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    Senior Member rockinup1231's Avatar
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    Haiku OS

    I'm not sure if anyone here had the opportunity to own a PC at any time which ran BeOS, but Haiku OS is sure doing a good job picking up where BeOS left off. POSIX compatibility, clean and consistent programming API's for most everything, the beginnings of a package management system, and soon a modern webkit port for their WebPositive web browser.

    Hardware compatibility currently leaves much to be desired, though, in my experience. I've never failed to make it to a desktop in Haiku so far, but I've seen instances where I can't even bring my ethernet interface up. Graphics support only extends as far as the Haiku developers have written drivers for their operating system since there really is no proprietary support save for older BeOS software.

    Overall I believe this could be a positive step forward for the OSS community where consistency and quality of software tends to vary wildly, and the most stable of Linux distros must yield to unstable platforms which makes maintainability of any software a difficult task.

    What do you guys think? If you haven't seen Haiku OS before, you can check their website out here.
    MSI 870S-G46 | AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.8ghz | Gigabyte Radeon 7870 Ghz Edition | 1 x 128GB Kingston HyperX SSD | 2 x WD 500GB Blue HDD | Arch Linux x64 | BFG Tech LS SERIES LS-550 550W | 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM, 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM (12 GB)

  2. #2
    Senior Member michaeln's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rockinup1231 View Post
    I'm not sure if anyone here had the opportunity to own a PC at any time which ran BeOS, but Haiku OS is sure doing a good job picking up where BeOS left off. POSIX compatibility, clean and consistent programming API's for most everything, the beginnings of a package management system, and soon a modern webkit port for their WebPositive web browser.

    Hardware compatibility currently leaves much to be desired, though, in my experience. I've never failed to make it to a desktop in Haiku so far, but I've seen instances where I can't even bring my ethernet interface up. Graphics support only extends as far as the Haiku developers have written drivers for their operating system since there really is no proprietary support save for older BeOS software.

    Overall I believe this could be a positive step forward for the OSS community where consistency and quality of software tends to vary wildly, and the most stable of Linux distros must yield to unstable platforms which makes maintainability of any software a difficult task.

    What do you guys think? If you haven't seen Haiku OS before, you can check their website out here.

    Hi Rockinup1231

    As a result of your post I D/L's and installed it on a spare PC I have here. Installed straight from the CD (although it took me a little while to figure out how to configure and select a useable HD partition). First impressions are really positive. I like the speed of it and it's crispness. Boot/Shut Down time is nothing at all and it feels more solid than Linux (have been a lifelong MS Windows user but started messing with LinuxMint lately).

    Lack of useable App's could be it's downfall though unless the community out there takes it on board and begins to treat it seriously. Overall I would say it is a polished, professional OS and hope it survives.

    Thanks for the post as I hadn't heard of it up to now.

    Regards,


    Michael.

  3. #3
    Senior Member rockinup1231's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by michaeln View Post
    Hi Rockinup1231
    First impressions are really positive. I like the speed of it and it's crispness. Boot/Shut Down time is nothing at all and it feels more solid than Linux (have been a lifelong MS Windows user but started messing with LinuxMint lately).
    I agree. They've done a good job keeping things lightweight. Any time they need to make a port of something, they've done a good job avoiding hacks to get something foreign to work seamlessly with Haiku OS.

    A few notable examples exist. Not that long ago there was some work done to port the WPA Supplicant software from Linux over to Haiku. It was necessary in order to properly support the WPA/WPA2 wireless network authentication protocols. The developer who was on task to do this spent a good month re-working the internals of the software and while its not quite where they want it to be at the moment they've managed to get it to a functional state with minimal hacks and good stability (for alpha quality software, anyway).

    Quote Originally Posted by michaeln View Post
    Lack of useable App's could be it's downfall though unless the community out there takes it on board and begins to treat it seriously. Overall I would say it is a polished, professional OS and hope it survives.
    I think this ties into the elegance of Haiku overall. There isn't a whole lot that the development team has tied into the core OS that is a straight up port from the likes of *nix derivatives (save for some libraries and ported drivers). They've been adamant on providing a consistent and intuitive experience (much like the original BeOS intended), even if it means more work. Something you don't get from a Linux distro built from a hodge podge of the usual software sources.

    I'm hoping the new package management system they're working on will coerce more people to write software for Haiku, even if it is just a port of something from Linux. They've even managed to get into Google Summer of Code this year (they did last year, too) which should give the OS itself a boost forward, and the many contracts they've been able to strike up over the past couple years have also served to fuel progress.

    I may even help write some software if I can find something on my level of skill.

    Anyways, glad to hear you liked it. Hopefully others will share similar experiences, as well. It really is turning into something nice.
    MSI 870S-G46 | AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.8ghz | Gigabyte Radeon 7870 Ghz Edition | 1 x 128GB Kingston HyperX SSD | 2 x WD 500GB Blue HDD | Arch Linux x64 | BFG Tech LS SERIES LS-550 550W | 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM, 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM (12 GB)

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