3 ms·

It did scheduling magic to keep the UI responsive and media from skipping even under (at the time) heavy load. This was on single-core processors in the two or

by ashark 10y ago

It did scheduling magic to keep the UI responsive and media from skipping even under (at the time) heavy load. This was on single-core processors in the two or low three digits of MHz, mind you, with 128MB of RAM if you were really lucky. The OS itself also seemed to be snappier than its competitors. Windows on the same machine? MP3 playback would stutter when you hit refresh on a webpage (bearing in mind those were one hell of a lot lighter than the ones today) or any number of other minor actions. Hourglasses constantly. Linux? Window-smearing-on-drag as far as the eye can see. Even worse media performance than Windows(!), though maybe with some ricing/tweaking it was better. Macs at the time? Oh god. I don't know how they got a reputation for being more stable than contemporary Windows machines. Fewer system crashed maybe, but apps crashed constantly. Multitasking performance mediocre. Disk swap all over the place. BeOS? Buttery smooth UI and MP3 playback while running the Teapot 3D demo and browsing the web, all at the same time. It was awesome, and had the Unixy bits coupled with a good and consistent UI that we wouldn't see again until OSX. Faster booting than the competition. Neat extras like a built in web server (Poorman, IIRC) that could be run with a few clicks, too. I think BeOS was known for having an unusually pleasant and sane API in addition to performing so well, though I never wrote any software for it personally.

hcarvalhoalves 10y ago
> This was on single-core processors in the two or low three digits of MHz, mind you, with 128MB of RAM if you were really lucky. Actually, BeOS ran at first on proprietary hardware (BeBox), which featured dual or quad PowerPCs, and it was initially designed to make use of the multiple processors. Only later it got ported for Intel platform where single-processor was more common, but it was meant to shine on multi-processor boards.
- acomjean 10y ago
  I had it running on a powerPC mac clone (Power computing machine) 200 mhz. Ran great but the lack of software made it hard. In historical context as Apple's internal OS upgrade program failed, and they bought Next Computer instead of Be (rumored to be an option). The rest is history.. "Power Computing, cognizant of (Apple CEO) Amelio’s attitude toward the clones, attempted to avoid keeping all its eggs in Apple’s basket. It began to actively support Jean Louis Gassée’s BeOS. Be’s first public demonstrations were on Power 120’s (upgraded versions of the Power 80), and Power Computing began selling machines outfitted with BeOS out of the box, thus bypassing Apple’s 7.25% royalty." from: http://lowendmac.com/2014/power-computing-fighting-back-for-the-mac-or-stealing-apples-customers/ http://lowendmac.com/2014/power-computing-fighting-back-for-...
- ashark 10y ago
  Yeah, but I only ever ran it on Intel (mostly a Pentium 166mhz--luxury, I know!), and that's the best way to compare its performance to other consumer operating systems at the time anyway. Never had the pleasure to use a BeBox.

by ashark 10y ago

hcarvalhoalves 10y ago

> This was on single-core processors in the two or low three digits of MHz, mind you, with 128MB of RAM if you were really lucky. Actually, BeOS ran at first on proprietary hardware (BeBox), which featured dual or quad PowerPCs, and it was initially designed to make use of the multiple processors. Only later it got ported for Intel platform where single-processor was more common, but it was meant to shine on multi-processor boards.

acomjean 10y ago
I had it running on a powerPC mac clone (Power computing machine) 200 mhz. Ran great but the lack of software made it hard. In historical context as Apple's internal OS upgrade program failed, and they bought Next Computer instead of Be (rumored to be an option). The rest is history.. "Power Computing, cognizant of (Apple CEO) Amelio’s attitude toward the clones, attempted to avoid keeping all its eggs in Apple’s basket. It began to actively support Jean Louis Gassée’s BeOS. Be’s first public demonstrations were on Power 120’s (upgraded versions of the Power 80), and Power Computing began selling machines outfitted with BeOS out of the box, thus bypassing Apple’s 7.25% royalty." from: http://lowendmac.com/2014/power-computing-fighting-back-for-the-mac-or-stealing-apples-customers/ http://lowendmac.com/2014/power-computing-fighting-back-for-...
ashark 10y ago
Yeah, but I only ever ran it on Intel (mostly a Pentium 166mhz--luxury, I know!), and that's the best way to compare its performance to other consumer operating systems at the time anyway. Never had the pleasure to use a BeBox.