news. by jd · · Score: 1

      NetBSD is very popular for mailservers due to its stability and performance under load.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    7. Re: Excellent news. by BaronM · · Score: 1

      VMS still has a hobbyist license program, at least. Iâ(TM)ve got it up both in emulation and on real HW (DS 10). Really a great system, actually, and still shows how security should be done in some respects. The actual crypto may be a bit out of date, but the model is solid fir a multiuser system.

    8. Re: Excellent news. by jd · · Score: 1

      Vax mail had a bug, whereby you could put shell script in the subject line.

      Otherwise, yes, it was a great system. I think it was rated B2 on security.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    9. Re:Excellent news. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The world needs more OS and file system competition.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    10. Re: Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One man's bug is another man's feature.

    11. Re:Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      macOS isn't "BSDish", it contains a small amount of BSD code, namely the command line tools. The kernel, device drivers, file system, graphics systems including UI systems, system start up manager, etc, network stack, all have an entirely different origin, mostly code that was originally written specifically for NeXTStep or that's completely new.

      People who think macOS is BSDish have neither used both. They really are unrelated, and to think otherwise is to think that the 'cat command' is remarkably different in its BSD, Unix, and GNU versions, and that these differences are important and most users would notice them, but nobody would worry about trifles like the entire file system, the layout of the file system, etc.

    12. Re:Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The BSD portions of Mac OS's kernel are taken directly from FreeBSD.

      The Mach project started out as a drop-in replacement for the BSD kernel, there was never any "BSD added on top," in fact it was the opposite - the microkernel code was factored out of the BSD kernel.

      Mac OS is not like other BSDs, but it traces its lineage directly back to original 4.3BSD code. It's as much a BSD variant as any of the others.

    13. Re: Excellent news. by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      Minix is used by Intel's AMT so hardly a hobby OS, and consequently probably more widely deployed than Linux.

    14. Re: Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about Multics? I heard that it is experiencing a renaissance right now.

    15. Re:Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good lord, please no more filesystem competition! I agree about OSes, though.

    16. Re: Excellent news. by crankyspice · · Score: 1

      macOS is a certified UNIX: https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/apple.htm

      Has been for more than a decade: https://slashdot.org/story/88375

      Itâ(TM)s a FreeBSD variant, at least at the kernel level: https://www.apple.com/nz/osx/pdf/OSXYosemite_TO_FF1.pdf
      (âoeThe OS X kernel is based on FreeBSD and Mach 3.0â). Has been from the start: https://youtu.be/Ko4V3G4NqII

      --
      geek. lawyer.
    17. Re: Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      macOS is a certified UNIX: https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/apple.htm

      Has been for more than a decade: https://slashdot.org/story/88375

      Itâ(TM)s a FreeBSD variant, at least at the kernel level: https://www.apple.com/nz/osx/pdf/OSXYosemite_TO_FF1.pdf
      (âoeThe OS X kernel is based on FreeBSD and Mach 3.0â). Has been from the start: https://youtu.be/Ko4V3G4NqII

      MacOS will never be one of "the big 3"... mwuhahahah

    18. Re: Excellent news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > MacOS will never be one of "the big 3"... mwuhahahah

      The major operating systems in use today are Windows, Linux, and OS X.

      Really, if you count Linux & OS X under the "Unix" umbrella, there are only 2 major OS's. Everything else is an also-ran.

  5. Can it run enlightenment? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I did try it. It has no useful purpose.

  6. Can't wait by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Rather than beep
    Or a rude error message:
    These words: "File Not Found".

    Errors have occurred.
    We won't tell you where or why -
    Lazy programmers!

    Chaos reigns within.
    Reflect, repent, and reboot
    Order will return.

    For a new PC,
    Center of my universe,
    I abandon all.

    The code was willing!
    It considered your request,
    But the chips were weak.

    Everything is gone.
    Your life's work has been destroyed.
    Squeeze trigger? (yes/no)

    A file that big?
    It might be very useful.
    But now it is gone.

    No keyboard present
    Hit F1 to continue
    Zen engineering?

    Website has been moved
    We'd tell you where, but then we'd
    Have to delete you.

    The web site you seek
    Cannot be located but
    Countless more exist.

    Aborted effort:
    Close all that you have worked on.
    You ask way too much.

    Windows 10 crashed.
    I am the blue screen of death.
    No one hears your screams.

    Yesterday it worked.
    Today it is not working.
    Windows is like that.

    1. Re: Can't wait by jd · · Score: 1

      Very good, but there are purists around. Can you add a verse with a flower and a season?

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    2. Re:Can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Din't see this coming:
      The printer is on fire!
      Go fetch some water.

    3. Re:Can't wait by uncle+slacky · · Score: 1

      Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared. Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

      --
      Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
    4. Re: Can't wait by uncle+slacky · · Score: 1

      There are a few with nature references:

      You step in the stream,
      but the water has moved on.
      This page is not here.

      A crash reduces
      your expensive computer
      to a simple stone.

      Others here: https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/error-haiku

      --
      Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it.
  7. Well, well, well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds better than TempleOS

  8. Beta Version? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm surprised they made a version just for this guy

  9. the Quake 3 Arena dream system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    defenitely worth trying out these mods Tremulous and Bid For Power.

    rip Lokigames in Tustin, CA and the reason i stopped coding is rip John Reeves "overcode" Hall.

  10. BeOS was way ahead of its time .. by najajomo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Like a lot of other real innovaton, Microsoft tried to strangle BeOS at birth. In this case by leaning on Hitachi to remove BeOS from the boot sequence.

    Microsoft Settles Anti-Trust Charges with Be

    Microsoft Litigation

    1. Re:BeOS was way ahead of its time .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really. It was just QNX with "multimedia" features and it was far less advanced than QNX as far as supported hardware and such.

      Frankly it didn't offer anything that Linux couldn't do better.

      Sure, it was lightweight and fast but so is Linux if you strip out all the drivers and features. BeOS, like QNX, would become a beast pig hog just like Linux once it supported the same things.

    2. Re:BeOS was way ahead of its time .. by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      There is absolutely no connection between QNX and BeOS.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re: BeOS was way ahead of its time .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      BeOS multitasked like nothing else. Windows would be choking, Linux would be choking, BeOS would be chugging along.

      If a new BeOS came about with 20 years of CPU improvements and 20 years of philosophical improvements over the 90s, it could be a powerhouse for general computing. Being fully integrated with a gui unlike Linux could really mean big gains.

    4. Re:BeOS was way ahead of its time .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No shit but BeOS is a QNX wanna-be which was my point.

  11. Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I loved BeOS. Fuck it, I still love it - still the ONLY OS that completely prioritizes the user. When you interact with the OS you can feel it actually listens to you. None of that "wait, I got a huge file to copy, but I'll be with you in a few seconds". No, BeOS has interaction with the user as it's highest priority. AFAIK it is a near-real time OS, which helps with media processing and replay. Also, extremely low latencies, useful for MIDI sequencers and softsynths.

    But I wasn't really happy with what Haiku-OS was doing. The team was working not to create the main working skeleton of BeOS, but rather some ancillary projects like package management. BeOS did not have a package manager. Sure, that's not nice but all I wanted is to at least get to the point of readiness of BeOS, not shoot for the moon.

    And because of decisions like that, after 17 years we're only at a Beta stage. Sad.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    1. Re:Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I loved BeOS. Fuck it, I still love it - still the ONLY OS that completely prioritizes the user. When you interact with the OS you can feel it actually listens to you. None of that "wait, I got a huge file to copy, but I'll be with you in a few seconds". No, BeOS has interaction with the user as it's highest priority. AFAIK it is a near-real time OS, which helps with media processing and replay. Also, extremely low latencies, useful for MIDI sequencers and softsynths.

      But I wasn't really happy with what Haiku-OS was doing. The team was working not to create the main working skeleton of BeOS, but rather some ancillary projects like package management. BeOS did not have a package manager. Sure, that's not nice but all I wanted is to at least get to the point of readiness of BeOS, not shoot for the moon.

      And because of decisions like that, after 17 years we're only at a Beta stage. Sad.

      While PM delayed things, Haiku now has a wide selection of ports including QT apps helping to solve the "no software at launch" issue. Joy. (Who says "Sad." really?)

      https://twitter.com/kallisti5/status/1038451101526384640

    2. Re:Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      BeOS _did_ have a software manager - Be purchased Starcode's "Software Valet" and included that with BeOS.

    3. Re:Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AFAIK it is a near-real time OS, which helps with media processing and replay.

      Except that is not what is meant by real-time OS.

    4. Re:Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by irving47 · · Score: 4, Informative

      True all that. I remember putting it on a Power Macintosh 8600 or 7500 I had access to and watching the windows redraw and play video files while moving them around on the screen was mind-boggling. The same task on Windows and Mac OS 8 or 9 at the time was enough to drop the machine to its knees. It was amazing.

      --
      I had a sucky sig.
    5. Re:Really? Ex BeOS fan, here. by kallisti5 · · Score: 2

      Except those apps didn't have complex dependencies like today's apps. Linux (and other ported) apps expect a large number of dependencies to be filled.

  12. Hardware Support (asking for Lain Iwakura) by Dhericean · · Score: 1

    But will it run on a NAVI?

    --

    Gamma Testing - Where testing is extended to the full user community (AKA Shipping the Program)