A New 'Linux-Based' OS?

nick++ writes "I was browsing iwin's site (iwin is a German company who is supposedly making some formerly-slashdot-mentioned Amiga-compatible machines), and found Xetos. According to iwin, 'Xetos is an operating system based on a Linux kernel which was extended by many components and features.' For example, '...there is a special Amiga mode included which allows you to use most of your older Amiga software.' I wonder if any of these "extensions" are GPLed?" Also, does "based on" mean we're looking at a kernel fork? Or is this just another new Linux distro? If anybody out there has tried Xetos, please let us know what it's like. Thanks.

Comments

Re:What license/Where's the source?

[Travoltus]

That and it has a very suspect item at the bottom of the page:

Xetos WSS: Single CPU Version for Workstations
Xetos WSD: Double CPU Version for Workstations
Xetos SVS: Single CPU Version for Server
Xetos SVD: Double CPU Version for Server
Xetos SVQ: Quad CPU Version for Server
Xetos Phantom: Special version for iPhantom workstations

I hate to remind anyone but Linux is scalable, automatically, to any of those configurations. It is automatically a workstation and a server, depending what daemons you have running, and by recompiling the kernel you get SMP support. Why would this OS be splitting itself into all these different versions...
unless...
they were planning to close-source major portions of it and sell it..?

I'd keep an eye on this pile of embers.

iWin?

[IanCarlson]

Puh-leeze. I wouldn't believe it for a second. Even Squid ( Amiga Rumour Mill ) thinks it's bull.

The terminology doesn't match up with real technology. If this thing really existed, it would be very popular. Oh yeah, and the HTML was done by the "CEO" of the company. What it seems to me they're doing is taking the rumours flying around (Linux Kernels, New Boxes) and creating a hoax. Turning it into the iMac of Amigas. And if you send money? theyWin.

And then, of course, you have to wonder about the "new" distro they're creating. What would the point be? RedHat's Rough Cuts CD has had a fully fuctional Amiga distro for quite a while. It would be stupid to create another distro to do the exact same job of another one already much more accepted.

Don't tell me someone is taking this seriously.

Ha!

[Signal 11]

I have a linux-based toilet. It's fully open-source, although it sometimes crashes, requiring unclog.sh (it's equivalent of fsck) to be run. We're having trouble finding developers. The code base is still alittle messy, but we're certain once we make the system boot cleanly that'll change....

*groan* How many "linux-based" products can we have that have little to do with linux but are, infact riding the "open source / free software paradigm"(tm)(c)(r)??

--

Absolute Nonsense

[DrPsycho]

I try not to get emotionally involved in these reports, but this time I can't help it... and I apologize in advance.

iWin shot its credibility down the craphole when it started making grandiose claims about creating a next generation Amiga computer. As the Amiga market, desperate for any kind of light at end of this long dark (and exceedingly depressing) tunnel, began to examine their product specifications... they began to realize that they were being fed a load of bullshit. I think some of this was thrown on up on Slashdot way back when.

iWin was creating an nextgen Amiga system, and yet their sales did not include either Kickstart hardware ROMS (standard Amiga equipment), or a copy of the operating system. Amiga Inc. was never contacted, and as such could not (and did not) officially lisence their tech. iWin continued to plead it's legitimacy, but (I'm not going to cite specifics, I'm just writing quick) more and more holes began to appear in their story.

I think it's fair to say that anyone who has followed the iWin story is convinced that they're full of shit. This feels like the "company" is just taking their hoaxing of the Amiga Market and throwing it in the face the larger Linux community.

Don't believe the hype.

The i-files

[Hanno]

One of the first things that came up when searching for the iWin CEO name on the net was this: http://kleinbus.org/~zza/iwin/iwin-eng. html It's an interesting list of strange facts about iWin.

------------------

Fake fake fake

[wct]

Iwin have been floating around Amiga circles for the last few months promising Amiga clones that have *never* turned up. A short history:

• Pictures from their website (including a *ahem* saucy lady) were found to be nabbed from another website
• They put up supposed "binary patches" to some of their already released software. On examination, these turned out to be PaintShop Pro undo files.
• While they claim to be a large company, it was found that all their web pages were done by one Martin Steinbach, who happens to be their President!
• Shortly after this revelation, his name was removed from the META tags
• They said they were negotiating for the rights to Commodore's brand name with Tulip, a claim refuted by Tulip.
• They then said they were sold to some German company...
• ...before resurfacing following a salvage effort by some "former employees"

Speaking of former employees, Martin Steinbach's former employer (whose company appears on the "business partners" section of the Iwin site) was contacted - he said he had dealings with MS, and recommended nobody else do the same.

Finally, if you're not convinced, here's a post from Matthias Ettrich on comp.sys.amiga.misc describing the Iwin press conference held to announce their Amiga product line:

This morning, I attended the Iwin press conference in Unterhaching.

Although in theory, 23 people should have come (there was room for 30, and according to [1], "7 places are still available"), there were only *three* guests (and I hadn't even bothered to apply for an invitation), the other two being from http://www.amiga-news.de/ (a more detailed report should appear there tonight).

Martin Steinbach arrived with nothing but ten copies of the Iwin "press kit", consisting of printouts of the PDF files we already know (product specs and the five-year roadmap), plus two sample ads ("Would you like this to be your new girlfriend? - Everything you were dreaming fo for such a long time" and "High end computing for game-console prices! Las amigas vuelven en casa..."). There was no video (as promised on [1]: "Iwin - an introduction") and no "Iwin Insurance 1.0" or "Iwin VideoStore" presentations.

We had a three-hour talk with Martin. Unfortunately, he failed to give a single convincing answer during that time. He claimed that the Iwin custom chips were basically UAE source code cast in silicon and that the sample chip design and production was done mostly for free by their hardware partners. He tried to explain the fact that he is a Merant employee with tax reasons (about the photos posted at compcity.nl, he claimed that some of them showed the Merant office, while the others showed the actual Iwin office, and the Merant pictures "should not have been published"). Regarding Tulip and the "Commodore" name, he stated that the price doubled from 18 to 36 million (he didn't specify a currency - I believe he meant Austrian Schillings, as he is from Austria) after an interview was published early. He said that "black boxes" will be shown during the Indianapolis show on the upcoming weekend, but made conflicting statements about the meaning of "black box" (just empty boxes vs. working beta hardware) and that they would not attend HEW due to problems with AInc. Germany. Regarding the fake files in the download section, he refused to give an answer and told me to ask Rue Ann instead.

The Holiday Inn lunch buffet was okay. Of course, most of the seats remained unused. :-)

I left with lots of promises (he wants to send me the missing video, a *working* PowerSE demo CD and tons of info material) and the uneasy feeling of having been lied to for three hours in a row.

It basically looks like he's an attention starved underachiever trying to get as much attention on his hoax as he can. In that sense, it looks like he's succeeded.

Daniel.