I won't say anything about how fun it was to program for BeOS in general, especially if you consider (at that time) the horrendous loops one often had to jump through to grok Windows programming.
The BeAPI's really were fun... I don't think lack of drivers was going to be a real problem for BeOS. Lack of developers, yes, and if you can't dual-boot your beigebox PC from Windows to BeOS (because of MS' reluctance for people to be allowed to compare, i.e. 'shop for their OS, as consumers'...) then I don't see how you're going to really attract coders.
Except, it really was fun to program again, with BeOS. What a great breath of fresh air, sorta...
"BeOS combines the best features of all the major operating systems: the ease-of-use of the Macintosh, the power and flexibility of Linux, and Minesweeper from Windows."
Karma be damned, that is funny.
I honestly can't think of an "oh, and maybe..." response. The above statement is complete.
Sitting there, blinkenlights and all. Haven't used it in years, but of all the computers I have owned in my life, thats really only one of the few that I don't want to do away with.
Strange attachment to it... I always had issues with Amiga freaks and their platform worship, and being a bit of a Unix weenie I'm not really inclined to consider myself a machine fetishist, so attachment to that blue monolith, which I literally see every day as I get in my chair at the office, feels... quaint?
Still, I suppose I'll find a use for it. 66mhz dual-proc ppc601's (is it, i forget?), and it runs smoothly every time I've turned it on recently. I guess Linux wouldn't be out of the question for it, but I can't help this nagging feeling that there could be -other- things to run on that poor, simply nice little machine...
iPaq is nice. But with the Zaurus you have a lot more hacking potential, and a wider range of distro styles to choose from... so at least check the Zaurus before you go iPaq...
I think it would be good if Microsoft stayed, but changed its ways.
Imagine them opening the source code to their earlier operating systems, such as Win98?
I know its far-fetched and sounds surreal, but give the Linux/FOSS camp another years worth of onslaught and pillage, and I think a few kneecaps might hit the floor in the "Big Boys" department...
The compatability was with the tools they already had, not with the hardware.
In other words, they didn't want to add a 3 month re-write of their code-producing tools to the timetable... and thats the only reason.
Its a bit of a snafu, but I guess it doesn't actually result in such a big hit... and who knows, maybe they'll "fix" it in future OS releases somehow...
Hell yeah. This means I can load up not only all my favourite utils, but the source as well.
There is nothing quite so useful as the Sharp Zaurus PDA's, well set up, well configured, and running in your pocket.
Having a complete Linux install, source and all, wherever I go, for any particular practical reason I have it, gives me what I've wanted since the day I unwrapped my first MIPS Magnum pizzabox and plonked it on my desktop: a portable, power Linux workstation.
So yeah, please. I'll be getting a 2GIG SD card for my Zaurus as soon as I can find one locally... looking forward to it.
I dunno about all that but OS X doesn't seem slow at all to me.
Try running LinuxPPC on your mac some day, and you will see a huge difference in general snappiness.
I'm not saying OSX is un-usably slow, or even slow at all - heck my Rev. A tiBook, beaten and aged, is still all the computer I need, and I am very productive with it... but I do have to admit that in all my computing experiences, OSX seems to be the one OS that is more 'acceptably mediocre', performance wise, than any other.
On the register side of things, I can't for the life of me remember the full details, but I believe that the ABI for OSX only uses a sub-set of the PPC's full register set, and thus this means more swaps in/out... that there are 'unutilized registers' in the PPC architecture when it is running OSX.
This is separate from AltiVec, which is an instruction set, not just a register setup...
.. but I thought that the primary 'reason' for OSX slowness was that Apples binary format is designed to maintain 'compatability' with the register set of the 68k processors, and in fact they're not using all the PPC registers in a way that is most efficient?
I haven't looked into it for a while (mod me down for being uncertain if you like), but I seem to recall that there were serious leaps and bounds still left in OSX performance, with a change to the ABI register use, potentially, in the future...
Yes, Microsoft may be doomed, I thought everybody here has predicted it already. Why do you people care so much?
This is a false perception. Not everyone on slashdot wants Microsoft to fail, or is predicting it. Just the most vocal members.
You don't hear from "pro-Microsoft" people, simply because the "anti-MS" people are louder, more 'righteous', and more willing to aubse their essential liberties in order to start a flame war.
I believe that most 'sane' geeks truly understand that Microsoft is a company, like any other, and performs under traditional company rules... pretty well, too.
But times are changing, and the discourse you may observe on these times, here at/., is intended to give us all a picture of what may come to pass... not what will...
I detest Microsoft. I haven't used their products in years, and I stopped purchasing anything that will in any way give them more control over the computing industry. But, if they were to change their ways, and demonstrate that as a group (rather large), they are capable of cleaning up their act, I would give them a second chance.
But not until "ms_windows.tar.gz" cleanly compiles, straight off the 'net, with my own compiler (not theirs)... heh heh...
It is my opinion that the future of Open Source is "General-purpose codebase re-applied to Custom Computing Scenario".
how can releasing your code as Open Source be rationalized to management?
1. Release your code. 2. Manage your contributing developer community. (Sourceforge) 3. Grow the codebase by doing #2 well. 4. Establish good working relationships with customers, customize the codebase for them. (Customers == people who want customized work.) 5. Add a services department that does #4, and only #4, when you've got #2 under control.
OSS is the grand unifier which sets the standards - pretty high - for everyone. The way you differentiate is by really identifying the needs of your customers and then using the OSS machine to deliver on those needs...
i hope it works, though. they don't have any successful case stories on their site... if i were running it, i'd make all my successes very publicly known...
A privately held, publically funded corporation whose sole mission statement is to challenge any and all patents granted by the corrupt and decrepit Patent System.
This is outrageous! Our civilization has produced too many lawyers... Rule of Law leads to oppression!
I picked up a copy of the Agnula CD at LAD this year in Karlsruhe, along with a couple other audio-specific LiveCD's (one from SUSE, and another whose name I can't remember, alas), and I have to say that they all ran pretty well.
I work for a pro audio equipment mfr. I was pretty impressed with these distro's... SUSE's ran the smoothest on my hardware from first boot, but once I got it running Agnula was more interesting. It had more stuff bundled on-board, from the scientific/academic sound-hacking with PD/Max and Supercollider, to a grass-roots collection of LADSPA plugins... once I'd found my way around/usr/share, I spent the good part of an evening hacking around with synthesis and sound production...
Definitely worth downloading and spending a few hours investigating, if you're a sound/synth geek. (I am, so consider the bias...)
This market has a lot of mac die harders, proven products and support. Plus, a lot of it can be done right on a powerbook.
Nothing stopping Agnula from running on a Powerbook.
If you factor in the fact that the linux ABI is able to use PPC registers that Mach-O doesn't allow, then you might find a good reason to do it, as well...
I could see, in 6 months time, Agnula/PPC (or some such linux distro) could be the new audio production system to be running... especially if they maintain the live-CD front, and thus make it super 'safe' to have a computer again (i.e. the hard disks are only used for storage of datafiles, not operating system, not virus cesspools, etc...)
OSX and Apple have a lot of sexiness going for them, that is for sure, and nobody can say anything about the long history that Apple has with making computers usable and useful.
But you should never ignore that this 'hacker spirit' which made Apple the company it is today, is alive and well in so many different markets... and this sudden new "Power From the People" operating system, and its many applications, sure does propel a lot of hacker spirit...
hey, for a 20 minute jam session, nice and easy to use, dead quiet, it'll do the job.
and in between takes, turn the disk on and 'flush to archives', while everyone gets their drinks in order...
seems to me that linux' expansion and utter utility have achieved a sort of 'n-th' order. in 6 months, all this code is gonna have gotten a nice chunk of attention, which is just what OSS needs...
All this hoop-lah about CD formats is a straw man, while the "Media Industry" moves on other fronts to secure its ability to make digital delivery possible... and restricted...
Oh, all this 'terrible' fuss about CD's... and in 6 months time, we've got Columbia Spam directing us to their.99c mp3 download sites...
Slashdot Mirror
look
but the thing is, no. i like that freakin' bebox. its not just a computer any more, its something to look at in my room.
like a sculpture, or a painting on the wall.
that bebox is one ultra-quiet powerfan away from being art i'd turn on just to look at.
Plus, it was fun to write drivers for BeOS.
... I don't think lack of drivers was going to be a real problem for BeOS. Lack of developers, yes, and if you can't dual-boot your beigebox PC from Windows to BeOS (because of MS' reluctance for people to be allowed to compare, i.e. 'shop for their OS, as consumers' ...) then I don't see how you're going to really attract coders.
...
I won't say anything about how fun it was to program for BeOS in general, especially if you consider (at that time) the horrendous loops one often had to jump through to grok Windows programming.
The BeAPI's really were fun
Except, it really was fun to program again, with BeOS. What a great breath of fresh air, sorta
"BeOS combines the best features of all the major operating systems: the ease-of-use of the Macintosh, the power and flexibility of Linux, and Minesweeper from Windows."
..." response. The above statement is complete.
Karma be damned, that is funny.
I honestly can't think of an "oh, and maybe
Sitting there, blinkenlights and all. Haven't used it in years, but of all the computers I have owned in my life, thats really only one of the few that I don't want to do away with.
... I always had issues with Amiga freaks and their platform worship, and being a bit of a Unix weenie I'm not really inclined to consider myself a machine fetishist, so attachment to that blue monolith, which I literally see every day as I get in my chair at the office, feels ... quaint?
Strange attachment to it
Still, I suppose I'll find a use for it. 66mhz dual-proc ppc601's (is it, i forget?), and it runs smoothly every time I've turned it on recently. I guess Linux wouldn't be out of the question for it, but I can't help this nagging feeling that there could be -other- things to run on that poor, simply nice little machine...
Whatever you do, before you buy an iPaq, check out the Sharp Zaurus first. You might find a C860 or so, in the U.S., pretty cheap ... and there is nothing quite so cool as running something like Pocket Workstation or Open Embedded, or any of the other various distro's for Zaurus that are available...
... so at least check the Zaurus before you go iPaq...
iPaq is nice. But with the Zaurus you have a lot more hacking potential, and a wider range of distro styles to choose from
I think it would be good if Microsoft stayed, but changed its ways.
...
Imagine them opening the source code to their earlier operating systems, such as Win98?
I know its far-fetched and sounds surreal, but give the Linux/FOSS camp another years worth of onslaught and pillage, and I think a few kneecaps might hit the floor in the "Big Boys" department
The compatability was with the tools they already had, not with the hardware.
... and thats the only reason.
... and who knows, maybe they'll "fix" it in future OS releases somehow...
In other words, they didn't want to add a 3 month re-write of their code-producing tools to the timetable
Its a bit of a snafu, but I guess it doesn't actually result in such a big hit
Hell yeah. This means I can load up not only all my favourite utils, but the source as well.
... looking forward to it.
There is nothing quite so useful as the Sharp Zaurus PDA's, well set up, well configured, and running in your pocket.
Having a complete Linux install, source and all, wherever I go, for any particular practical reason I have it, gives me what I've wanted since the day I unwrapped my first MIPS Magnum pizzabox and plonked it on my desktop: a portable, power Linux workstation.
So yeah, please. I'll be getting a 2GIG SD card for my Zaurus as soon as I can find one locally
In short: Sonic Screwdriver!
Okay, I did a little google, and here's what I found. Hopefully it will provide you with some further insight into what I'm talking about:
Unsanity.org article about the Mach-O ABI
I dunno about all that but OS X doesn't seem slow at all to me.
... but I do have to admit that in all my computing experiences, OSX seems to be the one OS that is more 'acceptably mediocre', performance wise, than any other.
... that there are 'unutilized registers' in the PPC architecture when it is running OSX.
...
Try running LinuxPPC on your mac some day, and you will see a huge difference in general snappiness.
I'm not saying OSX is un-usably slow, or even slow at all - heck my Rev. A tiBook, beaten and aged, is still all the computer I need, and I am very productive with it
On the register side of things, I can't for the life of me remember the full details, but I believe that the ABI for OSX only uses a sub-set of the PPC's full register set, and thus this means more swaps in/out
This is separate from AltiVec, which is an instruction set, not just a register setup
I haven't looked into it for a while (mod me down for being uncertain if you like), but I seem to recall that there were serious leaps and bounds still left in OSX performance, with a change to the ABI register use, potentially, in the future
You can't become a 'monopoly' over a 'market' unless you are a 'company' first, so yeah ... pedantry ...
Yes, Microsoft may be doomed, I thought everybody here has predicted it already. Why do you people care so much?
... pretty well, too.
/., is intended to give us all a picture of what may come to pass ... not what will ...
... heh heh ...
This is a false perception. Not everyone on slashdot wants Microsoft to fail, or is predicting it. Just the most vocal members.
You don't hear from "pro-Microsoft" people, simply because the "anti-MS" people are louder, more 'righteous', and more willing to aubse their essential liberties in order to start a flame war.
I believe that most 'sane' geeks truly understand that Microsoft is a company, like any other, and performs under traditional company rules
But times are changing, and the discourse you may observe on these times, here at
I detest Microsoft. I haven't used their products in years, and I stopped purchasing anything that will in any way give them more control over the computing industry. But, if they were to change their ways, and demonstrate that as a group (rather large), they are capable of cleaning up their act, I would give them a second chance.
But not until "ms_windows.tar.gz" cleanly compiles, straight off the 'net, with my own compiler (not theirs)
It is my opinion that the future of Open Source is "General-purpose codebase re-applied to Custom Computing Scenario".
how can releasing your code as Open Source be rationalized to management?
1. Release your code.
2. Manage your contributing developer community. (Sourceforge)
3. Grow the codebase by doing #2 well.
4. Establish good working relationships with customers, customize the codebase for them. (Customers == people who want customized work.)
5. Add a services department that does #4, and only #4, when you've got #2 under control.
OSS is the grand unifier which sets the standards - pretty high - for everyone. The way you differentiate is by really identifying the needs of your customers and then using the OSS machine to deliver on those needs
yeah, that looks like what i'm thinking about.
... if i were running it, i'd make all my successes very publicly known ...
i hope it works, though. they don't have any successful case stories on their site
A privately held, publically funded corporation whose sole mission statement is to challenge any and all patents granted by the corrupt and decrepit Patent System.
This is outrageous! Our civilization has produced too many lawyers... Rule of Law leads to oppression!
Ardour is getting there...
I picked up a copy of the Agnula CD at LAD this year in Karlsruhe, along with a couple other audio-specific LiveCD's (one from SUSE, and another whose name I can't remember, alas), and I have to say that they all ran pretty well.
I work for a pro audio equipment mfr. I was pretty impressed with these distro's
Definitely worth downloading and spending a few hours investigating, if you're a sound/synth geek. (I am, so consider the bias...)
This market has a lot of mac die harders, proven products and support. Plus, a lot of it can be done right on a powerbook.
...
... especially if they maintain the live-CD front, and thus make it super 'safe' to have a computer again (i.e. the hard disks are only used for storage of datafiles, not operating system, not virus cesspools, etc...)
... and this sudden new "Power From the People" operating system, and its many applications, sure does propel a lot of hacker spirit ...
Nothing stopping Agnula from running on a Powerbook.
If you factor in the fact that the linux ABI is able to use PPC registers that Mach-O doesn't allow, then you might find a good reason to do it, as well
I could see, in 6 months time, Agnula/PPC (or some such linux distro) could be the new audio production system to be running
OSX and Apple have a lot of sexiness going for them, that is for sure, and nobody can say anything about the long history that Apple has with making computers usable and useful.
But you should never ignore that this 'hacker spirit' which made Apple the company it is today, is alive and well in so many different markets
hey, for a 20 minute jam session, nice and easy to use, dead quiet, it'll do the job.
and in between takes, turn the disk on and 'flush to archives', while everyone gets their drinks in order
seems to me that linux' expansion and utter utility have achieved a sort of 'n-th' order. in 6 months, all this code is gonna have gotten a nice chunk of attention, which is just what OSS needs
that blue chick in the catsuit is *sooo* hot...
yeah. lets talk about it again in 6 months. you win... until then.
Bah! CD's are Godawful piles of trash, and environmentally damaging.
You know how much oil it makes to churn out a Shania Twain album?
In short, CD == Garbage.
I'm saying that CD's are a *DEAD FORMAT*.
... and restricted ...
... and in 6 months time, we've got Columbia Spam directing us to their .99c mp3 download sites ...
All this hoop-lah about CD formats is a straw man, while the "Media Industry" moves on other fronts to secure its ability to make digital delivery possible
Oh, all this 'terrible' fuss about CD's
The point is, "nacturation", that CD's are dead. This is a big straw man.
True Media Corporations Aren't!