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BeOS r4.5 released

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the download-the-fun dept.

Eric S. writes "BeOS r4.5 is available at BeDepot.com. I'm not sure if its officially released yet, as there is no information about it on any Be website, but if I can get it it's released. Consequently, none of the updated features are disclosed yet. "

3 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. Feature list.... by pev · · Score: 3

    Not true. For updated compatibility, examine :
    http://www-classic.be.com/support/guides/beosrea dylist_intel.html
    The actual features (Apart from the extra harware compat) while not actually stated explicitly, have been mentioned at various stages in Be newsletters etc.

    Having been using the release for some months now I can heartily reccommend it. If I can only get emacs-20 ported ok I'll be a very happy chappy.

    ~Pev

  2. How so? by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 3
    The fact is that if they wanted to, they could support G3 macs, there is no question about that. The fact is also that once they support the current generation of g3s they will always support the current generation of g3s, they may not support G4s or future G3s but they will support current G3s.


    How could they do this without using reverse-engineered specs? They need specs from _Apple_ to guarantee compatibility, and as other posters have pointed out, they aren't getting them.


    It's not different than being on Intel in that respect, in fact you are guaranteed that if you want to support newer Intel chips you will probably end up writing some code.


    Um, no. Or at least, you don't have to. You could dig out an old copy of Windows 3.1 and it would run on your brand new Pentium III, because the architecture is completely backwards-compatible (which is both a blessing and a curse, but that's another story). Now, any _application_ that, say, used SSE would be in trouble (because of data lost during context switches), and you could certainly increase efficiency by modifying code for the new processor, but the OS wouldn't _break_. Such is not the case, I am told, with G3-based systems.

  3. Re:The straight poop by webslacker · · Score: 3

    Jean Louis Gassee said in an interview that for Be to make BeOS run on the G3's, he needed all the tech data from Apple. He also says that it would not be too difficult to reverse-engineer everything they way the LinuxPPC people did, but that it's not good for a company to do "hacker-ish" stuff when they're trying to maintain a professional corporate image.