The Open PowerPC Platform, etc.
on
Be on the G4
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· Score: 2
The only thing Be can do is wait to see what happens with the Open PowerPC Platform. The only OS meant to run on Apple machines is the MacOS. Sure, there is Linux, but that should also be run on an open platform.
Apple is probably smart to keep everything closed. Those MacOS clones were great for users, but bad for Apple. It all depends on how you look at it.
As for Be, they need "workstation" and "server" versions of their product to bring in more revenue. I know there is a need for a multimedia oriented server OS. If they can do this while supporting both x86 and PowerPC, great. If not, x86 is the only way to go, obviously.
I love BeOS 4.5. The biggest drawback is the lack of apps, so far. Actually, once Mozilla 5.0 is stabile on BeOS, I will be happy with the options for apps, and I do not fear going with someone other than the big names for productivity apps, Gobe and Beatware, for examples.
As long as BeOS makes a platform switch transparent, I would not think twice about switching from x86 to PowerPC.
(Hint for Be: Optimize for AltiVec if you are going to support the G4 processor on an open PowerPC platform)
If you people don't think the MacOS is good enough for the PowerPC 7400, then why don't you start advocating the Open PowerPC Platform?
Anybody can get IBM's motherboard design and do what they want with it. I can imagine some dream configurations using such hardware, and the speed would be great for any OS you choose. Even Mac OS X might be able to run on this open motherboard spec.
It would be extremly cool to tear out the motherboard in the my Dell and replace it with a kick butt board with a G4 on it. How about 2 G4s instead of one?
I am a BeOS user, and let me tell you, a tweaked up BeOS would fly on this thing. Optimize for Velocity Engine, and you will see some amazing stuff out of this OS.
Linux would kick butt too, especially if you are doing a lot of server-side multimedia processing (streaming video, music, etc). Isn't Quicktime Streaming Server supposed to be available for Linux?
I believe that the PowerPC is going to become something bigger than what Apple can control. It is time for Apple to share the PowerPC, and I thank IBM for taking the first step in making it happen.
I hear you. BeOS is much faster (even while doing 10 tasks) than Linux doing one. Linux is a waste of time, because of all the tweaking and kernel building a user has to do to keep things optimal, or even just get working. Hell, I even found FreeBSD more friendly than Linux. And BTW, BeOS can use all my hardware, Linux does not even come close.
BeOS has the best file system in the OS world. This is a journaling filesystem, meaning it is next to impossible to corrupt or lose data on.
The BeOS is going to suprise all you Linux geeks over the next year. I am placing my bets that it will be running on the next Nintendo console (based on PowerPC). The system sounds like it will be cool enough to sell many thousands, not to mention that BeOS will be installed onto all those systems.
The BeOS PPC version is not dead, and may never die. The x86 version works great for me, however.
Thanks for the comments. I heard about some of the NE2000 compatible cards being sort of flaky, but mine works fine under Windows, BeOS and FreeBSD. Just not Linux.
Funny, 4 different linux distributions have recognized my NE2000 PCI card with their default installers.
Even BeOS recognizes my card. Even Windows. Why not Linux? You tell me...
Care to elaborate?
I am talking both on the client and server side. Boot (who cares? me.) and GUI is much faster. Why? I don't know. Communicator takes 1 second instead of 5 to launch, etc. Many of my scripts return much faster under FreeBSD. The point is, I should not have to spend umpteen hours tweaking just to get decent performance. Not to mention builing a new kernel several times over.
You're assuming that Red Hat is Linux. Including all the packages which RedHat installs.
Well, for the majority of Linux users, RedHat is Linux. I don't see much else for distributions around, unless I seek them out (and even know about them first). Same goes for others. Besides, you can't tell me that other major distributions don't give you the sh*t automatically on install. A *nix system is meant to be built up, not torn down immediately after install.
I admin both Linux and FreeBSD boxes, and they're both very nice operating systems. It's people like you who give FreeBSD negative look. Why not *ask* people for help before spitting flames at linux?
FreeBSD is great, but with people like this advocating it.. No wonder it gets bad PR.
I give FreeBSD a bad look? How, it surely is not by pointing out how I have had a much better experience with FreeBSD than Linux. Sure, I throw a couple of opinions in there too, and now I am suddenly a troll. Take a look in the mirror.
As far as I am concerned, FreeBSD has more solid (if scant) drivers than Linux. Example, I tried unsuccessfully for many hours to get Linux to recognize my NE2000 compatible PCI card, including building a new kernal FTPed down. I finally gave up and had a full FreeBSD install downloaded installed, and working in two hours (including X and KDE). I was so impressed!
FreeBSD seems to run Linux binaries just as well as Linux, while the whole OS seems more responsive overall. I don't get the lag I got with Linux. The documentation has been very good, and sometimes my old Linux book helps me with my BSD questions (they are two of the same in many respects).
The FreeBSD FTP install was impressive, I got it right the first time. It was also a very clean install, I did not get the junk Linux gives me in my directories.
I doubt I will try out Linux again within a year or two, maybe never. FreeBSD has impressed me to the point where I have canned my Red Hat 6 CDs.
BTW, I do not like the cartoonish FreeBSD logo. It in no way is representative of FreeBSD. The clumsy, fat Penguin is, however, a great representative of Linux.
P.S. Please moderate this up, I always get stuck with a 1. Thanks.
The Berlin project seems really cool, in theory, and I see they are making some progress. How long is the estimate before the first release?
My experiences with X have been bad. It does not seem to handle anything very graphically intensive well at all (example: using semi-transparent backgrounds on windows is realy slow).
I like Berlin, simply because it is starting over from scratch. I think most of us would agree that X is reaching the end of its life, and is not worth trying to build new technology on top of anymore.
I believe that 3 inch CDs should be the new storage standard. Why?
1. Work in existing CD-ROM Drives (well, most) 2. Small enough drives for 3.5 inch drive bays (if needed) 3. Small enough medai to fit in pocket easily 4. A format that can be evolved easily (recordable, high density, etc) 5. Media will not break easy like a Zip or floppy design. 6. Many more I am sure.
Also, how come nobody has made a DVD drive that is also a CD-RW? Not DVD-ROM, I mean CD-RW. That is what I would buy.
I have worked in John Deere on the factory floor for a summer. I made excellent money, and much of the time, did not work very hard. During a shutdown, I mostly sat on my ass and made $15 dollars an hour. Why? The management totally was disorganized and clueless. I simply had nothing to do, other than sweep (can only do so much of that). If things are this way at John Deere, I am sure they are the same way at GM. John Deere could have been video-taping me sitting on my ass just the same as those GM guys. It is the managements job to supply work and motivation. It was also GM's fault for not settling the contract, and their fault for firing all those people. It is simply the (high-payed) management's job to take care of business. It's their fault for not doing so. I know I was not going to order in more work for myself there at John Deere. It was not my job.
If it were not for the UAW, I know I would not be where I am today, living in Iowa, taking CS, and starting my own business. The UAW has been key in providing good income for my family growing up, and helping out financially during the stikes of the 80's, when my parents had to use food stamps to buy groceries, and many were also getting laid off.
If it were not the UAW, I might be dead, as the excellent medical insurance provided by John Deere (through contract negotiation) helped me stabilize a severe health problem.
All-in-all, I will always see unions as a good thing for all workers. Unions help families, in good and bad times, and that's all that matters.
Who says a union cannot adapt to the demands of the high-tech industry? A union can be most anything you want it to be, just as long as there is solidarity.
You versus the Company, or You and Your Union versus the Company...in a sticky situation, which would you rather have? Of course, situations that would be considered sticky are rare now in the tech industry, but what about a few years from now?
There is more to life than working 80 hours a week for a startup. If my employer expects me to do it "Because every other software engineer is anymore", I would tell them to stick it, no matter who I was working for. If I had a union backing me, I would not have to lose my job over the whole thing, and that would save me a lot of stress. We all know how stressful looking for a new job is, especially if it means moving to another city, or state.
There are a few hardware companies now that are shipping BeOS. BeMachines and AST.
The only company that will be shipping Amiga OS is Amiga.
Advantage: Be.
Any processor can be on an ATX form factor board. Apple could make an ATX motherboard with a Power PC on it, and I could throw it into my Dell case no problem. Saying that Amiga OS will run on x86 is premature.
Any native Amiga app will have to be ported, just like a Be app. Neither is very hard to port. What concerns me is the statement that Java is the native language of Amiga OS. If that is the case, you better start from scratch with your port.
Looks like Be and Amiga have the same ideas, except for that BeOS runs on existing hardware.
Advantage: Be...no matter how good the Transmeta chip might be, if it exists.
BeOS has a larger number of users. I doubt most of those old Amiga users would come back.
Advantage: Be.
What makes the new Amiga OS so much like Linux? It has a microkernal like the BeOS, not like Linux. BeOS is POSIX complient, will the Amiga OS be?
Just the name Amiga reminds me of a dead platform. That is going to hurt them. Who wants to use a previously dead platform? It may be new technology, but as far as I am concerned new Amiga=Zombie.
Advantage: Be.
All in all, the new Amiga platform has a lot of work cut out for it. The way I see it, Be is the main competator, and they already have several advantages. BeOS is great, I would never switch to Amiga anyway.
--Never say never.
EC
Re:Unionization is the only way to get ahead.
on
Home Sweet Sweatshop
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· Score: 1
How about this...
Let's say I have a family, strongly rooted at my current home. I am an IT worker. The company is downsizing while making record profits at the same time.
There are no open jobs in my field in this area, at this time, at my current pay.
Wouldn't you wish you had a union to back you up then? Or would you be happy to move halfway across the country, causing much stress on your family, just so the corporation can make even higher profits.
This may not common today, but in 5 or 10 years it will.
I am not talking about high-end programming here. I am talking about basic network administrators and web design guys. People like that.
EC
Re:Unionization is the only way to get ahead.
on
Home Sweet Sweatshop
·
· Score: 1
Absolutely Joe.
More and more people are going into technology jobs, and generally these jobs are getting easier to learn and perform. Sooner or later it will all even out.
Sure, there is a minute percentage of the people out there who are OUTSTANDING programmers, or whatever, that can demand whatever they want for pay, but what about the other vast majority of the workers out there?
Unions can evolve too. Who says a union cannot meet the needs of the fast-paced technology world?
Also, IT jobs are jobs that cannot just be moved to Mexico because the people who do them have to be half-way educated at least.
IT is replacing some of the factory jobs, but that does not mean that workers rights have to be replaced with nothing.
With the tech industry booming, there is a large new group of workers that have no representation but themselves.
Sure, techies are in high demand, but what is the point of making a high salary if you break it down to dollar per hour and it is not very high? Not to mention compensation for stress, health problems, loss of quality of life. All that needs to be compensated for. Also, pensions, health insurance, vacations, etc.
There needs to be a United Techology Workers (UTW) union or something similar that has a nationwide membership, and has the influence to deal with the big, fast-moving tech corps of today.
I believe the purpose of life is to raise a family, not to work for a company. The purpose of a company should be to provide decent jobs for people so they can raise families, and have a good life.
Soon the excitement of working in a tech job will fade, but the time to unionize is now, ASAP. Unions are a good thing, even though they do not have the influence they have had in the past. A union is meant to be there to back you up if you are getting screwed by your employer, no matter the circumstances. A union will get you better pay, benefits, and job security.
Its the only way to secure yourself from the whims of corporate management.
Slashdot Mirror
The only thing Be can do is wait to see what happens with the Open PowerPC Platform. The only OS meant to run on Apple machines is the MacOS. Sure, there is Linux, but that should also be run on an open platform.
Apple is probably smart to keep everything closed. Those MacOS clones were great for users, but bad for Apple. It all depends on how you look at it.
As for Be, they need "workstation" and "server" versions of their product to bring in more revenue. I know there is a need for a multimedia oriented server OS. If they can do this while supporting both x86 and PowerPC, great. If not, x86 is the only way to go, obviously.
I love BeOS 4.5. The biggest drawback is the lack of apps, so far. Actually, once Mozilla 5.0 is stabile on BeOS, I will be happy with the options for apps, and I do not fear going with someone other than the big names for productivity apps, Gobe and Beatware, for examples.
As long as BeOS makes a platform switch transparent, I would not think twice about switching from x86 to PowerPC.
(Hint for Be: Optimize for AltiVec if you are going to support the G4 processor on an open PowerPC platform)
If you people don't think the MacOS is good enough for the PowerPC 7400, then why don't you start advocating the Open PowerPC Platform?
Anybody can get IBM's motherboard design and do what they want with it. I can imagine some dream configurations using such hardware, and the speed would be great for any OS you choose. Even Mac OS X might be able to run on this open motherboard spec.
It would be extremly cool to tear out the motherboard in the my Dell and replace it with a kick butt board with a G4 on it. How about 2 G4s instead of one?
I am a BeOS user, and let me tell you, a tweaked up BeOS would fly on this thing. Optimize for Velocity Engine, and you will see some amazing stuff out of this OS.
Linux would kick butt too, especially if you are doing a lot of server-side multimedia processing (streaming video, music, etc). Isn't Quicktime Streaming Server supposed to be available for Linux?
I believe that the PowerPC is going to become something bigger than what Apple can control. It is time for Apple to share the PowerPC, and I thank IBM for taking the first step in making it happen.
I hear you. BeOS is much faster (even while doing 10 tasks) than Linux doing one. Linux is a waste of time, because of all the tweaking and kernel building a user has to do to keep things optimal, or even just get working. Hell, I even found FreeBSD more friendly than Linux. And BTW, BeOS can use all my hardware, Linux does not even come close.
BeOS has the best file system in the OS world. This is a journaling filesystem, meaning it is next to impossible to corrupt or lose data on.
The BeOS is going to suprise all you Linux geeks over the next year. I am placing my bets that it will be running on the next Nintendo console (based on PowerPC). The system sounds like it will be cool enough to sell many thousands, not to mention that BeOS will be installed onto all those systems.
The BeOS PPC version is not dead, and may never die. The x86 version works great for me, however.
All you need is KDE for FreeBSD. Or Gnome.
Thanks for the comments. I heard about some of the NE2000 compatible cards being sort of flaky, but mine works fine under Windows, BeOS and FreeBSD. Just not Linux.
Funny, 4 different linux distributions have recognized my NE2000 PCI card with their default installers.
Even BeOS recognizes my card. Even Windows. Why not Linux? You tell me...
Care to elaborate?
I am talking both on the client and server side. Boot (who cares? me.) and GUI is much faster. Why? I don't know. Communicator takes 1 second instead of 5 to launch, etc. Many of my scripts return much faster under FreeBSD. The point is, I should not have to spend umpteen hours tweaking just to get decent performance. Not to mention builing a new kernel several times over.
You're assuming that Red Hat is Linux. Including all the packages which RedHat installs.
Well, for the majority of Linux users, RedHat is Linux. I don't see much else for distributions around, unless I seek them out (and even know about them first). Same goes for others. Besides, you can't tell me that other major distributions don't give you the sh*t automatically on install. A *nix system is meant to be built up, not torn down immediately after install.
I admin both Linux and FreeBSD boxes, and they're both very nice operating systems. It's people like you who give FreeBSD negative look. Why not *ask* people for help before spitting flames at linux?
FreeBSD is great, but with people like this advocating it.. No wonder it gets bad PR.
I give FreeBSD a bad look? How, it surely is not by pointing out how I have had a much better experience with FreeBSD than Linux. Sure, I throw a couple of opinions in there too, and now I am suddenly a troll. Take a look in the mirror.
EC
As far as I am concerned, FreeBSD has more solid (if scant) drivers than Linux. Example, I tried unsuccessfully for many hours to get Linux to recognize my NE2000 compatible PCI card, including building a new kernal FTPed down. I finally gave up and had a full FreeBSD install downloaded installed, and working in two hours (including X and KDE). I was so impressed!
FreeBSD seems to run Linux binaries just as well as Linux, while the whole OS seems more responsive overall. I don't get the lag I got with Linux. The documentation has been very good, and sometimes my old Linux book helps me with my BSD questions (they are two of the same in many respects).
The FreeBSD FTP install was impressive, I got it right the first time. It was also a very clean install, I did not get the junk Linux gives me in my directories.
I doubt I will try out Linux again within a year or two, maybe never. FreeBSD has impressed me to the point where I have canned my Red Hat 6 CDs.
BTW, I do not like the cartoonish FreeBSD logo. It in no way is representative of FreeBSD. The clumsy, fat Penguin is, however, a great representative of Linux.
P.S. Please moderate this up, I always get stuck with a 1. Thanks.
--EC
--My URL is soon to be.
This is a great new idea! A way to make some decent money...
EC
No, Win9x does not support SMP. Never will.
NT does (not very well), however.
That is what I was going to say if nobody else came along and already had.
Intel is going to really take notice if there are businesses selling Intel products in a manner that they are not supposed to be sold.
Shame on Future Power for doing this, and for selling an iMac clone. They need to get a new business strategy.
There is a petition for Intel to not take SMP support out of the next Celeron (based on the PIII). http://www.cpureview.com/smp_petition.html
That would be a quick and clean fix. It would be easier to build up CE than to tear down NT to create a new consumer OS.
Who knows what MS has planned, I don't even think they know.
The Berlin project seems really cool, in theory, and I see they are making some progress. How long is the estimate before the first release?
My experiences with X have been bad. It does not seem to handle anything very graphically intensive well at all (example: using semi-transparent backgrounds on windows is realy slow).
I like Berlin, simply because it is starting over from scratch. I think most of us would agree that X is reaching the end of its life, and is not worth trying to build new technology on top of anymore.
I believe that 3 inch CDs should be the new storage standard. Why?
1. Work in existing CD-ROM Drives (well, most)
2. Small enough drives for 3.5 inch drive bays (if needed)
3. Small enough medai to fit in pocket easily
4. A format that can be evolved easily (recordable, high density, etc)
5. Media will not break easy like a Zip or floppy design.
6. Many more I am sure.
Also, how come nobody has made a DVD drive that is also a CD-RW? Not DVD-ROM, I mean CD-RW. That is what I would buy.
EC
I have worked in John Deere on the factory floor for a summer. I made excellent money, and much of the time, did not work very hard. During a shutdown, I mostly sat on my ass and made $15 dollars an hour. Why? The management totally was disorganized and clueless. I simply had nothing to do, other than sweep (can only do so much of that). If things are this way at John Deere, I am sure they are the same way at GM. John Deere could have been video-taping me sitting on my ass just the same as those GM guys. It is the managements job to supply work and motivation. It was also GM's fault for not settling the contract, and their fault for firing all those people. It is simply the (high-payed) management's job to take care of business. It's their fault for not doing so. I know I was not going to order in more work for myself there at John Deere. It was not my job.
If it were not for the UAW, I know I would not be where I am today, living in Iowa, taking CS, and starting my own business. The UAW has been key in providing good income for my family growing up, and helping out financially during the stikes of the 80's, when my parents had to use food stamps to buy groceries, and many were also getting laid off.
If it were not the UAW, I might be dead, as the excellent medical insurance provided by John Deere (through contract negotiation) helped me stabilize a severe health problem.
All-in-all, I will always see unions as a good thing for all workers. Unions help families, in good and bad times, and that's all that matters.
--Eric
Who says a union cannot adapt to the demands of the high-tech industry? A union can be most anything you want it to be, just as long as there is solidarity.
You versus the Company, or You and Your Union versus the Company...in a sticky situation, which would you rather have? Of course, situations that would be considered sticky are rare now in the tech industry, but what about a few years from now?
There is more to life than working 80 hours a week for a startup. If my employer expects me to do it "Because every other software engineer is anymore", I would tell them to stick it, no matter who I was working for. If I had a union backing me, I would not have to lose my job over the whole thing, and that would save me a lot of stress. We all know how stressful looking for a new job is, especially if it means moving to another city, or state.
I have been on the Orient Express, I remember it being pretty cool, and not one you would want to not be fastened in good for.
I thought it fell off the track?
I think if you add the age it makes it 47 years worth of silt
Thanks for putting it into perspective!
Like I said previously, new Amiga=Zombie return of the dead.
If you ask me, Linux should be rebuilt from the kernel up. Not to mention the kernel still needs a lot of work.
There are a few hardware companies now that are shipping BeOS. BeMachines and AST.
The only company that will be shipping Amiga OS is Amiga.
Advantage: Be.
Any processor can be on an ATX form factor board. Apple could make an ATX motherboard with a Power PC on it, and I could throw it into my Dell case no problem. Saying that Amiga OS will run on x86 is premature.
Any native Amiga app will have to be ported, just like a Be app. Neither is very hard to port. What concerns me is the statement that Java is the native language of Amiga OS. If that is the case, you better start from scratch with your port.
EC
How can they say that Amiga OS uses a microkernal, and have Linux as a foundation?
I think their ideas are good here, they better have a x86 version, otherwise they are just another Apple.
How can they say that Amiga OS uses a microkernal, and have Linux as a foundation?
I think their ideas are good here, they better have a x86 version, otherwise they are just another Apple.
Looks like Be and Amiga have the same ideas, except for that BeOS runs on existing hardware.
Advantage: Be...no matter how good the Transmeta chip might be, if it exists.
BeOS has a larger number of users. I doubt most of those old Amiga users would come back.
Advantage: Be.
What makes the new Amiga OS so much like Linux? It has a microkernal like the BeOS, not like Linux. BeOS is POSIX complient, will the Amiga OS be?
Just the name Amiga reminds me of a dead platform. That is going to hurt them. Who wants to use a previously dead platform? It may be new technology, but as far as I am concerned new Amiga=Zombie.
Advantage: Be.
All in all, the new Amiga platform has a lot of work cut out for it. The way I see it, Be is the main competator, and they already have several advantages. BeOS is great, I would never switch to Amiga anyway.
--Never say never.
EC
How about this...
Let's say I have a family, strongly rooted at my current home. I am an IT worker. The company is downsizing while making record profits at the same time.
There are no open jobs in my field in this area, at this time, at my current pay.
Wouldn't you wish you had a union to back you up then? Or would you be happy to move halfway across the country, causing much stress on your family, just so the corporation can make even higher profits.
This may not common today, but in 5 or 10 years it will.
I am not talking about high-end programming here. I am talking about basic network administrators and web design guys. People like that.
EC
Absolutely Joe.
More and more people are going into technology jobs, and generally these jobs are getting easier to learn and perform. Sooner or later it will all even out.
Sure, there is a minute percentage of the people out there who are OUTSTANDING programmers, or whatever, that can demand whatever they want for pay, but what about the other vast majority of the workers out there?
Unions can evolve too. Who says a union cannot meet the needs of the fast-paced technology world?
Also, IT jobs are jobs that cannot just be moved to Mexico because the people who do them have to be half-way educated at least.
IT is replacing some of the factory jobs, but that does not mean that workers rights have to be replaced with nothing.
EC
With the tech industry booming, there is a large new group of workers that have no representation but themselves.
Sure, techies are in high demand, but what is the point of making a high salary if you break it down to dollar per hour and it is not very high? Not to mention compensation for stress, health problems, loss of quality of life. All that needs to be compensated for. Also, pensions, health insurance, vacations, etc.
There needs to be a United Techology Workers (UTW) union or something similar that has a nationwide membership, and has the influence to deal with the big, fast-moving tech corps of today.
I believe the purpose of life is to raise a family, not to work for a company. The purpose of a company should be to provide decent jobs for people so they can raise families, and have a good life.
Soon the excitement of working in a tech job will fade, but the time to unionize is now, ASAP. Unions are a good thing, even though they do not have the influence they have had in the past. A union is meant to be there to back you up if you are getting screwed by your employer, no matter the circumstances. A union will get you better pay, benefits, and job security.
Its the only way to secure yourself from the whims of corporate management.
I am getting that this is all happening on an "as needed" basis.
What about TCI? I called them today, and they were unaware of the issue. I told them to check into it and call me back. They never did. Bastards.