BeOS-Inspired Haiku OS Lands Its SD/MMC Drivers, Continues Other Hardware Efforts

[phoronix]

Phoronix: BeOS-Inspired Haiku OS Lands Its SD/MMC Drivers, Continues Other Hardware Efforts

The BeOS-inspired Haiku open-source operating system has continued pushing forward in 2021. The range of their work so far is quite diverse from finally landing SD/MMC driver support to at the same time being a bit more forward-looking and already working on 5-level paging support to handle terabytes of system RAM...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Haiku-OS-January-OS

[gpunk]

"Disro. hoppers", don't waste your time,
Very limited hardware support, no real video card support (forget about 3D etc)

The main dev. is on this project by pure "stubbornity" that dislikes Linux/Linus ... his main goal is to NOT use Linux, not to create a "better" OS.

The idea is good: no libraries/SDKs problems like in GNU/Linux with gtk-gnome/qt-kde war mess for example,
But he lost millions of line code and man-hour work on HW/drivers support etc, so at his level it will take him another century to reach Linux's maturity/quality ...

He would have gone a lot further and faster by using the Linux kernel, and making a real viable alternative ... google did it ! didn't they ?

Voilà voilà.

[danmcgrew]

Haiku is an interesting OS for many reasons: it is very light (≈ 700 MB; Haiku recommends a 2 GB partition) , very powerful, and the latest Distrowatch review (as of August, 2020) was extremely complimentary of the beta version which was tested.

Note that this is not a Linux distribution, but is based on the BeOS operating system. It also does not do everything for you (yet). One has to be comfortable creating partitions, in using GRUB, and with (possibly) more detail in creating USB 'sticks'.

Those who grouse about those xBSDs which do not offer a graphical installer--which this does offer--had best stay away.

This is an interesting OS which deserves close attention.

https://www.haiku-os.org/

[S.Pam]

"Disro. hoppers", don't waste your time,
Very limited hardware support, no real video card support (forget about 3D etc)

The main dev. is on this project by pure "stubbornity" that dislikes Linux/Linus ... his main goal is to NOT use Linux, not to create a "better" OS.

The idea is good: no libraries/SDKs problems like in GNU/Linux with gtk-gnome/qt-kde war mess for example,
But he lost millions of line code and man-hour work on HW/drivers support etc, so at his level it will take him another century to reach Linux's maturity/quality ...

He would have gone a lot further and faster by using the Linux kernel, and making a real viable alternative ... google did it ! didn't they ?

Voilà voilà.

Haiku is inspired by BeOS and it's ideas for a desktop oriented system. The monolithic Linux kernel doesn't fit in with this ethos.

That said they do use compatibility layers from FreeBSD for some device drivers. GPU accel is one big area that's missing though.

[Vistaus]

No Qt? That's a myth. Qt is available on Haiku and works just fine. That way you can have a better web browser like Falkon.

Also, what is this nonsense about no GPU drivers? It depends on the hardware, but there are a few GPU drivers. Sure, there's no GPU acceleration yet, but that's hardly ever needed on Haiku anyway. They have a new 4K video editor now for which that would be nice to have, but the system is lightweight enough to not need any GPU acceleration. Okay, maybe YouTube as well, but I'm using YouTube on Linux without GPU acceleration and it works just fine. Same goes for Haiku if you use Falkon web browser. Or use the mobile YouTube site, which is much, much leaner and works just fine on desktops as well.

Also, a one-dev project? Wrong. There are multiple devs working on Haiku. And the goal is not to be a better Linux, but to be a better BeOS.

Oh, and they use FreeBSD drivers.

[birdie]

Some are talking as if Linux has become a viable desktop OS you can install and forget or even recommend to your grandma. Oh, wait, it's anything but.

I have more hopes in Haiku or Fuchsia than in Linux ever becoming a decent hassle-free desktop OS. Linux is great for developers developing for Linux or Android. It sucks for everyone else.

[birdie]

"Disro. hoppers", don't waste your time,
Very limited hardware support, no real video card support (forget about 3D etc)

The main dev. is on this project by pure "stubbornity" that dislikes Linux/Linus ... his main goal is to NOT use Linux, not to create a "better" OS.

The idea is good: no libraries/SDKs problems like in GNU/Linux with gtk-gnome/qt-kde war mess for example,
But he lost millions of line code and man-hour work on HW/drivers support etc, so at his level it will take him another century to reach Linux's maturity/quality ...

He would have gone a lot further and faster by using the Linux kernel, and making a real viable alternative ... google did it ! didn't they ?

Voilà voilà.

It's weird you've signed up just to slander the hobby OS. Many people with a brain dislike desktop Linux - even those who develop ... the kernel, yeah, I'm talking about Linus Torvalds.

The idea is great: an OS with a stable kernel and core libraries which allow to create software which can run unmodified for dozens of years - a thing which is possible in Linux only when using ... Wine.

Using the Linux kernel? You can't just use it. Try using the Linux kernel with the FreeBSD userspace - good luck with that.

[digitalsin]

Last time I tried Haiku I did not have accelerated graphics, only vesa, which made 2d apps that use SDL slow as hell (schismtracker brought system to its knees). HOWEVER 3D is a different story. They have an openarena port and using CPU-based software driver only, gameplay was faster than a Linux install I use an amd 4870 in...

[danmcgrew]

"Disro. hoppers", don't waste your time,
Very limited hardware support, no real video card support (forget about 3D etc)

The main dev. is on this project by pure "stubbornity" that dislikes Linux/Linus ... his main goal is to NOT use Linux, not to create a "better" OS.

The idea is good: no libraries/SDKs problems like in GNU/Linux with gtk-gnome/qt-kde war mess for example,
But he lost millions of line code and man-hour work on HW/drivers support etc, so at his level it will take him another century to reach Linux's maturity/quality ...

He would have gone a lot further and faster by using the Linux kernel, and making a real viable alternative ... google did it ! didn't they ?

Voilà voilà.

I have to admit that you had me...giving you the benefit of the doubt through all the personal opinion, lack of facts, and ad hominem attack. The problem is, you stretched your argument to the snapping point as most people in your (obvious) position almost always do; you had to say just a little too much--

"...He would have gone a lot further and faster by using the Linux kernel, and making a real viable alternative ... google[sic] did it ! didn't they ?"

google. OOOohh... you must mean that multi-BILLIONS dollar company which probably invested some of those billions, along with untold man- (and woman-)power in making whatever this "..real viable alternative..." happen.


"One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts."--C. S. Lewis

[Rallos Zek]

Haiku is inspired by BeOS and it's ideas for a desktop oriented system. The monolithic Linux kernel doesn't fit in with this ethos.

That said they do use compatibility layers from FreeBSD for some device drivers. GPU accel is one big area that's missing though.

But the BeOS kernel itself was monolithic.