4 ms·

Free version of BeOS rewritten from scratch using the API levels for compatibility. One step closer to public release.

smallstepforman 5y ago
Its better than BeOS, has nvme support, xhci, efi boot, slab allocator, better Posix support, has Qt, webkit, FreeBSD based networking, layout engine, wifi, packages etc.
- mixmastamyk 5y ago
  Yeah... it's been almost thirty years after all.
st_goliath 5y ago
Not just API compatibility. To maintain ABI compatibility as well, at this point they are working with a fork of a really old gcc version that still implements this particular C++ ABI[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)#Compatibility_with_BeOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)#Compa...
- pakyr 5y ago
  That's only on the 32 bit version, and even there they also use GCC 8.
  - st_goliath 5y ago
    Is that a "recent" development? I remembered that from a few years back when I played around with Haiku in a VM, tried to port some programs and poked around in the kernel source out of curiosity. It would explain, why I couldn't find that "how to build the toolchain" page anymore through some quick browsing and posted the Wikipedia reference instead. I guess somebody(TM) should update the Wikipedia page then.
    - pakyr 5y ago
      I'm not actually sure how recent this is. Clicking through the Wayback Machine for their FAQ (http://web.archive.org/web/20150813135145/https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq#tech_1 http://web.archive.org/web/20150813135145/https://www.haiku-...), it looks like they've shipped the 32-bit versions with both GCC 2 and a newer version since at least 2015, starting with GCC 4 and getting newer as the years passed.
szszrk 5y ago
Is it promising as a basic daily system? Some modern web browser, email client, some common console tools or things like Python to run them? Or maybe there is a ports-like system developed unofficially? I used to test every iso of Haiku I found, but it felt very much a development project then actual system for simple daily use. I wonder what's the status now.
- pakyr 5y ago
  I'd say iffy on the first. The native browser is based on a modern port of WebKit, but it's buggy and not feature-complete. Things like Youtube work in-browser, but not well (buggy player, sometimes choppy playback, etc.). Wasm doesn't work. It's otherwise pretty functional. There's no Firefox/Chromium. There are alternatives to the native browser, but they're not significantly better. It has the second, and third (Python 3 is ported). It's POSIX-compliant, so there's tons of Linux/Unix CLI stuff available. There is a package manager with a lot of software, both native and ported. Many of the staples are available (LibreOffice, VLC, etc.), but there's also a lot missing, some with alternatives (there's no GIMP, but there is Krita, for example). Overall, I think it's usable as a basic system, but you could definitely run into some issues with software availability and web browsing if you want to do more powerful stuff.
  - qwerty456127 5y ago
    > there's no GIMP, but there is Krita, for example I wish they'd rather port Inkscape.
    - anthk 5y ago
      I'd check for native software first instead of Gimp, as Haiku had a lot of background on media production. My 2 cent tip.
    - andai 5y ago
      Haiku's icons are vector based right? Is there a native Haiku vector art software?
prvc 5y ago
Is there any proprietary software from the era for the platform that is worth running today?
- nkoren 5y ago
  Honestly I still miss Gobe Productive. Fantastic productivity suite. Not very full-featured, but everything just came together in a smooth way I haven't seen replicated since.
- jccalhoun 5y ago
  Apparently some products still use it. TuneTracker is a system for running radio stations that uses Haiku http://www.tunetrackersystems.com/about_haiku.html http://www.tunetrackersystems.com/about_haiku.html
- stinkytaco 5y ago
  From the era? Probably not. I like GoBe Productive and actually used PoorMan for some internal stuff, but neither would be sufficient for most uses today. However, TuneTracker and its associated suite of tools for radio station automation ran on BeOS and then on Haiku. It's been a few years since the website was updated, so I do not know if it's still active, but it was worth running in a very specific setting.

Its better than BeOS, has nvme support, xhci, efi boot, slab allocator, better Posix support, has Qt, webkit, FreeBSD based networking, layout engine, wifi, packages etc.

mixmastamyk 5y ago
Yeah... it's been almost thirty years after all.

st_goliath 5y ago

Not just API compatibility. To maintain ABI compatibility as well, at this point they are working with a fork of a really old gcc version that still implements this particular C++ ABI[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)#Compatibility_with_BeOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_(operating_system)#Compa...

pakyr 5y ago
That's only on the 32 bit version, and even there they also use GCC 8.
- st_goliath 5y ago
  Is that a "recent" development? I remembered that from a few years back when I played around with Haiku in a VM, tried to port some programs and poked around in the kernel source out of curiosity. It would explain, why I couldn't find that "how to build the toolchain" page anymore through some quick browsing and posted the Wikipedia reference instead. I guess somebody(TM) should update the Wikipedia page then.
  - pakyr 5y ago
    I'm not actually sure how recent this is. Clicking through the Wayback Machine for their FAQ (http://web.archive.org/web/20150813135145/https://www.haiku-os.org/about/faq#tech_1 http://web.archive.org/web/20150813135145/https://www.haiku-...), it looks like they've shipped the 32-bit versions with both GCC 2 and a newer version since at least 2015, starting with GCC 4 and getting newer as the years passed.

szszrk 5y ago

Is it promising as a basic daily system? Some modern web browser, email client, some common console tools or things like Python to run them? Or maybe there is a ports-like system developed unofficially? I used to test every iso of Haiku I found, but it felt very much a development project then actual system for simple daily use. I wonder what's the status now.

pakyr 5y ago
I'd say iffy on the first. The native browser is based on a modern port of WebKit, but it's buggy and not feature-complete. Things like Youtube work in-browser, but not well (buggy player, sometimes choppy playback, etc.). Wasm doesn't work. It's otherwise pretty functional. There's no Firefox/Chromium. There are alternatives to the native browser, but they're not significantly better. It has the second, and third (Python 3 is ported). It's POSIX-compliant, so there's tons of Linux/Unix CLI stuff available. There is a package manager with a lot of software, both native and ported. Many of the staples are available (LibreOffice, VLC, etc.), but there's also a lot missing, some with alternatives (there's no GIMP, but there is Krita, for example). Overall, I think it's usable as a basic system, but you could definitely run into some issues with software availability and web browsing if you want to do more powerful stuff.
- qwerty456127 5y ago
  > there's no GIMP, but there is Krita, for example I wish they'd rather port Inkscape.
  - anthk 5y ago
    I'd check for native software first instead of Gimp, as Haiku had a lot of background on media production. My 2 cent tip.
  - andai 5y ago
    Haiku's icons are vector based right? Is there a native Haiku vector art software?

prvc 5y ago

Is there any proprietary software from the era for the platform that is worth running today?

nkoren 5y ago
Honestly I still miss Gobe Productive. Fantastic productivity suite. Not very full-featured, but everything just came together in a smooth way I haven't seen replicated since.
jccalhoun 5y ago
Apparently some products still use it. TuneTracker is a system for running radio stations that uses Haiku http://www.tunetrackersystems.com/about_haiku.html http://www.tunetrackersystems.com/about_haiku.html
stinkytaco 5y ago
From the era? Probably not. I like GoBe Productive and actually used PoorMan for some internal stuff, but neither would be sufficient for most uses today. However, TuneTracker and its associated suite of tools for radio station automation ran on BeOS and then on Haiku. It's been a few years since the website was updated, so I do not know if it's still active, but it was worth running in a very specific setting.